Changes

Hey fam! Welp this week has been a little different. Ill start off by telling you that we had cambios on wednesday and hermana estevez left the area and I have a new companion here with me now. Im still in the area of Espino and I love it here. My new companion is Hermana Salguero. She is from Guatemala and she is 23 years old. She is GREAT! Im very excited to have her here in this area and she is very fun to be with. I feel super comfortable teaching with her and she really invites the spirit into the lessons. She has about 8 months in the mission, so almost the same amount of time. I think that its going to be a great cambio, but i kind of think i will only be here for one more cambio. I dont know i have just heard stories about how usually your favorite companions you are with them for the shortest amount of time haha. But i dont know, we`ll see. Its only the first week together. I feel like this cambio is going to go by super super quickly. Cambios are always every 6 weeks, but the last cambio because of christmas was 8 weeks and that cambio went by super quick so i cant imagine in 6 weeks! Hermana Salguero knows a little english, but not very much, and i think my spanish is going to improve a ton in these 6 weeks. She has a big desire to learn english so i hope i can help her with that, she is so great. Its super funny though because we still havent moved houses (i hope this week) but she told me her last house had a couch and it had cabinets in the kitchen and it was really beautiful and i feel bad for her because now she is suffering here in our house. But it gives me hope that other areas have nicer houses hahahaha. Also we`ve been waking up early to run...which is good because ive gained a little weight i feel...but also im super tired haha. Anyways this week...has been good but definitely stressful. Im senor companion and directing the area because obviously im the only one who knows the area. Its been good because I can work how i want to for the most part. We walk fast (or faster than i did before) and we can use all of our time to work. Hermana Salguero says our area is huge haha, but she`ll learn the area sooner or later. Its mostly just stressful because the numbers. I remember ryan telling me to not worry about numbers and i try to do that. I know the numbers and goals and leaders are there to help us to achieve higher goals and work harder, but sometimes i just wish with all of my heart that i could just live life as a missionary and work hard and just share the gospel without people always stressing us for our numbers. My new district leader elder williams takes our numbers super fast at night which is good, because before hermana estevez used to talk for like a half hour and i always just wanted to go to bed, so its good now because i have more time at night, but at the same time he only asks for our numbers and if they arent high he says you need to have more lessons with member or more this or whatever and doesnt even take time to ask exactly how are day was. for example the other day i felt like we worked super hard, we used all our time in the day and we talked with everyone we saw, just that none of those people wanted to listen and there is nothing i can do about that. So that day we didnt have a lot of lessons, and at night i dont know i just felt super pressured and a little upset because its not like im not working or something. But anyways saturday night and sunday i was just praying with all my heart that we could find the people that were interested and wanted to listen to the message. Sunday after church we went out working with a member. We didnt really have set appointments but we are going to start now just working area by area and contact everyone. because with hermana estevez she didnt really want to knock every single door. But anyways after church we started in one pasaje (street) and we had 3 different lessons in this one street. I had already contacted some of those house before, but i dont know the people were willing to listen. And we found a golden investigador. This 16 year old kid who literally is searching for the truth. He told us he isnt attending a church because he wants to know which one is true. We taught him lesson 1 and he understood all of it and he really liked everything we said. He was a miracle. Church we had 2 investigadors but they werent people we have really been teaching, but we are going to start teaching them. But i was super frustrated because Roberto Guerrero (who has problems with alcohol) didnt go and neither did David Calderon (Albas husband). I really hope he can have a fecha this week. But we had a lot of less actives at church this week so that was good. Also I just wanted to share a little about our ward mission leader Hermano Marvin Orellana. Honestly he is an amazing member missionary. He has always been good to work with us but i dont know what happened in the past month but his testimony has grown a ton. Him and his wife are working towards the temple and before like a year ago he was inactive so sometimes his testimony wasnt always super strong. But wow. When he teaches with us he knows the lessons, he teaches the people with love, he invites the people to church and to pray and read in our lessons, he contacts people in the streets, he invites his friends and has references for us, and he brings the less actives to church on sunday. Honestly it is a testimony builder for me. Sometimes it is just as neat to see the faith of the members grow as it is to see the investigators. I appreciate your prayers as always. I definitely need them as im leading the area here. But im excited to work hard and i know i just need to have faith and I will be able to find the people who need and want to accept this gospel in their lives. I am so grateful for you guys and your support. I hope all is well as always!!! love you all so so so so much! Hermana Groneman