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 ¿Qué Onda?

Happy Monday from Hidalgo

GOOD:

- This week my companion and I got ourselves into a little deal with each other. We decided that one of us was going to shave our heads and the way it was going to be determined was based on a flip of a coin. Heads meant E. Roylance would cut off all his hair and tails meant that I would. While we were at a lunch appointment with Hna Alaniz, we invited her to be the one to make the official flip of the coin. She threw her quarter high into the sky and when it landed on the table we looked at the coin with anticipation. TAILS. She insisted on flipping it one more time just to be sure and once again the result was tails. The next day after interviews, E. Lopez cut off all my hair. New year new me I guess.

- After this whole fiasco I got sick. Super sad vibez. Unfortunately this led to the mission doctor telling me to stay inside on Sunday and rest so we missed church and weren't able to go out to any of our visits. The other elders I live with wanted to do something nice for me and so they brought me back a pack of string cheese. SO FUNNY. On the bright side, I am definitely on the incline and think my body just needed a quick pit stop so that I could be back at it.

- We had a mission wide zone meeting to announce the TMM's new goals and action plans for 2023... it is going to be a good year!

BETTER:

- We had interviews with Presidente Larreal!!! I love this guy. He got me so excited to be a missionary and gave some inspired direction and council. I hope all my close family and friends get the chance to meet him someday, he is literally awesome. 

- One of my friends I found on Facebook has been getting taught by the Zone Leaders in Weslaco and she just accepted a date to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized! I am super excited for her and just wanted to remind you all that social media is a big part of current missionary work. 

- We have been working very hard to find God's children who are open to learning the restored gospel and this week we were able to meet and then later teach a man named Mario. He had some very good questions about Prophets and the Book of Mormon and showed some very good interests in learning the restored gospel. We were successful in finding a handful of new friends this week who were very cool when we first met them and later difficult to contact. I know that the Lord has prepared His children here for us, we just have to find them. The past few weeks have been difficult for us as a companionship to get the work going. BUT, we know with continued faith and obedience, there is much work for us to do here in Hidalgo.

BEST:

About a week ago someone asked me what has been one of the biggest lessons I have learned on my mission thus far. I have thought about this a lot and finally feel like I have an answer.

I now know how to evaluate life in an eternal perspective.

The plan of Salvation is so powerful. It gives us an identity much bigger than ourselves and it puts into perspective the life we are living. When we feel lost in our personal purpose, we need not look any further than the plan the God has outlined for us. One of my greatest desires is to look into my Heavenly Father's eyes and have Him say "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

This week in my interview with President he gave me some very good insight and one piece of wisdom I will share is when he said "we have to focus on Gathering Israel." A simple but powerful statement. As we see our lives within the scope of eternity... we will see very clearly that THEE most important things we can do are to 1) prepare ourselves spiritually to dwell in the presence of God and 2) bring others with us. 

I love you all. 

"Work Hard, Keep the Commandments, Have a Positive Attitude and Show Gratitude."

- Elder Stringcheese