Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Okay everyone soooo guess what!?!?!?!

We found Elisabeth! woo hoo! we finally talked to her thursday about what happened.  And she has a lot of problems with her older sister and i dont understand all of it but i think what happened for her baptism is her sister (who doesnt really like the fact that elisabeth wants to join the church) made it so she couldnt leave the house. And then i think she was a little ashamed to talk to us for awhile. but we finally found her and we ended up baptizing her saturday.  We talked to her and finally i asked when she wanted to get baptized and she said at 9am saturday. Okay 9 am.... It was SO special.

Oh my goodness i cant explain exactly how i felt. but is was just Elisabeth, me, Hermana Rojas, Cristian (who baptized her and a friend of hers), Gustavo and nelson (who were witnesses) and Hernan (the secretary for the branch who directed) and that was it. Hermana Rojas and i used our exercise time to run to the church (well i ran really slowly as she walked it wasnt the greatest exercise but hey it was exercise) and we filled the font. and then came back and baked the banana bread we made the night before as we got ready and then left really quickly to go find elisabeth and head to the church.  So because it was really a last minute baptism hermana rojas nad i talked. I talked about baptism and the gift of the holy ghost and oh man, the love i felt for her as i stood there and looked at her and told her about the love of her heavenly father was soooo great.  And about the holy ghost and the blessings in my life because of this church.  Missionary work is so great. so soo great. I love ti. and watching her get baptized was such a special feeling.  she looked so happy.

Then sunday came...

And we went to go and find her to bring her to church for her confirmation. and she couldnt leave with us because she was watching her neices again.... but said shed be there. and she didnt come. dang it...  Then after lunch as we were heading to the church to study i felt like we should go see her. so we stopped by and she just said that she couldnt come but didnt give a reason why.  she just said she couldnt which bugged hermana rojas. She has something going on. that shes not telling us which makes me think that we did something wrong. to make her not trust us completely but i think it makes her ashamed to talk to us sometimes.  >but hermana rojas said we would visit tuesday but i felt like she just needed to talk right hten but i didnt say something. I am so dumb sometimes.

But next week we will get her confirmed. I have learned a ton about faith here. The faith to do all the things the lord asks. Study the whole time. talk to everyone in the streets. not listen to the music that plays in the street (not that i understand it anyways) or when memebers are watching tv when we come to not look.  All of these little seemingly harmless things really help with everything and especially to have the faith that we can complete the goals our president gave us when we do all of these things.  When i do my contacts in the street somehow we have more time for lessons (im not sure how that works because im using more time) or if im doing everything and trust the lord that we WILL be able to baptize saturday even when our investigators dont seem to be ready how we wanted them to be we are able to baptize.

 HAHA so wednesday we went somewhere and we had 2 different baptisms planned for this past saturday hernan and facundo and we baptized elisabeth instead... But we went somewhere and hermana rojas scheduled an appt for when we planned for a baptism and i said but we have a baptism saturday.and she was kinda like uh huh. who are we gonna baptize. and i said im not sure right now but we were told to baptize every week and therefore the lord has someone in mind for us to baptize. and lets go find them.  and then i asked her where is her faith. ahh i dont know where taht came from when i told her that. but i realized if i dont have the faith to complete all of hte things its never gonna happen. But when i have the faith it happens.  it may not happen how i want it to or the way we expect it to. But really God keeps his promises if we have the faith to let him.

It reminds me of hte movie Legacy (one of the 4 movies we can watch here...) and at the end as they are packing to leave winter quarters the dad is getting after eliza and askign why she doesnt wait for spring... and then she said something like "god promised us that he has a place of rest for us. Lets help him keep his promises."  I love that. we have to help god keep his promises.  And we do that through obedience and faith.  My companion always teaches faith and puts something on the table like a rock. and says I have faith that this rock can move.  Do you? and then we talk a little bit about it and then she moves the rock. and says look it moved. I had faith and i acted. and it moved.  I love that

Well i should go.

I love yall
have a great week!

Les quiero
hermana applegate.

Monday, March 5, 2012

hey everyone!!!!

Give my love to Sister Coombs! oh dear. that is not good and so sad to hear. I didnt know she had any health problems.. Im a little oblivious sometimes. Tell her we love her here in Argentina and are praying for her.  

Soooo this week, no baptism but we decided it was better to not have a baptism than to baptize Elizabeth before she was ready.  And we found out like wednesday that she smokes... man i wish we knew that earlier... but anyways, we are gonna work a lot with her this week and help her get ready and hopefully soon.. 

But so we have this new investigator Ofelia. and she is soooo great. We actually found her in January but she was never able to meet with us until last sunday ish (not yesterday.. the week before). (she told me this week that she just didnt want to talk to anyone) but so we found her sunday and we talked with her and invited her tocome to a family home evening we had at the church and shesaid no not this timea nd maybe she will come to church sunday. Then we prayed and she said immediately "ill go tonight and next sunday ill go to the morning meetings" wow! great! and she did go to the family home eveningand every night we went to go see her for a little bit and she had chairs sitting out with pillows for us and water and was waiting for us to come.  Waitng for us! and knew if we were later than normal or early and when we have to leave at night to get back to the pension.  She is so great and everything that we say she just accepts.  But she wont accept a baptismal date just yet she wants to be sure.  so she thinks like in2 or 3 months... okay we can work with that but she is sooo ready. I love to just sit and listen to her. she reminds me of my old ladies back in provo that i used to visit only a little more (okay a lot more) healthy

We had so many miracles thisweek... (man mom i have been terrible about writing my blessings in that little journal you gave me i feel terrible but i carry it everywhere in case i remember....)  So many i cant write them all. and hermana Rojas is FABULOUS. shes  a lot more laid back and content to just listen than hermana callejas was and is all about finding the needs of the investigators. Which i love doing! i love sitting and listening to people i dont like talkingso much. but unfortunately sometimes people just talk and it doesnt help ushelp them at all and we end up wasting time which is a bummer but at the same time we have had some powerful lessons just listening.

One lesson, we didnt talk hardly at all and the spiritjust changed this investigators heart as he talked and worked through everything. He stilldidnt go to church which is FRUSTERATING but the lesson was really good. 

Ive learned that the lords opinion is the only thing that matters.  And ivedone a lot of changing to try and do the things he would be proud of and as ive done that i have felt a lot better about havinglower numbers.... i still feel like we ahvent done everythingwe can but we are trying our best and we are gonna make our goals this week. Thats my goal. haha.  

well ive gota go!
love yall

Hermana Applegate