Hermanas Lopez and FarrMore on that in a sec. We have had a lot of memorable experiences this week. First off, I love you all. I hope everyone is doing alright. This week has been ahi... ha … not sure how to say that in English... alright I guess. Lots of ups and downs, like always!
So we got some of the papers for the two couples to be married, but they swapped the couples, so we have papers for Jaekelin & Agustin and Jessica & Jaekelin’s husband, which means we got nothing done for marriages this week. We are getting down to the wire. We gotta get these people baptized. I guess Heavenly Father knows what he’s doing… if they were meant to be here, they would be. So I’m not really worried; just annoyed. We will hopefully have the rest this week. I really hope.
Jessica received an answer to her prayer about if the Book of Mormon was true. She prayed for Heavenly Father to show her a sign and she asked for a specific one... yikes… that Agustin could get a job and two days later... guess what he found... a job! We are so happy. They can start to pull out of this crappy situation they are in. It’s pretty awesome. Agustin said, whoa! What faith my woman has. It was funny. He was proud of her and so were we. She now knows with certainty that it’s true. They’ve been reading from the start and are almost to second Nephi. She’s also trying to find a job but apparently here you have to officially quit one job before you can start the next and she didn’t quit a job in Montevideo.
We also had a family home evening last Monday night with a member family. Their son is a member but inactive and so is his wife and they’re kids aren’t members. The grandson came over. He’s from Montevideo and has read the Book of Mormon, knows everything about Joseph Smith and wants to be baptized. We taught him some stuff and after we left he called his parents to get permission to be baptized and he hasn’t ever had a lesson. They said yes. The mom is interested and they are just waiting for the missionaries in Montevideo to show up at the door. We gave the reference to the missionaries. They will be surprised when they go over to find someone all ready to be baptized. It was a cool experience even though we won’t get to participate in the baptism or anything. He’s only 11 too. What an example to the family.
We taught Christina this week. She’s a girl who is dating a less active member. They have started coming back to church… or he has and she has been reading the Book or Mormon . Well, we went back to teach her about the restoration and she said that some people don’t believe this is the true church. We were confused because she mentioned it out of nowhere in the middle of the lesson. We asked her what she thought. Is this the true church? She said she knew that it was. How do you know that we asked? She responded with this, "Because I prayed about it. I asked God and he told me in my heart it was true. I felt a burning in my chest and that’s why I want to be baptized." We were in shock. It was so awesome.
Malta (Uruguay's fav drink): It's disgusting! It tastes like barf... I'm not even kidding!We have seen a great deal of adversity and honestly I am sick of Satan this week. We have seen his hand in so many people’s lives especially this week. He makes people fall, he tricks people, he deceives people and he justifies. HE IS REAL. And he is at work. He’s made good members fall and it blows my mind. We must be so careful in our lives. I just stand in awe this week at the things he is capable of. I have seen it first hand and I hate every second of it. We must stand strong and close to the Savior. Satan is an alligator at the edge or the water hole. He doesn’t wait in the middle; he knows we won’t go to the middle, but if he can get us to come to the edge, he can have us. We must be decided. We must be on the Lord’s side of the line and well over it. It’s just crazy. Please be careful out there.
I have had sweet spiritual experience after sweet spiritual experience this week as well, not about a specific gospel principle but about my mission in general and about the people I am here serving. I got to call Nina to coordinate for the doctor’s appointment and we talked for so long. It felt so good talking to a familiar voice, someone who genuinely cares about me and loves me and wants the best for me. She told me how much everyone there misses me and how things have just not been the same since I left. Her husband got on the phone and told me everyone was signing a petition to stop doing missionary work until Hermana Farr came back! haha. He says he’s doing a BBQ for us today. We will see if there is time. Even though I have moved on from Maldonado, it seriously will always have a part of my heart. I gained such a love for the people there. I miss them so badly and I’m just glad that thanks to the gospel we can all be together again for forever if we do things right because I don’t know if I’ll ever make it back here to Uruguay at another time in my life. I would love to, but I don’t know if I could do it. It would be hard. I have been reflecting on my other two areas also. Just thinking about the people there that I have come to love brings me to tears every time. I know I’ll feel the same when I leave Sarandi. I have had a number of other experiences, but it’s too much to write. I don’t want to leave the mission! It’s going to be so RIDICULOUSLY hard. I wouldn’t even be thinking about it, but seriously everyone reminds me of it daily. Ugh! Last week we introduced ourselves to our district and my district leader said to me (when I got up), tell everyone how much time you have been on your mission. I rolled my eyes. He said, actually just tell them how much time you have left. I think that’s easier. Ugh! I’m excited to come home and to take the next steps of my life, but I’m never going to be able to live this experience again. I hate the thought of that. When I leave, there is no going back. Anyway, all I can do is enjoy it right now. Take advantage of the little time I have left and make the most of it. That’s all I’ve got. I love the mission! I love all you guys. Most importantly, I love the gospel that brings us all together. How wonderful it is. I appreciate everything you do. Thanks for always being there for me. I heart you! Until next week... Love me, Ash
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