Hey Everyone!
I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas in which you could enjoy the
company of family and friends and the spirit of Christmas! From the pictures
that i saw i could see that you guys had a wonderful time! This Christmas was so
specail for me and it was amazing to get to hear your voices again and get to
talk with you all. It just went by too fast! holy cow! i couldnt believe how
fast the time flew. But let me tell you about my christmas this past week and
all the miracles that we saw.
Well let me start from the 24th....we had a fun night. Here all the
peruvians eat dinner right at midnight or just a little bit before and when it
is midnight the sky literally errupts with fireworks. Everyone shoots them off
and there are no rules here. It was insane! It was the coolest thing i have seen
fireworks wise. Elder Leon and i put our matresses out up on the roof and slept
out there and watched all the fireworks and ate cookies at like 2AM because
there was no way we could go to sleep. it was so loud! Anyways, christmas
morning we woke up a little bit earlier to go and climb the mountain right
behind our area (its in our area but the final parts) that overlooks the whole
city of tacna. It was such a great view and half of the city was covered in the
smoke and haze that was left over from the fireworks. But we had fun and took
some pictures. We then headed down to the church where our zone got together and
we cooked breakfeast and made pancakes and eggs and sausage and then had a white
elephant gift exchange. It was a good taste of back home and we all had a great
time. We also set up for the our noche blanco for that night. This past month we
as a zone wanted ot have a ¨white Christmas¨and have a combined baptismal
service for all our investigators who are ready to be baptized. We have been
helping and challenging people all month for the 25th. well let me give you all
some background info first.
We have been teaching a family and have been working with a mom (sonia) and
two kids (sandra, and bryan) for over about 2 months. We challenged them to the
25th and they all accepted. well has the weeks approached....sandra and sonia
didnt want to be baptized but bryan did. but bryan needs permission from his
parents to be baptized (he is only 15). well we have been asking for his parents
to sign for weeks but they always come up with some little excuses. anyways we
stopped by his house christmas eve and his mom said that she would not sign and
that her husband would be the only one to do that. so the plan was....bryan was
going to talk to his dad before the festivites started and then call us to tell
us that he had the papers sign. well we didnt get a call. after our zone party
christmas morning, elder leon and i headed to his house to see what had
happened. he answered the door and just put his head down and said that his dad
said no and that he would not sign the papers. He also told us that his dad
wasnt home and that he wouldnt be coming home until 10 that night and that it
was impossible for his mom to sign. We were sooooooooooooooooooooooooo bumbed. I
asked if we could talk to his mom and he told us no, that she didnt want ot
speak with us at all. Well early in the morning i had had an impressiion to
bring our telephone (its huge) and put it in my backpack...i didnt know why but
i did. and i am grateful i listened. i asked bryan if we could say a prayer and
he offered the most sincere prayer asking and pleading for heavenly father to
allow him to be baptized that night. we really didnt know what to do but i had
the impression to pull out the phone and have bryan call his dad. he did. his
dad answered and said absoulety not, you are chatholic and you are already
baptized and hung up the phone on bryan. discouraged, i told bryan to call
again. this time his dad asked to speak with his wife, in which he told her that
she was not to let bryan be baptized and to not sign the papers. when bryan told
us this, i was crushed. i have never prayed so hard and pleading with heavenly
father to allow a way to appear for one of his children to be baptized, who
sincerely had the desires to be baptized. we sat outside the house for another
10 mins or so, praying, thinking and not speaking ot one another. then this
impression hit me saying ¨weston, you call him.¨ i picked up the phone and
called. he answered and i got to speak with him. i explained the situation, that
bryan wanted to follow in the footsteps of our savior jesus christ and that it
was necessary to have permission from the parents. after i had talked with him
for a good 5 mins about everything i asked if we could baptize bryan....This is
my miracle....he was a completely different person. ¨Yeah absoultely elder, just
talk to my wife and have her sign. if she signs, we are one in our decisions and
you have my consent.¨i was literally shaking, about to cry because of what he
had said. after speaking with him, i told bryan what had happened and to go and
speak to his mom to get here ot sign. he entered the house and after a while
came out, head down, and said that his mom would not sign. i asked bryan to get
his mom outside so that we could talk. after hearing a bunch of yelling in the
house, a very angry mother appeared in the doorway and started chewing us out.
saying that we were forcing her son into baptism and that he doesnt want it and
a whole bunch of ohter things. we explained that we were not there to fight, but
to talk about the situtaion with her. as we explained...she gave us an exuse, we
answered back with a gospel topic. she gave us another....defeat by another
gospel subject. she said that her son didnt have clothes, i told her i would
give him mine.....and a ton of other exuses. I have never seen satan trying so
hard to prevent that woman from giving permission. her final exuses was that she
loved her kids and that if bryan was baptized...the church would take her
children away and send them to other countries to preach the gospel (just like
us) and that she couldnt handle that and she doesnt want ot be far away from her
kids. The spirit overcame me and my mind was full. i dont remember the exact
words i said but i told her that i was glad she felt that way about her
children. that i was grateful for the love she has for them and wants them to
always be close to home and come home. i then explain that that is exactly how
our heavenly father feels. he wants us to come home. he doesnt like being very
far away from his children. but in order to return home, we have to complete and
do his will and follow is doctrine. i told her that our loving father in
heavenly and our heavnley mother want us to come hoome because we are far away,
he wants bryan to come home...let him complete that which is necessary to go
home. after i had finsihed....she asked bryan for the papers and signed them and
put them in my hands....a different person. ¨what do we need to do elder? where
do we need to be? what time?¨ i just about lost it and almost cried. I saw two
miracles in the space of almost an hour. Heavenly father softened the hearts of
two parents in the matter of minutes and they allowed there son to be baptized.
I had the priveledge to baptize bryan that night. the baptism service was so
amazing, powerful and so spirtiual. i got to play a special muscial number with
a sister and we had such a great turn out.
That was my christmas. And yes, i had my christmas miracle. I will never
forget those feelings and the experiecnes that i had. Bryans baptism was the
best gift i could have ever recieved for christmas.
Miracle 2
Well really quick....we found a wonderful lady who had been recieving the
lessons from other missionaries in a different area, had been attending church
for weeks and now wanted to be baptized. elder leon had a distinct impression to
knock on her door and upon doing so we found her. the problem was that she will
be traveling to chile to live but wanted to get baptize here before the new year
and before going to chile becausse she was afraid to not find the church in
chile. she had been struggling with the decision of being baptized for weeks but
told us that she had never felt more sure in her life. we asked if she would be
willing to be bapitzed the next day (saturday) and she said i will be baptized
right now if it is possible. so we set up an interview, got everything ready and
she asked if i would baptize her. It was a very sweet baptismal service. she was
our golden girl and i will never forget her. oh her name by the way is
raquel.
but I just want to tell you that god lives and knows us. Miracles happen. I
know they do becuasse i see them so much. I love being a missionary. words
cannot describe the joy i feel. I wish you all a very Happy New Year and i hope
you all will pray for miracles to happen in your own lives, and to help others
come unto our savior. I love this work. This is the true church of Jesus Christ
on the earth today. i have no doubt in my mind.
I love you all and pray for you daily.
May you feel of the love that our savior has for each and everyone of you
and may we all serve him and stand as witnesses and examples for him always, is
my prayer.
till next week
Elder Weston Birtcher
1-4-3
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