The sector is going well. We weren´t able to be out there as much as we wanted to be. There was SO much to do. This whole week I haven´t had a good night’s sleep. Last night we were at the airport because an elder had to fly to Quito to renew his visa. So we were waiting for him in the airport until after 11. Oh yeah, and what song comes on? “Faithfully”, by Journey. GOSH! That song is for sure on the "Trunkies of Trunky" list. It was horrible, and yet in a painful way I enjoyed it.
The Bday was decent. We had lunch in the temple with the newbies. Part of it was cake and ice cream so I felt satisfied. I couldn´t really do anything for my bday because the whole day was focused on the processing the new missionaries. It was great to be able to be at the temple, but I was a little sad I couldn´t do the temple session. I was worried about securing the baptisms, so I felt like we couldn´t really sacrifice the time. We are going to be having one baptism today Yeah! This kid named Juan Pablo. He´s such a smart little guy that really wants to be a part of the church. He´s 14 and comes to church all by himself and understands very well the doctrine for his age. He´s definitely different from the little street kids that come by the chapel. Mom, when I talk about street kids I mean kids that just hang around the street a lot running around with their friends. They´re not the richest of kids, but they´re not dirt poor. They definitely act like rowdy street kids so the lessons are a little difficult, but other than that they´re really great kids.
Learning experience: In my time here in the office I´ve had a very difficult time keeping the balance between my missionary/proselyting time and office work. It just consumes everything. At times I find myself not fully completing the missionary schedule along with studies and it kills me. I really don´t like not having that rigorous schedule. Then it hit. "Hi. This is what it´s going to be like when you go home." Yikes. I don´t want to be thinking about going home, at all, but in using the time I have on my mission as a preparation for the rest of my life I had to accept and be grateful for that experience. I realized that when I go home there´s going to be a million things that are going to get in my way of keeping my spiritual high. Even more than now. I´m not in any way excited about that, but I need to use this time that I have to be able to form habits that will help me overcome the barriers that I will face once this great experience is over. So, I´m working to develop strong habits now so I´m well prepared for the things to come. Even if it were for this one experience, I´m grateful for the office. I was so enveloped in my missionary world that when I went home I would´ve been in a very shattered world. I´m still working on accepting the office. The field is still better, but I´m finding the cool stuff here too.
Thank you all very much for the birthday wishes. I love you all very much.
In my personal study today I re-read a great passage about why we need to repent. Yes God is merciful, but the law can never be broken. Alma 42:21-26. So just fess up and repent already!
Love you all
Elder Vuinovic
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Letter 40 - 1/22/11
We finally did something cool for Pday. We went out to a field and played ultimate frizbee with the nurses. It felt weird doing something fun. haha
So the bday is coming up.... gosh. I´m going to be 20. It almost doesn´t even seem like a real number anymore. I don´t know what to make of it. O well I´ve been keeping busy with other stuff slighty more important. Salvation… no big deal! I´m scared about how fast time is going in the office. And everyone says it´s only faster once you leave. It´s a scary inevitable principle. I´m just trying to focus on getting the most out of each moment. There were two days were we got tripped up on time waiting for people while proselyting and I felt really bad, which is a good thing, because it keeps me on my toes. Hopefully we can still pull out some big results.
Things have gotten better in the sector. La peñas is such a great ward/sector. I knew there was more potential. We´ve really seem to just run into people. People that I really feel will progress we just really need to focus on getting people to church. So that´ll be the most important part of today. I feel bad for the office staff before the ones that I replaced. There is truly so much potential here. This could be the busiest time of anyone’s mission. I feel like they just weren´t very sure what to do because they were so focused on office work. That´s something that´s really helped me out. I do my office work and I fulfill my duties as best I can, but I really have my main focus on my sector. I´ve felt a lot better that way and I know we´ll have success that way. Meaning, I´ll be even happier. I think we´re on track for a good spiral.
I think the best part of the week was a family named Arango. I think I´ve already told you guys about them. We talked to the husband a while back on one Sunday making contacts. It didn´t seem like huge potential at the time, but they were still on my mind. We finally just went to visit them and they were just golden. We´ve visited them a couple time this week and it was so great. He accepted a baptismal date like nothing else. I think it was the most firm and resolute response I´ve heard. He understood so clearly the need for a correct baptism. They read 3 Nephi 11 and understood everything about it. I felt like I didn´t even need to teach them. They understood even the form of baptism. We taught the plan of Salvation and when we talked about our purpose in this life we went over the fact that we need to be baptized and repent. We asked him again if he would continue preparing himself for his baptism and said very firmly that yes he would and that he was completely decided that he will be baptized. I´m so excited for him to come to church tomorrow.
