The Sunny Side of Life: 100% Responsible

I'm going to start off this email by telling you about a magical story involving 4 Sister missionaries and World Market (a glorious store). We went in just to browse, peruse if you will, and walked out victorious. They hid 5 golden llamas throughout the store and you could get $20-100 off if you found them. And the thing is they only give you a simple clue. Well we applied our bomb missionary skills of finding the golden one and with a lot of faith and hard work walked out champions. We found 3 of the 5 and bought that store. My heart was pounding so fast. IT WAS EXHILERATING. This could possibly be the best p-day of my mission.

Anyways I digress. This week was awesome! We had transfers and I am now companions with Hermana Fuimaono! She is hilarious, Samoan and a crazy good dancer. We've been keepin up the streak of inviting everyone to be baptized and have seen miracles rain put of the sky. We also came out the same time so we got to celebrate our 10 month mark together!

Crazy to think we're in the double digits now and how fast the time has gone. I don't remember life not as a missionary and the thought of leaving is too weird so I've decided never to go home (sorry mom you'll understand someday).

We also had MLC (mission leadership conference) this week and focused on a talk called "Be 100% Responsible" by Lynn G. Robbins. It's a BYU devo that I would 10000% recommend reading or watching. But to sum it up for all you flojos out there :

-Satan wants to break up gospel pairs (like justice and mercy, faith and works, agency and accountability)
- he wants us to be victims and not take responsibility
-CHOOSE TO BE A CHAMPION
-excuses do not equal results
-you are in charge of your life

I think it's interesting because the world would have us be victims. It's constantly saying "It's because of the president" or "It's because I was raised that way" or "It's not fair".

What I love is that Lynn G Robbins says "No! You are in charge and you decide what you make of your life." The moment we refuse to take responsibility is the moment we give up our agency and Satan wins. The moment we decide to be 100% responsible is when we become "agents to act and not be acted upon". That is what God desires for us. That is how we become as our Savior. And ya know what? IT'S HARD! But it's also kind of liberating because you don't wait for things to happen to you - you make things happen.

We've set a goal of 50 baptisms this month for the mission and we talked about how every zone, every companionship has to be responsible for it. We have to act as if this goal depends on us. That is when we qualifiy ourselves to see those miracles.

Anyways I just love being a missionary and I love all the opportunities I have here in Arizona. It's hard and awkward and frustrating sometimes but then you just have small moments that just make it so worth it.

My small moments of the week:

-the Hernandez family is reading almost everyday and Hugo ACCEPTED TO PRAY ABOUT BAPTISM
- We had 7 PEOPLE AT CHURCH
- We got to run around with giant flags at our Ward Christmas party and wave them to "feliz navidad" (so lit)
- Daniel has come to church twice, told us he has felt crazy changes in his life since meeting with us and is going to get baptized on the 30th hopefully! (Although sadly we have to pass him off to English missionaries)

Love you all and be 100%!

To the Moon and Back!