Hello family!
This week was great! I feel dead tired haha and it`s nice to be resting today...we are seeing lots of success in the zone and our area is doing great!. We found some great people to teach this week. Last nice we had a pretty sad experience. There is an ex bishop in our ward from russia, Bishop Glebov, and he wanted us to visit his wife because she`s been inactive for quite a while. She`s become confused because of things she read on the internet about the church and has eventually turned cold against the church. We were talking to her last night with her husband and she started to tell us about all the things that were `wrong` with the church. The only thing we could do was testify that the Book of Mormon is true and that by reading it and praying she could clear up her own doubts. She refused to read it. She told us that we would never remember her, talk about just being another number on the quotas that we have, and asked us not to talk about her in our meetings with the members. It made me really sad. I feel like her husband is struggling a lot to raise a good family. He has three little girls and the oldest just turned 8. Tough situation. But the experience really did strengthen my testimony in God`s plan and the importance of agency. We can`t force anything on anyone. I read the other day in the BoM that we are our own judges in the sense that we choose to be happy or miserable...Alma 41ish. She kept saying she felt peace but you could just feel it and see it in her eyes that she was confused and wanted to feel real peace. We had a similar experience with a member that just got out of prision. He had left to another church while he was in prision and it showed in his eyes that he truly wasn`t happy. Really tough moments...when all you want is for people to understand eternal families.
Bueno...on the other hand we did have some great experiences. My comp and I read a talk that the assistants sent us about the importance of challenging people to baptism...so in just about every lesson we`ve been inviting people to be baptized. It`s really been cool to see how people recognize our message when we explain to them our purpose. Several accepted the invitation gladly but we need to fight to get them to church. The Remice Ibarra family is doing good...we are going to turn in the LAST marriage paper today! And then they`ll give us a date for their marriage! Sweet!
I love you all fam! I hope AZ is great! Enjoy the heat because i`m enjoying it here in La Chorrera! I am pretty sure `winter` is coming up soon here in Panama...winter meaning slightly cooler and lots of rain haha it should be good though. I`m just praying my shoes last :) oh and i lost my wallet this week! But luckily it just had my driver`s lisence, copy of my passport, carnet, credit card from home and from the mission, thirty bucks, temple recommend, and photos. Buuuut, one of the missionaries in our zone called last night saying that he found my wallet in a taxi! I was pretty happy!
The church is true!
Elder Henrie
Mom!
Hey mom! Have a great week in AZ! Tell dad to hit a few slices for me on the golf course. Yesterday i gave a talk in church about why we do missionary work, based on a talk by Elder Oaks from the Liahona of September 2009...the talk really just teaches about baptism and the authority that permits us to go to the Celestial Kingdom. There is no other church or organization that can do that. He said that he appreciates the work of other ministries that convert bad people into good people...but that that does not permit them to enter the celestial kingdom. It`s a celestial work and only we can do it! It went well.
good luck with the heat in AZ! Luis Peralta just wrote me a letter from Alcalde Diaz telling me about his baptism and how i had helped him in that decision. It`s good to here that the work you do in one area keeps having an effect after you leave.
Mucho amore,
Elder Henrie
ps here`s the letter Luis Peralta sent me (he`s learning english and speaks pretty well) :)
Hi my frend, I really hope you are ok , I writhe for said take the baptism the 19 of the last month and you help me so much in me decision and give me the confidence I needed, thanks for everything I miss you and love you, be strong, take care, god bless you
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