I love primary programs (:

November 9, 2015

Hola (:

This week was great!

First of all, I realized I haven't really told you about my companion! Her name is Hermana Martinez and she is from Chihuahua, Chihuahua. They have this funny accent up there where "ch" is like "sh" so she is from "SHihuahua" and she like "leSHe" (leche-milk) and that reminds me: mom, you have to learn how to make arroz con leche because it's dang good. Anyway.... she's an awesome missionary and we are doing great. I like the way we are learning to teach together. We're getting pretty good at really teaching the person and not just the lesson and that's helping us see success.

Yesterday was the PRIMARY PROGRAM here!! AHHHH I promise there is nothing cuter than 15 adorable Mexican kids belting the primary songs out in Spanish. It was amazinngggg. I seriously felt the spirit so strongly and felt sooo happy to be here in the mission. I was blessed with a lot of neat experiences with our members this past week that really helped me to understand them. The church isn't as strong here as it is in Utah. These people are so active and work so hard to keep the ward going. We ate lunch with one of the members of the Relief Society Presidency and she started crying when she told us how much the gospel means to her. They don't take this for granted. A lot of them are converts and have seen the difference the gospel has made in their lives.

As always, I have a miracle to share (: About a month ago, we saw a 22 year old less active at a ward activity. After that we started teaching him and his mom and have become good friends with them. He had started coming back to church, but she had to work on Sundays and told us that she didn't think her schedule was going to change any time soon. We read 1 Nephi 3:7 and talked about how when we have commandments the Lord will prepare a way for us to accomplish them. Then we prayed with her and asked Heavenly Father to help her return to church. Well, this past week we went by to see her and she told us that, unexpectedly, her work schedule had changed and she was going to be able to go to church at least every other week! We were so excited, and even more excited because she recognized that this was an answer to her prayer and that Heavenly Father really had helped her out. 

It is so weird to hear how things are cooling down so much there, in Utah! The weather is seriously the same here. It might be warmer than it was when I got here.. because it doesn't rain anymore. I can't believe it's actually November. 

I love you all a bunch! I hope that you are doing well (:

Love,

Hermana Aubriana Wolferts

Hermana Lambert looking beautiful and Mexican in the streets of Mexico City (:

A recent convert that we took to the visitors center.

The classic meal we eat here is as follows. We almost always have 3-4 courses. I'm working hard to not get fat. That's actually not really true. I eat a ton. It's good that we walk a lot!

The first course is almost always some sort of soup, usually a pasta or vegetable soup, or both.

The second course is rice! I really like the rice here (: And people put either banana or egg on it sometimes and it's really yummy (I promise, it sounds weird but it's actually really good).

And then we have some sort of a main dish! I'm in love with salsa verde. I'm going to buy that stuff by the gallon from cafe rio when I get back (it tastes a lot like the cafe rio stuff, but that's about the only similarity between the food here and there).

And ALWAYS the meals are supplemented with tortillas. It doesn't matter what you eat. The people here are just SHOCKED when I tell them we don't have little tortilla stores on every corner back home. They all tell me I need to start a tortilleria when I get home. But the thing is that NO ONE eats tortillas in the states like they do here.

Here is a picture of a chocolate lollipop that my recent convert made me! He is so great and it was yummy. He's the same one who made me the basket and flower and box.

Another Miracle...

November 2, 2015

Hey!

This week was great! I have to start with my miracle of the day. I don't know if I was just a spiritual idiot before my mission and I didn't recognize these kinds of things or if being a missionary is just the best thing in the world.

SOOOOO, once again this miracle was necessary because of my lack of directionality. I'm really counting on Ether's words being true when he promises that we have weaknesses to make us humble and if we turn to the Lord he will make them strengths (Ether 12:27) because I wouldn't be bummed if I was magically able to navigate in a couple months. I think I've been sufficiently humbled at this point (;

