Bom Ano Novo!

 

We saw lots of miracles this week. First of all, we finished teaching all of the lessons to Sílvia and Júlio (scheduled for baptism on the 4th), so we arranged the baptismal interviews with our district leader. To our unpleasant surprise, Júlio did not pass the baptismal interview because he wasn´t honest with us. Basically his only reason for joining the Church was because he´s in love with Sílvia, and not because he truly wants to follow Christ. This ended up being a huge stumbling block because Júlio was really bitter and caused a lot of contention in their relationship together. However Sílvia is rock solid and she declared that she has waited and searched long enough to find the right path, and that she would wait no longer. So we arranged everything for Saturday, but there was just one problem: New Year´s. We didn´t have ward council and there was a party on Wednesday. Things were a mess on Saturday morning! What was even worse was that the door to the room with the baptismal font was locked-- and there was no key! But after many phonecalls and help from the ward leaders we got things cleaned up and organized. That afternoon we got everything ready to go, the font filled, the program ready... and Sílvia still hadn´t showed up. After even more phonecalls we discovered that she had taken a nap and her phone was off, but Júlio woke her up and she got out the door. She was a half and hour late, but hey! She got baptized anyway. Boy, Satan was working through every nook and cranny to get us to fail!

 

This week we´ve been focusing on Ana Maria, a woman we met as we went caroling at her aunt´s house. She is amazing, already knows that the Book of Mormon is true and is preparing for baptism on the 19th. She normally works on Sundays and only has one day off, so we decided to fast for her to have the ability to change her work schedule. On Saturday we had a lesson and brought Paula, a recent convert. After Ana Maria opened the door, her jaw dropped. Turns out Paula and Ana Maria are great friends from the past, but lost contact with each other. It was perfect! Right away she gained an awesome connection. At the end of the lesson we taught her about the commandment of keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. Right as we begun she said, `Guess what?! My boss let me change my day off to Sunday!´ What was even better was that Paula sat with her in all of the Church meetings. Oh, I am sooooooooooo excited for her!

 

So with the New Year I have made some personal goals. One of which is to be happier and more positive, and the other is to more bold and confident in my proselyting. So I began by praying to be happier, and it worked! Consequently I prayed for help to be more bold... Uh... God has a sense of humor because he´s been helping me out with that by making Sister Giberson get a sore throat and lose her voice! So I´ve been doing more than normal, which has been good.

 

Yesterday 13 people showed up to Church. MIRACLE!!!!!!! We received a phonecall from one of President Fluckiger Assistants (I answered, obviously), asking us what we were doing to get so many people at church. At the time I didn´t really have a good answer for him, but after Sister Giberson and I thought about it for awhile we came to the realization that it really has nothing to do with our talents, skills, abilities, etc. The only thing that we have been doing differently is that we´ve been applying all of the things that we are asked in our meetings and in the President´s letters, using Preach My Gospel for ideas/answers, and we´re trying to be obedient even when we don´t like the rules. AND IT HAS MADE A HUGE DIFFERENCE. Isn´t the Lord interesting? By the simple, small things like talking to 10 people a day and keeping things organized, we´ve been seeing results. Sometimes I wish that the less active members of the Church that we meet could understand that. By the simple, small things like praying, reading the scriptures and going to Church, the Lord supports us and gives us what we need.

 

Thank you, everyone! I love you so much and I wish you all a Happy New Year of 2014!

 

Sister Derrick