Another incredible, yet incredibly hard week! I am so grateful for all of the challenges I have the opportunity to face on my mission because I can see myself growing through each one. Anyway, here’s the rundown of what happened this week.
Monday–We went to the funeral I mentioned last week. It was difficult to keep tears out of my eyes to play Be Still, My Soul at the service, but I’m so grateful I had the privilege of playing for the family. The service was beautiful and full of the Spirit, which hopefully all of the non-members were able to feel. Many powerful testimonies of the Plan of Salvation were shared, and it definitely strengthened my testimony of it. For those of you who don’t know what the Plan of Salvation is, we believe that God has a loving plan for each of us, and part of that plan is that we can live with our families forever if we make sacred covenants in the temple and then try to live righteously.
Tuesday–The day didn’t start off great because we were supposed to have a trip to the temple visitors center with 3 people, and they all ended up canceling on us. But, we ended up having 3 great lessons during the day. On Tuesday I also received a package from my wonderful mother!
Wednesday–We had an fantastic district meeting! We all counseled together to see if we could come up with some solutions to problems we are facing in our areas, and it was so helpful! Hna Vazquez and I received lots of revelation for how to help our investigators and members.
Oh, one more thing about Wednesday–I had one of the scariest moments of my life! I was baking cookies for a member (that’s how I thank them for doing things for us haha) and I used a kitchen rag to pull the pan out of the oven, since we don’t have oven mitts or anything. I don’t know why, but it immediately went up in flames!!! Luckily I was able to toss it in the sink and turn on the water fast enough to keep it from spreading anywhere else or burning me. Hna Vazquez was in the bathroom when this happened, so she came out to see me frantically opening all the windows to let all the smoke out. Boy, was she confused. The parts of the rag that got burned completely crumbled into ash! But mom, you’ll be happy to know that we are planning on buying oven mitts today haha.
Thursday–Thursday was great!!! We helped out at a food bank, committed Maricela to come to church, ate copy-cat Cafe Rio at a members’ house, and then brought one of our new ward missionaries to a lesson with Ali! He is getting so close to baptism and when he shared his testimony with us, it was so powerful! I can’t even begin to describe what a privilege it is to teach God’s children and watch them grow.
Friday–It was a pretty hard day. I started to feel pretty inadequate as a missionary and was wondering what I could do to be better. But mi querida compañera reminded me that just as we can’t lower the Lord’s standards, we’re not authorized to raise them either. By holding myself to a higher standard than the Lord, I’m being prideful and putting my will above His. All He asks of us each day is that we try a little harder to be a little better. I’m going to try really hard to report my effort to the Lord through prayer and ask for His help to see my progress, not in comparison to anyone else’s.
Saturday–It was a long but really good day. We ate some amazing food, talked with a bunch of potential investigators, and taught Anthony and Luz.
Sunday–Sunday was fun and productive! Maricella came to church for the first time, and she brought her daughter and the two kids she babysits! All of them loved church and want to come back! Sunday was also good because the weather is getting really nice, and we had an AMAZING dinner with a family from the ward (SPICY Indian food!!!).
Thanks for reading yet another email from me! I miss everyone so much. If you feel like it, please send me pictures of home and your cute families so I can continue bragging about you! Remember that I love you, and that your Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love you. Have a great week, and please serve someone around you if you get the chance! Spread the light!
Love,
Hermana O’Barr