Anyway, this morning we were trying to head to Walmart but I realized I had actually never gone without someone who knew how to get there. But because my companion is still fairly new here and knows even less than me about the area, we didn't know exactly where to go. I knew what micro to take (a micro is a small bus thing. There are TONS of them here and we take them all the time.) and I know where we get off but I couldn't remember what direction we had to go. UGGGH I wish I were better at this. Basically, I chose wrong and I realized it pretty quickly and hopped off, but we didn't have enough change to get on the correct micro. The only thing we had was a 500 peso bill (which would be the equivalent of a 30-40 dollar bill, if that existed) but NO ONE will give you change for that, even if you buy something (unless what you buy is close to that amount, but I don't have sufficient funds to be spending pesos like that!) So, we were sorta stuck. But I also knew that the Lord has ALWAYS provided a solution when we have been in situations like this. I started looking on the ground for money or thinking how the Lord was going to help us out with this one. But there was nothing. Eventually we decided to try to change the bill in a convenience store that's more of a chain and sells nicer things than the normal family owned stores, but they wouldn't change it, even if we offered to buy juices. As I was looking through every pocket of my bag waiting for a ten peso coin or something to show up, in walks a family of menos activos who saw from a distance that we didn't get the juice we tried to buy. When we explained that we were trying to buy juice to get change for the micro, they gave us money for the micro AND bought us the juice. AHH the people here are too dang nice. 

Basically, God ALWAYS provides the way. Miracles are REAL and they still happen today. Also, frequently God performs miracles through us, so listen to the promptings of the spirit and don't hesitate to do what it says. 

This week was a little weird, because we had to come home early 2 days because of the day of the dead stuff going on down here. It can get a little crazy, I suppose. But the traditions are actually really cool! The people make shrines for their ancestors and put their favorite things around it. It sounds a little strange to us because it's different, but it's actually really touching and respectful. The bishop showed us his family's and it was really cool. We also ate stomach while we were at their house that day. It actually wasn't all that bad.... the only weird thing is that one side of the stomach has the texture of shag carpet, but it didn't bother me really.

Today I walked into walmart and realized it's time for the premature Christmas decoration and festivity madness! I bought Christmas paper towels and a mug and Christmas cookies! I don't know why I went so crazy... I think it's because with our perfect and unchanging climate here, I forget that time actually is passing and that things actually do change, so when I realized Christmas was coming, I decided to celebrate. 

Also we have new neighbors in our little apt. thing that we live in from Haiti! So they speak French, but we started trying to teach them Spanish when we were stuck in our apt. the nights that we couldn't leave! Teaching someone who speaks French Spanish when your first language is English is tough.... but I learned a little bit of French from it. (Very, very little, mind you). It's tough because the accent is really different and I keep wanting to pronounce everything like Spanish!

We also had a conf. with the head of the missionary dept, Elder Nelson! He talked a lot about obedience and really made all the missionaries excited to be here in the mission. He also talked a lot about working with menos activos and through part member families to both help convert people, and to help people get back to church, and we've been really working to implement that in this area! Things have been great here, I'm praying that I don't leave after this transfer. I'm not ready ):

I love you all so much! Also, I can't believe how tall Trevin is! That's so weird! Send me a picture of him next to you, mom!

Love,

Hermana Aubriana Wolferts

MIRACLES

October 26, 2015

Hellooooo!!! (:

I'm so excited to talk about this week! It was a good one! I saw a lot of really great blessings this week. I didn't even realize how many miracles I had seen until I started to think about what I wanted to tell you all!

1. About a month ago, the Elders in my district had contacted this 19 or so year old kid named Carlos who lives in our area. They set up an apt. in the church and gave us his phone number. Well, we went to the apt. in the church, but he wasn't there. So we called and he said he couldn't make it. So we tried to reschedule, but he didn't show up to that apt. either. We rescheduled again, but then he ended up in the hospital and couldn't make it to the apt! Eventually, we stopped trying to meet up with him. 

Flash forward to last week, and we receive a challenge from the zone leaders to contact until we have 10 people who accept an appointment. Well, we had a lot of appointments that day and we didn't have a lot of time to just contact, but my comp and I were determined to meet the challenge. We had our meeting with the ward mission leader at 8, and at 7:45 we realized it was time to head to the church for the meeting, but that we had only had 9 people accept appointments! I was so tempted just to head to the church, but my comp and I decided to contact another person and try to get a cita. We found someone on the street and thankfully, they accepted the appointment and we still made it to the meeting on time!

Flash forward to this past week, and we went to the guys house for the meeting. However, his niece answered the door and said he wasn't home. So we just started contacting her, and she told us that her brother, Carlos, had had the Elders talk to him. After a couple questions, I realized this was THE Carlos, the one we never found! They let us into their house right then and there, and now we are teaching Carlos. (: 

This just goes to show that God doesn't always work in the way we imagine, but when something is in his plan, he will make it work.

