fields & fields

THANK YOU, EVERYONE, FOR THE BIRTHDAY WISHES.

This week someone asked me if I knew the girl on pg 137 of the new Come Follow Me manual. lol. "She has blonde hair like you, you have to know her"...... haha I love it here.

HERMANA QUINTANILLA TE AMO!!! She was basically my Mexican mom in my old Area and Agua Dulce. She has one of the strongest testimonies ever and I LOVE HER. When I was transferred I didn't get to spend my birthday with her :( BUT she sent me a cake alllll the way from AGUA DULCE and she is so cute and I miss her here is a pic!!! She called the Relief Society President and had her bring me a cake and ice cream!! :))) <3

We have been teaching a pastor and I love it. He has a breadth of knowledge about the Bible and it makes me so happy! It is incredible to see his face as we taught about the Book of Mormon and how it is actually another testament of Jesus Christ. I love John 10 when Christ expresses his love for his sheep. He has come to church a few times and it's awesome. I have been studying like crazy recently, and every morning I'm pumped to go to his house and talk with him. As missionaries we are just "Jovenes" and we don't know everything all the time. We are here to dialogue and share a testimony of the Savior's plan and love for us. I love the verse in 3 Nephi when Christ explains that "the spirit of contention is not of Me." When the spirit is with us we learn more than we ever thought we could. We got to talk a lot about the Spirit of Elias, the Priesthoods, and John the Baptist along with the baptism of Christ.
I have some cool pictures of San Pedro I took.

We worked hard this week. We have been praying a lot for our families that we are teaching this week. Especially because they have strong testimonies of the church but they are also scared for some reason for baptism. We fasted or them this week and it was so cool to see the blessings. Our families came to all of the activities this week and also told us to visit their extended families. Turns out the Hernandez Gonzalez family basically takes up the whole street and we are teaching all of them!! It has been truly remarkable to see the progress of the work here. Every week I get more and more excited about the upcoming week.
MISSSS ALLL OF YOUUU & especially Texas
We worked so much this last week I have been sooooo tired
WHO IS THE NEW MISSION PRESIDENT? I still don't know. LOL
All is well but I miss America so much you have no idea!
 here are the things I miss sooooooooo much:
-cold weather
-hot tubs
-hot water
-showers
-chick-fil-A
-golf
-sports
-white women
But I love it here and I'm learning so much especially now that I'm teaching a pastor

San Pedro (sorry I missed last week)

CAMBIOS!!!!

I left Agua Dulce last week and was transferred to San Pedro. It is a total ranch out here with fields and lakes and more fields and horses. It is a little cleaner than my last area, Agua Dulce. 

I have a new companion from BRAZIL! He's awesome and now I am trying to learn some Portuguese. It's a little weird because the president put us out here we are both new in the mission and don't know the area very well.

Here is a pic from a baptism we had in Agua Dulce right before I left. 

WE HAVE A SHOWER NOW. I prefer the bucket still because I can heat the water up and the shower just kinda drips out.

Here is a pic of Elder Santos and I on the bus.

We are teaching a Familia Hernandez they are sooooo awesome such a strong family with the cutest best kids in the world. Always smiling with the strongest spirits it makes me soooo happy. I actually can't put into words the happiness of seeing a family receive a witness that Christ knows them. We are his sheep and has joy in our successes. I love them so much. Don't have a pic with them this week but hopefully next week!

We had the chance to make some PAN DULCE which is the best stuff ever because a member needs our help fast after a lunch appointment.

Primer Semana del Año Nuevo!

Awesome week this week! 

Super excited for Ernesto and Lady! Ernesto was baptized and hopefully, in a year I'll send some pictures at the temple.

 Don't know what happened with the baptismal font from a week ago, but I had to use my Eagle Scout knowledge, along with some jerry-rigging to suspend a pump over the font because the drain system wasn't working. It was so something that would be done in Agua Dulce.

We went fishing today and caught a bunch of fish to grill them up. They say this part of the river brings the biggest fish. We went fishing with some string and Powerade bottles and nails as weights. We used tortillas for bait. We caught over 15 fish! I only had my camera out for a little one. So many mosquitos and mud. Classic P day out here in Agua Dulce where everything is green but the water is brown :)

The church is putting a push on missionary work. Everything seems to be moving faster and pushing for more urgency! Our missions goals changed from every transfer (6 weeks) to every month. In hopes to accelerate the work.  

I've been thinking a lot about faith, hope, and urgency lately. Times are harder than ever and that includes the worlds missionary work. Everything is accelerating faster than ever. Everyone would like to have stronger faith. Especially during these times. By themselves, the scriptures may not completely strengthen faith, but being faithful to what they teach, does. Faithfulness is inseparable from faith. Hold to the Rod. A little bit by Elder Wilcox and my Dad on the accelerating of times. In Mark shortly after Christ fed the 5,000 and asked his apostles to roll the leftover 12 baskets of bread and fish out towards the sea of Galilee (the equivalent of 75 football fields) while he went to the mountain to pray. The scriptures say that the wind was contrary to them the storms were strong I’m sure their backs were hurting and the blisters on their hands were beginning to pop but the scripture says that Christ didn’t come until the fourth watch. The first watch is from 6 PM to 9 PM, the second watch from 9 PM to midnight, the third watch is midnight to 3 AM and the fourth watch is from 3 AM to sunrise. It’s interesting that he doesn’t come until the fourth watch not until after the severe trial of their faith did he come. When Joseph was praying in the sacred grove it was in the moment of absolute despair that he saw a pillar of light. When Elijah asked the young widow to make him a meal with her last bit of flour, it was when she was prepared to eat then die that the miracle occurred. Abraham and Issac another example. We have a fourth watch God but most of us, if not all of us, want a first watch God. Throughout Scripture, there is a time where he is a first watch God and that is when people ask for forgiveness, it is given immediately and without hesitation.