“The unfailing source of hope is that we are sons and daughters of God and that His Son, the Lord, Jesus Christ, has saved us from death.” Hope, Anchor of the Soul -Liahona
April 16, 2012
It’s something fragile. Something that needs constant nourishment. Something that is not common, that not all people have. It will give you the strength and courage to do the right thing, when everyone around you is choosing the wrong. It will sustain you in your hardest moments, uplift you in your most joyful moments, and bless you in every moment.
As a missionary, I watch people grow it, strengthen it, sustain it, and sometimes lose it. The greatest moments are when someone discovers it for the first time.
It is something very important to me, perhaps the most important thing in my life. In fact, I would give my life for mine.
It’s a testimony.
A member once said that you never know when just meeting someone if they have a testimony, but it doesn’t take very long for you to find out. A testimony is so precious that if we don’t continue to nurture it through prayer, scripture study, church and temple worship, it will begin to weaken.
I had an interview with President Madariaga this week and he made me a personal promise, as he has the power to do so as the President of the Mission. He promised me that if I fulfilled the goal of contacting 75 people each week then I would find one golden investigator for every 75 people I talk to. A “golden investigator” is someone who is spiritually prepared to hear our message and usually means that they will get baptized. What a cool promise! Now I just have to do it. Our mission has been really struggling with talking to everyone around us and I have only had one week with 75 contacts on my mission! So pray for me to have the courage and drive to talk to everyone!
At this time in Villa Hayes, we have been abundantly blessed to have 6 progressing investigators, who are all reading the Book of Mormon. I think it has to do with our fast because Villa Hayes was not experiencing this success a few months ago. When we put the Lord first and consecrate ourselves to His work, we are blessed.
We had the baptism of little 10-year-old Brian this weekend and his confirmation yesterday. It was a great service. His dad baptized him, and it was wonderful. His dad is reactivating after living in the Chaco and he bore his testimony at the baptism. Brian’s dad is a great dad and really loves his kids. They are really lucky to have a dad like that, as many children do not have a dad in the picture here, let alone a worthy priesthood holder. The mission is putting a large emphasis on reactivating the parents of the children, so that they will have someone responsible to bring them to church.
So one of the worst moments of this week was when we were contacting a house in the dark in the Ciudad Nueva neighborhood, really far from our house. They weren’t interested so we were about to keep walking until I realized that my feet hurt and something was biting me. Then I looked down and realized that I had stepped on an ant hill!! I hadn’t noticed because it was dark! I flung off my shoes and started yelling. My feet were on fire!! They were just little black ants but wow, could they bite. We walked over to a member’s house and took a better look at my feet. They were already starting to swell with huge bites. I had the member say a prayer for my feet as I was resting and instantly felt better. I then made the long trek home, stopping at a pharmacy to buy antihistamine and then home to put my feet in a bucket of ice cold water. Oh, the joys of this mission! Interesting fact: the nurse told me that there are 452 different species of ants here in Paraguay. ‘All the better to bite you with!’ Fortunately my feet only itched for a few days and now they are almost completely healed.
Sunday we saw a lot of miracles. In fact, this whole week has been full of miracles. We had 9 lessons with members attending in one day, which is the highest I’ve ever had on my mission. We also had 2 wonderful investigators come to church, Lucia, who people have said is an “eternigator” because she has been investigating the church for 6 years now. She set her own baptismal date for May and is working towards it. She is the one who made me the cake. Also Leonardo came, who is getting baptized on Saturday. He moved here from the Chaco and is Cleto’s friend, an indigenous man, who lives at the traveling house, where people stay for short periods of time. The problem is that he understands a ton better in Guarani, so we have to bring interpreters (members). They both came and two families who originally went to our ward are moving back which is wonderful because we really need to fill some callings here. We also had Branch Counsel, which is so important for the growth of the branch!! Unfortunately Maria didn’t come with her kids. We are not sure if there was a misunderstanding or what, but they are still doing awesome. They read the Book of Mormon everyday together. They read so often that when we visit them, we can often hear the oldest son reading it out loud to them. Chulina!!
This week I saw a tarantula just crawling across the road. Yes, I freaked out. I also saw a toucan, someone’s pet and such a cool bird. I also saw a garden snake someone had caught. Gross.
Well, I have to say that going on a mission was one of the best decisions of my life. It has had a huge impact on who I am. Paraguay, the Gospel, missionary work, the people, a part of my heart will always be here in Paraguay. It has been the greatest adventure of my life and I feel so blessed by my Heavenly Father that I have been able to take part, even in only a small way, in this great work of bringing His children unto our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Love,
Hermana Brittner