2. Anyone who knows me knows that directionality isn't a strength of mine. Well, since my companion is the new person in the area, I've been teaching her the streets and everything, which is terrifying for someone who can't navigate. I really am getting a lot better, but the other day we were trying to find a reference, and I didn't know exactly where the street was. I usually carry a map around for moments like this , but I had forgotten my map this day. I was walking with my companion finally accepting that I really didn't know where to go when I exclaimed that I really just wished I had a map when I looked down and saw a piece of paper on the ground. What was it? Some advertisement for a restaurant that HAD A MAP showing where the restaurant was. And the weirdest thing is that it literally just had a map of my area. Like, almost exactly our area. With that map, we were able to find the street and the family. SUCH a blessing.

3. A couple weeks ago I lost one of my name tags. I assumed it was lost forever, but this past week I saw this guy in the street who kept staring at me... it was kinda freaking me out until he pulled out my name tag! He told me he found it on the street and didn't know what it was... until he saw us that day and realized it matched mine! So naturally, we explained why we have these tags and we are going to visit him this week (:

I could go on and on about the amazing little things that happen here. I'm scared to not be a missionary any more one day because the little miracles we receive are so great! But I'm thinking I had them before my mission, but just didn't recognize them.

Funny story that I forgot to tell! Back when I was with Hnas Wong and Lambert, we were walking down the streets being missionaries and everything when this group of three 20 something year old guys walked by. One of them was looking at me... like how guys here sometimes do and Hermana Wong was starting to get all protective of me when he turned to his friends and said: "she gave me a pamphlet" all proud like. We couldn't even stop laughing! But really, that's exactly what I want people to say. I didn't even remember that I had contacted him, but I'm so glad I did (: I'm not sure if he is being taught, because he didn't live in our area... but it was great. 

Hna Martinez is an awesome companion and has really been teaching me a lot about working with the ward. And I mean ACTUALLY working with the ward, because sometimes it's felt like just a formality on both sides. We went to the house of the bishop on Saturday to have a meeting and talk about our goals and the things we can do better to help the ward. They fed us breakfast while we were there, and when they brought out our plates, it kinda looked like pancakes! I haven't had pancakes in a while and I was so excited, till I looked closer. It was a stack of tortillas with eggs in between haha. Sooo Mexican. But it was actually really good....

We're really seeing a lot of blessings here. We found a crazy number of new investigators last week and have quite a few people with baptismal date. I'm not sure yet if they are all going to happen, but we have a lot of good things happening here. Heavenly Father takes such good care of us.

I love you all so much! Thanks for all your letters and love and support! Hope you are all happy and healthy!

Love,

Hermana Wolferts

PS. What happened with the hurricane? Nothing happened here... but the sky did look really cool! I'll send pics next week! And it cleared out the pollution a little bit! I saw the mountains surrounding the city! We were like "there are mountains here?" (:

cambios (transfers)

October 19, 2015

Hello!

So this past week we had changes!!! And I got a new Comp! Drumrollllllll.... Hermana Martinez! She's awesome and she trained my comp from the CCM! 

However, I didn't change areas, which means I had to teach the area last week. It doesn't sound that hard... but with being so directionally challenged and not having perfect... or even close to perfect... Spanish, I was pretty nervous! But also excited. Change is good and helps us to grow and progress. Whenever we start to feel comfortable, it probably means that we need to stretch ourselves more (: 

So on Tuesday after changes, we headed back to our area and went out to work! I've always had someone who knew the area with me, so it was weird to be the one explaining the stories of the people we were going to visit and to be the one who had to do small talk. I'm working on being less awkward with small talking, and I'm getting okay at it with contacting and stuff! But the other day I was talking to a kid who served a mission and is now less active and I was just like "so what's up, why haven't you been at church?" Spanish has helped me be very direct. When you don't have an extensive vocabulary, it's hard to beat around the bush!

This past week I really saw what a blessing it is to have the gospel in our lives. Last night we taught a lesson and this person has NO idea that we lived with God before this life and that He is the Father of our Spirits. Maybe other people just hadn't ever told us that they didn't know that, but I usually assume that other people of other religions believe that. But after that lesson I was just thinking about how sad it would be to not know that! I can't even imagine. The mom in this family has some pretty firm ideas that are different than ours, but we have a return apt. so it will be interesting to see what happens!

Lately, the weather has been a little cooler here. Like, we're talking 70 degrees instead of 75. Well, everyone here has this conception that climate change makes you sick. Like EVERY Mexican seems to believe this! And I could maybe see it if it were a dramatic climate change, but we're talking 5 degrees. However, all of our investigators and members and less actives and everyone has been getting sick! I don't know if that is just confounded with going back to school and all that.... but I'm, like, starting to believe it!

