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!