Story one: So I am not sure if you guys remember (or if I've told you about) a family we are teaching with a grandson by the name of Alexis. Well now you know. So anyways, this family was the first family that Elder Flores and I found here in Sotavento about four months ago. We are teaching them for these four months, but they need to get a divorce from their previous marriages and get remarried in order to be baptized. So we pass by their house Tuesday to talk with them, and then at the end of the lesson Hermana Sabina (the Grandma), asks us if we can take a look at Alexis' neck. We aren't doctors, but we say, 'sure. Why?' She shows us his neck and there is a lump the size of like a mandarine on his neck that appeared out of nowhere. So we looked at it and a thought came into my head that said, 'That's cancer'. So I say, 'I'm not a doctor hermana, but I believe that's a tumor and cancer'. She tells me that his sister had the same thing when she was a baby and it was a tumor that was cancerous. But she said we will look at it tomorrow and see how it is. So anyways we pass by the next day and the day after and Alexis isn't there. We ask her where he is at and he is at his mom's house because he needs to go to the doctor. We asked her why and she told us that the lump had grown to the size of an orange on his neck. And so he was diagnosed with cancer on his neck by the doctor the next day and they are going to do surgery today or tomorrow. I believe he will be fine in the long run, but who knows. But I now know that the thought that I had wasn't my thoughts, it was definitely another person's thoughts (if you know what I mean).
Story two: So we are here teaching a family and the daughter is wanting to be baptized, but her parents don't want to do the things necessary to be baptized. However, the daughter is doing everything possible to be baptized. So anyways our leaders were being jerks and saying we aren't going to baptize her because she is going to be inactive after her baptism, and they are just not being very kind or supportive. So anyways, we were on divisions with the leaders and I planned a visit with this family and with their daughter just to show them. I wasn't even planning on talking about her baptism, but my leader said, 'Well Ana, we aren't going to baptize you without your parents being baptized'. Right as he finished the sentence she says, 'Oh, so I cant be baptized due to the sins of my parents? Well that's not fair, and I'm not going to listen to that. I'm going to be baptized. And I want to be baptized this Thursday so my parents can see my example'. Then this other elder tries to say something about it and she cuts him off and says, 'Well when are we going to talk and have my interview? hahaha I laughed so hard, and this elder said, 'Well, ummm, right now we can have the interview'. They then talked and when we left the house we were talking and he apologized for all of the bad, rude, and disrespectful comments that he had made. He said the interview that he had with her was one of the most powerful interviews that he has had, and he has no doubt that she will always be active and will serve a mission.
We are having even more problems with the bishop and everyone in the Ward Council. They were talking about why she couldn't be baptized and why she was going to be inactive and just a bunch of other rude things that I was ticked off about. I could just feel my face turn red and my ears doing the weird thing they do when I get mad. So I just cut everyone off and said "Well you guys can be a unkind and have little faith in people, or you can change your attitude. She is going to be baptized whether you want her to or not. Stop saying its a baptism for the ward, or for the YW. Its not YOUR baptism, nor is it OUR baptism. It is Anna's baptism and the Lord;s baptism. Its not yours and you do not have anything to do with the decision. Nor do we. It is her decision. Another thing-- if you guys have this mentality that she is going to be inactive then she is going to be inactive. Or you can change your mind (which is the Lord's mind), and can say she is going to be active for this reason and this reason because we are going to work with her." And then I went on the share that, 'Oh yeah--my mom was baptized when she had 8 years, and oh yeah--she's active in the church and has nine kids that are all active. 3 have served missions, 5 of them are sealed in the temple, and all of her grand kids are active as well. Oh and her mom and dad and siblings never went to church and were against the church. So please tell me what's the difference between these two people?' Everyone just got quiet and didn't say anything else on the subject. So we said, 'She has decided to be baptized this Thursday. We hope you attend'. Then we said, 'I hope you understood everything. That's all have on the agenda. Nos vemos Thursday.' And we walked out.
So this week I have learned a lot. I learned that the Spirit can turn you into a doctor for a brief moment if God needs you to be a doctor. Also--'it' is not about you. The mission really has nothing to do with you, or with anyone else. The only person the mission is about is the person you are teaching, and the next visit the mission is about that person. You can't make a difference if you try to generalize the people, the area, or the mission. Every visit has to be different because every person is different. Also you need to focus on one person at a time. You can't be sitting in a visit thinking of another person--you have to be sitting in the lesson thinking of the person you are teaching and only that person. We can use this technique every day of our life with every person. If we do it then we will see that our relationships will take a new form. They will grow and grow until the are unbreakable.
That's all I got for today.
"Church is true. Go be awesome" (Anne Bagley)
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