Being bible bashed is unfortunate. Being bible bashed by a recent convert is the worst. We had a rough week. but let me back up and elaborate on the positives first because those are what is keeping me going.
I got to go back to my beloved temple on Friday! Those flower beds we planted were looking fiiine. We went to do baptisms for the dead with so many recent converts! We went on the Branch temple night and so everyone was there to see and support them and so many other missionaries were there with their recent converts and it was a grand time. It was the first time I was able to go and see the baptistery and it was lovely. One of Hermana Klein's recent converts, Humberto, brought family names to be baptized and confirmed for! His wife Celia has been a faithful member for over 30 years and Humberto finally made the decision to be baptized last month and so it was a really tender experience for them to be there together and do baptisms for their ancestors.
We have two people that we met this week that are really looking to change their lives and have been humbled by their circumstances. I know that the Gospel will bless them endlessly and I really hope that they can recognize the Spirit as they follow up on our invitations and keep their commitments. and a big blessing for me is that they are both also fluent in English and so I'm glad that I'm able to really tag team with Hermana Klein to help teach them the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I am starting to say complete prayers in Spanish! I can also adequately greet and dismiss others. Other than that I've been really blessed with the interpretation of tongues, because I have been able to understand a majority of our lessons and meetings. However I feel bad that I can't significantly contribute more to our lessons than broken prayers (getting better!) and occasional stuttered verses. Hermana Klein has been utterly killing it and is one of the most powerhouse missionaries I have ever worked with. She handles the lessons with ease and welcomes and encourages and helps me with input in our lessons and planning and preparing for people. She amazes me.
A huge problem very prevalent in our branch/Spanish work in general: There are so many members- from less active to devoutly faithful- that drink green tea. We think a lot of them are just oblivious or forgot what they have been taught or maybe it's a cultural thing. So a big thing Hermana Klein and I have been focusing our member visits and dinners on is having all the branch members read the For the Strength Pamphlet. It outlines more specifically the word of Wisdom and talks about some of the other things we've noticed problems with in our branch (i.e. piercings & modesty).
To illustrate the problem, another one of the recent converts (who came to the temple with us and I adore) offered a mint to Hermana Klein on Sunday. She accepted and noticed it tasted a little off. When she asked what kind of mint it was, she saw the label and discovered it was a Green Tea mint. 😐 She leapt up and said she had to go to the bathroom and I followed her out, not knowing what just happened. I just thought she really had to go. She ran into bathroom and spit it in the trash and came right back out and I was super confused. Then she went to the drinking fountain and started rinsing out her mouth between telling me what happened. It was so funny. It was so sad. So we got a verde té problem in Buena Ventura.
In the meantime, we go to visit another one of Hermana Klein's recent converts; who was super solid all throughout the lesson process and passed his baptismal interview with flying colors and then on Saturday he decides to hit us with some Book of Mormon doubts and broke our hearts. Hermana Klein was especially flustered, seeing as she taught him and helped him prepare for baptism very thoroughly. At that point of the lesson I kind of only understood half of what was being said- but I understood very clearly when Hermana Klein said "...You made a promise before God that you knew this is true." and I got second degree burns from that righteous fire. So don't mind us, we're just trying to keep all the recent converts afloat the old ship Zion and keep ourselves together in the process.
Hermana Klein and I have both agreed that these past two weeks have been somewhat of a refiners fire, but we have remained steadfast and determined to improve this branch and the work in this area. A lot of growing is happening and we are both grateful. But I also need a t-shirt that says, "Powered by Prayer" because true.
Hasta luego,
-Hermana Olivia Petty 🍹
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| At the temple with recent converts 6.16.17 |
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| Me with my rockstar companion, Hermana Klein 6.18.17 |
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