"I look forward to hearing your talk,"

This weeks email--June 30th, 2010

Hola family. The weather was awesome on the plane ride here. There was a huge lightning storm and bunches of rain. The lightning lit up the sky. This past week has been interesting. We teach much here in both the CRE, which is like the TRE in Provo, and we teach other missionaries here because we do not have anyone else to teach but have an indicator goal of 4 lessons per day. 

The funny thing about our compañerisma is that Hma Pond understands Spanish and I can speak it but we both have a hard time doing the other thing. Last friday was a spiritual day. We had a teaching appointment and planned something for it, but when we went upstairs to teach it we found out that we were going to teach something completely different, so we had to rely solely on the spirit. Also that day 2 of the elders had the chance to teach a guard outside who has been investigating the church. They had not originally planned on bringing a Book of Mormon but had grabbed one and found out that this guard needed a Book of Mormon. They did not understand what the guard said but they were told what to say by the Spirit. 

We have left the CCM area a few times: Once to go to the mercado (mall) and twice to go to the Parque Central where we contacted. It was awesome! On the bus back to  the CCM yesterday from the PC, I wondered why anyone would want to hear us and know more about people they have never heard of before. I thought of Alma 32 about the Zoramites. 

Sunday I gave a talk. Talks are not forewarned. We prepare for the topic and then find out during sacrament meeting that we are speaking. I will send home a copy of my talk later. Before the meeting, Elder Lontine came up to me and said, "I look forward to hearing your talk," shook my hand... and then I was called to give a talk.

This morning I went through my first spanish session at the temple. We had to go at 6:30 because today is what they call Holy Day and everyone goes to the temple.

As for other things... The best meals here are huevos and frijoles or pancakes for breakfast, tortillas and frijoles and rice for lunch and dinner. One night we did have fish. There is just one choice for a main dish, which is fine, but we have meat for almost every meal with some vegetables, and twice we had hamburgers and fries. Many missionaries have gotten sick (not many in our district, luckily) and there are 3 ways for these illnesses: Throwing up, everything going through (some call it montesuma´s revenge), and the cold. Our district is very careful though. 

Yo sé que el evangelio de jesucristo trae felicidad in nuestras vidas. El Espíritu me ha testificado esta semana pasada más fuerte que otros tiempos que el Libro de Mormon es otro testamento de Jesucristo y contiene las palabras de Dios. Yo sé sin duda que es verdadero. José Smith fue un profeta y vió Dios y Jesucristo. Todos necesitan oir el evangelio. Dios quiere que todos escuchen a su evangelio y regresen a Él. Os amo y Espero el mejor por vosotros. Con Amor, Hermana Destinee Park