Sorry, folks, I was really slacking this week in getting Raini's letter posted. But, here it is :)
Hola Familia,
Well this week was a very fast week and a slightly strange one as well haha.
First...THANK YOU FOR THE PACKAGE SO MUCH!! :)
So our investigator, _____, had a lesson at a member's home the beginning of this week and it was really really good. The husband gave her a blessing and she committed to stop smoking! So, she has been good for the past 5 days now! Her new baptismal date is March 8th, and we are confident that this will remain her date! She is going to finally make that step. We are SO excited! It was a very powerful lesson.
Then, we had a zone training meeting this week. It was so awesome.. because at the beginning of every thing we do including all meetings, we are supposed to write down a question we are seeking inspiration about. So, at the beginning of that meeting I wrote down "How can I love the people with more charity? and How can I follow the Spirit more when extending invitations?" ...These questions came because at the beginning of the week I was really down. I wanted to give up and not invite people to be baptized anymore.. because it seems every time I do, they just freak out and get nervous and want to quit meeting with us! So, I just got kind of discouraged.. But.. I realized I need to follow the Holy Spirit more and make sure that it is the right moment that I am inviting people to make these big commitments and not just extending the invitation because we think they could be baptized by then.. Anyway, the meeting was about TEACHING WITH CHARITY AND TEACHING BY THE SPIRIT. Seriously!? When they introduced the topic, I was like OH MY GOSH!! These are exactly my two questions. It was weird. But it was soo good and exactly what I needed to focus on! I realized that I really need to put more weight and importance on my personal study in the mornings, first. It is hard some days to be fully awake by 8 a.m. scripture time. But that is what sets the foundation for the day in being able to teach by the Spirit and attain inspiration about our investigators before we go and teach them that day.
So my companion has not been feeling super well. Last Monday she got a heating pack from our branch president's wife because her stomach was hurting really badly. But then it got worse on Thursday when she threw up when we got home that night.. she was not doing well. :( Then on Friday she slept in, then we went out and did a few visits. But she told me she was NOT feeling good at all.. so we went back home for the night and ate dinner at home and she threw it up again! Then on Saturday when she woke up she said she couldn't do anything.. she couldn't get up and do anything that day. So she stayed in bed all day and I just studied all day basically! I am now in Helaman! Haha..It was SO good to just study the scriptures all day. I love reading The Book of Mormon. Then for an hour I went out with _____, a member from our branch. We contacted a couple of former investigators and set up appointments with them which was good, while my comp was being babysat by our branch president's wife.. haha.
Then yesterday again she couldn't get up and do anything!
So we didn't go to church.. I have been trying to feed her and keep her hydrated as much as I can.. and shes doing well with the little bit of food we have. But I am nervous it is something more than just a flu or "roto virus" as they call it here..?? haha... She has had stomach problems a lot since she has been out on her mission, I guess. So idk.
Anyway, so when I was home from church yesterday I read some of the Ensigns we have in Spanish and decorated some of the walls with some of the pictures and stuff. So I livened it up in our house a bit :) Then I read from the Joseph Fielding Smith manual that Relief Society had their lesson on that day. I learned something very interesting:
it says, "This life is the most vital period in our eternal existence.." It just hit me..that combined with whatever was in that same chapter about how "we were created before this life.." I teach people about this all the time. But what I realized is that ..before we came here to earth we prepared so much. We tried learning all we could, getting ready for our debut on earth. And then when God presented his plan to us, that's why we celebrated and rejoiced! Because we were so excited that He finally gave us The Plan..it explained how we could become like Him. This is what we were preparing for! {{{Also-- in my Patriarchal blessing it talks some about how I was a valiant daughter in the pre-existence and that I earned the "privilege" of being able to come to the earth during this time when the fullness of the Gospel was on the earth. And that just hit me even more. ..That I had really tried to be prepared as much as possible to come here to this earth!!}}} And then based on our time in this life.. that is what determines we get in the life to come:) So exciting. I love the Plan of Salvation!!!
I also looked up a bunch of scriptures about LOVE, since it is Valentine's Day this week! There are some REALLY good ones in the Bible about Christ's love for us and God's love for us through His son. Like, Proverbs 3:12, "For whom the Lord loveth, He correcteth; even as the father, the Son in whom he delighteth." Or, Proverbs 9:9, "Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest." And, John 14:15, "If ye love me, keep my commandments."..there are SO many more...look them up in the index under, "LOVE"...especially on Friday this week! haha.
I have learned a lot this week ..from my own studying and also in watching some of the families we have visited this week. I realized just how important the Gospel is in the family unit and what I want my family to be one day. I want to always be on the same page with my husband with the Gospel and making it a priority... doing family home evening, going to church every single week, teaching my children well, etc. I just have been thinking a lot about this and it's interesting that my setting apart blessing said I would learn some of these things while out here on my mission..and it is very apparent already!!
We got to make homemade tortillas with one of my favorite Hispanic families the other night! it was SO good!:) I seriously LOVE that family so much- the _______ family:) they are so great. You will see a pic of Sis. Moore and the ______ girls at their house that night.
Anyway, that's about it this week..I love being out here. It is great. I was also really discouraged this week at one point because I just feel like my Spanish is not good..and I started feeling like I am not doing what I was called to do here because I am not teaching in Spanish. But I just have to work harder at truly loving the people and we need to find more situations to teach in Spanish. That is the only way it is going to improve..
I love you so much and I pray for you every night!
Thanks again so much for the package too:)) it made my day:))
Happy valentines day! and yes, Lincoln, I will be your Valentine ;)
Love,
Sister Weller
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