Hello, New Beginnings New Duties

"Now is the time for members and missionaries to work together, to come together, to labor in the Lord's vineyard, to bring souls unto him" -President Monson

this is the last new member lesson we had with Silvester ans my last time teaching with  y hermana Arevalo

We had the best Family night (f.h.e) ever!! with Roxana and her three children, her husband and good friend of hers who is a member from a different branch. COol right she took initiative to invite others to come over for family time! that was exciting and plus she loves inviting our investigators to it all the time, she is the perfect fellow-shipper. We had a lesson on hte importance of praying as a family and studying the scriptures by topic. I gave them all a topics such as faith, hope charity, love etc. and they paired up in teams we had htem look under the GEE or Topical guide read the definition and look up scriptures, analyze them and share it with the group. We were having so much fun, especially the girls because they love to teach , for they want to be missionaries when they grow up :) The love of God was felt in that home and the sister that came bore a lot of powerful testimonies, about how before she was a member she was quiet and she asked Him to help her with her shyness and weaknesses and he answered her prayer and gave her the confidence and knowledge she needed to share  her testimony in fast and testimony meeting and now she takes up everyones time. she also fasted and prayed for someone to be preserved in the wilderness and ans angel gave him food and water and he made it home safely and since that time forth she knew that Heavenly father loves her and listens to her as long as he is a good girls and asks in faith, she also mentioned her conversion story, the point is that she bore her testimony about several different things, they were powerful, but that also made us a tad bit late for our next appointment. I extended the invitation for the husband or soon to be husband to follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized along with his family. He accepted and he also expressed his appreciation towards us for teaching his family and how he feels the difference with the harmony in his home, Roxana also expressed her desire to be like the teachers in Relief Society, she wants to be like them, teach with power, knowledge and with the spirit. Furthermore, she talked about the blessings she receives from feeding us:) how before her food will not last and now she saves money and buys the same amount of food, yet it lasts a lot longer and she knows Heavenly Father blesses her family because she feeds us with love and all her heart. She expressed how much they all love us as part of their family, it made us so happy because we are so far away from our real families, but these children of God makes it so worth it to be out here and have that privilege to teach them and invite them to come unto Christ,

We left the lesson feeling inspired and with a stronger desire to teach and keep the commandments :)

As you know as missionaries we get transferred a lot, so my companion went to strengthen another area and a sister that needed her help to be better, i am staying in Phoenix as a Sister Training Leader which is equivalent to a Relief Society President, what they do is be in charge for a group of sisters and help them become into Preach My Gospel missionaries and make sure they are ok in different aspects of their well being, we get to go to trainings with the Mission President and his leaders like the Assistants and Zone Leaders and in return train the other missionaries in our zone. I also get to do exchanges to evaluate the sisters' work. It's very good. I'm looking forward to learn and become better, because I know the Lord calls the weak and the simple :) 

I have a new companion, her name is Hermana Faw from Idaho, she just turned 20 and has a relaxed easy going personality, I look forward t learning a lot from her. I need to help her a lot with her Espanol.

 Family time! with the Radiant  Blanco family at the Curiel Family. We had a after baptism lesson disguised as a family home evening on how the importance of Prayer and scripture study again :) but this was simpler because Blanca has a lot of little ones. They all looked so much better they continue to impress me, i love watching them grow spiritually. They are cleaner, more awake, more reverent, more confident, happier and amazing! my heart rejoices as I am telling you these things. Last Sunday we went over to their house later than usual because we have always help them all get ready for church, but we wanted to see if they will be self reliant and responsible by getting up on time and getting ready on their own. We went over there and they were all ready and what a relief that was, they've come a long way. 

Janet at the end of the lesson, gave a little lesson she prepared on the Law of Chastity and did so great, confidence. Blanca bore her testimony about how happy she feels now that she reads and prays everyday and its glorious. she feels renewed and forgiven. You can see it the way she is with her children and her priorities. I love them. 

in the middle of the lesson baby David was crying so Hermano Curiel had him draw on the board and he got happy again, afterwards we all ate donuts and cookies :)

I have a lot more stories but don't have enough time.

toodles.

here is a cute picture, enjoy.

Silvestre's Miracle !!!!

this man is the best man ever, although he didn't get baptized when he knew the church was true and investigated the church for four years,he is so so special and is always looking out for other and picks up opur investigators for church every week, takes us to all firesides and temple trips and he is so sweet and respectful, as I've told you be

this man is the best man ever, he is the one that has been investigating the church for four years,he is so so so special and is always looking out for others, he picks up our investigators for church every week, takes us to all firesides and temple trips and he is so sweet and respectful, as I've told you before he is our grandpa!

