ALOHA!!

Querida familia y amigos!

So very jealous that you get to be in San Diego right now! But not jealous enough to leave ;) I'll take the Lords work over some sandy ol' beach any day! Although it would be nice... We may have to make a trip when I get back. Can you say Disney Land anyone ;) Just kidding!... but really. Also, thank you mucho for all of the pictures!!! I miss all of the kiddos :( They are getting so big! They are just too cute for their own good. Everyone's emails this week definitely raised my spirits.

So... Sweet home Alabama. We got transfers call this week. Guess who is not being transferred... This girl! That means yet another transfer in good ol' Huntsville. And I get to stay with my lovely companion Hermana Hazelgren. That makes us Celestial Companions since this will be our third transfer together. I've never been this long with somebody ever! But it's great, we get along amazingly! That sometimes causes a problem though because we tend to have too much fun when we should be being serious ;) Lifes to short to be too serious though. We should be the examples however, as we will still be Sister Training Leaders. I'm trying to work on my maturity a bit ;) It's hard to find a good balance of seriousness and fun. Sometimes I wonder what the Lord is thinking ;)

This week was a pretty great week. We went on two exchanges (like usual) and the sister are all pretty much brand new, but I love that I learn so much from each of them! There are so many new ones and they just keep coming! Once one of the Sisters goes home on Wednesday, I will officially be the 2nd oldest Spanish missionary... no pressure. And the one who is the oldest, doesn't know much Spanish. Actually, besides the sisters who came out with me (all 4 of us) there is only one older sister. It's weird being the oldest when I feel like I just got here and I swear these sisters coming out know so much more than I do! 

We have a baptism this week with Juanita! We are really excited for it and I hope it give a little more excitement to the Branch for missionary work. We also set two other dates this week. One with Julia, a 23 year old with 2 kids. She has been going through some rough times since her "esposo" just left her and she has no job and no family here. She is really quiet and timid, but the zone leaders made some food and we had dinner with her this week! I could tell she was so grateful. The Zone Leaders are so amazing, I am so grateful we have the opportunity to work with them. Even though they don't speak spanish they are so willing to help. The second girl is Sandra. She is 20 and has two kids and is married. Por fin! They are never married. She still needs to come to church, but we are trying all we can to get her to come :) Julia's date is 8/3 and Sandra's is 8/10. Fingers crossed... and lots of prayer and faith too :)

I gave a talk yesterday in sacrament meeting. 10 minutes of pure Spanish in front of a room full of native speakers and a couple missionaries. The great thing is, that I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be. Me, and the two elders, were assigned to talk on missionary work and I focused my talk on Miracles and Faith. I shared the story in Luke 5 about Simon Peter drawing up the net with so much fish it filled up more than just his boat after he listened to the council of Jesus. Then Christ says, "I will make you fishers of men". This story has so many applications to missionary work I will just let you read it and let you interpret it ;) It's so good!

Mom! I do know Elder LeBaron! He is only one of the greatest Elders out here! I have had the opportunity to work with him a couple of times. He was in my zone when I was in Florence and he is in the zone I cover in Madison as a district leader. He is an amazing missionary. He always has a smile on his face :)

The work is moving forward and I am so excited to be a part of it. The mission has definitely put me through the refiners fire and continues to. I try not to focus on all of my weaknesses but there are so many! That is why I am so grateful for the Atonement. I have realized that I cannot do this work without the Lord. It would be impossible and meaningless, but with him "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" :)

Love y'all! Les Amo! Miss ya'll! Les extrano!

Love, Hermana Masey Decker