Hey guys! I like that mom already has my count down up.

I still have tons of time left. lol Also Happy Birthday to my Grandma Hatch today! And thanks for your letter if you are reading this, I just got it this week and it made my Tuesday. 

me and a llama at the park

This week was full of trials and successes as always! Successes first. Alexander accepted a date for the 11th before transfers because he wants us both to be there. He wants to be baptized in the river. It's cool but he's crazy because the river is cold. lol He was looking at baptismal clothes yesterday with his friend at church and he is really excited about it. Also after a tearful inspiried spirit filled visit with an inactive family they showed up at church on Sunday. Even though our attendance is still terrible we had a fourth of our attendance yesterday was inactive or less active members of the church. 

Last pday we went to a pretty park called parque de mattes. Mattes are these gourd things that they carve into here. They are beautiful. This was a little shop just down the way from there. So cool.

This gourd is huge. It costs a lot of money too but they are cool. I can only imagine how long it took to carve and burn all of that.

We taught a lot of lessons about repentance and the plan of salvation this week. I love watching people change their lives through repentance. It's such a happy message that Christ gives to us. You can change! You can be clean! If you come to me I will give you a new start! The plan of salvation often brings just as much joy. We taught a man whose wife had recently passed away this week about this plan. After explaining that eternal life means to live with God and your family forever he asked, Can we really obtain eternal life? Of course we can! The atonement makes it possible for each of us. 

In other news, Sunday lunch with members is slowly murdering our stomachs each week. We have gotten sick the past three weeks so as you can imagine we are starting to dread it because we know we will be miserable after it. But we are grateful for the members. We love them and are grateful for their sacrifice and being so willing to give to us what little they have at times.

This is my zone. They are all so great.

Other things from this week, we got stopped by two huge herds of sheep crossing the road, a members pig escaped in the middle of a lesson so we had to go chase it down, my hand got pecked by a chicken during a lesson ( I was sitting on the ground) and yesterday a man was so busy staring at us that he fell down some stairs. Poor guy.

Like I mentioned last week. It's basically Christmas.

One of my goals for this week was to be more grateful. In Pres Uchtdorf's talk this past general conference he teaches us that its actually a commandment to be grateful and that obedience to commandments always brings us blessings.

He taught us that we should be grateful in our circumstances. Two examples from this week. My companion basically had a mental breakdown this week (okay maybe a little exaggerated) after using someone else's bathroom that didn't have a toilet. She just doesn't understand why people will have a computer or tv and they only have a squat pit outhouse. We laughed and realized that we were grateful that we had a toilet in our little room. It became something of a joy when we entered into our apartment everyday and my companion would say we are so blessed to have a toilet. Another example was my ingratitude for our all week of cold showers. I realized my ingratitude one morning and thanked the lord to have water to shower with. I went to shower and realized that the water had become bearable and I was so happy. 

my beautiful area

I testify of President Uctdorf's words that gratitude brings us the blessings of happiness, broadened perception,  and cleared vision. We can count on the promise in Doctrine and Covenants 78:19 that says those who receive all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious! 

Have a great week!

Love Hermana Rhoten 1