The greatest part about this week was the baptism of L- on Saturday and his confirmation on Sunday. It was a crazy day, and when we went to check on the font two hours before the baptism was supposed to start, it was only 2 feet full! So we had to start filling it with buckets since the hose was so slow. But, we could only get it about halfway full before the baptism was supposed to start. So L- and Elder F- had to kneel so he could get baptized. That made L- a little bit nervous because of his arthritis, and they had to do it twice, but it turned out well. Two of his daughters came to the baptism, and one of them cried the whole time. (We´re getting them next! :) His confirmation was super neat, Elder F- said a lot of really cool things about how he would help his family come into the church, how he would prepare for the priesthood, and about the influence he would be in Lobos! It was such an amazing experience to be a part of, and to get to teach him and watch his progress! We are excited to continue working with him to help him prepare for the priesthood and to go to the temple soon to do the work for his deceased family!
Today is 25 de Mayo, which is Argentina´s independence day. Which is a little bit inconvenient, since that means that lots of stores and the bank and stuff are closed. But the great thing is that the Branch is having an activity--which we can attend since it is pday! And they are going to make tortas fritas and pasteles--yuumm!! Also, the men built a ping pong table, and there is going to be a tornament. We´ll see if we have any skill at all in that--hahaha.
C- accepted a fecha bautismal! She is an amazing lady from the Dominican Republic. She is familiar with the church--she said there are a ton of chapels in the DR. And every time she references the church she uses its full name. So that´s cool. She also has the most gorgeous accent ever!! Since she´s black and she speaks Spanish! She loves God and Jesus with all her heart, loves the Bible, and has never been baptized! (That´s always a plus!) She had some fears about reading the Book of Mormon, but we tried to help her out with that and left Moroni 10:3-5 for her to read. She read quite a bit more and loved it since it says that God exists and talked about faith. When we came back for our next visit she said that she believes it! Woot! And so we talked to her about faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost. And she accepted right away when we invited her to be baptized! We have a few desafios to get over--like her marido thats atheist. But she has such a strong faith, and I know that she´ll make a huge contribution to the church--she already invites everyone in the house to listen, pray, go to the church or whatever activity we invite them to.
This week has been the best week lesson-wise out of the whole transfer. It´s been amazing to see this transfer how much we are able to do with God´s help, even when it seems like we can´t--when we are traveling a ton, sick, it rains, or there is cualquier otra obstaculo. Somehow it seems to me that every time that we have these obstacles we work even harder, pray harder, and actually accomplish more than we would have otherwise--even if we have less time because of them. I was reading in 3 Nefi today when Christ comes to the Americas and prays for his discipulos. I realized that really, everything comes down to our faith. Christ preached directly an d clearly in a short period of time to the Nephites because of their great faith--something that it took the Jews three years and a million parables to be taught. I love that He thanks His father for purifying the discipulos because of their faith. Presidente Robertson has been talking to us a lot recently about faith, the importance of growing it, and all of the amazing things we will be able to see, in the mission and in life, if only we exercise a little bit of faith. I know that only through our faith can God work all of the amazing miracles that he wants to.
WEEKLY CHALLENGE: Do something to grow your faith! Pray in faith to receive an answer, and pay attention to when and how the answer comes. Study the teachings of Jesus Christ about faith. Note any patterns or repetitions that you can find. Discuss with your family and friends what you have learned, what you can do to grow your faith, and what you are going to do because of this!
I love you all! Keep up the great missionary work. I know that this really is the work of salvation!
Con Mucho Amor, Hermana Durfee<3
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