Soooo, this week was full of ups and downs, but everything worked out the way it was supposed to. We had our hopes smashed a couple of times, but it definitely humbled us.
One Tuesday, we were visiting in a part of our area that we hardly ever go to, because our dear friend and most constant investigator, Marla, had her baby! Welcome to the world, little Oliver! On our way to visit her, we saw the cutest,tiniest little puppy! To my great delight he started to follow us, for several blocks! We named him Joe, because it just suited him and because it made me think of the song, "Where did you come from? Where do you go? Where do you come from Cotton Eye Joe?" He was just wandering around lost, and nobody know whose dog he was. So he followed us around for a bit, until we were finally just like, "Well, we can´t keep a dog. Let´s go find some niños." The first family we found had SIX KIDS. All under the age of 11. We asked them if they wanted a puppy, and of course they said SIIIIII!!! And just started loving him. But we got super excited because the mom said they assisted the Mormon church when the lived in Louisiana!!! We were so pumped and just started counting baptisms. There are four kids that are above 8 years old, and the parents. We couldn´t wait to be able to teach them, and we were so grateful that the Lord guided us to this family with a little lost puppy.
BUT the sad news is the dad is actually very anti mormon and even though the kids all want to be baptized, he´s not going to let them. Unfortunately there isn´t much we can do without the parents consent, so we´re just going to wait and hope that they can learn about the gospel in the future. But it sure was fun to have a puppy as a companion. I know that everthing happens for a reason and that God is very aware of this family.
The other crazy twist was we just weren´t sure if Rafael was ready to be baptized or not. I have never had an investigator that made me feel so conflicted inside. One minute it was, YES, he´s ready! And the next was, he can´t possibly be ready. He´s not humble, and he hasn´t gone to church. He was a special case that our mission presidente authorized because he´s in the military and can´t assist on sundays. So we were fasting, praying, seeking revelation, aaaand we decided to drop him. But then in a crazy turn of events we were planning to have his baptism yesterday, but the Bishop called it off last minute for some very valid reasons. ANYWAY. What I learned from this is sometimes God doesn´t give us a clear answer of "yes, or no." Sometimes he lets us take our own actions. We did everything we could so that Rafael could get baptized in this transfer. And we will get baptized, just in a few weeks when he´s more prepared. I learned that if we do everything we can, and the answer still is "no," then we can accept that as the will of the Lord.
The super sweet thing is that Rafael was very concerned that Root Beer was against the word of wisdom. When he learned that it wasn´t, he bought us root beer to celebrate. It was too good :)
In other events, I ate a chicken foot. And...we feel like the spirit of thanksgiving has descended upon us because we saw a giant turkey.
We also got flu shots, so we are well immunated against the "cold front" that´s coming.
I can´t believe that Hermana Merrick is finishing up her training. She´s amazing and I feel so lucky to have been her trainer. I hope that she has learned a lot in our time together, because I sure have!
This next week were are going to travel to Playa del Carmen to hear from a Seventy! Elder Pino is going to talk to the whole mission and it´s gonna be amaaaazing!
Oh, and the other good news is that Araceli is on track for her baptism this Saturday!! She is so sweet, very spunky, and she loved learning about the commandments. When she learned that we shouldn´t give false witness against our neigbors, she commited to stop gossiping. I have had the privilege to have a lot of "converniños". Or a lot of my converts are kids. :) Actually, all of them up to this point. But I think it´s because kids are just so willing to change, to live the gospel, and to follow the Savior. Aracely is so great and I´m so excited for her!!
Thanks for all of your great support, love, and prayers. I´m grateful for every single one of you, because in some way or another you have helped me get to this point. I´m grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ. I´m grateful for the good people of Chetumal, a sweet companion, a loving Heavenly Father who answers our prayers in the best possible way. And I´m grateful that I can write and hear from you guys every week. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!! Enjoy it, because it doesn´t exist here. We´ve got our own version planned, but it won´t be the same.
Love you all!
Hermana Schwartz
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