Feb 16, 2015
Dominic,
Bahaha. That picture is great!! Yes, I want to hear about ohio! I dont know if you know this but I went there not this past summer but the summer before. I loved it. ESpecially to see all the places that the prophet lived. I dont know if youve been to the sacred grove yet, but that is my fave church history spot for sure. When I went there I basically just sat there, in the sacred grove alone, demanding that God command me to go on a mission, furious that I wasnt having the kind of revelation that one would talk about in yw lessons down the line that they recieved some kind of enlightening experience to go on a mission in the sacred grove. So I came back out, found my dad, and started bawling. I was so mad and upset that I had this righteous desire and I just wouldnt get a corfirmation. But I guess I was never supposed to be that kind of perfect yw leader that has all the stereotypical stories, because I fought with god for another 5 months, untill I decided to make my own decision and just go. And that is when I got my confirmation. That God trusted me enough to make my own decision. To say I cried thenm when I realized that god respected me enough to chose, and HE would support me in either choice would be a little bit of an understatement. Ya, I dont know if Ive told many people that story, but that is how I decided to go on a mission. And oh how I am greatful I made that choice.
I hope you are well. I read your letters every week and aklthough I dont have time to answer you every week, know that I care, and that I pray for you and your family. You guys are some of my favorite people.
Love,
Hna Jarman
So, changes came, and guess what! I have a latina comp! I was a little bit nervous, but I just love her. Although she kind of defies all latin comp stereotypes. But a little bit about hermana jimenez . . . .
She is from guatamala, she loves eating fruit off trees in the street (just like me!), she can´t cook to save her life (she told me she can make three things . . . chicken both soup, and rice, and eggs), she can speak a little bit of english but only enough to say really funny things, and she is a tease! Ingaine that. I told hna Lindsay that I was going to have a latin comp that loved to tease. She said she didnt know if that existed, and I told her I was going to have one. And I have one. She is a total tease.
But she is also extremely obideient, and loves to work and is really bold with investigadors when she needs to be. I am super happy to be her comp.
So you know how when I turned 16 and could drive places by myself, I had an iphone with gps, but then I kept on getting super lost, so my mom bought me another gps for the car, and I regularly used both to get to the destination. Well, i can assure you that my directional abilities havent really improved, and I dont have any kind of gps here, and the streets dont have street signs, and I am leading the area now that Hna Lindsay is gone, and so . . . we are found a lot of new people this week because we really got good and lost a couple days. But hna jimenez is a really good sport about it. And I only acidentally left our area once this week, so i would consider this week pretty succesful.
A miracle of this week . . . well really the miracle of this week is that I could do everything I had to. I was so afraid that I would be able to lead an area. That I wouldnt be able to lead the lesson, to get around the area, to get things done and call the members and ask for their help, and talk in only spanish, but somehow. I did. I was in the middle of teaching an investigador called Catolino, and I was asking him about how he read the book of mormon and prayed about it and how he felt, and then I just had this moment where I realized that I was talking fluently with this man, that I somehow just knew what questions I had to ask, and more than that, that he understood me. That somehow God had given me this gift of the spirit, and although I am not worthy because of my imperfections, because of my inability to speak perfectly, or to speak with elaborate words, because of my inability to be exactly the person I needed to be, that the spirit was there. I was being used as an instrament in the Lords hands. And in that moment, I realized so much, that this work never was mine. This lesson never was mine to teach. That somehow, Christ was working through me to get done what needed to get done. To change this poor suffering mans life. And I was so humbled. Because I realized that God loves me, but more than that, God loved this man. God loved this man soooo much, that Jesus Christ suffered for him. And that here I was, some tool that sometimes gets frustrated and decides not to work, sometimes is prideful, sometimes gets discouraged, and that even with this, I was good enough. God was proud of me. I will never get tired of these moments on the mission when I get to feel a peice of the love of God. Because everytime I feel it, I understand the atonement a little bit more. I understand why God would let his son die.
This is a picture of me and Catolino. He is the old man. He had a stroke, so only half of his body works well. And he is soooo loved by god. I can testify of this.
Dear Jerusalem Buddies!
Thank you so much for the Christmas package! Your cards was so chulina! (That is guarani for adorable). I got it this week and I was soo happy! Its actually really good that it came in Feb because then I could have a package for Christmas (from my family), and a package for Valentines day! Haha, my zone liders and district liders thought you guys sent it from Jerusalem, and they were really impressed. But I love you all and hope that you are doing so good! I love paraguay. In some was its kind of like jerusalem. Like everyone likes burning their trash here. And its really hot. But I love it! Bueno, hope you are all doing well.
Hermana Jarman
P.S. Whoever had the idea to send american brownie mix, you´re a genuius. Me and my companion can tesitfy that there is indeed a difference between american brownie mix brownies and ones you can make from scratch here.
No comments:
Post a Comment