Hello All!!
What a week it has been. Honestly, if I could truly explain all that has happened this week.... It has been WONDERFUL and full of miracles, but also full of road bumps that have helped us grow together as a companionship and work more with the ward. If it wasn't for a fantastic companion and a bajillion prayers, we might not have made it.
But we did! :D And we finished it with a great Easter Sunday (which by the way is almost not celebrated here...that was a big strange...) and Maria's baptism! So all in all, it was a good week. :)
I wrote her really fast back, and asked her what was up after reading that first paragraph. And this paragraph is what I got, and I laughed SO HARD: It was just all the stress with going to Tocapilla, having a mini earthquake there, :P and the whole baptism stuff!! But we're great truly!! Just lots of stressors. :) BUT I AM FINE. DO NOT WORRY. :D Love you Mom! Truly that is the truth. I haven't ever lied to you. Except for when I ruined the iron. And a couple other times, but I have been forgiven for those other times that you now know about and I promise I'm not lying. :) It just been busy and stressful. :D LOVES!! :D
So to start the week off. We had a Zone training meeting (we have them after every consejo that we had in Antofa that we went to a couple weeks ago) and the Zone Leaders told us we were headed that night to Tocapilla. Tocapilla is a little port town that is about 3 hours from Calama, but it's still part of our zone. :) So we headed to Tocapilla to have intercambios (exchanges....?) with the hermanas there. :) Hermana Cluff and Hermana Fontenot are the hermanas there, and we had a great intercambio with them. I learned so much from Hna Fontenot. (In intercambios, we spend a day working with another hermana.) I got the chance to work with Hna Fontenot and she is fantastic. They both are. :) Anywho. We had a great day in Tocapilla, and Thursday morning we were on the bus back to Calama. It's been a cambio full of traveling. :)
Thursday night was the night we had a Tree of Life activity planned, but last minute we changed it to a Bingo Cine Night. It turned out GREAT!! We had about 30ish people that attended, in the which they had to listen for phrases in the video "Finding Faith in Christ" and mark their bingo card. We had great participation from everyone and we received a lot of references, which was fantastic.
And jumping to Saturday to the baptism! So this story is long and complicated and will have to be a little bit shorter than it really was, but wow. What a day. :D On Tuesday, we were meeting with Maria and we talked about Ether 12, which we had left for her to read. We talked about faith and how we have to act in order to exercise our faith. Faith without works is dead. We also talked about vs 6:
6 And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.
We talked a lot about how we receive no witness until after the trail of our faith. We talked about how truly making the decision to be baptized is a trial of our faith, but that we are so very blessed in making that decision in this life, and in the life to come. Her daughter shared that she had her dad's temple work done, and that Maria would be able to go in a year from now to be sealed to him. We talked a lot about how truly, that death is not the end, but that truly we have the faith and knowledge of the things to come and that we must look forward with faith, enduring to the end until we reach our final destination in the presence of God with our loved ones. (I loved your thoughts from your talk Mom, they went exactly along those lines. Thank you for sharing!!)
So with that, Hna Morales and I also had many trials of our faith on Saturday and we just kept smiling all day and thinking and repeating that scripture. :)
First off, we studied and got ready for the day, and left the pension at 9:30 to go the chruch and make sure that the font was good and ready to be filled. Well, at noon things were finally worked out and we were done emptying the font, that somehow was left half full at the last baptism a monthish ago... :) Then we had to have good, hot water because Maria doesn't have great health, and can't be in cold water. So the calefont wasn't working and we went to get batteries at the mall. An hour later, we got back and put the batteries in the calefont and got the water filling up in the font. PS the baptism was at 4 and it takes a few hours to get the font filled.....and it was 1:30. So we left it running, went to eat lunch, long story short, we got back at 3:30 and it STILL wasn't even half way so we starting acting in our faith and putting trash cans full of water from the sinks into the font. And then we had pots and pans of water heating up the kitchen and in boilers, etc. And another long story short and a cellphone falling in the water later, the baptism started at 5 and Maria ended up having to sit down on the ground in the font and be baptized.... :) I truly admire that lady. After all the trials she has been through with her health, and then to have 2 elders helping her in the font, and then having to sit down to be baptized, she never once complained. She was confirmed yesterday and had to leave quickly after sacrament meeting because she wasn't feeling well, but her daughter came back from dropping her off at their house, and said that she was just glowing and had her hand on her chest and kept saying, "I feel something inside me right here."
