6/22/15 Adios Paraiso!

Hola hola to everyone back at home. Well I loved this week, it was a great one! 

Monday- pday was good. We had to clean our house big time. My house is huge but we got rid of all our little friends living with us.

Tuesday we had our district meeting. We read from the scriptures and discussed our purpose and our responsibility as missionaries. Our district leader shared a story that his mom has shared with him. I guess there are sister missionaries in Africa who have armed guards in front of their houses at night to sleep. Elder Craig then asked us why would the church let us go to places that are dangerous like that. The answer is that the work is moving forward. We are instruments in the Lords hands and we are being protected by angels. There are people in all parts of the world who are waiting to hear the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I have been trusted and set apart to spead the good news to all those who will listen and it is the best.

Wednesday we walked around the world, twice. All of our appointments fell through. We had an activity as members. A return missionary gave the message about how each of us have to do our part to be worthy of recieving the blessings we want and need. We then played some games. One was from Minute to Win It. We had to get the cookie in our mouth without using our hands. They made me go against the other gringo, Elder Craig. He won. haha it was a good time. 

Thursday we began our day by studying as a zone. It was fun and we learned a lot. We also practiced a special number. It took us about 3 years but we finally got it figured out and sounding good. Our zone doesnt have any good singers so it took some time! An elder said the closing prayer and asked for angels to be with us as we sing in front of everyone and that all of us could rememeber to make a copy of our house key. Once he finished the prayer, he told us, "specific prayers, specific results". We then went to work! We helped a lady make some empenadas. Johanna, a recent convert,went visiting with us the whole afternoon. We had a funny experience while walking in the street. We saw a cute older couple. A lady with a guy who had wranglers and a cowboy hat. He was smiling and they looked like a happy couple walking down the street holding hands. I told my companion that we were going to talk with them. Well we introduced ourselves and began chatting with them. The guy was a little bit (or very) drunk. He told me I was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, and that he cant go to church with us but that he would like to keep in touch and know how it goes through phone calls. And of course he said it all in English. Oh goodness. Gotta laugh at the little things :)

Friday was the best. I was on a spiritual high! Elder Alonso from the Seventy came to visit us. It was INCREDIBLE. He began his visit by shaking all of our hands and looking into our souls. I kid you not! Afterward he told us that if the Lord allows it, he can know our sins. Which sin, when, with who. And then said "so.. be careful with your eyes". haha 

It was such a spiritual meeting. Some things he said with tough love but I learned so much. He explained three things that stood out to me. 1: the way we serve as missionaries depends our future happiness and success. 2: If we want to live with God again, we have to get married, and fast. So no pressure. And 3: the day will come when there will be lines of people wanting to enter the church because it will be the only place with truth and safety. #thechurchissotrue

He shared experiences from his mission and also as a member of the 70. The Spirit filled the room as he bore his testimony. I know without a doubt that he is a man called of God and a special witness of Jesus Christ. I love this gospel with my whole heart. After the meeting, I had exchanges with Hermana Cole. I think we were both really motivated from Elder Alonso because we kicked butt. Our day went smoothly and we had success.

Saturday we helped decorate for a wedding. We gave it a nice touch with what we had to work with. Both companionships of elders had baptisms so we were there supporting them!

Sunday! Dia de Reposo!! And baptism :) Jose was baptized! His baptism was at 8 oclock in the morning. Then he and Jefferson were confirmed in sacrament meeting. We had 7 confirmations this Sunday! Sunday was full of miracles. We visited Jose and his family. His dad is warming up to us. We joked around, talked serious, and got to know him. He is being changed and his heart is being softened. We fixed and ate dinner together and spent time with them. During the lesson as the husband was saying he would like to be baptized and would go to church with us, Sandra kept looking at me with her eyes wide open. She couldnt believe it. She told me the other day that she believes in miracles and I told her that if she did her part, the blessings will come. And things are changing in that home. I love that family so much.

Well I loved this week. It flew by and was full of spirtual moments. Now I have changes so we will see where the Lord needs me now. Adios Paraiso!!

6/15/15

Hello to my loved ones back at home!

Monday we were together as a zone for the entire day! It was a long but fun day. We studied together then played musical chairs. A game that is so simple but we had lots of fun. I laughed and laughed. I loved it! I almost won. It was me and a different sister from Cali. We were walking in circles around 1 chair. haha I was getting dizzy. I am sure that is why I lost! Then we went to Pizza Hut to eat lunch. It was a good time as a zone!