  

this is a donut breakfast for Stake Correlation Meeting :) so this is a pictures of most of our zone. I LOVE them so much they are literally my family

ok my week : we went to Camelback Mountain this morning two elders kept encouraging me because i was dying, but they didnt let me rest ans i had to keep the pace of the first group, it was hard but i made it to the top with the winning team!

this elder looks like Jim Carey 

here am I doing the Titanic. 

ok really my week was wonderful: first i need to share a really cool testimony my recent convert Jenny bore.

she was talking to her neighbor about Joseph Smith and her neighbor responded very colorfully and said "how can you believe in that, where does it say that in the bible?!"

she didn't say anything, but she did pray to ask God if he truly was a Prophet. The next day, we apparently came over ans mentioned something about him and in her words she said "I felt in my heart that he helped God to bring his true church back on the earth"

the next day her neighbor asked her if she still believed that asn with confidence she said " i know it is true because i asked Him and I felt it in my heart"

My companion ans i were so incredibly happy when she told us that, especially because she exercised her faith and asked if something was true, that means because she has done this she will keep relying in God to help her with her challenges, doubts, fears and will always trust that if she lives worthy of the spirit she can always have that peace and joy and guide in her life. What a blessing it is to hear that sweet lovely testimony!

we went to the temple with Catalina, the mother of Blanca!!

at first she hated us, never said a word to us and after the baptism of her whole household ans after we went to the temple in Gilbert, the kids couldn't stop talking about it and showed Gramma pictures of it and said how much they loved it, then she had a desire to go and also was nicer to us, she even came out during our lesson one day and told us of the profanity the girls use and how they shouldn't be speaking that way when they are learning about the gospel and she was really concerned about it. We all helped her understand that we start to change little by little and as they study more and especially the pamphlet of  For the Strength of Youth, they will example of the believers in word, in charity, in purity, in love at all times.

The Blanco Family's Special Day

 this week the rest of Blanca's children that were eligible for baptism got baptized. Jennifer the 13 year old prayed about it and knew that is what she needed to do. That strengthened my testimony because i know that, when someone truly wants to know what to do about any hard decision, heavenly Father will help you if you trust him. Jose the 8 year old told us he wanted to, but when we went ot go teach them about the word of wisdom and tithing he had a bad day and didn't even want to look at us and said he did want to anymore, we were sad.  That night we helped make the programs for the baptisms and assigning people their jobs, we told the branch presidency that was there that jose changed his mind and Hermano Curay was surprised as we told him that he seemed like he hated us. he said that jose loved him and was super nice to him, because the Curay family is really involved in their fellow shipping so this family really loves them. he offered to come to a lesson with us with him tomorrow so that he can teach him. The next day he toook a break from worka nd came to teach the son with us, but when we got there he told my companion and i that he wants to get baptized, we were all jumping for joy.

the next little angel that got baptized is Luz Elena she is 9 years old :)

after her interview the district leader said " these adorable little angels are so ready for baptism." she felt the spirit as she was praying with him in the interview testifying to her that the church is true. I felt so happy as she told is that!

We went to Deseret Industries to go shopping for the Blanco family so they can have church clothes , the bishop filled out an order for them. we got permission to go and it was so fun. Choosing clothes for a family of 8 is no easy task, especially when each one gets 4 different outfits, it was fun tho i was like super women, the best part is that each piece of clothing is only 3-4 dollars! JEnny the oldest did not like the idea of wearing skirts and said that she never will, so my companion and I prayed a lot so that she will change her mind and.......MIRACLES..... happen, she loved the clothes we chose out for her and we committed her to wear it to her baptism that night, they all wore their new clothes and don't they look amazing!!!

Last night we had a great miracle happen, we were working with this eternigator that has been coming to church faithfully for 4 years and didn't to let some things go, so we dropped him and even though he called us every night so we can come teach him and go out to eat with him ( he is our Grandpa) and as much as we wanted to because he is so fun and funny , we couldn't because we knew he will never get baptized if we did, tough love i know. 

last night we talked about baptism again.. and he said he want to and so he finally be following the example of Jesus Christ. He is the best!

yesterday during fast and testimony meeting , we were all sitting together and when it was open for people to come up , iwas encouraging the girls to go up there, they really wanted to but hesitated to becaue they were too shy, they asked me what a testimony was and i told them it is telling someone how you know the gospel is true how it helps your life. you can also share how you feel after you got baptized , so they followed me up and so did my companion, we both went first and then the girls her mother had been out in hte foyer with her baby and when she heard my voice she came inside, ans when her daughters bore their testimony she started to cry, she was touched by those simple yet powerfull testimonies. They are such great examples, and it proves that they were so happy and wanted to share it with others! I had to thank all the members for helping us in this work, for if it wasn't for them we wouldn't be having any success.

today we woke up early to go help her family make tamales so she can save some money for her rent this month,  it was fun! as we were all making them, their grandma who lives there sometimes told us that janet the 11 year old said " when i grow up i am going to be a missionary" she empahzized that she didn't say i want to be a missionary, she had already made up her mind that she will be one. you could not belive the joy we felt!!! what a blessing!