Guess what......... I HAD MY FIRST
2 BAPTISMS THIS PAST WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Juan and Celines were baptized
on Saturday and it was AWESOME!!!!!!!!! I honestly can't even describe how it
feels, to see someone accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to make that
covenant. AH!! The church is true!!!! I wish all of you could get to know them,
they are SO great!! The week was kind of crazy helping them prepare and working
with the ward to have a baptism, but the Lord was definitely in charge, and now
they are both members of the church!! I just can't thank Heavenly Father enough
for giving me and my companion the opportunity to teach them and to see how the
Gospel changes lives. Later that night after the baptism, Celines called us to
tell us how great she feels and that at the moment she was reading the Book of
Mormon!! Ahhh my heart melted!!! She is seriously such a sweetheart. And it's so
awesome too because her dad has a hard time seeing, so she reads to him from the
Book of Mormon every day. These 2 are such gems! And their confirmation was so
special too, they were both completely elated after they received the Holy
Ghost, and both of them explained how they could feel it so powerfully. What an
awesome weekend it was for sure here in San
Sebastian!!!
So this week we received a call
from a lady who lives right next to one of our investigators and she said that
she wanted us to come visit her!! Haha ok? We thought it was a lady that we have
talked to several times who lives across the street from our investigator, but
when we went to her house she said that she didn't call us! Haha umm alright? So
she told us to walk down the street to another house where this lady lived, and
ask her. So we did, and it turns out she's the one that called us! And we didn't
even know her!! She is an older lady who lives by herself and someone had told
her that the missionaries would come visit her so she called us!! Hahaha she is
so awesome!! She is Catholic but she says that a lot of her extended family is
Mormon..... :) YES! Haha so we are definitely going to work hard with her! And
it was so funny because when we started sharing our little message she looked at
me and said, I don't even know where but I really think I've seen you before!
You just have that familiar face!! Hahaha so Hna Sosa told her that we were
probably all best friends in the Premortal life hahaha great way to start a
lesson right??
So this last Pday one of the
ladies in our ward took us hiking to some underground caves!! SO cool!! We had
to hike about an hour or so to the first one which was a bit smaller and you
actually had to slide down into a little hole to get inside!! Haha when I first
looked at it I thought, no way. I'm not doing it!! But I'm so glad I did!! Haha
and it seriously was like a Harry Potter moment, it looks so small from the
outside and then you get in and it's HUGE!! The other one was absolutely massive
and went super far back into the mountain!! I have a couple pictures so I'll try
and send those.
This week was a little rough for
some of our other investigators though, it's hard when they don't keep
commitments! The family with the teenage kids, the kids always happen to be gone
when we have an appointment, and when they are there, they don't stay the whole
lesson. It's a bit hard, but, we keep working with them! Always follow up,
right?! But the Lord always blesses us with tender moments too! We taught our
other family this week too, the family with 4 little kids, and the first miracle
was, her boyfriend actually joined us for the lesson!!! Woo!! Baby steps!! So we
took the opportunity and talked about the family and then all of the sudden, out
of the blue, my companion starts talking about the law of chastity!!! Hahaha
which is good but I had no idea!! So I let her do her thing (she is such an
amazing and bold missionary) and they actually took it alright and they want to
talk about what they want to do! So we'll see when we visit them this week! But
it was so cute because we asked if we could do a kneeling prayer, so all 4
little kids and those parents knelt down with us in a circle and I was the one
who got to say the prayer!! It was such an awesome moment!! Really, the mom has
SUCH a desire to know and to change, we are just praying for her boyfriend to
feel the same way.
One of my funny moments this week,
we were at Juan and Celines's house and we were just talking when all of the
sudden I see this HUGE tarantula out of the corner of my eye!!!!! Luckily it was
on the other side of the room but I about lost it!! Haha spiders are really my
biggest fear!! Literally the whole time I kept eyeing it, scared that if I
turned for a second it would jump off the wall and attack me hahaha but guess
what happened!! So we had to say the prayer and I don't think I've ever been
more scared during a prayer hahahaha but guess what happened when I opened my
eyes?? It was GONE!!!! Yeah, I kinda freaked out a little hahaha but it's all
good!
Hna Sosa and I have been studying
prayer this week and man, I am SO glad we did!! Wow, prayer is absolutely
amazing!! We have the opportunity WHENEVER we want, to talk to the most powerful
being, our Heavenly Father. How incredible!! But more than that, we studied how
we need to pray. I wish I wrote down the quote but President Hinckly said in
Preach My Gospel that a lot of people treat prayer as if they are calling a
store and ordering groceries, that we are not putting actual effort in. Wow,
bold right? But it really made me think, how am I saying my prayers? Am I really
being sincere? Am I really thanking Him enough? Or am I just asking and asking
and asking and that's it? And something that I absolutely LOVE in Preach My
Gospel is that it says that we need to pray with real intent, meaning that we
are COMMITTED to act upon the answers and impressions we receive. WOW! Think
about that. When we ask for something, are we just asking and expecting it to
happen? Or are we actually doing something about it? Remember faith without
works is dead, and that when we press forward and show Heavenly Father that we
are ready to act, He is then able to guide us. How grateful I am for the
experiences I've had this week!! And especially for the opportunity I've had to
try and pray ever so sincerely. It's powerful, I testify of
that!!
Well, until next week! The Spanish
is still coming slowly but surely haha. And it kind of stinks because now that
we are at the end of a transfer (oh my goodness I've finished my first
transfer!!!!) I'm no longer the newbie missionary! Hahaha I have no excuse!!
Haha no just kidding, but really! Everyday I think I improve a little bit more,
but I still have a long way to go!! Have a great week
everyone!!!
Love,
Hermana
Holt
2 months down
our investigator's 100 year old dad
our backyard friend
Hermana Sosa's amazing food baptism invite
Celines
baptism of Juan and Celines
the sister's with Juan and Celines
CCM sisters
Holt, Gallardo, VanKammen, Madrigal, Partridge
Elder Zwick's son spoke at our conference
one hour hike to the caves
looks tiny
bigger than I thought
I made it
I'm a missionary
Mayaguez Stake Center
scary bridge that moves when you walk on it
Crazy rain Let it rain
my zone
beauty in the front
crazy fast driving and terror in the back
our mission leader's large turtles
holding it in my white skirt
