A New Sister Missionary to Train!

Here is me and my new companion!

So I am super excited that I get to train a new sister. I am helping her a lot with her Spanish and the twelve week training is so perfect because I get to relearn everything and now I cannot hide behind my senior companion anymore to teach testify and invite people in the streets or on their door step about the restored gospel, now i have to be more confident and be more knowledgeable. In reality i can tell the difference from the beginning to now in my confidence as a representative of our Lord Jesus Christ. I love the inspiration i get for my trainee to help her live up to her calling as a missionary,and as such, she has power and authority  to teach His gospel and bring many souls to repentance, but before we can do that we need to  be super obedient together, stay focused, teach people, not lessons, be organized, serve and have charity, and although we are not perfect, we need to strive to improve everyday and self evaluate and do the things that help us be more effective, for we cannot bring people unto Christ, if we are not converted unto Christ. :D

So we met this Fantastic man, well he was really nice, we were biking during the monsoon at night and we were soaking wet, ans he felt sorry for us so he invited us in ,but we couldn't because his wife wasn't home, so we made a cita appointment with him. We came back and he said and taught him the restoration and then he asked "so you only believe in the Book of Mormon and not the bible?"

We use the Book of Mormon and the Bible together, the Book of Mormon testifies that the Bible is true then we shared 1 nephi 13:38-39. it was perfect they work together to confound false Doctrine, he read it and we also read a paragraph in the intro of the Book of Mormon and he said pf coarse the book is true he was a really smart man, it sounds like the Bible hard to understand, in spanglish, we spoke both languages with him we randomly switched off, i tend to do that and so do our investigators, that's why i got called to teach these people, anyway He understood and said himself that the Book of Mormon ans the Bible go Hand in hand. We invited him to pray about it and told him that Jospeh Smith did not write the book, but it was a line of prophets in the Americas, starting with Lehi. We wanted him to gain a witness that it was true and gave him to read the gospel of Jesus Christ in 2 nephi 31 and Moroni 10:3-5. He said he will :)

Heavenly Father is teaching me that having charity is being patient.

A wonderful sister came with us to a lesson and she asked our investigator how she was doing. Then she told us her whole life story and why they wouldn't give her her children and why they wanted to take away the baby in her stomach once it was born, basically she has psychedelic mental problems and has depression that she wants to kill herself sometimes. My natural women was thinking oh gee how am i going to help this women and how is she going to learn self worth and i don't know if we should visit her anymore and  the other part of me was thinking well she is a child of God that really needs the gospel.

After we left the lesson the sister gave me some really good advice that helped me through my worries. She shared a story about how her husband converted to the gospel and how when we have a desire to follow Christ we want to change our lives to be more in harmony with his teachings, and how missionaries( they happen to be sister missionaries) have the power to promise blessings, that will come true as long as we have faith on both ends. He had schizophrenia, and once he got baptized he didn't have it anymore and whenever he feels anxious he reads the Book of Mormon and he is at peace again, wow pretty cool eeeh?

So she pretty much told me that we have to just teach her the gospel just like everyone else, except she will need you to be more patient, and he life can change when she accepts Christ, He can do miracles in peoples lives. And if i back out of of her life now, Heavenly father will look at my life movie in front of me and he will see how I was with this person and will judge me on how much patience and how much desire to help them I had. People say that missions are hard ,well now i know what they mean. i promise i will not give up on her.

I am really excited for tonight we have three lessons planned and one of them is with a less active and her 2 young daughters that want to get baptized, we are having Family Home Evening with them at a really cool members house and the point is that we want to show her that teaching the gospel can be fun and that the small and simply things brings beautiful things in our families like unity, love, the spirit and joy. Keep being awesome! and i love you all :) gotta go

A beautiful AZ sky!

Off to New Adventures!

Hello Friends and Family!

How is everyone?

Well this week has been super fun!  On Monday we trained a new sister , we got a batch of 22 new missionaries from the MTC and 7 from the Tempe Mission, 11 of those sisters and elders will be speaking Spanish, so exciting for the Scottsdale Mission!

Yesterday which was Tuesday was transfer meeting and i met who i will be training! Her name is Hermana Garret, she is from Utah,she is 21 and she is learning Spanish and is fresh out of the MTC ready to work! !

