March 6, 2017 "9 months already?!"

¡Hola mi familia y mis amigos!
     

So this was actually last week on the coldest day.
 We didn't really think it was going to be cold,
but nevertheless it was surprisingly really cold.
We were walking around outside
 and every once in a while we would stop
in our car to defrost haha

So this is apparently a tradition...when elders
hit their halfway make they burn a tie
or something like that. When sisters hit
their halfway mark, they take a pregnant
 picture (9 Months) haha. 

So that's what I did!
It's crazy how fast time is flying by.
I love being a missionary.

 I hope everyone had a wonderful week :) this was a really good week for me. I am so grateful to be a missionary, and to be able to help people daily remember that they are children of our Heavenly Father. I love the people here and I love being a missionary. I hit my 9 month last week... how crazy?! I feel like the time is just going by sooo fast and I don't want my mission to end. It's good that I have 9 months left as a set apart missionary.

       Short update on the weather (because i always have something about the weather in my letters). It was just a pretty normal week here in Minnesota. It was a little more on the warmer side, besides one day last week where it was REALLY cold plus wind chill.

We had a lot of really cool experiences this week teaching people about the Plan of Salvation.  Most of the people that we taught hadn't even thought about where we had lived before this life. I am so grateful for the knowledge that we lived with Heavenly Father as spirits before this life, and that he sent His son Jesus Christ to help us return to live with him again. I love teaching about how much God loves all of us because He does! It's such a simple truth that sometimes we can forget.

Abiu Espinal!
Hermana Dean took a picture during the lesson
 and told me afterwards haha.
 We gave Abiu a little fake doughnut
to help him remember to "dough-nut forget to say his prayers"
 He got a huge kick out of it and told us
that he is going to carry it around with him everywhere he goes haha. 

 
 
     

We went and taught a lesson about the articles of faith

 to the girls in Activity Day girls

(Ashley, Carmen, Ande, Hannah and then Sister Voelker). 

They are all so cute! 

We are doing a lot of work with the youth in our ward, and we are teaching a lot of younger kids. I love teaching kids because it reminds me how simple the gospel of Jesus Christ really is. It's not meant to be something complicated or hard to live. In fact, living the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the best way and happiest way that we can live our lives. We are teaching the CUTEST little boy ever. He is 9 years old and his name is Abiu. His parents are both members and are actually working towards going to the temple! We started teaching Abiu this week because he wants to be baptized.  We've taught him about the Restoration of the gospel and also the Plan of Salvation. He literally asks the best questions every time. For example, when we taught him about Joseph Smith seeing God the Father and His son Jesus Christ, he asked: "how does Heavenly Father know my name?" After we were done teaching the Plan of Salvation to him, he was so in awe about the Three Kingdoms of glories and he kept talking about how he really wants to go to the Celestial Kingdom to live with God and Jesus Christ. One of my favorite things that he said was, "oh man, I hope I make it!!" We assured him that if he continues to make good choices and follow God's plan for him that he will make it! He is going to be baptized on March 25th and he is soooo excited!! Abiu is our little miracle. He is such a great example I feel like I am learning so much from him! 

   During my studies this week I came across a quote from C.S. Lewis that I absolutely love. He states, “Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace” (Mere Christianity). I know that we all go hard things in our lives, and sometimes we do not understand why in the world we have to go through it. But Heavenly Father is molding into the person that he knows we can become. I know that He loves all of us because we are his children. I know that He has given us so many different tools to help us get through this life. Prayer has helped me so much in my life and relying on my Savior Jesus Christ! I know that Heavenly Father knows what's best for us; we just have to trust him!
 
    I hope you all have a wonderful week and remember that Heavenly Father is just molding you into something even more amazing! Love you all. But more importantly Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love you so much more!

Con amor,
Hermana Duvall
Minnesota Minneapolis Mission

Hermana Espinal! She's is one of our favorite members in our ward.
She's from Guatemala and joined the church about 2 years ago.
 She makes reaaaallly good food and is one of the funniest
 people that I have met out here! We love her 

The house I grew up in was on Windsor Rd,
so I had to take a picture with this street sign.