Gosh sometimes weeks are to good to even begin. Time is just passing me by way to fast. I´m now closer to the end of my mission than the beginning. But that´s besides the point. Somehow my feet keep moving, my heart keeps beating, and I can´t stop smiling. Thursday we were sitting in a lesson with little Analia and singing ¨Llamados a Servir¨ and the missionary spirit just radiated through us all. It was a good refresher of this great work of our Lord and why we do it. Hna Elena Jara (recent convert as of one año, who reminds me a ton of Aunt Amy Girl) recieved her endowment yesterday. We couldn´t go but she entered the room to join the lesson that night and she jsut brought with her a renewed spirit. I can´t believe it was more than a year ago when I first enter the temple. I miss going so frequently but am excited to go here soon in the mish.
Something that made me smile this week was the beauty of Paraguay. Saturday morning on our run we saw red headed and yellow bellied birds. They were darling! Although the heat is excrutiating, it is bearable because of the wind, trees, birds, and incredible wild fruit! I don´t think I have ever sweated so much in my entire life! I drip like crazy.
 |
| Hermana Tomco and Hermana Owen |
 |
| Hermana Owen with Analia after her Baptism. She is so happy. |
I wanted to tell you all of a neat experience I had on a division this week in a less chuchi area. People live in ¨asentamiento¨ which are the cheap neighborhoods the government makes... houses made of wood with nothing but wood floors. The place is 40 minutes from Campo Grande or so. Se llama Mariano R. Alonso. We payed a visit to an older woman who´s name is Hna Benita. The poor thing is suffering from a bad hip bone and now just lays on a bed all day and all night. We arrived and her grandaughter led us into her humble little home into a smaller darker room crammed with a bunk bed, a queen size bed, both matted with ruff, old, thin sheets and pillows, a dresser, and us. There we found the tiny grandma curled up on the bed in aching pain. Still, she invited us to sit on the bunk bed in front of her. We sat, with a thunk against our heads as we went down, reminding me of how tiny these people are sometimes. She tossed this way and that telling us of how bad the pain is getting and my heart just ached for this precious woman. We decided to sing her, ¨Conmigo Quedate Señor¨ or ¨Abide with Me Tis´ Eventide¨ and offer a prayer. A sweet spirit calmed her from breathing so heavily and she began to have a little faith in us. We shared a small message on faith and the plan her Heavenly Father has for her and in the end she offered the prayer. Hna Alania (my comp for the division) and I kneeled at her bedside as she folded her arms... it being the most she could do... and she began to mutter the soft words. Pleading with her Father in Heaven for strength and health, she began to cry then weap and she could hardly finish the prayer. The moment tugged at my heart. I thought of the Savior when he was here on the Earth and how he went ¨straight way¨ to those who were ill in bed, couldn´t move, and he healed them. It is amazing the love and humility the Lord has for those people. I`m sure He thought, the moment he heard of someone like Hna Benita, what they were facing and went so quickly because he knew and would shortly literally know all the pain they were in and could more than anyone else empathise with them so equally. Although I don´t measure near the Savior, my heart ached for her as I listened to her pleading words of faith. One of her hands fell over the bedside, limp and weak in the end of her prayer... I gently placed mine on top of her´s and expressed to her my love and Heavenly Father´s love for her. We promised her these moments of pain and anguish would pass and one day she would find peace. It is so true... the cup WILL pass. We face the trials of this life, but we have a Savior Jesus Christ who loves us so very much, a Redeemer from pain and grief who so willing drank from the cup, so that we... don´t have to.
I know our SAvior lives and know he loves and knows us personally. His arms of mercy are extended toward us always. I love you all and wish you all a VAlentines filled with the love of our Savior.
Con mucho Amor!
Hermana Owen
