Week 44- If you don't live to serve, you don't serve to live.

Dear Friends and Family,

So this week has been great. My companion and I were both a little bit sick, but we managed to get a lot done.

We have been working a lot with the Cotrado Family who are almost done with their paperwork to get married and then the whole family is going to be baptized!!!!!!! Also, Abigail ( who was supposed to be baptized a little over a week ago) is going to be baptized this Saturday!!! Her mom talked to us on Sunday and every thing is set this time! We are super excited, but this last week, we had some difficulties finding new people which needs to be part of our focus this week so that next month we have people to teach when our investigators right now are all baptized!

Well today we had a training in the morning which was super good. Just a few thoughts from that are about the importance of working in unity. We talked a lot about how it just is SOOOO much more effective. Which is definitely true. The last transfer. I was in a cast and I needed a lot of help because I simply couldn’t do what I wanted to do all of the time. I had to humble myself and ask for help from a lot of people, but you know what? Humility is worth it because together with the other people helping, we were able to accomplish a lot more.

Puno!!!

The next thing I was thinking a lot about this morning with the training is the importance of your attitude. Puno is said to be the hardest zone here in the mission. Is that true? Or is it just because with cold weather that people aren’t as excited. Well, I definitely don’t believe that Puno is a super hard area (different from my other areas for sure, but also wonderful). Puno was part of another mission before (Mission Arequipa) and a return missionary came to visit yesterday. He came to church and we had a little bit of time to talk with him. He told us how this was his favorite area and that he baptized the most here than in another other area of his mission. So how much does our attitude affect what outcomes occur? I’ve always heard, Preach the gospel at all moments and when necessary, use words. Our attitude and the way we live shows the world exactly what we preach. I hope that when people look at me, that they can see that I bring a message of happiness because I live a happy life that reflects in me.

If you don’t live to serve, you don’t serve to live. When I read this on the slide show presentation this morning, it kind of sunk in a lot. I came here to serve people. And how do you serve them? Well, my dad always says ‘’love the people.’’ Sometimes that is easy, but with other people, it requires a little more effort to listen to them to really understand them so that you can love them.

I, along with every other missionary in the world, have been called to represent Jesus Christ. What did Christ do when He was here? He LOVED the world so much that He gave His own life. So I as His representative must do the same. I must give my life. I must leave my life at home there and all of its distractions. I must love others as He has loved me. Charity is the pure love of Christ. When I look at others who at first may be difficult to love, I think, what would I do if this person were Christ sitting there Himself? I wouldn’t walk by and so right now, I can’t do so either. Learning to REALLY love is not as easy as it always sounds, but God loves ALL of His children and if we pray, we can see people as He sees them. It is only then that we can love the people. When the people feel our love, when they feel Christ’s love for them, it motivates them to change and that is  when success happens.

My llama and I

I am a missionary, and life couldn’t be better!

Love,

Hermana Lang