Good Morning Friends and Family!
I can't believe another pday has come - the weeks are beginning to feel like days. Thank you everyone for your love and support. It's so good to know that people haven't forgotten me!
This last weekend my companion and I received a huge miracle that we wanted to share. About a week ago the Bishop gave us a list of several inactive families. My comp and I did everything to find these houses and people but literally nothing was going right. It is so super hard to find addresses here because it seems like everyone just builds their house where they want and put s whatever number they feel like as the address. Plus our map just sucks and no one had ever heard of the streets we were looking for. We even took a member out with us to help and that didn't even work - we couldn't find any success.
On Thursday I felt strongly that we needed to go see a family called "Marquez" - but I had never heard of the neighborhood or street that was listed. We walked and walked and I couldn't even believe it but we found the house! Except...it was abandoned. We stood outside the house and clapped and clapped for so long and then a women on the other side of the alley came out and told us that people didn't live there in the house but there were some people who lived underneath the house.
We went exploring and it had just rained so literally everything was disgusting. All of the sudden a man appeared and I felt prompted to say, "Hi Vanderlucio!" instead of asking him, "Are you Vanderlucio?". Because that leaves room for him to lie. He said that was Vanderlucio and let us come in. He explained that he and his wife were married and baptized into the church over 13 years ago but had been inactive for about ten years. We offered to make them a family home evening the next day as well as prepare his 14yr old son for baptism. We had one of the best family home evenings as we shared a Mormon message and played a funny game. They loved it so much! Their littlest son Lucio is the cutest kid ever. To our surprise they were all ready to go on Sunday when we went and picked them up and Breno, their 14yr old son was able to be baptized. It was such a special experience for me and my companion to see that even though we had talked what seemed like a million people and found a thousand wrong addresses - the Lord blessed our efforts in the end. The family made us promise that we would come and give them more FHE lessons with them.
Whether it is baptizing or reactivating families, the joy is so real. Seeing the light of Christ touch the hearts of those we serve are the best kinds of experiences there are.
This is the last week before I begin my very last transfer and my comp and I established goals for how we are going to finish out. I have a feeling I will be transferred even though I really wanted to finish out my mission here with these families I love so much. I've loved being a part of this ward so much and being able to see the growth and change from new families of Olavo and Samira and Ismael and his children and now this new family. Our ward council was full of recent converts but it's such an amazing feeling knowing the potential each one holds. I feel so blessed to have been called to serve as a missionary and participate in this amazing work. So many of these people came to know of the church because of their friends good examples. Be good examples to those around you and I know the Lord will use your light to influence others.
I love you all so much! Be believing and be happy! The best is yet to come!
Love,
Sister Arbuckle
I can't believe another pday has come - the weeks are beginning to feel like days. Thank you everyone for your love and support. It's so good to know that people haven't forgotten me!
This last weekend my companion and I received a huge miracle that we wanted to share. About a week ago the Bishop gave us a list of several inactive families. My comp and I did everything to find these houses and people but literally nothing was going right. It is so super hard to find addresses here because it seems like everyone just builds their house where they want and put s whatever number they feel like as the address. Plus our map just sucks and no one had ever heard of the streets we were looking for. We even took a member out with us to help and that didn't even work - we couldn't find any success.
On Thursday I felt strongly that we needed to go see a family called "Marquez" - but I had never heard of the neighborhood or street that was listed. We walked and walked and I couldn't even believe it but we found the house! Except...it was abandoned. We stood outside the house and clapped and clapped for so long and then a women on the other side of the alley came out and told us that people didn't live there in the house but there were some people who lived underneath the house.
We went exploring and it had just rained so literally everything was disgusting. All of the sudden a man appeared and I felt prompted to say, "Hi Vanderlucio!" instead of asking him, "Are you Vanderlucio?". Because that leaves room for him to lie. He said that was Vanderlucio and let us come in. He explained that he and his wife were married and baptized into the church over 13 years ago but had been inactive for about ten years. We offered to make them a family home evening the next day as well as prepare his 14yr old son for baptism. We had one of the best family home evenings as we shared a Mormon message and played a funny game. They loved it so much! Their littlest son Lucio is the cutest kid ever. To our surprise they were all ready to go on Sunday when we went and picked them up and Breno, their 14yr old son was able to be baptized. It was such a special experience for me and my companion to see that even though we had talked what seemed like a million people and found a thousand wrong addresses - the Lord blessed our efforts in the end. The family made us promise that we would come and give them more FHE lessons with them.
Whether it is baptizing or reactivating families, the joy is so real. Seeing the light of Christ touch the hearts of those we serve are the best kinds of experiences there are.
This is the last week before I begin my very last transfer and my comp and I established goals for how we are going to finish out. I have a feeling I will be transferred even though I really wanted to finish out my mission here with these families I love so much. I've loved being a part of this ward so much and being able to see the growth and change from new families of Olavo and Samira and Ismael and his children and now this new family. Our ward council was full of recent converts but it's such an amazing feeling knowing the potential each one holds. I feel so blessed to have been called to serve as a missionary and participate in this amazing work. So many of these people came to know of the church because of their friends good examples. Be good examples to those around you and I know the Lord will use your light to influence others.
I love you all so much! Be believing and be happy! The best is yet to come!
Love,
Sister Arbuckle