Dearest family and friends,
Thank you for the news, the happy, the sad, the unexpected. I am delighted to know I have a new little cousin named CALVIN! Oh Kate and Brett, my sweetest delighted words of Congratulations. I can't wait to cuddle that new little baby! And my sweet friend Cami Fox for her wedding announcement! And good luck with the new job, Papa San!
I want to start today with my study on Humility if you'll permit me. Preach My Gospel, Christlike Attributes, under Humility.
Paragraph #1--It lists some important elements of humility here.
1-Submit to God's will
2-Give the Honor to God
3-Gratitute
4-Acknowledge that I need God's Help
5-Trust in God
6-Acknowlege God, His power, & Mercy
7-Confidence to do God's Will
8-Trust God's Servants
9-Obedience
10-Hard Work
11-Serve Selflessly.
Paragraph #2
Elements of a Prideful Person:
1- Greater trust in oneself than in God & His servants
2-Put the things of the world above the things of God
3--Prideful people presume they are better than other people.
4--Give themselves the glory.
It's so important to remember that pride was the downfall of Satan. All of the elements above listed under pride were exactly what got him kicked out of Heaven. On the other hand, let's look at the elements of humility. Who was our perfect example in demonstrating these attributes? The SAVIOR.
Some thoughts I have sketched in the margin of my PMG-
-Insecurities can be pride too (because we trust too much in ourselves and too little in God and the Atonement of Christ)
-Humility is knowing your relationship with God
-If you're filled with love, your scars and wounds heal up.
-Humility is a choice--not an absence of Pride. A conscious effort to recognize God's hand and his gifts to us.
-Evaluate your intentions.
One of my best examples in life of Humility is my Brother, Tyler. Tyler, you are a hard worker. you have worked hard in our home since the time you were little, helping Dad clean out the Garage, mow the lawn, help frame the basement, etc. You often spent whole Saturdays at Dad's side, laboring alongside him. Your interest for how things work even led you to a choice experience to operate Brother Larson's tractor-claw-machine (don't make fun because I can't remember what it's called) to help dig a hole for the trampoline in the Gummow's yard. Not to mention your hard work on your films. but through all of this I don't ever remember you bragging about any of your work to anybody, even though your work is incredible! You are a humble, hard worker. You are obedient to what Mom / Dad ask and do your best to follow their instructions when they give you an assignment. You SERVE SELFLESLY. I have seen you befriend so many young men in our ward when they were knew, and you brought with you many of your other friends to help them and become their buddies as well. you are a humble server. This attribute will help you and bless you throughout your life, but especially in the mission field. You will be an edifying, humble rock to your companions and the investigators and members you meet.
Scriptrures on Humility: Mosiah 4:1. Humility leads us to pray.
Mosiah 4:12 What blessings do we receive from Humility?
Alma 5:27 Humility, as we read here, is kind of a BIG DEAL. Why? What do we lose when we are prideful?
Alma 26:12 Give the Credit to Father.
Matthew 26:39 Christ's ultimate act of Humility was the Atonement.
2 Tim 3:1-5 pAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO VS. 2. These verses describe those who are prideful.
1 Nephi 15:7-11 We have to be humble in order to gain a testimony.
It has been an awesome week, to say the least. Soledad and her sons Giovanni and Stefano told us on Monday when we invited them to baptism that 1 March was way too far away, and that Sole wanted to be baptized on February 22nd because its her birthday and if she waits till March 1st, she's afraid there won't be room for her in the font for her tummy so huge and swollen with twins. She's due in early may but I wouldn't be surprised if they're a little premature because they're twins, like Ty and Jordan were born early. She is such a doll, with three young sons of 11, 9, and 4. It was quite the adventure to teach all of them all of the rest of the mission lessons this week, but they are so willing and so desirous to be baptized. Stefano and Giovanni were so well behaved and listened so well. They are half way through 1 Nephi in their own personal reading, and I am so delighted to know them and see their progress. I love them so much, they had their interviews this past Saturday and they will indeed be baptized February 22nd. Sole dropped Coffee without a problem and agreed to keep the law of tithing even though she's a struggling Single Mom. I just wish you could meet these people, they are such examples of faith. And it tickles me pink to teach a family, at last, in my mission!
Gabriel also has progressed by leaps and bounds and will also be getting baptized this Saturday teh 22nd. He's been kind of abandoned by his mother and his Dad died several years back. He has had a rough life and one of the members brought him into their home, that's how we found him--a reference from this family. He is a character to say the least, punk all around, but I love him with a sisterly love. His life will be so blessed in the gospel, he has dropped all addictive habits all together, and even sings the hymns on Sunday at church. He's developed a crush on a recent convert of 27, and when we invited her to a lesson, he all but fainted when he saw that we had invited her.
I am elated with joy to see these people growing and changing, and this Saturday these 4 will be entering the waters of Baptism. OH! It's a joy that comes from seeing our brothers and Sisters come to know the savior and the true changes that come from knowing him and becoming like him.
Humberto is still progressing but he didn't come to his baptismal interview. He was working and has been putting work before coming to church now, he has taken up several jobs on Sundays so that he can collect money to buy a house so that he can live with his young daughters again. They're in a bad situation living with the Mother and he wants so much for them to live with him. We just want him to See that when he puts God first, everything--including finances--will fall into place. It always works that way. When we pay our tithing, when we go to church, when we give our lives to God--He helps us obtain our righteous desires. We're still working with him and praying our hearts out to know what we can offer to help him progress.
All for now, Amor del centro sincero de mi corazoncito, saludos brillantes como las estrellas, y amor hasta la luna y un abrazo como el sol. love you forever,
Mikayla Reneela
Hermana Boren
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Fire in Our Hearts
Hello My Family,
Another week of adventure in Paraná. I wish you could be here, truly. It's a city always moving, always bustling, and full of Jungle. There's nowhere like it. I love it here and have so much to tell you!
Firstly, let me tell a miracle I missed writing last week. One of those moments when you just know God is watching over you! When I first rode to paraná and got off the bus, I walked off the double decker bus and hugged my new companion and Hermana Telfer (yep! My companion from the MTC who was in trio with me and Hermana Alicea), and then a hug to Hermana Haynes. I shook Elder Vergara's Hand (he's my zone leader now! I could have hugged him too, my Chilean District Leader from Venado Tuerto, but I didn't don't worry), And then Elder Adair (who turns out to be Mrs. Dole's nephew, she was my 1st grade teacher!). And then I turned to shake whom I thought was another Elder's hand, when to my surprise, before me stood Mario B. I'm pretty sure I gasped like a fish gasps for water when it's caught above surface. I beamed my widest grin and exclaimed in absolute surprise, "MARIO?!?!?!" And he smiled his mischevious smile and explained that he had asked the Elders in VT where Elder Vergara had gone to, and packed up shop and moved on over to Paraná only a few days before. And when he found out I was coming too, He accompanied them to the terminal to greet me. I was so overcome with surprise and delight and so many wonderful memories from His Miracle Baptism in September that came flooding back to my memory. I scurried to one of my suitcases and pulled out a tie--the black one with green stripes--that my family sent me. And I gave it to him. And we took a picture. It was one of those tender, FLASH photo moments of absolute, unfeigned surprise and delight I will never forget. It was so good to see my recent convert from those miracle days of Venado Tuerto once again. God sure loves me.
MY COMPANION IS SO AWESOME! I wish I could put her to words. I love Hermana Diorio so much! She's kind of a shy cookie, but has finally started opening up and showing her goofy side and she is a HOOT. I love her sneaky side smiles, her faces of feigned desperation. Teaching with her, my goodness, I am learning SO MUCH! She knows how to help the investigators feel loved and comfortable, which helps them open up and feel comfortable to ask questions. She also knows how to listen. Somewhere in Preach MY Gospel it talks about how the investigators should talk 60% of the time and the missionaries only 40%. She knows how to do that, and I'm seeing the fruits of that kind of labor first hand. It's MIRACULOUS work here in Paraná, and I owe it to Hermana Diorio and Hermana Aragón before me and the LORD for all the work they've been doing together here in the 5 esquinas ward. Such a joy to see these miracles first hand and to take part in the lessons. I feel like Ammon when He faints from Happiness in the Book of Mormon.