Also, agua here is not water. Agua is any drinkable liquid. And most things here are carbonated. If we eat at a members house they either make us some sort of home made fruit water or some carbonated drink. Hermana Lambert and I couldn't stop laughing the other day because this one bottle said "apple juice" and below it said "with just a touch of juice." Once we tried it, it made more sense because it was yet, another carbonated juice, but it was pretty funny.

Things here are going really well. It's amazing to see all the miracles, like the fact that I can actually communicate with people in Spanish now or that I have been able to navigate us around the area pretty well, or that my comp has talents and ideas that are just what this area and ward needs. I LOVE being here and it is such a privilege to work here.

I read a scripture this week in Jacob, I think it was 1:19, where he is talking about how he is going to work dang hard to teach the people and to help them to come to Christ and if he doesn't do everything possible, he is going to accept the sins of the people on his head. A bit intense, but it's so true. I'm going to do EVERYTHING I can here, or I'm going to be held responsible. 

Thanks for everything! I love you guys (:

Hermana Aubriana Wolferts

"¿se encuentra Jose?"

October 12, 2015

Wow, What an amazing week! Anddd I actually have time to write about it (:

So, as I think I mentioned last week, I'm in a trio with Hermanas Wong and Lambert. I was a little worried last week because they are both fluent in Spanish (Hermana Wong is from Mexico so... por esto. And Hermana Lambert came into the mission basically fluent because she has spent a lot of time in Spanish speaking countries and has had years of Spanish lessons so... por esto). And then there's me.... I sort of took Spanish in high school.... but did I learn anything? NOPE. So this has all been baptism by fire. But it actually turned out better than expected. Like, it's actually been an AMAZING week.

First of all, I really understand nearly everything that people say to me in Spanish. Sometimes if people mumble or are talking about something too specific I'm still a little bit confused, but for the most part, I know what's going on. Hermana Wong had to go to the doctor last week and I was just so happy because I even knew what the doctor was saying and this was exciting for me because usually I have a hard time with conversations I've never had before. Obviously, every conversation is a bit different, but I talk with A LOT of people about the gospel, so I'm fairly comfortable with the vocabulary for this. But I haven't had an abundant amount of medical conversations, so to realize that my vocabulary is getting big enough to be able to understand these conversations, or at least to know enough of the words that I can make inferences about the words I don't know, is really exciting! And, Hermana Wong is doing great now, so that's good too (:

Also, we had a great week as far as the work goes! It was different because when we became a trio, Hermana Wong and I inherited the area of Hermana Lambert, while still having to maintain our own. Fortunately, we are in a mission where our areas are pretty small so it hasn't been too much of a struggle, but we've had a lot of investigators to juggle! 

Yesterday was Sunday, and Sundays are stressful because it's the day when you get to see the fruits of your labor, AKA who comes to church. It's sometimes sad because we have people with dates for baptism and who really are progressing in the gospel and want to learn more and take the step and be baptized, but if they can't go to church we can't have them baptized. So yesterday we decided that we were going to do something more to help people get there. So on Sunday morning we sent out on a quest to pick up our people who have baptisimal dates. One guy had to work, and there was nothing we can really do about that. It's a bummer, because we are probably going to have to reschedule his baptism, but it's better that he's prepared. Second we went for a family of menos activos with a 9 year old with a baptisimal date. Our goal is to reactivate the family and have the son baptized. But they were all SLEEPING ): I mean I guess not everyone gets up at 6:30 like us.... but it was about 11am. So next we went for another menos activo family in a similar situation where they have a child who is 9 but hasn't been baptized. They mom couldn't go because one of her sons was sick, but they kid wanted to go so we started calling members to take him to church (because we can't be alone with a child and he's only 9 so he can't go by himself). One of our amazing members came to help us and he made it to church and loved it! So that was really awesome. So along the way, there were some "failures," some things that didn't work out like I had hoped, but I was just happy that this Hermanito made it to church and that his family promised to all go next week. However, the Lord decided to bless us even more. Another family, that we were teaching a while ago but eventually dropped, showed up to sacrament meeting and asked to meet with us this next week. They told us they have had some trials that have made them realize that they need the gospel in their lives. So maybe now they are ready (:

These past couple of weeks I've been practicing contacting and finding nuevos, because I wasn't very great at it before. It was hard for me to be super natural and fun to talk to when I didn't speak Spanish. But now that I can communicate with people, I realized I could do a WHOLE lot more in that area. So every day I carry around a bunch of pamphlets and when I contact people I just pull out a restoration pamphlet and show them the pictures and quickly go through it and ask them to read it, pray about it, and come to church. This is GREAT because it's hard for people to thirst after your message if they don't know what it is, and this introduces them to it just enough that they want it and start seeking for it if they are prepared to hear the gospel. 

