We Are Never Alone

Buenas tardes familia :) 

What an amazing week! For real. The trip to Chiclayo was so great! Elder Nelson just radiated with the love of Christ. We each got to shake his hand and introduce ourselves and WOW. There’s no denying he’s an Apostle of the Lord. And pretty much he’s shaken the hand of President Monson so it’s almost like I shook the prophets hand right? ;) haha. I learned so much though! We were taught a lot about how we are never alone. We have help on both sides of the veil and the ancestors of these people are hoping and praying that we will find their family so that they can have these ordinances done for them. There’s so many people that didn’t have the opportunity to know the gospel and they are just waiting for their chance. It was so neat to realize how much help we really do have. We also have 15 million people praying for us daily! We are NEVER alone when in the service of the Lord.

Something that was talked about that I really liked was something his wife said. She was telling a story of a mom in their ward that said, "Someone must have kidnapped my son, because this person that is emailing me, sharing his testimony and telling me to come closer to Christ can’t be my son!"  We all laughed at that one because I think every missionary can relate. We all change so much while we’re out here, but what she told us is that this a good thing. She said, "It’s a compliment if your family can’t recognize you. This means you have truly embraced your mission." Sometimes I am scared to change! I’m scared to be that awkward sister missionary haha, but change is good :) Don’t worry though... I’m not gonna be thaaaat awkward ;) It was great though. I need to embrace change little more :)

Elder Nelson also gave us all a priesthood blessing at the end, which was amazing. How many people can say they’ve received a blessing from an apostle?! Other than the other 400 missionaries there... Whatever. It’s still amazing!

As for investigators this week, we only had Edward and Edwin at church. Edwin is hilarious. He wants to be baptized so bad! A member asked him at church if he was getting baptized and he told me, "Well, I have to get married first. But if I don’t get married, I’m separating so I can get baptized" haha. That's how bad he wants to get baptized. We can’t complain though :) And Edward... Ooooh Edward. I’ll save that one for later. 

D&G are great too... Except for the fact they moved and aren't in our area.Yep. Awesome right? NO. But we're gonna get permission to leave the area and teach them hopefully. And guess what?!?! Gabriel has a job!!! Thank you sooo much for the prayers! The problem this week is Diana. We were talking to her and she said her one doubt is that Joseph Smith saw God AND Jesus Christ. She knows the bible inside and out and told us that there’s not one time anyone has seen God. They’ve only seen Jesus Christ. So that's her doubt. She’s also been having dreams of temples. Uhhh HELLO!? What more of an answer does she want? Another dream involved me chasing her with fire soooo that’s great haha. But tonight we’re going to watch the full Restoration video with them and just pray she feels the spirit. She said if she can resolve her doubts of Joseph Smith she´ll take off running to get baptized. This fast Sunday if you could keep them in your prayers that would be great! :) They’re going to fast as a family too :) 

And now for awkwardness yeah? Edward called us Friday and... Okay first, in my defense, the exact translation from Spanish to English of what he said was, "Can you leave and eat?" and so I was thinkin he was askin about our rules or something right? Nope. He calls and says, "I have a question. Can you leave and eat?" I was just thinking, "Well duh! Yes we can leave and eat. It’s not like we're here in the room all day..." Well, in Spanish this is pretty much how someone asks someone out on a date. Not. Funny. Don’t even laugh. I’m still embarrassed... For him AND me! Not one of my finest moments....

My thought for this week is SMILE gosh darn it! I realized this week that nobody smiles at anyone anymore. President Rowley tells us to greet everyone and we do all. day. long. and almost nobody greets us back. That's when we turn to each other afterward and greet each other lol. But really! Everyone is so preoccupied these days and looks so sad. So yep. Just smile, please :) 

Also best quote ever from Diana. "Algún dia no existe." That means "Someday doesn’t exist." She’s so right! People always say, "Someday I’ll do this... Or Someday I’ll be happy" but the truth is that it doesn’t exist. It doesn’t have a date. "Algún dia no existe." Make changes TODAY! :)

           I better go now though. LOVE YOU ALL! Have a great Thanksgiving and eat extra for me :) 

Love,

Hermana Roper