Week 18-Transfer 2

Alooooooooha!

This week has lasted so long it seems! Mom, Sis Patlingrao coming back from full pros just means that she spent the last two transfers in Maui as a full proselyting missionary. Sorry for not explaining that more:) My friend here said that you just need to download a converter off the Internet in order to convert the file for the recorder thing. He said there are some pretty decent free ones you can get. Ill continue to record though and send it to you if you can't get it figured out. Sis Patlingrao, my new companion, is such a great missionary! She is a sweet little Filipino who has such a strong testimony and a drive for missionary work. I've already learned so much from her. I do miss Hermana though. I really have been thrown into the Spanish deep end! The day after Hermana left she sent me a text saying she was at the airport and she wasn't able to call her family and she wanted me to call them and tell them she was going to be home at 830. WHAT?! She knows as well as anyone that speaking another language over the phone is as hard as anything! Well, I said a prayer and went into the referral center and called up her Spanish speaking family in Guatemala. Lets just say that I sure hope they got the message cause I could barely hear them let alone understand them. I guess if they didn't then Hermana Rodriguez may still be at the airport waiting for them.

Also that day I received a shock when a family who didn't understand any English came in to the Visitor Center speaking Spanish. Of course everybody came to me and said "Hermana, Spanish!" I fumbled away with my first Spanish tour by myself and afterwards went into the bathroom to cry. I admit that I felt so alone and scared and overwhelmed that day. Since then my Spanish scripture reading and language study has definitely been put into overdrive. Sister Patlingrao has been so good at helping me as much as she can. Tagalog and Spanish both use the same numbers and colors and so she is happy she can at least help me with that:) Either that night or the next was my first lesson with Franchesca (the girl from Peru that Hermana and I had been teaching) with Sis Pat. I think it was actually the best lesson we have had with her yet since she was trying to speak in as much English as she could for Sis Pat's sake and she didn't switch from topic to topic like she usually does:) We helped her understand how important a testimony of the Book of Mormon was and how she needed to pray to receive an answer. 

The real Spanish miracles for me happened yesterday and today! Yesterday when I was at the VC, one of the tram tours came carrying a couple from Argentina. I found them as they were looking through a BOM and was able, with terrible grammar and broken Spanish, to explain what the Book of Mormon was. How it contains the words of God, another testament of Jesus Christ, just like the Bible and how it was about the people in South and Central America. It's always cool to tell people that it is about their people:) He was really interested so I asked if he would like missionaries to come to his home in Argentina and share more about the BOM and Jesus Christ and he said YES! I actually think I like giving tours in Spanish better than in English because I say as little as I can and then it really is the Holy Ghost that takes over. Today, just a few minutes ago, Sis. Adamson called me in cause there was a group from Spain in the VC. I went in and talked to them a bit and was almost able to understand everything! I asked if they would like to learn more and they said they were on a long trip and wouldn't be back til May. I said "Esta Bien!" They just laughed and said no thanks but they did leave their information so we can call them again and reinvite them. I have no idea why the Lord wants me to do this, but I am so grateful He trusts me enough to learn Spanish enough to teach these people. Good news about Brandon, He got his Aaronic priesthood and temple recommend to do baptisms on Sun!!!!!!!! If it was appropriate to clap in church, I would have been clapping when they announced it! It's so fun to see him progress like that.

Alexa, never stop smiling, even if you don't want to:) I love you so much and am so proud of you for your strength through all of this. Just know that no matter how bleak things seem right now, Heavenly Father is shaping you into the person he wants you to become. After all, the purpose of this life is to prepare to meet God so that we can be like He is when we see Him again. Because He suffered the Atonement, He knows exactly what you are going through and is the only one who can give you the strength through all this (Alma 7:11-12). I think that as you turn to the Savior, your burdens become lighter because he is able to help you understand the why. He is able to help you see a little more of what he wants you to become. I love you Alexa. I love you all. This Gospel, the Atonement, is real. It changes lives and people. I pray for you every day and send aaaaalllllll my love with this email:).

Les Amo!
Hermana Rowley (Shayla)

Goodbye Hermana