There´s a teen from the ward that´s starting to accompany us, and he´s introducing us to all of his friends. It´s been awesome because we´ve been able to teach these little street kids and invite them to come unto Christ. People that normally would just laugh at us have listened to our message and have accepted easily the Book of Mormon. I´m really excited for them to learn more about something that will give them so much direction and purpose in their life, and that will help them avoid a lot of unhappiness.
So all in all things are looking good. We just need to do some solid maintenance and include the ward in the lessons with these awesome people that we´ve found.
Hope everyone has a great week. I love you all so much. Elder Vuinovic
So the bday is coming up.... gosh. I´m going to be 20. It almost doesn´t even seem like a real number anymore. I don´t know what to make of it. O well I´ve been keeping busy with other stuff slighty more important. Salvation… no big deal! I´m scared about how fast time is going in the office. And everyone says it´s only faster once you leave. It´s a scary inevitable principle. I´m just trying to focus on getting the most out of each moment. There were two days were we got tripped up on time waiting for people while proselyting and I felt really bad, which is a good thing, because it keeps me on my toes. Hopefully we can still pull out some big results.
Things have gotten better in the sector. La peñas is such a great ward/sector. I knew there was more potential. We´ve really seem to just run into people. People that I really feel will progress we just really need to focus on getting people to church. So that´ll be the most important part of today. I feel bad for the office staff before the ones that I replaced. There is truly so much potential here. This could be the busiest time of anyone’s mission. I feel like they just weren´t very sure what to do because they were so focused on office work. That´s something that´s really helped me out. I do my office work and I fulfill my duties as best I can, but I really have my main focus on my sector. I´ve felt a lot better that way and I know we´ll have success that way. Meaning, I´ll be even happier. I think we´re on track for a good spiral.
I think the best part of the week was a family named Arango. I think I´ve already told you guys about them. We talked to the husband a while back on one Sunday making contacts. It didn´t seem like huge potential at the time, but they were still on my mind. We finally just went to visit them and they were just golden. We´ve visited them a couple time this week and it was so great. He accepted a baptismal date like nothing else. I think it was the most firm and resolute response I´ve heard. He understood so clearly the need for a correct baptism. They read 3 Nephi 11 and understood everything about it. I felt like I didn´t even need to teach them. They understood even the form of baptism. We taught the plan of Salvation and when we talked about our purpose in this life we went over the fact that we need to be baptized and repent. We asked him again if he would continue preparing himself for his baptism and said very firmly that yes he would and that he was completely decided that he will be baptized. I´m so excited for him to come to church tomorrow.
There´s a teen from the ward that´s starting to accompany us, and he´s introducing us to all of his friends. It´s been awesome because we´ve been able to teach these little street kids and invite them to come unto Christ. People that normally would just laugh at us have listened to our message and have accepted easily the Book of Mormon. I´m really excited for them to learn more about something that will give them so much direction and purpose in their life, and that will help them avoid a lot of unhappiness.
So all in all things are looking good. We just need to do some solid maintenance and include the ward in the lessons with these awesome people that we´ve found.
Hope everyone has a great week. I love you all so much. Elder Vuinovic
Letter 39 - 1/15/11
I´m almost twenty. This is freaking me out. I´m not ok with this. In this week I´ve realized how much time has really gone by. Everyone is always talking about how fast the time goes by. Always. I would always just think that they were just talking about it because that´s what everyone talked about. It was REALLY cliché for me. I knew that time had gone by and it didn´t seem like that much or that fast. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that I was in the same house for almost all my life. I think it was last night that a taxi driver had "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" playing and it made me think about that one really stupid lip synch show I did in 8th grade, and then thought about how much time had actually passed. I´ve been gone for ten months. I know I still have a long way to go, but now it feels like the time is slipping. I felt like I was living out the time to the fullest so I wasn´t wasting time, and it felt good. It wasn´t going by too fast nor too slow. I just need to keep working hard so I don´t miss this time and have regrets. That´s really the only thing I worry about.
Also last night, we taught a family, Arango, that is really great. We contacted them almost two weeks ago, but I was going to let the other elders teach them because one of the elders is also from Cali, Colombia. Yesterday we went to the same building to see if we could visit a reference we received. He wasn´t there so I thought we should just go visit the Arango family just to see. So we knocked the door and the husband, Alex, said, "Hey! It´s been a while. You never came." He makes teeth and his office is right in the entry so we sat down there. Elder Silva was in the dentist chair, I was on a very small plastic bench, the wife and daughter were seated, and Alex was standing. It was a pretty award set up, but it was such a great lesson. It was more of a discussion and it was really good. We learned about what they thought about God and everything. We were able to answer the questions he had about the church and he realized that our doctrine was very sound. They especially understood the importance of a restoration of the authority of God. We showed them the Book of Mormon and were very intrigued. Alex mentioned that he has a friend that´s an archeologist. The friend said that they´ve found artifacts that show the Ancient Indians knew about and believed in Christ before the coming of the Spaniards. He wondered how it was that Christ was flying around the world preaching while he was in Jerusalem. I was SO stoked when I heard that. We then explained that the record of the Book of Mormon is very old and was written by prophets that taught about Christ. The reason that those people believed was because of these of the prophets. They were very excited to read. We left them a passage to read and they are going to read that as well as from the beginning. They really wanted to come to church, but have to go somewhere in the morning. They´re coming for sure though next week. As we left Alex commented again that he really liked the doctrine and is very excited to come to church with us the following week. It´s such a great opportunity to sit and teach a family. I´m very excited to be able to watch them grow spiritually and receive more of the heavenly blessings.
