Monday, November 4, 2013

October 28, 2013

So we had transfers this week and everyone was a little nervous, but... nobody changed haha. The 4 of us here in Sabanalarga are here to stay another round! We also had a pretty good week, we didn`t find many new people, but we did have 4 people come to church as investigators and...... A BAPTISM!!!!!!! We had a baptism yeah!!! Her name is Angelica and she`s great. She didn`t have a problem with any commandment and accepted everything that we taught he super fast. She`s way nice and I`m excited for her.
Her baptism was kind of a miracle because we told all the people to be at the church at 2:15 so we could all walk to the pool together (it`s pretty far) and everyone said okay, but it was 2:40 and nobody was there and it was about to rain. So my companion and I went and we prayed asking that the people would show up and that it wouldn`t rain. Then we left and headed over to the pool.
We were so blessed to get there and see that a lot of people just wanted to get straight there and were waiting for us! and then more members showed up afterward! and it never rained until like half an hour after the baptism. God is so great.
The baptism was good besides the fact that the water went up to my chest and her chin hahaha. But it still works.
I`ve felt my testimony grow a lot about god answering just the little prayers. The little prayers in our hearts have so much power if we`re sincere and willing to act.
And fun fact! Today for the first time in the mission field I found a scale! I weigh about 170 pounds! wow... haha. That`s a lot of sweat
Sorry, there isn´t a picture of the baptism because I left my camera in the house, but next week I´ll send one next week.

October 21, 2013 - Exorcist!

So this was a good week! yesterday we had NINE investigators at church! It was awesome! 5 are the result of a reference that we got from a member. This investigator is named Denis and she´s so nice and loves the gospel, but the sad thing is she can´t get baptized... She is living with a guy that she´s not married to and he´s living in adultery, but takes really good care of Denis and her granddaughters, he pays for everything so she says she can´t leave him... So we´re working on that and more than anything focusing on her granddaughters and all the other references that she´s giving to us.
We had this guy come to church who talks like batman because he used to have cancer from smoking, but now he´s good haha.
So this last week we had an interesting, scary, and in the end spiritual experience....
We went to visit a member and she was all good and happy and then she stopped us and said "Elders, we have a problem in the house (she´s the only member that lives there but like 10 other people live there). She said that her niece was acting really strange and that the whole house was scared for her. She told me to look at the niece through the window and she was just in a blank stare. We asked what the problem was and she said that a few days before she went with some friends to a place and came back really weird. And anytime that somebody said something about God, or a prayer, she would start this blood curdling scream. So yeah, the whole house hold was freaked out. Her high school sent her home and said she needed professional help as well. And really she just wouldn´t talk. Only scream whenever somebody mentioned god.
As I was sitting there listening to the story I looked over at the niece again and she gave me the darkest look I´ve EVER received. I then asked the member, "Okay, what do you think it is?" She said, "I think she´s possessed and I asked an ex-missionary and he said to talk to you guys, and everyone in my house wants me to talk to you too."
So I told her we wanted to talk to the niece, but first I was going to go and call the mission president and the branch president. I told the branch president what had happened and he said (literally), "AH FETCH!!!, I don´t know, call your mission president," hahaha. I called the mission president and he said, "Well Elder, if you feel like you can... go ahead and give her a blessing."
So we went back to the house and the niece was outside and wouldn´t talk or look at us, but shook our hands. I told the member to go and ask the parents for permission to give her a blessing and they said it was okay. So then we went into a room and I said "Okay Cati... We´re gonna give you a priesthood blessing so that you can feel better," She looked at me and started breathing REALLY hard, but nodded her head just barely.
I felt SOOOOO nervous!!!! but I remembered president Uchtdorf, "Doubt your doubt before you doubt your faith," Then my companion and I put our hand on her head and blessed her. I don´t know what I said completely, but afterwards it was really quiet...... and then.......
.....GASP!!!!!! She screamed and then started hyperventilating.... but slowly calmed down and relaxed... We stayed there for a little while until she could talk and just said that she felt really tired because she hadn´t slept in 3 days, but now she could think for herself....
WHAT A RUSH!!!! I´m just SOO glad I was worthy, but I know we didn´t do anything. We were just there. The spirit during the blessing was so strong and I know that god was there present and helped another one of his children through his servants.
We have a lesson with this niece today and we´re going to go see if she wants to get baptized now hahah.
We also have a baptism this week! Her name is Angelica and she´s great. She´s so well prepared.
Love you all! bye! Thank you all for the letters and support that you send.



October 14, 2013

So this week was good because we found a lot of new people to teach including a few families that seem to be rather interested so that was awesome, but unfortunately we lost some of our best investigators... We´ve been teaching this Hernandez family and they were doing really well, but last Sunday they didn`t come to church and then all week long they would hang up every time we called and never were in their house. We sent some members over to see what happened and they said that the family basically just doesn´t want to get baptized. They want to go to church but they feel pressured into baptism. It´s really sad and it got me a little down, and they didn`t even come to church on Sunday, but we´re praying and fasting for them hoping that they´ll talk to us again.
We have another investigator that is going well and she lives with her granddaughters who also want to be baptized, but we found out that the grandma has a little afternoon delight fella.... he is very open about his adultery and says that he´s with two women, and our investigator just laughs... we´re going to have a chat with her in about 2 hours haha.
We have another great investigator that should be getting baptized next week and she´s awesome. she doesn´t drink, smoke, drink coffee (amazing for colombia), and isn´t fornicating! haha. Her name is Angelica.
I want to share a cool experience. Yesterday we went to visit a family of recent converts and the dad is inactive right now. He never wants to talk to us, but he said he would yesterday. We were in the lesson and I was answering his questions and teaching and then realized that I was talking a lot and not letting my companion speak. I then felt a strong impression that my companion should talk, it was cool. So I stopped and looked at him. My awesome companion who has only been a member for a year then started to testify and cry and the spirit got so strong. I felt so glad just to listen to the spirit to let my new companion strengthen is testimony. It was a really neat experience. I like training a lot.
Not many investigators came to church yesterday, but we´ll get `em!!! Okay I love you all. bye!