First and foremost I would like to say that the e-mails i received this past week were the best emails i have received during my mission thus far. Thank you so much for those of you who consistently right me. Know that I love you very much and your words are very inspiring and motivating for me. Remembering that I have an amazing family and group of friends praying for me helps me to continue each and every day. I love you. Yes you specifically. Second thing, I know I usually do a funny story first but this week I am going to start with the spiritual because the story is really important for me. I never have time to write in my journal so this will have to count as my journal entry.
Okay so this past weekend has been one FILLED with the E Family, the C's. We had a great meal, a dish from Portugal since that is where the Cornetas are from. Lots of potatoes, cream and fish, not sure what it was called. Anyway so we had a great meal with them and then at the end had planned a short lesson on Following the Prophet. We started by asking Sr Co. how following the Prophet has blessed their family. She gave us a powerful, heartfelt response. Then we asked Edouardo a question about prophets and he came out of no where and said, Actually I dont believe in prophets. WHAT???!!! We were caught so off guard. This was not anything we saw coming. Edouardo was our golden child. He was the one who always had the perfect answers and was willing to change his life to be baptised and become closer to our Savior. Well it was handled very well. Sr. L was quick on her feet and turned to the scriptures to show proof of prophets and that one could be called in our time, and in fact that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet today. Fr. and Sr. C are both return missionaries so they were very helpful as well. It turned into a great lesson and we committed Edouardo to go home and listen to the talk by President Monson from this past conference, Dare to Stand Alone, and pray and ask Heavenly Father if Thomas S. Monson is the prophet on the earth today, called by God. He accepted and we concluded our lesson. I wish I could put into words how powerful the testimonies of Fr. C's their 17 year old daughter, but its impossible. Oh also. Fr. C. told Edouardo that he should pray kneeling because it is more powerful in showing God our humility. Since this advice, everytime we have prayed with Edouardo it has been on our knees :)
The next day Saturday we went to Cern, a science center, with Edouardo and Miryam. We traded p-day hours so we could go spend time with them there. It was a lot of fun and it was really cool. Side note: Cern is where the World Wide Web was created. You will have to search it on google but they make particles there. It is really cool, something Dad would have taken us to go to when we were young. However the language and being able to understand the concept a child should not go there. Great for people who have had some studying of science. Some of the attached pictures are from there. Anyway after Cern Miryam took us to a Peruvian restaurant and we ate like Queens. It was delicious but not my preferred. Then we went home and then quickly left for French Class. Where Edouardo assisted us in teaching our class because he is fluent in both French and Spanish and most of our class is Spanish. He loved it and we saw it as a great opportunity for him to serve! After French class we had a rendez-vous with Edouardo and Miryam. It went pretty well again. We had a little more of a break through with Miryam, trying to commit her to a baptismal date but unfortunately she would not comply. I know that she will be baptized soon. She has already had her heart softened so much. The time will come. Okay so at the end of our rdv (rendez-vous) Edouardo said. In fact Sr. Lala you asked me if i wanted to be baptized March 10th and i said i dont know maybe. And then the next time we met you said okay so you are being baptized March 10th. This of course is not how we percieved our engagement to him but it is how he saw it. His mom was laughing so hard saying Edouardo why has it taken you so long to say this? Are you just getting baptized for the missionaries? He said no that he was getting baptized for the right reasons but thats just how he saw it.
Then the next day at church they were there and Fr. J., a YM counselor, and the sunday school teacher (for adults), talked during Sacrament meeting. His talk was very powerful and was about Forgivness and pride. Miryam was so excited after the talk to tell us that she felt the spirit very strongly and that the talk really touched her heart. Then later after church we started our rdv and Edouardo told us that he was not ready to get baptized on the 10th. He felt like he needed more time. We were not so much shocked, I kind of saw it coming because of some comments that were made and some other things that have occured. Anyway it was so cool because Sr. L and i were just guided by the spirit to know what to say to him. He said that he had received his answer, he knows the church is true, he knows the book of mormon is true and he knows he needs to get baptized but he just feels like he needed more time to learn and understand the gospel. The spirit quickly reminded me of my decision to serve a mission. Once i felt that I needed to serve a mission, I started my papers. I never wanted to go on a mission and i never thought i would. However when i received the prompting I was obedient and went forward in faith. Even though there were times when it was hard to continue to prepare for a mission I went forward because I knew it was what the lord wanted for me. I recounted this experince to Edouardo. I told him that when we receive an answer to our prayers it is important to quickly obey and not delay. If I had delayed my feelings of going on a mission or preparing for a mission I most likely wouldnt be here right now. I didnt know if he was touched by this exerpience or not and if it was helping him. I didnt want to push to much because I know its his decision to be baptized but because he has received his answer its important to act in faith. His mom wasnt in the room for this story because she was on the phone, however when she came back and we were talking about a new baptismal date he wanted me to retell my story. So again I told it to Miryam. However this time i added that when we get an answer and we dont listen to it the answer could go away or changed. She was surprised to hear this. But then Sr. L added that the Lord will give us an answer however, if we dont listen the first or second time he is not going to force us. He wants us to choose for ourselves. I think this has helped her realize as well how important it will be when she receives her answer to go forward in faith and be baptized. We also told Edouardo that we knew that this was the adversary working against him because he has received an answer and is going to make a grand covenant with Heavenly Father. Okay so then after i told the story again, Edouardo said that he wanted to be baptized the week after the 10th, the 17th. We definitely were happy about this and he is very excited as well. He wanted to plan the program right then and made a list of who he wanted to particpate. Theres a chance I will be giving a talk. Its funny that for Edouardo one week will make a big enough difference but we are grateful that he has picked his own date and is so excited about it.
Last night while falling asleep Sr. Lala told me how this is an answer to our prayers in disguise to be able to have one baptism a week. This has been a great desire of ours and we are seeing that is starting to be possible. The 10th will be Tatiana the 17th Edouardo and we are hoping Miryam the 24th, even though she doesnt know it yet. Please pray for these three. They need all the prayers they can get so that they may continue in Faith towards the waters of baptism. Please pray also that Miryam will have the desire to be baptised. Her biggest concern is that she doesnt think she knows enough yet. Faith is not a perfect knowledge of things--Alma 32:21. I know that we were with the Es so much this week because Edouardo was being tried. When we are there he is lifted up and feels the spirit. Satan is working him so hard right now because he is our Golden Child. Its a beatiful thing to help someone come unto Christ and I am so glad I am here doing this work. I love my Savior.
Now a short funny story.We had district meeting on thursday and i was asked to rd a scripture. Luke 24:18. In french the name in the scripture is Cléopas. Not sure what it is in english. Anyway so while I was reading this I said Célopas and Sr. L and Elder Lumakaso started laughing under their breath. I realized the mistake i made so i corrected it but didnt know what was the other word i said. Well Sr. Lala ended up telling me that it is very very close to the word that in english means a**-hole. Go read this scripture and substitue the name for a**-hole and you will probably laugh as hard as they did. Did I mention, I am the only American, and only native English Speaker in my district. Needless to say everyone got a kick out of it! I know this is really really long but I hope you enjoy it. Sometimes i hated reading long emails from missionaries so sorry if i bored you.
I love you,Soeur Addis
P.s. This week was extremely hard for me so thank you again for your emails and for the continued prayers. I couldnt do this without them.
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