Alright, just to save time, cuz I now have
none left, I am just going to send you all what I wrote to my mission president
this week because...it´s basically a novel. I am really sorry if some of the
things that I say/said don´t really make a lot of sense. All you American
spanish speakers understand me :) I have kind of lost some english speaking
abilities along with my ability to form sentances properly.... but it´s
alright, I´ve got the rest of my life to figure it out again :)
Dear President Stellmon,
Whoo...this week was the most stressful week
of this whole transfer! It was also the week that we worked the hardest, even
if our numbers don´t really show it, and it´s the week that we were the most
exhausted....but it was also the week that we saw the most miracles and the
week that I cried the most haha. It was amazing! I have felt the Spirit so
powerfully in this transfer and I have definitely felt my faith increasing
immensely. Haha I don´t even know where to begin.... well, the main miracle
that we have been able to see is with Areli and her family. Areli has been an
investigator for a while and when I first got here and we started visiting her,
she never really paid attention in the lessons and when we invited her to come
to church she never came. We even passed by her house to pick her up three
times and no one ever answered the phone or the door and so we just went to
church by ourselves. So yeah, that was happening for a while with her. We
invited her to baptism when Sister Juncá and I first got here and she accepted
a date and everything and we even put a date for her and her husband so that
they could get married and they made plans and all that but they fell through
and they once again were not progressing. So then we kind of stopped going with
them regularly and we just started going every once in a while when Sister
Guadarrama was here. Then, one Sunday, a member told us, "Areli y su
familia estan aqui". My eyes got wide and I started franticly looking
around and I was like "what!? Really? Where are they!?" I turn
around, and there they are! Areli, Juan Carlos and their two little kids. I was
shocked and pleasantly surprised and I ran over to them and said hi and I was
super impressed because Areli looked very nice and she put make up on and
everything! So yeah, that was the beginning of this whole miraculous process!
Something in HER changed and SHE was the one that had desires to progress and
come to church because that Sunday, we didn´t pass by her house nor did we pass
by earlier in the week to invite her to come to church, she just showed up! It
was amazing :) so after that, we started visiting her again and she suddenly
was a lot more attentive in the lessons and she made amazing comments and
opened up a lot more with us! (this all happened this transfer). So then we were
sitting in our house in our planning session and we were talking about the
baptismal dates that we were going to put with people and we decided that we
needed to put into practice the things that we had taught to the zone in the
zone conference about putting effective baptismal dates with investigators. So
we first just stopped what we were doing, got down on our knees and started
praying about the dates that we had previously thought of. With two of the
dates, we changed them because while we were praying, we felt that Eber and
Areli needed to have a different baptismal date. So then we prayed again and
waited. We received an answer that was very specific for each investigator. The
answer that we received for Areli was that she needed to be baptized on the 7th
of november. When we went with her, we decided that we needed to talk about the
law of chastity and so we just opened the first page of the pamphlet and had
her read it. She read
"Nuestro Padre Celestial le ama y quiere
que usted sea feliz hoy y siempre. Él ha dado consejos y mandamientos a través
de Sus profetas para ayudarle. Un mandamiento que es vital para su paz y
felicidad es el que se refiere a la pureza sexual, conocido como la ley de
castidad. El Señor instituyó esa ley desde el principio y le recalcó su
importancia al profeta José Smith como parte de la restauración del evangelio
de Jesucristo. La obediencia a este mandamiento es un requisito para el
bautismo en La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos
días."
