Wow.
What a week its been. First of all, I LOVED Kevin's letter!!! I'm
so happy he is a missionary!!
Alrightyyyy
this week....(lets see if i can remember what happened hahaha)...
We
had our leadership conference and that was great. We talked a lot about
teaching by example and about the importance of love in the work. If we
want to be effective missionaries, leaders, teachers, whatever, we need to do
all things with love.
I
also was just so blessed this week for lots of reasons but one of them is that
I GOT TO SEE HERMANA HYLDAND!!!!!! That was suchhhhh a blessing. I
love her so much!! Heavenly Father really just made things work out and I
was able to go to her consejo de distrito which was taught by Elder Dickson (the
zone leader that just left) which was also fun because we got to see him again
too. And of course it was incredible being able to stay with Hermana
Slabaugh for a few days!! I love these people so much. What a
blessing the mission is.
OH
speaking of that......I GOT TO TEACH WITH HERMANA SLABAUGH!! That was super fun
to see our progress!!!! We had extra time on Tuesday so we went
on splits in their sector and I got to go out with her. We taught a
family the restoration and it was one of the best lessons I've taught in my
mission. The spirit was there, we worked in unity, and the best part is
now we speak Spanish. Hahah it was so much fun being able to be her comp
again for a second but this time be able to communicate in our lessons.
Oh man. I love the mission.
Also
this week Carlos y Dayana told us they bought their tickets and they are moving
to La Serena next week. That's sad, but it'll be good. they will be
able to focus more on church up there because they will be working less.
We are happy for them!
I have
been learning so much lately. I really have learned to LOVE searching the
scriptures. Its become something I crave. Something Hermana Weber
and I have been doing lately is we tell each other scripture stories and when
we don't know something we look it up. That's really helped us focus more
and learn a lot more. I'm so doing that with my kids for bedtime stories
(is that a really missionary thing to say? idk...but no importa jajaj).
I've
also been learning that when you are feeling tired or wanting a break, you have
to give double of what you've got. There is so much to be done and we
cant be lazy!! Actually yesterday I was feeling tired and kinda burned
out and a little overwhelmed and I opened my scriptures looking for something
that would tell me its ok and that I could rest for a second or something but
instead all the scriptures I read were about diligence. Actually the one
that really stuck out to me was in doctrine and covenants 127:4
And
again, verily thus saith the Lord: Let the work of my temple, and
all the works which I have appointed unto you, be continued on and not
cease; and let your diligence, and your perseverance, and
patience, and your works be redoubled, and you shall in nowise lose your
reward, saith the Lord of Hosts. And if they persecute you, so
persecuted they the prophets and righteous men that were before you. For all
this there is a reward in heaven.
Anyway,
I thought about it and its really true. We cant ever let up. We are
too close to the end and there is too much to do. The Lord is counting on
us and He needs diligent servants. So when we feel tired we need to run
to the Lord and receive our strength from Him. He will give it to
us. Then we need to redouble our efforts and keep going so that His
kingdom can keep growing!! I love being a missionary!!
Also
I've been really trying to do what Christ asked us to do through His prophet
President Nelson which is increase my capacity to receive personal
revelation. I have really seen how important it is in my life and I have
grown more in this short period than in any other time of my life. God
wants to talk to us!! Like he said it wont be possible to survive
spiritually in the coming days without it (and id like to add physically as
well). Hahah this week I was feeling super sick for like 2 days. I
felt weak and I don't know just really off. One morning I was praying and
telling God that I needed help because I wasn't feeling well and didn't know
what to do. As I was taking time to listen during my prayer, the
words came to my mind in the voice of mom saying "you're lacking
protein". I recognized it as the spirit talking to me and so i made
myself some eggs. Shortly after, I felt completely better and since then
we bought protein powder and I've had lots of energy!! So I know that
revelation is super important for so many reasons, and especially when you're a
missionary without google hahahahah.
Anyway,
I love you all so much and I hope you have a great first week of
school!!! Remember to take time to talk with God and converse with him!!
Love you all!!!
--Hermana
West
