Email #69 (Gilbert, AZ)

December 15, 2014

Hola hola holllla!

Sounds like this week was a pretty good one at the Lattin home! I'm glad you're getting into the Christmas spirit!

Life in Gilbert is wonderful. This week had to be one of the crowning moments of my mission, so much felicidad packed into one weekend. We had our mission tour with Elder Packer and then Vanessa's baptism later that night, then the Carrillo's sealing on Saturday and Valeria's baptism later that night:) And then on top of all of that I was able to be reunited some of my very best mission companions in the whole world, Chavs, Lana and Mama Bear (Sister Baria) all came back for the sealing and baptism!!! It was the best!

Vanessa's baptism is a moment I will never ever forget. Her journey to enter the waters of baptism is a story I will be telling for the rest of my life. She is amazing. After she was baptized we were in the bathroom while she was doing her makeup and we asked her how she felt. She said "Amazing". And then she stopped and just kept nodding her head, then she looked at us and with tear-filled eyes she said "I feel really good". I am so grateful that she took that step, that she demonstrated her faith and gave her heart to Heavenly Father. She is a shining example to me of how precious the Atonement of Jesus Christ is. I am convinced that the ONLY thing that could pull her out of where she was, physically, mentally and spiritually, was the changing and healing power of the Atonement. And she embraced that power fully in her life and allowed it to give her a second chance, to help her to start over and become completely clean of her past. As I've been on a mission, I've had the opportunity to see the Atonement change lives, the lives of investigators, the lives of my companions, and my own life. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that he really did suffer for all of our sins, pains and afflictions, just like Alma 7:11-13 says. Vanessa entering the waters of baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost reaffirmed that to me and I am so grateful that I was able to witness this miracle.

And Valeria's baptism was so so sweet! She is such an amazing, smart and all around awesome person. The Flores family is a special family. Daniel and Renata were taught by Hna Chavarri and Bukoskie and were baptized in June of this past year. At the time Valeria wasn't sure if she wanted to be baptized, so she decided to wait. The sisters kept on teaching her, but she just didn't feel ready. Then (kind of out of the blue), about 2 and a half weeks ago she decided she was ready! She was really excited to be baptized by her dad and it was such a tender moment to see him baptize her. He was pretty emotional afterwards. They are an amazing family.

Here are the answers to your preguntas, mamita!

1. answered above:)

2. No, Tim couldn't go to the baptisms, because he had work BUT he did have work off on Sunday and stayed at church for all three hours!!!:) And get this, we weren't able to be there until the very end and he still went and stayed for the whole thing. It's amazing to see how the Lord is helping him slowly but surely recognize the Spirit and the truth. We have a lesson with him this Wednesday, we'll let you know how it goes and how he's feeling about his baptism on January 3rd!:)

3. The tours at the Mesa Temple Christmas Lights are so fun!! We basically walk around and talk to as many people as possible. There are quite a few  Hispanics who come so we get to speak A LOT of Spanish:) They are short on Spanish sisters in that mission, so we are happy we get to help!

Okay, well I love you all so so so soooo much! Thank you for all your prayers, I can feel them lifting me up and making miracles happen over here in good ol' Gilbert! Have an amazing week!

LES QUIERO!!!

Hermana Lattin

Vanessa's Baptism!

Lots of support from old companions!

Valeria's Baptism

December 13, 2014

Chumps

Carillo's temple sealing!

Continue

Email #68 (Gilbert, AZ)

December 8, 2014

Hey there fam!!!!

Isn't the Christmas season just the best? I am loving the "He is the Gift" Initiative, it's such an amazing tool, not to mention an awesome video that brings the Spirit and reminds us why we really celebrate Christmas.

Any miracles with sharing "He is the Gift" with your friends?? I want to hear them! And if you haven't had any experiences yet, keep trying!:)

So this week was crazy, in a good way. We taught a ton and are frantically trying to help two very amazing people be prepared for baptism this weekend. Vanessa is getting baptized this Friday the 12th!!! Man she is one of those people I am going to be talking about and sharing her story for the rest of my life. Her example of faith and total surrender to the Lord is an example we all need to look towards. She is SO excited for her baptism and so ready to make those promises with God. Vanessa has changed my life. Every time we meet with her I am in awe of the way the Atonement of Jesus Christ is able to infinitely heal, change and save us. She has made drastic changes in her life in the past 2 weeks and is doing everything she possibly can to allow God to change her life and that in turn is allowing her to become who her Heavenly Father wants her to become. She radiates the light of Christ wherever she goes. I can't even imagine how bright it will be after her baptism!! Her baptism will be one of the BEST days of my mission! I feel so blessed to be a tiny sliver of a part of her journey to baptism (and beyond:)), and I am so grateful to have her shining example of faith and strength in my life. She was able to meet President Nattress this past week (he came to a lesson with us) and he was so amazed and inspired by her faith. (P.S. President Nattress is the BEST!!!)

