I have been studying recently my Patriarchal Blessing and missionary setting-apart blessing, along with the letters Dad and Mom wrote about it afterward. Wednesday I cumplear-ed 8 years of receiving my Patriarchal Blessing. And, leading up to studying it, the general conference talks and other little things I`ve read have all been based around ancestors -- temple work, family history, and the work beyond the veil in general. And, upon reading my blessing again and thinking about my experiences in preparing for a mission...I realized that...I probably could have qualified for serving in some other part of the world. But, because of our experiences in me serving here, I believe now that perhaps my ancestors were the ones to plead with God for me to come here. I still don`t know why. But it`s an impression I might not know all the answers to even while I am serving here on a mission. But, I felt so enlightened. And, I felt it to be true.
Similarly, Ashley has been called, perhaps not just under a prophet of God, to serve in Mexico...but perhaps under the pleas and influence of a swarm of other ancestors...hm I don`t know... It feels more and more this way to me, though.
One night Hna L and I were walking down a street. A regular, normal route we take to get to our main area. As we walked and talked, we came to a bend in the road and we both immediately stopped. We stopped walking, we stopped talking. We just stood there looking down the street. At almost the same time, we both swept our head from side to side and commented that we should not take that road that night. I explained to her, quite casually, "Nope. Something about this road doesn`t seem right." Similarly, but with more conviction, she added, "I feel like we shouldn`t go down this road." So, we stood there.
We knew that going another way would take way too long and would not be practical. But, we also knew that, if the Spirit told us not to go down this street, that we weren`t going to do that either.
Not sure what to do, we just stood there. And waited. I felt that, although something didn`t seem good about going down that road, that we would be okay. So, we started making our way.
At a little, lighted store, Hna L told me to stop. She said her heart was beating faster the further we made our way down the road, and she could only think to herself, "Why are you still walking?" I explained to her that I felt that something wasn`t right, but that we would be okay. Then, as she looked up at me with her big beautiful eyes, I added, "But, perhaps the reason I feel everything will be fine is because of a prayer that we should say." So we did, and we were super attentive the entire way -- not speaking one word to each other until we were through. I love listening to the voice of the Spirit.
Because, on another occasion this week, we received very specific inspiration in order to help one of our investigators. This inspiration ...I can`t think of a better adjective...ENLIGHTENED our understand, and illuminated our course of action. I wrote about this experience in the email to President this week.
A week of revelation. Personal and companionship revelation. And, why would this week be different than any other? Well, something I realized we`ve been doing (not even intentionally, either), is that we`ve been praying every so often for inspiration and personal-companionship revelation. And then, God gives it to us. He always answers our prayers...even when we don`t realize we have been praying for it more than usual.
Oh!!! By the way. We were attacked by dogs:
We took a little dirt passage way that led to a loooong set of deep dirt stairs, looking for a family we had contacted a couple days before. As we carefully made our way down these steps, I jokingly commented, "I hope we don`t run into a pack of bravo dogs."
As SOON as I finished my sentence, a pack of 5 or 6 dogs came running at us from behind a little wood shack. We whipped out our backpacks and held them out in front of us as shields. I was a couple steps down from Hna L, and there was no option of going anywhere because of the landsliding effect of the steep stairs we were on.
The dogs immediately formed a circle around us and barked furiously from all sides. One launched at Hna L who, with her backpack in front, managed to protect herself from the bite. The dog clenched at the front pocket of her backpack with it`s front teeth for a good few seconds. I noticed, but couldn`t do anything. I was in a crouched, defensive position, glancing from one dog to another, determining which one would be the next to strike.
We were both in defensive stances, eyeing one dog to the next. It felt like we were in a video game!! It was SO COOL!! I immediately thought of Benjamin and how proud of me he would be jejeje. And I thought, "What would Benjamin do?..?" jaja
As suddenly as they came, they all ran around another little shack and disappeared. We cautiously made our way down the rest of the steps, relieved that they were no longer interested in attacking us. Then, to top it off, I heard a little "sloosh!" and turned around to see Hna L sitting on the ground, lost in a cloud of dust and dirt. She had slipped the rest of the way down the steps...jajaja Poor thing. She scraped herself a bit, but ended up being okay.
All that only to find....that the family we had contacted supposedly didn`t even live there o_O ...Okay. Never again. jaja
But anyways, that was a pretty juicy story. Hope ya`ll liked it :P. But, we are all okay. Alive and kicking. And the work of the Lord goes on!!! jaja DAMOS TODO AL SEÑOR! -- (that`s our war-cry). :)
"We have a few people with SO MUCH potential. The big theme lately is the fear these people have in accepting a baptismal date. They want to be baptized if they feel this is true, but will not accept a baptismal date 'just in case.' They are fearful to do so.
We had a family go to church Sunday. The ward welcomed them in so amazingly that, although they initially said they needed to leave early, they decided to stay the last class because they WANTED to be there. It`s so important to be welcoming and friendly at first impression, and to make sure the people have an elevating, edifying experience, like we learned in the conferencia.
Also, in the conferencia para las zonas, I liked that we did several practices. During one of them, Hna L and I experienced something interesting. We did a practice with an investigator in mind, and how we could apply the mission objective (fe, arrepentimiento, bautismo...) with whatever principle we would teach. During the practice, Hna L stopped and looked at me. She exclaimed, 'Wait. That was weird!', and explained that, as she pretended to be our investigator, comments and questions came to her mind that she had never thought of before. We both began chatting, and ideas flowed to our heads in unexplainable ways of how we could help our investigator overcome her fear of accepting a baptismal date.
It was incredible! We realized that we had taught well about what is baptism and it`s importance, but perhaps we overlooked the principles of faith and repentance too quickly. That, perhaps if we could lead her through the process of complete repentance first, then she would feel the DESIRE to be baptized later.
I remembered what Elder Waddell said about this process, and I remembered the story of Alma and the waters of Mormon...how the people exclaimed that they wanted to be baptized in order to be sanctified. We were left enlightened..!"
Love you all! Hope you have a great week1 :)
Hna Fernelius
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| A frog we found last night!! It`s been raining a ton here lately...seasons changing. So, this little froggie I`m sure is a result of it :) |
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| And, we were left with the ganas to catch a little froggie this morning. We woke up earlier than usual to go frog-hunting, but to no avail. They weren`t croaking or anything, so we couldn`t find them. Next time... jejeje |
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| I just wanted to take a picture to show off my cool beanie. Hna C gave it to me a long time ago but I never wear it. I did today because it`s cold and rainy. And I figured I could show you all my cool wall next to my study desk with pictures of all ya`ll on it. There`s a GIANT picture of Kylie up top, but she got cut off. :) |
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| We have been serving in the same zone for over a cambio now, and JUST found out Tuesday night that Elder "P" was actually trained by Elder Lopez [Tiffany's cousin who was released from the same mission just before she began serving]! jaja So, de ley we had to take a picture Thursday at our zone meeting. jeje The discoveries continue... |
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| We had a conferencia of two zones on Friday. It was SO GOOD. I was inspired and edified with my companion. When you leave the house praying to be inspired...you are. |
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| Encebollado!!!!! We treated ourselves to lunch since our mamita totally abandoned us that day. Encebollado here is so expensive, but we happened to find this little ceviche place that actually had decent prices. We left it full and happy... :) |
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