"To Love Another Person Is To See The Face Of God..."

Hola Mi Familia! So I just spent the last 40 or so minutes reading your wonderful, inspiring, and uplifting emails! Thanks so much and keep sending them! They really help...you have no idea! This week...was soo good for some reasons and soo not for others...ha! I will start with the bad because it really doesn't matter anymore. I absolutely hate it when you are in a rough spot and you think things are getting better and starting to look up and then BAM! You sink again! Well, that was kind of this week. I was feeling better with transfers and new Elders in our Zone and such and then in the middle of the week my comp and I sort of had a rough time. It was brought up again that I apparently have no personality and am too serious and don't talk conversationally at all (well it's hard sometimes since he talks a lot....). I thought I was progressing and we had our times of fun where we both would laugh till we cried and had fun with the youth and such, and then we have a relapse and I'm apparently not....I don't know....whatevs! I have gotten over it in the day or so. Reading your emails really helped too! I love it that conversational difficulty is a trait in the West Family side of the family! It makes me feel better that I'm not the only one! And Justin's letter really helped so much too! I wish I could just talk to him more instead of just by email. So many things that he said he felt are exactly what I am feeling! It was so comforting to read his words. I will respond to his email, but will you thank him personally for me? Well, I don't care anymore, I am just going to do my hardest to do the best I can with what I have and if that isn't enough for some people...well tough! It is a personal trial that I have in this life and I am working my best on it. Moving on....thinking happy thoughts... So I think I mentioned last week that we were trying to have baptisms for this past Saturday...well that didn't work out! The 2 teenage girls that we were teaching decided they didn't want to get baptized. It was really quite sad! They are our friends and we like to have fun with them. They were progressing very nicely, but when we extended a firm date they said they would like to get baptized, just later on. Apparently they weren't ready to wear long dresses and no make-up and not play around and flirt with boys. We had to quickly resolve that that was not our religion, but they still weren't really into it. However, their 11 year brother we were teaching as well, we still have hope in him and he seems to want to get baptized! That is really exciting! He is such a neat kid and I can see him progressing in the church and serving a mission and hold priesthood callings in the church...he he will only get baptized! Hopefully this Saturday! Well, Hermana Marisa! We hoped to have a baptism for her last Saturday too and we came very close, but things came up. As I think I told you, she is a divorced, single parent with 3 kids. She has no job and no money and has been looking for a job. This whole week she has been progressing very nicely! She has been reading the Book Of Mormon, she prays with us, and she has given up coffee which is so fantastic! It is a constant everyday trial for her, but so far for the past week she has been doing well. She was even offered coffee by someone and she told us she rejected and said she didn't like coffee! How awesome! Everything was well and we really pushed her having a baptism Saturday and she said a definite maybe. However, things can change in one day. Since she doesn't have a job, money and has 3 kids to tend to she had the opportunity to earn money selling clothes with a cousin in Penasco Saturday and she decided she was going to go do that and that we would have to wait a week for the baptism. Well, something else happened... One night while we were at her house getting ready to have a lesson, we were outside and her neighbor was talking to her and said there was a job opening at a motel for washing towels and linens and things. She decided to go have an interview. Before the interview she came to us and told us she wasn't going to Penasco Saturday, but had an interview. We still kept pushing her for a baptism and we have been promising her blessings for this all along. Before the interview, we invited her to say a prayer in her car and ask for a job and we promised that she would get a job....pretty big promise no? Well, later that day, she called us and said she prayed before the interview and walked away with a job! This made us thrilled! Now she has a job that she can earn money and support her kids and I truly believe this is a blessing from Heavenly Father because she began making a change in her life by listening to the Gospel message we shared. We now hope to have a baptism for her this coming Saturday...hopefully! It is so amazing to see the change that is brought about in people who listen to the Gospel and want to follow Christ! I love it! This is what I love most! To see people understand and want to change, and want to receive blessings! It is so amazing how much love I have gained for the people we are teaching! We teach them and I was so badly for them to understand and for them to want to change! It was told to us many times in the MTC that to have success as a missionary, you have to love the people! It is so true! A brillant Lyicist once wrote (and I'm sure you will recognize...)"To Love Another Person Is To See The Face Of God...". I think quite often about God's love for his children. He loves us soo much! Constantly, everyday events happen to us as missionaries and to our investigators that are just signs of God's love for us. It may be something as simple as a cooler, breezy day or a ride to another part of town so we won't have to walk! God loves us soo much! Uh! I can't even describe it. Well, that's about it...Yes, I do like the new Elders we have in our Zone! We had a District and Zone meeting last night (which we never had before) and it really made me happy to associate with the new others and made me really motivated and excited to go out and work this week. We have a good Zone! Thanks again for your many emails! I appreciate them more than you know! I feel refreshed because of them and am ready to go out and work and baptize! I love and miss you all as always! ¡Yo sé que vive mi Señor! Con Mucho Amor, Elder Joyner