Still in Congreso

June 16, 2015

HOLAAAAAA FAMILIA!

TRANSFERS today and dun dun dunnnnnn! I´m still in Congreso with Hermana Lopez. How strange, it's very unusual that companions stay together for more than two transfers! So we know that we are going to make history here in congreso! I love it here and I want to serve my entire 18 months in Congreso. The ward members are INCREDIBLE.

Wow. I don´t think i´ve ever had a week so full of miracles in my entire life. We were teaching Melody (18) and she is AWESOME, she understands everything so quickly and said that the church is the only place where she feels like all her problems are gone! She really wants to repent and take away the burdens of guilt. Her baptismal date was for this sunday but her mom is difficult. Her mom said that it is too fast to be baptized and that she needs to wait months or YEARS. She even said "it would be a miracle if my mom said yes." We talked about how miracles depend on two things, the will of God and our faith. Melody had been praying that her mom will accept and support her in this decision, but it didn´t seem very likely. Then Wednesday we went to visit her and brought the baptismal dress. and AHHH she was so excited and her mom was there and saw it and we asked if she was going to come THIS SUNDAY ;) she said YES.

Entonces, Melody y Juankarlo were both baptized sunday!!! it was so great. After their baptism, they shared their feelings and it was so powerful! Juankarlo (his family is in Perú, his wife and daughter are already baptized and his son was baptized saturday, so now they can work towards the temple!!) His testimony was so precious. he said with tears in his eyes "I have never been so excited about anything in my entire life! I feel like a completely new person" I know they both are going to be super strong converts because their testimonio already is deeprooted in their hearts. And they have good connections in the ward that are going to take care of them when we leave.

Friday was WOOOOOH. sometimes miracles are a bit quiet and you need to really be looking for them or you´ll miss what God is doing. But this was a miracle so undeniable we might as well have had an angel come down! We were walking to search for someone (4pm) and we passed by and contacted someone who is incharge of the apartments. and he really wasn´t interested and said "thanks for the card but I live far away and Sundays we are busy" okay. and we went on our way. Later we had an appt with Julio a las 7 y Juankarlo a las 8. But Julio wasn´t there!!! so we thought maybe Juankarlo can be at 7:30 and we can see if Julio is back at 8;30. When we got to Juankarlo he wasn´t home either!! But right then after 5 minutes he came home! we were able to have our lesson! As were were leaving we walked by the same man we contacted early and he was so excited and said HERMANAS! HE WANTS TO TALK TO YOU. and that is how we met DAVID (que nombre, huh dad?) He thought we were Jehova´s witnesses but anyway said he has been searching for religion and peace. We had two lessons with him last week and came to church and saw the two baptisms!! tiene fecha bautismal por June 28. But after our first lesson, his 4 month old daughter died 5 years ago, and he told us "I haven´t had a good night sleep in 5 years but last night I went to bed at 10pm and woke up at 9am. I know it is because of the prayer you said yesterday in my house!" What faith. I know he is going to be such a strong convert as well! the members are really fellowshipping and he had an amazing experience Sunday.

What a gran privilegio it is to teach children of God. Sometimes I think, wow I can´t believe God has so much confidence in me! I feel so priviledged when I have the opportunity to speak and I can see in their eyes and feel in my heart the Spirit. I´m so lucky to be the instrument that brings the gospel to others!! Missionary work. it´s just the best

I love you allllllllllllll. MUWAH.

-Hermana Haight

Awesome Week

THIS WEEK WAS AWESOME! Julio was confirmed and the lesson in gospel principles was about ESPIRITU SANTO! how perfect! AHH I don´t have much time but this new family came to the ward and we had lunch with them yesterday. We were talking about our experiences in the mission and everything and the husband started to explain how he was baptized and then started to have SOOO many challenges so he went inactive for a while, but now he is a returned missionary and married.

I don´t know if I told you but Melody our investigator who is INCREDIBLE. she read the Book of Mormon and was telling us about how there is Laman and Lemuel and Nefi and they had to take all their gold to try to get the records but two of them didn´t want to. and their dad had a dream about a tree. and she remembered everything! their names y todo. and she told her nephew and he remembered everything too! que capa. And Melody wants to be baptized, but her mom said when she is baptized she is going to have a lot of trials. 

So the new member in the ward has the same story that is the fear of the mama!! He said he would come with us to visit them and share his experiences. We are praying that her mom will accept her decision and support her in her baptism. I don´t know if that makes any sense pero MILAGROS A FUL. (tons of miracles). 

OKAY LOVE YOU CHAO.

Hermana Haight

Mission Life

I don´t think I say it enough but my companion is awesome!! She is an incredible example of hard working and faithful missionary. She is such a great support and I know if I ever need anything she is there to help. I am so glad God has given us companions to share the good times and the bad and the funny. (her cooking is soooo delcious too)

Muchos milagros esta semana. the mission is such an adventure. This whole week we ran out of minutes for our phone and in Argentina you pay first and when you run out of credit you can´t call anymore. I guess its kind of good so you don´t go over your minutes. But i thought how crazy!! we can´t call to verify appointments or call members to come with us or call to order pizza (jk mi compañera doesn´t like pizza, but with Hermana Espinosa we did). AND we also ran out of text messages too. so our phone was basically just a clock this week! hahaha. but God knows and I know that it is all part of His great plan because we saw miracles that never would have happened if we had a working phone.

One day we didn´t have a member to do visits with us! and we were trying to think of who we could drop by and ask. And my companion said "how about Omar?" a less active who we met in the street a couple weeks back and visited once. I thought uhhhh unlikely but we´ll try it! so we did. and He said "ohhhh, I was just about to leave" and we said REALLY QUICK we´re going to visit someone who was just baptized and then teach a lesson with another investigator and you´ll be back in 40 minutes. So he said okay!

 It was incredible! we asked him to read a scripture in a lesson and he read it, then asked Julio "what does this scripture mean to you?" He was teaching the lessons, not us!! His testimony was spot on! and he absolutely LOVED it. He didn´t want to leave when 40 minutes was up. and He asked "what is the age limit to be a missionary?"  we were so happy that we could have a member with us to help teach and that Omar could feel the excitement for the Gospel and really have a great time with the missionaries. Crazy how it all works out so perfectly! I am so glad that our phone wasn´t working so that we could have this experience with Omar and that my companion could be so sensitive to the promptings of the spirit.

For some reason I just felt so guilty this whole week. I felt like I was never doing enough. That there was always someone else I could have talked to. Or I could have had an even better attitude or could have explained something clearer. I felt like a bad missionary! And this feeling that I could always be better was eating me alive. And it was strange because we have a ton of people we are teaching, we could see the fruits of our labors. We were having super success but I still felt this burden and uneasiness of not reaching perfection. I shared my feelings with my companion and she comforted me and asked if I thought God was pleased with the work I was doing? And said Satan is going to try to do anything possible to derail our focus and distract and weaken our power. 

  

Saturday we visited Julio to see how he was doing. He drank Tuesday so we have been really concerned and doing everything to help him. Saturday he was soooooooo sad. He just felt so guilty for drinking tuesday after he has been baptized. We asked him if he had repented and he said yes, so we explained his sins are forgiven and God remembers them no more. I just thought WOW THIS IS WHY I HAVE BEEN FEELING SO GUILTY ALL WEEK LONG. so I could understand the feelings of Julio and say the things that gave me the most hope when I was in the same situation. I felt honored to be given this trial so I could help someone else!

<3Hermana Haight