Week 2 in Kuna!

Hola familia y amigos!

How are you all?! I hope you're doing great and I realized I don't do a good job of asking how you're doing... I'm glad to hear how everything is back home.

So anyways, this has been a good week. I hit the point where I'm settling in and I realized how much responsibility we have as missionaries. It's been a week of learning and blessings. There were a handful of hard moments and concern for Hermana Dickson and her health. But then, an equal number (and more) of amazing moments. In particular, we have these investigators named Angel and Frances. Angel speaks Spanish and we were originally referred to them because of him. But Frances is a hilarious 72 year old lady who only speaks English. We were a little concerned that she was getting thrown under the rug when we spoke Spanish to Angel, so we went to ward council in her ward and asked what we could do to include her more in the English ward so she would want to come. The relief society president took it upon herself to find someone who could come with us as we visited Frances. She's awesome. And the lady she found was seriously perfect. She was DEFINITELY directed by the Spirit to who she should choose. Sis. Shultz lives down the road from Frances and is just a few years younger than her. They're both widowed and have tons of the same interests and similar experiences! Within the first few minutes of her talking with Frances, she openly and naturally witnessed of Heavenly Father's love. The Spirit just flooded the room. And throughout our visit, she openly talked of a few different things that Frances needed to hear from someone besides us. It was seriously so amazing. Throughout the visit, H. Dickson and I just looked at each other and had to hold back our huge grins because of how perfect and happy it was for us that Frances was making a friend. We were a bit tired before the visit, but we came out full of energy and excitement for the work. I almost wanted to cry from happiness.

We realized how much we are blessed! That was the main thing this week. I truly noticed Heavenly Father in my life and experiences here. He loves us so much and puts people in our lives to bless us and teach us what we need! THAT IS SO AMAZING! Through our hard times and good times, he is always willing to bless us. He wants to bless us! We just need to exercise a tiny bit of faith and trust in Him to go to Him in prayer. Prayer and our actions show Him our devotion and He blesses us SO much more than we can imagine. That first step is just our choice. So cool.

I know this gospel is true. It's amazing. We are able to grow and learn while receiving support from Him. We experience hard times for our benefit, as hard as that is to believe sometimes. He has everything figured out and has a plan for each of us. Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father love us beyond our comprehension. I have no doubt about that. I know this is true and I love it.

Have an amazing week everyone!

Con amor,

Hermana Shirley

PS. Sorry for the lack of pictures! There were some technical difficulties last week. Here we are:

1) On my very first day, after we were done tracting.

2) There was a beautiful sunset, so we took a picture. The sunsets here are so pretty because it's so open!

3) The first time I ate potatoes while here. (I had a blanket on because I was cold)

4) The snow outside our back door on our first night!