St. Pattys WEEEEEK

March 14, 2016

Buenas dias mi familia!!

Oh how I love you all! Thank you so much for all the support and love.  I am so blessed to have the family I have!

Fun fact Alabama's state motto is "Aundemas jura nostra defendere" which is in Latin meaning "We dare defend our Rights."

This week was cuhrazyyyy, crazy busy and just so many things happened! This is the last week of the transfer and its so crazy because time is just flying by and there's so much work to do here!  We find out this Saturday what the news is.  I am almost positive I will stay here which I better because I love it so much!  

First things first! TEMPLE TRIP was this past Tuesday.  Oh it was so awesome. I loved it.  We spent the night in Decatur with the sisters there so we didn't have to leave at the crack of dawn to get to the temple on time.  It was wonderful and a time where I could focus on myself, where I am at, and how I can be a better disciple of Christ. It was exactly what I needed.  We go to the temple to feel joy and how blessed are we to have temples all over the world?!  Joseph Smith said "We are created to have joy" and in the scriptures it says, "Men are that they might have joy!"  I love that.  Being here on the earth where we are right now is all about being happy and bringing happiness to others. (SHARING THE GOSPEL) I think that is why missionaries are generally so happy. We are bringing joy to others and in doing so feel joy errydayyy. I love it. 

Not only that but I was able to see some other missionary friends that I haven't seen in a long time! I got to see my trainer Sister Ontiveros and my bff Sister West and some Elders I served with in Huntsville.  It was like a breath of fresh air I loved it!!

PAM CAME TO CHURCH!!!!!!!!!!!! Hallelujah!! Praise everythang.  She and her husband, Kris, came to church and they loved it.  It was different than what she is used to but Pam is one of those people that if it's true then it don't matta.  Truth is truth.  And she knows it's true.  

We have been visiting with Pam a lot this week preparing her to be baptized by the end of the month!  She is as solid as ever.  Just soaking up everything we teach.  We taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ and she loved it.  She said that the GOJC is just so comforting compared to everything she was taught her whole life.  That God truly loves us so much and wants us to return back to Him that he created a plan for us to follow, knowing that we would fall short and mess up.   It just made so much sense to her.  We are so excited about her.  

Being on a mission is straight up cray.  I love it.  I feel like I am in a movie on the DAILY.  Sometimes when I am in a situation talking to someone I have a straight up freeze moment where I try and mentally take a picture or video of things people say and think "Is this real life?" haha You met so many crazies, but you just love them and their uniqueness.  I think this is in every mission, but it seems that there seriously is nothing like Alabama people.  

For example quick story:

We were helping this one lady move into her new apartment across this street from us. My job was getting all her purses that were full of books ( SO MANY BOOKS)  and put them on her shelf. She failed to tell me that these purses full of books have been chillin’ in a barn for over 10 years so all of them are wet and moldy, which I could handle, no big deal. BUT after the 5th book i noticed that cockroaches and spiders were crawling out of the books and all around them! It was the scariest thing of my life and I tried to handle it smoothly and with maturity but that did NOT happen.  I was jumpin’ all over the place.  My fear of spiders is still real people! It was SO SCARY.

Last Emmaus Experience:

Huntsville Stake put on a mini mission trip for some youth that wanted to come out with missionaries for a whole day! We had two little people come out with us for a day and it was awesome. They were so cute!  Me and my lil' missionary went and visited a few of our investigators Kim and Jasmine.  We only had a few minutes to stop by and share a spiritual thought with them so we did.  I shared a quote by Elder Richard G. Scott from a talk I heard in the MTC that was so special and I keep in my Book Of Mormon and then shared a scripture with them.  The spirit knew that Kim needed to hear that because she just started crying and said that she felt like it was speaking straight to her.  THE SPIRIT IS REAL.   They are having a hard time committing to come to church because they are scared of change.  So pray for them!!  

Those were some highlights of the week.  I love ya'll so much and I love this work! I know Jesus is the Christ and it is only through Him that we can return to live with our Father in Heaven.  Stay happy and help a stranger!!!!!!