Jessica's Mission Blog: "The infestation of Mosquitos in Ramallo Pueblo" (January 25, 2016)

sooo well theres not too much to write about this week as i was sick again from tuesday to friday this time. but idk i just ate a few cookies with flour but it looks like i cant even eat a tiny bit of flour. danggg

so because of that we couldnt see many people and it was a bit distressing. we ran out of raid so we got infested my mosquitos and it hit over 105 degrees this week. imagine that without air conditioning hahaha and sick with fever haha but i got a cool impression this week that made me super happy as my stomach was hurting. we are told many times as missionaries that we have to pay the price. it isnt easy the mission.. and it isnt supposed to be. its a refining process and if my main trial is my stomach and getting sick all the time so be it. there are trials much harder and painful than that. also im "suffering with joy" and learning patience and long suffering. haha :)

well this week we had 2 super cool meetings. on wednesday there was a worldwide transmision for all of the missionaries! 3 apostoles spoke and the missionary department as well. they spoke about our purpose as missionaries. it is to teach repentance and baptize converts. they spoke about how to do the work effectively! it was great.

then on friday we had a zone conference and a seventy came. his name is elder ferreira and his wife. it started out with the talks. we all had to prepare a talk on faith and the seventy would choose 3 people to share their talk. now, faith is something that lately ive been feeling i lack and something i feel i dont understand very well so thankfully he didnt call my name but after the talks he stood up and said "there are 3 more of you who need to bear your tesitmonies on faith, we will wait for you to come up" so one after the other three missionaries spoke. my heart was pounding becuase i felt like i needed to speak but then the third had already stood up. elder ferreira stood up again and said "there is one more sister that has to bear her tesitmony (looks at me) sister from california, would you please?" literally my face...i stood up so nervous and shaking!!! (i hate talking in front of people) but i knew i had to give my testimony even though i dont undertsand alot. so i just prayed that the spirit would guide me. i spoke for like 2 minutes and dont remember much but i was shaking and feeling the fire of the spirit. super cool experience. i just remember at one point i said "i wonder what christ would say about my faith. if he would react to it saying "woman of little faith" or "thy faith hath made thee whole"´´ some food for thought.

after that and after the reunion he wanted to talk to me after. he simply asked me if i had wanted to give my testimony. i said not that i wanted to but that i needed to. and it was an experience more for me than for anyone else.

so that was pretty cool :) i was able to see alot of my mission friends that day including hna cruz, my brasilena who served in venado tuerto and we passed many pdays together and hna carter (not in the pictures) and a few others. but i didnt have the chance to take more fotos because i was sick. but hey on satrday we were able to work and i got sunburnt haha so embarrassing.

which reminds me! during a corelation meeting we were all there. us with the two sets of elders and the mission leader. i went to drink water from my water bottle and idk what happened but the water spilt all over my shirt

also last night it was super hot until 630. then the wind started to kick up. we were outside teaching a lesson when a cloud of mosquitos attacked us!!! literally it was like a plague from the old testament i felt sooo gross just slapping and killing the dead bug all over it was awful. but what are ya gonna do. hahaha

so for what i learned this week. as i said before i was struggling thinking i didnt understand what faith was. so ive been studying it like crazy. simply this is what faith in christ means. to know that he is the savior and to trust that he loves you. when i read that in "preach my gospel" i felt so much better. if that is all faith is ive got it! i know that christ has saved me and that he loves me. i know that without a doubt because i have felt his love and the wonderful feelings of peace and joy after receiving a remission of my sins. faith in chirst is simple. if we know these two things we have access to his power and authority and we will be able to experience miracles in our lives. so my message this week is that faith is pure and simple. there is no need to over complicate things. christ is our savior and he loves each and everyone of us.

now this week press forward with faith

be true to the faith

and defend the faith.

know what faith is to you and always pray to have it becuase it is a wonderful gift given to us by our Heavenly father but only through prayer and works.

i love you all so much! have a wonderful week!

xoxoxo hna sanders