I completed a year on the mission last Friday.  We ordered pizza to celebrate.  I was sick for most of the week, which wasn´t fun.  We actually had to stay inside one whole day.  But I´m all better now.  

We had a bit of a cold spell but it started to warm up again yesterday.  But not before it rained cats and dogs the other day.  It rained cold and hard for almost 2 days straight.  All the streets flooded and we had to wade through it.  Some of the water came up to the knees of Hermana Singleton.  It was ridiculous.  I had my boots and my rain coat so I was okay.

Anyways...want to hear a funny story from this week?  So we went to visit a menos activa in our ward named Iris, I think I might have talked about her before.  Anyways, shes in her 80s and recently had a midlife crisis and got married out of the blue and moved to the middle of nowhere.  She still has her house in our sector and is there occasionally, and we were able to catch her this week at home.  We talked to her for a bit and asked her how things were going with her new husband and her new house and she told us how there is a Catholic church right next to where they are living and how she decided to go over and share the gospel with the priest who runs it.  Now keep in mind that Iris has been inactive for 12 years.  So she goes over and starts explaining the priest the Word of Wisdom...and she says "basically there are only five things that we can´t use, Tobacco, Alcohol, Tea, Coffee, and Aji (which is a spicy pepper like a jalapeño)."  She then went on about how it was so hard to keep the Word of Wisdom because she loved Aji.  Hermana Singleton and I had to try our hardest not to laugh as we explained that there was nothing in the Word of Wisdom about spicy things.  But I still don´t think she understood.  

Erik came to church yesterday!  We were going to make them breakfast and then he and his mom were going to come, but when we got there Eliana was sick with the same flu that I had.  So we made pancakes real quick and gave her breakfast in bed.  And then we went with Erik to church.  It was really good.

Two of the menos activo families that we have been working with came to church which was great.  But two people that had started coming back and that we´ve been working really hard with didn´t show up.  But we´ve already talked with one of them and she said she´ll be there for sure next week.  She actually had a legit excuse.

But things are going really well.  The mission is wonderful.  It's amazing to work so hard to help other people make changes in their lives that you know will make them happier and then all of a sudden notice all the changes God has been making in you.  Its amazing.  

I don´t think I share my testimony often enough in my e-mails, I think its because I don´t want them to be those cheesy, super spiritual, and ridiculously boring missionary e-mails, and plus I get to share my testimony with people a million times a day.  But just so you know, I know it's all true.  What we are doing is real and is of eternal importance.  We are the only true and living church with the authority to carry out saving ordinances.  God is real.  He loves us, He is involved in every moment of our lives.  He is working with us and for us.  And with everything the world has to offer, there is nothing that compares to the happiness and joy that comes from having an eternal family, that you can protect and guide with sacred covenants, and have the Lord's promise that they will be yours forever.

I love you all very much.  If you´re thinking about serving a mission.  Do it.  It is the best decision I have ever made.