Monday, April 29, 2013

Hermana Moody y Hermana Selk at General Conference

Hermana Mercado with her companions

Hermana Mercado with her companions on a Pday hike






Tinie Tiny Bread



Hermana Mercado's District

Cutest Kitty ever!

Hermana Mercado's 35th Letter from Chile!!


Life is beautiful. Francesca and Matias want to be baptized! They are preparing to be baptized May 12th. Isidro is preparing for May 19th, and Constanza and Maximiliano are preparing for June 2nd.  

Constanza is 10 and Max is 9. We had a great lesson with them this week, reading from the Book of Mormon. And they came to church for the first time this week!

My mind if so full of great things I don't even know what to say. We are teaching so many great people. Carolina y Roberto. Carolina is a member but inactive. Roberto is her husband and not a member. They are both a riot. We passed by their son's birthday party this weekend for a few minutes. They had a bubble machine.

Gloria, Sebastian, y Coni. They are a great family. They have some interesting ideas about extraterrestrials and stuff, but they are very interested in reading the Book of Mormon.

Irma y Nelson. Irma is a sweet old lady who stopped us in the street and wanted to know where the church was. Nelson is her son. They tell us they have family who are members. We thought they weren't members, but it turns out that they might be. Miscommunication.

And my companions are a hoot and a half.

--Hermana Mercado

Hermana Mercado's 34th Letter from Chile!

Things are going wonderfully. The Lord has been blessing us probably way more than we deserve. We keep finding people that are so prepared. This past week we found Gloria. She used to date a Mormon guy and went to church with him several times. She is very interested in learning more along with her children (who we actually contacted in the street first), Sebastian y Connie. 

We were also able to see Isidro this past week, and he wants to be baptized! He said he fasted and received an answer that it was right. As us and the ward have been there to help him and his family through his daughter's operation on her knee, he says his wife has become more open and told him that if he wanted to get baptized, it was ok with her. We're preparing him for the 19th of May!


This past week we also invited Paola's children, Francesca y Matias to prepare to be baptized the 5th of June. They said they felt like they needed more time because they still need to learn more. We tried to calm their doubts, telling them that they don't need to know everything before they're baptized. We know that they can be prepared. They just need to have a desire to follow Jesus Christ and to keep learning and progressing. I know I certainly didn't know everything when I was baptized, but I knew it was right. They said they wanted to take time to pray about it. They came to church again (even though they had gotten home late the night before) and again had a great experience. We'll see how things go in our lessons with them this week. I know they're ready. 

We started teaching Paula's children this week, Constanza (10) and Maximiliano (9). They're really sweet. We are preparing them to be baptized June 2nd. 

Lots of good things. My joy is full. The gospel is true. Love you all!

--Hermana Mercado

Friday, April 19, 2013

Hermana Mercado's 33rd Letter from Chile


Well, I hit my half-way mark last week. I can't believe I'm already half-way done with my mission! This is insane! They say after you're half-way done, the rest of the time just flies. I guess I'm just going to have to soak up every minute of it!

This week was amazing. Paola and her family are progressing tremendously. Reading, praying, setting up a schedule with us so we can see them twice a week, and they came to church and loved it! Paola is signed up to participate in a baby shower that's coming up in the ward, Francesca is planning on going on a single adult retreat (she also had someone help her download the scriptures on her phone), and Matias has this week full of young men activities. THEY ARE AMAZING!!!!

And we've been so blessed this week to find more people that are just so prepared. One of our investigators gave us Paula as a  reference, and when we went over to visit her, it turns out she is a member, but she's been inactive for a while. She is going through a bit of a difficult time, separating from her husband and she wants to come back to church. And she wants her two children to be baptized! 

Later on we were contacting, knocking on doors and this one family let us right on in. They've also been going through a difficult time, have family who are members, and are super interested in learning more about the church and how they can become members! Haydee and Javiera. They are super sweet.

I have no idea why the Lord has decided to bless us so much. It is just a testimony to me that the Lord really is hastening his work. As was said in General Conference, with the increasing numbers of missionaries, the Lord is preparing more people to receive them.

The church is true. 

Sorry I haven't sent pictures in a while. The computers here are silly sometimes.I will do my best to send some next week.

