52: Un Año

To be as cheesy as possible and celebrate hitting 1 year as a missionary, I wanted to share with y'all 12 things I have learned in my mission so far. 

1. Work! All my life, my hard work has been clearly and directly translated into numbers. GPA, test scores, miles biked, number of tacos consumed, etc. But oh man, I have learned how to work hard when you don't see the results of it. Sometimes you give it your all for weeks to get one person to church, and you get a goose egg 0 at the end of it. What I learned is that the Lord loves effort. At the end of the day, I will feel more satisfied with my work if I did my best and centered on Christ than if I had incredible numbers with no real effort put into it. 

2.LOVE! I think 95% of the world's problems would be solved if we just loved each other a little more. Love your family, love your friends, love your neighbors, love your church community, but most importantly, love God.

3. Never fall asleep in the car with other missionaries. You will unknowingly have a full photoshoot done. On a completely unrelated note, I learned that I look really angry when I sleep. 

4. God is a God of MIRACLES! They surround us every day, sometimes we just have to open our eyes to see them. The greatest miracle though, is our continual personal conversion to Jesus Christ. 

5. FAITH! Like I said above, miracles happen today. But we have to have faith in order to receive them. Working hard without faith in the power that God has to help you in what you are doing is just like running in circles, you won't get very far. 

6. Asado is best enjoyed when surrounded by friends, empanadas are little bundles of joy, milanesas de pollo are my new favorite comfort food, facturas are the breakfast of champions, and mate really is just hot grass water. 

7. HUMILITY! Okay, I am still working on this one. But I have learned so much about the damage that pride does to ourselves and to our relationships with others. What's more important, your relationship with a loved one or being 

right?

8. Don't mess with an Argentine's siesta. 

9. Change is not only possible, but necessary. God loves us as we are, but He also loves us too much to leave us this way. (Name that General Conference talk). I am grateful for the chance I have to repent every single night, start each day new, and do my best. We have a divine nature as children of God to become like Him!

10. Don't drink the tap water.

11. I love being a missionary. This is the work of the Lord and I can't believe how lucky I am to put on a tag with His name on it every day. I only have 6 months left, and I can't wait to live every single day to the absolute fullest. 

12. Last but not least, I have grown in my testimony and relationship with Jesus Christ. I have never before needed to rely on His grace so fully. I need His help to overcome all my many faults and weaknesses, I need His comfort on the days full of tears, and I need His strength on the days when I feel like I can't take another step. My favorite name for Him right now is Shepherd, and I am grateful that He has rescued me more times than I can count. 

Much love to you all, thanks for being on this wild ride with me for the last year. Don't worry, only 26 more emails until I am done spamming your inbox. 

Hermana Thrasher

ps- Alejandra got some glasses!!!