Tuesday we had our zone meeting. It was a nice heart to heart. We actually started out by telling funny stories then we moved to the spiritual part. I was very uplifted and spiritually fed. There are always things to improve, especially as a full time representative of Jesus Christ. We talked about how we can better our personal study to study and prepare ourselves more for the investigators and their needs in that day.  

On Wednesday we visited a sister who we had invited her to be baptized the 14th of this month. Well we hadnt visited for about a week and as we were chatting with her, she brought up the 14th. She had that date in her mind and was preparing. We had to postpone the date until the 28th because she has to go to church but it was so great to see her faith and her desire to change. We also visited Marcela. She is so great, seriously. She began to tell us about how she wants to serve a mission. Also that she knows that God has blessed her with this gospel at this time in her life so that she can serve and share it with others too. And that she wants to help others like we have helped her.  Moments like that make it all worth it! 

Thursday was a good one. The best part was our Noche de Hermanimiento. We gathered together as members to learn more. The elders gave the message and they talked about the Sabbath Day and the Sacrament. We need to take the Sacrament each Sunday and we need to prepare ourselves throughout the week to take it. It needs to be a spiritual experience and we should always live worthy to partake of it and let the Atonement of Christ take affect in our ñives. Anyway, we played a game. We acted out different words and one person had to guess. It was played in Spanglish. We laughed and had a good time. I also got rejected big time! I tried to introduce myself and the family just kept walking and said something like "no thanks". haha oh the joys. 

A funny story- it is about a different sister here in the mission. She knocked on a door and said "hola, buenas". The guy responded saying "otra vez" (which means again) so the sister repeated herself saying "buenas" again. haha well the guy wasnt wanting her to repeat herself but was grumbling that the mormons were at his house again. He opened the door and thinking the sister was american yelled shut up in English! hahaha so funny. 

Friday we visited the family of a young man who is going to be baptized on Saturday. His dad finally listened to us. He normally hides but he stayed with us and listened. In the end he told us he would give permission for all of his children to be baptized. Slowly but surely he is being changed and one day, he will accept the gospel. The gospel really does change people.

Saturday we had an activity with the youth of the ward. I felt like I was back home with all of the young men and women. They played water games and then ate lunch. We also studied as a district. We talked about our investigators who arent progressing very easily. We thought of ideas and scriptures to help each companionship. An action plan to help our "problem children" :) Being a missionary is the best. 

Yesterday was a happy and sunny Sunday! We witnessed a miracle. A family who wasnt committed came to church on their own. It is the family of Marcela, who was baptized about a month ago. Their first time at church and they really enjoyed it. It was a miracle. We walked and walked on Sunday, talked to a lot of families in the street, and put a baptism date with Jose! 

It was a good and happy week. I hope you all have a great week. Love you all! 

Con mucho amor, 

Hermana Ferre  

6/8/15

Hello everyone!! This week was normal, nothing major happened. 

Monday we made pizza with the elders and a few members. It was about 3 hours of baking pizza. My job was the veggie slicer! Also Betsy taught me how to make the garlic sauce for garlic bread. And yikes, you dont want to know what is in it!! But it tastes good. 

Tuesday we had our district meeting. We talked about Christlike attributes. I learned that patience includes faith and hope and then endurance. I also learned that we need to humble ourselves and rely on Gods will. Everything in missionary work is thanks to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Everything that happens is according to the Lords will and the Lords time.

On Wednesday we found a girl. We got talking with her and began to teach that God exists. Imagine a life without knowing that God exsists. We explained it simply so that she could learn through the Spirit that God is our Heavenly Father and that Jesus Christ is our older brother and our Savior. 

Funny story, Savior in Spanish is Salvador. So my companion and I were teaching an investigator that there are 3 reasons for why we are baptized. 1: to recieve a remission of our sins. 2: to keep the commandments. And 3: for our love for the Savior. Well in Spanish number three is por amor por el Salvador. We then asked for which of those 3 reasons she would choose to be baptized. She got confused because she thought we were talking about the country. haha for the love of El Salvador. 

On Thursday we were greeted by Jefferson running towards us and gave us a great big hug from Jefferson. We had a funny lesson with him. We reviewed the commandments. We taught the Law of Chasity and then asked what is what we shouldnt or cant do before marriage. He responds "drink coffee" haha I dont know how much about chasity stuck with his 8 year old mind but at least he knows we shouldnt drink coffee. 

