I love being a Missionary!

Hello to all!
It has been a wonderful week full of spiritual experiences. I have loved it! Ok, first off, this last week we had to help the elders clean their old apartment that they moved out of. SICK! It was seriously the grossest thing. I cleaned like 500 dead cockroaches and a million pounds of rat poo. (Ok maybe I over exaggerated a bit) I can not believe they lived there for so long. I'm pretty sure Sis. Child and I were on the verge of throwing up the whole time. Ha ha, we are such girls. But I am glad that is over with. The apartments here in New York are.... welll, hmmmm.... pretty nasty. But the ones we live in are nice so I'm not even mad about it :)

This last Friday we had the best ward activity ever! We did a "Arbol de la Vida" activity. There was a rope that went through the church and everyone had to hold on to it while blindfolded and "not let go". They were tempted a lot and a lot of them did let go. Sis. Child and I got to be in the room with the Tree of Life and it was so cool. The spirit was so strong, I almost felt like we were in the temple. Being able to see everyone come in was just something I will never forget. It reminded me of how wonderful it will be to one day be in the Celestial Kingdom with all the people we love so much. I wish I was better at words to describe the things that I felt, but just know that it was amazing. I can not wait for that day and I want to see as many people as I can there. One of the coolest parts was seeing people I've been able to help teach walk in and make it, wow, it doesn't get much better than that. I just know that one day we'll all be there together and feel of a joy that is impossible to feel anywhere else.

This week we had a wonderful Zone Blitz (where our whole Zone gets together to do missionary work of some sort) We got to plan this one and I called it the "Contacting Extravaganza-za-za-za" It was a blast. We made a list of things people need to do to get points and the companionship with the most points won. For example "25 points if you teach a lesson and make a return appointment" "3 points if the use the word 'Lakers' in your contact" random stuff like that. It was fun and very successful!

One of the best parts of the last week, we got to go to the 3 day meeting for the mission! It was so wonderful! Not all missionaries were invited but for some reason Sis. Child and I got to go and it was such a learning experience. It almost felt like a MTC in the middle of the mission (sometimes I think they should do that). So here is the deal, they are changing the curriculum for the MTC (starting May 2011) really, they are just changing what they emphasize on. In the North America missions they are starting to implement it and do major training on it right in the missions. They are training the leaders of the mission so that they can help train all others. We are going to be having trainings once a month on it and I am just so excited! I learned SO much on how to be a better missionary. We got to watch the new Preach My Gospel DVDs and they were great. They pretty much just take a district and film them in all their lessons and stuff. It helps us a lot and means a lot more than when I watched them before. They are really cool. At the end of the third "episode" the spirit was so strong in that meeting. Everyone could feel it. There is something about being together in a room full of missionaries who are all trying to do their best and fulfill their purpose. Wow, I once again can not explain the feelings I had. President Smith changed the course of the meeting just so we could share our feelings because he knew how strong the spirit was for all of us. At that moment, I was just SO happy to be a missionary. Sometimes I get discouraged and feel like the old weird-o missionary who had nothing better to do than just serve a mission but wow, that couldn't be further from the truth. I know I am supposed to be here, at this time, in this mission. I have learned so much and I can't wait to learn more. I have met the most amazing people and know I will continue to do so. This truly is the Lords work. He loves his children so much. He is so aware of each of us and what we need in our lives. Wow, isn't that just the coolest thing ever?

We have found so many cool new investigators this week! I am excited to teach them and I actually hope I get to stay here one more cycle, just to put everything I learned to use and really leave this area better!

Well, This email is getting a bit long so I better go. I love you all! Thanks for all you do!!!! Please write soon!

Con Mucho Amor- Hermana Passantino