Gabriel, our 19 year old punk investigator, but absolute ROCK in his desire to be baptized, has come to church 6 weeks in a row. He told us this week that he hasn't smoked since Tuesday and we are SO EXCITED for Him. Hermana Diorio told him "Con ese progreso puede leegar a su bautismo por 22 de Febrero" ("With this progress you can make it to your baptism on the 22nd of February") to which he responded "Yo llego donde quiero." (Basically . . ."I do what I want"). PUNK! XD But so awesome at the same time! He's had such a hard life and I'm extremely delighted to see him growing and softening with the light of the Gospel. He has a goal to finish High School, and I have a dream of seeing him on a mission. OH. And he also starting preaching the gospel to his friends. KIND OF A BIG DEAL.
Humberto also is taking leaps and bounds. He too has dropped smoking altogether and is SO DESIROUS to enter the waters of baptism. This sweet man starts every lesson off with His testimony of the truth of this church, God's love for Him, and the changes He's seeing in His life. He is ON FIRE with the Gospel and calls us to make sure our appointments are solid, or when he can't make it. Any missionary will tell you that's a MIRACLE right there. We're praying for Him to keep his other commitments and the other commandments.
This week I had the privilege of going to a Mission Council, where we learned from President Giuliani the 4 elements of true conversion. He explained that while Obedience is the first law in heaven, it isn't the only law! Laman and Lemuel were obedient, they left Jerusalem and built the boat--but why do we love Sam and Nephi more? We should be earnestly working to be truly converted, too. The four elements are the following--
1. A desire to do good
2. No rebellion against God
3. Sharing the Gospel
4. To be filled with LOVE.
To finish, I want to share my Preach my Gospel moment for Study. I didn't get the chance to finish my Study on Patience with you last week, I got run short on time. I wanted to share who my example of Patience is, after we read the Second Paragraph of Patience in Preach my Gospel. Austin James, my oldest younger brother, is my example of Patience. I have been quite the older sister and some times too much of a boss in my lifetime, but Austin has loved me and been patient with me just the same. AJ, you helped me get Jackie dog ready in the mornings when I was running particularly late getting ready for the day before school, you helped me calm down after my one fender-bender and you were the only person with me (remember when you told me to call Dad first, not to call Mom because you didn't want her to worry?), you did the Dishes for me one Sunday when the Relief Society leadership meetings ran a little long in the Single's ward and I got home later than usual to do them. I know you may not remember doing that act of service, but I sure do. I remember when you patiently taught the little guys at the kid's camp with me, and they LOVED you. You patiently played with them, prepared the snacks and crafts by my side. You even patiently agreed to put on a costume for mad scientist day, and dressed up to be my Egore. I love you for that, J bird. Despite my moments being bossy or and olderly sister, you have patiently kept loving me just the same. Thank you for that Christlike attribute I so admire and love in you. Keep it up!
Scriptures: Alma 26:27. If we are patient and keep on keeping on, God will give us Success.
Mosiah 24: 9-16. Prayer helps us receive the patience we need.
Alma 17: 10-11. What will God help us become if we are patient?
Romans 5:3-5 Patience in tribulations allows us a greater ability to LOVE.
Romans 5:8-11 Christ's patience with us & His love for us.
Next week I will continue with the next Christlike attribute, Humility.
I love you! Never forget that! Know that we are burning bright with the Fire of the Gospel in our Hearts. I love being a missionary. Dearest Brothers of mine--Austin, Tyler, Jordan, Corey-- NEVER lose sight of serving a mission. We give a moment to God here in the field, and he in turn gives us our Life.
Love, forever, your Sister Boren
Another week of adventure in Paraná. I wish you could be here, truly. It's a city always moving, always bustling, and full of Jungle. There's nowhere like it. I love it here and have so much to tell you!
Firstly, let me tell a miracle I missed writing last week. One of those moments when you just know God is watching over you! When I first rode to paraná and got off the bus, I walked off the double decker bus and hugged my new companion and Hermana Telfer (yep! My companion from the MTC who was in trio with me and Hermana Alicea), and then a hug to Hermana Haynes. I shook Elder Vergara's Hand (he's my zone leader now! I could have hugged him too, my Chilean District Leader from Venado Tuerto, but I didn't don't worry), And then Elder Adair (who turns out to be Mrs. Dole's nephew, she was my 1st grade teacher!). And then I turned to shake whom I thought was another Elder's hand, when to my surprise, before me stood Mario B. I'm pretty sure I gasped like a fish gasps for water when it's caught above surface. I beamed my widest grin and exclaimed in absolute surprise, "MARIO?!?!?!" And he smiled his mischevious smile and explained that he had asked the Elders in VT where Elder Vergara had gone to, and packed up shop and moved on over to Paraná only a few days before. And when he found out I was coming too, He accompanied them to the terminal to greet me. I was so overcome with surprise and delight and so many wonderful memories from His Miracle Baptism in September that came flooding back to my memory. I scurried to one of my suitcases and pulled out a tie--the black one with green stripes--that my family sent me. And I gave it to him. And we took a picture. It was one of those tender, FLASH photo moments of absolute, unfeigned surprise and delight I will never forget. It was so good to see my recent convert from those miracle days of Venado Tuerto once again. God sure loves me.
MY COMPANION IS SO AWESOME! I wish I could put her to words. I love Hermana Diorio so much! She's kind of a shy cookie, but has finally started opening up and showing her goofy side and she is a HOOT. I love her sneaky side smiles, her faces of feigned desperation. Teaching with her, my goodness, I am learning SO MUCH! She knows how to help the investigators feel loved and comfortable, which helps them open up and feel comfortable to ask questions. She also knows how to listen. Somewhere in Preach MY Gospel it talks about how the investigators should talk 60% of the time and the missionaries only 40%. She knows how to do that, and I'm seeing the fruits of that kind of labor first hand. It's MIRACULOUS work here in Paraná, and I owe it to Hermana Diorio and Hermana Aragón before me and the LORD for all the work they've been doing together here in the 5 esquinas ward. Such a joy to see these miracles first hand and to take part in the lessons. I feel like Ammon when He faints from Happiness in the Book of Mormon.
Gabriel, our 19 year old punk investigator, but absolute ROCK in his desire to be baptized, has come to church 6 weeks in a row. He told us this week that he hasn't smoked since Tuesday and we are SO EXCITED for Him. Hermana Diorio told him "Con ese progreso puede leegar a su bautismo por 22 de Febrero" ("With this progress you can make it to your baptism on the 22nd of February") to which he responded "Yo llego donde quiero." (Basically . . ."I do what I want"). PUNK! XD But so awesome at the same time! He's had such a hard life and I'm extremely delighted to see him growing and softening with the light of the Gospel. He has a goal to finish High School, and I have a dream of seeing him on a mission. OH. And he also starting preaching the gospel to his friends. KIND OF A BIG DEAL.
Humberto also is taking leaps and bounds. He too has dropped smoking altogether and is SO DESIROUS to enter the waters of baptism. This sweet man starts every lesson off with His testimony of the truth of this church, God's love for Him, and the changes He's seeing in His life. He is ON FIRE with the Gospel and calls us to make sure our appointments are solid, or when he can't make it. Any missionary will tell you that's a MIRACLE right there. We're praying for Him to keep his other commitments and the other commandments.
This week I had the privilege of going to a Mission Council, where we learned from President Giuliani the 4 elements of true conversion. He explained that while Obedience is the first law in heaven, it isn't the only law! Laman and Lemuel were obedient, they left Jerusalem and built the boat--but why do we love Sam and Nephi more? We should be earnestly working to be truly converted, too. The four elements are the following--
1. A desire to do good
2. No rebellion against God
3. Sharing the Gospel
4. To be filled with LOVE.
To finish, I want to share my Preach my Gospel moment for Study. I didn't get the chance to finish my Study on Patience with you last week, I got run short on time. I wanted to share who my example of Patience is, after we read the Second Paragraph of Patience in Preach my Gospel. Austin James, my oldest younger brother, is my example of Patience. I have been quite the older sister and some times too much of a boss in my lifetime, but Austin has loved me and been patient with me just the same. AJ, you helped me get Jackie dog ready in the mornings when I was running particularly late getting ready for the day before school, you helped me calm down after my one fender-bender and you were the only person with me (remember when you told me to call Dad first, not to call Mom because you didn't want her to worry?), you did the Dishes for me one Sunday when the Relief Society leadership meetings ran a little long in the Single's ward and I got home later than usual to do them. I know you may not remember doing that act of service, but I sure do. I remember when you patiently taught the little guys at the kid's camp with me, and they LOVED you. You patiently played with them, prepared the snacks and crafts by my side. You even patiently agreed to put on a costume for mad scientist day, and dressed up to be my Egore. I love you for that, J bird. Despite my moments being bossy or and olderly sister, you have patiently kept loving me just the same. Thank you for that Christlike attribute I so admire and love in you. Keep it up!
