Guardar La Fe

Well, my friends... It's been a CRAZY week.

I actually will be sending a very short update today... because I don't have much time to email.  A surprise lesson ended up taking most of my email time.

So to water it all down for you... This week was "all over the place" if you know what I mean...

For something comical: We were "Street Sweeping" on Saturday when a rather... eccentric, drunk woman came up and looked into my companion's face and said, "You have a POWERFUL face. Your face contains power.... I mean, WOW! What power. Man, I'm a mess." And walked away... Yeah. The New York Crazies. We love them. The greatest thing about it is was that we saw her an hour or so later on the other side of town when we were on our way to visit a less active.  This time she had with her a teddy bear the size of my dad. (?????) Who drags a giant teddy bear around Queens?? As we passed by we said hello... of course her response was, "Who the heck are you?" Haha....life is quality entertainment.

For some good news...We were able to do some really, really great work with the less active members of our ward... there are A LOT of less actives. We had 6 people come to church with us who haven't been to church in many many months. That was such a blessing and I was so glad they all came. We're going to try to continue our efforts and really concentrate on helping the less-actives REactivate. I hope you'll do this with me and invite your friends who don't make it to church very often to come with you!

I'm finding that I'm really struggling with the language. Part of this is my inability to be patient with myself, and the other part is...well I don't really know. Maybe I'll never figure out why it's so hard for me. Either way, Spanish is definitely not my strength when I'm teaching the gospel. BUT, as I've struggled to find Spanish words to say to people I've figured something out... And that is that I HAVE strengths. I have SO many other ways of communicating and expressing my deepest feelings. I've been able to bear my testimony and spread the gospel through song and through my gifts as an artist. I've used drawings to teach people all the time and I sing for people every time we're let into a home. I play the piano for every sacrament meeting, relief society meeting, primary singing time, choir practice/performance and every baptism that happens here in the Woodside Ward. I know Heavenly Father didn't give me these talents so that I could keep them for myself. It took me 20 years to figure that out. But hey, later is better than never. I hope you will all think about the talents you've been given and try to use them more to benefit others. You WILL bring others closer to Christ.

Thank you for your prayers and continuous support.

You're all amazing... Anytime you see either of my amazing parents give them a HUGE hug for me. They're doing a pretty great job and deserve a hug. Haha. HUGS to all of you from me!!

Hermana Tara Franklin