There are awesome investigators here preparing for baptism

WELL HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLO OVER THERE IN WASHINGTON!!!!

How are you doing? How is school? Primary program? Fun!!!!! I wish I could be there that sounds awesome. Hopefully the exchange students can make it! I haven't gotten the package yet but hopefully it comes soon because those granola bars sound delicious :)

Okay well it has been a bit of a hard week for me. I really missed "mi mama" or trainer Sister Villalobos. It was hard to change companions AND cities... but day by day, prayer by prayer things are getting better. I love Laredo and miss it and the people... especially LELILAH :) I hope everything is going well with all the investigators over there. Things here in Weslaco are great though. We are over a bunch of cities around here so there is a TON of work to do. I'm learning a lot from Sister Sigler. She really takes the time to get to know people and work by their needs. She is from Las Vegas and is a super hard worker. We will have a good time together, I know it. There are awesome investigators here that are preparing for baptism. One of them will get baptized on her birthday which just happens to be Halloween :) She has sacrificed a lot to be baptized and I'm excited for her to take that set this Sunday. She is a nurse too! Another investigator is reading the Book of Mormon like nobody's business. She is already in Mosiah 14 and she will get baptized on Nov 7.

Have you ever been to Luby's before? The Longoria family took us there the other day and it was DELICIOUS. They are a really sweet family and let us wash clothes over there.

On Saturday we walked everywhere. It was fun :) It was SUPER windy though and my skirt kept blowing up as we were talking with everyone haha it was pretty bad. I wish we could walk every day! We are having a hard time finding new investigators... but we know that there are prepared people out there... it is just a matter of finding them.


I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOOOOOOO MUCH! I PRAY FOR YOU OFTEN AND THINK OF YOU! HOPE ALL IS WELL

SISTER BRICKER

Sad to Leave Laredo

PUES HOLA MI MADRE HERMOSA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mom that is interesting that you read the book "How to Have Difficult Conversations." You should gives me some tips/pointers! PLEASE! Last night we had a rather lengthly conversation with a Jehovah's Witness preacher about Adam and Eve. I'm still learning how to go about those the right way without getting into Bible bashing. People want us to back up our teaching and beliefs with the Bible... and then when we do they are always like "no, that is not what it means... it actually means this" and it is a bit frustrating... that is why PRAYER is so important because you can ask God Himself what it really means. Hahaah okay sorry that was a rant. But yes feel free to give me a summary of that book!

FELICIDADES ABOUT YOUR JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MOM THAT IS GREAT!!!!!!!!!! YOU DESERVE IT! It brings me great joy that the Lord is blessing you with prosperity - because you are sacrificing so much right now for Jon and I to be out here.

I'm excited for the package! Thanks for moving it... SERIOUSLY THAT WAS THE LAST THING I THOUGHT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN THAT I WAS TRANSFERED! I JUST GOT HERE!!!!!!!!!!!! I love Laredo and I LOVE SISTER VILLALOBOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO MUCH! She is "mi mama" in the mission so I am sad to leave her... she has taken good care of me and taught me all I know :) Don't worry though we have already planned a backpacking trip for after the mission so you'll meet her someday... and LELILAH. She is a recent convert here who comes out with us ALL THE TIME and takes us out to eat. She seriously has the biggest heart. I'm so blessed to be here with great people. She is the one who texted you saturday :) We BIKED ALL DAY (saturday is now bike day) and we were EXHAUSTED so we went out to a delicious chinese buffet. I was a tomato! I'm suprised I haven't gotten super burnt here. The Lord is blessing me.

This week was honestly a week of MIRACLES. Seriously I have never seen the hand of the Lord so OBVIOUS in my life. These are stories for another day so you'll just have to take my word for it :) THE ONE INVESTIGATOR THAT WE HAVE BEEN WORKING WITH HAS A BAPTISMAL DATE FOR OCTOBER 31ST! We are soooooooooo excited for him. He is prepared and ready. Everytime he is talking to someone about us he refers to us as "his angels." It's really kind of special to think about being someone's angel... but when we turn ourselves and what we do over to God every day, we can become those angels/servants for God. This isn't a missionary thing - this is an every person thing. This is a YOU thing. Everytime you work for God, you are His angel. I love that Spencer W. Kimball quote that talks about - God meeting our needs through other people.

