A Labor of Love: The Noblest of Virtues

Hola Amigos :)

Christmas is COMING! So fast! We`re already pretty much halfway through December!

This week flew! Every week it`s just faster and faster.... and better and better! It was a stellar week!

This week we finally got to visit Estela Becerra, (one of the mom`s of the two girls from the bus). She was so happy to see us. Apparently two years ago she got super sick and was in a coma for over eight months. She miraculously came out of it but completely deaf. At first we didn`t even notice, because she talked to us and everything but then we realized and she told us her story. So sad. But it was incredible to see her attitude. She told us about the night that we found her daughter on the bus. She said that her daughter had gone to a singing competition and it was raining SUPER hard and Estela`s sickness was not helping either, so she couldn`t go. She said she was devastated and prayed that Heavenly Father would watch over her daughter... and then she found us. She told us... "Do you see how important the rain was? God loves me." Such a positive attitude.

The second girl from the collectivo... Sara (She`s 14)... is such a miracle! This week we taught her and her mom and they were so receptive! We invited her to church, and Sara came! She was so nervous, but in the end loved it. In fact in January, she`s planning on going to EFY with the ward! She had an interview with the bishop and everything! When she came out we asked her how it went and she said that the bishop told her she needed to pray and ask if it was all true, and that she would feel peace, hope, and a feeling that she couldn`t explain. She said..."That`s exactly how I feel." She said that when she entered the church she felt so much peace. She also told us that day that when we got on the bus, she instantly knew that we were going to talk to her. :) Awe. She is adorable. She`s 14 and has her challenges, it`s not easy being 14 these days, she has lots of changes to make, but really wants a change. That`s what counts. I LOVE seeing when a youth wants to make a change in their life, because that change... changes generations.

Good news.... ZOE has a Baptismal Date! The 26th of December! Hopefully all goes well and she can be baptized that day, but she was really excited and went around telling everyone that she was going to be baptized! I love seeing how sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith, make the decision and then every really falls into place :)

Also... Norma and Enrique are doing SO well! They have so much enthusiasm... lots of work to do, but lots of ¨ganas¨ :) In a lesson this week, after talking about the Law of Chastity... Norma said.... "I love this church, I love the commandments, I just wanna keep the commandments, and I just wanna get baptized, and I wanna go to UTAH!" hahaha :) SO funny! Enrique is also really coming around! This week in Gospel Principles we were talking about signs of the second coming and the teacher asked what we needed to do to be ready... and Enrique said... "We all need to be baptized." Hit it right on. They are so funny. They LOVE going to church on Sunday! They`ve come every Sunday since we found them!

Also... cool thing happened this week. The church lent the cultural hall to a preschool for their end of year presentation, and the church leaders asked us to go be there to answer questions if people had any and bring some materials to give away. We went and I was AMAZED at how many people were there! In the two days... almost 1,000 people entered the church! There were so many comments of how clean it was, and the peace you could feel there. In fact the next day we were knocking doors and found a girl named Sofia and she said, "Hey I know what church that is, I was there yesterday! I loved it. You can tell you really take good care of that church!" Such a good opportunity for SO many people to enter the church, it really is the House of the Lord, and everyone can feel it. So many seeds planted!

This week`s highlight... Zone Conference! President Goates is so inspired, everything that he teaches us, is EXACTLY what we need to hear. This conference he shared about Hope. He said we always focus on Faith and Charity, but Hope seems to always be left aside. I liked the synonyms he gave...

Confidence....Tranquility...Optimism... Enthusiasm... Patient Perseverance... and Gratitude...

He said that right before he got married his dad wanted to give him some advice. He was super excited of course... and then the ONLY thing his dad said is..."Kevin... it all depends on your attitude..." He left feeling a little disappointed, but said that over the years he realized that it was the best piece of advice he could have received. He shared this quote...

"Hope doesn`t focus on the difficulties of the moment, but focuses on the good possibilites in the future."

He made some really interesting comparisons of the difference in Nephi`s attitude and his brothers attitudes. They were literally experiencing the exact same things, but had completely different attitudes, and that made all the difference. In life there are lots of things we simply just can`t change, but there is one thing we can ALWAYS change... our attitude.

He then continued by explaining how he believes that the key of Hope... is Gratitude. Living with an attitude of Gratitude. He gave us Three Challenges...

1. Write down 5 blessings everyday... (can`t repeat)

2. In prayers... focus on Gratitude rather than Asking.

3. In our conversations, eliminate all the negative and replace it with the positive. Look for the good in EVERY situation.

It has been such a neat experience this week to really make a conscious effort to always look for the good! I always thought I was a pretty positive person, but I realized that I had lots of room for improvement. This week as I have been reflecting on every day`s blessings, I have truly grasped a little better what Hope really is. I am so blessed. SO blessed to be a missionary, so blessed to represent my savior and so blessed to be alive! Life is truly beautiful!

"We tend to criticize, to complain, to blame, and, slowly but surely, to abandon the positives and adopt the negatives of life. We can lift ourselves, and others as well, when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues. - Thomas S. Monson

Con Amor, Hermana Matheson