Well Friday was completely overcast and I loved it. It was such a nice break from the sun. We taught English classes. I laughed the whole time! I had a weird experience though. For cars to enter the church, we have to open a gate. Well someone rang the doorbell but we didnt have a way of opening the gate. We got talking to the people and the little lady is american and visiting from Utah. She was asking what time church was on Sunday so she could be there. It was fun to chat in English for a bit.  

So a few fun facts. 

1. Regular gas here is more expensive than diesel. Diesel is like 2.84 and regular is 3.20 or something like that. I just take the bus so I dont really know 

2. I was talking to an investigator. I learned that to study at the university here it is about $60 dollars a month to study in a private school. The public school is $4.50 each month. How crazy and how awesome is that??

Saturday was a long day. It was rainy and dreary and all of our appointments and plans fell through. The good news was that we began our fast with President and Hna Spjut. 

Well yesterday little Jeffer was baptized. The poor thing had to be baptized three times because his foot kept popping out of the water. In the end, it was a success. And dont let the pictures fool you, he really was happy.

Well last night I was feeling a little bit afraid so I said a pray for extra comfort and protection. We made it back to the house fine and dandy and then I began to search for a scripture to send home in this email. I was looking in the Book of Mormon when a thought came to my mind to look in D&C. Well I was flipping through random pages and I stopped on this verse: "And we ask thee, Holy  Father, that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them, and thy glory be round about them, and thine angels have charge over them." D&C 109:22 I felt so comforted and at peace. I am being watched over and protected by angels. Heavely Father hears and answers our prayers.

I feel so grateful and so blessed to be here as a missionary. The good and the bad, the mission is the best. 

I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!

Hermana Ferre 

Happy June! 6/1/15

ell what can I say? Another great week is in the books! And... HAPPY JUNE!

So first of all, pday was awesome. We did all of our errands and had time to chill out for a second in the house. One of our errands was printing out pictures. My companion and I were waiting for the pictures and talking up a storm. She asked me which of the frames I liked the best and then BAM! The shelf collapsed. haha oh my goodness.It was one of those moments where it fell, we caught it, and then one by one the frames continued to fall from random places. Luckily the elders helped out and nothing broke.It was so funny though, ooops.

Monday night we went with the Mena family to make and eat pupusas. 7 missionaries in one dinner appointment but hey, it is more fun that way! This family lives in the forrest. In the middle of nowhereñ no lights in the streets, no cars, no people. "And there was not any light seen, neither fire, nor glimmer, neither the sun, nor the moon, nor the stars, for so great were the mists of darkness which were upon the face of the land." 3 Nephi 8:22  haha anyway, as we left their house we could not see anything. There is a small pathway we have to take and on one side it is a ledge so my companion and I were walking like grandmas hugging the opposite side of the path. The elders finally decided to one go ahead and the other follow behind us. I seriously laughed the entire time. I found it so funny and couldnt stop laughing.

 

I have really noticed in my mission how many great people there are in the world. People with big hearts and a willingness to do whatever to help someone out. While I was in the bus with a few bags, one guy stood up and let me have his seat. Then the same day as I was leaving the bus, one of the bus workers helped me get off the bus. He grabbed my arm which technically isnt okay but it made my day that he was willing to give a helping hand.That is what is important! There are good people and lots of acts of service around us. 

Tuesday was such a great day. We had a multizone meeting. The mission doctor and his wife came to give tips and counsels on our health. The best part is that I knew them in the CCM and they are the best. They remembered me and I felt like I was seeing a friendly face from home. It made my day to see them. We did a few activities and then ended our meeting in a kneeling prayer. About 50 missionaries with Presidente y Hermana Spjut and Presidente said the prayer.It was a cool experience. 

We then went to work! Two of our invesitgators went to the mutual. They had a great time! As we were walking them home, each began to ask questions. Jose told Hna Cervantes that he has began praying to know if the church is true and that he is preparing to be baptized. Daniel told me he wants to serve a mission. He asked about a million mission questions and told me that he too would like to be baptized. It really was a miracle moment. When someone willingly offers up that they are preparing to be baptized and that they are sincerely searching for an answer, it is a miracle. Our ward needs young men and the Lord has placed these two young men in our path.

My companion and I got caught in another rainstorm. Within about 30 seconds of leaving an appointment, the rain hit. And the rain hits like no other. The streets were filled and we didnt have anything for shelter. So we began to run to our house. We booked it and my agenda fell out of my backpack and got SOAKED. So now I have a tie dyed agenda with wrinkled pages. It is a beauty. We then got home and had a bunch of bugs in our bedroom. We sprayed Raid but then realized we shouldnt sleep in there with the fumes. So...we moved our mattresses and we slept in our study room. Im telling you, Tuesday was a crazy day!