Anywho! I am sad to miss his baptism. I am sad to leave Laredo but I know God has other things in store down in McAllen. The area I'll be working in is called Weslaco. Everyone I've talked to about Weslaco LOVES IT! I'm really excited. My companion will be Sister Sigler and she has been out for five months. It is about 50% Spanish and 50% English. I'm excited!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE YOU ALLLLLLLLLLLLLL

2 NEPHI 27:23

ENOS 1:1 (switch "father" with "parents")

THE BIGGEST GRAPEFRUITS YOU HAVE EVER SEEN!!!!

WELL HELLO THERE! Thank you for your email! I LOVE LOVE LOVE reading them. I apologize because I only have fifteen minutes left to write!

JON LOOKS SO SKINNY!!!!!!!!!!! I WAS LIKE ?QUIEN ES ESO? HE LOOKS REALLY GOOD AND HAPPY!!!!! That is so amazing. I love that kid. He never writes me though so thank you for forwarding emails!

MOM WAY TO BE A MISSIONARY! You are seriously better than I am at this work! Way to go! That is so cool! Could you write this in it for her:

"Se que las palabras en este libro son las palabras de Dios. Testifico que cuando lea este libro puede ser mas cerca de Dios. Se que lo bendicira su vida mucho. Me cae bien su hijo Jorge! El es muy amable y divirtido!"

That is awesome that you had the missionarys over! What did you cook them?! That will be great for the exchange students. The members here have started inviting us over more = :) :) :) Tonight we are going over to a brazilian members house and I hear really good things about her cooking so I'm excited. I'm also excited because through the members is where the best missionary work happens.

This week was good! It had some hard moments and some good moments. We went on exchanges this week for my first time. I went with Sister Bevan and she is AMAZING. It was fun to work with her and see how she does things because everyone is so different. President Trayner came up from McAllen to do interviews. It was good to talk with him and Sister Trayner. Transfers are next Tuesday... I have almost survived my first transfer in the field!!!! Crazy eh? I think I will be staying here in Laredo with Sister Villalobos... or at least I hope anyway.

The one investigator I was talking about didn't come to church this week :/ I hope he is okay. We have an appointment to come back tomorrow so we'll see what is up. That is the hardest thing when people start out so strong and then slip away... like Jon was talking about the guy that didn't want to get baptized anymore. It is rough but we just keep moving - like he said everyone has their agency. I realized this week how much I need to be working on to become more like Christ. Every moment and every thought of this life counts. I'm so grateful for this experience to be out here. Thank you and Grandma and Grandpa Palmer for making this possible. I am grateful every day.

Oh yeah!!!!!!!!!!! THIS WEEK WE WERE OUT CONTACTING AND THIS GRANDMA LET US INTO HER HOUSE AND GAVE US THE BIGGEST GRAPEFRUITS YOU HAVE EVER SEEN! THEY WERE FRESH FROM HER TREE IN THE BACKYARD AND WERE AS BIG AS A MELON!!!!!!!!! AND SO GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD! I'LL SEND PICTURES :)

LOVE YOU ALL!

TAKE CARE!

P.S. WILL YOU TEXT BLAKELEY HAPPY BDAY FOR ME? OR ON FACEBOOK HAHA AND TELL HER TO WRITE ME SOMETHING B/C I DON'T HAVE HER ADDRESS

THE BAPTISM WAS AMAZING! The Lord works miracles.

WELLO (WELL HELLO HAHA) MAMA!!!!!

Okay I have so much to write I need like TEN HOURS TO FIT IT ALL IN! I'm going to speed type for you all. Conference was amazing right?

Okay so we had a BAPTISM AND IT WAS AMAZING! The Lord works miracles. It was amazing how calm and at peace she was later in the week when we talked to her. We had all been praying for her to feel at ease with the decision... and the Lord works according to our faith :) Her husband was able to baptize her on Saturday. It went perfect. She asked me to give a talk on baptism and I was honored. It was my first time speaking at a baptism. She came up out of the water and I knew she was clean. What a great feeling. They are planning to go to the Temple in a year with their little girl. Miracles happen.

