The Work Begins to Multiply

This week was great!  We have been praying that we would find people who were ready to be baptized this coming week and the next.  We have seen so many miracles and have found several people who have heard the missionaries and are ready to be baptized this week or the next!

This week we began teaching Hermana Flor's mother-in-law, Adela.  It is a beautiful story to how we came to know and started teaching her.  There is a promise in Preach My Gospel that says that if we can teach by the spirit those we are teaching will feel a burning desire to share the gospel with others. After we finished teaching a lesson to Hermana Flor and her boyfriend, her boyfriend told us he felt a sense of overwhelming joy come into his heart and said he would like us to visit his mom.  We went to her house and he began teaching his mom the same lesson that we had just finished teaching him.  He began to cry and told his mother that he wanted to change and that he knew this gospel was the way that he would become a better man.  After the lesson with his mom he also told us about several friends that he has who he has talked to that would like to listen to us.  There is nothing that makes us more happy... the more work the better!:)

Yesterday we had our ward mission program in sacrament meeting.  As missionaries, ward missionaries and our ward mission leader we spoke about the work of salvation.  It was great!  All in all it was a great week in the Lord's vineyard.  I love being a missionary!

Love, Hermana Paini

Eating cake to celebrate Weston's wedding

Our little missionary

He looks mad but he really isn't

The whole group

Tree hugging

Our shadows

The view over the canyon

The Day We've All Been Waiting For

This week was AWESOME!  It was fun, hard and spiritual and just great all around!




On Thursday we had our semi-annual mission activity.  It was a lot of fun!  We went and hiked down 720 stairs to some giant waterfalls.  We played volleyball on the side of the river, took pictures and had lots of fun!  After the trip back up the stair path we were all pretty exhausted, but it was all worth it.  My companion and I did a comparison of what seemed to be the never ending path of stairs with the gospel principle endure to the end.  It was a beautiful and very rewarding experience!





                                                     









                     

                                       
               










                 




Saturday was a long awaited for day!  After 3-4 months of waiting for this day Hermana Flor's baptism day finally happened!  It was such a beautiful day!  Hermana Monjaras and I sang in her baptismal service and it was an experience I will never forget.  We sang, "If the Savior Stood Beside Me," singing half of it in English and the other half in Spanish.  As we were singing I looked up at Hermana Flor as her eyes filled with tears.  She smiled at me as tears ran down her face.  As we proceeded to her baptismal service I asked her how she felt and she said she was so happy and that this was a day she had dreamt about and waited for for so long.  She looked like an angel in her white dress and was glowing all around.  After she was baptized she bore her testimony to end the service. She has such a strong, powerful testimony, you can see it in her eyes and hear it in her voice that she really knows without any doubt that this church is true.  She is such a great example to me and I have learned so much from her!

We moved to a new house this week and it is great!  We live in the same privada apartments as a great family that are members.  The best part is that the wáter doesn`t have a color.. it is clear!  It doesn`t have a smell either which is also a good sign.  I took a shower this week and felt like it was the first time I was actually CLEAN in 3 transfers.  It was a great experience :)

I love you all so much and I hope you have a great week.

Love, Hermana Paini

A Fun Week of Food Poisoning

Well, back to the 4 ft long bed/couch this week!  My companion got food poisoning so it was back to the hospital this week.  The good news is that it is starting to feel more like home every time.  I now know where everything is and the names of each of the doctors and nurses. :)

Our ward mission leader and his wife went out to eat with a couple who are ward missionaries and their son, Daniel.  After eating they brought a couple of plates of food home for us so we could it it for dinner.  However, it was shrimp that they gave us, which is something I have never been too fond of.  My companion however, LOVES it so I let her eat it all.  The next day when we went to correlation with the couple who are ward missionaries and our ward mission leader everyone was sick!  They all said they felt horrible.  Later that night my companion started feeling sick as well.  We went back to the house and she progressively got worse!  She was non stop throwing up and spending all of her time in the bathroom.  We took her to the hospital clinic and they hospitalized her overnight hooking her up to an IV and injecting antibiotics.  After about 24 hours she felt much better so we were able to go back home.

The more time I spend in the mission the more I think about how the mission prepares us to be parents.  I am learning how to love and care for someone else, clean up someone else's throw up, and being able to put emotions of being tired and hungry away in order to dedicate all of my time to helping someone else.  It's a beautiful thing all that can be learned in the mission!

This week was so great and I wouldn't trade it for the world!  We saw so many miracles and were able to witness on a greater level the Lord's hand in our lives.

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

Love, hermana Paini

Blistered feet breaking in the new shoes!

Sick Companion

Hey everyone,  this week was great!

This email will be short because we don´t have much time.. we are currently getting things ready because we will be changing houses so we've been pretty busy.

Taking care of my companion in the clinic

This week was anther week full of miracles.  My companion got sick this week so we had to stay in the clinic for a couple days  but I climbed up in her hospital bed with her and we talked and had a good time.  She is doing much better now.  The trip to the clinic made us realize how grateful we were when we were able to go home again and sleep in our BEDS.  It´s true that you don´t realize what you have until you don´t have it anymore.  So that was a good reminder that helped us be more grateful :)

I was a little big for the couch they gave me to sleep on in the clinic

Hermana Flor is progressing so well!  She has separated from her boyfriend and we  are going to visit her this evening to invite her to be baptized.  We are so proud of her.  I will keep you all updated :)

I hope you have a great week!  I love you guys!