11-12-12

Dear Family,

This is going to be a short one. We are in Capital doing my paperwork and I want to show Hermana Salazar around and we have about 3 hours to see EVERYTHING!!! haha. Also, we are going to meet up with Hermana Malhue and her comp and Hermana Dunn and her comp. FUN!  Note on the paperwork... pray for it! haha. I went south so soon in the mission that I don`t have anything done and I have to do what you usually do in 8 months in 1... they say it will all be fine. I just have to pay a bunch of fees and stuff. They gave me a paper today that says that if it doesn`t go through I am still allowed to leave the country. haha. 

Marcela and Jonas were baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. Man, was it ever one powerful baptism! I am so proud of them and all that they are doing and for who they are. I was really emotional in the baptism as I saw the joy in their eyes. Their whole family was there, and that was really special. Iara and Matìas, the other kids, also went to the confirmation on Sunday and we are going to have a Family Home Evening tonight to help them start progressing all together. It should be really great! Marìa, Marcela`s sister also went to the baptism and the confirmation and felt the Spirit really strongly. She cried through the whole thing. Marcela told us that she went home and put on face book that she had never experienced something as beautiful as what she experienced that day. So great! We are hoping that she too will start progressing. She just went through a pretty nasty divorce and is a little bitter, but the gospel is exactly what she needs! She is living with Marcela now, so she will have a great influence.

The Spring Fling went really well! Everyone had an amazing time and there was a great number in attendance. More details later. Now, I am on to the next big project. I am planning and preparing a musical fireside for Christmas. It should be pretty powerful. Note on that, please get in my music files in the Christmas drawer and find "Breath of Heaven." Then if Dad could scan it and send it to me, that would be great! Also, if you could google "Lyrics to Breath of Heaven in Spanish" that would also be a big help. I translated it, but the rhyming is weird and I want to see if there is an official translation. Thank you! 

Hermana Salazar is doing well! She has really broken out of her routine. It was hard for her, and after lots of practices and a few tears, she is starting to teach from the heart and not just the things she has memorized. We are really beginning to enjoy each other. I was feeling really lonely the other day, because she is VERY quiet and it was like pulling teeth to get her to say two words to me... well, in my night prayers, I felt that I just really needed to serve her and when I woke up the next morning, I just served way more than usual. After about 3 days, she really started opening up. The activity was the icing on the cake because it was just a lot of fun and she could not be so tense. We are doing much better. 

Family, I love you all SOO much! I love this work. I love the gospel. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that this is His Church. I know that we must help the whole world to receive the restored gospel. 

Love you!
Hermana Shelley