Saturday, July 12, 2014

Email #46 (Gilbert, AZ)

July 7, 2014

HOLA!!!!
Hey there, fam! Sounds like you've had an eventful, awesome 4th of July week! I'm LOVING all the pictures, so keep on sending them!:) You all look happy, healthy and great! Seriously, I have a beautiful family, inside and out! You are the BEST!
I am doing great! The only issue I have right now is that I am currently wearing flip-flops in the library and my feet feel naked. The reason behind me wearing my Rainbows right now is due to some bad decisions I made concerning an ingrown toenail I had for about 2 months... don't worry I've learned my lesson to not let an ingrown toenail get out of control because it gets way nasty and it HURTS. Just within the past few weeks (ironically after I tried to fix my toenail myself by cutting it down... bad idea), it flared up pretty bad so our nurse had me go to urgent care last night. Haha it was a little silly but very much needed. Bottom line is that they fixed it and it's doing better. I just have to wear opened-toed shoes in public and I'm not a huge fan of it because my feet are really white! But I'll get over it:) I've learned my lesson, don't you worry! And luckily I've got a great companion that loves me enough to ignore me telling her "I'm fine". She's the best!
So other than the ingrown toenail fiasco, this week has gone great! We have been having a lot of success in finding in our YSA area. Yesterday, we found two more investigators that are students at the flight school and live in the same apartment complex as Tony Li. They are from the Congo and their names are Soni and Phanuel. They both have solid Christian backgrounds and were very receptive to our message yesterday when we taught them more about the Book of Mormon. We have a lesson with them this Wednesday and are going to teach them the Restoration. I'll let you know how it goes! Also, Tony Li (Li's American name is "Tony") came to church again yesterday!!! And he came with a white shirt and tie... Sister Carvalho and I about died of happiness when we saw him. We had a lesson with him yesterday as well and we had an elder in our mission come that speaks Mandarin Chinese! It was perfect because he was able to help Tony understand better and help us understand Tony better. Tony is a little overwhelmed by us and everything we have been trying to teach him, and he feels quite a bit overwhelmed. That is our fault completely! We just got SO excited and wanted to make sure he understood that God is our Heavenly Father and that we have a message that will change his life and bring him more happiness than he can imagine. He wasn't angry or anything, he just told us that he needed some time to read the Book of Mormon and ponder and think about it. Poor guy, of course he feels overwhelmed! He comes to America (HUGE culture shock, I'm sure), speaks very little English, is studying to be a pilot, and all of the sudden these two random girls are trying to get him to read a book and come to church when he doesn't even know about God! But he told us that he is grateful for our kindness and that the people he has met at church are always so nice to him. So he definitely feels of our love for him and is beginning to feel God's love for him as well. He wants to continue to come to church every week (yay!) and activities, but he just wants to meet with us once a week. So with him, progress is definitely happening, it's just going to take a little bit of time.
Work in the Spanish area is still pretty slow. The good news is that we had a lesson with Georgina last week and for the first time since we've been teaching her she really paid attention and the Spirit was SO strong. She has to be one of the CUTEST little old ladies I've ever met. She has been through so much in her life and she has una gran fe in God and wants nothing more than to follow Jesus Christ. We talked about repentance and baptism with her and she looooved it. Y un milagro paso! She said she wants to get BAPTIZED!!! We're going to follow up with her this week on that and put her on date so she can enter los aguas de bautismo.
Things are happening slowly but surely in the Spanish area. I think things will change very soon and President Nattress and Hermano Laparra are going to help us get things started in the Boulder Creek stake, it's just going to take some time. I'll give you updates on it next week because I have a feeling this week is going to be a week of FINDING:) Thank you for your fasting and prayers, I can feel them supporting me and lifting me, and even when I feel overwhelmed and discouraged, I find strength in your faith in me.
Mom, here are the answers to your questions!
1. YES! I got the workouts you sent. Thank you! That's going to help us out a lot (especially me) because up here in Gilbert we only play soccer on Saturdays. I knew you'd respond pretty quickly to that request:)haha
2. We have not met Tony Li’s roommates yet, but they are coming to FHE tonight!!! We're so excited:) We're going to open up the first Chinese ward! Hahaha
3. Our 4th of July was great! We actually had dinner with Tim! Tim is progressing, but didn't come to church yesterday:( we were so sad because he keeps on committing but never makes the effort to come. Keep on praying for him! He'll get there eventually he just has to find the motivation to ACT. But that was pretty much all we did. We had to be in at 7:00pm, but we did get to write a letter to our families, so you should be getting that tomorrow or Wednesday:)
I think the lesson I've learned this week is that things work out when we turn ourselves over to the Lord. When we try to control things that are out of our control, the only results are those feelings of frustration, stress, disappointment and being overwhelmed. I'm still working on it, but I'm realizing more and more everyday that the only times that we really see miracles in life is when we take a deep breath, put our trust in the Lord, move forward and serve with all our heart, might, mind and strength. That's when faith moves mountains. We have to have faith in God, not ourselves.
Missions are the best!
LES QUIERO, FAMILIA:) Have an amazing, fantastic week!!!
Hermana Lattin


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