Happy August!

Hey Everyone,

So August is by far my favorite month of the year, but I think I'm deciding that I don't like it here in Oklahoma because it's continuing to get hotter! It was 101 yesterday, and we just sweat like crazy. We were tracting the other day, and I noticed that there were beads of sweat dripping down my legs. Yeah, gotta love it! But we are blessed. We've had people offer us water, and somehow we always reach our goal for contacting even in the insane heat.

Juan didn't come to church on Sunday. I was bummed. But Hna. Coronado and her whole family came. The kids usually go to the english ward, so it was good to see all 5 of them there at church. I've been leading the music and Sister Moss plays the piano. It's fun being on the stand to watch as people come in.

Fermina is in and out of the hospital like twice a week to have dialysis. Sister Tucker and I got her as a referral when I was here before I went to the north. Anyway, we visit her once a week, usually at the hospital. We try to stop by her house, but she's never there. Almost all of her children and their families live here way close, and so I'm hoping we can begin teaching them. We taught her husband and one of her daughters on Monday. I also feel like Fermina may be what will allow her family to accept our message. We'll see.

We've tried visiting Luz twice since I've been here, but no luck. It's really sad to me. She was my first investigator, and I love her so much. I wish I could do more for her, and I wish she could get baptized. But I don't know what will happen with her. I know Heavenly Father knows His children better than I do. I'm merely an instrument in His hands, and I can't see the big picture. But I hope that we can start teaching her again. I'm trying to have the faith that is required to do what Heavenly Father wants me to do. Not visit people because I want to visit them, but visit them because that is what Heavenly Father wants me to do.

So, Hermana Tucker, Hermana Moss, and I have been trying to be patient between all of the crazy things that are going on right now. We were having companionship study last week, and Hermana Tucker shared this quote with me that Astrid gave her. I don't know who originally said it. "The truest fact about happiness is that if we can't find it where we are at this moment, we're not likely to find it in the next moment, either...finding happiness: it's a state of mind, not a destination." I love this quote, and I feel like it needs to be my new motto for these last 6 months of my mission. I feel like sometimes, or a lot of times, it's just hard for me to be happy and enjoy the moment. I got a letter the other day from a way close friend, and she told me something that her dad had told her at this point in her mission...you know how to be a missionary now, you're not trying to figure it out, so go to work and work hard. That is how I feel. Time is so precious, and it's surreal that I'm back in the south, that I'm hitting a year so soon. And yet the clock continues to tick. I wish sometimes time would slow down, and other times I feel like it isn't going fast enough. But my goal is to try to work hard and continue to let Heavenly Father change me into the person He wants and needs me to be, not just as a missionary, but as His daughter.

Thank you for all you guys do. I truly love you all, and I appreciate all you do.

Love,

Hermana Christina Hogewoning