The one investigator we met last week continues to amaze me. SOOOOOO many times people tell us "yeah come back next week..." but then they are NEVER there... but he was there and he had READ the pamphlet about the gospel. We had an amazing lesson about faith using Alma 32 and Ether 12. I can see the light and hope enter into his eyes already. We invited him to prepare for baptism and he is thinking about it. We also invited him to conference... and HE CAME..,.. and listened intently to the WHOLE thing. It was amazing. He did look at his watch once. Afterwards he told us that he loved it. He said that he felt like they were speaking DIRECTLY to him. It was Saturday afternoon session which talked a lot about faith... and I know the Lord specifically had him in mind while directing the speakers... so he is starting to feel it and each day I can see his smile is a little brighter. I really, really wish you and dad were serving down here as the senior missionaries... because honestly him and dad are SO MUCH ALIKE! He reminds me of Dad all the time and the things he has gone through. I was thinking as he was talking to us - "Dad would be the perfect member to take to these lessons." But anywho he is doing so well and I can't wait for you and Dad to serve a mission someday BECAUSE YOU ARE GOING TO LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!

So I have had some really interesting tracting stories from this week. First we were speaking with this lady at her door about the restoration.. in Spanish. I was explaining prophets and all of a sudden I hear my companion SCREAM... and I was like uh oh... and I look down and there was a GIANT HUGE GRUB WORM crawling past her feet on the portch. It was seriously three inches long and a half an inch wide. I have never seen one so big in my life. The owner kicks it to the side and we keep talking. Well Sister Villalobos invited her to be baptized and so the lady was thinking... and thinkking... and then all of a sudden she starts screaming hahaha I was like what in the world is going on around here... the bug decided to make another appearance. This time the woman gets her broom and procedes to golf it off the porch... we gave her a card and went on our merry way.

Second happened yesterday. A man opened his door and we introduced ourselves. He then asked us these questions

-Are you all pretty close?
-uhhhh sure.. yeah?

-Do you share things together?
-umm... not really but sometimes

-Would you ever share you husband?

Oh my goodness it was so ridiculous. It was really creepy and not a good conversation with him. I just thought it was funny though because he must have spent a long time thinking up those questions. No husband sharing for me!

Okay one last thing... THE COCHROACHES ARE CRAZY! We deep cleaned our apartment and found like 100 in the cupboard dead. We proabably kill one a day but they are small little buggers so it's not a big deal. The mosquitos are crazy and eat me like crazy. They are out at all times of the day--I don't get it!

Well I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I SURVIVED FOUR WEEKS OUT HERE SO FAR WOOOOOOOOOT WOOT!!!

TAKE CARE!

LOVE,
HERMANA BRICKER

send my love to everytooonea;sdfj!!!!!!!!!!1

I'VE NEVER BEEN SO HAPPY IN MY LIFE

Laredo was great this week! It went by SUPER fast. I can't believe it. We met some really great people this week. The first door I knocked on this week, the guy opened the door and was like "what do you want?" he was super stand-offish and didn't want anything to do with me haha... which is normal.. but the more I talked with him about life and Jesus Christ, the more he opened up. He started talking to me about the terrible time he has been having for most of his life - and especially lately with finances. He started talking to me about how he had no faith left in God. He had been praying for help for the longest time and didn't feel like God was coming to the rescue. He told me just as he was doing the dishes that he was thinking really negative and how he wanted to end his life... and then he heard a knock at the door... and there I was. He started crying. I told him that a lot of the time God doesn't answer prayers in the way we expect. By the end of the conversation he said he knew God had sent us there to talk with him. We are going over tomorrow again. I hope we can help him build his faith again. It was just amazing to me that the Lord really does have people prepared and that need His message. It was a blessing to me to be able to work for Him in that moment and know that I was sent by Him specifically for someone in need.

THE LORD HAS A BAPTISM THIS SATURDAY! She reminds me of Chris - well in girl form. She has lots of great questions every time we go over and I learn a lot. She has great faith in God and desires to receive the cleanliness that comes from baptism. She is really nervous about it though so... if you want keep her in your prayers.

The couple I talked about last week are doing good. They won't come to church though. It is super sad. Her family is devout catholic and are giving her a really hard time about it... so she is hesitating now... but that is okay. We will keep praying and working hard to help her come closer to Christ.

