Guadalupe--City of beauty and crime

Queridos amigos,

A WEEK here in Guadalupe. I cant believe it flew by so quickly, and I have learned super quickly how dangerous little Guadalupe can be. I wrote to my family about the various encounters we had this week with the moto taxistas that try to rob people. We almost got hit but the Elders accompanied us near our cuarto and then we booked it to our pension. Its a thrill to keep an extra eye out for danger! Just hope nothing too bad happens while we are here. 

In other news, Guadalupe IS dangerous but it is also way beautiful. The sunsets are picturesque and the town parks and sites are fun. 

Outside of the town though, our work was great this week! Our contacts were slacking but after 4 sessions of General Conference we are pumped to get back on the horse! I love working with Hermana Mariano and she is truly an excellent missionary (: We especially had a great lesson with 2 less actives who went through the temple but need to renew their covenants yesterday. They are SO open and ready to come back to the church,but are strung on the actions of other members and past experiences. They just need a little push of faith and I KNOW they can fly. José, the husband, was a leader in multiple positions in his past and loves serving people in the ward. He accompanied the Elders near 24/7 and wants to be apart of that life again. It is sad when the members only see strength and faithfulness from the missionaries here in South America. There is a desperate need for strong members that will build a tradition and structure of commitment here to carry in future generations.

Since time is starting to run short, better get to my scripture study from this week. I am now in 1st Corinthians and I ran across one of my favorite New Testament verses this week. It says:

13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but Godis faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

When we feel down and beat ourselves OR God up about our trials, we shoud honesty keep this verse in mind. Everyone suffers, everyone thinks that they are a failure at some point--but it isnt anything we cant change on our own. AND we dont necessarily change on our own! As President Uchtdorf shared with us this week, we can use the Atonement of Christ to help us CHANGE and not just be forgiven. From birth we are already saved from the fall of Adam--we are saved from the effects of death and it is a HUGE gift (more investment) that we receive from the Atonement of Christ. THIS life is to be spent trying to master and gain self control to be more heavenly. As Brad Wilcox says it, "heaven will NOT be heaven, for those who are not heavenly."

That seems to be about all the time that I have this week! I attached a picture of our last day to be twins (Hermana Arenguren and I - my last companion in Potapo before I was transferred out of the area)  

Love you guys and keep your health!

Love,

Hermana Furness