Hey y'all!

I don't know if I will send any pictures today. I want to, but there's just not enough time. I'll try to respond to as many people as I can this week, but just know that if I don't get to ya, I still love you. And I'm grateful for your emails and your love and support. And prayers. Especially the prayers. They give us missionaries so much strength!

So this week was long and wonderful. With a lot of miracles and.....funny happenings as well. I will try to be brief for lack of time.

Last P-day we went to a super sketch restaurant for lunch that took 2 hours to get our food (snacks) and took us ten minutes to eat. But I realized how awesome our district is and how much I love all of the missionaries here in Corozal. Especially the sisters. :)

I finally biked up this really steep hill by our house this week. It was quite the accomplishment and made me really happy. The bikes are really exciting. They're a little interesting to adjust to with the skirts, but I'm managing. I did crash on one of the first days here though. That sneaky gravel! But don't worry. My elbow is healing and is leaving some very beautiful battle wounds.... :)

I also got corn rows in my hair thanks to a very talented member in our ward. All of us sister missionaries here were finally looking Belizean! Yeah buddy! I'll see if I can send at least ONE of those pictures.... hehehe It's worth it.

I also received my first invitation to join a band this week. From a bunch of old men that I had just met. One of them actually came to church this week as well. And maybe I would stop and consider it, but they usually play their instruments at the Adventist church, soooooo....probably not a good idea. :)

We were able to watch the Other Side of Heaven this week and I have been thinking about it A LOT. I have a completely different view of it now that I'm a missionary. I understand things a lot better now. There are certain things about life and the gospel that you learn as a missionary. Certain experiences and feelings that you have and can't explain. No one can ever understand unless they have served a mission and gone through the same thing. Hence why some missionaries just seem so.....changed when they get back and don't know how to explain why. It's all part of the conversion process.

I just loved how Elder Groberg at the beginning was asking his companion and various other people why they were doing the things they were doing--why they were serving the Lord. It made me think about a question that Elaine Anderson posed in Sunday School a few months ago--Are we just living a lifestyle or do we live this way because we truly believe this? Every missionary at some point stops to reflect on this and every member should do the same.

I know that this Church is true. I know that Jesus Christ restored it again to the earth in these last days by means of Joseph Smith. I know that as we abide by the precepts and teachings of His gospel, we will be happy in this life and have eternal joy in the next. It is the only way we can return to our Father in Heaven as eternal families. I know that God listens and answers our prayers. And He wants us to return to Him.

I'm grateful for the blessing of being a missionary here in Belize. Hastening the work is an incredible opportunity that all of us have no matter where we are in the world! I am so grateful for all of the good influences that y'all have been on me. I could not be here today without all of your guidance and support. Keep pressing forward and strengthening your trust in God. He is there to guide us.

Love Always,

Hermana McCulloch