Scriptures: Alma 26:27. If we are patient and keep on keeping on, God will give us Success.
Mosiah 24: 9-16. Prayer helps us receive the patience we need.
Alma 17: 10-11. What will God help us become if we are patient?
Romans 5:3-5 Patience in tribulations allows us a greater ability to LOVE.
Romans 5:8-11 Christ's patience with us & His love for us.
Next week I will continue with the next Christlike attribute, Humility.
I love you! Never forget that! Know that we are burning bright with the Fire of the Gospel in our Hearts. I love being a missionary. Dearest Brothers of mine--Austin, Tyler, Jordan, Corey-- NEVER lose sight of serving a mission. We give a moment to God here in the field, and he in turn gives us our Life.
Love, forever, your Sister Boren
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
A Bad Case of Hiccups
Dearest Family and Friends,
This week 3 of we 4 Sister missionaries have had a BAD case of hiccups on multiple days. It has been a hoot to try to share the message of the Restoration in contacts, "Testifi-CA-mos que Dios es nuestro amoroso p-A-dre celesti-Al." Oh, goodness. I had to let Hermana Martinez take the lead in testifying because I couldn't get out a sentence normally. The same thing has happened to Hermana Carlson and Hermana Rane. Oh, goodness. :)
It was HOT this week. On thursday we had 116 degrees F with 100%. I woke up at 2 in the morning with beads of sweat dripping down my forhead. Yup. Sweaty beasts.
What a week. I had a wonderful interview with President Giuliani this past tuesday, and I felt like I was in the Temple. I came to an understanding this week that the interviews we have with our Priesthood leaders is like a type for Judgement day. We are preparing and getting used to talking to someone who represents the Savior, and giving an accounting of our worthiness and the work we've done, and pleading for the help we need. President Giuliani, through guidance of the holy spirit, knew exactly what I needed to hear and it seemed as though he had been listening in on my prayers for the last 3 months.
So many miracles this week. New investigators, success in companionship unity. I love my little Hondureña with all my heart. She is loud, she is funny, she is bold, she is solid in her testimony and her love of the Scriptures. And I will miss her SO MUCH! We received transfer calls today and I will be headed to Paraná tomorrow. It is quite far, about 3.5 hours by bus from Rosario. My new companion is Hermana Diorio from Buenos Aires, so I'll be truly living Argentine life with an Argentine companion. I cannot wait and at the same time my heart is heavy. My time in Cañada has been true joy and real grief, and here I feel I have come to know my Savior as I have pleaded to God in prayer and felt the succor that I needed. I have offered all that I had, and for that I am not shamed to leave, but it still brings tears to my eyes to leave that which I love. It's hard to be a nomad as a missionary, the time we are blessed to give our all, but have to change places so frequently. I give my thanks for all I have leanred here.
I hope all is going well in the Preach my Gospel Study at home. I have my next study to contribute if I may--Charity and Love.
Paragraph 1--How do we show our love to God? We are asked to Love HIm first. One way that I can think of demonstraing our love to God is through keeping the Sabbath day Holy. We give 1 day of the week to Him, and he in turn pours out blessings upon us for remembering him and keeping the covenant we made with him at baptism through partaking of the sacrament.
Paragraph 2--I love the line "Gods eternal love for all of his Children." This is Missionary work. We had a set of phrases we recited in the WATAC mission, part of which was "Love is the Motive." NOt only is it the Motive of Missionary work, but our motive to be obedient to our Parents, our motive to obey the commandments, our motive to provide for our famlies. It was the motive God Had fo us enough so that He gave His only Begotten son, Jesus Christ. Love is the Motive of Christ's atonement. Never forget that LOVE should be our Motive, and in the first place should always be our LOVE of God.
Paragraph 3--A few thoughts of mine concerning what we can learn from this Paragraph.
Firstly, Read Moroni 8:16. Perfect love casts out Fear. When we are filled with the love of God, we don't have to be afraid of Anything or Anyone, we know what our priority is (our love of GOD) and he in turn fills us with the love and confidence we need to facy ANY opposition. I've seen that work in my mission.
Next, I want to share something I wrote in my Journal this week.
"Some days I remember when I got my wisdom teeth out. That was some of the severest pain I've ever had, which I know to some people is pretty wimpy, but it was bad. I felt like a little girl, I went to get my mom at 2 in the morning and she gave me the medicine I needed. She turned on the light of my little red shade lamp and laid down next to me in my queen bed. And she rubbed my back, back and forth, quietly staying the early morning with me as I cried in my pain. I think of my mother and that vigil she kept with me so often. I think of Mom and how she so reminds me of the Savior, how all her life she has given, given, given from her heart. How she has loved me and my brothers with a love unfeigned and abounding, to the point that she cried when we left on the yellow school bus when classes were in, because she missed spending time with us. I think of Her, and I know that Christ lives because I see Him in Her! Alma 5 talks about Reflecting Christ's countenance because we will be like Him. That's my Mother. I want so much to be more like her!"
What do we learn from examples like Mom and Dad about Christlike Love? How can we be better at demonstrating that kind of love to others?
Lastly, I want to share that Christlike love CHANGES people. A few weeks ago I had the privilege to sing Christmas carols at a nursing home here in Cañada. Amongst the residents was an old woman who reminded me of Oscar the Grouch. She had nothing nice to say to anyone and complained about our singing during our miniature performance. At the end we mixed and mingled, and when I went to talk to her I expressed that It was a pleasure to have been here and spend time with her. She responded bitterly, "No fue un placer para mi!" in other words, It was NOT a pleasure for her! I asked her about her life and her children, and what she enjoyed and if she believed in Christ. She looked at me and responded with bitterness and hate emanating from her eyes. I gave her a smile as we left, and gave her a little kiss on the cheek as is the custom in Argentina to greet and say goodbye. When I pulled back I saw a change in her face, a light, a look of surprise. I don't know when the last time was that someone gave her a besito. But I realized in that moment that Christlike love, it changes people. It changes us. The Wrong shall fail, the right prevail with peace on earth, goodwill to men, and LOVE.
All for now, see you next week in PARANÁ!
Love with all my heart,
Hermanita Boren
This week 3 of we 4 Sister missionaries have had a BAD case of hiccups on multiple days. It has been a hoot to try to share the message of the Restoration in contacts, "Testifi-CA-mos que Dios es nuestro amoroso p-A-dre celesti-Al." Oh, goodness. I had to let Hermana Martinez take the lead in testifying because I couldn't get out a sentence normally. The same thing has happened to Hermana Carlson and Hermana Rane. Oh, goodness. :)
It was HOT this week. On thursday we had 116 degrees F with 100%. I woke up at 2 in the morning with beads of sweat dripping down my forhead. Yup. Sweaty beasts.
What a week. I had a wonderful interview with President Giuliani this past tuesday, and I felt like I was in the Temple. I came to an understanding this week that the interviews we have with our Priesthood leaders is like a type for Judgement day. We are preparing and getting used to talking to someone who represents the Savior, and giving an accounting of our worthiness and the work we've done, and pleading for the help we need. President Giuliani, through guidance of the holy spirit, knew exactly what I needed to hear and it seemed as though he had been listening in on my prayers for the last 3 months.
So many miracles this week. New investigators, success in companionship unity. I love my little Hondureña with all my heart. She is loud, she is funny, she is bold, she is solid in her testimony and her love of the Scriptures. And I will miss her SO MUCH! We received transfer calls today and I will be headed to Paraná tomorrow. It is quite far, about 3.5 hours by bus from Rosario. My new companion is Hermana Diorio from Buenos Aires, so I'll be truly living Argentine life with an Argentine companion. I cannot wait and at the same time my heart is heavy. My time in Cañada has been true joy and real grief, and here I feel I have come to know my Savior as I have pleaded to God in prayer and felt the succor that I needed. I have offered all that I had, and for that I am not shamed to leave, but it still brings tears to my eyes to leave that which I love. It's hard to be a nomad as a missionary, the time we are blessed to give our all, but have to change places so frequently. I give my thanks for all I have leanred here.