That´s about it for the week I haven´t been able to get out to the sector this week, but Veronica is still progressing and will be baptized the 29th. We were also able to teach this little kid and his family. To be honest the mom is more interested in going to church than the boy, Jair, but he really wants to get baptized. I´m really excited for them because I see definite potential for a baptism that will have support afterward to stay active.
Have a great everyone. Love you all
Elder Vuinovic
Also last night, we taught a family, Arango, that is really great. We contacted them almost two weeks ago, but I was going to let the other elders teach them because one of the elders is also from Cali, Colombia. Yesterday we went to the same building to see if we could visit a reference we received. He wasn´t there so I thought we should just go visit the Arango family just to see. So we knocked the door and the husband, Alex, said, "Hey! It´s been a while. You never came." He makes teeth and his office is right in the entry so we sat down there. Elder Silva was in the dentist chair, I was on a very small plastic bench, the wife and daughter were seated, and Alex was standing. It was a pretty award set up, but it was such a great lesson. It was more of a discussion and it was really good. We learned about what they thought about God and everything. We were able to answer the questions he had about the church and he realized that our doctrine was very sound. They especially understood the importance of a restoration of the authority of God. We showed them the Book of Mormon and were very intrigued. Alex mentioned that he has a friend that´s an archeologist. The friend said that they´ve found artifacts that show the Ancient Indians knew about and believed in Christ before the coming of the Spaniards. He wondered how it was that Christ was flying around the world preaching while he was in Jerusalem. I was SO stoked when I heard that. We then explained that the record of the Book of Mormon is very old and was written by prophets that taught about Christ. The reason that those people believed was because of these of the prophets. They were very excited to read. We left them a passage to read and they are going to read that as well as from the beginning. They really wanted to come to church, but have to go somewhere in the morning. They´re coming for sure though next week. As we left Alex commented again that he really liked the doctrine and is very excited to come to church with us the following week. It´s such a great opportunity to sit and teach a family. I´m very excited to be able to watch them grow spiritually and receive more of the heavenly blessings.
That´s about it for the week I haven´t been able to get out to the sector this week, but Veronica is still progressing and will be baptized the 29th. We were also able to teach this little kid and his family. To be honest the mom is more interested in going to church than the boy, Jair, but he really wants to get baptized. I´m really excited for them because I see definite potential for a baptism that will have support afterward to stay active.
Have a great everyone. Love you all
Elder Vuinovic
Letter 38 - 1/8/11
Hey fam!
How´s the week been treating you? You´re probably out doing chores right now..... or watching jungle book with Ryan. Actually, what´s his favorite movie now?
So get this. Last night I did a baptismal interview, and afterwards we got into a taxi to go to our sector. The taxi driver is confirming that he knew where the direccion (address) was, but Elder Silva interjected saying that we were going home. I confusedly asked him why and he just said, "Look." I turned around in the seat and saw a HUGE tear in his pants. I was busting up so hard. I just tried to imagine what it would be like if we went out to teach anyway. I kept busting up because if we had gone there would have been no way to hide it, and I´m sure a scene like that would definitely impede on the spirit.
The secretary work is getting better. Like almost all things, it needs better organization. I´ve really found the way to be able put off the small chores and organize the more important things, while I´m doing that I do a lot of organizing. It´s badly needed. I´m pretty excited to be able to get things in order. I know that once I have a grip on things I´ll feel a lot better. I had a cool experience yesterday. I was asked to participate in a blessing for the president. He was sick and asked me to do the anointing. It was a cool experience to be able to serve him like that. I realized there are very few people that will have that opportunity. It´s things like that I want to focus on so I can remember the positive things.
