March 12, 2015

I love you mom! Hope that all goes well this week and that you can enjoy your birthday... next year I will be there to celebrate with you (or at least I’ll be in the states so it will be a little bit easier)

This is my first p day in 2 weeks! Because of the leadership ‘conference that we had last Monday we just had time to write the family and go back to our sectors to work.

I definitely needed this day to chill. So we planned a huge zone activity on the beach in Penco with 4 other zones and spent the morning playing beach football and eating Chilean fried sweet bread with cream in the middle (their called berlines)

Heyyy quick shout out to the Hoopes family for finding my blog! You guys are awesome!

Now I know not to say anything bad about him...

Haaha just kidding... He’s the man. We are getting along great and are loving our time here in Tomé.

This week our stake president asked us to help out in a community/church activity called 1000 lights! It was a non-profit organization that is trying to save the fishes and the beaches from pollution. The scouts and the church helped organize a concert to raise awareness! We played out 1000 lights on the beach in white bags and it looked really cool!

 Camera and film students from Utah Valley University were there too, to film and document the whole thing... I told them that when they go back to school... if they see a red headed girl with dreads walking around campus to tell her hi for me..... So Taylor keep a look out.

 Just for the record. We are still doing that insanity program and it is kicking our butts... but we are definitely going to be looking good when we get home.

Last week we actually didn’t have a baptism in a river... but no need to fret because we will be having both this Saturday instead.

Raul, one of our investigators has a bad case of gastriteous and was having some complications this past week and couldn’t follow through, and our other investigator Jose needed a little bit of a review on some of the commandments, but they are so excited and a lot more prepared. we are focusing on them a lot and helping them get through their hard times.... everyone who has ever been baptized or has served a mission knows that the week before a baptism is usually really tough, the adversary try’s his hardest to stop people from taking this very important step.

It reminds me of a quote from Thomas S. Monson when he said "Our greatest opportunities will always be found in times of great difficulty"

(That is so not quoted exactly by the way... he probably says it better than me...)

This week in my studies I have been reflecting deeply about my time on the mission and what I have learned. And from what I feel and what I think, some things that have changed the most in me is my personal conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ, it definitely is a cliché but my best convert on the mission is myself. I have grown in knowledge and in understanding of my personal purpose here and the reality of God’s hands on the earth. I feel that I have gained a lot in strength and in faith thanks to all of the trials and hard times that I have passed through during the mission.

I heard a quote this week that said "you don’t know how strong you are, until being strong is all you have left"

Through our trials we get to know ourselves and just how strong our faith in Christ is.

Which leads me into what has changed most in me, and that is my deep love and gratitude towards my Savior Jesus Christ and His Atonement. This week I am studying the events that took place in the week before his death and resurrection. Studying the atonement, or even talking about it in lessons brings a special spirit into the room, a feeling that testifies what he did for us and why. I love it.

I don’t believe that it matters much what words are said or shared,

What truly counts is the conviction in the hearts of those that are sharing them.

I always try to plan what I want to say in my blog, so that I can inspire, help out and lift up those who read it...  but honestly I don’t  have time to prepare, I’m not too inspiring, and pretty much all the time I make spelling errors....

but if I can, through these words express my testimony and my convictions about what I know to be true well enough to touch the life and heart of at least one person, It will be worth it.

Every soul is great in the eyes of God.

 I love you family and friends!

Here are some pictures