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!
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