I think it worked?

Dear Family and friends! 

I tried to send this email out earlier, and I don't know if it worked! So here it is again!:)

Week August 8-14 2016

Monday:

Today was one of the fastest P-days ever! We had the chance to go and get all of our house clean and get our laundry done really early, and I got all done packing so quick that the whole day we were just able to enjoy a lot! So today we went and had a wonderful lunch with Hno. Picon who is a sweeter old guy in his late 60s or mid 70s and he feed us fish and talked to us for an hour and a half while we were trying to get out of his house to go to our pday as fast as we could. As we got out we went and had a blast at the stake center with all the Missionaries and were able to play lots of sports and just enjoy our time together. It was good relaxing time, and then I realized that we had to get out for our dinner! So we had dinner with Hna. Zuniga, a sister that has caught her whole life to be a good member, and she told us her conversion to the church, and it was super wonderful! So after dinner we met up with Elders Adams and Pearce, and had a lesson with their progressing investigator, and them right away went to their apartment to get picked up by the Sptls. And we just arrived at 10:15 to their apartment, where we are getting ready for bed to wake up tomorrow to give a training and just see how the new missionaries are! It is going to be a blast! However, as I left my apartment today my neighbor began to cry as he heard I was leaving, so I gave him a hug and he gave me his number, and I gave him my email, and I hope that we can stay in touch and keep his life a little bit better! It was a cool experience to know we became close friends to him! What a great day!

Tuesday! 

So today was a pretty nice day until around 8:00 pm when the real work began! 

So today we were able to get to the Grapevine chapel early to set up and to chapel sit while we waited for the new missionaries, and it was really quite a waste of our time, and I would like to talk to President and the APs to be able to help them understand that we need real responsibilities, because we are wasting the Lords time. But being able to meet he new missionaries and especially Elder Warby was wonderful! He was a little shocked, but I was in shock as well coming into it! I was super happy about the quality of the missionaries that came in, and I am so excited to see how well they do in their new areas. So today we gave a powerful training to the four Spanish missionaries that came in, and it was super wonderful. They seemed to be super excited and we loved talking about our missions! So once they headed out to the mission office we went and had dinner and headed to Jose's house where we taught a powerful lesson on fasting, and he was feeling the spirit so strongly. So we are going to fast with him tomorrow to help him know what he needs to do to find a new job! Then we went to the church to work on getting the missions transfer rides put together, and it is 10:30 and we are still working on the rides, because he zone leaders and just taking forever to get info in! So this evening the Office elders showed up, and we helped them get out a full trailer of bags and get them all organized, and then we also set up the gym with tables and chairs for the meetings tomorrow, and we will be there earlytomorrow to set up, so really we are busy right now with everything, and I am loving it! I don't know why, but when everything goes right and I am super busy, I am a happy missionary. For me the hardest times in my mission are when I have a hard time finding things to do that fulfill my purpose and keep me busy! Today has been wonderful, and I am excited for my new calling!!:)

Wednesday: Feliz Cumpleaños Padre! 53 años y todavia anda Fuerte!

What a crazy and tiring day I had today! I feel like I too just began my mission with how tired I am right now finishing up the day! So today we woke up at 6 to get in the shower and get headed to the Hurst Stake Center to set up for transfers! We were ready and going by 8, and we didn't get done until around 11. Also we were outside directing people and helping with people's stuff and in the sun for those 3 hours, and it is super tiring and rough. However, it is something I loved doing being able to see all the wonderful missionaries and being able to work with them to get to know them better! Also so as we were rounding up with transfers this morning I said good luck to elder Warby as he went out with his new Trainer for his area, and he seemed super excited!

Right when we thought we were done we realized we had to go inside and out the tables in a different order and clean up, which took sometime, and then drive to the mission office to take care of some business like dropping off Tiwi cards and iPads of Homeward bound missionaries. Then we had to redraw some Spanish Boundaries and make a new area in Hurst for some new whitewashing elders, who actually right now are bike elders and without and apartment. So on our way to pick them up for a meeting the sisters called and locked their keys in their car, so we grabbed a spare from the office, and then went straight to helping them and getting to the meeting for our district. It was wonderful, and then we had to get straight to lessons all evening. What I didn't realize is that I hadn't eaten all day, and it wasn't bothering me, and he other thing was I am walking into like 5 baptisms, so I feel blessed and that I need to make them the best converts that never even thing different about the gospel! So we got home after finally eating, just to begin a fast, I know I am crazy, but for an investigator who is looking for a job, and so it will be a good day tomorrow! What a wonderful day of Transfers, and elder Lopez is wonderful!

Wednesday:

Today was an awesome day where we had some very wonderful studies, and we were able to go and find some interested people! 

So today after our wonderful studies, we went to the Mission office to take care of some more Spanish map changes and then to sit with the APs and figure out some important information, and it was just wonderful to be apart of what is happening in the office. I don't know why, but ever since being on Exec, the hustle and bustle of being in the office and being so busy and having that kind of relationship with the office staff really makes me happy! So as we were heading out we were both able to read our responsibilities that we printed off, and talk about them. And the main one is exchanges. For instance, we as Sptls, will be going on roughly 2 to 3 exchanges per week. Sounds crazy, and your right, it is! That is a full week that we would be on exchanges, and not that we don't want to do that, but that is like packing and living away and constantly being on the road for 5 days in a row every week. So we were able to talk that over, and then we were able to to talk about how we don't feel like we are getting the responsibilities that we need, because we are wasting time being to the meetings of new missionaries or trainers. So we hope to be able to take more part after we have a meeting about these things with president Whitney on Saturday! 

