May 25, 2015

Oookay.

Elias was baptized on Saturday!  You should have seen it... it was such chaos before, and then such peace after.  Though even during the chaos we were happily crazy...

We talked to our mission leader and began to fill up the baptism font at 11:00 in the morning.  The baptism started at 6:30 pm.  Well... we arrived at the chapel at 5:00 just to check on it... seeing as it takes hours to fill.  We got there and opened up the doors... and there was NO WATER.  We turned on the sinks in the bathroom and the kitchen... and there was NO WATER.  There was no water in the whole building!  We checked the tank, we checked the water pressure (all things I have learned how to do in the past year), and we asked the neighbors if they had water.  Anyways, long story short, we started calling members from other wards who know a thing or two about plumming... and within half an hour we had a band of people there.  And we ended up filling font with buckets-one by one- from the tank.  And we filled garbage cans with water, and we watched as people with no money or time worked their ways over to answer our frantic calls for help.  IT WAS SO AMAZING TO SEE EVERYONE COME TOGETHER.  

And his mom ended up coming.  She is so sweet and suffers from HIV, so it is hard for her to get around to a lot of places.  And he cried as people bore their testimonies about their own baptisms... people who have given up everything to be able to join the church.

Everything else fell through as well (hahah as always) but it is okay!  We did improv singing and cake-cutting and just about everything else you can imagine.  But we were all so happy, I just can´t explain it.

On Sunday I received a letter from Grandma Dee.  One of the hermanas gave it to me because she had recently gone to the mission home... and it was written by her the day before my birthday.  In it she told me about how great her week had been (just as she does in every letter) and how blessed she was to have the family that she does.  I waited and opened it up in sacrament meeting.  It was so sweet to hear from her... and I know she is working hard in the spirit world right now!  It is so interesting because we talk all day every day about the plan of salvation... that when you told me she had passed away, it was just so perfectly clear in my mind where she is and what she is doing.  Oh I love her

Elias at his baptism!

This is Rocio and she is so awesome! She gave us a pilates class this morning that about killed me. But she is so sweet,,, the only active member in her family and has an amazing story.

Sara and Barbara, they are so awesome!

May 11, 2015

Hola!

I had a really great week this last week.  We did a lot of traveling all over the place... from Rosario to Santa Fe to Paranà.  But it was so much fun and I love it!

One of the best moments was on Tuesday.  Hermana Yi is my new companion... she was born in Korea but has lived in the states since she was 7-years-old.  She is the oldest of three girls and lived mainly in Chicago!  She speaks Korean, English, and Spanish.  And she has been here one transfer more than me... but it is just so much fun because we could hit the ground running together!  And we had a lesson in the chapel with Elias.  Elias (I think I wrote about him once) is going to be baptized on 23 of May.  He has changed his entire life!  Done a full 180.  He was addicted to drugs, but hasn`t touched them since he began reading the Book of Mormon three weeks ago.  And we had a lesson about ten commandments... and with us was Barbara (a recent convert who was baptized 4 months ago and is 20 years old and SO AWESOME) and a returned missionary named Fabricio.  And we began talking, and everyone shared their testimonies about the blessings that come from the commanments.  And when we got to "Honor your mother and your father"  he began to cry, and told us about how he learned this commandment when he was young and his mom was diagnosed with HIV.  It was so amazing as we all felt the spirit as he told us about his life and history and his love for his mom.  Oh my goodness I think it was the best lesson I have ever had!  And Barbara shared about how they never had enough food growing up, and rough things went on in their house, but she learned how to forgive her parents and learn to love and honor them.  

I am so grateful for you, mom and dad!  I love you all so much.

Love, Hermana Eleanor Briggs

May 3, 2015

Okay... I am going to write about the person in this picture.  Her name is Sara! I wish I could explain to you all how amazing she is.  7 months ago, when I was here in Parana, we began to teach Sara.  At the time she was living with the father of one of her two children.  She is 26 and has two boys.. Maxi (9) and Andres (5).

Since then, she has made a lot of changes.  Sara was baptized about 6 months ago.  She lives alone with her two boys and works ALL DAY LONG to be able to barely provide food for her little family.  They live in a little tiny house that is really cold now (because it is winter) and she is always sharing the gospel and trying to help other people.  She stops and talks to people when she sees that they need help or look sad... because she wants to share with them about the hope and light that has come into her life since she was baptized and learned about the gospel of Jesus Christ.  They live in an area that is a little bit on the dangerous side, but she tries to provide an environment for her boys that has the spirit and they can feel safe and comfortable.  I am so grateful that I am able to know people like her!

