Hola de Hermana, 19/11/12

Hola mi familia asombrosa!  

Happy Early Thanksgiving!  I kind of forgot that it was this week, but that's okay.  Miracles and blessings this week and I am so grateful.

Mom, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the photo you sent of my Guapo Vaquero Hermano.  So I printed it out, and have been showing it, along with other photos, to almost everybody.  Hna D says that Huck looks like he could be in an Avon magazine.  And when I printed out the photo, Hna V and Hna N pretended to fight over who could have him.  Hehe!  Huck, you've got some admirarers here in HueHue!  And Hna V fell in love with these two kissing porcelain dolls, so I bought them for her for her 11 meses.  And they are named Fanny and Iain.  ;)  

Last night Hna D was watching an old black and white mexican comedian named Cantiinflas.  He reminded me of Gilligan's Island.  I'm excited to watch them when I get home.  :)

Elder A, an area seventy, told our mission a couple months ago that the most important commandment is the commandment we are tempted to break.  A couple of Sundays ago I was up the night before vomiting, and Sunday morning I told myself that it was okay for us to go late to church because I needed the sleep.  It was the first, and I hope the very last, time that I have ever missed a sacrament meeting in my mission.  Well, that sunday morning two friends of Hna D showed up for the very first time and we didn't give them a great first impression because we hadn't gone to church.  So I promised myself that Satan always tries to tempt us the hardest when he knows something good could happen, and that I wasn't going to listen to him again.  

So yesterday, even though I hadn't slept hardly a wink all night, I told myself we were going to go to church even if it killed me because I knew that something good was going to happen.  We needed to find three more investigators yesterday to meet our weekly goal, and I had no idea how we were going to do it.  But I knew that because Satan was working especially hard, something especially good was going to happen.  We worked hard before church to call all our investigators and less actives and only one came to church.  But during the meeting a woman I had never seen before entered the meeting with two young girls, wearing pants, and I thought, Oh my goodness! Our first miracle!  I found her directly after the meeting and she told me she was named Marlin, that she has been inactive but wants to reactivate.  And later that night we contacted her mother and a sister and have a visit with them Wed.  

The second miracle, after sacrament meeting the relief society president found me with a smile and said a friend of her husband had come to church!  She is named Cleiti, is studying law, and we accompanied her for the other two meetings and SHE TOOK NOTES during them!  We also learned that she assisted a General Conference session!  And the other blessed miracle is that she ACTUALLY LIVES IN OUR AREA!  I am so grateful!  

So we were blessed with the new investigators we needed, and Cleiti is someone prepared by God to receive us.  I am so grateful. 

Other blessing.  Even though we had to drop Dunia, that night Osmar, a former investigator who moved to Guatemala City, called us to tell us that he is going to be baptized this Friday!  I am so happy and grateful!  He is going to be a great leader.  It was another testament to me of how people, no matter how difficult their challenges, have their right and power to choose whether or not they want to change and apply the Atonement of our Savior in their lives.  And we are working for those special sons and daughters of God who really want to do so. 

Dad, I finally had an ah-hah moment for how I can measure my success as a missionary.   It really is my measure of how much I WANT to find, teach, and baptize, not the number of how much I actually am able to find, teach, and baptize.  The measure of my dedication and desires and work, even if the actual number of people saved isn't what I had once hoped for.  And this week it hit me again of how much I am changing and growing as a result of this mission.  Please give cousin Bree a huge hug for me, tell her how much I love her, and tell her she will be so so grateful for her mission.   It truly is saving and changing my life.  

I LOVE YOU FAMILY!  We truly are doing a great work.  Sometimes we don't see the results we had hoped for or expected, but I testify that God our Heavenly Father is in control.  This is His work.  And it is our decision if we are going to accept his standards and change to become like Him and help Him prepare for the great return of our Lord and King.  We are preparing for eternal life.  

Hermana Ivy [-]