However, the other day we weren't finding new people and we really wanted to find new people to teach. We almost never knock doors (It's not necessarily a rule that we can't, but it's also not the safest thing for sisters to do, so usually we only knock doors that we are inspired to knock) but there was no one on the street so we decided to knock a door. But we wanted to do something a little different than the standard "hi, we're missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints...." so at the last minute we decided to just ask if "Jose" was there. We had never knocked this door or anything, we just picked a random name because having a name really helps people to open up, even if we happen to have a bad address and they don't actually live there. So we knocked the door and when someone answered we were like "se encuentra Jose?" And the guy who answered said "sorry, he's not here, he's still working etc. etc." And I sorta lost it because we just made up a name and a Jose actually lives there. So I was trying really hard not to obviously laugh but we contacted him and left a pamphlet and we are going back to visit him and "Jose" this week. It might be a little awkward when Jose realizes he's never met us. So, while that might not be a contacting activity I continue using throughout my mission, it was pretty funny and maybe they will accept the gospel (: 

Also, I want to talk about how AMAZING conference was. There were a lot of really great talks and I got to watch it in ENGLISH which was such a blessing. One impression I was left with, however, is that hard things lie ahead. That we are going to face persecution and challenges like never before. That we need to be STRONG, and get back to basics. Build our families, focus on the gospel and not just on the church that helps us live the gospel. This was both inspiring and a bit frightening. But we have a prophet and apostles to warn us and to prepare us. So, PREPARE!!!

But one talk we LOVED was the "ponderize" talk. What an amazing way to learn the scriptures! My companions and I have started doing this, and my ponderize scripture for this last week was 1 Nephi 17:50. We write them in English and Spanish and study them both ways, so that we can both feel it in our own language, and study it to help our investigators. But what my scripture for this past week says is that we can do anything, ANYTHING, the Lord commands if we have faith. If the Lord asked us to command water to be land, and if we did so in faith, water would become land. I like this for 2 reasons. 1. I want to have the kind of faith where I can make miracles happen. but 2. I also want to have the humility and faith to realize that if I'm sincerely asking for something in faith and it's NOT happening, it might not be the Lord's will. Maybe he wanted that water to be water. 

Thank you all for your love and support and prayers! I definitely feel them. Hope you know I'm praying for you too (:

Love,

Hermana Aubriana

One goal I have is time management...

October 5, 2015

I'm sorry, I don't have a lot of time yet again! P-day time is so precious and scarce. As you can tell, I spent a lot of time sending pictures that I took with my new really cool camera my mom and dad sent to me to replace the one I lost at the CCM.

But we had a great week! I really REALLY hope I stay in my area because we are starting to see some crazy miracles. We have 4 people with baptismal dates and people who we are hoping to give a date this week.

Also, we had general conference! I will have to write all my insight and everything next week because I don't have time to even get started on how much I loved that right now! PS I got to watch it in ENGLISH!!!! I have never been so grateful for anything.

As you can tell, I love the camera (: Although... my camera case will not fit that so I might need to get another one!

This week, I'm in a trio with Hermanas Wong and Lambert. Hermana Crichton made the decision to change to a state side mission for health reasons. Being in a trio is so different, but we are doing well! We have changes in a week and I will be (most likely) getting a new companion. I'm going to miss my lovely companions. They are such strong, amazing girls!

Love you all! 

Hermana Wolferts

Okay, so my new camera is like... WOW. Haha, we are all in love. So we have just been having photo shoots right and left! Here are some pictures (:

A shot of our little apartment area from the 3rd floor down. It's pretty cute (: 

The view from our roof!

 I love all the Mexican Flags (: This one is on our roof.

The dad of the family we baptized makes us these cute little things! The flower is paper and the baskets are newspaper. My brown one is painted with normal paint, but hermana wong's is painted with coffee--they had to do something with all their coffee after they committed to live the word of wisdom!

