2/23/2015

Hello hello family and friends!

 Another week is in the books. Time is flying by. I can{t believe it! This week was a good one. There is always something good to focus on, right? This week we had changes so it was a crazy week full of adjustments. My new companion is Hermana Garcia. She is 22 and from the Dominican Republic. Her and I were in the same District in my other area and now we are companions! She has a fun personality and we have been working hard together and seeing miracles. As a mission, we all fastedSaturday to Sunday. We have a goal as a mission to baptize 1600 in the year which means 2 baptisms each companionship each cambio. We met as a District to begin and end the fast. One of the blessings my companion and I had from the fast was we had 7 investigators attend church yesterday. The best part is that all of them came on their own, because they wanted to come. It made me realize that really this is the Lord{s work. There are people who are prepared. And by our small sacrifices we really can witness miracles. 

So a story from when I was with Hna Roa. We were walking and walking. Then we walked some more. We knocked on doors and contacted in the street for the entire afternoon. We had appointments that fell through and we literally were walking in a giant circle. We decided that we would go back to the first house and try to find the hermana again. She was home! Hermana Araceli. She is so sweet. We got to know her and taught Plan of Salvation because her mom passed away. At the end of the lesson we asked her to say the closing prayer. As she prayed, she prayed for us as missionaries then she prayed for our families. She asked to "bless their families in Utah and Columbia". When she prayed for my family back in Utah I felt the Spirit so strong. With chills and everything!I feel so blessed that she not only thought about me but about my family back at home. Then we went to the second appointment that fell through and he was home! His name is Cesar and he really is a miracle. I prayed that day before we left the house that we could "ver un milagro" and my prayer was answered. The Spirit was so strong during our lesson. We invited him to church and to be baptized and he told us yes to both. We havent put a date on him but I know without a doubt that he is prepared and ready for this gospel. 

Whenever my companion and I cross the busy streets, we of course use caution but always cross and say [con fe![ The funny thing is that we were with Hermana Estelita. We went to cross the street and Hermana Roa and I began to cross.I don{t think Hermana Estelita would have crossed in that moment if she was alone so Hermana Estelita started to run. She shuffled right along.This little abuela shuffling along next to us. It was the funniest thing. My companion and I laughd and laughed.

 

We had intercambios the other day. I was with Hermana Cutler! She is from Utah also. It was fun to talk in Spanglish.Imagine two gringas in El Salvador' we stood out. We visited a member, Hermana Berta Brass. She speaks English because she lived in San Fransico for 47 years. She told us how she learned English. She taught herself by reading the Bible in English. One day her son said to her husband, "what am I supposed to call you, thee or thou?" I thought it was so funny. Our lesson with her was a fun change of pace. She spoke all in English and we responded in Spanish. I understand mostly everything in Spanish but it was refreshing to really understand everything without having to focus and concentrate super hard haha. 

We had interviews with Presidente and house checks with Hermana Spjut. We cleaned the house so well and mopped the morning of interviews so the house would smell good for Presidente and Hermana Spjut. The first thing Presidente did when he walked in was comment about the cinnamon scent. We passed with flying colors, did not miss one point!

All in all, this week was a good one. We worked hard and we are seeing some good results. Enjoy your week. :)

Week 17!!

Hello hello, family and friends! Happy Monday!

"A picture might be worth a thousand words but a heart can be changed with one. Lives are shaped and minds are changed by what is said or what is not. And there`s a shortage in this world of I believe in yous. And somebody somewhere needs some. So SAY LOVE." Happy Valentine`s Day! I hope everyone has a great Valentine´s Day. :) 

A member in our ward, her mom passed away. We were with the Bishop visiting her and something crazy happened! The member, Martha, owns a tienda (store) and it is in her house. Her daughter was working in the tienda and this old, grumpy, and I think homeless lady comes to the window to buy toliet paper. The lady hands it through the door, takes the money, and says she will be back with the change. 30 seconds later, the lady working comes back to the window and throws the money at the old lady. The old lady walks away as if nothing happened. It turns out, the old lady "paid" with a piece of metal. How horrible it that!! I felt so bad. They are dealing with a death in the family and then this lady does that to them as well. 

We have a hermana who always feeds us dinner. For Family Home Evening last week we ate popcorn with fried hot dogs and fried platano, all mixed together. It was strange but it wasn´t terrible! This same hermana, Hermana Estelita, the funniest thing happened with her. At mutual the other day, we say the opening prayer, everyone says amen and then Hermana Estelita stands up and begins to pray again. It was sooo funny. She was supposed to give a spiritual thought but she heard a prayer. The funniest part is that she said amen to the first prayer. 

