Oraciones de Poder‏ [Prayers of Power]

30 Noviembre 2015

I don’t have much time to write this week, but quick rundown: we had a baptism!!! Woo! Our investigator Nelson got baptized and we are so happy for him! We know that it will be an amazing step for him in his life! He has been searching and searching for a way to make himself happy in this life -- in parties, alcohol, friends -- lots of things, but nothing really filled him, except for when he found the gospel. It took him a lot of time to accept it in his life. There have been MANY elders that have visited him for about a year now. It is amazing that this is his time to accept this change and this Gospel in his life! He was able to find the only thing that could fill that part that was empty inside of him: The Gospel of Jesus Christ!

This week I have been learning more and more about my prayers. The Area Seventy for our area, Elder Godoy, visited our mission and something that really stuck to me was when he asked us if our prayers where powerful or just routine. This is a question that I want to ask all of you: Are your prayers just routine or TRULY powerful? Are you praying like Lehi, Ether, Alma, or Jesus? With all of your faith and heart put into it? When we truly make something of our prayers, it makes a difference. It doesn’t change the will of God at all, but it brings us in line with His will and brings more of His blessings into our lives. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to talk with my Heavenly Father every day in the mission. I can see that my relationship with Him has become so much more real, tangible, and powerful. Prayers make the difference in us, our lives, and for our Heavenly Father!

Love you all! Until next week!

Hermana Mather

Enjoy the Christmas trees for me!

Nelson's baptism

The Work of Salvation

23 Noviembre 2015

This week has been FULL! We were asked to give talks in church, we had one of our investigators tell us that he wants to get baptized, we had to give one of the families that we are teaching to the elders to teach :( , we were in the clinic, and it is getting hotter and hotter here! woooo!

Something amazing happened this week! One of our investigators, Nelson, that has been coming to church for maybe a year now, told us that he wants to be baptized. We were having a lesson with him about faith, repentance and baptism (which are three steps of five ;D) where we asked him if he thinks that being baptized by the proper authority is an important step in our lives. This really made him think. When we asked him if he would be baptized, he said YES! When we were setting a date for the baptism, we started to talk about December and he asked us if he could be baptized before December! So we have a baptism this week!

This week we had the scary and nerve racking opportunity to give talks in church about missionary work. It’s so amazing that in these past years missionary work has been turning into the Work of Salvacion. You are probably thinking: “What is the difference? I thought that they were the same.” The difference is that missionary work isn’t just for missionaries anymore. Salvacion is literally to be saved from physical and spiritual death (spiritual death is the separation we have in our lives from Heavenly Father and His influence). The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ made it possible so that we can be saved from physical death. We have been assigned here on earth to save others from spiritual death. Through faith in Jesus Christ and coming to know the gospel and living its principles, we can be saved from spiritual death. This means that when we bring to pass the Work of Salvation, we are literally rescuing people! Who doesn’t want to save others? There is a quote that I really love that says: “When you have eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts tofeel, you can reach out and rescue others…” This is SO true! We really don’t have to do much. We just have to be looking for the opportunities to love, work, help, hear, feel, and use our talents to bless the lives of others and bring them closer to Christ.

I am so thankful for all of you! In this time of Thanksgiving (even though it doesn’t feel like Thanksgiving; in Bolivia, they don’t know what Thanksgiving is) I have been thinking a lot about all of you and how grateful I am to have you as my family and friends -- supporting me along the way.

Love you all!

Hermana Mather

My compi and me!

We had pizza for a family home evening- but they make their pizza in the microwave... ;D

One of the new families that we are teaching!

Preparing our talks for church...

The Power of Prayer‏

16 Noviembre 2015

This week has been quite full! My companion has been waking up with pain in her stomach for the past few days. We went to the clinic here and they told us that she has an intestinal infection (wow 0.0). They loaded her up with pills to take and we´ve been taking care of her ;D  Then, Hermana Vara came to stay with us for the second half of the week, because she is going home today @.@ AH! SO crazy to think that the mission ends... It doesn’t seem real that it will ever end.... I feel like it will never end in my heart ;D

¿Can I just say that Prayers work!? Throughout all the years that I have been in the church, I feel like little by little I gained a testimony about saying prayers and this week I was able to receive more of a testimony of this principle of the gospel. There are people that we teach that wonder if prayers really do work or if there really is someone out there listening to their prayers. I can say that I know without a doubt that there is a loving Heavenly Father (or in other words god) that listens to our prayers and truly wants to help us in this life. We are physically separated from our Heavenly Father in this life, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t care. He is just like a loving parent, where when their child goes on a trip or leaves the home- they are still aware and care about their child. He wants to hear from us and help us. Sometimes he helps us in ways that we can never expect, but he is present in our lives. I know that we can receive the answers that we need and are searching for. I know that through our prayers- Heavenly father can also give us peace and we can grow in our confidence in him and in his purposes, he can help us to be stronger, better, happier, he can HELP us, he is waiting to help us- sometimes we just have to ask.

