Herro.....

3 months down!

Hello everyone! I hope all is well over there in the promised land. ‘Twas a great week.  Looks pretty fun that you got to take the kiddos out on a date!

Tuesday there was a training for the leaders.  Since my companion is a Sister trainer leader I was invited to go as well.  It was a great meeting.  Of course it was a lot about leading others, but even though I am not a trainer or anything I was able to learn a lot from it.  I learned that the way someone will trust you is by truly loving them.  I think that is so true.  Our investigators won't trust us unless we truly show love for them.  

President Samuelian also talked about having a vision.  Having a vision for your mission, investigators, and for your life.  I feel like Dad has probably talked about this a few times as well haha.  But it helped a lot because I made some vision goals of how I want my mission to be and my future!

We had interviews this past week.  President Samuelian told me that he knows without a doubt I am serving a mission to accomplish just a small part of my life, that I have so many more important things I will accomplish in my life.  It was kind of like a spiritual pump up talk.  Haha.  It's crazy how much a mission will help me do other things.  I can already see this.  I have been able to see how important it is to raise a family centered around the gospel.

Well, if you remember about 6 weeks ago, we met with a lady named Maria? We were finally able to meet with her again!  We taught her the plan of salvation and the Spirit was awesome!  She is a great potential investigator.  It’s just difficult to see her often because she is trying to get her GED and she works full time. But it was a blessing to get to see her this week!

Rogelio…Rogelio was a referral we got from some English speaking elders.  He sells oranges out of his truck bed parked in a parking lot all day long.  This guy is prepared to hear the gospel.  He was asking us why there wouldn't be a prophet today if there were prophets in the past.  We said, “Whoa buddy, do we have the answer for you”!  Haha.  So we are hoping that we will get to meet with him again this next week.

There was an 8 year old boy that got baptized on Sunday.  I have never felt the spirit so strong in a baptism so much.  His father baptized him and his dad had been completely inactive and basically against the church until a year ago. They talked about the changes they had in their life to come back to the church.  I know that no matter what we do we can always change and repent because the Savior's Atonement is infinite.  Sometimes we may feel that we have made too many mistakes but I know that we can always, always repent.

Here's something to chuckle about…So about 90% of the time that we get fed by members it is rice, beans, tortillas and some sort of fatty meat.  A couple times this week the member would say while we are eating, “Oh, and don't get too full we have dessert”!  So of course I am thinking its going to be brownies or something.  They come out with rice in milk…Rice for dinner…Rice for dessert.  Haha.  I love the members here.  They are super awesome and so nice to feed us but they sure now how to yank my chain.

Well I love all of you and hope you have a great week!  I challenge you to use the Atonement daily. 

Hermana Gifford

Oregon capital building..Looks like it could be Moroni up there.