A visit with the new misson president

7/27  This week, we had a wonderful visit with Luminita and her family. We were able to bring a member with us, and she helped out so much! We were teaching about the Word of Wisdom and helping one of the sons to quit smoking. The member was such a perfect help for us!  She told him that if he would pray and tell God that he did not want to smoke anymore, he would receive help, and he will be able to quit. He got so excited about that, and I am excited to see his progress. The other two sons have already reported a lot of progress in their efforts to quit. I am really excited about this family!  Now we just need to find a way to get them all to church.

Now, a little bit about the member who helped us. Her name is Maria, and she has to be the most faithful, strongest member I have ever seen. After the visit with Luminita and her family, we stayed outside and talked with her for a while. She told us that she is having a difficult time right now with not having a whole lot of support from family. Despite her challenges and setbacks, which are several, she still comes to church every week, and she even took time away from her family to help us with a visit because she felt it was important. Even though she is going through a really rough time with really tough trials, you would never be able to tell because she is the happiest person you have ever seen. She always has the biggest smile on her face, and she just lights up the room whenever she walks in. Her faith and testimony are so inspiring to me. You can just see so clearly how the gospel can bless one's life and/or attitude just by watching her. My testimony was strengthened because of her inspiring attitude, even in the hardest of times.

This week I had interviews with President Dayton for the first time. He is a wonderful man, and I have no doubt he has been called of God to serve here. It is quite a journey to get to Vitoria from here, so we had to take a 2 hour long bus in the morning. On the plus side, I did get to see a lot of the northern countryside which puts Vilafranca to shame. It is so gorgeous here! My goodness!  When we got there, we got to talk with Hermana Dayton while we were waiting. She is way nice. She use to be an image counselor, so she went around telling each of us what colors would go best with our skin tones. Haha, super funny. My best color is a light navy blue. I knew there must have been some reason why I have so many blue things. The interview went wonderfully, and from what he can see of my accomplishments, however few they may be, he said I am a very talented and well rounded person. Again, not sure how true that is, but it was very kind of him. I am looking forward to getting to know him and serve with him for the next year or so.

Anyways, love you all so much!! Have a wonderful week!!

Welcome to Burgos!