Look At Me Mom! I'm The Sushi Queen!

(The comments and or translations in bold blue italics are made by Lauren's mom)

Hey family & friends!

I’m emailing today because the library was closed on Martin Luther King day and transfers were Tuesday, so the Mission President asked us to write our family on Wednesday!

Things are going so well here in Santa Fe. Hermana Jardine and I have another transfer together. It's such a HUGE blessing to work with her. She's an incredible example to me. We've really grown a lot this last transfer and she is really good about helping me see my progress. She's recovered from her ruptured ovarian cyst. She's SUPER sore now though, because she's an “animal”, P-day we played basketball with several of our investigators, members, and the elders in the district. I was done after an hour and a half of non-stop playing. She was at it for 3 HOURS! We're gaining stronger testimonies of the importance of exercise and how much it helps relieve stress... AND the importance of stretching before hand. We played soccer last p-day... oh my WORD, I LOVE IT. We are buying soccer balls and by the end of the mission we will be able to gracefully play like the 17 yr old boys in our branch. Ha, we/I am so-o-ooooo bad at soccer. It's way funny. It's good that I still don't understand Spanish well enough to pick up on whether anyone's making fun of me or not. Ha, the branch is so patient with my lack of athletic ability. The good thing is that I’m getting better!

Did I tell you we're teaching English... well. We're teaching English! Its been such a good thing for us in so many ways. We have told tons of people about it and have at least eight people coming on a regular basis.

Missionary work is hard, not so much because of the work, but because of the opposition you receive from Satan. When someone has committed to serve the Lord, not only are they guarded by angels, but they are attacked in a very real way by Satan. He will never win though. He does have the power to weigh us down, but faith is more powerful than anything he can send our way. We were talking today about opposition. Do you think every pain and opposition we have in this life is directly influenced by Satan. Ha, we were talking about it in the context of illness.... aka, my sore throat and her sore muscles, being tired etc... so yeah... not really exactly sure?

Investigators.... Wow, where do I begin. We have had the incredible blessing of being able to help several people work towards coming closer in understanding and faith to the kingdom of God. It seems like when ever we're united there are miracles. We have seen such incredible changes in the branch, our district, and our friends here. We talked the other day with one of the girls in our ward who is the same age of Krysten. We told her how much God loves and cherishes her as his daughter, how incredible she is and how much she can and will accomplish in her life with Him. She is having a super tough time with school and friends. I keep crying whenever I talk about my amazing family. There are a few girls in the branch that are Krysten and Olivia's age. It really hurts to see them struggle, but I'm so-o-oo so happy when I can be there to help. We have started having family home evening with Nery and Amarilis's family and a few others in our branch. Nery owns a sushi restaurant, the whole family works there, they're always feeding us. They are just another one of our home's away from home. They are so close to being ready for baptism. I'm so excited for them! 



Nery and Amarilis's Sushi Restaurant

Saucyyy Sushi!!

Wouldn't Hermana Jardine & Hermana Perez
be cute waitresses if they weren't sister missionaries?

Excerpt from  Lauren's missionary companion Hermana Jardine's mission blog~

"One of our other investigators is Nery, Amariris, and their grown daughters, he's from Honduras and she's from El Salvador.  He owns a sushi restaurant in downtown Santa Fe, it's NICE.  They are VERY nice people! They signed up to feed us, and to our surprise, they took us to the restaurant, we sat at the sushi bar and he made us whatever we wanted to try.  VERY nice people.  I love them already!

Lauren's Challenge:

Something I’d like to challenge all of you to do along with me is to recognize and rejoice in your progress and the progress of those around you. Say or write down at lest three things you did better today. Three ways you progressed.

I read a talk called "Judge Not and Judging." It really helped me this week as I’ve been struggling to fully see all the good around me. It talked about how eyes that are trained to see only mistakes will miss so much of the beauty that comes through progress. Progress comes in and through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He is the BEST example of expecting the best in people and helping them in the best possible way to become such. By teaching us to Love.

Family~

I'm so glad to hear that everyone seems to be doing well. I can't tell you how happy I was to read your letters! Satan's been working hard to get me to focus on the negative around me, so it's good to hear that there are so many great things happening at home! It was really good for me to have both of you say that I’ve been a strength to the family. It's not always easy for me to feel like I am.

I love you all thank you so much for the prayers love and support. Keep strong, you are incredible examples to me!