Week 15 (July 22, 2013 Pasco, WA)

Dear Family and Friends,

You all are so precious to me and each morning i wake up I feel so blessed to have you all in my life. It is a sweet thing to know that we can all love together for eternity with our loving Father and His Son again someday. What a beautiful time that will be! :) This past week i have been reading Jesus the Christ. I can't put that book down and am finding that one hour of personal study is not enough. I am very thankful though to have that one hour to be connected personally with a divine source. It is a great blessing and something to look forward to each day. Something that shed some light in Jesus The Christ has to do with the Atonement. I can't remember what page it was, maybe 20? But it talks about the Atonement and how our application of it allows us to overcome the powers of Satan. That got me thinking  for a bit. Of course I had heard that many times before and know that is is absolutely true, but I wanted to look more into it. And the spirit taught me some things that maybe many of you have already realized haha :) And it is hard to explain my thoughts on it but putting it simply (maybe ha), I realized WHY we know for a surety that Jesus Christ will win and Satan will lose. We know that because of the Atonement. It is INFINITE and ETERNAL. Satan knows that he will lose. He just wants to bring as many people he can with him. No wonder he is working so hard on God's children, he is competing with the Atonement of Jesus Christ! The most powerful and historical event in history! There is no way that he can win. God's children will ALWAYS have the Atonement. Satan must feel intimidated. I know I would if I knew that Jesus Christ performed the atonement to help people overcome something I wanted them to not overcome. My explanation does not do justice to what the spirit taught me but oh well ha. I am really enjoying studying the atonement more though and I hope to develop a stronger relationship with Jesus Christ while I am on my mission.

So I guess I should mention that I am going to Argentina on Wednesday! Crazy stuff! I did not expect it to come this fast! I did not actually get my visa but they are sending me there with a travel visa and I will hopefully get my actual visa before my travel visa expires. I am so stinkin' nervous but super excited. It will be different I know but I have been praying to be prepared for Argentina and I think God had helped me prepare in many ways. I probably could be more prepared of course but I am thankful for the things and experiences and trials that God has given m in order to help me prepare. I got the call on Friday morning and they said that I was leaving Tuesday night to go to the mission home in Kennewick because my plane is leaving something like 6:15 Wednesday morning. And I have been in Ephrata so that is a few hours away I believe. So that was the plan until we received a call from the assistants at about 5:00 Friday night. They told me that I was going to be picked up by them on Saturday (the next day) afternoon and that I would be serving with the sisters in Pasco (Hrnas Pierce and Ray)  until I left to Argentina. OH MY STARS! So that night we called people and rescheduled appointments and I started packing. It was a stressful less than 24 hours haha :) Lots of things had to be done and completed and it was hard to see how everything would work out. But once again, the grace of Jesus Christ made it possible for us to get things done and on time. I always love to look back and see how there was really no way to do certain things unless the Lord was there to help. It is a neat thing to witness. So I am now in Pasco and up to this point I have had 4 trainers in all ha :) And by the time I get to Argentina I will have 5! I must be a real hard greenie to work with because I am sure getting moved around a lot. My poor trainers. So yes, next time I email I will be in ARGENTINA!! Oh goodness this is exciting. Things have happened fast and there is still lots to do but I know it will happen if it is the Lord's will and way. I know that the Lord gives us situations and experience in life to help us grow and to help us see His hand in our lives. I know he does this for me. It is now MY part to RECOGNIZE those things he is is giving me so that i CAN grow and become better. I am trying to go through these hard experiences with a happy heart so that he knows that I am grateful for them (in the long run ha), but sometimes it is so hard! I am grateful to have wonderful examples in my life that have gone through difficult things but do it SO happily and are fully reliant on the Lord. Like I have said before, my friends and family amaze me so much.

We had many miracles and great experiences week! Sister Williams and I were praying to find a spanish investigator because we were having a hard time finding people to teach in spanish. Ephrata had much more english than spanish so my spanish kinda got lost for a bit. They only have spanish work in Pasco though so that is great! Another tender mercy from Heavenly Father. I will only be here a total of four days but it will be four days of spanish teaching and finding so that is great. So anyway, we were knocking these apartments and we got to a door, knocked two times, no answer, so we started to walk away. But as we were walking I just suddenly turned back around and we went to the same door and knocked one more time. A few second later Areli answered. She is Hispanic and only speaks spanish. Mid 20s probably. We told her who we were and she nodded and asked us to come in. In a nut shell we taught her the Restoration (which was kinda difficulty considering neither of our spanish is too great yet haha) and she seemed to understand and take interest. Even though my spanish was iffy I know that the Lord made up for what I couldn't do because we were trying our best and He wanted Areli to know the truth. That is why we were sent there. We bore testimony and she asked us if she could have the address to our church...miracle. It was such a neat experience and there is no doubt that it was heaven sent. God is guiding us to his children who are ready! We set up a return appointment with her but it was on Saturday and that is when I left to Pasco :( So I am not sure what happened but I have faith that she will continue on! That was definitely an answered prayer and I am so thankful for it. I am just glad that the spirit is the real teacher because my teaching skills are very amateur-ish especially when I am speaking spanish haha.

I am so happy to be serving the Lord and to be experiencing these things on my mission. He really is my source of strength and he has helped me see that these past three months. I am so weak but he is so strong! I am thankful for His strength and I know it is real. Thank you all so much for all you do, for your thoughts and prayers. I love you all so much!! Have a great week!!

Love, 

Hermana Syphus 

Dear Dad,

Thank you so much for that nice email. I sure love reading them :) I wish I could respond to each and every thing that you have written but unfortunately time does not permit it. I love hearing about home and the things that are happening there. And at times I do wish I was there experiencing those things with everyone but since I have been on my mission these three months, it is hard to think about what I would have been like if I didn't come on a mission. I am very blessed to be able to serve and I am enjoying my mission so much. Just one random thing, I really enjoyed reading your letter about your trip to New Mexico with mom. I started a letter to both you and mom a few weeks ago but like all of my letters it seems, I didn't finish it! But I am sure glad you were able to do that with mom. After reading that letter from you out loud to my companion she said, "Man I love how your dad writes! He is so poetic and I love how he tells his stories!" I agreed with her and told her that you have always been such a great writer :) So thank you for that letter.

I often think about my three younger siblings as well and I pray for them to have strength and learn to discern the spirit so that they will want to put themselves in good situations in order to feel that spirit. I love them so much and it is hard to be away from them and not see how they are growing up and handling everyday life. I have come to love them so much more on my mission and I sure miss them. You and mom are amazing parents and I believe you are doing all you can do already. I come to realize more and more each day just how wonderful and amazing you and mom are. You couldn't have done a better job raising us kids in my opinion. I hope the younger three will continue to endure and enjoy to the end and I hope I can do my part as their older sister to help them do that. I don't want to NOT do something for them that I could have done for them and see them struggle with the knowledge that maybe I could have done something to prevent that. I am keeping those three sweet siblings of mine in my prayers.

I better start writing some other people because I don't have much time left. I love you so much dad and I am so happy for the things that are happening at home. It seems that the Lord is still providing as always :) Thanks again and hugs and kisses to you too. Love you!

Love, 

Hermana Syphus aka your teeny tiny tatie tot