Well the missionary work is GREAT! We went out knocking for four hours yesterday and it was AWESOME. We met a lot of great people who are interested and ready for the gospel. The Lord is truely preparing people all the time. We also met a lot of interesting folks... one who started speaking to us in "tougues" and encouraged us to try it sometime :)

Oh my goodness the food is DELICIOUS. We had dinner with the Soliz family this week. Everything they cooked was amazing. They are having us over again this week for some official mexican carne asada... so excited!!! My companion is teaching me how to make authentic enchiladas this week.

The work is hard but I LOVE IT. I've never been so happy in my life. I make a lot of mistakes and I'm definitley not perfect at anything but I don't know why, I'm just happy. The language is coming slowly but surely... I'd say I understand about 60%...but when it comes to speaking I'm probably 30-40%.... some day though. I can relate to Jon when he said sometimes I feel like I'm doing everything wrong... and haha for me a lot of the time it is true. But I'm grateful for those experiences because they keep me humble. I will never forget what Jill said in YW's:

"Every door in the Gospel hinges on humility"

or something like that - but its true!!!! It's all about being humble and teachable.

Gotta run BUT I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!! I KNOW THIS GOSPEL IS TRUE. I KNOW GOD AND CHRIST LIVE. I KNOW WE WILL ALL SEE THEM AGAIN SOMEDAY.

TAKE CARE!

HOLA!
It is good to hear what is going on there in Olympia. I can't believe it rained for ten days straight! Well actually I can believe it haha... it has been raining here too. I keep telling people that it reminds me of home :) It makes it a little trickier to go contact people.

Okay well this week went by CRAZY fast!!!!!!!!!!! We had a lot of conferences and training all over the place. We went to Corpus Cristi and McAllen. I missed Laredo though because it is amazing! It was funny reading Jon's email because it is so true, you really get attached to an area and the people there. While my companion was gone I went on splits with a member who is 17 and just got baptized like 5 months ago. We had scheduled a recent convert lesson and so it was just me and her... and it was ALL in Spanish... so I was a little nervous without my "mother" as we call our companions who train us. But Heavenly Father helped us out and it was all good. The young lady I went with is amazing and has such a strong testimony. She took me out to eat at Arby's afterwards - so nice.

My first mexican meal was PASOLE! It was DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!! It is soup with homony and pork and it is SUPER DELICIOUS!!!! Speaking of food! We went to visit an investigator and she just so happened to be making apples covered in tamorindo. We helped her finish the ones she was making and she showed us how too!!!! Okay so you take an apple and scoop out the inside. Then you swipe some sugar inside and stuff it with fresh mango. Then you get this stuff that is red - kind of like strawberry fruit roll-up but some mexican candy - and spread it around the outside... then you roll it in the tamorindo/chile powder stuff and you are done. It is their version of carmeled apples :) I didn't think it was going to be good because it looked spicy from the outside - BUT IT WAS SOOOOOOOOOO DELICIOUS!!!! Sorry it is a bad description but I'll send pics soon.

Okay, well we have some really AMAZING investigators right now. We met this one couple through a door contact. When we asked them later what they were expecting from our visits they said "we just want to see if you had more to offer/add"... and of course we were like YES WE DO!!!! When we later taught lesson one about prophets and Joseph Smith... we asked her if she believed Joseph Smith was a prophet and she said yes right away.... I was like wait a second, that isn't what people usually say! I am amazed by their faith. We asked her if she wanted to get baptized... and she said she already was... so we have to clear that issue up a bit but I have faith it will all work out :) God is so good!

I know this church is true.
I wouldn't be out here working, working, working if I didn't know this would bring so much joy to people's lives.

I LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HELLO MY BEAUTIFUL FAMILY AND FRIENDS!

P.S. MY MISSION PRESIDENT IS THE SAME PERSON AS DAD. THEY REMIND ME SO MUCH OF EACH OTHER IT IS CRAZY. THEY NEED TO MEET SOMEDAY

Okay SO ABOUT TEXAS!!!!!!!!!!

HOLA MADRE Y FAMILIA!!!!!!!

COMO ESTAN?!?!?! First I would like to apologize because things have seriously been crazy lately. I'm sorry about not being able to talk for very long in the airport :( I had such high hopes of being able to talk to you and Dad, Debbie, Sarah... but oh well that is just how it goes sometimes. I was thinking about it and Christmas is only 3 months away so it will go quick :)

First of all that is so sad about Garrett. I didn't know he joined the church! I was little when I knew him but I remember him as always being jolly.... I don't know if that is the right word but he was always so nice. Tell his mom that I will be praying for her and that the Plan of Salvation is real. She will see him again one day. It is all possible because of our Savior Jesus Christ. I have been soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo blessed this week through being able to talk to many many people about Him.

