Hello all,
How are things going? Life is really really good here in the Vicuña Mackenna, unfortunately i feel like it is coming to an end this week. Its a little sad, especially because i don´t want to part with the people here nor elder hualca but i feel a change a coming so here we go!
Is everybody super super excited for conference this week? I am SO EXCITED!!! I love general conference! Its such an awesome weekend, all we do is just get spiritually nourished. Even though they always say things instantly kill me because i´m a dirty sinner i love it! Its a ¨dang i´ve gotta do better¨ lashing that i recieve! Hope that everybody can recieve an answer to a prayer or a question this week! I know that i will and i don´t even have a question yet, i just know thats how intune the apostles are with what i need, i don´t even know it, but they do!
Yesterday capped an extraordinary weekend, well, to be honest the week was just like any other, but Sunday was something else! We had the baptism of Sebastian Munizaga which was really cool but the baptism that was really special, one i´ll never forget was that of Jillian Jara. She is a girl who since the age of three has been battling a tumor in her nervous system. For that she has had a problem with the development of her entire body, she has had to undergo 16 surgeries and still has many to go in her life. She can completely recover from it but the surgeries have really taken a toll on her growth. This last week she asked if the missionaries would baptize her. Of course we were more than happy to perform the saving ordinace for her but we didn´t know how much of a challenge it would be. It was a bit of a challenge but 100 percent worth it after all was said and done. She is still in the recuperating process from her last surgery and so she is without the use of her legs so we lowered her down into the baptismal font in a chair. The water was unbelieveably cold and she started to whimper as we lowerd her into the water so we didn´t know if we were going to be able to do it, every time we tried to put her a little further in the water she started to cry a little bit. It was heart breaking to see. The mother eventually told us to just do it, just dunk her and so elder hualca said the prayer and we tried to inmerse her in the water but her whole body couldn´t be inmersed due to the fact that she was in the chair. Failed attempt one... they told me that one of us needed to be knelt on the side of her, in the freezing cold water so i knelt down and we tried to do it again holding her legs down and she was still crying a bit, failed attempt two. At this point elder hualca told me it wasn´t possible but i wasn´t going to have any of that. I pulled her out of the chair, held her in my arms as i knelt in the water and had to brush her cheek to get her to stop crying and then i told her that we had to go under the water one last time because it was what Jesus wanted us to do. So elder hualca said the prayer holding her hand, i had her in my arms, plugged her nose with my free hand and she was immersed completely! It was a touching experience and just writing it down makes me tear up. I love children! After we completed it i carried her out in my arms and slipped going up the stairs but i was able to catch my balance, it was an experience to remember!!!
That caps the week, this morning i was reading in this september´s liahona (ensign for those outside of the promised land) and i read in this talk from elder Oaks, what a KILLER!!! Its about the purpose of a missionary and it killed me! I don´t need to help the ward´s where i´m at! Forget that, i just need to baptize! Thats all i need to do! So wish me luck, pray for me that i can get this purpose etched into my daily life, because i´ve been praying for it as of late but i could use all of your help! Pray that i´ll have the vision to baptize! Alright i love you all, keep in touch and keep on smiling!
Love elder livingstone
