September 30, 2013

Buenas!

First, I must explain the subject title. This old man delivering newspapers told us that Jose Smith vive... We were a bit confused and tried to explain that Joseph Smith doesn`t in fact live right now, but Jesus Christ does! I`m not sure he fully believed us, but it was cute his conviction in that Joseph Smith is still alive. Well, this week I had my first encounter with true rejection, and even though I may not understand everything all the time, I understood this. So, on Tuesday we met this little boy Alexis who is 12 years old, and really wanted to learn more about the Gospel. His excitement was so adorable. So, we came back on Wednesday and taught him about how much Heavenly Father loves him, and because He loves us so much, He restored the Gospel to enable a way for us to return to Him! We invtied him to be baptized and accepted with his whole heart. It was so sweet and I understood why Christ always blessed the little children because their faith seems to be more pure than the rest of us. His older brother, who is 18, was really interested as well, so we planned to come back on Thursday to teach him too, since he wasn`t home the first time. We came back with our expectations high and full og hope, and Alexis more than met our hopes when he said he had read what we asked him to read in the Book of Mormon and prayed about it! His brother told us he wouldn`t stop talking about his baptism. Then, their grandma came into the room and told us she didn`t like us. We both kind of stared back and it literally felt like Satan had entered her heart! It so difficult not to cry right there in their living room! But she said she didn`t like what we were doing, didn`t like us as people, and told us we had to leave. The brothers told us to return the next day because their grandmother was crazy, so we did and Alexis cracked open the door just a tiny bit so we could see his face, and told us his mom said no about everything and that we weren`t allowed to come back. It just broke our hearts that Alexis would have to wait a little bit longer to be baptized, but I pray that he will get another opportunity because I know how badly he wanted to be baptized and how badly the Savior wanted him to be baptized as well. I know the Savior will provide a way for little Alexis to hear the Gospel again!

We kind of struggled this week with our investigators just not progressing very much and keeping commitments, so we fasted yesterday and we feel like we need to start anew with a clean slate of people!  he investigators we had were ones who the missionaries had been teaching for quite a while, so it`s now up to them to decide. We still have Ivan with his baptismal date, but it`s been moved because he needs to stop smoking completely. I believe with all my heart that he can do it because of the atonement of Jesus Christ for each and every one of us. Christ knows what we all need! Like in Alma 7:12 when it says, "And he will take upon him their infirmities, that his boweks may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities." He knows spritually and physically the pain we fee. But, we have to have faith and believe in HIs healing power and apply it in our lives. Once Ivan comes to believe this fully, I know he will be able to stop. For now, it`s up in the air, we`ve done all we can, and we have to stop teaching him for a little bit. Oh, yesterday a miracle occurred! On Friday we made brownies with a memebr family and made little notes with scriptures for inactive families, and on Saturday we delivered them! (they didn`t taste normal, but it`s the thought that counts right? Hopefully they thought it was endearing.) Anyway, we went to one couple, Gladis and Mauricio, not expecting them to be home or let us in because Hermana Chant said they haven`t gone to church in years and aren`t usually too interested in anything with the church, but to our suprise they let us in!! They are truly a wonderful couple. We shared with them John 15:9-10, about how when we keep the commandments, we get to abide in the love of the Savior and our Father in Heaven! How beautiful a promise is that! There`s nowhere else I`d like to live. They committed to read the Book of Mormon each day for 10 minutes and we invited them to an activity at the temple Sunday afternoon and to our delight once again, Gladis said she wanted to come! Truly a miracle. We went and got her on Sunday afternoon, and it was the sweetest thing because she had put on all this makeup and gotten all ready. We watched the movie about the Prophet Thomas S. Monson and she kept saying how pretty it all was and how much she loved the temple. She wasn`t too happy about all the walking we had to do, but we ate with papusas with her after to make it all better. I think sometimes people jsut forget how special they are to their Father in Heaven and just need someone to help remind them. Going along with our new plan here, we are working a lot with the less actives. We need to rescue those who have wandered a bit and bring them back into the fold! We have been blessed to have found new people who are excited to learn, and one man even said to us as we talked in the street that he has been really curious about our church lately and had been wanting to learn more. I couldn`t stop smiling because we had been praying to find someone like that and there he was! I know that was a gift from the Savior.

On a silly Ally note, I completely misunderstood the word muñeca. People had been saying it a lot to me and calling me it, and I thought it meant neck, so I was always very bewildered and just said gracias because I felt like they were trying to mean it as a compliment. Finally after a week of being so confused all the time why people were either calling me a neck, or complimenting my neck, I asked Hermana Chant, and she told me it means doll. Confusion cleared and I now know that muñeca does not, in fact, refer to neck. Now I know, and so do all of you!

We have lots of new ideas we are executing here in Girasoles! The young women sort of struggle with modesty, which I understand fully, so we are going to have an activity with them where we talk about modesty, and they bring their skirts and we are bringing fabric, and we are going to make them longer! I am so excited. It`s going to be next Friday I beieve. Mom, I now wish I would`ve taken your advice to learn how to sew. You are always right about everything. They don`t have anyone to play the piano for church, so they use a CD player. I am going to practice every chance I get so I can play for them in sacrament meeting. I love the people in our ward. They have such beautiful hearts and strong faiths. I am grateful to be able to work with them and help them to share the gospel with the people in their life! `The whole colonia didn`t have water for about 5 days which was interesting, so familia barrera filled up our filtered water for us last night which was an enormous blessing. People are just incredibly giving and humble.

I love in Alma 22:15, when Aaron is teaching King Lamoni, and as the king is hearing about the Plan of Happiness our Father in Heaven has so lovingly put in place for us, he cries "I will give up all that I possess, yea I will forsake my kingdom, that I may recieve this great joy." I think this is a huge example for each and every one of us. This Gospel is everything. Sometimes our perspective is limited and it`s hard to see an eternal view, but would we give up everything we have, even a kingdom, in order to have the joy that comes from the gospel and the joy we will recieve as a result of our righteousness? I know that Heavenly Father will always love HIs children and He will always love me, but I want to enable Him to be proud of me. We can all live our lives in such a way that Heavenly Father can feel proud of us as we keep living the commandments that bring us closer to the example of the Savior.

A quote I love that we foudn this week is "In our service to Christ, He comes to us." It`s that simple. He comes to us as we devote our hearts to Him and His work. I love this work. It`s amazing the different emotions we go through each day, but how I can always, always, always, feel the love of my Father in Heaven throughout it all.I know each  of you is a precious child of God and please don`t ever forget that you are a magnificent creation of the master craftsman Himself!

Con amor,
Hermana Haynie