Also, we were able to teach Valeria and she committed to be baptized this Saturday as well! When we asked her why she wants to be baptized and she replied "Well, I want to be with my family forever." She is so cute and we are so excited for her to be baptized. The Flores family is one of my favorite families I've met out here. It will be a great day when they are sealed in the temple for time and all eternity a year from Valeria's baptism!

We also found a new investigator this week from our YSA ward! His name is Rafael, he's 19 and guess what... he's from Brazil!!:) haha gotta love those Brazilians! Vai Brasil! He was invited by a friend to go to a ward party and he went and met some elders there. They texted us about him and we went and saw him that night. He was very open and willing to learn, and even said yes to a soft commit to baptism! It was awesome. He didn't show up at church yesterday but we have a lesson with him tomorrow.

This past week was a week of milagros and we look forward to another one. Heavenly Father is blessing us so much, and honestly I can't even fathom why! Of course we are working hard and being obedient, but that's what I've been doing for my whole mission! God is so good and I'm so grateful for these miracles. I'm not going to lie though, training is stressful and HARD! Sister Haycock is so awesome but it's just hard teaching a new missionary how to be a missionary and teach her Spanish and be in charge of the area and worry about all your investigators, recent converts, less actives and members that all need to be visited.... I just pray that Heavenly Father can work through my weaknesses and what I lack in organizational skills and leadership skills! I am learning and growing a lot, and I know that Heavenly Father is giving me a chance to see all my weaknesses and faults through this experience so he can make those weaknesses become strong:) Ether 12:27! Mission life is great!

And Mom, my companions name is Hermana HAYCOCK... not Hunsaker:) hahaha

I love you so so so so soooooo much!!! Thank you for your fasting, prayers and support. I seriously have the best fam in the world.

Have a great week!

Hermana Lattina

Vanessa is getting baptized~December 12th

My new companion~Hermana Haycock

I love being a missionary

Continue

Email #67 (Gilbert, AZ)

December 1, 2014

Hey there familia!!!

Wow, looks like you had a blast in good ol' Weiser!! Gotta love the family:) I can't wait to have dumplings again someday! Those are my fav!

So this week was a crazy one!!!! SO MANY MIRACLES! I think its Sister Haycock's greenie fire that's making all this happen! I guess I first better start out by introducing my companion. Her name is Hermana Riley Haycock and she is from Santa Clarita, CA. She is awesome and so excited to be here! It's a crazy weird experience training a brand new missionary, it's really fun but stressful! I feel like there is so much to teach her in the next 2 transfers and not enough time. She'll be fine though. I just hope I'm doing enough! Teaching her Spanish has been pretty rough haha. I forgot how hard it was at first, you just have no idea what's going on and you don't know how to respond to anybody! It's hard to watch your companion have those issues, because they know so little that it's a struggle to try and fill them in on everything and let them try and express themselves in a language they can't speak yet! Now I understand at least a little portion of what Chavs felt while training me haha it's a good experience for me and I'm learning. I really have to try hard to be organized, obviously it's not something that comes naturally for me. But I need to be able to do it because otherwise nothing gets done! I know Heavenly Father is helping me so much, because somehow we are getting everything done.

BUT GUESS WHAT??? Un milagro paso!! Vanessa moved in with the Maynez family and she is on date to be baptized the 13th of December!!!! She is so solid and she is living in a place and environment where nothing is keeping her from finally getting baptized. Pray for her!!! I still can't believe that actually happened! God is so good. When we got a text from Hermana Maynez telling us she had moved in and she wanted us to come teach her that night (this was Saturday) I almost cried I was so happy! She is amazing!

Also, Tim is on date for the 3rd of January! Pray that he can continue to be solid and be searching for answers. Also, he needs the courage to ask for Sundays off this week so he can start coming consistently!

Anyways, this week was definitely a week of miracles and I know that they'll continue to come through our obedience and diligence!!:)

Love you all!

Hermana Lattin

Continue

Email #66 (Gilbert, AZ)

November 17, 2014

Familiaaaa!

Hellllooooo to everyone who is currently in Weiser for Thanksgiving!!! That's a party. Weiser is a great place, even though it smells like onions and cow poop:) Every time we go to the Lecheria and it smells, I think of good ol' Weiser. Just kidding, the Lecheria is wayyyy worse than Weiser. I really do miss Weiser. But I mostly miss all my family because they're the best, especially around the holiday season!

