December 29, 2014
Hi querida familia!!!!
Oh man, it was the best thing in the world to see
all your beautiful faces via Skype last week. Thank you all for just being
the BEST. It was the spiritual recharge I needed to gear up for the next month
and a half to finish strong!!:) I've been reading the conference talks you gave
to me for Christmas and I LOVE them. I've read one per personal study that I've
had for the past few days and it's amazing the personal revelation I've been
receiving from each one of them. I needed all of their messages and they have
helped me see the changes and improvements I need to make so I can become who
God wants me to be. I know each of you were inspired to choose the talks that
you did, because all of them have helped me A TON!
So after we skyped, which definitely was the
highlight of the entire week/month, we had a good rest of our Christmas and
visited with the Bowler family from the Mission Bay ward, ate some tamales with
the Gaytan family (claro) then we got to watch the Lion King (one of the
greatest movies EVER) and then we got to go work at the Mesa Temple Lights for
the last time!!! It was such a great Christmas. Both of my Christmases on the
mission have been ones that I'll never forget!:)
The rest of the week went well. Teaching lately
has been a little rough, because we have yet to find some solid new
investigators since Vanessa and Valeria were baptized. Ricardo, the new
investigator who is super golden, texted us the day of his lesson and told us
that his wife was really angry about him reading the Book of Mormon and meeting
with us, and so he was going to have to wait until she calmed down about it
until he continued to be taught. He said he would keep reading though, so we're
just going to pray that his wife's heart softens and that she allows him to
learn. That was sad for us, but I know that God has a plan and that everything
will work out. As for finding new investigators, I know that there are people
out there that are just waiting to listen to and accept the message of the
restored Gospel they just "know not where to find it" (D&C
123:12). So, we've got to find them and bring it to them. Pray for us this week
that we can find those that are searching for the truth!:)
One cool experience that happened on Saturday night
was when we passed by Rafael (the Brazilian YSA [young single adult]
investigator) and he was HOME! He is still scared of us because he's gotten a
lot of information from anti friends and the internet, but he asked some
questions and we were able to dispel some myths which was good. BUT the coolest
part was that his sister was visiting from Recife and she doesn't speak a whole
lot of English, so there was a slight language barrier... Her mom was there and
when Rafael left to go to the grocery store, their mom (who speaks a
little English) came and sat down and started talking to us too. I
told them that I had a Brazilian companion who taught me a little bit of
Portuguese and that I could speak Spanish so I could understand a little bit of
it as well and they said they could understand Spanish pretty well. So with
that we had an amazing conversation about the Church and they asked a lot of
questions, and the entire conversation was a mixture of English, Portuguese and
Spanish. And I was so proud of myself because I understood everything they
were saying in Portuguese! And I even spoke a tiny bit of Portuguese to them:)
My compi would've been so proud! It was awesome. That was definitely an
experience that reminded me that gift of tongues is real:) Portuguese is
definitely the next language I am going to learn. And that experience also made
me remember how much I love Brazilians!:) #vaibrasil
Anyways, life is good and we are just going to
work todo lo major que podamos para encontrar nuevos investigadores! I am happy
and having a blast with Hermana Haycock. Training is refining, and Hermana
Haycock has definitely helped me become a better missionary and person, so I am
so grateful for her.
Answers to questions:
1. answers are in email above:)
2. Christmas dinner--Tamales, of course:)
3. Christmas was our last night for the Mesa
Temple light tours!
It
was so fun:) Definitely a huge blessing and privilege to be part of that this
year. We met so many amazing people!
4. See above about our new investigator, Ricardo
5. Pray for Tim, Rafael and for us to find new
investigators in both the YSA ward and the Branch!
6. Vanessa and Valeria both LOVED your baptism
gifts! Vanessa cried while reading your notes and she looooved the journal and
necklace. Valeria was so cute too because she was so excited about the
scripture study journal. They both say "THANK YOU!!!" They are super
excited to meet you all.
7. Hermana Haycock did well on Christmas. She had
a few moments of bad homesickness, but I've been really proud of her, because
she has been doing so good within the past week of really striving to lose
herself in the work and be positive and happy. She is awesome!
9. We don't know the plans yet for New Years Eve!
Alrighty, there you go! I love you all so so so so
soooooo much! You are the BEST familia a missionary could ever ask for. Have an
amazing week! Feliz Ano Nuevo!!!!
Y FELIZ CUMPLEANOS, on Dec 31st ELIANA!!!!:)
I'm making her a card today, hopefully she'll get
it in time!
Les quiero muchisimo!!!
Hermana Lattin
 |
| Gilbert, AZ missionaries Can you find me?! Front row left side |
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