Week 60

Family!!!

UGHHHH I just realized as I started this email that my list of notes of what I was gonna write is in my old agenda. THAT I LEFT AT HOME, dangit. New change probz. So this is just gonna have to be straight up stream of conciousness, sry. Which is a bummer, cause there were actually a few specific things I was gonna mention. Oh well, guess if I can´t remember them right now they aren´t that important.

Anahi: So last Monday we went back to my first area on the mish!! It was crazy surreal but strangely fulfilling. Like, I just remember how much I didn´t know anything while I was there. I had no idea what the mission was gonna be or who I was gonna be and I sure as heck didn´t know Spanish! lolz, but rly. So it was nice to go back and mark my own progress, in a sense. Also, I was there with Hna Pisco the first time as well, so it was nuts to walk the same streets again together.

Ok, I´m actually real sad cause I can´t think at all right now and can´t remember like anything I was gonna say. What even happened this week? It was such a blur. It was probably the most successful week I´ve had on the mission though, numbers-wise. Like, everything just finally came together for a few days in a row and we surpassed all of our goals. This Sunday I was sitting up at the piano looking out at the ward as members walked in and I just really, really felt like I´ve done my best in Juan de Salazar. I haven´t been perfect, but I´ve given the most I could give in the circumstances I´ve been in. And the asistencia was the highest it´s ever been, we had several investigators in la reunion sacramental, and a bunch of menos activos we´ve been working with came (including one YSA named Francisco who asisted Sunday for the first time in FIVE YEARS. Wow.) 

Anyway, so I´m still not sure if I´ll leave the area or not (we find out tomorrow). BUT if I do, I feel good about it. Which is a blessing.

Other news is that I went on a division with Hermana Mera from Mexico this week, so now I have more friends to hit up on future vacations ;) Seriously tho. 

Alright, well I love you so much!! 

#can´tthinkwon´tthink

Love,

Hermana Ross

With a super funny/crazy old guy in the ward. True story is that he gave us a group hug right after this and Hna Pisco and I were both like "UHHHHhhhhhhh"

Familia Oviedo

With Reina and some of the fam <3 (also from my first area)

That time a crazy storm formed in like t-5 minutes and we feared for our lives

#ratchet. We got SOAKED. Like, more than normal. 

Cool sunset after the storm

With my mission bae, Hermana Lundberg (first time in TWO changes)

That time we all went to McDonalds #swanky

Out of order. Back to the day of rain. 

A big PS from Lee:  I was asked to share some of the blessings of having a missionary at church this Sunday, and I asked Holly if she wouldn't mind sharing some of her perceived blessings for serving a mission and what she wrote was so meaningful to me, that I wanted to share it here as oftentimes these are not the sorts of things that are shared as part of her weekly letters.  I am hoping she won't mind if I post it here because it has strengthened me and my hope is that it might have the same effect on those of us who are connected to her.  

Ok stream of conciousness list of blessings from being on the mission: Lolz, there are too many.

-Increased testimony of Jesus Christ and His atonement. Like, before I understood logically that Jesus was my Savior (in that through Him I could repent of my sins). But now I not only understand, but feel that Jesus Christ is my friend and that He loves me. And when I can´t rely on my own strength anymore (aka 10 minutes after walking outside of the house in 115 degree heat + 90% humidity), I use HIS enabling power to get me through the day. Because I COULD NOT COULD NOT COULD NOT do this alone. Everything about the mission is the hardest part, but when I put my trust in Jesus Christ I find the strength I need to go out in the sun and trabajar CON el Señor. 

-OMGosh increased love for home and family. Now, this may feel like a curse sometimes (you know, when you just miss everything 10/10 badly), but it is actually a very real and very powerful blessing. There is a love I have never felt so strongly, and I know it is divine. "God gave us families to help us become what He wants us to be - THIS (THE FAMILY) is how He shares His love, for the family is of God." 

-Increased appreciation for the ridiculous amount of blessings that exist in the 1st world. I honestly can´t remember the last time my bare feet touched the ground. I can´t even imagine seeing carpet, using a washing machine, having more than a hand-mirror to get ready, etc. Everything that I didn´t even think about before is now something I will never take for granted EVER AGAIN. How could I when this type of sacrifice has been engrained so deeply into my heart and soul?

-Greater appreciation for all my friends, BYU, Provo, Salt Lake City, social gatherings, movies, music, activities, the internet, social media, tv shows, etc. Pretty much everything I liked to do that I now cannot. Again, stuff I will appreciate for the rest of my life and will never take for granted ever again.

-SPANISH! Gosh, I almost forgot about that one, HA. But seriously, God has blessed me in a way I´ve never experienced before to be able to speak and understand a totally new and foreign language. He blessed me more than I deserved (on account of I didn´t study like I should have), and it´s something I will be grateful for all of my life.

-My ability to feel God´s love for me. I feel it ALL THE TIME. In all the world around me. For me. For others. For the Savior. Charity is the realest.

-Increased testimony of prophets, apostles, scriptures, latter-day revelations, general conference, priesthood power, etc.

-Tender mercies and my increased ability to look for and recognize them. They are everywhere all the time.