AHHH...Eternal Friends!

This is the wonderful Familia Mena Bautista!

Hola Family,

This is Yesamin’s baptism (from a couple weeks ago, but I didn’t have time to upload them.) The best part of her conversion wasn’t as much what she learned (because she’s already very much an angel), but what changed in her family. We taught them more than we taught her. They are menos-activos (less active) and had the habit of attending church every time one of their kids was getting ready to be baptized, and then completely disappearing afterwards. But we focused their teaching on becoming converted to Christ, and actually experiencing Him in their lives. And they’ve started reading scriptures everyday and have been attending every week. Lia, Gregorio, Yamili, Yesamin, Gloria, Gloria mama, y Hna Bautista. We are missing her brother, Jorge.

"I love Yahaira so deeply."

And last week, HOOOORAY. Yahaira was finally baptized. She’s been through a good 4-5 sets of elders because, even though she is as gold and pure as investigators come, her Dad caused some serious problems and refused to allow her to do it. But lo and behold, two SISTER missionaries move into the area and he happens to like us and offer us food and drinks all the time and has no problem with Yahaira baptizing. I love Yahaira so deeply. She is Cinderella. And she DID IT!

Hermana De Leon in Mulsay

​And a picture of Hna. De Leon and our street in Mulsay. Hna. De Leon never looks like herself in pictures for some reason. You guys--she is the best! I think if Presidente separates us for the next cambio (transfer), I will cry.

​Well, I had a big flop on Monday in the Leadership Training Meeting (where the Zone and Training Leaders come together from the whole mission, listen to what President and the AP’s say, and then go share it with all of their zones.) Presidente had told us the NIGHT BEFORE that he wanted us to present on “how to ask good questions.” So we stay up all night and wake up early to scrape together what we’re going to say (It was a topic on which I had a TON of stuff that I had been wanting to have a chance to teach), but then the next day during the conference we keep waiting for our turn but it never comes. We ask the assistants if they’re planning on us presenting and they said no, but they did go ask President and came back and tell us we could have 10 minutes!

So we go and try to present everything we had planned so beautifully in only ten  minutes, and it came out SUPER incoherently and vague and really just bad. It was the first time I had tried teaching something without feeling the Spirit at all. And even though it shouldn’t matter, I was really embarrassed about bombing it in front of all the leaders. I was worried it was going to blow our credibility as a teachers the next time we needed to capacitar (train in) something. And we kept asking ourselves: “What did we do wrong? The planning was inspired and what we thought Heavenly Father wanted us to say.  It was REALLY IMPORTANT STUFF, so why did Heavenly Father make it so we couldn't present it?”

I do know that it humbled me a lot, which was very refreshing. It showed me, “Sister Ludlam, without divine aid, is really a very incoherent mess.” Somebody had to kick me off my horse.

And, happy ending, we taught the same presentation in our zone meeting, but we had all week to prepare and I was praying for it all week. And it was VERY excellent and incisive and everybody was really involved. I think it really changed a lot of missionaries and the way they approach teaching. And their investigators.  I like working in the Spirit a lot more than I like not working in the Spirit.  If I have time, I'll write my capacitacion (training seminar)on “How to Teach People, Not Lessons” and “How To Ask Good Questions” and Basically How To Teach and Learn in General.

Stake Baptism for Zones Mérida, Centro and Aeropuerto

We had a MASSIVE stake baptism that I’ll have to tell you about later. Jesus and Juvencio were there and there is such JOY that swells in my heart every time I see them. AHH… eternal friends!

Love you, my eternal friends and family.

Hermana Ludlam