Hola a
todos! Como va la semana!? MAGNÍFICO!? Muy bien, me alegro muchísimo.
Wow, it is
getting hot and humid here in Barcelona! Summertime is the best; everyone is
out of school and on breaks! We are able to see so many more people now, except
when they go on their two-month vacations to visit their families back in their
native countries. South Americans, I just love ‘em! Haha, I hope all of you are
enjoying your summers as well, spending time with your beloved family and
friends, soaking up the sun and every moment together.
This week was
another great one; but aren’t they all! Haha, oh the mission, it´s incredible.
If you are thinking about going … GO! If you´re not … you are really missing
out! It has been the greatest decision of my entire life. It is worth
everything to go!
Monday (June
29): Another fun preparation day! These days are so nice to just get yourself
organized and have some fun. Today we went to the gym in the church and played
volleyball with the other hermanas and elders. It is always so fun, and at the
very end, we had filled up some water balloons and brought them from the
bathroom, and snuck into the gym. We attacked the elders and had a huge water
fight! It was hilarious!
Cool story. Hermana
Steinfeldt and I were walking when a man called out to us and said,
"Sisters of Jesus! Sisters of Jesus! Wait!" Haha, of course we
stopped and talked to him! His name was Eddy and he is from Tanzania, Africa.
It was so cool, as I had never met anyone from there! He told us that back in
his country, his house was right across the street from the church, and that he
was interested in learning more about it and he has always had questions. We will
see where it goes!
Tuesday
(June 30): This morning we "heart attacked" Dary! We cut out all of
these hearts and wrote little notes on each of them and stuck them all over her
door. We hadn't seen her for about a week, because of her crazy, long schedule
with her new job and everything. We knew she had been pretty stressed out and
she felt bad that she couldn't see us. As we went to do the "heart
attack", we met a man named Victor on the way up. He was super nice and
said he had seen a lot of missionaries before in Ecuador. He told us that he actually
lived right in front of the temple when he was still in Ecuador. He said he was
kind of busy at the moment, but that we could come back a different day! We
will see what happens. Late that night, we got a text from Dary at about
midnight, thanking us for the notes. She had come home super late from work and
was just exhausted and a little overwhelmed. She told us that when she saw the
notes, she immediately began to cry. She was so grateful. I just love that
woman so much!
We were also
able to see Imilse again! We are getting to know her older daughter (Imi)
better, which I think has been helping, as we are trying to work with the
family as a whole. We shared with her the "Articles of Faith" … there
are 13 of them. They are simple, but so powerful. These are the articles of our
faith … declarations that were written by the Prophet Joseph Smith to help
explain to nonmembers some of the basic things that we, as members of The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, believe.
1 “We believe in God, the Eternal
Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost."
(We believe
in the Trinity, that there are 3 members in the Godhead. They are ONE in
purpose and unity, but they are 3 separate beings.)
2 “We believe that men will be
punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression."
(Adam partook
of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, and was cast out of the presence
of God, and into mortality. It was all a part of God's plan. Adam transgressed
and fell, but because of this … we have been given the gift of agency, or the
ability to choose right or wrong for ourselves. We will be held accountable for
our own choices and mistakes.)
I love this
talk from Elder Holland. In my opinion, it explains this principle perfectly.
3 “We believe that through the
Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and
ordinances of the Gospel."
(Because we
are mortal and we are not perfect, we are bound to mess up and fall short; to
sin and make wrong choices. But because our Father in Heaven loves us so very
much and we are His children, He wanted us to have a way to fix that … to be
cleansed, to be forgiven of those errors, and to come back into His presence.
He provided that way through the Savior, Jesus Christ. He came to this Earth to
save and redeem us all.)
4 “We believe that the first
principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of
sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost."
(This is the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. There are 4 steps: Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving
the gift of the Holy Ghost/Spirit. We first must have faith that Jesus Christ
really is our Savior and that through Him, and only Him, can we be redeemed and
receive eternal life. The Atonement of Jesus Christ will only be effective in
your life, if you have this faith in Him.
5 “We believe that a man must be
called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in
authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof."
(These
people are given power and authority from God. We are to act in and under His
name. We know that in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the priesthood
authority of Christ and His prophets and apostles has been restored once again
onto the earth. "We declare in words of solemnity that His priesthood and
His Church have been restored upon the earth …“built upon the foundation of …
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone”.
(Ephesians 2:20))
6 “We believe in the same
organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets,
pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth."
(Jesus
Christ established His church and His teachings while He was on the Earth. We
know that Christ stands at the head of our church today, and under that
authority, direction and revelation, we too have living prophets and apostles.
Our modern-day prophet and President of His church today is Thomas S. Monson,
who works with the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to lead the church under the
direction of the Lord. If this is Christ's church, doesn't it make sense to
have it organized and run the same way as before … under His direction?
7 “We believe in the gift of
tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and
so forth."
(These
things happened in ancient times and the work of God has not ceased.)
8 “We believe the Bible to be the
word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of
Mormon to be the word of God."
(There are
many different ways that the Bible has been translated. We believe that the
King James Bible is the most correct, and also know that The Book of Mormon is
truly the word of God).
9 “We believe all that God has
revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal
many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God."
