So this week was cool. For lunch one day I ate rice and beans with an omelete and french fries on top; totally normal here- sweet. It was good. It´s also quite cold here; its almost winter! 2 winters in a row is strange.
This morning I read the talk ```Safety for the Soul`` by Elder Holland about the Book of Mormon. So epic. One of our investigators, Jennifer is reading the Book of Mormon really fast. She just started and is already like 50 pages in. She underlines really strong words and asks some weird questions, but I think she is really enjoying it. Truly, there is a peace that the Book of Mormon brings that is amazing. It especially helped her this week because on her way to seminary(seminary is at night during the week here) with Larissa, they were ´assaulted.` Basically, two guys tried to rob them but they just had their copies of the Book of Mormon, which apparently these guys didn´t want. Larissa and Jennifer ran to the chapel though and Jennifer was really spooked. We sat outside and talked to her for awhile. She showed us where she was in the Book of Mormon and we sang a hymn. There was a peace that was tangible. I was glad that everyone was safe and that we could feel at peace amongst the craziness of the world.
This week we have continued to teach many recent converts and they have given us some good references. Gabi, who was baptized one of the first weeks I got here, is trying to help her mom get married and baptized. She bore her testimony yesterday that she has noticed a huge change in their home since they met the missionaries. I know that they can feel a difference because I have seen them actually apply the principles, instead of just learning them. They read the scriptures and kneel as a family in prayer. These simple things really change homes and families. I´ve seen it over and over again. Gabriel, her brother, just got the priesthood. They both go to seminary everyday. They are living the gospel and they love it. I am grateful for their examples and enthusiasm for the gospel. I love being able to see them so happy and grateful to have been baptized and to have received the gift of the Holy Ghost. The youth that I have met on my mission are so strong and faithful. They are so great.
This week I have been thinking about the Atonement a lot and Christ´s grace, or the power that allows us to change. I liked this quote by Bruce C. Hafen: ``Some Church members feel weighed down with discouragement about the circumstances of their personal lives, even when they are making sustained and admirable efforts. Frequently, these feelings of self-disappointment come not from wrongdoing, but from stresses and troubles for which we may not be fully to blame. The Atonement of Jesus Christ applies to these experiences because it applies to all of life. The Savior can wipe away all of our tears, after all we can do...The Savior’s atonement is thus portrayed as the healing power not only for sin, but also for carelessness, inadequacy, and all mortal bitterness. The Atonement is not just for sinners.``
This week I hit the ´metade´(or middle) of my mission. crazy! I have noticed how much I have grown and changed in that time, but I also know that I still have many weaknesses. I am grateful that my weaknesses can still become strengths through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement. I am continually blessed by the sustaining influence of the Holy Ghost, and I know that miracles still happen today, according to our faith. I hope to strengthen my faith everyday and help others too.
---Sister Bledsoe
(or as my Argentino District Leader says ´´Sister BlessYou´´)
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