Adios Independencia! 5/11/15

Hola hola! I hope you all had a great Mothers Day! I sure did. Well this week went by quickly and here we are again on a Monday morning! I have changes on Wednesday so I will be getting a new companion and a new area. So stay tuned! 

 

On Wednesday Angelita was baptized!! It was such a special day. After almost 6 months of her investigating, she now is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She shared her thoughts and feelings and expressed that she really understands that baptism isnt a game and that she is determined to endure to the end! Fun fact, Angelita was baptized in our church about 20 years ago but never was confirmed. But now we have got her :)

Angelitas son lives in San Salvador and is in a military school. He had permission to have a visit from Angelita for Mothers Day. The problem was that the visit was in the morning when she had to be in church to be confirmed. We talked through it with her and explained that she was be greatly blessed if she chose to put God first. We left it at that and felt that mostly likely she was going to go with her son. Well Sunday morning we walked into Sacrament and Angelita was sitting there. She had the biggest smile on her face and she looked beautiful. I guess she got a call from her son, he cancelled on her. It was an answer to her prayers. She knew she needed to be confirmed and the way was provided. 

On Thursday we had our last zone meeting in this change. We learned about the importance of the Sacrament. My testimony and my understanding of the Sacrament has grown so much in my mission. I now understand how the Sacrament is a spiritual and sacred experience. A time to think and ponder, to feel the Holy Ghost. It is an experience that all of us need, weekly.  

On Saturday I got to chat with and see my cute family!! Best day ever!! The amount of time to Skype goes by way too fast but I loved every minute of it. 

We ate so much food on Saturday. We were invited to eat lunch with two families and then we ate dinner with a different family. Then the fourth family brought us food to our house. So much food. At least we got out of eating the last dinner haha

We also got caught in a rainstorm with our mission leader. Two missionaries walking down the flooding streets with bright yellow ponchos and our mission leader with a bright yellow umbrella.

We have to enjoy the little things. Enjoy the journey. Make every moment count and laugh along the way. :)

Here is a little scripture for the week! "He that is faithful and endureth shall overcome the world". D&C 63:47 Be faithful and endure. 

I love and miss you all!   

May The Fourth Be With You :)

Well another week is in the book! A week full of miracles!!  

In our district meeting we talked about charity. We read in D&C 18:16. "And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!"

We then read in verse 19. "And if you have not faith, hope, and charity, you can do nothing".  We focused on charity and our district leader, Elder Davidson, had us think of a time when someone had done something out of charity for us. Elder Davidson then shared an experience when he was passing through a rough time. He felt completely alone and sad. I dont remember all of the details but the point is that one day his dad came up to him and told him he had been praying to feel the way that Elder Davidon feels, to understand. Elder Davidson got choked up and teary eyed. The Spirit in that room was so strong. Charity takes patience, and a true, pure love for others. "Wherefore, my beloved bretheren, pray unto the Father with all the engery of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christñ that ye may become the sons of Godñ that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen" Moroni 7:48  Now lets all develop this Christlike attribute :)

So Katherine is 15 years old. Her dad is an inactive member, her mom is a different religion. She wants to be baptized. The mom was very closed hearted, didnt want anything from us. Things are now changing. The mom smiles at us and talks with us. It really is amazing to see the changes thanks to lots of prayers and the Lords timing. We finally got to teach this family all together. It was a quick lesson but it was special to have a family that is divided in opinion and beliefs come together with an earnest desire to better their family life and family relationships. We ended the lesson with a kneeling prayer and the dad of the family offered it. The Spirit was present and I hope that the moms heart was touched and that she can support her daughter in her decision to be baptized.

On Friday we had a meeting with just sister missionaries and it was GREAT. I absolutely loved it. A few of the hermanas with more experience gave talks. Each of them talked about our potential as daughters of God and as missionaries-represenatives of Jesus Christ. President Spjut and Hermana Spjut then shared their thoughts. The best part was a question and answer activity. All of the experienced missionaries sat in a row and everyone could ask questions.The Spirit was so strong in the room as the hermanas gave advice and shared their testimony and feelings about their mission. All of us have challenges and weaknesses but we have our Savior to lift us up and help us keep going. This is His work. He will take whatever we have to offer, and He will make it enough.

