Hi family!Today was EL FALLO DE LA HAYA! I dont even know if other people in the world have even heard about the Haya, but it{s like all anyone talks about here. The result was that they gave Peru a little part, but it wasn{t what they wanted. The rumors in Antofagasta are crazy apparently, and the assistants called the ZLs to tell them that if anything happens we all have to go to our apartment and await instructions. Apparently there have been little things happening in some parts of Arica and Tacna but I{m not sure what´s true and what isn´t. We´re not worried or anything, but we will see what happens! This week was cool because we had a lot of cool experiences with people feeling the spirit.
One of them was the first person we met here in Arica. Her name is Jesica and she´s a little bit crazy. We started teaching her but it became real clear real quick that she wasn´t going to progress. She has loooooong term depression and about 13 years ago she tried to commit suicide and was doing really badly when an evangelical woman saw her in a plaza and told her that she was sick and she had to let Jesus Christ heal her. Which is awesome and everything because she started to pray and believe in Jesus Christ but also made her a hardcore believer in every single thing that her pastor says. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and she kept interrupmting us saying ¨but we believe something different.¨ Yeah, okay. That´s fine. She´s not really in a position to accept the gospel. But Jesica has a 14 year old daughter (Javiera) and we felt really badly for her because Jesica smokes a TON and when she has lows in her depression she basically can´t function and Javiera has to defend for herself. Also, Javiera´s brother is way alcoholic at 22 years old. So we kept going back to Jesica and Javiera´s house hoping that we could help Javiera have a solid foundation in the gospel. One day we taught Javiera about the Book of Mormon and she was really excited to read it. We left her a chapter but when we went back, Jesica flipped out and was mad at us for introducing something that wasn´t the Bible to her daughter. It was midly frustrating because she has never even read the Bible so I don´t know why she was so sure that it´s so true and nothing else can be true. But we left the house for a few weeks. One day an appointment fell through and we decided to stop by just to make sure they were okay and try and make amends so that one day Javiera could know the gospel. When we got there Jesica was doing really badly and so we sang to her and comforted her and she told us that she knew we were messangers from God. (Side note: I am almost positive that Jesica has the gift of discernment. Despite her illness, she is able to feel when things are good and when they are not. Like one time we saw her after she got home from her church and she told us that she felt really badly in her church- like bad vibes. Later we learned that in her church they basically only talk about Satan.) The next day we were going to have a big family home night and we invited her and she ended up being about the only one who went. We talked about the Book of Mormon and watched part of the Jospeh Smith movie. She told us that after we had left the night before, she could feel that there were angels surrounding her bed, protecting and comforting her. After the movie, she was so happy it was incredible. She didn´t understand the movie very well but she basically shouted in the streets that she was so happy that there was a prophet today (something she had 100% rejected). She also told us that she felt so full of peace but she was nervous to tell her son that she was going to change churches. We were astounded. The next morning we called to see if she would be able to go to church and she told us no. However, right before the sacrament, she appeared in the door! We started singing (I Need Thee Every Hour) and she started crying because the spirit was so strong. After Sac Meeting, she told us she felt dizzy because she wasn´t used to our church, but we had a quick lesson on the resoration and also the priesthood and she asked for a blessing. The spirit was really strong in the blessing and afterward she said she felt full of power. It was a really cool experience. Now, I know she feels that the church is truly God´s church on the Earth, but due to her illness we still have a lot of hurdles to jump. BUt the spirit has clearly indicated to us to keep working. Maybe it{s for her, maybe for the Javiera, but God knows and we just have to keep going where we feel like we need to go. Daniela is doing well and accepting the commandments but is going to need a lot of support. She is totally willing and excited to have a new kind of life, but she has lived ¨in the world¨ for such a long time that her habits have to change a LOT. She is interesting because it´s like she never even realized that you could live without drinking and living in the world, but now that{s she realized it, she is so happy. It´s still going to be hard, but she is really excited and has already invited the whole world to her baptism. She has a fecha for this Saturday, so prayers would be really appreciated!! Jacquelin is doing really well. Hasn´t gone to church because of work, but has been reading a ton in the Book of Mormon. Her fecha is still for the 8th, but she has her interview this Saturday. I love you all! I´m excited to have a new niece! Welcome to the world Kimberly Scout Hoffman! HErmana Catron
