Re: Faith

These are pictures of the day that we were caught in a rainstorm on the way to an appointment with the Mayhua family. We´re making memories. :)

On Mon, Aug 25, 2014 at 11:58 AM, Jacqulyn Arroyo <jacqulyn.arroyo@myldsmail.net> wrote:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jacqulyn Arroyo <jacqulyn.arroyo@myldsmail.net>
Date: Mon, Aug 25, 2014 at 11:56 AM
Subject: Faith
To: angie1717@msn.com, cav788@yahoo.com, jarroyo.pv3.cusco@blogger.com, Angela Kaufman <angela.ken625@gmail.com>, Brook Schaefermeyer <brookschaef@gmail.com>, Doug Roundy <dcr1003@gmail.com>, georgie arroyo <caligirl102028@gmail.com>, georgie juarez <gjuarez90631@yahoo.com>, irene juarez <irene_juarez2@hotmail.com>, Ken Kaufman <kenkaufman45@gmail.com>, Lars Jenson <lars.jenson@gmail.com>, Nathan Powell <nathan.powell@myldsmail.net>, Quinn Bushman <quinn.bushman@myldsmail.net>, Steven Roundy <steven.roundy@myldsmail.net>, Kelsie Harper <kelsie.harper13@gmail.com>, charlotte.payton@myldsmail.net, dallyne.olivas@myldsmail.net, hannah.givens@myldsmail.net, kailani.klingler@myldsmail.net, Daniel Kaufman <ripstix@gmail.com>

So, long story short, my compi is my best friend! She came back from Cusco on Friday and we have been having a blast since.

This Sunday a ton of our less actives that we are working with came to Church. (It is seriously the best to see them walk through the doors smiling!)

We´ve recieved more references from the members.

Every morning we do Insanity. (We started a new video today, and I was so close to puking.)

Oh. And chocolate. We eat chocolate daily. :D

Hermana Chipunavi and I are putting in our everything this week because after all of the time that she has been away, we only have two more weeks together! And we feel that it is about time that we had cambios. We are almost positive that she will be the one leaving because of the sensitive skin condition she has here in Puno. AND those 30 new hermanas will be coming to the mission in the next transfer! Who wants to bet that the both of us will be training and/or opening new sectors? We try not to think about it too much. :)

This week has made me think even more about my purpose here in Puno as a missionary. It seems to be to help others return to church, and the other is to strengthen the youth. We have received several references to teach part-member families whose kids and cousins have desires to be baptized. But the main things that are keeping them from progressing is the permission we need to teach them, and we also would rather teach whole families with parents who will support their kids in the gospel. We as misionaries, dont work hard to bring others to the gospel for them to fall away from it shortly after. And so we are working out the details in order to be able to teach these youth and their families. It is maybe the funnest thing that I have done!

This Sunday we rounded up the three girls that we are meeting with to attend Young Womens. Each one of them has her own background with hard challenges and is shy, so Hermana and I made a special effort to join them in this class. And as we sat in to learn, I couldnt help but take in the moment and consider how lucky we are to teach these girls who need to learn the gospel early in life in order to bless their own families. Each one is so good, inocent, and full of hope in the future! And because of the challenges that they have had, they know who Heavenly Father is and have been able to recognize the truth. It is so great! Can you tell how excited I am to teach them what i know and to share my testimony? They are going to be my daughters. :D

Other news! This week I had a bomb-day of personal study. Have you guys ever read in Hebrews 11 about faith? It is really similar to Ether 12, but with different examples of faith. Go and read it and study it! I went through the day feeling so inspired.

Would we study if we didnt believe that we could recieve more knowledge? Would we work if we didnt believe that we could receive wages? Everyday we act on things to receive an end that we cant see from the beginning. This is faith. And this is the principle we walk by every day of our lives.

We are here on the earth to progress and become more like Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We have trials and sicknesses in order to learn obedience and faith, because these are things that They live by.  And so, we cant reach any of our goals here if we dont develop our faith and obedience. These things are so simple, but are critical to our happiness and salvacion!

This letter of the week is a bit longer than usual, so I hope you can learn with me from my experiences.

Haz lo justo,

Hermana Arroyo

 

Faith

So, long story short, my compi is my best friend! She came back from Cusco on Friday and we have been having a blast since.

This Sunday a ton of our less actives that we are working with came to Church. (It is seriously the best to see them walk through the doors smiling!)

We´ve recieved more references from the members.

Every morning we do Insanity. (We started a new video today, and I was so close to puking.)