On Thursday I had an especially cool experience. I went to go do a baptismal interview, but it didn´t happen that night. So I was with a greenie, and I wanted to be able to do something with him. I went to a contact to see if we could get a lesson in and some new investigators, but I couldn´t find the house to save my life. I felt really bad, but I just decided to go do some contacts. I couldn´t understand why, but we couldn´t get anything. I was trying to think of something to do, but never once did I think to look at my agenda. I had plans, but it just never came to mind. So I thought, “we´ll just go towards the chapel”. As we´re walking I saw a house. I thought to contact it because we wouldn´t have to try to enter it. We do the contact, and it was alright, but the parents weren´t home so we couldn´t really do anything. I asked what the address was to be able to write down the contact. She didn´t know so we had to go to the corner to see the address. As we were walking, a lady asked if we were Mormons, but in a way very sincere. I responded that we were. When she heard that she explained that she wanted us to visit her husband. Her husband was a member, but inactive and there were some other problems and she wanted us to help him. She too is a member, but went inactive when he did, even though she wanted to still go to church. It was too difficult to keep going when he wouldn´t go. When we got to the house the husband told us his conversion story: He was praying one day that God would give him the truth in his life because he wanted to be happy and he wanted God in his life. Ten minutes later he got a knock on the door from the missionaries. He listened to them and got baptized. He became a very strong member in the church. Received the Melchezidek priesthood and everything. He had the goal to go to the temple, but when he came back to Ecuador he went active and with him, his wife. They then told us that in that same day they were both individually praying. He was praying for help from God and she was praying that God would change her husband. They´re separated right now, but you can tell that she honestly wants things to get better and her family to be whole again. They´re a family that has received a lot of truth in their life and need some help living it again. I know that the bishop will be really excited to her that they were found again. They´re theme this year is "the rescue of the lost sheep". I think this fits in well with the theme.
We had a lesson last night with the sister of a recent convert. Her name is Veronica. It was such a great lesson. We taught a part of the plan of salvation. She´s so prepared. The spirit was very strong. Elder Silva and I teach very well together and we were able include some really great points that are helping her accept that the answer she´s received is for the better for her life even though it requires a change. I´m really excited for her. It looks like she´ll be baptized the 15th of January. Please keep her in your prayers.
Well that´s about it for the week. I love you all so very much. Have a great week!
Elder Vuinovic
How´s the week been treating you? You´re probably out doing chores right now..... or watching jungle book with Ryan. Actually, what´s his favorite movie now?
So get this. Last night I did a baptismal interview, and afterwards we got into a taxi to go to our sector. The taxi driver is confirming that he knew where the direccion (address) was, but Elder Silva interjected saying that we were going home. I confusedly asked him why and he just said, "Look." I turned around in the seat and saw a HUGE tear in his pants. I was busting up so hard. I just tried to imagine what it would be like if we went out to teach anyway. I kept busting up because if we had gone there would have been no way to hide it, and I´m sure a scene like that would definitely impede on the spirit.
The secretary work is getting better. Like almost all things, it needs better organization. I´ve really found the way to be able put off the small chores and organize the more important things, while I´m doing that I do a lot of organizing. It´s badly needed. I´m pretty excited to be able to get things in order. I know that once I have a grip on things I´ll feel a lot better. I had a cool experience yesterday. I was asked to participate in a blessing for the president. He was sick and asked me to do the anointing. It was a cool experience to be able to serve him like that. I realized there are very few people that will have that opportunity. It´s things like that I want to focus on so I can remember the positive things.
On Thursday I had an especially cool experience. I went to go do a baptismal interview, but it didn´t happen that night. So I was with a greenie, and I wanted to be able to do something with him. I went to a contact to see if we could get a lesson in and some new investigators, but I couldn´t find the house to save my life. I felt really bad, but I just decided to go do some contacts. I couldn´t understand why, but we couldn´t get anything. I was trying to think of something to do, but never once did I think to look at my agenda. I had plans, but it just never came to mind. So I thought, “we´ll just go towards the chapel”. As we´re walking I saw a house. I thought to contact it because we wouldn´t have to try to enter it. We do the contact, and it was alright, but the parents weren´t home so we couldn´t really do anything. I asked what the address was to be able to write down the contact. She didn´t know so we had to go to the corner to see the address. As we were walking, a lady asked if we were Mormons, but in a way very sincere. I responded that we were. When she heard that she explained that she wanted us to visit her husband. Her husband was a member, but inactive and there were some other problems and she wanted us to help him. She too is a member, but went inactive when he did, even though she wanted to still go to church. It was too difficult to keep going when he wouldn´t go. When we got to the house the husband told us his conversion story: He was praying one day that God would give him the truth in his life because he wanted to be happy and he wanted God in his life. Ten minutes later he got a knock on the door from the missionaries. He listened to them and got baptized. He became a very strong member in the church. Received the Melchezidek priesthood and everything. He had the goal to go to the temple, but when he came back to Ecuador he went active and with him, his wife. They then told us that in that same day they were both individually praying. He was praying for help from God and she was praying that God would change her husband. They´re separated right now, but you can tell that she honestly wants things to get better and her family to be whole again. They´re a family that has received a lot of truth in their life and need some help living it again. I know that the bishop will be really excited to her that they were found again. They´re theme this year is "the rescue of the lost sheep". I think this fits in well with the theme.
