Week 14

Bautismos, testigos, y dibujos 

Another AWESOME week here in La Florida, Chile! We were super busy again, running all over the place! There's been good times and bad, but through it all I've just found my Savior. 

 Scripture of the week 

"The Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things." Jacob 4:7

Here's what went down this week! Buckle up! 

Lunes ~ POR FINNN

~ PDAYYYY

~ Pretty chill day! 

~ Went to the mall with the other Hermanas & ate completos afterwards  All the elders abandoned us and decided to go to KFC together instead 

Martes ~ The urgency of the gospel

~ 3 MONTHS AS A MISSIONARY!!!!  It's kinda crazy! I'm out here doing the work of Jesus Christ, being a literal representative of Him. But Jesus had 3 years for His full-time ministry… and I, in all my weakness, only have 15 more months. There isn't a second to waste! 

~ For some reason all of our friends that we visited today had Jehovah’s witnesses folletos… so we took them 

Miércoles ~ Not about us

~ Zone council!!! It was awesome. Our leaders are the best, and our zone is literally just two districts so it was a lot fun 

~ It was SOOOOOO HOT today. We thought we were going to die haha. 

~ NOCHE DE JUEGOSSSS!!!  

Our new convert, Jorge, was literally CRACKING ME UP so hard. He's like 70 but he has the spirit of a little kid. A couple weeks ago, he brought in limes to show us how to juggle. Today he was laying down in the middle of the grass showing all the missionaries how he does his leg exercises. I'm gonna be so sad when I leave this area, just because of Jorge 

Jueves ~ The hands and feet of Christ

~ Good day! This morning was kinda rough because my stomach wasn't feeling too good and my companion was in kind of a bad mood haha, but after lunch everything was back to normal! 

~ Our bishop went with us to visit an inactive member family, and we discovered that they're only inactive because the lady's dad is really really sick. It was heartbreaking to see him, but it was also a really tender moment as we gave him a blessing and let this amazing woman know that she now has support. Crying tears of relief, we hugged her and are planning another visit. 

~ Had a lección de ORO!!!! One of our friends has so so so many questions about the church, and she's truly asking them with real intent. Yesterday we taught the restoration, and she shared the tender thoughts and feelings of her heart as she told us that she really wants to know if this is true. And if the church is true, she asked if she would need to be baptized again  Just a really good lesson with a lot of questions, testimonies, and the Spirit witnessing of truth. 

Viernes ~ Esposo peruano?? 

~ Found 2 pretty awesome new people today! 

~ Today in English class we were talking about future goals & plans. I mentioned that I plan to finish my mission and go back to school, and get married at some point in the future. Aaaaand Maxi, one of the kids we're teaching, kept asking and asking and asking about what I want my future husband to be like  He ended up grabbing his notebook and drawing a picture of my future esposo….he decided that my husband is going to be Peruvian and that we're going to have three kids together. The picture CRACKED ME UP. SO HARD. Go look at my Google photos. The drawing is now on our refrigerator 

Sábado ~ “Hermanas, ¿Quién va a hacer el bautismo?” 

~ JULIAN GOT BAPTIZED TODAY!!!!  It was an absolutely and insanely crazy day  Here's the story: Julian is the son of our new convert, Noelsy. We have been teaching him for several weeks now and we put him on fecha about a month ago. The Sunday before his baptism, after we had done the interview and everything was ready, the bishop told us that it will actually be a ward baptism, not a missionary baptism (which makes sense since his mom is a member and Julian is 8 years old). So they told us that the ward is going to plan the baptism! But we get there on Saturday….and casi NOTHING was planned  He forgot to ask someone to PERFORM THE BAPTISM….and we were laughing so hard from stress  It ended up all being okay and us missionaries all gave spur-of-the-moment talks and did a special musical number. It was really tender and honestly really funny 

Domingo ~ Walking each other home 

~ They confirmed Julian a member of the church this morning during church! I didn't know that they were doing that yesterday during the baptismal service so I was stressing thinking the bishop forgot to give Julian the Holy Ghost  But he's confirmed now! Officially a member!!! 

~ I had some really good conversations with the other Hermanas today. The Hermana leaders that we share our sector with are actually just so awesome, and my comp & I had a good conversation too. She's been going through a bit of a hard time lately and I felt like I was finally able to understand what was going on and support her in it. It was really sweet and I am just so grateful!!! 

~ We had a super awesome lesson with one of our friends tonight! She the mom of one of our other new converts, and it's been a little hard for us to understand what she needs. But tonight we had a really good lesson, and at the end she told me that something I said hit her really deeply, and it's going to change her. I felt like I was truly able to offer something to her, and like God truly did call me here because these people need my testimony. 

 Spiritual Thought 

"The Lord has revealed Himself and His perfect character, possessing in their fulness all the attributes of love, knowledge, justice, mercy, unchangeableness, power, and every other needful thing, so as to enable the mind of man to place confidence in Him without reservation." 

How can I know Jesus is real? 

How do I know if He loves me? 

How do I grow my faith? 

The answer is simple: the character of Christ. Jesus told His disciples that people would know them by their love - and it's true! Jesus Christ has enabled us to have faith in Him by being faithful. He has enabled us to know Him by knowing us perfectly; to feel loved by loving us infinitely. This week, my personal studies have all been centered around the atonement of Jesus Christ. And it has been the most wonderful thing! I feel like I've been able to feel and know Jesus so much better. With each study, I find another attribute of my Savior that helps me to love Him and trust in Him. 

And that's my invitation to you all! Read and study about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, especially in the Book of Mormon. I promise that you will find something more infinite, eternal, tender, and personal than you have ever yet found in your whole life. Jesus Christ is real. He understands you perfectly, because He experienced everything you feel. You have hope because of Jesus Christ. I promise you these things because I know them to be true. No, it's not a perfect knowledge, but it might as well be - I am more sure about the reality and love of my Savior than I am about anything else, even the fact that I am alive and breathing. I testify to you all that God knows and loves His children, and that we can find our Father and Savior as we search for Them. This I know and testify to be true in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen! 

I love you all with my whole heart!!! Have an INCREDIBLE week!!! 

~ Hermana Geary