So, there is this family, the Bailon family, who I loooove! There two daughters who are 18 and 14 are some of my FAVORITE people out here :) But the parents have been converts for like a year and a half I think, the 14 year old has been a member for about a year and the 18 year old just got baptized in January! So they are all fairly recent converts (there's 2 daughters under the age of 8 and one 16 year old boy who is taking the lessons currently) and they're really strong in the church and a couple weeks ago we found out they were getting sealed in the temple! We were so excited for them!! Then two days later Hna. Bailon was crying at church and said that the sealing was off because she felt like she didn't know enough and was kind of freaking out. She didn't straight up say she was freaking out, but I could tell.
Then on Tuesday at Institute we found out it was back on! We were happy again! Then on Thursday we went over to their house and everyone was super awkward and quiet and looked down and Hna Bailon was avoiding us at all costs. So I asked Carmen, the 14 year old, if they were going to the stake activity the on Saturday and she was like, "no. My mom doesn't want to go. She doesn't want to go to church anymore and she doesn't want to talk to anyone. She's not even talking to us anymore." I was like, "what?!" So we left and told the girls that if they needed anything to call us.
So we prayed for them, A LOT, those next couple days and on Saturday we saw them pull up the stake activity and we were SOOO excited! Hna. Bailon even brought a lady she had just met a couple days ago who did her daughters nails and the lady was interested in the church. She even brought the lady to church the next day. So a few days after church, I guess like a week ago, we went over because they had questions about the sealing and temple and stuff and Hna. Bailon said that the last week she was having a really hard time with everything and so she just decided to call the sealing off. She didn't want to go to church, she didn't want to talk to any members, she didn't want anything to do with the church.
Then she took her daughter to get her nails done and the lady started asking her questions about the church and she said she REALLY didn't want to answer the lady's quesionts, but then she said, "I realized it would so selfish and ungrateful of me to NOT share this message with other people. I thought about all the blessings it's brought me in my life and how wrong it is to not let other people know about it."
This story just makes me laugh because Hna. Bailon was dead set on not getting sealed or talking to anyone in the ward, or even her own kids for that matter, but Heavenly Father knew EXACTLY what she needed, she needed someone to ask her about it so she could realize how blessed she's been to have this in her life and how amazing this gospel is. It just reiterated just how much Heavenly Father knows is individually and he knows perfectly well what we need in our lives.
So, the sealing is back on (this Saturday and we get to go!) and everything is seemingly great. I'm super excited to go to their sealing - it's going to be awesome!
Ok, I know I wrote about Genesis the 15 yeard old girl last week, but I will probably write about her every single week because I just LOVE this girl! So, on Tuesday we left her a For the Strenght of the Youth booklet and on Saturday we stopped by to see if she could go to church on Sunday so we could have the Bailons pick her up and we ended up teaching her a lesson, but before we started the lesson lesson I asked her if she had read some of the booklet and if she had any questions about it. She said, "Yeah, I read it-" And at this point I cut her off and said, "you read the whole thing?!" And she was like, "yeah!" So I said, "que bueno!!" Haha :) But then she continued and was like, "I read it, but I felt sad (and I thought, oh crap, what is she going to say? Does she not want to be baptized anymore??) because it says not to have tattoos and I do." And then I just wanted to laugh because she's so stinkin' cute! Then she was saying how much she regrets it and how she wishes she hadn't done it because people judge you buy your outward appearance. So I told her that it doesn't matter who she was (which I HIGHLY doubt she was ever a horrible kid because she's just so good!) in the past, it only matters how she acts now and that it doesn't matter what other people think.
She also has a tiny little nose ring and she said something about it saying that in the pamphlet too. So we taught about the Word of Wisdom and invited her to keep it and I know she totally will because she's amazing like that. SO, she FINALLY was able to come to church yesterday and we had the Bailons pick her up and at the beginning of church I could tell she was quite uncomfortable, which is totally understandable, but she seemed to get along with Carmen quite well (which I'm glad because Carmen could be a real brat if she wanted to :) ) and she met a lot of the other girls and after church she seemed a lot more comfortable and said she really liked it! Oh! She also took her nose ring out which made me smile :)
There happened to be a baptism after church so she stayed for that too and she thought it was pretty cool! I asked her what she thought of everything and if it was weird and she just smiled and said, "it was a little weird, but I really liked it! I just wish my mom would come." And I asked her if the girls were nice to her and she said yeah! I asked Carmen what she thought of her and she's like, "she's cool! We were like.... laughing." Hahaha :)
Those are the two main stories of the week. It's kind of been a slow-ish week. Well, not slow but uneventful I guess. Some stories I would tell but I think they're only funny if you actually know the people, just because of their personalities and they way they talk. I wish I could somehow portray that over email :)
Oh! I guess this was quite the event - we are now a trio! Meaning there's three of us instead of two of us :) Last Wednesday we got a call from our mission pres. and he was like, "hey, do you guys have room for one more person?" so we said, "um, yeah." When really there's not any room, but we decided we'd be nice and make room :) But her name is Hermana Adams and her companion went back home to Kentucky for some reason so she joined our little companionship. But, here's the scary part... She came out one transfer before me (I actually met her in the MTC!), so 6 weeks before me, and Pres. said Hna Adams and I would probably stay here next transfer, which is SUPER exciting because that's what I wanted, but horribly horrifying because neither of us really even know Spanish!! It'll be tough if it really does happen but it'll be the best way to learn Spanish. I'm just worried I won't be able to teach people and fail miserably... haha :) But, I guess that's what relying on the Spirit is for :)
Well, I guess that is pretty much all for the week... I will write again next week and hopefully have some more interesting things to say :)
I loooooooove you all :)
-Kelsey
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