Bike Daze and Rain - August 5, 2013

Hello Family and Friends!

So we don't have much time today, becasue this computer is SUPeR slow, and the library is closing really soon! (sorry in advance for typos! and hopefully I'll get extra pictures to you next week) 

But first of all CONGRATS to William (my favorite brother) for graduating!  We'll be twins with college degrees now bro!! :D

And also to answer a few questions sent to me:

1) I've not yet gotten my bike back! But, I'm still using the one from Walmart an elder left and I've made it my own by putting a little water bottel holder on there made of duct tape! :P

2) We love our new home we're in! It's been about a month now, and we all have at least another month to live there! It's funny because it's the Methodist Parsonage, and we are certified ministers right now, but we don't go to the church we're attached to lol (but they are some of the NICEST people we've met in town. :D It's great to be their neighbors)

3) And yep, my companions and I usually do go out alone, but sometimes we get to go out with other church members too so we can cover more ground and visit some more people. We have our little area that is assigned to us, and the Elders in our branch are assigned to be in town (Artesia) so we don't overlap much... But transfers happened last week and we now have only Spanish missionaries in Artesia, so we have missionaries that can speak the language of most of the people that live out by us lol.

So yeah! It's awesome, this past week has been amazing (as usual), and as you can tell by the title of this letter, it RAINED this week!

To preface this story you have to know a couple things:
1- we are so far away from EVERYTHING out here that we drive a lot, and we try our best to get out on bikes as much as we can

2- it has rained before, but never with the EPIC timing it had this past Wednesday.

We usually have bike day on Thursday, but we tried to have extra bike time on Wednesday to cut down on the amount of miles we have been using, and we got caught in a little downpour on our way home for dinner. It's sooooooo dry here normally, so we felt the humidity and then a few sprinkles, and then boom, the sky just opened up! Since there aren't even stoplights in our entire area (Dexter/Hagerman/Lake Arthur) there definitely aren't any storm drains, and there are ALWAYS some awesome puddles that form (and quickly leave when the sun comes out) on the roads. So since we were taking our break for dinner and we were already soaked from biking we splashed in the puddles for a good 15 minutes and Sister Johnson got pictures with her waterproof-lifeproof camera.

So yeah, whoever says missionaries don't have any fun... don't believe them, it's always fun! :D

The BEST part of the week though was (well teaching of course, it's our calling as missionaries!) but it was #1 recognizing Heavenly Father's hand in our planning and #2 AMAZING Scripture study time.

 

I've always loved my time with reading scriptures, but this week I just felt so lucky that we get an hour EVERY DAY to study the scriptures ourselves, and it still doesn't feel like enough time! Also, it is SO great that I can learn from TWO companions as we share what we learned during personal study with each other. I try to read one chapter from Proverbs each day during breakfast (because there are 31 chapters, one for each day of the month!), and then I read a little from Christ's life in the New Testament (our Baptist Preacher neighbor told us to read the Gospel of John, and think about what we really believe... it was one of the greatest studies of my life because it is SO amazing to me EVERY DAY just how much our Savior loves us, and how He did EVERYTHING in His life to glorify our Heavenly Father. I thought about the message that we are sharing with people and the good news of having a prophet called of God, today on the earth to testify of Jesus Christ and that we (all) have the opportunity every day to live our lives and try our best to make good choices to glorify our Father in Heaven... it's really great!), (sorry that was a long aside) but yeah, I spend most of my study time in the Book of Mormon, or trying to study by topic from Preach My Gospel. There is so much to learn!

Right now I'm in Acts in the New Testament, and it's so cool to read about Christ's apostles spreading the word, and all of the missionary work they did after His crucifixion, the trails they faced, and the power and courage with which they were able to bear testimony of Jesus Christ. I think it's also so amazing to read about the missionary work and similar trials the great missionaries in the Book of Mormon faced as they tried to spread the word about Jesus Christ as well.

I'm humbled every day as I put on my black name tag, and think about how great this message is that I have the opportunity to share! Jesus Christ is my Savior and my Redeemer, and He is because Heavenly Father loves His children so much! And our Father loves us so much that He's called prophets in these days to help us come back to Him, that there is more scripture testifying of Christ's love and the mercy we are able to receive from Him.

I love you all, and I'm so happy that I get to share just a part of this experience I'm having in this strange land with you. 

Love always,

Sister Lagrosa