Hola Familia!!!
HOLY COW! All I can say is HOLY COW! I recieved one AMAZING
package in the mail this week from all of you and I LOVED it! Oh my it
made me so happy! Wow, there were so many goodies in it! I love the
discman, I´ve already used the workouts and love them, the candy!, the
beautiful pictures, catch phrase from Jake and Sarah, and so many
other wonderful trinkets! Thank you a million times over. I LOVED IT
and I felt like I was reliving Christmas all over. I made a video and
I´m going to try to send it so I hope it works. Seriously, thank you
so much! That is a little pricy sending all that stuff to Ecuador so
thank you so much. It made me so happy and I will be living off my
spoils for quite some time! Thank you! I feel like greedy mcgreedyson
asking for you to send journals. I didn´t know how expensive it was.
If you haven´t sent them yet, don´t worry about it I can try to find
something here to make it work. I am so appreciative of the gifts. I
can´t thank you all enough! Thank you, muchas gracias!! You are the
best family in the entire world!
This week was really great! I had my first baptism!! I have to
tell you all about it. Carlos, who is 84 years old, was baptized on
Saturday by his friend in our ward, Geronimo (89 years old), and it
was so wonderful! I loved watching the two of them together and
Geronimo is so good to him. I love them both so much. Carlos is not a
man of many words, which is great for me cause I don´t know many
words, but he is so believing. It is a great quality. This week on
Tuesday, we were teaching him about the word of wisdom and he said that
he drinks coffee and we were thinking, ¨oh no, we have a baptism on
Saturday, we didn´t know!¨ and as we taught him and asked him if he
would live the word of wisdom he said, ¨claro¨which is like öf course¨
and he said, ïf God said it´s bad, I won´t do it. I love him! He can´t
walk very well so we usually pick him up in a taxi for church and he
is always waiting outside, ready and happy. He is wonderful! I felt so
happy and so did he. The baptism was a little tricky because he
didn´t want to go under the water and another elder had to get in the
water and help the other two, but all in all, it was great....a little
comical, but great.
This week was also great because on Tuesday, we had a district
meeting and our district leader said we would be leaving that night at
10 pm for Guayaquil to get my census. Ha, so we traveled 10 hours in
the night to Guayaquil and you will never guess who I got to see right
when I got there, HERMANA GARLOCK!!!!! We went to her apt and my comp
slept while I stayed up and soaked up every minute talking to Hermana
Garlock and eating peanut butter pancakes. It was so wonderful! We
shared all our experiences and our struggles with the language, being
in a new country, and sharing our exciting stories of the conversions
of others and ourselves. It was such a tender mercy for me. We did not
want to leave each other! Then we went to the place to get our census
and we saw all the elders from the MTC! That was so much fun! We had
a great time exchanging stories. I sure miss all of them. They all
feel a little like family.
Other great parts of this week were traveling to an area in our
sector called Tierras Coloradas. It is so beautiful. It is my favorite
place to go, but it´s kinda far so we can only go one time a week. But
it is high in the mountains where the clouds touch and there are sheep
and cattle wandering, dirt roads, farms, gardens, and an amazing view.
It is so green! We walked a lot that day, but I was enjoying it and
soaking it up the whole time. The sad thing is that we don´t have much
success there because the minister went around and told all of them he
would kick them out of their houses if they listened to us....so we
have to figure that one out! But I love it there.
I also wanted to share some things from my studies that I have
loved. I have been studying the holy ghost more and I have some quotes
I wanted to share with you. Elder Scott came to the MTC in Provo and he
said these things about the spirit. ¨Trust in the Lord, Be obedient to
his counsel. Follow his comandments and you will be filled with
inspiration and power. You will obtain goals beyond your personal
capacity. Do not judge your potential by what you are today, but by
what you can become under the guidance of the Lord. Those who disobey
the commndments of God face challenges of life alone without the
guidance of the Holy Ghost. I have come to know that there are currents
of divine infuence in our life that will lead each of us along the
individual plan the Lord would have us follow while on the earth. They
are identified through the whisperings of the Holy Spirit. Seek through
the Spirit to identify that plan and carefully follow the direction the
Lord will provide. It will come through answers to prayers and
pondering the counsel of others who are worthy. Align yourself with it.
Choose willinginly to exercise your agency to follow it. Do not be
overcome by concentrating soley on today, its challenges, difficulties
and opportunities. Such preoccupations must not totally capture your
interest and attention as to consume your life.¨I love this so much. I
am trying harder to understand the ways the Holy Ghost speaks to me
because I know when I do, I can be so much more effective of a
missionary and a person in general. I also love this scripture I found
in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. It says, for the light affliction which is for
but a moment worketh us for more exceedingly weight and glory. I
love that becuase if we could only see God´s plan for us, we would
have greater hope and faith during our trials and use them to become a
far better person. I know this church is true. I am so happy to be
sharing the light of this message with all those who will listen.
Thank you for all your support! I love you all so much! And this is
the last week of this transfer, so we will see if I stay put or if I´m
on a bus next monday! I´ll let ya know! Sure love you! Pray always and
be believing.
Con amor,
Hermana Salmon
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