August 21, 2017 Adjust The Sails

¡Hola mi familia y mis amigos!

 I finally got a picture with this!! 

When I was on exchanges with Sister Larsen, 

we went tracting on this street expecting people

 to think it was funny. Nobody really made any 

comments about how my last name was the same as 

their street name though ahah 

     This week was a great week, but definitely was hard one haha. We are doing alive and well and are laughing a lot, even though our teaching pool is not. We had a lot of investigators drop us and told us they didn't want us coming over anymore. Ill hit you all with the sad news first.... We are not going to be meeting with Jesus anymore. He was supposed to be baptized yesterday, but due to health concerns and a loss of desire to keep commitments we will not be meeting with him. It has been absolutely awesome to see the change that did take place in him. He started praying everyday and learned how prayers are more like a conversation with god. He has learned more about Jesus Christ and what He can do to help him personally. I know that Jesus learned and grew so much and I know he will one day reach out to the missionaries again. So that was really sad in the time being and was the hardest drop of them all last week, but I have felt peace that God has a bigger plan than all of us.

Sister Larsen is one of my favorite people ever. 

Love her!

      I went on an exchange with Sister Larsen this week! She has been out for a couple of months and it was the first time she got to take over her area. She is such a great missionary and you can just tell how much she loves being a missionary. As we were together, we were able to meet a lot of knew people and see the spirit work through us.

We took this picture in the park with our investigator Jose!!!

  There was one miracle that happened this week that I want to share with you all. On Saturday morning we were going to try to stop by to visit our investigator, José. It is really hard to contact him because he doesn't have a phone and his apartment building is a lock out. We were praying really hard hat we would be able to teach him because we hadn't seen him in a while. Right as we were saying our pray to go try to see him, we got a call from some elders. They told us that they ran into our investigator Jose in the park and Jose wanted to talk with us! The park was just down the street from where we had parked. We were able to have an awesome lesson with him in the park about the Book of Mormon. We invited him to be baptized and he really wants to! The catch is that he is going to Mexico for a month at the end of August, so we will have to pick up teaching him after that. We are going to try to see him one more time before he leaves. I am grateful for this little miracle. I have a testimony of when we follow the spirit, we will be lead to where god needs us to be and what god needs us to do.

    The other night, Hermana Anderson and I were talking about all of the things that happened during the week. We realized that a lot of sad things happened, and it didn't really phase us in the time being. Yet we are still so happy and laughing a lot. I think it's because  I found this quote this morning as I was studying. President Thomas S. Monson said, "We can’t direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails. For maximum happiness, peace, and contentment, may we ​choose​ a positive attitude.”​​  I know that even when things don't seem to be working out the way we want them to, that God has a plan that's so much better than our own. I know that as we truly show faith in our Savior Jesus Christ, we can fully accept His will and His timing; and, He will help us have the strength to fulfill His will. We have the power to choose if we are going to following God's will and we also have the power to do so happily. I love being a missionary and I love the happiness that it has brought into my life!!
Last Monday, we had a really awesome FHE activity with all of the hispanics in our ward plus a couple of families that are learning/wanting to learn Spanish. It was definitely one of the high lights of the week!
It was so much fun seeing those who are trying to learning English and those who are trying to learn Spanish, trying to communicate with one another.
Hermana Anderson and I got to teach the lesson and then they all played tug-of-war and futbol together. It was such a fun evening.



   I hope you all have an amazing week, love you all tons! More importantly, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love you all so much more!!!!

con amor,

Hermana Duvall