Hola a Todos! <Hello everyone!>
Wow, ha sido un tiempito, yo creo, desde que yo he escrito un correo de grupo jaja pero bueno <It has been a little while, I think, since I wrote a group mail haha but good>.
Everyone keeps telling me “welcome back” but I honestly feel like I never left. This island has gone through a lot and the people too and you can see it in everything here. There’s a lot of damage still from Huracan Maria and the island is still trying very hard to come back to where it was before. Everywhere we go I can’t help but see the blue tarp ceilings and houses that are missing pieces. I can’t even imagine how these people feel right now.
I’m honestly just glad that we were allowed back so that we can do our best to act as the Savior and be in the service of our fellow Boricua. The Lord has an amazing plan for each and every one of us that included this humbling experience of Huracan Maria and although it hurt a lot of the island, I think it helped the people become a little more desperate for the things of God.
The people I’ve met in the last few days have been different than any other people I’ve ever met. Yes, there are still annoying millennials who ignore the Gospel at their doorstep but so many more people have this light of true intention in their eyes. It’s so much easier to see their desire now; at least for me.
We had an amazing opportunity to join up with another zone this week and do a service project in one of my areas, Yauco. It is high up in the mountains and we couldn’t help but feel immensely blessed for what we have once we got there. The people we met had been without water and power since Maria arrived and are looking at another 6 months until it gets to them way out there in the mountains.
I’ll attach a few pictures from the project, but it was such a humbling experience to meet these people and see their humble part of the island. At the end of the service project, we were able to just sit down with a group of people and introduce them to the Book of Mormon. 12 missionaries and 9 copies of the Books of Mormon later, we had so many people asking when we could come by and teach them more we were a little overwhelmed.
They all told us that they were surprised to see the Mormons helping out. They thought we were like Jehovah’s Witnesses and just chased people down streets. But when they saw us helping, they noticed the light of Christ in us, which in turn allowed them to listen to our message with even more open hearts.
I have such a strong testimony of how service helps people receive Christ. The Lord wants us to teach how He did and it wasn’t through meaningless acts of habitual niceties. He served with real intent and a whole lot of love. I know if we can really get out there and serve a person and get to know them, they will be able to see Christ’s love in us. And when people want to know how to get that same light, then we know how to adequately preach the gospel of our Savior to them. I love service!
I have no more time left to write but I know the Lord will be with us and will protect us as we go about doing His work on this amazing island. I love the people I’m working with and could not be more thankful for all of your help in me getting to where I am spiritually. I could not have gotten here without the help of those who lifted me. so thank you all.
More updates next week. Please pray for the Lord’s work to flourish throughout the world. I know your prayers will be answered.
Ciao pues <goodbye then>,
Hermana Thelin
