Maywood: Semana 5 / March 8, 2010

Hola mi familia bonita!

I've decided that I could live in California for the rest of my life just for the fresh fruits and vegetables. Everyone gives us fruit and I love it. There is even a lady that for the last couple weeks has brought buckets of avocados from her tree to give away, so we've made a lot of fresh amazing guacamole. Speaking of food, I feel like I am going to become even closer friends with Angela when I come home, because I am going to want to go with her to all of the weird food places she likes. I have come to love a lot of different interesting food, some of it I even remember Angela trying to get me to eat and I wouldn't. :) I think the weirdest thing I've eaten so far is probably cactus. Well, it didn't really taste weird, it was prepared so it was kind of just like green beans but a little more rubbery. The weird thing about it is just thinking about eating cactus.

I love how family oriented and loving the Latin culture is. I noticed the other day when we were tracting and school was getting out that sometimes the whole family, mom, dad, grandparents, all go to walk to pick the kids up from school and walk home with them. There were some really cute families all walking together and holding hands. They really know how to love and enjoy life. A lot of people don't have very much, their homes are tiny- some of them just sheds really- but they are close to their family and they are happy.

This week has been a little bit sad as far as the work goes. Tony, the guy I told you about last week, decided that he wants to take things at his own pace and figure it out on his own, without us visiting him anymore. It is really sad working with people and having really amazing spiritual experiences with them and then seeing them just choose not to keep learning. All we can do is just pray that hopefully they will see the light eventually.

We also had another investigator we found named Omar, and he was so amazing. He had the missionaries before about three years ago, but then he had to move suddenly and lost contact with them. He told us when we met him that we were the only church he had felt really good with, and he also got really excited when he remembered things he had already been taught. He also really liked praying and wrote down the steps of prayer without us even asking. It was really sad though because for some reason he just dropped of the face of the earth. He doesn't have a telephone, and we've stopped by his house multiple times and don't know where he has been. We are thinking it might be because he told us last week when he couldn't come to church that he found out his friend has cancer and he had to go to the hospital with him, so it probably has to do with that. We are really hoping he will get ahold of us again soon, because we can't keep wasting time trying to track him down. You can tell that he already has a testimony of the church and wants to learn more. We'll see what happens. It is definitely more emotionally taxing than I expected, putting so much love and effort into helping teach others about the gospel. It is extremely rewarding too though.

We had a combined district meeting this week that helped me a lot as far as improving my missionary skills. We worked on tracting and how to talk to people and get them interesting in our message. I've been learning so much about how to deal with people. I love a quote that a good friend of mine sent me in a letter a week or so ago by Dale Carnegie that basically says "you can make more friends in two months by being interested in others than you can make in two years trying to get others interested in you." I have been thinking a lot about that lately and it is so true. The training we had went right along with that, and how we need to focus on them and be personable, show them we are real people and truly care about them. I have made a new goal to make everyone I meet and talk to smile or laugh. A lot of people will talk to us, but you can tell that they are just doing it to be nice, so I've been trying to make personal connections and be more friendly, because it doesn't matter what we say to them if they don't feel like we care about them. "People won't care about what you have to say until they know how much you care." This is something that I think is so applicable just to life and relationships in general, and I am glad that I have this time to work on being a better friend. I feel like I am learning and growing so much in every aspect of my life.

Something else that I have come to realize more and more is the power of consistency. As a missionary it is such a blessing to have the ability to study the gospel every day, to teach and feel the spirit and to have powerful experiences with the spirit multiple times every day. It is just like exercise. With hard work and consistent effort I am slowly but surely becoming a better missionary and a better person. This is how everything in life works- you can't just change everything all at once. You have to go through a process and embrace the process.

I was studying more about personal revelation and the Holy Ghost and I came across this in the True to the Faith book: "The soft impressions of the Holy Ghost maybe don't appear very spectacular like visions or visitations of angels, but they are more powerful and lasting and have greater ability to change a person's life. A witness from the Holy Ghost creates an impression in the soul that is more meaningful than anything you can see or hear. Through these kinds of revelations you receive lasting strength to stay faithful to the gospel and help others do the same."

I never realized that the soft impressions of the spirit could be considered more powerful than great visions or angels. I think that a big part of the power comes from the ability to consistently have impressions from the spirit. Heavenly Father knows and understands how easily we forget- even when we have powerful spiritual experiences. Our memory is so weak and unreliable. It is easier for us to remember feelings- they affect us deeper than what we see or hear. It is such a blessing to have the gift of the Holy Ghost to help us always, and to keep reminding us.

Well, I'm out of time, so I hope that makes sense. :P I love you all!

- Hermana Dansie