Devil's Punch Bowl!!! |
Water Break!! |
Hna Weaver and I Hiking <3 |
HERMANA DAY!!! I LOVE these Hermanas so much!!! <3 |
Luis and Mariangela <3 |
Hna Rosario and Vanesa <3 |
The Rasch Family <3 |
America <3 |
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11:58 AM (4 hours ago)
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HOLA QUERIDOS MIOS!!!!!! <3
I just want to let you all know how much I love you and how much I love the beautiful gospel of Jesus Christ <3 I am so grateful for this missionary experience I have had. I couldn't have spent the last 18 months better!!! I have seen my testimony grow so much!!! I knew the church was true before. I knew that Jesus Christ is my Savior, and I knew that we had a living prophet! But now, that "I know" (but I still kind of have questions, and I don't really understand...x, y, z...) has turned into I KNOW without a single doubt in my mind that these things are true. NOTHING can change my mind about that, except God Himself. I have seen SO MUCH JOY come in my life from this knowledge!!! I feel so blessed to have grown up in a home where the truth was taught to me <3. I know that this gospel really brings peace, it gives us understanding, clarity, and hope. God is a God of miracles, of perfect love, and of hope. That hope and the demonstration of that love comes through Jesus Christ. I KNOW that He IS our Savior. Without Him there would be no hope. Without God there would be no Christ. It all just perfectly works together to give us the best chance possible to make it back to God <3. I know that His full truth truly has been restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. What a blessing it is to know that we are guided by a prophet of God today, and that we are promised that he will never lead astray. I have seen so much divine guidance and support in my life as I've followed this gospel and kept the commandments <3 I couldn't be more grateful!!
Well, this last week has been great!! It was like every other wonderful week on the mission, we talked, knocked, testified, and rectified our paths. (me trying to be poetic in the honor of Grandpa <3) Yesterday our investigators Luis and Mariangela came to church again!!! Last week they missed the Sacrament and they said that it was similar to their service, so why would they switch, and we told them that they missed the most important part!!! Plus we persuaded them with the fact that it was fast and testimony meeting and that I would be giving my last testimony and I wanted them to be there :) And they came!!!! Now I just hope and pray that they felt something during the Sacrament and have the desire to try it out again, next week!! ;)
Last night we ate with the Rasch family, the ones that do our laundry and let us skype at their house!! They made us "vampire tacos" for my last member-meal :)They are tacos with carne azada, avocado, mangos, pico de gallo, salsa, and chipotle mayo (that's the American-y part of it) and the two tortillas on the bottom (all real tacos have 2 soft, corn tortillas underneath the meat and such ;) ) have melted cheese between them!!! It was SO GOOD!!!! After that we did some tracting and we talked to a lady who doesn't believe that we need Christ to be saved, that we can just pay for our own sins. We testified of the healing power of Christ's Atonement and then we gave her a Book of Mormon so that she could learn more about our beliefs about Christ. She was very defensive the whole time, up until we gave her the Book of Mormon, then she suddenly got very interested!! She gladly accepted it and said that she would read it, we left her with our testimonies and wished her a great night :) I just love testifying to people!! That is what I will miss most of all, I'm sure.
As for the rest of the week, on Monday we had an Hermanas activity!!! Us, Hnas Perry, Badger, Latimer, and Arceo got together and we went hiking around Devil's Punchbowl!!! It was so much fun!!! <3 We found a little stream, took off our shoes, got all sorts of wet, and just enjoyed each other's company :) It was awesome!!! I am going to miss the Hnas so much!!! They have become such great friends to me!! <3 Then on Wednesday I had my departing interview with President Layton. It was a good interview. We just talked about my studies, what my plans are for college, work, etc. afterward. It was nice :) I'm kind of scared to go back to the real world and to not have the missionary spirit with me all the time, but I know there are bigger and better things out there for me :)
Well, folks!! I love you so much!!! I am so excited to see you all soon!!! This has been the craziest and best ride of my life!!!! I wouldn't trade it for ANYTHING!!! I love you all so much!!! I love this gospel so much!!! I love everything about this mission experience I've had!! I will share more about it in the next coming days and weeks ;)
I LOVE YOU!!!!!!
Love siempre,
Hermana Martineau <3