Week 44! "Another Family of Gold"

From 11/24/14

This week was great....

[NOTE: Be sure to read past the first wave of photos or you'll miss the best part of this week's email].

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! And, even though it`s inevitable I`ll be a liiiittle trunky this week, there`s no where else I`d rather be :) So eat LOTS for my part.

 

Sorry Mom for what I said last week about witchcraft. It`s really not so scary. It was just a "theme" that came up last week, but I really shouldn`t have made a big deal about it.

 

I had divisions [splits] with Hna M last Friday...remember her? She`s la churrona? I love her to death. She`s my hermana leader here. She has been with me since my VERY FIRST day in the mission...and we`ve gone from one area to another together since. Well, she has one cambio left.

 

This really causes a person to reflect. I feel experienced in the mission, true, but there is so much left to learn and do. One thing that`s new for me is a feeling of calm.. An overwhelming peace that I am going at the Lord`s pace for me. And I am truly enjoying the mission in all that it entails. I wrote in my agenda the other day, "God calls the weak." So, I`m glad that I am weak. That`s why I was called...and I am convinced that God makes up for the rest :)

 

Also, Elder Fernelius is still mentioned a lot to me here. Apparently he served just down the road in the Latino ward. Cool.

 

I have no idea how many structures stand here. I have come to the conclusion that most of them still stand based solely off of faith.

 

I can kind of present myself in Quichua.....ahem.

"Ñuca shuti mikan Ñañagu Fernelius. De Jesucristopaj Iglesia Santocunapaj Punllucunati .... something"

 

I don`t remember the rest. But it`s really fun to say.

 

One day a couple weeks ago, a group of children flocked around us and began to teach us all the Quichua they knew. "What do you know in Quichua?" They asked. Honestly, not much. Then they spatted out as many random Quichua words and their translations....I whipped out my agenda as fast as I could and wrote down quite a few jaja. Quichua is great.....until you come across a contact that pretends to know only Quichua and not Spanish -_- jaja

 

I love you all!! I`ve gotta go. Thanks for your wonderfullness and, well, for being mine. Have a great thanksgiving and remember to thank our Savior. I`m starting the Book of Mormon again. My thanks for Him is where it never was before.

 

Have a great week!

 

Ñañagu Fernelius

 

At the waterfalls (from last week)

Stake president's awesome trenza (braid)

More from last week...

And a lady we contacted hard at work...as usual. The women here work hard always.

This family [see photo above] was a contact of Hna Q and me in the street. That night a couple weeks ago it was dark and we were looking diligently for people to contact near our home. We passed this family once, but walked on thinking, "We can`t contact them...they're Latino!"...and walked on. In the back of my mind it was tugging at me: "But they`re a FAMILY. You should have contacted them!"

 

We had another chance as we made our way up the street yet again, still looking for people to contact. I remember the look on their faces....almost like lost puppies. The parents were walking and the children at their side, with their littlest one in a stroller. They walked slowly.

 

I turned to Hna Q, "Let`s contact them!" I said as we approached the second time. I was determined to followed the impression of the Spirit. We did, they accepted another visit. Not a bad contact, but nothing unusual.

 

We passed by the day we set the next cita, just to hold to our word, though we knew we would be passing on the reference to the other missionaries of the Latino ward.

 

This family was super good from the beginning as far as being receptive and humble. We told the other missionaries that as they received the information from us to follow-up with them.

 

Now this family has a baptismal date. They are progressing and fulfilling every commitment the missionaries leave them....de ORO [gold].

 

The special part was seeing them at stake conference yesterday. The father approached me and Hna Q. He shook our hands, looked us in the eyes, and commented quietly to us, "When people ask us how we came to know about the church, we tell them it was the two of you who found us. For that, my wife and I will always be grateful. Years ago I found God, but then I left it and didn`t know where to go. Today (in the conference) I felt a peace that I hadn`t felt in years. Thank you hermanas for finding us."

 

I can guarantee that Hna Q and my eyes were filled with tears. I don`t have the opportunity to teach them, but how grateful I feel to be the reason...the instrument the Lord used...for them to be found.

 

Hna and President Richardson were also at the conference. We took tons of pictures with them in the authentic clothes we borrowed jejeje. At one point, Hna Richardson gave me and Hna Q a GIANT hug and said, "I met the family who came today. Although the other hermanas are teaching them, they wouldn`t be teaching them if they hadn`t have been found..."

 

I am grateful the Lord has blessed me and Hna Q with such a beautiful experience.

P.S. Sorry my hair is a mess. I`m not the most photogenic cream of the crop around here. I was just happy we even GOT a picture of it :)

I fulfilled a goal on my life bucket-list: I CAUGHT A FIREFLY WITH MY BARE HANDS!!!!!! [See photo above]. 

 

Hna Q was so good....she didn`t ask any questions. She just stood there as I carefully made my way quietly to a little firefly I saw lighting up and flying close to us. I swooped my hand and caught it. It walked around a bit and, as soon as Hna Q took the picture, it flew away again!

 

...it`s the little things. I was so ecstatic :)