Dear Family,
I miss you!!! I hope you have had a great week! Things are going really well here! All four of the Valencia Boys were baptized on Saturday. For a second on Friday night it looked like it might not happen but it did and it was wonderful! They are such good boys and I am so excited to see the difference that the gospel can make in their lives. I sang "To Become Like Him" at the baptism and I really feel like they have the potential to become so amazing with the gospel.
This week we had a really neat activity in our branch. In the MTC one day I was reading the section on working with members and wrote down some ideas that I had for possible activities to get members excited about missionary work. One thing I wrote down was a night where members could share their conversion story. I felt this could build unity within a branch and bring back their own memories of their conversion. When I got to the field this idea materialized and developed with the help of Sister Alard and finally happened on Thursday night. We were really pleased with the outcome. The theme ended up being "Out of Small and Simple Things, Great Things are Brought to Pass." We had several members share how small interactions led to their conversion to the gospel. Brother Cosme shared how a man at his work just casually mentioned the church one day during lunch and then Brother Cosme went and sought it out himself. Sister Magana talked about her neighbor when she was 11 taking an interest in her. She said "She taught me to cook, she taught me to play the piano and she taught me the most important thing I have ever known, the gospel of Jesus Christ." Karla Hernandez shared how she went to school in Idaho and how she always wondered what made a lot of the kids she knew different but none of them ever shared the message with her. She made the point that she knew she received the gospel when the time was right for her (her husband baptized her on his mission and is now our branch president) but that she wishes now she had had the gospel earlier and that someone had said something. But at the same time she said that she is grateful for their examples so that when the time was right she had a good impression of the church. She shared a quote by President Uchtdorf about how testimonies are for sharing.
Then in the end we had a lady in our ward (who had recently shared experiences with us after a visit) share how she and her family have stepped out of their comfort zone to share the gospel in little ways. She specifically talked about how her little girls have set an example for her. One of them chose to take her Book of Mormon to show and tell. The other quickly made her own decision not to go to a birthday party because it was on Sunday before every asking her mom. They are 6 and 4. Throughout we showed different things from Mormon.org and at the end Sister Alard and I showed three of the new I Am A Mormon ads in spanish. The branch ate them up! The reaction we loved most was, "They were normal!" We wanted them to see that the gospel can become such a part of our lives that sharing it become easy because people see how we live and want to know more. We encouraged them to use Mormon.org to share the gospel with their friends. After the activity we were able to see our branch unified for the first time. They were all talking to each other and seemed really excited! It was really neat to see how something that I felt inspired about in the MTC actually happened and for the first time I felt like things that I have learned in school came in handy. Stuff from my PR classes was actually put into practice and translated okay into spanish. Haha!
This week I was reading a talk from the April 2012 General Conference by Elder O. Vincent Haleck. His talk is centered around the scripture found in Proverbs 29:18 that says, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." He says, "If we are to prosper rather than perish, we must gain a vision of ourselves as the Savior sees us." He goes on to talk about how the Savior saw more in the fisherman who would later become His apostles than they initially saw in themselves. It made me think a lot about the word, "Vision" and how it applies to missionary work. I realized that for me this mission applies to vision in two ways. First, it is a chance for me to gain a vision of my future (which heaven knows I need) but also it is an opportunity to have vision as a missionary. To see people as they can become with the gospel or even to see an activity as it can become. Elder Haleck later says "Brothers and Sisters, we are a people with a history of vision and the faith and courage to do. Look at where we have come and the blessings we have received! Believe that He can bless you with vision in your life and the courage to act." For me this time of my life is all about vision and I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn about seeing things as Heavenly Father sees them. Sometimes having this vision can hurt because you want so badly for others to be able to see that vision and to recognize their potential. It can hurt so bad that your heart aches watching it but occasionally you are able to see others catch that vision of what they can become and they work with everything that they have to reach toward it. That is what we are seeing with Jaqueline. She continues to amaze us each and every visit. She is amazing and full of surprises. She wants this gospel and all of its blessings and she will get it if she continues to act in faith. Vision has been the source of the greatest joy and the greatest sadness on my mission but it is so important.
I hope that all of you are able to see how much potential you have. I think of all of you often and how incredibly blessed I am to be surrounded and supported by such amazing people. I love you all! Thank you so all you do for me and for your prayers.
Love,
Hermana Jones
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