Hello,
This week, our strong point turned out to be reactivating our less actives! We pretty much have NO one that we're teaching because we've dropped pretty much everyone who's been listening, but not acting. We've had a lot of extra time for less actives! We didn't do anything really out of the ordinary for them, but we were super direct. My companion has a knack for that, haha. She's super bubbly and happy, but when the investigators/less actives aren't doing their part she tells them like it is. We've explained to them that we really want to keep visiting and teaching them, but if they don't do their part we can't continue. We really need to be searching for people who really want to follow Jesus Christ. We also explained that the commitments they're making aren't with us, but with God. If they don't go to church, or keep their commitments, it's really God they're letting down. So far it's worked really well.
The two investigator families we were hoping would come so we wouldn't have to drop, didn't show up, but LOTS of less actives came! The lady we found and invited to be baptized, but was already a member, came and brought her 5 grandchildren who live with her. They have been going to their old ward. They're thinking of transferring to Brisas, so we'll get more young single adults and YM/YW.
Hermano Seguro came (but not his wife). I was SUPER impressed with him because he's still recovering from an eye surgery, but he decided to do away with his excuses and come. His wife didn't come because they had family visiting, but I'm hoping she comes next week!
Also, Eva and her two daughters came (Cecilia and Alison)! Eva's mom is super active but the only active one of all of them and FINALLY her family is starting to turn around. Eva and her 2 daughters have all kinds of problems, but its honestly a miracle that they've decided to step up and start doing things right.
Also, Shirley is going strong, even though she's pretty alone with things. Her husband couldn't make it, but he wants to be baptized, he said. Leonardo (recent convert) came with her and received the Preisthood!!!
The 20 year old that we found 2 weeks ago is doing REALLY well. He has lots of time on his hands, so he's really enjoyed the family home evenings that we've invited him to on Monday nights. We've been teaching him almost everyday. His baptism is set for the 6th of December.
Lots of the missionaries in the zone have plans to baptize the 6th so we're going to do a "Noche Blanca" which is a "Night of White."
On Sunday I got myself into speaking, because we told the bishop we wanted to present our ward plan to the ward of how, as ward, we could find more people that are willing to listen. He gave me and Hermana Pitcher (one of the sisters in the other companionship in our ward) the job to speak in sacrament and the ward missionaries (bascially all new RMs in the ward) taught the members the 3rd hour about the importance of sharing with their friends, and did little practices. And then our ward missionary told everyone the plan we came up with.
We are basically dividing the ward into zones and have zone leaders and assignments of activities and family home evenings. I'm really hoping it all works! I feel like too often we have plans, but no one really carries it out. Hopefully this time is different!
Love, Hermana Harper
Monday, November 24, 2014
Monday, November 17, 2014
Brisas - Week 27
¡Hola!
This week turned out really great! I've been so thankful for my companion's new point of view here in Brisas. Since I got here, I've been training, so I've been desperate for someone with a new take on things. Even though my companion only has 3 months on her mission, we've been using a lot of things she learned in her other mission. We decided to drop some people who just aren't quite ready for the commitment. I've always had a hard time cutting people because you want to say you have faith they'll change one day- but sometimes what the spirit really wants you to do is have the faith to drop them and search for someone more prepared. So that's what we've done! We were blessed for it too because we found someone new who's really prepared, Jose!
We originally contacted his parents just outside their house one day. I really didn't think it would go anywhere, but we got there and he really wanted to talk to us. He told us he's been really sick and worries because he needs to take care of his parents because they're really sick too. He's 20, and says he feels like he has a lot ahead of him and worries that he might die soon. He has a LOT of faith though because he said he knew if he dies, it's because it's God's will. He had a lot of confidence with us right from the beginning and asked a lot of good questions. He told us he could tell something was different and really liked what he's has heard about our church. He's gone to the catholic church a lot, and doesn't like that they worship idols and don't really teach doctrine. He accepted a baptismal date the first visit and is going strong. He went to church this last Sunday (stake conference) with a member and really enjoyed it.
At stake conference, we also brought 2 sisters, Lupita and Samantha, and Lupita's little girl. They were references from Henry's family (investigators) and live right next door! We went by their house Sunday morning and we all took a taxi together to church. We haven't really taught them yet, but they have liked what they've heard so far. They live with their dad who's not home a lot, and say they have to ask him permission for everything, so hopefully their dad is okay with everything. Apparently he's been talking to missionaries over by where he works all day, so he's supportive. At stake conference, we got front row seats because we had investigators, so that was fun! There were a TON of people. More than they had at general conference they said. One of the seventies here in Mexico spoke and they had a choir of young men and women from one of the wards, so it was really nice.
