All the recent converts are back on track and stronger than ever thanks to diligent work and the hand of the Lord this week! It was a great week with solid lessons and significant improvement in our communication with those we teach and members of the branch. We are feeling much more optimistic with a perfect brightness of hope.
The week started off strong with another visit to the temple (how blessed am I?) for a tour around the grounds with our most solid investigator, Yary! As a part of the tour of the temple grounds, there is also a class twice a week at the stake center across the street that lasts about an hour that goes over what the temple is for and why it is so important. However we were the only ones that came that night (the last time I went there were about 20 people there) and there was no translator available. So my champion companion live translated the ENTIRE presentation! Hermana Klein always goes above and beyond and definitely magnifies her calling. It was perfect and Yary understood everything.
Yary is absolutely fantastic. I was actually there when the Hermanas first met her two months ago, which is kind of neat. She had found the church and walked in one Sunday and happened to go to Pleasant Hill's relief society back when I was serving there. Our RS President told us to grab the Spanish missionaries quickly! Bless Yary, she doesn't speak any English at all and she sat all through an hour of English relief society.
She's from Cuba and has been living in the estados unidos for one year. She's ready and wants to be baptized, but she's in a rough living situation with her previous boyfriend (there's a story I won't get into) that she couldn't get out of without a job, and because she speaks no English it's been really hard. But then on Saturday, she called us and told us she finally found a job! Definitely an answer to faithful prayers! The only catch is that she has to work on Sunday's and won't be able to come to the Spanish branch for a while, which starts at 1pm, but all on her own she suggested that maybe she could come for the Sacrament meeting of the English Ward that meets at 9am! (Which also happens to be Pleasant Hill) How sweet is that?! Even before making those baptismal covenants she realizes the importance of partaking of the sacrament and is willing to attend even when she doesn't speak the language. I understand how that is now. We're so happy for her! She's going to work and save to move out while also praying to find something else that will let her come to church on Sundays.
Another one of my favorite people is our recent convert, Estela. She was baptized in February and is one of the most faith filled people I have ever met on my mission. She speaks English most of the time so I have got to know her pretty well. She came with us on the temple trip last week and was able to go down to the baptistery and she was absolutely blown away. She couldn't do baptisms because she had just had surgery on her knee, but she loved it so much. Her and her husband, Kumar, gave us a ride home after and she was totally gushing about it the whole time. She's been working on getting Kumar to investigate the church, but it's kind of hard because he's not even Christian hahaha. She's so cute and she keeps making comments about getting him one day. She's going on a trip to visit her family in New Jersey this week and she's taking them all to the Sacred Grove this week! She is so excited for this opportunity to be there and to share the gospel with her family. She's so stellar.
She and Kumar took us to go get pupusas this week (basically a mix between a quesadilla and a tamale and my favorite thing) and it was the bees knees. I adore them.
Several newsletters ago I talked about a youth investigator Sister McCullough and I taught in Lake Crescent named Hector. He just graduated high school and he was on date for baptism a while ago but he told us he wanted to take a break from lessons so we gave him some space for a few weeks. About a month ago he let us start meeting with him again when I was with Sister Evans & Sister Hill (whom I miss dearly and with all my heart). Hector had some pretty serious concerns and honestly it was pretty hard to leave. But thanks to the technology that the Lord has blessed us with to hasten His work, Sisters Evans & Hill were able to Skype Hermana Klein & I into a lesson on Saturday and that was super neat. It was nice to be able to be apart of helping address his concerns and see how he's doing. Hermana Klein also had some great input and gave a new perspective to helping him with his needs. We think that meeting with the YSA missionaries and being apart of the Buena Vista YSA will be really good for him. Continued prayers for him is encouraged.
We also had an amazing lesson with Hermana Klein's recent convert that "bible bashed" us last week and our Branch Mission Leader, Hermano Suarez, came and was able to take over and teach the lesson, essentially. It went so perfectly. Hermano Suarez loves this convert and is like best friends with him, and he took his concerns and broke it down and addressed each one flawlessly. We found out that our convert was trying to share the gospel with some of his friends at work and then they started saying negative things about the church and making statements that he knew were not true, but also made him doubt how much he actually knew about the church. What made this especially hard is that He hasn't been able to come to church since he's been baptized because he got a new boss that makes him work Sundays (working on Sundays is a HUGE PROBLEM in Spanish work! My comp and I have a lot of feels about it but I'll save that for another time). But our lesson went so well and he felt so much better after and now he knows how to address others when they say false things about the church. He even was able to switch a shift and came to Sacrament yesterday! We were so happy! And to top it all off, he brought his Tithing to pay for this first time! He asked us how to fill out the slip and everything and we were over the moon!
Hermana Klein and I were also able to have some lessons with almost all of the recent converts in our area of the branch and teach about how Green Tea is not apart of living the Word of Wisdom and everyone took it so well! It was received much better than expected and we are relieved. Now we just have to get the memo to the rest of the branch.
I had an interview with President this week and he let me know that it was unlikely that I will stay in Spanish work this upcoming transfer. Even though that is what I was expecting, it was still sad to hear. I can't believe how much I have come to love the people here in so little time even with the language barrier. But it does make sense to have a missionary who actually speaks Spanish to be here. We get the transfer calls and will find out this Saturday for sure, but just a heads up that you are probably going to want to start addressing anything for me to the mission office. (10502 Satellite Blvd Ste E, Orlando, FL 32837. Just in case you forgot. I'd love letters. also care packages with fruit by the foot.)
Nos vemos,
-Hermana Olivia Petty 🌽
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| Pupusas with Estela & Kumar 6.20.17 |
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| On the way to the temple with Yary 6.21.17 |
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| Yary's instagram of Hermana Klein, Yary, myself and Hermana Mallqui at the temple 6.21.17 |
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| Temple Tour with Yary 6.21.17 |
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| Hermana Klein & Hermana Petty @ Orlando Florida Temple 6.21.17 |
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| Cena @ The Suarez Home 6.25.17 |
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