June 23, 2014

Hey There family!

How is everything in the states? Are yall watching some of the world cup? Here in Chile almost EVERYONE watches the World Cup! We could not use public transportation today because of the match between chile and Holland. Rumor has it that people burned a bunch of buses after the last match. But, it doesnt really affect us very much, just a little on game days.

This week was fantastic and also one of the weirdest weeks of my mission. Wednesday i called the mission nurse about a weird bump on my finger and she told me it is a"bible tumor". Weird huh! The real name is a ganglion cyst but back in the old days they tried to break this bump thing by dropping the big huge family bible on the finger. Unfortunately, many times they also broke hands haha. So i will just live with my bible tumor until i go back to the states. It is just in my finger joint and is weird but does not hurt.

Thursday we had Zone Conference and learned about the Apostacy and the Restoration. The Apostacy was a HUGE HORRIBLE event!!! I have to say that i do not know very much about the apostacy, but our mission president does now. Apostacy basically happens when we reject the prophets (or apostles back in the day). That is when it all happened and when they basically sealed their fate. Apostacy means "rebellion" and is not a casual falling away bit by bit. IT WAS A REBELLION! The apostles saw that their very own converts were the ones that started corrupting the church. The apostacy starts concerning how we feel about the apostles. If we do not support them and follow them, we are apostasizing. (this is from my mission president and it is true.)

Revelations 2:2 says that the bishop or church was claiming that they were called as apostles (but the apostles never ordained them or anything like it). In verse 5 it basically says "I will take the church away from yall" (just some notes i took)

He talked about how Rome at that time worshipped many gods and that they persecuted the saints and that this had a cause in the apostacy too. The bible ends in 95 ad about, and after that we do not have records for more than 100 years. we do not know what happened, but we know that the priesthood was taken away because of the wickedness of the church.

The restoration is not one event either (i always thought of it as an event or something that happened over just a few years). We truly are participating in the restoration still, truths are still being restored (that is why in the 70s all people were given the opportunity to receive the priesthood regardless of race). It really is amazing and i am still studying more.

Friday, we had a lesson with Tomás, a 14 year old kid. He had read the book of mormon, or the chapthers that we left him and liked it. He truly is looking for truth and when we told him about Joseph Smith it was really cool because Tomás is 14 like Joseph Smith was int he first vision. His mom was really busy selling fried food outside of their house, but we asked her if she wanted to participate in the prayer. She said ok and tomás prayed giving thanks and also to know if what we had shared with him was true. After he fiinished, She asked if she could pray and in the prayer she thanks the Lord for sending us to her son and family. We never even talked to her, but something happened, something improved in their family!!!! We are really excited to talk to the whole family this week.

Saturday we left our house to go and contact some people. We were walking down the street when all of a sudden my companion´s skirt falls right down to the ground in the middle of the street. She quickly pulled it up, but could not get to her belt to fix her skirt because she had so many layers. Luckily there were only two guys digging a hole in the middle of the street and they did not see (at least we hope not). Suffice it to say, she threw that skirt away after that.

Saturday night we had a family home evening with an incomplete family, The Román Family in which the dad is not a member. we taught the Restoration and the Spirit was SO STRONG!!!! The dad, Manuel, said that he felt the spirit and so did the whole family. it was awesome and we are seeing him soften up little by little. The family got baptized 9 years ago but he never had time to listen because he was working. Now he works less and we are taking advantage of that.

That night,  i was doing a handstand in our little study room and i hit my foot on the dryer (it is in the middle of our little room) and hit it pretty hard. I had to limp around at church and after, but it was a pretty dumb move i made haha. I asked for the Lord to heal my foot because i know that i need to work and share the gospel and after sacrament meeting my foot was already feeling better. After church i was still hobbling home, but i felt that we needed to talk to a woman that passed us. We gave her a card and she immediately asked us to pray for her because this week she got robbed and did not have money to pay her bills. We were able to pray with her, comfort her, and give her a book of mormon. We sent her referral already to the office. The Lord truly puts people in our path if we are ready to listen to the spirit. Also, He helps us even when we do stupid things, like a handstand where there really isnt enough space and we need help with our foot because we hit it really hard. Today my foot is almost all better and it really is a miracle!!!

I am learning a little bit about joy here in Sótero del Río. Joy truly comes from other people, seeing their accomplishments and seeing them come closer to the lord. When we walked away from the appointments with Tomás and the Román family, we were so full of joy that i cannot express it in words. To see someone learn to feel the Spirit and see the changes that the Lord is working in their lives is priceless. It makes every step that we have walked worth it just to see that little change in one of our brothers or sisters. I truly am happy in the mission and am so grateful for the opportunity to serve all these people here in Chile.

I love yall a ton!!!! Take care and serve others!! Have a joyful week!!

love

hermana Taylor