15 November 2011

Letter from Goya - 14 November 2011


A Busy Week

Dear Family and Friends,

I know this sounds cliché but I can  hardly believe another week has passed. Besides a sluggish Wednesday (the weather was atrociously hot and sticky and I almost melted in a puddle of sweat and humidity) the days flew by. It seems to get really hot right before it rains and then the rain relieves us for a few days.

This week was full of tiny miracles. There were moments of frustration or exhaustion, but we would offer a prayer (sometimes aloud, sometimes silently) and push through and reach end the day feeling mostly happy and fulfilled. I am finding there is always some small moment of triumph even on the stickiest sweatiest most seemingly unproductive day.

Sundays are often our most hectic day because we have to get up extra early so we can get ready for church and make it out the door in time to go and find a whole bunch of investigators. It is a real struggle to get anyone to come to church for the first time and we find that they usually only make it when we go to their houses in person and walk with them to the chapel (or sometimes we have to catch a taxi). Obviously we can´t do this every week, but it is usually necessary the first week. So, lately, to help get more of our investigators to actually make it to church Hna. Da Silva and I have been dividing and conquering on Sunday mornings. Saturday night we call two women in the ward and ask them to come with us on splits and we each go with a different temporary companion to pick up a different set of investigators. This week it all paid off when we made it to church and found almost everyone we had invited had made it (this is not very common. there have been weeks where we went on splits and each went to get 3 different people and NO ONE ended up coming). I literally almost cried when I saw them all. It was a beautiful sight. Probably the best part was seeing Sandra (a recent convert, Lujan´s daughter) and her husband and her two boys walk into the chapel. Her husband has been struggling with some drug and alcohol problems and only recently decided that he wanted to turn his life around and quit the drugs and come to church and be a better husband and father.  We had an earthshaking sort of lesson with him a few days ago where he came to us, a little ashamed and  humbled, and with tears told us he needed a change, that he couldn´t keep doing what he has been doing. I know this sort of change is hard, and it might take some time, but I have faith in him. I really do. Especially after seeing him walk in to church with his wife and children. I don´t think I´ll ever forget that image.

Speaking of children, often there is a gaggle of children of investigators sprawled throughout the rows of seats around Hna Da Silva and I during Sacrament Meeting. I always bring little pieces of paper and colored pencils and Hna. Da Silva brings lollipops and we try our best to keep them quiet and occupied but it isn´t always easy. Usually I sing a line of a hymn, then congratulate a child on his drawing while trying to keep singing, then give another kid a colored pencil, then hand out a lollipop, then sing the last line of the hymn, then draw a dot-to-dot picture of Jesus, then try to tell some kids to fold their arms for a prayer, then congratulate another kid on his drawing, then look for another colored pencil for another kid, try to listen to a word or two from a talk, etc.

This Sunday I actually gave my first talk ever in Argentina and it went very well. I talked about our responsibilities as members of the church and as followers of Jesus Christ to care for and befriend other ward members. Retention is a BIG problem in this branch. We have no functioning home or visiting teaching program to speak of. But everyone is working very hard  to try to change this and to reach out and bring back people who have fallen away or been forgotten. I based my whole talk on the story of Peter--focusing especially on the scene in John 21 where the resurrected Christ appears on the shore as the disciples are fishing and tells them to cast the net on the other side of the ship and then he eats with them and tells Peter to "feed my sheep." I love this story. It has a special place in my heart.

Well, I know I said I´d give more details about the conference but I am out of time! Everyone should look up the story about the woman and the oil in 2 Kings 4:1-7. I had never heard it before and Sister Christofferson based her WHOLE talk on it. It is a beautiful metaphor about how the atonement of Jesus Christ and his gospel can help us to pay our debts and then some.

Have a blessed week!

Love,

Hna. Parker

No comments:

Post a Comment