February 8th - First week with Sister Portilla, leading out Huntsville B

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been a roller coaster to be honest. Don't get me wrong, it's not because of my companion- I think the thing I'm struggling with the most is leading out the area. It's a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. We feel that we just don't have a whole lot of options of places to go, tracting-wise, because we have 6 missionaries in our little branch and we stay in 'the square' because that's where the Hispanic population is congregated. Some of us want to go outside of the square, but I find myself hesitant to do so because there are less Spanish-speaking options and I'm not at all familiar with those areas so I would have no idea where to start, where to go, anything. We'll figure it out though, of course!!

Teaching highlights from the week:

C. Family: 3 girls (14, 12, and 10) that committed to pray and study the Plan of Salvation together. Super cute family. They are familiar with the Bible and were very accepting of the Book of Mormon.

A. Family: Lucy, the Mom, has been reading the Book of Mormon (now that we got a couple copies in Marshallese) and she prayed and felt "calm" and "peace"- Committed her husband to read with her. They didn't come to church though :( Maybe next time. They have 6 kids of their own and 2 adopted sons, plus one of the parents' dads lives there as well I believe so it's a very full apartment.

Scripture application time!!!!

Ok, once upon a time Alma the younger and the sons of Mosiah all decided to repent and serve missions and give everything to the Lord. SO, they went to King Mosiah and asked if they could go teach the hard-hearted, Nephite-hating, stiff-necked Lamanites. Oy. Mosiah 28:7 "And the Lord said unto Mosiah: Let them go up, for many shall believe on their words, and they shall have eternal life; and I will deliver thy sons out the hands of the Lamanites." I don't know for how long, and how many times I read that verse wrong. It's a very comforting scripture, true, but it's HONEST. It doesn't say "they'll convert all the Lamanites, it will be easy all the time, and they'll be protected from all hard things." Nope. It says many will believe on their words, it will be a blessing for them and they'll receive eternal life (if they do what they're supposed to of course), and they'll be delivered OUT of the hands of the Lamanites. To be delivered OUT, they have to be IN at one point, right?? So, it's no surprise that in Alma chapters 14 and 20 that we clearly see that they were in the hands of the Lamanites (smitten, imprisoned, watched all their investigators/recent converts be burned, mocked, had their clothes taken, bound, cast out, etc). BUT, they were all delivered and continued preaching the word. Also, in Chapter 22, it's cool to see how even then there are examples of "transfers" and picking up past contacts. Ammon "contacted" King Lamoni's father, but Aaron is the one who ended up teaching him, though he at first wanted to know why Ammon wasn't there (end of verse 3). However, it's amazing to see that the influence that Ammon had on him changed everything the King did. After being taught the Gospel by Aaron, we see that he goes from merely being willing to give up half his kingdom for his mortal life, (Alma 20:23), to being willing to give up his whole kingdom for the joy that Aaron spoke of (Alma 22:15), to being willing to give up all his sins, therefore, do the will of the Lord and to know Him (vs. 18). And later, his whole house-hold was "converted unto the Lord" (vs. 23).

This was a comforting scripture for me because even though Ammon was elsewhere, Aaron was able to help bring the King to the knowledge of the Gospel- so even though many of the people I currently know aren't progressing right now, when they're ready, after they've been "somewhat troubled in their mind" (vs 3), those who are humble and faithful enough, who've been prepared, will get to where they need to be no matter who it is that teaches them ultimately.

The Church is true, the Book is Blue, and God loves you!

Steadfast in Christ,

Hermana L. Martin

I may or may not have played with Hermano May's snake, 

"Spot", last Monday.  What?  ;)

Sister Beus and I spend Wed. together while everyone else 

was in Birmingham for transfers.  

Hermana Portilla and Laurel