Yay okay I guess I'm a little excited to talk this week. One thing about Christmas that I love here is that almost every house has a huge nativity scene complete with several little glass figurines. The best part is that almost all of them are peruvian, o sea, (that is) they all have little peruvian hats and braids and traditional clothing. Nothing like a little national pride eh?
I was able to buy a new camera this week and I learned my lesson about backing up my pictures. I'm just glad that I still have my journal and a good memory :) This week for P day we accidentally got locked inside the church. Some people were locked inside the building, some of locked in the basketball court area, and two sisters outside the gate. The man doing the yardwork locked everything up and took the keys with him (which is why I was forced to decorate the sugar cookie through the window!) Elder Cowger's mom sent him a mix and we made them as a district.
This week was really good. We were able to have another visita de trabajo with one of our zone leaders and although they always stress me out before hand, I always learn so much. He told us that we need to trust ourselves more, rely more in our own words which are brought to us by the spirit. Several times during the visit I wanted to stay quiet for him to answer the difficult questions or to teach something that I thought that he could teach better than me. He said to repent and trust in the Spirit of the Lord. We have the same right to the Spirit that he has with our callings as missionaries and just because his calling is a little different than mine, doesn't change the power by which we teach. I got to thinking a little about the role of the Spirit in our lives. I have always been one to freak out while making decisions and it is often easier to wait for someone else or a situation to make the decision for me. However, we as missionaries, and baptized members of the Church of Jesus Christ, have the RIGHT to the companionship of the Holy Ghost. We have the RIGHT to his guidance in our decisions, in teaching, in parenting, in serving. We just have to be worthy of Him and looking for the subtle promptings that will always come. Although I have felt that I am not seeing BIG success or changes in the people we are teaching, I started recognizing how the Spirit is working small changes in the lives and hearts of these people. It may be one man to see that there is a difference between rezar and orar (to repeat prayers and to express our feelings and desires) and to make the changes to pray correctly. It may be a less active start to go to church again and give us references. It might be someone who is learning how to apply Christlike attributes such as patience to deal with their family in a loving, not violent, manner. Just as it says in 2 Nephi 28:30 "For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, 'We have enough', from them shall be taken away even that which they have." God is working miracles line upon line and teaching me little by little how to recognize His hand. I know that he is aware of each of us and that "His hand is stretched out still". I hope that in this special time of year each of you can stretch out your hand to someone and remember not only that Christ came, but also WHY He did. I know that he is our Savior and that He is literally with us every step of the way. Until Friday......
Hermana Stone
PS something funny this week was while we were doing estudio del idioma (language study).The instructions said "Use el pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo en la clausula que empieza con siy el condicional compuerto (I can't translate this- even with the help of Google translate!)" I started laughing so hard because neither of us had any idea what that's supposed to mean.
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