I hope you all are doing well and had a great week. Thank you for your emails and prayers. I appreciate them so much!!
This past week was another amazing week in Vicente Noble. The more I am here, the more I realize just how blessed I am to be serving here. While Vicente Noble is small, its humble and sweet and really just amazing. The people are so warm and happy and our rama is small but powerful. We've really been focusing on how to strengthen to rama and be more effective with helping members here.
This past week went by really quickly but it's amazing how many opportunities we had to learn and continue working. It's crazy to think that I am already almost done with my first transfer here. On Thursday, we had a training with all the new missionaries and their trainers and it was completely eye opening. It was a wake up call to realize that I am almost half way through my training. There is so much that I still need to learn and our leaders at the meeting did a fantastic job of helping me regain perspective on this work and my purpose. Hermana Johnson and I left the meeting with a renewed sense of animo and a desire to be more diligent and effective in the work. It's so important to remember that this is the Lord's work and to remember the great responsibility I've been given to serve in this area and know these people. I'm really working on serving with all my heart and mind, really focusing on how the things we do help the members and our investigators here. I'm really excited to see how this new attitude will change our success here in Vicente Noble. I know that as we seek to diligently do everything we can and really allow the Spirit to guide us, we will be more effective instruments in the Lord's hands. It's so important to remember that the Lord will help us in whatever trial or responsibilities we have, as long as we turn to Him in faith.
We've had a lot of amazing teaching experiences and opportunities this week. On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to share the message in our District Meeting. It was nerve wracking to teach by myself in Spanish but my district was all very supportive as I tried to piece my thoughts together in Spanish. I had the opportunity to teach about the Spirit and its role in helping people be truly converted. This is honestly one of my favorite topics because the Spirit is so key in missionary work. With the Spirit, we as missionaries can be guided in how to serve and understand the needs of the people here. Also, unless someone can feel the Spirit, they wont truly come unto Christ. It was great to teach about our role and purpose-to help people recognize the Spirit in their lives and feel of the Lord's love for them. We've also been teaching this Haitian man who doesn´t speak much Spanish or English. He mostly speaks Creole or French. His lessons are so interesting and such a unique experience. We bring a member with us who can also speak Creole and he acts as a translator for us. Its so strange to be sitting there as they go back and forth in this ADDITIONAL foreign language. I can understand Spanish fairly well now, but with Creole I'm blank. Its so cool to be able to teach him with the help of this member. He has such a sincere desire to learn and has many great questions. Hermana Johnson and I just explain simply and our member translates into Creole to help him have a better understanding. We're still looking for ways to help him more, like finding a Book of Mormon in French, but I´m very hopeful for him. He came to church this Sunday and while he might not have been able to understand perfectly, I'm sure he was able to feel something. One of the greatest things I've learned here is that even if I can't perfectly understand the language, I can still feel the Spirit and it helps me understand better.
It's so amazing to be here in the Dominican Republic, surrounded by Spanish and Creole, Dominicans and Haitians alike. The culture is amazing and its so great to be able to serve the people here. I know that this is where I'm supposed to be and that the Lord is helping us in this work.
I love you all! Have a great week
Con MUCHO MUCHO AMOR,
Hermana Graham
No comments:
Post a Comment