See The Purpose :)

Buenas Tardes Familia :)

         So great to hear everything is great at home :) Glad you didn’t have too much fun at Thanksgiving without me, and I’m even happier that mom didn’t go Black Friday shopping without me ;) haha 

         This week has been good here too :) Learned so much as usual, but I think I might seriously die from the heat lol. Oh. My. Gosh. HORRIBLE! There’s no escaping it either! No such thing as an air conditioner... The most awkward part is when I wake up in the mornings and Hermana Escalante finds my shorts thrown in the middle of the floor... Ooops. Then there’s the mosquitoes and wowwww I have about 50 bites all over my legs all the stinkin time haha. I smell real good too during the days with sunscreen, mosquito spray, and sweat... Great combination huh? ;) 

But despite the heat, it’s been a great week :)

         Wanna hear about D&G?! I know you do, I know you do! We had FHE with them Monday right? Well, we watched the Joseph Smith movie and they loved it! BUT... Then we asked Gabriel if he feels Joseph Smith is a prophet and he told us no... Dang it. BUT then here comes the best part. We´re saying the closing prayer and I heard a sniffle, so I peek open my eyes a weeee lil bit (Yes, I know I need to repent) and look at Diana and she is straight up bawling. Like, wiping her eyes with her shirt bawling. Then we finish the prayer and she hurries and says she has to go prepare a drink for us real quick. Nobody but me saw so when I told Hermana Escalante afterwards we were both real happy haha. She finally felt the spirit!! There’s no way she didn’t feel the spirit. They just need to get married already! 

         Speaking of marriage... One of our investigators, Edwin, has a date to get married!!! His wife has made huge changes. At first she didn’t want to get married until next August but then she changed it to May, and then to February, and now December! December 27th they’ll get married, the 28th is his baptism, and 29th he will be confirmed :) How stinkin awesome is that?! What’s even greater is the ward is paying for everything. I have no idea how, but they’re doin it. Edwin is so happy! And what’s even better is his woman is reading the Book of Mormon and praying with him. Hopefully later we can complete this family. 

         What’s really been great this week has been seeing the ward strengthen. For example, our Ward Mission Leader started out not wanting to help at all. We called him so many times every day for help, and he never would come through for us. But guess what? His mission papers are going in Tuesday! And our ward is helping the less actives so much. This Sunday we had 6 less actives come to church, and lots of them with their families. President Rowley had a meeting with us this week to talk about the Work of Salvation and I finally can say I think I understand it a little more. After seeing all the less actives come to church this week, I’ve realized so much more my purpose here. We shouldn’t be bummed when our investigators fall off the planet (well... Okay a little bit) but we should find someone else to help, like the people in the ward, the recent converts, and the less actives. It’s for EVERYONE :) I understand a little bit better now :) 

         Another problem we had this week was an investigator, Cesar. He’s the son of Mavila. He accepted a baptism date and everything first lesson... But the third lesson he finally told us he has Schitzophrenia (slaughtered that word) so we´re not quite sure what to do. He even came to church Sunday and received a blessing! We´ll see what happens...

         And I know you’re wondering about Edward... Not. Funny. Well, another awkward moment. We called to invite him to a fiesta that the church was having and he was like, "Are you chicas gonna be there?" NO. No we are not. So this week we’ve decided to let our Ward Mission Leader take care of him lol. We’re not visiting him this week. He has a baptism date, but we need to see if he has real intentions or... Yeah. You know. Oooh Edward. He just wants him a Bella, that’s all. 

         Other funny thing a member said this week: Okay we were teaching about how important moms are. And I said, "How do you feel with the responsibility of being a mom and wife?" and she goes, "Well, sometimes I feel like I was drugged when I agreed with God to take on these responsibilities..." HAHA! Good one.

         Oh! One more funny thing. So every morning we read a little bit out of the handbook. We were reading about the rules about not having pets and Hermana Escalante says, "But what do I do if my companion´s a dog?" Wow Hermana. Thank you. Love you too. She’s makin up for the lack of dog jokes from all of you! Haha 

         Something I loved this week was something Hermana Huamani told me. We had an exchange this week. I asked her what her favorite part of the mission was and she said, "The difficulties." She said that she’s so grateful for the hard times, because that’s when she’s grown the most. Love that! Looking back, I can see her point. We remember the hard times so much more. We hate living in the hard times, but once we get past it we can see what purpose God had. That’s the perspective I’m gonna have today and the rest of the holiday season. See the purpose in the hard times. Being a missionary for the holiday season isn’t fun haha. I mean, they don’t even celebrate Thanksgiving for cryin out loud! ;) But every day’s a new day, and I’m gonna look at the hard days ahead and know, "This is gonna make me a better person." Find the good, even when nothing is going your way.  That’s what I’m going to do this week and every week from here on out. 

         Better get going though. I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! Have a great week :)

Love,

Hermana Roper