Luck ain't got nothin' to do with it

Hello my dear family!!

How are y'all adjusting to the time change? I just love that the daylight lasts longer. It's such a good feeling when it's 6 and the sun isn't even going down yet, and even more so in missionary work. Tracting in the dark is scary! :Z I'm grateful for longer days :)

Let's see, this week I ate chorizo for the first time. It was good! Sister Russell and I actually bought some today at the store :) Also, we had interviews with President Heap. I had a concern that I wanted to talk about with him, but I didn't know how to introduce it into the conversation, and (I don't know how he does it) he started talking about the very thing I had trouble with! Interviews with the mission president are a little strange, because there are so many things that you want to talk about, (questions, concerns, etc. ) but his time is limited and the Spirit lets you know what is most important and needs to be addressed. I always leave interviews feeling like I didn't cover everything, but I feel like everything's okay. I guess that goes along with "Put the Lord first and everything will either fall into place or fall out of your life."

We've been working with an investigator in the Spanish branch named Lizeth, and this week, she accepted the invitation to be baptized! Before the lesson on Friday (when this happened) we weren't too sure about how she was feeling about the Book of Mormon and the gospel and all that, but then during the lesson, she asked us to help her find a scripture that she had read earlier, and she told us about her experience with prayer. She is amazing! She has a new light in her eyes. Her mom sat in on the last half of the lesson too and Lizeth was kind of helping us teach! We are so excited for her :)

I read something once that said "Missions are 98% hard work, tears, stress, anxiety, and all those things that we don't like, but 2%, 2% is pure joy. And somehow, that 2% makes it all worth it." I know that's true! And it can be applied to almost anything else in life too. Somehow, that 2% makes up all the difference. It reminds me of a scripture that talks about all of our losses and sufferings will be made up a hundred-fold, all we have to do is to endure faithfully to the end. This is hard, I'm learning that now more than ever, but it is possible. It's a whole lot more than just coincidence or luck. We are foreordained to succeed in life, and we've got the best coach and team backing us up. :) As children of a loving Heavenly Father, we have been blessed with so many things to help us, and there are so much more to come!

I love you all soo sooo much!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! and have a great week y'all! ;)
Love, Sister Tycksen

Note from mom: I am so thankful for the amazing members of Carlsbad, New Mexico. We have had members bring packages from Kristina and take a package back and others send pictures of them spending their pday with them. Such a tender mercy!! Thank you Carlsbad members!!