One of them was the first person we met here in Arica. Her name is Jesica and she´s a little bit crazy. We started teaching her but it became real clear real quick that she wasn´t going to progress. She has loooooong term depression and about 13 years ago she tried to commit suicide and was doing really badly when an evangelical woman saw her in a plaza and told her that she was sick and she had to let Jesus Christ heal her. Which is awesome and everything because she started to pray and believe in Jesus Christ but also made her a hardcore believer in every single thing that her pastor says. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and she kept interrupmting us saying ¨but we believe something different.¨ Yeah, okay. That´s fine. She´s not really in a position to accept the gospel. But Jesica has a 14 year old daughter (Javiera) and we felt really badly for her because Jesica smokes a TON and when she has lows in her depression she basically can´t function and Javiera has to defend for herself. Also, Javiera´s brother is way alcoholic at 22 years old. So we kept going back to Jesica and Javiera´s house hoping that we could help Javiera have a solid foundation in the gospel. One day we taught Javiera about the Book of Mormon and she was really excited to read it. We left her a chapter but when we went back, Jesica flipped out and was mad at us for introducing something that wasn´t the Bible to her daughter. It was midly frustrating because she has never even read the Bible so I don´t know why she was so sure that it´s so true and nothing else can be true. But we left the house for a few weeks. One day an appointment fell through and we decided to stop by just to make sure they were okay and try and make amends so that one day Javiera could know the gospel. When we got there Jesica was doing really badly and so we sang to her and comforted her and she told us that she knew we were messangers from God. (Side note: I am almost positive that Jesica has the gift of discernment. Despite her illness, she is able to feel when things are good and when they are not. Like one time we saw her after she got home from her church and she told us that she felt really badly in her church- like bad vibes. Later we learned that in her church they basically only talk about Satan.) The next day we were going to have a big family home night and we invited her and she ended up being about the only one who went. We talked about the Book of Mormon and watched part of the Jospeh Smith movie. She told us that after we had left the night before, she could feel that there were angels surrounding her bed, protecting and comforting her. After the movie, she was so happy it was incredible. She didn´t understand the movie very well but she basically shouted in the streets that she was so happy that there was a prophet today (something she had 100% rejected). She also told us that she felt so full of peace but she was nervous to tell her son that she was going to change churches. We were astounded. The next morning we called to see if she would be able to go to church and she told us no. However, right before the sacrament, she appeared in the door! We started singing (I Need Thee Every Hour) and she started crying because the spirit was so strong. After Sac Meeting, she told us she felt dizzy because she wasn´t used to our church, but we had a quick lesson on the resoration and also the priesthood and she asked for a blessing. The spirit was really strong in the blessing and afterward she said she felt full of power. It was a really cool experience. Now, I know she feels that the church is truly God´s church on the Earth, but due to her illness we still have a lot of hurdles to jump. BUt the spirit has clearly indicated to us to keep working. Maybe it{s for her, maybe for the Javiera, but God knows and we just have to keep going where we feel like we need to go. Daniela is doing well and accepting the commandments but is going to need a lot of support. She is totally willing and excited to have a new kind of life, but she has lived ¨in the world¨ for such a long time that her habits have to change a LOT. She is interesting because it´s like she never even realized that you could live without drinking and living in the world, but now that{s she realized it, she is so happy. It´s still going to be hard, but she is really excited and has already invited the whole world to her baptism. She has a fecha for this Saturday, so prayers would be really appreciated!! Jacquelin is doing really well. Hasn´t gone to church because of work, but has been reading a ton in the Book of Mormon. Her fecha is still for the 8th, but she has her interview this Saturday. I love you all! I´m excited to have a new niece! Welcome to the world Kimberly Scout Hoffman! HErmana Catron