Wow,
everyone, I almost don't have words to describe how much I love the mission and
Colombia. This week was awesome!! I am so grateful for this opportunity to
serve my Savior.
First off, my comp is awesome! He was a zone leader for 8 months and he's a stud. We are working extremely hard to achieve all of our
metas. The days are flying by, just working to bring souls unto Christ. We had
4 lessons every single day this week which has never happened in this area.
The Lord has helped us so much--really I don't know what I did to deserve these
amazing blessings. This is when the mission became way fun, when all I could
focus on was how I can improve and help my investigadores progress towards
baptism.
We
are going to have two baptisms this week, Tania y Lizandro. One is a teenager
who lives in Silvania and the other is a father of a part-member family. They
are both so awesome and they want to be baptized. I am so grateful for the Holy
Ghost. I was way worried about having to help these amazing souls recieve
a testimony and I didn't want to mess up. But fortunately for me, I really am
not teaching; if that were the case no one would be baptized. Really it is the
Spirit and all I need to do is live worthy of His companionship.
Another awesome thing is that we had a lesson with Carlos.
I believe I have mentioned him before, but he is married to a member and all of
his kids are sealed in the Temple. The last lesson we had with him he wouldn't
commit to a date of baptism and we were way sad. But he came to church on
Sunday and he loved it. In the next lesson he told us that he had talked with
his grandson about baptizing him. I was freaking out!! It was so awesome! I was
just smiling and looking at my companion like "What just happened?" Such joy
filled my soul--that we can watch this beautiful family become complete. And
now the lessons are so much fun because he can't read and talk very well, he is
73 years old, but he is giving awesome answers to our questions, and whenever
he does this we just start freaking out! Here, they do a weird snap thing with
their hands when somehting is awesome and we just start doing that and he
starts to laugh and laugh. I am so happy for him and his family--but more
importantly, because it is all possible through our Savior.
We were teaching a family and they were really hesitant about
baptism. They kept telling us to be patient, that they didn't want to rush
anything. Me and my companion felt prompted to say: "Really, we dont want you to
be baptized. We want you guys to be married forever, with your kids, living
with our Heavenly Father." And sometimes we are persistent, because everyone
needs this awesome gift, the best gift of the world, and we want you to have
it. Our goal really isn't to baptize, it is to have friends in the Celestial
Kingdom. It is to have families become eternal, and nothing is more beautiful.
Baptism is just the first step.
I am so grateful I get to testify of these amazing gospel truths. My
friends, family, brothers and sisters, this is the Lord's church, this is His
gospel, and it is how we live with our family forever. This is how we have JOY!
I love you all.
With
all the love from the loveliest place in the world
Elder
Parson
