WEEK OF FINDING

Alright so I know I know I say EVERY week that the mission is crazy and full of miracles but this week even more so, I promise hahaha! Now that thats established, heres my crazy week full of miracles!

First off all, as a mission, we had a "Week of Finding." We made a goal to find 888 new investigators as a mission, 9 in each companionship, which means that not only do we find someone, we need to teach them a lesson AND schedule a return appointment. Our normal weekly goal is to find 4 new investigators each week and I don´t think we,ve ever been able to reach it. So NINE was a little intimidating to say the least! But my companion and I have faith and we know that the Lord continually prepares people for us and we just need to be guided by the Spirit to find them! We fasted and prayed really hard as a mission and the first day my companion and I were able to find one new investigator, even though it was P-Day. But then, my companion´s knees began hurting her really really badly and first of all, lemme tell ya--this girl has the WORST luck of anyone I´ve ever seen!! She has pushed through so many trials and setbacks in her mission but she wasnt going to let this one stop her either! We worked hard all week, as much as we were physically able, and were able to find 6 new investigators! We didn´t reach our goal and that was a little disappointing for us BUT that doesn´t take away from our 6 :) I have such high hopes for them! We found 3 one night, in the very last hour of our proselyting time and I felt the Spirit so strongly there. I know we were led to that house, (we knocked on their door by accident thinking it was someone else´s apartment) and the woman opened the door and yelled, YELLED "Hola beautifuls!! Now where are you from?? Come in, come in!" Another jaw-dropping moment haha. We walked in and met her daughter and her friend even though the woman was super nice, the friend and her daughter were a little wary. (the daughter even said something along the lines of "why in the world did you let them in"haha) but we were able to explain and give them each a Book of Mormon and it was amazing to see how completely their countenaces changed as the Spirit filled the room completely. At the end, the daughter said she was going to bring her Book of Mormon to school to read and the friend said he was going to show his friend. MIRACLES. I´m so excited to teach them, I can´t explain it, but I felt something special about them that I have never felt for anoyne before on my mission. Just pure love, thats the best I can describe it. SO anyway (I went off on a little tangent there huh) our mission found 897 new investigators as a whole. We have truly been blessed and I´m so excited and just full of joy and hope for these children of God!!

And then on Saturday JUDITH AND ESTELA WERE BAPTIZED!!! AHHHH! It was such a beautiful baptismal service. Estela was bapized with her cast (we wrapped it in plastic wrap haha) and they were both just BEAMING throughout the entire night. it was perfect. These two girls are such examples for their families, they are seriosuly changing their LIVES. Their grandma hasn´t been to church for 33 years but once her grandaughters started preparing for baptism, she began coming to church and returning to her Savior. One night we taught Estela the Word of Wisdom and we left her with a pamphlet and when we returned, Luisa said that she had read the pamphlet and decided to follow it and give up her coffee! She dd this all on her own and I know the Spirit is working through her.

I have seen so many miracles on my mission but that doesn´t mean there arent disappointments. Antonia has literally dropped off the face of the Earth!! We call her every day but she doesnt answer and she´s never home. But we´re not giving up on her! All in Heavenly Father´s time, right?

Merli is doing well, we took her to church again last week and she loves it and fits right in. Shes also going to be an example to her family! My dream is to reinactivate her mother and brother and baptize her father woo! I have faith! 

On another note, transfers are this week ane I have to say goodbye to my beautiful madre! Hermana Robayo is leaving for Alicante to be with Hermana Carmen (my comp in the MTC) and Hermana Carmen´´s comp, Hermana Lyons, is coming here to be with me! Super crazy that we´re changing companions haha. Its a bittersweet moment for me, Hermana Robayo and I have had such an amazing time together as we have witnessed miracles and suffered (just kidding ;) together. She has taught me a lot. And even though I know it will be hard without her, I´m excited to be out of training and work with Hermana Lyons! 

I LOVE YOU ALL and hope you have a great week!
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

MERLI

I physically CANNOT say anything more until I talk about the Miracle of Merli!!!(Does that not sound like a movie title or what!) This beautiful 10 year old has been taught by missionaries since 2011 but for whatever reason, has not been baptized. Her mom and brother are members but are less active and her dad is a strong member of another faith. But he has given us permission to teach his daughter and told Merli she has to make her own choice of which church she wants to belong to (love this Dad!) Now first of all, what a responsibility to put on a 10 year olds shoulders! She has been to both churches multiple times, but she hasn´t been to the LDS church for years until these past couple weeks when we´ve been able to take her (with permission ;) She has been lukewarm towards both churches for years. She loves them both and finds good in each of them. So All we have been doing is teaching her the principles of the gospel and continue to encourage her to pray and find out for herself, like Joseph Smith, which church is true.

