My story of grace

Hey Family!

This week has been absolutely wonderful! I am learning so much! So my new favorite song is this song by I think Steven Curtis Chapman.  It is supposed to be this comparison between angels and people on earth and the point is that this life is hard and we don´t have all of the answers, but something we do understand is the story of grace!  I love this idea!  What is my story of grace?  When I started thinking about it I realized that I have a story of grace every day.  Because we are on this earth we have felt that feeling of total helplessness and then we have also felt that saving power of grace.  I love sharing my story of grace and then helping other people find their own stories of grace as well!  Ah!!  This is my frustrated face because when I put it in words it is so less cool than it is when you experience it.  My story of grace is everything to me but the only way someone would understand is if they actually experienced it.  I think that is why we all need this personal relationship with our Savior!  We all need our own story.  I need his grace every day as I learn to totally surrender myself to Him. 

We are doing great with our investigators. Paula and her family is always a focus for us. Right now we are working with Josefa. She is always in the lessons but she does not pay a lot of attention. She has a little bit of a learning disability so it is super hard for her to read the Book of Mormon. Not that I am happy that she has the problem but I am happy because I know how to help her.  I am so grateful for my Utah State experience! We are reading different stories in the Book of Mormon together twice a week to help with her reading and help her gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. When I was her age, I hated reading too and the thing that helped me was the Book of Mormon.  I hope her story can be similar to mine.  It has been pretty fun to see things that I can help with because I am finding that God can use my love for learning out here.   It is fun to see how I can help simply by being myself ... by being Carlie, just like my blessing told me to be.

We have a menos activo (less active) that totally breaks my heart. She is such a sweet heart! She has not been really active for twenty years.  Her son was murdered 20 years ago and in that same terrible year her husband up and left her for another women. She breaks my heart because I think she just did the same thing that a lot of us do; she started with questions that slowly turned to doubts, and now she is reading stuff on the internet and claims she has no testimony. I know she does. She is as sweet as they come but now her whole family has followed after her and all of them are no longer active. I want to help her but I also know it is going to take a while. 

 

We did have cambios (transfers) this week! It was pretty intense and a pretty big bummer.  I am safe and so is my comp, but my roommate se va.  I am super bummed too!  She really is one of my favorites!  Her name is Hermana Cortese.  She left this morning and there were definitely a lot of tears.  She was always really fun to talk to because she was the one who practiced her English the most.  I am so blessed!  I wish you people could meet my comp and my roommates they really are the best! We are from five different countries though, so it is not likely that we will see each other all juntos (together) again. 

I am trying to think of a good funny story for this week. We still teach at the menos activos house that is trafficking drugs because she is trying to make steps to coming back. I don´t know if she is just saying that or if she actually wants to. It is going to be quite the fun process if that is what she actually wants. This gospel is so wonderful but we have to change every day as we come unto Christ. Of course we do ... it just makes sense ... he is perfect and we want to be. ;)

My comps stomach growled like crazy through a lesson yesterday. It was pretty funny. Every time there was a silence it started growling. I almost lost it every time but thankfully the 16 year old daughter started laughing first so I could laugh too. I think all of us - my comp and the family we were with - needed a good laugh so it turned out good.  I have never heard so much growling in one period of time.  Also, I had a converso resente fall asleep in a prayer.  It was pretty funny.  I was praying, which means -- trust me, the prayer was really short, because p.s. I can´t talk in Spanish! And she fell asleep anyway.  My comp and I sat there wondering what we should do. I was thinking of every sad thing on the planet that I could think of so that I would not laugh. Thankfully I made it outside.  She is this sweet lady who has a lot of meds in her right now.  She is super tiny and just like Gogo!  She even has the same towels in her bathroom and a bright pink bed spread!  I love her and her house basically! 

Life is good, family! I am so glad everything is going so well.  I love the stories!  I always laugh out loud when I am in the internet place --- good thing everyone already thinks I am crazy.  I am happy! Love you all!

Love Carlie