I hope all is going well in the Preach my Gospel Study at home. I have my next study to contribute if I may--Charity and Love.
Paragraph 1--How do we show our love to God? We are asked to Love HIm first. One way that I can think of demonstraing our love to God is through keeping the Sabbath day Holy. We give 1 day of the week to Him, and he in turn pours out blessings upon us for remembering him and keeping the covenant we made with him at baptism through partaking of the sacrament.
Paragraph 2--I love the line "Gods eternal love for all of his Children." This is Missionary work. We had a set of phrases we recited in the WATAC mission, part of which was "Love is the Motive." NOt only is it the Motive of Missionary work, but our motive to be obedient to our Parents, our motive to obey the commandments, our motive to provide for our famlies. It was the motive God Had fo us enough so that He gave His only Begotten son, Jesus Christ. Love is the Motive of Christ's atonement. Never forget that LOVE should be our Motive, and in the first place should always be our LOVE of God.
Paragraph 3--A few thoughts of mine concerning what we can learn from this Paragraph.
Firstly, Read Moroni 8:16. Perfect love casts out Fear. When we are filled with the love of God, we don't have to be afraid of Anything or Anyone, we know what our priority is (our love of GOD) and he in turn fills us with the love and confidence we need to facy ANY opposition. I've seen that work in my mission.
Next, I want to share something I wrote in my Journal this week.
"Some days I remember when I got my wisdom teeth out. That was some of the severest pain I've ever had, which I know to some people is pretty wimpy, but it was bad. I felt like a little girl, I went to get my mom at 2 in the morning and she gave me the medicine I needed. She turned on the light of my little red shade lamp and laid down next to me in my queen bed. And she rubbed my back, back and forth, quietly staying the early morning with me as I cried in my pain. I think of my mother and that vigil she kept with me so often. I think of Mom and how she so reminds me of the Savior, how all her life she has given, given, given from her heart. How she has loved me and my brothers with a love unfeigned and abounding, to the point that she cried when we left on the yellow school bus when classes were in, because she missed spending time with us. I think of Her, and I know that Christ lives because I see Him in Her! Alma 5 talks about Reflecting Christ's countenance because we will be like Him. That's my Mother. I want so much to be more like her!"
What do we learn from examples like Mom and Dad about Christlike Love? How can we be better at demonstrating that kind of love to others?
Lastly, I want to share that Christlike love CHANGES people. A few weeks ago I had the privilege to sing Christmas carols at a nursing home here in Cañada. Amongst the residents was an old woman who reminded me of Oscar the Grouch. She had nothing nice to say to anyone and complained about our singing during our miniature performance. At the end we mixed and mingled, and when I went to talk to her I expressed that It was a pleasure to have been here and spend time with her. She responded bitterly, "No fue un placer para mi!" in other words, It was NOT a pleasure for her! I asked her about her life and her children, and what she enjoyed and if she believed in Christ. She looked at me and responded with bitterness and hate emanating from her eyes. I gave her a smile as we left, and gave her a little kiss on the cheek as is the custom in Argentina to greet and say goodbye. When I pulled back I saw a change in her face, a light, a look of surprise. I don't know when the last time was that someone gave her a besito. But I realized in that moment that Christlike love, it changes people. It changes us. The Wrong shall fail, the right prevail with peace on earth, goodwill to men, and LOVE.
All for now, see you next week in PARANÁ!
Love with all my heart,
Hermanita Boren
Monday, January 20, 2014
He Could Not Rest
Dear Family,
I began cracking up the other day reading the Book of Mormon during my personal study. There's a line from the Book of Mormon that tickled me pink, Alma 43:1, "And now it came to pass that the sons of Alma did go forth ammont the people, to declare the word unto them. And Alma, also, himself, could not rest, and he also went forth." It just made me smile to picture this Disciple of Christ sitting for a moment to enjoy retirement or a little vacation, and just not being able to stand it. He thinks of his sons in the mission field, and can't help but join them, over again. He leaves as a missionary when he's young, later leaves with two of his sons to the Zoramites, and again leaves. I don't know where these records are kept but I hope someday to read them. Alma is one of my scripture heroes, especially as I learn from his teachings and his actions while I am privileged to be a missionary.
I had a freaky moment this past week when I realized I've just about reached 7 months, and my heart began to break. I don't know how I'll ever be able to leave this, what I love! Inviting others to come unto Christ is the sweetest joy! But then I realized that, like Alma, being a missionary is a forever thing. There is no retiring once we're converted. We keep inviting, keep serving, and keep loving others the way Christ did and does. We cannot rest, and I know I'll never be able to, not now, not after the change he's worked in me. The changes he works in each us!
I love hearing that you are studying Preach my Gospel now for Family scripture study. I kind of want to be a part of it, so I wrote during part of my personal study today something I hope we can study together. Chapter 6 of PMG is one of my favorites. The Christlike Attribute I want to study with you is Faith in Jesus Christ.
Let's read the first paragraph. What does faith mean? "You accept him as your Savior and Redeemer and follow His teachings." In other words, if we truly believe in Christ, our faith is demonstrated by our obedience to the principles he taught. "You believe that your sins can be forgiven through His Atonement." What does this mean to you? Do you believe this--that every mistake we make can be made clean through our Savior? Boys, when we first started mowing the lawn, each one of us left many "bad haircuts" as Dad would say. There were many spots of grass taller than the others, crooked lines where we had gone astray in our mowing path. Dad KNEW when he first taught us that we would make mistakes, that we would mess up time and again--but he helped us correct it every time, because he loves us, wants us to grow, and wants us to gain ´life skills.´ In the end, despite all our faults (and the fact that I STILL mow bad haircuts every once in a while) everything worked out and the lawn got mowed. The atonement works this way. Christ KNOWS we are imperfect. That was part of the plan from the beginning. But his atonement helps us clean up all the "bad haircuts" of our lives. We need to have FAITH in Him as we have FAITH in Dad to help us learn, grow, and improve despite all the mistakes we make.
We keep reading in the first paragraph. "Faith in Him means that you trust Him and are confident that he loves you." Sometimes we feel the weight of our imperfection and feel less than worthy of Christ's love. Something I've learned on my mission is that we have to open our hearts and feel of His love in order to Help others feel it and in order for our Faith to grow. If I don't believe that He loves me, how can I help anyone else feel it? Some ways I've learned to have FAITH through CONFIDENCE in Christ's love for me is through the following: 1) Counting my Blessings. List out loud at least 5 blessing God has given you in your life.
2) Service. What Good have you done in the world today? (another life's lesson from Dad)
3) Reading the Scriptures. Seeing Christ's Work and love extended to others in the scriptures helps me better understand how Christ extends His love to me.
4) Prayer.
Okay, let's read paragraphs 2 and 3 now. Now that we know what faith is and how we feel it, what do we DO about it? What power does it bring? What is the opposite of faith, how can we avoid these feelings of doubt and fear? When I first came to Argentina, I was without any idea of what was going on. Before I knew it I was off on a double decker bus with my little companion from Mexico and couldn't understand a word she was saying. Driving away, looking out the windows at a world completely foreign to me, far from anything familiar and without a person in my life to talk too--I reached out in Prayer to Heavenly Father. And when I did, in that ride away from Rosario to Venado Tuerto, he filled me with his Love, and the fear left. I knew he would take care of me, and He Did. Hermana Ferraez was part of the fulfillment of that prayer, my Trainer loved me and looked after me and helped me learn Spanish. I testify as Moroni did, perfect love casts out fear. And we feel that love of the Savior, as we established before, through FAITH.
Paragraphs 4-7. How can we help our faith GROW?
Scriptures to read:
-Alma 32:41-43 (Compare with 1 Nephi 8) Faith allows us access to the atonement of Christ.
-Ether 12:6, Faith comes after _____
-Romans 10:17, How faith GROWS
-Mosiah 5: 1-15, What Faith does to us, or why we are a peculiar people.
I love preach my Gospel and hope you feel the same uplift I do from reading and learning from it's pages.
It has been a marvelous week. The other day while contacting in the street, we contacted a man named Jesús pushing his bicycle along, going home for lunch. As soon as we introduced the Church, he immediately said "Soy Miembro de la Iglesia! Me bauticé en Carcarañá!" or "I'm a member of the Church! I got baptized in Carcarañá" which is a little town up the street from Cañada. WE went to his house for a lesson on Saturday, and he told us that when he saw us up the street, he offered up a little prayer, that if it was important for him to come back to the church at this time that we, the missionaries, would speak to him. Our contact was the answer to his prayer, and we're beginning the proccess of helping him get things back in order. This is a great and marvelous work of miracles. Never underestimate the power of prayer.
We have had new investigators coming out of the woodwork! Lots of new people to teach of many different backgrounds. I'm excited to see what comes of our lessons with each of them. One woman in particular has touched my heart, her name is Flavia, she is 20 years old or so, cannot read, and has two beautiful little kids--a little girl named Micaela, age 3, and a little boy of 18 months, Ismael. She has had a hard life but loves the Savior and wants to be closer to him.
More words to come next week. I loved seeing the pictures of ice skating, love hearing about the shannanagins of the pets at home, love hearing your words of support and love. Give Janet D. my love, I will be praying for her to get well soon. And everyone else you see that I know, tell them I love them!
Con amor GIGANTISIMO,
Hermanita Boren
mikayla reneela
I began cracking up the other day reading the Book of Mormon during my personal study. There's a line from the Book of Mormon that tickled me pink, Alma 43:1, "And now it came to pass that the sons of Alma did go forth ammont the people, to declare the word unto them. And Alma, also, himself, could not rest, and he also went forth." It just made me smile to picture this Disciple of Christ sitting for a moment to enjoy retirement or a little vacation, and just not being able to stand it. He thinks of his sons in the mission field, and can't help but join them, over again. He leaves as a missionary when he's young, later leaves with two of his sons to the Zoramites, and again leaves. I don't know where these records are kept but I hope someday to read them. Alma is one of my scripture heroes, especially as I learn from his teachings and his actions while I am privileged to be a missionary.
I had a freaky moment this past week when I realized I've just about reached 7 months, and my heart began to break. I don't know how I'll ever be able to leave this, what I love! Inviting others to come unto Christ is the sweetest joy! But then I realized that, like Alma, being a missionary is a forever thing. There is no retiring once we're converted. We keep inviting, keep serving, and keep loving others the way Christ did and does. We cannot rest, and I know I'll never be able to, not now, not after the change he's worked in me. The changes he works in each us!
I love hearing that you are studying Preach my Gospel now for Family scripture study. I kind of want to be a part of it, so I wrote during part of my personal study today something I hope we can study together. Chapter 6 of PMG is one of my favorites. The Christlike Attribute I want to study with you is Faith in Jesus Christ.
Let's read the first paragraph. What does faith mean? "You accept him as your Savior and Redeemer and follow His teachings." In other words, if we truly believe in Christ, our faith is demonstrated by our obedience to the principles he taught. "You believe that your sins can be forgiven through His Atonement." What does this mean to you? Do you believe this--that every mistake we make can be made clean through our Savior? Boys, when we first started mowing the lawn, each one of us left many "bad haircuts" as Dad would say. There were many spots of grass taller than the others, crooked lines where we had gone astray in our mowing path. Dad KNEW when he first taught us that we would make mistakes, that we would mess up time and again--but he helped us correct it every time, because he loves us, wants us to grow, and wants us to gain ´life skills.´ In the end, despite all our faults (and the fact that I STILL mow bad haircuts every once in a while) everything worked out and the lawn got mowed. The atonement works this way. Christ KNOWS we are imperfect. That was part of the plan from the beginning. But his atonement helps us clean up all the "bad haircuts" of our lives. We need to have FAITH in Him as we have FAITH in Dad to help us learn, grow, and improve despite all the mistakes we make.
We keep reading in the first paragraph. "Faith in Him means that you trust Him and are confident that he loves you." Sometimes we feel the weight of our imperfection and feel less than worthy of Christ's love. Something I've learned on my mission is that we have to open our hearts and feel of His love in order to Help others feel it and in order for our Faith to grow. If I don't believe that He loves me, how can I help anyone else feel it? Some ways I've learned to have FAITH through CONFIDENCE in Christ's love for me is through the following: 1) Counting my Blessings. List out loud at least 5 blessing God has given you in your life.
2) Service. What Good have you done in the world today? (another life's lesson from Dad)
3) Reading the Scriptures. Seeing Christ's Work and love extended to others in the scriptures helps me better understand how Christ extends His love to me.
4) Prayer.
Okay, let's read paragraphs 2 and 3 now. Now that we know what faith is and how we feel it, what do we DO about it? What power does it bring? What is the opposite of faith, how can we avoid these feelings of doubt and fear? When I first came to Argentina, I was without any idea of what was going on. Before I knew it I was off on a double decker bus with my little companion from Mexico and couldn't understand a word she was saying. Driving away, looking out the windows at a world completely foreign to me, far from anything familiar and without a person in my life to talk too--I reached out in Prayer to Heavenly Father. And when I did, in that ride away from Rosario to Venado Tuerto, he filled me with his Love, and the fear left. I knew he would take care of me, and He Did. Hermana Ferraez was part of the fulfillment of that prayer, my Trainer loved me and looked after me and helped me learn Spanish. I testify as Moroni did, perfect love casts out fear. And we feel that love of the Savior, as we established before, through FAITH.
Paragraphs 4-7. How can we help our faith GROW?
Scriptures to read:
-Alma 32:41-43 (Compare with 1 Nephi 8) Faith allows us access to the atonement of Christ.
-Ether 12:6, Faith comes after _____
-Romans 10:17, How faith GROWS
-Mosiah 5: 1-15, What Faith does to us, or why we are a peculiar people.
I love preach my Gospel and hope you feel the same uplift I do from reading and learning from it's pages.
It has been a marvelous week. The other day while contacting in the street, we contacted a man named Jesús pushing his bicycle along, going home for lunch. As soon as we introduced the Church, he immediately said "Soy Miembro de la Iglesia! Me bauticé en Carcarañá!" or "I'm a member of the Church! I got baptized in Carcarañá" which is a little town up the street from Cañada. WE went to his house for a lesson on Saturday, and he told us that when he saw us up the street, he offered up a little prayer, that if it was important for him to come back to the church at this time that we, the missionaries, would speak to him. Our contact was the answer to his prayer, and we're beginning the proccess of helping him get things back in order. This is a great and marvelous work of miracles. Never underestimate the power of prayer.
We have had new investigators coming out of the woodwork! Lots of new people to teach of many different backgrounds. I'm excited to see what comes of our lessons with each of them. One woman in particular has touched my heart, her name is Flavia, she is 20 years old or so, cannot read, and has two beautiful little kids--a little girl named Micaela, age 3, and a little boy of 18 months, Ismael. She has had a hard life but loves the Savior and wants to be closer to him.
More words to come next week. I loved seeing the pictures of ice skating, love hearing about the shannanagins of the pets at home, love hearing your words of support and love. Give Janet D. my love, I will be praying for her to get well soon. And everyone else you see that I know, tell them I love them!
