At the beginning of the week, my prayers started becoming very routine, like I and wasn't actually thinking about what I was saying. In the lessons that we taught, I felt like I was fighting to find the right words to say. I became very frustrated with myself. I felt like I wasn't fulfilling my purpose as a missionary. I didn't understand why I felt so different, and then of course I read in the scriptures and conference talks about the power of prayer. It really hit me when we were in a lesson and I asked the investigator to pray to know if the Book of Mormon was true. I told her that she had to with REAL intent. But then I realized, am I even praying with real intent?
It is so TRUE that you can't ask your investigators to do something that we, as members, aren't even willing to do.
I felt like I got too comfortable. I have been in the mission 15 months, the language has come, and I felt like I knew what I was doing. This was my problem! We can't get too comfortable in the Gospel.
So that night, I prayed. I REALLY prayed, and it felt so good.
The next day, it was completely different. In the lessons, I wasn't struggling to find the right words to say, rather, they were given and my investigators started praying too! Hearing them share their experiences of praying and feeling the spirit is so amazing. I am so grateful for the gift of prayer! I invite everyone to pray and with REAL intent.
It truly makes a difference!
We have been working a lot with inactive families that have kids who haven't been baptized! We are working with the Familia Salvanerra, trying to reactivate the whole family, so the Dad or brother can baptize Benjamin! They all went to church yesterday, so we are happy and excited for them.
Solange is still progressing, but with her chemotherapy, she is super weak and sick and so she wasn't able to go to church. Keep her in your prayers!
We found 13 new investigators this past week and so we hope that some of them will progress!
Random stuff:
* I have more than 20 mosquito bites on my legs. #summerinSantiago
* We saw a dog get hit by a car. Don't worry...it lived, but destroyed the car.
* Those who know me well know I don't like mayo, but yes, I eat it all the time now. Mostly in potato salads. Still don't like it, but at least I have been blessed with the talent to swallow it while faking a smile
* Hermana Simmons told me she doesn't like PDA and then said, " I just need a husband who's comfortable with not being loved." jajaja!
* There was a HUGE cockroach outside our apartment door, and we thought that we had to kill it because it was probably going to crawl into our apartment and into one of our beds or something like that. But of course, I can't kill a cockroach...butterflies scare me. My companion also is scared so we asked a kind man to kill it for us. He comes and karate kicks the cockroach on the wall so hard that he almost falls over. The cockroach dies and falls on the ground, but the guy continues to karate kick the wall two more times. Completely unnecessary and so strange. Then he just starts touching his biceps and says, "I do karate." We say, "That's nice", and just walk away awkwardly. So WEIRD.
* Siesta aka naptime is sacred here in Santiago. It is so hard to teach people from 1-6 pm.
* Argentina is FUN!
Thanks for all the love and prayers. I want to thank my family (especially my cousins and brothers) for fasting and praying for me this past week. I could feel the prayers helping me along this week. I went to the drs for xrays. Not so sure about the drs here. I have sent the xrays to my Mom and she will try and get an opinion from drs in America. I am doing okay though. If I lose myself in the work, I feel less pain. So I choose to just work hard and have faith that Heavenly Father will take care of me.
Also, Happy Birthday to my gorgeous cousin in China!! Feliz Cumpleanos Sister Loo! Love you💓
💗/Hermana Norman
PS...BE KIND TO EVERYONE!
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| Hermana Simmons and myself....beautiful fields of...trash! jajaja |
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