So… YAY!!! THE ORELLANAS AND THE GUERRAS GOT BAPTIZED!!
I think the Orellana family was the most-taught investigators that I’ve had that actually got baptized. I think it was a little over two months, maybe three that we were teaching them and they finally got baptized! 🙂 I really thought we were going to drop them because Brother Orellana got drunk two Sundays in a row so I thought he wasn’t going to do what he had to do to stop, and I was worried about Sister Orellana because she didn’t seem to understand one true church because she kept going to this other church… But after they were married, you could see and feel a huge difference in them.
And actually, I think the huge difference in their home started before they got married.
The Sister had come to church a couple times and we had set a baptismal date with them when our Zone Leader decided to come since our baptismal dates with them fell twice (because of Brother Orellana drinking). It was HORRIBLE. I was so mad at our Zone Leader because he pretty much insulted Hna Orellana and was trying to tell her not to go to cult at the church because we came when she was getting ready to go… we all felt horrible the whole lesson, and then at the end, our Zone Leader pointed to the pictures on the wall and asked who put the pictures there, and he told them they needed to take them off because they were inappropriate and drove away the spirit–he was right– the pictures were really bad. The walls were covered with women in Bikinis. But the way he did it was awful… I guess the kids (teenage kids, we haven’t been able to teach them pretty much because they don’t want to listen) had put the pictures up and I guess Brother and Sister Orellana in their own little worlds never really thought to take them down.
But we came back later and apologized for the awful lesson, brought pictures of Jesus Christ and offered to help take down the Diario newspaper’s women in bikinis… We knew we had done a disservice not to tell them about the pictures before… especially because I could feel the difference after the pictures were gone, and one day we came back and found Brother Orellana staring at the picture of Jesus Christ in Getsamani. (The pictures have since been taken from the walls by someone again… they were taken once… returned… and now they’re missing again…)
And what finally got Brother Orellana to stop drinking?
…. Have you guessed yet?
What I think really, is the reason he stopped drinking–is because he got married.
I’ve always promised people the blessings of getting married–but I’ve never been able to see the difference that it’s made because the only family we’d married before them were the Martinezes. And they were baptized the same day. But Brother Orellana was well aware of the sin that they were in in “Common Law” for 33 years, but after he was married he felt his commitment to God and the church and his family were suddenly much stronger–enough that he chased his drunk friends away from the house when they came for him the next day on Sunday. And he hasn’t drunk once yet, even though, as Hna Ellis would say, he used to be “as drunk as a skunk…”
The Guerras were married and baptized as well. We had fun helping make some cakes (not very cute, but Central America isn’t big on home-made cakes since lots of people don’t have the means to make them). I will send you pictures next week since I left my camera home today… Sister Alba was really excited and happy… and everything went all right even though the room was hugely crowded and pretty much all six of the people who were baptized had to be baptized twice… I sang. I think it ended all right even though the beginning was rough because of upping and downing the volume of the cd player… Sister…
It’s always good to hear from everyone. Thank you for all your prayers. We still have lots of work today. And it’s Sis Duarte’s last cambio so we gotta make Belmopan SHINE.
Questions:
Can you give us a quick summary of all the companions you’ve had? Please list their names, where they are from, and how long you were companions.
Karla Fuentes (El Salvador): 1 cambio Sensunapan
Martha Estrada (Honduras): 3 cambios Sensunapan
Tonya Marquez (California): 1 cambio, Candelaria
Diana Ellis (Florida): 1 cambio, Modelo 1
Cindy Duarte (Honduras): 4 cambios, Belmopan
Is Hermana Ellis in Belize now?
Yes, she’s in my zone in Succotz.
Love,
Sister Holladay