Be Still, My Soul

Tonight we have dinner con la

familia Castillos, an appointment with Hermana Corral and then we are

taking our investigator Ricardo and his two sons to the temple grounds

tonight while we finish teaching them he Plan of Salvation. I am so

excited! Ricardo is doing awesome and is going to come to church with

us this week. He also said that he would like a priesthood blessing

sometime next week to help him with his decision to be baptized. He is

soooooo close. The only thing holding him back is his family. They are

all die-hard Catholic and it will be such a big change for him.

Watching this experiance up close is so different then from just

hearing about it during testimony meeting when a member gets up and

says how hard it was to join the church with their family against it

so much. I have a front row seat at watching this and Ricardo, very

understandably is scared. Please continue to keep him in your prayers.

Our other investigator Abel...oh my goodness where do I start?! He

never stops talking! He's awesome...but a chatterbox. He loves to tell

us every story in the book...and believe me he has many to choose

from. We decided to push his baptismal date back to May (hopefully I'm

still in the area with transfers coming up) since he is still not

ready. We really need to teach him the rest of the lessons...and the

law of chastity too...and well pretty much everything. We've gotten to

the point where we've had to ask him to stop talking enough for us to

teach. We constantly have to remind him of our purpose as

missionaries. Missionary work is just so entertaining right?? :)

Today we had missionary temple day where all of the missionaries in

the mission come at different times and go through a session with

President Miller and his wife. Since we are here in the area we had

the morning session and it was such a nice break. A time to just sit

and think. It was especially meaningful to be in the Celestial room

and think of Grandpa and my loved ones and dearest friends who have

passed on. We are all in this together as missionaries...all doing the

same work. There is so much peace at the temple. I didn't want to

leave. I'll be honest though...I'm super sad right now. This morning

was so wonderful and being in the temple brought so much comfort!

But...when I got out, there were a whole bunch of missionaries from El

Paso freaking out...can you guess why dad?? GRANDPA SILVA CAME. Haha,

he of course offered to drive a huge transfer van of missionaries up

to the temple here in Albuquerque from El Paso so he could see me. All

of the missionaries had been looking for me since apparently Grandpa

talked about me all the way up from El Paso. Everyone was

looking out for me...including Grandpa. Unfortunately I waited for 2 hours

outside waiting but I think he went in to find me in the session and

ended up staying because I never saw him. I admit...I teared up. I was

so hoping to see mi abuelo. Losing my sweet Grandpa Jones made me want

to see my Grandpa Silva that much more and just hug the only grandpa

I've got left here. It was hard but I left him a note and maybe I'll end up

serving in El Paso anyways...I've got over a year. Chances are good.

:)

This week I have been playing piano like crazy. And remember people,

we are now on Latin Standard Time which means they call me last second

to do everything. Sometimes its tough, like this week when El

Presidente de la rama called us and asked us to do a fireside this

Sunday...the night before! We were able to pull it off but as a

missionary who is practically the only piano player in the branch I

came up with the musical numbers for Sacrament and church. So much

fun! Especially last second! I'm saying this with a sarcastic

little smile... ;) But I enjoy serving God's children with all my heart. 

We had district meeting this week and talked about attributes of

Christ (Ch. 6 PMG). My favorite chapter in Preach My Gospel! Afterwards, we were coming out of

the church and this guy stopped us asking if Mormons were the ones who

did that "Geneology thing." I got so excited because...well yah.

Family History is my middle name. 
Anyways, I gave the guy some

information and a card with directions to the Family History Center

and then...get this...he just wrapped me in a HUG!

Missionaries...especially SISTER MISSIONARIES...CANNOT HUG! All the

Elders who were all piled in the car just started hooting and laughing. Glad I

could make his day I guess haha, he had NO idea. I'm pretty sure I was super

duper red in the face walking back to the car. (Funny thing is the

AP's saw the whole thing too) They'll probably

send me home for that one. 

We've had several dog attacks this week...just my luck and one of our

members who came with us to a lesson got sick and poor thing threw up

everywhere but besides that this week has been great! We caught the

Elders flying kites in the park this week too which was kind of odd.

It turns out they were practicing for an "object lesson." Julianna

Orrozco (cutest little girl ever...I think I sent a picture of her

last week) played with my "Jesus cell-phone" during our entire lesson

the other night with her family. I'll have to send a picture of it. It

was SOOO adorable. She kept asking in the cutest little Spanish

voice..."Cristo...donde esta?? Quiero verle, porque ...Soy Julianna!" It melted my heart.

We had a tough experience in Walmart the other day. Some guy came out

of nowhere while we were shopping and started yelling at us and

telling us we were all going to hell. I felt so bad for him. It's

people like that that I want to sit them down, tape them to a chair

and change their minds so they can remember who they really are. 
He seemed so confused and I wanted him to feel of the Savior's love so badly.

Something was so obviously missing in his life. We told him to have a

good day and left him shouting behind us. The great thing is, is that

as we were leaving, some lady stopped us and paid for our groceries,

thanking us for all our service to the Lord right afterwards. Funny how we saw two

different sides of people like that and all in the span of just a few

minutes. There really are good people everywhere. I love God's children.

So I had a deep conversation with my soul this week...I decided to remind

myself of a few things:

"Be still my soul. The Lord is on thy side. With patience bear, thy

cross of grief and pain. Leave to thy God, to order and provide, in

every change, he faithful will remain."

These words brought me so much comfort. Perfect missionary advice.

Elder Ballard also reminded me this week in my studies that "On your

mission, weaknesses become skilled strengths, challenges become

opportunities, trials become triumphs and adversity becomes AN

ADVENTURE...all in the service of the Lord."

Have a wonderful week all!
 This missionary sure loves you. Thank you for your

letters. They give me that much needed boost every week. This area is

truly where I am supposed to be. What a privilege it is to be a

missionary at this time. I love you ALL mucho. Cuidense and remember

we are one big spiritual family with the most loving Father

imaginable. 
Love always,

-Hermana Silva

Sister Neibaur's grandson! Elder Espinoza 

 Caught the Elders flying kites in the park for an "object lesson" :)

 The beautiful (dry and brown/sometimes pink) Sandia mountains!

 These sister missionaries drove up with my Grandpa Silva to the temple

today and are currently serving in my grandparent's ward! Can you

believe it!!? 

Our brief Trio at the Albuquerque, New Mexico temple this morning :) Loving it.