Hola a todos! <Hello everyone!>
I’ve been here for a little bit longer than a week now and we’re still trying to control the spider infestation and the weird molds in our house. I think God really wanted us to learn how to deep clean because that’s a skill I can definitely say I have.
Besides the physical disturbances in the work, we’ve been blessed with a lot of little miracles in our day-to-day life. I’ve come to realize that it honestly is just so easy to become discouraged in whatever it is you do if you aren’t willing to see the hand of the Lord in whatever you do. I can’t say coming into my area has been the most motivating thing ever. Seeing all the struggles the wards have been having and the lack of missionary work that has been going on in the last few months has really been putting a melancholy feel over everything.
I found myself pondering the things that I have learned in my mission, which you might think would be a hard thing to do seeing that I have been out 13 months now. But thanks to an inspired mission conference at the beginning of my time out here, I was given a small pocket-sized notebook that my first Mission President encouraged us to fill with things that have become more apparent in our missions. AKA a little book of what I’ve learned. I cant say I’ve captured everything I’ve learned into this little book but it does hold some fond memories of times when the Spirit has testified to me of even the simplest truths. In this book, I remember a hard time I had in my mission where I was really losing faith and becoming very discouraged, but I learned through a series of events that God cares about every detail of my life and is constantly blessing me. I can’t always see His hand in my life because I’m not nearly as smart as Him (Isaiah 55:8-9).
So, with this attitude, we tackled an area called Yauco this last week. We went in not knowing what to do, but we went in running – ready to conquer anything in our path. The day was long and hard and we spent a lot of it doing work with members, gaining their confidence and teaching them how to be missionaries. But we did take a moment and pray and ask God if there was anyone who needed us because we had some free time due to things falling through. My companion was prompted to go street contacting and we ended up yelling at some doors for about an hour before another member lesson. We found ourselves on Calle Espiritu Santo (the people here are REALLY Christian) and we contacted a woman named Lucy who said a woman visited her recently and promised to bring her a copy of the Book of Mormon. She didn’t know who the lady was, but she’s been waiting for this Book of Mormon for a bit now and when we walked up to her porch with the book in our hands she opened the gates wide open and she ended up being very interested in the gospel. She went to church in the little rama <branch> that is up in the mountains over there and she was very happy with it. God has been preparing her and we are so very thankful for the opportunity to teach her.
I don’t think I ever told you my areas by the way. We’re over 5 pueblos (villages): Yauco, Adjuntas, Guanica, Ponce 4, and Ponce 1. It’s about half of our zone. and we have been asked to act as STL’s over the Ponce Zone and Mayaguez Zone, which means exchanges with the Sisters in Cabo Rojo. I’ll let you know next week how that goes. 🙂 I’m excited to go back and help them find some of my old investigators. :))
Hasta luego <Bye>,
Hermana Thelin