Answered Prayers😇

 November 1, 2021

(I forgot to mention that last Tuesday we went to Sally’s concert. She played the violin and it was really good. Hna. Ramirez forgot her glasses so I let her borrow mine.)


This last p-day was super fun. We carved pumpkins as a district. I have learned that pumpkins are much cheaper at Walmart than the place we went. My pumpkin cost a whole whopping $12. I am officially broke until next week. I decided to carve Princess Lea from Star Wars😎. Hna. Marvin carved Marty McFly from Back to the Future. It took forever but it was worth it! Later that day we went and visited Maria. We finally got to meet Diego, Diego and Valentina's dad. He is super nice, but is just working all the time. Hna. Ramirez was in the lesson with us and helped out a lot. She is really good friends with Maria now.


On Tuesday, we had our Zone Conference!! It was great. Hna. Hanson gave her departing testimony!! That is my third companion so far that has done that. I learned so much. Sad this is that I do not have my notebook with me so I will write about that next week. We ate bbq for lunch. My favorite part was the mac and cheese. We did some role plays and received some other training. After it was over David came and met with President Monson. I was so stressed for what was going to happen. It went really well. David told him all the things that are going on and that happened in his past. The spirit was so strong and I was brought to tears multiple times. President Monson confirmed a lot of things for him. David was really surprised and so happy after. He told us that he wasn’t expecting that at all. President Monson said that David has waited too long to be baptized. It was such an amazing experience! After that we had a lesson with Johany, with Milvian, and then taught english class. My mom being the most amazing woman ordered some things for me at Walmart. We went and picked it up after class. Then I made potato salad at 10pm. It was great! I had never done it by myself before.


On Wednesday, we went and had another lesson with David. We talked to him about temples and he really wants to go! Then we went and saw Caren with Brother Bright. They weren’t there which was super sad. Brother Bright wore his missionary tag from way back when. It was super cute and cool. I sneezed while we were with Bro. Bright and he said, "Allergies?" "No, I just sneeze because of  bright stuff and the sun." Then he looked me directly in the eyes and said, "I make you sneeze." 😂 That was hilarious! After that, we went and saw Doris. It was an awesome lesson. Bro. Bright helped explain the Book of Mormon and some other things. Afterwards, we went to dinner with Brother and Sister Whitehouse with the elders. They took us to Los Mexicanos. Hermana Hanson and I had vowed to never go back to that place… well we did. I didn’t get the chimichanga this time. I got these enchiladas and it was a tiny bit better. They were super nice and want to set up another time to eat. Then we went and visited Marla and Martin with Brother Bright. We brought them a surprise dinner.  Hna. Hanson made Fiesta Chicken, I brought my potato salad, and Bro. Bright brought cookies and this pie for dessert. (Here is some background. We met Marla a while back. She wanted to set up a dinner or lunch with us. We had an appointment set up and she never responded back to us. We were going to be late to English Class, so we didn’t go. This other appointment apparently was set up too. We don’t remember doing that. In the end, things were communicated badly on both sides. We missed two meals that she had made/bought. We felt terrible. We wanted to show her we love her and make up for that. So we brought her dinner. Sorry that was long!) She was super touched and said she will never forget us. We all ate (our second dinner) and got to know them better. Brother Bright invited Martin to watch/listen to conference, he accepted and is excited!! After that, we went over to teach Luis and Reyna. We were able to make a better connection with them. Reyna told us of how she overcame cancer and has kept going. We talked about the Atonement with them and then they gave us pan dulce and abuelita chocolate caliente. It was awesome.


On Thursday nothing much really happened. Lots of not answered phone calls and other stuff. It was pretty rainy and dreary. We had dinner at the Mejias and it was delicious as always. They fed us this meat with potatoes and carrots, rice, and tortillas. For dessert we had a cinnamon tamale. Then we went and taught Johany and her kids. She was super distracted, so it was mostly Josue, Daylert, and Albert. They didn’t want us to leave and asked us when we were going to come back. After that, we taught English Class. Then we had a phone call lesson that went really good. We switched the sim card to my phone and the call just kept failing. We called the guy around 9 times, but we were able to finish the lesson.


