OH MY GOODNESS. this week was the most difficult yet incredible week of my entire life! of my existence! People, missionary work is the best job in the universe!!!!!!!!
So its funny, normally I love the week days and don't really like the weekends, they always seem to be harder... but this week it was the opposite! It seemed like everyday this week we were out of the house at like 7:30 am and back by 8:30 pm, just running around all day long trying to get papers in order and setting up everything. All week we were preparing for the wedding of the Giron family and their subsequent baptisms! Yeah, Friday we had a wedding and 3 baptisms! Man I thought one baptism stressed me out, I had no idea what to expect preparing for 3!
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| Making cookies and cakes for the baptisms |
All week we were running to government offices with our family taking out birth certificates, DPI´s, which is like a license here, and tons of other stuff. I officially hate the Guatemalan papers legal system. Hate it! Turns out government offices are no fun in every country!
Buuuuuuttttttt..... VALE LA PENA. That means it's worth it! Truly, truly, truly this week was hard, like I've never worked harder in my life. And it rained harder than ever. but nothing will ever compare to seeing their faces as Gabriela and her son and my sweet Natividad walk out of the waters of baptism. and when they got confirmed on Sunday, nothing will ever compare! Gabriela´s now husband is next!
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| The wedding license! |
We are gonna get him baptized this week or next, and then they can start their journey to being an eternal family! They are so excited to be able to go through the temple one day. and now that they are married, they are well on their way! I don't know what I have told you about the familia Giron, but I'll tell a little bit here. Gabriela and Luis are married and have 3 kids. Nelson is 12 and Michelle and Leah are little tikes!
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| Baby Leah |
So we contacted them one night on the street and bam! These people were so prepared. This work is just so much easier and incredible when the people are prepared like that! Before her baptismal interview Gabriela was telling us why she wanted to get baptized. She told us how she attended a different church for a few years and they told her she had to get married and baptized too, but it just didn't feel right. And she said from the first step she took in to the church building this has just felt so different. Like she knew it was true all along! She and her son have just never doubted! They have SO much faith! Helping them in this journey has been just an incredible blessing!
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| three baptisms! |
My other sweet recent convert, Natividad, is 13 and is the older sister of my first convert Jerico! She is the single sweetest little girl besides my sweet sister. She reminds me so much of Jilly it's not even funny! She also has never doubted. She just has so much faith and was so willing to change! She knew that baptism was the first step of the rest of her life! And now that she is baptized, wow she is diving head first into the church! She already started personal progress! It's been incredible helping her too. :)
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| Nativdad in the white dress with her family |
So basically, missionary work works. The Lord IS preparing people for us to find. I know that now. I have never been happier in my life!
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| My first little convert, Jerico |
Wanna hear about another miracle? Alright I'll tell you! So after the baptism I was standing with my comp and we were just beaming. After baking all day and chasing down investigators and members to come to the baptism, we had like over 40 in attendance.....score! We were pretty satisfied. then our old investigator Jose came past us and motioned for us to come over. We started teaching him my first day here in Guate and he has been going to seminary but is just afraid of getting baptized for some reason. so we stopped teaching him a few weeks ago because he wasn't progressing. But he came to the baptism with some of his friends who are all members. So anyways he motioned for us to come over. We walk over and he just is looking around and looks all nervous and we are like what is going on? He goes, I was wondering if you had another one of those forms for my dad to sign for baptism because I lost the other one. We are like.... yeah we have one..... and then he's like hermanas, I want to get baptized. I'm ready now. Can I get baptized tomorrow? OH MY GOSH. I legitimately just started crying. My jaw dropped and we were just floored. This kid has had a change made in him and now he finally realizes it! He has always been ready but now he has the desire! So we couldn't get the baptism ready this weekend but he is getting baptized this Saturday, and he is telling everyone! he has invited so many people! Miracles happen and they happen in the Lords time! Sometimes we need to just learn patience! He must have had a spiritual experience during the baptism because he was just so different! He just stood outside for a while and looked at the sky, just by himself. The Lord works in mysterious ways. :)
Then after all that, the next morning at 6 am we went to Quetzaltenango with our ward!
We asked the mission president if we could go to the temple with our ward because a sweet girl, Migdalia, who always accompanies us, is going through for the first time! When he heard we had 3 baptisms he was like, heck yes! So we got to go to the temple!
People, this is unheard of here! Like we are so blessed to be able to go! So I got to know Xela! Wow, what a beautiful town! It is so much cooler there, everyone was in parkas but I was like, hey people this is a beach breeze! hahahahahah. The temple is ridiculously beautiful.
We got to have breakfast and lunch in the temple cafeteria and meet so many people! We did a session and snuck into a sealing! The whole time I thought about my sweet Giron family and how I am going to bring them here in one year! Mark my words I will!!!!!!! :) Then we got to go to the famous Xelapan, pronounced Shayla pan. It's like the greatest panaderia ever. :) so it was like Christmas for me! I bought so many good things! Sweet Migdalia was my personal assistant telling me all the best things to get! This girl is seriously one of my best friends! She is going to be the greatest missionary Ecuador has ever seen!!!!!!
Our ward has definitely caught the missionary bug. The family that first brought Jerico to church is now consistently bringing him and his two sisters to church and activities! They have two baptisms and one of the way! They keep giving us references and asking to go with us!!!!! In sacrament meeting yesterday everyone bore testimony about the joy of missionary work. I guess it was the 3 confirmations and the joven (youth) in our ward who opened his mission call in sacrament meeting that got it all going! Isn't that cool ? They open their mission calls in front of everyone in sacrament meeting! So cool! :) I have seen such a change in this ward over the past 12 weeks. I think it all really depends on our perspective and the amount of love we are willing to share. I truly, truly love these people. They have helped me grow so much and I truly feel like they are my family!
well, I think thats it. Tons of pics this week so I hope you enjoy it! Off to work work work! Love you all so much and thanks for the prayers. I felt them this week! :)
love love love,
Hermana Amore. :)
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