9-16-13 and 9-23-13

9-16-13

Okay, so this week has been pretty awesome. So jam packed with miracles!!!! It's funny because so many things fell through and we had so many "failures", but we also had countless miracles and found sooo many new people. We even met a homeless man and made an appointment with him, so we will see where that goes. It was honestly almost bizarre. Things were falling into our lap left and right. But first, guess what, I have two new roommates in our house and we are splitting the area by people. Sis A is gone and we miss her a lot, but I know she is doing awesome things back home now. What an amazing missionary she was. We have a Guatemalan sister and a visa waiter, so we are speaking lots of Portuguese. Also, the Guatemalan is a national champion street fighter, so we are teaching each other stuff in the morning. So fun. ahhhhh I'm out of time. Okay well include whatever you like in the post. Just have discretion, ya know haha. Okay I have to run. Sorry. Oh, M kinda dropped us :( but we are staying friends with her so I know she will get things figured out. She promised to finish reading the BoM.

Sorry guys, but in using my discretion, this was all that I chose to include. But the next email is awesome. (Carol)

9-23-13

Alrighty guys, 

 I'm back and this week FLEW by. Wow, It's really hard to think back and know what went where, but all I know is that we got lots of miracles. So, we are sharing the car with the two new sisters, who are awesome, and have been walking a lot more because of it. It has been so nice in so many ways. First of all, my feet are more or less better, so I can walk and finally enjoy it now. Also, now I get to be outside and get more exercise, which is SO great. Last, we have found an insane amount of people just through walking and talking to every single person that we see or meet. It's been such a blessing to walk and I just am so grateful for the the fact that we don't have the car, as weird as that sounds haha. Okay, so we have found so many people who have expressed interest in learning about the gospel, but it's a whole other ball game to actually get them to commit to sit down and talk to us and do something about their curiosity. The very hardest part is getting people to come to church. Gregory I feel ya! Something just always come up at the last second second, and it's usually something very insignificant. If we can't set aside a few hours of our week to devote to God, then how is He supposed to communicate with our hearts throughout the rest of the week. We have to give Him something so that He can reach us at other times. We are teaching a lot of single men this week. I'll be honest when I say that I'm pretty sure most of them first spoke to us in order to hit on us...then the convo turns to the law of chastity.....then we lay down the law....then they actually wanted to learn more. Anything works I guess haha. Don't worry, we are meeting them in public places, AND I'm back to practicing Jiujitsu, thanks to my most amazingly awesome roommate ever, Sister A . I can't remember if I already said this but she is the Guatemalan national street fighting champ. What!? So cool. She is also probably the nicest and most humble person ever. We work out and train and teach each other different moves every morning. It's the best and makes my whole day so much better when I can get some real exercise in. Even more though, this Sister has the greatest faith I have ever seen. I'm not going to go into detail, but she has trials that I cannot even imagine having. I would expect that most people would just give up on God, but she just trusts in Jesus Christ so much. Seriously,  she is always looking forward and hoping for a better future and trusting so fully in the love and power of Jesus Christ. I have able to talk with her and help her through some of her trials, but honestly she is the tender mercy for me. I am just so blown away by her example. We have to keep a smile on. We just cannot lose hope. If we lose hope, then everything else crumbles. I wish I had more faith! I know that faith is the key to happiness, truly. Sometimes I get down, and then I know that if I could just have more faith, then I would not feel sad ever, because a hope in Jesus Christ can literally get us through anything. I want to have a faith that can carry me through anything life throws at me, and then inspires others to believe as well. I want to know that the power of Jesus Christ can overcome all obstacles, that He truly did endure ALL things, so that none of us have to anymore, and that He can bring us happiness in the darkest of times. Right now I truly do believe and have a hope for all of these things, but I want to KNOW. I am striving to know, because it will bring me true, unwavering happiness, and it will bring miracles. The only way to fid this knowledge is to follow the advice in Alma 32 and exercise a little faith first. I have to do. I have to hope and believe it is possible. I have to act and open my heart and stop fearing. I'm realizing that we are all so afraid of one thing or another. It's something nobody is immune from, and it causes us to hide from action. Fear is probably the biggest reason why we hurt one another, which causes even more fear and pain. If we realize that we are all just a little bit afraid of this thing or that, we would be less inclined to judge one another so harshly. We would be able to help one another. If we shed our fears, we can trust God and open our hearts to others and feel true peace in our lives. I can't imagine somebody genuinely not wanting those things.

   We had some pretty big disappointments this week. One of them being D. She, like so many others, has a lot of fears that are holding her back....and now she has allowed her fears to make her not like the church. She still loves us and wants us to keep coming, but she is not interested in coming to church any time soon. We aren't sure what to do. It's a tough situation and it was a really hard blow to my heart. I love her so much and want her to be happy. That's all I want and I know that by turning away from the gospel, she will not find the lasting happiness it could bring. She is so plagued by her past and it is seeping into her present. Sometimes I wish Satan had a body, so I could sucker punch him hahaha, but seriously. 

 Okay fun story: We waxed our eyebrows this week. It was quite the adventure and very hilarious. Sister H does it all the time, so she did it for us. It wasn't too bad, but Sister A's reaction was priceless. It was also sis H's B day, so we got her a pinata for her to break....also hilarious to watch. Anyway, we have LOTS of good times to get us through the harder times. There are so many tender mercies every day, and sometimes it's up to us to recognize them. For example, one morning sis A and I went out to run and it was pouring rain. We could have been all bummed and just gone inside, but instead we had soooo much fun running in the rain and splashing in every single puddle like little kids. It was an awesome start to what could have been a bummer day. Attitude is everything. Pray for a good one :)

 LOVE you all. Sorry letters are kinda falling behind. there is just so much work to be done :)