Hi family!
Well, everyone already knows the big news of the week since I talked to you all yesterday, but JACQUELIN IS GETTING BAPTIZED! She and her son, Farid, are officially getting baptized on saturday and we are all super duper excited. It will be the greatest end to my mission because we have worked for such a long time helping her to be able to progress. The only sad thing is that I would love to be here for the next fast sunday because when we were talking to Farid about his baptism they said
Farid: ¨mom, does this mean that we´re going to be members?¨
Jacqui: ¨Yes, son, we´re finally going to be members¨
Farid: ¨does that mean I´m going to be able to bear my testimony?¨
Jacqui:¨yes, we are all going to be able to bear our testimonies.¨
It was so sweet. And they will finally present Ilayna (her 5 year old) in the church. Ilayna is also so excited and wants to wear a white dress and look pretty for her blessing. I wish so much that I could be there!!!! But the important thing is that they will finally be able to progress more rapidly. The ward I´m in is doing a really good job with putting the new members to work right away and we have seen really great results in the people. The new members are happy and are an example to the ward. Yesterday was a huge example of that. In Relief Society the class was on the Book of Mormon and how we as members should be reading it every day and how we need to be able to respond to the questions. A few women shared their experiences with the Book of Mormon and it was good but then a new member, Alberta, rose her hand and shared her experience. Alberta is from Bolivia and does not know how to read or write. We have been helping her learn and we go over a few times a week and we have been reading the Book of Mormon with her. She bore her testimony that although she didn´t know about the book her whole life and althogh she cant read, she understands the importance of it and is going to do everything possible to read it. It was incredible. Then she told about how her mom was sick and got better when Alberta fasted for her. THe whole room was in tears. You could almost see the spirit working. That sweet feeling of excitement coupled with a soft reprimend. Everyone made a commitment to do better about reading. I was so proud!!!!!On Friday we had another movie night. We watched a movie called ¨Courageous¨ I think about fathers that make a commitment to be more responsible for their families. It was a cute movie but we took a bunch of kids and turns out they were little terror children ;) so we didn´t see much of it. Other than that, it was a normal week. This is my last email from Chile. I want everyone to know that I absolutely love my mission. There is no experience like it. I wish I could stay here forever sometimes because I love the people so much and I feel so invested in the growth of the church here in this wonderful country. I have never had so many trials in my life and I´ve never been more happy. There´s this one cheesy poem called ¨The Highs and Lows of a MIssion¨ that describes it absolutely perfectly. I have a week left in my sector and I am excited to see just how much we can do here in Arica Centro. I feel so priviledged that God allowed me to serve a mission, and serve here in Chile. Thank you to everyone that supported me and prayed for me. Tahnk you to everyone who prayed for my investigators. They felt it, I can promise you.I love you all, and see you SOON!LOVE;Hermana Catrón
Well, everyone already knows the big news of the week since I talked to you all yesterday, but JACQUELIN IS GETTING BAPTIZED! She and her son, Farid, are officially getting baptized on saturday and we are all super duper excited. It will be the greatest end to my mission because we have worked for such a long time helping her to be able to progress. The only sad thing is that I would love to be here for the next fast sunday because when we were talking to Farid about his baptism they said
Farid: ¨mom, does this mean that we´re going to be members?¨
Jacqui: ¨Yes, son, we´re finally going to be members¨
Farid: ¨does that mean I´m going to be able to bear my testimony?¨
Jacqui:¨yes, we are all going to be able to bear our testimonies.¨
It was so sweet. And they will finally present Ilayna (her 5 year old) in the church. Ilayna is also so excited and wants to wear a white dress and look pretty for her blessing. I wish so much that I could be there!!!! But the important thing is that they will finally be able to progress more rapidly. The ward I´m in is doing a really good job with putting the new members to work right away and we have seen really great results in the people. The new members are happy and are an example to the ward. Yesterday was a huge example of that. In Relief Society the class was on the Book of Mormon and how we as members should be reading it every day and how we need to be able to respond to the questions. A few women shared their experiences with the Book of Mormon and it was good but then a new member, Alberta, rose her hand and shared her experience. Alberta is from Bolivia and does not know how to read or write. We have been helping her learn and we go over a few times a week and we have been reading the Book of Mormon with her. She bore her testimony that although she didn´t know about the book her whole life and althogh she cant read, she understands the importance of it and is going to do everything possible to read it. It was incredible. Then she told about how her mom was sick and got better when Alberta fasted for her. THe whole room was in tears. You could almost see the spirit working. That sweet feeling of excitement coupled with a soft reprimend. Everyone made a commitment to do better about reading. I was so proud!!!!!On Friday we had another movie night. We watched a movie called ¨Courageous¨ I think about fathers that make a commitment to be more responsible for their families. It was a cute movie but we took a bunch of kids and turns out they were little terror children ;) so we didn´t see much of it. Other than that, it was a normal week. This is my last email from Chile. I want everyone to know that I absolutely love my mission. There is no experience like it. I wish I could stay here forever sometimes because I love the people so much and I feel so invested in the growth of the church here in this wonderful country. I have never had so many trials in my life and I´ve never been more happy. There´s this one cheesy poem called ¨The Highs and Lows of a MIssion¨ that describes it absolutely perfectly. I have a week left in my sector and I am excited to see just how much we can do here in Arica Centro. I feel so priviledged that God allowed me to serve a mission, and serve here in Chile. Thank you to everyone that supported me and prayed for me. Tahnk you to everyone who prayed for my investigators. They felt it, I can promise you.I love you all, and see you SOON!LOVE;Hermana Catrón