Great Week! 03/16/15

This week was awesome!

Hermana Brown is so stinkin cute! She's really funny and loves the people here already. She is really organized, loves chips, sings like Beyonce, is from Samoa/Salt Lake, and is just super hilarious. I love being her companion!

This week Selena gave the opening prayer in church!! I was so proud! All she said was, "Bless las misioneras and bless my family" and it was the shortest sweetest prayer I've ever heard in a sacrament meeting! She used to be scared to even pray with us, and now she's a pro! She told us that she wants to go on a mission, so we've been trying to take her out with us a lot to teach. We have another investigator that is going to be baptized, and we were teaching him last night with Selena. I heard her say under her breath, "He should do it. It changed my life." I told her to tell that to him, and she was really nervous to say it, but she did and the spirit was so strong! I love her so much.

I can't think of anything that I could write that would be funny to you all...but this week was full of a lot of little funny things! They are the "you had to be there" kind of expereinces.

We found out that Hermana Huey is going to be one of our sister training leaders, so I'm super excited that I'll get to see her more! It was so sad saying goodbye to her. She was so great! But Hna Brown is pretty great too. :) I've just loved all my comps so far!

I love you all! I know this is the true church of Jesus Christ! I am so grateful to be here, it's the best thing EVERRRR!

The food some people eat... 03/09/15

And the news is...

I AM STAYING IN OXNARD! Hermana Huey is leaving though :'( She is going to be a Sister Training Leader in Ventura! She will be so amazing! My new companion is going to be Hermana Brown, I have not met her yet, but Hermana Jeronimo screamed from excitement when we heard because she was so excited. Im excited to meet and work with her, but sad to have Hna Huey leave!

Funny Story from the week:

So we went to dinner last week with a recent convert. She was standing behind her counter preparing the food and yelled to us asking if we like "Papitas" (little potatoes). Hna Huey told her that we LOVE papitas! She laughed, lifted up her leg, pointed to her foot and said, "No, paTitas!" (feet). Long story short, she fed us pig feet and it was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen! Basically a huge ball of fat with bones in it. Luckily for me, I was able to hide in my Pasole. But Hna Huey was a trooper and ate hers! She regretted it later though...

You know what else she regretted? Eating 4 super hot peppers yesterday at a members house! We had been dreading eating with this family all week. They fed the other Hermanas in the ward "rocky-mountain oysters" and another set of missionaries crickets! (Only because they think its funny, not because they aren't aware that those foods aren't normal...) Anyways, they ended up feeding us normal food and told us, "The first time you come, you have to eat a Chile. The second time you come, you get a surprise!" They said the record for peppers was kept by Elder Sorensen who ate 3, so Hermana Huey took it upon herself to eat 4! I thought she was going to die!! But it was hilarious...

We had a lot of awesome things happen in the ward! The other sisters had two investigators get baptized, and we have a lot of people full of lots of potential! I am excited to be here for another transfer and see how they do. :) Love you all!

BEST WEEK EVER 3/2/2015

THIS WAS THE BEST WEEK EVER!!!!!!! I don't know how much I told you about our investigator Selena (we are always typing so fast I can never remember what I have said...) but she was baptized on Saturday! We started teaching her near the first of the transfer. She is 19 and so adorable! She is really shy, but she got up and bore her testimony on Sunday and I wanted to cry because I am so proud of her. She was told in her blessing when she received the gift of the holy ghost that she would be able to find a worthy priesthood holder and be married in the temple. I am so excited for this day! Hna Huey and I sang at the baptism, and President and Sister Felix came, which we were not expecting! It was the greatest day ever.

This transfer has gone so fast!! I don't know if I'm going to be transferred or not, but I really hope not because I love this area so much!! We just found out that we actually can go drive to see the ocean from our area, so Ill try to send pictures of that next week. 

This ward is the best! They are so supportive. Just in case you are wondering how you can help the missionaries, have them over to your house for a lesson! Invite your friends over to your house along with the missionaries! This is the most effective thing ever. Seriously, it is so powerful to have lessons in memebers homes.

