Dear family and friends,
Well, I feel like nothing has happened this week it passed by so fast! We'll see what stories I have for you.
Monday: We bought food, cleaned, washed clothes, and went to our district meeting. We met all the new people in our district which was fun! I met an Elder Ames from St. George. Brent, Amy, is he an acquaintance of yours?
Tuesday: We had another lesson with Blanca! I hope that she can really feel and recognize her answer and have the time to come to church and be baptized. We also taught a Menos Activa Hermana Bursiaga. A long story short we were not well received. She really wants nothing to do with the church now. As we listened, I began to realize that what she really doesn't want are commitments. She doesn't want the commitment to go to church, to partake of the sacrament, to have callings, baptism, etc. Something my dad told me last week is so true. If we are not willing to commit to anything, we will not gain anything. The church of "Nothing" is easy to join, but the problem is that you also gain "Nothing." In reality we should be excited to have commitments, to help us grow and change and experience life. They are not always easy but THEY ARE ALWAYS WORTH IT! If there is one thing I know, it is that the things of God are ALWAYS WORTH IT. I mean it does determine our eternity, so I would hope it would be worth it. My companera and I talked yesterday about the Kingdoms of Glory. We talked about how, yes, the Telestial kingdom is better than this world, but why settle for that when we can obtain the highest kingdom possible-Exaltation, the Celestial Kingdom. We can LITERALLY live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Can you imagine sitting down to dinner with them every night? The conversations you could have?! We have the capacity to obtain all the power, glory, blessings and happiness that our Heavenly Father has!! WE CAN ONE DAY CREATE OUR OWN WORLDS! I promise you that this power and happiness will surpass any entertainment from an app, game, or other worldly things. And as for my eternity I want to spend it with my family, my future husband (whoever he may be), my Heavenly Father, my brother Jesus Christ, and do marvelous, creative things that only gods can do.
Wednesday: This was a fabulous day. We went to a different part of our area where we have never been and we gained 4 new investigators!! The test now is whether they will progress!! We also had this interesting experience. We were walking in this new area and these two dogs started to follow us. We thought they would leave when we taught. They didn't! They continued to follow us! They followed us for 3 hours!! They even went to other colonies with us!! We have no idea why, but maybe they were our guardian angels for awhile? I will have to ask when I get to heaven.
Thursday: We ate Little Caesar's pizza!! So fun! Hna. Santiesteban and I bought it, ate it, and enjoyed every moment of it! That night we had to come home early-seven o'clock. So we bought Chinese food which was also fabulous! (They have Chinese Mexican food! It exists! And Chinese Mexicans exist!)
Friday: We had intercambios, but instead we all went to the area of our Hermana leaders? I'm not sure why, but that is what happened.
Saturday: Still in intercambios today and nothing really happened. In the evening Hermana Moronta and I went to my area and we taught Baltazar and we got him to commit to a Baptismal date!! I hope that he can keep it. We are going to work really hard with him!
(P.S. So there are actually 3 Americanas here. Me, Hermana Moronta, y Hermana Sarabia. I am the only white, non latino of the three. It was so fun to be with Hermana Moronta from Miami all day!)
Sunday: There was a toy truck stuck in a tree, so we helped get it out, shared a lesson and got a new investigator!! Yes best day! Then as we continued to walk we went up to talk to a woman who was pushing her mom in a wheel chair. As we walked up she dropped everything and ran away from us with her kids!? Ugh...... I think you forgot your mom?! Poor lady. We talked to her quickly and gave her a tarjeta. and pushed her to her daughter so she wouldn't be abandoned! I was so astonished at what had just happen!! I was thinking, what did we do, is there something on my face? I have never had that effect on people! ;) However, later that same day someone told us our feet were beautiful? What?.....Then he explained "beautiful upon the mountain are the feet of those who proclaim the gospel......ohhhhh! Here I am thinking of my dirty, dusty feet with strange tan lines! ;) And then to top the night off, we were walking by when this drunkard came up to us. He talked with us and we continued to walk and he followed. We came to a busy street to cross and and stopped and talked with him. He was crazy, happy, sad, crying, and cross-eyed all at the same time. Finally, he spoke to me the only English he knew. "I like to move it, move it, I like to move it move it!" from Madagascar! But he said it like this! "I like to move it move it move it move it move it!" Oh dear, this is probably why the Lord said "no" to alcohol. It takes away our dignity and our agency. It controls us.
Something I have been thinking about a lot lately are the mountains in our lives. Sometimes we ask, "Lord, why is this happening? Help me!"And sometimes we may feel like he does not help us. But what I am starting to understand is that one, there is always the opposition trying to tear us down and two he gives us mountains so we can learn, grow, and be diligent in all things - in the good and the bad. We may have mountains, but with the Lord we can take the ski lift up and then ski down the other side. With the Lord our trials are the same, but our capacity to overcome them increases significantly! Here in the mission, there are a lot of rough days of rejection and times with no success. We pray and pray and sometimes it is hard to see how the Lord is helping. But I feel right now that he is waiting to see how I react. If I continue to work diligently and be patient, I will grow closer to the Lord and use His help. I can grow despite my circumstances because even seeds can grow in the desert. I'm still learning about this and will have to tell you more once I have learned more! But I want to be strong, so give me mountains to climb, rivers to cross, something that's going to make me better than I was!
Love you all!
Hermana Lutze
Hermana Lutze and Moronta with Herbie
Hermana Lutze and Moronta with Familia Ibarra (Herbie's owners)
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