Dearest Family and beloved friends.
so this week was good. crazy. but good.
so.... hermana paiva isnt my companion any more. she came back... changed things again. it was like an emergency transfer back... but now she is officially gone. a week before end of changes.... sometimes im confused and wish i really knew what was going on. but we are ok. we do our best in the circumstances we are in right?? its kind of bitter sweet. when she isnt picky she is great! and i love her!!! and THAT im going to miss. but at the same time, i wont miss feeling judged and picked apart. haha. but we have some good memories together.
sometimes i feel like im the only constant here. the only one that is normal. we have hermana calle who feels like half missionary, half doctor, hermana christainsen who goes home next week, hermana bills who, poor thing was stuck in the middle for ever. playing both teams. (the back wash floaty is what we call her to keep us laughing) and hermana paiva who is off doing bigger and better things and comes and goes as she pleases....... and then.... there is me..... hi. its me sister gonzales. hows it going. yes. i will keep working dilligently. being normal. iré y haré. and im am learning to be adapt. to not freak out inside when everything changes at the last minute and suddenly im companionless.... and my plans go out the window. im learning to support and be patient and take care of others when i secretly want to be taken care of. im learning to turn out when my natural woman would turn in selfishly. lots of good lessons. im learning that you must clean out your inner vessel if you want to teach with power and authority. you have to be WILLING to change and accept that everything isnt going to go how you planned. deal with it. youd think i already learned this stuff in my mission, maybe i have. but here i am learning it again. not going to lie, feeling independent makes you feel a little alone sometimes. and when youre alone, youre under the microscope. and you REALLY start to notice ALLLLL that you lack. which drives you to your knees. which THEN allows you to cry to the heavens and they are opened to you. and THEN you recieve strength beyod your own and THEN things start to come together and you realize you just had to take yourself out of the equation.... and then..... you are grateful. grateful for the things that drive you to your knees. and everthing is in perspective again.l you know i learned that this whole process is ALL LESSON TWO!!!!! the plan of salvation. THIS is why we are here on the earth. DUH SISTER GONZALES! you teach this stuff everyday!!! silly me. and i bet my Father in Heaven says that too sometimes. Silly HErmana... dont you know i got this all under control adn i love you?. yup. thats what he says.
and i like it when he says that.
i am blessed. we are looking up this week.
ok fun facts.
we are planning a HUGE stake activity and they kinda put me in charge. remember the music devotional we did? well we are planning it here for our stake. this week i chose which missionaries would be doing the musical numbers. we called all the areas and picked which recent converts and reactivated members would be talking. our latest convert rodrigo is giving the closing prayer. we are expecting avout 800 to come to ours. we had quite a few meetings witht he stake president (i am also learning to work with leaders and trust in their keys. kind of cool. ) i love our stake president. he is wonderful! and always asks me about my ukelele. heheh. another hermana we are working with is Hermano Rocky who served his mission in san diego cali and was AP in his misison and helped direct "The District" movies. he is AWESOME! and he knows whats going on.
other fun fact, i dont know if i ever mentioned hermano Fenn. he is american. very white. and he is in charge of the temple construction here in trujillo. HE IS THE MAN! he is also our ward mission leader and he too knows what is going on. unfortunately, he travels all the time for the church and is rarely here. so.... he is our clame to fame and thats pretty much it. he tells us all the gossip on the temple. well. all that he CAN tell us. which isnt much. he cant reveal the date or anythign. but he is cool. the temple looks GREAT and i love teaching about the temple. I MISS THE TEMPLE SO MUCH! ;(
next week is gen conference. ask me if ill be watching it.... NOPE!!! i will not. because, let me explain. this week in peru is ELECTIONS>! and it is kinda a big deal. its such a big deal, that by law, everyone and their dog HAS to vote. if they dont, they have to pay an expensive ticket. and it is also illegal to meet in large groups this day. so we will not be holding church. and the NEXT week we will be watching conferece. so that means, two weeks with out the santa cena. shoot. that just means, tHIS week i had to make it count. and you bet i did.
i took that bread and just looked at it. held it in my hand and stared at it until i could truly get a grasp of what it meant to be taking the sacrament. i just looked at it until i felt that i would fully appreciate what i was about to do. and let me tell you, when you take the sacrament that way, tis a diferent experience. I am so grateful for the cleansing power of my savior.
later that day, we taught two very powerful lessons to two very prepared people.
Jesus and his two daughters. they are reading the book of mormon like crazy! they are eager to learn! and just eating it up! Hermano jesus wants us to come by every other day and read with him and his daughters. when we call him he says he already read and wants something new to read! he is GOLDEN! his only set back is work on sundays. but we talked about abinidi and how brave he was to enfront noah and stand up for what he beleaved in. and he is oging to talk to his boss this week.
later we taught cezar, a teen of 21 years, and he is ateo. (sorry. idk what it is in ingles). but he doesnt belive in god. but last time we taught him about prayer and he has been praying! and wants to know what a prophet is!!! and he feels like he needs to repent! PUCHA! talk about a 180! it was awesome.
we are being blessed. things are going well.
i also learned that spiritual complasency is failure to the lord and i must always be working with my heart and mind. not just my might and strength. and THEN we start to feel edified and our work is acceptable to the lord. i will be careful the rest of my life for spiriutal compasency.
my testimony was strengthened yet again this week. i was humbled, yet again this week. i was reminded of the most basic principles again this week. i remember thinking that at the end of my mission i would be an expert in ALL things. boy was i WRONG! the Lord knows how to keep us humble. andi am grateful for that.
i love you all
this church is very true. we are in the verdad. y no lo puedo negar. les amo mucho
con amor
hermana gonzales
con amor, hermana Gonzales
ps pic. this is my area. a part of it. from the clinic window. spent my pday in the clinic with hermana paiva instead of the beach with the zone. but hey. its beautiful up here!
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