Week 63: Baptisms and Blessings! :D
Click HERE to listen to a message from Karissa to accompany this week's update.
Pensamiento Espiritual* (*Spiritual Thought): Isaiah 40: 28-30
P.Day* (*Preparation Day)! :) Today we decided to relax- I made brownies in mugs and we played card games. :) Luego* (*Then), we had a NDH* (*Family Home Evening) with Otilia (member) and Lucho (investigator), where we spent some time cooking with them and making completos! Good day. :)
On Tuesday, we started off with a district meeting in English, where we talked about Ebenezers. :) It was fantastic; all about not forgetting spiritual experiences and always remembering the times that God helps you. :) After lunch, we had divisions with Chupaca! I stayed in Tambo this time with Hna Chavez, one of the new sisters! She's from Trujillo, from the same ward as Hna Rodriguez, my ex comp! :D We visited Melva, investigator, and read the intro to the LDM* (*Book of Mormon) with her before heading to Lizbeth, investigator, and talking a bit about faith and what happens after death! She had some pretty great questions. :) We contacted and then visited Luis, investigator, and Jorge, menos active* (*less active), explaining Costa's talk from general conference and baptismal covenants. :)
Miercoles* (*Wednesday), we finished up divisions in the morning with practicas* (*practices)! After lunch, we started our weekly fast. I'm beginning to really enjoy this new habit. :) We went to Nicolas, investigator, and taught him about the Dia de Reposo* (*Sabbath) before heading to Leonardo and Mary, investigators! We talked about baptismal covenants with them and then went contacting. Luego* (*Then), Aguira, investigator, asked us to help her make some decorations for her baby shower, so we did that too!:)
Thursday began by running to the oficina* (*office) to get baptismal clothes and finishing up some of the planning for Saturday! We felt like we should go see Loysi, bishop's wife. Her father has been really sick in Lima and took a turn for the worse and she just needed someone to talk to. :) After lunch, everybody fell through! So we decided to make contacting fun. :) We flipped a coin to see whether we should go right or left! And we contacted some really cool people! :D We turned contacting into a really fun adventure. :) Luego* (*Then), we went to Luis, investigator, and Jorge, menos active* (*less active), and talked about perseverando hasta el fin* (*enduring to the end)! Luis is all ready for Saturday's baptism. :)
Viernes* (*Friday)! :) We weekly planned before lunch! Despues* (*Afterwards), we went with the Mantaro elders (we share a church building) and cleaned the baptismal font and the chapel in preparation for Saturday- they also have a baptism! We then went and got baptismal clothes to everyone. Luego* (*Then), we ran to Leonardo y Mary, investigators, and talked about perseverando hasta el fin* (*enduring to the end)! Leonardo's also ready for tomorrow. :) Everyone fell through de nuevo* (*again) (opposition before blessings, amiright?) , so we contacted a bit and finished preparations for tomorrow!
Saturday! Today was just a great day. :) We got the chapel and pila* (*font) all ready, and Luis got baptized in the morning! :D His mother even came and she's from a different church! Lyn baptized him. It was a great ceremony and we made pancakes after to celebrate! :) After lunch, we went right back to the chapel to prepare for Leonardo's baptism! :D His whole family showed up and Cristhian baptized him- and all the hombres jovenes* (*young men) showed up to support! We had keke and crackers. :) Despues* (Afterwards), we helped set up Aguira´s (investigator) baby shower! :) We then finished off the day with correlacion* (*correlation meeting). Brilliant day. :) God blessed us with some really prepared people!
On Sunday, Luis and Leonardo were confirmed! :D In their confirmations, they blessed Luis to be a good leader and Leonardo to serve a mission, so that was just brilliant. :) I also gave a talk on family prayer and its power! We visited Clelia, investigator, in the tarde* (*afternoon) and talked about the importance of forgiveness! I also wrote some sheet music today. All in all, fantastic day and week with lots of blessings. :)
Can I just say again how grateful I am to be a missionary? This work is so real and so rewarding. It brings so much happiness! It's such a blessing to serve God's children and bring them de vuelta* (*back) to Him. :)
Con amor y mis oraciones para siempre jamas* (*With love and my prayers forever and ever),
Hermana Schmid
(*Translations made by Karissa’s mom using google translate)
