Hermana Rachael Lutze: Week 14 (Family Psychic Powers)

Well another week down! Can you believe that I have passed my 3 month mark (well less than 2 in the actual field)!? Insane! I am a 3 month old baby missionary! Time is wacky here. It is fast and slow, feels like 9 hours 100 hours or 2 minutes all at the same time! I can't explain it. I have strange mixed feelings. I want it to go faster and slower and have more time, all at the same time?

Another strange thing, all the emails you guys send me talk about things we have learned this week or that I have been thinking about! So strange! Family psychic powers! ;)

Monday

So Monday one week ago, I learned about all the trials that my compañera is going through and the hard decisions she is going to have to make when she goes home. Needless to say she is not that excited about going home right now. Listening to her made me even more grateful for my amazing family! I hope you guys know that we seriously live the most perfect life! A washing machine, dishwasher, clean water, hot or even warm showers, a dryer, comfy beds, warm house without giant spiders, beautiful yard-we are living a comfy life. So don't take it for granted!

Tuesday

We had a capacitacion (training) in the morning which was awesome! The training was on obedience and I am amazed at how interconnected obedience is with faith. Well, how everything is connected. Then we took some pictures at the end. One of them has Elder Kemp flying through the air! It was so funny! I love this Elder. He is always good for a laugh. He knows how to have fun and also be a good obedient missionary (He is our zone leader right now). I will send you the flying pictures. We also had intercambios today and it was my turn to stay in our area and plan everything! Ah! talk about nerve racking! I was so nervous! Hermana Avila came to my area and Hermana Rubina went to Torreon. It was so funny to see the faces of our investigators when I arrived without Hermana Rubina! They all thought she had left because of them. I thought I was going to crash and burn without her. Luckily the Lord heard my prayers and I did really well on my own! We had some amazing, powerful lessons tonight and could feel the spirit so strong!

Wednesday

Still intercambios. It was a good day. I love Hermana Avila! She is a great example and is such a great missionary! Hopefully we can have the opportunity to be companions at some point. She is especially good at contacting. I tried to learn from her and am trying now to contact EVERYONE! It is a little hard with Hermana Rubina because she always runs to our next appointment but that's OK- work in progress. Today we were introduced to an investigator, Arecelia, who is the neighbor of Hermana Dobali from the ward. She accepted to be baptized once she knows more! I am so excited for her and I have high hopes! We also met a menos activo, partial member family. Hopefully we can help them all become members! At the end of the day we went to Torreon to retrieve my companion. It was such a good experience to be the leader for a day. I learned that I am not perfect but I can do this! I can teach with the spirit and help these people without Hermana Rubina.

Thursday

3 Month Birthday! Today we had La Comida with Hermana Zoraya. At the end of the meal we shared a scripture and gave a mini lesson. During the lesson, she cried and shared her hardships. Sometimes we forget that we are not here just for the nonmembers, but also for the members. EVERYONE needs to be strengthened continually. Never look at them and think, "No, they are fine. They have a good testimony." Always look for ways to strengthen our fellow hermanos in the church! Even the prophet has his support system with his counselors and the Quorum of the Twelve. This is also why Visiting Teachers are so important! The visiting teaching here is terrible. No one does it and this is why there are so many menos activos! They need more hermanamiento (fellow shipping)! All the scriptures say that we cannot make it alone. We need Christ and we need to be there so Christ can work through us to help others stay strong and true to the faith.

Friday

In Stake Council we talked about the importance of the ward council. Let me testify of the truth of this. Ward councils are the foundation of everything because without a ward there is no stake and without a stake there is no area and without areas-well, there is no church. Ward councils have a huge responsibility to care for their members and to direct the missionary work. We are here to work and aid, but the ward council must direct and be the energy behind this work. They are the retention system.

Saturday

Capacitacion with Elder Reyes of the Seventy. He gave a really good talk on obedience and faith.

Sunday

We had the baptismal interviews for Haile and Cristal! They are going to be baptized next Saturday! So excited for them! It is a miracle they are being baptized. We've met with Hermana Lourdes and her family to help them solve their problems and have a more united and happy family. Cristal rejected the gospel so many times and now she is getting baptized with her daughter! The Lord really does work in mysterious ways. Tonight we had another Family Home Evening with them, but this time they had to prepare it and they did such a great job! We hope to make this a habit in their home so that can continue to constantly strengthen their family.

Monday

Today, of course, I wake up, look up, and the first thing I see is a giant spider on the ceiling. Of course! Why me!? I need to find a way to get my compañera to kill it for me.;) Today we are going to see Cristo de las Noas! So that will be exciting! I will tell you about it next week.

This week I read a talk from Elder Bednar and he said something very profound. He said we are not in this calling because of what we have done in the past. It is not like we have earned a position. (But we still have to do good things to be ready for these callings.) He said, rather, we are in these callings because of what the Lord knows we CAN DO. He knows what we are capable of and have the capacity to achieve in these callings! So you are all in your callings for a very important reason! Please magnify your callings! Do everything in your power to invite people to Christ, invite them to partake of His gift, to bask in His light, to feel His love, to develop more faith in Him so they can accomplish everything they need to! Everyone has a part to play. It is like soccer. Every player has their part to play and it is essential that they play that part so that we can all obtain our main goal which is to return to our Heavenly Father and receive His full glory! Everyone needs to play their part. If they don't it weakens the team and can even bring others down and keep them from doing their part and giving their best effort.

I know you have heard a lot about keeping the Sabbath Day holy. Let me tell you just how crucial and hard that is here. We have so many great investigators, but because they don´t go to church we have to drop them. There are so many members that are menos activos because they simply don't take the time to go to church. There were 30,000 baptisms last year in Mexico, but church attendance stayed about the same. This should not happen! We must go to church, partake of the sacrament, and feast upon all the words of Christ. Please be strong and help others not only go to church but enjoy it so they will keep coming. If someone is missing from church, go seek them out in love and tell them how much you missed them and how you hope they will come next week. Everyone needs friends and to feel the love of Christ through you. You guys are His hands. He can´t just come down to everyone and bring them to church. That is our job to love and care and have concern for all of our fellow members! Please care for your sheep. Don´t just let them walk to the wolves. Protect them.

Speaking of sheep, the sheep here are very stubborn! They don't want to move and they don't want to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd! So many have forgotten what His voice sounds like and when they do hear it, they often reject it. Ba Humbug! Hopefully we will find some more willing and calm sheep very soon.

Love you all! I hope you have a fabulous week!

Love,

Hermana Lutze