We had a lesson last night with the sister of a recent convert. Her name is Veronica. It was such a great lesson. We taught a part of the plan of salvation. She´s so prepared. The spirit was very strong. Elder Silva and I teach very well together and we were able include some really great points that are helping her accept that the answer she´s received is for the better for her life even though it requires a change. I´m really excited for her. It looks like she´ll be baptized the 15th of January. Please keep her in your prayers.
Well that´s about it for the week. I love you all so very much. Have a great week!
Elder Vuinovic
Letter 37 - 1/1/11
WOW! Ryan story was SOOOOOOOO flipping hilarious, and especially their fishing pole stories. I can just see how that turned out.
The presents were great I only found the two fives, but I´ll look inside the med kit when I get home.
So this week was interesting. I feel like I don´t know anything. I´ve never had office experience before and I´m so used to being a missionary that it’s been a rough transfer. I know that I wouldn´t be here unless God wants me here. It´s hard to accept His will sometimes, and He always seems to find something that would be hard. It´s ok though, by these things I know I´ll grow in ways that He needs me to grow. Something that was rough to accept was that last night I called Elder Shannon to see if I left some stuff in the other house, and of course I asked him if how the sector was doing. The sector really is doing well. Almost all of the investigators I was teaching are going to be baptized, and people that I´ve been trying to get into the program for a very long time are now in and progressing. That sector is probably going to have 10 baptisms this month. I know it´s selfish to want those baptisms, but besides the statistic those were people that I really wanted to see get baptized, and to be there with them to get them there. I know that the Lord only asks us to give something up so that we may have something better, so I´m working to find that something else that is better. There aren´t accidents in the mission. God wouldn´t take that risk. So now I´m just working to find that purpose. I really feel a lot of potential coming from this ward though. They´re so incredible. It´s such a structured and matured ward. Something I haven´t seen in a very long time. Not to mention their desires for mission work are incredible. We get references like nothing else. The only problem the sector has is a lack of organization on the missionaries’ part. The office staff sadly doesn´t have all day to give to the sector. So they find a bunch of people but they baptize the people that don´t require a bunch of work. That´s something I´m working to change. This place has potential for double digit baptisms with frequency. I really hope to be able to coordinate well with the ward to get more people coming to church, because we´ve also found a lot of people and we’re going to need a lot of help teaching and visiting these people with the little time we have.
Change of pace story: Thursday night there was going to be a baptism. Elder Guerrero and I show up to the chapel to get things ready. We see the font and it is FULL of crickets. Like “cricket community pool” status. So Elder Guerrero and I had to take off our shoes and roll up our pants to go get out all these crickets. We finish and the water smells disgusting and is still dirty. You can´t have a baptism like that even though it´s going to be filled with sins afterwards. (haha) Problem: The valve was broken. So what do we do? We empty it out bucket by bucket (seriously, what´s my problem with baptismal fonts?!) We´re almost done when someone tells us that the girl who was getting baptized is not coming because something went down with the dad and permission. So we were all sweaty with wet pants and we didn´t even get the baptism. Bust.
Well that´s about it for the week. I love you guys a lot and you are in my prayers. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Elder Vuinovic
The presents were great I only found the two fives, but I´ll look inside the med kit when I get home.
So this week was interesting. I feel like I don´t know anything. I´ve never had office experience before and I´m so used to being a missionary that it’s been a rough transfer. I know that I wouldn´t be here unless God wants me here. It´s hard to accept His will sometimes, and He always seems to find something that would be hard. It´s ok though, by these things I know I´ll grow in ways that He needs me to grow. Something that was rough to accept was that last night I called Elder Shannon to see if I left some stuff in the other house, and of course I asked him if how the sector was doing. The sector really is doing well. Almost all of the investigators I was teaching are going to be baptized, and people that I´ve been trying to get into the program for a very long time are now in and progressing. That sector is probably going to have 10 baptisms this month. I know it´s selfish to want those baptisms, but besides the statistic those were people that I really wanted to see get baptized, and to be there with them to get them there. I know that the Lord only asks us to give something up so that we may have something better, so I´m working to find that something else that is better. There aren´t accidents in the mission. God wouldn´t take that risk. So now I´m just working to find that purpose. I really feel a lot of potential coming from this ward though. They´re so incredible. It´s such a structured and matured ward. Something I haven´t seen in a very long time. Not to mention their desires for mission work are incredible. We get references like nothing else. The only problem the sector has is a lack of organization on the missionaries’ part. The office staff sadly doesn´t have all day to give to the sector. So they find a bunch of people but they baptize the people that don´t require a bunch of work. That´s something I´m working to change. This place has potential for double digit baptisms with frequency. I really hope to be able to coordinate well with the ward to get more people coming to church, because we´ve also found a lot of people and we’re going to need a lot of help teaching and visiting these people with the little time we have.
