Busy, as always!! 6/30/2010

Hola! Buenos Dias!
This has been quite the busy week! But hey, what's new, right? It was super cool - this last week we had a ton of mission presidents here and a bunch of general authorities! There was well over a hundred new mission presidents all here for like 5 days. And we had an awesome special devotional on Friday by Dallin H. Oaks, heavily filled with doctrine and we were amazed that in the course of talk he ultimately covered all 5 discussions. There were 9 of the 12 apostles there - Dallin H. Oaks obviously, Richard G. Scott, David A. Bednar, Neil L. Anderson, and M. Russell Ballard. It was an amazing talk and he talked about how we are set apart from other churches. We have the fullness of the gospel, the power of the priesthood, and a unique testimony of Jesus Christ. I thought it was amazing because it shows that we really are different from other churches for a reason and we need to share that with everyone.

And then it was really sweet afterwards because I got to meet my new mission president! His name is Pres Howes, and he and his wife were super nice, friendly, and eager. He was sure he was already more excited than use to get out of the MTC and do work out in AZ! We said we don't know if he could possibly be more excited than us. He seemed to really like us and we talked about wrestling and high expectations. Tempe AZ is a baptizing mission and the members there really help in the work. We are all learning so much and doing awesome.

I'm doing great and every day I'm so much stronger in my convictions! I learn and grow every single day and I'm loving it!
Hasta luego!!

6-23-2010 Time is already starting to fly

Time really is starting to cruise by. This last week has been a blur...We learn SOOO much every day and then start incorporating it right away. We've learned a TON in Spanish and we talk to each other all the time in Spanish in our room and everywhere. I never thought I would get used to the missionary life this fast, but it's definitely happening. I love how we get to study the scriptures and Preach My Gospel all the time and do not have to worry about anything else. My district is getting so incredibly tight too! They are all so cool and we normally focus pretty well together....We do have a lot of fun though...that's for sure!!

We also have had some awesome devotionals here! We had a member of the quorom of seventy talk to us yesterday about missionary work and it was so amazing! He talked about how we can only carry the spirit and power of the Holy Ghost UNTO the investigators, and it's up to them to exercise faith and DO something to show commitment so they can let it INTO their hearts and into their lives.

A third of all the mission presidents are here being trained, so there are a lot of apostles here and even some of the First Presidency!

We get to walk up to the Provo temple on Sunday. It is my favorite walk. It's been just gorgeous here and when we're around the temple with a ton of missionaries..it's just sweet! I've been taking some pictures there.

I'm loving it here and I love hearing from everyone. Letters here really are like manna from heaven!

Jesse is in the MTC

Not enough time!

Hey everyone! Hola!

Holy smokes there's not enough time here to say what I want to and to get everything done! We only have a half hour on the computers and you have to be able to read the old email and respond within that time! Well today was my first preparation day and I sure needed it. It's been the longest week of my entire life, but I also enjoy it and feel like I've already learned SOOO much. My companion, Elder Twitchell, is from Florida and we get along great. He is a really motivational guy and we have no problems. I do have exciting news though!! I'm the new district leader :) I got called last Sunday so now I get to exercise some leadership skills and better serve my fellow missionaries here. The Spanish is already coming along and I never knew I had so much to learn!! It's definitely a humble but exciting experience. I'm kind of nervous because I'm teaching my first legitimate discussion tonight and we'll see how it goes. We have to do all this contacting and introductory stuff in Spanish and then teach the whole first lesson to an investigator in English. I'll be praying really hard to do good.

Oh, and I also got to give a sister a blessing yesterday. My first one! She's been really struggling with the decision to stay here or go home because she is already so miserable. She's in my district and has really looked up to me so Iwas able to give her a blessing and she has now decided to stay and finish her mission! That made me feel good. And I also got to talk to this sister from Mexico, who was struggling a little bit, and a little unconfident with her English. I thought she was doing so good and we asked all these questions about Mexican culture and how we should do things when we're teaching them. She was su[per friendly and I think we were led to her, because she just really needed someone to talk to.

Well I feel like I've never come so close to the Lord and to Jesus Christ as I have the past few days. We really do dedicate ALL of our time to the work and I'm sure we will be blessed for it. We are definitely blessed with an abundance of the Spirit and that's an amazing feeling! Well I hope I will be able to tell you more later but time really is short here and I need to go. The first while was pretty rough and super long but I'm doing SOOO good now :) It just takes awhile to adjust to the fact that you have no time to yourself because it all needs to go to the Lord, and to preparing ourselves to serve Him. Thank you for your support!