More Baptism Blessings!!!

                                                                                                                                   Dec. 16, 2013
Hola mi familia!!! I am so excited to get to talk to you on Christmas! Thank you for sharing what you have been doing to celebrate Christmas!!! I am so proud of you and the service and missionary work you are doing. Like dad shared with me, I know the best way we can celebrate the Savior`s birth and life, is to share His gospel and spread His love! Thank you for your examples!!

I have so much to tell you!!!! Thank you so much for the sweet package that arrived with love from Chicago. I didn't open it, but my companion did. (haha) Let me explain. We weren´t sure if the presents were wrapped or not, and we each want to open presents on Christmas that are wrapped, so we have been taking turns opening one another´s packages so the others don´t see, and wrapping the presents that aren´t wrapped. Thank you for wrapping some of them!!! All are wrapped now and sitting under, or next to our little tree. I am so excited to open them, and I love you all so much!!!

Guess what???  Ramón was baptized on Saturday!!!! Maria wasn´t able to be baptized, but we are still working with her. 

 

  

Ramón is so amazing and we are so happy for him. He has such an amazing testimony and desire to follow the Savior. And now he is a member of la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Dias!!!

He has found the truth of the Savior´s gospel!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He already shares with everyone and has a real talent to talk to people and make friends. He already gave us the reference of his neighbor, Hector, and we have been teaching him as well. Although, Hector wasn't able to come to church this Sunday.

 

Everyone was voting for the new president of Chile on Sunday, so the attendance was kind of low. :(

José came to church with his grandson, Nicolas, but he only stayed with him in Primary and then left before Sacrament meeting :( but he wants to be baptized and is preparing for January!!

 

 

We are so happy for Ramon and know that the gospel will bless his life!!

 

We found Valentina this week. She is the 8 year old sister of a recent convert and she wants to be baptized. We are working with her and her mom, so that they can both be baptized. All the other children in the family are already members. They didn´t come to church this week, but they will next! haha we are working for that! We found Maria, Noemi, Marta, Rosalina, Valentina, and Hector this week! We are still working with all of them,and Marcela. We are also working with Karen. She is so amazing, but struggles to come to church, please pray that she will be able to! Also, we weren´t able to visit Estephania because she forgot about our appt. and wasn´t home, but we will visit her this week for sure! Thank you for your prayers! I know the Lord is answering them, and I am so grateful for the miracles this week, an especially for the baptism of Ramón!! 

 

This week I learned so much!!! I was reading the Liahona magazine for this month and I just loved all of it. Every article made me think about how grateful I am for the gospel and for our Savior, Jesus Christ. He has done everything for us, and I want to serve Him the best that I can. I love feeling His Spirit and basking in the warmth of His love, and I want other people to feel the same! Following the Savior brings us the greatest happiness, and bringing others unto Him is the greatest thing we can do.

 

This week, our district leader shared a thought about using excuses to not do things. We have been struggling in reaching the goal of contacts, or people we talk to each week. Sometimes we use excuses not to talk with everyone. He shared a quote, that was in our chapel but I never really applied it to myself. It says in spanish, Uno que quiere hacerlo, busca CAMINOS, uno que no quiere hacerlo, busca EXCUSAS. This means, someone who wants to do something, looks for the way to accomplish it. Someone who doesn´t want to do something, looks for excuses. I thought a lot about it this week as I have been trying to talk to everyone, because truly I want to do everything that the Lord wants me to do, so why should I use excuses when I don´t do it. If I use excuses, it means that I didn´t really want to do it. So my goal is to not use excuses, but to always do what the Lord asks of me. This is the challenge we all have. The reality is, that there are no excuses for not obeying a commandment of the Lord. He will always help us be obedient to His commandments and find the way to accomplish them, or the camino, so there is no need for excuses. If we aren´t obedient, it is because we didn´t want to be, and chose otherwise. So my invitation is that we all try our best this week to not use excuses, but to follow the commandments of the Lord, especially in preparation for Christmas. The best gift we can give Him is our voluntad, or our will. If we give Him our will, then we will never use excuses, and we will be obedient because we love Him and want to do His will. I love you all so much!! Keep being my shining stars and examples!! Have an amazing week, and send my love to all our neighbors, friends, and ward family!!! Felìz semana antes Navidad!!!