Buenos tardes familia! So I have officially been out a month. Wait what?! Seriously it was yesterday that you guys dropped me off at the airport. So crazy! It is even crazier to think that in 13 days i will be in Nicaragua. I am not ready at all I feel like! I still am not even close in mastering the spanish language. But hopefully when I am surrounded by espanol in Nicaragua I will just be able to start picking up on the language! I loved reading all of you emails this week! I also got a lot of letters to which is always a tender mercy. I AM SO EXCITED FOR RUBY AND SARAH!!! Annie and I were talking and she said she knew where they were going. So she told me and I literally started jumping up and down with excitement! Everyone was looking at me like I was loco but who cares. I am SO excited for them! It is so awesome how all these girls are going! Represent sisters! So this week a lot of people left leaving my comp and two other hermanas the ONLY hermanas in our zone. It is kinda lonely! But it is kinda fun being the oldest and acting like you know what is going on when most of the time you don't. So answering your question mom, YES i can call home when I get to the airport so I will keep you updated on when i keep my flight itinerary so we can talk. Mostly likely it will be at like 4 in the morning your time....so your choice but I would love to hear all of your lovely voices!
So this week has been a full week of really highs and really lows. Hopefully I will become more stable in the mission field because this is exhausting feeling all of these emotions! On saturday night, an Elder in my district gave a lesson on pride. Wow was that needed for me. I realized that I had been very prideful and just focusing on myself, not on the companionship. The Lord doesn't call just one person to teach, he calls two. This was a very humbly experience for me.
You know how in the story of the brother of Jared how he says he was chastened by the Lord for three hours? This is how I felt basically for the past 6 days. Which in the long run was very helpful! I learned a lot about my weaknesses which according to Ether 12:27, if I turned to the Lord he will make them my strengths. This previous week I have been so emotional. The most emotional I have ever been in my life which looking back is very embarrassing. God knows me and is looking out for me. Though this week has been the hardest week yet, I have learned SO much! I think I needed this in order to focus me on the path the Lord wants me to go.
Since I have been here, I felt like I haven't been trying my hardest and have been focusing on myself. This trial helped me realize I need to forget myself and go to WORK. Hermana Dewey gave my district an essay called The Fourth Missionary. I read the essay and it was exactly what I needed to hear. The main theme was, what kind of person will you become? Corbridge, the author, then goes on in depth describing four types of missionary, four being the best. The fourth missionary surrenders himself to the Lord and serves with all of his heart. I realized I needed to forget about what I miss at home and give everything I have for the Lord for the next 17 months. By submitting ourselves to the work of the Lord, the Lord can change us for the better. (Go to the bottom of the letter to see this awesome quote and then continue reading) How true is that statement! It helped me evaluate myself causing me to realize I have been the third missionary. In my journal i wrote a promise to myself to help me be the fourth missionary. I am just going to write what I wrote in my journal: "I make a promise now and for the rest of my mission that I will serve the people and not focus on myself. I will forget myself and go to work. I will work my hardest and serve others. This is the Lord's time and I need to use it to the fullest. I will strive to become the missionary that God knows I can be and I will strive to become like my Savior." This experience that I had helped me evaluate the missionary that I am right now which I know I can be better. Though It was hard, it was worth it! So don't be worried about me because I am all good! God has taken good care of me haha. Same with all of the wonderful people here! I learned that I can turn to my Savior and he will help me. Also, it is all about attitude! I can choose whether I am going to be happy or sad and I choose to always look on the positive!
This week has been so awesome with our investigators Juan and Juana! So the past couple of lessons with Juana have been kinda bad. She hasn't been progressing and has refused to pray. My comp and I decided to have a really good planning session to know what we needed to teach Juana for her to open her heart. Last time we taught, we told Juana to read Mormon 9 so as a companionship, we read it and then discussed what we felt guided by the Spirit to teach. We both felt like we needed to talk about faith, specifically verse 27 in the chapter. Before we went and taught, we prayed that we would be guided by the Spirit and know what to teach Juana. The lesson stared and we asked Juana what verse stood out to her from the chapter we gave her to read. She said she was impressed by verse 27. AHHH!! I was freaking out! The Holy Ghost totally guided us to teach her about faith. So we taught her and at the end of the lesson we asked her to pray...and she said YES! This experience taught me to rely on the Spirit to know what my investigators need. The exact same experience happened to us when we taught Juan and this other investigator Carlos this week! The spirit is the essential teacher! I have really learned that only through the Spirit is when others become converted unto Christ.
This week I started to read Jesus the Christ. It is so good and intriguing! I cant put it down! I love the different insights and in depth the book goes. So if any of you want to learn more about Christ, read that book! Yesterday was a pretty good day! Hermana Hall and Hermana Lesher, my roommates, finally pranked back me and hermana Rogers! they switched all of the clothes in our closets with each others clothes! It was so funny! I opened my closet and freaked. Where are my clothes. hahaha I was laughing so hard when I figured out what was going on! Also, last night me and Hermana Rogers were saying how we sing better low than high. So we started singing all these hymns in man voices and man it is sad how good we were. President Pratt and his wife were in their car in front of our casa and we were scared they were going to come and check on us because it sounded like there was Elders in our Room! Don't worry they didn't though. Anyway, just a fun little moment of my week! I will never understand how when you are a missionary everything is funny. I like it though because I love to laugh!
Well I loved hearing all of your emails this week! You are in my prayers every day! I wrote letters today and sent them so expect a letter coming your way! Sorry it took me so long. I am guessing they will get there in two weeks! I hope you all have a great week! LOVE YOU!!!
Con mucho amor,
Hermana Howell
Quote of the week: "The Lord will create of you a masterpiece. You will create of you only a smudge. You will create an ordinary man; He will create a God."
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