Letters from Lauren

This week was a big dose of "what-can-I-be-doing-better?" The answer came in sprinkled thoughts through out the week.

Sprinkle #1 Word of Wisdom.

Have you ever noticed that Word of Wisdom lessons are a big pat on the back sometimes? You know, it's like "we don't drink alcoholic beverages, we don't smoke, we don't do drugs, we don't drink coffee. Yay for us!" Ever feel like we kind of just skim over/ignore those other verses. I'm talking about D&C 89:10-13. We taught Victoria on the word of wisdom and while studying over D&C 89 I kind of realized that I'm not exactly living up the these verses. I'm a big salty food afficionado and I also have developed a recent love of fruit snacks. Number of real fruits I've consumed this week: 2 ( a peach and a banana). And to top things off, we had sister's training with President and Sister Crawford where we talked ALL about how we should be eating real food, not processed sugary crap. I have a really embarrassing picture of our shopping cart last pday. Don't worry, repenting of it this week. This is not to say that I'm turning vegetarian, but better believe I'm going to lay off the processed food for a bit. Give healthy a try, especially since we bike ride a good amount of miles during the week. The way I see things, God created and gave us these bodies, so I'm pretty sure he knows what's best for them. :]

Sprinkle #2 Charity mixed with Spanish.

Remember how I'm in a trio. My training is somehow training TWO newbies. Well, It's hard to balance in a trio, especially when lessons are concerned. Especially when two of us know Spanish really good. I did a little reflecting this past week, and realized how selfish I was being. For a majority of the lesson we taught, Hrm Maughan and I were teaching and while my Spanish has GREATLY improved, this hasn't been the case all around in our companionship. I was really only focusing on myself up to this point. I was very much in a , "how can I be a better teacher." Two weeks ago we had exchanges with an English sister. Hermana Maughan left us and Sister Cochran joined us, this made spanish contacts and lessons super interesting. I taught, I contacted, I small talked, and all the while I thought, "okay, now I see what I can improve on, what teaching skills I need to learn." Do you notice how many "I's" there were in there? Cause I sure did and it kind of made me sick. I took a huge step back and realized that our companionship isn't made of individuals, we're a unit. We're in this whole teaching thing together. Sure, we're all at different levels, but we've also been put together to help each other out. It was a big "ah-hah" moment for me.

Sprinkle #3 An attitude check.

Ask me if I like riding bikes in a skirt. Negative. Especially since my biggest fear in life is falling and I've already scraped up my knee in the pouring rain, while I was sick real good. So, let's just say I'm not always super pumped when we get on bikes. It takes me a while to actually get into the groove. It's not that I don't love bike riding, it's the whole wearing stiff clothes and sweating part of it I could do without. I read a talk this Sunday morning though all about being a consecrated missionary. & I realized ( more like re-realized) that a mission puts us out of our comfort zone, bike riding in skirts included. So, I accepted this as a challenge. Will I ever love bike riding in skirts, negs. BUT, I can realize that it's just a means to the end. A means to talking to people about something that has blessed my life greatly, and can bless the life of others.

I love you all. I promise I LOVE the mission.

oh & p.s. I'm not allowed to email amigos. Sorry, I can receive emails, but I can't write anyone else back but my family. Mission rules. BUT, you can email me, and include an address where I can write you. & I promise I will.

te amos all around,

La Hermanita Flores