I love being a missionary!

Wow, I haven't written you since last year!  Hahaha :)

Well, this week has been great, and I feel like so much happened in only one week!

New Year's Eve, we had a Zone meeting, and it was lovely.  We had trainings and found màs ànimo for the work! I was a bit worried about walking around, I didn't know if we would have much to do, but we ended up meeting a man who just asked us a bunch of questions and at the end, asked, well, what message do you share?  It was wonderful.  Also, one of the members made a cake and dropped it off at our house.  Oh my yum!  It was delicious!  We ate it in about 3 days.  wooo :)

Funny Story:  We were visiting a convert who is older and at times has a hard time understanding everything. To start off the lesson, he wanted to sing a hymn I have never sung before, nor Hermana Porter, but we decided to try it.  It was not right, and Hermana Porter could not stop laughing!  I just kept singing, hoping she could join in, but she lost it.  so funny.  Well, the member, Norman, started talking about how marriage is essential to enter the kingdom of God.  He was very worried about the importance of marriage and had many questions about marriage. (He is not currently married) He then proceeded to ask us if we have boyfriends and if we would live in Honduras after we got married.  He kept going on and on, it was so funny! To top it off, this week, Hermana Porter has been studying all about forever families and eternal marriage, just by happenstance... I think hna Porter is going to get married....mmm...no more than 6 months after the mission. :)

Oh, and last Sunday ( not yesterday, the one before) we were eating lunch with a member.  Well, her mother is pretty old and is not a member, she is catholic. At the end, she started asking me if I eat a lot of mantequilla (technically, that word means butter, but here, it refers to the cream form of manteca, which is lard or shortening).  I said more or less, and she said that I must be eating a lot because I have so many pimples.  Ouch.  But hilarious :)

I recently purchased an HLJ ring (CTR, but in spanish.  It stands for Haz Lo Justo).  I love it!  It has my name and mission engraved inside of it.  Merry Christmas to me!  Thank you for the opportunity to buy that :)

This week, I have been trying to develop diligence in the work.  In PMG, it says that to be diligent is to keep working, even when you are tired.  So, whenever I feel tired, I start thinking of one more thing that I can do.  I am seeing so many miracles already.

We have been using Sister Crompton's Deee-licious recipe to make Peanut Butter Cheerio Bars for the members here to say thank you for all they do for us.  They love them!  It is so funny because we have no idea how to explain them in spanish, and usually, they have never seen something like them before.  It's awesome!

We went to visit another family and found the mom making tortillas, so we started helping her make tortillas.  Afterwards, we were rewarded with fresh tortillas topped with AVOCADO!  I was in heaven.  To follow, she said today was her mother's birthday and invited us to join in and eat cake.  We felt so out of place, but it was a blast. :)

Other funny story: We were visiting one lady who, I believe, thinks we are Jehovah's Witnesses.  Well, Hermana Porter has a ton of mosquito bites on her legs.  This sister saw them and was very, very worried for her.  She said, "I'll be right back", and went to grab something.  She returned with a bottle of sunscreen and proceeded to apply the sunscreen on the legs of Hna Porter.  We think she thought it was repellent. She didn't rub it in, so her legs were even whiter than is normal for us.  It was very sweet of her.

This week, we have been teaching a young man named Walter.  Hna Porter met him in Santa Barbara and was really excited to teach him here.  Well, I can now see why.  Saturday, we invited him to baptism, and he said YES!  To make it even better, he came to church on Sunday!  As we were sitting in the testimony meeting, he leaned over to Hna Porter and said that he wanted to go up to bear his testimony too!  He said not this Sunday, because he wasn't ready, but he asked if we could prepare him to be ready for the next time.  Ummmm, yes.  I think maybe we can do that!  I am over the moon!

Sunday, Hermana Porter and I taught the Principles of the Gospel class for investigators and new members.  We got to teach about Exaltation.  Wow, it was a wonderful, wonderful experience.  The Spirit was SO strong.  If you have a chance, read that chapter in the manual.  It is beautiful.

So, pretty much a stellar week overall.

I love you all so much!

LOVE,

Hermana Grondel :)

Oh, we also spent an hour helping one lady sell corn on the cob.  it was delicious!

We have a guard dog.  He started following us in our neighborhood and followed us all the way to our other neighborhoods!  I named him Sparky.  We later found out that Sparky is the dog of one of our contacts, and his real name is Mordo.  I like Sparky. :)

Turns out extensive nativities are pretty popular here

We went shopping in Choloma today, and I found these shoes.  I love them!