This is Karla and she is incredible and i love her sooo much. She got baptized by her brother :) And this is me filling the font!
This is my district :) Best people in the world :)
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| Never forget that i love you!! |
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| This is the beach that isn't sand, it is sea shells. Look at how blue the water is!!! |
Hi Family :)
Wow this week was so good. I am learning so much here, it is unreal. First off as you saw, i had my first baptism. What an incredible experience to see someone go from knowing nothing about the gospel, to being in the font, getting baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was such a blessing. Plus we had an investigator family there at the baptize. That right there is a huge miracle. The baptisms are right after church. So these people had already been in church for 3 hours with their 3 kids. And then we were getting ready for the baptism and i remember that i forgot to tell them about the baptism. I ran out of the church and luckly that hadn´t left yet so i invited them to stay and watch. And they did!! This is amazing because the President of our branch said that 70% of investigators that go to a baptism, get baptized. I really hope they are part of the 70%. We are going to continue to work hard with them.
So we were super happy for this baptism, but sad at the same time because we were supposed to have two yesterday. The other was supposed to be Fabiola. She was golden. Accepting the lessons, reading the book of mormon, praying, ahh and so prepared. But then two days before her baptism her husband showed up, who had left her a few month before. He wanted to get back together, and told her he didn´t want her to get baptized because he is very catholic. She told us all this in a text on Thursday, and that night, Friday, and Saturday we went by her house at least 5 times, hoping she´d be home because she was ignoring all our calls and text. Still today we haven´t heard from her...Not sure what will happen, but here i have learned that Heavenly Father´s hand is in all things. He knows all, and has a plan for everyone. So we don´t know what´s happening with Fabiola, but he does. And she now knows what the spirit it. She knows the truth. She has prayed and received an answer. So i hope that one day she will remember that. Whether that is tomorrow, or not for a few more years. I just hope she will not give this all up just because someone told her to.
This week we spent quiet a bit of time searching for families. This branch is so close to being a ward. We just need a few more people at church and some priesthood holders. So families are what we need. Plus this gospel is all about families. :) Anyways, one night we were walking around, very wet and not knowing where to go. We stopped, prayed asking for direction and for someone to be placed in our path, and then kept walking. We started feeling hopeless, finding no one. And so we started walking to a less active families house and right before we got there i saw these two kids outside a house and i knew i had to talk to them. So i started talking. This is something i do a lot. I will see someone and just start talking, because i can do the little small talk of how are you, how´s your day been, we´re missionaries and such. And then Hermana Holmes is great at testifying a little and asking if we can share a message. So we did this. Even before Hermana Holmes asked if we could share a message their mom invited us in, got all their little chairs out and we were off. It wasn´t a full family, just a mom, 15 year old daughter, and 2 little kids. But we started teaching the Plan of Salvation, which is one i feel like I know pretty well. As i was about to share the part I usually do, i felt very strongly not to, to simple testify of the power if this plan. I thought of a quote that you sent me mom that says something about a simple testimony can have a big effect or something like that... And so i did that. I testified about how this plan can change their lives. That God has a plan for their family and about the amazing opportunity we all have to be here. To learn and to grow. And that we don´t have to play a guessing game, God has a plan. For everyone. He is there, waiting and ready to help, all we have to do is ask. Ask for his help, his guidance and he will be right there. Okay ya i didn´t say all that just like that because my spanish is still not that good... Haha but those were my thoughts that i was trying to get across. The spirit was definetly there, helping me, but more importantly helping them. As i finished we sat there, and then i asked the 15 year old daughter how she was feeling. She started to tear up, saying that she had never felt this feeling before in her life, but she liked it. It was a good. Wow. Booom. Her mom also was feeling it, but the daughter, man you could see it in her eyes. And right then we knew she was ready and invited her to be baptized. She accepted and is preparing to be baptized in one month :) hopefully we can get the rest of the family too, but ahh what a blessing to have found her, someone so ready and willing.
She made me think of the power the youth of this church have. Some of the strongest members in this branch here are the youth. There is a group of about 5 young men, all about 15 or 16. EVERY week they are at church, at every activity, and always studying the Book of Mormon, even when most of their families aren´t. It is such a testimony of the choosen generation. That Heavenly Father has really kept all of us for these latter days to be the strong ones. Especially now.
Okay i´m almost out of time. But know that i love you all so much :) I am loving this opportunity to learn and to grow. It´s so hard. But like the good hard. Like a good workout. :) Haha I hope all is well at home, thank you all for updating me on your lives.. besides laura cameron and michael...;) haha
RANDOM FACTS ABOUT SANTA CRUZ:
We are offically in the rainy season here and so everyday around 3 or 4 it starts to rain. But it is a down pour. AND the thunder is sooooooo loud. Like make you almost pee your pants loud... Haha
Oh one day this week the rain was crazy... Super hard. And we forgot umbrellas... So as we leave a lesson it was like jumping into a pool... Haha i just had to hold my breath and go because it isn´t warm rain here.. It´s cold. Which usually feels great, but that day i was already cold. Another day i remember my umbrella... Which was good, because it rained like all day. We walked through puddles that were like up to my knees.. Haha boo ya puddle jumping for days ;)
The lightening is crazy here. I love it :) haha there are many times when it´s not raining, or thundering, but there is lightening the lights up the whole sky. There have been a few nights that we walk home to the the light of the lightening.
The men here know 4 words in English.... ¨i love you baby¨ haha but is sounds more like... i luf yu bebe haha it cracks me up. We always just keep walking and say adiós. That´s the other thing... Here as you walk past people, many times they will just say adiós. Its like you walking down the street saying Goodbye to everyone you saw. At the beginning i thought it was way weird, but now i find myself doing it all the time.
I was going to write and say that i hadn´t gotten sunburnt yet but that changed today... haha
There is this spot right outside our church building that i like to call the splash zone. It is always covered by a TON of birds.... And sometimes they splash.... Hahaha one day i got splashed. ALL over my shoulder. Ya grosssss.
Another place here i call the death zone. Every Sunday morning there are like 30 vultures... i don´t know why.. But man sometimes i think to myself... I´m dead or something? Hahaha just kidding :)
Well that´s it for this week :) I´ll send more next week though :)
Have a wonderful week :)
Love,
Hermana Rachel Peters
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