Baptism of Sofia

November 9, 2009

Familia mia,

Sofia was baptized yesterday!!! It was beautiful and once again reminded me why I am here. Wednesday or Thursday we had a lesson with her family (after eating crepes with manjar, and peach and apricot jam) and when we asked Sofi if she read her assigned chapter in the Book of Mormon she ran upstairs to grab it. When she came back down she had all of the pamphlets for all of the lessons, a copy of the Jesus Christ Ensign, and the For the Strength of Youth booklet that I gave her. She showed us each one individually and that she had read a good part of each. It was incredible. She really gained her testimony from reading the Book of Mormon. She has felt more relaxed after reading and her grades in school have improved. She really is one of the chosen that we search for in the mission. She was already living all of the commandments and now has the help of the church and her friends in Young Women’s. Hermano Ricardo baptized her and he almost cried in the font while performing the baptism. It has been so wonderful to have the support of her parents; they know that this is the true church but need more time to change. The ward has been so supportive of this family, coming with us to lessons, welcoming them to church, and including them in the activities. This Saturday the Young Men are going to climb a hill and asked Ricardo to be their guide because he knows and has hiked all of the hills here. When we visit Chile after my mission he is going to take us on a trip in the mountains. He also knows where to mountain bike, does that make you excited to visit Chile Ben, Matthew and Jonathan?

If there is something that I really detest in the mission, it is when people lie to us. When they don’t want us to come to their house so they make up excuses or send their kids to the door with a lie that they aren’t home. It makes me frustrated; I just want to hear the truth. So I am pretty frank with people and ask them if they really want to listen to us or not. This week we arrived for our appointment with Giovana and her son Francisco answered and said that she was bathing the girls and they were going to leave shortly for downtown Los Andes. Knowing that Francisco wouldn’t lie to me I asked him, “Francisco, does your mom really want to listen to us?” He said, “Hermana why do you think we went to church Sunday if we weren’t interested?” It was great and so Francisco-like. He is a thirty year old in a ten-year-old body. Saturday he gave me a four-leaf clover charm that his “girlfriend” gave him. I put it on my charm necklace and love it. I really want to keep teaching him, but his mom doesn’t want to meet with us anymore. She has seen hope in our message, but doesn’t want to change, it’s sad. We can keep convincing her and keep teaching her, but we can’t change for her.

My studies in Alma 8-9. 8:15 Like Dad said to me before the mission, it doesn’t matter what is happening around us, we have to find our own happiness and that comes by living the commandments.
Compare 8:16-18 with 1 Nephi 3:29-31 Laman and Lemuel saw an angel too, but note the difference between their actions and the action of Alma.
8:31 I have definitely felt the protection of Heavenly Father at least two times here in Los Andes. Heavenly Father put obstacles in the way of visiting a less active member that we found out later only wanted to start a relation with us and he gave Ha Chapman really strong impressions that we should avoid going through the Pucara one night on the way home. I am so grateful that I have someone watching over me.

Thanks for your prayers and letters. You are the best family ever.

Besos,
Hermana Arnold