Can I just say... I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WOULD LOVE TO SHOW YOU AROUND! That would be SOOOOOOOOOOO awesome! You can use all your great Spanish skills Mom :) Wait are you serious?! That would be too cool. Are you talking about like picking me up here while I'm still a missionary (like January 25th)? Or coming back later in the year to visit?

Hey speaking of Brother Van Leishout! One of our ward members here served with him in Korea! We were talking at the dinner table and he was telling stories of his mission and he said "...and Elder VanLeishout" and I was like "wait a second that is not a very common name..." and we found out it was him! So ask Brother Van Leishout if he knows an Elder Merwinn from his mission :)

Those Costco mats are heavenly! That is what we used when we handed out samples :) So I bet they are super nice for your feet. Hey can you believe it is September already?!?! How crazy is that.

This week was ANOTHER WEEK OF MIRACLES. God is just pouring them down here in Edinburg. Can I just say... I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!!!!! I feel so happy everyday... no matter how exhausted... or how much I feel like I could sleep for a whole year without waking up... I know that I have the privilege to do the Lord's work 24/7.

This week we had a three day training about the missionary program - how to help people recognize the Holy Ghost, how to help them gain their own testimonies... etc. Everything I learn here I know is just going to help me so much more the rest of my life. There really is no better use for my time right now then what I am doing here. The mom and her 5 kids are doing awesome. Her boyfriend right now doesn't want to get married. She said she is willing to move out so she can get baptized. THAT TAKES COURAGE AND FAITH IN GOD. She started crying though because she feels alone in this decision :( Her family doesn't really support her and she doesn't really have many friends here. We are doing our best to help the ward become her family - as it should be. Hermana Acosta invited her over to her house this week for a lesson and you should have seen the look on her face of surprised and excited and "really you invited ME?" We told her that we have been praying for her every day and she told us "Ya se Hermanas... yo siento sus oraciones." That was such a testimony builder for me that she already knew we were praying for her and she FELT it. One of the Elders told us "wow she looks soooooooooo much happier from the first day we met her." Yay for the changing power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

We are teaching some other really great people too that came to church out of nowhere. We are also riding bikes and hitching rides all the time because we have NO MILES. I just bought new tubes (because...everything is bigger in Texas... including the spikey plants haha) and within the first day they were flat AGAIN haha... so I just need some tires of STEEL or something. I don't know how the Elders do it. I love biking though...it is my time to think/meditate.

Okay I have got to go but I LOVE YOU TOO MAMA! GRACIAS POR LA CANCION!!!!! HASTA LUEGOOOOOOOO