Week 14 - September 5, 2016

Hola! I cannot believe another week has already passed by... I somehow feel like I wrote to you all two days ago. Ah, how crazy!  Anyways, this week was great.  Full of little adventures, tear-filled testimonies, and rain!  A tremendous amount of rain.  I don't think I have stopped feeling at least just a little bit damp since Tuesday - but here we are.  I continue to fall more in love with El Salvador and the gospel every day.  I'm having the experience of a lifetime, and am the most optimistic lil' missionary you've ever seen.

We had another great week with our investigators. Rosa Elena progressed a lot this week. She read the Book of Mormon during the week, and our lesson with her on Saturday was wonderful.  We brought the Bishop's wife with us to maybe help Rosa realize that we weren't just crazy 19 and 21-year-old girls from foreign countries, but that there are people just like her that have accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ, and it worked! I watched Rosa, because of the Holy Ghost that she felt, completely open up her heart and mind to our message.  She talked about her life, her fears, and her hopes.  We all cried together, and when she said the closing prayer she thanked Heavenly Father for sending His angels to her house. Oh my, my heart could still burst when I think about it.  The spirit was so strong and I feel as if that hour we had with Rosa Elena has confirmed in every sense of the word that I'm where I'm supposed to be and doing what I'm supposed to be doing. Missionary work is so amazing!

About a week ago I realized that it might just take the impossible or at least all of our efforts to find someone who is ready to accept the gospel...and on Friday I proved myself right.  We received a reference from a member about a young mother who was going through a difficult time in her life earlier in the week, and on Friday we both felt strongly that we needed to find this Hermana. We knew that she lived a little far away, but we didn't know that she lived an hour and a half hike straight up a mountain, ending with a 20-minute search through the forest to find a little home. We were given directions such as this, "when you come to the rock that is bigger than the other rocks, go right. When you see a really, really tall tree, go left." I was about ready to die!  All of the trees looked extremely large, and all of the rocks, the exact same size.  However, we walked by faith and found the house...And it couldn't have been more worth it!  We had a great lesson with Vilma, and she made the hour and a half hike to church yesterday.  We are going to go visit her again tomorrow, and I can't wait.

The primary wrote the missionaries notes yesterday and drew us a bunch of pictures.  It was such a cute surprise!  All of them are addressed to Hermana Guston which makes it even cuter.  I absolutely love the people here in Ataco, the members have become like family, and I feel so thankful to be serving them.

As with every week I am learning so many things, and my testimony is growing all of the time.  I think my most impactful lesson this week is that our Heavenly Father truly does always answer our prayers, and always in His way. I had been a little frustrated with myself because I have been here in El Salvador for about 7 weeks, and was still struggling with the cold shower situation.  I just kept feeling like ..." Ugh! It is just a shower, get over it.” But I couldn't so I prayed.  I think I thought Heavenly Father would just help me to change my attitude or something.  I don't know. But, the next morning we woke up with no water. So, after 2 days of bucket showering my heart has been changed, and when it comes to showering, the temperature is the least of my worries.

Thank you for your continued love and support.  Have a great week!

With Love,
Hermana Houston

This is where we hiked this week

Little Devil I escorted out of my house 2 days ago