viva viña

What in the world. It’s April. Seriously? I thought about playing an April jokes fool on you guys, telling you I tore my ACL or something again, but then I thought, well if the connection doesn’t go through well or something, they’d KILL me. So I decided not too. But I sure hope that Grandpa called and told you there was a spider on your back mom! 

 

Well this week was good! I mean, it can´t be bad while your on the mish, can it? There are weeks that are for sure slower, and not as successful, but even with weeks like that you really just remember the good things. Here are some of the great things that happened this week:

 

Fransisco: he is the husband of a hna in the branch here and he just started coming to church randomly with her and her daughter, so we’ve been working with him and he keeps coming, but he is like SUPER hard to find in the house with work and such so we haven´t been able to teach him as much as we´ve wanted to. But this week we could, we taught him and he had questions, one of them that I loved was... ¨how do you know that there is a profeta (prophet) today in the world, who is this Jose Smith guy? Insert Restauración! (Restoration) He totally understood too. Then we talked about the LDM (Book of Mormon) and how he NEEDED to read it to know and he says he wants to know so of course he´ll read it. Then we invited him to be baptized and at first I was like nervous to invite him, which I´m usually not. This is the best inivation anyone can offer, but I said, it´s satan that is making you nervous, just invite him! The worst he´ll say is no, so we did, and he accepted! He said, ¨me gustaría entrar las aguas¨ (id like to enter the waters) it was just cool to see him accept. Obviously, if he is coming to church it´s for a reason, not just to dink around, right? So he was great!  We’re now working with him more regularly! yay.

 

John Henry: he is progressing, he just has fear to read the BOM, because of all the things that he´s heard and what the bible says, ect ect. but he is coming to ALL of our citas, (appointments) comes to church. He is awesome. I just KNOW that once he opens the LDM for himself that he won´t be able to stop. but he feels good when he is with us, he loves the church, ect ect. just want to see him in WHITE! He listens better than any other investigator that I´ve taught I think. He is really just looking, and needs to feel love from God again, but he´ll get there. We’re working on him!

 

Irene: this girl we just found randomly, we set an cita(appt) to go back and teach her. Went there and taught her the restauración. When we read Santiago 1:5, she just started bawling, and said that she’s been asking for knowledge for a long time from God and that this scripture just spoke to her. We asked how she was feeling and she explains that she just thought she´d practice English with us and that she never accepts religious things in her house, but then she got this little message from us. After she explains all of that she just goes ¨bakanpo!¨ these are very typical words from Chile, bakan, is like sweet, cool, and po, well, who knows, just a Chilean thing that I Iove! ha! But she obviously felt something, but we just have to help her get more Faith in God!

But mom, how do you do your hummingbird water. We were talking about it and she thought it was SO cool, but she wants to know. Is it just water and sugar??

 

We are trying more to talk about Fam History in contacts, and we did practices with it in studies and were so excited to talk to people about it, the spirit of Elijah is starting to trabajar (work) in me! (and by starting, i mean, centimeter por cenimeter) but we get out on the street and the first person we talk to about family history just says, ¨nope, don’t really care¨ it was just SO funny to us, we tried so hard to be all positvas about it and then just shot us down. Just hilarious for some reason, but were still doing it! More luck will come if we keep doing it!

 

Yesterday at church was great! Sacrament meeting was ALL on the Savior, I had to talk about the Expiación, (Atonement) which I remembered when I was 12 I remember I was asked to talk about the Atonement and I remember asking dad, what is the atonement? I didn’t even know! and the changed the topic for me, but now, 10 years later, I couldnt imagine my life without it! It was great to study it and  really remembers everything that the atonement entails. It’s a ton! I’m sure I don’t even understand all of it, or not even close to all of it, but I am SO grateful for it in my life. To be able to repent, to be clean, and to really feel that love and forgiveness from God! The atonement in itself just shows that love that God has for every single one of us. To send His Son for us, wow. Talk about true 100% love and for Christ to bring it to pass for us, another 100% love. Can’t wait to be able to give them a big ol´ hug and say thank you!

 

On another note, while we were in sunday school a drunk, well, plastered man walks in to the church, and sat down and just kept interrupting, but what’s a whole room full of mormoms gonna do, kick him out? No, so he just keeps getting up moving around the room, yelling out things, looks at me and Hna Paicely and just expresses his love for us, ect ect... but one thing that to me was just hilarious that he said was ¨Soy profeta¨ (im a prophet) ¨soy enviado de Dios¨ (im sent from God) I just started laughing, this poor man. I just feel bad for people like that but hope that they can be better! But soon after he was escorted out by un Hermano en la rama! (a brother in the branch) maybe we’ll meet him when he is more sober and he´ll be a miracle bautismo! There is always hope, right??

 

Well family, everything is going here in Salamanca. We´re working hard to find those who are ready now to accept the gospel, trying to get those pepole married and learning lots! I love this work, I love being here serving these people I truly love so much. Couldn´t imagine my life with these Chileans!

 

Glad to know that you´re all doing well, know I love you all and pray for you!

 

Keep smiling,

Hna Sargent

 

 

 

 

the cutest bunny i saw all week :)

hna Paicely and I, Happy EASTER!

im still huge! really, just never gets old, does it??