It Is Raining Here!

Anyways, this week was CRAZY.  We were able to get a lot of new people, and we got to know the members and got some amazing references.  In this area we have lunch and sometime dinner every day, and we are dying from so much food. The best death ever:)

Emmm...We met an inactive named Lorena.  Her family is super active, they have a son in the mission, but she got married and stopped coming.  Her husband had been baptized, but he also stopped coming.  We had an amazing lesson this week, and they came to sacrament meeting!  We were kind of bummed because they hadn't come earlier, so we were sitting in sacrament meeting kind of depressed when we saw their little daughter run up front, and we turned around and they had come!!

We also had a progressing investigator.  We found him through a member family, we just went to their house and he just happened to be there.  Junior is 17 years old, and is fulfilling every single compromiso that we give him.  He has been coming to church for almost 3 months now, he is like gold.  And..he doesn't live in our area.  But hey, its all good, he is so strong and I know that the elders will do a good job with him.

Last night, we were stuck outside at about 8:30, and all of our plans had fallen through.  Our options were: walk home slowly or go follow up on contacts.  We decided to stop by a house we had contacted last weekend, a lady named Antonia.  We had set an appointment with her for Saturday, but she didn't answer when we went, So we decided to try again and we found her and had an amazing lesson.  When we contacted her last week, we left a card with the question, "will I be able to see my loved ones again?" and when she read the question, she started to cry, and we were able to testify to her of the plan of salvation, and when we went back last night, she told us that it would be okay to pass by again and talk with her and her husband. MIRACLE.  I was so proud of Hermana Cordova, she was able to testify to Antonia and the spirit was SO strong.  I can't wait to see how this turns out.

Something funny this week was that we found a lady named Snow White, who just happens to have 7 little grandchildren.  We are still laughing about that one. We clapped and she let us in, and we were like, AHHH FAMILY but it turns out that they were baptized a while ago..that has happened about 3 times now.  There are la lot of inactives but thats okay, gives us a lot to do.

Other than that, we have had a good week, Junior gets baptized next weekend, and we are working to find more.  I love this experience, and I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for letting me come.  I love you all and hope that you have a good week!

Hermana Farish

My new greenie, Hermana Cordova

P-Day Fun!

Can you shave a balloon?

Death By Flood

This week was interesting.  We had a lot of things that kind of messed up our normal proselyting time, but whatever.

Hermana Francani experienced her first torrential storm in Paraguay, and she did great.  One thing that I have never experienced was when we were eating lunch with a menos (less) activo, and it began to rain even harder.  This member happens to live next to a river, which is just great, because as we were eating, I felt something on my foot and turns out the water was rising in the house.  The family didn't even do anything because apparently it always  happens and there isn't anything they can do, so they just wait and hope that the water doesn't rise too high.  Brings a whole new meaning to a house flood. We left REALLY fast, because the water was rising and it was already to our knees. Turns out there was like 3 feet of water in this member's house by the time the water stopped rising.

Training is really fun, and I have honestly felt the enabling power of the Atonement in my life. Thank you for your prayers and for all of the support that I have received in the last 8 months.  My favorite moment of the week is when we can take the sacrament.  Literally, it is another baptism, another opportunity to clean our spirits and start over.

One miracle that took place this week was with a recent convert, Antonia.  She has one year as a member, and to be honest, with Hermana Betancourth we were struggling hard core with her. Sometimes she went to church, sometimes not, and most of the time, she lied to us a lot, making up a lot of excuses.  BUT.  We had a lesson with her yesterday, and we planned on picking up reading where she left off in the Book of Mormon, and turns out, she was reading in 2nd Nephi 31, which is a wonderful chapter where Nefi talks about sincere repentance and baptism.  We read verse 13, which says:

13 Por tanto, amados hermanos míos, sé que si seguís al Hijo con íntegro propósito de corazón, sin acción hipócrita y sin engaño ante Dios, sino con verdadera intención, arrepintiéndoos de vuestros pecados, testificando al Padre que estáis dispuestos a tomar sobre vosotros el nombre de Cristo por medio del bautismo, sí, siguiendo a vuestro Señor y Salvador y descendiendo al agua, según su palabra, he aquí, entonces recibiréis el Espíritu Santo; sí, entonces viene el bautismo de fuego y del Espíritu Santo; y entonces podéis hablar con lengua de ángeles y prorrumpir en alabanzas al Santo de Israel.

After we read this, she just began to cry, and looked at us and apologized for always lying and not going to church.  She really felt it (FINALLY) and we were able to talk about some of her doubts and help her realize that everything was going to be okay and that she could start over.  The atonement is wonderful, FYI.

And yes, I am happy.  I am happy when we work hard and I fall into bed thinking it is the most heavenly thing in the world.  Interesting how that works, right?  At first, I was so incredibly stressed, but...I took the sacrament and all is well now.  For the first time in my life, I can literally feel the strength of the Lord in me.  I can feel that when I am working, He is giving me the strength to know what to say, how to respond to the doubts and preguntas (questions).  Especially con mi hija (with my greenie). (hardcore spanglish, not even going to try).  Enserio, when I talk with her and she has a problem or a question or doesn't understand something, I can feel the spirit with me, helping me to know what to say so that she can feel better.  I have never relied on the Spirit so much in my life.  I have to say, it is a wonderful feeling.

Anyway, everything is really good, and I am loving the learning, making mistakes, and learning from them.  I love you all so much and I hope that everything is going well at home!

Love,
Hermana Farish


Ummm...awkward, I just realized the scripture was in Spanish, Here it is in English!  SORRY!!

13 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism—yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel.