Adversity is a blessing that helps us become acquainted with God

First off, shoutout to ma li brudda who's turning SEVENTEEN today!!!! HOLLA! :D hehehe (Everyone give him lots of hugs and kisses to watch him squirm for me!) ;)

Okay. Now about the week.... It was a pretty low-key week. We got wet. And I mean SOAKED. And no one would let us in!!!! We were in the outskirts of our area in a place called Skeleton Town and tried a couple of houses on the way to the seaside (the other furthermost part of our area on the opposite side....), but to no avail. Finally one of our investigators let us in and we ended up chilling in her house for two hours until the rain died down enough for us to go back out. The thing is that here in Belize? When it rains, everything shuts down. Even the chinos. Er....the chinese stores. :) I don't know why though. I guess they don't really like adventure (That or random, drenched, smelling-like-wet-dogs young women showing up on their doorstep offering to share a message about Jesus Christ and eternal families)!

Anyway, needless to say, it rained a couple of times this week. ANND it was right around the time that I was beginning to get a cold.... :/ Puchiga! But oh well. I'm finally getting over it, I think. :)

So. Miracles of the week. It mostly involved time. Calling/visiting people when they needed it most. We had been weekly planning and then I called our recent (half) convert, Frank to check on him. We were planning to confirm him on Saturday afternoon and we wanted to make sure that he was still excited about that. (We have been waiting FIVE months..... It was a crazy situation, but that's another long story for another time....) So anyway, I talked to his sister and she asked for a certain member to be there. So I called her up and as I was talking to her, I noticed that she was crying. So.....Sister Vasquez (as tired as she was from her recent health problems....) and I jumped on our bikes, ran to the store to buy chocolate, skipped lunch, and went and visited this member for an hour or so. She has been very stressed lately, but was able to vent and solved everything herself. I am just in awe with this member and her little family. I'm in awe with many members in fact. We were able to serve various families this week in their own times of need and all of them involved single mothers. I hope that someday I can be as good of an example to my future children as they are to theirs. They are the definition of true strength and complete trust and reliance in the Lord.

On Tuesday, we had a leadership meeting down in Belize City. On the way back, Sister DeLeon and I (our companions were left in Orange Walk...) ended up being split up on the bus. But it was great. I had the coolest experiences with giving children "He is the Gift" pass-along cards and becoming friends with their parents.

I also met a really cool guy on the bus as we were going from Orange Walk to Corozal. I wish I had more time to share a little more detail about him. But.....he used to work with a member a few years ago, so he has heard a bit about the Church. Not much. He is recently married to his wife (a little over a year) and they just recently had a little baby girl who only survived a few days. (Plan of Salvation!) But he was very nice and we got along very well. He agreed for us to come back and seemed really excited. #TenderMercyoftheLord #TheSpirit

One more....

At the bus stop in Belize City, I was able to meet such an amazing woman named Elizabeth who has had 14 years of pure adversity (starting with the deaths of 11 of her 14 children in a fire) and is still going strong. I was able to have a short "lesson" with her and bore my testimony of God's Plan of Salvation and Jesus Christ's Atonement. I LOVE being a missionary--a representative of Jesus Christ all the time. I love being able to go anywhere and still find opportunities to share His gospel or to talk about His love and His Atonement. I know that He lives and loves us. I know that He loves us enough to bless us with trials so that we can become more like Him. So that we can feel Him ever closer in our own lives. So that we can be happy, knowing that He understands us, knows exactly how we feel, and is with us always. I love the story of the footprints in the sand. There's a man who is standing with the Lord, looking back on his life. As he views the path he left behind, he notices that often there are two sets of footprints in the sand, but in those most difficult moments--those hilly spots--he only sees one. He turns to the Lord and asks, "Why? Why did you abandon me when I needed you most?" The Lord simply smiles and replies, "It was in those moments that you only see one set of footprints that I carried you instead."

I know that the Atonement can carry all of us in our most difficult times. There is nothing that we can't overcome in the strength of the Lord. Let us all learn a lesson from Paul found in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10:

7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, themessenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. 8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
 9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I ratherglory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I amweak, then am I strong.
Paul is given affliction--a thorn in the flesh. He asks the Lord three times to make it depart from him and the Lord says what? "My grace is sufficient for thee....my strength is perfect in weakness."

If we accept these trials and lean on our Elder Brother, His grace, and His strength, we can endure anything thrown our way. Christ wants to help us and if we are faithful and diligently seek His help, I know He will.

I love you and pray for you all. Adversity is a blessing that helps us become acquainted with God! That's my invitation for you this week--take pleasure in your infirmities and think about the grace that our Savior's Atonement provides to make us strong!

Love Always,

Sistah M.