Well... we went to church on Sunday.  And during sacrament, I was seated next to a new member named Rocio Rios... and she is amazing as well.  She is 25 (I think) and basically the only member in her family.  And we sat and listened to beautiful testimonies... and I found that I was super stressed about a lot of people in the ward.  Many of the new members that have serious problems in their lives and hard things to conquer, members and leaders that are losing work and being robbed and really sick, and investigators that are trying to make drastic (and I mean DRASTIC) changes in their lives and are feeling soo much pressure from Satan.  Oh my goodness and before I knew it I was crying.  And I ended up crying for a while... and everyone else was as well because it seems that everyone had a very hard week and was very humble and receptive to the spirit.  

And the little girl that was in front of me is named Carmela, and she is five years old.  She turned around and looked at me for a minute, and I smiled back and cried.  And she asked me to lean over to her... and I leaned over and she used her little finger and being wiping away each tear on my face and under my eyes.  And she studied each tear and just gently kept on wiping them away.  And then she said, "Why are you crying?"  

"I don`t know," I whispered, not knowing what to say.  And then she kept on looking at me with sooo much love on her little face.  "Can I draw you a picture?"  she asked.

I know that Jesus Christ has the heart of a child.  That He has true concern and empathy. And He wipes away each one of our tears.  And He heals us.  

I wish I could tell about all of the experiences I had this week.  The truth is... there were many many very spiritual and humbing experiences this week.  We cried with many families and people in their doorways as we heard many sad and hard things.  But I know that Christ has suffered for it all.  And I am so grateful I can trust and rely on Him.

This is Carme, the little girl who wiped my tears.

Taking on the world (or Parana)... we alway eat with a family on Sundays and then walk home together.

I got all of your birthday cards and I love them soooo soon much. I cried tears of happiness.

April 27, 2015

I had a fantastic birthday week!  Really it was so great.  We did divisions with Hermanas en Sunchalez and Rafaela.  Both are desert towns in Santa Fe.  It is so fun and rewarding to be able to work with other hermanas and get to know them and be their friends.  We traveled 4 hours there and 4 hours back.  It is also fun to be able to see a little bit of the landscape (I am kind of distracted as I write because there is some screamo music playing really loudly in this place).

But on my birthday, a married couple of missionaries invited us over for lunch (as we were in their area of Sunchalez).  They are from Switzerland and speak English, German, Spanish, and French!  I have no idea how they do it.  They are Elder and Hermana Hohermuth.  And so sweet!  They made me that swiss boiled cabbage that I am forgeting what it is called but it was great to eat something different.  She also made me a cute little blue cake and we ate outside on their patio and drank malta.  Then we RAN to catch our bus and we were almost running late every all week!    Then we went to visit a family in Rafaela during divisions, and it was the birthday of the dad of the family!  And they gave me a wallet (people here are so amazing they just want to give us everything) and I shared with them about pre-exhistence and how they were specifically chosen to be pioneers for their family and the branch.  It was a powerful and amazing night.

I wanted to write about this boy we have been teaching named Elias.  He is 22 and was brought to church by a returned missionary in our ward here.  He had approached this returned missionary (Fabricio) earlier in the week and said that he wanted to change his life.  He had been in the streets a lot... doing drugs and lots of other things.  But we had a lesson with him in the chapel with Fabricio.  OH MY I WISH THAT I COULD EXPRESS THIS LESSON.  The spirit was so strong as we talked about repentance and forgiveness.  He began to cry as he told us that he was willing to do ANYTHING to be able to feel better and change.  He said how he wanted to show to his family that he was worth something, and he knows that Jesus Christ is the only way to be able to overcome the things that he has done.  He is going to be baptized on May 9th and be clean of everything he has ever done and be able to bless the lives of so many as a faithful member of the church! 

I am so grateful for these amazing experiences that we are able to have every day. And to have had 20 years of an amazing family and friends, and the eternity to come!

April 20, 2015

Do you know how I came back to an area that I already was in?  Technically it is a different area but the same ward... well I was able to see Elin!  She is 14-years-old.  I was here when she was baptized 7 months ago.  And it was so amazing.  We went to their house at 11:30 am and they were all sleeping, hahah.  But we kept on knocking.  And the mom and Elin and her brother German sleepily got out of bed and changed and washed their faces as we waited in the kitchen/bedroom.  And when she finished and saw me, she gave me a hug and had tears in her eyes.  And she wouldn`t let go of me, and hugged me so tightly.  It was so amazing to be with her again and to hear of her miraculous change of heart and her love for Christ.  Oh I love her so much!