We are working hard. Our area is still struggling but we are working to lift up the area and the ward. We are working with the Bishop, the ward mission leader, and the Elders. We are working but we are also having a good time while we do it. A lot of laughing and a lot of jokes.

The people here are wonderful. I feel so blessed to be here in El Salvador serving and for the opportunity I have to know these people. I love being a missionary! 

I hope everyone has a great week and enjoys Valentine´s Day! Thank you for all of your love and prayers. 

Con mucho amor, 

Hermana Ferre 

Un Milagro! 1/19/2015

Hello everyone! This week was good. 

Last Monday after I wrote, we played volleyball as a Zone. Then we went to lunch as a Zone and had a hamburger and fries. Then the hermanas all went shopping and had ice cream. It wasn´t a very healthy day but it was fun. We weren´t in the house at all on p-day so I hope today we can have a little more time to relax! 

We had our weekly Zone meeting on Tuesday. It was so spiritual. They shared the missionary story that I shared at my Farewell. They had us close our eyes and picture everything in the story. They then had us read our patriarchal blessings and ask ourselves if how we are living and serving right now is worthy of the blessings we are promised. It made us all think and motivated us all to get to work and work hard! 

We have a new lady for our lunches, Hermana Chamul. Her food is really good. It is a lot healthier than my other cook. She is all about healthy, tasty food with a fancy presentation. 

The weather is getting hotter. I really have no idea what season it is here. All I know is that in this new area, it is hot. And people keep saying the worst is still to come. I will just have to find out for myself because everyone keeps saying different things about the weather. 

Everyone says that missionaries come home different. Some things that have changed with me is 1. I sleep with only one sheet. Which never happened at home. 2. I eat apples (sometimes) 3. And I eat pancakes for dinner (surprising huh, Karleigh?). So basically I am a different person. 

Things are good in El Salvador. We are working hard trying to find the people who the Lord has prepared for our message. They are here, we just need to find them. We committed 6 people to church this week and not one of them showed up. However, a member in the ward had a friend who was interested in our message and we had tried multiple times during the week to find and teach him but he was never home. Anyway, the invesitgator, Oscar, wasn´t committed to church but he showed up and he stayed for 2 of the 3 classes. It was a miracle! We also taught him yesterday and he said that if he feels that our message is true, he will be baptized. So we are very hopeful with him and good things to come! 

I hope everyone has a wonderful week! Thank you all for your love and prayers. 

Con mucho amor, 

Hermana Ferre 

Hola!

 This week was really quite fun! We did a lot of laughing. Our work right now still isn´t progressing very much. All of the people we contact in the streets live out of our area and none of the members have references for us. This week we did a lot of visiting with the members and menos activos. Our Bishop is really motivated and willing to help us with our work. He called a new ward mission leader who is awesome. We had a meeting last night with return missionaries, with us, and some other members. We came up with ideas and a plan of action so things are going to progress! Our ward and our area has 4 missionaries. Us and the Elders. 

We have two investigators who are progressing. Mariela and Oscar. We are working with them and they both have a desire to learn more. Mariela´s mom is a different religion and the Elders told us that if we attended a meeting in their church that we would gain more of the confidence and trust. So...we did. The four of us missionaries went to Mariela´s house where her mom was holding church. It was the strangest experience of my life. They began by praying then stood for 10 minutes singing songs. People were crying and praying during the songs. They then stated their motto, and they couldn´t remember it! Then a small message. Then they ended with passing around a basket for tithing and two prayers. It was probably a good half hour of praying. It was strange and it strengthened my testimony even more about the Restoration. The importance of the restored church and the restored priesthood authority in the earth. 

This week we had our zone meeting and we watched a video. It was a football player who had to go the whole distance of the football field with another player on his back. The coach was with him the whole way, cheering him on, and he made it to the end. The story applies to us in our lives and how the Savior is always by our side. In all things in our lives, regardless of the challenges and problems we face, the Savior is always walking right beside us. He is always holding our hand, cheering us on, and picking us up when we fall. 

I am so grateful for my Savior and for this gospel. I have the opportunity to share the happiest message on earth with my brothers and sisters. A message of happiness, a message of hope, and a message of redemption. 

I hope everyone has a great week. I love you all! Thank you for everything. 

Hello Independecia!

Hello family and friends! 

So this week I had changes. We packed up our bags on Monday and then on Tuesday we cleaned our house and packed the rest of our things. Our house had to be painted and it was a disaster! 2 people packing to move and 2 other people in our house painting. We did a lot of shuffling around. Monday night we had dinner with some members, the Flores Family. I guess they take all of the missionaries out to dinner when they have changes. It was fun and it was nice to eat pizza haha. 

