Tuesday, July 7, 2015

4th of July Week

[editor's note: blog was going to start from the very beginning of Sister Curapil's mission, but alas. Going forward seems to be the only option at the moment. Sister Curapil has been inspiring us from day one in the Missionary Training Center (MTC). If there is a way to post previous letters and back date them, then they will be added. - otherwise Let the  joy begin]

Is it Pday already? 
Man what an awesome week! 

WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS


-BEING IN A PARADE TO REPRESENT THE CHURCH! 
It was awesome, as we went through the parade , we obviously got a ton of missionaries , some on bikes , some on foot, and with 1000 pass along cards. And awesome members!!! 
And their kids!! We were all on fire. We literally contacted 1000 people in less then 3 hours. 
The members loved it, and their kids didn't care whether people said yes or no to our card, they threw it at them anyways. It's was an awesome experience! If you go to a Facebook group called "lds missionaries testimonies" me and Hermana dyer are the cover page for it! :) 



 (Missionaries in the Chicago 4th of July Parade)
(It is now named the LDS Pass-a-long Parade)

-OUR 4th OF JULY PARTY in a park, it was full of food and music, dancing. My favorite part was the piñatas( which they get 5 and 1 is specifically only for missionaries) and the water ballon fight at the end, it was members vs missionaries/kids . It's apparently a tradition for every ward party that's at a park. I LOVE CHI 4! 


- We have this adorable 13 year old investigator who is the only one in her family that has a testimony and the only one ready to be baptized, what an example ! We were teaching her throughout the weeks and her friend Paola is always there. She was shy at first but then opened up and started asking all theses questions about baptism. She said she doesn't like how her parents baptized her when she was a baby because she has no sin. We explained that stuff to her. And she said she wants to "feel" that spirit in her life cause she knows she doesn't have it in her Catholic Church. We told her she can know if she should be baptized in our church if she prays and reads the Book of Mormon and asks if it's true. And Bianca just shared this beautiful powerful testimony about the Book of Mormon and prayer! She's 13 years old and reads the Book of Mormon everyday and reads it at school and at night and gets on her knees and prays all the time to know if it's true. And she said she always gets an answer. Paola said that she wants that too. Bianca's 10 year old brother was there with Paola's two brothers that are 10 as well. And we invited them to do an opening prayer with us. And they said yeah. And then they left, but then Bianca's little brother came up to us and said "can me and my friends do church with you" ( referring to the lesson) and we said of course. These 10 year old boys had open wide sparkling eyes as we talked about the Book of Mormon and testified about it. They all wanted one!! We gave  all of them one! And they all made a plan that they were going to get together and read from it! Me and Hermana dyer are hoping to do a family home evening with them and meet their parents and getting biancas parents involved. And then when we wanted to say a closing prayer, Paola asked if we could start the prayer and then go around in a circle and say something we are grateful for. These young kids mentioned the Book of Mormon, families, and missionaries :) 
It was so sweet. We then ended and they gave us the tightest hugs. 
It was amazing! 


So we found out that we should be back on Facebook. 
Let me remind you that we have to "clean it" out. We have to unfollow all of our friends from back home , so you can see my stuff but I can't see yours. And I will not be allowed to message any of you on Facebook messenger. 
Facebook is an amazing tool, we get in touch with people (members, less actives, investigators)faster and we have had baptisms come from people finding the gospel on Facebook, there's one case where someone from Africa saw the post and there was no missionaries, he messaged that missionary, and got authorized to teach him through Skype, and got baptized. 
Amazing right? I know technology will hasten Gods works as long as it is used correctly. 
And we are being disciplined on how to only get online with a purpose and look at things that will fulfill our missionary purpose. 
It's super neat! We are literally going to get in touch with millions all over the nations to every kindred and tongue, 10x faster then ever before. We just got the word that all European missions should be online soon as well. 
It's amazing! 
So far what I  learned is that with our smart phones and devices, we literally have access to everything in the world, it's up to us how we use it. And remember, we are the masters, don't let  technology rule over you.
One thing I am grateful for is that all the missionaries with iPads are not only gonna be super disciplined on how to use technology but we will know how to teach our kids how to use technology right as well. 
And in the end, I hope everyone knows. We are not iPad missionaries in an iPad mission. 
We are missionaries WITH  iPads. Some people worry it's not a good or real mission if we have iPads. 
But I can testify that missionaries who have iPads on their missions will come home more disciplined then ever. 
Yay for technology! 


I love you all! 
Hermana Curapil

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