Speaking of Thanksgiving, holy cow! How is it already Thanksgiving week?? So strange. And how are my companions already going home??? What the weird. It's a sad thing to have to say good bye to two of my best friends, they've made this past transfer so great. We've seen so many miracles despite the craziness of our area, and my face and stomach hurt most of the time from laughing so much. I love my Chavs and Lana! With them prepping to leave and packing, we had a pretty crazy week, because everybody and they're dog wanted to feed us... I'm not kidding when I say we had more than one night of double dinners... hahaha but that just goes to show that the members here are great, and it was also such an awesome thing to witness and experience the love they have for my two companions. Each companion that I've said goodbye to, or am going to say goodbye to this past transfer, (Carvalho, Chavarri and Woolstenhulme) mean so much to me, they have become my best friends and have impacted my life in the best way possible. They are the most stellar missionaries I've met and I feel extremely blessed to have had them as my companions.

Anyways, the big news for today is that I am training! Una misionera verde is coming from the CCM en Mexico and I get to be her trainer! Crazy, huh? I am really excited! I just hope I can be as great as my trainer was for me. Something that really scares me is that I won't be able to be the trainer this new missionary needs in order to learn all she needs to learn before I go, because she'll definitely need to train pretty soon after I leave with several new Spanish missionaries coming in next year after February. But I was studying our monthly study topic this morning, which is the gift of the Atonement: The Savior's Love, and I asked myself "How will the Savior's love help me be a good trainer?" And obviously there are a lot of different answers to that question, but one that hit me at the end of personal study was the fact that because of the Atonement, the Savior's love can and will make up for my faults and weaknesses, as long as I hand my heart over to him. Maybe I alone cannot give my greenie everything she needs to be ready. Maybe I alone cannot teach her Spanish perfectly. Maybe I alone cannot train her in an area I hardly know myself, visiting all the people that need help in growing closer to Christ. But because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and His love for me, I am NEVER alone. He will be with me as I help this new missionary start her mission off right and because of Him, my trainee will learn and do everything she needs to become who Heavenly Father wants her to be. And because of that, I am strangely peaceful about everything that is going to happen within the next week, (my companions leaving, getting a new missionary and the area being split up differently). I just know that everything and everyone is going to be okay:)

So this past week was great! We saw quite a few miracles within our own area, especially with Darren, the newer Chinese investigator. He just gets it. I don't know how else to say it, because he really does. Despite his background in a non-religious community and a slight language barrier, he has one of the most sincere desires I've ever seen to grow closer to God. We taught him about Jesus Christ and the Atonement this past week, and the Spirit was able to touch his heart and testify to him that he has a Savior that will help him become clean and become better. He is very sensitive to his feelings and recognizes the Spirit even though he doesn't quite understand the concept of the Godhead yet (we'll get on that this week:)). One of the most spiritual moments of my mission was when he said the sweetest prayer after our lesson and asked Heavenly Father several times to help him be closer to God and to be better. He is awesome: ) And then we were able to witness a miracle at the Montero's baptism. The elders in the Branch have been teaching this family for the last 2ish months and all of them wanted to be baptized, except for the dad. He was apprehensive and wasn't sure if he wanted to make the commitment. So the mom and their two kids prepared for baptism, and he still remained unsure, until the night of the baptism, 5 minutes before he decided he wanted to be baptized with his family. Another missionary was there to interview him, he passed and they all were baptized together!! It was so amazing.

 Okay well I love you all sooooooo much! Have an amazing Thanksgiving week in Weiser! Tell everyone I say "HOLA!!":)

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Lattin

Continue

Email #65 (Gilbert, AZ)

November 17, 2014

Hola familia!

Hey there! How's it going?? Sounds like it's been super cold!! This morning we played ultimate frisbee and it was 50 degrees and all of us were on the verge of tears we were so cold!! I think I've acclimated to Arizona weather.... February is going to be rough for me haha:) This email is going to be a short one, because we're headed down to Queen Creek to do some goodbyes for Chavs and Lana, since they're leaving me next Tuesday. Sad day:( so we have to email fast so we can get shopping done and have enough time to see all the people they want to say bye to.

But this week was good! We taught quite a bit and saw some good progress with a few investigators. Darren is so awesome and he is very interested in learning more! We met two of his roommates too this week who want to hear the lessons and go to church as well! That was un milagro because we've been struggling to find new investigators this past transfer. We're confronting the same slight setbacks with him as we did with Tony in the beginning because of the slight language barrier. But it is such a good experience to teach someone with little or no religious background and have a language barrier, because the goal is to teach simply in a way they will understand, and more importantly in a way the Spirit can touch their hearts. Darren is so humble and willing to learn, and he has a sincere desire to know if God is real.

