Email #54…March 7, 2011

Hola,

that's such a bummer to hear about Allie... but with faith, miracles can
happen. i will definitely be keeping her in my prayers. as well as all
the others that are having a hard time right now... but don't worry,
faith can move mountains!

goodness i don.t really have that much to say. i'm running out of ideas.
i feel like every week it's the same thing! i'll try to hit you with
some new stuff... first of all Claudia is ready for baptism... minus
marriage. we are still working on that.. she WILL be baptized soon
though. i just probably won't be here to see it. that goes for Johanna
too. she is getting baptized the nineteenth (of March).. it seems like that
happens to me a lot eh? but that's alright. i'm past the newbie "just
worrying about baptizing" phase. i just care that they get baptized!

i can't remember if i told you, but they have announced our new mission
president.. President Swenson and his wife will be leaving... the
beginning of June, i believe. and President Martinez will be taking his
place. i don't know how i feel about it all. i'm sure President Martinez
will be great... don't get me wrong. he actually lives in our mission,
is bishop of one of the wards and knows a lot of the missionaries. but
it's just the fact that i started with President Swenson. and it's kind
of nice to have a gringo as a president. Both he and Sister Swenson actually
feel like second parents to me. i could talk to them normally (Spanish as a
second language seems to not portray oneself much)... but, change has to
come. that's how life goes. if we didn't have change, we wouldn't be able
to grow to our fullest capacity. it kind of relates to the trials we
face in our lives. if we just lived on clouds our whole life we
wouldn't grow and develop to become gods one day. but still... it's
HARD!

in the conference we had this last week he also told us that the
big group that came in April (me, along with 39 others) would be taking
leadership positions fast, because all the zone leaders and district
leaders will be going home soon. uh... wow, when i heard that i freaked.
but wait it gets better. he said that most of us won't even have the
opportunity of being a district leader first. we will just shoot on up
there to zone leaders! that threw me over the edge. i'm scared, but i
know that the Lord can mold us into who he wants us to be if we let
him. i learned that from many people, including Josh Barton (from his
family letter i just received recently). yet again it will be
difficult!

and last but not least. i sent home a package... finally. i tried to
get something for everybody... for each family and the kiddos. i hope
you enjoy and i hope it actually gets there! its nothing special, but
it will count for the birthdays i have missed and yeah ha. so please
let me know when you get it. and don't open anything until you read the
little note. well i love you all. the gospel is true. the church is
perfect and since we are imperfect ... all the more reason why we should go!
have a great week!

love keegy