heyyy

Had a great week! This last Saturday we had the baptism of Sabrina Brustles and she was confirmed yesterday at church. At first we were a bit nervous about the baptism because everyone showed up late, but it went really well in the end. She's a bit shy and.. rebellious for lack of a better term... especially towards her parents. She's really nice, but kind of puts up a "too cool" wall sometimes. Anyway, so when her dad baptized her she came out of the water and started to cry and just stood there hugging her dad. Super sentimental and stuff :) haha kidding... the spirit was really strong though, successful baptism!

Things continue to go well in our area. Our investigators Gabriela and Nazareno both told us on Friday that they want to be baptized when we stopped by to say hello real fast. We haven't had an appointment yet to set a date unfortunately and they didn't show up to church, but we are hoping to see progress there this week. The Laspina family is also doing really well. On the fifteenth they will take out a date for their wedding which should be towards the beginning or middle of October. So we have a goal to set a goal for right now, haha. They're awesome though, I'm helping their daughter Selena with English, their son Liam is my little buddy and always sits by me in church which makes my day, and their little baby Sabrina is the cuuuutest. Oh man it's too bad missionaries can't hold babies cause I could just dunk her in my coffee... but we can't drink coffee either so I'm a bit stuck there. Anyways, she's just always happy and chill and does this little laugh when I make funny faces at her and it kills me haha. I love that family. They're a blessing to me for sure.

Things were a bit hard this last week for me. Ups and downs which isn't anything new, but I think I got a little whiplash from a couple of the downs haha. I won't bore you with details, but I think I've just been a bit low on battery or something. I hate feeling impatient, annoyed or angry... especially on the mission because it just doesn't make sense.. "Hi I represent Jesus Christ, but my attitude sure doesn't." I heard a quote once that I think I've shared with a lot of you, it goes "Courage is having the strength to continue after the emotion has passed." We all come out here on the mission, or start different phases in our lives with all this pizzazz. Then we hit a point every now and then that it's like "sooo uhh... how long is two years again?" or "wait.. how long did I have to study to get this degree?" Or whatever it is. I've been trying hard lately to improve my studies. I loved the quote my mom shared with me this morning that said "A mission is to know Him, and to make Him known." I need to know Him  and I need to treasure up His word for myself. "Recharge my batteries" in a sense. I know the more I have Him on my mind and the more like Him I become, the quicker my companion, obedience, stress, temper, etc. problems will fade away, or at least become so light or small to me that they won't hold me down.

Love you guys. read your scriptures, say your prayers, and "go to church!" 

Elder Jolley