It was super cold on Friday. The weather changed very quickly. It was wet and cold. Sometimes gloomy weather influences your mood. We felt like we had no energy, so we went on a walk. We finished planning for the upcoming week and set off to see some miracles. We prayed for one to happen and we had two. We went and visited Caren’s family. We were afraid if they still wanted to talk and see us. They were home and let us into their house. We gave them brownies and everything was great. We just were overthinking things. Afterwards we went and visited this address we had for a part member family. Hermana Hanson had put it in our schedule. It was dark and no one answered the door. As I was finishing writing a note, a car pulled up. She came out and talked to us. Her name was Millie Sanchez. She told us she was a member and invited us in. She told us while she was pulling up, she thought we were Jehovah’s witnesses. She was on the phone with her sister and her sister said, “It can’t be. They aren’t allowed to be out this late.” Hna. Sanchez opened up and shared lots of things with us. Turns out, she knows Maria Hernandez. The lady that we met with the breathing thing in her throat. She took her to church that one week!! We love her! She is the sweetest person ever. She has such a strong testimony and will not back down. We had been praying hard for a miracle that day and she was our miracle.


The Mejia’s daughter has been trying to take us to lunch for a while. She took us out to a burger place called “Bakery and Burgers” on Saturday. I had been craving a nice burger for ages. I got the Spartenburger. It was a double cheeseburger something. I got one of the patties as a veggie patty. Laura likes that a lot. I prefer the meat, but it was good😋.  After that, we went to visit Maria. She had signed up on the meal calendar to feed us when she came to church. It was super sweet of her. She fed us this meat, beans, rice, and handmade tortillas. She is from Guatemala but learned to make Mexican food when she worked in a restaurant. After that, we had a lesson with Daniel and Brother Bright. Daniel played his guitar for us! He is the first Hispanic that I have ever seen play an instrument (I think). Brother Bright played us a song called, “The Apple Tree.” Then we went outside to join the Trunk or Treat. It rained and poured, so we were all underneath the pavillion eating chili and sipping apple cider. We moved the kid games inside. Once that we finished, we went and did the trunk or treat. A guy brought some really cool lightsabers. It was awesome. We had a duel! I want to get me one of them because it was so cool and fun. I defended and fought harder than he thought I would have. Even with the rain and cold it was still fun. Alex and his friends came and joined us during it.


Sunday was super awesome! David and Esteban came. I was prepping the translating equipment when I saw Hermana Sanchez (Millie) and Maria Hernandez walked in! I was so happy and excited to see them. Then I translated sacrament meeting. I am not the greatest, but I tried. Hermano Mejia spoke in Spanish. Brother Bright translated that into English, so I was happy to sit and watch. We thought it was Spanish Sunday School... wrong. I translated our giant combined Sunday School. It actually went really well! We talked about Light the World. Bro. Bright, being so nice, gave us three bags of cookie dough. We proceeded to eat some of it in the car. The bags specifically said "Do not consume raw" but we ate it anyway. Afterwards, we went and visited Hermana Sanchez again. She made us Quesadillas for dinner. For dessert she gave us a mango and strawberry salad and ice cream! She invited us to come over and do a family home evening with her daughter. She told us that Hermana Hernandez like coming to our ward, so they are going to keep coming!😄After that, we went to a Halloween Party at Bishop Andersen’s house. It was fun. We ate more chili, cornbread, and dessert. We were able to get to know more of the members. Then we raced over to our lesson with Adan, Luis and Reyna’s other brother. We were going to stop teaching him, but we changed our minds. He knows a lot more than we thought. He has met with missionaries before and wants to keep doing it! He told us that he is going to come to church!


For my spiritual thought today I just wanted to bear my testimony. The other day Esteban called. He told us he didn’t see the importance of the Book of Mormon. I bore my testimony of it. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. It is something that shows me that Heavenly Father loves all of his children. The heavens aren’t closed, they are wide open.  I have received so much peace and answers to my prayers through it. How do I know it is true? I know because I have read it and then I asked my Heavenly Father if it was true. I felt and knew that it was true through the power of the Holy Ghost. When I read it, I feel better and happier. I know that we need the Book of Mormon and the Bible together.


Sorry for such a long email! I love you all and hope that everything is going well!😊


Here are some pictures!:

 

Birthday parties🥳 & dinner galore😯

October 25, 2021

 Well this last Monday we didn't do very much. We went shopping and prepped for Hna. Marvin’s birthday. I bought her a jumanji board game, so hopefully that will be fun. Later that night, we went and visited Luz and her family. It was a fun lesson with a puzzle to represent the Apostasy. 