Halfway through conference, the member who brought our other investigator, Jose, came all the way to where we were sitting and told us he needed us outside. Me and my companion were both like "what happened???" Apparently Jose wasn't feeling very good with his heart again, so we pulled two elders out to give him a blessing. He said that helped and afterwards talked to one of the members who's a doctor. She checked him over and prescribed him medicine. It was kinda funny because the timing couldn't be worse! When we were thinking of doctors to look at him, we first thought, "the Stake President!", but luckily this other member was there who's a doctor too, so she helped.
Something funny this week...in our search for new investigators, we found 2 sisters that live by our house that are active members, but go to another ward. They told us their grandma (that they live with) isn't a member, but listened to elders before and loved everything, just never got baptized. We made an appt with them, thinking "maybe now is the grandma's time, because obviously it wasn't before." We got there, and it was a tiny bit awkward at first because we were trying to get a feel for how much she remembered and what her attitude towards the church was. She says she loves everything and thinks it's true, but didn't remember a ton, so we reviewed. She agreed to everything about the restoration so in my head I was like "what kept her from getting baptized before??" Finally I just asked her if she'd like to be baptized in this church and she was like, "Alright, I got to tell you guys something..." So she talked to us about the elders that used to come and how much she adored the missionaries and her experiences with them and everything and how her husband didn't really like it but how she one day just decided to be baptized with the elders and just did it. All of us were just like "What??? You're already a member??" Even the granddaughter was super surprised. I guess after her baptism, her husband ripped up all the pictures and she hasn't gone to church since, so no one in her family really knew. She agreed to start coming again though. Haha, that lesson was super funny.
On another note, one thing that's kinda fun is that on the 3 of December, all the missionaries are allowed to go to the temple! But, on the condition that we memorize all 25 scripture mastery of the Book of Mormon! My companion and I are working on it, and so far we have like 8ish. I'm looking forward to that though :)
Annnnd, I guess that's all for this week.
Love, Hermana Harper
This week turned out really great! I've been so thankful for my companion's new point of view here in Brisas. Since I got here, I've been training, so I've been desperate for someone with a new take on things. Even though my companion only has 3 months on her mission, we've been using a lot of things she learned in her other mission. We decided to drop some people who just aren't quite ready for the commitment. I've always had a hard time cutting people because you want to say you have faith they'll change one day- but sometimes what the spirit really wants you to do is have the faith to drop them and search for someone more prepared. So that's what we've done! We were blessed for it too because we found someone new who's really prepared, Jose!
We originally contacted his parents just outside their house one day. I really didn't think it would go anywhere, but we got there and he really wanted to talk to us. He told us he's been really sick and worries because he needs to take care of his parents because they're really sick too. He's 20, and says he feels like he has a lot ahead of him and worries that he might die soon. He has a LOT of faith though because he said he knew if he dies, it's because it's God's will. He had a lot of confidence with us right from the beginning and asked a lot of good questions. He told us he could tell something was different and really liked what he's has heard about our church. He's gone to the catholic church a lot, and doesn't like that they worship idols and don't really teach doctrine. He accepted a baptismal date the first visit and is going strong. He went to church this last Sunday (stake conference) with a member and really enjoyed it.
At stake conference, we also brought 2 sisters, Lupita and Samantha, and Lupita's little girl. They were references from Henry's family (investigators) and live right next door! We went by their house Sunday morning and we all took a taxi together to church. We haven't really taught them yet, but they have liked what they've heard so far. They live with their dad who's not home a lot, and say they have to ask him permission for everything, so hopefully their dad is okay with everything. Apparently he's been talking to missionaries over by where he works all day, so he's supportive. At stake conference, we got front row seats because we had investigators, so that was fun! There were a TON of people. More than they had at general conference they said. One of the seventies here in Mexico spoke and they had a choir of young men and women from one of the wards, so it was really nice.
Halfway through conference, the member who brought our other investigator, Jose, came all the way to where we were sitting and told us he needed us outside. Me and my companion were both like "what happened???" Apparently Jose wasn't feeling very good with his heart again, so we pulled two elders out to give him a blessing. He said that helped and afterwards talked to one of the members who's a doctor. She checked him over and prescribed him medicine. It was kinda funny because the timing couldn't be worse! When we were thinking of doctors to look at him, we first thought, "the Stake President!", but luckily this other member was there who's a doctor too, so she helped.
Something funny this week...in our search for new investigators, we found 2 sisters that live by our house that are active members, but go to another ward. They told us their grandma (that they live with) isn't a member, but listened to elders before and loved everything, just never got baptized. We made an appt with them, thinking "maybe now is the grandma's time, because obviously it wasn't before." We got there, and it was a tiny bit awkward at first because we were trying to get a feel for how much she remembered and what her attitude towards the church was. She says she loves everything and thinks it's true, but didn't remember a ton, so we reviewed. She agreed to everything about the restoration so in my head I was like "what kept her from getting baptized before??" Finally I just asked her if she'd like to be baptized in this church and she was like, "Alright, I got to tell you guys something..." So she talked to us about the elders that used to come and how much she adored the missionaries and her experiences with them and everything and how her husband didn't really like it but how she one day just decided to be baptized with the elders and just did it. All of us were just like "What??? You're already a member??" Even the granddaughter was super surprised. I guess after her baptism, her husband ripped up all the pictures and she hasn't gone to church since, so no one in her family really knew. She agreed to start coming again though. Haha, that lesson was super funny.
On another note, one thing that's kinda fun is that on the 3 of December, all the missionaries are allowed to go to the temple! But, on the condition that we memorize all 25 scripture mastery of the Book of Mormon! My companion and I are working on it, and so far we have like 8ish. I'm looking forward to that though :)
Annnnd, I guess that's all for this week.
Love, Hermana Harper
Monday, November 10, 2014
Brisas - Week 26
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| Me and My Favorite 90 year old!!! |
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| At the Airport with my new companion and my Mission President and his Wife |
Spanish is pretty funny with the two of us. A lot of words she uses are different here. For example, lots of the fruits have different names for her, and other common words like bus and store are different. And, lots of common words here are bad words in Argentina! So it has been interesting!
This week we taught another family that I found with my other companion, like 2 or three weeks ago. It was a really good lesson, apart from the husband being a little drunk. Its funny because everyone is so different drunk. He kept telling us stuff about how he wanted to quit drinking completely, for his family, and he got pretty emotional about it. He also cried when he told us about his brother that passed away. We had him, his wife, and 5 little kids (3 years - 8 years old) all listening to us. We explained the Trinity, following Jesus Christ, and Baptism. None of them, except for one of the daughters, has ever been baptized. They all accepted the baptismal invitation, so that was neat! On Sunday we passed by to walk with them to church, but the dad had to leave for something and the mom couldn't leave with all the kids. All the kids were begging to go, and the mom promised that next Sunday they would do everything possible to go. I'm really hoping things work out with them, because they're a really sweet family.
Our other little family has their baptismal date for the 6 of December, the last day before transfers. They didn't come this Sunday either...I still don't know what happened with them. Ugh...life of being a missionary. It seems like 80% of the time things don't go as planned or hoped for!
One good things though is that Shirley, a less active, is getting activated again. Even though she doesn't have support from hardly anyone, she still managed to get her non-member husband to church with her and her little girl. They even talked to the bishop about getting help so she could get divorced, and marry the guy she's with now. She's so great because she REALLY wants to get married in the temple, just gets discouraged a lot. With time though I know things will work out.
Until next week, Hermana Harper
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| My last comp, Hermana Huff with her new companion |
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| Psole |
Monday, November 3, 2014
Brisas - Week 25
Hola,
Halloween is pretty boring in Mexico! The most Halloweeny people get here is decorating their houses all scary. No one trick-or-treats here. The other Hermanas did come visit us though and dressed up as Jehovah's Witnesses and "trick-or-treated" at out house! That was pretty funny! One thing that's traditional here for Dia De Los Muertos is a special food called Pib. Its actually not super good, but its OK. Its like a pie made out of thick tamale dough with chicken and stuff inside. It’s a tradition that started with the Mayans, and people still do it today. So far I've eaten that 3imes!
Something very exciting that happened this week, two investigators that we've been teaching for awhile finally came to church!!! Henry and Susi! They are the family that Hermana Huff and I found and I'm super excited. Now that they are coming to church, we´ll FINALLY be able to baptize them!
Love,
Hermana Harper
Halloween is pretty boring in Mexico! The most Halloweeny people get here is decorating their houses all scary. No one trick-or-treats here. The other Hermanas did come visit us though and dressed up as Jehovah's Witnesses and "trick-or-treated" at out house! That was pretty funny! One thing that's traditional here for Dia De Los Muertos is a special food called Pib. Its actually not super good, but its OK. Its like a pie made out of thick tamale dough with chicken and stuff inside. It’s a tradition that started with the Mayans, and people still do it today. So far I've eaten that 3imes!
Something very exciting that happened this week, two investigators that we've been teaching for awhile finally came to church!!! Henry and Susi! They are the family that Hermana Huff and I found and I'm super excited. Now that they are coming to church, we´ll FINALLY be able to baptize them!
Love,
Hermana Harper
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