Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Email #35 (Queen Creek, AZ)

April 21, 2014
HOLA!!!
Thank you sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo (this could go on forevever) oooooooooo much for the Easter package! I will admit I have already eaten half of the candy... Let's just say that it's a good thing I'll have plenty of time to exercise when I get home:) I am SO grateful for all the new shirts and the new skirt. I love the blue shirt especially! All of them are going to be perfecto for summer here. Nice and light and they'll go with everything I have! I'm so excited. Anyways you are the BEST! And each of your letters were awesome as well! Thank you for sharing your testimonies of Jesus Christ with me. You are all amazing.

This week has been a good one. Easter was fantastic! I should have you know that we (the sister missionaries) sang in church yesterday! We sang Nearer my God to Thee in spanish (Mas Cerca Dios de Ti). It went great! I was extremely nervous because I had a little solo and I haven't sang a solo in a long, long time. But I just kept on thinking of all those times we used to sing together and somehow convinced myself that I'd be just fine. And it did go fine. More than fine! Another comfort is that our ward is pretty tone deaf so if we did mess up, they wouldn't know the difference:)
We found a few new investigators this past week, Ray and Alex, who are in a part member family and Osvaldo and Rafael. We are going to teach them again this week so I'll let you know if there is any progress with them next week. Yadira is doing well. We have a slight problem because despite her interest, she doesn't feel very comfortable with us coming over to teach her at her house because her mom is super SUPER Catholic and isn't very supportive of us teaching her. We're going to see if we can teach her either at the church building or a member’s house this week so we can work it out. We'll let you know how that goes. Other news, Maybelin, Brian and Ariel went to the Easter Pageant and loved it!!! I LOVE THEM. They just need to come to church and they'll be able to see and feel the spirit of the Restored Gospel.
There are a few really special experiences that I'll have to write you about, just further evidence to me that my Heavenly Father knows me and loves me more than I can even comprehend. Outside of those realizations, Mom, I wanted to let you know I was really touched by your experience with charity and love and recognizing all your weaknesses. It brought to my attention (once again) how hard Heavenly Father is trying to teach me more about these Christ-like attributes, but because of my natural man and my lack of humility, in the moment of deciding to be loving and charitable, I pass by the opportunity to grow in those attributes because I instead allow myself to become frustrated, annoyed or even a little angry... I am great at keeping that stuff inside, but it almost worsens the situation when I do keep it inside, because it continues to escalate without even being provoked. I've really been thinking lately as to how hard the Lord has been trying to help me grow, and so much of the time I cannot see past my own weaknesses of frustration and pride to choose to change. I know it's a slow, poco a poco, process in becoming more like Christ, but it has come to the forefront of my mind that especially these past few weeks I have not been taking full advantage of this time to learn and grow. Instead I have often allowed Satan to get the best of me and my thoughts when I am struggling with something. Heavenly Father has not spared me anything in showing my weaknesses unto me. But, luckily, there is a beautiful promise in Ether 12:27 that gives me hope despite my imperfection. It says "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong." Now that He has shown me my weaknesses, I am going to do everything I can to allow the Lord to make me, a weak and imperfect thing, become strong in his hands. We are all imperfect and weak, we all have things that we need to better in order to become more like Christ. And the only thing that can and will transform our weaknesses into strengths is the mighty work and power of the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Without it, I would be nothing. I would have no hope of being cleansed from my sins and one day living in the presence of my Heavenly Father with my family forever. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior. I know that it is through Him that we have the opportunity and privilege to better ourselves and allow him to "make weak things become strong".
That was my big realization within the past few days. I'll let you know how it goes in the next few weeks!

Mom here are las respuestas de tus preguntas!
1. Transfers are next Wednesday! I honestly don't even know what's going to happen... I have a feeling we're going to be seeing some big changes with Spanish work though... A ver! I'll go where He wants me to go and I'll stay where He wants me to stay:)
2. Yes, all of our Sunday meetings are in Spanish! I understand everything just fine. My ability to understand (especially gospel language) has really improved. I understand just about everything, and if I don't understand every word, I get most of it and can assume what that unknown word is because of context. I LOVE ESPANOL! I still have a ways to go but it's definitely improving!

Okay, well my time is running out. LES QUIERO MUCHISIMO!!!! Have a fantastic week and remember Moroni 8:3:)
Con mucho amor,
Hermana Emma Lattin

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