“And the Lord said unto him: believest thou the words which I shall speak? And he answered: Yea, Lord, I know that thou speakest the truth, for thou art a God of truth, and canst not lie.” Ether 3:11-12
Sep. 12, 2011
Guten Tag!!!
Yep, that’s German for “good day.” You may think to yourself, “I thought she was serving in Paraguay.” Well, that’s true but this is what people often say to us as we walk down the street. They assume we are from Alemania (Germany), which I guess if you go far enough back, I am, but it’s just kind of funny, because we’re American. The reason they greet us this way is because there is a Mennonite colony up North in the Chaco where a bunch of Germans live and they believe we are one of them. Random, I know.
Well, this week just flew by. We are working with Miguel and Justo, who are16 and 9 years old. Their parents are inactive and the kids aren’t members. Well, Sunday morning we were going to pick up investigators and we see them walking to Church. You may think, big deal, unless you knew that they live at least a 45 minute walk away from church. We, as missionaries have never walked to their house, we always take the collectivo. But they walk because they can’t afford the 2.300 mil (50 cents) it costs to take the bus. They were walking and yelled hello to us. It fills a missionary with joy when they see their investigators walking to church. Little Justo asked if primary was over (church hadn’t started yet) and we said no, and he did a little skip/hop in the air, he was so happy. It was CHULINA! He was dressed in his little white shirt with his Book of Mormon in hand. We visited their family with Hermano Rojas from the Bishopric. It was a great lesson about the Plan of Salvation. We are trying to reactivate their parents. We are hoping they come this Sunday.
Hermana Young´s birthday was Tuesday and we made lemon bars and the elders made pancakes for our district meeting. It was a good day! We made her a feliz dia sign too.
Blanca didn’t come to church this week. But we are still in the fight for her. She has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith but now has a doubt about tithing.
I went out with Hermano Rojas to do visits. I love having members with us, especially return missionaries because they add so much to our visits. I learned a lot. Also, another RM accompanied us to introduce us to his friend- a family with parents and two kids. I will keep you updated if they progress. The members here are great- so filled with the faith and ready and willing to help us.
This week I talked to a man who was very angry because missionaries stopped visiting him 9 years ago when he told them he wouldn’t get baptized, along with a lot of other things. I bore my testimony and explained a few things. I explained how the Church of Jesus Christ is the only true Church and that it is the only church with authority to baptize and that really got him heated. Well, he turned to me at the end of the conversation and looked me straight in the face and told me how “cerrada” I am (how closed I am with my beliefs.) I have been thinking about that and if he is saying that I believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church on the earth today, then yes, I guess you could say I am closed because I do believe that. And that the Prophet of this Church is the only man on earth with the keys to receive revelation to direct the Church, then, yes, I guess you could say I am closed. I KNOW that this Church is true, that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that Joseph Smith restored the Church and I will tell anyone and everyone. I am not ashamed, intimidated or scared to share my testimony and tell the whole world that I am a member of this Church, a missionary of the TRUTH, calling people to come unto Christ and share in the joy that comes from the Atonement of our Savior. I know it is true and I only wish that others would come unto Christ and feel the same joy I feel as I read the scriptures, pray, go to Church and live the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Something that I have learned since being on my mission is that God always keeps his promises. He always keeps his end of the bargain with covenants. It’s up to us to keep ours. Our baptismal, temple covenants- we are promised certain things when we keep them. The 10 Commandments, words of the living prophets, we are promised certain blessings if we obey them. If we want the blessings, we have to do our part. Also, with trials, we are always promised blessings if we do our best to overcome them and rely on God throughout them. I used to think of blessings more in temporal or literal terms but now I realize that more often than not, our reward for overcoming a trial is becoming more Christ-like and developing these attributes...charity, patience, humility. So the next time you are dealing with a trial or stuck in traffic, you can think about how this is giving you the chance to practice patience :)
One of the members we eat lunch with commented on how amazed she is that we are so content as missionaries. Even though we are very far from our families, we are content and filled with peace and tranquilidad because we are doing the Lord’s work. It is true. Estoy muy contenta. And healthy. I’m grateful to be in this work. Thanks for your prayers and support.
Hemana Brittner
PS Teaching district meeting tomorrow...wish me luck!
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