My Birthday in Guatemala

 this past week was great. i have a wonderful companion and zone. on my birthday they gave me ice cream from mangos and had balloons for me and letters. they were so cute, oh also fireworks, it is tradition here to have fireworks for peoples birthdays. i was thinking when i heard them "ah they just broke the rules for me!!!!" ah!!! to tell the truth i felt a little terrible. this week i was thinking how in the mission i have become so much more obedient i know that i need to work on it more because i am not perfectly obedient but i am so much more than i was before the mission. i think it's one trait that i have always had but it is developing more on the mission. i think of the stripling warriors and how they obeyed with exactness. how amazing is that! they followed everything that was commanded of them! in the mission we have the mission manual and rules in the mission and i am trying to follow them but i do fall short at times. this is when we can be thankful for the atonement and repent. 

i loved reading the ensign for this month and reading how the atonement is so deep that we at times do not understand it but at the same time it is so simple. atonement is when Jesucristo died for our sins and made it possible to live with our Heavenly Father. but in the talk by Elder Bednar he said that it is to help bad people become good and to help good people become better. at times we think that it is only for people that have just sinned but it is for all of us everyday. i think it is amazing to be learning more about the gospel in the mission and teaching others how to live it. to tell the truth, when i teach it is when i personally learn. we are helping others to learn, but i know that i am the one learning. i love my mission and am so thankful that i have every day.