Buenas a todos!

I have officially been a missionary for over 5 months now! On Aug. 4, I will have exactly one year left! It is hard to try to fathom how much I have learned in this short amount of time and how the Lord has been shaping me as a person.

I have met so many amazing people and I am learning more and more every day what my purpose truly is as a missionary. The more I understand, the more I realize how important the role of a missionary and each one of us is in making it possible to fulfill God's purposes on Earth! I am learning from reading the Book of Mormon that in this time, we are all helping to make a reality the covenants that God made with the House of Israel, including that the posterity of Lehi (aka Latinos), to come to a knowledge of the true and restored gospel- to know how they can be saved in the Kingdom of God through Jesus Christ! Everyone's help is needed in this work, and I am excited about the First Presidency's recently stronger focus on member missionary work. It is scary to open our mouths to share the gospel with someone we know, but it is worth it because God loves all of us and wants us to come home to Him!

New Jersey is pretty hot and muggy! We had a fun little Fourth of July picnic at a giant, beautiful park

. Members of all ages were playing soccer together and we were surprised to find more hot dogs than tacos at the gathering this time! We have wonderful friends and examples in the branch. I miss home and think about my family and friends, but I love being here too.

Our darling Hermano Abraham from Guatemala, who was confirmed last week in Sacrament meeting, came to church wearing a white shirt and tie for the first time yesterday. We are planning for him to receive the Aaronic Priesthood next week and hoping that we can teach him about temples and family history work and take him to the temple in New York next month! Hermano Rigoberto is still excited to be learning about the gospel- he just wants to read the whole Book of Mormon first but we don't want to let anything happen to change his mind about baptism in this time- because he is a pretty slow reader. But we love him and he is a classic example of the gospel changing one's perspective and attitude towards life.

Other than these, we have some potential investigators, but we are really hoping to find more! We have recently helped some less-active members come back to church. That is a really rewarding feeling to see them walk into Sacrament meeting after such a long time of them not being there to take the Sacrament.

Love,
Hermana Martin