¡Feliz Otoño! (Happy Fall!)
Autumn definitely does not exist in this country, but thanks to my wonderful, decorative mother, the apartment has brightened up, and we can better imagine the leaves changing colors now:) We're also enjoying avocado season! We're eating a ton of avocados because people keep giving them to us for free, yippee:) It's still blazing hot and humid like a sauna here, but on Sundays, I get to be dry/not sweat and be cold for a whole 3 hours!! This is my first chapel with air conditioning:)
The work is booming here in Ivan Guzman! So many people have accepted the invitation to be baptized, and our investigators are the best! Paola and Glori (Anthony's sisters) are excited to be baptized on November 11th, and we're still working on getting their inactive mom (Angie) to church. But guess what? Anthony passed the sacrament for the first time yesterday!! So special:):) Up until this month, the Young Men would never do it, but that has changed; Anthony, Starlin, and two other Young Men who were baptized this summer were the ones to repartir la Santa Centa, and it was the first time for one of those other two! They're setting such a great example. Plus, new Young Womens and Young Mens presidencies were called yesterday, which will make a huge difference because they're all super strong members. We're so excited for the awesome potential here!
A lizard froze to death in our fridge. Do I have any idea of how it got in there? No. Am I completely disturbed? Yes. I also saw the biggest rat of my life during a lesson, but thankfully God helped me stay calm and not freak out. The adventures never cease:) That being said, we had quite la aventura getting to President Nuckols' house today. The first taxi driver told us to get in the wrong car for the second part of the trip, so we ended up almost crossing the mission border. Then we left our cell phone in the taxi, but we were able to get it back on our way to our area in the end, hallelujah. But the point of that trip was because I was asked to help sing at a dinner do-da for all the stake presidents, their wives, and some other leaders that we'll have this Friday. We spent all of today in President's house rehearsing; I'm doing two duets with another Hermana and singing in a small ensemble with Elders. Wish us luck!
The women's session of General Conference was fantastico! I loved what Bonnie L. Oscarson said about having a firm testimony in these trying times of 1) the fact that Jesus Christ is our Savior 2) the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ 3) temple covenants. Serving a mission has absolutely strengthened my testimony of those things and of what President Uchtdorf taught about faith. He said that having faith is trusting in God's will. I had to trust that God would help me learn a new language and survive living in a very physically-demanding, third-world country. When I was called to serve in Bella Vista directly after Los Angeles, the two most "unsuccessful" areas of the mission, I had to trust in God that I would mentally be able to handle to continue intercom contacting all day an not give up searching for people who were prepared to accept the gospel. I had to trust in God when He asked me to whitewash an area and train a new missionary at the same time. And guess what? It all worked out. Why? Because He knows best. He knows us perfectly and knows perfectly well what we need to experience to become more like Him. So if there's anyone in whom we can trust, it's our Heavenly Father. I hope you feel His amor perfecto this week and my love, too! ¡Nos vemos!
Con amor,
Hermana Randall
Autumn definitely does not exist in this country, but thanks to my wonderful, decorative mother, the apartment has brightened up, and we can better imagine the leaves changing colors now:) We're also enjoying avocado season! We're eating a ton of avocados because people keep giving them to us for free, yippee:) It's still blazing hot and humid like a sauna here, but on Sundays, I get to be dry/not sweat and be cold for a whole 3 hours!! This is my first chapel with air conditioning:)
The work is booming here in Ivan Guzman! So many people have accepted the invitation to be baptized, and our investigators are the best! Paola and Glori (Anthony's sisters) are excited to be baptized on November 11th, and we're still working on getting their inactive mom (Angie) to church. But guess what? Anthony passed the sacrament for the first time yesterday!! So special:):) Up until this month, the Young Men would never do it, but that has changed; Anthony, Starlin, and two other Young Men who were baptized this summer were the ones to repartir la Santa Centa, and it was the first time for one of those other two! They're setting such a great example. Plus, new Young Womens and Young Mens presidencies were called yesterday, which will make a huge difference because they're all super strong members. We're so excited for the awesome potential here!
A lizard froze to death in our fridge. Do I have any idea of how it got in there? No. Am I completely disturbed? Yes. I also saw the biggest rat of my life during a lesson, but thankfully God helped me stay calm and not freak out. The adventures never cease:) That being said, we had quite la aventura getting to President Nuckols' house today. The first taxi driver told us to get in the wrong car for the second part of the trip, so we ended up almost crossing the mission border. Then we left our cell phone in the taxi, but we were able to get it back on our way to our area in the end, hallelujah. But the point of that trip was because I was asked to help sing at a dinner do-da for all the stake presidents, their wives, and some other leaders that we'll have this Friday. We spent all of today in President's house rehearsing; I'm doing two duets with another Hermana and singing in a small ensemble with Elders. Wish us luck!
The women's session of General Conference was fantastico! I loved what Bonnie L. Oscarson said about having a firm testimony in these trying times of 1) the fact that Jesus Christ is our Savior 2) the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ 3) temple covenants. Serving a mission has absolutely strengthened my testimony of those things and of what President Uchtdorf taught about faith. He said that having faith is trusting in God's will. I had to trust that God would help me learn a new language and survive living in a very physically-demanding, third-world country. When I was called to serve in Bella Vista directly after Los Angeles, the two most "unsuccessful" areas of the mission, I had to trust in God that I would mentally be able to handle to continue intercom contacting all day an not give up searching for people who were prepared to accept the gospel. I had to trust in God when He asked me to whitewash an area and train a new missionary at the same time. And guess what? It all worked out. Why? Because He knows best. He knows us perfectly and knows perfectly well what we need to experience to become more like Him. So if there's anyone in whom we can trust, it's our Heavenly Father. I hope you feel His amor perfecto this week and my love, too! ¡Nos vemos!
Con amor,
Hermana Randall