Vanessa has been more consistent than ever! She couldn't come to church yesterday because it was the Phoenix Temple Dedication (SO COOL!!!), but she has been making a great effort to read and pray everyday, and met with us a lot this week. Ever since that priesthood blessing she received from Hno. Maynez, she has been doing so good. She is a witness to me that priesthood power is real, that it has been restored to the earth to bless God's children and bring us back to Him. We are so blessed to have worthy priesthood holders that can do miracles by the power to act in God's name. Priesthood holders, do not take for granted your responsibility to serve and bless others around you! Do everything you can to remain worthy so you can have the opportunity to act as God's instruments to bless his children.

I can't think of any other significant things that happened this week with our investigators...besides Edna. She came to the choir concert we had last night and we got to talk to her afterwards and she opened up to us. She is really struggling again. She feels a lot of sadness and pain from her dad's death. We listened to her and just testified to her of the Plan of Salvation. She is awesome and if she just starts doing the simple things again, she will find peace and happiness:)

I'll give you more updates next week.

Oh! Please pray for the Flores family. They are recent converts, and we are teaching their 10 year old daughter, Valeria. Satan is working really hard to pull them down right now. They are awesome but are having a lot of different, crazy trials. Just pray that they will have the strength to continue doing the things they need to do in order to be sealed in the temple next year.

I LOVE YOU ALL SO SO SO much! Have an amazing week!

LES QUIERO!!

Hermana Lattin

Continue

Email #64 (Gilbert, AZ)

November 10, 2014

Hey there, querida familia!

Man, time is just flying by so fast out here. I can't even believe that my other two comps go home in two weeks. WHY??? This is cruel and unusual punishment. I keep on having to say goodbye to my best friends and it's really tough. But, life goes on and so does the Work!

This week was pretty good! We spent a lot of it trying to finish up teaching Tony all of the lessons so he could be ready for his baptism on Saturday. He is AWESOME and his baptism was so tender. I don't know if I've ever met such a pure hearted 13 year old, a teenager who is so genuinely dedicated to getting closer to God and serving and helping his family. He is such a sweet kid. And the people who spoke at his baptism all mentioned him serving a mission, and that makes me so excited because he is going to be an amazing missionary someday! It was a great night.

Also, both Darren and Jamie came to church yesterday with Tony Li! We also had a lesson with them last night, but Jamie couldn't make it. Darren is AWESOME! Even with his limited English, you can feel how sincere his desire is to know if God is real, and that he trusts us to help him know. We were able to teach them more about Jesus Christ last night and we found the "Because of Him" video in Chinese! Milagro!:) The Spirit was very strong as we told them more about our purpose on earth and that Jesus Christ makes it possible for us to return back to our Heavenly Father. We hope the lesson helped them feel the Spirit, even if they didn't understand everything we taught.

I am so blessed to be on a mission. I think about it, and never in a million years would I have met all the people I've met on my mission had I not gone. I wouldn't have met my companions, the members, or our investigators. And what makes it so special is that these are people who have changed my life, and impacted me in a way that has brought me closer to the Savior. God knows me perfectly, and he has placed people in my life that he knew I would need so I could become the person He wants me to be. That is one of the most amazing things about being out here, and something that I didn't necessarily anticipate before coming out on a mission. Before, I was set on changing peoples' lives and helping others to come unto Christ, and didn't give much thought to how much these people would change me. Little did I know that I was the one who needed them so I could learn, change and grow closer to my Father and my Savior. It's the people I have met that have helped me to understand how much God loves me, and how much He loves all of us.

Hna Carvalho--I guess she is just Cindy now, came to Gilbert to visit with her parents this past weekend! It was fun because they showed up at Tony's baptism and I got to see my compi again!!! It was so strange seeing her not as a missionary, because it was the same old Hna Carvalho, but at the same time she was different. But it was so good to see her. When you say goodbye to someone you've been with 24/7 all day every day for 5 months and then all of the sudden you don't see them at all and you can't communicate with them in any way, it almost makes it feel like that person isn't real anymore. You know they are there, but it's like they're just part of this dream world that exists outside of the mission haha. So it was awesome to give her a big hug again and talk to her. And her parents came all the way from Brazil to pick her up and are amazing! Her mom was one of the sweetest people I've ever met, so nice and cute, and even though we couldn't communicate super well, I could still feel her love and appreciation for me. Her dad is super funny and has this big goofy grin on his face all the time. His English was really good! You can tell they are both just SO proud of Cindy and they love her so much. I feel really blessed that I got to meet them, even though our time was short, I love them a lot, and I am glad I was able to tell them in person how much they're daughter impacted my life and changed me and that I was so grateful I was able to be her companion. It is awesome that they were able to come and meet all of the people that love their daughter so much and see how many lives she impacted and changed. It was hard to say goodbye again, but I know I'll see her again! I did promise her parents that I would learn Portuguese and come to Brazil somedayJ

