To all of my favorites!
Well first things first...no changes this transfer! Hermana
Malacara and I will be working our tails off here still in Tlaquepaque!
Also, did you know that I opened my mission call about a year
ago? Where in the world is the time going?
For September 11th this week we said a special prayer
and we sang the Star Spangled Banner. I taught
my companion the song! :)
Also, we bought so much fruit today! I live off this stuff that
we buy so cheap in the little markets! They’re called tianguis.
This is Hermana Zulem. She’s an ex missionary in the ward and
she absolutely loves us!
Funny story ... so people actually think I’m talented! What is that about? One of our less active members asked me if I
ever sang in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Ha! Ha! Sometimes these people here really crack me up.
I hope you love this BEAUTIFUL shirt. One of the recent converts
in the ward is from Pueblo. She is adorable and we eat with her a lot. Her mom
makes these shirts and one of the ones she sent didn’t fit her so she gave it
to me!
Oh and we also got SOAKED this week! Ahh! We were working with a
member and it starts sprinkling a little bit. Sidebar, I’m the only one with an
umbrella. We are visiting a family and they’re not home. All of the sudden it
starts pouring. Us, the member, and her 4 year old daughter are all crowded
under one umbrella just getting soaked. We decide to make a run for it and then
the family shows up! We are all laughing and just soaking wet! What a night!
Then it starts hailing and wow, just crazy for a couple hours!
Mom, I wanted to thank you for the talks you sent me about
hymns. They truly are sacred and powerful and I have felt it in my life. I set
a goal to begin every spiritual experience (family prayer and scripture study,
FHE, visiting teaching visits, Sunday school, everything) with a hymn that
focuses on the topic. I am also going to study music after the mission, maybe
some easy classes in BYU or something! Sacred music has power and I am going to
fill my home with it and sing to my kids and everything. I have already
witnessed the power this week. We started planning hymns for our lessons and
also sometimes we sing during the lesson if we feel it. We have had some
amazing spiritual experiences in lessons this week with hymns.
We also went to the temple this week! YAY! I truly have missed
the temple. I think I was teary eyed through the whole session, I felt the
spirit so strong and Heavenly Father told me that I get to be a wife and mom so
that was exciting! At the end we were in the celestial room. Well before that,
I loved doing a session in Spanish and Heavenly Father helped me understand
just about everything. I felt the most incredible spirit. It truly is a little
piece of heaven. I started praying to my Heavenly Father and I made Him some
promises. He testified to me where I can improve but He also told me He’s proud
of me because I love people. He’s proud of my desire to obey and do what’s
right. He will always be by my side because He’s my Father. Everyone else from
the session left and it was just our zone there. One of the temple workers
tells us we have five more minutes and then we need to leave. I wasn’t quite ready for that! After the mission, I will be a regular temple
attender.
Remember our single mom from last week? Well she just keeps blowing us away! We
taught the whole Restoration this week and she says ¨how beautiful, I just feel
such a peace.¨ My testimony just flooded out about how much this was going
to bless her family She is so incredible. She sleeps three
hours a day and she just looks absolutely exhausted! She got the kids settled
watching Frozen and Genes starts dancing around with a white blanket on her
head singing, ¨Let it Go, Let it Go¨. We were all about dying laughing. As we
were leaving, her husband called to say he’s bringing a pizza over. She starts
telling the girls to clean up because he gets really mad and she gives me the
saddest smile and says ¨Yayy, Daddy’s coming over¨. She just blows my
mind. She has such a pure heart and I just want to help her. I want to
help her find the blessings of the gospel.
This week ... more real talk with my companion. The truth is, I wasn’t feeling so hot at the
end of this week and the frustration came a little quicker than usual. We
start talking it out and she said a few things basically that she thought
I would get mad. I think it was the most sincere apology I think I have
ever given in my life. I told that I was sorry if I ever made her feel
like I would react like that. She gets really quiet for about 5-7 minutes
and tells me that she feels like a burden for our mission. We started
talking some more. What a pep talk! We
talked about confidence and trusting in the Lord and learning how to depend on
Him now because we can’t start a pattern for our lives of giving up. I gave her
the Heidi, “What can you learn from this?” and “How can you use this experience
to become stronger?” talk. You would be so proud of me!
I felt flooded with so much love for her. She hasn’t always been
treated the best at home, and she just needs so much love. My love has grown so
much as I thought about this past transfer. Sometimes it’s really hard, but I
know that my Heavenly Father is teaching me so much. We have to look forward
and not backward, we have to have faith, we have to learn from everything that
happens to us and keep moving forward. I thought I knew it, but I am learning even more how important it is that we watch how we talk to each other. We can either build a person up and help their confidence grow, or we can destroy them just by the words we use. It starts when we are just kids. We know when we are loved and we know when we are scared of the people who should love us. I am learning how to help build confidence through showing love .. and more love .. and more love.
I love my mission. I have never been more frustrated, tired, or
happy in my entire life. It’s the hardest and the best thing I’ve ever done. I
love my Father in Heaven and how much He teaches us every day. I want these
changes I am making to be permanent. I love you all as my family. I thank my
Father in Heaven every day for the blessing that you are and the way that I was
raised.
Keep pushing forward! Don’t throw pity parties! Confide in the
Lord and become stronger every day. I love you and I’m praying for you all!
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