Staying in Atiquizaya

Hello to the fam.

Well its been another week. I felt like it went by pretty quickly and truth is i dont know what i have to tell you...but we´ll see if i can think of something.

At the beginning of the week all was pretty crazy because of changes...even if you dont have cambios its always just crazy thinking about who is going to have changes and where people are going to go and what not. I was super sad because Hermana Morris (who lives in our house) had changes so it was sad to see her go. Shes a great friend in the mission and we are definitely going to hang when we get back to the US. It was so much fun living with her and joking around. But the new hermana in the house is cool too. She is hermana lucero and she is from colorado so thats all good.

I think the hardest part of the mission would have to be finding people and that is what we have been trying to do this week. Our leaders always tell us we she work close to the churches and close to the members...but we have worked really hard in those parts of our areas...and they are small parts...so this week we decided to branch out a bit. I dont know if its the smartest idea...but im hoping that we can find some hidden families a little farther away...but we´ll see. Its actually pretty great because this country is so beautful. Every day its like going on a hike. That makes life fun. I have really noticed how important it is to follow the spirit in finding people. The days when i truly have a prayer in my heart in every moment are the days that we actually find people. I know that God is helping me in this work, i just need to be humble and rely on him.

i wanted to tell you guys that a few weeks back we found this joven who sells fruit with his mom and his brother in the street. his brother is inactive but we started teaching them just on the side of the street where they sell the fruits. We invited him to church and he went to the first week. But he actually lives in the area of the other ward in our chapel, so we gave him as a reference to the zone leaders. But he is going to be baptized in a few weeks. Its great to know that our work in finding people is worth it. We dont always get to finish teaching the people but its important that we always are finding people.

Dad you were asking what im doing to help my comp finish out strong. I think the best is just work and be an example. A few days this week she was falling asleep during the lessons...haha...so after i had to tell her that she has to stop doing that haha. Its all good though. Ive noticed in the last few days shes been teaching more from the heart so we´ll see how we finish out her last 5 weeks.

Yesterday we were teaching this older lady the first lesson about the restauracion and it was quite funny. We were inviting her to pray to know if joseph smith was a prophet and she told us " oh i know joseph smith was a prophet..because it says it in my bible over there...yeah it says he was a prophet...i know he was a prophet.." hahahahaha i was dying because obviously it never says that but the thing is is normally the people are always like "show me where it says he was a prophet in the bible" it was really funny. I had to hold in my laughter. And after she said she would pray and if she received an answer " if i receive an answer that its true im leaving my church and im gonna go with you guys" haha so we´ll see how this lady progresses hahaha. Something that I dont think i have told you guys much about is how hard it is to teach a lot of people here for their education. We really are blessed in so many ways in the US, including our education. The people here really dont understand very well. Its so hard because really if missionaries teach the doctrine well it really all makes sense...but the level of understanding is so low here. not only is it hard to find people to teach that let you in...but its even harder to find people who actually understand. Thats the hardest part. You are teaching good and everything but they just dont understand anything. They just know that we are talking about God and Christ. But its all about patience so its good.

Also mom i got your package/letter. It meant a lot to me that letter. Thank you for sharing that experience with me because it meant a lot. It was so nice to get a hand written letter, so thanks :)

Anyways about our investigadores....we didnt have anyone in church this week so that was sad. but we had another family menos activos (the familia gonzalez). We have had quite a bit of success with the menos activos so i hope we can keep working with them. Them and the familia martinez are two beautiful families that i hope we can help encourage to go to the temple one day.

Anyways i dont have any more time so ill have to wait until next week. All is well here and im loving the mission. i cant believe its going to be august! ahh.

i love you all so much!

Hermana Groneman