October 13, 2014

Well what a week this has been!

I said goodbye to the people in Paranà that I absolutely love (I sent pictures) and came here to Capitan Bermudez.  We are on the outskirts of Rosario.  It is a lot more poor than any of my other areas... dirt roads, no supermarkets (just little shops), and super humble conditions of the homes.  I won`t even go into details with the bugs in the apartment and how our toilet doesn`t work hahah.

But it so such a blessing to be here in Rosario at this time... because for this reason Presidente and Hermana Zanni were able to help me so much this last week!  I am so extremely grateful to them.  Both Presidente and Hermana Zanni spent (this is no exaggeration) six hours with me just in my doctor`s appointments this last week!  Taking me to the nicest hospitals and making sure that I was comfortable the entire time. I felt like I had my parents there with me every step of the way!   So very different from when Hermana Ulloa was sick and it was her and I in another city in a scary creepy hospital and I was trying to translate the doctor`s spanish and use all I learned in EMT.

I share this experience with you all s
o that you know that I am sincerely well and grateful for all that God has blessed me with.  I am sharing my blessings with you so that we can share a glimpse of the love and mercy that God has for us.  I am so grateful that all is well and that I will be able to continue moving on like normal!  All I have are a few pills to take and watch what I eat and I am good.  And I witnessed the power of the Priesthood as Presidente Zanni gave me a blessing that I will never forget.  I can feel God`s love for me so strongly through the people and blessings that he sends my way.  Hermana and Presiente Zanni are true examples of Jesus Christ.  They make one feel loved and special, but have hearts for the entire world.  Plus they have 250 missionaries and a young family of 7 children.

I can`t even explain how strange it was to speak to you while riding in the back of Presidente Zanni`s car.  But I also can`t explain how amazingly happy I was!  We smiled and laughed the whole way home to the apartment... not just me, Presidente y Hermana Zanni as well!  We just laughed and joked and laughed some more.

But I want to share a little bit of the things that I learned this week.  The truth is I learned more this week than in most of my mission put together.  But something important is La ley de Cristo (or Christ`s law).  In Mosiah 18:8-9 it speaks of our coventants of baptism.  And how we must bear one another`s burdens and cry with those that cry.  Presidente Zanni showed me another reference in

Galatians 6:2.  

"Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ."

In Doctrine Covenants 88:21 is says

 "And they who are not sanctified through the law which I have given unto you, even the law of Christ, must inherit anotherkingdom, even that of a terrestrial kingdom, or that of a telestial kingdom."

We must sanctify ourselves by means of lifting others.  This is the only way that we can have the desire to remain in the Glory of God when we stand before Him in that great day.

In the bible dictionary in spanish, it says that compassion means to literally "suffer with those that suffer."  That is what Christ did and that is what we must do.  I used to think that I needed to be strong and not cry.  For example, I would be in a lesson with someone and they would tell me of how their mother abandoned them, and I would feel the need to be stoic or something and try to console them. But the truth is, I don`t have the authority to tell them to be still.  Only Christ does.  And as I cry with those that cry, I show a bit of Christ`s love for them.

Love you all so much.  Thank you for your prayers and patience with me throughout the years.  Que tenga una semana maravillosa!

Love, Hermana  Briggs