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Life As A Sister Leader Trainer . . .

Here are the last two letters from Michelle.

July 14, 2014

Dear Family,

THIS WEEK HAS BEEN CRAZY!!! 

I already told you about the activity on monday. (She wrote this in her letter last week)

Tuesday we went to Catacamas. It is 4 hours away so we went and spent the night. We went on divisions with Hna. Clark and Hna. Queme. Hna Queme is new and Latina so my companion went with Hna. Queme to help her out and let her unload if she needed to. It was a really positive experience for her. I was left with Hna. Clark and I definitely didn't complain. It was a blast! (They used to be companions) We found a new family and had some pretty powerful lessons. I was so happy to be with her. And it was good for her to vent too. But they are doing well and are super happy. They gave us pb sandwiches, so I was pretty happy about that. 

Wednesday we stopped by Guaymaca on our way back from Catacamas. I picked up a sister to have intercambios and my comp stayed there. We had another great day. I think I have been called as a SLT to just listen to the sisters. 99% of the time, they don't want answers, they just want to vent. And then they are fine. They already have the answers, but they are girls and just want to be listened to. It kind of makes me laugh.

We had intercambios just in time for them. They had been fighting the day before and it was good for them to get some space. In the bus to Talanga she was already crying, so I think she didn't have any problems in confiding in me. Granted, I didn't understand why she was crying, but she felt better afterward, so that is good. 

We returned early to Talanga on Thursday in time to plan. It was nice to be with my companion again. It is always such a relief. We were only going to have 2 intercambios for the week, but we felt the need to go to Juticalpa. It is 3 hours away. We planned to leave after the district meeting. 

Becuase it was so far, we decided to do divisions there as well. We didn't want to abandon our own area, so we got up a little early so that we could visit a few people. We had 4 lessons in about an hour and a half and we found a new family! God answers prayers. We felt better about leaving. We went to the district meeting and then left on a bus to Juticalpa. 

We went on divisions with the sisters. Again, we had perfect timing. It is nice to have the Spirit. There are 2 other sisters that live in Juticalpa too, so we were able to see all 4. The others were suffering too, so we were able to help them. 

We made pupusas with them in the nighttime. It was good. One of the sisters has had a lot of bad experiences with SLT, so we were able to heal some wounds. Food is always the key...:-) She is from El Salvador and pupusas are basically their national food. 

Saturday we were arriving at our house when president got there. He showed up by surprise with his wife and daughter. They came to see the house. Today we are cleaning the house. You can put the dots together. 

On saturday we had 7 lessons. It was a good day. 

It really was a miracle this week. We didn't  have a lot of time in our area, yet we still had more lessons taught than all of the other sisters that we have. That is clearly a miracle. 

Sunday, as I walked into Church they handed me a piece of paper telling me that I was to give  a talk. Luckily one of the Elders had warned me beforehand. Fifteen minutes on family prayer. I had to stretch that one a bit. It turned into family prayer and family prayer to bring forth misisonary experiences. I think it went well. They quoted me later, so at least one person understood me and listened. 

This week we don't have any intercambios because it is the last full week of the transfer. That means we are going to work like crazy. I am excited. I love this work and I love being a missionary. I love where I am and what I am doing. 

Happy week! 

Love,

Michelle

And . . .. July 7, 2014

Dear Family,

This has been a really exhausting week. And it really shouldn't have been, yet I am exhausted. It doesnt make sense. My companion has been sick all week, so it was a bit rough on the numbers. Our poor investigators. 

Tuesday we had Mission Council and it was really good. It helped me understand my calling better. Honestly, I was a bit confused. My companion had freaked me out with everything we had to do. But we went and they explained that we are in charge of the emotional state of the sisters and to help motivate them. That was nice to understand because before the first exchange I got a list from my companion about all we had to do and then the district leader gave me another list and then the zone leader gave me another list. It was awful and I was super stressed. In the end, it was good, but I was STRESSED! Now I feel a lot calmer and know that I can do it. 

We had interviews on Thursday. It was great. I could really feel that my mission president loves me, trusts me and supports me. It was a really positive interview. We talked a lot about faith and I have been trying to put it in practice. 

In the conference with Elder Ochoa he said that we might not be perfect, but we can develop perfect faith. I didn't quite understand it, so I asked Presidente to explain it to me and he said that in order to have perfect faith, we need to be exactly obedient. It really hit me hard. I am striving to develop and exercise my faith and knowing that obedience is the key really motivates me. 

He also mentioned a few ways to plan better. It was really good. 

We had a zone meeting this week. One of our zls is the old assistant and he killed us with the obedience talk. I loved it. Our district is struggling a bit with obedience.  But, the Spirit was super strong. 

We decided last Thursday that today for pday we wanted to have an activity with the sisters to get to know them better and to gain their confidence a bit. It was super great! A bit stressful, but in the end it was super good. Out of the 13 sisters that we have, they are from 8 different countries. That is pretty intense.

 So we made miniature flags of their country to put under their nametag. Temple square version. We also had a ton of balloons and a big Honduras flag. We played a few games, celebrated 3 birthdays with a pinata and ate together.

We also made a big flower for every girl and on the petals we put an attribute or something that we admire about them. It started at 9:30 and ended at 12:00ish. 

It took a lot of preparation and love, but it was worth it. I smell super bad right now, but I am good. 

This last week the elders married and baptized a family. The family is well off and invited all of the missionaries to celebrate in their house with a lot of food and stuff. My companion wanted to go because all of the other missionaries were going, but we have had the focus that we shouldn't do anything that doesn't help us baptize or retain members, so I asked her if it would help and she said no. We were the only missionaries out of 8 that didn't go. In the time that they were there, we found 7 new investigators and 2 families and 2 less actives that we didn't know existed. It was a powerful testimony to me. When we  focus on our purpose God will bless us. 

Love you all dearly! I will try to send pictures of the activity next week! Love you alllllllllllllll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (we never got pictures of the activity.)