Glad you all had a great week :) My week here was great too. People were NOT lying when they said it's hotter in February. I am gross and sweaty ALL the time! But it really was a great week :) We´ve had a lot of neat experiences here.
Hermana Arce is learning so much every day. We´re halfway through her training already! It´s seriously flying! We had a training in the mission home this week with all the new missionaries and trainers and I've gotta say, I love my daughter :) All of the other trainers were asking things like, "What do I do if my companion complains allllll the time?" or "What do I do if my companion wont listen to me?" and here I am like... "What do I do if my companion just doesn't like to learn English?" She is amazing! Yes, she's still learning a lot, but I came away from the training just thankful for how awesome she is.
Like I said, we´ve had some really spiritual experiences this week. My testimony of prayer has been strengthened SO much this week! Saturday seriously ALL of our plans fell through. So there we were standing in the middle of the road with one hour left to teach. We honestly had no idea where to go. So I turned to Hermana Arce and said, "How about we say a prayer?" So we did. Right in the middle of the street. Cars honkin, people screamin stuff in Spanish, but it didn't even matter. We ended the prayer and just stood there for a sec..... D&G. We hadn't visited them all week. So we went to visit them. We´ve visited Diana a bit but Gabriel has been working a lot. Well he was there! At first I was super excited, but it didn't take long to see that he didn't really want us there. He was SO different. He tried tellin us everything was fine, but when he left to talk on the phone for a sec Diana told us that they're not okay. He wants Diana to work during the day, but she doesn't want to leave her little boy. Pretty much Diana wants to go to church. She came to the Talent Show and said she hasn't had that much fun in a long time :) But Gabriel doesn't want to. It´s sad, really. They're not the same people. I'd love to say they came to church Sunday, but once again, no. I'm not sure what to do, but I know God listens. He answered our prayer. Maybe Gabriel didn't want us there Saturday, but Diana needed us. God answers prayers! We just have to listen.
Now for some happy news! Richard is getting baptized Friday... On Valentines Day! Haha but he has changed a lot. He finally decided to pray with real intent! He prayed about the Book of Mormon and that night had a dream. He said in the dream he was wearin a shirt that said, "Soy Mormon" which is "Im a Mormon" :) He has a testimony!
Cesar is so great too! Such a different person. Ive never seen someone change so much. This week he told us "Im so grateful to you both. You have changed my life. I feel good. I feel happy." Thats what its all about. He should be baptized the 28th :)
Julio also has a baptism date for the 28th, but the problem with him is that he only wants to meet once a week. If he wants to get baptized he has to have more lessons! Haha but hes great. He already is giving out Books of Mormon to his friends and told us hes ready to defend his religion. Gotta keep workin with him for sure :)
We also have gotten so many references from the ward :) Just yesterday we had 4! We have 7 people who want to get baptized... Richard, Cesar, Billy and Maricarmen (they're new. Were gonna teach them for the first time tonight), Kiara (she's 10 and her mom's a member), Julio, and Harold.
Funny story about Harold. We taught him yesterday and he said he had talked with missionaries before, but he knew so much! He has a friend in our ward. So we talked with him, he said he wanted to get baptized and assist our Ward instead of his ward, and we set up an appointment this week. Well we ask him, "Which Elders taught you?" and he says, "Elder Caño and Elder Julcapoma" Elder Caño is our District Leader haha! We called Elder Caño and told him about it and he was pretty much like, "What the heck Hermanas?!" Pretty much we stole his investigator and we didn't even know it haha. When we told him he wants to get baptized, Elder Caño was in shock. I guess Harold wasn't assisting at all with them, and then Sunday just showed up to our ward wanting to be baptized :) But props to them. They taught him real good... He knew a lot ;) haha.
Something I've learned this week is that we have to do our part. I was SO bummed Friday. We went to visit a family and didn't teach as much as we had planned. We barely taught! They just kept changing the subject and talking about random things. A lot of people do this, but usually we can turn the conversation around, but not this time. I was SO frustrated with myself! I was just mad because I didn't feel like I did my job as a missionary. I also felt like I wasn't being a good enough trainer and example for Hermana Arce. I usually am pretty calm and all, but I was so bummed Friday. Hermana Arce was probably scared of me haha. She was finally like, "Tiene que tener paciencia con usted misma" which is, "You have to have patience with yourself." It was exactly what I needed to hear. Nobody is perfect. Every missionary has strengths and weaknesses. Every missionary has lessons that just don't go as planned. I need to stop stressing out so much, but try to improve every day. I have to do my part. It's not enough to just be in the mission. Sometimes we think that just by being here we´re goin to see miracles. But no. We have to do our part first. I have to work every single day to turn alllllll my weaknesses into strengths. I seriously struggle so bad having patience with myself, but Hermana Arce is right :)
Welp. Time to goooo. LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! Have a great week!
Love,
Hermana Roper
P.S. Thanks Grandma for the package! LOVED it and LOVE you!
P.S. number two! Brenna Ballard.... If you read this, I just barely got your letter Friday, and I know you enter the MTC Wednesday so I have no time to write back :( Sorry I couldn't help much! See you in 6 weeks! :)
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