Pages

Monday, April 7, 2014

Mexico Week 7 -- Singing, Singing, All the Day

Dear Family!  This week literally flew by!  

First things first, 6 new sister missionaries arrived last Monday and they all stayed in our apartment!  Whew!  5 of them were from the Provo MTC ... my lovely Americans that didn’t speak any Spanish!  I absolutely loved it.  I remember my first night here and I was terrified.  It was really neat to be there for them, to talk to them in English, to help them feel better.  Hermana Valdez and I divided for about 20 minutes before we had to be home to give them a little feel for talking to people in the street.  Guess what ... I could do it!  I had three new Hermanas with me and we rocked it!  And guess what ... I was understanding people!  I realized that if I’m called to train in 6 weeks, I could do it.  I just love it and keep feeling more and more confident!


Sidenote .. I love it when the Spanish speaking missionaries speak English.  They’re learning too and I realize that even if I sound a little funny, people know what I’m saying!  But really, it’s the cutest thing.  Most of them only know certain phrases and they’ll randomly throw them in there!

Dad, I forgot to tell you last week when we were planning his baptism, we asked Juan Carlos who he wanted to baptize him.  He said, “tu papa” .. it was so sweet!  I told him my Dad would love to baptize him if he was here, but since that isn’t possible, we would have to go with his second choice.  I thought you would appreciate that!

Funny story of the week, this morning Hermana Valdez asked me if I remembered talking to her last night.  I told her uhhhhh no.  Then I immediately got super worried for what I said.  She starts cracking up and tells me that in the middle of the night, I sat up and said ¨Quiero ayudar a todos!¨ and afterward laid back down. But literally I was speaking Spanish in my sleep in the middle of the night and apparently I want to help everyone! HAHA!


We visited another Hermana in the ward this week and her son, Dante, is the cutest! He’s seriously hilarious. He was singing and playing with us today!  He kissed us both on the cheek before we left.

Also, I loved General Conference, even in Spanish!  Actually I really missed their voices.  I never realized just how much I loved the apostles and our prophet Thomas S. Monson.  I feel the Spirit so strongly just when I hear their voices.  David A. Bednar’s talk was a life changer.   Seriously, he is the man.  I love how much we can truly learn about the Atonement.  I also loved Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s talk. We have so much to be grateful for and this life is all about learning to dance in the rain!  I know that we can see the Lord´s hand in our lives every single day if we´re looking for it.  Also, Hermana Maria Dolores came to conference!  She’s 70 years old and came all on her own!


Remember Mom, like a week ago, when I said that everyone, especially the youth, should be studying Preach My Gospel!  And what did M. Russell Ballard say -- Everyone should be studying it!  I loved it. Y’all are going to learn so much!

I also just loved the focus on love and following the Savior’s example.  That’s what this whole life is about.  I love how many people said that this life is just a short moment.  It really hit me when they said that we will have an eternity to think about the decisions we made here.  This life is so short, don’t waste it!  It’s not worth it!  No sin is worth it.  We have to strive for that eternal perspective and literally prepare to meet God.  I just love it.  Let’s love people and be respectful and give them everything we have!



General Conference was great, but the highlight of my week was definitely singing with Hermana Ester.  She is the wife of Hermano Antonio.  She had a stroke about a year and a half ago and she can’t move anything.  She can’t talk, she can’t eat, and she’s been in bed for a year and a half.  She is so tiny, but she’s completely there mentally.  She can answer yes or no questions with her big toe. Her nurse told us all about her and it really touched my heart how much this lady loves Hermana Ester.  She told us that Antonio is pretty angry and doesn’t understand any of it.  She also told us that he never cries, not even when his son died.  He just gets a super determined, gruff face.  It’s crazy, he always acts so lighthearted with us, but it just shows that people have pain that we never know. We sang ¨How Great Thou Art¨ with her the first day and we couldn’t even finish the song because we were crying.  The Spirit was so strong. Heaven Father’s love is perfect.  Even when it feels like He’s forgotten us, He never has.  My goal in life is just to never be angry with my Heavenly Father. I don’t want to.  I just want to trust Him and willingly submit to all things.


We went singing with Hermana Ester another day.  I held her hand while we sang, and again, just the strongest Spirit came into the room.  Hermana Valdez and I sang so strongly!  I’m telling you, we’ve never sounded like that before.  It was really special for me and we both shared our testimonies of Christ after.  It was an experience in which I felt like I truly stood proxy for Christ.  I did what He would have done.  I just want so badly to help Antonio to strengthen His faith.  As we were kissing Ester goodbye and stroking her hair, we saw tears in her eyes.  I think she really does understand and feel the Spirit.  I just think of the day when they’ll be able to talk and catch up.  I just love them with my whole heart!



On Sunday, we went singing again, but this time the Contreras family came with us.  We were all a blubbering mess.  Hermana Ester understands, she really does.  After each song we bore testimony and asked her questions.  She knows she’s a special daughter of God and she wants her family forever.  I went to talk to her once and the words just spilled out.  They weren’t my words.  I told her that Heavenly Father knows that she worries about Antonio and the rest of her family.  He knows that she worries about what her condition is doing to them.  I promised her so strongly that we were going to Antonio, to teach him, and to help him to understand.  Both of them are so special!  I don’t think Ester ever thinks of herself, just her family.  All of her pain is related to her family.  Her nurse, Claudia, told her that things have been different, the beginning of a change in their home, since we started singing.  She’s starting to see a change in both of them.  I know that these people are so special and so prepared.

Heavenly Father truly does love each of his kids. He knows them, and everything in this life is for our benefit, we just have to choose how to respond.  If you have the truth, hold on to it as tight as you can!


Love you all!

 photo sig_zps85124238.png

No comments:

Post a Comment