Emily - Santander Week 5

4.21.08

Hello Everyone that I love....
Well right now I´m really mad because I just wrote an e-mail for an hour and LDS mail logged me out. I lost the whole thing, I´m so mad right now. I will try and remember everything that I said. Grandma Gogarty I got your letter, I loved everything that you said thank you so much. I hope that you can figure out what is causing those allergic reactions. I´m also excited about your new pita frenzy. I can´t wait to sit down with you and Grandpa for a pita when I come home. I love you both so much. I got a letter from the Heath´s could you please tell them thank you for me.

I can´t explain to you how excited I am to talk to you in 20 days. Dad is totally confused like usual. He thinks that I´m calling him for his birthday, mom probably told him that to make him feel better when he was being a poop. To set the record straight I am calling for Mother´s day and if I have some extra time I will talk to the rest of you. Just kidding I can´t wait to talk to each one of you including the pops. I´m so glad that Jess is going to be there.

Dad don´t start worrying about the cost I already have a great plan. We have a friend whose name is Renata and she is from Brazil. Her boyfriend lives in CA and so she has a program on her computer to make phone calls to the US and it only costs like two cents a minute. She said we are more than welcome to come over and use it. So we go to church from 10-1 and then we will probably head over there. What time is Logan calling? Oh ya PLAN on me CRYING...sorry!

Mom a little while ago you aske me in a letter what my favorite scripture is. I have to say that is a pretty hard question. My favorite changes a lot because you rely so much on the scriptures. But for my overall mission I would have to choose Mosiah 2:21. I read that scripture on the plane while I was looking out the window and all I could see was ocean. I was freaking out a little bit because I couldn´t believe what I got myself into and of course I was freaking out because I knew I was going to be in a plane for like 9 hours. Everyone knows how much I like flying. Part of the verse says something about being supported from point to another or something like that. Anyways I love that verse and as I read it I knew that I was going to be protected and watched over during my misison. What is your favorite scripture Mom?On

Saturday night we went to the CO families house for dinner. It was so nice to just visit in English and say what ever I wanted to. Don´t worry Dad they are actually from a town close to Boulder, so they are normal. I think I talked the entire time we were there. I was throwning jokes out right and left, it was so nice to just be myself. I think the funniest thing that happened was when the wife told us she blew up her 100 dollar straightner their first day there. I remembered why they are here and its because her husband is an electrical engineer. I was like okay so let me get this straght your wife didn´t know that the voltage is different here and you are here because you are an electrical engineer. Everyone started laughing and the Dad was like ya I guess I told all the kids not to plug anything in but I forgot to tell the wife. It was pretty funny all of us had a good time just visiting and eating normal food. I think we are going to go to the grocery store with the wife one day to help her figure everything out.

I´ve had some really neat experiences this week during our lessons. We haven´t had anyone say that they want to get baptized or anything but I remember dad reading something to me out of chapter one in PMG about being a successful miss. It said that you know your are being successful if you can feel the Spirit testify through you. I´ve really tried to focus on that this week and the Spirit has overwhelmed me as I have testified during the lessons.

WE met with someone named Pablo this week, he is friends with some people in the branch. I was told that he doesn´t want to hear anything about the Book of Mormon or Joseph Smith. But there isn´t any reason for us to go over there if thats the case. As we taught the lesson I tried to pretend like I didn´t know that about him. When I started teaching about Joseph Smith he had this little smile on his face, like he was going to start laughing and tell me that he had heard this before and he didn´t want to hear it again. I just ignored the look and started testifying. The Spanish was flowing out of my mouth and I think its the most I´ve spoken in Spanish since I´ve been out. I told him that Joseph Smith did in fact see Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father and that the church was restored through him. He was given Priesthood authority to be the Prophet and we have a Prophet today who holds that same Priesthood power. We have the truth, we have a Prophet and 12 apostles. Our church is the same church that Jesus Christ established while he was on the earth. I watched Pablo´s countenance change as he felt the Spirit testify to him. He finally committed to opening the Book of Mormon and reading it.

On Sunday the Elders spoke and the Branch President had me bear my testimony because there wasn´t a third speaker. Then I went to primary for the next two hours with the CO families oldest daughter to translate for her. It was really fun we just visited about whatever we wanted to for two hours and everyone thought I was translating their lesson. It was one of the best Sundays because I didn´t have to sit in the crazy class that I think I´ve already told you about.

Well I don´t know if I got everything in this letter that was in the last one. But most importantly I want you to know that I love you, I pray for you and I can feel the Spirit everyday as I testify everyday. I know this is the true church and I´m so thankful to be a representative of Jesus Christ and His church.I can´t wait to hear your voices, I love you!

Love,EM (Hermana Gogarty)