Wednesday was also kind of crazy. We had our weekly planning then went visiting people. We were in a more poor part of town. We knocked on a door and the dog from the house next door began barking. I began to back away because he clearly didnt want us nearby. Anyway,the dog may or may not have bit me. But the good news is that I still have my leg and it is all healed up!

 

On Thursday, I was so tired, We were in the middle of a lesson and I could barely keep my eyes open. I said the prayer and I swear my body was asleep while my mind was functioning enough to speak. It was the first time I have been that tired during a lesson. 

On Friday we had our English classes. We taught emotions! Then we had an activity. Noche de hermanimiento. Its like FHE as a ward. We had about 20 people. One of the members, Betsy, gave the message on how to strengthen the home to keep Satan out. It was great! We then played a game where there was a thing of flour shaped into a square. There was a piece of candy in the middle. Each of us took turns slicing a part of the flour. And whoever cut the last piece when the flour fell, had to get the candy out with their mouth. It was funny, everyone was nervous. haha 

The best part of Friday was our last lesson of the day. We visited Sandra with the Elders. She had doubts about a living prophet. It was such a spiritual lesson. We cleared up her doubts and explained that God doesnt change. He has always called prophets so there has to be one in these days. She explained some of the changes in her home from having the visits and the gospel. Her son is really involved with the youth wants to be baptized, she has the desire to go to church, read the Book of Mormon, and be baptized. Her husband who before didnt want anything to do with religion is openly talking about Sandra and the kids going to church. Church caused big fights before but now he is being supportive. I dont know if the husband will be baptized while I am here but this family is being changed and it is amazing to see them finding this gospel. This gospel touches peoples hearts and changes lives. 

Saturday and Sunday were good as well. Every day is good here in the mission! The members are great, we have a few progressing investigators, and there are blessings all around. I hope you all have a wonderful week.

LOTS OF LOVE!

Hna Ferre 

Oh and this is Jefferson who is going to be baptized on Sunday. 

Also she is Sister Province who came to visit!

5/25/15

Well pday last week was super fun. We played soccer as a zone then we all ate lunch together. Afterward my companion and I went to buy our food for the week. We went to a grocery store that I have never been to and oh my goodness!I felt like I was back at home.This grocery store was like the Target of all the Walmarts.They had things that I havent been able to find in other stores. Goldfish, Chili Powder, and Fruty Pebbles.I actually didnt buy any of it but I was so shocked. After buying our food we went to the church to hang out with some members and some elders. We celebrated a birthday and needed candles so we went on exchanges for 10 minutes and I went with a member in her car to buy the candles. It sure was nice to have a car! We then had a meeting with the Ward missionaries and us full time missionaries. After the meeting ended, the elders made pancakes.It was a laid back day. Gotta love pday!

 

So as missionaries we are teaching English classes. Every Friday at 4pm and it has been so much fun. We come up with different worksheets and activities to learn easier. I seriously laugh so hard. I am sure it was the same with my teachers and me when I began in Spanish but seriously, I was laughing so hard. We have a good time!

 

My highlight of the week was Marcelas baptism. She was so happy and looked beautiful. Her mom and sister came to support her. We visited with her after the baptism and she told us that she feels clean and feels new. We also bought a cake for her baptism but had to pick it up on Saturday because the baptism was on Sunday. We ordered it and then said we would be at the bus station at a certain time. Well the transportation here is by bus and some of the buses we need take forever to make the loop so we showed up late to meet the guy. THEN I went to pay and I didnt have my wallet. I was searching through my bag and nothing. Luckily I am somewhat prepared and I had a $20 in a different spot. All ended well but man I was so stressed.

 

We visited a recent convert family. Alex and Fatima. We read the Book of Mormon and I swear Alex understands it better than I do. Alex then said the closing prayer. He prayed and asked that we wil be able to find those who are in need of and searching for this góspel. It was such a sincere and humble prayer. The Spirit was so strong in that momento.

He then invited us to eat dinner with them. Fatima wasnt feeling well so my companion and I ended up cooking. I finally learned how to do refried beans. Simple and tasty!

 

My companion and I taught Plan of Salvation to a family while sitting in the Street. There were rocks, dirt, and ants running around everywhere but the Spirit was there testifying of the truth.

 

This góspel is amazing. There are moments each day that strengthen my testimony. Have a great week. :)

 

Lots of love,

Hna Ferre