September 30, 2013
Dear Family and Friends,
Transfers are on the 9th and I don't know where I am going to be
yet. Monday was eventful we went fishing at the lake by our house and
instead of using poles we using fishing line attached to a soda can... I
guess that is what happens when you go fishing with a mexican but hey
it works... we caught 2 fish and an oyster. I have never caught a fish
using a soda can before.
Last Monday when we came to email there was a
delay while we were waiting for computers and we were given the time we
needed to talk to this lady and give her a pass along card and turns out
her mother is mormon and she has been reading from the book of mormon.
It was pretty exciting to talk to her... even though we did have to
refer her to the english speaking missionaries. Tuesday was really
frustrating and now looking back my inability to speak and understand
spanish that day actually was a blessing in disguise. I tried so hard to
speak to our investigators but the words just weren't coming out. We
were visiting a referral and my aunt had sent me the talks of her and
her family that they gave on sunday. I couldn't teach what we had
planned to teach because the words just weren't coming so all I did was
testify and shared a part from the talks that my aunt had sent me. They
stared at me for a second and he began to tell me his life story and
agreed to meet with us again. We were able to determine what to teach
next and I have never seen a family more ready for baptism. My inability
to speak spanish is what led me to just following the spirit and
sharing what needed to be shared.
Wednesday we went on 48 hour exchanges which pretty much doesn't
happen in our mission unless you are having companion problems which we
didn't have. I was so nervous for the exchanges because I would be the
senior companion and we had to teach a cuban lady and I don't know what
dialect of spanish she was speaking but I couldn't understand a bit of
what she was saying the previous time we met her. I was so nervous to be
on my own and train someone and also have an english speaking sister
with me that didn't really speak a whole lot of spanish. We went on
exchanges and it actually wasn't that bad. I was still stressing about
the language a bit but it was nice to kind of be out on my own and not
have someone telling me what to do all the time. the first appointment
we went to we get to the door and I'm like oh how old is your daughter
and she's like... this is my son... FAIL!!! That was probably my
biggest spanish faux paw yet. We taught Nestora (the cuban lady) and I
could actually understand what was going on. My spanish is getting
there. We taught a lot of bomb lessons during exchanges and Hermana Lunt
just kept telling me to relax and take it easy. We are working a little
to hard and need to learn to enjoy the work a little more. We almost
got into a bible bash but rather than showing the lady exactly where in
the bible it testifies of everything that the mormon church is about we
just told her it wouldn't do any good and we left. Sometimes holding
your tongue is the best thing. Bible bashing doesn't do any good. It
just frustrates you.
Thursday we got chastized by President for not
having the best language study and we quickly repented and only spoke
spanish for the next 24 hours. It was difficult by my spanish improved a
lot during the day and our lessons went better. I need to speak spanish
a lot more before transfers. Saturday was the Relief Society
Broadcast. I was kind of missing home and one of the speakers spoke
about how God knows your thoughts and needs and then they talked about
Malan's Peak in Ogden. It was something so small like that but it
brought tears to my eyes because the Lord hasn't forgotten me. He is
with me always. I seriously started crying when the prophet got up to
speak. I have never felt the spirit so strong that he is a prophet and
we are so lucky to get to hear him. I love how I am clear across the
country and I get to hear the same words that my friends and family get
to hear. I am so excited for conference. I literally have never been so
excited for it. Everyone here talks about the Salt Lake Temple and how
they someday want to go there and they also talk about how amazing it
would be to get to see the prophet live. I have been so blessed to
have lived in Utah. I have been blessed to have lived a few blocks from
the Salt Lake Temple and gotten to go there every single week. I have
been so blessed to have not only hear the prophet live but to go to his
ward and meet him. I have been so blessed and I didn't even realize it
until I didn't have it anymore.
I know that Thomas S. Monson is a
prophet and I know that we are so blessed to have so many temples close
by. It is a shame that we don't utilize them more. Yo se que alli es el
profeta en la tierra hoy. Se que escuchan de la palabras del profetas
bendicira ustedes vidas. Estoy agradecido por el profeta y la templo. Yo
tengo recibe muchas bendiciones de serviendo a mision. I love you all
and hope y'all have a good week.
Love,
~Hermana Larissa Johnson