I don't have a whole lot of updates on other investigators this week. We will be meeting with all of them soon though so I'll let you know next week:)

Que tengan una semana MARAVILLOSA!! Keep on being the best, fam:) Seriously, thank you for your prayers and love.

LES QUIERO MUCHO!!!

Hermana Lattin

Continue

Email #63 (Gilbert, AZ)

November 3, 2014

Holllla familia!

How's it going?  It also looks like you had a fun Halloween! Niiiice costumes:)

So this week was pretty good! We saw a lot of miracles, and somehow we were able to stay sane with all of the people and places to go:) I don't have a huge amount of time left on the computer, but I'll tell you a few of the week's highlights!

We found Vanessa again! This was truly a miracle, and the experience in and of itself testified to me that when we are being obedient and doing what we're supposed to, God will guide us to where we need to be. We knocked on her door and she was feeling super sick and Francisco was going to take her to the hospital. We asked her if she wanted a blessing and she said yes so we called Hermano Maynez and he came over with his son to give her a blessing. While we were waiting for them to come, she told us how she had relapsed a few weeks ago with her drugs, and that is part of what caused all her health problems recently. Her doctor wants her to do a 30 day rehab program but she is really scared. We shared Matthew 11:28-30 with her and reminded her that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ our burdens can be lifted and we can find peace and joy through Him, but we have to reach out to Him. He is always there waiting to take us into his embrace, but it takes our personal efforts to hug him back, and allow the Atonement to heal and change us. We promised her these blessings would come as long as she made the efforts to be clean of drugs and accept the Gospel in her life. We supported her in doing the 30 day program and encouraged her to bring her Book of Mormon. She told us that she knows that this Church is true and it's where God wants her, she just has to be clean first. Then Hno Maynez got there and gave her one of the most powerful blessings I've ever heard. It was SO cool. Never in my life have I actually witnessed a healing right then and there. But before she looked so sick, her skin was sunken in and was a yellowish tint, and she was wrapped up in a blanket on the couch, and she was hardly saying anything. But by the end of the blessing, she looked like her normal self and got up and walked us to the door. Man, the Spirit was so strong and Hno Maynez is the best. Definitely un milagro.

Also, we had dinner with Tony Li last night and we met two of his friends (who are also from China), Darren and Jamie. We watched that Mormon Message "The Hope of God's light" and talked with them about God. They both also don't have a solid background, but were interested in finding out if He is real. Especially Darren. There was a light in his eyes as we testified that God is our Heavenly Father, that we are His children and He loves us. He felt something and was really excited to learn more:) we have a lesson with them set up next Saturday so we'll let you know how that goes!

Here are the answers to your questions mamita!

1. Yes! We do have a baptism this week! 

Have I told you about the Hispanic Tony?? His mom is the sister of one of the ladies in the Gilbert branch, and she just got baptized a few weeks ago (that was the baptism Pres. Nattress Spoke at), and he is getting baptized this coming Saturday, the 8th!:D So stoked. He is awesome. He is 13 and he is one of the most mature kids I've ever met. He is having his interview tonight so if that goes well he will definitely be baptized this Saturday!!! WHOOO!!! :)

2. Investigator update:

Tim is good. We taught him a few times and he is progressing at his own little pace. We had some super Spirit-filled lessons with him so hopefully he recognizes that and can take that step to be baptized. Pray for him extra hard this week that he can receive and recognize his answer and have the desire to be baptized! We haven't seen Edna for a bit, but hopefully we will be able to see her this week! I'll let you know how she's progressing next Monday. Georgina is her usual cute, little old self:) Pray that she will have the desire to come to church and that her daughter's heart will be softened so she can be baptized:)

3. We actually went to the temple as a mission on Halloween! It was the BEST Halloween ever!!!:)

Okay, well my time is running short, but I love you all sooooooo so much!!! Thank you again for your prayers and support. I am beyond blessed to have the most amazing family in the world.

Moroni 8:3:)

Hermana Lattin

Continue