Hey family!!
I hope you´re all having a blast at the ranch, the cabin, southern Utah, California, and all those other awesome places. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Springer, Chelsy and the Hunts, the Anderson family, Cami, Sarah, Dad, and Mom for your letters this week. It means a lot to me that you took the time out of your vacations to shoot me a letter. Cami, I had no idea you´re planning on serving a mission. That´s so great! I just sent you and your family a letter in the mail so look forward to that soon. :) Grandma, that´s so sad that the cabin roof is caving in and that you had to cut down the tire swing tree. things can´t last forever, but it´d be cool if they could. :(
We finally had a baptism!! I was so worried that something would be wrong with Hna. Sanchez´s health and we would have to put off her baptism again, but nope! Since the Elders gave her a blessing she hasn´t had a problem. We had to go to Asuncion for an interview with President Madariaga and she came no problem. She was healthy the day of her baptism, and she came to church the next morning. I love the Priesthood. :)
The baptism was really nice. The Elders had one, too, so Hna. T and I didn´t have to get up super early to clean the font or anything. It was all planned for us, we just had to make sure Hna. Sanchez was ready. She definitely was. I was so glad that we got to take her to meet President beforehand. After her interview with him, I was 100% positive that she was truly ready to make this important covenant in her life. And President has an amazing spirit of love and peace about him that I´m glad she got to feel. She´s my first real convert, and I was so unbelievably happy to see her enter the waters of baptism and lead her to the front of the chapel to recieve the gift of the Holy Ghost. She´d been worried that the water would be cold (and I´d heard stories of people backing out of baptism just because of cold water) but while the little girls who were baptized squealed at how cold it was, Herminia said all she felt was happiness. :) She´s so awesome.
Griselda came to the baptism, and to church with us yesterday. She´s completely set to be baptized on the 25th. Our zone goal for this month is fourteen baptisms, and at this rate I think we´re gonna definitely meet it. That should make up for our atrocious numbers last month. :)
Our study plan for reading Predicad Mi Evangelio this week has been perfectly lining up with our situation. On the day we were stressing about getting everything ready for the baptism, the reading included, "How to Conduct a Baptism." When we were disappointed by an apostate member´s lack of testimony, the reading included, "Menos Activos." The day of Hna. Sanchez´s baptism, we read about new converts staying active in the church, helping us set our sights past this first step in her life as a member.
Oh, and we FINALLY got the LIahonas for May and June. Isn´t the cover for the Conference issue gorgeous? I spent that whole night after we received them just reading through both magazines. It was so great to finally be able to relive the conference talks and remember how I felt back in April. I can´t wait to use some of those quotes in lessons with our investigators. Dad, I remember thinking how weird it was that you would re-listen to conference talks throughout the year, but now I completely understand. I wish I´d had the foresight to put some of them on my iPod.
This weekend the Mariano district had a big priesthood meeting to ordain worthy men to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. Filimón was one of those who received it, and seriously, visiting him and seeing his pure testimony makes all the disappointments worth it. I´m so grateful to know him. Every time we saw him this week before the meeting, he was poring over his gospel principles manuals and things, reading as much as he could about the Priesthood. He expressed nervousness, wanting to be 100% worthy to receive the power of God on earth. We´ve talked to so many men here in Paraguay who only care about money and alcohol, and/or tell us that we´re crazy and are missing out on the "good things" in life. But Filimón is an amazing example for all men everywhere. His greatest concern is his family and his personal worthiness. I´m happy for the missionaries who found and converted him. :) Anyways, we had an amazing lesson with him on Friday when he was worrying about receiving the priesthood the next day. I had just been reading Moses 1 that morning, and so I decided to read with him the part where Satan comes and tries to tempt Moses. I love how in that story we learn that Satan (and the wicked in the world) try to tell us that we are only "sons of man," but, like Moses, we can confidently say that we are children of God, in the similitude of the Only Begotten, and that we have all power over the Adversary. When we turn to God and remember who we are, we have every capability to be 100% worthy of the power of God. And because Filimón seemed to be worrying that he´d have to prove himself somehow, I told him what they´d told us every day at the MTC--"The Lord doesn´t call the qualified; He qualifies the called." I love how in anything other than the gospel, we have to prove ourselves and do all we can to get ahead of others. But with God, all men can be joint-heirs of the blessings He promises. All we have to do is be like Christ, and then the blessings freely flow.
I also have a new-found appreciation for the hymns after this week. We Hermanas always try to sing a hymn before teaching a lesson. Usually we just kind of flip to a random page because we´re both indecisive about hymns, but early this week we came across a catholic lady who seemed determined to hate us but I guess the Spirit moved her to compassion and she let us in. As she was bringing chairs, Hna. T said to me, "Okay, choose the best hymn we can sing--one that will bring the Spirit. One that says "This is who we are and what we stand for." We chose, "I Know that My Redeemer Lives," and by the end of the song, the woman´s suspiciously narrowed eyes had softened and we had a great discussion, not about differences in religion, but about our Savior Jesus Christ. We had several similar experiences this week, where we did our best to sing the most powerful hymns we could so that even if people didn´t initially agree with us, they would be left without a doubt that we love our Savior and that we have the spirit of the Lord with us. I definitely have a testimony of the power of music.
Oh, by the way. Dad, your weather forecast for Paraguay last week proved very useful. we never hear the forecasts here. Wanna send them to us every week? It would sure be nice to know whether or not to bundle up or carry an umbrella and such.
Thanks to the cold, it hasn´t really sunk in that you´re doing all that fun summer stuff without me. I predict it will be the same with Christmas--when I´m sweating like a pig and dying from heatstroke, I won´t be remembering that I´m missing the holidays. But seriously, don´t hold back when you write me about what you´re doing. Tell me EVERYTHING, especially about the ranch. I expect a ranch report to rival the wedding report.
Well, I´ve gotta go. Those pictures I mailed should reach you in two weeks or so. In the meantime, my camera still isn´t uploading anything on these computers. I can´t decide if it´s the camera´s fault, or the computer´s. Sorry. And sorry this letter is kind of uneventful. That´s how this week has been. :)
I LOVE YOU ALL!! Thank you for your thoughts and prayers and letters and everything. I´m the happiest missionary in the world. :)
Love always,
Hna. Springer
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