“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” – Winston Churchill
August 1, 2011
Hola hola hola!
So I had my first baptism!! It was awesome! First, let me explain what happened. Thalia is a 14 year-old girl who has been investigating the church for months now. She is a spunky little thing and lots of fun. Her brother joined the church two years ago and is the only member of his family. Well, Thalia received her answer that the church is true as we watched a movie about the Restoration of the Gospel. Her parents were less than thrilled and getting permission was an issue. But they agreed, we set the date, she got interviewed by the District Leader and on the day of the baptism we went over to have the permission sheet signed. Her brother went in to have their dad sign it and came out white as a ghost. “He said he won’t sign it!” The baptism was in 1 hour!! I was shaking in my hightops, as my little sister Rae would say. Thalia was upset so we told her that she needed to go in there and tell her parents that she really wanted to get baptized and why. She went inside and left us three missionaries praying with all our hearts that she would get permission. In that moment, I thought of all the prayers that are said in temples around the world for missionaries- that missionary work can continue, about all of you, my family and friends, back at home praying for me and for my investigators and how powerful those prayers are. After a few minutes, she came out and she had permission! It was a miracle! It took a lot of courage for her to face her parents and tell them. They knew that it would be a lifestyle change and a huge commitment and I think they were worried that she wouldn’t live up to it- but in the end they gave her permission. They didn’t come to the baptism however- I think that is pretty common here- but it was wonderful nonetheless. Her brother baptized and confirmed her- he is preparing for a mission and it was a cool experience for all who attended. Earlier in the day we had a service project and a lunch- the youth here are awesome. There are about 25 and they all came to the baptism. We have a baptismal date with Mariela, Thalia´s cousin now...it is in a few weeks.
We have two other investigators, Carolina, whose main concern is that she doesn’t want to give up praying to the Virgin Mary because she has a lot of love for her, and Patrocinia, who doesn’t believe that Christ can change her life. Estamos en la lucha por ellas, or, we are in the fight for them.
I had a wonderful experience in Sacrament Meeting seeing Thalia get confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Following her confirmation, Mercedes, an adorable 10 year-old girl, gave a talk. She spoke clearly and well, but her talk lasted only 30 seconds. I was thinking, wow, that was short, even though that’s how long it would be in primary. She came back down and sat with her parents who were sitting in front of us. Her parents were beaming with pride and smothered her with hugs and kisses upon returning. Her parents couldn’t have been more pleased and thrilled with her performance and it was, in fact, a great job for a 10 year-old. It got me thinking about our Heavenly Father. Sometimes we feel inadequate, like we aren’t good enough, we don’t measure up. But our Heavenly Father knows us. He knows our talents, our weaknesses, our abilities and he gives us challenges and expects us to do our best to overcome them. As we do our best, we can be sure that he is looking down on us as these parents looked at Mercedes...with pure love and joy, so proud of us. Our Father in Heaven loves us perfectly because He is perfect. And so whatever our abilities, let us use them- even if they are that of a 10 year-old and then we can be rest assured that He is pleased with us.
Being in a trio with a Latina has helped my Spanish immensely but at the same time, it has showed my deficiencies in the language as well. It is something that the adversary would have me focus on- what I don’t know, instead of all that I do know. It makes me think...why don’t they just send Latinas here, who already speak? But I can’t doubt that Heavenly Father has a perfect knowledge of what He is doing and that I am here for a reason. I will trust in that reason, even if, up to this point, I only speak as well as a 10 year old :)
Back to saving souls...
Until next week,
Hermana Brittner
PS. One of the funniest moments at the baptism was this: There are two huge doors in front of the font. The brethren opened one side with a key but the other one, you had to reach up to the top and unlatch it. It was pretty high! None of the brethren could reach it. So they asked me, being about 6 inches taller than everyone to do it and I opened it with ease. Everyone laughed, including me. I knew there was a reason they sent me to Paraguay ;)
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