David Who??

Hello everyone!

It looks like everyone has been busy sprucing up their lives for spring! I'm excited to see (in a year) your new and improved homes. Beautiful! It actually makes me really sad. I miss painting and decorating:( Boo! Pero, es la vida de una misionera:) So everything here has been pretty good, it's starting to warm up again and.....we have a baptism this weekend!!! Little Jeffrey will be a member the same day the church was organized AND he's getting confirmed on Easter Sunday!!! Whooooot! We're pretty exciting.

Let's be honest... this last week was rough. We're having a really hard time picking up new investigators in this area. I think we're too scary...actually no. Sidenote: This last week I got on the bus and I smiled at this random kid, because that's what you do as a missionary, right? Well, he must've missed the name tag because before he got off the bus he handed me a note that said "You should have come and said hi. Text me sometime." I nearly died of laughter. So some prayers would be really helpful. However, we've been having a lot of success in this area with less active work. Actually we've been able to get some less actives at church who haven't been in ages.If there was anything I could change about missionary work it would be numbers. I understand why they exist but I still wish they didn't. That's the end of that rant.

Today my companion and I were on the bus with the stinkiest people. So the bus that goes to our house stops in front of an Asian market and these people got on with bags of the worst smelling fish ever. We wanted to die. Actually we wanted to tell them about the gospel and then die. it was the worst.

Okay to answer your questions: No I did not see David Archuleta in the MTC choir. I'm sorry. But I'm glad he was the highlight of everyone's conference experience:) kidding! Wasn't conference amazing? I felt like every single talk applied to me in one way or another. I was called to repentance to be sure. But it was sooo goood! This missionaries that attend the Prince of Wales chapel (i.e. Sister Chadburn and I, Elders Meza and Shaver, and Elders Anderson and Blank) had a dinner appointment with a few of the Spanish families in this area in between sessions of conference. It was pretty much the best D.A. They told us to bring some investigators, but Sister C and I were the only ones who did. Yep, we brought Jeffrey and William. They wanted to feed us massive amounts of food. Plus they kept paying me and my companion excessive compliments. Mom, they even said my Spanish was good! And that my accent was good! I thought, "Man I want to stay here forever." They loved us.

I really loved President Uchtdorf's talk. I think he had really good insight especially for a Sister Missionary who's been a little frustrated with people who don't want to progress:) One of the things that stood out to me the most was when he said "It is easy to love those who love us, even the wicked can do that." That really struck a chord with me. True disciples of the Savior should love EVERYONE. Even the guy who brings stinky fish on the bus. Even the mean bus drivers, even the investigator who NEVER returns your phone calls. It also reminded me of what I kind of talked about last week. If the quality of our heart is humility, love and patience we can love everyone. I've been continuing in my BOM reading highlight the word :"heart" everytime I come across it and it really struck me this morning, the prophets and the Lord never talk about a "change of mind". It's always a change of heart. A change of mind is more temporary while a change of heart it something that takes time and effort. This is something that I've committed myself to work on.

I hope you all have a great week and find a nice sunny patch of sunshine somewhere:)

Love,

Sister Perkins