Far and Wide His Love Proclaim: Taking My Own Advice on Happiness

Dearest People of my homeland and anyone else who happens upon this,

How I love you all. Really truly. I love you all. Thank you for the part you all have in my life.

This is from the birthday party we had as a zone today for our district leader. Have I mentioned that Elder Quinton Dickerson is in my district and is the companion of my district leader. I see him at least once a week and we talk to him every night when the district leader calls. It is crazy that 2 OHS tigers end up in the same city in Chile. CRAZY!

This week was full of a lot of tears: because of the good, the bad, the ugly, and the many many miracles.

This week we had intercambios. The hermana leaders are great and suggested that my companion and I have interviews with the Zone leaders this week. Let me just say that sometimes we dont know we are unhappy until someone tells us so. :) Haha. I have been trying so hard these last 3 weeks to convince myself that I was happy. But each day it got harder and harder to be happy and I was more and more irritated with life, my companion, the work, investigatores, members. I got more and more depressed and wasnt laughing, wasnt smiling, and was just plain sad. My poor companion. I have just been super stressed as a trainer I think.

Anyway, this interview was exactly what I needed. The Elders told me they noticed I havent been happy. I started bawling quite unattractively and said they were right and asked what I needed to do to change. Haha. #hermanas. They helped calm my fears and told me I was doing enough. They shared personal experiences and helped me know I am not alone. I realized just how unfun I have been with my companion. POBRECITA. Thus, I have tried harder to be a happy missionary. And it has worked. :) You know how I always said, ¨Happiness is a choice. We have to choose to be happy!¨Yeah, I am trying to take my own advice. :)

This week Patricio came to church with Sandra and their daughter Dita. They all stayed for all of the meeting despite the fact that it was Patricio´s birthday! In the Gospel Principles class at the end he made a comment and told the class that we, Sister Camargo and I, had knocked on their door at just the right moment and that he has found a happiness that he had been craving. He was crying as he said this. It was one of the sweetest moments I have ever experienced. I have never felt something so fulfilling as missionary work. I am a literal instrument in His hands. After church there was a baptism of a few of the Elders in our ward and stake. We asked them if they wanted to stay. Dita really wanted to so they did! Dita told us this week that she really wants to know that the church is true and that she feels really comfortable there. She wants to be baptized when she knows it is true! MIRACLES!

This week I was also reading in Mormón 9. There it says that God is a God of miracles. I prayed that morning for miracles and then worked to see them. There were many miracles. Many many miracles that day. We found 3 new investigators and taught many lessons. I testify that God is a God of miracles. If we ask in Faith (faith meaning that we believe He will and then ACT to see those miracles) that He answers our prayers and miracles happen.

I love you all. Miracles are real. I see them every single day. I love the mission. I really truly do. There is no other place I would rather be.

A tarantula we found. We took this picture from VERY far away and with zoom.