Besides that, I can't remember anything because I was so excited about the baptism. But thank you for everything! Love you all! :)

 

 

 

 

Busy Week! 2/23/2015

HELLO!!! Thank you SO MUCH! For that package!! That is the cutest apron I have ever seen...all the other Hermanas were jealous! DAD! That letter is the best thing you have ever given me...I try to read some of it every night, but I am only on page 9 I think! So far I have laughed historically, cried a little bit, and probably rolled my eyes sarcastically as well, but I can't quite remember. ;) Thank you so much. I will keep it for forever! Also, that caramel apple was so. good. My companion and I eat a little bit of it when the other Hermanas aren't around so that we don't have to share...haha :)

So this week we had zone conference! It was the greatest meeting in the world! It lasted all day, and we focused on the document the church came out with to celebrate the 2000th birthday of Jesus Christ. It is called "The Living Christ." It was such a powerful meeting! I don't think there was one missionary in the room that doubted the fact that Jesus is the Christ, our savior, and that he still lives today. I have never felt such a powerful witness of this truth before in my life. I am so grateful for that conference! I hope I never forget how strongly I felt about the actuality of His existence. I am so grateful for him, and for this incredible opportunity I have to come closer to him every single day. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything.

On that note, I had to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting this last Sunday, and I had about the worst attitude about it that I possibly could. But! I totally felt Heavenly Father helping me write it. I was really worried because it had to be in Spanish, and it wasn't a big deal at the CCM because if you forgot a word in your talk you could just say it in English. But this was the real deal, where people only understand Spanish! It ended up being fine, and I am so grateful that Heavenly Father helped me through it all, even though I was being a total brat about it...

Anyways, thanks for being the best family I could imagine! I love getting your letters and packages, you really are the best! Love you!!

Workin Hard in the 'Nard - 2/16/2015

This week was a roller-coaster!

 

So at the beginning of the week we had exchanges, and I was able to stay here in Oxnard and work with one of the sister training leaders. It was like the best most miraculous day ever! I asked one of our new investigators if he would be baptized and he was super excited about our message, and said he would be if he knew it was true! He told us we could come back in two days, and that he would read the pamphlet we gave him. Then we went and visited another lady that we've been teaching who is super stubborn! When we went, she told us that she had been praying to know if there really were prophets in these days. It was a miracle! The Lord totally softened her heart. I have never felt so happy as I did that day. I felt like Ammon in Alma 26 when he's just going on and on about how amazing the Lord is, and how through His strength all things are possible! When Hermana Huey came home that night I told her about all of the miracles we had, and she almost fell over because she was so excited! It was the best day of my mission so far.

However, the next day was probably the worst day of my mission... We woke up and found a text from the investigator that had accepted the baptismal date, and he said, "Thank you for the lesson, but I'm perfect where I'm at. No need for our next lesson." We tried to do everything we could to convince him to let us come back, even mow his lawn! But he wouldn''t let us. I have no idea what happened, but it was devastating. However, I am so grateful for that day. I grew such a strong testimony of the love that Jesus Christ has for each of us. I saw a little bit of how he feels when we don't follow him. I realized that he had a lot of disappointments too, and I can't come to know or understand Him without experiencing a little bit of the same thing. I love my Savior, and I know that he loves me. I also know that he loves everyone else, and that is why I am here.

Overall, this week was great! I can't remember hardly anything that happened...it went so fast! So this email is probably shorter than normal...Sorry!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day! Hermana Huey and I were able to sing to a lot of people that day, and it reminded me of Valagrams haha! Thanks for all you do, and for supporting me so much - this is the best thing I've ever done!

Best Week Ever! 2/7/2015

This week was AWESOME! We are really seeing the hand of the Lord in our work. We have an investigator with a baptismal date, and she came to church for the second week yesterday! She also brought a friend who lives with her! We can't technically count her friend as our investigator because she doesn't speak Spanish, but they are both going to be baptized, and we believe it's going to happen this transfer! We also had a family come to church! The mom is a less active that was baptized about four moths ago, and the dad is investigating the church. He knows it's true, and is just really stubborn so he hasn't been baptized yet. He promised us on Saturday that he would come to church, but his wife said she didn't want to come because she had to work late, and she wanted to sleep. We said okay, and asked if we could stop by the next morning. We did, and they were both up and in the middle of moving. (They are moving to the apartment next door.) We were really worried that not even the dad would come, but Hermana Huey told them that we had brought pancake mix for breakfast, that we would help them get ready, and that we would help them move after church. They ALL ended up coming! It was a miracle. And it was so fun to make them pancakes! We tried making Mickey Mouse ones, but they didn't turn out that well.... We'll have to work on it. 

