Unspeakabl​e Joy!

Buenos días, familia y amigos!

This week literally flew by. I´m sitting here at the computer and I can´t believe that Monday has come again, and it´s already time to email.

So many things happened this week. This week, I have learned a ton, felt the Spirit a ton, cried a ton, and good news, laughed a ton also.

First, my companion told me on Tuesday morning that I had talked in my sleep on Monday night. Like...a lot, apparently. And the best part is that it was ALL IN SPANISH. Hahaha how weird is that? What she told me is that I was "making a contact" in my sleep...like saying what I would say to someone that we met in the street. Isn´t that so weird? And she said that I was talking 100% clearly, and that she could understand all of it as if I was wide awake talking to her. Haha when she told me that I just died laughing. How weird, but it´s kind of cool that my brain thinks in Spanish like that now. The mission does weird things to ya!

So I wanted to tell you about one of the most spiritual experiences that I´ve ever had in my whole life, if you don´t mind. This past week, I was struggling quite a bit. Mainly just Tuesday and Wednesday, I just was really beating myself up. I don´t really even know why, but I just felt like I wasn´t really good enough to be doing this stuff. I was exhausted, and we were both stressing out a little bit about all of the things we had to do. But mostly, it was an internal, personal battle that I was having with myself. Really, what I always say to myself and to God (in my prayers) is that "I just want to do this missionary stuff right." I had been struggling with other stuff too, but I just really want to be doing all of this right, in the way that the Lord wants it to be done. It´s His work, for heaven´s sake! I don´t really know how to explain it, but despite our successes I just felt crappy about myself (kind of like a pity party). But anyway, I really have decided that Alma 26 is my life´s motto. In this chapter in the Book of Mormon, a group of men have just returned from their "mission," and one of them, Ammon, is rejoicing. He is talking about how amazing the mission was, and how many great things they had accomplished, and one of the others, Aaron, tells him that he needs to knock it off because he´s boasting. But Ammon basically just turns to him and is like "What are you talking about? I´m not talking about myself...I´m talking about how amazing GOD is." This whole chapter is filled with his words, praising and thanking God for all of the miracles he had done, and for the help they had received from Him. I read this chapter all the time, almost every day, because I want to be like Ammon. I want to realize that all of the good we do out here, the "good results" we get are great, but it´s all thanks to God - we´re literally just instruments in His hands. Anyway, one of the things that Ammon says, is this-  "Therefore, let us ^aglory, yea, we will ^bglory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his ^cmercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel." I have always loved that part..."I cannot say the smallest part of which I feel." I always think about that, and I want my joy to be like that. So in these days, I thought about that a ton. I kept wondering why I couldn´t feel that joy. So on Wednesday, I was reading my Patriarchal blessing (the blessing that members of the church receive...we get lots of blessings in the church, but this one is special, and intended for your whole life. It´s not like a prophesy of your life, but it tells you a lot about your life and blessings you will receive. I hope that makes sense) Anyway, I was reading that, and the last part of mine says the following - "You will be blessed with unspeakable joy in this life and in eternity as you serve the Lord..." UNSPEAKABLE JOY. That´s the blessing that I have. After reading my Patriarchal blessing who knows how many times, and reading Alma 26 every day for the past 3 and a half months, I FINALLY discovered that, just in the exact moment that I needed it. It´s funny because I wrote that scripture on the front of my agenda like 4 weeks ago, so that I could always see it. "I cannot say the smallest part of which I feel." And I have that blessing. To be able to experience that. And that unspeakable joy is exactly what I felt this week, after I had to fall a little bit.

Now that I´ve spent forever explaining that, I want to tell you about what happened this week. So I want to talk about our investigators a little bit.

Jorge Chavez - This crazy guy who loves to talk. Seriously, we really don´t talk much when we visit him, because he just talks and talks and talks. But he´s really great and he really wants to learn about the church. He wants to get baptized, but he can´t right now because he lives with his "Señora" and they aren´t married. They have two kids, and have lived together for years, but have never gotten married. That´s how it is here though,  the Law of Chastity is one of our biggest stumbling blocks. We´re helping them set up a date to get married, but we aren´t sure if they´re all in. His wife isn't really into the whole Mormonism thing, so she´s not really in a rush to get him baptized.

Ashley - The sweetest little girl! She is only 9, but her parents are members of the church, but were 100% inactive. She sought us out though - her parents hadn´t gone to church in years, but she decided that she wanted to figure out what it was all about, so she sought us out and we have been working with her and her family for about a month and a half. They are totally active now,  they come to church every week, and Ashley is getting baptized THIS Saturday!!!

Geraldine - We met her through a family in the church. She is the girlfriend of one of the brothers in this family, but the brother was also inactive for a really long time. Years! But about a month and a half ago also, we started teaching Geraldine. She really wanted to get baptized, but couldn´t because of the law of chastity thing too (DANG that commandment of God) (that´s a joke). But anyway, she lives with her boyfriend, Diego, and they have a child. But we have been working with them, and they are getting married on November 30th of this month!!!!! So that Geraldine can get baptized and they can start working towards getting married in the temple!! Diego is reactivated, and they´re really passionate about this. It´s amazing, and when I think about it I want to cry. I get to marry someone on my mission!!!!!!

Sebastian - He is the son of an Hermano in our ward, but his situation is difficult. He has like 5 people in his family telling him that he should join different churches, and he just doesn´t know what to do. His parents were also inactive, because they have to work on Sundays (well they don´t have to, but they do). The dad´s name is Jorge. So Jorge hasn´t come to church in so long, but he wanted his son to find about the church and get baptized, so that´s why we´re teaching Sebastian. Basically, we´re making progress with Sebastian, and Jorge is reactivating in the church!

Jenny - She is  a sweet, shy 26 year old that randomly came to church one day, just to check it out. Since then we´ve been teaching her, and she is making progress. It was not a coincidence that she came that day. She will probably be getting baptized next week!!

Okay, with all of that, I wanted to tell you what happened on Sunday. So there is an Hermana here, Hna Burga, who was inactive when I first came to this area two months ago. But now she is totally active, and I could tell you so much more about her, but just know that I just love her to death and thinking about her story and how she has changed, it makes me so happy. She is one of the dear friends that I have made. She talked in church on Sunday about a story that was in one of the church magazines. .. About a little girl that was meeting with the sister missionaries, and decided to get baptized. The missionaries were like best friends with this little girl, and they would always go by her house to bring her to church, and the little girl just loved them. Anyway, it turns out that the little girl had terminal cancer, and I don´t remember all of the story exactly, but she said that the missionaries were right there with this little girl when she died in the hospital. So Hna Burga is telling this story, and I´m just balling, and I realize that THAT is what the love of missionaries should be. they should love the people THAT much. And be willing to do anything for them. I was just crying, and thinking about how much I loved the people here, wondering if it was enough...and I looked around and saw that EVERY single one of our investigators were in Sacrament meeting. ALL of them. In that moment, I felt that "unspeakable joy"...I can´t even explain it. It was absolutely amazing. And I felt a love for them that I can´t even explain.

I am sorry I'm out of time, but just know that I love you so much! I wanted to tell you these things. I hope you know how much I love you! Thank you for the emails and support. I LOVE YOU!

Until next week!

con MUCHO amor,

Hermana Scott