Week 10

Hello! Well this week went by a whole lot faster than the first. I am sure it will continue to fly. I honestly can't believe how quickly the time goes. It was great to receive letters! I love getting letters and they always seem to come right when I need them. Well this week we didn't really have a lot of measured success. We taught a fair amount of lessons but we had a lot of appointments fall through and a lot of time to knock doors! My favorite part ;). It is getting a lot easier to talk to people but it still gets the heart rate going pretty quickly. The other day someone started speaking spanish and my companion nudged me to talk and then I heard the daughter speak in english so I started speaking in English. A little case of stage fright. Someday I will be able to spit those words right out no problem but that time hasn't come quite yet. I am getting more confident but I am still so lost in the conversations. Me and my companion have a recap afterwards and sometimes I pick up pretty well and other times I am way off. I have started reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish as we drive. Hermana Colwell says that my spanish has really improved. I have faith that I as read I will be able to speak better. I am trying to practice as much as I can but it can be hard. My english sounds funny because a lot times the way we say things in english doesn't translate into spanish so we have to use different phrasing. For example, in english we say When can we come by?, in spanish When can we pass by? So now when I am talking to people in English I say When can we pass by. So don't laugh too hard when I get home. Anyway conference was so wonderful! I really enjoyed it! My companion and I were counting down the days and were sad that it came and went so quickly. Now we will count down the days until we get the ensign with the talks. I really enjoyed President Monson's talk about change and living for today. In the mission it is really easy to stuck in the routine and forget to enjoy everything around you. It hit home that I need to live in and enjoy the spiritual blessings that I will receive as a missionary. There will never be another time like this in my life and it is preparing me for the rest of my life. I also loved Elder Wirthlin. It is important for us to remember to be positive and laugh and keep an eternal perspective when adversity hits. Most times we can only see part of the picture that our life is making. Each experience that we have is part of a beautiful canvas. Our Heavenly Father is creating this beautiful picture of our lives and knows exactly what we need to paint to make it perfect. We need to keep an eternal perspective because we know it will be beautiful in the end. It is also important for us to treat others with kindness. We never know what is going on in their lives and we don't know how our interaction can bless their lives. We need to be Christlike always so that everyone can receive the blessing of Christ in their lives. Sometimes all they need is a smile or a friendly wave. Let us bless the lives of those around us by striving to be like Christ and loving everyone. I enjoyed Elder Anderson's talk about knowing enough. It is easy to feel sometimes that I don't know enough to be teaching but really when you think about it, all you need is a testimony. If you have a testimony the spirit will come and it will do the work in the hearts of those you are teaching. It is a great blessing to know that Jesus Christ lives and that He died for us. It is a great blessing to know that God speaks to us and guides us through our lives if we seek Him. It is a great blessing to know that because of Jesus Christ, families can be together forever. What else matters? Nothing because the church is true. I wished I could have gone to preisthood and seen my friends in the choir. Most of my zone was singing and they found out right before we left. I miss the friendships from the MTC but I am making new ones quick here. Gary made it out to all of the sessions on Saturday. We didn't see him Sunday but I am sure that he was worn out from 6 hours of church in 1 day. I get overwhelmed sometimes with all of the spiritual rejuvenation from conference. I almost cried when they started the broadcast. I felt close to home but yet so far away. We watched conference at the church. It was quite different for me to not watch in the comfort of home but I guess we are pretty spoiled in Utah. I am so grateful for the gospel and that we are so fortunate to live so close. We have one investigator right now who is pretty solid. We go to her house every couple of days and teach her. Her name is Matilde. She is such a sweetheart. She couldn't come to conference cause her husband was sick. Hopefully she will make to church this Sunday. We are teaching her english too. It is a program we call 'daily dose'. When they were reading the were reading real slow and I could sympathize with them. I read spanish pretty slow but I am getting better at the accents and tenses. When we were finished teaching last night we were closing with a prayer and Matilde's son came in and asked if we could say a prayer for him and his wife who were looking for employment. It was great to see the desire. They weren't even in the same room but they knew that God would answer their prayers. We also were able to teach another family Mireya and Samuel. We usually teach them in Spanglish. We go back and forth through the whole lesson. In the lesson I commited her to living 100% by reading in the book of mormon for 5 min, praying and smiling everyday. I truly believe that doing these 3 things makes the biggest difference. I know that the little things have changed my life. Prayer and scripture study give us such great power that we don't even realize until we are missing those things. Thank you all for your love and support. It always gets me through a hard day. I am so blessed to have such wonderful family. I pray for you always. I love you so much and look forward to your words of wisdom and love each week. It always what I need to hear and I know it is because I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and sends His angels on either side of the veil to push missionary work forward. Love you!