Feb. 17, 2014

Well this week felt ridiculously long.  It feels like a chore just to write about it.  But, no worries, I will push through the pain my poor fingers will have just to give you all a little peace of mind.  That I am alive and not completely frozen yet.  

    Lets see, Monday.... Well, it was pday and not too much to talk about.  But we did do some service that night at the Methodist church.  Every week they have a free dinner for people in the town and it was our church's turn to serve and help out.  It is honestly a lot of fun.  We clean, serve people, do dishes, make food, and talk to as many people as we can.  But I love helping out.  

    I also gave a training at District Meeting this week.  About Faith.  I had no idea how much faith I was lacking.  I want to do everything perfect, like speak spanish and teaching, and I feel like everything rests on my shoulders.  But I need to get over myself big time.  I need to be more humble and realize that I can not do anything without the Lord.  And as long as I am trying my best and always do what he wants, then I am doing exactly what I am supposed to do.  That is enough.  But I have a hard time trusting in the lord sometime, which is ridiculously sad....  I feel like I am always going to mess up and that my mouth won't be filled.  Even though I have witnessed it happening before.  So Faith was perfect for me to train on, because I needed the help!  Thats how you know the Lord truly knows everything and plans things out perfectly.  

    Anyway, Monday night we had exchanges again.  But this time I took over the area while Hna. Noffz went to Glenwood Springs.  Hermana Moser came here as well.  It was really good!  It gave me the chance to step up and take the lead on the work here.  Which made me realize that I truly am a good missionary and can do this work.  And this might sound terrible, but Sister Moser's spanish is not quite as good as Sister Noffz's.  So it kind of forced me to speak more and honestly, I really can speak spanish.  Together we taught the lessons and flowed really good.  Which is something Hna. Noffz and I have struggled with because I am just learning.  But this was a great learning experience, and has taught me to be such a better missionary.  Transfers are only 3 weeks away now, and everyone keeps saying that I am going to be training, which completely freaks me out!  It would be so hard but I would learn and grow so much!  I guess we will see.  I hope both Hna. Noffz and I stay one more transfer because we have some amazing people who we want to see baptized and be a part of their life.  

     This week we were finally able to get in with Daniel and Laura.  The family who has been avoiding us.  As soon as we walked in Laura ran out the door and said she had to go to Costco at that moment.  And when she came back she ignored us and just went in the back room.  We were going to come back later but ended up talking to Daniel for over an hour.  We talked about the Plan of Salvation with him and it basically goes with his beliefs exactly.  But he is stubborn and his heart is not ready to accept.  But he loves talking(arguing??) and we finally just had to invite him to pray and thats all we could do.  Then Laura came in the room and basically kicked us out.  Daniel said she had talked to her mother about the church and got yelled at and some other things happened.  Which is why she won't have anything to do with us anymore.  It is so sad because she knows the truth.  She just won't accept it.  Which we understand how hard it is with her family, but it breaks our hearts.  We care so much for them, and especially Laura, and it hurts to be treated like that from her.  After the lesson we got into the car and just cried.  

        Then last night we had a lesson with Alex.  And it was rough.  He is having such a hard time right now, but he won't open up to anyone.  But you can just see that the light has gone out of him, he doesn't have that huge smile anymore.  No one can figure it out, but we know that a lot of it probably has to do with his uncle, Juan.  Who is Myrna's husband and not a member.  Juan doesn't really like Alex and gives him a hard time.  It is so sad to watch.  Alex hasn't been praying and doesn't feel like God is helping him right now.  We don't know what to do.  We need to make sure the ward is supporting him and that he knows how much we care about him.  He is like our little brother and it is so sad to see him struggle like this.  We just went home and prayed and prayed for him.  

     Man, missionary work is hard.  And it is not fun.  It is completely worth it always of course. But not fun.  I don't like seeing people struggle and not knowing how to help them.  I can only love them and use the Spirit to guide me what to do and say.  But I am so thankful to be here and have the opportunity to know these people and be a part of their lives.  Especially the Hispanic people.  They are so special.

    Which is another problem we are encountering.  The ward here in Eagle(which is a white ward with a few hispanic members) seems to forget that we have Hispanic members.  And these amazing people are being ignored by the majority of the members.  We brought the suggestion up to have 1 hymn in spanish during sacrament and other small things like that to help the unity here, but were shut down.  We were shocked to find a lot of prejudices in our way.  It broke our hearts and made us completely furious at the same time.  People are people whether they speak english or not.  It make me realize how much I love these people and how much I love the culture.  They are completely humble and don't expect anything from life.  They love God so much and always work to be better.  I am so blessed to be called to serve with these people specifically.  

   Anyway, enough with the negative.  We have also seen so many little miracles every single day!  I can see the hand of God in every little thing we do.  It is my favorite part about being a missionary.  We used to teach an amazing woman named Atosha, but we were told that she moved to Mexico for 6 months.  Then we stopped by her house and there she was!  What?!  We were so excited to see her.  One day she is going to be baptized, hopefully while we are here.  Then Karina, the 16 year old girl who I adore, is progressing.  She told us that she kneeled down and prayed to God one day to know the truth.  But while she was getting to the part about what happened, her mom interrupted and she stopped talking!  Ahhhh, I could have died.  To the mom's credit, she had no idea what Karina was saying because she does not speak english at all.  But we will ask her tonight and see what happened.  I only pray that she has truly received an answer and knows that truth.  

   Then Yesenia is great!  She loves the members of the ward and they include her so much even though she can't come to church yet.  I guess the other day she was at Sister Mendoza's house studying the scriptures and we had no idea!  After next week she will be able to come to church and prepare for her baptism on the 22nd of March!  I hope I am here!

    This area is so hard to get Hispanics to church.  Because all of them work at the ski resorts and the busiest days are always Sunday.  It has been hard, but when they do come, it is the best feeling in the world.  

     But a lot is happening here and I am so excited for the upcoming weeks!  The amazing things that I have seen happen make everything else worth it.  I love my mission and I love the people.  I know that this work is the best thing that I could be doing in my life right now.  I am turning into the person that God wants me to be.  I know this church is true, without a doubt in my mind.  I love everyone so much back home and am so thankful for the support that I have.  Thanks for everything!  Yo quiero compartir mi testimonial en espanol!  Por que puedo ahora!  Pero yo se que la iglesia is verdadera con todo de mi corazon.  y tenemos el evangelio de Jesucristo.  Estoy muy agradacida por el conocimiento que tengo y por la felizidad.  Y yo tengo un gran testimonial sobre oracion.  Por que mi mision es dificil.  pero puedo hablar con mi Padre Celestial cada dia y cada momento.  Y yo puedo recibir la fuerza y el consuelo que necesito.  Podemos recibir ayuda de El siempre.  

(That was probably entirely wrong, because it is a lot harder to type in spanish!  So be easy on me)

Love,

   Hermana Adair

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