Email 49 - "Life is Good"

Mike got into the animation program!!!!!!! The Gospel of Christ is being restored, our family´s getting a whole lotta in-laws sealed to it in a few days, Spain has a new king, and Las Palmas won it´s fútbol game last night!

Life is good.

Thank you for the birthday package!!! It got here the night before my birthday, so we were able to pick it up that morning- perfect timing.

We had a good day, too. As you´ve seen on Hna Larsen´s blog, that blessed woman made me an apple pie, and we all spent medio día together at a Chinese buffet. :)

So this was Hermana Caballero´s last week, and finishing up a very well-served mission was pretty rough for her. I´ve been running into the effects of her solid example throughout my whole mission (she left Gijón just a couple of transfers before I headed up there), and I was really lucky to get to learn from her personally this transfer. Understandably, the members, and our district, were all very sad to see her go. And now she´s with her family!

Aside from her parting, this week was another great one. Here are the updates:

F----o- Doing pretty awesome. Even though he´s had a hard time understanding the Book of Mormon stories, he´s been starting to get really into the story of Lehi (he can´t BELIEVE the tradgedy of Laman and Lemuel. With every chapter he reads, he tells us that he´s convinced they´ll change and follow their father. I´m pretty sure that´s one of the main reasons he keeps reading- he´s so curious about what´ll happen with them. Love it.)

Y----a- She was an investigator of the Elders, until she explained to them that she was more comfortable with the Sisters. Yep. That was awkward. But now we´re teaching her, and this 21-yr-old mother of 3 is progressing extremely well. She wants to understand everything that we teach perfectly. I´m pretty sure she´d heard the Plan of Salvation lesson 4 times before she asked us to go over it again, haha.

N-----a- This girl is doing so, so awesome. We have so much fun with her, and all of the Young Women just love her to pieces. The Young Women program is incredible here, actually, they´re all so close, and they all come bear-hug me everytime I walk into the chapel :D I´m going to teach them how to make brownies in a couple of weeks (shhhh, it´s actually cake, but after tasting it at a baptism, they all called it brownies, and they don´t know the difference, haha.)

Anyway, N--i has a baptismal date for the 19th of this next month, and she´s going to talk it over with her Heavenly and Earthly parents before our next lesson and we´ll see what everybody thought about it. :)

D---a- Our next cute little 8-yr-old investigator has a date set for the 27th of July. She´s doing great.

Oh, and yesterday was awesome. The Spirit was definitely the one directing the show all day long, and that´s a feeling I just can´t get enough of.

We saw M---a J--é, a sweet less-active, and a lot of little things just fell beautifully into place to make our lesson a very tender, spritual experience. We basically spent the whole time talking about her father-daughter relationship with God and making specific promises that came to mind as we read scriptures. It was beautiful.  I´ve been worried about her, too, so I was really grateful for that boost of a lesson last night. She´s been struggling with priorities, and had been feeling out of control of a lot of the tough situations in her life.

We´ve actually been seeing a lot of wacky priorities lately. We ate with a member this week who told me after the meal that the only reason she hasn´t gone to the temple to be sealed as a family with her new-member husband and 8-yr-old son is because she likes wearing immodest clothes too much.

I´m grateful that I was able to gain a testimony of dressing modestly as a little kid, because by the time I was preparing to go to the temple, there weren´t any second thoughts- and there certainly weren´t any second thoughts about giving up styles of clothing for eternal blessings. 

My companions and I found ourselves studying about things like this during the week. Hermana Caballero shared this scripture, and I think it´s going to end up on the wall in every and any future home I have:

2 Nephi 9:51-52

51 Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy. Hearken diligently unto me, and remember the words which I have spoken; and come unto the Holy One of Israel, and feast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted, and let your soul delight in fatness.

52 Behold, my beloved brethren, remember the words of your God; pray unto him continually by day, and give thanks unto his holy name by night. Let your hearts rejoice.

And I found this quote that I´ve been looking for from Sister Reeves:

“It is okay if the house is a mess and the children are still in their pajamas and some responsibilities are left undone. The only things that really need to be accomplished in the home are daily scripture study and prayer and weekly family home evening.”

Let´s keep our priorities in order, family!! I want to make it back to Heavenly Father, and I want you all there with me :) I sure love you tons, and I´m so glad we´re on track. That´s a blessing that not many families have.

I´m excited to hear absolutely everything about Mike and Alicia´s wedding next week. The power of Godliness is gonna be manifest during the ceremony, and I want to feel it when I read about how it went! ;) Enjoy every second!!! I´ll be thinking about all of you!

Love you tooooonnns!

-Hna Grover