Hola Family!!!

So this week was a lot better. We are learning to laugh at crazy experiences and make each day fun. First, I didn’t know she is Courtney´s cousin!! We were dying about that when we read that  and I actually didn't know anything about the bombing.... That doesn’t sound good and I’m not really sure I want to know more about that. Please don’t tell me. We are very unaware of what is going on in other parts of the world and even in Chile. We don’t really know anything. Thanks for sharing those scriptures and talks with me mom and dad. I really needed to hear that and I loved it very much.

Ok so where to start? Well this week we went and taught a lady and her husband, she is paralyzed. We taught them the plan of salvation the first time we went to see them and she was crying, it was a really great lesson. Then we went back another day to teach her and her husband but her husband was not there. We taught the first lesson and then found out she is less active. So we invited her to church and she said she wants to come but it´s difficult to get her there because she is paralyzed. So we are going to be working more with them this week about how to get them to church and things like that. Her husband isn’t a member and we really think that if we can teach him the lessons he will be ready for baptism because he is so prepared by the Lord. Then we contacted a family who are members but they are also less active. They have lived in the area for 3 years and have not been to church. They were really active when they lived in Spain and they said they don’t have very many friends in the ward and also that she has pain in her feet. We invited them to an activity for this friday (which is a Luau) and they said they would try to come. We are going to work with them because we feel the only reason they are not coming to church is because they don’t have friends. They were very receptive when we went to teach them something from the book of mormon so that’s good. 

We went to new beginnings last night for the Young Women. The President´s wife asked us to come so we went and it was so great. There are only 4 young women in the ward but they are so amazing!! They are so strong!! They always ask us if they can come with us to appointments and help teach our investigators. We have a lot of help from them. One day we were walking from an appointment and we passed by a guy so we said hi and then like a few seconds later he yelled after us and started running towards us. He was like Hermana´s of the Church! So we turned around and he said I´m coming to church!!! I´m going to bring my work clothes cause I have to work but I´m coming to church! Hahaha we were like ok great we´ll be waiting for you!! But he never came, I think it was because he was really drunk. But we just laughed about that. 

We had interviews with the President this week as well. We were really excited for that. They went really well. We talked about the area and the help the we have and things like that. We also talked about our area book and what things we need and things we need to work on. He told me some things that were really helpful. He said that he really felt inspired that me and Hermana Castleton needed to be here and we needed to be together. He said he felt that so strongly and he knows we can do this. I´m so amazed with that. Hermana Castleton and I have a lot of deep talks about the gospel and things that are really interesting to us. It´s so amazing to think that Heavenly Father trusts us enough to start a new area when we don’t know the language very well and we are still very very new at this. It´s so much trust He has in us and it makes me feel like I can really do this. My patriarchal blessing says that I will call on my pre-mortal training to do the work here. I really feel like that is happening in this area. I feel like I was trained in my first area but I also feel like there are some things my spirit knows that my body does not and I´m starting to feel like I know what I’m doing and what we need to work on and who to work with. We just need to be organized and do it. I feel like I have so many ideas and we have so many people we want to see but there isn’t enough time in the day to do it all!! President started to get really teary eyed and he thanked me for being patient and accepting this. He said that he knows this isn’t easy for me and my companion but that he has total faith in us and knows we can do it. He also said that he does not expect perfection and that the numbers will be low because it´s a new area and we are starting from scratch with literally nothing to go off of. So that was a relief because I have been feeling like the numbers are so low and that we were not great missionaries when I knew that we were working hard. I don’t like numbers sometimes because I feel that we are working so much harder than the numbers show. But God knows where our hearts are and how hard we are working and I know that He is pleased with our work and that is really all that matters is that I´m working hard for the Lord and that I´m inviting all the people I can to come unto Him.

So this last weekend i had a baptism!!! One of the families I was working with in Casablanca got baptized on Saturday!! I am so happy for them and I´m so sad that I was not able to be there. I¨m going to ask Hermana Paz to send me the pictures so I can try to send it to you.  

I got my package!!! The candy is all gone. We ate that really fast but I was thinking the other day about wanting the articles of faith in spanish because they really are so amazing and perfect to give people to understand our beliefs. And then you guys send them to me! Ha! Also, we were wanting some pictures to put up in the house and then I got those pictures that are all my favorite ones!! We were so thrilled. So now our house is all pretty with pictures of Christ. We love them so much. 

We have some really great activities coming up these next couple weeks. We have an activity this friday that will be really fun and we are excited about that. And then we have another noche de postres. I´m going to get really fat from all these pastries, but it´s fine. We have a lot of hills here so we are always burning off the calories of the bread or at least I hope we are. The hills are insane here, sometimes I feel like we are walking straight up because it´s so steep.  

So here is something fun I get to look forward to. We have a lot of fleas here. It´s awful. I have been bit so many times and they itch like crazy, but we can't scratch them or they will scar. We have to be careful because we have a mamamita who is the lady who washes our clothes for us. If she has fleas in her house, we will have fleas in our clothes. So the elders said that if we get fleas in our clothes we need to switch mamamitas and get another one. I´m actually really terrified about this, I don't want fleas at all in anything or anywhere. Hermana Castleton said she´s seen a few fleas in our house already from when we come back from working and we carry in fleas (not always but on rare occasions) that made me a little sick, I´m trying to be super careful but it´s inevitable. My teacher in the MTC said that everyone at some point in their mission will get fleas. Awesome.  I´ll let you know how that goes when we get our clothes back tonight. 

Don't worry about anything. I´m fine and happy. This week was better and I´m learning to be happy with everything that happens. It´s an interesting experience. I´m learning so much about myself and so much about the gospel. I´m so excited for everyone I know with mission calls to enter into the work of the Lord. It´s so rewarding and hard but I learn so much about everything and I really can’t get this experience through anything else except a mission. I love being here, I love the people and the work. I love my investigators, the ward and the leaders as well as the other missionaries. We all get along so well and we have a lot of funny moments and awkward moments. They are memories that really will last for the rest of my life. 

Well family I love you so much!! I hope you all have an amazing week!! Keep working hard and being servants of the Lord.

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Tycksen