I love her we have so much in common, first we are on missions, we are both being humbled by the Lord, WE love spicy food, and we love healthy, but will not get to for 18 months, we both love to talk and work hard, we both love decorating the house of scriptures and spiritual thoughts, we both love banana bread, she is the first child in her family to go on a mission out of the 8 children and she is motivating me to work out more effective in the morning which is really needed and we set a goal to not gain any more weight , this transfer :)

I love her already she is great i cant wait to send you pictures of us next week because i didn't take any of us so far. We had a really spiritual companionship study session this morning. I really did feel unprepared and inadequate and excited and how am i going to do this, Train a NEW MISSIONARY! But i love our  mission President and his wife, he assured me that it was no coincidence, that we are together it was through revelation that we got put together . The Lord knew we will accept the call to go on a mission, where we will go, who will be our companions will be and has been preparing the people that we were men to come out and teach, The Lord knows our strengths and he puts us together to strengthen those things we need help with. He also said that we are always teaching, even when we are not teaching and that i will set her standards and her habits and how good of a teacher she will be for the rest of her mission,she is my number one convert, i need to show her to practice her  faith, work efficiently all day everyday, be exactly obedient, love others and the foundation of it all is to help her be converted unto Christ. I know  The Lord needed to me to do this and I can only do it with his help.

It is so interesting how small and simply things great things come to pass, during planning i put a name down and we were on our way to go see her, but first we stopped to get water at a members house and then  we went to go find her , but on the way and at that very moment, a former investigator was coming out of her car,we stopped to talk to talk to her and she said she was thinking about us and wanted us to start teaching her again, and shes been reading the Book of Mormon, we read with her and explained 2 nephi ch 2

then we came over another night and we taught her and her house boyfriend the gospel of Jesus and he is super funny! i love them both, so I might be planning a wedding soon, so they can get baptized!!!

Hmmm, who else, We have found lots of potential investigators, so hopefully they are willing keep commitments and follow the Savior.

We don't have any baptismal dates this month but working on it! 

love you all, thank you for the Prayers on my behalf and help the missionaries !!please even the young women! it will bless your life and it will inspire you to go on a mission! and reach out to those that need the blessings that they used to have when they came to church! :D so important!

The New Mission President... President Sweeney!

HOLA AMIGOS!

As you know I am now in the Scottsdale mission and we just met our new Mission President and his wife, President and Sister Sweeney! they are amazing!

So we are going to get a whole new set of rules and more missionaries! which i might be training once i am done with my training. All new missionaries go through a  twelve week training program, which really helps a lot, in it we practice how to teach simply, practice lessons, practice teach testify and inviting in less than five minutes, learn how to use the scriptures when teaching, which i think is one of my strongest skills as a missionary, but there is so much more than that to be an effective missionary!!, and many other fun things like watching the district, oh and how we can help members with their missionary work, and guess what! planning only took three and a half hours last week! so awesome for me because i really did not like daily planning and weekly planning was way too long for me. However, last Friday went really smooth, planning for all our investigators and what we are going to go teach them that week,yay its so good.

WOw it's a huge job to train a new missionary, we need patience and I'm sort of nervous, yet excited to train, if i train. 

ok here are some stories of some of the families/ people we are teaching: D

the Vegamonje family: She loves us coming over to give her a hand with teaching her three children about God and Jesus and how to keep the commandments and we use lots of props when we teach them so that the kids will pay more attention, we also use the Gospel Art book, it is super handy!  they are super smart children. We originally started teaching her husband and he knows that Joseph smith was a Prophet, but he and his wife want to keep going to the other church because he says i feel like i would just be leaving God for God if i switch religions. Really? and we taught them the restoration with and emphasize on the Priesthood authority and they believe its true. 

 

one time we went over to their house to teach them all, but her husband was in t he living room drinking beer with her dad while the kids were playing. So,we were in the kitchen teaching her only because and it was a disaster in the living room later, the member that was suppose to meet us there was half hour late! and on top of that she brought all her kids and her husband and our dear investigator was thrown off guard when all these people started showing up out of nowhere. it was pretty extreme. We did have a nice lesson with her and the member about The Family: A Proclamation to the World which we all enjoyed and felt peace despite everything else. :) I know you are all smart enough to not let this happen in you member missionary efforts,my Mexican brothers and sisters are a little crazy so it's not to surprising that that happened.Its one of those stories where you look back at it and it is just to funny. We love this family and we are still serving this family a lot by teaching the little ones English and just showing our love for them, hopefully they will soften their hearts and come to the Visitors Center with us!

Don't worry we have already taught hem the Plan of Happiness. 

