11-17-14 We need love, not likes.

To my dear family
and friends (or whoever reads these letters!)

What a great week! We learned a lot in our zone conference Friday, and stake conference Saturday/Sunday. It was incredible. An area 70 [regional leader] came to visit because they reorganized the stake presidency. His name is Elder Alonso. He was an incredible speaker. After the Saturday session and the Sunday session in which he spoke, we came home saying that we felt like we needed to repent right that very moment.

Favorite line, which he said about social media: "We need love, not likes." It made me realize that the computer is a big waste of time and that it's more important talking face to face with people (and talking to those we love that are distant).

I wanted to share an analogy I heard a few months ago. There was a man, that God commanded to go to a mountain and push a huge rock with all his might. This rock was so big that he couldn't make it budge. Every morning, bright and early, he set out to push the rock and didn't go home until the sun set. After a few months of such labors, the man began to complain saying, "Why did you send me to push this rock? I'm never going to move it!" God responded, "I didn't send you to move the rock, only to push it with all your might."

What the man gained wasn't moving the rock, it was the strength he gained in struggling with all his might. We have so much to gain in striving to achieve hard and even impossible tasks. For me the mission has been a hard experience. Actually, I think if you ask anyone, it's hard. (One investigator put it this way: If it were easy, everyone would do it). But it has been an experience of incredible growth. I am grateful for every moment of it, even the hard ones.

Like my companion said to me this week, we wanted more faith, so we were given more trials. Every experience, bad or good, happy or disappointing, work together in God's great plan for our benefit. May you be granted the perspective to recognize how you can learn and grow in every moment and may we all be guided on the path of happiness and eternal salvation.

Love you all!
Hermana Romero (Baratta)