"Gotta Find My Purpose...Gotta Find Me..."

Hola Familia! It's crazy! Everytime we come to Monday, I can't seem to remember the past week....let's see what happened... So exciting things are happening with investigators! Hopefully we will have baptismS soon! We have been teaching these two teenage girls, Marguarita and Isabel, and their younger brother, Angel. They seem to be really interested in the church which is super exciting! We've taught them The Plan of Salvation, which they had a lot of questions about, and we also taught them The Restoration with the Branch President and his wife who is the Young Women's President. I am excited because we are going to watch the "Joseph Smith, Prophet Of The Restoration" movie with them this next week! That is such a powerful movie and so it should be good! They also came to church with us Sunday and seemed to like it, which is good! And they have been reading from The Book Of Mormon and they Pamphlets we leave them! They usually have friends over when we are there to teach and so we have a little posse of interested teenagers! How awesome! Speaking of church...we had quite a congregation yesterday! about 8 total investigators came (3 families) and it was great because it was testimony meeting and so they got to here everyone's testimonies and they spirit was really strong and it was just a really great meeting! We aquired 2 other investigators this week. One is man that is staying in the Branch President's motel (he owns a motel if I haven't mentioned before...). His name is Manuel and he is pretty cool! He seems pretty receptive to what we are teaching and is a nice man. We think he has some trials in his life though - wife family and work, etc. because one of what he mentions in prayers when he prays with us, but we haven't asked him specifically. The other investigator is Marisa. When we were contacting this one day, I decided to knock on this door and this kid answered and said his mom wasn't home. As we were leaving, she drove up and we talked to her as she got out of the car and helped her with her natural gas tank for her stove. We hooked up the gas for her but there was a leak, and so we called our branch mission leader who is a construction/builder guy and he came and took a look at it. During this, we talked to her and found out she has been attending many churches trying to find the right one and the one she likes! Bingo! We hopped on this of course! :) We asked if we could come back and share a message. We returned the next day and she was cleaning her house. We shared the message of The Restoration and resolved some things she has heard about our church. Teaching the first lesson is the best! In all the lessons you can feel the spirit, but the spirit is the most strong when we talk about the restoration and particularly Joseph Smith. Everytime without fail I feel the spirit so strong as we testify of Joseph Smith! It is really great! He really was an amazing man and a true prophet of God! We then helped her clean her house to her dismay...ha! :) She came to church Sunday with 2 of her kids and she seemed to have a good experience. Neat experience...as we were walking down one of our dirt roads a car passed by and it had a Georgia License plate from Fulton County...how awesome! I freaked out of course! A little close to home... So today was quite a busy day, thus why the email is so late... we woke up and did the ususal, but came back to the house and got ready for a wedding! Ha! One of the companionships here in Penasco had an investigator that was getting married this morning and then later this afternoon we had a baptism for that same member! It was pretty neat! It made me excited to work and get our investigators to that point! Since so many people here aren't married to their 'spouses' we will probably be having some weddings as well! They are quite anti-climatic! HA! The couple just signes papers and then the official says some things and announces the marriage as official and that's it. I'm super stoked to talk to you all this Thursday!!! We can call whenever we want so we'll see what happens.... :) This week has been a bit tough speaking. Those who know me know I'm not very much a conversationalist. I love to talk to people, but I have a hard time making conversation. So it is difficult making conversation with people in my own language, imagine what is happening in another language. It is hard! My comp usually does all the small talk and makes conversation and I just kind of sit there quietly. People often ask why I don't speak. It's cause I don't know what to say. And everyone thinks I'm so serious all the time. First, I have a difficult time understanding and when I do understand, I don't know what to say. I am just not a very out going and talkative person and it is hard! This is just my trial that I have to deal with and work on. But I'm not exactly sure how yet....what do you ask people/talk to them about? There is only so much I can think to talk about. So I'm trying to "find my purpose" and trying to be more out going and talkative, but I am just having a really, really hard time. Even with other missionaries I and not talkative. It is just the Latin culture is very vivacious and out going and talkative and LOUD! People aren't afraid to yell...they like it actually. Ha! And I am just the complete opposite: quiet, tranquil, I like my quietness, ect... Yeah, just something I need to work on. But I pray and I know he hears me and can help if I do my part and make an effort. Well that's about it for this week. Next week I have to go to Hermosillo for our Mid-12 week check up! It is crazy, tomorrow is my 3 month Anniversary and then Thursday is my 1 month in Mexico! I've almost made it through a whole change! So the 3 of us newbies who came in last month are getting together with the prez for more training. I have to travel by myself which I am a little unsettled about, but hey! That's life! Maybe the package from the youth will be waiting for me. Since I will be there Monday, I'm not sure If I will email that day or not. I will have to see... Well, I love and miss you all so much and can't wait to chat a bit THURSDAY!!! ¡Yo sé que vive mi Señor! Con Mucho Amor, Elder Joyner