Your trip to Mt. Rainier looked GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And it looks like you are having tons of fun with the exchange students.

Okay SO ABOUT TEXAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My trainer is Hermana Villalobos :) She is AMAZING and so fun. She is from Mexico City and is fluent in Spanish, English, French and Italian. Hermana Villalobos is seriously an angel because she is so patient with my Spanish and all my mistakes haha and very encouraging so that is nice. I'll try and send a picture soon. She has been out for three months and I'm brand new so I was a little worried when President Trayner said that but things are going great! The Lord knows what He is doing so as long as we rely on Him, everything will work out.

My first contact:
When we were driving to Laredo... we were at a gas station and we went to talk to this guy who was walking to his car. He shut us down pretty quick :) But it was good first experience!

Okay so yes Laredo is right here by the border! Next pday I want to go eat lunch at the river or something :) We are in the Laredo north area which is actually the rich part of town. The houses are all SUPER nice. A lot of the people work for border patrol. The people here are super nice. Even when turning us down contacting they are nice about it. Most people believe in Jesus Christ down here so that is nice. A lot of people say we can come back but then are never there... so I'm just trying to understand what I need to be doing better to explain this message and the eternal signifigance of it. I'm having a hard time learning Spanish. It is hard for me to switch from one house to the next - speaking Spanish here and then English there... It's like trying to quit smoking but then surrounding myself with smokers... hahaha okay weird analogy but it is hard. But I need to get better and be willing to be wrong all the time w/ grammer/words... because I am haha. Someday it will come!

SO the heat actually isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I think the Lord has been blessing me with the ability to work through it because people say to me "oh man it is SO HOT right now" and I'm just like hmmm it's not too bad actually. So definitly a blessing from God. Many people give us water here and I AM SO APPRECIATIVE... BECAUSE I SWEAT LIKE NOTHING BEFORE.

Okay so I'll tell you a story :) We were contacting my second day out here. I was with a recent convert. We were walking back to the car and we saw a woman bringing jugs of water into her house. So we went to go help her. She invited us to sit down and have a drink of water. The convert went to go get my companion who was at the next house. So I was standing there at the door talking to her BY MYSELF IN SPANISH. All I could do was ask random questions like "donde trabaja?" "cuantos son en su familia?" things like that and she was just smiling and giggling at my Spanish. She was so cute though. She said that the reason she let me/us in was that she felt prompted by the Spirit that I needed water.
She was the cutest lady and I am so grateful for her kindness and charity for us. I hope we can teach her again someday.

Okay well I have to go BUT I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH AND I WILL WRITE YOU DEBBIE AND SARAH PROMISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


HERMANAN BRICKER

I PRAY FOR YOU!!!!!!!

MOM THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE FOOD!!!!! I NEEDED IT BIG TIME! I'M LEARNING THAT WE REALLY DON'T HAVE TOO MUCH MONEY OUT HERE!

September 7, 2010

Brother & Sister Bricker,

We had the privilege of meeting your daughter, Sister Bricker when she arrived at the McAllen International Airport. She looked great and appears very anxious to go to work.
We are grateful to have Sister Bricker in the Texas McAllen Mission. Already she has impressed us as a well-prepared young woman with a great spirit and a desire to serve the Lord. She has had excellent training and orientation at the Missionary Training Center in Provo in preparing for her missionary labors here in South Texas. Your support from home will be of great value to her as she serves her mission.

Her first assignment area is in the Laredo Zone. Her first companion is Sister Villalobos who is from Mexico. She is an outstanding missionary, and your daughter will receive excellent training under her direction. Their mail address is as follows:
4420 Loring Ave #9
Laredo, TX 78040

We thank you for sharing your daughter with us. We are confident that she will bless the lives of many people here in South Texas while serving as a missionary. May the Lord bless you abundantly while she is in the mission field and always.

