Week 25! "B The Baptist"

From 7/21/14

On Monday last week, Hna D and I were starting our proselitismo after our regular p-day and there was a major street we had to cross. It was night, dark, and there was heavy traffic at that time. We waited for a chance to cross, but it was congested at the end where we were because a taxi was stopped with his emergency lights on.

We decided to ask the taxista if he needed help pushing the car out of the way. He said yes so we, in our skirts, mochila, and walking shoes, began to use brute hermana missionary force to push the taxi down the road. The man? Well, he decided to hop inside the car and steer...

"Yeah, that´s fine" I thought. But, as we pushed, we were waiting for him to pull off the road...and he never did. We pushed and pushed, so confused. I figured maybe he expected us to push him home jajaj. But por fin! He waved at us that we could let go, and he continued to inch down the long highway. Mission accomplished?? Not really,; he was still impeding traffic...but whatever. We tried. jajaja

Thanks for all the details about the family and baby Kylie. I love the pictures of Emma, her big sister. Emma is looking so grown up. Also, my companion commented that Amy looks very mature and beautiful for just having her second daughter. I thought Amy might like to hear that :) jeje

When Kylie was just born, I felt at times a very warm presence around me. Maybe I was with some ancestors at that time or something. At times I could imagine myself, as if very real, that I were cradling Kylie in my own arms. It was super special and filled whatever vacancy I might have had not being able to hold Kylie in my arms. :)

We are still teaching "B" the Baptist (imagine me saying that in a southern-state accent). B is the Nigerian we´ve been teaching in English. He is SO GOOD and has real intent. Every time he prays I can´t help but smile. He´s just a guy that makes us so happy. He reeks of awesomeness.

One thing I´ve noticed a lot this week is that, sometimes people who are not members of the church really understand the concept of prayer. These people are the ones who really understand what it could mean to have a meaningful relationship with God. B invited us to his house to eat a Nigerian dish...which was pretty much rice, a spinach salad, and chicken stew. It was really good. He´s a man who can cook.

B's biggest challenge right now is accepting that God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are three separate beings. And that God is a personage of flesh and bone like us. We´ve borne testimony, read scriptures, brought out talks by the first presidency, and had hermanadores testify to him. But, this is just such a hard thing for him to accept. But, sin embargo, he´s gone to church 4 times now and truly truly wants to know if this is true. He said once, "Sorry if I am bothering, but I am in the process of changing religion. So I need to know before making my decision to be baptized."

There are many people so humble and willing to sacrifice what they have known for years in order to accept whatever changes the Lord wants them to make. B is definitely one of those people.

We invited him to fast for an answer. And I´m pretty sure he will. The Spirit is such an important role in conversion. We are doing as much as we can from our part...now it's B's turn to let the Spirit simply reach him for his own conversion.

I am grateful for this true church. It´s the Restored Gospel which we live that is far above price and pride. I hope that, now that we are in it, that we will make sure we are in it all the way.

I love you all! Take care, love one another, and be safe!!

Love,

Hna Fernelius

This is our bishop. We eat lunch with him and his family every other Sunday. Their home is like a get-away because they are such a strong LDS family with strong values and who support the missionary work like no other. I was in charge of setting up the cameras on the table with the timer. But when I tried to hurry over to sit down I knocked the cameras over, then panicked and tried to hurry back to set them back up again (as the timer ticked) and slipped on the carpet, nearly knocking several other things over. The timer went off just as bishop tried picking my camera off the floor. And....

This is the picture we got from it. jajaja It was so funny.

But they gave me a second chance, and we did end up getting a good picture out of it jaja.

The family we were looking for wasn´t home on this particular occasion. So I decided to actually enjoy the beauties of the stars and country I am living in for a couple minutes before continuing with the night. Sometimes it´s hard to see Ecuador as Ecuador and not a country of many chosen soullllls to saaaaavvve (aka missionary mind). jejeje

Today we treated ourselves to Greek food near the mission offices. We decided to spoil ourselves since it´s most likely our last P-day together. Next week are transfers, and the President can only have two in the sector...like it should be. We were super blessed to be in this companionship together nearly a whole transfer..!

So we also went to an Otavalanian market and bought rings jeje with our nicknames embossed in it. I´m "Dr. Fern" because I know about their muscles and health jajaja. Sometimes I palpate Hna M's shoulder and say.."I like your deltoids..." jajaja It´s super funny. We all have nicknames. We even have our own dance moves. "Do the fern...do the fernnnn" is where you do a bilateral hand waving motion while simultaneously internally and externally rotating bilateral lower extremities. Does that make any sense? Maybe I´ll send a video some time jejeje.