My companion and I witnessed a miracle on Saturday. I have been teaching an investigator, Angelita, for almost 5 months. We always invite to baptism but she always has an excuse. My companion and I have goals so we have been praying and fasting to complete them. On Saturday we went with Angelita. I invited her to be baptized and she told me that she wanted to be baptized and is going to do it this Wednesday. The way she normally responded completely changed and she was finally firm in her decision. This was an answer to many, many prayers. I left her house with the biggest smile on my face. There are so many miracles in this work and I am so thankful to be able to witness them. My testimony has grown so much on prayers of faith and fasting.

Yesterday my companion and I witnessed another miracle. A complete miracle. We passed by for Katherine to go to church. Her dad is an inactive member so we always invite him. Well yesterday as we picked up Katherine he told us he was going to come. He was trying to shower and get cleaned up so that he could go. The problem was that we didnt have water yesterday. haha anyway so we left and just went with Katherine. Testimony meeting was more than half way over when he showed up. It had been over 20 years since he had assisted church. BUT, that wasnt the miracle. He sat next to Katherine and then I turned around to see the people behind me. Katherines mom and sister were sitting behind us. I saw her mom and I couldnt believe it. A miracle! My eyes got teary to see her in church with us. I know that our many prayers were and are being answered. The mom, who is a little bit hard hearted and angry, came to church on her own. A song from Hilary Weeks says "Give him the Spirit to soften hearts of stone, and bring them home". This gospel blesses families and changes lives.

Another fun and unexpected surprise yesterday. As I walked into sacrament meeting, an elder that I served with was sitting there waiting for the meeting to begin. Elder Contrerras. He is the one who shared with us that he doesnt have a family and that we are his family. He is from Guatemala and finished his mission about a month ago. Well he came back to visit and is staying with a member here. It was so good to see him! A complete surprise. It made me laugh because he is the same but now he has a little bit of facial scruff and an Iphone. haha

Well this was a great week full of complete miracles. I hope you all have a wonderful week! And HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to all you madres out there. Enjoy your day on Sunday! I love you all. :)

Hello to All! 4/27/15

Well this week was good! Another week living the life. All is well in El Salvador.

On Pday we did all of our errands. We went to the Post Office to send letters. We waited for about an hour! The Post Office is so slow here. After they weigh the letters, we have to glue on the stamps one by one. Its crazy!

We had our Zone meeting on Wednesday. The elders told us to imagine while teaching that Christ was our companion. They then asked how long we would wait before inviting to repentance and baptism. Each of us as missionaries are representatives of Jesus Christ. It made me understand a little bit more the importance of always talking about the Atonement and baptism. 

We had a baptism date with Oscar. He wanted to be baptized and understood the importance of baptism. He passed his interview and then the next day he told us that he doesnt want to be baptized. We visited with him the next day to help resolve his doubts. He has had a lifetime of drinking. He is working at overcoming his addiction. Well come to find out, the missing piece to the puzzle, is that he drank again. He drank and kept it to himself so he didnt feel worthy to be baptized. He is working hard to overcome his bad habits. It is sad that he couldnt be baptized to recieve the strength from baptism but I know that one day he will.

My companion and I were teaching a guy named Carlos. He is a little bit older but very down to earth. We invited him to say the closing prayer and it was beautiful. So spiritual. He noticed the Spirit and he himself commented on how he felt in that moment.

 

We had our zone meeting which was great as usual. Everyone is concerned about the success of others. We changed it up and instead of talking about numbers, we talk about names. We talk about people. It means more and helps us be involved with the other companionships. After the meeting, we ate lunch as a zone. The elders ordered the same thing for everybody and man it was a lot of food. It was three giant things of bread filled with different things. One had a hot dog inside, one had ham and cheese, and the other had different ham and cheese. Then a donut to top it off. Can you say carbs? haha

So funny story about us not listening close enough to the Spirit. We were searching for a family with only an address. We knew the general area of where they lived and they had told us they live in a green house. In the particular area, there are only 2 green houses. We had already contacted one of the green houses earlier in the week and the lady didnt want anything. We decided to knock the other green house. The man didnt even open the door and only told us he didnt know who the people were that we were looking for. I suggested that we could knock on the other green house again. We thought about it and then said "nah.. we already have". We started to walk away and then paused and thought about going to the house again. We ended up walking away, asking other people if they knew this family we were searching for.We came across a member and she told us she knew where they lived. She walked with us to the house and guess where it was? The first green house.It made me laugh and also made me realize how important it is that we listen and act according to the promptings of the Holy Ghost. 

Here is another scripture for your Monday morning! 

"Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind, and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God." Moroni 10:32

I hope you all have a great week! Lots of love :)