On Tuesday we had our DCM. It went really well. For lunch, we ate at a place called Broncos Mexican Restaurant. It was pretty good. I got a chimichanga. Then we went and visited some people. One wasn't interested and the other answered the door holding her naked child. That was pretty funny. We met a lady named Milvian. She is just the absolute sweetest. We sang her a song with the ukulele and she opened right up. She wants to learn more about God and English. She has the cutest daughter. Afterwards, we went to Colecio’s house for dinner. Hna. Colecio fed us Tinga. I love that stuff! It is chicken with this red juice/sauce over a tostada with sour cream and lettuce. We taught them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and hopefully their 8 yr old daughter will get baptized soon. Before English class that night, we stopped by this one house. We were set up a lesson with this one guy and then his friend came over. His friend wanted to do one as well. There was a heavy blanket of awkwardness during this whole thing. Later that night, I made two pies. I got out some frustration after an interesting call with Esteban. He is very confused and doesn't know what he wants. 

We went and visited Doris on Wednesday. It was a really good lesson and the spirit was strong. It was cool to see Hna. Marvin progress in her teaching skills. Then we went and visited Caren and her family. It had been a little while since we had been in touch. They let us right in and invited us to their giant birthday party. As we were teaching, Angel (the husband) told us that he wants to get baptized! We are so excited to help him. After this our day fell apart for about two hours. We needed gas, wrong turns were taken, and people are psychotic drivers here. Hna. Hanson couldn’t take it anymore, while Hna. Marvin and I are cracking up hysterically watching this. We got ice cream from a place called Hounis, a Little Caesar Pizza, and finally gas. After that we went and had a pretty good lesson with Bella. She is having a hard time. She is ready to be baptized but doesn’t understand the word of wisdom fully. Jerlinson and Natalie invited us over again. It has been cool to see them reach out to us and invite us over. We are hoping that they will accept more of the things that we teach. Jerlinson gave us another one of his coconut things. Natalie said his favorite things all include some form of coconut and I’m not surprised. It was actually good. Then we went to visit Marla and Martin. Marla is a member and we have been trying to meet Martin who is not. Bro. Bright tagged along with us and the lesson went great. We got to know them much better. This weird looking cricket interrupted the lesson. All six of our legs went up at the same time.

On Thursday, we went over and had a lesson with David. He had been asking for another apple pie and he kept his no drinking coffee for a week plus challenge. So Wednesday night I made him a pie and it took FOREVER! It turned out delicious because I made a couple adjustments from the time before. He was super happy and gave us hot chocolate to drink with it. He wants to be baptized sooo bad. We are setting up a time for him to meet with President Monson. Afterwards, we went over to Milvian’s house again. We did a really good Bible study. We taught her some English. Hna. Hanson was nice and gave Ashley (her 10 yr. old daughter) some art supplies. Then we went and visited Lucero. One of the babies was laying on the couch right next to me. He kept kicking me with his feet. I started to play peekaboo with his blanket and he loved it. Over a couple of minutes he was laughing and normally he is silent. I just want to hold all these cute Hispanic babies. For dinner, the Mejias fed us this meat dish with rice. It was really good. I was having a hard time finishing that. Then they gave us a tamale and this pecan pudding stuff. I left very full. After we taught English Class, we taught Daniel. We taught him about the priesthood and it's organizations. The longest part of my day was the hour-long call. He called us and just kept going and going. I was so exhausted by the end.  

Friday was Hna. Marvin’s birthday!! We had such a fun time. For breakfast we had blueberry muffins. She wanted Arbys for lunch. The Arbys that we went to first wasn't even done being constructed so we drove to another one. The lobby was closed… but we found a really cute park to eat in. It had ducks, geese, a big pond, a bridge, and a gazebo😍. We ate and I just wanted to stay there all day. The trees out here are starting to change colors and I am so excited!! I remember how beautiful it was last year. Some of the trees are turning red and purple! Afterwards, we went to see Hermana Zapata. We told her we didn't have time to eat. When we walked in the table was set. We ate dinner with her and Gloria. Hna. Zapata told us that she is going to come to church again! After that, we had our actually dinner with the Mellors. They fed us French toast, bacon, eggs, hash browns, grapes, oranges etc.. For dessert we ate ice cream. They are just the cutest family ever. Very loud and fun children. It reminded me of growing up. There was show and tell, dress up, and 3 unexpected hugs from their middle child. He wanted to keep my watch and charm bracelet. Afterwards, we raced over to our lesson with Reyna and Luis. They gave us three carne asada tacos. We taught them about prayer and set up another lesson. They said we are going to have pan dulce and hot chocolate this time. Throughout the day we ate SO much. I felt like I had gained 10 pounds and I probably had. We went to bed very very full.