Con amor GIGANTISIMO,
Hermanita Boren
mikayla reneela
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Dia de los Magos (Day of the Orient Kings)
Dearest Family,
Four packages came this week! I hope you take this as a testimony of prayer, because your prayers have been answered rather favorably. This week I received another package from Jan Holiday, a lovely Christmas package from Dan and Jena, Your own Christmas goodies and treats (you just know me so well. Tapioca? Ties to give to the recent converts? Thanks for having me for Christmas this year, Jordan! I love you!) and a little fun package you sent clear back in august with all sorts of funness from the Pioneer party store. Oh, it was a delight. I received them at zone meeting and my companion and I opened them on the colectivo ride back to Cañada de Gomez. I think my favorite part about receiving packages is sharing what's inside with the other missionaries. It's like I can finally explain to them in something beyond words the kind of love you offer me, my sweet family and friends. I get to share with them a little bit of Boren and Harper and Jan Holiday kind of caring :) I began handing out the chocolate and sour candies and pixie sticks, and you would have loved the look on these missionaries' faces. Elder Quispe from Peru, Elder Sanchez from Mexico, Hermana Martinez my companion from Honduras, and Hermanas Rane and Carlson from the States all looked like little children on Christmas morning! When I handed Hermana Carlson a stick of zebra stripe gum, she exclaimed "I haven't eaten this since I was five!" And mom, the little individually packed peanut butter jiff things were perfect. It made is so easy to share, give each person a little container of peanutty goodness that we've been craving for months. Everyone was laughing and smiling and enjoying the stickers and wanting to see the pictures Corey drew for me. I am so grateful for all you sent, thank you for your love and letting me share it with these good, faithful missionary soldiers I care about so much. The packages didn't come for Christmas, but they came just in time for dia de los magos (day of the orient kings.) It's celebrated on January 6th here, a tradition they have is that the kids put their shoes out at night and in the morning the three kings that brought baby Jesus frankincinse, mhyrhh, and gold also bring little treasures for the children. Thank you for filling to bursting every pair of shoes I have! :)
There's two dogs of Cañada I've grown particularly attached too. The first is named Pirata, spanish for pirate, whom our neighbors own. He is always sitting outside, mosying about, every day--and is such a sweetheart of a dog. I always have to tell him "Hola Pirata!" And it makes his owners laugh. There's a stray dog that's a dark brown collie and reminds me so much of my puppy Captain Jack. He seems to find us on a daily basis and follows us for hours, he's even to the point where he nuzzles my leg and has waited outside all 3 hours of church for us. I love him, and have named him "Roberts" for the Dread pirate roberts in Princess Bride. I figured I needed to stick with a pirate theme for all three. How is my dog doing at home? I get homesick for him with Roberts following us around.
I like to think God had me in mind when he created the animals. They are just a delight! All creatures of our God and king, lift up your voice and praises sing! Aleluia, aleluia.
This week was brilliant. I have loved every day, despite the challenges. Wednesday was Zone meeting, and our Zone leaders are so driven. They have such a wonderful balance between setting goals and improvement, with being grateful and cheering of the work we've been able to accomplish. We watched a short movie approved by President Giuliani called "The Butterfly Circus." I would encourage you to look for it on youtube family, it has so much heart. We talked afterwards about our worth as children of God and that truly with God, nothing is impossible. We also need to see the potential and worth of the rest of God's children, especially as we are teaching them, Members and Investigators alike. It was an uplifting meeting, and every time I am in a chapel filled with missionaries I just can't help but rejoice and think of how glorious this work is. The gospel is filling the earth, and I am humbled to be a part of it. We are preparing the earth for the Savior's coming.
This week we stopped by one of the nursing homes we had sung at for Christmas (we had some major christmas caroling service appointments in December) and enjoyed visiting with a man named Aldo whom we have talked with about the gospel on several occasions. On this visit we shared about the plan of Salvation, and he was so edified thjingking about life after death--he has lost a brother, son, and his spouse. After we offered the prayer he insisted to say a prayer as well. He began offering his praise to God to be able to hear his word and for the great hope we have to live with our families again after death. It is a glory and a wonder to hear these good Argentine people pray. Prayer is my favorite thing to teach and the sweetest communion with God, we are so privileged to pray! Whenever we are happy, troubled, sad, or excited--I just want to up and pray and share it all with our Father in Heaven.
We're still working with jimena and Jaun and their family. They didn't come to Chruch, but we're not letting that get us down. We've just got to reestablish the blessings they'll receive if they continue in the faith and help them to continue to read, pray, and progress.
There's so much more to say and no time :) So I'll just have to send another letter. I love you more than you know and pray for you every day. I am also going to be sending a little letter about Preach my gospel, I want to be part of family scripture study and love this book so much I thought maybe I'd send some of my insights. I'm not sure where you're starting to study, but I thought I'd send a few letters about my experiences with the Christlike attributes chapter.
Love forever and always, con MUCHISIMO amor,
Hermana Boren
Mickey Moo!
Four packages came this week! I hope you take this as a testimony of prayer, because your prayers have been answered rather favorably. This week I received another package from Jan Holiday, a lovely Christmas package from Dan and Jena, Your own Christmas goodies and treats (you just know me so well. Tapioca? Ties to give to the recent converts? Thanks for having me for Christmas this year, Jordan! I love you!) and a little fun package you sent clear back in august with all sorts of funness from the Pioneer party store. Oh, it was a delight. I received them at zone meeting and my companion and I opened them on the colectivo ride back to Cañada de Gomez. I think my favorite part about receiving packages is sharing what's inside with the other missionaries. It's like I can finally explain to them in something beyond words the kind of love you offer me, my sweet family and friends. I get to share with them a little bit of Boren and Harper and Jan Holiday kind of caring :) I began handing out the chocolate and sour candies and pixie sticks, and you would have loved the look on these missionaries' faces. Elder Quispe from Peru, Elder Sanchez from Mexico, Hermana Martinez my companion from Honduras, and Hermanas Rane and Carlson from the States all looked like little children on Christmas morning! When I handed Hermana Carlson a stick of zebra stripe gum, she exclaimed "I haven't eaten this since I was five!" And mom, the little individually packed peanut butter jiff things were perfect. It made is so easy to share, give each person a little container of peanutty goodness that we've been craving for months. Everyone was laughing and smiling and enjoying the stickers and wanting to see the pictures Corey drew for me. I am so grateful for all you sent, thank you for your love and letting me share it with these good, faithful missionary soldiers I care about so much. The packages didn't come for Christmas, but they came just in time for dia de los magos (day of the orient kings.) It's celebrated on January 6th here, a tradition they have is that the kids put their shoes out at night and in the morning the three kings that brought baby Jesus frankincinse, mhyrhh, and gold also bring little treasures for the children. Thank you for filling to bursting every pair of shoes I have! :)
There's two dogs of Cañada I've grown particularly attached too. The first is named Pirata, spanish for pirate, whom our neighbors own. He is always sitting outside, mosying about, every day--and is such a sweetheart of a dog. I always have to tell him "Hola Pirata!" And it makes his owners laugh. There's a stray dog that's a dark brown collie and reminds me so much of my puppy Captain Jack. He seems to find us on a daily basis and follows us for hours, he's even to the point where he nuzzles my leg and has waited outside all 3 hours of church for us. I love him, and have named him "Roberts" for the Dread pirate roberts in Princess Bride. I figured I needed to stick with a pirate theme for all three. How is my dog doing at home? I get homesick for him with Roberts following us around.
I like to think God had me in mind when he created the animals. They are just a delight! All creatures of our God and king, lift up your voice and praises sing! Aleluia, aleluia.
This week was brilliant. I have loved every day, despite the challenges. Wednesday was Zone meeting, and our Zone leaders are so driven. They have such a wonderful balance between setting goals and improvement, with being grateful and cheering of the work we've been able to accomplish. We watched a short movie approved by President Giuliani called "The Butterfly Circus." I would encourage you to look for it on youtube family, it has so much heart. We talked afterwards about our worth as children of God and that truly with God, nothing is impossible. We also need to see the potential and worth of the rest of God's children, especially as we are teaching them, Members and Investigators alike. It was an uplifting meeting, and every time I am in a chapel filled with missionaries I just can't help but rejoice and think of how glorious this work is. The gospel is filling the earth, and I am humbled to be a part of it. We are preparing the earth for the Savior's coming.
This week we stopped by one of the nursing homes we had sung at for Christmas (we had some major christmas caroling service appointments in December) and enjoyed visiting with a man named Aldo whom we have talked with about the gospel on several occasions. On this visit we shared about the plan of Salvation, and he was so edified thjingking about life after death--he has lost a brother, son, and his spouse. After we offered the prayer he insisted to say a prayer as well. He began offering his praise to God to be able to hear his word and for the great hope we have to live with our families again after death. It is a glory and a wonder to hear these good Argentine people pray. Prayer is my favorite thing to teach and the sweetest communion with God, we are so privileged to pray! Whenever we are happy, troubled, sad, or excited--I just want to up and pray and share it all with our Father in Heaven.
We're still working with jimena and Jaun and their family. They didn't come to Chruch, but we're not letting that get us down. We've just got to reestablish the blessings they'll receive if they continue in the faith and help them to continue to read, pray, and progress.
There's so much more to say and no time :) So I'll just have to send another letter. I love you more than you know and pray for you every day. I am also going to be sending a little letter about Preach my gospel, I want to be part of family scripture study and love this book so much I thought maybe I'd send some of my insights. I'm not sure where you're starting to study, but I thought I'd send a few letters about my experiences with the Christlike attributes chapter.
