Hello family and friends!
The saga continues…This week has been so stressful and exciting. We were so excited to get ALL the papers ready in order for Rosa and Amador to get married this week. We traveled with our 3 witnesses to the municipality to present the papers to have everything ready to go.
Please keep in mind that nothing is ever easy, especially if it is to be done legally. It’s not just a matter of driving down to the courthouse in your car and 30 minutes later you sign a paper and everything is good, or, going on to the computer and finding out the information by Internet. They don’t give you a phone number to call...everything has to be done in person. We arrived at the municipality and it is in another location. You have to be persistent even just to ask basic questions. (Everyone thought that the “gringa” was trying to get married...not after THIS experience, thank you very much!)
For the past month Rosa has been selling tamales (not sleeping at all) while taking care of her 6 kids while her husband is gone in order to raise money to pay for the documents. In short, the zone leaders in Iquitos are mailing the partida (birth certificate) right as I write this and a member of our ward is traveling 13 hours by bus to Cajatambo in order to bring back the partida. In all honesty, we haven’t been sleeping much all this past week. There is so much drama and more details that I will spare all of you for now and tell you later in person. Long story short (oh wait, too late!), we don’t know if they will be married this Saturday or December 18.
Xiomara, 8, was baptized on Saturday. Her brother, our mission leader, baptized her. In the last minute, she began to cry because the water was freezing cold (they don’t have water heaters here for the baptismal font). We began to sing hymns and her brother finally coaxed her into the water. Rosa and her six kids came to the baptism and the kids left traumatized. We had good intentions inviting them because Cesar, 8, was sure he would drown if he was baptized. We thought if he saw that another child his same age was baptized, surely HE could be brave (and he wouldn’t drown). However, this makes for a tough PR job for these sister missionaries with these kids, but not impossible.
We are teaching Lenina (24) and Jonelle (28). They are both references from members in the ward and are golden. They are so excited to learn and want to pray and read the Book of Mormon. (Speaking of Book of Mormon, did I tell you last time that Amador is already in 4th Nephi? I wouldn’t be surprised if he has finished the Book of Mormon by the time he gets here on Thursday). They have such a special spirit with them. Lenina is going to be baptized the 27 of November and we are going to invite Jonelle to be baptized, too. We are seeing many miracles here this week. I can really see the power of conversion with them. They are so special. I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for permitting me to be a witness of these miracles and to be an instrument in His hands. It is so special.
Did I tell you that my companions are incredible? We really are a good team and we teach each other (we are practicing self-defense in the mornings) and help each other. There is a lot of unity, and that makes all the difference. Also, there is unity in the zone. They are helping us with our family of investigators. Wow! What a week! I am so tired, but we have energy to keep on going.
In short, be grateful for the Internet and everyone should have a cell phone, I have decided.
Lots of love,
Hermana Christensen