Change of pace story: Thursday night there was going to be a baptism. Elder Guerrero and I show up to the chapel to get things ready. We see the font and it is FULL of crickets. Like “cricket community pool” status. So Elder Guerrero and I had to take off our shoes and roll up our pants to go get out all these crickets. We finish and the water smells disgusting and is still dirty. You can´t have a baptism like that even though it´s going to be filled with sins afterwards. (haha) Problem: The valve was broken. So what do we do? We empty it out bucket by bucket (seriously, what´s my problem with baptismal fonts?!) We´re almost done when someone tells us that the girl who was getting baptized is not coming because something went down with the dad and permission. So we were all sweaty with wet pants and we didn´t even get the baptism. Bust.
Well that´s about it for the week. I love you guys a lot and you are in my prayers. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Elder Vuinovic
Letter 36 - 12/20/10
This is going to be a quickie but get this. I think it´s the best baptism story ever.
It was a good week, but I´m only going to share our day Saturday because that will take plenty of time as it is.
First of all I found out Wednesday night that I was District leader and that the next day I had to do an interview.... with two mentally handicapped people. That was interesting, but they were both ok. So Saturday rolls around and the same Elders call me and tell me that they need another interview because the sister of that same family is going to be baptized... that same day. (great timing). The whole world stops for a baptismal interview, so instead of filling up the baptismal font we went to do the interview. This interview was INSANE. I seriously felt like I was about to get punked. Who has to interview 3 handicapped people for their first interviews? What made it so rough was that she said she had a problem with one of the questions, but I couldn´t figure out if it really happened or not. I had to ask the missionaries several times if they knew about this stuff beforehand. I had to make sure she was telling the truth and not just making something up. I was SO confused. She would say things that sounded like they could be true with awkward detail, but then there would be facts that were messed up. Finally after 300 questions we finished the interview. The missionaries went to go verify with the mom the validity of the story. Later on…
After the interview I was a little fried, but we went to go check out our appointments in the morning, and there wasn´t anything. So we just went to the chapel to fill up the font. We start the water and get cleaning. Elder Shannon realized that the water stopped filling up. Dang! So we see that there´s a water spigot in the cleaning closet and we go bucket by bucket filling this font up. I realized that it´s time for our lunch appointment, and we really couldn´t be late to their house. So we left and afterwards taught a lesson to the Cedeño family, the one with the inactive dad. It was awesome because the dad was there this time and we had a great lesson. Afterwards we get back to filling the font bucket style, but I realized that there´s no way that we can fill it up in that much time. I remembered that the ex-bishop is a gardener for the church so we went over there and got a hose. Awesome! Hose in the font and its filling up. We go to teach a lesson. Great lesson and we go around making sure that everyone´s coming to the baptism. We go back to the chapel and the hose had been pulled out and there was NO water in the font. Well, enough to maybe roll her around in it, or maybe baptize her catholic style. Not to mention NO ONE from the bishopric came. Even worse was that there were FIVE investigators that came to the baptism, but we had to send them home because there was nothing. I felt so terrible. Shirley Rodriguez, the girl who was going to get baptized, got really sad because she wanted to get baptized that night, and she was really excited beforehand. Not to mention she got all dressed up for it. Elder Shannon felt sad because it was his first baptism, and I felt like junk because I´m supposed to know what to do to fix it, and I couldn´t do a thing. Finally, an hour later, a counselor showed up and I remembered that another ward had a baptism and we could go over there to have it there. He shrugged and said let´s go. So what do we do? We walk, in the rain, all dressed up to the other chapel, and we have the baptism. It was so awesome! Elder Shannon did it, and I felt so proud! It was the closest to Father-Son pride it could be. He was SO excited afterward and Shirley was crying before and after because she was so happy. It was a nightmare that turned out AWESOME! It was a really spiritual baptism and Shirley really showed how much she wanted to be baptized. It was a great experience.
Love, Elder Vuinovic
It was a good week, but I´m only going to share our day Saturday because that will take plenty of time as it is.
