Moving Mountains

Hola mi bonita familia!

 

1st of all...WELCOME HERMANA MADELINE TAYLOR TO WASHINGTON STATE(visa waiter)!!!!! I was hoping for Kennewick but ya know...what can you do??

Miracles are happenin here in the good ol' yaktown. Sister and Brother Mitchell are out of town for a couple weeks for a funeral and so me and Jonesyy are in the house all alone. Feels like my parents are out of town or something haha. The most exciting thing going down is the party with the new cows that are now living in our backyard. Every morning after I do laps around the house I go talk to them. Yeah I know..Former Nordstrom employee hanging out with the cows. Ya its fine. Me and one cow in particular have a special bond though. His name is Squisher La Vaca (Squisher the Cow in spanish). We are good buds. He is still warming up though.

 

I'm not gonna lie...my spanish is getting pretty legit. Not perfect or even close by any means. But I know the man upstairs is blessing me a lot lately. Being in a 3-some wasn't the best for my speaking ability becuase I didn't talk as much. But I learned so much by listening. So now the applying is happening and it is legit. Lovin the espanol.

 

An update on Natalia and Nohemi: I am still so obsessed with them. Maybe even more after this week. Nohemi got a Scholarship to UofW for 30,000 dollars. She is a freaking gee. And she knows 3 language BTW. #futuremissionary. But natalia is still moving to SLC in the fall. Anyway..we had a lesson with them about the plan of salvation and they loved it. On Saturday we had another appointment with them. It was the kind of day where we had appts but NOBODY kept them. So we were kinda discouraged. Finally at 8, we went to Natalias to teach Law of Chastity and Word of Wisdom. We were super nervous to teach her these because 1. we didn't know if she was married to the guy that was in her house. and 2. we didn't know if she had a coffee addiction because she wakes up at 5 in the morning everyday to run a daycare. This woman is the definition of golden. She is married to that guy but they are seperating when she moves to Utah. And she quit coffee 2 months ago (around the same time we met her). It was such a testimony to me that there are people who are really READY. That lesson made up for the hard day we had. GOOD out weighs the BAD everytime.

 

Another amazing experience we had was when we had an appointment with this lady named laura. She is a funny gal. Really stressed but so sweet. Like pure as they come. As we were teaching we realized she didn't really have a religous background at all. So it all just soaked in but we couldn't tell how interested she was. At the end we asked her to say the prayer. She said she didn't know how so we had to teach her. She was so nervous but finaly she started and half way throught just busted into tears. She said, "Heavenly father, Im sorry. I am new to this. Im not sure what to say. I am grateful for these missionaries. And for this day. Please give me the strength I need..etc." We got up and just hugged her. She said she has never felt that way before. The spirit was so unbelievably strong. Her heavenly father had never heard her pray and we got to wittnes that experience. Moments like that are why I am a missionary. This beautiful woman got to talk to her Heavenly Father for the first time and we got to watch. There is nowhere else I wouldve rather been on a Friday night than in Lora's living room listening to her sweet innocent prayer.

 

We had a training in Kennewick this week. Picture this..Me and Jones in a truck with 4 other elders for 3 hours. Sitting in between them in seats the size for a toddler. So awkyyy. It was way funny though. Love awkward moments.

 

Funny Moment: We had a branch activity and Hermana Jones was talking to this old man in our branch named Hermano Varela. Sweetest guy on the planet. He is trying really hard to learn English so we help him with it all the time. Anyway, as they were sitting there. Out of nowhere, Hermano Varela turns to Hermana Jones and says (imagine in broken english).."If you are going to marry a Mexican man, You have to know how to make Corn Tortillas." HAHAHAHA. Good to know Hermano Varela but what do you know about Polynesians? haha jk jk. ;)

 

Spiritual Moment: Me and Jones both found this quote in our personal study this week. It is from a general conference talk from last year. In Matthew 17:20 is the scripture about having the faith the size of a mustard seed and how it can move mountains. I have always thought that was just silly...moving mountains with faith? ya right. Then I read this quote by Bishop Richard C. Edgley.." I have never wittnessed the removal of an actual mountain. But because of faith, I have seen a mountain of doubt and despair removed and replaced with hope and optomism. Because of faith, I have personally wittnessed a mountain of sin replaced with repentance and forgiveness. And because of faith, I have personally wittnessed a mountain of pain replaced with peace, hope, and gratitute. Yes I have seen mountains moved." As a missionary, I have seen these mountains move over and over. I think everyday we have a mountain we have to climb or help someone else move their mountain. We do this by faith. Mind blown huh?

 

Love you all so much!!!!! XOXOXOXO!!!

Have a good week. SMILE ALWAYS.

 

-Hermana Mcbride