Baptism and the Importance of Christ's Atonement

28 Marzo 2016

Hey Everyone! Another new week from the Tip top of Potosi!

This week we had a baptism! Estefani is an amazing daughter of God that took that important decision of changing her life and truly put her life in the hand of God by making a promise with Him. THAT is baptism -- a promise with Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ to trust and confide in them and always remember Him -- a promise to continue on faithful and ,true until the end. Estefani has been through so many challenges and trials in her life and especially when she decided that she would be baptized, but she has recognized that her life is so much fuller and happier when she is following the gospel even if she does have problems and hard times! She has put her will in the Hands of God and I know that she will receive so many blessings from it!

EASTER!  I hope that you all enjoyed your Easter! I just absolutely love this time of year! It is amazing to me to remember Christ. Every day is an amazing day to remember Christ!

Here are some GREAT quotes that I love about the atonement:

• “There is no greater expression of love than the heroic atonement performed by the Son of God.” –Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
• “The irony of the Atonement is that it is infinite and eternal, yet it is applied individually, one person at a time.” –Elder M.Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
• “… if … you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!” --D&C 18:15 ; )

The Atonement is SO important in our lives! It is the only thing that opens the door for us so that we can return to the presence of our Heavenly Father and live with Him again, enjoying true and everlasting joy with Him and all of our family. I know that we are not perfect in our lives. We are never perfect, but we have a loving Heavenly Father and older Brother who said that they would help us and save us so that we could be an eternal family again. I am so grateful for my Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ who loves me and who gave His all for me and all of us. The best way that we can show our appreciation for this gift is by using it. Use the Atonement! It changes lives, attitudes and truly helps us to become more heavenly in this life -- more like Christ himself.

Love you all! Have a great week!

Hermana Mather

Estefani´s Bapstism

A wonderful picture of Potosi!
It is amazing here!

hehe!
This dog was just at the top oft his wall barking at everyone who walked by :D

There was a GLOWING CLOUD! Supercool!

We had a mini-MTC (Missionary Training Center) with the youth in our ward!
It was super cool and super special.

Semana Santa and The Love of Christ‏

21 Marzo 2016

This is the week leading up to Easter which everyone here calls Semana Santa or Holy week. They have A LOT of traditions here in Potosi’ for Semana Santa like taking a bunch of silver plates and bowls and hanging them up in a line outside of their house. Or, where everyone dresses up as people from the time of Christ and one person carrying a cross just like Jesus Christ. And so much more, but I just have to say that it has made me think a lot about the things that we do at the time of Easter.

I love this time of Easter where we have more time to think about Christ. It is an amazing thing to know that we all have an older Brother who loved us so much that He suffered and died and now He LIVES for us! In this world, we are subjected to so much heart break and hard days, things that we can’t control- sickness... so many things that hurt so much more on the inside than the outside. BUT, God didn’t put us here on this earth just to suffer.  That is why His amazing loving plan of happiness gave us a Savior that we can turn to in all situations in our lives; one who can help us and love us how we are. He saved us from sin and death and so much more. He can succor us, love us, help us, lift us up and keep us going, especially when the going gets rough. I am so grateful for the love of Christ and His sacrifice for me. I know that He is my Savior and my Redeemer and that through Him I can become a better person--someday perfect :D I know that He now lives and this is such a message of hope and faith that we can look to Him--risen and glorified--as our Savior, Lord, and Redeemer!

This coming week we are looking forward to a BAPTISM so you will look forward to pictures next week!

Love you all!

Hermana Mather

Here we are in Villa Victoria!

This is the house of one of our investigators that we are teaching!
Her name is Maxima and she is a little Cholita.
She understands more Chequa than Spanish but we make it work :D

 

Here is a drunk person in our area
(there are quite a few because we have the Potosi' brewery in our area),
but we thought that it was very skilled sleeping.

Masterpiece of Life

14 Marzo 2016

This week has been quite an adventure.... Honestly, to start, we were sick for a few days this week... One morning we both woke up just beat where my compi just hurt all over and I had a headache but the next day everything got worse! I woke up throwing up and my compi helped me out to clean it all up and then we slept and slept and slept until we felt a little better to just go to 2 appointments that we had.  One canceled and the other we were helping out Tania massaging her legs that are full of arthritis so that she could sleep. ;D  It was quite the experience this week ;d but I have learned a lot!