So last night, we went to her house and honestly, we didn´t know why we were there. We had already taught her that morning but felt like we should visit again. We planned on watching a video but for some reason it wouldn´t work, and we pretty much had nothing else prepared so we went COMPLETELY by the Spirit. And I have now learned and have a testimony that this is the one and only way to teach. We began talking with her and her mom about the choice Merli has to make in her life. We were talking about how this is a lifelong decision, a decision that she should be absolutely sure about, a decision that she will follow for the rest of her life.  She was quiet for a moment and then all of a sudden she grabbed a Book of Mormon, squeezed it tightly to her chest, and said "I want to be baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ, I want to be baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ and i want to be baptized after my birthday!" Her birthday is THIS Friday! I´m pretty sure me and my companions jaws fell to the floor! We weren´t even planning on extending a baptismal invitation, and to have her say it and really really mean it was incredible!!! 

Super long story short, we felt the Spirit so strong and she talked with her dad after we left and he said she had his permission! But, he wants her to continue to learn and pray for at least another month to make sure its something she truly truly wants and something that she promises to stick with and put her whole heart into. (We found out later from her mom that she started bawling when he said she couldnt be baptized this weekend--so cute). And my companion and i are behind him 100%. And it started me thinking how being Mormon has never been something passive for me. I belong to this church 100% and I have pledged not only these next 14 months to my Savior, but the rest of my life! I am so grateful for all that Jesus Christ has done for me personally and I know that this is HIS church. And I will never forget Him and I am Mormon 100% through and through!

Sorry that was so long! But it was so special to me and I just had to share it! Among other newsssssss........

Estela and her cousin will be baptized for sure this Saturday!!!! I never knew my heart could be so FULL, just overflowing with joy! They have both been examples to me---they have such faith and they KNOW that this church is true. And they´re only 11 years old. How innocent and pure and just beautiful children are. 

Antonia has had some problems with her work and will probably not be able to be baptized this Saturday but its okay. We just want to make sure she has had time to pray and learn and internalize all that we need to teach her. And its all on the Lord´s time.

So yeah, this week has been pretty AMAZING! Except that its SUMMER again (100 degrees today!) I want Fall!!! It was rainy and cold for one week and then something, I don´t know what (global warming?) happened and now I´m back to taking multiple cold showers a day haha. But I don´t even care! I´m so happy!! God is good! Life is good! The mission is THE BEST! I love you all and I always mean to share scriptures or something I´ve learned but I never have time because I write novels each week about my investigators haha. But know that I have a testimony of this work and of the gospel and especially of my Savior. Have an amazing week!!!! 

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!

A BETTER WEEK

I can honestly say that this week was one of the best weeks of my mission! It started out pretty rough....one day ALL of our appointments fell through so we walked around the city for HOURS trying to find investigators, less active members, or references who had time, but every single house was busy. We tried to visit with at least 12 families and by the end of that night we were so tired, stumbling over our own feet when we ran into some members in the street who told us that Estela had broken her arm!! Poor thing, she was more worried about the fact that we might have to postpone her baptism than by the fact her arm is in a cast!! And then, we got a call from Antonia who said she was called into work outside of the city and wouldn´t be able to return for TWO WEEKS! Two weeks! What is happening to our investigators!?! So now both their baptism dates are set for the 25th of this month (cross your fingers)!) But I have faith that everything will work out and Heavenly Father loves them both and has His plans for them!

But here comes the good part! So this Saturday, our ward had a baptism! The Elders have been teaching Juan Carlos for months now and his story is truly a miracle story! This man has been attacked by the adversary from every angle possible but he has kept strong and has said over and over that He will always put God first! He´s been ready for weeks and we have fasted and prayed as a District for him and I know that because of our faith, his faith, and by Heavenly Father´s will, it happened! It was probably the most spiritual baptismal service I´ve ever been to. I was tearing up only a little during the baptsim and then I looked overat Sarah (aunt of Estela--the Elders are teaching her family) and she was sobbing because she felt the Spirit SO STRONG and knew that this was right for her and her family so then of course I started bawling and there was lots of hugging and crying and girly emotions and it was beautiful. Estela and Sarah´s daughter, Judith (cousin of Estela) were also there at the baptism and they kept talking about how excited they were for their own baptisms! AHHHH I love it!

