Welcome to the Jungle

What’s going on in the U S of A?!!!

Well this Saturday we will be having the baptisms of a mother and her 9 year old son.  First baptisms here in a whole year!! We are so excited and that is only the beginning.  We told the branch president that she is ready and the work is now progressing again and we are going to need their help in strengthening these new members to keep them strong and active, so the branch has to start working again. We are stoked!!! 

The miracle that I want to share from this week was with our investigator Veronica. Her husband was baptized in Bilbao about 2 months ago but they moved to Erandio (a pueblo here) and we have been teaching her for about a month. But at first they were having serious marriage problems and she said that was the thing stopping her from ultimately getting an answer about baptism. But now she is reading every day and praying and they have come to church as a family the last 2 Sundays. And she says that she feels great about everything and the best part is that their marriage is improving and I see them so much happier now. And now she is going to be baptized in just a few short weeks. I can’t wait to see this family completed!!!! They are from Argentina and in their 30’s, great family. 

Then we have a 9 year old son from a menos activo family. So many miracles!! And the family we have been working with came to church and even brought a friend, I think they are just waiting for the hija to get back from work in 2 weeks and then all 6 will be getting baptized!! And we are going to start teaching their friend. We had 11 in church again; I have never seen this in my mission. 

So life is good here, this Saturday we will find out transfers and honestly nobody is safe ha ha. We have 22 elders and 22 sisters coming in.  Yes that equals 44.  So the whole mission is going to change!! And I doubt they will keep me and my comp together with the success we are seeing, they will probably need him to train, he is such a great missionary. But who knows, only the Lord!!!

Loves!!

Elder Farah 

(P. S. I put welcome to the jungle because I am getting eaten alive out here and a bird flew into our piso the other day and it was crazy trying to get it out....)

Las Arenas is Making a Comeback!!

So we had 10 people in church again (huge miracle) and got over 20 lessons, the branch is finally getting excited again I think! For the first time in over a month the whole presidency and all of our priesthood leaders were there and back from vacations. So they we so stoked to see so many new faces. We had 55 in church, including the 10 investigators and so the members really felt a difference!! 

But the biggest miracle for me had to be this lady that contacted us in the street with her 9 year old son. She stopped us because she figured we were from some kind of church with the way we were dressed. Then we met with her the next day and she said that she just wanted more peace and tranquility in her life and good moral support from good people. I was shocked and I told her that is all we have to offer, and that the gospel of Jesus Christ can bring us this peace. And then her and her 9 year old son came to church yesterday. She can’t wait for us to go see her again this week. We have high hopes for her and I really want to help her have this peace through Jesus Christ and baptism. It was a huge miracle; I have never had that happen to me before. And it came during a time were we had just received bad news from a lot of people and a few fecahs dropped and we were walking home to eat lunch when she stopped us. It was a tender mercy from the Lord for sure!!

We also set another fecha with a lady from Costa Rica yesterday.  So we are looking at 3 apart from our Peruvian family, plus this lady and her son which would make 5. That would be a dream to get this ward these 5 baptisms for the branch that desperately needs them!!! And with our family of 6, the mom and girl just got work internal which means they eat sleep and do everything in work taking care of an old person. They are doing that for a month and the family I don’t think wants to get baptized without all of them. But then we thought, we should talk to the dad and baptize him so that way he can receive the priesthood and baptize his whole family in a few weeks!! So we are going to take that route. Wish us luck!! We are putting people in church, finding, and teaching. Now we need to carry them to the waters of baptism.  

Hope all is well and that everyone is loving school ha ha!!

Elder Farah

Just Chillin' on a Preparation Day!!

Fightin' the War

Hello family and friends!!!

Well this week we did work again, and taught 30 lessons (more than I have ever taught) and found 10 new investigators, so we improved from the last week. But none of it matters until they get in the water!!! We have been trying really hard to get this branch excited again with the investigators who come to church and the work we are doing.  The Lord wants his work done through the members, so we will see what we can do to get them excited.

Our family of six thought the 17th was too soon...but they are still very focused on baptism and we taught the word of wisdom and chastity the last week and they accepted them both so that made us happy. We just need to teach them tithing and then they are ready!! They are so good, they just expressed to us that they don’t feel ready.  So we are going to finish the lessons then just hit them with the spirit and help them understand that they are already ready. I just can’t wait till this happens!!

And apart from that we have 3 other fehcas.  One is a 9 year old boy from a less active family, we just had to light the fire underneath his dad to baptize his child and get back in church.  So the Lord is blessing us lots and we are progressing and moving the work forward, we just started from nothing and don’t have a lot of help so it is a little slower going.  Not to mention that there is this thing called vacations here in Spain where the month of August everyone goes on 3 week vacations, which is normal. So our branch president and the 1st counselor are gone so it is a little rough but in September things will be good. We just need to have everything prepared!!

I can play connect the dots with all the mosquito bites I have on me....and I feel like I am thinning in my hair in the front....thanks to Spain!!! But don’t worry I still love this country with all my heart :) 

Ok I love you all. Somebody eat Cafe Rio for me.

Love,

Elder Farah

Preparation Day in Las Arenas

What a Great Week!!!

So pretty much this week was incredible!!! We saw so many miracles and did work this week. We now have 8 fechas, and had 9 investigators in church, and found 7 new investigators.  And when the little branch saw us come walking in with the family they were shocked and they just kept seeing new faces. We went to pick them up and we were just praying so hard that all 6 of them would come down the steps and out the door. And we even said a mini prayer after we rang the timbre, waiting for them to come out the door. All 6 of them came to church. All 6 of them stayed all three hours. All 6 of them are preparing to be baptized. This is a huge miracle. This work is being hastened all by the hand of the Lord. This family is incredible. 

Everyone kind freaked out and tried to do the heroic thing and just collapse on them, which is good and bad I guess. They were all trying their best, it just all came unexpectedly, and it was pretty funny. But tomorrow we have ward council and I am going to motivate the branch (in a good way) and get them working again. I think seeing this family and all these people in church on Sunday got them excited again for the first time in a while, since the last baptism was in September. But it is just incredible. 

The other fecha is a Spanish man who we found digging through the area book. The only hurdle was he knew a man, who doesn’t want him to do it. But I think he will take the step of faith and get baptized.  The other fecha is a woman who we contacted on a bench and reads everything we give her and is progressing so well. I really could see her as the next relief society president.  She is great!! She just has the question of whether Peter gave the priesthood to another man before he died so we obviously pounded on the restoration and told her to take this question to God. So we are seeing her on Wednesday to see how the prayers went.

We even have more fechas to set this week with more investigators; it is truly incredible what we are seeing. The Lord just blesses you when you get out the door and talk to people and try your best.  In three weeks this place should have lots of baptisms.  Do work son!!!  

So we plan to work even harder this week and keep the ball rolling. Las Arenas is making a comeback!!! I hear school is starting soon, ha ha, what a bummer. Hope the summer was good!!

Love,

Elder Farah