Subidas y Bajas (Ups and Downs)

Querida familia y mis amados amigos, (y ahora bien, amados hermanos mios, esta es la senda...ok I'll stop quoting scriptures now)

   Hola!! This was a weird week actually. On Halloween we heard we weren't supposed to go proselyting, but then some people said it was ok during the early afternoon, but some said no. So Hermana Dorsey and I started to leave our apartment to visit a couple people but then we both had a super weird feeling so we chose to stay inside. We had great studies though! I learned from Elder Bednar that I need to get out of the way a little more and let the Spirit work in lessons. I felt the Spirit teach me as I was thinking about this that I also don't have to reach some level of good missionary in order for the Lord to use me. God can work with imperfection, as I've seen. What I must do is be humble enough to let the Spirit work throgh me and I will live up to my calling as a representative of Jesus Christ.

  That Halloween night we finally got the opportunity to go up as a mission to the Salt Lake temple and do a session! Wow sooo many missionaries haha. It was so beautiful and peaceful, I didn't really want to leave. It reminded me of how the blessings in the temple are a big part of the goal I have for my investigators. I want others to feel the joy of the house of the Lord! 

  My companion and I have been trying to focus on finding new people to teach, instead of just being satisifed with the pool of investigators we already have. One night this week we knocked on a door of someone we thought was less active, but we found out she just attends another ward because she also speaks English. But since she's Hispanic, she knows like every other hispanic person in the apartment complex. A family actually walked in her house while we were talking to her and we started to teach them! (the mi casa su casa thing is so real) Then they proceeded to give us a bunch of referrals. After we left I turned to Hermana Dorsey like, I think we just hit the jackpot! BLESSINGS. I couldnt tell a the stories, but this week I felt as we were walking around that Heavenly Father put a lot of people in our path we needed to talk to. 

 I have decided, with all due respect, that Hispanics and Middle Easterners are my favorite people. For the third time, a young single professional from Iraq just invited us into her home and expressed great respect for our religion. We had an edifying conversation People are so cool, especially when they are open-minded.  

  Classic example of missionary ups and downs, last week we had a wonderful number of 7 investigators come to church, and this week was only 2. But we had a great zone meeting about keeping our unified vision as a companionship of baptism. We were invited to invite someone to be baptized in EVERY lesson! After the meeting I asked the Elders for a blessing because I was feeling the need for more power from heaven. An Elder from Honduras said it in Spanish, and it was beautiful. He spoke to some fears I've been having that I am not doing enough as a missionary, especially because it felt like a slow week. 

  In other news, our young investigator Samantha is getting baptized this Saturday!!! I'm about to hit 3 months on the mission and she is my very first!! We love her so much, she is growing in her faith and she is not afraid to tell her friends of other faiths what she's learning from the missionaries. We taught her about tithing the other day, and she was so willing to do it. Add to my favorite people children because they are so ready to learn new things. We're going with her family to temple square tonight! Pray for them to feel the Spirit strongly! Side note her mom is a great cook, she's fed us posole, arroz con leche, and last night we had ceviche. SO good!

  Oh also we got bikes finally after walking for the whole last transfer haha. The world got a whole lot bigger! 

  I love all of you, please know I read all your emails and love them even if I don't get to respond. Shoutout to the Geneva ward young women for sending me a wonderful little package of notes! Y felicidades a mi hermanito que fue bautizado este fin de semana. Le amo!!

Con sinceridad siempre,

Hermana Alley