Speaking Spanglish! :)

Bein Venidos a Biber...‏                                               1/21/2013

Hola Familia....

GUESS WHAT?!?! I have been praying in Spanish! ahhh I had to pray in a district meeting and in an investigators home. I have been so nervous to speak and I am afraid to say things wrong because I say things wrong alll the time and Sis B just laughs... but I am working on the courage to speak in front of people. haha But I have been saying my personal prayers in Spanish and it’s so crazy! I don’t know how to speak anymore because all my words get jumbled and I start to speak in English and then end in Spanish with all a mix of hick. I say "was" alll the time and I don’t notice it until sister starts laughing... my brain doesn’t know what to do anymore.

OK so back to _______ uuuuuuh! teeeeearrrs! Sister B and I has been studying about the temple and also baptism and we talked about how powerful the "square" really is and people don’t quite understand how powerful that gesture really is. Wow wow I got chiiilllls reading what you told me. Satan is powerful...he gets into our life slowly inch by inch and then there comes a point where he attacks and it’s hard to come out....BUT Heavenly father has ultimate power and he gives us things like that to help us out. I am soooo glad her dad felt he needed to use his priesthood power. I loooove the priesthood. The more and more I study it and experience with it... the more and more I can’t wait to have it in my own home.

Tell _______ I love her and I am so happy to hear she is going back to church and getting back on the straight and narrow... she will find sooo much freedom in doing what is right. She reminds me of all the people we are working with here in Beaver. They are all in the same similar situations and want out and change but just don’t know how...the Gospel is how!

Speaking of Priesthood... this week I was having a hard time. I’m frustrated with not being able to speak to 50% of our investigators and I am just having a hard time figuring things out... I think too much, you know that....anyways... I asked Elder Captain if he could give me a blessing... and it was so crazy... that day we had a morning meeting so I asked him if he could do it afterwards... well afterwards he forgot :( so Sister and I went on with our day. We went to go pick up her skirt from the dry cleaners and we met this lady. She looked tired, I asked her how her day was going and how she was doing. She said she is on job 2 of 3 for the day and my heart just sank...I thought of you and how you felt all the time working couple of jobs and what I imagined for her. I asked her if we could help her with anything and she just started crying, she told us her life story and why she had several jobs and why she was tired. I asked her if we could keep her in our prayers and told her to never forget that she can pray anytime anywhere anyplace.... she just started crying more...I knew that Heavenly Father sent us to go talk to her and uplift her...we needed to take care of her and her needs first...after we walked out of there...Elder Captain called us and said he forgot but he could help us right then if we wanted. I learned a lesson with that. I know that I need to forget myself more and more and I need to focus on other people. I’m not here to worry about my struggles but I am here to worry about others and their struggles. I did get the help that I needed but from now on I need to forget myself and just think about Beaver and the small things I CAN do for it and just try my hardest. I have been praying more and more and I asking for a soft heart so I can just love these people.

Beaver is a difficult place because evvvveryone knows about the church and yet they don’t want it. They don’t understand it fully or they got offended and they don’t want it anymore. It comes with this small town and everyone knows your life and what’s in it....but I wish these people could see how blessed their life could be without the drugs and the drinking.

Sister B and I have had some amazing experiences here in Beaver and I know that I was sent here to learn from these people.

I’ve been thinking a lot about life and how things have been for me. Wow, I am so spoiled. I have everything and I even get spoiled on my mission. Life is so amazing if you look around for one second. I’m sorry for ever saying I didn’t have anything or "good enough" things. I know that things in this world don’t matter. Mom I know that you did all you could to get us what we needed...BUT you also tried your hardest to spiritually protect us and took us to church so we could remember who we really are.  

Sorry if this is a rant but I have just been thinking about all this and how I am so grateful.

I really don’t know why the Lord called me on a mission...but I think this is part of it. To just see what I have and how much I can give. I need to be more giving.

 Family...I know that this Gospel is what is going to get us through this hard life! We need something stable to keep us afloat and this is it! We must study and pray and through it all Heavenly Father will help us. It’s because of Jesus Christ we can be better and change our ways, it’s because of Him we can be happy and have all we need. I hope that someday everyone will see that it’s not about the people in church, it’s about ourselves and how we can draw closer to our Heavenly family. The scriptures teach us so much if we dive into them... make it a priority...you won’t regret it :)

 I love being on a mission, I love helping people even when it’s tough, I love being able to learn and better myself. I have been thinking a lot about school and what next for me and I know I shouldn’t be thinking about that right now. But I have no idea anymore.....haha

 I’m also learning...

P ositive

A ttitude

C hanges

E verything

Well that was my week in a nut shell....crazy emotions and full of learning... I know that these times are what matter most...live your gospel lifestyle.

 DONT NEED A NAMETAG TO BE A MISSIONARY! :)

Mom, I love you...I love you like alllllll the vitamins I have been taking to stay away from this Flu bug that is now hitting its second round here in town. We haven’t talked to very many people for two weeks because of it. Gottttta love my protective bubble Sister B and I are in :) ...and Vitamins :) hahaha

 

PS I took out names in this email to keep the information private. But I think the experience is worth sharing.

Mom