8.08.11

Hey!!
Well another week has past and it sounds like you are all enjoying life in the good ole bass lake right now! how fun! tell the whole family I said hi! Heather told me that you bought a big fat giant mable. 4 seater? wow que loco! how is that working out?
well I am sitting here trying to think of crazy/exciting stories to inform you all about but honestly nothing is really coming to mind. This past week was just another normal week in the life of a missionary. Thinking back on this past week it seems like it was like a month long from all that went on but it was a good week. This past sunday not yesterday but the sunday before one of the members of our presidency brought his son to church that I had literally never heard of him before and we started teaching him. His name is Francisco and he is 18 years old and just like mostly every other teenager here he got into drinking and drugs at a young age well right now we dont know exactly what happened to make him stop but for about a month now he has been clean from the drugs and alcohol and he has this sweet desire to recover and better himself. For me this is a shock because it is not very often that you see a 18 year old kid have this desire to stop doing these things and go to church. Well ever since last sunday we have been visiting him just about everyday because I am pretty sure right now he is super lonely because from stopping I am pretty sure he has no friends now. He is so sweet and everytime we have lessons he always asks when we will be coming back. It is so sweet to me to see the smile on his dads face every time we come over. This past wednesday we witnessed what I would call a small miracle. because of all of the drugs he was doing I think his body is a little messed up and it was an addiction and since we have been trying to visit him almost everyday we decided that wednesdays we were going to watch a movie in the church so we got everything ready to watch the hour long Joseph Smith movie and about 20 minutes into the movie he got super shaky and couldnt watch the movie like it was really bad. we paused the movie and decided that we would say a prayer to ask our heavenly father to bless him so he could watch the movie. After the prayer we started to watch the movie again and he was able to watch the last 40 minutes of the movie without a problem. For us this was a sweet little miracle because he for sure wasnt going to be able to watch it.Last night we decided to stop by his house to see how he was doing and see how he liked church. Well we talked to him and his dad for a few minutes outside his house and as we were leaving he said, ¨hermanas pray for me, because I am always praying for you¨ we both left that house with huge smiles on our faces knowing that we are small tools in helping this kid get on the right path and becoming close to his heavenly father. It has only been a week since we have been teaching him but it feels like a month. We are already seeing a huge progression in him. We are just sitting here imagining him in a few years with a white shirt and tie on a mission! and oh boy I can just see him being a powerful missionary! Its moments like that when I have a huge smile on my face and I am grateful to be hear serving a mission. There are a lot of hard moments. but when you see people like sweet Franciso really change it makes everything worth it. We are hoping to see Francisco go in the waters the 27 of August but possibly the 20! :) pray that everything will work out. I worry every day for this kid because any second something could happen and he could turn back to the drugs.
Things are good here! I am still struggling with the language and at times I feel super lonely like I have no one that understands me because of the language barrior. I want more than ever to have great relationships with the members and the investigators but there is this language barrior where I cant speak to them. I am trying and really trying to overcome my fear of speaking to people because you cant have that fear on a mission. but everytime I start to feel lonely I start to think of my savior Jesus Christ and his atonement. everytime I feel the spirit it is seriously like a blanket comforting me. What an incredible thing! This gospel is incredible and I am so grateful that I have the gospel in my life and that I have the opportunity to share it with others. It breaks my heart everytime someone rejects us because they have no idea what they are missing out on. I love you all. Thanks for everything! I hope you have a wonderful week! until next week!

mucho amor,
Hermana Van Wagenen