The lost week...

Dear family and friends.

This is my catch-up week with journal entries.  I hope that my mom does not get tendonitis from typing all this stuff in. Yet another week has flown by.  In about 2 weeks, we have General Conference which is the Superbowl for missionaries.  This week was very hot, but the weather turned overnight and it is now a very comfortable 75 degrees with rain and over cast skies.  I will take the rain over the Rio sun any day of the week.  Last week was a hard week, but we worked hard and our bishop was happy with our work.

March 17

            We had a great family home evening with Al. and Jos. FHE was so much fun.  Carlos and Ros. Volunteered to help us out and we held the FHE in Al. garage.  He invited grandchildren and his neighbors to come.  We left a message of eternal families, using The Family: Proclamation to the World.  Jos. loved it!  Afterward, we played a cute get-to-know you game and everyone had a great time.  Sister R. made a delicious cake …It was a good day!

March 18

            I was sick today, so I ended up sleeping during most of our studies.  To my comps credit, she stayed focused and did her studies.  PROGRESS! After resting, I felt quite a bit better until we walked 45 minutes to our lunch appointment….only to have it fall through…then walked 45 minutes back to our apartment to eat ramon noodles.

            Sister Brown got her new companion, Sister Nob. who is from Uruguay and has a really heavy accent. I like her a lot. We also got a new district leader, Elder O.  who is also training for the first time this transfer.  He is visibly overwhelmed, but I really am a fan of him thus far.  He is a lot more respectful and level-headed with us, and he is demonstrating a lot of trust in our judgment.

            Tuesday evening we met with Irma V. who’s husband is not a member. We spent some time talking with her and getting to know her story, and we are going to have FHE there this week.  Even though that time didn’t count towards anything numbers wise, it was essential and beneficial so that we can know how to help her husband. I am learning that the work you report to your leaders, and the work that you actually do are very different. For example, on Tuesday, I focused on the fact that we found 2 new investigators and someone who committed to come to church.  But I left out the fact that we had done a lot of follow-up work, visited with part member families, and spent a lot of time talking with our ward mission leader.   

March 19

            We were rejected by just about everyone and we didn’t get into a single house today. Rough.  And we had a Baptist preacher try to get us to fight with him about Joseph Smith. He told us that we were going to Hell an that we should burn the Book of Mormon.  Rough. We had a woman stop us on the street afterwards and tell us that she was impressed by the way we responded to this pastor.  We maintained poise and respect and testified of what we knew to be true.  We talked with her some more, and now she is an investigator.   She is 45 years old and is separating from her husband.  She is a peacemaker and she has a lot of fear of what people will think and do if she starts going to the Mormon church. There is some heavy anti-mormonism down here.  There is even one church that teaches, “How to defend yourself against Mormons: top ten secrets: 1. Never talk to a Mormon alone. 2. Recite scriptures from the Bible. 3. Tell them that the Bible and only the Bible has gospel truths.

             It makes me think of 2 Nephi 29 – I am amazed at the limits that people put so easily upon God.  They firmly believe that the Bible has ALL that we need to know, implying that the heavens are sealed and that the Lord doesn’t talk to His people in these days.  This just isn’t true.  The heavens are not sealed, and the Lord continues to guide us in these perilous times through a living prophet – just as in times of old.  His poser is limitless and I am so grateful to have the continual guidance given to us by God through our living prophet.

March 20

            Woo, I am feeling TRUNKY.  I am missing my country right now.  (air conditioning, driving a car, drinking clean water that does not make you sick, etc.)  The U.S. really is a blessed country.  Sister Brown and I are coming up on our 9 month mark, and we are still together. It is a huge blessing for me.  She is a wonderful human being!

            My little filinha is doing well!  She is starting to be a lot more focused on the work, and we are getting along quite well. We have a new district leader, Elder O.  He is very you, but his is a good missionary and a good person.

            We got to teach Seminary today.  We taught about the Restoration.  I am very impressed by the youth of this church.  They are sharp, and are striving to do what is right. It gives me hope that despite an increasingly toxic environment, my children can grow up to be strong.

            After seminary we went to Al. for his 77th birthday party.  He is such a nice and funny little old man.  We finally felt that it was right to teach Jos. the Restoration and extend the baptismal invitation.  Everything went smoothly with our ward mission leader’s help (bless his hard working heart) and she said that she will read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if she should be baptized.  It was cool to see how much she loves and trusts us as servants of the Lord.  I think that is one of the reasons why missionaries have such strict rules.  Can you imagine if an investigator saw a missionary posting 1,000 selfies on FB, or speaking ill of another person?  It just wouldn’t match up with the disciples of Christ that we are striving to be.

March 21

             We had lunch with M. I love that little lady.  She is growing really well in the church, and is loving expanding her gospel knowledge.  We had an awesome lesson with Irma An. In which Sister R. and I explained very clearly about the tribe of Judah and and Joseph and the chronology of the Book of Mormon.  We taught about how the Book of Mormon and the Bible work hand-in-hand.  We were led by the spirit and ended up giving a lesson that just hit everyone of our investigator’s needs. 

March 22

            Highlight of the week: teaching L.(65) and his 2 daughters J.(12), and G(15).  This family is so prepared to hear our message.  We found them doing a street contact.  The girls were living with their Mom until she took them to a favela to live with her druggie boyfriend.  Their loving and faith filled Dad found out about it, and despite many risks, rescued his daughters.  When he arrived, they hadn’t eaten in 3 days and were living in fear of leaving the house.  Now, three years later, they are very sweet, educated, well-mannered girls.  They came to church on Sunday and loved it. They are also planning on attending early morning seminary (starts here at 7 a.m.) At tonight’s lesson, all 3 of them committed to baptism!  

March 23

            It rained hard.  We had a member baptism after church, then our lunch ran late, then bishop wanted to talk to us about this friend who is interested in the gospel., then we had our meeting with our ward mission leader, then we had ward council meeting.  Basically it was a great day for member missionary work, but we had very little time for proselyting! 

            We ended the day teaching Jos. She opened up a ton and told us of how she feels impure and unworthy to be in church because she can’t seem to forgive some server trauma that her son inflicted upon her and her husband.  We just listened , then testified, then listened some more.  She remarked how good it was to get things off her chest, and how she feels lighter when we are with her, or when she reads the Book of Mormon, or when she was at her husband’s baptism.  She is learning to feel the spirit in her life.            

            I don’t know why the Lord is continuing to work miracles in this area. I feel like there is so much more that I should be doing, and so much more humility that I should be developing.  I keep expecting things to get harder.  But it seems as though Heavenly Father just keep putting person after person in our path.  It is incredible.  I am in awe of His plan, power, and love.  I strive every day to pray, study, serve, and teach these people.

             Well. I love you guys.  I miss you loads, but it brings me a lot of peace to know that I will see you all again in this life and the next.  The gospel is true and it gives us strength and protection, purpose and direction.

Con Amor,

Sister Colvin