We went out to lunch with Macario on Saturday (We didn’t eat breakfast because we were still full!). He finally got home from Tennessee. He came dressed very nicely. When we walked in the hostess didn't see my companions so she asked, "party for 2?" Very quickly I said, "4 people!!"😅 We ate Mexican food of course. Macario ate a really spicy pepper and was sweating the whole time (and he said it wasn't hot, sure). We gave him a Book of Mormon and explained it to him. Then we went to two Mexican birthday parties. We went to Caren’s first. Anthony is turning 8 years old soon and Ashlyn is turning 12. It was awesome. They did it in Doris’s house and the living room was covered in decorations. They were playing Shrek 2, loud music and they had a disco ball. We ate tamales, rice, and some other things for dinner. They honestly brought enough food to feed 50-75 people. We gave the kids their presents and they got so excited. Never underestimate the power of chips, chocolate, and a picture of Jesus. Then, we went to the birthday party for Hermana Ramirez’s sister-in-law (the lady who told me to smash Sally’s face in the cake). We had to leave for futbol night for an hour. I kicked the ball around and star-gazed for a minute. After that, we drove back to the party and ate dinner again. We had tacos with chicken, rice, and beans. Dessert was a giant piece of tres leches cake. We drove home full (like the day before😂).

Yesterday went really well. I translated sacrament meeting and that was interesting. I wonder how much the people understood what I was saying. David, Daniel and Hermana Zapata came. During the sacrament I was really sad. These two families had told us they were coming and they didn’t. I just want everyone to receive all the blessings that they can. Afterwards, we went and had a lesson with Esteban. We aren't going to visit him for 2-3 weeks so he can figure out what he wants. Then we went and visited a lady named Irlanda with Hna. Rosas. I could not for the life of me understand what she was saying. Maybe it was a consequence of my food coma from the days before. Hna. Marvin was fighting to stay awake during it. Hna. Hanson and I talked after how we both didn’t understand. Later, we went and visited a guy named Jesus. He was really nice. We followed him from Walmart to his apartment in our car. It was gated so he had to let us in. What started as us thinking we were just teaching him changed to teaching him and his 3 cousins. They were waiting outside because they forgot their keys to get in. It went really well and we are going back next week. They said they are going to make us tacos. Turns out, one of the guys went to an English class three months back when we had first gotten here. We didn’t remember him… a little awkward. After that we went and visited someone else. It was even more awkward! They were eating at a table outside. We asked them what they like to do and the sister said be borrachos. That was hilarious. We taught them about prayer and are going back. We don’t know how interested they actually are.

 

I wanted to share with you all the study that we did with Milvian. We read Matthew 4:17-20. It is when Jesus is calling some of his 12 apostles and they are out fishing. In verse 17 the first words that Christ said in his ministry were, "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Repentance is the process of us becoming better people and more like Christ. Some of the questions I thought of while reading 18-20 were: What are some of our nets? What can we do to leave them behind and follow Jesus Christ? I just want to invite you all to think about this. I need to do it too. :)

¡Les quiero! ¡Espero que tengan una semana muy buena!😊

 

Here are some pictures!:

Miracles & Elote

 Well hello again!

This last Monday was super fun! We had a zone p-day at a park. We played kickball, soccer, and ultimate frisbee. I accidentally kicked a ball right where my giant bruise is still. Needless to say, it has turned back purple and I’ll probably have it for the rest of my mission. Later that night we went and visited Luz and her family. Mia, her daughter, is finally warming up to us and joined the lesson. (I have been helping her with reading and writing sentences for the past couple of weeks.) We talked about the Atonement and did a little object lesson. We used water in a bowl, dumped pepper on it, and then dropped dishwasher soap in it. The soap moves the pepper outwards and down. We related the water to us, the pepper to sin, and the soap to Jesus Christ. Through him we can push our sins away and become a better person.

Tuesday we had our DCM and it went really well. We talked about something I love… CHARITY! The gospel of Jesus Christ is love. True Christianity is love in action. How do we manifest that love to God? By showing love to others. We did an activity where we changed “charity” to “Christ” in Moroni 7: 45-46. I loved the last part of 46 it said, “Wherefore, cleave unto Christ (charity), which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail-” I am trying to become better at this in my life. Something I’ve learned is the importance of serving others. It isn’t always easy to do. People aren’t nice sometimes. No matter how many times you do something, you never get a thank you and lots of other things. All that doesn’t matter. We serve others and have charity because we love God. I just want to invite you all to cleave/hold onto Christ and charity. After that, we went and ate lunch at Lil Piggies BBQ. It was really good. I got a BBQ pulled pork sandwich, fries, and corn on the cob. Then we drove up to Gaffney and taught a lesson to Esteban. We taught him about living prophets and Hna. Rosas pretty much taught most of the lesson. It was what he needed. Later that night, we taught English Class. We met a lady named Crystal, who wants to come to church! We are excited to see how that goes. 

