Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Email #29 (Queen Creek, AZ)

March 10, 2014 FELIZ CUMPLEANOS, MAMITA!!!!! Espero que su dia pase muyyyyy muy bien!!! I can't wait to hear about all of the birthday festivities:) I LOVE YOUUUUUU!!!!!
Goodness, every single one of the emails I got from you (Mom, Dad and Sammi) all made me tear up a little bit! Especially the part about the blessing and Dad mentioning me in Eliana's baby blessing. It is amazing to see the blessings that come from a mission. I just love you all so much (even if you didn't email me…Alex and Nate)! It's amazing that we are far apart physically, but I feel so close to all of you spiritually. I feel your prayers and love every single day. I am so blessed! Also, I'm so glad you had a fun week with the grandparents, Bubba and Braden! I love them all so much! They're the best! ELIANA IS SO CUTE!!!! 

I want to tell you a little more about the temple dedication, since I ran out of time last week.
It was a spiritual high for sure. I loved the theme that so many of the speakers (including Thomas S. Monson himself) focused on…Rededicating yourself to the Lord. Sometimes in the midst of life’s quick pace and never-ending stream of things to do, it’s easy to lose sight of what really matters. Dedicating oneself to the Lord isn’t something that’s done once, it’s a continual daily effort, and often times, we forget to do it when we get caught up in other things. We must always remember what it means to be members of Christ’s church on the Earth. When we take upon ourselves His name at baptism (see Mosiah 5:8), we essentially promise to dedicate our lives to Him, and therefore all other things pale in comparison to the importance of living a life worthy to be dedicated to Him. But, our loving Heavenly Father knows us well, and He knows that we’re very forgetful and prone to getting caught up with other, much less important things. That’s why He gave us the sacrament, so we could renew our covenants and, in essence, rededicate ourselves to the promises we made with Him at baptism. I am so grateful for the sacrament, and for the opportunity I have to rededicate myself to the Lord through remembering my covenants. Thinking about that topic of rededicating myself to Him was exactly what I needed to hear. I think that’s probably why I loved it so much, because it really hit me hard. As a missionary, your days are pretty repetitive, and sometimes things get a little mundane. Especially if the work in your area is a bit slower. Sometimes, although you are still working hard, you find yourself just going through the motions, rather than truly giving Him your consecrated service with all your heart, mind, and strength. But with the idea of rededication, it helped me remember my purpose and WHY I am serving. I have a renewed desire to “rededicate” myself to Him.
I didn’t think it would ever happen, but I’m actually getting to the point where the thought of going home scares me….don’t take that wrong! I still love and miss all of you, but there really is something about being a missionary that is just the BEST. I love it.
I have grown a lot this transfer. I have discovered that I have complete and total control over how I feel or react to a certain situation (or person), despite what I can’t control. Each time that we are given trials, we are also given the choice as to how we will react. There’s a quote from a talk called, “The Fourth Missionary” by Lawrence E Corbridge (probably my favorite missionary talk EVER), and it talks about this:
“Every challenge you face, every hard thing you confront, every bad thing that happens to you, every unfairness every conflict, every sadness, tragedy, every disappointment and heartache, every temptation and every opposition happens for one purpose only: to give you opportunity to respond by applying in your life the teachings of Jesus. And as you do so, you are changed to become more like Him.”
Wow, now that’s a cool thought isn’t it? In every situation we face in life, we are given the beautiful opportunity to change and become more like our perfect example, Jesus Christ. That sure does put things into perspective. It also makes me realize the many chances I have missed (or messed up) to become more like the Savior. But, thanks to the mercy of both Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, we are given many second chances. After all, that is the purpose of this life, isn’t it?
It seems that I am always on this rollercoaster of self-discovery and realizing that (more often than not), the reasons behind my sadness, annoyances, frutstrations, etc. have everything to do with me and my own weaknesses and not the situation or person I am struggling with. Thank goodness for repentance and the Atonement!
Sorry for all the rambling!

Here are the answer to your questions:
1. We didn't see Mirsa this entire week! She was in Utah for a funeral for her friend, so we weren't able to teach her and she wasn't at church. But this week we are going to see her and teach her a lot more, and hopefully help her out with her situation with Paco the gato.
2. We also haven't seen Francisco and Vanessa for a good 2 weeks now. They are nowhere to be found!:( we have stopped by the house, the McDonalds where she works, and called and texted them daily! We aren't quite sure what happened but this week we are going to find them! Pray for us that we will be able to contact them!
3. Yes! We found three new investigators this week! One is Sergio, who was a referral from some english elders. We taught him a doorstep lesson (because his wife wasn't home) about the Book of Mormon and he said he would read it, we're going there on Tuesday to have a lesson with him and his girlfriend Laura (they're not married... surprised? I think not). Also Javier Moreno, who is the son of some less actives we have been trying to reactivate this past transfer (they came to church on sunday!!! YAY!). We talked about the church with him and gave him a Book of Mormon and set up a return appointment for this week. My only concern with Javier is that he may or may not have been a little bit drunk while we were talking to him.... so we'll see if he remembers meeting us when we go back. His mom, Hna Moreno will be in the lesson with us so that should be good! Also, just last night we FINALLY contacted a potential whose name is Rosi. She was very sweet and let us in. We shared Mosiah 16:9 and bore our testimonies about Jesus Christ. We also introduced the Book of Mormon and invited her to read and pray about it and she said she would!
4. We have interviews with our mission president every other transfer. One transfer we have zone conference and the next we have interviews. So about once every 12 weeks.
5. AH I love Bubba!!! He is so cute! I can't hear the videos because the computers in the library don't have sound and I don't have headphones but I watched them and he is so cute! I can tell he is doing his awesome laugh and he looks so happy to be with all the kids. I love him:)
6. That is so crazy that Will is going to JAPAN!!! What a cool kid. I am so excited for him, he will be an amazing missionary!!! When does he leave?
I hope you all have an amazing week and give everyone a big hug and kiss for me, okay?
I love you so so so so soooooo much!!!
Happpppppy Birthday, Mamita!!! Te quiero muchisimo!
Con bastante amor, Hermana Lattin



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