Locked out, Coconut, Zone Conference

What an amazing week. This week has been on of small but simple miracles. The biggest miracle we have seen has been our people reading the book of Mormon with an incredible desire. The book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion and is the convincing evidence of the truth of this church. If you believe that we are all of God's children and that God speaks to all his children then you are already on your way to believing the truths in the Book of Mormon. While teaching this week we had one woman named Jacklyne who read her assigned reading and then continued to read 13 chapters between our next visit. She was a street contact and was leaving to the store so when we gave her the book of Mormon we didn't have time to tell her where it came from. But when we told her about the Restoration of Christ's Church and how the book of Mormon is apart of that she had such a desire to learn more. Half way through my companion talking I looked over at Jacklyne who was just reading her heart out in the middle of us talking about where the book came from. Every piece of our knowledge usually starts with a desire to know. It is very rare that you just "happen" upon knowledge. You must go out and search for it and have that desire to know first. My invitation is to be curious. Be curious about things at school and church and have a desire to learn and understand them better. It is hard to work with someone who doesn't want to know.

SPANISH UPDATE: We are on an English Fast this week in our apartment to get ready for General Conference. For the past 4 days our apartment has only been speaking Spanish with exceptions of teaching English speakers and calling family home. At the beginning of the fast we had a "family" prayer for help. We asked Heavenly Father for a miracle, for the gift of tongues, for the interpretation of tongues as we gave up our native language for 7 days. I was ready for a really hard week. I was ready to cry and get frustrated at not being able to communicate. But the best part of this fast has been that God has made it easy. Not the Spanish per se but the completing of fast. This has been one of the most fun weeks because I have talked the most in Spanish this week. I make a lot of mistakes but I don't feel the embarrassment or worry with the language at all this week. Heavenly Father didn't make me fluent in one week nor will he. He did make learning more fun though. I have learned more this week about Spanish than I have in my past weeks. As you prepare for General Conference try giving something up for the next couple of days. Give up social media. Give up an extra show. Give up just a little more of your time everyday to turn to the Lord in scripture, thought, and prayer. I love you guys!

FUNNY UPDATES: We got locked out of our house and we found a coconut because of it. We go running usually in the morning and no one remembered the key to the house. So we had to kind of break in through the window. Nothing was broken and we are ALL GOOD! But while trying to get in through the back door we FOUND A COCONUT! THIS WAS A BIG MIRACLE! It isn't a miracle for any particular reason other than it was fun to try and get it open while waiting for our turn in the shower. It is always good to take an "animo break" every once in a while and enjoy a little bit of fun. Here are some pictures of us trying to open our house and then the coconut! Also a pic of the "Guayama Llamas" at Zone conference! AND A GIANT AVOCADO!!