All you need is a Mustard Seed: Sweet Is The Work, Really Sweet

This week was insane! We taught so many lessons and did so much. We were so busy, but it was so good because we felt super productive. Busy missionaries are happy missionaries, that's for sure.

We went to the temple on Tuesday with Sister Schott and that was amazing. I learned a lot this time because I came prepared with some questions and I made sure to really focus during the session to get some answers and I did. I loved being there with Sister McCleery because it was her first time in the Houston Temple and she loved it. I've grown to love the temple so much. I wish I could be there daily, but I'm excited to go back to school in Rexburg where I'll be so close that I can be there daily if I wanted to!

This is the last week of the transfer, so next Monday we'll find out whether I'm staying or leaving. So many members of the ward want me to stay. Our ward mission leader told me that he'll call President Hall and ask him if I can stay, ha, ha, but I wouldn't let him do that because I want to do what the Lord inspires President Hall to do. But next transfer will be my 9th transfer out of 13 ... . I really don't know where the time is going and it's so crazy, but I love being here so much and I hope it never ends.

Steven, Symber and Emilio all came to church yesterday! They're doing great. We're working with Emilio to find out if this is really a desire of his to continue investigating and acting upon the commitments we give him. They're loving church, though. Yesterday was their second time and they brought their two daughters who LOVED Primary and want to come back next Sunday! Steven and Symber are going strong. Our plan is to get them married sometime this week and then to help them live the Word of Wisdom so on Sept. 13 we can baptize them and have a reception for them. The ward is already in, so it's going to be exciting! They're both reading the Book of Mormon and last we checked, they were in 2 Nephi!

We also have two investigators from Hungary and they have a friend, Josh, who's investigating as well. They both tried to come to church yesterday, but couldn't find the church building, so they went back home. :( But we're going to get them a Hungarian Book of Mormon and continue to read with them. We just randomly contacted them on the street one day and turns out that they have previously had missionaries, but the missionaries had to stop coming because her husband didn't like them. She divorced him and now is married to someone who welcomes us, so that's good! They're so fun and loving. We have a great time with them.

Jade, our recent convert came back from her summer vacation and it's been forever since we've seen her! One thing I realized is that when we invite her to church, she always says no because she's so used to us and we're much older so she just doesn't want to go with people that aren't her age ... so we went to our less-actives' house, the Eustace Family, and they have a daughter that's less active, but is REALLY good friends with Jade, because we brought her to a couple of lessons before Jade got baptized. So we went to their house and asked them if Brissa could call Jade and invite her to church and then they could go pick her up ... and they said YES! Brissa called and Jade was so excited to go! They picked her up and they all came to church! It was awesome! We got our less actives AND recent converts to church by working with them together! It was a cool prompting that worked out so well!

Fern is getting her temple recommend this week! She's so excited. We're working with John to get his patriarchal blessing and work his way up to the Melchizedek Priesthood! He spoke yesterday at our investigator devotional and it was amazing. ALSO, I translated for the first time! Normally, I don't like translating because it seems so hard especially when the speaker speaks fast, but no one else could speak Spanish, so I did it and it was AWESOME!!! I went up to the Spanish speakers after the meeting and asked if they could understand me and they said yes, that it was great and it all made sense. IT WAS THE SPIRIT, NOT ME. Whoa, that was cool.

I read this amazing quote this week that really stood out to me. It's in a talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland called "Lessons from Liberty Jail" and it says:

"When we promise to follow the Savior, to walk in His footsteps, and be His disciples, we are promising to go where that divine path leads us. And the path of Salvation has always led one way or another through Gethsemane. So if the Savior faced such injustices and discouragements, such persecutions, unrighteousness, and suffering, we cannot expect that we are not going to face some of that if we still intend to call ourselves His true disciples and faithful followers."

How cool is that? It really made me feel SO grateful for the trials of my life before my mission and even on my mission.

I love you all. Keep on keepin' on.

Hermana Sanchez