Monday, September 24, 2012

Division with Elder Reeser

Last Thursday I went on the division with Elder Reeser. We talked about all sorts of techniques that we can use to improve the work. This had to have been one of the best divisions that I have ever done in my mission. The Spirit was extremely strong throughout the whole day. We talked about engaging the investigators better in the lessons, so that we are teaching people, not lessons. We put this into practice and had an incredible day! We committed an investigator to live the Word of Wisdom after the Spirit being super strong in the room.
The interview went super great with my Mission President. He actually did not have too much counsel for me, other than not to get trunky (lazy) on my mission. He told me that I have done great things on my mission and that I’m doing a great job in helping Elder Fogelberg in becoming a strong missionary.
So this week, we have had some major progress with Odette and her family. Her whole family now has the desire to come to church, and they were going to come this past Sunday, but Onze (Odette’s partner) his brother died, and the funeral was on Sunday. Funerals here take all day because, after the service, all the people walk behind the funeral car all the way to the cemetery. Odette’s baby also had a fall and passed out, but everything seems to be ok now. We had a great lesson with them about the fact that families can be together forever. Odette’s face lit up as she mentioned that she missed her mom very much since her death. She got more excited to live the Word of Wisdom and want to continue talking to us. They promised that they would come to church this week.

Also, this week we are preparing this woman named Joana for baptism. Joana was someone that had been studying with the elders for a very long time. She had a few problems coming to church in the past, but she had recently experienced some major health problems like migraines and other issues. This has caused her to humble herself and look for the Lord. She came to church last week, and she said that she was ready to prepare for baptism.

Additionally, we are working hard with other investigators, so they can progress and come to church on a regular basis.
Elder Cuestas

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

The Family From Pedreira

Last weekend was the sickest I have ever been on my mission. I literally could not get up from my bed, and Elder Fogelberg was throwing up throughout the day. The whole city was without power, except Bela Vista. (That was a gift from the Lord, so that our fans could keep working)

It’s interesting because towards the beginning of the afternoon, Elder Fogelberg could not get up from his bed, and I was taking care of him bringing him water and medicine, and anything he needed. Around 8 pm, he started to feel much better, and I had started to feel worse. I had acquired a killer headache and quite a fever, so much that after 9 pm, I could not get up from bed, and Elder Fogelberg was bringing me water and medicine and what not…It seems that the Lord staged our sicknesses so that we could help each other…ha-ha.
This week we’re feeling much better!
So this Wednesday, we have training and interviews with our Mission President. I’m excited for this because I’ll receive inspired counsel for these last 5 weeks that I have left here. I’m also excited because I’ll be going on a division with Elder Reeser. He has been a good friend throughout my whole mission, an excellent missionary. He’s very humble, and it’s great that we’ll be spending a day together, so that I can see how I can help him as his District Leader.

Right now we’re focusing on the family from Pedreira. The woman’s name is Odette, and her partner’s name is Onze. They’re extremely humble and have 5 kids. Odette and Onze seem to have an extremely good relationship, and it’s interesting that Odette is really good friends with Zuleika. Zuleika told us that Odette has wanted to get married to her partner for a very long time. We’re excited to get to work with them because we taught them the word of wisdom last week. It seems that this flu has been spreading throughout all Mindelo very quickly, and Odette got it pretty bad this past weekend. However, despite that she managed to stay away from coffee which she has been drinking for a long time. She is a woman of true faith, and she walks to church in the heat every week with her children. Her partner this last week has begun to acquire interest, and he’s now participating in the lessons.
Orlandina and Firmina are doing better than ever this week. They managed to bring their mother to church this past Sunday. We’ll start teaching her this week, as well.

Abilio and Sandra have been having huge issues in their relationship. It was becoming so hard to find them that we decided to leave them be for a while, due to the fact that they were not keeping appointments at all. Miraculously, this past weekend they both showed up to church on Sunday, which is really good. It seems that they have not forgotten their desires to join the Church, so after talking to them for a while, we made an appointment, and we’ll be focusing more on them now.

We’re currently with a lot of investigators, and a lot of people to work with. This is good because it will keep me busy, so that I can finish the mission strong.

This week we’re preparing Aileen for baptism. She is a younger girl who caught interest in the Gospel because of her sisters Zuleika and Kika joining the church. Little by little, we’re helping this entire family to come to the gospel. We’re teaching their other sister Doris, too.

Well, due to the few days out of work last week, we have tons of work, and we’re excited for the weeks of hard work ahead!  
Elder Cuestas


Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Firmina's Baptism

This week was Firmina’s baptism, which was something very special for Elder Fogelberg and me. The spirit was exceptionally strong and the whole time during her baptism I did feel that she is going to be an excellent help in the church and that she is going to start service through church callings pretty soon. Her testimony was one of the strongest that I had seen for someone who is just learning about the Gospel. Ever since she moved out, she has been at peace, and she is enjoying her new live with her little 6 year old. She is an extremely strong woman, and she knows that she has just made one of the greatest decisions in her life!

As I’ve mentioned before, one of the biggest challenges here in Bela Vista is getting people to church. This week we did end up finding a bunch of new people, but we did not have too many investigators that were progressing towards baptism.  Both Elder Fogelberg and I were a bit drained on Saturday after working all that we could this past week with not exactly the results we were expecting. However, that day we were walking up in a part of Bela Vista called Pedreira and we got this impression to visit these relatively new investigators that we were teaching to invite them to church. We got to their house, and all of them were there. We talked to the mother and invited her to church, and she agreed. The people here often agreed to come to church, but who actually makes it, we never know.

Sunday morning comes around and after a 35 minute walk in the 90 degree heat, and rain, while wearing our suits, we only found 3 investigators in church. We weren’t happy about it, but we accepted it...then about 10 minutes later, there was our family from Pedreira all coming to church as well as 3 other investigators that we were counting on. This resulted in the highest amount of investigators that I’ve ever had in church at one time. We had 11 investigators in church. This is huge for an area that was once dead.
My companion and I were cheering and celebrating the whole way home. The Lord produced such a huge miracle for our hard work this past week. I’m so grateful for the power of faith and the power that it has to convince people to make that 35 minute walk in the heat to church. It’s all the spirit. We just try to move our mouths to what the spirit wants us to say.
Elder Cuestas