Love forever and always, con MUCHISIMO amor,
Hermana Boren
Mickey Moo!
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
24 Redhead Count
Dear Family and Sweet Friends,
It has been an awesome week. Firstly, my Redhead count got up to 24 this week. When I came to Argetina I started counting every Pelirojo that I saw, and I'm up to 24. Red hair isn't all that common in Argentina, and so of course I had to start counting. Everytime I see one I think of my sweet roomate Sarah McKneely. Love you, Sar.
I must offer my absolute congratulations and heartfelt love to Kelsey Jenson as well for her wedding!!! And congrats to the groom, Jason Pope! Oh, I love you Kelsey and I wish you the happiest of ever afters. I'm sending you a letter soon! Anyone have her address???
It was a beautiful week in Cañada. The sun was a little more forgiving and for the first time in 2 months I wasn't a wet, sweaty hippopotamus when we arrived at appointments. I finally know what all the Pendragon books mean when Bobby talks about sweat falling and stinging his eyes, that's how much water happens when it's Argentina hot. But this week was rather cooler, a tender mercy! We have been contacting and tracting like crazy, at least an hour of tracting every day (I feel like I'm in Washington again and I love it!) and we're seeing some fruits. New investigators and follow up appointments. We're hoping to help this little town to fill the chapel with true converts to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
To all of you who accompany missionaries to lesson, I hope you know that you mean the world to those missionaries. We're working to help the branch feel confidence and adequate to come with us to lessons, for some reason they just feel so afraid. We've started visiting the members in their home, put up a bulletin board in the church with pictures of lessons that we've had and activities we've put on, and are doing everything possible to gain their trust and help build their confidence. I was very intimidated when I started my mission--I had never accompanied a non member to church before in my life, and hardly knew what to say or how much to explain to my investigators--but the only remedy was practice. Now it feels like riding a bike when investigators come to church. It is always a lot of fun and we are filled with true happiness, but I know how to ride without training wheels. As soon as we start practicing with what we know, God blesses, consecrates our efforts. It's his work, not ours. But as we strive to build his kingdom, really, he's building us. (P.s., that was from the Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration movie. Not a Sister Boren original)
We are continually working with Jimena and her Family. Her novio Juan wanted to hear the lessons too, and so now we're teaching the whole family. They just need to get married and then they can be baptized! There is SO MUCH LOVE in this family, it is inspiring. Every time we teach a lesson I feel I am the one more edified than they. Jimena came to church yesterday and stayed for all three hours! She laughed during sunday school and cried during the testimonies of the primary children during Fast and Testimony meeting. She was full of questions after church and I'm sure she'll have more during our lesson this wednesday.
Other wonderful news: A 92 year old less active man came to church, his name is Hermano Coloccini.
Hermanas Rane and Carlson have a baptism this Saturday of 9 year old Uriel, son of parents who are members who don't come to church. He rides his bike every Sunday by himself, and rode himself on over for his Baptismal interview as well. He is such a rock and such an example to me, and bore his testimony yesterday too. I love the goodness of Children. Hermana Martinez and I are hoping to bring Jimena and her family to the Baptism, too. There is always a special and strong spirit at baptisms.
Keep the faith! Keep loving, serving, and pressing on, even when life gets hard. That's when we need to press forward the most. Missions aren't easy, but neither is life! We knew it wouldn't be easy, but we wanted this test--we wanted to prove to our God that we can do it! He loves me, and by golly I know he loves you!
Onward, ever onward!
Love, forever and always,
Hermana Boren
It has been an awesome week. Firstly, my Redhead count got up to 24 this week. When I came to Argetina I started counting every Pelirojo that I saw, and I'm up to 24. Red hair isn't all that common in Argentina, and so of course I had to start counting. Everytime I see one I think of my sweet roomate Sarah McKneely. Love you, Sar.
I must offer my absolute congratulations and heartfelt love to Kelsey Jenson as well for her wedding!!! And congrats to the groom, Jason Pope! Oh, I love you Kelsey and I wish you the happiest of ever afters. I'm sending you a letter soon! Anyone have her address???
It was a beautiful week in Cañada. The sun was a little more forgiving and for the first time in 2 months I wasn't a wet, sweaty hippopotamus when we arrived at appointments. I finally know what all the Pendragon books mean when Bobby talks about sweat falling and stinging his eyes, that's how much water happens when it's Argentina hot. But this week was rather cooler, a tender mercy! We have been contacting and tracting like crazy, at least an hour of tracting every day (I feel like I'm in Washington again and I love it!) and we're seeing some fruits. New investigators and follow up appointments. We're hoping to help this little town to fill the chapel with true converts to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
To all of you who accompany missionaries to lesson, I hope you know that you mean the world to those missionaries. We're working to help the branch feel confidence and adequate to come with us to lessons, for some reason they just feel so afraid. We've started visiting the members in their home, put up a bulletin board in the church with pictures of lessons that we've had and activities we've put on, and are doing everything possible to gain their trust and help build their confidence. I was very intimidated when I started my mission--I had never accompanied a non member to church before in my life, and hardly knew what to say or how much to explain to my investigators--but the only remedy was practice. Now it feels like riding a bike when investigators come to church. It is always a lot of fun and we are filled with true happiness, but I know how to ride without training wheels. As soon as we start practicing with what we know, God blesses, consecrates our efforts. It's his work, not ours. But as we strive to build his kingdom, really, he's building us. (P.s., that was from the Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration movie. Not a Sister Boren original)
We are continually working with Jimena and her Family. Her novio Juan wanted to hear the lessons too, and so now we're teaching the whole family. They just need to get married and then they can be baptized! There is SO MUCH LOVE in this family, it is inspiring. Every time we teach a lesson I feel I am the one more edified than they. Jimena came to church yesterday and stayed for all three hours! She laughed during sunday school and cried during the testimonies of the primary children during Fast and Testimony meeting. She was full of questions after church and I'm sure she'll have more during our lesson this wednesday.
Other wonderful news: A 92 year old less active man came to church, his name is Hermano Coloccini.
Hermanas Rane and Carlson have a baptism this Saturday of 9 year old Uriel, son of parents who are members who don't come to church. He rides his bike every Sunday by himself, and rode himself on over for his Baptismal interview as well. He is such a rock and such an example to me, and bore his testimony yesterday too. I love the goodness of Children. Hermana Martinez and I are hoping to bring Jimena and her family to the Baptism, too. There is always a special and strong spirit at baptisms.
Keep the faith! Keep loving, serving, and pressing on, even when life gets hard. That's when we need to press forward the most. Missions aren't easy, but neither is life! We knew it wouldn't be easy, but we wanted this test--we wanted to prove to our God that we can do it! He loves me, and by golly I know he loves you!
Onward, ever onward!
Love, forever and always,
Hermana Boren
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Plato's Cave, Second Breakfasts, and How I Waltzed through Downtown Cañada with a Fan
Hello my Dearest Family,
Firstly let me thank each and every one of you that has sent me an email for Christmas. I wish I could respond but the hour and 15 minutes we get weekly at the computer just doens't give me the time. Know that I love you equally and receive so much strength from your words. I love you my dear friends and family!
Secondly, WHAT A JOY IT WAS TO SEE YOUR FACES ON CHRISTMAS!!! By golly, I don't know why it's taken me this long to realize how inspired and wonderful SKype is! Yes, Kylie Mae, I know you're laughing right now. But It was a beautiful thing to see your faces, hear your voices, and imagine a group hug. Knowing how the time flies for me know, I'll be there before you know it to hug you in person. I don't expect to ever stop wanting to listen to your voices and hear your stories. Yes, Mom, be rest assured that I will be wanting to live home in the fall. I can't imagine being away from you, my family, any longer! I love you very much! It was the sweetest Christmas. i could not fall asleep at night until 1 in the morning, i kept replaying every word each of you said. How blessed I am to have a family of Christlike people who love one another.
To explain the title. Hermana Rane and I have decided that the Gospel and our life on earth is exactly like Plato's allegory of the cave. The people inside the cave watching the shadows are the people in this world who don't know about the gospel. And the person that goes outside and sees the world, that's the person that finds the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and benefits from the blessings of the covenant of baptism and the guidance of the Holy Ghost. We have a responsibility as people who have been oust side the cave and seen the beautiful world to share it with those of our brothers and sisters who are still inside the cave, inside the world. Hermana Rane and I, We have many philosophical and psychological discussions together, and I love it. She is a scholar and one of my dearest friends from the mission field. She is not my companion, but we live in the same apartment and work in the same branch, so it affords us many opportunities to talk and laugh.
