Sister Underly's Mission Adventures : Week 61-I've said it before, but this was the greatest week EVER---Spanish AGAIN!!!

Truth!

Texas Forever!

Hola familia y amigos!

espero que esten bien y tuvieron una buena semana!

This was literally the greatest week ever! I love the hispanic culture and it is so easy for me to love the people :) They are seriously some of the most humble people ever. I am oh so rejoicing to be speaking spanish again!

I have been pondering a lot about my sister Cassie who is just a quick 8 hours away from me and how this was her first official week in the field as a full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints! How exciting and great is this calling!

I have so much to say about this week! It was just filled to the brim with miracles!!

Well Tuesday was pretty much amazing and sad but great! can you tell I have mixed emotions on the mish? Anyways, I had to say bye to my sweet amazing comp sis. Wilkins but I got to meet Cassie's comp from the MTC (Mission Training Center in Provo, Utah)!!! Hermana Davila!! She is serving her mission in MY mission, Reno, Nevada and Cassie is now in her mission, in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was such a glorious moment! She showed me pics of them at the MTC and Cassie's Transfer journal entry! I may or may not have shed a tear or two. Tender mercies from the Lord.

I also said hola to my new comp Hermana Gatten who is seriously such a rockstar missionary!! She just finished being trained and so I will be polishing her...not that she needs it because she is so awesome but she will be polishing me for sure.

Wednesday we went out with this cool RM sister that served her mission in Spain! It wasn't so successful but we sure did increase our testimonies together! We walked around a lot and met some super great people! We visited this one older man named Rafael who is pretty solid but doesn't understand the whole priesthood authority part of the gospel. But he is great! We stopped by varias personas casas and then had dinner at a member's home with the other missionaries that are serving in Sierra Rama! I love Hermana Gatten!!! Every lesson we had the Spirit was there and you could see the countenance change in their eyes! We had a meeting with our Presidente de la Rama! He is incredible! His name is Presidente Castiblanco! He is so chistoso and loves the missionaries.

Fast Fact: in greek, the word baptism means submerge

Thursday we weekly planned and set up all the times that we would do exchanges! I will be doing exchanges with Hermana Friend and Pearson and Davila!! And I will get to go back to Tahoe! craziness! We volunteered at the Bishop's storehouse and I just love the feeling we get when we serve others. that makes me think of the scripture from the Book of Mormon. Mosiah 2:17 which is one of my favorites! We had a super good lesson with one of the people that we are teaching! Enrique! Hna Gatten is oh so talented and sang such a beautiful rendition of I Stand All Amazed! The Spirit just fled into the room. He wants to be baptized so badly! Pray that he will continue to come to church!

Friday we had MLC and I got to see Sis. Wilkins and we sat next to each other. President Chesnut gave a great training on being TRUE. TRUE TO THE GOSPEL AND JESUS CHRIST...not just to the church. That was so powerful. We had dinner with the elders at the Primary President's home.Then we had the most powerful lesson ever!! Ah man the Spirit is what truly touches and softens the hearts of others!

Saturday we just had miracle after miracle! We went to this one lady's house and she was struggling with her testimony but we invited her to read the Book of Mormon and to pray and ask Heavenly Father if this is true. It was a sad moment to see this daughter of God begin to dwindle in unbelief. I am so grateful for the chance to pray to our Heavenly Father about anything and everything and He will answer us when we ask sincerely. We had 10 lessons that day. That never happens in the hispanic world. We got invited to a tamale party while we were walking in this apartment complex!!! hooray for nice people in this crazy messed up world!! We had this great lesson of the power of prayer! wow such a basic simple principle of the gospel that is so dear to my heart.

We then taught Rafael again and we brought a member with us. Rafael had his friend there who was a prophet apparently and was on a mission too. He started to bash us and so yeah that wasn't too fun. But the Hermana testified so powerfully of the truthfulness of the gospel! That really strengthened my testimony! We then had dinner with the elders at another member's home and we had the best tamales!! yumm We tried stopping by some homes and then we stopped by Enrique's but he wasn't there. His friends and family were though! We got to teach them about the message that we share as missionaries! It was so powerful and the Spirit was so strong! Hna Gatten sang another song and the lady's daughter came out and said that she had an amazing experience with that hymn. SO cool how the Spirit works.

Sunday was great and amazing! All the new missionaries in the Rama shared their testimonies. That was fun. I was just thinking about Cassie the whole time and how it was her first sunday in the field!! There was an RM who served in San Antonio who spoke which was pretty neat. TEXAS FOREVER. It started to like blizzard outside...while we were walking.... and trying to find people. We knocked on this door and this hispanic lady answered....SHE LET US IN miracle. We had such a great lesson with her on our purpose in this life and Jesus Christ.

We had dinner at the Castiblanco's.....They made all the new missionaries eat the hottest chile ever....It was like the size of my pinky nail but it was the hottest chile I ever tasted....I started to cry and I couldn't feel my tongue. It was a pleasant initiation indeed...

I know that this gospel is true. My friend put it perfectly., "The world sure does seem to be spinning faster. And the faster it goes, the more out of control things seem to be getting... I guess the one thing that can be acknowledged is how neat it is that we can still find peace through the Savior even in some very trying and difficult times. I know that the gospel is true and it is the only place where we can find peace in this world. I know that we have a Prophet on the earth today. I know that Christ is at the head of the church. He lives.

les quiero!

Hermana Underly

alexandra.underly@myldsmail.net