Oh. And chocolate. We eat chocolate daily. :D

Hermana Chipunavi and I are putting in our everything this week because after all of the time that she has been away, we only have two more weeks together! And we feel that it is about time that we had cambios. We are almost positive that she will be the one leaving because of the sensitive skin condition she has here in Puno. AND those 30 new hermanas will be coming to the mission in the next transfer! Who wants to bet that the both of us will be training and/or opening new sectors? We try not to think about it too much. :)

This week has made me think even more about my purpose here in Puno as a missionary. It seems to be to help others return to church, and the other is to strengthen the youth. We have received several references to teach part-member families whose kids and cousins have desires to be baptized. But the main things that are keeping them from progressing is the permission we need to teach them, and we also would rather teach whole families with parents who will support their kids in the gospel. We as misionaries, dont work hard to bring others to the gospel for them to fall away from it shortly after. And so we are working out the details in order to be able to teach these youth and their families. It is maybe the funnest thing that I have done!

This Sunday we rounded up the three girls that we are meeting with to attend Young Womens. Each one of them has her own background with hard challenges and is shy, so Hermana and I made a special effort to join them in this class. And as we sat in to learn, I couldnt help but take in the moment and consider how lucky we are to teach these girls who need to learn the gospel early in life in order to bless their own families. Each one is so good, inocent, and full of hope in the future! And because of the challenges that they have had, they know who Heavenly Father is and have been able to recognize the truth. It is so great! Can you tell how excited I am to teach them what i know and to share my testimony? They are going to be my daughters. :D

Other news! This week I had a bomb-day of personal study. Have you guys ever read in Hebrews 11 about faith? It is really similar to Ether 12, but with different examples of faith. Go and read it and study it! I went through the day feeling so inspired.

Would we study if we didnt believe that we could recieve more knowledge? Would we work if we didnt believe that we could receive wages? Everyday we act on things to receive an end that we cant see from the beginning. This is faith. And this is the principle we walk by every day of our lives.

We are here on the earth to progress and become more like Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We have trials and sicknesses in order to learn obedience and faith, because these are things that They live by.  And so, we cant reach any of our goals here if we dont develop our faith and obedience. These things are so simple, but are critical to our happiness and salvacion!

This letter of the week is a bit longer than usual, so I hope you can learn with me from my experiences.

Haz lo justo,

Hermana Arroyo

 

Del Rio & Arroyo

I´ve found my long lost sister...Hermana Del Rio!

Pictures

Hermana Rosalia has been one of my study budies for the week since Hermana C has been in Cusco. I love her sooo much. She reminds me of you, Mom. :)Abuela Hansen! She is the mission mom of Hermana C, and she is now a Hermana Leader in our zone! We had an awesome time in our splits together. Here we are learning how to make lasagna from Hugo, a member in the ward.
Tajin! My life just got better. :)

Rain

This week has been a bit of a challenge! But not because we didnt have lessons - we´ve been blessed with lots of less actives and new investigators to teach. Hermana Chipunavi has been in Cusco for the second week in the row for medical problems, and I have been a little stressed out leading the sector. I´ve totally relied on her for everything, and so  now I am getting a taste of what it will be like when we separate. But I have learned something really important through it all. We need to be pushed out of our comfort zones in order to gain confidence; we need trials to increase our faith; and we need to know unhappiness in order to experience true joy. My faith has been challenged this week as I have gone out with members for visits, but I have also been blessed to know that although it is scary to lead, it is also so rewarding to know that I am capable. And I know that Heavenly Father is always with me, which has been a tremendous comfort.

This week we obtained permission to teach Carlos, an investigator who is 11 and all but him and his dad are members in his family. We are so excited that he wants to be baptized this month! What is more, we´ve found more people to teach through his friends at school. And so, as always, Heavenly Father is preparing his children. It is amazing to see and to be an instrument in His Hands at this time. I am so excited to help these people progress!

I have to tell you guys, though. Hermana C and I got caught in a rain storm on a mountain as we were heading to our last appointment with Carlos. It would have been miserable if we didnt have each other to laugh with and a lesson to teach. We got to the appointment SOAKED, but we had the lesson as planned where we were able to make more goals with the family. But seriously, when will we have another opportunity like this one that we had again? I love Puno!


Hermana Arroyo

Repentance

I have some great news! Maricela was baptized this Saturday. The baptism was performed in another chapel since she lives in a different ward, and I got the chance to speak about the gift of the Holy Ghost. Talk about a whirlwind of emotions! I was so antsy and excited right before and I cried way more than I expected. It was such a special moment. The sad part was that Hermana Chipunavi couldnt go because she left for Cusco that morning. (My companion has some kind of weird infection in her eyes and needed to see the mission doctor. Please pray for her!)

