Two Marshmallows!!

Got another love note from the guy in the Internet café today....Fun stuff.

How is everyone doing?! Cumplí 14 meses today! What’s fun is that my companion has 4 months and I have 4 months left. Just working to make the time count and have fun doing it. My bestie Kristina is serving in P________ and wrote me about how her brother is in the CCM in México right now and what did he find on the computer there? Pictures of me with my comps when I was there! A year ago! Crazy how time flies and yet it feels like that was 10 years ago :) So cool to hear about :)

General Conference was so great. Didn’t see a lot of Sisters called to speak, but it was super good. It was fun to be in the gringo room> That’s always a sigh of relief to be able to think and talk in English for a while again. There were about 20 of us crammed in that air conditioned room. It was super cool to hear the talks that were given in Chinese and Portuguese and Spanish. I had wondered why they hadn’t let a few give their talks in their native language, and they did it this time! So that was really neat and must have been cool for those called to give the talks, but also for all the members that speak those languages. Love how direct and sort of "machete" the talks were about how we should exercise, make good choices and sort out our priorities. Definitely heard Helaman 5:12 at least 3 times. So apparently being firmly planted on the rock is important :) And its definitely important to stay in the boat and wear your life jacket. It was interesting to watch conference and think about how the next time I'll be watching it, I'll be there in the conference center! Or that’s my dream at least :)

But imagine being super enriched from conference and leaving to work, feeling like you’re on cloud nine after hearing nothing whatsoever of apostasy, to then go contact some ladies sitting outside their apartments in a circle...asking if you can share a message about Jesus Christ...and hearing, "Me da pereza...". (I can't be bothered with it.) It was one of those "palm to forehead" moments, or a "look up to heaven and beg for forgiveness for this poor lost soul" sort of moments. It was so sad. Then the same lady went on to talk about how we just talk and talk and waste our time. So that hurt, but I guess only after being on such a spiritual high we could have taken that kind of rejection. But there was a literal rainbow after conference!

But that night after getting pretty sad about how few people we had progressing, and with fecha and all that, my comp left me little notes in my agenda about how we would start a brand new week and how it would be a good fresh start. Considering we had conference combined with saying goodbye to lots of people for my last companion, the changes meeting, everything? We worked really hard and did the work we could. N_____ will be going to the temple this Saturday! we're super excited for him :)

We got a shout out from our DL last week in our last district meeting. He talked about how out of all the district, we had done the best at reaching our goals. It's always nice to hear some reinforcement :) The second to last meeting we had was so so spiritual. It was super well planned and we all made goals and put them in envelopes and put them all in a big folder...turns out they were sent to President :) So I'm excited to talk with him about the things I'm changing and things I'm learning bit by bit still. Our district leader talked with us about how Peter was outside of the boat, and how Jesus Christ had to cross the sea to get to the boat. So it’s a better idea to stay in the boat, but if we're outside of it, someone will be there to help us. If it isn’t a lifeguard, maybe it's Christ, who really is a lifeguard, "here to rescue you".

My comp is just the best. We get along so well. Talk about the calm after the storm, she is such a blessing, I swear. We are always laughing together and she's just really positive. Last night we were singing in the street together and I hadn’t done that in a long time! And we run...wait for it...together! It's incredible. We keep the apartment super clean and serve each other and talk together. I really like how she teaches and what I love is that I see a lot of things she brought from being with Hermana U______ so that's been neat to be reminded of ways she taught, like with examples or questions. After every session of conference when we would meet up again we would hug each other. Crazy right?! It was so sweet. One night I was falling asleep and she was asking me a bunch of questions and she was like "Conoce Alaska?" I thought she had said, "Conoce a Laska?" So I was like "¿Quién es Alaska?" We both ended up laughing a ton. We played Uno last night after planning and we have such a similar taste in music so that’s fun :) But really though, she is such a blessing.

Recently I've thought a lot about the 2 marshmallows :) Like in the Mormon message with the words of President Uchtdorf about the kids that did the study with the marshmallow? If I'm patient, I'll receive those 2 marshmallows...but it depends on how I do! How I work, how I change and how I treat people. So it's not a free gift. But patience definitely pays off. I've learned a lot about patience during my mission and trusting that the Lord loves us and wants the best for us. Sometimes I'll be frustrated with something and I'll just want to cry out, "2 marshmallows, 2 marshmallows!" That day will come...but for now, I'm learning and growing and making adjustments and being happy :) Today in my journal I wrote, "Maybe I don’t know how everything in my future will play out, but I'm pleased with the present. So maybe I've only ever studied like twice a day on p-day in my whole mission, maybe I've only ever kept it to 2 hrs in the Internet like once in my whole mission, but I'm happy. Maybe I've only ever been present for 2 baptisms in my mission, but I'm happy. I'm making improvements.¨

Hope everyone has a great week :)

Love,
Hermana Despain