4 Loves!

Upe buenas,

Hi family. This week felt long. Way too long. But it sure was a good one!
Why? Just because ELDER QUENTIN L. COOK came to talk to us!!!!!!! No big
deal right? Ahh it was the best.

The first thing he wanted to do was shake each and every single one of our
hands. So after shaking hands with an apostle of God and seeing his warm happy
smile he gave us missionaries some advice.

Elder Cook said we need to have the 4 loves! He then continued to explain
four different types of love we need to develop that will help us to become
better representatives of Jesus Christ and His church.

1.  LOVE the people.
When we love the people we serve we can literally feel a small part of the
love our Heavenly Father feels for them. I love my ticans and I am so happy
I get to serve them. I am also so grateful for all those that love me at
home! This week I got 2 awesome packages from Grandma and the Dougherty
family, you guys are awesome. Thanks a million!

2. LOVE your mission president.
Everyone knows that Pres Wilkinson is the best. How could I not love him
and his amazing family? Something really cool that Elder Cook taught is
that part of the process in assigning missionaries includes deciding which
mission president we need and will benefit from. So I get a call Tuesday
night around 10:30pm from one of his assitants telling me I have to be in
the office in the morning at 8am. His voice was all serious and I started
freaking out thinking I did something wrong or that I was leaving my area.
So all worried I ask him why and he tells me that IM GONNA HAVE A
DAUGHTER!!!!!!!! Which leads me to number three.

3. LOVE your companion.
So those of you who arent fluent in missionary language, having a daughter
means you become a mom, which means you bring a new missionary into this
world, fresh from the MTC. So surprise, Im training! And I absolutely love
it. Hermana Contreras just turned 19 and is a cutie patootie from
Guatelmala. She loves being a missionary and I love her. She speaks perfect
English and has so much excitement for the work. We have already seen so
many miracles together and I know we will be seeing LOTS more!

My New Companion  Hermana Contreras from Guatemala

Hermana Contreras and Hermana Anderson

Saying goodbye to Hermana Hernandez and Hello to Hermana Contreras

4. LOVE the Savior.
I am so grateful that being a missionary has allowed me to forget about the
world and myself. And that its helped me to remember the Savior and all that
He did for me. I am happy and humbled to represent Him even when I feel
alone, rejected and burdened. Because if i want to become more like Him,
well I have to suffer a little too. When I feel like I have no where to
turn, I turn to Him. And He is *always *there.

Just like I love the ticans, my mission president, my companion, and the
Savior, I LOVE YOU ALL TOO!

Thanks for all your support, prayers, mail, packages, and letters.
You guys are the best!

Hermana Starke