¡Cambios!

Saying goodbye to friends in Calle Larga

 

 

 

 

15 December 2014    

¡Cambios! I like the word for transfer in Spanish because it translates to change. I like to think of it as an opportunity to start over and change myself and I have been given the change to do that this transfer. 

I'm on my way to Llay Llay to be a sister training leader with Hermana Santander! She will be in the sector constantly and I will be the one who travels to visit the other sisters in all of the sectors in our zone. This means that this is the transfer where I live out of a backpack and spend all of my time in a bus. It means that I will spend little time in my own sector. This also means that I will be able to learn a lot from all of the other sisters. And it means that I get to return to Calle Larga at least twice this transfer! (Maybe three times because there is going to be a trio there).

It is kind of hard to leave Hermana Nuñez and all of the people I love in Calle Larga. Up until now I have served all of my mission there. I love the ward and I love the investigators. I especially love my companion. She helped me pack everything last night so my suitcases could zip closed. I don't know what I've been collecting for six months but it was a challenge.

I feel like I have been transferred just when things were starting to happen in Calle Larga.  The mother and little daughter that we have been teaching came to church yesterday for the second time! We got them with the primary program invitation. The little girl has been nervous about the idea of going to primary and being separated from her mother and it's hard for her mother to feel comfortable going when her daughter throws a fit about it. We explained what the primary program was and told the little girl that she could sit next to her mom during the program and just watch the other kids. We also mentioned that this event only happens once a year. That did it. They came! And afterward the little girl decided she wanted to go to primary and didn't want to leave. Her mother came with us to the Gospel Principles class along with another investigator who also came to church this week. Hermana Nuñez taught the class on the chapter about exaltation. When she explained requirements, including baptism, endowment, temple sealing, the mother really understood. She asked a lot of questions and wants to be baptized but wants to wait until her daughter turns eight, which is in a year. We think that she just feels alone in her decision. She understands that the gospel is for families but it's going to take a lot of faith to help her whole family reach that point. Her teenage daughter is very Catholic. Her husband joins us for the lessons, but sits off to the side and listens during the discussion and reading. Someday I hope their whole family can join the church. The mother had a lot of questions during the exaltation lesson about what would happen if the other members of her family didn't join the church. We did the best we could to explain that Heavenly Father loves all of his children and is going to give everyone the opportunity to accept the gospel in this life or in the next. We need to do everything in our reach in this life but if things don't work out we can have faith that there is more to eternity than we can see right now.

Love you! Talk to you next week!

Celina’s birthday