4 Month Mark!

Hola! 

Wow I can't believe that today is my 4 month mark! Time has flown by! Anyways transfer news... 

Both Hermana Espinoza and I are staying here in Las Cruces! And since she finishes her mission at the end of the next transfer I probably won't get transferred this next time either. I should have a nice long while to spend here in the Miranda ward! 

Two exciting and non related to missionary things this week, we went to this little restaurant here called Bosa Doughnuts and Burritos (it sounds weird I know, they're seriously the best doughnuts I have ever had) and they had Mexican Coca-cola! I absolutely LOVE Coke and the Mexican ones are the best so that was a lovely blessing this week.

 Also our car had a mild meltdown! It kept overheating and so we managed to drive it home and the next day one of our members came over and helped fix it so now we're all good to go! That day showed me how grateful I am to have a car available to use because we had to use bikes for a few hours and man cars are so much nicer!

For actual missionary work, this week we've been finding a lot of new investigators! I'm so excited that we get to stay here and continue to watch their progress! Our little area has been growing tremendously and it's so exciting to watch and to be a part of! The only sad news this week is that this weekend was scheduled to be our investigator's baptism but he hasn't been able to make it to church so we have to push it off a little bit, but it'll be soon! I'm just so filled with joy every time we get the opportunity to teach him. He loves our Savior and His gospel with all his heart and it always reminds me of why I'm out here serving. 

There is so much joy in this work, there are no words to describe it. We get to talk to and teach so many incredible people every single day here and hear little bits about their stories. I am shown every day how much love God has for each and everyone of His children as I get to hear about how these people I am blessed to meet have seen the hand of God in their lives. It just teaches me how we can always trust in God because He is always there. 

One of my favorite scriptures is Psalms 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God". Just trust, have faith, and be still. Missionary work is certainly stressful at times but I always try to remember that no matter what happens, no matter what trials come our way, we can just be still and trust in Him and everything will work out in the end.

Hermana Martin

Quick Email

I've seriously been sitting here for like 5 minutes trying to remember anything noteworthy that happened this week. 

It's getting dang cold! And apparently in the winter it gets really windy here. Yesterday a stop sign got blown down. That was pretty cool. 

Um it really was a good week, everything is moving along smoothly here. This area has been growing TREMENDOULSLY in the past few weeks which is so cool to witness and be a part of! We moved our investigator's baptism date to December 5th and he's is so excited! And we committed three of our other investigators to baptism on the 26th of December! Hopefully they make it! 

I just feel so blessed to be able to be a part of the work here. Every time we talk with our members about missionary work we just talk all about the indescribable joy that we get to feel each and every day. It's hard work, there's no question about that. I'm constantly exhausted mentally, physically, and spiritually but I always have just enough energy to do what I need to everyday and I'm so happy all the time. I never thought I could be this tired and this happy at the same time. It's amazing.

Love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

Hermana Martin

Last Week of Being a Greenie

Hola everyone! 

This is week 6 of my second transfer out which means this is my last week of training! That still doesn't make sense in my head. Anyways that also means that next week is transfers so I'll be emailing on Monday! We find out Saturday night if we're staying or getting transferred but fingers crossed I get to stay here in Cruces for a little bit longer! I doubt I'll get transferred since Hermana Espinoza goes home from her mission at the end of this next transfer so I think I'll be here until the end of the transfer after that so the end of January but who knows. President Miller isn't exactly predictable. 

This week we just went and talked to A LOT of people. Which is awesome because we found a bunch of potential and new investigators! We haven't been able to find a lot of Spanish speakers the past few weeks but this week we could really see the hand of the Lord in His work here and we were lead to some primarily Spanish neighborhoods that we didn't even know existed before! That was so far beyond exciting, we're finally getting new people to teach! 

The funny thing about Las Cruces is that seriously everyone and their mother here has "guard dogs" but most of them are Chihuahuas. Seriously almost every house here has a "Beware of Dog" sign and you look and there's 3 little Chihuahuas running around. So we met a lot of dogs this week and only one was a real guard dog! I had to ninja jump off of that porch to safety, that's something I'm going to need a replay of in heaven because it had to have looked so cool. My super girly scream wasn't though. But don't worry parents, we're being safe! Other than that there's nothing major to report here. 

V for Vado! I love driving down there, it's so pretty

It's been raining a lot which means flooded streets which is really fun from the safety of our little car! Oh and this past week we had a stake conference which means that all of the members around Las Cruces all met together for this one Sunday and leaders from the area, including the new president of the Albuquerque temple and the second councilor for the New Mexico Albuquerque mission spoke to us and it was such a beautiful meeting! The Spirit was so strong and I kept thinking about what amazing members and examples that I am so privileged to serve with here! 

They are such great examples to me of exercising their faith, which is something that I've been studying a lot about this week. Well I started out studying patience and discovered how incredibly intertwined faith and patience are! One of my favorite scriptures I found in my studies is Alma 17:11 "...be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls." This talks about how if we exercise faith in God we can trust in Him and that everything happens for a reason and that He is always with us and with that faith we can have patience in our afflictions and with that patience we can be great, strong instruments in the hands of God and that is all that I want right now. The more faith we have the more patience we can have as we trust His plan for us. 

I love patience, it is my favorite Christ-like attribute but it is also one of the hardest for me and I think for a lot of people. But I have already seen more blessings than I could possibly begin to understand as I have tried to have the faith to have the patience that I need to be a good servant for Him here in Cruces. This work takes A LOT of patience. And I am so grateful for this opportunity to try a little harder to be a little better each day and to exercise both patience and faith at every opportunity. I love you all!

Hermana Martin