Week 16

It's been another wonderful week of the mission life already!! There were SOO many amazing experiences this week that I could go on and on about, but I don't want to take up too much time of all those who are following my writing, and plus there isn't much time to reflect on the week because we have another packed week ahead!

 First of all I wanted to give a little update on the big family we baptized about a month and a half ago. This week I noticed just how far the've grown as a family and in the gospel. This week in sacrament meeting the father Jorge blessed the sacrament and two of his sons passed it. That was almost half of the needed priesthood to administer the sacrament from one recent convert family! Also one of the boys named Oriel was finally able to be confirmed since he was able to make it to church this week. Also we have been visiting them every so often and they play hymns and other cool songs from the church in their home and they are truly continuing to grow as a family. The two boys Luis and Eric have been going with us to teach lessons every once in a while and it's super awesome to hear their testimonies and what they have learned in their short time as members. The oldest son Luis started attending Seminary and he talks about things he learned all the time:) Plus they didn't wait long to start missionary work as I've already brought up when they started inviting us to teach some friends down the street. That family has been progressing a ton! Turns out they will all be old enough to be baptized when the time comes because the younger daughter, also named Alma, is 9! I thought she was 6 for the longest time. I asked her "¿Tiene seis años verdad?" and she gave me a really funny look, laughed and made fun of me for thinking so with her mom. Turns out she's 9! And the youngest, Raul, is 7 years old but he'll be turning 8 in July! The only problem now is that the father works so much that we can hardly ever see him, so we haven't been able to teach him much yet. I am super excited for this family though because they have been just blossoming in the gospel. Their kids always jump up with their hands raised when we ask who would like to open or close the lessons with a prayer. My heart swells when I hear such innocent and full-hearted little children talking with their Father in heaven in prayer.

To be honest this has been a little bit of a rough week, but I'm glad for all the challenges I've had because I know they are part of the Lord's plan to shape me into the missionary he wants me to become and he has been giving me the strength and comfort I need to get through it all. That isn't to say that nothing went well this week, there has been a ton of progress in our area and I know it's in large part because of the hard work and exact obedience we've been exerting and the growth of my relationship with my companion as well. We have a ton of wonderful new investigators this week including 2 or 3 families, one of which has 6 members in total! I love being able to teach families that they can become an eternal family if they accept and live the gospel and path Jesus Christ has set for them. 

The challenges were that our plans were a little disrupted with exchanges that our District Leader threw at us without warning and also some health issues that have came up. My knee started getting sore and even a little painful after walking for hours, which is weird because I've been walking vigorously like this since I started in the field, but haven't had any problems thus far. After several long hard days with the soreness, I asked for a blessing yesterday. It was a wonderful experience and helped me to feel confident that it will all work out. I think it might be because of the weather shift. It's gotten even hotter this week and more humid than normal as well. I think my knee just needs to adjust, that's all. After refocusing my attitude about the exchanges and praying for help and guidance, it turned out to be an amazing experience with Elder Burnette, my district leader, who is headed home next week. I'm very blessed with the Lords constant guidance and patience with my weaknesses as I come before him for help. I have faith that everything will work its way out if I trust in the Lord and never give up. Here's to another successful and hard working week!