Mary: her baby daddy just got thrown in jail and is waiting to be deported: so we went over and gave her comfort and she just has so much to worry about now, such as how is she h=going to afford her place and her child, who will take care of her, care payments and her father isn't here anymore and she doesn't have the knowledge of the gospel. This one is one that has been hard to find home, prior to this incident we taught her part one of the plan of salvation, and when we were going to teach her the rest that's when we found out about this. We invited her to a baptism and she went with her best friend, and all the members were super nice and that made me so happy. I was happy that they accepted that invitation from Christ to go to the baptism  it reminds me of this scripture:

16 For behold, the ^aSpirit of Christ is given to every ^bman, that he may ^cknow good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.

I love her and its so hard to go through these difficult situations, but i know that as we help her develop her faith and accept Christ she will feel as though her burdens seem light and He can strengthen her to overcome these things. 

Marlen and Liz ( 8 & 10 yrs old) they are the daughters of a less active women. We just finally started teaching them because we were busy helping them  move to a different house. They are so cute and i love teaching children because they are so humble and it helps me teach simply and i want whats best for them! 

well gotta go everyone thank you for the letters and the emails love you all!

Mission Split!

hey this computer was super slow then it froze for about twenty minutes and i dont have much time to wrote to you all :(

 

SO the mesa Arizona Mission split up and i am now in the Scottsdale mission and We get to meet our new Mission President tomorrow! his name is president Sweeney!

 

I am super excited! three hour meeting for only our zone that means we get more one on one time!
so how is the misionary work going are you all helping the Elders?

 

email me! thanks

In Need of Encouragement... A Challenging Week.

I am having the most challenging time of my life! and I am learning so much! I can't even begin to describe.

OK here we go

First: the people that we love and want them to comeback to church are never home, and we are riding around town in the heat and can't find them, and when we see them they aren't the warmest people in the world and they don't seem to have the fullness of  joy that they deserve.

Second: some of the people we are teaching, know that the church is true, but they don't want to let go of bad habits and some don't want to marry and most aren't keeping the commitments we invite them to do. We do all these things out of love, for we know this will bring them happiness.

Although, one blessing did come from our efforts of leaving our house early to go wake people up to bring them to church. We have done it for two weeks now and everyone has been asleep and this one family that I have so much love and high hopes for said that they will try to make it. Then we went to church and I didn't see them. At the end of the first hour, I looked back and there they were Mom, Dad and little Daughter! My heart rejoiced, I had a big huge smile on my face and all the members were coming up to introduce themselves, they felt so loved because they were! They had to leave but we did get to show them where her little daughter would be learning about God and how to sing, it was so great. I was holding back the tears of joy as I went to my next class, hopefully from this time forward they give us time to teach them. 

My companion is teaching me a lot (my Trainer) not in a sense that she is teaching me how to be a better missionary, but as in practicing my patience, love, motivation and being more encouraging and help her look at things as a learning experiences. 

We also need to work on our communication, so last night we had a companionship inventory, just to see what we can do for each other to help us teach better and be more effective in every aspect. 

My companion burned her leg on the wooden bench outside in our backyard. Hahaha!

Having Lunch.

I know this will make me a better friend as I get back to the world, I am developing a love and deep care for others that I've never had before now I can understand how God is so loving and patient with us even when we aren't doing the right things and He wants to bless us with an abundance of joy,but we don't give Him that opportunity most times.

This is my wholesome entertainment, watching our house mates dying each others hair. Hahaha!

This is my favorite snack, which is odd because I hated peanut butter before my mission, but now I absolutely love it!

We get to go to the temple every transfer, and this day was the second time this transfer because it was the temple excursion, so fun!  We had a meeting with our mission president inside! And then after the session we had another devotional! I was so happy this day!

I loved that New Mission Presidents Sermon! Wasn't it great?! I  am so excited that we are going to be using the web for spreading this fantastic message to everyone in the world! Honestly, I am kind of nervous as to how, but I know that during the less productive times of the day it will be a great way to share the gospel. 

Santa Cruz, I know that the Lord will bless that area with miracles as we do our part and share our love with our friends and invite them to learn more about our faith. I know that it sounds like a lot of work, but go about doing good just as Jesus did, visit those that have gone away and be their friends, share your testimonies to those that are going through difficult times, young women and young men bring your friends to church, go out with the missionaries and study Preach my Gospel, there you will have opportunities to share your testimony and your love for others will grow, as well as you desire to build up the kingdom of God. 

I know you are all doing this, so keep up the good work!

This Sister is from Hollister and she goes to Santa Cruz a lot, so we decided to be friends after our missions! And she is 19!

