Week 46! "Our Golden (Latino) Family"

From 12/8/14

There is one super special thing that happened this weekend. The family that Hna Q and I met in the street was baptized.  Remember them?  The family that we had the special impression to go back and speak with, even though we had already passed by them in the street:

I remember very clearly walking past them, they both were walking slowly down the street.

 

"Buenas noches!" we said, smiling at them as we walked swiftly by.

 

I remember making a slightly prolonged eye contact with them as they looked back. As we walked on, that unusual eye contact we made was bugging me.

 

I thought, "Ugh, it was a family! We should have contacted them..."

 

And feeling upset with myself for being too shy to speak with them that first time. But, I committed to myself that I would try harder to contact more families....

 

As we walked and contacted that night, trying to occupy our time before going home, we approached this family AGAIN...from behind...AGAIN.

 

"There they are..." I thought. As an almost sign-of-apology type thing, I looked up at them and committed right then and there I wasn`t going to let the opportunity to speak with them pass again.

 

I`m sure the Spirit had a hand in these personal impressions.

 

I spoke up to Hna Q, "Let`s go contact them!"

 

"Okay," she answered.

 

It was a normal contact, only, they were super humble and meek. And they gave us a direct house address....unusual. jaja

 

Only one problem, they are Latino, not indigenous. :( wah. So, we did a follow-up visit that week, but also pre-warned them that other missionaries would be the ones to continue visiting them. And we passed on the reference.

 

The hermanas who followed-up with them did SUCH A DEDICATED JOB. And for that, I feel so grateful! They visited this family consistently after that and involved many of their ward`s members in noches de hogar (FHE) and other activities. This family progressed so quickly.

 

Saturday night, they were baptized - the mom and dad and one son (they also have two other little girls who are not yet of baptism age).

 

The morning of their baptism, we sent a little text message, showing our excitement and love for them. E, the mom, responded:

 

"Buen dia hermanas, gracias por sus palabras, todo lo que ha pasado ha sido gracias a uds - nunca olvidaremos el dia que las conocimos. Les queremos muchisimo y nos vemos hoy en la noche."

 

["Good morning sisters, thanks for your kind words, everything that has happened has been thanks to the both of you - we will never forget the day that we met you.  We love you a lot and will see you tonight.]

 

I was touched. We wouldn`t miss this baptism for the world.

 

That night was one of the most memorable nights of my mission. A family, dressed in white, prepared to enter the waters of baptism.

 

They shared their testimonies at the end, starting with the father, D. It was heartfelt and emotional. I can`t describe how the reverent warmth of the Spirit filled the atmosphere. Seeing a family come together and prepare to eventually make sacred covenants in the temple...this is what the Gospel is all about.

 

D said, "The four hermanas that are very special to us are all here. Hermana Fernelius and Hna Q were the first sent by the hand of God to find us. Then came Hna N and Hna S..."

 

My heart swelled again. I cried a couple different times the course of that night. I felt very humbled. The Lord`s hand was apparent throughout the process of their conversion...starting from the beginning.

 

After, E also bore her testimony, saying something so short and sweet. And powerful. She cried as she said, " I thank the Lord for sending us angels."

 

What a special night it was.

 

We were supposed to go over to their house today to bake lasagna, but I have to travel to Quito soon  :( But they are so good. They had participated in sincere personal conversion. And I feel so blessed to have been a small, but special, part of it.

 

I am so happy to be here. I am so imperfect, but I feel so blessed. I feel that, in being honest with the Lord in my efforts, He has and will continue to fill our lives with miracles.

 

Have a great week!!!

 

Ñañagu Fernelius

 

"We had an investigator come hurriedly to church, but, because she missed the first hour, the asistencia is incomplete. But, we are so glad she came. O A is 21 and preparing to be baptized. The desafio with her is that she`s traveling to Colombia for the holidays.

 

Last week we worked a ton with members. And it paid off! In consejo de barrio, the members are much more concerned about the people on the informes de progresso, because they are now more than just names. They even took the initiative last week to visit one partial member, less active family and follow up with taking out another NDH [FHE] cita for this week. Another less active family they visited with us last week came to church. The entire family!!! This is the first time for them in years. Yet, they didn`t stay the 3 hours. But, it`s a big step in the right direction.

 

Involving the members is becoming a larger theme in our ward, and our bishop is encouraging it. It makes such a difference involving the members, not just to help with our people, but also to strengthen the members themselves.

 

I am doing well. I feel the momentum rising in the progress of the work in this ward, which is also exciting for me and motivates me to keep it going.

 

My companion is struggling a lot with her health. She`s tough and sticks it out, but I know some days it just really discourages her. We are taking the advice of our district leader and trying to work more 'intelligently' versus with our feet. O sea, we are trying to plan visits with more members, members with cars, references, and even with the thought of doing more divisions with the members to make it to more citas. In working intelligently, we hope to keep the work going, while lessening the physical burden for my compa.

 

It`s such a blessing to be here! Have a great week!"

 

So, as you can see from my letter to Pres, my compa could benefit from your prayers currently :)

 

I love you family!!! Take care :)

 

[P.S. From Tiffany's dad]:

 

"Yesterday near the end of testimony meeting I had the thought to review some comments Tiffany made in a recent email.  It was cold and most of the citas had apparently been falling through that evening, and she decided that a warm beverage would be nice.  She was unexpectedly provided a cup of hot cinnamon water a little later on, and she shared some thoughts in that email that I decided would be good to share during testimony meeting.  The problem is that by the time I was prepared to say something, the time was up.  So I sat in my spot, waiting for the meeting to close.  After 30 seconds or so, I quickly got up, thinking that if I didn't, someone else would.  I even mentioned in the beginning that time was up, but no one seemed in a hurry to close the meeting, so HERE I AM!

"So....Tiffany bore her testimony to our ward yesterday.  Then I sat down.  I was very pleased with the way the thoughts came out, and I didn't leave Ashley out either - I just didn't have anything specific at my fingertips to share."

 

[Tiffany's email response to this news]:

 

"jaja I`m glad I bore my testimony in the ward...because it`s actually a sort of 'commandment' for missionaries to bear their testimonies EVERY fast and testimony Sunday but I couldn`t here because there was tooo many people and too little time. So, I didn`t miss a Sunday after all.....jaja"

Yes, even a missionary's dad can be inspired...
 

This is a photo taken by a friend of Tiffany's in the mission field and posted on her Facebook page.  Taken on or before December 2, 2014.

"The family of gold"

This is catso...or cacso...I`m not sure which is correct. It`s a little but super strong beetle that they catch and fry. We helped pluck off the wings of these little guys in the store of my ward mission leader, then his wife fried it and we ate it with tea for breakfast....jaja yummm

Beetles and tea for breakfast...

Oops!  Looks like one might get away!

The little Christmas tree we turn on every night in our bedroom. Love it :)

I don`t think Dad would approve of this light structure....But hey. It works! Super common architecture here... :P

These little kids are of a less active family. As I helped the mom plow on the side of the mountain, Hna Q was with the kids, holding the flowers as the little boy ran around collecting all the assortment of flowers of every color that he could find... jaja. These kids are so crazy :)