Where is the time going?!

Hello my sweet mother!

Well, I'll just start and tell you how much I loved your email.  It made me so happy.   So here I am in week 5 of the transfer!  I literally have no idea where the time has gone.  I feel like I just barely had P-day.  The harder I work the faster it goes, I am trying to decide if that is good or not ;)  This week was full!  But sometimes I have no idea what happened... happens every week.  During the last few weeks I have felt pretty discouraged that no one wants to talk to us, all of our appointments get cancelled, etc.   Last Monday was hard, to say the least.  We got a few doors slammed and all of our appointments cancelled.  I went to bed that night, feeling exhausted not only physically but emotionally.  This is hard stuff!  I sat there wondering what I could fix, to have more success in our area.  I made it a goal for myself this week to literally put every ounce that I can into what I am doing.  I don't remember what happened but Tuesday was AWESOME!  I remember that I was exhausted when we got home, but I felt so happy because I literally did everything I could to serve others that day.  It is still a huge goal that I am working on, but I am thankful that I have seen the results from it.  I feel that I am at my most humble point.  I am learning so much patience with myself and others.  The most important part is, I am doing it.  I know without a doubt, I am supposed to be here.  Our cute 73-year old investigator, Alicia, came to a baptism last week.  She's been investigating for seven months and says she doesn't need to be baptized because she already has been.  But she felt the spirit really strong there.  She said, she wanted to be baptized, well,  she said when God told her to.  But that is a huge step!  There is such a special spirit for an investigator at a baptism.  I see so many tender mercies throughout my day.  I truly know that Heavenly Father is looking out for me.

This week was seriously crazy, so I will try and give you a run down.  First off, my companion got shingles.  She is like a 90 year old woman, we usually just laugh about it all day.  But I feel so bad for her because there is nothing that I can really do to help her.  She got them last Tuesday after we visited a less active, whose daughter had just had chicken pox.  We tried calling the mission nurse and she finally called us back this morning.  But she got a hold of a doctor on Saturday and is doing better.   So that is when we found out she had shingles.  So we had to go to a members house to have them take a picture on their phone and send it to the doctor.  We were close to a member's home and so we passed by.  Her name is Hermana Bayona and she has been a member for 34 years.  She became a member a year after she was married, but her husband has never been interested.  He is pretty much exactly like my sweet Papa.  He can't be serious, ever!  When we went over, he gave us some Wethers originals.  I told him that they reminded me of my Papa and so he stocked my bag.  Later on in the day I had a migrane.  My companion was sitting here with shingles.  What a pair! Normally it would be a good idea to just stay in for the night.  But no, we couldn't.  Because the Lopez family had a birthday party for their little girl who turned EIGHT!!  They were so cute to us.  We had called them earlier and the little girl wanted to make sure that we were invited to their party.  It ended up being such a good day, we were able to get to know our members and our investigators better. 

Este es la familia lopez o en otras palabras mi corazon!  

The Lopez family is amazing.  I cannot say enough about how much I love them!  They are progressing really well and have been reading the Book of Mormon!  I have never felt the spirit so strong in lessons, than when I do at their home.  They are so sweet and welcoming to us.  They told us how we always seem to call or show up at their house right after something hard or bad has happened.  I feel so blessed to know them!

Life is so good, momma!  Church is true, it is amazing seeing it change people's lives.  I am glad you were able to listen to the broadcast on Sunday.  Do your missionary work!  Look for opportunities to share the Gospel.  You have no idea how much referrals help missionaries.  Everything is going well and you are always in my prayers!  Thank you, mom, for your testimony and strength. I love you so much! xoxox  Hermana Michelle

Dear Dad,
This is our ward mission leader and a cute LA that we are working with. 

Her family loves me and they feed us the most amazing dinners ever.  Spanish is so hard. I am trying to hard to be patient with it, I know that it will come.  I think I am doing better than I give myself credit for. I have to remember that I am new and I'm not going to learn how to do everything in two transfers.  But truly things are going well!  I am happy.  I had an Elder that has been in my district two transfers, tell me that I have changed a lot since I have been here!  And I truly feel it.  I have a great desire to be here and I know that I have a reason here.  Time is going so fast!  I can't believe it.  I am doing well.  You are in my thoughts always daddy, I hope you are happy, healthy, and doing well.  I love you more than anything in the world xoxoxo