Week 76: The Week I Became a Book of Mormon and Xiomara Got Baptized! :D
Listen to Karissa's weekly voice recording HERE.
Pensamiento Espiritual* (*Spiritual Thought): 1 Cor. 9: 18-27
Lunes was pday de multizona* (*Monday was the p-day of the multi-zone)! :D We went early in the morning to Kotosh with all the missionaries from Huanuco, Amarilis, Tingo Maria, and Cerro de Pasco! :D They divided us into teams and set up various competitions- relays, capture the flag, todo* (*everything)! :D My team came away with 2nd place. :) After lunch, we played volleyball and then went to Internet!:) Then, Xiomara had and PASSED her baptismal interview! :D Brilliant day. :)
Tuesday was la conferencia de multizona* (*the multi-zone conference)! :) And... they made me give my last testimony. So that was incredibly difficult. However, I was grateful for the opportunity to share both what I feel and what I know now thanks to the mission. :) After the multizone and lunch, the Pedro Puelles sisters called and asked us to go over. They had emergency transfers and both just really needed to talk. We invited our district leader over as well, all sat in a circle, and listened. The elders gave them both blessings. Even though we had lots of things to do, I felt the need to go to visit the sisters. They really needed it. If we follow spiritual promptings, we can bless others' lives and edify our own as well! :) We then went to the capilla* (*church), I did a practice with the assistants, and I had an amazing interview with President Silva that really gave me the strength and motivation to keep going. :)
Wednesday! Today, my comp had her interview, so I read lots while I waited. :) After lunch, we hit the ground running and visited Xiomara, investigator, explaining temples and family history! She got SO excited. Her grandma died 5 years ago and she is so motivated to do the work for her! :) We later visited Javier and Dany, investigators of the elders, and got to know them a bit. :)
Jueves* (*Thursday)! We started the day making LDM* (*Book of Mormon) costumes as a district and cleaning the capilla* (*church)! :) En la tarde* (*In the afternoon), Xiomara got baptized! :DDDD The ward had two baptisms- Xiomara (who we taught) and Ruslan, from the Elders! It was a beautiful service, and Xiomara's mom, Vilma, also came out to support her! :) She looked SO happy. :) Then we had a mini birthday party for Xiomara and Ruslan (who both have birthdays on Sunday)! It was incredibly fun! We were walking back home and ran into Frank, Maruja's nephew! We gave him a LDM* (*Book of Mormon). God puts us in the right place at the right time. :)
PERU'S INDEPENDENCE DAY! :D In la mañana* (*in the morning), we went to the plaza de armas* (*arms square) to the parade and yours truly dressed up like a BOOK OF MORMON! :D who ever thought. We ended up contronting* (*contradicting) lots of opposition from people... but we were ALSO able to give out AN ENTIRE BOX OF BOOKS OF MORMON! :D It was incredibly fun!!! After lunch, todos* (*all the appointments) fell through and we contacted before teaching music and English classes! :)
On Saturday, we weekly planned in the morning! Lots of Maruja's family came from Lima for lunch and she gave us the opportunity to share our testimonies with them! So we did. Hopefully we seeded some curiosity, por lo menos* (*at least). :) Due to feriado y fiestas* (*holiday and parties), our citas* (*appointments) fell through, so we did lots of contacting! :D En la noche* (*In the evening), we found Isaias, new investigator, He was a reference from the elders. We talked about Christ and taught him to pray. :)
DOMINGO* (*SUNDAY)! ah. time flies. Anyway. In the morning we had correlacion* (*correlation meeting) and visited Xiomara, CONVERSA* (*CONVERT)! :D aw. she's so cute. She really opened up to us today about some past pain she has experienced. Almost ALL my mission, I have carried a conference talk from Uchtdorf (He will place you on his shoulders and carry you home) and I’ve never felt to give it away and also have never felt to stop carrying it. And today, I felt prompted to give it to her. I have carried this talk for a year. God really knows why He tells me to do things, because she really needed it today. :) Church was all good as usual. :) https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/brad-neiger_act-holiness-lord/
les amoooooooo . :) que tengan una semana INCREIBLE, aun mejor que la semana pasada* (*I love you, have an incredible week, even better than last week)!!!!!!
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)