First of all I found out Wednesday night that I was District leader and that the next day I had to do an interview.... with two mentally handicapped people. That was interesting, but they were both ok. So Saturday rolls around and the same Elders call me and tell me that they need another interview because the sister of that same family is going to be baptized... that same day. (great timing). The whole world stops for a baptismal interview, so instead of filling up the baptismal font we went to do the interview. This interview was INSANE. I seriously felt like I was about to get punked. Who has to interview 3 handicapped people for their first interviews? What made it so rough was that she said she had a problem with one of the questions, but I couldn´t figure out if it really happened or not. I had to ask the missionaries several times if they knew about this stuff beforehand. I had to make sure she was telling the truth and not just making something up. I was SO confused. She would say things that sounded like they could be true with awkward detail, but then there would be facts that were messed up. Finally after 300 questions we finished the interview. The missionaries went to go verify with the mom the validity of the story. Later on…
After the interview I was a little fried, but we went to go check out our appointments in the morning, and there wasn´t anything. So we just went to the chapel to fill up the font. We start the water and get cleaning. Elder Shannon realized that the water stopped filling up. Dang! So we see that there´s a water spigot in the cleaning closet and we go bucket by bucket filling this font up. I realized that it´s time for our lunch appointment, and we really couldn´t be late to their house. So we left and afterwards taught a lesson to the Cedeño family, the one with the inactive dad. It was awesome because the dad was there this time and we had a great lesson. Afterwards we get back to filling the font bucket style, but I realized that there´s no way that we can fill it up in that much time. I remembered that the ex-bishop is a gardener for the church so we went over there and got a hose. Awesome! Hose in the font and its filling up. We go to teach a lesson. Great lesson and we go around making sure that everyone´s coming to the baptism. We go back to the chapel and the hose had been pulled out and there was NO water in the font. Well, enough to maybe roll her around in it, or maybe baptize her catholic style. Not to mention NO ONE from the bishopric came. Even worse was that there were FIVE investigators that came to the baptism, but we had to send them home because there was nothing. I felt so terrible. Shirley Rodriguez, the girl who was going to get baptized, got really sad because she wanted to get baptized that night, and she was really excited beforehand. Not to mention she got all dressed up for it. Elder Shannon felt sad because it was his first baptism, and I felt like junk because I´m supposed to know what to do to fix it, and I couldn´t do a thing. Finally, an hour later, a counselor showed up and I remembered that another ward had a baptism and we could go over there to have it there. He shrugged and said let´s go. So what do we do? We walk, in the rain, all dressed up to the other chapel, and we have the baptism. It was so awesome! Elder Shannon did it, and I felt so proud! It was the closest to Father-Son pride it could be. He was SO excited afterward and Shirley was crying before and after because she was so happy. It was a nightmare that turned out AWESOME! It was a really spiritual baptism and Shirley really showed how much she wanted to be baptized. It was a great experience.
Love, Elder Vuinovic
Letter 35 - 12/13/10
Wow. It´s really good to hear about Randy. Especially how that little message from the gospel helped him out. Props on getting that kid talking. He just needs to talk. If he can just talk it´s really easy to help him out. PS- I had a random urge to eat something from a Galt restaurant and go for a walk around downtown..... moving on.
Had a great week. We did a great job keeping up on the investigators from the week before and we had several people come to church this week. It felt really good. One of our older investigators showed up today. He finally got time off of work and it looks like he´ll be able to start coming more regularly. It was funny because I told him he might have to be baptized by other missionaries because he was living in another sector. I found out later that he has the same house, but during the week sleeps at his work for convenience. Before finding this out he was in the hall and he told me, "I´m going to be baptized here, and I´m going to be baptized the 25th." He´s so awesome. He was prepared more than two months ago. It´ll be a pleasure to baptize him. Also the sister of Angel Rodriguez is going to be baptized for sure this week. I´m really excited. Slowly and surely we´re going to complete that family. The cousins want to get baptized, but the grandma they´re living with doesn´t want anything to do with us. So we´re going to have to go talk to her this week. It´s not looking that good, but if you could keep them in your prayers that would be great. They´re named Katherine, Michael, and Paula Tisalema. Also if you could pray that Shirley Rodriguez and Freddy Olvera can keep up their efforts to give up coffee I would really appreciate that too. So, by the looks of it we´re going to get our goal of 3 for the month with a good amount of prospects for January.
Something happened with the ward and I’ts great. We had ward council and the counselor to the bishop was talking firmly about getting support in the mission work, by getting us references. What totally helped was that we walked in there with a progress report full of people. The bishop even said, ‘yeah that´s a lot of people’. They were talking about their monthly goals for baptisms. After that I showed them the progress report. I straight up told them that it was cool that their goal was three for January, but we right now have the potential 10 baptisms realistically speaking, but there are problems that we as missionaries can´t help with. If they have a true friend things will be resolved. I told them that if they want these baptisms that they are available, but we need their help. I´m going to start to carry a progress report with me at all times to be able to talk about investigators. I really think that things are going to get a lot better with the ward, and that I´ve been able to get a little more confidence from the members.
