Raegan's Mission to Mexico: September 21, 2015: Well, You Guy's Won't Believe Where I'm Writing From.........

Hola familia!!! Thanks so much for your emails and love!! I really liked my emails today. Wow, the granite countertops look really nice!!! Well....you guys won’t believe where I'm writing you from....NUEVO CASAS GRANDES!!! My area is Estacion. I came here on an emergency transfer on Friday. So weird, I really was mentally preparing to stay in Rio Nilo until the end of my mission ha-ha. I didn’t realize how much junk I had gained until I tried to pack my bags...a year full of stuff. I got rid of a lot of things. My new companion is Hermana Trujillo and she has been on her mission for 5 months. She is super sweet, I really like her!

Well, yeah....this week has just been strange. Casas Grandes is really beautiful!! It feels so green to me. But it is super small; I am used to lots of cars, people, and non-stop sound. When I went to sleep the first night...everything was silent. I couldn’t sleep ha-ha. But yeah, I think I’m really going to like it here! It is super different than Rio Nilo, but it’s all good!! I’m glad I went to El Centro last week to buy my stuff I wanted ha-ha. We had a blast there!! There weren’t as many people as the last time I went there. I sent pics. This week before I left Rio Nilo, we visited a new investigator. He had read the entire Lesson One pamphlet we left....and remembered everything! It was awesome! He was really excited to learn more and will progress really well I think. We had meetings with the President this week, we worked on our teaching skills and it was a really good meeting. I went to it 2 times since I was in Juarez and received it there and then again here in Casas Grandes. It’s raining a lot here, I feel like I’m in Washington. Yeah, I feel like my mission is passing like a dream, when the members here ask me how long I’ve been out, they laugh and say that I’m on my way home. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I miss you guys, but I’m not ready to come back. I love my mission!! But for now, there isn’t much to report about the people here....I can’t remember their names ha-ha. But yeah, I’m super happy here!!!!

The Bishop this week shared something I really liked in our coordination meeting. He told us this story, I’m giving you guys the watered down version:

There was a young woman who went to her grandmother’s house to tell her all of the problems she was going through and to escape the real world. Her grandmother listened closely, and then went to the kitchen without saying a word. She put 3 pots of water on the stove and then turned it on. When the water was boiling, she put a carrot in one, an egg in the other, and coffee beans in the third. After the appropriate amount of time, she took the food out and poured coffee into a cup. She told her granddaughter to pay attention to the texture of the food and take a bite, and a sip of coffee. "What are you trying to say?" the granddaughter asked. The grandmother replied, "Look at it this way. All 3 things were exposed to the same heat...but reacted differently. The seemingly tough carrot broke down and became soft and weak. The egg, which was soft on the inside, is now hard. The coffee beans on the other hand, flourished in the heat and turned into wonderful coffee. (I’m not suggesting we go drink coffee but for the sake of the story I’m saying coffee is wonderful ha-ha). So, you can decide which way you will react to the adversity in your life. Will you become weaker, will you become hard, or will you flourish?"

I really liked that story!! So are you a coffee bean, an egg, or a carrot?? And I will just leave you guys with this quote from Spencer W. Kimball:

Is there not wisdom in his giving us trials that we might rise above them, responsibilities that we might achieve, work to harden our muscles, sorrows to try our souls? Are we not exposed to temptations to test our strength, sickness that we might learn patience, death that we might be immortalized and glorified?

If all the sick for whom we pray were healed, if all the righteous were protected and the wicked destroyed, the whole program of the Father would be annulled and the basic principle of the gospel, free agency, would be ended. No man would have to live by faith.

If joy and peace and rewards were instantaneously given the doer of good, there could be no evil—all would do good but not because of the rightness of doing good. There would be no test of strength, no development of character, no growth of powers, no free agency, only satanic controls.

I love this quote. And it is true. Meet the challenge!! Life is not meant to be a cakewalk, but don’t forget to still enjoy life too!!!! I’m doing great here!! Next week, I will have a little more to write. This week just passed in a blur...sorry. Well, I love you all so much and am happy here. I love being a servant of the Lord! Have a great week!!! I love you guys!!!!!! Until next time....XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Con todo mi amor,

Hermana Anderton