August 19, 2013

Hola Familia!!! 
It sounds like all of y´all are having a splendid time! Poor jason must be besides himself with busyness because he forgot to write the most important person in his world....
but anywhoo wow what a week. (ooo synonems. or antonyms? hmm...) it flew by for me and it completely blows my mind that my last week of the transfer is next week. I kid you not, I was not expecting that!! As the saying goes, time flys when you´re having fun! It also reminds me of a quote that´s on our wall in the piso, ´´Live each day like it´s the last day of your mission!´´ I have been going back to that quote for awhile and I love it. But it´s so true, because the next thing I know, I´m going home!! And I am SO not ready for that right now. whitney even wrote to me and she said that my mission was 1/3 finished! and my hearts screaming NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! 
This week, I´ve been trying to work my hardest at seeing some action from our investigators. And man, has it been difficult!! I talked about Adelson last week and so I knew we needed to crack down a little on him. But then he decides to take a roadtrip! But my mind is focused and I am not forgetting my duty as a missionary. He has a sister who is just SO sweet and we´ve been trying to talk with her without really scary her off (I think before she was a jehovas witness) and just today we ran into her on the metro! Hermana Stepp has been trying to find someone to cut her hair and we find out that she was a hair dresser in Columbia! Oh, how the Lord works His ways!! It´s so amazing, because as a missionary, the Lord wants you to succeed. oooh i just get goose bumps thinking about all this!! 
I´m not going to lie, you missed an amazing baptism!! I have never felt the Spirit so strongly and I thought my heart was going to burst! We finally met Gregorio´s wife, Judit and she is a GEM. We got to talk to her for awhile while Gregorio was getting dressed and she said that it´s so difficult for her to get time off of work because she´s wanted to come sit in the lessons with us! Also, she said she trys to read in the Book of Mormon, but it´s difficult for her to read the small letters, but then she said that Gregorio sometimes reads to her. OH MY GOODNESS. I thought my heart was going to burst! We asked if we could come over sometime and she said she´d love too because she´d love to learn more about everything. Also, when Gregorio was getting baptized, she said that she could see herself doing that soon!! (OHMYGOSHMYFIRSTTEMPLECOUPLE). Everything went so much better, despite the stress of it all. And for days, Gregorio was preparing his testimony and had written everything down on pieces of paper! When he went up there to give it, he thanked everyone, including us, for helping him better his life and that, ´´Sé que el Señor nos ama´´. I´m sorry, but that´s huge! He has grown so much! The Spirit has literally never been stronger in my life, I kid you not. I was holding someones hand on my left and clutching hermana stepps skirt on my right and making little ´´OOOOOHH!!´´ noises. a little embarrassing, but i dont care. 
It´s been super difficult to reach number goals because there are literally zero peeps on the street and its showing in our weekly numbers! Reaching our goals has been huge for me this week and so even though I´m not reaching goals by numbers, i´ve been trying for people, and that is more fulfilling. I feel my mission has been more inriched and that just testifies to me that the Lord loves us so much. The mission has strengthened my testimony and by doing so, it as also strengthened myself. Every day, I have never regretted my decision to serve. I don´t even recognize the person I was before! 
I love you all so much! oh ya, i went to toledo today. I have never felt like i´ve been in spain before until toledo. its pretty, but also pretty touristy. 
have a fantastic week!! 
love y hugs
hermana esmit