"Oh the greatest day that I can say..." - September 23, 2013

Howdy Family and Friends!
 

Wow, this week was just so filled with adventures, and amazingness that I don't even know where to begin!
 

I guess I can start with some fun Midland facts form the perspective of a missionary:
 

1. You need to have SEASON tickets to watch the HIGH SCHOOL football games here! (This is the home of Friday night lights... so I guess it makes sense. :P)
 

2. Gutters on houses and in the streets are non-existent here, so when it rains there are a bunch of awesome puddles! (And it TOTALLY rained on bike day this week, so we had some fun). Also, there is a LOT of oil on the streets, so it kind of looks like it fell out of the sky when there's little rivers running all around!
 

3. EVERYONE works all the time here, so it's hard to keep set appointments with people, and for our investigators to make it to church on Sundays. But if you want to make $12-14/hour at McDonalds, this is the place to live.
 

4. Alice told us the other day "I hope y'all are keepin' in contact with your families! Yo mommas need to hear from you! We're family too, while your here I can be yo momma, I'm yo big momma!" She is an amazing lady, and we were able to start teaching her this week! And she really listens to the Spirit! :D
 

5. Weather changes here are very different from any other place I've ever lived! So, I'm now playing a game called "How much Vitamin C can sister Lagrosa take?" ... okay not really, but I've developed this allergy/cold complex in my sinuses where I'm stuffed up, but can still breathe out of my nose. Anyway, that's probably more than you wanted to know, but my companion, Sister Tooley, gave me some of her Peppermint Essential oils last night to just rub across my face, and WOW, it cleared them faster (and less painfully) than the 7 habeneros I ate a couple months ago! I call it "Christmas Face" because my face felt like it was made of candy canes. It was nice, and I got to sleep without snoring :P

Okay, so now for the REAL fun stuff!

This was such an amazing week, and it was truly a test of faith. We have been working so hard here the past 2 weeks, and it's so wonderful because there is just so much amazing work to do! I'm feeling so humbled to see God's hand in the everything, from timing to the chain of events leading us to meet the amazing people that we get to meet!
 

We've been teaching a lot, and doing quite a bit of work with less-active members of the church, trying to help them to remember their faith, and rekindle that fire that only the Spirit can bring into their lives. We've also been working hard with some of the more active members helping them to remember that they are loved, and encourage them to continue building their faith and reaffirm their testimonies as they find opportunities to share them with others.
 

We've also been trying to do finding to increase our teaching pool, and help share our special message with those who have not yet been able to sit down with missionaries. This is HARD work! I continually feel blessed to have such positive companions, because we are able to help keep each other motivated when appointments fall through or when people just don't really want to hear our message.
 

But, we have been able to see many amazing miracles this week! We've been able to be bold with our message, invite people to be bold with their faith, and promise blessings from being obedient to God's commandments.
 

On that rainy bike day we had a lesson with a woman named Jennifer, and the Spirit was so strong as we shared the Restoration with her that before Sister Turner even had the chance to finish an invitation to baptism (after Jennifer had come to know for herself that our message is true), she said "Yes! Yes!"
 

Also, we had an amazing experience with a man named Joe (the brother of Alice from my last letter). He's been going through a rough time, and we talked with him about the Book of Mormon, and how reading it will bless his life. We told him that as he read an prayed to know if it was the word of God that he would get an answer, and that, even though he would still be going through trials in this life, that he will see blessings come from his reading. After we shared that with him, we talked about prayer, and he said "I'm just tired, and I don't even know what to pray for anymore."
 

We told him that Heavenly Father's answers come in time, but they would come. And, it felt so amazing to tell Joe that one prayer Heavenly Father ALWAYS answers immediately is: "Do you love me?" When we were talking about this an I asked him to try it, the Spirit was so strong there testifying that Heavenly Father loves all of His children. It was so wonderful, I can't even describe it, but we were all (Joe, myself, my companions) crying right there in the parking lot.
 

I wish I could share more with you about the rest of the week, but my time is up!
 

Next week I'll have to tell you about our experience with Samantha.
 

Of everything I learned this week, the most impressing thing on my mind has been that Heavenly Father truly loves His children, and He wants us to go to Him in prayer. This is the simplest way to build our faith and our relationship with Him. I know that the peace that comes from our message starts and ends with His love.
 

Doctrine and Covenants 6:36
 

And don't forget that I love you too!

<3 <3

Sister Lagrosa!

p.s. I'll have pictures next week too. :)