Week 92 - "Hey Ya'll" - June 4 - June 10 (Primavera)

I am updating this post while our family is on vacation.  We were able to get an internet connection and send some pictures and get this great email and some pictures from Jonah.  Looks like he will spend another 6 weeks with Elder Nunez.  That will be a total of nearly 6 months and he is so happy about it.  Read on for more great experiences this last week.

Well this week has been an interesting one...with some really super good news!!! So we are in the last week of this transfer and Elder Nuñez and I have been together for 3 transfers already, which is a pretty long time, and almost nobody gets 4 transfers together (its probably happened like three times that I've ever heard of). Anyway, we were pretty sure that one of us was going to leave, especially because its not likely that missionaries end in the office either. So we were ''cherishing every moment'' haha and just having a really great time these last 6 weeks, but then we were shown the new transfers that were going to happen, and Elder Nuñez and I are staying together for our 4th transfer!!!! We were seriously so pumped when we found out! There's a lot of work to be done and we feel like this will be a good transfer for baptisms. There is a family of 3 and a few other people preparing for baptism this next month and in July so we are excited to see what happens.

So we have been working with this lady named Teresa Castillo for a really long time, but kind of off and on because sometimes she was really busy with different things and got a little distanced from the Church, but just recently, she has finished with the busyness and is ready to get completely focused. So this Sunday, she is going to be baptized and the next week she will be confirmed! She got to know the Church about 2 years ago, and thanks to the hard work of many missionaries and through her own diligence recently, she will now be greatly blessed for this covenant that she will do tomorrow. We are super excited for Hermana Teresa. Our prayers have been answered and hers as well. I will be sending pictures for next week..hopefully everything turns out okay! Just yesterday, we visited her with our new bishop and it was such a powerful lesson. She had been worried about the principle of tithing for a long time, not because she didn't want to sacrifice, but because she didn't want to fail a single month in paying. So the Bishop bore an amazing testimony about his own family and how he was able to keep the law of tithing even as a very young couple while the two were both studying still in college and how many miracles occurred so that they could continue to fulfill this commandment. It reminded me of my parents...I remember them talking about their time as a very young family of 3, and that it was a large sacrifice at times, but that miracles would always occur to keep them moving along. It's interesting because in the scriptures it says that we should ''prove'' Him and His words and His blessings. I know that the Lord always fulfills His promises, and that as we live the commandments with faith, we can receive far more blessings that we can even receive. I've lived the Lord's promises, and I know that they are real, and that's the most amazing part. It's not just listening to someone talk about blessings anymore. It's actually receiving them and being rewarded for righteousness. That's one of the most important principles that I've learned on my mission so far. It sounds really simple, but the reality is that until we act on faith, or obey, we cannot receive any blessing. Duh, right? Haha, but its cool when it happens and you see it in your own life. Anyway, Hermana Teresa is going to be doing that as well this Sunday, and we're really excited for her.

This next Monday, missionaries will be doing their transfers and heading to their new areas. Then on Tuesday, we will be receiving the new missionaries, hopefully in the airport, that's always a lot of fun. It'll be a fun and packed week.

I'm excited to be here on a mission! I love every moment of it, and I'm still in denial that it's more than half-way over. I love you all so much! And I hope that you have a wonderful week! If you want to know if God is real, or if His blessings exist, try acting. Just try it and see if it works,  and I can promise that you will feel something new and fulfilling. Have an action-packed week!! Love you!