October 7, 2013

Buenas dias!

 

I just came to the realization a few days ago that the colonia I live in, Girasoles, means sunflowers. No wonder I think it`s the most beautiful neighborhood in Salvador. Well, the time really does fly right by because I feel like itwas just yesterday I was sitting in front of a computer. This week I learned something I know I will never, ever forget. We had our investigator, Ivan, who was supposed to get baptized on the 19th of this month. He struggles with smoking, but a week ago we had a really powerful lesson with him about the atonement and he committed to stop completely drinking and smoking. Everytime we saw him he told us he had stopped and was doing well, but something didn`t feel right. Finally, on Friday, he told us the truth and my heart broke. He had been acting somewhat strange all week with us, then when we visited him on Friday he reeked of alcohol and wasn`t in very good conidition. As we asked him about how he was doing with the word of wisdom he laughed and told us it was good, but I knew it wasn`t. We asked him again and he told us he hadn`t stopped. This means that he can`t get baptized and we can`t visit him anymore. As we told him all this and read one last scripture with him, I was fighting back tears with all my strength and all he said was "Perfetco." At that moment, I felt a tiny, tiny, miniscule fraction of what our Heavenly Father must feels as He watches us, His very own children, make decisions that push us further away from Him. He knows what`s best for us and has proivded a perfect plan to accomplish every commandment. We couldn`t force Ivan to change, no one can. That`s the tricky part about agency. We gave everything we had to each lesson and so many times I know he felt the Spirit, but in the end, it`s about our actions. Actions bring about our testimony and faith. At this time, he isn`t willing to change and enter the waters of baptism to be reborn anew. My heart is saddened for him and his choices, but I hope in the future he will realize that he truly is a son of a living God and can be made clean through baptism and overcome these addictions he is held captive by. I have such a testimony of the Word of Wisdom now and how it enslaves people.

 

As one door closes, Heavenly Father always always opens another! We have a new investigator, SIlvana Valiente, who is getting baptized on the 18th! She lives right nex door and is 28 years old. We are teaching her brother-in-law as well and one day she came outside to talk with us, and we ended up giving her a Book of Mormon and began teaching her. She accepted the Book of Mormon whole-heartedly and has read everytime we`ve asked her to! I feel like she explains the scriptures we read better than us sometimes! She really is so intelligent and has such a desire to learn about the Gospel, I pray we can do everything we need to to guide her and in a few weeks see her be baptized and recieve the companionship of the Holy Ghost! We also have another investigator, Leonel, who Hermana Chant felt like we should stop and talk to one day. As we did, he told us he has been wanting to learn about the church and asked us when we could come visit him! Blessings! We visited him last night, and to our delight, he has a family! They aren`t married yet, but he lives with his girlfriend and two precious little daughters. He is absolutely wonderful and I am so excited to continue teaching him. He wants his family to be more united and I felt so grateful that I could truly testify to him of how much joy exists in my family purely because of the Gospel! We also are teaching a mother and daughter, Maggie and Theresa, who may be the cutest things in the whole world! This gospel blesses families. They are everything to our Father in Heaven and my heart just swells up as I look at these people and the potential that exists for their family through the Gospel! We are teaching another family as well, Familia Heren, but the dad has never been home when we are there. The mom was taught like 15 years ago, but `never got baptized. She wants us to help her family, especially with her teenage sons. They are a beautiful family and it`s incredible to see how this one woman practically is raising these 5 children on her own, since the husband isn`t around much. Another miracle we witnessed this week was with Hermana Mirian! She is a less active, mostly she only attends church if it`s convenient and not raining. But, we watched the relief society broadcast with her and she`s come to church every Sunday now and even went to the Saturday morning session of conference! She has a son that lives in Maryland that she has been wanting to come visit her. She told us that a few weeks ago, so we always include it in our prayers with her and pray that he will be able to visit her. On Friday, she was absolutely beaming and told us that her son was going to come with his children in December! She started to cry and told us that she knows it is because of our prayers and our faith that her son is able to come visit. I know that Heavenly Father answers prayers, with all of my heart. As we were teaching Silvana about prayer and helping her to understand why it`s important, I told her how in my mission, I can`t pick up the phone and call my parents and tell them what happened or how I`m feeling. But, I can always, always tell my Father in Heaven. I don`t need a phone or a computer or a text message, I have the magnificent gift of prayer. We all do! How lucky are we that we have a Father in Heaven who is forever willing to listen to our hearts, whether they are filled with joy or sadness. I think prayer is key to getting less active back into the church, too. We had a noche de hogar at a member`s home, Familia Flores, last night with an inactive couple, Familia Mejia, and as Hermano Mejia offered the closing prayer, I couldn´t help but cry. We are always Hevaenly Father`s children. That never changes and His love never faulters. This couple can once again feel the love of their Father in Heaven and their preciousness in His eyes as they pray! I am really excited about them. They own a panaderia, so we`ve been trying to become friends with them by buying cookies from them. I`m willing to eat a million cookies if it means they will come back to church! Oh, one more little miracle! We have been trying to find this inactive family, Familia Rodriguez for weeks, but had yet to find their house. AT conference, a sister came up to us and told us she was the cousin of Familia Rodriguez and wanted us to come teach her family! We got their address, and as we were walking back to our casa that day, we started talking to a woman and her son. Guess who they were. FAMILIA RODRIGUEZ! They were probably confused as to why we were so excited, but truly it wa such a blessing! The son is 9 and not baptized and Hermana Rodriguez said we could come see them on Tuesday!

 

This work is incredible. I loved how much obra misional was talked about in conference because we need the members! They are crucial! It`s all about love. If we love Heavenly Father, we want to serve Him. We serving Him by serving HIs children, our brothers and sisters. It`s so simple! Let`s all show Heavenly Father how much we love Him by helping one of the Savior`s sheep who doesn`t quite know the way. Like we read in Matthew 18, the Savior came to "Save that which was lost." That is exactly what we did with HIs life! If we are striving to follow HIs example, we must try our very best to do the same. One of my favorite talks from conference was Elder Eyring`s (we got to watch it in English! MIRACLE!) I loved how he spoke of how there is not one of us that Heavenly Father doens`t desire to save and hasn`t devised means to do so. The truth always remains, that we are His children. I see it everyday with the people we talk to and teach. I can feel the love of the Savior and our Father in Heaven for each one of them. I think that`s why it`s so hard when they drift away. I know the love of our Savior can save all.

 

I now know with certainty what cockroaches look like, and they`re actually much smaller than I had envisioned which was a blessing! They really aren`t so bad and we are lucky in our house that we don`t have too many. We played a rendition of kick the can with the little boys that live in our neighborhood, Kevin, Brian, Roberto, and Carlos, and I think they were dissappointed that we weren`t too fast. They ask us to play soccer with them every night and are the sweetest little boys in the whole world! We gave one of the families a cd of primary songs and the next day they told us how much they loved it! The people here are so giving and have such incredible hearts. I just want them all to feel the joy of the gospel and how much it blesses families! I am incredibly thankful to be here. I know with every part of me that the Savior lives and this is truly His church!

 

Brazos y besos!

Hermana Haynie