La vida es como un restaurante: tienes que pagar la cuenta

 ¿Cómo están? 

My friend Landon made it home this past week. Super crazy.

GOOD:

- Valley dogs. They are everywhere. Gratefully this week was full of positive interactions with them. One of our friends has a giant dog named Thor, he is super chunky. We also came across this awesome dog that was chilling on a trampoline... I have no idea how he got there or how he was going to get down but he was just chilling. I still don't like valley dogs but on the bright side I have figured out how to tame them a bit. Here is to hoping I don't get any more dog bites on my mission.

- Valentine's day was this week! I spent the morning in a meeting with the rest of Hidalgo zone leadership and then later in the evening we had a lesson with our friend Cesar! He is so awesome and very excited about studying in the Book of Mormon. Before we left, he gave us a little Valentine's chocolate box, which was just super nice. Unfortunately, he just had to move to Louisiana for the next 3 months as part of his work so we won't be continuing to teach him at this time but he is such a cool guy.

- Hidalgo has become a special place to me. This week I was sitting in Sacrament meeting and got the impression to look around. As I saw each ward member, I marveled at their great faith and inspiring stories. I feel so lucky to be a missionary and especially to be here getting to know these amazing people. Also, the subject title is a quote from a friend we met one day this week. She was funny and very 956 if you know what I mean. Hidalgo is full of people who keep life interesting.

BETTER:

- Church miracle!!! My friend Mario WALKED to church. We were worried what was going on because on Sunday morning we couldn't get in contact with him but we remained faithful and then while we were sitting down in church, Mario walks in! He came directly to us and apologized for being late, saying it took longer than he thought to walk to the church. The bigger part of this miracle is that he was immediately embraced by a few members who actually already knew Mario and were thrilled to see him at church. The members came up to us and expressed their excitement that their friend had come to church. God definitely sustained us finding and teaching Mario. 

- Another huge miracle this week has to do with my friend Santiago! Santiago is super down to change his life and find power to overcome his temptations. We had a great lesson with him this week on the plan of Salvation and he loved it. I love teaching about God's plan because it truly puts into perspective our lives and our trials... without Jesus Christ we are helpless but with his Atonement, we can find joy that will last forever. Him and his wife surprised us with a handful of ties that we humbly accepted. Unfortunately, Santiago was out of town this weekend in Brownsville so he couldn't join us for church but we are hoping next week he will have the chance to attend!

- We are still teaching Arrely and Ari however they had to take a trip to Reynosa that lasted most of the week so we didn't have the opportunity to see them in person this week. We are excited for them to be back so we can visit them, introduce them to members and help them receive the blessings of the gospel. Missionary work is SO amazing. 

BEST:

"And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me. And he hath said: Repent all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, and have faith in me, that ye may be saved."

- Moroni 7:33-34

I have been thinking about faith so much this week. God has so much power to work miracles in our lives but we HAVE to have faith in Him. God wants to bless us but He cannot do that if we do not have the faith to recognize and hope for the blessings He has in store for us.

I tried to apply this into my missionary work this week. Each day was an opportunity to exercise my faith. I saw such a change in the quality of my teaching once I started putting faith at the forefront of my mind. Faith enables us and faith motivates us, I saw this in my friends and myself this week. 

So the question is, how do we grow in our faith? How do we go beyond the "I have Jesus Christ in my heart" mindset that is so popular in the 956? WE ACT. We need to read the scriptures (daily). We need to pray (daily). We need to go to church (weekly) and we need to make time for worship in the temple. I invite you to do one thing this week to express your faith in Jesus Christ and His gospel.

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

- Elder Stringham