hola familia, everything in sucre is going great the weekly goal of
investigators in san jose california was 2 here in bolivia its 12 and
last week we had 14, we have 6 baptismal dates set. one girl named
scarlet has grown very close to me she said that when we spoke she
felt us lift her burdens with our words and that our hugs that first
meeting we had were healing to her. that was so humbling to hear. you
walk out the door in the morning wondering if you are making a
difference or not and then the lord prompts his children to encourage
you with their words. bolivia is interesting i have only seen two
western unions since ive been here and one was out of order. to use
the bathroom you have to pay and you skwat down and then you fill up a
jug and flush your mess your self, people pee on the streets with no
shame and boobs i think i´ve seen everyones by now no joke people have
no reserves about breast feeding the food made me sick the other day i
was going to the bathroom every 20 min the pres wife was scared and
couldnt understand why i was going through that with no fever or pain.
niether do i but i got over it with a blessing of health and some
treemate tea. also they dont accept debit cards or credit cards and no
one gives reciepts. to be honest i miss gringo food. and the hat i had
on was a school project the lurdes thought i would look pretty
wearing. but different parts of bolivia they wear different hats.
people here are facinated by my curly hair, like im doing a door
aproach and after 5 min of talking they interupt me and ask if my hair
is naturally that way its funny. also if i ask the price of something
my comp tells me no they gave you that price bc they know you are from
the usa let me ask prices. and there is an elder in the zone who says
hi im elder claybaugh and im from the usa and people let him in
because of that. ha ha people are have lots of time on there hands
and chores so we get to talk to alot of people and they all welcome
prayers and lessons of christ. there have only been a few of people
who were rude. there was a great experience the other day i called
this investigator named griciela and her son derek to confirm the
appointment. derek was out because he went to do his first comunion
they are very catholic and graciela has a young son that has down
syndrome and we play all the time well this time when i called she
broke up with us told us that she no longer wanted us to come over so
of course i asked her if she read the book of mormon the answer of
course was no i asked her if she prayed like we showed her again her
answer was no. when people dont do those things they break up with
us... but here is the amazing part. she said í want to return your
bible back (i dont know how many times we went over what the book of
mormon was she still didnt get it bc she didnt read it or pray) so i
said sure well go over to pick it up. she said okay. as we walked over
i prayed like ammon did pleading with the lord to save my sister and
all the walk over was in ernest prayer and i begged to have the right
words placed in my mouth as we knocked i asked it in the name of
jesus christ. when graciela opened the door the first thing she said
was well could i buy the bible from you? and i said actually graciela
its not our bible and you would know that its simly another testament
of christ if you had read it, she seemed emarrased and then i said
plus it was an excuse just to come and see you because the book is
yours. i dont know all that i said but before i knew it she allowed us
to come in and we talked more and testified of the books and the
savior and told her maybe the time wasnt now but soon she would come
to know the trithfulness of the book and his restored gospel and she
even prayed before we left. it was amazing to see the lord work on the
heart of his daughter and his servent. and even though we droped her
on her request i left with inmense peace knowing that she would
recieve the gospel soon. jana please send me the address of rogelio
and mabel griselda i need to write them tell them i love them and pray
for them every day, and who did you drop janna? i can still have you
jumped ha ha no actually im just curious. chris i love you baby work
hard mete tu hoz con toda tu fuerza. i will write everyone today and
it should get there in 10 days so be patient its easier for me to read
your mail and then write one email back in english.
A few hours later we received the following from Mr. Chris.
hola padres, como esta?
This week we´ve been working with a familly. Familia Flores. Ellos son... I mean they´re chosen.
Elogidos, se llama. There is a grandma who is named Isabel. Her son and his family. Orlando.
Noemi, his wife. Their kids Christian and Emily. So we contacted Isabel 2 or 3 weeks ago in the
street and she was receptive to our message. We passed by a couple of time but we never entered
into her house because there was never an hombre. However, last week on Sunday, we passed by
her house because one of our appointments fell through. We left with some new converts, family
who has two kids who want to serve missions but it´s hard to get them out of the house. The parents,
however are really, really ready to help. Especially the dad. Anyway, we went with the dad, his oldest
son Edwin and his girlfriend to visit this family. They received us. Herman Noemi was sick with
a migrane headache. We offered to give her a blessing after we explained the scripture in James
about sending the elders to bless those who are sick or afflicted. So we gave her a blessing, and the
spirit was really, really strong in this house. I honestly can´t remember what happened step by step
but Isabel told us that the night before she had a dream about us. In that dream, we were leaving her
and not waiting, that we had sometihng she needed but we weren´t waiting for her. And we left her in
her dream. But we taught abou the Restoration a little bit and then left two pages of a pamphlet to read.
The next time they kept their commitments to read. And this time we taught all of the restoration, asked
them to read the part in the book of mormon where christ comes. Before we left they asked us to give two
more blessings. We did and the spirit filled this house like water in a balloon. It was a blessing to be there.
All of them commited to come to Church and only the grandma came. But I only have two minutes so let me
smmarize a bit. She came and she was asking questions like,¨So, what do WE believe in... that Jose Smith
was a prophet?" like it was already HER church. Haha. Anyway, we taught last night and she read her part
that we had left a few nights before. Hermana Isabel was reading Saturday night in the Book of Mormon. HEr son had just left. He has problems with gangs, drinking and just got in a knife fight a few days ago. he also has some pretty serious cuts with stitches. But he had just left her house this night. She was reading, put the book down and began to pray to the father with her hand placed on the book,"Father, I want to know if this book is true return to me my son to where we went. Ten minutes later, she hears a knock on the door... It was her son.
Anyway, miracles are happening and it´s wonderful to be in the bosom of the lord´s work. I love you all. I´m grateful for this work and for your support. Isabel, te amo babysweet. I´ll got all of your letters. I love you so much and you look more beautiful and more happy than I hve ever seen you. I promise to live the life that will make us happy like we could only together and in the work of the lord. Tambien te necesito sus direciónes de Bolivia por favor. Also, in this package would you send me like 1 or 2 pounds of sea salt, pleace. They have bad salt here. Love you all. -Chris
Not to long after I read his letter I got a phone call on my cell phone or I should say that I missed it. Well I didn't recognize the number so I hurried and called it back. The lady on the other end of the phone said this is Diane Christensen and our sons are companions in Honduras. I just got an email and they told me to call you. It was a fun visit to talk about the "boys". We are going to meet sometime for dinner. She also said give me your email I have some pictures to share. So here is what she shared with me. It made my day!!!
Amazing Children...all of them in these pictures!!! I miss mine as I am sure the other mothers of those children miss theirs! Pray for them, for their continued miracles, their health, and safe return.
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