It is for that reason that I am a missionary. To have the chance to help people like Maria to have the opportunity to feel this feeling, that glowing, warm feeling inside all the time. A pesar que todos las cosas esta semana fue en contra de nosotros, yo sé que realmente estamos en la verdad y que realmente el Señor prepara los corazones para recibir esta felicidad. Yo no cambiaría nada de esta semana. Conozco mi compañera mejor, conozco mi barrio mejor, y lo más importante es que conozco mi Salvador, Jesucristo mejor. Sentí de Su amor tan fuerte esta semana. Es por medio de la humidad y la caridad que podamos conocer nuestro Salvador mejor y en una manera mejor. Lo amo y soy una representante de él. Realmente vive y resucitó para que podamos regresar a nuestro Padre Celestial.
Translation: Despite all this week things went against us, I know we're really in truth and really the Lord prepares hearts to receive this happiness. I would not change anything this week. I know my companion better, I know my ward better, and most importantly, I know my Savior, Jesus Christ better. I felt His love so strong this week. It is through humility and charity that we know our Savior better and better. I love it and I am a representative from him. He really lives and was resurrected so that we can return to our Heavenly Father.
Con muchoooo amor,
Hermana Tuft
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Hello Mom and Dad!
I loved hearing about your week and how things went with Easter, all the pictures, etc. :) I am SO happy to see that the little Bella bunny lives. :) I haven't heard much of her in the past little while... :) Thank you for all the pictures and such! And also THANK YOU BOTH SO VERY MUCH FOR THESE FAMILY HISTORY STORIES I LOVE IT. Truly I do. I take a few minutes in the night or in the morning to read them and they are great. I love hearing about how my family joined the church and because of them I get the chance to be here today. I also love knowing that they are here with me, and know that because of the legacy that they left, their posterity and that of MANY others can and will be blessed. Thank you thank you thank you.
I hope that this letter was better.... Since coming to Calama we've been running like crazy and I've been trying to catch up with writing friends and family back. I want to end this quickly so that I can write a quick note to Grandma and Grandpa....
It was crazy to hear about all that are leaving and getting ready for missions!! I am SOOO sorry for not responding to the where I bought my things question. I seriously bought most of my stuff on Amazon, and Zapos. If I remember correctly.... I just searched messenger bags and I'm not sure about what I searched for the shoes, but Amazon and Zapos is the way to go in that sense. But do NOT buy a backpack. SO many people here still have backpacks, even though President has strongglyyy suggested not to, etc. And it's very informal.... Anywho. There's my little soap box. :)
Looking through the letter, I THINK that should be it. OH! And we live in an apartment seperate from the Mamita Angelica, and she's the mamita of our clothes/washing. We have a different Mamita for the food (Mamita Ely). And Hna Brewster's name is BreAnn(?) and she's friends with Chaidee Woods. Small world. :) Just kidding there are a lot more questions. :) The ward is pretty HUGE land wise, and the attendence is rising... :) The families are GREAT though. We have the stake president and one of his counselors is in the ward. And being a sister training leader, we have to do intercambios with the other sisters once a transfer. We only have one other set here in Calama, and then in Tocapilla. Okay. I think that should be all. :D
I love you both so very much. Thank you for your prayers. I feel so very blessed because (to answer Mom's question) no, in the mission I have never been so sick that I couldn't work. I was blessed in my setting apart blessing and my father's blessing that I would have health and strength, and I truly have. Thank you for all your prayers!!! I know that Heavenly Father has a perfect plan for each of us and that His will is always better than ours. :)
Love,
Kristen
P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPENCER!! And I wrote Jess a little note. :) Glad to hear that Lindsay's up and doing well AND that she's doing great with her science project :P Lots of love. :D
P.P.S. If he gets his call this week, don't forget to tell me. Please. :D
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