March 12, 2016

Hey everyone,

Well nothing to crazy has happened this week. Just getting into the swing of things again with the new comp. I guess I forgot to explain that I talk in my sleep because apparently when she went up to go to the bathroom I sat up in bed and said "okay, tell me what happened." haha oh man. She got a good kick out of it.

Well this week we've been hitting the ground running contacting and helping establish things a bit more here before I leave. We have 3 baptisms set up here before I leave!! And I have one baptism in my old area. Unfortunately I won't be able to go to it because it's the same day as one of the baptisms we've set up.

Anyway it's been really interesting seeing people changing over these past weeks. For some of our investigators, even the members it's been anything but easy. I got to read a talk by one of the apostles and found this lovely quote that says, "Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes to rebuild that house. What on earth is he up to? The explanation is he is building quite a different house than what you had planned." As missionaries we set goals, and invite people to act EVERY SINGLE DAY. It's almost like mini new years eve goals haha mostly in the way that people accept the challenge and never do them. But, that's because sometimes we get caught up being comfortable. We like where we are and we are happy with the "cottage" of a house that we've built in our lives. BUT one thing very important is we need to give up OUR idea of who we want to be and submit to the will of the Father. That is when he will turn our living house into a mansion, a perfect temple of the Lord. Sounds really nice, but it's not easy, there's walls that have to be demolished, things taken out, things put in, but as we accept these promptings to change, he can make us more glorious, and more perfect than we could ever be.

LOVE YOU ALL

Hermana Van Woerkom

WOW

I just met my murderer! Just like Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Carribbean movie I´ve been given the black mark! Last transfer what happened with the time! Well my companion is my 2nd step daughter! Her name is Hermana Robinson from Jamaica. Yes mom and dad, when I heard her name I automatically thought of the song by Simon and Garfunkel ¨here´s to you misses Robinson¨haha. Anyway things are going to be good here, I´m still kicking!

Well I´m going to write you a looonnnggg letter to compensate for last week! My B sorry for that! Okay funny stories! So Monday night, I slept talked to my companion! I like apparently sat up really quick and said in Spanish, ¨Hey I think someones in the house!¨ Definitely freaked out my companion to say the least! haha wow so embarrassing! Anyway she couldn´t sleep the rest of the night and I slept, like a rock! haha. 

Okay as for area wise we have had to change Olga´s baptismal date for the end of this month due to the Canal breaking! We are O U T of water here! We get water trucked in to us each week. They say that the canal will be fixed in 2 months. Lets hope sooner than later. Anyway that´s a no go for the baptism because we have no water to fill up the font. She is also having some problems with her family she needs to take care of and feels stressed and unprepared. So we are still working with her!

We are also working with some less actives as well! Before I tell you about them I have to tell you an interesting story I´ve learned for the week. So we went to a recient converts house and shared a message with her. During the lesson there was an empty box of what I thought was trash, because there is just a lot of trash here in this area. Anyway after the closing prayer Geresly began to say she didn´t know what to do and pointed to the box. When I peaked inside I found the tiniest little bird. It was the cutest thing and it fell out of the palm tree and they can´t stick it back up because it´s too high. So they are trying to take care of it. Any way fast forward to the next day. We had a reference of a lady who is less active. So we were trying to find her house, found it, and when she came out she did a double play and then invited us in. She was so surprised to see us! When we talked about the people there and those we reactivated and come back to church she was so surprised and said, wow I guess everyone is back to church. The only one that is lost is me. AH! So we shared with her that she isn´t lost and that we miss her and want her to come back. So how does this apply to the bird you might ask. There definitely is a gospel principle. Just like the box, I though nothing of it and did

n´t know what was inside and just thought it was trash. But in Luke we read that God knows and counts every sparrow so how much more does he know where we are in our life and how we feel. Heavenly Father knew where this less active was and gave us the opportunity to help her. I know that God watches over us and we are not forgotten. 

LOVE YOU TONS

Hermana Van Woerkom