Hola! Que tal?!

I love my new area.. It has been so great so far. I am in Raleigh 3rd ward so we technically cover the entire raleigh stake (english area) so it is again a large area, but we share it with 2 sets of elders as well. I was completely blown away yesterday when I went to church and there was an entire chapel full of people. and they were all Hispanic! It is the only Hispanic WARD here in our mission, and they are honestly amazing:)





My companion is so great too!! Hermana Evans. She is "from" Hawaiii.. But she is a military child so she has moved all over the place! She went to high school in Tucson but then now her family lives in Hawaii.. So it has been fun to talk all about the different places we both know and have been to! :) she is incredible though, she has such a strong testimony and such a great love for these people. She speaks good spanish already and she has only been out 2 transfers (this is her 3rd) so I am the senior comp but it doesnt always feel that way now haha. We are definitely working together and helping eachother a lot. It is great.



That I think has been the hardest part of this past week. Is just my Spanish abilities. I get really frustrated with myself because I wish I could say more.. or when I do talk, sometimes I say things I didn't want to say or I just feel like I sounded stupid when I said whatever it was I did. I have just been thinking a lot about that and I have realized that I if I really am just being lead by the spirit to say what the Lord wants me to say, I wont have to worry about it. I will say the right things.

Then, this morning I read a talk in the Liahona (Ensign.. actually it might be new era. it is combined in the Spanish one) about "Llegar a ser perfectos en Cristo" translation: "Becoming Perfected in Christ". I would invite you all to read it.. it is soooo good. It just really helped remind me that I dont have to be perfect.. and that being discouraged weakens faith. So there is no use or benefit of complaining about the things that are bad or discouraging. The Lord doesn't expect us to be perfect in general in all the things here on this Earth. That is why He gave us His son, to atone for us so that we COULD make mistakes and we COULD grow and learn. He doesn't want us to mess up or sin, but he DOES want us to grow and learn while we are here on the earth.


I have had some really good personal studies lately mostly focusing on the Atonement. and that is because in PMG it says "as your own knowledge of the atonement increases, your desire to share it with others will increase" (or something to that effect) so I have really been trying to understand all the different aspects of it and it has been great. I love the illuminating effect of the spirit! :)


I wish i had more time to be able to share with you all that i have learned about the atonement, but I just cant express it through a short email. I am just so grateful for it. I am so grateful for this time we have on the earth to learn and that we can feel the LOVE that God and Christ have for us through the Spirit. It is such a blessing too to be able to share that with other people here in Raleigh.. and even though it is hard-- in Spanish!:)



The leaders in our ward are a lot of americans that know spanish, and it is just exciting to think that in the future maybe I will get to go to a Hispanic branch and be apart of that because I will know Spanish woo! haha


so anyways. this week... We had good lessons with people! Hermana Evans introduced me to a lot of the members and we have a new investigator as well! He is the brother of a woman that just got baptized. (she actually got confirmed yesterday which was awesome too!) and he is very emotional about how great his family is and how much change they have had in their lives since they have joined the church. We are so excited for him! We have faith he is going to be baptized this transfer!! Other than that, nothing else to report.


I love you all so much and I am so glad to be here in Raleigh!!! Thanks for all your prayers and support. I can feel it:) I also cant believe it has been 7 months.. but i am one of the oldest Spanish sisters now... weird.


alright have a great week,


Besitos!!

-Hermana Weller