Week #57-- Will you follow the example of Christ...?

Hello, everyone!

Happy new year!  I hope that your year is full of miracles, love, sprinkles, and happiness.  And even when life throws you up and down and all around, never forget to stop, breathe, and find peace in the little things.  Remember that life is to be enjoyed, not just endured.  

Hermana Alfaro and I had an amazing week, and if I had to sum it up in two words, I would say, "Miracles exist."

As a missionary, I'm here to invite people to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.

But sometimes it's scary.

I've been called by a living prophet of God, and I've been set apart and given power and authority to preach the gospel, but I'm still human.  I'm still imperfect.  Just because I have a missionary nametag doesn't make me a super-baptizing robot all at once.  Becoming an effective missionary is a process.  It takes time.  And just like anything else, it requires practice, practice, practice.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about how I can become a better missionary.  And my conclusion was..........

I shouldn't be afraid to challenge people to be baptized!

The hardest words that I've ever had to say as a missionary are:

Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized?

I don't know why inviting people to be baptized is so scary, but it is.  I guess that I don't want people to think that I'm weird or pushy or that I'm forcing my religion on them.  And I don't want to be rejected.  Because getting rejected is the worst thing ever.  If you don't believe me, just go look up marriage proposal rejections on Youtube.  They're the worst.

But anyway, after reading this amazing talk, my perspective as a missionary changed forever.  If you are a missionary, YOU HAVE TO READ THIS TALK.  It will help you become more productive than you have ever been before, and it will help you do all that the Lord wants you do it.  Trust me.  Just read it.

And so I changed.  I made the goal to challenge at least one person to be baptized every day for the rest of my mission.  I decided that I am going to overcome my fear and instead, exercise my faith.

Fear verses faith... A choice that requires bravery and courage.  A choice that sometimes seems impossible.  But the scriptures are full of examples that show us that we can do it.  Because with God, nothing is impossible.

For example... 

- When God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Issac, what side did Abraham choose?  Fear or faith?

- When Nephi had to face Laban and ask for the brass plates, what side did he choose?  Fear or faith?

- When the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi were being attacked and killed by the Lamanites, what side did they choose?  Fear or faith?

- When Joseph Smith was ridiculed and imprisioned and mocked, what side did he choose?  Fear or faith?

When you're faced with the decision between fear or faith, what will you choose?  Choosing fear might make us feel safe for a little while, but the question, "What if?" will always remain.  Don't rob yourself of your potential.  Always chose faith.

This week in Porvenir....

1.  I ate really delicious strawberry cookies that are the best things that have ever happened to me.  The end.

2.  There was a fish in our tree.  I don't have the slighest idea how that happened, but I have pictures to prove it.  I'll send them next week.

3.  There was a toad in our house last night but Hermana Alfaro and I were too lazy/scared to get it out so who even knows where it is now.  All I know is that I was super scared when I got up last night to go to the bathroom that this toad was going to attack me, wahhh.

4.  Hermana Muñoz, my companion from Olanchito, is staying with us for a couple of days because she finishes her mission this week.  I'm so happy to see my little Columbian again.

5.  We don't have any food and we are poor and don't have any money either, wah.

6.  I got to do exchanges with Hermana Tito!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I love her.

And that's all the exciting things that happened this week.

Cheque.

Love,

Hermana Holdaway

I know I've been the worst at sending pictures these past couple of months, and today I forgot my camera, but here are some random pictures that I found in my email, whoohoo!!!!!!

Fancy dining at KFC

 Christmas caroling cause yolo