10.28.2013

Hold to the Rod


Hermana Tellez and me .... oh and my arm ha
We got stuck in a big rainstorm this week and all the streets were completely flooded! It was hard to work but fun as well..... and a little COOLER thank goodness!
We found this lake at the edge of our area this week. It is kind of cool in pics and something different from the normal dirt roads. But honestly the water is DISGUSTING!!! And there were people out fishing in it. Oh and when I say fishing, I mean they were swimming
around with wood spears trying to spear the things. So insane. 
Pretty sure those fish aren't sanitary to eat...

Me in front of a sea worthy boat!
This is one of the houses close to the lake.... and their laundry.
We had a branch activity this week with the theme " Hold to the Rod". We planned it and carried it out. This was our "rod". It was a super fun activity and we had a lot of success!
Following the rod and facing "obstacles"... oh and Elder Cipriano!
Following the straight and narrow path!
The tree of Life we made
oh and then the elders stuck some lights on it...... amateur work!
And then I just thought you might appreciate this face haha. 
It is me getting annoyed with Elder Estes!

First off, I love hearing all about the Halloween celebrations! Pumpkin walk, chairlift (mom.... haha), candy and GRANDMA'S PARTY! I LOVE THE PHOTO. Seriously everyone looks so good! I miss you guys all so much. It is weird to think that next Halloween I will probably be back with you guys (if all the changes are normal). Crazy huh!



So this week has been pretty hard. I don’t know why this month has been so difficult for me but it has been a hard one. We have been working so hard to visit recent converts this week and get them to go to church and renew their baptismal covenants. We had so many visits and lessons with them all! It is hard when I have the truth, I know all the blessings they can enjoy and I just want them to accept it all and then they don’t. UGH!! I hate the feeling I get when a recent convert or investigator decides not to live up to their commitments.  I just want to GIVE them my testimony but I know I can't and I know that isn’t the point.  They won't gain a testimony of Gospel principles until they live it!  So many ppl want to see the blessings and miracles BEFORE they commit to do anything. God doesn’t work like that. We MUST show our faith and trust in him. We are going to work even harder to help them all increase their FAITH! We did see a few miracles in church this week though. Three recent convert families that haven’t come to church for over 2 months all came this week. I can’t even explain to you how happy I was to see them in CHURCH! I squealed a little. Now we just have to work on all the OTHER families as well. 

We have had little luck in in finding new families. We always find ppl that will listen to us and accept the first lesson but after that discerning who really is interested in the church and our message is always sad... because not many really are ready. This week we have been working with a family and they are AWESOME!  They ALWAYS take care of us and love coming to all the church activities. The father loves everything about the church but is just nervous to take the plunge and be baptized. I just have to share a tiny experience to explain how awesome they are.   So Thursday we had a REALLY tough day and we were really discouraged. We showed up at their house at 7 o clock one night. All the kids came running down the street screaming " THE HERMANAS THE HERMANAS" and gave us huge hugs- I love that part! We got to their door and he was standing there with two pieces of cake for us... Ahh tender mercies! They are my favorite!

We have also been working with Carlos this week. We had a lesson with him and the ZL`s this week. It was AWESOME! I was sitting there feeling the spirit so STRONGLY and thinking "wow I love being a missionary". Seriously I can’t describe how awesome it was to sit there with 3 other missionaries declaring repentance to him and sharing gospel principles with the promptings of the spirit. I just felt like I was a part of something so real and beautiful. I will NEVER forget that lesson.

This week we have had the opportunity to share lesson 1 a LOT! Lesson 1 is of the Restoration, Joseph Smiths experience and the Book of Mormon. I had so many sweet experiences with the spirit during this lesson this week. Every time I had the chance to share the first vision I felt the spirit moving through me to testify of the truthfulness of this message. I love feeling that sweet presence of the Spirit. I hope to ALWAYS live worthily of its accompany. I am so grateful for the Spirits and the Lords help in this work. We are so blessed to have their help in this work. Who else could be a better teacher! My hope is that every person we teach can feel that sweet testifying power of the Holy Ghost. We are working our hardest and trying to live worthy of the Spirits help ALWAYS so that these ppl can have these spiritual experiences.

So this week we had a couple "scares". I won’t share details and we are FINE but the Elders have decided to move us.  The Elders are dividing up our areas differently right now and we should be moved to our new house and area by the end of the week. I am SO SAD!! I do not want to leave all my recent converts or investigators. I know the Elders will take good care of them but I am still super sad. I am also sad to leave our house it has been so good to us. It will be an interesting new challenge to learn our new area and converts. Thankfully we are still in the same branch though.

Oh also this week was our mission activity. Like you saw from the photos it was "hold to the rod". We set up a rope as the rod and different obstacles or temptation through out the church. The ppl were blindfolded and could either hold to the rod and preserver or give into the challenges and temptations. However, if they endured to the end they made it to the Tree of Life and a small refreshment. Afterwards we watched the "Living Scriptures" version of Lehi’s dream. It was so fun to watch that again... but in Spanish haha. I remember watching those all the time at Nana and Papas. I will definitely be sharing those with my children. It was a real success! We all had a great time!

I love you and miss you with all my heart. I will see you soon!!  
Savannah

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