June 4, 2013

Hola familia!!!

 

So I would like to start off this email with a wonderful story about the grace and poise of Luisa Lynette Chil. I was running up the stairs the other day to get something from our room and apparently the cleaning lady had just finished mopping so the floor was super wet and I just completely biffed it and landed on my thigh. I have a bruise. And now I cant lay down on my right side because it hurts way too much haha oh and dont forget the fact that my entire district saw it because we were practicing contacting. I also made the mistake of telling them a couple weeks before that I took a ballet class my sophomore year and its my worst grade on my transcript. So now they all know how graceful I truly am!

Anyway this week definitely had its ups and downs:

1. We had a devotional by Elder Pino, an area seventy here, and it was SO good. Like he basically touched on everything I needed to hear , especially the importance of exact obedience. Its cool to see how Heavenly Father answers our prayers (more on that later)

2. We went proselyting again on Saturday. It went better this time than last time but it was still rough for me. Its just hard because my companion, as much as i love her, doesnt speak spanish. Like any. So i end up doing all the talking and i hate silence so i just talk way too much and dont really let the spirit do its part. And on top of that i want to provide my companion with the opportunity to practice her spanish but every time i would turn to her for her to bear her testimony or something, she just was too scared to do it. But we still did better than last time. We talked to 17 people, got 6 references, and taught 2 lessons. We met some super nice people too that I think were very receptive. Ill be honest, proselyting is not my favorite buuuut I guess thats kind of what i signed up for. I just hope its different when I have a companion that speaks the same language so we can help each other out better.

3. Ive been running every day during physical activity with Hermana Moats and it has been SO nice!! Ive been wanting a running buddy since I got here and now i finally have one. Running relieves sooo much stress and helps me be a much nicer person so I dont end up snapping at people randomly. I love running (never thought I would say that)

4. I burned my knee while curling my hair last night.... Kailie, David, and Sam, you will appreciate that.

5. Okay so here is the best part. So I have been having a lot of slef doubts lately. Like wondering if I can do this, if Im loving enough, if im patient enough, if i know the doctrine enough, etc etc. And ive bene struggling because i was feeling like i wasnt feeling the spirit at all. And heres the thing about being a missionary - you really cant do anything without the spirit. You cant teach, you cant receive inspiration, you cant know who to talk to, you cant love your companion, you cant do ANYTHING. So i was really strugglign with that. Last night one of the teachers did a coaching session with me and asked if i needed help with anything so i basically spilled all those doubts to him and told him i just really had no idea what to do. So he gave me a few scriptures and had me read some parts of PMG, that was helpful. Right afterward, we had to teach a lesso nto our investigator Juan (who is actually the same teacher) so we went in and started teaching him about the Plan of Salvation. We had already taught him the gospel principles and the restoration and we had to teach him the law of chastity because he hsa a girlfriend and apparently thats how he "shows his love" to her (super awkward lesson by the way. i was trying really hard not to laugh most of the time). Anyway so while we were planning i told my companion we should invite him to be baptized. And she memorized the baptismal invitation in spanish so i always like to give her the opportunity to use it. So we were teaching him about the Plan of Salvation and he was telling us how he just feels realy alone because his girlfriend broke up with him and all of his family is very catholic. But that he feels good when we come to teach him and he always feels happy when he prays. For the first time since we got here to the CCM, i really started to feel the spirit in the lesson. Like we had felt it before but this time it was like BAM a giant wave. I felt like I should share with him a few verses from 1 Nephi to explain to him now Nephi also felt very alone sometimes because his own family members hated him and hated the fact that he was a prophet. I bore my testimony to Juan about how Ive felt alone before too but that I KNOW with all my heart that the Atonement of Jesus Christ can help us through any trial, any challenge, any doubts we have in this life. I started tearing up as I was talking and I could just FEEL the spirit guiding me big time. And I know it was the spirit because i cant even remember half the stuff i said. But the BEST part was right after I finished I looked over to my companion and she wasnt even looking at me for confirmation on her Spanish, she just was staring straight into Juans eyes and bore testimony to him IN SPANISH (remember, she doesnt speak spanish) of how she can see that he has faith and that following the principles of the gospel will help him draw closer to God and then she invited him to be baptized. It seriously took everything inside of me not to just burst into tears. After like a minute of silence (another miracle, because i usually break the silence long before that) he said that he would pray about it and that if he felt that personal feeling that it was right, he would be baptized. I told him we had a baptismal service in two weeks and that when he received his answer would he be baptized on that date and he said YES. My point of this story is not the fact that he agreed to baptism but the fact that #1 GOD ANSWERS OUR PRAYERS. I had been praying like crazy tofeel the spirit in my lessons and I fINALLY did and #2 The Holy Ghost is REAL and he makes himself known when the time is right. I hope this all makes sense but that was hands down the best experience I have had thus far in the CCM. And it came at the perfect time because it reminded me of why I am here and the potential I have even though I am so imperfect. AND it even inspired my companion to work harder to learn Spanish. Anyway it was just awesome.

So that was the highlight of my week. We went to the temple this morning which is always fun and next tuesday is our LAST PDAY then its off to ECUADOR! So since we are leaving in 2 weeks, please send all letters, DearElders, or packages straight to Ecuador. I am getting so excited to go out to the field!!!! Im nervous but I think it will be good for me to be thrown into a situation where I will really need to apply myself with Spanish and teaching and being out there for real.

 

Picture #1 all the girls theat came on may 8th in front of the templo

#2 my burnt knee

#3 the MTC map picture ive always wanted

 

Life is good, the gospel is true, and I love being a missionary.  THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO WRITES ME!!!!  Your emails and letters mean the world to me.  I love you all and thank you so much for all your support!

 

Love,

 

Hermana Chil