Nothing a Bucket of Paint Can't Fix

Hola! Todo bien! Alejandra recieved the gift of the holy spirit by the laying on of hands yesterday during sacrament meeting and it was a beautiful sight. My companion and I greatly considered that family and their faith to all be baptized and we decided to make a sacrafice of some extra money we had by going into a paint store and buying paint to paint their home. We showed up with supplies and got to work and when we finished, we gave them a big picture of the temple with this scripture

“Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer,

a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order,

a house of God” (D&C 88:119).

My companion and I have done much service this week, for our members and our investigators. We have done much reflecting and organizing on what more can be done at this time. We have recieved much help and revelation from the Savior. We also had to travel to Capital for Tramites (paperwork for living here) two seperate days and we met a large group of american students all here for a study abroad. I recieved letters from Mark Johnson, the ever-so-faithful missionary writer of St. George! A beautiful card from my family in Farmington Hills Michigan! and a wonderful package with beautiful music from Matt Abernathy of the band The Sabre Rattlers sang and Produced by Mark Abernathy which all contained very creative and beautiful mixes of hymns from our church. "All Is Well" gave me chills. We throughily enjoyed the spirit that it brought. Thank you for so much kindness and such a great gift! I assure you that my companion and I were so grateful. Also from David in Arizona. Thanks for your letters and cards I loved each one of them! Thank you for the support and love!

 My companions always so creative brother Edgar sent some random news from home that we found interesting... So Taylor Swift dated John Mayor? Interesting gap there. Speaking of them, I really am missing being able to listen to all my music back home. I love music so much but its okay, this is the time to memorize all the hymns in english and spanish. So there were some tornados in the states, and another flood in St. George, Utah? Her brother made it into a masters program so they are moving east (her whole family consists of genius brains and obedient faith) Her brother on a mission right now attends Harvard and she wants to attend Boston when she gets home. Its good for me, it encourages me to push my education desires haha. Her mother sounds like such a rock of a mom with so much charity for everyone and she says I remind her of her sister Myra. Her Dad is amazing all that she tells me amazes me and Im so excited to meet them when I return.

 Deciding to serve a mission was by far the best decision I´ve ever made. I have been stretched to greater limits and come to understand with depth, the most important things in life. I know exactly what I want in my life and my future. Im grateful for the cast the Lord has wrapped me in to heal me of all misunderstanding. Ive written many poems, filled two journals already and actually my companion and I wrote a song on an acoustic guitar that I had. That is up until, the rule came out for our mission that we cannot have any instruments in our apartments because they are distracting. To me music is how I feel the spirit even stronger so this was a big struggle for me at first until I saw the reality of it, which is, its a sacrafice for me, the Lord knows that, He sends bushels of blessings for each sacrafice so we need to be obedient in doing exactly what we are asked, even when we dont understand. Through obedience, that is when we gain understanding. My spiritual growth in this time is almost hard for me to believe. I will cherish this experience all my life and I encourage everyone to prepare to serve. As far as the work goes, everything is rolling forth day by day and P-day (our free day) of the week seems to come too quick and before we know it, the end of the trasfer is here. Missionary work sure does take time and each day counts. Every afternoon that passes by as we are walking for miles in search for those in need of peace, there are moments I wonder where or how my family is doing and if they can feel my love while im a world apart from them. Then we find someone and imediately my heart goes out to them and I feel that they are also my family in need of the peace greater than what I can give them. The peace of the Savior and His promise of Eternal Life. I look around at thousands of people here and see every different person in the search of the same thing... happiness. I must end this early because I have many photos to attach for you. I hope you all are doing your own mission work where you are in your sphere, lifting hands that hang down, healing broken hearts, Praying for the armies who fight for our freedom, praying for this army of God fighting for eternal peace and purpose. May we go about  doing good in the world while wearing a smile, even when times are tough to face or problems may seem like mountains. Remember, that with the Lord, we can move those mountains. We can and we will. All is well. I love you guys.

 

Also Here is an inspiring video that my friend Elder Galati had sent me.

I wanted to share this video with everyone. This man is the Branch President of the Island ward in Ecuador. The church made this short video of him and his story. All of us as saints of the church have the same goal, to truly understand and obtain a testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ. I know with all my heart that this man has a testimony, that he is doing the lord´s work here on this island. I promise you will feel the spirit of the lord as you sit and reflect on this man´s testimony!
here is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEUXgmTKoLg ..... if that doesn´t work, go to www.youtube.com and type in the search bar "Wilson Simmaron", it´s the first video that will come up.

 

love, hermana gillum