i received THE call last night. that's right, i'm OUTTA HERE, folks. i am super sad. its hard to think that i will leave behind the wonderful people and areas that i have come to know so well in the past 5 months. even more sad that i have to leave Hermana Medellin behind. but, i know the Lord has plans for me elsewhere and i am excited to find out where i'm headed.

i was looking at my agenda this week and thinking about how i mark it full of who i'm going to teach, when im going to teach them, how im going to teach them, and what im going to teach them. everything in my agenda is centered around the gospel and how it will help these beautiful people. but then i thought about THEIR agendas. they just dont have the gospel ANYWHERE in their schedules. not to mention, they dont have it planned to change their lifestyles to live the gospel. but then something amazing happens. we present the gospel to them and invite them to mark it down. it is their choice whether or not they want to have the gospel in their lives. what a blessing to be the person to show them that this part of their agenda will change the rest of their lives!

to the people who had a rough summer, to the people who made some mistakes, to those of you who feel alone, and the people scared about the upcoming school year--

the gospel of Jesus Christ is available  and WILL help you overcome any thing you have faced, are facing, and will face.

"..let us remember Him, and lay aside our sins, and not hang down our heads.."

"therefore, cheer up your hearts and remember..."

i promise that if you remember that you have a Savior, and a Heavenly Father who loves you, they will show you the way to cheer up your heart and press forward in faith.

i love you all.

ps new mission blog

http://sunshineinmysoulpanamamission.blogspot.com/

well, i finished "Faith" in my Personal Progress this week, and while we were at immigrations, i saw Presidente Carmack. he signed off on everything, and i'm pushing along with "Divine Nature".

we worked side-by-side with some awesome members this week. we taught the relief society how to talk to people about the gospel, and this week we received 10 references! it was an answer to prayers, and it gave a lot of confidence to the members and their abilities to share the gospel with their friends and neighbors. we had the big pioneer activity on saturday, and it was a hit! the people of Volcan are very talented, and i was grateful to be a part of such a memorable day.

one of the references we received was the family Castillo. a mother and 2 sons and a daughter. the mother has to work a lot to support her children, but the oldest son, Christian, came to church yesterday! he jumped right in with the youth, and even returned to the chapel last night for guitar lessons with the members! we are excited to keep working with Christian, and we hope his mom and siblings will join us next week!

thats about it for now. a lot of my friends are entering the mission field this week, and the weeks to come. it's so neat to get emails from them and hear about the wonderful things they are learning and experiencing alongside me. what a privilege to be a servant of truth, and to bring this light into the homes of Panama's finest. even on hard days, we have the gospel of Jesus Christ to pick us up and remind us that we are beloved children of our Father in Heaven. i relied on that knowledge a lot this week, and i hope each of you can take comfort in the fact that you are special children of the Most High God.

i love you all. do good in the world this week!