My first area is Laredo North. I've arrived here safely. My area is probably 60% english and 40% Spanish so I never know which language to start with. Because I'm not speaking Spanish all of the time, and I have less time to study the language, I feel like my knowledge of Spanish is decreasing, but I can get by. My area is pretty rich.
My companion is Hermana Avevalo from Utah. She learned Spanish and English at the same time, so she is fluent in both. Her parents are Peruvian and she being a great mom to me. I've so grateful that she has such strong faith, diligence, and obedience. She immediately follows promptings from the spirit, which is really helping me learn to rely on the Spirit. We live in an apartment with 2 other sisters. The first night me and Hna. Nielson stayed at a member's home in McAllen. I drove my first day and I a little bit everyday. We are super limited on miles, so we also ride our bikes everyday. They mostly put together our bikes for us, but I've already had plenty of experience adjusting the brakes and jump-starting the car. I would love some simple recipes, I seem to have forgotten how to cook. :)
This week has been a huge learning experience. I'm very grateful for an obedient and faithful trainer, sister Arevalo. She is a great example to me and is teaching me to have faith and to be a great missionary. This week has been hard because we haven't found anyone to teach. I know that the Lord is teaching me and I need to have patience and a good attitude. I have never been asked to have so much faith and I'm working on choosing to enjoy every day.
My goal for the past few days to help me feel happy has been to expect and see the Lord's miracles. I do see them everyday. The very best days are the days that we get to teach a lesson. I want to feel so badly that I'm making a difference. One highlight of this week was teaching a less active family, the Montanas. They welcomed us in, and we talk about prayer and trusting in Heavenly Father. They are going through a rough financial time right now, and the message of the gospel was exactly what they needed. To watch the spirit touch hermana montana's heart made me happy. Another highlight was contacting three children on the street and teaching them stories of Jesus. It made me appreciate so much the innocence and purity of children. They ask simple and sincere questions like, "What is prayer?" I so hope that we get to teach their family more. Another highlight was receiving guidance on where to go from the Spirit. I had a thought to visit someone. My companion is really good at acting on thoughts or impressions from the Spirit. So we visited this person, but they weren't home. So we prayed and listened and asked why we had been led to this area. I felt good about walking up the street to a member's home. It turned out that that member needed help. I almost started to cry when I realized that the Lord really had worked through me to guide where we needed to go. We helped Sister Pluma revise her English talk then shared a scripture with her. She had wanted to ask our help on Wednesday. When I listen to the promptings of the Spirit, I have the opportunity to see a miracle happen. My goals for this next week is to never give up on practicing the language. I need to stay calm and happy and enjoy each day. I am very blessed to get to see miracles everyday and I am happy.
Letters in the mail would be great!Love,Mariah
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