Christmas Box finally arrived

FAMILY

I got your package today! It made me so happy! Rolos! it wasn´t Christmas until I ate a handful of rolos. I might have been dancing around the apartment today with happiness. And the shoes are perfect! thank you! and ALyssa I love the bracelet! It even matches what I am wearing today. Really perfect. It is times when I am giddy with joy and just thinking "Minha familia me ama!" over and over again that I still feel young.

This week we had interviews with President. And this time was different. The other times we had interviews with him they were pretty basic and nothing special. This time was more insightful (maybe because I was searching for something more). At one point he said that I have changed a lot on the mission (but not physically. He said I still look young which made me feel better after so many people thinking I have 23 or 24 years) and I think he should know. He also asked what were the big lessons that I wanted to learn on my mission. Between those two things I really got to thinking. What have I learned here? Am I improving? Am I getting closer to being the best I can be? Am I continuing to learn? President is pretty good at getting you to think and fix your own problems. 

Something that I have been trying to improve on for months now is how to work with members better. How I can help members have more faith. How I can be more bold. How to ask for help.  And I hadn´t really gotten anywhere. Until this week. And the moment I started putting more effort into working with members and being a little bit more bold we were blessed with more members offering to help as well. It is amazing how much we are blessed when we just do our part. We don´t even have to do our part perfectly and we still recieve blessings. It is evident that our Father in Heaven loves us and doesn´t get mad when we aren´t perfect. He is pleased with progress. This week we found more investigators to teach and we taught better because we had the help of various members. 

Transfers are this week for us. I am staying in my area and will continue training my second filha. This past transfer was the hardest up to this point in my mission. And its amazing that even though I am staying in the same place with the same companion, there is still this chance to start anew. To improve. To forget how hard it was and just remember the miracles that happened and go forward with faith and be even happier than ever. How cool is that? It is like repentance or when we are baptized or when we take the sacrament each week. Each one of these things gives us this chance to start over and do better and be happy! Last week I got an email from a friend that said "remember that happiness is a choice" A lesson I have learned many times and yet I needed to hear it one more time. And I am happier for it! 

I love you all very much. I thing I love you all more now than ever. Never before have I seen so many dysfunctional families or so much heartache in families. I really am grateful for you all and the strength that I recieve from your support and prayers. 

beijos e abraços 

Sister Martin