Oh the laughter! 8/19/13

Ciao!!!! (Italian)

     I hope everyone is doing SUPPERRR great because I love life here on the mission! I'm just now getting used to my new companionship with Sister Ellis and Sister Lam. I found that we struggled a bit getting used to one another because unlike with Sister Hee and Sister Vach - we don't have as much in common. I've realized though, how honestly every single companionship I have been in has been inspired. At the beginning I had to pray to ask Heavenly Father to help me feel it was inspired, and I have realized now what it is that needed to be learned for the remainder of this transfer. Sister Ellis started off being a little more controlling than Sister Hee, Vach or Repotente. That was really hard for me to get used to at first and I was honestly a little intimidated until we got to know each other better. Sister Lam is the sweetest girl ever. She is so patient and so humble but is also very timid and socially awkward. Which is not the best when you're in a mission that requires you to be able to strike up interesting conversations and earn the trust of random people on the Square. So most of our companionship study has been concentrated on helping Sister Lam be more confident in herself and the message that we have to share as missionaries. It has been going really well, too!! Sister Lam also let me do her hair and makeup so I'm excited!! Haha. Oh the little things.

     I'm so busy with Mandarin tours.. Which by the way, Mandarin tours are SO much fun. Every time, without fail, they clap and make me feel really good about being able to introduce myself in Mandarin. We also sing "I am a child of God" to them each time and they are so cute. I'm learning to really love Asian people. It's sad though because the people who live in China and want to learn more and give us their information we aren't allowed to teach. :( We promised the Chinese government that we wouldn't so we have this huge box full of all these referral cards for when China is open for missionaries!! It will happen one day!! :D

   So, my miracleee.... Yesterday I met this young married couple (Andrea & Francisco) from el D.F., Mexico! They came to Utah last year but were in such a rush that they didn't get a chance to take a tour so they came back this year and I was just happening to walk by when they were waiting for a Spanish tour. I'm still not allowed to take Spanish tour's because I haven't practiced with the Spanish coordinators but since no one was replying I was able to take them. Such a blessing - once again!! And so, we took this family to a couple different spots and then took them to see this video called "God's Plan for the Family" and by the end the woman was crying and the man was also really touched by the video. The Spirit was SO strong and it was the most amazing opportunity for me. Despite my broken Spanish and the translating I had to do for my companions throughout the tour, these people were able to feel the love their Heavenly Father has for them. We then took them to the Christus statue where we played a narration of Jesus Christ talking and then again were really overcome by the Spirit. I was able to talk to Andrea after the narration and she opened up to me a lot. She was also telling me that when they walked into Temple Square she said that they were immediately overcome by the peace that was felt here. She said they sat down to wait for someone to come and were commenting on how much peace and light radiated from the sister missionaries. She said they were really curious to know where it came from and it made them even more excited for the tour. She was telling me how her faith right now was not helping her be where she knew she needed to be but that she felt that this filled a certain place in her heart that she never knew needed to be filled. AH! I just simply KNOW that peace is one of the feeling that no matter WHAT, Satan can not and will not ever be able to mock. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the most amazing blessings our Heavenly Father has given us. I left them with a Book of Mormon, The Family Proclamation to the World, and a Temple pamphlet. They also agreed to meet with missionaries in Mexico and insisted that they have some way to keep in contact with us. <3 <3 <3 My heart is filled.

  I attached a picture of the Baptism of Toure Harris!! I met him here on Temple Square and although I was not the first missionary to teach him, I was able to teach him a lesson before his baptism and he invited me to go!! He also asked me to give the opening prayer. I was honored! He is SO funny and is the nicest most loving man ever! I had such a wonderful time and I'm so excited for him!!!! 

   HAHA... soo the subject of this letter is "Oh the laughter" because it has been extremely windy here lately at temple square... and as you can imagine, flowy skirts + winds does not = the best results. Hahaha... I laugh when I probably shouldn't because it has only happened to my companions and it's only a matter of time... but It just makes me smile to think about and you probably won't find it as funny as I did, but the first time was with sister Ellis when we were crossing this super busy road and she was really self conscious the whole time trying to hold down her skirt while carrying her Bible and planner. Then it calmed down for a second and she also let go of her death grip on her skirt when UPPPP it flew in front of ALL of the cars. My abs hurt i was laughing SO hard. And then the same thing happened on our way back from getting McDonalds ice cream one day to Sister Lam. We were walking up the stairs but unfortunately for her she had her smoothie in one hand and her Book of Mormon and planner in the other. Sister Ellis was behind us and Sister Lams skirt did the same thing and she was so panicky she didn't know what to do. hahahah. It was so funny. Thank goodness for pencil skirts :)

Oh SOOOO, Guess who is at THE BEST MISSION EVER?!!? Sister Cuevas!!!! So let me explain, this church is set up in the same way that Christ has His church established here on earth. Namely with a prophet who leads and guides the church through revelation given to him by God and Jesus Christ, 12 apostles, etc. And so yesterday in church... our mission president, President Gillette, announced that we are having a guest speaker come to our mission tomorrow morning... and he's an apostle.... and his name is JEFFREY R. HOLLAND!!!!!!!!!! Yeahhhhhhhh!!!!! I'm so so so so so so so SOOOOOOO excited. I literally can't even handle it. You should have heard the immediate response from the Sisters. it was hilarious. Ahh!! None of us could believe it. Okay. So if you don't know who this is.. I'm going to post one of his recent talks on here and a mormon message and you HAVE to watch them. You will understand WHY he's my favorite and exactly why I'm as excited as I am! I can't wait!!!!!

http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng#good-things-to-come
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/the-first-great-commandment?lang=eng
 

You will not regret the time taken to watch these videos. Seriously. He's amazing!!

And well, that's all for today. I hope you watch those videos and see how they can apply to your life. Let me know what you think!

I love you all. Remember to put God first in all things and everything will turn out great in the end. 

Most importantly, remember GOD loves you and cares about you and wants to hear from you. PRAY!!!

Smile:D, Be Happy :), and Remember who you are!!!

<3 <3

Love always,

Sister Corina Selene Cuevas 

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