Happy New Year!

Querida familia,
Hello hello! IT was so much fun to talk to you all this week! I had all your voices stuck in my head and can still hear them a little. How fun that was for me. Since we spoke on Friday, not a ton has happened. We found some really great new people to teach and are trying to help them progress. I was really excited about an investigator that we found. He is the friend of a member and was excited to come to church Sunday, but didn’t show up. We were going to have a family home evening with them last night too but he didn’t make it there either. He is awesome though and I hope he will be able to progress and change his life. We’ll have to see. Our church meeting yesterday was great. Hermano Roig from the temple presidency spoke to us and it was so great. I learned a lot. He told us of a cool experience that he had the other day. He was in the temple at the front desk when a man suddenly walked in. He had been walking around the temple grounds and had felt the Spirit so strongly so he walked in. He told Hno. Roig that he wanted to go in and walk around. Hno. Roig asked for his recommend. He didn’t know what that was, so Hno. Roig took him into the waiting room and explained to
him what we do in the temple and why there is such a strong Spirit there, that it really is God´s house. The man loved what he heard and Hno. Roig sent the missionaries to his house. I don’t know what happened after, since it was only a few days ago, but I do know
how lucky we are to be able to enter the temple. It is such an incredible service that we do for those who have died.
There’s a quote from President Hinckley that talks about how temple work is the work on earth most similar to the Atonement because we are doing for someone else what they cannot possibly do for themselves for their salvation. We don’t receive recompense; we only do so for love. I hope that as we all make our New Years goals, we will put temple attendance on the very top of the list. Help those that haven’t entered the temple, to make worthiness to enter the temple their goal, whatever it takes. I hope that we can all love God enough to love His children and desire their salvation too. We could even make it a family goal to go once a week or twice month or something. There is nothing more worthwhile. The only problem is that I won’t be able to participate until February, but I would go if I could. I hope you’ll take the challenge.

Speaking of challenges, I am so excited for this New Year. Today, being P-day I’m going to make my goals for 2010. First though, I’m going to review the things I’ve done this year in 2009. I don’t remember making goals this past New Year and if I did, I didn’t write them down...unfortunately. 2009 has been a great year though and I have learned A TON! Some of the landmark events though were going to the temple, and serving as missionary. Can you believe that I have lived in Paraguay for almost 5 months! Wow, what a cool year for me. I hope that you will all do the same before this Friday. That we will review and write down in our journals the things that we accomplished this past year, the things that were memorable, the attributes we developed, the successes and failures, and then make new goals for what we want in the year 2010 and how we are going to achieve them. I hope we will be able to figure out our weaknesses and write down specific goals to help us to improve. I love what the Lord says to Moroni in Ether 12:27. "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." Family, have a happy new year and keep being so great! I miss you, love you, and pray for you always. Please tell all my friends, family, and ward members how much I love and appreciate them! Love love love,

Rae