Sorry I didn't write last week. We went to Centro and once we started buying, we just couldn't stop! ;) So many great things to buy in Centro. Let's just say that I now have a purse that has a saddle on top and it is darling! Let me know family if there is anything special that you want from Mexico! They literally have everything from leather to T-shirts to ponchos, to chess sets, etc! I'm still looking for Christmas stuff mom, but it's still a little early and hard to find something that isn't Catholic with the Virgen Guadalupe.
Well, I really can't remember what has happened these two weeks-lots of stuff and funny stories that I now can't remember. I am still in Estacion working with Hermana Reyes. And let's just say that it has rained here......a lot!! Almost every day in the evening it has rained! And not like "chispe chispe"(drizzling). I'm talking about full on thunder and lightning storms with so much rain that the streets become rivers and we are soaking wet no matter what we do! It is awesome!! We get so wet! But then I remember that I only have 3 pairs of shoes. so I have to trade off wearing them so they have time to dry. We are wet basically every day.
We have 2 Bautismal dates for August!! Woohoo! Jorge (who is my escogido investigador de oro) and Virginia (who is my abuelita investigadora de oro). She has 82 years and wants to be baptized!! Yay! Jorge is amazing! He has had problems with everything in the Word of Wisdom. Now we are just fighting with his smoking addiction that he's had since he was 12. But we are winning the battle!! Also, he is reading the Book of Mormon and he can really feel the power in it! He has had the book for about a month and is now in Alma 62! He is going to read the entire Book of Mormon before he is even baptized! Oro Oro Oro Oro Oro Oro! And Virginia is so sweet! She has never been baptized and wants to be baptized so she can enter into God's kingdom. She is very receptive. She wants to do everything right. It was so cute the other day. We explained the Word of Wisdom and she told us "I knew it was bad I just never had anyone to explain to me why. But now I know and I'm not going to drink anymore coffee and I'm not going to let my husband drink it either!" She is so ready to be Mormon. We are also working with 2 other people for baptisms in September! In the mission, you really have to plan ahead since our investigators must attend church five times before they can be baptized! The baptizing process is slow here.
I had the craziest lesson of my entire mission the other day! We had a man contact us that wanted to know more about the Book of Mormon. Of course we were excited!! Investigador de oro! We arrived and started to read the introduction......lo normal. However, he began to ask questions about everything! We got to the second paragraph where it talks about the Jaredites and Lamanites and Nephites! And we literally talked about the Jaredites for an hour!! I have never had a person ask about the Jaredites. He wanted to know if we had proof of their existence. How did we know, where is the science, how did they arrive, what route did they take, what were they like physically and what were their characteristics!! Everything!! No me diga! This man wanted to know details that I think we don't even have!! We literally touched every topic of the gospel (turns out he was reading "Mormones al Descubierto" which is a book about Mormons that contains a tiny drop of truth and a whole bucketful of lies. We talked about the restoration, the plan of salvation, spirit world, reinos de gloria, fe, the Word of Wisdom, and the family. He even wanted to know about baptisms for the dead!! No me diga! We didn't explain everything because that would be impossible, but we ended up giving him every pamphlet that we have!! My companion told him "Now please, STOP reading that other book of lies!" Hopefully we can clarify everything and he can be baptized. It also turns out that he is a lawyer. Once we knew that everything made so much more sense as to why he wanted so much evidence as to the existence of Jaredites. This lesson was genial, fun experience ;)
Well, now for the spiritual side of things, I have learned this week just how important our example is to the rest of the world and also how gossip can so easily destroy us. We were teaching a family that had two people with potential to be baptized. However, the mother began listening to her friend (who isn't Mormon) and the gossip she had about Mormons. Apparently, as missionaries, we enter into the homes of families and steal their husbands! Muahahaha! Especially las Guerritas! That is what her friend told her and I'm sure other things as well. It has totally destroyed our relationship with them. Now they don't want us to teach them and they treat us coldly. Her daughter wants to continue to learn but the mom has forbidden it. All for a tiny rumor that is not in the least true! (Actually I don't know why it's a problem if we steal her husband because she doesn't even like her husband, but......oh well. You'd think she'd be even happier to see us ;) ) But really, I can see time and time again how it destroys our lives. We CANNOT permit gossip to travel in the church about members, leaders or families. Nada! It destroys lives. Even if the gossip is true, it inhibits these people from changing. It blocks their path of repentance. We have to uplift and make it so that every word that leaves our lips edifies and uplifts. We must be lifting the downtrodden instead of putting them down farther. I have had investigators who know Mormons and now don't want to be Mormons. They see us with our short skirts and immodest clothes, our faces caked with make-up, someone says bad words - it can be anything. The fact is that the people watch the Mormons more than any other religious group! There is a light about us, but that light can bring to light the good we do or the bad we do. As members we have taken upon ourselves the name of Christ, we have promised to be a witness at all times, in all things and in all places, but do we actually do it? We have to learn to be witnesses! We have to learn to be examples for the world at all times, in all things, and in all places! We can't be Sunday Mormons. We can't be Mormons only when it suits us. We can't be critical or judgmental Mormons that have years in the church. We have to be true disciples of Christ. We are never going to be perfect, but we can be better everyday. We need to learn to live this lifestyle because it is the lifestyle of Christ and of the Celestial Kingdom. I invite you all to look at your lives and see where you are lacking, see what you are doing wrong and how you are not representing Jesus Christ in your life, How you can be better? Set goals, make plans and Just Do It. We must change so that one day when we are before the judgement seat we can say that we really were His representatives here on earth. That we are witnesses at all times, in all things, and in all places.
Well, I love you all and I have to go! I'm going to the Viejo Oeste!
Adios!!
Hermana Lutze
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