On Tuesday we said all of our goodbyes. Then came Wednesday! I seriously was dreading changes because it is a pain to pack up and move all our crap. It was seriously so funny though! Hermana Najera and I had sooo much stuff. We had to get it to the Stake Center so we called a motortaxi. The motor taxi´s here are tiny but somehow we managed to get all of the stuff and ourselves into the taxi. It was a good laugh and a good time! 

My new companion is Hermana Roa. She is 22 and from Columbia. Our area is Independecia and it is super city. My other area was poor but this new area is just like being in the city. Tons of people, tons of cars. Stores and places to eat. We don´t have very many investigators right now but we are working on that. It is a constant work in progress! 

My new house is cool. When you walk in the front door, you walk into the room we study in. Then you walk out a glass door to the outside. You can either go straight into the kitchen or left and go up some outdoor stairs to our bedroom. It is a weird but cool. We don´t have hot water for the shower but we have a washer, dryer, and oven. So definitely some pros with this house. I will send photos next week. 

The members here are great. A lot of them speak English too so it is fun. We speak a lot of Spanglish. The members are very willing to help us missionaries. My first 5 days here I have had lunch and dinner. That was unheard of in my other area. We also had to find a new cook because the Elders are eating at the same house as us and that isn´t allowed. So we found a different member to cook our lunches. 

A funny experience- my other companion, Hermana Najera was learning English. We tried to speak in English at night in our house so she could practice. Anyway, they asked me to say the prayer in English to end planning. I started the prayer and I seriously couldn´t do it in English. It was the slowest prayer I have ever said and it was in my own language. My companions started to laugh at me during my prayer. It was really funny! 

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

Con mucho amor, 

Hermana Ferre

Adios Juayua!

Well what a week!

 

First of all, I have been living in a different country for a little over a month thinking it was winter here and that I was going to die of heat when summer came. Yeah, no, it is summer here. So that was great news when I found that out. I will survive!

 

We celebrated New Year´s Eve with some members who are like our family. They fed us dinner and then we had cake because it was my companions birthday. After we ate, we danced! It was super fun. We were in bed by 10:30 like obedient missionaries which was weird for New Year´s Eve. Our district leaders called us to wish us a Happy New Year and we were asleep haha.

 

This week we have changes. Not every missionary has changes and I found out this morning that I am going to have changes. On Wednesday we will go to a meeting and find out our new areas and our new companions. So today I get to pack my bags and get ready to move. New adventures ahead but I absolutely love my area, my investigators, and the members here. The Lord wants me somehwere new so I will go with a happy heart!

 

We taught a lesson this week to a family of investigators, the Aguilar Family. They are waiting for their papers to get married so they can be baptized. Anyway, our lesson was based on a talk about being ready to live with our Heavenly Father. In the talk it said, If you had an interview with the Savior in less than one minute, would you be ready? Would you be ready to look Him in the eye and say that you were ready to live with Him? It was a spiritual lesson.

 

I don't have a lot of time today, so next week will be a longer letter. I hope all is well, have a great week. And HAPPY NEW YEAR! I love you all.

 

Con amor,

Hermana Ferre

FIRST BAPTISM!!

This week was great. So many opportunities and memories made! 

We had a Christmas party as missionaries with Presidente and Hermana Spujt. As a Zone we danced and sang to Santa Claus is Coming to Town. We exchanged gifts, played games, and watched a short Christmas movie. It was so much fun- a lot more fun than I expected! 

The next day was the 24th and the 24th is when people here celebrate. They have parties with food and dancing. 

Christmas Day was the absolute best! It was our best working day this week and I got to see and talk to my cute family!! Best day ever. 

The other exciting thing is that I had my very first baptism!! TANIA GOT BAPTIZED yesterday after our church meetings. She didn´t have any family or friends there to support her. It was the missionaries, the Bishop who baptized her, and some members in the ward who participated with prayers and talks. It was a really small baptism but the Spirit was so strong. She came out of the water smiling and just glowing. It has been an amazing journey watching her change and grow in the gospel and then to see her enter into baptism. The Lord prepared her and He brought us to her. 

I love being apart of this great work of the Lord. We are simply instruments in His hands. Time is flying by! Sister missionaries have 13 changes in their mission and I have already completed 2 of mine. It is so crazy! 

Well..this year is coming to an end. It has been a year full of amazing oppotunites. I can´t wait to see what 2015 brings! I will share what I tell all of the people here. This life is our time to progress. We can´t be the same as we were yesterday. Every day we have to change and better ourselves to become more like our Heavenly Father. Our time is now, and it goes quickly. Our eternity depends on our decisions and actions in this life. Right now, today, tomorrow. So with the new year, set goals. Make changes in your life that will help you become better. And then become better. :) 

Thank you all for everything, I hope all is well at home! I love you all!!!