Mom,
This week went alright! We had our trip to Teresina on Tuesday almost all day and the meeting on Wednesday all day! It was a really good and spiritual meeting! I always love those meetings and have been extremely blessed by the Lord to have had to opportunity to be not only a Zone Leader but also to participate in those meetings for basically a year. It's not too common for a missionary to be any one thing (DL or ZL or trainer or whatever) for a year solid. But that just means that I had and still have more to learn about being a good leader. It has been tough at times and very stressful and tiring as well, but it has been very very rewarding and continues to be. I hope that I am able to carry with me everything I have learned throughout my whole life and that I can be a good leader if the Lord needs me in the future. I'm not sure what He has in store for me, but I will do my best to be what and who He needs me to be so that I can help not only my own family but also those around me. That's actually something that the Lord has told me in my Patriarchal Blessing is that I will be a big help to those around me, not only in the church but also in the communities where I will live. And when he was here a couple of weeks ago, Elder Aidukaitis said something that really touched me. He said that we cannot help the spiritually weak if we ourselves are spiritually weak. So in order to help others, we have to be in a good, strong position. That really inspired me to always be in a position that will allow me to help others when they need me to help them. I see that here on the mission a lot. There are days that I am all stressed out and down, but my comp is being strong and helps me out. Also when my comp is down and out, I create some kind of strength and determination to help him even if it's not easy. So it's been interesting to see how God helps me when I need to be helped but also when I need to help someone else. This week, after the meeting in Teresina, we had a bit of trouble in finding people to teach. But on Saturday we had a great visit with one of the references that that member gave us the past week. We went after them all and only found 2. One didn't want to hear us in any way, shape or form. But the other was very receptive and heard our message and everything else. His wife (since they are LEGALLY married[miracle in and of itself]) stopped what she was doing and delayed her going to work to hear us as well! They are members of another church but seemed curious to hear what we had to say and the woman even asked a couple of questions! So it was a really good visit and went well! We will be marking the next visit with the member that gave us the reference so that we can go with him. Other than that, not much else to report on here in the area.
Don´t get too stressed out or trunky! Stay focused on what you have to get done so that you don't forget anything! :)
Have a great week!!!
LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Elder Gunnoe
