Tender Mercies....

Hello mom and dad!

I loved your email!  I only have a few emails today so I had time to read all the way through it.   This week was way better.   I have had a lot of tender mercies this last week.  That is one thing that I am really good at on my mission - to remember my blessings, tender mercies.  I cannot even explain how discouraging it can be when you knock on so many doors and all of them say no!  But at the end of the day before we say our prayers, we say our tender mercies.  Some days are harder than others to remember, but they are always there!  I remember something someone said to me a few weeks ago in Cudahy.  They said Heavenly Father wants you to serve a mission and to put everything you have into it, but he doesn't want it to be beyond your capability.  I have remembered that in the hard times, He wants us to enjoy this journey!   I don't hide my feelings too well.  I want to be real in my emails, too.  I want people to know that just because you are a missionary, it doesn't mean you are someone completely different.  I am still Michelle!  But I am a better Michelle.  I am a happier me.  I know that I am truly reaching my potential.  I am beginning to see the potential that my Heavenly Father has in store for me.

So for this week, it was pretty good.   We contacted alot of formers and less-actives.  So we knocked on door after door trying to find these people.  Some of them had moved and some of them just really didn't want to hear us :)  But then we had those few that DID want to hear us.  That did allow us to come back.  And that is what makes it worth it.

I had an amazing experience this week.  It was Tuesday morning and I was still thinking about everything from my difficult Monday last week.  We have our studies every morning and so I was praying before my personal study.  I have never prayed as hard as I did that morning.  I poured out every feeling that I had and all of my worries.  After, I felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders.  I knew that I didn't have to be perfect to be here.  That if we didn't have a lot of investigators it was going to be okay.  And I felt the love of Heavenly Father so strong in that moment.  I didn't feel alone.  And ever since then, I have felt peace.  I have seen the blessings overcome the hard times.  And it hasn't been hard.  I have enjoyed the moments throughout the days, and I have been able to not be discouraged in times where I would have been. 

All in all, that I want to get accross in this email, is that I am happy.  I know without a doubt that this is where I am supposed to be.  I have grown and learned so much through the things that I am doing and I am so grateful for that.
Whitewashing is hard, but whitewashing an area that has nothing is very hard!  But we are learning!  I have learned soo much and I am grateful for these opportunities that we have to learn and grow in this work.  I got your letter, dad, thank you SO much.  Thank you for the picture of the sunflower outside my bedroom window.  Sweet little reminders... I am doing well and am happy:) I love you both so much....

Hermana Warner

P.S. I have a lot of pictures, but I forgot my cord... sorry ;)