Tuesday, August 20, 2013

August 19, 2013 Stephanie



                                                                   August 19, 2013

Hey family, 

So I am trying really hard to send you all picture of the baptism but the computer I am on is a little weird.
So I learned a lot this week family. This week has been one of the hardest ones on my mission. The beginning of the week was super hard. I was super depressed. I was not feeling the spirit. Our investigators were all dropping and no one wanted to let us in and listen to our message. I was getting stressed with the number, with our area, and our daughter. We are training and also with all the sisters in the mission the President has asked us to baptize in every area and since we are over the sisters we are called to help them achieve this goal.  Lots are doing it, but also there are some that don't even have fechas. My faith was really down and I knew it. I had an interchange and I felt like I did nothing to help the sister I was with. If anything she was the one building my faith. I started to ask myself what am I even doing. I was actually on the brink of asking to be released from this calling because the pressure and responsibility was making me sick. I was not having the spirit and my Spanish was horrible and no one understood me. 
     Wow, that was really hard to admit all that. Hah I don't like how it sounds even now.  I had one good pity party with Hermana Messina one night with a jar of peanut butter. The next day we had a great meeting for all the leaders on faith. Family I have never seen a greater need in my life for greater faith than now and I am very humbled to know I have such a long way to go. What the President and his wife said I felt was directed at me. I realized my attitude was reflecting my faith. I realized that faith is a habit of thinking. It is reflected in everything you say and do and in your attitude you do it in. Family something changed. I realized that if god called me to this calling, it was for a reason and that in questioning my own abilities and what I was even doing, I was questioning him and his faith and confidence in me. Wow, it was a hard blow and I did a lot of repenting after that. 
    The next morning I woke up and I made the decision to have faith that day and things started to get better. We got through half of the week and realized that Satan was working really hard against us because A...... was going to get baptized this week. We needed to show forth even more faith. Yesterday, Saturday and Sunday family were two amazing days. Saturday we had an activity in the chapel and we hung around to support the activity. Just as we were about to leave a sister from another ward came up to us and asked us to teach her friend the first lession. She said they were supposed to have met the Elders the day before but they could not make the cita, so, she asked us if we could teach her right then. We said yes. We entered the room and started to sing “I am a child of god.” From the very first line the girl, C........ she is 22, started to cry and could not continue singing. She was hiding it well which is probably why Hermana Herrera didn't realize. After the song she when right on with the prayer like nothing happened, hah. But after the prayer we stopped for a second. I asked if she liked the hymn. She said she did. I asked why.  She went on to say that when she heard the phrase I am a child of god ...something happened. She felt something so beautiful. We were able to right then and there testify of the love of God. How she is a daughter of God. The spirit was so strong and I knew it was going to be a great lesson. 
    We invited her to be baptized and she said yes and we put a fetch for her the 14 of September. It was a really fun phone call to our zone leaders to tell them we had a reference for them and that she has a fecha.
  Oh, oh, and then the baptism was amazing family. I want to send picture because his face says it all. After he was baptized my favorite question to ask is “how do you feel now?” He said he felt really good.... it was all he expected and hoped for for 2 years! Knowing all the sins this man had and the great weight, he must feel great. 
Out of time. Sorry.
     Family I love you so much. Pray that I will be able to have greater faith in the Lord. 
 Hermana Hale 

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