Week 26 - I can feel it in my love for the Lord. I love Him. He has become the Source of light, life and truth. I have come to depend on His guidance and nutrition from my daily dose of scripture study.

January 27, 2014

From her mom:

I hope it's okay if I add some of my thoughts here... It's amazing to me how uplifted I always feel after reading her letters. There is a very special spirit on Mondays when I get to pour over her letters and enjoy every word! It's like she's here in our home with us. I miss her SO MUCH (more than I can even express)! BUT...I am SO proud of Whitney and her amazing testimony and experiences she's having! She is a valiant spirit!

Another Sweet Letter from Hermana Castleton...

The mission. Truly, there is not a way to describe it. A word, a phrase or a novel. An experience of a lifetime. The greatest 18-24 months of my life. The best two years. Lo que sea. I am not the same person I was 6 months ago. I don't need to read my journal, look at fotos or think back profoundly into my past. I can feel it in my love for the Lord. I love Him. He has become the Source of light, life and truth. I have come to depend on His guidance and nutrition from my daily dose of scripture study. For the love I have developed for the culture and the Chilenos with their downright odd customs. All I can do is testify of His perfect and divine plan for us. I rejoice is the sheer truth of the gospel and am so eternally grateful for my oportunity to show my love for my God. He is my rock. My Salvation. Literally.

Hermana Cook and I are becoming united. Our teaching is coming together in door contacting, street contacting and in lessions. The Spirit can manifest with power in our lessons because we have learned to let Him and His wisdom guide the lessons for His Children. It's better when that happens because He knows them better than we do. For instance, we contacted this lady that had 90 years+ and she couldn't hear us, but her daughter came out when we were very close to yelling into her mother's ear. Hermana Cook asked a simple question. Which prophet from the Biblia is your favorite? I asked her what she would think if there was a report of the ancients here in the Americas. She said it's very possible and would make sense. I testified of the Book of Mormon and of our living modern-day prophet. She told us it's all right if we pass again. The Spirit guides us when we seek His guidance.

If you allow it, the Lord will change you in His service. Become sufficiently humble, allow yourself to see the necessary changes, and God will make you His instrument. He can make you more powerful and perfect than any beauty product or yoga routine or How To Change Your Life In 3 Days CD. He is perfect. His plan is perfect because He created it. We aren't perfect, yet, but we have the perfect potential and a lifetime of oportunities to figure out how. This life, this wonderful, terrenal, crappy, ugly world of sin we live in is the best special training you can find. This life is a training for the eternidades. If we can survive and live and apply the concepts of the gospel of Christ in our lives now, we are set for the life after.

I don't remember if I have written about Maritza Barra. My favorite. She calls us her little angels. She is a member since 3 years ago, and she has a goal to receive her blessing Patriarchal and to be completely worthy to go to the temple in Diciembre. The problem is, she smokes. And she doesn't know why, she has grown up smoking and it's a custom of Chile. After Almuerzo or Once to sit outside on the patio in the sombra and enjoy a smoke... Don't ask me how you enjoy suffocating your lungs and blackening your liver. I haven't figured that out quite yet. But we made her a caja of Cigarros Espirituales and she LOVES it. She loves how the scriptures answer her prayers and she already hasn't smoked for a week. She is of a HUGE family. 20+ people live in her house and nearly all if not all are members of 3- years. When she succeeds her goal - sorry, I don't know how to say that- she will reactivate her entire inactive family. That family is like mine inside of my second home. We won't give up on her. My comp, me or the Lord.

I want to leave you with my testimony. We lived with God, not perfectly obviously, but we lived as spirits with the potential of becoming perfect. God loves us enough, each of us, to create a world and a way for us to learn. That's why we're here. Our purpose here is to have faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, live like Him and accept His teachings and to return to live in perfection with Him. He provided us with our Savior as the way. Through Christ and His suffering in the Garden, we cannot have salvation. We have every oportunity to change and we have the way in which to do it. Happiness with our families for eternities is within the waters and ordenances of baptism. Baptism is the door and the Holy Ghost is the key.

I hope that through my words, you are strengthened this week and that the Holy Ghost can work through me to touch you. Have a wonderfultastic week and enjoy the frio! [cold!] ¡Bendiciones y milagros! [Blessings and Miracles]

Hermana Castleton

And Some Pix...

The Familia Barra. Maritza is to my right.

My agenda. Dedicated with love to my mother!

Elder Bischoff y Elder Peterson with our Lider Misional, Hermano Barra

SUSHI!

Hermana Cook with Sushi

And I with sushi!

All right, I know it's dumb, but I am going to be sad to be rid of my shoes. but it's probably time since I'm walking on the sides. I love them so much!

We've just been through so much together. I don't want to throw them out!

I mean, precious, right?

Hermana Cook decided to poof our hair today for our Zone activity. Fun stuff
[Isn't she beautiful - look at her eyes just glow with the gospel of Jesus Christ!]

Mish.

The Zone La Cisterna. Almost all.