Tell Him That I Love Him

Hola Hola! As usual business is first. I got a TON of mail this week. Everyone was amazed. I got a bunch of cards, our family Christmas card (Bruschi is the cutest), and my package from Mattison. He sent me this SUPER cool stationary-apparently he is in India now so it will be hard to write him a thank you note. And I FINALLY got an email from Lawrence Barret! If he's reading this on the blog,Felicidades! Also, I still need addresses so I can write people back, Lawrence and Keelan now. DearElders should now be sent to the El Salvador San Salvador mission so I can get them faster. I'll be looking forward to that package with beef jerkey, maybe some pictures and whatever other surprises. Also, this is random but I heard Bath&Body Works is discontinuing my favorite scent, Dark Kiss, maybe you could grab a couple body sprays so I can have it when I get home (: .

 Thanks for the emails this week. PopPop I don't stop laughing, I miss your humor. I would love to open up my email and have a bunch of little funny daily happening, that would be hilarious I'm sure. WooHoo! Super awesome about the Pats! I've decided Bruschi needs a little 54 jersey...I'm not one to dress up animals but it would just be SO cute! Hermana Perry is super into sports too, so I get all the NFC updates from her. Mom, Pinterest is great isn't it? Remember when I got it last year and you told me it would be a waste of time? You're welcome. How is Amanda Ford doing...I was thinking about her the other day actually. Sad to hear about Brother Sears but I know that they understand the beautiful message of the gospel. I have no doubt Brother Sears is one of the faithful Elders of this dispensation (D&C 138:56-57). Glad you enjoyed the pictures, sorry I can't send more, but once I get an adapter I'll be sending some. I totally trust you with my blog, I get emails from friends telling me they read it so I know stuff is going up. Man, Daddy is SO cool. I was just reading about him and the Feds and all that with my mouth open, he's so great! My week was pretty normal.

The only big thing that happened, was we had exchanges. I went to a different area for 24 hours. It was cool, my companion was Latina so it was all Spanish. She asked me what "CougarTown" is, so that was fun to explain in Spanish. It was cool though, seeing another area and what other missionaries are like, different teaching styles and stuff. She kept telling me how good my Spanish was...LIES. Actually, I do alright most of the time, but I still have a LONG way to go. Let's see what else happened. We got to see the "Viejitos"-this little old couple (members of a different ward) that sell random plastic items on the street in our area. They are SO cute, the Hermana is always saying "a cosita linda por mi cosita linda" (which means, "a pretty little thing for my pretty little thing"), she wants to give us each one of her little plastics things that she sells. I love them so much and I don't even know their names.

 We will be having transfers this week. That's kinda scary, I'm hoping I get to stay here. I like my area, Mejicanos, even though it's one of the harder areas in the mission supposedly. The Ward Mission Leader of Llanitos (another ward that meets in the same chapel) told us it was a miracle that we were able to baptize in Mejicanos. Haha. Speaking of Baptisms, we should be having one the weekend of the 25th. We've been teaching Hermano Celso since I first got here and he is finally ready. He is SO awesome. We have had some really amazing lessons with him. I want to share an expereince from this last week. So last week President shared an experience with us, "This weekend I was in the San Salvador stake for Stake conference. After having prepared Saturday my thoughts for the Sunday morning session, I hear in my mind, very early Sunday morning these words that HAD to be in my talk, " Tell them that I love them." Our Heavenly Father desire that all know this, that He loves them." (sorry if that doesn't make sense, I had to translate it). Anyway, I was thinking about that all week. On Thursday we had a lesson with Celso, towards the end Hermana Perry was testifying and I was looking at Celso and his wife thinking about how this family could be sealed in the Temple in a year, and I felt the Spirit so strong saying "That's my son, tell him that I love him." Then Hna. Perry did just that. Then I testified of the same thing. That as missionaries we are here to teach him the Gospel but more important than any of the lessons from Preach my Gospel we are here to tell him that GOD LOVES HIM, AND KNOWS HIM. That is true for all of us. I think sometimes in the culture of the church, somewhere in all the meetings, and classes and activities we forget that the whole point of all of this is that Heavenly Father Loves and Knows us. Remember that always.

 Time for me to sign off, so that other missionaries can write. I miss you, love you and pray for you all always. Hermana Victoria Giossi

 Moses 1:39, John 12:17 and John 10:16...Been thinking about these verses alot this past week.