Week of October 19 2015: The Fence Won

As luck would have it, I had the opportunity to attend my second stake conference in less than a month! On Sunday, we got up extra early to get investigators to make the hour and a half ride to Jalapa. No one, but no one, was willing to go, firstly because it's expensive, and also because it's far away. And it was early in the morning, and pretty much everyone was asleep. We got onto the bus, somewhat dejected, when we saw a member family run up with one of our investigators, Alejandra! We hadn't even asked them to pick her up, but she came, and loved the conference!

Other events of this week:

1) We had interviews with President on Friday, and they took us to Wendy's for lunch after (which is about an hour away from my area, just so you get an idea of what rural Guatemala is like).

2) I got into a fight with a barbed wire fence, and the fence won. 

3) I did divisions in Chiquimulilla, which is about 800x hotter than Cuilapa, where I went last week. I literally have never sweated so much in my life, but I also got to see a lake for the first time in my whole mission, so that was nice. 

4) We went to an unknown part of our area on Saturday, and I saw a flock of ducklings and chased them around trying to take a picture, but they ran away from me. 

5) Last week we had an EXCELLENT lesson with Fransisca, who has a baptismal date for this Saturday. She has a hard time understanding things, but the spirit has testified to her that what we teach is true, and during our lesson on Thursday, she told us that she felt a great happiness in her heart, and that she knew the church was true.        

I had a GREAT scripture study this morning in Alma 33, which is a kind of funny cautionary tale after the grand discourse of Alma 32. I love what Alma says about Moses and the children of Israel, and how the serpent he lifted up represents the Atonement of Christ:

O my brethren, if ye could be healed by merely casting about your eyes that ye might be healed, would ye not behold quickly, or would ye rather harden your hearts in unbelief, and be slothful, that ye would not cast about your eyes, that ye might perish?

If so, wo shall come upon you; but if not so, then cast about your eyes and begin to believe in the Son of God, that he will come to redeem his people, and that he shall suffer and die to atone for their sins; and that he shall rise again from the dead, which shall bring to pass the resurrection, that all men shall stand before him, to be judged at the last and judgment day, according to their works. (Alma 33:21-22).

It seems like life is so hard sometimes, but really, if we have faith in Christ and truly believe that he will carry us through, it's easy. It's not easy to get or maintain that faith, but once we have it, the little things that happen in life don't matter. We can receive true happiness if we can learn how to trust completely in our Heavenly Father and in the Atonement of our Elder Brother. 

To borrow a phrase from my brother, keep up the good work. 

Love, 

Hermana Camel