And then on Sunday, we had even more miracles. We have also been praying and fasting so hard for our Investigators, less active members, and recent converts to feel the desire and have the ability to come to church and on Sunday so many came! We were overjoyed!! We were even able to pick up Merli (remember her?) and Erika and take them with us and that was so special to me to see them both in their dresses, just GLOWING. I´ll try to send pics later. Estela was even there too!! We´re still working on her mom, but Estela is rock solid. Oh man, it´s miracles like these that just strengthen my faith and give me energy each and every day!!

I know that the power of prayer and fasting is real. So real....and I know that Heavenly Father listens to our prayers and answers them, in His own time and His own way. I know that He cries with us when we cry and is happy when we are obedient and follow his commandments and the example of our Savior. I love my Savior and my Father and I pray every day to be able to know them better and truly understand all that they have done for me. 

I hope you all are having a great week! And I hope you are all reading the Book of Mormon! December 31! I love you ALL so much!! Thank you for the prayers and love!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

GENERAL CONFERENCE

GENERAL CONFERENCE!!! Oh my goodness it was so PERFECT! Perfect timing, perfect messages, I loved it all!!

I was only able to watch one session in English but that one session answered ALL of my questions (If you watched Conference but didn´t have specific questions in mind, or you havent watched it yet I encourage you please please please to pray to recieve answers to some of your questions or concerns and then to watch it again with these things in mind. I have done this for years and it amazes me how EVERY time I am comforted and recieve specific direction and guidance.) 

My companion and i were  able to watch the two "morning" sessions (it started at 6PM here) in the church building with our members and investigators in Spanish and even though I didn´t understand all of it (okay fine, I didn´t understand most of it) I felt the Spirit so strongly and that´s all I needed! On Sunday when we went to the church, we took Lorena and Erika with us and it was one of the best experiences of my mission to see them get all dressed up and so excited to hear the Prophet. I love them both so much, AH! 

For the other two "afternoon" sessions, we got permission to go to a members (at 10PM, how scandalous ;) to watch it live. Me and another Elder were able to watch the Saturday Afternoon session in English and we laughed SO HARD when Elder Holland said "bien hecho" ("well done", for all you gringos ;) after the native Spanish speaker spoke! Hahaha it was so cute, I don´t know if my humor level has dropped that much but i hope you all were able to enjoy that as much as I did. (His talk was AMAZING by the way (no surprise there). I love that guy.) I love how all those speakers were able to give their talks in their native tongue. It´s showing the world that our church is not just an "American" church---the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the SAME church Jesus Christ established when he was on the Earth, is for ALL of God´s children, no matter what language they speak! I can´t wait for the day when every country in the world allows missionaries and the gospel into their borders! 

So especially with that spiritually MIND-BLOWING weekend, I think I can say my companion and i had a great week! It´s still hard and something new goes wrong EVERY week (this week it was allergies haha) but it´s really cool for me to see how we usually have more success the harder it is! Last week was awful but at the end when we were reporting to our District leader we looked at our numbers and we realized how much we had done because we decided to "forget ourselves and go to work!" The Lord blesses and strengthens us each day when we leave the apartment and we always feel better, emotionally AND physically, when we´re teaching or visiting others. And i know that this is only because of our faith and the prayers of our families and friends, thank you all!

So now on to my favorite part: This week´s miracles!

Antonia and Estela are doing great! I have no worries about them. They are so prepared for baptism, I often feel like I don´t even need to be there haha! The Spirit does it all, every time. We taught Estela The Plan of Salvation and she loved it so much, she wants to teach it to her mother, a less active member. And Antonia shares her testimony with her son every time we visit her. She loves the church so much and is changing her job so she that she doesn´t have to work on Sundays!

We´re teaching another young girl (4 of our investigators are 11-12 year old girls--I love it!) named Merli. She is the most intelligent chiquita I have ever met! I teach her English before each lesson and she just learns it all so fast! I taught her the alphabet the other day and she could say every letter and had it all memorized in less than 10 minutes, I swear! It´s the same when we teach her gospel principles too. She loves the Savior and especially Bible stories. i have never seen someone so anxious to learn! Pray for her!

Well anyway, the mission is amazing! it´s finally cooling down here, last week was SO HOT so I´m really excited for fall! It was really cool to hear about the movie thats coming out soon, "Meet the Mormons". I don´t know if I´ll be able to watch it any time soon so you all have to watch it for me! I love you all so much! Have a great week!! Thank you for your prayers!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!