Week 10 A Mission is Pure LIGHT

HEY :)

This week's been crazy :) .. As always.

Uhhhhh funny stories. Hah. Well last Sunday we went out on splits with 2 young women. And this young woman and I were walking around, knocking on some doors and we meet this 60ish year old guy. Seemed pretty nice... but I couldn't tell if he was drunk! I was struggling to understand what he was saying and he was going on a lovely rant about something so I was really focused on trying to find out if he was drunk cuz I didn't want him to snag this lil young woman and scare her or anything so I was really trying to focus but I was not paying attention to what he was saying. Then! out of the blue... he just bursts into tears!! and then... HE HUGS ME! Like rather aggressively too.... hahah. There was a split second where I was like MY GOSH HE'S TRYING TO KIDNAP ME... but then I got it. Hahah taught me to pay attention a little bit more in conversations. But we talked about how his wife had died and we got to share a bit of the plan of salvation :)

A member took us out to have RESPADOS!!!!!! Oh my WORD. My eyes have been opened to the beautiful world of respados...... it's like shaved ice on STEROIDS! They're like shaved ice with ice cream and fresh fruit and this other pure sugar syrupy thing. My goodness gracious. AH-MAZING. mmmmmmm. However, good must always be counteracted with evil... and last night we had double dinners. This happens every once in a while, and I don't want to sound ungrateful, but it's a rough experience. Our first stop last night was Golden Corral :) A member took us and 11 other elders out to eat there. Pretty good, but obviously she paid a lot of money so we had to eat a lot. Then we went to this other member's house and had Chichuron. mmmmmmmm It's like this dried pig's skin stuff and she made it kind of like noodles with some spices n such. mmmm. It was a rough one, for sure. It was the first time I haven't been able to finish my plate (which is a huge sign of disrespect) but I figured throwing up in their home would be worse :S One elder in our ward the other day threw up in the middle of a lesson with an investigator. And to make it worse seeing him throw up made the the investigator's 5 year old son throw up right after :P Yeeesh.

We've been really really blessed though. We have this couple investigating and they are just AMAZING. GOLDEN. INSPIRATIONAL. It is really an honor to hear about their desires and goals and to help those thing happen for them. We were teaching them last week about the Book of Mormon and Hna Ellis asked what we're supposed to do with the BOM and they thought about it for a bit... "well.... We should read it...... And then we should think about it, listen to what it's telling us to do............... and then WE SHOULD SHARE IT WITH EVERYBODY!!! :D" Hahahah it was really cute. But they've just got so much faith and fire and it really is an honor to be a missionary.

We've been seeing a lot of miracles. People who just happen to be home at a random time we felt prompted to stop by. People who just needed someone to listen. It's really amazing.

When we were parking and walking in here to email we saw this guy. We said hi of course :) He asked if we were missionaries. We said yes. He then asked if we could help him. He just started to cry. (We've had a lot of cry-ers this week, which is such a clear indication that the Holy Ghost really is softening their hearts and telling them to change). He's just had such a hard life. So many people have. They just want a fresh start.

I know that making the gospel a part of your life offers something that drugs, alcohol, going to church just on Sunday, and buying new clothes just does not replicate. LIVING the gospel brings LIGHT. We were studying together this week and I stumbled upon this scripture in Alma 32 where it's talking about faith as a seed. It's really interesting because I keep thinking that this whole experience just doesn't feel real. It doesn't feel like you guys are all back at home living your own lives. It doesn't feel like I'm finally a missionary, the thing that I've been building up to for 19 years. It just doesn't feel real. And then I read this scripture :) Alma 32:35

"O then, is not this real? I say unto you, Yea, because it is light; and whatsoever is light, is good, because it is discernible, therefore ye must know that it is good"

A mission is just pure LIGHT. I don't know how else to describe it. It doesn't feel real because it's just so good. I don't even know how to put it into words. But the gospel brings light into people's lives. People who feel completely immersed in the dark. Seek out the light. You know that it is good. And then go and share it with others. There's a quote I like by someone really smart... "A candle looses no light by sharing it with others." You know what you need to do to bring more light into your life and into the lives of others. Now just do it :)

I LOVE YOU ALL :) I pray for you every day :)

This week we're getting iPads and as a part of that we'll be able to READ emails during the week :) We can still only respond on P days but they used the logic that since we can read letters and stuff during the week, why not emails? So that'll be exciting :) I'm excited to see what changes come our way :)

Love you guys!! Thanks for all your support :)