Cool story. We were at a baptism because we stopped by for some investigators and they said they were coming. Afterwards we were going to go by an investigator´s house, Joffrey Chele, to see if he was going to come to church and to wish him happy birthday. As we were leaving Elder Shannon mentioned something about bringing everyone over to Joffrey´s house, but was joking around. I don´t know if it was because I was thinking the same thing or what, but I almost instinctively went around collecting all the young single adults to come with us. He turned 18 so it was perfect for him to get to know them. We bought some bread and a soda so we didn´t look like mooches and we totally surprised them. It went great. Elder Shannon and I came up with a couple games so we weren´t awkwardly sitting around. The mom was probably the most thankful. She came out and told us that Joffrey didn´t have friends around there because he goes to a high school in another part of the city and all he does is study. I felt so good that he had that on his birthday because pretty much nothing else happened. Some other family members came by I think, but that was it. So before we left I asked him if he was going to church the next day, knowing darn well what the answer would be. haha. We got a very warm yes.
There´s an awesome family that we found the week before last, the Cedeño family. The dad is a doctor and travels a lot. He´s inactive, but tells everyone he´s a member still. The family is great. They have really good standards. The mom is the only one I worry for. She expresses many of the things we hear from Catholics, but I know it´s only from a fear of change. She’ll be ok once she comes to church. I´m really excited for them. They´re such great people that would be so much happier as members of the church. Keep them in your prayers too! Their names are Rosario (mom), Ginger and Donna (daughters), and Borys and Arrón (sons).
Elder Vuinovic
Had a great week. We did a great job keeping up on the investigators from the week before and we had several people come to church this week. It felt really good. One of our older investigators showed up today. He finally got time off of work and it looks like he´ll be able to start coming more regularly. It was funny because I told him he might have to be baptized by other missionaries because he was living in another sector. I found out later that he has the same house, but during the week sleeps at his work for convenience. Before finding this out he was in the hall and he told me, "I´m going to be baptized here, and I´m going to be baptized the 25th." He´s so awesome. He was prepared more than two months ago. It´ll be a pleasure to baptize him. Also the sister of Angel Rodriguez is going to be baptized for sure this week. I´m really excited. Slowly and surely we´re going to complete that family. The cousins want to get baptized, but the grandma they´re living with doesn´t want anything to do with us. So we´re going to have to go talk to her this week. It´s not looking that good, but if you could keep them in your prayers that would be great. They´re named Katherine, Michael, and Paula Tisalema. Also if you could pray that Shirley Rodriguez and Freddy Olvera can keep up their efforts to give up coffee I would really appreciate that too. So, by the looks of it we´re going to get our goal of 3 for the month with a good amount of prospects for January.
Something happened with the ward and I’ts great. We had ward council and the counselor to the bishop was talking firmly about getting support in the mission work, by getting us references. What totally helped was that we walked in there with a progress report full of people. The bishop even said, ‘yeah that´s a lot of people’. They were talking about their monthly goals for baptisms. After that I showed them the progress report. I straight up told them that it was cool that their goal was three for January, but we right now have the potential 10 baptisms realistically speaking, but there are problems that we as missionaries can´t help with. If they have a true friend things will be resolved. I told them that if they want these baptisms that they are available, but we need their help. I´m going to start to carry a progress report with me at all times to be able to talk about investigators. I really think that things are going to get a lot better with the ward, and that I´ve been able to get a little more confidence from the members.
Cool story. We were at a baptism because we stopped by for some investigators and they said they were coming. Afterwards we were going to go by an investigator´s house, Joffrey Chele, to see if he was going to come to church and to wish him happy birthday. As we were leaving Elder Shannon mentioned something about bringing everyone over to Joffrey´s house, but was joking around. I don´t know if it was because I was thinking the same thing or what, but I almost instinctively went around collecting all the young single adults to come with us. He turned 18 so it was perfect for him to get to know them. We bought some bread and a soda so we didn´t look like mooches and we totally surprised them. It went great. Elder Shannon and I came up with a couple games so we weren´t awkwardly sitting around. The mom was probably the most thankful. She came out and told us that Joffrey didn´t have friends around there because he goes to a high school in another part of the city and all he does is study. I felt so good that he had that on his birthday because pretty much nothing else happened. Some other family members came by I think, but that was it. So before we left I asked him if he was going to church the next day, knowing darn well what the answer would be. haha. We got a very warm yes.
There´s an awesome family that we found the week before last, the Cedeño family. The dad is a doctor and travels a lot. He´s inactive, but tells everyone he´s a member still. The family is great. They have really good standards. The mom is the only one I worry for. She expresses many of the things we hear from Catholics, but I know it´s only from a fear of change. She’ll be ok once she comes to church. I´m really excited for them. They´re such great people that would be so much happier as members of the church. Keep them in your prayers too! Their names are Rosario (mom), Ginger and Donna (daughters), and Borys and Arrón (sons).
Elder Vuinovic
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)