Letters from Meredith...

Hola, familia y amigas!

First of all, thank you Katy, Skyler, and my family for your emails. I so appreciate your thoughts and prayers!

These first five days have been the biggest adjustment of my life! I´m adjusting to the culture, the language, the mission life, having a companion who speaks no English, whew! What an adventure! I´m trying to stay positive in it all, though, and remember that the Lord called me here for a specific purpose. He also put Hermana Valente and I together for a specific purpose. It´s going to take me awhile to get accustomed to everything, but I know that things will work out. I know this is where I´m supposed to be.

Hermana and I are getting to know each other. We´re getting used to each other´s personalities and teaching together and everything. The work of the mission is stressful, so it´s good when we can come home and find something to laugh about at the end of every day.

We have several investigators right now. Eladia came to church yesterday! It was great! We´ve also been working with two younger girls, Mikaela who is 11 and Ana who is 13. I´m still not quite clear on their family situation, but they were baptized not too long ago and their family doesn´t want to help them get to church. My companion is so diligent in working with them. Mikaela came to church with us yesterday, and last night we went to a member´s house and picked up some clothes for her so she´ll have some skirts and shoes to wear to church. The people here have such faith! They live in small houses with tile or dirt floors and have very little in the way of worldly possessions, but the gospel means everything to them. They are such examples to me!

On Friday I met Juan. He talks nonstop! He invited us in, fixed us popcorn and juice, and proceeded to tell us that his encyclopedias contain all the knowledge he needs. Hermana was getting frustrated, but I thought it was hilarious. I was trying so hard not to laugh! We tried to get him to come to church, but he had all kinds of excuses. What a funny guy. I think we´re going back to visit him this week. The key to it all is getting investigators to make and keep their commitments. If they just take the leap of faith and read a chapter in the Book of Mormon, they feel the peace! It´s so great!

Saturday night the elders in our ward had a baptism of an 8yearold boy. It was really neat to go to. This is what it´s all about! Eladia is definitely our most promising investigator right now, and I hope she can progress to baptism!

Spanish is coming pretty well. Sometimes Hermana Valente gets frustrated with me because I don´t catch every word she says, but she will say it again. One of the members at church yesterday told me that in three months, I´ll be speaking and understanding great. I sure hope so! I can understand most of what people say, it´s just speaking back to them that´s hard! But every day I learn a little more. Hermana and I taught Sunday School yesterday, and one of the sisters gave me a hug afterwards, told me that she loved me, and told me that I´m doing well learning Spanish. It meant so much! My branch president in the MTC told us that the people would love us for trying to learn their language, and it´s so true! They really are so humble and friendly. I have a hard time remembering their names and especially the street names and directions. I just have to be patient with myself. I think after this first change, this first six weeks, I´ll be feeling more confident.

Well, I have to go. Our time is almost up. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers! I definitely need them. The mission is hard, but I can´t tell you how powerful the Spirit can be in a lesson, the light that comes into our investigators´ eyes when they feel the truth of the message. So great! Pray for my companion and I, that we can have a strong companionship and work well together. I hope all is going well for each of you and I would love to hear from you!

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Cozzens