We are "using the fruits of the spririt as the measuring stick of our success."  I heard that from somewhere once but I can`t remember where. But it is so amazing how the Lord sends us little signs that we are on the right path.  For example... we were running behind in our appointments and stopped to talk to people and ended up being more behind and stressed in the bus.  But as we sat there, a new member entered the bus and sat down behind us.  We had been stressed about getting to her house later that week and didn`t know how we were going to!  Her name is Milagros, and she is a mother of 8 and works all day and studies all night and sleeps three hours no mas.  And then she comes to church on Sunday and is happy and very tired.  And then she does everything over again in the following week!!  But we were able to talk to her and see that she is well and let her know that we are thinking about her.  It was a good moment.

We had other things that happened.  Sitting in lunch and comforting mothers who are worried about their rebelious children and don`t know what to do, and helping married couples rely more on the gospel to resolve their problems, and meeting amazing people from other religions, and having a zone conference with Presidente Zanni, and having 4 investigators drop us, helping people who`s husbands died within the past week, and washing our hair with mayonays to kill the possibity of having lice, etc.  It is so amazing how the spirit adapts to all circumstances and knows all things.  And if we listen, we can help these people.  And if we don`t listen... we can do nothing.

Love you all!! 

April13, 2015

Hi family!

I had a great week this last week!  Not to say it was easy... but it was a good and fulfilling one.  On Monday we had "Consejo de Lideres" which is a council that we do every month with all of the zone leaders and asistents and mission president.  We sit in a circle and discuss topics and how we can improve... and the spirit is SO STRONG.  It is amazing how the topic of conversation can be moved when you follow the waves of the spirit.  It was a great experience and I am grateful I am able to be a part of it.

We had a great lesson this week with Sebastian.  He is 17 and was baptized about 6 months ago.  He is so great... the only member in his family and does not have much love from his parents. Lately he began listening to missionaries from a different church, and we were not sure why.  But we reminded him of all of the spiritual experiences he has had, and the manifestations that this is the true church.  How, when he first read the Book of Mormon and prayed about it, was overcome with the spirit. And other things that have happened.  Then we read in Alma about the 2000 stripling warriors and how we need to be like them and defend the truth.  Ah the spirit was so strong as we all testified... including him! 

I love working with recent converts.  They have spirits and testimonies so strong and eager to learn!  They give up everything to be able to join the church.  I am learning what it really means to "mourn with those that mourn and comfort those that stand in need of comfort."  Because I see that they give up families and jobs and reputations and food and homes to be able to come to church.  

Love you so muchª Hermana Eleanor Briggs

April 6, 2015

I had a great semana santa here!  I was able to travel to Santa Fe (Mayoraz) and do divisions there, and that was really fun.  I am learning A LOT.

Conference was great... we went out before each session to pick up less active members and bring them, as we are lacking in the investigator zone at the mombent, but looking and searching to find more.  

One of the less-active members that came is named Inez.  She is so sweet.  She is about 35 years old, and just a month ago went COMPLETELY BLIND.  Can you imagine waking up one day and not being able to see light?  She lives with her father, Esteban.  A couple years ago, her brother killed himself, and they moved homes to try to find a little bit of peace from their often- haunting thoughts of the event.  They currently live in a home that is shared with many other people.  Or, what I mean to say is, there is no front door, just a woven blanket that covered the doorway that leads to a dirt and stone hallway where many others live.  And they have a little one-room place for the two of them.  He passes the day without work, taking care of her, and trying to teach himself to read and play the guitar.  I cannot tell you how sad it was to leave from that home the first time I went... and seeing them suffering so much but not really knowing it.

We went over to her house before the conference and tried to help get her ready to go.  Esteban wouldn´t go with us (yet)... but we did Inez´s hair in braid and were going to paint her nails but realized that we didn´t have nailpolish and it was a Sunday.  We called a taxi and went to the conference (which started at 1:00pm here).

When we got there, the sweet relief society president came and helped her.  None of the members had known what kind of a condition she is in.  This relief society president has many family problems on her own... one being that they currently are trying to find a house and her husband lost his job and someone broke into their house and robbed them of almost everything they own!  That was real and true consecration from her.

But it was so fun to sit with new members and investigators and explain to them all of their questions as we watched the conference together.  And to see Inez out of her house and feeling beautiful.  It truly was a sweet and unforgettable experience.

I loved the talk that said we can be Latter-day sinners, quiters, hypocrits, or saints.  And that we just need to KEEP TRYING.  I have been rather frustrated with myself lately and my own weaknesses... my poor companion has heard me complain a lot about this.  But I just know that I am given these things so that I can rely on the Savior and learn to be more like Him and trust in Him.  Not so I feel horrible about myself.  He didn´t give His life so that we feel bad... He gave His life so that we feel hope and peace and happiness.

Love you all and I hope you had a good Easter.  And happy birthday, mom!  I love you so much.  More and more each day.