August 18

ahhh familia!

So much to say.. this week was really great. the work continues to get better better. but like the subject line, i am truly grateful for speedbumps. 1) because busses here in merida are insane and if it wasnt for the speedbumps, i would have probabaly been thrown from them by now. i think the goal of the drivers is to see how fast they can go in between them. 2) because this work is challenging & hard. there are many obstacles placed before missionaries. but the speedbumps are humbling. they make you realize that this work is not possible without the help of our god. 

The progress of tania is going so well! she is our only progressing investigator right now. we have tons of future investigators but it is really hard to get people to commit to things here. they like to listen to our messages, but they won´t do things for themselves which has been hard because we can talk all day, but if they don´t act they wont know the truth for themselves. we teach tania almost every other day. she is scheduled to be baptized the first week of sept. which is great!! on thursday i had a really humbling experience during the lesson.. during the lessons i don´t say much. haha. i mostly testify and try to explain things and usually my comp. fixes or tries to translate what i am trying to say. this lesson we were teaching about the atonement and having our burdens lightened. i think i maybe said two words because she had tons of questions and i couldnt understand what she was saying. as my comp was talking about yoking ourselves to the savior i was thinking of how much i personally have needed my savior and his powers..and how much i have relied on him to help me through this and help me understand. pretty soon it was the end of the lesson and my turn to bear my testimony. the cool thing about being the only white girl and not speaking the language is people really listen to you and give you their attention 100 percent. so as i was starting to bear my testimony of my savior i told her how i was truly feeling. i started crying and i couldnt control myself because i realized myself how much i NEEDED my savior in this life. how much i needed his power of the atonement because i can´t do any of this on my own. i can´t even tell you the spirit i felt there.. that was the strongest witness i have felt of my saviors love. we had the bishops wife with us in that lesson and as she said the closing prayer she began to cry as well. through my broken spanish, tania understood how powerful the saviors power and love can be. she just hugged me and cried with me. haha. it was really a special moment. it´s funny how we think we are the teachers, but we are actually the ones being taught instead. 

Being out here has made me realize just how much i have needed these people in my life. these people who are so different yet so similar. i am in love with them. it makes everything worth it. the bugs that are everywhere, the chicken i have to rip apart with my hands because there is no silverware, the scorching hot sun, the sweat on my face, it is all worth it because these people are my brothers and sisters. they are god´s children and he loves them just as much as he loves me. and i KNOW that he loves me and i KNOW how important that knowledge is to me. i want nothing more than for others to recognize that same love from him. i´m so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary and to be here in merida. it´s so humbling to be apart of this great work!! 

This morning we had a multizone conference and boy was it sooo cool! i can´t tell you how much i love my mission pres and his wife. they remind me so much of you mom and dad. Pres. Garcia has such an unshakable testimony and is so calm and quiet and his wife is the definition of a spicy latino woman who is so LOVING. so so so loving. they have made me feel so at home and so cared for. we started by eating breakfast in a way nice hotel in merida. we had to wake up at 4:30 to get to the conference on time but the breakfast made it worth it :) our AP´s are literally some of the most amazing powerful missionaries i have ever seen. they taught all our break out sesh´s and the president spoke to us at the end and beginning. i feel like they planned everything around me because everything that was said today were things i needed to hear and apply into my work. it´s so crazy how perfect the spirit is, how perfect this church is!! us as human beings may never be perfect and may fall short a lot of the time, but this gospel will always be perfect. 

I got some sad news that my companion from the MTC went home last week. please keep her in your prayers if you could. 

PAZ AFUERA

hermana hobbs