Well, it was a good week here in our sector! Even
though we were a little bit lost ha-ha! We were basically in white wash this
week in our sector since I barely know it, but it went really well. White wash
every once in a while is actually really good for a sector. We have a baptismal
date with Maria Angelica, a little girl of 9 years whose family is very anxious
to reactivate. She will be baptized on May 19th! We are so happy for her, so
please everyone be praying that it works out!! She is super cool! We also
received a bunch of references this week, and we went and contacted every one
of them. Almost every one of them worked out, and others we made an appointment
for this week!! Super exciting!! One day, we went to visit a member family that
have two nonmembers living with them, and the hna says, "oh by the way,
there is a less active family in the next street, that has a daughter that hasn’t
been baptized and they are very receptive. They know they need to go back to
church.” So we asked for the directions to go visit. She told us "proxima
calle, la casa con las tablitas" or next street, the house with the wooden
panels. So we get over there, and literally almost every house had wooden
panels. Crap, what do we do?? So Hna llontop and I literally just picked a
house that felt right and said "hola, familia Sanhueza??" and they’re
like ya!! And were like, "wait what??" It was cool. Also we got there
just as their parents were there visiting, and they are active members in the
church. They have a daughter who is going to send in her papers to serve a mission
and everything! It was so cool, and we told them about how big of a miracle it
was that we got there! The parents said "wow, they literally got here by
the spirit and that means that you guys need to listen to them" ha-ha. But
its true, Heavenly Father inspired us to go visit that hermana, then her to
give us the reference, and then helped us get there and when to go, which by
the way was unplanned!! It is so neat to see the inspiration of the Lord in our
lives, because we often don’t recognize it til afterwards!! We also went to
contact a reference and he wasn’t home, but the son said "but do you want
to talk to me?" and were like "...okay buena..." He ended up
being a young man who has a newborn baby, and he has been feeling really
strongly that he has been far from God, and for the sake of his son, he needs
to find God. When I said the closing prayer, he teared up. By the end of the
prayer he was weeping profoundly, and he told us "you just don’t know how
much it means to me that you have come."
So I wanted to tell you a little bit about my
experience singing in the feria. The feria is like a big farmer’s market. It is
big and loud, full of people yelling and advertising their products. We were
trying to get people to listen to us, and nobody did. The plan had been for me
to be there singing, but then we all got nervous and uncomfortable so we didn’t
do it. But no one was listening. I heard clear as a bell in my head “sister Stanley,
I didn’t give you a pretty voice for nothing. It’s time to use it." So I
got myself ready, said a prayer, and I opened my mouth. It was by far the
scariest performance I’ve ever done. But as I opened my mouth, a familiar
feeling came to me, like when I open my mouth to testify in Spanish. The spirit
fills me and helps me overcome my fear and my faults. And the same happened as I
began to sing. At first not very many people listened, but I said in my heart
that I know that when we sing, we testify, and I knew that my testimony would
get to heart of at least one person, and if I could be a part of finding that
one person, my shame and embarrassment didn’t matter. In the end lots of people
listened to us. A few gave us their numbers. Only one of them lives in our
sector, but I knew that I touched the heart of somebody, and I felt so good
knowing that I did what my Heavenly Father wanted me to do. My faith and my
testimony of music grew so much. As I sang, just a few of my favorite hymns in Spanish,
the spirit filled that little spot in the feria. I ended up singing more than
45 minutes straight.
Okay, I know you probably have questions about
my new comp!! Her name is Hna llontop. She is from Lima, Peru :). She cooks
comida peruana (SUPER RICA (delicious)). She is 21, has a degree in marketing, and
has three sisters. Her dad is twenty years older than her mom, ha-ha! She has
been in Talagante and Peñaflor!! I love her!! She is so fun and funny. We have
a good time and we work hard!! She’s the best!! Today in the morning, we got
almost all of the hnas in the zone (all but one companionship) together and the
two peruanas made comida peruana (Peruvian food). Hna Sandall and I made cake,
the filipinas made brownies. It was fun!! That’s why I wrote so late today
:)
I’ve been studying about the life of Peter in
my personal study. I’ve been realizing that in Peter’s apostleship and journey
in following Christ, he got chastised quite a bit. Christ was hard on him, and
he got it in public. But he ended up being essential for the Christ’s church. I’ve
learned that when Heavenly Father gives us a lot of trials it’s because he
needs a lot from us, so we shouldn’t be ashamed if we fail. We just gotta try
again :). That’s my cheery message for the week!
I love you, please don’t forget about me!
Love Hna Stanley
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