All in the Tag: Week 41! "The Spirit is Preparing..."

From 11/3/14

Kay so I`m gonna get right down to the chase this week :) Because uploading them pictures took some tiiiime!! But I really wanted to do it first for that very reason :)

...something really interesting is that...well, ya know, if the people we teach don`t speak Quichua, we have to past on their reference to the Spanish-ward missionaries. And this has happened to a handful (not kidding, like 3) of the golden families we have found and started teaching. Where they either don`t speak Quichua or not all of the members in the family do....so we`ve been passing references over to the Hermanas and Elders of the Spanish ward left and right. AAAAAHH.

Honestly, I don`t mind because we are all on the same team....I just hope they take care and pay attention to these families because I KNOW they can progress if the missionaries do. But, at the same time....wahhhhhhhh. Because Hna Q and I still don`t have solid investigators. sniff sniff. We fasted to find a family, though...so I know that we will. We just have to persevere....deep breath.

Also, with one of these "golden" families we had to pass on to the elders...we had a great experience going over to the houses of one of them. This family lives in a small, one-room block house in the countryside. We arrived -- the first time following-up with them since we contacted them a week before. The wife, M, was doing dishes in the stream outside. We spoke with her a bit. We found out that she had actually met with missionaries when she was a teenager, but her mother never let her go to church because they were strong Catholics. So, she never went.

We asked to enter their home to speak more with their family for a bit. Mo [the husband/father] was hesitant, looking at us from the door. Considering whether or not to let us in. I don`t know why I was so persistent...but calm. "Just let us in for a few minutes, no màs. We just want to chat for a bit because we have a special invitation for you..." I said. jaja I don`t usually use those words or say things so curtly.

Mo let us in. We sat on a long wooden bench, M sat next to us, and Mo sat on a flipped-over bucket. We began thanking them for letting us in, then Mo began to speak.

He was a couple levels lower than us, and every time he looked up at us, it was with a side-skeptical glance, as if he were churning something over in his head. Then he shared with us a dream he had had.

He said that after Hna Q and I had left after contacting him that first day on the side of his farm, he had a dream that night. In his dream, Hna Q and I showed up at his door. We invited him to be baptized. He refused, saying, "I am Catholic." In the dream, we began to cry. He said that we were both so sad -- distraught -- because he refused. Tears rushed down our eyes in the dream, and Mo said that he woke up.

Mo mentioned to us, analyzing his dream, that it has been bothering him ever since. That he felt as if he had negated Christ by telling us "no".

We sat there, listening, and looking at him. He was struggling internally....big time. He was having such an internal debate about whether he should listen to us or not...and what the dream actually meant.

He said that, seeing us come by today, there was no way he could refuse us like in the dream...just in case we would start to cry again (jajaja). And, the biggest things of all, he told us that he noticed, very clearly, that we are closer to God than the "people in my religion". He said that three or four times...that it was very clear that we were closer to God. He mentioned one man he knew who also "changed religion" and no longer drank liquor. And, as Mo sat there with his bottle of cerveza, that change in his friend also left an impression.

We suggested to Mo that perhaps that dream was meant to prepare him for our visit that day....a warning to accept us and our visit. We promised him that if they would allow us to keep coming back, that he would realize for himself the reason we responded that way in his dream, and what there is for him in this Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. He committed to go to church the next day --- and they went. The entire family.

But that night, I will never forget Mo`s prayer that we said on our knees. He prayed for forgiveness saying, "Padre, perdona mis pecados...I want to change. Change my heart. Perdoname." It was the most sincere prayer of a father on his knees. His family was also there, on their knees, listening. When we all stood at the end, M`s smile was so pure, and the glimmer in her eyes so beautiful.

I am filled with gratitude that the Lord is preparing so many people to accept the missionaries...and accept the Gospel. It is amazing! It was a miracle :)

I hope the Elders take serious thought in visiting this family often...because if they don`t, WE will. Even if they are no longer under our stewardship. :p jeje

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMA!!!!!!! I`ll be thinking of you both and partying on your special days :) jeje LOVE YOU! :)

Anyways, I think I have to wrap this us...it`s time for us to go. May another week of hope and miracles begin! :)

Please keep us in your prayers as you go about your day. Not just me and my companion, and Ash and hers...but all the missionaries. This is a fierce battle we are a part of daily...And it is so worth it :)

Love you all!!!

Have a great week!

Hna Fernelius

Guaguas on Halloween day :)

Uhm...umbrella? what happened? jaja

The BEST fast food place I`ve been to on the mission. Mexican food...super good, a lot, and pretty cheap!!! Happy days here in Taco Bello :)

Heeeyyyy I tried some cuy [Guinea Pig] yesterday. We were invited to an after-church lunch to eat some left-overs of a wedding. CUY CUY CUY CUY...The skin is so thick and tough. It was pretty good. There were little hairs all over it still... jaja