July 9, 2012

You´re probably anxious to know what happened for transfers/changes.. well.. Hna. Zuñiga will be killing me here in Los Platanos. In other words, I didn´t get changed. I´m actually really happy about that. I´m glad that I don´t have to worry about getting used to a new companion or sector and I´m even gladder that I´m leaving all the members that I love so much in this ward. This last week has been full of farewells for Elder Orozco, he finished his mission today. It made me want even more to end my mission here. It´s been a little weird seeing Elder Orozco end his mission because it´s been a little constant reminder that all of that is waiting for me. Last night I went to bed thinking about the fact that I am now starting my last change. It makes me really sad to think about that and well it scares me a lot. I do have to say that I´m grateful that I have all my plans set up and ready for me when I get home so that I don´t have to think about that this change but rather I can just focus on the work ahead of me and work my hardest until the very end. 

I have to admit our sector is pretty much dead. We only have one investigator and have spent so much time searching for new ones. That doesn´t mean that I´ve lost the hope that they´re there because I know that they are. I think it just means more than anything that I have a lot of work ahead of me this change.
Saturday we had a big farewell Family Home Evening in the Saldaña´s house with some recent converts and ward members. It was really fun and also a great experience to share our testimonies and to hear how much he has blessed the lives of people in this ward. Earlier this week we had a farewell dinner with another family in the ward. We ate SO MUCH that day. We had had a big lunch earlier during the day then we had this HUGE dinner, huge but delicious! Then after dinner we went to the ward mission leaders house for our weekly meeting and they and "once" ready for us to eat. I really felt like I couldn´t eat anymore. Actually I didn´t even eat breakfast the next day because I was still full. We had another farewell dinner on Thursday and we ate pizza. They even made a gluten-free crust so that I could eat pizza too. HOW NICE!! I´m not going to lie it´s been really fun helping kill Elder Orozco and I´ve loved all the good food. I´m excited to enjoy all of that all over again when it´s my turn. I´m going to miss Elder Orozco a lot he has been a tremendous help in the missionary work in this ward!

I had the opportunity to meet our new mission president this week, Pres. and Sis. Wright. They are such a cute couple. Pres. Wright is really funny and Hna. Wright is so sweet and is so excited to get to work. She is trying so hard to learn and speak spanish. I´m not going to lie it´s really different having them instead of Pres. and Hna. Laycock. Not a bad different just really different. Obviously they´re completely different people with different personalities so it should be different. Pres. Wright knows has really great insights on the scriptures and I´m excited to be able to learn from him at least for a little bit. They came to our district class on Thursday and shared their testimonies with us. I can already tell that they love us so much. Today during our change council Hna. Wright told us that in a handbook they received at an mission presidents seminar they attended there´s instructions on how to create a facebook group. She made a few jokes and then expressed that it´s important so that they can stay in contact with us and that the WANT to stay in contact with us because they already love us so much. 

It has been so cold this week. I gets a lot colder in Utah than it does here but I think sometimes it feels colder here because there´s no escape from the cold. There isn´t any indoor heaters other than little gas stoves that some people have and in our apartment we just have a little plug in heater. On Friday we basically spent the whole evening out in the cold. The one appointment that we had fell through and while knocking no one let us in. MY hands were freezing through my gloves and well we were just so cold. We decided we would take refuge at a members house. We yelled at her gate and as she let us in I almost cried in gratitude. Really yeah I would have lived and been fine and she not let us in but that little act of kindness and willingness meant so much to me. So during the winter if you ever see a cold missionary walking through the street you can think of me and I hope that you will let them into your house and give them that refuge from the cold.

Well I think that pretty much wraps up this week. Until next week. I love you all so much!

Con Mucho Amor,

-Hna. Howe