4/05/10

Hi family and friends! how are you all doing? from the emails i recieved it sounds like everyone had a great easter and the kids kept everyone really busy. haha oh how i wished i couldve been there with you all. it was a very different experience for me to not be with the family for conference. but its veen so awesome! i love it here! my trainers name is hermana ung and shes from payson utah and has a really cool story and great desire to serve. she is absolutely awesome and i count myself very lucky to have her as my mom. haha and even though we´re not exactly the same height like 5´2 we have had a lot of fun together here so far. i learn so much from her everyday. she has like 4 months left here on the mission. pretty crazy stuff! im hoping i get another change with her.

but wow! im a real missionary now... haha it hits me at different moments everyday. i keep thinking, is this real? am i really in uruguay teaching the gospel? haha i am! and i love it!! its only been like 5 days here and i cant get enough of it. i feel so very fortunate to be here and in the lords service. we had some great success this week. i came here and they had been working with some good promising investigators so i was really excited. there is a lady named norma who will be getting baptized at the end of april and she actually came to 3 out of the 4 sessions of conference which was amazing. and then the family sosa who we are working on. there are 5 in their family and the dad and his 10 year old daughter are going to get baptized but his wife doesnt have a date yet but we are sure shell be baptized the same day as her family. we are working on getting them married. juan likes to talk alot and i dont think he quite understands that i have like no clue whats going on becuase he just keeps talking! hahaha or maybe he does know that. something really awesome happened to us on my first day. we were out going to visit one of the less actives and on the way there i waved to this family who was on the side of the road just drinking matte and i felt like hmm i think we might need to talk to them. but i didnt say anything. on the way back we passed by them again and i got that same feeling and then basically we went and talked to them, we taught them the restoration and they were really receptive. the lord guided us to estela, she is an older lady who has such a righteous desire to do the lords will. we taught her the first lesson and then the next day we went back and taught her the plan. she accepted the invitation to baptism and she will be baptized at the end of the month too! i cant believe it! you shoulda seen me right after.. i was so giddy with excitement! im convinced that the lord led us to her because we have been completely obedient, and dilligent in our labors.

other than these amazing things, im still trying to get used to life here. its very different than im used to obviously. and all the spanish has been pretty overwhelming. im having a hard time getting up the nerve to speak and not be scared. its really tough. but my companion helps me so much and step by step my fear will disappear im sure haha or at least i hope! our apartment is so crazy... haha we have a toilet that doesnt flush and our whole bathroom is a shower. we cook our food on a gas burner and we wash our clothes by hand! hahaha wow... it sounds so funny when i say it out loud. im getting used to this though! its not too bad.

conference was absolutely amazing wasnt it? so many talks about teaching and protecting the home! im so glad that they spoke so much about this because i truly think that satan is trying especially hard to tempt us and lead us astray. i want everyone to always try their best to be in an environment that you know the lord would be happy with. live your life to please him and not the world! i love elder hollands talk. he speaks with so much feeling! we got to watch the talks in english thankfully because there are about 18 other english missionaries here. we are the only sisters though. if you didnt get to watch the talks please make sure to read them online! i wish i could!

i love this work. i feel like an instrument in the lords hands! i know that he loves these people so much because i can feel some of that love he has for them. i truly know that he is in all things good. thomas s monson is a prophet of god. joseph smith was a true prophet and saw god and jesus christ! i know that we can live with god and our family forever because christ loves us so much and engraved us on the palms of his hands. he is the sunrise and sunset. he is all! and he lives! i know this without any doubt in my heart or mind! do good! do as he would! love as he loves and live as he lived. i love you all so very much!