Email cincuenta y dos

August 7, 2017

Hey y'all!
I had another fantastic week here in Memphis.
Our investigator R is doing well. We went with him to Best Buy because he wanted to trade in his laptop and needed a translator. He came to church yesterday but was acting kinda weird, and slept through most of the meetings haha.

Dad says lately he has been overloaded with work, and that other aspects of his life are being neglected because it is so demanding. He is confident that with divine help, he will be able to do enough to balance priorities and find time for other, very important things. It made me think how blessed I am here on the mission. I only have one thing that I can put all my focus and effort into: the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There will never be another time of my life like this. In a year, I will suddenly be faced with all sorts of demands and things that call for my attention, such as school, work, church callings, and the most stressful of all: dating.

Yesterday during fast and testimony meeting I got up and bore my testimony. It was the first time in over 6 months that I had done it in Spanish, so I was pretty nervous. The mistake I usually make is that I think so much on what I'm going say that I don't pay attention to what the people bearing their testimonies before me are saying. This time I tried to not think about what I was going to say and listen. I still got back into the old habit a bit, but I was able to listen a little better. Here's a few things I said:

At the beginning of my mission, it was super frustrating for me that the majority of the people we talked couldn't meet with us because they were working so much. I would angrily question "Why do these people work so much!? This message is so much more important than work!" (That part had the whole congregation chuckling). As I've gone through the mission, I've realized that my frustration is because I don't understand what these people's lives are like. I grew up in a family that from time to time had financial challenges, but we were never poor. I always had far more than I needed. I don't know how they feel, but the Savior does.

I've been thinking a lot about the Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane. Why did He do it? Why did
He suffer for us? Was it because it was his duty, or what was expected of Him? Did He want recognition from others? No. He did it because He loved us. I likewise should not be here because it is my duty, or what is expected of me, or because I want recognition. I should serve because I love my Savior and all the precious souls He suffered and died to save.

Last night during a lesson with our investigators E&F, I decided to eat a dried chili that was on the table. It was definitely extremely hot. A couple of nibbles and 30 seconds later my face, mouth, and throat were in some serious pain. Rivers of tears exploded out of my eyes, when everyone noticed, we all laughed pretty hard for a good minute. The lesson ended up going really well, the Spirit was there, and everyone else ended up crying for a different, better reason.

I am blessed far beyond what I deserve. The mission is a wonderful opportunity to be humbled and to learn to love. I pray that I can follow the Master and His perfect example so that I can bless others lives the same way mine has been blessed.

I love y'all!