November 3, 2014 Letter

Dear Mom and Family

Well. This week has been interesting! It´s hard adjusting to a new companion but we´ve become really good friends and I think things will go well with her. She´s very serious, very obedient, very calm and very  level headed. Good things! Really good things. Just a different personality and it´s been an interesting week for both of us to get used to each other. She´s an incredible missionary, to the point where I sometimes feel like I´m being trained again. She´s a great example to me and I´ve learned a lot from her. We´ve been working with people and it´s been a struggle finding new investigators. But we will continue to work on it! Today I am feeling a bit frustrated and down, for some reason, but this week has been mostly good. I just don´t feel like I´m being a good enough missionary, really. I have a LOT to work on- language, teaching skills, knowing the scriptures well, obedience in the little things, contacting- basically everything needs improvement. It´s been an interesting week realizing how far I really have to go. There are a few investigators that we have that Hermana Irigoyen wants to drop and that I want to keep working with, and that´s been sort of hard for me. It´s hard to work with people for a long time and then to have someone new come in and tell you that we should drop them. But she has a lot of good points and we´re going to be ok, we just have to figure somethings out. But it´s a good area and we have some good missionaries here and I know that everything is going to be ok. Just a rebuilding week! Spanish is still frustrating. I want to speak Spanish soooo badly and I´ve been learning a lot this week with Hermana Irigoyen, but still a lot to learn. Valentin is doing good! I got your letter to him and gave it to him and he was really really happy. He said to tell you thank you. He´s very close to getting a job! Just keep praying for him and I know that he´ll be able to find one. His Spanish is getting a lot better, too, so that helps a lot. I´m just a little frustrated with everything today. But it´s ok! Everything is going to be ok.
Yesterday I was fasting for my testimony to be stronger so that I can testify to people with more of the Spirit, and then we went to Church and as soon as I realized it was fast and testimony meeting, I had this huge spiritual prompting to get up and bear my testimony, which terrified me! But I did it. I got up and said what I wanted to say and I just felt the Spirit so strongly. It was a really cool experience because I feel like it was an answer to my prayers. I know that the old addage "you gain your testimony in the bearing of it" is true. I also gained a bigger testimony of fasting yesterday. I know that fasting and prayer brings miracles! That was probably one of the coolest moments of the week. That and seeing how much the investigators that we do have actually like and trust me. I thought a lot of that would leave with Hermana Fuller, but turns out that they like me too! That was a tender mercy this week.
Well, mom, sorry to be such a downer! It´s just been a little hard this week. But I know it will get better! I have faith! :) I love you so much, thanks for the email. I love hearing about everything. Tell everyone hi and that I love them tons and tons!! Love you all!!
Love,
Sam

PS- I didn´t take any pictures this week. So next week for sure. :)