Second Breakfasts. The other day I found my inner hobbit. I had my morning peach and yogurt while my comp was in the shower, and when she came out she prepared her signature oatmeal. I couldn't bring myself so say no when she came in to our room holding a steaming bowl of her delicious recipe. Companions are the best.
The third item of business. The other day Hermana Martinez and I had to look for one more piece of furniture, a fan to help us combat the incessant heat. So we went around town again, 3 months after our original adventure, and found an appropriate model. When the store manager asked if I wanted the display fan or the fan in a box, I misunderstood, and just pointed to the display fan like "This is the one I bought, right?" And as a result ended up walking through all of downtown Cañada carrying an upright fan til we got to our apartment. Hermana Martinez about died of laughter and embarassment while many people commented jokingly, "Tienen Calor?" "Are you hot?" Oh, the adventures.
But for spiritual matters--Yesterday we encountered a man sitting outside on his porch, as many of the viejitos do to pass the time. He had a rather large bandage on his fore head and over his right ear. As we began talking and testifying of Christ, we invited him (Julio is his name) to join with us in a prayer. I asked if there was anything he would like to thank God for in his life. He began to weep and told us, "I am grateful that I have facial cancer instead of body cancer. If I had had cancer of the body, I'd probably be dead. They had to amputate my right ear, but that's alright. I'm an old man. I feel bad for the young ones that suffer like I do. Thank him that I have cancer of the face, not cancer of the Body." I began to weep with him. What gratitude. I prayed, amazed, filled with love for this man and his optimism and his Faith in God. We testified of the resurrection.
Another few days back--we met a woman named Aidé, sitting outside in her wheelchair. She`s in her early 80s and in the past three years has had both of her legs amputated. She told us, "Aren't I so lucky that destiny touched me to lose my legs in the last part of my life, not at the first? I lost my husband when my children were small, and I couldn't have raised them if I had lost my legs then." Gratitude. I have so much to learn about gratitude. I feel so very often that Cañada de Gomez is like the waters of Bethseda, in the times of Christ's mortal life. So many people here, with hope to be healed, and faith in Christ, and enduring to the end. I am filled with light that through the atonement and the Resurrection, every unfair misfortune, every pain, every disability, every sorrow that we face, will be made up wholly and perfectly. Of This I testify.
Finally, I want to say that the Book of Mormon teaches us how to do missionary work. King Lamoni, after his conversion, takes Ammon to meet his father and the have a lesson. Right there is a member with lesosn and a member referral as well! How amazing! Not to mention where it talks about Abish running house to house, door to door to explain the good tidings of the gospel and invite the lamanites to come listen to Ammon and see the wonder of what happened to the King and Queen. There's a sister missionary going tracting!
I know that this is the Restored gospel of Jesus Christ upon the earth. No other church upon the earth is so organized, so focused on serving the one, centered in the Savior of the world. No other gospel preaches to the ends of the earth, changing lives that were hopeless and frustrated, to filling them with redeaming and liberating light and redeeming love as does the Restored Gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I don't just believe it, I know it, and to deny it would be a blaspheme before my God. I see his hand each and Every Day. I delight in plainness, I delight in truth, I delight in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from Hell. Of this I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Hermana Boren
Firstly let me thank each and every one of you that has sent me an email for Christmas. I wish I could respond but the hour and 15 minutes we get weekly at the computer just doens't give me the time. Know that I love you equally and receive so much strength from your words. I love you my dear friends and family!
Secondly, WHAT A JOY IT WAS TO SEE YOUR FACES ON CHRISTMAS!!! By golly, I don't know why it's taken me this long to realize how inspired and wonderful SKype is! Yes, Kylie Mae, I know you're laughing right now. But It was a beautiful thing to see your faces, hear your voices, and imagine a group hug. Knowing how the time flies for me know, I'll be there before you know it to hug you in person. I don't expect to ever stop wanting to listen to your voices and hear your stories. Yes, Mom, be rest assured that I will be wanting to live home in the fall. I can't imagine being away from you, my family, any longer! I love you very much! It was the sweetest Christmas. i could not fall asleep at night until 1 in the morning, i kept replaying every word each of you said. How blessed I am to have a family of Christlike people who love one another.
To explain the title. Hermana Rane and I have decided that the Gospel and our life on earth is exactly like Plato's allegory of the cave. The people inside the cave watching the shadows are the people in this world who don't know about the gospel. And the person that goes outside and sees the world, that's the person that finds the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and benefits from the blessings of the covenant of baptism and the guidance of the Holy Ghost. We have a responsibility as people who have been oust side the cave and seen the beautiful world to share it with those of our brothers and sisters who are still inside the cave, inside the world. Hermana Rane and I, We have many philosophical and psychological discussions together, and I love it. She is a scholar and one of my dearest friends from the mission field. She is not my companion, but we live in the same apartment and work in the same branch, so it affords us many opportunities to talk and laugh.
Second Breakfasts. The other day I found my inner hobbit. I had my morning peach and yogurt while my comp was in the shower, and when she came out she prepared her signature oatmeal. I couldn't bring myself so say no when she came in to our room holding a steaming bowl of her delicious recipe. Companions are the best.
The third item of business. The other day Hermana Martinez and I had to look for one more piece of furniture, a fan to help us combat the incessant heat. So we went around town again, 3 months after our original adventure, and found an appropriate model. When the store manager asked if I wanted the display fan or the fan in a box, I misunderstood, and just pointed to the display fan like "This is the one I bought, right?" And as a result ended up walking through all of downtown Cañada carrying an upright fan til we got to our apartment. Hermana Martinez about died of laughter and embarassment while many people commented jokingly, "Tienen Calor?" "Are you hot?" Oh, the adventures.
But for spiritual matters--Yesterday we encountered a man sitting outside on his porch, as many of the viejitos do to pass the time. He had a rather large bandage on his fore head and over his right ear. As we began talking and testifying of Christ, we invited him (Julio is his name) to join with us in a prayer. I asked if there was anything he would like to thank God for in his life. He began to weep and told us, "I am grateful that I have facial cancer instead of body cancer. If I had had cancer of the body, I'd probably be dead. They had to amputate my right ear, but that's alright. I'm an old man. I feel bad for the young ones that suffer like I do. Thank him that I have cancer of the face, not cancer of the Body." I began to weep with him. What gratitude. I prayed, amazed, filled with love for this man and his optimism and his Faith in God. We testified of the resurrection.
Another few days back--we met a woman named Aidé, sitting outside in her wheelchair. She`s in her early 80s and in the past three years has had both of her legs amputated. She told us, "Aren't I so lucky that destiny touched me to lose my legs in the last part of my life, not at the first? I lost my husband when my children were small, and I couldn't have raised them if I had lost my legs then." Gratitude. I have so much to learn about gratitude. I feel so very often that Cañada de Gomez is like the waters of Bethseda, in the times of Christ's mortal life. So many people here, with hope to be healed, and faith in Christ, and enduring to the end. I am filled with light that through the atonement and the Resurrection, every unfair misfortune, every pain, every disability, every sorrow that we face, will be made up wholly and perfectly. Of This I testify.
Finally, I want to say that the Book of Mormon teaches us how to do missionary work. King Lamoni, after his conversion, takes Ammon to meet his father and the have a lesson. Right there is a member with lesosn and a member referral as well! How amazing! Not to mention where it talks about Abish running house to house, door to door to explain the good tidings of the gospel and invite the lamanites to come listen to Ammon and see the wonder of what happened to the King and Queen. There's a sister missionary going tracting!
I know that this is the Restored gospel of Jesus Christ upon the earth. No other church upon the earth is so organized, so focused on serving the one, centered in the Savior of the world. No other gospel preaches to the ends of the earth, changing lives that were hopeless and frustrated, to filling them with redeaming and liberating light and redeeming love as does the Restored Gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I don't just believe it, I know it, and to deny it would be a blaspheme before my God. I see his hand each and Every Day. I delight in plainness, I delight in truth, I delight in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from Hell. Of this I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Hermana Boren
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