This week was pretty much the bomb diggity. I think I spelled that right. Anyway, we've been working in Aeropuerto and in Motilones, so it's been kind of crazy to balance all our appointments and such, but it was a really good week.
Elder Romero had a birthday! Which means that we went to Carrefour and bought an ice cream cake. We were just going to buy ice cream, but then we saw the cake, and just couldn't pass it up. January 3rd was his birthday. :) We had a meeting with the Bishop of Aeropuerto that night, and he brought a cake as well. :) So we got double blessings that day. Happy Birthday, compañero!
This week, we started teaching a girl named Camila. Her boyfriend is a member and an RM, so he wanted us to visit with her. Come to find out, she's Pentecostal, or "Jesus solos" As they call them here. She doesn't believe in the trinity. She believes that Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are all one person. It was interesting teaching the first vision, when she didn't even believe that God and Jesus Christ were seperate personages. But the lesson went well, and we made another appointment to meet with her. We taught her again on Friday, and after the lesson, asked her what she thought about the church, and about what we had taught. She told us that she liked it, and that it felt right. When we asked her if she had read the Book of Mormon, she told us that she had started from the title page, and is now in 1 Nephi 10. Eek! That NEVER happens with investigators. Usually when we ask them if they've read, they start fishing for excuses. When we ask them if they prayed, their answer is always, "I pray every day." "...But did you pray about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith?" "...No." Anyway, when she told us that she was in 1 Nephi 10, I freaked out. It was great. This is really the success that comes from working with the members. When the investigators have a friend (or boyfriend) in the church, they automatically have a support system. Someone to resolve their doubts and answer their questions, and to be there with them as they take these important steps in their spiritual progression. Anyway, she's been progressing a ton, and our plan is to commit her to baptism tomorrow. Hope it goes well. :) My companion, Elder Romero, and I made a goal to challenge one person to baptism every day this week. :) We'll see how it goes. I really think we can do it. We have 3 investigators in Motilones that can't get baptized because they're not married. Milton, Yasmin, and Anibal. The good thing is that all of them want to get married. It's just a hassle here, because they both have to physically travel to their place of birth to get a birth record, get together a bunch of other personal records, like of children from other marriages/relationships, etc. and then they can go to the Notary and get married. I think. So hopefully we can get them all married and happy, and then they'll be ready to be baptized. :)
I think I told you about Sonia, right? She's a deaf/mute girl who's almost 9 months pregnant. It was a really neat experience to teach her. She's just such a sweet spirit. She's always smiling, and she learns and catches on to things really fast. She knows how to read and write, so we mostly taught with a notebook, writing questions for her to answer. We also used the Gospel Art Picture Book. Really useful. :) Anyway, from the beginning, she wanted to be baptized. She would show us the picture of a girl being baptized, and then point to herself. We were planning on her being baptized the 30th of December, but she got really sick, and was in the hospital for a day or two. I was really worried, with the baby being so close and everything, but she got better, and we agreed upon the 7th of January to baptize her. It was an amazing service. There were 20-30 members who came to support, as well as several investigators (Camila was there). Hermano Sanguino baptized her. He and his wife have been taking care of Sonia when her mother wasn't able to be at home, and we always taught her in their home. Another shout-out to member missionary work. :) It works. I'm going to include the photo of the baptism. Left to right, the people are me, Johana (Hno. Sanguino's niece. Not a member. We've been working with her as well), Hna. Sanguino, Sonia's Mom, a little girl who I don't know, Karen (daughter of the Sanguinos), Sonia, and Hno. Sanguino. Btw's, doesn't Hno. Sanguino totally look like Tom Hanks? Hehe. The second picture is me, Sonia's mom, Sonia, and my compañero, Elder Romero.
Anyway, this work is amazing. My testimony has grown so much this week. Especially my testimony of goal setting. As missionaries, we set goals every day, every week and every month. The days when we don't set goals, we don't accomplish hardly anything. But when we're actually working for something, and making an effort to reach our goals, we kick trash! In a...spiritual kind of way. Anyway, Set goals. It's good for you. Not only do you get more done, but then at the end of the day, you can measure your progress and see how far you've come. :)
I love you all, dear family. Don't do drugs, don't eat bugs, and most definitely don't kiss any llamas (yeah, like that would ever happen...). Take luck. I'll probably be back next week to talk at you all again. Until then, have a nice day. :)
-Elder Moscas
P.S. Don't you ever interrupt me while I'm reading a book!
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