"All Things Work Together for Good to Them That Love God"

Hey there fam! Como Estan? Estoy muy bien.

And that's about all the Spanish I can get into a conversation down here. I'm actually in two Branches, an English Branch and a Spanish Branch, and there are three other sets of missionaries. Eight missionaries is a lot to have in two small branches. I think I'd have been over whelmed with eight in our big family ward back home. Someone told me that the Border Zone was President Jones' project area, so there are a lot of missionaries down here. So there are North and South Areas, with a set of Elders and Sister's in both. I'm in the North area, which is mostly the upper end of Del Rio, so we work mostly with the English branch, and the South Sisters work mostly with the Spanish Branch. But there are those outliers here, so I do get to speak Spanish.

 Well, I mostly get to HEAR Spanish more. When I speak it, there are blank stares all around. And then my companion will say the same thing and they'll respond. Feeling good about my accent last week? Boo. Down the drain with that. I'll just have to start forcing my way into the conversations and saying things anyways, even if they can't understand I word I say to them, it's fine, I'll say it anyway. It's really hard though actually, because most of the time I'm content with letting Sister Lund do the talking when we come to Spanish, but that's not how it should be. Eh. It'll come. For now, just smile anyway when they stare at you blankly. 

My bike. It's gotten a lot better this week. One of the Sister's that we live with, Sister Clark, showed me how to tuck and things with my skirt so that it's not riding up all the time, it helps a lot. Mostly now I just hate getting on or off my bike while people are watching, it's not really attractive. One time, we were pulling up to the church for correlation, and I was trying to brake while coming up the curb a little, and get off at the same time, in the ending I kind'a ended up sliding/hurdling over the back of my bike to get off it so I didn't fall. The Elder's drove up right behind us right then. Cool. I'm tried and sweaty all the time. And it's almost November...shouldn't it be like time for cardigans and scarves yet? No.  Oh wait, I've been wearing them anyway haha. 

This week, I got asked if I was a fashion blogger before my mission. "What? No." Should I have been? hahahaha...probably not.

We met with this elderly couple this week, Marilyn and Jerry. They're GEMS. They're Baptist, and very firm in their beliefs, Jerry's been reading the Book of Mormon. Four pages a day actually. He's in the beginning of 2 Nephi now, and sometimes he reads it out loud to Marilyn and they discuss it. Only a matter of time. They're kind'a hillbilly people, and they have the best accents :) I adore talking with them, every time we walk away I feeling a little more like singing and bouncing and peddling a little faster. Plus, Marilyn is going to teach us how to make pecan pie this Friday. I guess she's pretty good at it.

We're also teaching another older couple, Rosie and Eloy. Their grandson was taking the lessons and going to be baptized, and the Sisters having been trying to help them progress as well. Rosie is a Sunday school teacher for their Methodist church, and she LOVES teaching the children. Actually, she usually uses things in her lessons that the Sisters have taught them. We dropped off a Children's Friend magazine Saturday afternoon and set up and appointment to come back that evening. When we came back, she had already read through it all and picked out something to use for her class. 

We decided to watch The Testaments with them that night since they were having a hard time getting into the Book of Mormon, we thought it would help them understand the location and people in relation to the Bible. They were in Sister Lund's words "enthralled" with the movie. We could only watch half of it since we had to be home on time, but we're going back to night to finish with them. When we stopped it, Rosie looked at us with her eyes big and her mouth open. "I never knew about the Mormon religion before you came" she said. "I had no idea." We're really excited to see them tonight, and we're hoping to help them understand that the Book of Mormon does testify of Christ and is a Sister book to the Bible. Neat things going on here!

So doing personal study in Spanish. Not workin so well. I've felt kinda drained this week, physically, emotionally and spiritually. While on a bike ride home the other day, I was thinking about what I could do about it. I felt like I was doing everything right, so why did I always feel so worn out and down right tired? Like I wasn't getting my "daily bread" that Elder Christopherson talks about. Yesterday morning, I was looking through my Christ-like Attribute Book of Mormon that I had been study last transfer, and I felt very sad about not finishing it. I had thought now was the time to study everything in Spanish, and I've been waiting three transfers to start doing it. But I didn't really get that confirmation that it was time, and I went ahead and did it anyway. Well, some things are good, but only in the right time. Timing is essential.

 I LOVE personal study, and sometimes I'm really selfish with it, and trying to do it all in Spanish, was not giving me what I needed right now. So I've decided to go back to English. It took a bit out of me to admit that maybe that's just what I needed to do, and then I thought about D&C Chapter 9 were Oliver Cowdry was told that at that time, it was not needful that he translate. I also for some reason thought of Romans chapter 8, so I went to look it up and in verse 28 I read "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purposes." Whatever may happen, I'll be able to learn Spanish. And maybe it's needed that I meet someone in the future after my mission who needs to be able to help me learn it. Who knows, but for now, I'll be still. I'll still study it and work hard, but for now, it's not needful that I push into things so much.

Well family, I think that's about it. Tomorrow I'll be old. Friday, my companion will be even older, 20 and 22. We're actually probably still babies. We've just been singing Taylor Swift's "22" song a little bit to get us in the mood haha. We've decided to change up the lyrics to fit a missionary life style.

I'm proud of all the missionary experiences y'all have been having. They make me smile :D You're doing good family.

I'm excited for the changes and the maps in your new area Danika, you should send me some pictures. Sometimes I wish we had a Pinterest for missionaries. Would do wonders sharing creative and effective ideas for organization, finding and teaching. Wonders I say. 

Sharlan. I'm proud of you playing in church! Ya done good kid :) sometimes it's healthy for us to do things that makes us what to scream... or other things...and I've always wanted to be the towel lady too. Quite JEALOUS. 

Have a good week and a happy Halloween!

Until next week

Nos Vemos!

Hermana CheyennE  Montgomery