Monday, March 14, 2022

Blackberries and a Baptism

Hey amigos! I know a bunch of people got added to the email list just barely... so just you know I'm a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I was originally assigned to the Dominican Republic Santiago mission but I'm chilling in the Oregon Eugene mission right now while I wait for my visa. And I love it! If you are interested in reading any of the emails I have already sent in my two months as a missionary, email my mom. Fair warning though, they're pretty long.

The highlight of this week for sure was Heidi's baptism! She got baptized by immersion for the remission of her sins on Saturday! It was a super cool experience. The Spirit was so strong there. Heidi bore her testimony after her baptism about how she knows for herself that this church is true. She was so ready for this step!

She received the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday. The ability to have guidance and protection from God always if we live worthy of it is such a blessing!

The best part of the baptism for me was that Heidi's parents came. She's had a hard life and doesn't have the greatest relationships with her families. She really wanted her parents and daughters to come but she didn't think they were going to. I was praying all week that her parents would come. And they did! They came to the baptism, then they came to church on Sunday to be there for the confirmation as well. The members were so welcoming! A lot of people came up to Vicki and Randy (Heidi's parents) to say they were so happy they could be there and ask if they wanted to stay for the second hour of church. The first couple times they said no, but then they said yes and I think they had a really good experience. Members are so important in the missionary work!

I have a friend on a mission right now and in his email last week he said that Orem Utah had the most baptisms in the world last month! That blows my mind. I challenge you guys to get involved with missionary work! In Orem I thought there weren't really any options available to do missionary work... but clearly I was wrong!

The baptism was definitely the best part of my week. We also got to do a lot of yard work this week and that was really fun! I love getting to be outside and the weather here is so nice! Since the day that I got here missionaries have been warning me about the blackberries. Apparently there are so many in Oregon and everyone is trying to get rid of their blackberries or at least trim them back. They're a pain to work with because they're super thorny, so missionaries get recruited to deal with them all the time as service for people. And sure enough, we got to Debby's house and she asked us if we would trim back her blackberries for her. It was actually so fun. They're definitely prickly. That lady also weeds that were basically teeny tiny onions. I was actually so tempted to eat one but I thought it might be too weird to take some lady's weeds home and eat them for dinner. So I didn't.

Also some spiritual thoughts for the week. Hopefully you guys aren't bored of me being obsessed with how the words in the scriptures are sometimes slightly different in Spanish. In John 14 is talking about how God will give the Holy Ghost unto us to, and verse 18 says, "I will not leave you comfortless." But in Spanish the word that it says is "orphaned". We are not left without our Father's presence and support!

Also a quote I found this week that I really like. It's by Elder Neal A. Maxwell. "Hope is realistic anticipation taking the form of determination." I really like this quote because we have so much to hope for. Christ sacrificed His life for us so that we can hope for eternal life with our families. When life is hard we have hope that it will improve. Because of Christ we know that all things are possible. So it's realistic to hope. And then it's important for us to act. Faith is a principle of action.

One of my comps turned 20 this week so we had a little celebration for her and went out to lunch and played some games. Sister Brower loves Boba and she wanted that for her birthday, so we went to get some. I have never had it before. It was good but weird. I liked it, but honestly I just love water so even though it's boring that's the drink I like to stick with.

The church is true! I'm so grateful to be a missionary and get to help with God's great work full time! But you definitely don't have to be a full time missionary to be a missionary.

I love all of you guys!

Hermana Cazier

pics

1-2. I love calligraphy

3. boba

4-5. yardwork


6. I made a candle

7. cool car a member has

8. Heidi's baptism!!

9-14. during lunch on one of the days we did kind of a photoshoot at this cool train at Stewart Park.






video - there are these things called nutrias that hang out by our apartment. They're basically cat sized rats. 


When I couldn't download the video, I put a picture on here, but I decided to leave it so you could see this type of rodent closer. - Maleen

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