Hermana Huey plays the violin, so this week we went to a lot of houses and she played while I sang. It was so cool! We had a lot of success with it. 

Funny story: So we were walking down the side walk and a man started talking to us! He was like 60 years old. He told us how beautiful we were, and was just super funny. After talking to him for a while we asked if he had ever met with missionaries before! He listed off all these churches and said how he talked with everyone! Hermana Huey asked if he had ever talked to the Mormons. He said, "Oh no Mormons are no good. Ill talk to anyone except the mormons! They are bad people!" Hermana Huey was all, "Are we bad?" And he was like, "No! What religion are you guys anyways?" And her eyes got really big and excited and she said, "Somos las mormones!" Then his eyes got really big, he pointed at Hermana Huey, looked at me, and went "Oh-hohohohho...but you aren't bad!" Hahahaha it was hilarious. We laughed for like an hour. 

Anyways, this week we have really been trying to just follow the will of the Lord. We have seen his hand in our mission more and more each day. We have had so many tender mercies! Like when we were running late after lunch and it was raining, and right before we were about the walk out the door the mailman rang the door with THE CUTEST VALENTINE'S PACKAGE EVER!!!! He said, "Oh I'm so glad you're home! I didn't want to leave this out in the rain!" Seriously, thank you so much. That was the cutest package! Keenan did a marvelous job decorating it! ;) But some other tender mercies... There have been a couple times when we pulled up outside of a house right as the person that lived there, and we hadn't been able to find them for a few days! And we have been led to so many houses that we know the Lord had guided us to. I don't really know how to describe it, but I have never had such a close relationship to the Savior before. I know Jesus is the Christ, and I am so grateful for this incredible opportunity to be His representative, and have such a special relationship with Him. 

I love you all so much!!!!!! Have a great Valentine's Day!!!

First Week in CA! 2/2/2015

Hello everyone!!!! California is SO GREAT! I have even less time to email here than I did at the CCM... So this email might be a little shorter!

Leaving the CCM was so sad, but I am so excited to be here! My first day we just traveled around Ventura and Santa Barabara with the President and Sister Felix, and we spent the night at their house. Im convinced that they are the funnest mission presidents ever. The next morning was TRANSFER MEETING!!! Which means I met my trainer AND got the adorable package you all sent me! I seriously have the best family in the world. Thank you so much! 

My trainer is named Hermana Huey and she is so great! She plays the violin and loves to sing, so we sing a lot of hymns to almost everyone we teach! I am serving in Oxnard and I love it! Hna. Huey said that I am so lucky because there are so many latinos here, its like serving in a foreign country. I dont think Ive seen a single white person actually...its so great! I also havent met anyone yet that wasnt Catholic. Its super prevelent here. I love the people so much, they are SO nice. There is a lot of potential people here. We already had a nineteen year old accept a baptismal date and we really think we will see her baptized before we leave this area!

We live with some other awesome Hermanas that are hilarious and make it so fun.

All in all, I love my mission. I love the people, I love my companion, and I love the Lord. Im not loving Spanish so much right now because I feel like Im getting worse at it every day, but I realized that I can only do this through the strength of the Lord, and I have to rely on His timing.

Weird story for the week: We were eating at Subway (Thanks for the gift card by the way!!!!) and this guy walks up to us and sayd, "You guys are just so cute. I bet you wouldnt hurt a fly would you! You remind me of my grandma. You just look so cute and nice and sweet and you know who youd look really good with? Those little church boys that ride around on the bicycles! You would just be perfect with them!) We werent sure if he was mocking us or not until we saw him with his friends outside and saw that he was for real that ... expressive. Anyways! Good times in Oxnard. Its great.

I will write you letters later and try to go more into detail! Thank you all so much for the support! I am praying for you from over here in Oxnard!!

I dont have time to respond to everyone because the computer is about to kick me off, but I will write you all letters or write you back next week!! I love hearing from all of you, thank you SO SO much for the support! Also, if you could include in your emails your home addresses so I can send you a letter in resonse to your email that would be awesome!