This has been a wonderful week. To begin, I had my first baptism on Sunday! We began teaching Maribel my first week here. She's been an extremely positive investigator since the beginning. She has a sincere desire to be baptized. Unfortunately, she has to work out a divorce with a man in Nicaragua and many other complicated details before she can be baptized. But she has a righteous desire and the Lord is helping her. BUT....we were able to baptize her daughter, Miurel. Miurel is a beautiful, shy, sweet 9 year old. I love her so much and it was a very special opportunity to watch her make her first covenant with her Heavenly Father. The joy that brings is difficult to describe.
As if that wasn't enough, we were able to witness a miracle yesterday. We've been planningthe baptism of Leandro Santimateo for quite a while. We've had to push is back multiple times because of difficulties with the marriage papers and such. Also, we were supposed to have a lunch appointment with him and his soon-to-be-wife yesterday at noon, but we didn't get home from our service project until about 5. we called them with the intention of apologizing and cancelling because it was so late and we had other appointments. But when they answered the phone we both felt strongly that we still needed to go visit them. We apologized for our tardiness and explained that we were on our way.
So, Maxima from the beginning has acted indifferent as we teach Leandro and said that she wants nothing to do with the church. She always sat in and listened to the lessons though.We kept praying that she would have a change of heart one day. well, during our lesson about the Plan of Salvation last night, she asked if she could get baptized on the same day as Leandro. We were overwhelmed with surprise and joy. Her heart was changed in what seemed like an instant, but we can look back and see that the Lord was helping her step by step the entire time. There were countless things that we thought were working against this baptism, but those things were actually working towards a greater cause. Goes to show how narrow our view can be. All things were working together for the salvation of one of God's children--one of the 99. The Lord has an eternal perspective. We need only trust in Him and in His timing. My heart is so full of gratitude and joy that Maxima has decided to be bapized. We work with so many people, praying that they will accept the good news of this gospel. Moments like that make all of the hard work worth it. Bien vale la pena....well worth the pain. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to take part in the work of the Lord.His work will go forth to all the world. All He asks is a worthy heart and willing hands. We're bringing the world HIS truth...it's a beautiful thing!
We have a service project every week. It's always something that requires hard manual labor of some sort. I really look forward to them though. There is something so satisfying about getting dirty and working hard. Yesterday I ended up completely covered in mud. It was so fun! Also, the little boys in the family that we were helping were running around and laughing with us. There is nothing better than the laughter of a child. When a child laughs it's with an unrestrained kind of joy, it's pure. Yesterday was a wonderful day.
Oh, let me tell you about the beast I discovered this week. It was the size of my hand and it is exactly like the spiderish thing in Harry Potter 4 when they learn the unforgivable curses. Look for it in the movie because I simply don't know how else to explain it. It was terrifying.
I met a woman yesterday that couldn't believe that I've only been in Panama for 4 weeks. She said that I speak/understand Spanish like I've known it for years. She thought I was from Costa Rica because my accent sounds like a native Spanish speaker, not somebody from Utah. That made my day. I'm beginning to understand pretty much everything. The Lord has helped me so much.
Our stake had a pioneer activity with the primary to celebrate Pioneer Day. They were all dressed up like pioneers and made little handcarts. It wasn' t quite the same, but I felt like I was in Utah for a little while. It was a lot of fun. Also, the primary children here are all fascinated by the idea of snow. They ask me about it all the time. Who knew Utah could be so exciting and interesting?
Well, know that I love you all. I have a testimony of how this gospel blesses families. This gospel is meant for families. I know my Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that He is my Redeemer as well as my brother and friend. I have a firm testimony of His Infinite Atonement.
I love you all so much!
Go forward with faith,
Hna Falslev :)
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