April 20 Letter

Dear Family,

First I just wanna say oh my stinkin heck THANK YOU for the letters and pictures! My companion is absolutely IN LOVE with Kaden and his orange hair as am I! She has fun listening to the stories I tell about him. I always tell her that I probably miss him more than anyone else! Sorry anyone else. =) I can't believe how adorable and big Brendon is! I'm so excited to meet that little boy! Only one year away! Audrey, thank you for your letter, your stories are hilarious. Linsey thank you for your amazing postcard. I'm thinkin I totally have to go to Spain now!
This week was a little bit slow. Hermana Yañez and I have been working really hard passing for every inactive member and old investigator we can find in our area book. It was going pretty slow until about Thursday. We went to visit one. She's fifteen and got baptized almost a year ago with her older sister. We told her we talked to our ward mission leader and he said he's totally down for picking her up on Sunday for church. She said she would be ready. She didn't go, but he told us she said she wants to go to Seminary. Hermano Cugiani's (ward mission leader) going to be passing for her in the mornings with his daughter and he's going to let us go how that goes.
We had an interesting experience on Friday. Hermana Yañez and I were at a less active's, Maria Elena, house. She got baptized about 8 years ago and has been going to the Catholic church. She's living with her daughter, but her daughter's not a memeber. My comp and I both thought it would be wise to teach lesson 1, the restoration, over again. Hermana Yañez began by talkin about the love Heavenly Father has for us and because He loves us he's given us His gospel and our families so we can grow in a loving, righteous environment. When she turned the subject to prophets, I began to explain that we know the gospel because God has always called a prophet and prophets are important because without them we don't know God's will for how we should overcome our trials. At this point of the lesson, the daughter said, "I'm sorry, excuse me girls, but I have to excuse myself, I don't feel comfortable." She left the room very quickly. I can't tell you how jumbled and NOT together my thoughts were when she had left the room. I tried to continue, but my words were jumbled and I couldn't find the right words to say to save my life. Then the words of one of my teachers from the MTC came back to me, "If you're ever teaching a lesson and you need a second to gather your thoughts and the words you want to say, it's okay. Don't take forever, but if you need that time, take it." I took a deap breath and plunged back into the water. After that and a prayer to Heavenly Father for his divine assistance, I was able to continue and we were able to finish the lesson. After we left the house, Hermana Yañez asked, "Hermana, what were you feeling in there?"
I said, "...I don't know..."
"I had a really horrible feeling when she got up and left."
"Me too."
"I could feel Satan's presence. When she did that I got really confused about what we were teaching. I started to pray to get that feeling out of there and when you started talking I knew that you were having a hard time getting your thoughts together too, so then I started praying for you and I saw you calm down and start over and finish teaching. That was so capo Hermana." (capo means cool or awesome for those of you who are unfamiliar with latin terminology)
"I knew you were praying for me so I knew I had to keep trying to get the right words." I added. That was a really coold experience. Hermana Yañez and I really have strong testimonies of the power a companionship can have if you're praying to Heavenly Father for your companion while they're teaching. The words you need to say when it's your turn come easier and the lesson flows a lot better. Our zone leader, Elder Jacob, said that we should always be praying for our companions, even during the practices we do every Wednesday at our district meetings. We've definitely seen the positive effects of this.
I am so blessed right now to be living with who I live with. Hermana Gonzalez, 23, from Paraguay, is a newbie. This is her first transfer in Argentina and se got baptized when she was 17. She's so cute and nice and is always so willing to help with things. I'm her english tutor so we have fun with that! Hermana Santos, 24, from Uruguay, has been out almost a year. She got baptized when she was 15. Her mom died four months before she left on the mission and her dad died like 3 or 4 months ago too. She's the youngest, but she always has a smile on her face and I've NEVER heard her complain. I've been living with Hermana Santos since I got here and I've never heard anything negative come out of her mouth about anyone or any situation. Even when she had like 6 different companions last transfer. She's an amazing example to me. Hermana Yañez, my crazy chilean comp, just turned 25 and she got baptized with her family when she was 14. She's so good at making lessons simple and easy for those we're teaching to understand. In comp study one day, she said,
"Hermana, do you know why I love the gospel so much? Because I can explain why things happen. Sometimes in the moment, we don't know why something is happening, but we always know later." Then yesterday she said, "When these people aren't sure about the sacrifices they will need to make for the gospel, we can give them our testimonies as missionaries. We can say, 'Why do we do this? Because we know the price at the end of the way is huge and it's worthy of the sacrifice.' " Their stories are all so amazing. They are all so strong and have such conviction when they teach and I feel the spirit so strong when I hear them testify about the gospel. We have so much fun together. I'm going to be sad with this next transfer because I KNOW I'm going to be the one transfered.
Anyway, I've got to go now, but I hope you all know how much I love you and that I always pray for your safety. I love being a missionary because I know this is where the Lord wants me, and for that I will accomplish what He needs me to accomplish. I don't know how we doubt what we should do when we have God's promises behind our obedience. He says in D&C that He's bound to our obedience. Let's all make it easier for Him and help Him keep His promises shall we? Have an amazing week!

All my love,
Hermana Shumway