How is everyone doing? I am surely missing you all, but loving life!
I am not sure where to start from this week. But i learned A LOT.
First. We went and visited a less-active. Rosa Andrango. She is the type of less active that you honestly feel like will never progress. We went to visit her this week and i am ashamed to admit that i had the WRONG mindset. I wanted to have 8 lessons this day with Hermana Bahr and we had the goal. If we wanted to reach the goal we had to have a really quick lesson with Rosa. We walked in and a bunch of her nephews came in and we were kind of just sitting there and talking for awhile. I was feeling super stressed because i knew that the lesson we were about to have with Rosa would be the same as it always is (which is us talking and her NOT listening.) But as we talked with her about regular things, i could see her start to open up to us. When we finally started the lesson, she told us why she hasnt been coming to church. We really gained her confidence and we were able to help her. After that lesson i felt ashamed. I was so so concerned in my numbers for that day that i wasnt really willing to sacrifice a little bit of my time to just simply listen to someone who was needing it. If we had simply thrown a lesson in her face, she never would have told us what the true reason for not coming to church was.
Second. Ok so i really had to go to the bathroom. I was seriously dying because as you all know my bladder isnt exactly large (ok sorry, maybe TMI). So we ran into a members house to use the bathroom really quick. After we went we could obviously see that the member (hermana Salazar) was really sad. Again, we wanted to have another lesson, or in other words, better numbers. But we decided to sit down and talk with her. She talked with us and told us that her grandkids were moving to Spain and she doesnt know when she will see them again. She was sobbing. We gave her some words of comfort and then i asked her if we could say a prayer with her, to give her comfort. After, there was a noticable difference. She was happier. We didnt recieve references from her or anything, but we helped her to feel better.
I realized from these two experiences, that sometimes the best gift and service that we can give others is OUR TIME. Missionary work isnt about numbers. It is about LOVING and HELPING those that the Lord places in your pathway. This week i encourage you all to talk a deep breath and look around for someone that needs your help. And then help them.
Something hard. We went to visit Christian this week and he told us that he had really missed us. This kid loves talking about the Word of God and he LOVES the Book of Mormon. He keeps all the commandments, and he loves God. But there is something in him that is keeping him from getting baptized. We explained to him this week that baptism is a commandment and something that is necessary for salvation. He told us that he completely understands that, but that he just doesnt want to do it. WHAT??? As we were explaining every thing to him, we could feel the spirit. It was testifying to us that Christian is a really special person. We told him that. The spirit was working in him, but in the end he still refused.... and the spirit left. He told us that he is never going to be baptized. I was so so mad at him at first. I could not believe that after all the blessings, love, and answers that God had given him, he STILL would not act. But i learned from this that lots of times the Spirit works in every one of us, but we simply do not listen. And when He is too tired to keep working, he leaves. I hope that we will keep our focus on the right things, so that when the Spirit whispers, we hear.
Now i have a big shout out to my big sis Paige for something she wrote to me in her recent letter. She talked to me about how we all have desires, but sometimes our actions dont reflect our desires. I have a lot of desires. I want to be a really hard-working and obedient missionary. I want to be patient and loving and kind. I want to serve the Lord with all my heart, might, mind, and strength. But sometimes i wonder if my actions reflect my desires. I would like to believe so. But i cant help wondering, is there something more that I can be doing to be better? My goal is to make my actions in line with my desires. Always. I am grateful that i still have 13 months left in my mission to improve on this.... and a lifetime after that!
Something super happy that happened this week. We are visiting a family from the coast. And they gave us 5 GIANT avocados. Am i in heaven? YES. And we ate this dish ceviche de camaron which was so so GOOD!! We found them this week and i almost didnt talk to them (because i sort of thought they looked like the type of people that wouldnt be too interested)... but i remember that i should talk with EVERYONE because who am i to judge? so we talked to them. And it turned out that there brother that lives with them is a less active! They are so awesome!
Oh i almost forgot! FAMILIA SABANDO IS DOING SO GREAT! They are getting baptized in two weeks. I LOVE THEM WITH ALL MY HEART. I dont think i want this transfer to ever end. I love life.
And i love you all so much!
hermana neff
Oh and i ate guatita (aka cow stomach) and i actually really liked it! Who knew?
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