Chapter 32:
Hands of Angels
This week seemed like a
sprint to the end! It started off a little slow, and then it just got crazier
and crazier!! I don´t want to bore you all with the less exciting parts, so I
will just skip to the climax. Aglaece, our sweet Brazilian investigator had
some word of wisdom issues. It was a little discouraging at first because we
felt like she didn´t quite get it (hence her idea last week with quitting coke
and hot chocolate.) So, we planned out this great lesson all week for her. We decided
that we were going to reteach her the Atonement and how Christ can help you
overcome any trials or challenges that you have, and God will always provide a
way for us to follow the commandments. So, we went to her piso and everything
was going great, and then this idea pops into my head. I had a grocery bag in
my purse (you never know when you will need a grocery bag), and I said,
"Aglaece, this is a bag of your faith in the Savior. (Super cheesey, I
know) I want you to put all of your coffee and tobacco in this bag and trust
that Christ will heal you of your addiction if you rely on the Atonement. She
looked a little bit taken back, but simply said, "Alright." And she
got up got her pack of cigarettes and coffee and threw them in the bag. She then
said she would try to be ready for her baptism this week. However, it´s stake
conference, so we have to change it for the 2 of November. Oh well. My
companion and I walked out of that lesson so composed....and then as soon as we
knew we were out of eyesight and hearing of her building we just jumped up and
down so excited!! I have never had an investigator progress this far with the
word of wisdom that has actually had a problem with it (Francisco and Feily
didn´t use any of those things). I was
really relieved that it went well. She is so sweet! During the week we have
been preparing our nine year old little girl for her baptism over the phone
since she lives so far away. We called her everyday and did little mini lessons
with her, made sure she was reading the Book of Mormon with her mom every day,
giving her a practice interview, etc. Her mom wanted this baptism perfect, and
so it was a lot of pressure. We had a ward activity on Friday to help
with as well. They do this international celebration of cultures activity, and
let me tell you. They celebrate it more than Christmas. EVERYONE has to
participate. They wanted all the missionaries from the states to do a line
dance, but we didn´t have time, obviously, to choreograph such a thing, so we
all did things in companionships. So my companion and I sang the Star Spangled
Banner, naturally, and they called us the night before to make cookies from the
United States. The Elders already were making chocolate chip cookies, and so we
were trying to plan our baptism, fit in making cookies, and being normal
missionaries all at the same time. The life of an Hermana. What can you do? So
we decided to make peanut butter cookies, and everyone was in shock that you
can make peanut butter desserts. In Spain, they only make it to use in meats.
It was a success, and I felt super patriotic singing the national anthem. It
was soo funny though! I looked out over the crowd and I noticed a lot of our Latin
American members had their hands on the hearts, and afterwards they came up to
us and said, "We just had to put our hands on our hearts because we are
Americans too." Yes, if you try to tell someone that is from South America
here that they aren´t American, they feel extremely offended. Whenever you say
you are an American, they correct you and say you are a NORTH American. hahaha
Oh well. It was really fun, and it was a great way for the ward to bring their
non-member friends. We are excited to work with some of the investigators that
they brought. Then Saturday it was funny, I woke up and I could just
taste the baptism stress in the air. As a missionary, you want your baptisms to
go perfect. Of course this is NEVER the case. Something has to go wrong. It´s
just the way they work. We went out early to get everything done so that
everything that night would go smoothly. We finished the programs, and went to
take them to get them printed when I noticed all the papelerias (sorry, I don´t
know what they are in English. I have been sitting here 2 minutes searching for
the word.) And I have no idea why they would be closed on Saturday, but
they were. So we were running frantically all over town looking for somewhere
that would print these programs. Luckily the Elders called us and found this
tiny little place that would do it for us. Actually, I should give a big shout
out to the elders because they set up the font for us that morning and stayed
with it all day for us. (It´s not like we have at our stake center, you have to
construct this pool like thing in the church and connect it to the water) We
wanted to do it in the sea (probably would have made my mission right there)
but it was too cold they said and she has asthma. Another time... Anyway. We
thought everything was going just dandy when I was walking by the font and I
hear this little splash under my foot....and then I followed the sound and saw
that we had a little pond outside of our font. Yes, the font was leaking
EVERYWHERE! Oh no! So of course the elders went for the first thing they could
think of. Duct tape. It wasn´t just any duct tape, oh no. They got Avengers
duct tape to plaster all over the font. hahaha!! The best part is they never
even found the leak, we just kept mopping and mopping for about 2 hours to keep
it under control. The worst part of it is that Castellon is still really hot
and really humid, and the water they were filling the font with was practically
boiling I swear. After being in there all morning, I couldn´t tell if I was
inside the font or outside of it. We were all drowning! Luckily, one of the
Elders got the AC to work, and we had everything under control right before
they arrived. The service was really beautiful. Gisela, that is her name, told
us before that her favorite color is red, so we went and bought her a red ruby
necklace and put the virtuous woman scripture with it and told her she is far
more precious to Heavenly Father than rubies. Then during the service, one of
the members gave a beautiful talk about baptism. I think I have heard this
metaphor before, but it was just so perfect! She talked about baptism being the
key to your heavenly mansion that God is preparing for you, and it was just so
precious. Honestly, we were all bawling. Gisela´s dad is not a member either,
and I know he was touched by the whole thing. Hermana Jarman and I sang "I
feel my Savior´s Love", and then she was baptized and confirmed. It was so
precious. Hermana Jarman turned to me after and said, "You know, at first
I didn´t feel like this was our baptism since it was practically handed to us,
but I guess this is one of those baptisms that we can thank our ancestors
for." I really liked that idea. I know that there are angels watching over
all of us, and that there are people in Heaven who love me and love the people
that we are working with. Plus, I feel like one of the most important parts of
a baptism is keeping an eye out after them for the rest of their lives to make
sure they stay active. I am so grateful to be a missionary here in Castellon , Spain
Hermana Hopkins
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