Jugo de Papa.

The only thing worse than cockroaches..... are flying cockroaches. Did you know that there is a species of cockroaches that have WINGS?? I had heard that they existed.. But I thought it was a lie. Until.....

Once upon a time, I was making a banana smoothie (15 bananas for $1dollar here.) And I was just minding my own buisness peeling bananas until, HOLA biggest cockroach I have ever seen in my life. I screamed a little. But I´m pro exterminator by now and so I calmly went to pick up my companion´s new shoe to kill the cockroach. But that darn cockroach seemed to read my mind as I lifted the shoe and it flew directly for my face!! I woke up all of the neighbors and my companion thought I died. Ew....

Paraguay is like a giant sauna. And that means. BUGS. This summer is going to MURDER me.

I have now begun to drink Potatoe juice. Not lying. Chop up a raw potatoe. blend it with water. Drink 2 times daily. Before breakfast and after dinner. It´s supposed to clean out the impurities in your skin. I´m desperate and hoping it works.

So, I didn´t give a very good conference recap last week. I was rushed for time and basically just looked for all of my favorite quotes and typed without really looking. But this week I decided to spend some time studying my conference notes. Since we spent a lot of time this week talking about the Restoration. Not all of our investigators are understanding the importance of the Prophet. So we have been focusing lots on teaching about President Monson.

Yesterday, we had a cool experience with Elias. He has been visiting with the missionaries for about 2 years now and he basically knows nothing. I don´t know what they ever taught him or if he just never listened. But finally, he is listening. He promised us that he would go to conference last week but he didn´t show up. So yesterday, we decided to listen to President Monson´s talk.

Ponder the Path of Thy Feet

I loved that President Monson teaches us that "Walking where Jesus Walked is not as important as walking AS he walked."

And that is also what Elias learned yesterday. The prophet doesn´t ask us to follow him. He asks us to follow Christ and to be more like Christ is. So now Elias has new homework. To find out of President Monson is a true prophet. And I promise you that he is.

30-day Enos Challenge.

We´re going to play a game. And read Enos every day for 30 days. I think it was President Poll that promised me once that it would change my life. And I´m promising each of you the same thing now.

Let´s talk about Enos.

He wasn´t sinning. But he desired his own salvation. He prayed and prayed and prayed to God for a remission of his sins. And God granted him just that. Then, once he had felt the pure love of Christ, he wanted to share it with EVERYONE. He dedicated himself to missionary service. And he prayed and prayed for the welfare of his fellow men.

 12 And it came to pass that after I had prayed and labored with all diligence, the Lord said unto me: I will grant unto thee according to thy desires, because of thy faith.
 13 And now behold, this was the desire which I desired of him—that if it should so be, that my people, the Nephites, should fall into transgression, and by any means be destroyed, and the Lamanites should not be destroyed, that the Lord God would preserve a record of my people, the Nephites; even if it so be by the power of his holy arm, that it might be brought forth at some future day unto the Lamanites, that, perhaps, they might be brought unto salvation—
 14 For at the present our strugglings were vain in restoring them to the true faith. And they swore in their wrath that, if it were possible, they would destroy our records and us, and also all the traditions of our fathers.
 15 Wherefore, I knowing that the Lord God was able to preserve our records, I cried unto him continually, for he had said unto me: Whatsoever thing ye shall ask in faith, believing that ye shall receive in the name of Christ, ye shall receive it.
Last night we had another miraculous experience. A couple of weeks ago, we contacted Perla. At first she seemed a bit ornery and iffy with talking to us. Then she warmed up a little and told us about herself. She invited us back but she is NEVER home. We have passed by 4 or 5 times to find her missing. But last night we found her. With her mom Ramona and her little sister Cindy. As we were talking about the Plan of Salvation, my heart melted when Cindy said, "There´s a reason you two are here right now, with us. God has a purpose, right?"

I´ve been struggling understanding that God really does have a purpose in everything He sends our way. There is a reason that my investigators are falling through with their promises. There is a reason that these less active members are falling into apostasy. One reason is so that I can learn to pray like Enos did. For their salvation. And so that I can learn to have faith like Enos did so that the Lord can grant me my desires. 

And I know that He will. He sent me Graciella TODAY. She saw us walking by her house and she called to us.. She invited us in and gave us water and we talked about Christ for a minute. He will send people like Elias and Perla and Cindy my way to show me everyday that He is aware of me. He is aware of my struggles and of my pains. But even MORE SO. He is aware of the people around me. And he wants ME to be more like His son. So that I might be a means to bring salvation to the people here in Santa Ana. So that we all might be able to stand before the throne of God with confidence. 

xoxoxo

Hermana Rupe

Approaching the Throne of God With Confidence

We went to a parade this week. And we made a cake for Ramon´s birthday! And we are planning an open house for this Saturday. I am really proud of the invitations.