la noche blanca

 Hola!

que onda cuhhhhh?

GOOD:

- This week's exchange was super awesome! I got to work in my area with Elder Porter and Elder Staheli. Elder Porter has been in the mission for a while and Elder Staheli is on his first transfer. We had a great day of sharing the gospel with others. One of the highlights on our exchange was definitely when we got to meet the nicest hermana who invited us over for dinner. She made some good food! "Sin tortilla, no hay comida" it really is true.

- Elder Thom is adjusting to missionary life so well! He is happy and working hard, it makes me happy to see him enjoying missionary work! This trio is super fun! Really good zone of missionaries as well. No complaints at all!

- I love it here.

BETTER:

- So many amazing people have been put in our path this week. I feel blessed to meet each one and learn about them. I think it is so cool that I get to be a messenger for each one of them sharing a message that they are looking for. Being a missionary is so cool!

- Gloria is back! She had spent the last few weeks in Mexico but surprised us this week by showing up to church with her family. Gloria is our friend that watched General Conference with us AND went through the temple open house with us. It made me super happy to see her again. This week we will have the chance to teach her and to see if she is really interested in making covenants with Heavenly Father. I am excited to visit her and her family! 

- We are blessed to be able to teach our friend Camila. She is progressing super well and really enjoys learning about the gospel! We had a fantastic lesson with her this week where she accepted the invitation to be baptized! Camila and her family joined us for church once again which was super awesome. We get to teach her tonight as well and we are looking forward to it! 

BEST:

This week I have been studying the doctrine of revelation. I have come to appreciate and have a testimony of this principle as a missionary. I think it's incredible that God can guide us in any decision. 

An important take away from my studies this week is that God doesn't want us to rely on Him for every little decision in life. He wants us to trust Him, and make decisions that align with His commandments... but He does want us to make our own decisions when it comes to daily matters. 

There is a cool verse I read that talks about how the revelation we receive is the same power that Moses used to guide the children of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground. Think about that - God can and will grant us that same type of power and guidance in our own lives!!!! That is incredible.

Overall, I feel I have learned that God needs us to learn how to make good decisions but He will never turn us away if we need help. When it comes to the "Red Sea" in our life - He is excited to part the water and lead us to walk through on dry land AND He gives us the opportunity to grow in spiritual strength and make decisions on our own. I love my Heavenly Father... He is so wise.

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

Be a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:7)

- Elder Stringham