(We believe
in the prophets of old, such as, Noah, Abraham or Moses. We know that God has
not ceased speaking with His children. We have a modern living Prophet today,
President Thomas S. Monson, who leads and guides the Church. He is called of
God, and this is The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-Day Saints. He receives
direct communication and revelation from God and then shares it with everyone.
We can also receive personal revelation for ourselves and our lives. The
Prophet receives revelation for the entire church, just like in Biblical times.
He will continue to manifest the things of God unto us. How blessed we are to
know that God has not stopped talking to His people. He LIVES, and He speaks to
His children through personal prayer and through His living prophet and His
apostles.)
10 “We believe in the literal
gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the
New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will
reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and
receive its paradisiacal glory."
("We
testify that He will someday return to earth, and the glory of the Lord shall
be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together” (Isaiah 40:5). He will rule
as King of Kings and reign as Lord of Lords, and every knee shall bend and
every tongue shall speak in worship before Him. Each of us will stand to be
judged of Him according to our works and the desires of our hearts. Jesus is
the Living Christ, the immortal Son of God. He is the great King Immanuel, who
stands today on the right hand of His Father. He is the Light, the Life, and
the Hope of the world. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life
and eternal life in the world to come. God be thanked for the matchless gift of
His divine Son." (The Living Christ) I know that He is coming. We don't
know when, but what a glorious and joyous day it will be!
11 “We claim the privilege of
worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and
allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they
may."
(We are
merely here to invite people to come unto Christ. We don't and won't judge
anyone for what, how or where they worship and believe. So many churches like
to get into the political side of things, but we don't. Everyone has their agency
to choose for themselves.)
12 "We believe in being
subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring,
and sustaining the law."
(Of course
we have our religion, but we know how very important it is to follow all of the
laws of the land and our leaders.)
13 “We believe in being honest, true, chaste,
benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we
follow the admonition of Paul--We believe all things, we hope all things, we
have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is
anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after
these things." (See the end of this post).
Wednesday
(July 1): Today we had our very first Conference with our new mission President
and his wife, President and Hermana Dayton! It was a really special moment. The
second he walked into the room, I knew that he was a man called of God to
preside over this wonderful mission. We had 4 of the zones together and sang “The
Spirit of God”, as a musical number, but for the 4th verse, we had
all of the missionaries stand up and sing it in Spanish. It was awesome and so
powerful! We are so blessed to have them here, and we are just going to take
off as a mission! There is a new energy … here we go!
Thursday
(July 2): Tonight we had a great and pretty intense lesson with our new friend
Ivan. He is from Russia and is about 20 years old, but speaks perfect English.
He is super smart and is studying to become a lawyer. He comes from a rich
family and is honestly a little prideful. He recognizes that he needs God in
his life, and now. He is hanging out with the wrong crowd and is into a lot of
bad stuff. We went to the church to talk. We testified of the love and saving
Atonement of Jesus Christ. He asked some very deep questions. He made a comment
about how the world has to get a lot worse before the Second Coming of Christ,
and that maybe it would be better for him to help make this world get worse,
faster. I told him that this world is slowly dividing between the righteous and
unrighteous people. I said that we have plenty of people who are willing to do
anything to destroy the good in this life. I explained that we need him on our
side to fight for the right, and that he can be a powerful leader of hope,
faith and justice. We were all in tears. He said that we were right, but that
he would have to think about it. I think his heart was softened a bit.
Friday (July
3): Today were we able to visit a lot of less active families. We visited a
woman named Raquel. She is just so sweet, but has been having some problems
within her family, and was quit emotional about it all. Sometimes it´s just
nice to sit there and listen; to let them just get everything out, and just be
there and care. I´m glad we were able to be there for her.
Later that
night we visited Yennis, Maikel, Markel and Majorie. They are a Dominican
family who I just adore. They are just the cutest! Markel is 9 years old and
Marjorie is 7. They have a wonderful family and they have been sealed in the
temple for time and eternity. Maikel actually just got out of jail for being
falsely accused of murdering his best friend. It was a really rough and sensitive
situation for their family. Every time we are over there we just try to lighten
everything up, and just talk about love, family and Jesus Christ (the best
topics right?) They are such an incredible family that is just filled with
light, and I know the Lord will bless them.
Saturday
(4th of JULY!!):
HAPPY
INDEPENDENCE DAY AMERICA! Happy 4th of July! AHH! I hope you all
enjoyed the fireworks! I love fireworks and miss ‘em! We sang a lot of patriotic
songs though from way over here in Spain!
Sunday (July
5): I just love church every Sunday don't you? It's the best day of the week …
to be able to partake of the Sacrament and feel the Spirit so strong in the House
of the Lord.
We BELIEVE.
We HOPE. We ENDURE. We BELIEVE. We HOPE. We ENDURE. If we are being
"honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous" and if we are doing
things that are "virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy … we
will happily endure and we will endure it well. We seek after these things. I
have learned that if there is something in my life that isn´t ETERNAL or of
ETERNAL SIGNIFICANCE … I don´t want it in my life.
I invite all
of you, to SEEK after these things and apply them in your life. That is when
you will be TRULY happy!
Love,
Hermana Vance
Hermana
Lydia Vance
C/Calatrava
N, 10-12, 1
08017
Barcelona ESPAÑA
(Sometimes
snail mail is more fun to receive! I'm not always the best at writing letters
back but … thank you! You know who you are! Love you all!)
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