Howdy howdy family and friends!
Oh boy, has it been an interesting week! Last Monday the skies of Hobbs opened up and it rained... (probably because it was sad I was leaving lol) and then I got to Midland Wednesday afternoon, and it poured! In a very non-literal way. I'm pretty sure I felt homesickness for the first time in my life with how much I was missing Hobbs (which was good, I have a much better understanding now of how difficult it is for missionaries to get out here to the field) Also, missionary work is always a surprise, and I feel like leaving Hobbs, time really caught up to me! Has it really already been 4 months since Christmas!?!? Is my 6th (re)birthday really this weekend!?!?!
The answers to both of those questions: YES! Time is flying. whew, but my re-welcome to Midland was quite different than 7 months ago when I first came in. Seeing a great volume of people wasn't as anxiety-inducing, but I forgot what driving in traffic was like, and I was a little nervous for coming in brand-new to a ward... again. At least I felt more prepared than being fresh out of training in the boonies like I was last time. But naturally, trials came, haha, and to our great surprise, we ended up in a trio. So yeah, Sister Savage and I got to have Sister Jones with us! Her companion didn't make it from the MTC (don't worry, they didn't kill her or anything... she just got sick :P) but yeah, so we are now blessed to have the three of us covering 1st and 2nd ward here in Midland.
Good news: the gospel! Also, I can now say I've served in all 3 wards here in Midland, and I got to experience for the first time in my life 6 hours of church on Sunday! ...that is a LOT of church! But it's nice to not have the same sermon every meeting :P
Also, we named our car Murphy, because of Murphy's law, because everything that could go wrong, did. haha, but we tried/ are trying to make it fun, and it's working out pretty good. We had to move the 2nd ward sisters' apartment on top of both me and Sister Savage being new to 1st ward, and oh man, it was a comedy for sure!
But lessons learned from all this are still pending haha. My testimony of prayer has grown mightily to say the least, and not-surprisingly I've found a lot of comfort in the scriptures. I was reading in Alma 57:25-27, thinking about my faith, and how we all have trials of our faith, and how we have to trust in the Lord knowing that even though we don't know anything, He'll qualify us to do His work. As I was thinking about the stripling warriors, and how strong their faith was when they went to battle, and how in those verses it talks about how none of them were without wounds, and loss of blood; a realization settled in about obedience to the gospel. Even though our faith is strong, and we have knowledge of the impending doom of our trials that are coming, we aren't going to make it out of this life changed and BETTER if we don't receive some wounds. Nothing worth fighting for has ever come at a comfortable price, or has come without sacrifice... and I'm out here to learn as I teach, it's not anything incredible that I have to sacrifice, but the meaning of it to me as I try my hardest to turn my will to God's is without price. That's pretty amazing, and it's worth all the homesickness and stress and craziness the world has, because Christ already paid the price, and it is in Him that we receive our strength.
I love you all an I hope you get to find your strength this week in whatever battlefield you find yourself feeling battered, broken, or bruised in. Remember you are never alone, and that Christ has already paid the price for you. You're gaining experience that will help you to progress into what He knows you can become, and you have a very unique opportunity to be able to learn so you can also help others. One of my favorite hymns says: "As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free!" always pray, for just one more day, in Him we find our strength and gain our freedom. The gospel is the good news, and His church is true!
From the front lines in the wilderness of the TLM,
with all of my heart,
Sister Lagrosa
1- Me and Sister Savage and Sister Jones trying to fit a table into our car... it didn't fit. :P
2- Me an my 2 besties... (that aren't dogs haha)... sad to leave Sisters Plante and Muaina in NM
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