With warm regards,
President Stephen J. Trayner
Sister Sandy Trayner
Texas McAllen Mission

OKAY SO I LEAVE THIS MONDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here are the stats:

SLC (8;25am)->Dallas(12:05pm)
Dallas(1:30)->McAllen(3:00pm)
American Airlines

SOOOOOOOO I will probably be at the airport about 6:30 utah time... so I'll probably give you a call around six your time? If that is okay? You'll probably be up right? I'll try the house :) I'm excited to talk to you!!!!!! I wish it was later in the day so I could practice my Spanish with the exchange students. Then hopefully when I'm in Dallas, I can call Debbie and Sarah and chat for a bit :) So be by your phones if you are available at those times!!!!!!!! Woooooo hoooooooooo! I can't believe I'm leaving SO SOON!!!!!!!!!! My mission is just flyiiiiiiiiing by already... I'm excited but nervous at the same time. I know I'm going to have a HUGE CULTURE SHOCK FROM BEING SURROUNDED by only missionaries for the past two months haha... BUT I CAN'T WAIT TO GET OUT AND BE ACTIVE AND WALKING AND TALKING TO PEOPLE ABOUT THE GOSPEL!!!!!! QUE BUENO!!!!!!!!!!!

It sounds like that slide show was really great, I WANT TO SEE IT!!!!!!!!!!! That is awesome you gave them un libro de mormon! Tell them: "se que JesuCristo vive ahora. se que Lo vendra otra vez. El Libro de Mormon es un otro testamento de JesuCristo... y a traves JesuCristo podemos regresar con nuestras familias a Dios otra vez... cuando yo veo el Libro de Mormon, tengo feliz y paz siempre. Esperanso que lean mas en este libro :) Esperanso encontrar ustedes algun dia! Lo siento porque mi espanol no esta bueno... pero yo trato :) Tengan buenas dias!"

GREAT NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALAN GOT BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!! It was seriously the neatest experience of my life... I can't wait to feel that in the field. Mom way to go giving your friend a Book of Mormon!!!!! You are awesome and I'm proud to call you my mother!!!!!!

OKAY I DON'T HAVE TIME BUT LET ME SUMMARIZE MY GREAT WEEK:
-JEFFERY R. HOLLAND CAME FOR DEVOTIONAL LAST TUESDAY!!!!!!!!!!!! TALKA BOUT A HUMBLING EXPERIENCE SITTING AT THE FOOT OF AN APOSTLE OF JESUS CHRIST
-SARAH SENT ME GLUTEN FREE SPICE BARS AND WE ALL CHOWED DOWN THEY WERE DELICIOUS... NOW I HAVE 5 MORE POUNDS HAHA
-WHEN PLAYING BASEBALL WITH THIS WEEK, THE BALL HIT ME IN THE ANKLE AND I HAVE THE COOLEST BRUISE IN THE WORLD... I WAS SOOOO EXCITED. THE ELDER FELT REALLY BAD SO I HAD TO EXPLAIN TO HIM THAT I ACTUALLY WAS REALLY EXCITED TO HAVE IT


I am running out of tim ebut tell Debbie thanks for the dear elder!!!!!!!!!!!! love ya and will call soon!!!!

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!

GOD IS GOOD! I KNOW HE IS THERE FOR YOU EVERY MINUTE OF EVERY DAY! SEEK HIM!!!!!!!

LES QIERO

WELL HELLO THERE MADRE AND WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!

So this week has been pretty good!!! I have to agree with Jon that some days are better than others. It is hard sometimes and I'll write you an excerpt from my journal that explains it:

I was having a hard time later in the day while we were teaching with the Elders... I was hot and tired and wasn't in the 'mood' I guess to teach (aka didn't have the Spirit)... when I prayed to God to help me through.. as I prayed, 'Nearer my God to Thee' came into my head. At that moment I was so greatly comforted by that hymn. God blessed me to remember that is what hard moments are about - coming closer to God... Mas cerca Dios de Ti... mas cerca Ti...

The Savior lives, I know it because I feel it everyday in my life. Thanks so much about the D&C 84:77. That is one of my greatest desires is to have the Savior call me His friend. You're a good one mom :) Thanks for all your support for me.

