I Don't Even Know...

February 13, 2012

Okay Dad- I am going to start out by saying that I actually highlighted the questions in your letters like a good girl to answer them all but then I left them at home. Sorry. :( But I will try to remember some of your questions. 1) We have TONS of birds on the electrical lines all the time and it reminded me about that one short film with all the tiny little blue birds? You should know what I am talking about though. It is cool though because sometimes we look at the birds and they are parrots instead of the crazy little black ones. 2) That picture that I am “sad” is at El Zarape. We were getting some tacos and there was a basketball game on so I sat where I couldn't see it so I could just not even have the temptation. Hence the sad face. 3) Sister Zamora isn't trunky. We are working hard and coming up with new techniques. One such technique is "referral creeping." I'll explain more when we see how effective it is.

Advice for David for preparing now...read your scriptures. Become SUPER familiar with them so you know where stuff is. I think that is probably my biggest suggestion because you will learn a TON in the MTC and you will always be learning in the field. I wish I had more time to read my scriptures every day. You should just start to get super familiar with them now so when people ask you a question, you can just open straight up to the answer because trust me, every question can be answered with a scripture. 

So this past week was NUTS! I feel like I say that every week but it is always true. And yes Mom, time FLIES down here! I have been out for 4 months yesterday. WEIRD! Anywho, yesterday at church, L____ and the kids had their interviews so they are all prepared for next Sunday! Four baptisms! YAY! I love that family so much and I know how much this is going to help them! They literally are just the best! Elder Jacobs (our district leader) did the interviews and he refers to himself as Mr. Perfect so whenever they came out of an interview they would say thanks Mr. Perfect. I yelled at him to stop brainwashing our friends! It was super funny. I truly just love that ward and those missionaries and families so much!

Another MILAGRO (miracle) of the week is that we went by A____'s house on Friday and told her that she would receive her answer about this church if she came to church; so she is going to come this week. We have been praying with TONS of faith to get her that answer. She really wants it.

The best milagro of all was seriously one of the coolest experiences ever because we just sat back and watched it all happen. We went by and visited with a less active family that we just found on a list somewhere and found out that they are the coolest family ever and charmed them into coming to church yesterday. This was Friday night. On Saturday we were going by some “formers” and we knocked on this house and a guy answered and said that he and his friend had just been talking about the missionaries. We asked him who his friend is and he said I____. THE DAD IN THE LESS ACTIVE FAMILY WE JUST VISITED! It was so great and we tried to set up a return appt with this guy, C____, and he said we should just all get together for a BBQ sometime and we said ya for sure! Then no kidding, five minutes later, we get a text from I____ saying he heard we met C____ and wanted us to come over for dinner on Friday so we could talk to him. THEN, at ward correlation we were talking to the bishop and said I____ and his family are coming today and he started to laugh and we were like oh crap what happened and he said no that is funny because I haven't talked to him in like a year and I had the thought this morning to text him and I did and he said that some of the Sisters had already charmed him and his family into coming to church today. It was just so amazing to watch them walk in the door and the ward just swarmed them and welcomed them in with open arms! They loved it! It was so great because the Lord just made all of this happen and we just watch. It is so nuts! I love it so much! Now I guess we will just have to see what happens with them on Friday night! So be excited for next week’s email because we will get to talk about a baptism AND an AWESOME BBQ with world famous ribs on Friday night!

We also had a training with all the missionaries in the valley on Wednesday and Thursday this week on the 8 fundamentals. For those who have no idea what those are, they are the new direction of the missionary program. Preach My Gospel is what you teach. The 8 fundamentals are how. It has truly helped the work so much! Any future missionaries out there, STUDY THE 8 FUNDAMENTALS! No worries though, you will study them in the MTC! :)

So Sister Zamora and I just keep getting more and more crazy. It is kind of sad to think that is even possible, but it is. We talk in weird voices and make weird noises and all the other missionaries think we are psycho, but we still do great work. :) As evidenced by our 8 investigators at church yesterday! The Lord seriously just keeps blessing us. More than I can even truly comprehend.

This week I have been thinking a lot about being called as a representative of Jesus Christ. Do you understand how important that is? As His representatives, we do and say everything he would if He were here on the earth in our places. At least that is what we are supposed to do. I think that is the goal of every missionary - To fulfill that to the utmost! O man. It is a far way to reach, but the moments when you know that you did or said exactly what He would have done are some of the most powerful experiences I have ever had. Promising someone something as a representative of God is sometimes overwhelming to think about, but it is what we are, and it is what we do. O man. I wish I could explain any of that better. :) Basically, I LOVE the mission and I LOVE how it is changing me into a better person! Missions are the best!

Gotta run! Love you!

Kate