Well, the year long anticipation is just about over! We have finally made it to the rededication of the Temple! We could not be happier! This will prove to be a really amazing week full of all sorts of miracles. We will have the special meeting with President Eyring on Friday, the cultural event on Saturday, and the rededication on Sunday. What an amazing time to be a missionary in Buenos Aires! We are really trying to prepare ourselves well for this Spiritual feast. I could not be happier! What blessings we are seeing. I was really hit by something that Hermana Montecinos told me the other day... we were talking about something and out of the blue she said "Hermana, you are SO blessed... I don´t ever want to be split up so I can keep receiving these blessings!" I kind of just chuckled and told her that we are all very blessed, but as I was thinking about it, I had to say a prayer of gratitude... it is really true. I have been so blessed by the Lord and I am not grateful enough. We as a family have seen so many blessings and all of us personally as well are very blessed. I need to learn to be more grateful. The Lord is good to us.
Nahuel Dominguez was baptized this Saturday and all three of the Dominguez siblings were confirmed on Sunday! I am sorry that there was some confusion... Flor is short for Florencia... she is the oldest of 7 (soon to be 8 with one on the way) kids. Ezequiel and Nahuel are her younger siblings. Elena is the grandma and by helping her return to church, we found her grandkids. The parents are also really great but need to get married to be able to be baptized and don´t really want to get married. But I know that as they continue to receive all of the blessings of the Gospel that they will be able to make this important decision.
We worked like CRAZY this week! It was really good to have a full week in the area after a month without a "normal" week... Though I have pretty much decided that normal weeks do not exist in the mission! haha. We taught so many lessons and were able to find a bunch of new investigators which is really great. To top it all off, the baptism and the three confirmations made for a very happy week. And now the Temple rededication is coming! Love it!
Rodolfo formed a plan to quit smoking!!!!! He has never WANTED to stop smoking, but now with the Temple in mind, he has finally formed a plan... he is down to about 10 a day, which seems like a lot, but coming from 40 or more, it is big time progress. We are really proud of him. We had a family home evening with their family and the Bishop´s family and it went REALLY well. The Bishop told him that he felt to promise him that if he prayed to know if God really exists that he would be able to stop smoking, that he felt that he just laked a testimony of the existence of God. The next day, he formed a plan! Bishop Chen is so great!
Hugo and his 2 non member daughters came to church yesterday! They are starting to progress a bit more. Still not a lot, but doing better. We aren´t totally focused on them because they still aren´t really progressing investigators, but we see them about once a week. More than anything, they need to read the Book of Mormon. That´s the key!
Griselda is a new investigator that we met this week who is awesome! She is coming out of some problems with drugs and really making a great effort. She lived in another ward before and was attending there. Since the first lesson that we taught her, she hasn´t had any drugs and is doing well. She loved Church yesterday and really felt the Spirit in testimony meeting. Then, Relief Society was all about the power of forgiveness and she cried through most of it. We gave her a CTR ring so that every time she thinks about doing drugs, she sees her ring as she goes to accept it. She says that really helped!
Stela is REALLY busy and it has been hard to visit her and her family. She says that this week should be a bit more calm.
Nicolas is the youngest of the Dominguez family (he is 8) and still doesn´t quite want to be baptized. He likes going to church, but says he doesn´t want to have to go every week and so he doesn´t want to be baptized. We are still working with him and hope that he can be baptized this week.
Nacho is the friend of the member that I mentioned last week. He is SUPER Evangelical and doesn´t really want to change, but is reading the Book of Mormon and praying, so we know that he will get his answer.
I want to share a thought from my scripture study...
( I only have my Spanish scriptures with me, so we will see how the translation comes out...)
2 Nephi 31:12
To those who are baptized, Heavenly Father gives the Holy Ghost, as He did to Jesus Christ.
As I thought pondering, it really hit me that we receive the EXACT same gift that Jesus Christ received... the Holy Ghost. It is through the same Spirit that is given to US that the SAVIOR received revelation, followed the Father, healed the sick, worked miracles, and lived the perfect life. WE are given the exact same guidance that the Savior had... we just have to choose to listen. We have to choose to live worthily to receive that direction. We have to ACT when the direction comes in faith, knowing that we will see the miracle. Our Heavenly Father trusts us enough to give us the same gift of the Holy Ghost that He gave to His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. We must choose to live worthy of that gift!
Funny story for the week...
Last week, it rained a TON like I mentioned... our area was just one huge mud pit, so we chose to always go the long way around and stay on the few paved roads with the bikes to avoid problems. Well, we had some investigators that were avoiding us all week, and usually saw us coming from a distance and ran inside so that we couldn´t see them. So, Hermana Montecinos said "why don´t we just go up this road so they don´t see us?" It was muddy, but we figured it wasn´t too bad. She went first, nice and slow, and just about fell, so she yelled back to me "fast and with lots of strength!" So, I listened, and pushed hard to go fast and strong... well, my tire hit the mud and my bike went one way and my body the other! hahahah. I was COVERED in mud! My arms, legs, skirt, scarf, jacket, EVERYTHING! It was hilarious. Then, to top it all off, as I tried to get up, my shoes were stuck deep in the mud. A nice man came and pulled the bike out, helped me up, grabbed my shoes and walked me through it all. hahaha. Justo, we didn´t have a camera so I had to wait to take pictures when we got home and it doesn´t do any justice to the damage. BUT; the investigators let us in because they felt really bad for me! haha. We didn´t have time to go home because it was almost the end of the day and we needed daily contact with the Dominguez family, so we made that last visit before getting me to a shower! haha. So funny. Like I always say, good times, good times!
Well family, I have to run. I love you all SOOOOO much! Thank you all for your support and prayers. I feel each one of them. Know that I love and pray for you. Know that I am well and happy. Know that I know without a doubt that this is the true Church of Jesus Christ in the world today. I know that He lives. I know that He loves us. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that we will be an eternal family as we keep doing the small and simple things that will lead us to Eternal Life.
I love you all!!!
Hermana Shelley
Hermana Shelley
pictures: 1 & 2-Nahuel Dominguez baptism
3-Dominguez family
4 & 5- MUD pictures!!
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