I have learned more patience in my afflictions (Doctrine and Covenants 121) and that this life isn’t perfect but it wasn’t made to be! This life is full of opposites: good and bad, happiness and sadness, sickness and health, love and hate, ups and downs -- it was meant to be that way. We NEED an opposition in all things (2 Nefi 2:11-12). I feel like the bad things that we pass through help us to better appreciate the good. It’s like a painting: if it was all full of the color red it wouldn’t be as good as a painting that is full of all kinds of colors. The blues help us to appreciate the reds; the cold colors to appreciate the warm colors. In our lives, I feel like we just have to appreciate LIFE in all moments that we have and not just focus on the blues or just focus on the reds, but focus on the amazing masterpiece that our Heavenly Father makes of our lives.

Well, these are my thoughts for this week ;D. I love you all and hope that you can see the amazing masterpiece that your life is!

Love,

Hermana Mather

A beautiful sunset in our area that lifted our spirits when we were sick.

This is a traditional tinku dress that Sister Benigna let us use!

Today we went to play volleyabll as a zone in Potosi'
and the sisters went to eat pique macho afterwards! Yummm

Rollercoaster Ride

7 Marzo 2016

For this week we have been working SUPER hard (I feel like I am saying that in every email that I send...) and there have been a lot of ups and downs.

We have been teaching an amazing beautiful family (the family Pimentel) for a little more than a month now and we really thought that they were progressing and we had a lot of hope for them. But this week we honestly felt like our hearts were broken. We had a lesson with the mom and her daughter that just started out feeling weird... in short they ended up telling us that they didn't believe in what we were teaching because they spoke to their local preacher and tried arguing with us over the gospel and the Bible... It was heartbreaking that that we could see such potential in them and we have so much love for them and they are asking other people about what they should believe instead of God.

But on the happy end, Katia and her family are doing amazing! We see her face lighting up with happiness and with the light of Christ! It is amazing the miracles that the Lord can work in our hearts! We are so happy for her!

Also, we have been teaching Daniela. SHE IS AMAZING! Every single lesson she is intent and soaking up the knowledge of the gospel. She has done a lot of things in her life she regrets but she wants to change and be better and she is doing it! She is changing through the atonement and through inviting Christ more into her life!

We also got to meet Tania. OH! I love Tania! She is so amazing and sweet! She is a little old lady who has severe arthritis in all of her body.  She has a hard time moving around and doing a lot of things, but she has a glow. Honestly, if you could just meet her you could see it. Her smile makes you want to smile and her every word is just coated with love. She has told us that she needed the knowledge that Heavenly Father has a plan for her in this life and for after this life as well. This knowledge has put her more at peace with the difficulties and heartbreaks that she has here in this life and helps her to know how to press on with Faith in Christ.

So there is a summary about just a few of the amazing people that we are teaching and in that spirit this Sunday was Fast and Testimony Meeting. I would like to share my testimony with every single one of you ;D

I LOVE this gospel. It has made a difference in my life and will continue to make a difference in my life into the eternities. In coming on my mission, I was given an opportunity to come closer to my Savior Jesus Christ through every hardship, through every slammed door, through every person that we have the blessing to teach, through the love that I have for them, through teaching HIS gospel to everyone that I can I have come to know Him as I never have before. I KNOW that He lived, laid down His life for us and took up His life again for us and that through Him we can return to the presence of Him and our loving Heavenly Father. I know that He knows how I feel in every single situation and that He wants the best for me and every single one of Heavenly Father's children. I KNOW that is gospel is true with every single fiber of my being and I know that is blesses families, individuals and lives. I know that Joseph Smith was a chosen prophet of God because I asked God Himself through prayer and I received an answer, not because anyone else told me. I know that God loves us--every single one of us--and has a plan for us to gain experience, grow and live to fulfill our full potential, and will return to live with Him some day. And I share these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love,

Hermana Mather

We went to Betanzos about an hour away from Potosi as a zone.
This is our form of transportation ;D Fun right?

We went to a lake that is there to have a picnic! So fun!