Tina from Romania

Hello! And here we are heading into week three of my time here in Valdepeñas! Where does the time go? So since things are a bit quiet here in valdepeñas and we are a bit far from other missionaries, our p day(free day) is a bit tranquillo. So last Monday we decided to make chocolate chip cookies from scratch and ended up making about 50. Don't worry we took them to our district meeting and shared them with everyone else. Other than that we just relaxed! So this week we had a goal of talking to at least 25 people a day and man was that exhausting. We tried every way possible of talking to people and it's hard when people just don't want to listen! But we are now professional contacters and my fear of talking to people has basically disappeared. So some highlights of this week was teaching our friend Tina from Romania. She's awesome! Her son is less active but she has so much faith! We had an amazing lesson with her this week as she told us that she knows that she needs to stop smoking because she feels that it takes her away from God and that she needs to make some changes sooner rather than later. The spirit was so strong and for the first time since I've been over everything was quiet as she testified that no one could ever change her belief that God exists. I love that many times when we are teaching people I learn from them. We teach so many people from different religious, cultural and economic background but the gospel applies to everyone. Not just me but every single person the has lived is living and will ever live. We also went to visit a less active lady who stopped going to church about 15 years ago because of conflict with her family. We shared Ether 12:44 "Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God." I felt so much love for this lady who told us with tears rolling down her face that she had lost her faith and how she felt so very hopeless. She told us that we had brought her so much happiness through our visit and we told her we would come back. We need to make sure that we hold onto our faith because it really is so precious! I can not over emphasize the fact that deciding to come on a mission is the best choice I've ever made! Thank you everyone for your support! Have a great week!

Hermana Evelo