All in the Tag: Week 69! "Small World..."

From 5/18/15

Heeelllo. :)

First of all....ASH SENT PICTURES. Woo! :) I love seeing and hearing how Ash is doing. It makes me happy.

This week we had cambios [transfers]....I´m now in....THE ORIENTE!!!! WOOOOOO!!!!!

Okay, okay. I´m just kidding. I´m still here in Quito. But, did you all get just a little excited there for a second? jajaja Hna B was transferred and I´m here with Hna C.....

This week was.....hm. Good! We are teaching a new family of 7. Only the youngest is 2 y/o and the rest are the 2 parents and teenage children. They didn´t come to church yesterday....rats....but they have a ton of desires (especially the Dad, and that is key). I want to exercise a lot of faith in this transfer in teaching them, and I know that good things will happen. I can´t wait to update you all on the progress of this family.

Families are so important. Who are we without them? Every family is just a little different. And that´s what makes the message of the Restored Gospel even more amazing. How is it that one set of eternal principles can cover every need in every situation in every moment? I think of the families we have with needs here and how beautiful it is to help them apply the gospel in their personal lives.

Jesus Christ is our Savior. He really did die and He really does live. Ahh yeah. This is good news for us all :)

Also, yesterday in Sunday class our teacher was AMAZING. He explained that in olden days the disciples participated of the sacrament on Saturday...the dia de reposo. But when Jesus was resurrected on Sunday, the disciples began to take the sacrament on Sundays...the new dia de reposo (Acts 20:7). When we don´t keep the Sabbath Sunday holy, we are in essence rejecting the resurrection of Christ....Wut. I learned a lot of cool things in class yesterday. I love the Sabbath Day.

Love you all have a great week!!! :)

Hna Fernelius

"I love being with the newer missionaries! Every time I am with them I can just expect good experiences to happen:

Tuesday we walked into a less active member´s house (Sister A) and she was apparently busy cleaning her living area. Her non-member neighbor was also there. We decided to aprovechar del tiempo [take advantage of the opportunity] and began speaking with the neighbor (Sister J) - she´s 19 with one small son.

As we spoke and tried to make the most of the time, Sister A didn't seem very interested. However, we asked more about her life and how she came to know the gospel. She mentioned the names of Hna F and Hna S...how they were the ones to teach and baptize her long ago. When I told her Hna F was my companion, she stopped in the middle of her work and looked up at me. Suddenly we had all her attention. She sat down at the table and focused on us. We informed her of how she can get in touch with Hna F, then we began to teach lesson 2 from the beginning. From that point on they both listened attentively and even called over Sister A's nonmember daughter to listen as well.

At the end, we invited them to church. Sister A came the Sunday before for the first time in months. And her 19 year old neighbor accepted a baptismal date in tears. I felt that the lesson was mediocre in my own eyes, but when I saw her neighbor so touched by the spirit it reminded me of the power of a simple, imperfectly spoken testimony from us. It was a motivating experience and humbling testimony of the power of the pure doctrine of Christ. After Sister J accepted baptism, Sister A seemed a little shocked and impressed as well, and her 9 y/o daughter also enthusiastically asked if she could be baptized as well and have her own copy of the Book of Mormon.

I loved that experience. It was a testimony to me that, if we look for miracles, God will provide them..."