Hola familia y amigos!
Great to hear from you all! Glad to see the family reunion went well! All week I remembered the last one and how fun it was! Glad to hear we are doing it every other year now! I will sure be in attendance at the next one!
But I wanna know who wrote my name in the family picture because that is like EXACTLY my handwriting, bien hecho whoever did that! Everyone looks so great, so tan, and everyone has long hair! I am PASTEY white, made the stupidest decision when I cut my hair, but I am great! hahah
This week was wonderful but trying. I learned a lot about the importance of obedience. Not only obedience in the big things, but mostly in the little things. The days when we were out of bed exactly at 6:30, in bed exactly at 10:30, used all of our time wisely, and did all that we needed to, the day was just better and I felt the spirit so much more. Obedience is so easy. If you do something, you recieve blessings. I NEED all the blessings I can get, so I need to be obedient!
My foot still is doing its thing. I am not sure what´s wrong but I got a blessing on Tuesday from Elder Payne and it is a lot better but still not fixed. I´m hoping as it gets warmer and I just keep on walking, it will go away!
This week in district meeting we talked about how we can serve our missions in a way that we give everything to the Lord. In DyC 4, it talks about serving with not only our physical strength, but our heart, our spiritual strength and all! I am giving all I have physically but I really want to improve on being tuned in always! There are days when I think about home or I am not really listening to my investigators and I need to work on that. I have learned that goals are wonderful. We all have so many faults and that is not a bad thing! We need to work everyday to become a little better!
We are having a really hard time finding investigators. REALLY hard time. Those who say that South American missions are the easiest, never came here. Its like being in Rome or Paris where NO one wants to listen because everyone is catholic. But, we are trying so hard. We talked with a family in a park one day and they gave us their address. We went to the street and found two little girls playing soccer. We asked them if they knew this chica and they said yes, follow us! They then led us into this compound. No lights, HUNDREDS of ¨houses¨ and millions of dogs. Seriously the sketchiest thing of my life. They were about Shaylee´s age and they asked us why were looking for this girl. We told them that we are missionaries and that we wanted to share a message with them. They asked us what our message was and we told them that they are daughters of our heavenly father! They asked us where our church was and if they could go. We asked if their mom or dad was home because we needed to talk with them first! Their mom had past away but they live with their grandma so we followed them through this crazy community and talked with their abuela. She was angry and told the girls that they couldnt go to church. They were catholic. It was so sad. I really feel like these girls felt the spirit. Children are so close to the spirit and because of the choices of another, they were withheld from a place that could give them hope and joy. The girls started to cry and we then left. I am so thankful that I have always had this in my life and have never had go without this joy!
My compañion this week has been sick and has absoluetly no voice! I have had to lead in the lessons, answer and TALK on the phone! (I HATE THIS!), and basically be the senior compañion. It has been such a growing experience for me. Last night, I was texting one of the members in spanish and I just stopped and thought about how weird it is that I am able to do this! haha
I HAVE 3 MONTHS IN THE MISSION! Wow, Que rapido! 15 more to go! like parker said in his email, the days, weeks, and months all run together. It does not feel like 3 months. The weeks pass so fast!
We had an amazing experience this week. We were walking and felt prompted to talk to this woman. It was probably the strongest prompting I have had in my mission. I went up to her and started to talk with her. She started to tell us all of her problems. She has to beg for food, has went 15 days without lights, her husband is dead, and none of her children want anything to do with her. She cant find a job either. We asked her if she believed in God and she said yes, but where is he? She started to cry and just express how she is just depressed and doesnt know what to do. It was one of the hardest things I have ever seen. Watching this woman express all of her pains and sorrows and sincerely just did not know where to turn. I told her about the atonement and how Christ has felt everything she is feeling but that there is a plan for her and a way for her to feel better. We felt prompted to pray with her, right there in the middle of the city. So we did. Hermana Rodas and I felt so much love for this woman. At first, she did not want anything to do with us, but by the time we had finished the conversation she wanted to know where the church was and how she could know more. She is not in our area so we cant teach her but, it was an experience that honestly changed my life. First, I have so much. I have never felt these feelings. Really, I feel like I needed to serve here because I needed to be humbled. But mostly, the atonement is real. The love that God has for us is real. This woman didnt know that, but we did. How lucky are we to have this knowledge. When we walked away, we both started to cry. We literally felt her burden and we wanted to help her so much.
Another ALB (random contact) was in the plaza. This woman was sitting on a bench and we felt prompted to talk with her. We started talking with her and started to share about the plan of salvation and how we can be with our family forever. She then started to cry and said, I have a question. I am adopted. I dont know my mom. How could my mom do this and put me in a family that isnt mine? Hermana Rodas didnt say a word. And I just started to talk. Most of the words that I said I dont remember. But I told about how I have 2 sisters that are adopted. How I know that yes they have a different mother, but they are my sisters and were meant to be my sisters. I said how God has a plan for her and how she is in the family that she is with for a reason. That they were meant to be here family. Her expression changed and she said how she had never thought of it that way. She of course doesnt live in our area, so I will never know what happens with her but it was a wonderful experience.
Everyone here ALWAYS tells me how they want to switch eyes with me. Everyone has brown eyes and I stick out like a sore thumb with my bright blue eyes. The Tio to one of our less actives is from Peru and the other day he was trying to hit on me. In the mission, they are called snakes. People who try and get with missionaries. AVOID SNAKES AT ALL TIMES! hahah
Well, another week down and it was sure a great one. My spanish is improving so much. Everyone tells me how much better it is and cant believe I have only been here for 1 1/2 transfers. I guess I dont have that strong of an english accent! WHOO WHOO!
I love you all!
Chau chau!
Hermana Root
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