After she read that, I asked her,
"Hermana, ¿que es lo que entiende de lo que usted leyó?" And she
said, "That I need to get married." we were shocked that she said
that because it was perfect! So yeah, then we asked her if she would like to
get baptized and if she would like to get married. She said yes :) and she told
us that the Spirit had been prompting her the whole week that she needed to get
baptized. It was incredible! We went with her two times after that and
everytime we went we left her the commitment to pray about her baptismal date
to know when it should be and I think I already told you all about it how we
prayed and she prayed but she didn´t feel a date, she just knew that it was
something that she needed to do, but her husband was the one that said that she
was going to get baptized in november and then he said "like, the 7th of
november" and Sister Sánchez and I almost fell out of our chairs because
it was the exact date that we had received as our answer! It was amazing and we
put the date with her and she accepted it and then we told them about a thing
where they could get married for free! (Our ward mission leader told us about
the whole free wedding thing) but, here is where the stress comes in, what he
failed to do was give us all the details all at once. What he did instead was
only find out little by little all the info and then as he was finding it out,
he told us. So, we found out little by little about the "free"
wedding. Yep, it was one of those "too-good-to-be-true" things....because
what they had to do was have all their paperwork all done and turned in before
the 5th of november and that is what our mission leader told us so we told that
to Areli and Juan Carlos and they actually got right on it and they got their
papers all turned in on time and everything! But then, our mission leader calls
us and reads the paper that has all the information about the wedding and it
turns out that the papers still had to be turned in before the 5th but that the
wedding was going to be in PUEBLA, not even in Tehuacan, and it wasn´t going to
be until the 25th if november!!!! What!? Umm...yeah, that was not ok. So yeah,
when we heard that we started getting stressed out because we felt lied to and
then we were the ones that had to tell Areli and her partner and we had to tell
them that now they would be the ones that would have to pay for the wedding
because it wasn´t going to be free.....and they have no money.... but basically
the Lord blessed us SO much and He totally just prepared the whole way for this
cute little family. He provided a very kind and generous member who isn´t even
a member of our ward, who was willing to pay for their wedding, He helped them
to feel the Spirit the day before they were going to get married because Satan
was working super hard against them and he was trying to convince them to not
get married and....ah! It´s a long story....haha this is the reason why I
didn´t even know where to start but, basically they called us on friday morning
and told us that they weren´t going to get married ONE DAY BEFORE HER
"BAPTISM!!!" So we just booked it to her house to talk to her (and I
wasn´t even in my area because we were in interchanges but sister sanchez
called me and told me what happened and I started feeling uneasy and I told her
to go and talk to them right then in that same moment). I tried to finish up my
session of personal study but I was so distracted with what I was just told
that I couldn´t think about anything else and I couldn´t concentrate on my
studies. So after I ended my study with a prayer, I looked at sister Rodriguez
and she looked at me and we both just said, alright, let´s go! and we prayed
and left the house to go talk to Areli and help them understand that the
adversary was the one that was causing all of this confusion and trying to
convince them to not get married. When we got there, we knocked on the door
several times and we waited outside for like 5-10 minutes and then Hermana
Sanchez and Hermana Estrada came out and they told us what was happening and
they told us that Areli and Juan were going to have a companionship inventory
and that we would come back in a half an hour. We returned 35 minutes later,
knocked on the door and waited. Areli answered the door and she just smiled at
us and said "Que sí!" and we screamed and clapped and we were just so
excited! we planned the hour in which we would leave so that they could get
married that same day. When we got to the CIS, the place where there were going
to be married, they told us that THERE WERE NO JUDGES THAT COULD DO THE CEREMONY!!
Oh my gosh. I couldn´t believe it!! They told us that they were so sorry and
that if we came back the next day they would get them married by 9:15 A.M and
that it would be the most beautiful wedding ever. So, the next day, we get all
ready and we get to the CIS and the judge is there! And it truly was the most
beautiful wedding and the judge said some amazing things! So yeah, even though
this letter is super long I cut down the story a lot and to make a long story
cut short cut even shorter, Areli got married and got baptized the same
saturday! And it was a miracle that the judge came and that they got married on
a saturday because....that doesn´t happen! They don´t do weddings on saturdays!
And another thing that is just a side note is that Areli has a cute little son
who is three years old and when we sang the closing hymn at his mom´s baptism,
he felt the Spirit very very strongly, so strongly in fact, that he was crying!
I was leading the music and my comp was playing the piano so when we finished
the song and we both sat down, we asked him what was wrong and he just sniffled
and wiped his tears and he cried again during the prayer that my companion said
and I felt the Spirit as well and was so touched by the innocence and purity of
this cute little boy that I was just overcome by the Spirit and I joined in
crying with him! It was a very beautiful moment and an amazing day, despite all
the stress that we all felt.
I know without a doubt that this is the only
true church on the earth and that Christ is at the head of it. I know that our
God is a God of miracles and that He prepares the way for His children to
complete His commandments. I know that miracles exist and that God answers
prayers and that His power is stronger and more powerful than any other force
or power here on the earth or in the universe. I am grateful for this gospel in
my life and for the Spirit as well and for all the things that I have learned
and felt over the course of my life and my mission up till this point in my
life.
I hope that you and Sister Stellmon have a
great week and I will see you guys tomorrow :)
I also hope that all of you have an amazing
week and that you can all keep working hard and that you can do your part so
that you can receive all the blessings that the Lord has prepared for you and
so that you can all be worthy of seeing and being part of mighty miracles. I
love you all!
Love always,
Hermana Walker
P.s here are some pics of the wedding and
baptism :)
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| Areli's Baptism with her son, me and Hrmna Sanchez |
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| Group Family Baptism Picture |
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| Me at Areli's Beautiful Wedding! :) |
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