8-4-14

Hola Familia

Wow another whirl wind of a week. not quite like last week, but hey everyday is different. I honestly don't know why we ever plan anything anymore because nothing seems to go as planned!

To start off, before coming to email, we got to go shoot baskets at the high school on the gun and i was in Heaven! It felt so good to be on the court and getting a real bball workout. I might have to talk them into letting me go do it again! Also.. I am out of shape and my shot could use some work, but you win some and you lose some. I am one happy missionary. plus now i have been thinking about it and can relate part of my week to a cheesy sport analogy. enjoy!

Really i have no reason not to be. We went to Brewster and Pateros a couple days this week to help out. a couple days we were sorting donations and one day we went out and cleaned a house. Hard work no matter what we were doing. But it makes you very grateful for what you do have and makes you think about what is important. If you had less than 20 mins to evacuate, what would you take? Do we understand what is really important? Do we understand how blessed we are? I have come to realize how blessed i am the longer i think about it.

This week Irasema was confirmed in church and it was awesome! They showed up to church a little earlier than usual and we had a good turn out. that is 2 weeks in a row that we have had really good attendance. As she was confirmed by Bro. Hinkley, the Spirit filled the room and set the tone for the rest of the meeting. It was amazing. During testimony meeting Abigail got up and bore her testimony and it was really powerful. Just through out the meeting there was a peaceful feeling there. There is just this feeling that Manson/Chelan is on the edge. On the edge of breaking that thresh hold and bringing miracles. I can sense it. Quick flash back to help this make more sense. I was in Royal for 6 months. Shortly after i left, the area exploded. It was starting to just before i left. We had more people than room in the Spanish Sacrament. A short time after i left they had to change the chairs so they could fit more people. It was amazing. And it is easy to think, ugh of course right after i left. But i haven't really. I got to see some of the members from Royal last week and it was so good to see them. The relief Society president was excited to tell me how good the work was going there and that lots of the families are active. What better thing can you ask for? The members building up, strengthening each other, and just getting it. I feel that we have that potential here. I love the Members here they are all absolutely wonderful and support each other. the last 2 weeks were really important because in the past it was hard because they would all come on different weeks and feel as if they were alone, so they slowly stopped coming. But when they all come they feel supported and comfortable. It is amazing what can happen if we know we are loved.

Other missionary work was good this week to. Busy teaching, loving, supporting, and helping. I have felt that i am part of the community here. Our families that we are teaching are doing really well, this week many of them have made different leaps or strides and they truely are in the process of conversion. Over and over people have been telling us as we invite them to be baptized that they don't want to commit to something that they are just going to give up on with time. And we say PERFECT! because that isn't what we want either! But they truly want to be changed by Jesus Christ.

I have read a lot about that lately, because i finally finished reading Believing Christ. (not long, but always something else to study) It relates back to that topic. If we understand Christ and his mission than we won't want to make the commitment short term, but we will want to be in it for the long haul. We understand that we do our part to show our love and gratitude for Christ giving us Mercy. It is amazing what we can learn when we are constantly reminded of what is important. Mom, I also started doing those "Come unto Christ" Challenges. We appreciate them :) They are helping me realize how my mission has changed my outlook on so many things. I love getting to learn about Jesus Christ, because it gives me a desire to follow him. I actually went through the bible the other day and read every story i could find when Jesus Christ says some form of "Come Follow Me" And i know that as we do so, we build our ability to be like Christ, we practice our attributes. Like both mom and Dad mentioned in emails this week. Whatever we are doing, we have to be practiced. If we are a missionary it takes time, If we are David fighting Goliath it took practice, and if we are followers of Christ, it is going to take a lot of practice. How many times are we told that we will miss 100% of the shots we don't take. Likewise we will miss 100% of the opportunities to be Christ-like if we aren't looking. Today i had a good chat with someone who isn't a member of the church about being good people and that no matter who we are, whether rich, poor, popular, shy,etc. we control if we are going to do the right thing. So i want to invite all of you to take that shot, look for that opportunity. As we find those opportunities we are allowing God to mold us into who he wants us to be.

Hermana Ray

Don't we look fabulous? This is after being outside about 5ish hours. consider me humbled.