Well, I am going to be staying in Villa Graciela for another cambio (another month and a half) for sure! yay! I love this area and my companion! We are progressing and getting better every single day! I just LOVE it! And, dadadaDA: I will be there for Christmas! Wow! What an amazing present, to be able to stay in an area that I love where I can feel the love of the people who are here and where I love the people!

WELLL, that is all for now! I love you all- keep up your head and keep smiling! And, keep up your prayers -- they really do work!

Hermana Mather

My companion´s first experience with pique macho!! YUM!

Which Way Do You Face?‏

9 Noviembre 2015

Its official, my companion and I have been together for a month now! (awe! kids! they grow up so fast!) We are working so hard to become better and better every day. In this whole process of training another missionary, I started to think about why I really am here in the mission. I am here in Bolivia Cochabamba as a disciple of Christ, giving my best effort to help others to come unto him, and enjoy the joy of the gospel that I have had in my life. I testify of the truths that I know. I make mistakes but I learn from them.  I’m not perfect, but I’m getting better and i will keep getting better for the rest of my life :))

This week, we had a zone conference with our Mission President where he was able to talk to us about two things that really hit me.

1) Where do we face? Which way do you face? There is a conference talk by Lynn G Robins that talks about if we are trying to please others or if we are trying to please God. Something that really impressed me that he said while opening his talk is: "Trying to please others before pleasing God is inverting the first and second great commandments." When we know which way we face in our lives- we really know where we are going to go. If you have ever tried to walk in a different direction that you are looking, it is SO hard to get where you want to go!

2) Obedience brings blessings, but exact obedience brings miracles. Who doesn’t want to see miracles in their lives? WE need miracles in our lives and in our missions! So, why not do our part so that the lord can do his?

Weeeellll, that is all that I have time for this week. Thanks for all of your support and love!

LOVE YOU!

Hermana Mather

Focused on the Treasures of Life‏

2 Noviembre 2015

Quick rundown of the week: Tuesday we taught the Relief Society how to make chocolate chip cookies (and now I have members asking me to come to their houses to make them;D hehe) as well as we made a cake for one of our investigators (Yoel) for his birthday since both of his parents weren’t there to do anything for him.

Miracle of the week!... after thinking that Hermana Yuli (the mom of Yoel) wouldn’t get home for another 2 months- she got back 2 days after Yoel´s birthday! Wow! This is a miracle for us because now they will be progressing so much more with her help! This family is so amazing! Hermana Monteza and I can see that they have so much potential and we actually feel like we have more siblings now with all of them!

This week, I wanted to talk about being focused on the things that are truly important in our lives. There are SOOOO many things that are distracting for us in this life and many of the things are good things, but the question is: Are we truly focused on the things that are most important? Are we choosing to fill our time or make the most of it? (Matthew6:21) Where we put our time is where our hearts are. And where our heart is, that's where our treasures are. There are parts of my life where I can look back at my life and honestly say that my heart was not where it should have been or where I wanted to be. BUT there is no time like the present to refine our lives and focus in on what is truly important to us. In the mission, we have to look at ourselves a lot and see if things are working or things aren’t working and why and fix them. There have been times where we have had to refocus on what is truly important to us and I know that it works. When we are focused on the things that are most important in this life and this work, we are truly happy and we have success! We have true treasures instead of replacements of treasures.

Keep up the Smiles,

Hermana Mather

My treasures in this life:; my family, my faith, my testimony, my progress as a person, time with those i love, the opportunity to pray, the friendships and connections that we can make with other people, the church.. and much more, but those are just a few :)

The cake that turned out in Bolivia! Miracle!
And with M&Ms from a package from my mom for a little American jazz ;) Thanks mom!

Birthday parties!

Family history work! They took names to the temple! Woo!

Today we went to Santivañez Bolivia with our ward.

Me and my comp in the little square in the center of Santivañez.

In the square with my compi!