 I ran into Hermano Silva, who was Crawford's teacher in the CCM!

Bathroom selfie that accurately displays how we feel about the camera (:

Hermanas Wong and Lambert being adorable in a members home!

We always sing "turn around..." and they snapped this pic after they sang that to me and I turned around... haha :)

These plants are like aloe things but they are HUGE. es muy loco.

                                 

We always ask people this question (except not in tu form) because a lot of people have met missionaries before! It essentially means "do you already know of us?" So when we saw it on a wall, we had to take a pic with it.

This is this fruit called Tuna. It has these big seeds in it that you just eat. But the first time I heard of it was when someone was offering us "tuna water" and I was like ummmmmm no. Because all I could think of was the fish! But they insisted it was a fruit, and sure enough, it is. And it's dang delicious!

This is our bucket with our water warming thing! I actually took my FIRST real shower in almost 3 months the week before last! But then we ran out of gas to heat the water so I had to take a bucket shower again. It's hard to go back when you've tasted (but not literally, because the water is poison) a real shower.

So we had this zone contest today where we tried to take the coolest picture! So here were some of the ones we took. Some we took after while other people were playing soccer (Mexican soccer is really intense, Trevin would LOVE it)

The idea here is "lets double our efforts" (: As missionaries, I mean.

Being Perfectly Obedient Blesses Our Lives

September 28, 2015

Well, it was another great week (:

One of the highlights was taking the family, we baptized, to the vistors center to see "Meet the Mormons"! But that last story, with the guy leaving on his mission, is always a little rough. Seeing him in the Salt Lake Airport reminds me of when I stood there crying with my family. I hugged my mom there. Yikes, rough stuff. But a great movie. 

My second 6 week cycle in the mission is about to end. Every 6 weeks we have changes, where people could get new companions or move to a new area. The last time there was a change meeting, my comp and I didn't go because we weren't being moved or split up (this is normal because she is my trainer and training in the mission is 12 weeks). However, I think we are going to be changed this next time. Hopefully I will get to stay in Oriental, but even if other people leave I will be so sad to see them go. I have made incredible friends here. Also, it's just crazy to see how fast time is flying.

I got sick for the first time on my mission yesterday. I was starting to think it would never happen... but it did... and it was terrible. I don't know if my stomach has ever hurt that bad. But I was really lucky and was better after just a couple hours. I feel so much sympathy for the people who have had to deal with that consistantly during their mission, like Hermana Garner (my friend from my district in the CCM who is also in the mission). Please pray for her. 

Lately, I have just felt a huge drive to be a better missionary and a better person. Every day Hermana Wong and I talk about what we can do better to be better teachers and better missionaries. And usually we realize that we are not being as effective as we could be, and that there are things that we need to change. I mean, we are meant to grow and progress, so that should always be the answer (: One thing we've talked about a lot lately, is exact obedience and why it's important and how we can be more exactly obedient. I wrote my mission president about the thoughts I had on the matter this past week:

"I learned a lot about exact obedience this past week. Obedience is so important on the mission. Even before my mission I stressed about my clothes and the preparation I was doing for my mission because I wanted to set myself up to be exactly obedient while I was here on my mission. And we have been good. We don't sleep in or skip study, and we don't linger at members houses or come up with things to do besides working. But I've really learned that being exactly obedient isn't just not doing what you shouldn't do, but always doing what you should do. It's talking to people when you are walking in the street. It's teaching with the spirit. It's studying with purpose. It's putting your heart into everything you do and doing it like the Lord would have. And really, the rules are blessings. It's the exact same principle that we teach to investigators: Heavenly Father gives us commandments and when we follow those commandments, we receive blessings. As missionaries, we are blessed enough to have rules to follow, and when we follow them, we receive blessings (and sometimes, straight-up miracles). How lucky are we? "

The same principles apply at home, even if I didn't always see this before my mission. Really the point isn't just to avoid the bad things, it's to consistantly do the good things and change our hearts in the process to the point where we really see the commandments as blessings. 

Sometimes when I write, I worry I make weird mistakes. I find myself saying "I have 20 years" because that's how it's said in Spanish, or "assist church" because asistir is the verb for "to attend." It's good because I'm learning Spanish, but it's so scary to see English going. But I'm sure it will come back soon enough. Are the accents of my recently returned friends from the ward fading yet? 

You are all so great and I love reading everything you have to say. I hope you are all doing well (: 

Talk to you next week!

Hermana Aubriana Wolferts