Holaaaaa!!!

 

First of all.  I have GOT to say, this has been THE best week I've had so far.  Hermana Brown and I are rock stars at teaching!!  Seriously, I have never felt so good about it all.  And it is not even like we are experts at Spanish, we actually are terrible at speaking it!!  But some how, we are able to teach what we need to teach because of the spirit.  Every lesson we taught this week went VERY well.  We have not had to take in any notecards with vocab on them or anything.  All we bring are scriptures.  It has been very cool because we go in thinking that we'll teach one thing, but it always changes!!  And some how we are able to teach what we need to teach when we didn't even study the right thing.  It is very cool, it just makes me THAT much more excited that I only have about a week and a half-ish until I will be in CALIFORNIA!!!! :)

 

Sunday, in Relief Society, Carole Mikita (Spelling?) spoke to us in Relief Society.  It ws sooo great.  Y'all know who Carole Mikita is?  The Religion news reporter, she does the church news between General Conference sessions.  She told us about her family.  They are ALL converts.  And she talked about the importance of missionary work and that we will be planting many many seeds, more than we may ever know.  And that we are always being watched.

 

Okay, so Monday was Mom's birthday.  It was kinda funny, I found myself eating chocolate cake and hot tomales with popcorn (Some of her favorite things to eat).  It was not planned but I was laying in my bed that night reflecting on the day and that came up.  I know that she is with me on my mission, not many people can say that they had their mom by their side on their missions.  I know that she is proud of me.

 

I recieved some awesome DearElders from Owen and Olson that day.  Haha, thank you for the reminder of her birthday Owen.  And how are you enjoying my old phone?  Phone's aren't that special, huh?  Haha, I have not really missed my phone the entire time I've been here.  The only thing that I really miss is how accessable my family and friends were because of the phone, I'm not sure if that makes sense, but it does in my head.

 

I also got some DearElders from Sister Bell and Sister Jensen, well actually "Sharrrizzle My.Jensizzle."  Ask her about that.

 

At one of the devotionals we had, we were told that baptisms do not matter.  I know it is easy for missionaries to go out and think, "Man! I'm gonna go and baptize 10 people on my mission."  I honestly have no goal as to how many baptisms I wanna be a part of.  It is not about numbers, these are real people I am going to be teaching.  I never want anyone I teach to feel like they are just a number to me.  That is one thing I will be SURE to prevent.

 

Heavenly Father loves me.  I think I always thought that he did, but I have never known and felt it with all my heart until I got out here.  I have felt His love so much.  I know I am on the right path, it is a great feeling. 

 

Owen mentioned also in his DearElder that I only have 17 months left!!  NO MORE COUNTING DOWN, okayyyy??!?!!  I don't wanna think about that!!  I can't believe this month and how fast it has flown by. 

 

I have said this so many times with my district, but the more and more I've gone on, the more I have realized how great this work really is.  And yeah, I came on a mission because I wanted to share the gospel, I came because I knew it would make me a better sister, daughter, and future wife and mother one day.  But, now I see that it is not really about me.  Yes it will do those things for me, but more importantly I am helping the world prepare for the second coming of Christ. 

 

For the Teusday Devotional, Richard G. Hinkley (an Emeritus General Authority) came and spoke.  He was SUCH a great speaker.  He spoke of how great our work is!!  That Worldwide Broadcast changed everything.  The way we do our work is completely different.  It is such a great thing.  He said that the Lord provided a way for this age change, isn't it interesting how our generation is told to use technology in useful ways and that we can point our abilities towards the church, whether it be with geneology or missionary work online?  And then the age for missionaries was dropped, and now we as missionaries are being asked to use Facebook, blogs, ipads, etc.  It is very interesting.  He also said that today, we have more tools and methods than any other missionaries and people that have been before us.  We have more tools and methods than any other people in the history of the earth!  We can use the internet for missionary work, I mean why not?  The world has become much smaller because of the internet, people are so accessable.  I invite all who read this to make an effort to reach out to non-members and less active people.  Even if it is just sharing a scripture from the BOM as your status on Facebook, or if it is just messaging someone that is less active.  When we watched that broadcast, we thought, wow, hopefully, one day we will be recieving so many referrals from ward members, tracting will be gone.  Tracting is good, it works, but it's not really the BEST thing all the time.  Brother Hinkley also talked about the importance of keeping the area book up to date.  We as missionaries must be dignified in our actions and language.  We must learn the most important doctrine of all: The nature of God.  He said that was the most important thing.  He also said we demonstrate our love for Heavenly Father by loving the people we serve.  He said that we must always think, "Do I wanna say, "I wish I had..." or "I'm glad I did...""  I know for myself and probably every other missionary, that we all want to be able to say, "I'm glad I did"

 

I also heard Michael is starting his mission papers?!  AWESOME.  Tell him I am SO happy for him and proud.  Keep me up to date on how those things go.

 

Well, only one more week here.  One more P-day.  I feel very nervous about the language.  I know it will all be alright though, as long as  I do what I did this week it will be fine.  I just need to humble myself and put myself in the Lord's hands.  When I am down to nothing, feeling like I am unprepared, don't know what to say, I always pray to Heavenly Father and just tell him that I have nothing and that I need Him and His help.  Heavenly Father never lets me down.  He has been here helping me every step of the way. 

 

I am SO excited to go to California, and I can't wait to talk to mi familia on the phone!!! :D  I will speak some spanish for you!  Haha.  I will send y'all my new address next week since I am here for another week. :)

 

Love you all. 

 

 

Love,

 

Hermana Ah Mu