"...when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." Mosiah 2:17

So, Daniella was confirmed yesterday, even though she almost missed it and I literally almost had a heart attack, but she made it and that was all that matters. #phew She is now the newest member of our ward and is just beaming with the light of Christ. She is someone I KNOW I was meant to meet. You always hear those stories of people on their missions and they talk about how when they met a certain person they knew why they had to come out there and go through everything they did, just to meet that person. She is one of those people for me. I actually met her like my first week in the mission because her daughters had been my area's recent converts so we went over to see them, but Daniella was still in a situation where she couldn't be baptized so she wasn't really being taught. Plus, she wasn't in our area, so she wasn't ours at all. But the first encounter we had, I knew I loved her. I knew she needed to be baptized and I wanted to be a part of it. That was almost 18 weeks ago, and little did I know then, that all these other things were going to happen! She is just amazing, and SO strong. She is such an example to me and I want to be as faithful and loving as she is.

Well, this week was a re-activation week. We had almost 30 member lessons. For those who don't know, that's a lot. Like, a lot, a lot. lol We have sooooo many in-actives in your area, and it just kills me because they already have the fulness of the gospel, they have just forgotten, or have lost their way. Our job is round em up, and bring em back. FYI.com, its like wayyyy harder to bring someone back to church then to baptize them, so a little missionary tip: Don't let your recent converts go IN ACTIVE. Visit, visit, visit!!! I get really upset with myself sometimes because I feel like this is karma. I hate this but, I was literally the worst visiting teacher of all time. Like, really. I mean, it got so bad that the RS began to give me my best friends as people to visit. haha. Oh my gosh, and if anyone from my wards is reading this, I'm sure they're dying because they know it's so true. And now, I am paying HARDCORE for it. Visiting teaching and Home teaching are one of the most vital OBLIGATIONS (because it is one) as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. We are all humans, we all need love, company, and friendship. We all need someone to care about us, because we have all felt alone, scared, stressed, sad, whatever. So, we need to be there for the people we have been asked to visit because even if its "awkward" the smallest, most simple visit can literally change someone's day. I cannot tell you how many families we visit and we are the ONLY people that visit them. People that have been in active for years, due to being offended, or their own choices, whatever, but that literally would have no other connection to the church if we didn't trudge over there in this 100 degree heat to remind them that people still care. It genuinely breaks my heart. And obviously you can't force people to do their callings. Everyone has their own free agency, but it kills me, it really does. Because all the families we visit are genuinely good people, and if they found a friend (not the missionaries because we are only here for basically a second), but a real friend who lives in their area, someone they know they can count on, maybe (not for certain), but just maybe, they'd feel like they have someone to sit next to at church, or to talk to when they're having a rough time. I have grown the strongest testimony on visiting teaching and home teaching. It was given to members as a calling by God not to make our lives even crazier. It was given to us to gain Christ-like attributes and to grow our love for our neighbors, our friends, our brothers and sisters... 

Elder Ballard explained: "The future growth of the Church will not happen through just knocking on strangers' doors.  It will happen when the members, along with our missionaries, filled with the love of God and Christ discern needs and respond to those needs in the spirit of charitable service ("Finding Joy through Loving Service," Ensign, May 2011)." Missionaries and members need to work together. It's our job to visit and see what we can do for the inactives in a ward, but it is the job of the members to be there too, to be a support and strength to them. Together we can find, and keep people in this gospel. I have a testimony that as missionaries and members work together that the kingdom of God will be built and lives will be changed. I invite you all to pray over your families/ people you are to visit, and pray to know what they need and what you can do to be a blessing in their life :)

Doing service has been one of the greatest blessings in my life. Serving as a full-time missionary has taught me to love and grow in ways I didn't see possible. I have grown love for people I didn't even know. When you are serving your fellow beings, you are LITERALLY in the service of your God! We are all His children, and as we serve each other, He is well pleased in us and will continue to bless us in abundance. I pray you all feel the desire to serve and feel this love that cannot be achieved any other way.

I love you all so much and feel your prayers everyday! Thank you for always thinking of me xoxo

Les amo con todo mi corazon,

Hermana Carbajal