So after leaving he office we get busy and actually found 2 people that are interested in a message, with the help of Elders Williams and Wolfert, because they are opening a new area with literally no information on members or investigators, so they spent the evening with us finding and teaching in our area, and it was super helpful for us to have their help! So we are so excited to keep working hard! So this evening we contacted a few more referrals with no answers of letting of teach tonight, but we were able to set return times to teach, so throughout the week we will be busy and be in these lessons we hope! Also tonight we had our investigator who has a baptismal date for the 27th of this month call us, and say that he had a question. He asked, "why would God command Nephi to kill Laban?" Now this question I want y'all to think about, what if your Friend asked you that? How would you handle it? 

It was wonderful to answer it for him and have him understand and eager to read more! We love our investigators and area so much!

Friday: Feliz Cumpleaños Madre! 52 Años!

What an amazing day it has been, even though the week has been crazy, today was a well needed day where I was strengthened by Zone Council. So pretty much everyone is new in the Zone, so it was so fun to just get to know each other and really have a good council. So there was something said there, that I can't let go and feel I need to work on and be better at, it is Talking to Everyone! So we were being trained on this, and Elder Barber, my Zone leader said, "I want you to imagine yourself in the spirit world just walking around. Now I want you to think about what kind of experiences you want to have while there. Would you want to have those you taught come up to y and give you a hug, crying and tell you thank you, or would you want them to come up to you sad and say, my life was horrible, because you, you saw me, but you never told me anything about the gospel." This hit me hard. I want God to be happy with me, I want to feel happy about what I did, and when I get ready to go home I want to be able to pray to God and cry, telling him I have done all I could. Now I must work on talking with everyone, and not being afraid of anything or anyone! I love the scripture found in Ezekiel 33:1-6 that talks about the sounding of a trumpet. If you see something coming and you sound it, those that don't listen have the guilt, but if you don't give it your all and you don't sound the trumpet, it is on your head. 

So after that we went out and got busy trying to teach people, but no one was able to listen today! So we went by and taught a few members, and had a wonderful time. As I am home now I think about how my day could have been better, and I am forgetting to pray before I leave my apartment, and that is something I want to better so that I really can show God I want to do what he wants done! Today was wonderful!

Saturday: 

Wow it scares me how bad time is flying by, because even tho we just started the transfer, I can already see that time is not on my side as I have been so busy! So today was a wonderful day for me to see how the mission really works and how we get the trainings we do to how we get to Exchanges with the Leaders, except for I am at the leader end where I still feel so young and that I should be watching others in my spot and just be learning at their feet, but I know that the Lord is helping me on my way!

So today we started off with a wonderful correlation meeting with Mario Santiesteban, who is our ward mission leader who served in Argentina! Then we went straight to the mission office for quite a few hours worth of meetings! I have to say that this time with the APs and President Whitney was some of my favorite time of the day! I loved just being able to feel of their love, and spirit as we talked about how the mission could improve, and what was necessary to teach in the up coming Zone Conferences! So after that meeting we talked briefly about our responsibilities as Sptls, and then we talked about our Exchanges that we will be doing as Sptls! It was wonderful to learn how all of this worked, and it really helped me see that the time in your mission goes by so fast! By the time we finished planning with having 3 exchanges every week for the rest of the transfer, we could see just how busy the time would be and how fast the time would go by! So we are super excited to get going and see just how fast it does go! I will put in a picture of how our month looks coming up. Also today we taught an investigator named Rey Castillo, and I learned an amazing thing. Having a smile on your face makes everyone else happy! Rey always has a smile on his face, and he is also so smart! He asked a question today that blew me away! He asked, "Why is it necessary to have opposition in all things?" Then as we were talking he pretty much answered it himself as he read a scripture that he found while personally studying! It was a powerful lesson and I personally will be praying for him to get a new job so he can be baptized! What a wonderful day!

Sunday:

Well today was a very crazy and wonderful day for me, where I was full of so many emotions! I was full of nervousness, excitement, happiness, and just love and it was wonderful! So today being a Sunday was of course a wonderful day, but to make it even better I was also in a new ward that was so wonderful to get to know! So we had the best ward council I have had in a long time,and then as we were sitting waiting for church to start Isaac came in with his wife and sat down. We don't even have to tell him, and he comes, because it is something he wants and he is going to be baptized and we are so excited for him! So also we found out that there isn't baptismal clothes that will fit him, so we we are looking to get some that will, and we are so excited! And if nothing fits him, we have a member who is willing to make him white temple pants! So today he even participated and said the closing prayer in Gospel Principles, and as he finished everyone was so awesome to go and thank him and keep him excited to keep pushing forward! I really loved getting to know the ward better, and have a fun lunch afterwards with them, where we had a small birthday party, but they actually make food for the missionaries after every Sunday, so that they know we get fed one good meal for the week, and when i say they feed us, they feed us until we are stuffed! So after church today we went home for me to do some Language study, and then went and had a good visit and lesson with an active member in the ward, and come to find out, she is a Spanish teacher, and the whole time I just had memories flood back to me from my days in spanish class with Coach C! So this evening started off a little nerve racking, because we had a presidents fireside, and being the Spanish Leaders in the mission, we were the ones who translated the whole meeting. And it was my fist time translating from English to Spanish! However, as I got going I realized that I just had to be patient and focus and that it wasn't to hard. I now actually really enjoy translating, and can not wait for me next opportunity I have to translate for something! Today was just wonderful and more a relaxing day for the first time in a while, and I am super excited for Pday tomorrow! What a fast week, and the weeks ahead will go even faster!