The other great part of this week was divisiones. I met my grandma for the very first time! Her name is Hermana Hansen, and she trained my mom, but now she is a hermana leader in our area! We went on splits in my sector and she taught me so much about obedience and repentance. I dont think there is a greater joy than to work with God in helping others repent and change their lives. We get to do this everyday as missionaries, but it has really made me ponder how I helped others through this process before my mission. Repentence is personal and it isnt a daily conversation that we start with just anyone. And as members and not full-time missionaries, we dont have the authority to extend promises or to teach in the place of the missionaries. But we can help others to repent by loving them, uplifting them, and most importantly by refraining from judging them. And so my question is this: Do I make it easier for others to repent? I think this is something important to consider. Do we forget the wrong doings of others just as the Lord does? I know that I´ve had my slip-ups, and havent always been so willing to forgive. But I do know how it feels to have guilt and a desire to leave a sin behind. I know this is why Christ suffered for our sins, so that we might be forgiven if we repent. (D&C 19:15-20) The Atonement is so beautiful! And anyone can have access to it. The Lord only asks us to confess our sins, leave them behind, and go forward by keeping His commandments. I love this scripture in Doctrine and Covenants:

´´For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance;

Nevertheless, he that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven.´´ D&C :31-32)

An attribute of Christ is forgiveness, and I want to always be able to forgive even when someone has wronged me. It isnt easy, but it is possible. I know that we can be a lot happier following Christ than the world, and so I am trying this out. I know that we can also love others as Christ would by forgiving them and helping them forgive themselves. I promise you all that if you do this, you will feel a desire to bring others to the gospel. There is no other truer happiness than the joy of repentance and being reconciled with God.

Hermana Arroyo

Help to accomplish

This week we fasted to be able to meet more people to teach, and our fast and prayers were answered the day of! In the beginning of Sunday we recieved happy and sad news that our investigator Maricela wants to be baptized this week, but that we will need to give her record over to other missionaries because she lives one block out of our sector. We were crushed when we found this out, but we are also so happy to see so much happiness and light in Maricela`s eyes. Heavenly Father has blessed us for sure. He even sent us more blessings yesterday by putting prepared people and a less active family into our path. Seeing Maricela so converted has given Hna Chipunavi and I so much hope and excitement for the future. I thought that I knew what missionary work was before my mission, and I am learning that there is so much more to it. We experience saddness when others misuse their agency because we love them so much, but it is a saddness that I would not give away. There is happiness in being able to empathize with another's suffering and love them despite their imperfections.

We also recieved word from President that we need to focus more on less active members. He is really concerned about Puno because it has the lowest attendance in all of the mission; even two sectors in my zone needed to be closed in the last change. Mine and Hermana C`s sector is better than most, but there are still so many less actives that we need to find! Like I mentioned before, she and I were really sad to refer our golden investigator to other missionaries after having worked three months to prepare her for baptism, but reactivations are just as important as having a baptism. It is seriously the best to see the light of Christ shine brightly in another`s eyes when they understand the Atonement and who they are, whether it is for the first time or after a long process of repentance.

I also have a story to share. Yesterday after a lesson that we had, Hermana and I met with an old woman who was having a hard time walking up the mountainside. My companion is seriously such a great example to me! Hermana Chipunavi noticed that she was crying and quickly went to the side of the old woman and helped her to the nearest tienda. We tried speaking to her in Spanish, but quickly realized that the grandma speaks mostly Quechua and knows only signal words in Spanish. With the help of the girl who works in the tienda we were able to figure out that the old woman is sick and needed kindling to make a fire. We received the kindling and helped the woman to her house. At the exact same time that we were trying to communicate with her, a member came up in the path and started speaking Quechua. We only know him as abuelito because he is the grandpa of the second counselor in the bishopric and is normally too timid to speak. But during this time we saw a miracle as he began translating for us. He related the story of the Quechuan woman to us, and began crying as he explained how she lives alone without light and sometimes food. We helped Nicolesa, the old woman, into her house, and we now have plans to visit her with Mama Rosalia who also speaks Quechua. I cant stop thinking of the signifigance of this experience. Heavenly Father put us in the path of this old woman so we could help her. A language barrier was the challenge, but He provided a way for us to share the gospel with her through the help of abuelito. Heavenly Father really loves us, and has given every one a gift that the other doesnt have so that we can serve each other. This is a commandment that we have to serve others, and although it sometimes appears hard to accomplish, He has prepared a way for our success. We need only be willing to do our part.

 
This is all for now because I am out of time, but I love you all! Reach out to less actives and always be willing to serve.

Hermana Arroyo