¡Saludos!
¡Espero que todo este bien con ustedes! Esta semana ha volado tan rapido, ay mi madre. We worked with 15-year-old Estarlin and 17-year-old Anthony a lot, our 2 strongest investigators. It was super awesome when we taught the Plan of Salvation to Anthony--I have never met someone who understood the Fall of Adam and Eve so well! His mom has been inactive for years, and she and 2 of her daughters sat in when we explained the second half of the Plan. At the end, I asked her what was inhibiting her from living in the Celestial Kingdom with God, Christ, and her family. She said that there are a lot of things and that God needs to be more of a priority in her life but that she doesn't have time. Anthony jumped right in and exclaimed, "Mom, if you're all wishy-washy like that--maybe yes, maybe no, one time at church, one time no--you're only qualifying yourself to live in the Terrestrial Kingdom!" HA it was so funny and perfect, pat on the back for him:)
Estarlin is just the sweetest! When we asked him who is his favorite superhero, he said, "My parents." :):) He's so incredibly prepared to be baptized on September 10th. We were teaching the law of tithing and fast offerings on Thursday, and at one point Hermana Vazquez was talking about how much we should give back to the Lord because we have everything from Him. You know what Estarlin said? "Well, I think that we can give 40 or 50% of all we have to Him." How cute is that? We explained that only 10% of all we receive is what we need to offer, but wow, his willingness to serve and agradecer al Senor is inspiring:)
Other awesome thing: 11-year-old investigator Natasha received an answer to her prayers, and now she has a testimony that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God, that Thomas S. Monson is our living prophet hoy en dia, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church on the earth!! God really does hear and answer us when we ask in faith and follow the counsel of Moroni 10:3-5 in the Book of Mormon:)
Friday, we had zone conference, whoot whoot! I love this opportunity we have once every other transfer to learn how to teach better, make new goals, and be better missionaries! A recent convert form our ward, Paulina, spoke in the conference about how the Elders found her and a bit about her conversion. She's 73, is full of Dominican sass, and such a trooper! We spent a couple hours practicing in small groups with MTC teachers about the Restoration, the Atonement with repentance, and the law of chastity. The latter theme was especially helpful because Hermana Vazquez and I were asked to teach the Laurels in Young Women about it yesterday, which went really well!
Saturday was fun as well because it was the stake primary cultural performance for the anniversary of the primary. We watched a wonderful video about how the Church started in the Dominican Republic; go look up '"Las Manos del Senor en la Republica Dominicana" in English':) Then every ward did a presentation about the main cities in this country with darling singing and dancing performances! They were SO stinkin cute! Saturday was also Carnival, so nighttime was crazy. Funny fact: there's a law here about how loud you can play music haha it's actually a problem, so police cars were driving around shutting off la musica.
I know I said this last week, but I really have grown to love these people, this culture, and the country so much! Mi corazon esta lleno de amor, y quiero servir a esta gente y a mi Padre Celestial con todo que yo tengo. Moroni 7:47-48 describe my thoughts right now:
47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.
48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as his is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.
Con mucho amor,
Hermana Randall
¡Espero que todo este bien con ustedes! Esta semana ha volado tan rapido, ay mi madre. We worked with 15-year-old Estarlin and 17-year-old Anthony a lot, our 2 strongest investigators. It was super awesome when we taught the Plan of Salvation to Anthony--I have never met someone who understood the Fall of Adam and Eve so well! His mom has been inactive for years, and she and 2 of her daughters sat in when we explained the second half of the Plan. At the end, I asked her what was inhibiting her from living in the Celestial Kingdom with God, Christ, and her family. She said that there are a lot of things and that God needs to be more of a priority in her life but that she doesn't have time. Anthony jumped right in and exclaimed, "Mom, if you're all wishy-washy like that--maybe yes, maybe no, one time at church, one time no--you're only qualifying yourself to live in the Terrestrial Kingdom!" HA it was so funny and perfect, pat on the back for him:)
Estarlin is just the sweetest! When we asked him who is his favorite superhero, he said, "My parents." :):) He's so incredibly prepared to be baptized on September 10th. We were teaching the law of tithing and fast offerings on Thursday, and at one point Hermana Vazquez was talking about how much we should give back to the Lord because we have everything from Him. You know what Estarlin said? "Well, I think that we can give 40 or 50% of all we have to Him." How cute is that? We explained that only 10% of all we receive is what we need to offer, but wow, his willingness to serve and agradecer al Senor is inspiring:)
Other awesome thing: 11-year-old investigator Natasha received an answer to her prayers, and now she has a testimony that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God, that Thomas S. Monson is our living prophet hoy en dia, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church on the earth!! God really does hear and answer us when we ask in faith and follow the counsel of Moroni 10:3-5 in the Book of Mormon:)
Friday, we had zone conference, whoot whoot! I love this opportunity we have once every other transfer to learn how to teach better, make new goals, and be better missionaries! A recent convert form our ward, Paulina, spoke in the conference about how the Elders found her and a bit about her conversion. She's 73, is full of Dominican sass, and such a trooper! We spent a couple hours practicing in small groups with MTC teachers about the Restoration, the Atonement with repentance, and the law of chastity. The latter theme was especially helpful because Hermana Vazquez and I were asked to teach the Laurels in Young Women about it yesterday, which went really well!
Saturday was fun as well because it was the stake primary cultural performance for the anniversary of the primary. We watched a wonderful video about how the Church started in the Dominican Republic; go look up '"Las Manos del Senor en la Republica Dominicana" in English':) Then every ward did a presentation about the main cities in this country with darling singing and dancing performances! They were SO stinkin cute! Saturday was also Carnival, so nighttime was crazy. Funny fact: there's a law here about how loud you can play music haha it's actually a problem, so police cars were driving around shutting off la musica.
I know I said this last week, but I really have grown to love these people, this culture, and the country so much! Mi corazon esta lleno de amor, y quiero servir a esta gente y a mi Padre Celestial con todo que yo tengo. Moroni 7:47-48 describe my thoughts right now:
47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.
48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as his is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.
Con mucho amor,
Hermana Randall