We had exchanges on Wednesday!! I finally got to go to Columbia. It was super awesome and I learned a lot. I went with Hermana Oyler and Eubanks. We went and visited some people and sang with their ukulele. (I might end up buying one because Hna. Maxfield left and took hers, and Hna. Hanson is going home soon with hers.) Singing really does bring the spirit and touches peoples’ hearts. We got to their apartment and had a late lunch. I attempted to learn how to play the flute. It is a lot harder than it looks! It takes some lung power. For dinner we went to this place called Manny’s. We got elotes and mexican shaved ice. It was awesome. Elotes are the corn with chili powder. The, “Get that corn outta my face,” corn from Nacho Libre. Both things were delicious and I can’t wait to get them again! Then we went and taught this cute family. We played down by the banks and the kids loved it. To end the night, we got free hot chocolate from their gym and drank it while we told stories.

Thursday morning, we exchanged back and went to a late lunch with Daniel. He is someone we are teaching english and the gospel. He is just the sweetest. He took us to his two favorite places. We got Huaraches for lunch and then ice cream for dessert. Huaraches are pretty much giant sopes with beans, steak, and avocados. I would definitely recommend eating it. Then we had dinner with the Mejias. Don’t eat a late lunch and then early dinner, it doesn’t go well. I could hardly eat anything and knew if I ate more I would definitely throw up. Eric looked at us and said, “What do you think you are doing? You know wasting food is frowned upon down here.” It was hilarious. Hna. Mejia being the sweetie she is, let us take our leftovers with us. Afterwards, we had a Relief Society activity. We made trees with hot glue on a canvas and then painted over it. We tried to finish it really fast because English Class was right after. Daniel stayed after and we taught him about living prophets! 

We were able to go and visit Lucero on Friday. It had been a couple weeks since we had seen her. We also taught them about living prophets. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We had prophets in ancient times, so wouldn’t it make sense to have a prophet today. After that, we weekly planned and went to Hna. Zapatas house. She made us Spaghetti, patacones, salad, and garlic bread. We invited her to church and she said she would try to come. Then we had a lesson with Doris and her daughter. After, we zoomed over to this member. Her name is Maria. She is super adorable. She had this cancer so she has a tube in her throat now. She can’t talk, but can mouth words. Reading lips in Spanish is super hard, but we were able to get the gist. I asked her if she wanted the sacrament brought to her and she said she wanted to go to church. She was able to go! 

On Saturday, we went and visited Brother Bright. He is doing better everyday. He gave us ice cream and played us his harmonica. He can’t wait to help us in lessons with his Spanish that he learned on his mission a long time ago. We went and had a lesson with David. He is doing really well. He hasn’t drank coffee in two weeks, so we will be making him an apple pie. Then we went and played fútbol. It was freezing and I re-bruised my ankle yet again. It ended up being good because I was able to talk to someone about the difference between churches and temples and a lot of other things. The climax of our night was our Circle K lesson with Wilson. We had just had Wendys for dinner at 8:40pm and drove straight there. It was freezing outside, so he bought us hot chocolate. The guy at the cash register offered us a job because we speak and understand Spanish. We taught our lesson as we sipped the hot coco.

Sunday was great! Daniel, Bella, and David came to church. Hna. Zapata was able to come! When I saw her walk in I about cried. I have been praying for miracles and that was one. It made me so happy! After that, we went and taught Johany, Emilio, and their family. We brought them cookies, and I have never seen 9 cookies disappear so fast. They promised us that they are going to come to church next week! They are super awesome! We went to have a lesson with Luis and he wasn’t there. It made me laugh because he asked us if we would actually be there and he wasn’t. His sister Reyna invited us over for tacos on Hna. Marvin’s birthday on the 22nd. Afterwards, we went over to Bella’s house. She got a priesthood blessing and will hopefully receive the things she is needing right now. 

Here’s the link to the video we watched in a couple of lessons. It is super good and you all should watch it! 

The Will of God

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/video/inspirational-messages/2012-01-014-the-will-of-god?lang=eng

Here's some pictures!: