Wow! This week was full of miracles! No baptisms... I have to remind myself sometimes that agency is a good thing! haha (thank you for the reminder, Aunt Lissa!!!) but I know that we are going to see baptisms. We were talking last night and really, when I got here, there weren´t any investigators with baptismal dates (those who had them were baptized and they didn´t have any new investigators) and in the 4 weeks that Hermana Malhue and I have been here, we have found a ton of new investigators and 15 have baptismal dates. We also know that it is so important to find new investigators every day because if not, we will eventually baptize those we have or they will choose (SAD) to stop learning more, and we won´t have anyone. We have been so blessed to be able to do that and to have TONS of AMAZING investigators. Wow!!!
So the miracles:
We found TWO FAMILIES who have both had 3 lessons, have prayed to know the truth, and have felt that the gospel is true!!! They both have to get married, but it is way faster here inUshuaia because there are fewer people waiting for an appointment. Wow. So awesome. We have had some amazing experiences with them. One family has a baptismal date for the 27th and the other will have a date tonight (had one, but lost it because they didn´t come to church... we found out when we passed by yesterday that their kids are super sick, which is why they didn´t come).
A young man, Beymar, who we met on the street, came to church yesterday and we found out that pretty much the entire young men´s class know him and have been inviting him for ages, and he finally came. He has a baptismal date for the 26th! Also, we found out yesterday that his parents are MARRIED and he has SEVEN siblings!!! We are definitely headed to visit the family tomorrow!!!!
Tuesday, we were in a lesson with Sergio when our branch mission leader called and told us that there was a man in the church who wanted to meet with us! He had recently moved from Peru and had been taking the lessons with Elders there. We had a lesson with him on Wednesday and the Spirit was super strong and he accepted a baptismal date for the 19th!
Yesterday, one of the companionships of Elders had a baptism, and we went with some of our investigators. When we got there, they asked me to play the piano, so I sat down and started to play. A family came in and they seemed familiar, but I shrugged it off and kept playing. The service started and it was beautiful and SO good for our investigators to see. While the YM changed, I played while everyone wrote notes of encouragement. The son of the family that looked familiar passed me a note that said he wanted to be baptized!!! I called Hermana Malhue over since I was playing and we talked to him together with his Dad. Turns out, the reason that he looked familiar is because we taught him once!!! His Dad is a member, Mom no. His parents are divorced and he, Augustin lives with his mom. We had his name as a referral and taught him and his mom once, but then every time after that we passed by, they weren´t home and when we called, they didn´t answer... So eventually we had to drop them. Well... he has been at his Dad´s on the weekends and going to church every week for quite some time (before this first lesson with him), but since his mom lives in our area, he is our investigator again! He has learned pretty much everything from his dad and this week we are going to teach him all the lessons once more to make sure and he will be baptized SATURDAY!!! Wow... how awesome!!! His Dad didn´t want to force him, so he has just been teaching and waiting and he was so happy when Augustin wrote that note! There is seriously power in a baptismal service.
So yes, MANY miracles!!! Wow! I love seeing the change in people. Now we are just working working working to have the BAPTISMS, because we know that it is so important for the salvation of these people. I really do feel a great love for them and want to do all I can to help them receive the gospel and ultimately salvation. We are striving to really become nothing but instruments in the hands of the Lord to do this work and are striving to follow the Spirit more fully every day. I love that we work so hard and are so tired by the end of the day!! This really is the Lord´s work. As you can see from these stories, the Lord is doing the work here in Ushuaia, and we have the amazing blessing of seeing the miracles occur. Wow.
So a couple of funny things before I sign off:
There is a province here in Argentina called Misiona. So when we introduce ourselves (Hola, somos Misioneras de La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Días...) people often say "oh ya, I have a friend from Misiona!" haha. It´s pretty funny... maybe they just don´t hear the part about the Church... haha. Good times.
I think I am learning Spanish!!! The other night, we were ESPECIALLY exhausted and we were so happy to get to bed! Well, I must have been bone tired, because Hermana MalhueHOO!!! Por fin!!! haha. I definitely have TONS to learn, but every day is better. Please keep praying for my Spanish.
One of the recent converts requested brownies the other day. We went to buy a mix, and there weren´t any. (Since we live at the end of the world, every now and then we don´t have certain things... sometimes things like eggs!haha). Well, I decided that I could probably just make them. How hard could it be??? What´s in the mix, any way... flower, sugar, and chocolate and then you add the egg, water and oil! So we got to work (after nightly planning, of course, when we have about 40 minutes to prep for the next day or whatever). The batter turned out good and it looked like brownies, but since I was guessing on the amounts, it was a TON of batter! So, I said that I thought we should just use half of it... Hermana Maluhue said that she thought it would be okay, so I went with it and we put it all in the pan (it looked pretty full, but I trusted in my comp...) So we started getting ready for bed while they cooked. Hermana Maluhue was writing in her journal and so I went to the bathroom really quickly. Pretty soon, I start to smell something that smells very burnt. "Hermana....?" I call out, and pretty soon I hear AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! I hurry and finish and run out to find the room filled with smoke!!! The brownies had more than overflowed and there was tons of burnt mix at the bottom of our oven! haha. We scrape it out, and pray that they will keep cooking since we had the door open so long. We open a window (burrrr!) and keep writing in our journal... about 5 minutes later, the same thing! haha. So we scrape again and contemplate taking the brownies out, but don´t want to start all over. ONE MORE time of scraping about 5 minutes later and then I had the idea to turn the pan (they only overflowed on one side and the other side was pretty much cooked... so we turned it and they didn´t overflow again, but we had a house full of smoke that smelled like burnt food and old oven! haha. The brownies finally finished cooking around 11:45 (we are supposed to be in bed by 11... we need to work on that) and they were actually super delish but made for a really funny story. Our house still smells funny! The good thing is that the family loved them. HA! It seems that our adventures always involve baking....
Well, got to run! I love you all! I know that the Church is true. I know that this is the work of the Lord. I love the people of Ushuaia and I am so happy to be here! Please pray for our investigators and specifically that they can come to church... this is something that we are struggling with. They have testimonies, most are reading and praying, but not coming to church. If you could keep that in your prayers, it would be great!
Darn! Forgot my camera chord... awesome pictures to come next week!
I love you all tons! Can´t believe that I have 4 months in the mission. Feels like I entered the MTC yesterday! Wow.
MUCH LOVE,
Hermana Shelley
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