11-24-14

Hey guys!

This week has been good! We´ve finishing the Charlas with Camilla and Lucas, and they are for sure getting baptized this weekend! (It may be Friday or Saturday, We´re still not sure. But It´s going to happen!) Camilla is so excited, and has been keeping all of the commitments. They both drink coffee, so when we taught the Word of Wisdom, it was a little difficult for them, but Camilla told us that it was more important for her to be baptized than it was to drink coffee, That made us super happy! Lucas is still a little pretty little, and he doesn´t completley understand that we have the word of Wisdom because our bodies are gifts from God, and in order to be completly free in this life, we need to avoid addictive things like coffee, but he is following the example of his sister and is going to stop drinking coffe.   Their parents are super supportive of them, but aren´t interested in taking the disscusions. We are hoping so bad that one day they will open up to the idea of joining the church, because Camilla and Lucas would benefit SO MUCH if their parents got baptized and started participating in the church. The thing that makes their parents so Golden is they are married. (At least we think they are!)  In Uruguay, NOBODY is married, becuse it takes a ton of time and paperwork. It really is a hassel to get people married, it takes 3 to 4 months to get it cleared through the governement, sometimes longer. So the fact that they are already married would make it that much easier for them to get baptized with their kids!   So we´re working on them, we´ll see!

We also met this week another family who are from Montevideo. They moved to Lascano recently. The mom Ana and her two kids Erika-12 and Jorge-21.   We found them in the street, and they have been willing to have us come and teach them! They go to an Evangelist church in Lascano, and are firm believers in God.  We taught lesson one, and invited them to pray about Joseph Smith. The mom told us that she has been going to their church because it was the church that her family went to when she was growing up, but that she wanted to find out for sure which church, of all the churches in the world, are true. So, we´re going to see what happens! They are super awesome!

We are still working on Marianna and Antony! They are worth the work! Marianna is a recent convert of 4 or 5 months, and hasn´t really been going to church, but she wants her son Antony to get baptized. (This is the mom that was mad at us a few weeks ago.)  Elder Ochoa and I decided that before we try to teach Antony, we really need to strengthen Marianna. We´ve been inviting her to pray again and to read the book of mormon everyday. We have also been stressing how important it is to go to church every sunday. We had a super good talk with her yesterday. She texted us yesterday and asked us if we could come over. So we did, and she was really beside herself. She confided in us that she really wants to come back, and start changing her life again, but that everytime she goes to read the scriptures or pray, she can´t. She said it´s like something stops her, or an issue in the family comes up. Recognizing that it was from the Adversary, she asked us what she can do. We got to explain that God and Satan both have power. But the one that will have power over us is the one that we choose to follow. It depends on us. It was a really good heart to heart talk with her. She is super awesome, and we don´t want her to be lost in the shuffle of all the less actives of Lascano.  This conversation really got me thinking. It´s true, that Satan only has power if we give it to him. We know that because we have bodies and he doesn´t. Therefore, we always have to upperhand. But a lot of times, Satan gets us to think that he´s in control, and that we are week. But it´s  LIE! We are always in control!  Watching some of the people here and the investigators we have, is so sad sometimes! They think  that they are controlled by whatever bad things happen to them, and that they don´t have the power. But it´s not true! That´s been a big focus in the mission, that the power to act is in the people.  Whenever we invite someone to repent, and they say know, we have a formula to help them see that the power is in them. For instance, if they say they can´t come to church because they have to work, we First, validate them. Say, It is super good that you want to provide for your family. That is super important. Second, you promise blessings. we say By coming to church, we promise that you will have More strength and capacity to help your family and provide for them. Then Third, and most important, you show them that the power is in them. Instead of saying You ask your boos for time off, or you could get another job,  We say, What can you do so that you can provide for your family, but still come to church? This shows them that they have to power, and that they can do it. Then fourth, we bear testimony.  This formula IS AWESOME! it was given to us in a Conference with Elder Gonzalez of the Seventy, like 4 or 5 monthes ago. But it has worked so well!

Anyway, We are excited for a new week, and to keep gathering israel!  This church is true! We are apart of a much greater work then we sometimes have to capabilty to see. There are children of our Heavenly Father all over the world waiting for us to bring them the truth that God lives, that He has provided a plan for us, and we get to live with him again, if we fullifill our part in that plan-Specifically being baptized and enduring to the end.  We have a great responsiblity, and even though our work will be like a drop in the bucket compared to how much there is still to do, we have to do it. We have been given the duty to do it. I know that this is the work of salvation. My testimony is growing stonger everyday!

You guys rock! I hope you have an awesome week!  ¡Viva Uruguay!

Elder Carroll