Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Email #7 (Queen Creek, AZ)


October 7, 2013
FAMILIA!!!!
Hola:)
It sounds like your week has been awesome! The part about Nate recieving the Aaronic Priesthood and you all going to do temple baptisms made me sooooo happy! I teared up a little bit. I can't believe my little Nater is already 12.... CRAZY. How does it feel to be 12, Nate? It was so great to talk to you, Mom, Dad, Nate and Max. Mom, thanks for building me up and making me feel so much happier and excited to be here! Your words comforted me more than you'll ever know! I couldn't stop smiling afterwards! I love my family so much and I cannot wait to talk to you at Christmas!!!
Oh and wasn't General Conference AWESOME??? We are so blessed to have modern day prophets to help us stay on the path back to our Heavenly Father!
This past week has been amazing! Really crazy and different, but amazing. I have seen the Lord's hand in my life with every experience I have had so far. He is really watching out for me.
First of all, you are not going to believe it. Remember how I stalked that one girl Maria Chavarri on facebook after she friend requested me because we were going to the same mission? And I read her blog and even emailed her once to get tips on what to bring to AZ? Yeah, well guess what? She's my companion! Hahahaha it was the funniest thing ever because I told her that and she remembered that I had emailed her. Anyways, she is the answer to our prayers. She was born in Ecuador and then moved to the US when she was 12, so she is FLUENT in both SPANISH and ENGLISH! I think it is amazing that Heavenly Father gave me exactly what we prayed for. She is such a blessing to me. She is so patient with me and my Spanish, and she helps me whenever I need help saying something. She also makes me talk in Spanish a lot so that is really good. She is such a good missionary. She is extremely good at listening to the Spirit and always seems to know exactly what she's doing. She also has a firm testimony of this Gospel and a tight grasp on her purpose as a missionary! We also have a lot of fun together... she accepts my awkwardness and we have a great time.
So the first day here was crazy. So many hysterical things happened. First, in the morning we tried to get our bikes on our new bike rack... we struggled hard core. Then, when we finally did, we drove for about five minutes and they popped off of the rack. Luckily we had them fastened to the rack with our bike locks, but they were hanging precariously low to the ground. Then, when we got out to check them, we brought the phone out to ask the District leaders what we should do. Once we decided to go back home, we accidentally left the phone on the back of the car and drove away... luckily the phone was okay but that was quite a scare. Then throughout the day we taught three lessons, all in Spanish. We are in a Spanish ward, so another answer to our prayers, I will be speaking and teaching in Spanish ALOT for the next few transfers (hopefully). Anyways, during the lessons, I had no idea what was going on. I could pick out a few words of Spanish, but not to the point where I could piece it together into coherent thoughts. It got to a point where I could either cry or laugh. So at the end of every lesson, I would just come out laughing and Hna Chavarri would just laugh with me and make me feel better about myself by telling me that what I said in Spanish was really great. It was pretty funny. Later that day we went to get a car wash and I gave it a 20 dollar bill and it gave me 13 dollars worth of quarters... haha and then we were in the carwash and realized we didn't have the rearview mirrors folded in. So we unrolled the windows while the carwash was going and folded them in.... we had soap all over us! It was pretty funny.
But another experience from this past weekend was when we were giving a lesson about Joseph Smith to one of our investigators, Francisco Garcia. His wife Teresa (who is amazing) and his son Francisco Jr. were baptized about a month ago, and he has a baptismal date set for the 19th of this month! He is awesome. Anyways, we were giving a lesson to make sure he understood that Joseph Smith was (and is) a true prophet. And guess what? I understood every thing everyone said! Even Francisco, who mumbles a lot! When it came time for me to bear my testimony, I stumbled at first, but then, the words just started rolling off my tongue. I WAS TESTIFYING IN SPANISH!!! The gift of tongues is real. I testify to the power of the gifts of the Spirit, and even though my testimony was simple, Heavenly Father gave me the words to speak, He gave me the words that Francisco needed to hear. It was amazing. I still have a looooong way to go with Spanish, but I know that the Lord is going to help me out with what I need in order to accomplish His work out here in Gilbert AZ.
Oh and here is my address!!
Hermana Emma Lattin
19324 E. Cloud Rd.
Queen Creek, AZ 85142
Anyways, I am almost out of time, but I love you all so so so so soooooo much! Thank you for your prayers that have lifted me up and kept me positive and comforted me. Thank you for inspiring me to do and be my best everyday. I love being a missionary!
La Iglesia es verdadera!
Les quiero MUCHISIMO!
Hermana Lattin

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