Emily - Santander Week 15

6.30.08
My Birthday is over and I tried to make it a birthday month but I only have a couple days left in June, too bad! I guess I will just have to make July the birthday month. So keep sending all the letters and packages. I loved the pics. from the wedding, I looked so different...WEIRD. Oh and my comp. gets a package every month and I think I should get the same. By the way I loved my package thank you so much. oh and Hermana DuVall told me that you don´t have to worry about what you send if you just write missionary supplies on the list. That is what her kids do for her packages and she hasn´t had any problems. Im surprised dad didn´t whine about the price again. I loved the idea about sending a letter for me to get one everyday but instead I ended up getting three on Tuesday, 2 Thursday. But it didn´t matter it was great reading all of them. I have to make a big deal about something though for my dear Grandpa Gogarty. I only got one letter on my actual Birthday and I want everyone to guess who it was from...yep you guessed it my old math tutor Grandpa Gogarty. He timed it perfectly and I was so happy when I opened my mailbox and found a letter from him on my birthday. I enjoyed reading the letter so much and I especially had fun looking at our pictures. I have so many wonderful memories with you two. I look forward to the ones in the future. I especially enjoyed Grandpa´s comment about the euro to a dollar. Again Im thankful that he is so good at math. Don´t worry I wont always expect the raise. So the only thing bad about my birthday was that my camera broke. Dad I don´t know what I should do...buy one here or have you send one. Let me know what you think. I can look at the pics. I have taken but it won´t let me take a pic. If I do get a new camera I want one that you can record for a minute or so with sound. I love the moments that some of the miss. have captured with that lil feature. Anyways it kind of stinks cuz I had to use my comps. camera for my birthday but I will print some pics. off and send them to you. Oh mom said in her letter that I got today my laptop is about dead. Can you please make Cds of all my stuff, I don´t know if I have it backed up. Thank you and sorry for bothering you with that kind of stuff. So I got to celebrate my b-day with a member in the ward. Her name is Edith and she is from Ecuador. She was having a party and invited me to celebrate my birthday with her. It was so much fun. We ate and ate and ate. I had a hard time running this morning because everyone has been fillin us with a bunch of junk. A couple of the members gave me some little gifts and I know they don´t have the money for it. Good people! When we got home the Elders were waiting for us and they made us go upstairs and close the door. About 2 mins later they knocked and when I opened the door they were standing there with the lights out. They had two donuts in hand, three candles stuck in them and a homemade crown. They were so excited about it and I really appreciated it. I´m learning so much from the people I am with. I love being with these people and Im excited to see the others at zone conference on Wednesday. Im a missionary, that is so weird! I´m a third of the way through my mission already and I just turned 22...WHAT!Sorry I still haven´t let all of that sink it yet. The most exciting part of the week is that we had five people with us at church. Sorry I have to think of it that way otherwise I get stressed out trying to decide what to write you about. Remember the lady that I told you about last week that was eatin ice cream. She walked to church with us and her two daughters and a cousin. Im happy to say that all four of the were from Ecuador. WE also picked up an awesome lady from Columbia. She owns a mexican restaurant here and we are going to eat there on Thursday. We almost needed a bus to pick everyone up on Sunday. We had to leave an hour early to get everyone. It was awesome! I am a little worried about how they felt about sacrament meeting. One of the talks was about when Joseph Smith lost part of the plates and how Prophets sin too. Everyone left after sacrament and seemed a little freaked out. I´ve been prayin really hard this week that we will be able to calm all of their concerns and help them know that this is the true church. As I study everything just makes more sense to me. I can´t believe all the things I didn´t really understand before my mission and Im excited for all the things I will learn in the future. I love the Gospel. The church is true! Well I love Santander and I love the members here but Im ready to head out. Its been good and hard to have a threesome. Its hard enough to be with one person all the time let alone two. Im going a little CRAZY. I thought I was a messy person but I definately am relatively clean. Looks like Im headed out is a few weeks, President just isn´t sure where yet. Im nervous for the change but really excited too. I love you all so much and EVERY SINGLE DAY I tell my Heavenly FAther how thankful I am to be a part of our family. Im so glad that our relationships our sealed here on earth and in Heaven. That knowledge keeps me here in peace. I love you each with all of my heart!Love, EmHermana Gogarty