--Hermana Mercado


Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Hermana Mercado's 32nd Letter from Chile


Things are going pretty good. We found it a little hard to teach lessons this past week due to the Easter weekend, but we still found people to teach. We started teaching Jose this week, a man we met in our English classes, and he is really receptive. And Isidro, our one investigator that is progressing at the moment, has started to read the Book of Mormon from the beginning all on his own! He's even told us multiple times that he has the desire to be baptized! The only thing that is holding him back at the moment is his wife. She has no interest in listening to our message, and it seems that she's even a little against him continuing with us. He didn't come to church this week to try and keep the peace. We're praying hard that his wife's heart will change and doing everything we can to serve them.

Besides that, things are going swimmingly. Hermana Selk and Hermana Moody are speaking more Spanish everyday, and the Spanish mistakes that they make help to add comic relief to our studies. Hermana Selk keeps saying "Nuestro almuerzo Padre Celestial" instead of "Nuestro amoroso Padre Celestial", but I swear they're improving!

We had a lovely Easter Sunday. We made pancakes and had a little Easter egg hunt thanks to my mother's lovely easter package. Church was fantastic, we did a great Cosechon in El Abrazo, and then finished the day doing divisions with our ward missionaries to visit the less actives in our ward. I think Hermana Moody and Hermana Selk were a little nervous to go off on their own with another person, but they were fine.

I'm so grateful for Jesus Christ and his atonement. If it wasn't for him, I don't think I could be doing what I'm doing now. But I know that with his help I can do anything. He is risen, and thanks to him, we shall all live again. I can't wait for this weekend when we get to listen to His living prophet!!!! It is going to be amazing!!!

--Hermana Mercado

p.s. For all you Saturday's Warrior fans, Hermana Selk's best friend's Mom is Pam. I know. My mind was blown as well. I plan on meeting her after the mission.

Hermana Selk and Hermana Moody

Hermana Selk

Hermanas Mercado, Iroz and Bigo

Missionary "cosechon" activity

Hermana Iroz in front of the Nestle Factory

Missionaries waiting for their new trainees (babies)

Hermans Iroz, Mercado and Carter

Hermana Mercado with her new twins:  Hermana Moody and Hermana  Selk

Hermana Mercado with her new twins and President and Sister King

All the sister missionaries with their new "babies"

Hermana Mercado, Hermana Carter, Hermana Iroz and their new babies


Hermana Mercado's 31st Letter from Chile


Things are going pretty well. Both Hermana Moody and Hermana Selk are progressing well. They both have powerful testimonies and an enthusiasm for the work. Hermana Selk is progressing a little quicker with the spanish, so Hermana Moody gets down on herself sometimes, but Hermana Selk and I are getting better at cheering her up. 
We weren't able to meet with Isidro this week, and he didn't make it to church either. He had an emergency at work and his daughter is having some problems with her health. I'm a little worried, but we're trying to stay in contact with him every day. 

And we found new people to teach this week. Jose, from one of our English classes, seems like he's open to learning more. Hermana Moody actually did that contact and got his information all by herself! Another one, Nancy, was a street contact. We were out contacting, letting Hermana Selk and Hermana Moody take turns taking the lead in contacts, and we passed by this woman watering her patio. I felt like we should talk to her, so I struck up a conversation. It turns out that Nancy doesn't have any set religion, has heard a little bit about the Mormons, but in the beginning she didn't seem very interested, saying she works all the time, and her only days free are Sundays. We were a little insistent and said we only wanted to share a message of about ten minutes. So she went to go put her hose away, came back, and said, "Ok, go ahead". So I taught the restoration. Explained the great apostasy, shared the first vision, testified of the Book of Mormon, and invited her to read and pray. It had been one of Hermana Selk's goal this past week to place a Book of Mormon, so she was able to give the Book of Mormon she had been carrying around to Nancy. Both Hermana Moody and Hermana Selk shared their testimonies as well, and it was just so powerful. Nancy seems a little skeptical, but accepted our invitation to read and pray, and we set up an appointment to visit with hernext Sunday. I love sharing the Restoration. It was a good day.

We also had a lot of meetings this past week. Our district meeting, a special training meeting, the greenie meeting. It was a party at the greenie meeting. There are so many new missionaries! 

I feel like there are other stories I should be including in here. We have a good time, Hermana Moody, Selk, and I. They both are a hoot and a half. Both Kid Histroy fans, and both have seen "7 Brides for 7 Brothers". My mind is kind of a blur though. I'll try to share some funny stories next time, because the funny moments just keep rolling. 

--Hermana Mercado