How's everything going with you? From all of you lovely e-mails it sounds like you're all healthy and happy. I'm so glad. :) Thank you Goompa, Grandma Springer, Laurel, Blairs, Hna. Tua'one, Dad, Mom, Ashley, and Amanda for writing to me this week.
The time is flying so quickly. I can't believe it's already Skype Week again. I feel like I just barely sent my Christmas greetings, and now we're to Mother's Day again. Oh yeah, speaking of which, I guess I should wish all of you wonderful mothers a Happy Mother's Day! Thank you for being such great examples for me. I know I have a ways to go before being a mom, and especially on the mission I shouldn't be thinking about that, but I really am so grateful to our Heavenly Father for blessing me with such righteous, loving women all around me. I hope I can be just like you someday.
So this week was wonderful. As I mentioned last week, we got to go to Asuncion for Zone Conference and the temple. The temple was so amazing. The church really has got closing out all outside noise down to an art. As soon as those thick front doors closed behind us, I felt like every worry just washed away and I had all the time in the world to be in the best place on earth. We did an endowment session there, and it all seemed so new to me. I was really focused on the covenants that I made so long ago and I determined anew to stay true to them my whole life.
I wish that everyone could go to the temple. I wish we could just take our investigators in there and be like, "See? THIS is what it's all about!" But of course they wouldn't really understand and they might not feel the true meaning of it, anyways. :( But still. It would be cool. I'm grateful for all of the open houses that the church does to let people at least get a glimpse of what it's like before the dedication. It's not quite the same, but it's close.
Oh, by the way, I met a Brother and Sister Wagner there. I guess they're friends with Grandma and Grandpa Springer and Teresa? I'm sure I'd bet them before. They seemed familiar and they recognized me right off the bat. They were SO nice! They were so complimenting of the sister missionaries and having them talk about my family just felt like a little piece of home even though I don't really know them. :) It was a nice gift from the Lord to me to let me meet friends of the family there.
Can you believe that it was my very last Zone Conference I attended last week? I gave my final testimony in front of everyone. It was bizarre. I felt a little out of place with all those who are "dying" in June. I wasn't nearly as emotional yet as they all were.
I'm sad that that was my last temple trip and Zone Conference and interview with President before the FINAL one, but at the same time I'm really glad there won't be any more bus trips until July (knock on wood). No bad movies this time around, but we still didn't get a good night's sleep either night. The first night, there was a man sitting right behind us who snored like a sawmill. No joke, it was ridiculous. I'm really amazed that he didn't wake himself up. I'm even more amazed that the poor lady sitting next to him didn't just snap and smother him with her pillow.
Anyways... President Madariaga and I had a nice interview. Basically it all came down to the fact that the only challenge I still seem to have as a missionary is contacting. I DO contacting, but not nearly as much as I could. Thankfully Hna. Goimarac is super hard-working and just loves meeting people (to the point where I have to sometimes physically steer her away from the drunk creepers trying to hit on her--she's very trusting--not that they don't need the gospel too...) Pte. found a scripture for me that is now my new favorite--Romans 10:13-15. It's so inspirational--about how nobody can be saved without believing in Christ, and nobody can believe in Christ without hearing His gospel, and nobody can hear His gospel unless we go out and preach it to them. I put that up on my wall right when we got back home. :)
The work continues to go on strong, though. We should be having a baptism this weekend. Mariano is so eager to join the church. It's impressive, really. He doesn't even have all of the lessons yet, and yet he almost sounded disappointed that we put his baptism a whole seven days away when we talked with him last. :) He's come to church so many times and seen the good example of his member family. He knows that it's true. I just hope that we don't teach him some concept that he'll end up having a problem with.
The Elders had a few baptisms this last weekend, though. They don't have their own font in their area so they held it at our chapel and we took Mariano to see it. It was nice to go to a baptism for my first time since January, and Hna. Goimarac really loved it, too. Now we just need to have a few of our own! :)
I hope you're enjoying the Spring weather. We're back in a heat wave but I know it's just a matter of time before the cold comes back. Thankfully we got a big heater for our study when we went to Asuncion.
I LOVE YOU ALL! Have a wonderful Mothers Day week/end!
---Hna. Springer
1-The temple again. :)
2-Me and Hna. Goimarac by the temple
3-Asuncion Paraguay temple
4-Me with Elder Barazoto
5-Angel Moroni
LOVE YOU!!
---Carly
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