January 5, 2015
¡Hola!
It has been a great week! I seriously can't BELIEVE that we are officially in 2015. What. That means I have to actually think about real life...hahahaha. But this week I thought about it a little bit and I wanted to ask you to look up some things for me. 1) Is it possible for me to go to a summer term at BYU, or do I have to wait until fall because that is when I deferred to? 2) If I can go to a summer term, what is the date that I have to sign up for classes? 3) Is there availability for me to teach Spanish at the MTC in Provo? Everyone is asking me things like, Can you believe you are ending your mission? or Are you getting excited to go home? We have transfers next week and it will be my last transfer. And our ward is planning a ward summer activity, which will be on February 21. One of the senior missionaries asked me if that was my last Saturday (and it is). What? There are plans being made already for the last Saturday I will be here!! It is definitely bittersweet. I am excited to come and see all the people who I love and miss so much, and to eat American food, and wear cute shoes, and then to start my real life in college or working or dating or what not. But I am sad that this special time for me to be a sister missionary is coming to its end. Some days I think I want to be a sister missionary forever! But then I miss you guys and I realize that it wouldn't work so well for me, and I could never get married or become a physics teacher. Or a Spanish teacher. hahaha...
Thank you for sending all of the pictures. You guys look great! I am so happy for Brynne to be home! I will send pictures next week. We celebrated New Year in our house. Hermana Wadsworth made a cake, and Hermana Brown & I bought some decorations...with crazy hats, masks, Hawaiian leis, soundmakers, and confetti. It was a super bag of decorations and it was so much fun! On the first day of the New Year we had some sweet little miracles with the contacts we made and the members we got to meet. We got really excited for the New Year and the new opportunities it brings to us. Throughout the week, we also found various new people to teach and we met with a lot of members and established a better relationship with them. The members are starting to open up to us more! We are going to start with a new mamita tomorrow (our old one couldn't be our mamita for summer vacation). She is really great and she loves us as much as we love her!
Our mission is literally so full of cows...hahaha!
But what with the little miracles and other spiritual moments throughout the week, I couldn't help but think of the analogy that President Uchtdorf gave in his talk in the Women's Conference...that Heavenly Father is sending down a constant rain of blessings, and if we cover ourselves by an umbrella of doubt and fear, we cannot feel them. All that we must do is choose to take down the umbrella and then we will feel and recognize the rain that we did not notice before. Link to the talk Melanie is referring to: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/living-the-gospel-joyful?lang=eng&cid=email-shared. Today I was reading in Ether 9, Verse 35 And it came to pass that when they had humbled themselves sufficiently before the Lord he did send rain upon the face of the earth; and the last verse says that after the people were humble, the Lord sent the rain. Él envió la lluvia, He sent the rain. He always is sending the rain. But we just need to choose to feel it...we need to be humble enough to throw away our fear and doubt. Because even in the driest of moments, we will always be able to find the rain of our Heavenly Father's blessings. I know that He is there if we just reach out to find Him! This is really related to the spiritual thought that you shared with me, Mama. Agency is such an important gift...and we can use it to feel our Heavenly Father's love if we so choose.
I had my last interview before my final interview with the mission president this week. It was the shortest interview ever. He just thanked me for what I was doing, told me not to worry because I was being a good missionary even if I didn't think I was sometimes, and then made me promise to him that I would strive to be happy every day of the rest of my mission. Of course, this entire interview was in Spanish. But what he said in English was, We have a deal? hahaha...so he told Hermana Brown about the deal I made with him and she promised that she would help me be happy even if there are tough moments.
The weather here is kind of crazy. The past two days were SO sunny. The sun is so strong you can actually feel it burning your skin. Ouch. But it is also breezy so we enjoy it. But today it is chilly and has been sprinkling off and on all day. But I officially don't need pantyhose anymore! Which is really nice.
It was a REALLY hot Saturday, so we look kind of gross. lol
I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week! I hope Abby and Benjamin have a good first week of the semester!
Love you always, Hermana Latham
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