This week I had a lot of fun moments. I met a Hermana Christensen this week and we are AMIGAS ALREADY!!!!!!!!!! She is so crazy and I love her haha. She just left today for KENNEWICK MISSION!!!!!!!!!!! I told her that is where I was born and we were excited. I would have told her to say hi to everyone for me but she will be in Spanish branches I'm sure. She was in the advanced Spanish course so she helped me with my Spanish haha. BY THE WAY THE NEXT TWO WEEKS I WILL BE SPEAKING 80 PERCENT IN SPANISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! UH OH HAHAHA. I try my best and that is all I can do... only two more weeks in the MTC it is crazyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy but i'm really looking forward to getting out into the world... even though it is going to be a major shell shock from being in the same mile radius of only missionaries haha.

Okay something exciting this week is that our progressing investigator Alan is getting baptized this Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!! Woooooooo! We introduced the Word of Wisdom to him and he was hesitant at first... but later while thinking about it he said he was willing to take that step of faith. Ah the gospel is great. Tomorrow we go to the TRC to teach the Plan of Salvation in Spanish. I love that knowledge. Families can be together forever :)

I LOVE YOU ALL MUCHO MUCHO MUCHO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh p.s. I met Ses Maiava's neice yesterday at the mtc!!!

SOOOOOOOOO GOOD TO HEAR FROM YOU!!!!!! I know I really missed having an email from you last week but I got your post card and it was great! Nothing like a cemetary in Idaho to brighten my spirits!!!!! hahaha I'm just giving you a bad time, I really did love it! I didn't get too much mail this week so it was quite the treasure to recieve that! I'm excited that Dad caught his limit this year... and I figured the fishing wouldn't be too good because I wasn't there :) God is saving it for when I get back :) haha just kidding. OH MY GOODNESS GOAT FUDGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU ARE KIDDING! THAT IS THE BEST THING I'VE HEARD ALL DAY (well besides the recitation of the first vision... sorry I'm a missionary now those things are really exciting :)) TELL LANCE THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!!!!! I'M SOOOOOOOOO EXCITED FOR IT TO COME!!!!!! WOOOOO HOOOOOO. MY COMPANIONS WILL BE EXCITED TAMBIEN :)

TELL THE NEW STUDENTS HELLO! I just got a letter from Chelsea from Japan. She is doing great! What city is he from in Japan? Wooo and tell the spanish speakers "Hola, como estas? Por favor traducira mi cartas por mi madre? Bienvinidos a Washington!" That is awesome. Send pics when you can! Actually I got like 100 from dad so there are probably some in there - I hope I'll have time to look at them all!!!!!

OKAY SO THIS WEEK I HAVE STORIES!

SO in order to not gain weight here, I only have treats on fridays... they always rotate desserts and we never know what we are having... and I have been telling my companions that I really really want pumpkin pie and that it is my favorite... and GUESS WHAT?! THIS FRIDAY THEY FINALLY HAD PUMPKIN PIE FOR DESSERT!!!!!! My companions were freaking out and went and got me a piece before I even sat down at the table because they knew how much I love it... that is true love right there :) So that was a highlight of my week haha :)

Okay and lots of Spanish mishaps this week. Okay so we were teaching an "investigator" Luis the first lesson. I was sharing with him about prophets and the importance of prophets (all in Spanish). I go to look up Amos 3:7 in my Spanish scriptures... but it is taking a while because they are new... so my companion Hermana Harrison says to me "Amos 3:7 right?" and opens her scriptures to it and has him start to read. As he was reading I thought it sounded a little weird but didn't question because most of the time Spanish sounds wierd to me... when he was done I asked him "so from this verse, what can we learn about prophets?" He just starts laughing and laughing... and I'm thinking "ohhhh no... what scripture did we give him..." Apperently my companion marked AMOS 4:7 instead of AMOS 3:7... look it up :) Maybe you would have had to be there for it to be funny haha but it was in the moment.

Pues, tengo tres semanas mas aqui en Provo. Estoy ANIMADO estar en Texas. I'm trying to use my spanish more but it takes too long. oh exciting news!!!!!!!!!! We set a baptisimal date with Alan one of our investigators. Probably one of the most exciting moments of my life... and its not even the real deal yet. This work is great! I love being a missionary for the Savior. I couldn't do anything without Him...

LOVE YOU!!!!

HELLO FAMILY DEBBIE, SARAH, STEVE, MIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOVE YOU ALLL SO MUCH


SAY HI TO BLAKELEY IF YOU SEE HER OR HAVE YOU HEARD FROM HER?

MY FAVORITE FOODS - EN ESPANOL