Saturday, July 12, 2014

Email #45 (Gilbert, AZ)

June 30, 2014

HOLA FAMILIA!!!!!
It's great to hear from y'all (do I sound like Elder Boettcher?)!! It sounds like the funeral was beautiful.  I am sure that Norm was there and he was loving and appreciating every second of it. Please tell Marshall and Stella I love them and will continue to pray for them.  Please encourage them to watch the "Because of Him" video. We've watched that a lot this past week and I think it would be perfect for them to see and remember all the hope and light we have in our lives because of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Our week was a great one! A little bit trying and stressful, but I learned a lot. In all honesty, our area is struggling. We are striving to balance our two wards and give them both an equal amount of our time and efforts. But, something I realized is that we don't have to worry about giving the two wards our efforts. All of our efforts should be given and directed to the Lord, and he will make everything fall into place. I have faith in the promise the Savior gives in Matthew 11:28-30. That's something that just came to me, and I think I need to focus on that…giving my burden to Him…allowing Him to carry this work and me so we can bring to pass the Work of Salvation in this area. Because in reality, I'm not working for Him alone. My efforts are not replacing His. He is working right alongside me, and if I let Him, He will guide my efforts as a representative of Him. It's amazing how God gives us revelations in the time when we need them most! Haha this part of the letter makes me sound depressed... I promise I'm not! I just think the reality of our area's situation and struggles hit me pretty hard this week, and I felt like no matter what we did, it couldn't fix it or help it. So I think Heavenly Father wanted to remind me just now that I'm not called to do this work alone. The success of this area is not on mine and my companion's shoulders alone, but on His and on His Son's, our Savior Jesus Christ. And those are two sets of shoulders I know we can rely on to help this area flourish in bringing many souls unto Christ!
Anyways, we did have some success in our YSA work this week! Story time! Okay so on Tuesday we went to an apartment that houses a TON of students of a flight school nearby. And a good portion of these students are from everywhere around the world! It is awesome!! In this past week, I've met people from China, Italy, France, Belgium, the Congo, and my comp is from Brazil!!! I love foreign people. So anyways, we OYMed this nice Chinese guy named Tony Li (Tony is his American name)  who had only been learning English for 2 weeks. He was very happy to meet us and told us he would like to learn more about religion. So of course, we went back a few days later to teach him. Let me just say, I have neeeever ever had an experience like this in teaching. He knows very little English and has no religious background. The process of teaching him is extremely slow. We're still trying to help him understand that God is his loving Heavenly Father. But guess what??? He came to church yesterday!!! Hoooorayyy!!! He only understood about 30% of what was said, but that is okay. He told us what stuck in his brain is that God lives. And that is perfect. He is such a genuinely good person and so humble! This week we're going to try and start teaching his roommates as well! Should be a good time. Asians Rock!
Haha okay Mom, here are answers to your questions:
1. Yes! Hermana Carvalho and I go to the stake center and work out with Hermana Chavarri and Bukoskie. Hey, speaking of which, could you send us some work outs??? That would be awesome!:)
2. Hermana Carvalho doesn’t’ finish her mission until October, so we still have some time!
3. PRAY FOR LI!!! And pray that we can find a family to teach in our Pueblo area. We have been praying specifically for a family of four.
4. Tim is a YSA investigator, so he speaks English!
5. Georgina (Pueblo), Karen (Pueblo), Tim (Mission Bay), Li (Mission Bay)-those are all our somewhat solid investigators right now.
6. Not yet but she is in August!!!! So excited for her!!!:)
7.  The language is crazy, because our YSA ward boundary is English and our Pueblo ward boundary is Spanish speaking. It's a little bit difficult because we switch back and forth between teaching in English and Spanish everyday. It is good for me to stretch my language skills.
I am amazed though at Hna Carvalho's ability to speak Spanish. I know Portuguese and Spanish are somewhat similar, but still, she is doing so well. She is amazing. I'm so excited for you to meet her someday!!

Okay, well I hope all of you have an amazing week! Les quiero muchiiiiisimo!!!
Tchau tchau!!! VAI BRASIL!!!! :)
Hermana Lattin


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