50 Things

(This is not the email for this week, it's from a letter that was celebrating Shaelyn's 100th day in the mission a while ago.. I sent her 50, and she sent 50 back..)

10 Best Things About Mission Life
1. Watching people change
2. Studying and learning from the scriptures
3. BAPTISMS (everything about them)
4. Improving every day
5. Learning to love people with your whole heart
6. MIRACLES
7. Being set apart from the world to preach the gospel
8. Meeting new people all the time
9. Bearing your testimony and feeling the Spirit testify to you
10. Opportunity to turn weaknesses into strengths

10 Scriptures That Have Helped Me
1. Mosiah 7:33
2. Mosiah 23 & 24
3. D&C 6:36
4. Moroni 8:16-17
5. 2 Timothy 1:7-8
6. Mosiah 14:3-5
7. D&C 30:11
8. Proverbs 3:5-6
9. Isaiah 41:10
10. Moroni 10:32

10 Hardest Things About Mission Life
1. Emotions
2. People's expectations
3. Recognizing weaknesses
4. Learning to follow the Spirit
5. Changes (nothing is constant)
6. Accepting that people aren't perfect and have agency and don't always choose good things
7. Not comparing yourself to others
8. Managing stress (physical, mental, emotional, etc.)
9. Overcoming fears
10. Exhaustion all the time

10 Things I've Learned
1. Be patient, stay positive, trust the Lord
2. We work hard when we love the people
3. Happiness in families is found in the gospel! (I see families every day with and without it and it makes a world of a difference)
4. Our weaknesses as well as our strengths can bless others
5. Satan is out to destroy this work - all he has to do is stop us from doing good
6. Coming unto Christ isn't a one-time thing
7. Our potential is so much bigger than we can comprehend
8. God has plans for our lives and He knows what we need in order to grow
9. People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care
10. Teaching by the Spirit is the only way! Without the Spirit we can't teach, but with the Spirit, we can testify from our hearts and the Spirit will carry our message

10 Funny Things
1. My companion's bluntness - "I know my hair probably looks really bad right now, but you should see yours"
2. Hermano Torres telling me I'd be a great therapist because my patients would tell me their problems, I'd start crying, and then they'd forget about themselves to help me
3. My nicknames "Llorona" and "Hermana Blanca"
4. Hugo trying to give me a hug on my birthday.. haha.. awkward
5. Inosencio's everything haha one of my favorite moments though was, Hermana Perez, "Are my nails pretty?" Inosencio, "Yeah, you're pretty! She's pretty too (pointing to me)... pretty ugly!"
6. Everyone trying to arrange Hermana Perez' marriage - it's great
7. I accidently said dude in front of my sister training leader, and now everyone in the zone lectures me about using dignified language
8. For my birthday, my face got shoved in a cake
9. Hermana Perez' trainer told me she met Elder Holland at a meeting I didn't get to go to, then she said she shook his hand and wiped it on me.. I started crying
10. Showing up to the Serrano's thinking I was going to help set up a birthday party.. ended up butchering a cow!