Alooooha!
9/17/13
Hola familia!
This week has been quite the week.
Sounds like it has for you as well. Mom, you really should look into becoming a
doctor now, I have a hard time understanding all the medical stuff you say:)
Mom's make the best doctors anyways:) I could have used you the past few weeks.
The good news is though that i'm almost better. Sister Shin and others kept
trying to get me to go to the doctors to see if it was allergies but I knew from
what has happened with everyone else that has gone is that they would pass it
off as that anyways and give me the medicine, when I already new it was just a
bad cold virus. It took forever to get rid of though! No worries though I'm
pretty much back to normal. I am out of acute, flora, wheatgrass and only have
1 1/2 bottles of digestives left. I'll be ok till I get sick again
though:)
I can't believe how fast this
transfer is flying by! It doesn't help that everyone at the visitor center asks
me how long I have been out and when I tell them they say, "oh you don't
have much longer," or, "wow, your on the downhill now." Speaking
of people at the visitor center, you should be getting a visit from a family
that is in Uncle Lin's ward. They found out that I was from Highland and she
gave me a big hug, then we discovered that Uncle Lin was my uncle and that he
was their bishop! I don't remember their names but she was one of Aunt Debbie's
counselors in the Young Women Presidency. Haha, it was kind of fun to see them.
I didn't remember ever hearing that Uncle Lin was a Bishop either so that was a
shock too:) You may have told me and I just forgot:). I also have been seeing
Michelle Mitchell, my first roommate here at BYUH alot. She just got back from
her mission in Taiwan and she keeps freaking me out cause she keeps calling my
by my first name every time she sees me! That is seriously the weirdest
feeling! I am going to be so awkward when I come home...It's ok though. I love
being here more and more each day, and as difficult as it gets, I'm so grateful
for all the trials that continue to humble me and keep me on my toes to become
more like my Heavenly Father.
This week we have been working alot
with Beth and Angelina. Both of them would be baptized were it not for these
concerns that they just don't have the courage to face right now. Chelsea, I
liked your comparison with Lehi wandering in the wilderness for so long missing
out on so many blessings because of their own disobedience. Maybe that is
something they need to hear. We will definitely pray about that one. We did get
Nina (Angelina) to fast with us on Sunday. She says that she wants that desire
back but right now she just doesn't have it like she used to. She has some big
changes and difficult decisions to make that she definitely has been putting
off so we will continue to fast and pray and see how that one goes. Chelsea, we
need you here to befriend her too cause she really won't click with anyone here
in the ward so that is a hard thing as well. There is a new young couple that
just moved in though who maybe we will ask to see if they can befriend her a
bit.
This week we have also been trying
to get to know the ward a bit better to find more people whom we can go visit
and teach. One family we found who, according to the ward, we visited at just
the right time. They had been struggling to be active for a while now but never
really agreed to have the missionaries over to teach them, but just recently,
they had a tragic death in the family that has been really hard for them so
when we showed up on their doorstep on Sunday, they welcomed us in, fed us, and
agreed to have us come back and share a message with the family. They actually
said, "yeah, I think it would be really good for our family to hear some
messages, we need that." Our Ward Mission Leader was surprised and said we
must have come at just the right time. Our Heavenly Father certainly knows us
so personally!
In the Visitor Center, we continue
to see more and more miracles. One lady came in, Roxanne, the other day and got
her own "private tour" on the tram. When we first entered the Visitor
Center, she was so impressed with the Christus so we played the narration for
her and then asked her a few questions about it. Well she ended up telling us
how her husband had passed away four months ago and how this was the first
vacation she has gone on without him, and yet she didn't really feel alone. We
were able to talk to her about the Book of Mormon and talk a bit about the
Restoration and how because of the Restoration we have the ordinances in the
temple that can seal a family together forever. We gave her a copy of the Book
of Mormon and invited her to read and pray about it. She said she would and
although she wasn't comfortable with having the missionaries come visit her,
she agreed to allow us to keep in contact with her and even took a picture with
us:) She told us how she can feel her husband looking out for her all the time
and I just know that he was on the other side, telling her to get on that tram
at that time and to take the Book of Mormon when we offered it. I'm so excited
for her to have the gospel in her life! I wish I had time to share all the
other miracles we have seen as well! It's so fun to be a missionary:)
This week is also going to be a full
week. Tonight, my baby (sister Cavalcante:) is going to see the night show at
the Polynesian Cultural Center, so I get to team up with Sister Peterson and
teach some YSA investigators:) I miss doing that so that will be fun. Tomorrow
we are doing service at Pearl Harbor again which Sister Cavalcante is super
excited about since it is her first time. And Saturday is when Elder Holland
comes! That is the meeting I'm saying the opening prayer for mom, not Elder
Nelson's. I'm pretty sure we will all get to meet him since it is only the
missionaries on this Island who are coming. I wish it was broadcast so you
could all see it too but I will for sure take good notes:) I'm so
excited!
As far as my Spanish goes, it is
still a work in progress. The more I work, the more I progress...jeje:) I do
love being able to talk with Sister Cavalcante though. She is really good at
putting sentences together and she has enough confidence to talk even if it is
wrong. She adds Portuguese every once in a while but they are so similar that
it is right a lot of the time anyways. She has given me more confidence too and
for language study we spend a lot of time role playing in Spanish or just
talking as much as we can. It has been so good for me even though I still
struggle a lot, I can understand, and express myself a bit better. I just wish
we had more opportunities to speak to others. We haven't really seen any real
Spanish speakers since we got hear. Maybe only 2 or 3. Oh well, we just keep
going. I know I am going to look back on this someday and everything will be
clear to me why I was put in this situation. I am still so grateful though. I
love the opportunities I have here. PS. I do have my Guatemalan flag now. I'll
take a picture one of these days so you can see it :)
Well I love you all so much and
continue to pray for you each and every day. Always remember that it is those
times where it is impossible to see a light at the end of the tunnel when we
just put our hand in the hand of the Lords and continue to walk. It's ok to
stop and cry every once in a while. I know that He cries with us when that
happens, but there will always be a way to take another step, simply because we
have to. How grateful I am for the Atonement that provides us the comfort and
strength we need as we do so. He truly has "borne our griefs and carried
our sorrows" so that he can help us when we ask him and need it. I love
you all so much and continue to pray for you always! This Gospel is true, the
Atonement is real, prayer works and the Book of Mormon is so powerful!
Les Quiero Mucho,
Hemana Rowley (Shayla)
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