July 25, 2011

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Alison Royal
To: Patricia Royal
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2011 11:02 AM
Subject: ALO!!! (this is what we shout at the fence of houses instead of knocking doors...)

Hola mi familia y who ever else may be reading...

I am happy and to be writing another email to you all! This week was yet again... GREAT! Honestly, I have yet to have a fome ( bad) week here in the mission. sure, I've had weeks that have been a little rough, but I have been happy and smile through it all. I really have a testimony that the Lord wants us to be Happy! If we are doing what we are supposed to be doing we will feel happy!, Its just how things work. ahah "Happiness is the object and design of our existance!"

But seriously, I am loving life these days. Hermana Rivera and I are having WAY too much fun together and we are seeing some serious MIRACLES here in Brillador! This week Guillermo passed his interveiw and is more than prepared for his baptism which will be on the 30th of July! I stand in awe at the preperation of this man. seriously, I think he is a future prophet... haha. But, then again I am biased. But seriously! We found him and his family in the street less than four weeks ago and he will be baptismed this weekend! He has basically changed his life, quit drinking tea, ( I attached a photo when we gave us ALL of his tea, without even one complaint). He has downloaded all of the church music from LDS.ORG and he has read basically all of the manual Gospel Principals, all on his own. hah We came to his house and he showed us that he read about family history and geneology AND STARTED DOING HIS OWN! Without us even teaching him about it. And, to top it off, he sent referrals of his family and friends to the church head quarters so missionarys can visit them. I don't know if this fully displays HOW INCREDIBLE is this hombre!

We also have been teaching his daughter Samantha and her husband. She is 24 years old and lives in an other city, but has been visiting for these past 4 weeks. She also is all ready for her baptism. Basically, the Elders in her city will show up to her house and baptize her haha. I seriously feel SO much love for this family. This week, Samantha left with her little family and I realized I probably will never see her again. I couldnt help but cry, but I also know that the Lord put us together for these short 4 weeks to see miracles happen in their lives! I attachted photos of Guillermo and Samantha and her awesome son valentino. Seriously this kid is so cool. haha

Also, Carla and Pablo had thier baby Pablito and this week Pablo passed the sacrement for the first time. It was a special experience to see all the work and prayers that Hermana Jones and I did for them put into practice and working to bless the lives of all the members as they took the sacrement.

I spent all of this morning sewing ( and learning how to sew, because it appears that that is a key part...) ahaha my backpack, jacket and skirt all died this week, but luckily I have my handy dandy sewing kit. I will have you know that I am becoming quite the homemaker, thanks to my Latin compaion. I am learning to cook all kinds of foods and sew all kinds of things, and how to make secret concoctions to get my clothes nice and white. Haha I seriously love Hermana Rivera so much. I look forward to staying in contact with her for the rest of my life.

Ok and in closing... I am going to try to account a funny story to you, I hope you find it as funny as I did! Yesterday for church, Hermana Rivera and I passed by the house of Jonny, one of our investigators. He is a grumpy overweight grandpa in a wheelchair. haha We had planned to bring him to church in his wheelchair (even though the church is about a half hours walk, with ups and downs along the way.) Because I am the bigger stronger companion, I had the priveldge of pushing the wheel chair. Haha Basically the whole way, Jonny was shouting and waving his cane telling me to watch out for cars. Here I am huffing and puffing and sweating up a storm and we come to a big down hill. haha I basically had to use all my power and strength to keep him from rolling away (part of me wanted to let go... but charity and patience won in the long run) hahah It was quite a funny experience.

I love you all! Thanks for your emails, letters, and prayers! I hope you enjoy the photos!

Hermana Royal

Pictures