Send me letters so I can know how you are all doing, love you! 

If you all send me pictures it will be in my wall of fame, don't be shy I love your faces!

Tell my mom I love her for me! 

Naomi you are always with me in my heart. Love you!

  

Having dinner at an investigators house, she is so sweet, we all love each other! So yummy! Fish and soup!

Here I am ironing my clothes! So much fun! I love this, I've never had to iron before in my life!

Happy Father's Day!

Hi!

my companion is so funny,Sister Garrick, and i hate her at the moment she is doing it, but in the morning i laugh about it! She sleep talks and she is always bearing her testimony and teaching lessons and its super amazing to know her heart is centered on the work of the ministry, but she wakes me up! but it's fine because its way funny!

My brother wrote me today or sometime this week! how amazing he says he wants to let go of his anger and leave all those burdens behind and through that come close to me and my mom. I am so happy i couldn't stop crying as i responded sharing my testimony of my Savior and how when we are filled with his love we have no room for hate and that's why i always forgave him for the things he did to my mom and i. What a blessing and I am glad he has that good desire. 

Happy Fathers day to all those good fathers out there! thank you for being great examples to me, u know who you are , pretty much everyone in the Santa Cruz Ward, hehe. 

We have a new investigator his name is Angel and let me tell you the section in Preach my Gospel on How to Begin Teaching really saves our lives, because through those starting points we can go off on anything in the gospel that helps anyone! whoahoooo! testifying about The Book of Mormon is so fun! who knew! especially because the fountain of words that come out are so smooth and directed by the spirit and almost always answers what they need to hear. this man believes in Christ and loves to read which is exciting because he said he gs going to read the whole things before we meet again and ask us a ton of questions which i am excited about. He asked us why do you focus on the Book of Mormon more than the Bible? and if i read it and know that it is true what will be  the point? i told him that the scriptures were written by prophets, that is how we know the will of God and just as in times of old God calls prophets today, the 

Book of Mormon was written in the Americas and in it it outlines the plan of Salvation , how we can fin joy in this life and it has the ministry of Jesus Christ himself here in the Americas and when we read it and pray and ask God if it is true and if it is true we will also know if Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that he restored the true church of Christ in which we can have everything that Christs' original church had when he established it, which means we have everything necessary to be able to perform saving ordinances, so we can be saved in His kingdom with our  loved ones. So that's why we focus on the Book of Mormon. 

We are teaching Mirian and David and their son Jordan, they love church, the brotherly kindness the, service, the Plan of happiness, the Visitors Center, the restoration they love everything and gladly keep commitments, although we have to remind them that it is important to keep reading and praying about the Book of Mormon because that it the only way they will know for themselves if it is true. They aren't married and we need to teach them teh Law of chastity and we invited them to be baptizes a while back and he said sure and she says she needs more time, but she already told us about the time she went back to the catholic church and how she hated it and it didnt feel right and how no one knows eachother. So now she is coming to His church now, so i am so lucky to know them and teach them:) i know they will make that right choice somday and its all his will not mine. 

I love riding my bike everywhere in the Heat! it is so hot outside and i am so dark skinned! i  have to drink tons of water and gird up my loins or else it wont be pretty riding around in a skirt all day. We always check with each other if we did before we leave the house! i love my house it is so big and 4 sisters live in it and noo one else and we have to cool basement! 

I love the members down here and i am happy that tehy are so strong. wel got to go bye

New Companion in Mesa Grande!

Hola Amigos! so I just went through my first transfer and I am staying in Mesa Grande.

 

We received a new family to teach and we found a found a new 17 year old boy to teach this week. I guess the previous sisters had Taught, Testified and Invited them ( TTI) before and we always have them as our backup plans as the "family in the corner" since I got a new trainer and I am the only one that know the area the members, less actives, and where our investigators live, I am leading weekly and daily planning and guiding the way, anyway I decided to go visit him one night and he was home and we made an appointment to go see him. We made plans to teach him the Restoration, so we went and he was really nice and I asked if his family was home. He said "yes let me go get my mom she needs to hear this too." we were super excited and then she came out and in a really nice way she told us that she already had a religion and we shouldn't waste our time with them. my companion Sister Gareck said well all we can do is invite thank you for your time and shook her hand and then I looked at her and said wait I still want talk to Juan, then I said nice to meet you ma'am (in Spanish) we'll just talk to your son :) so she left and we stayed to talk to Juan and we asked him what he liked about church, and how Jesus helped him in his family, and then I don't know why but I asked do you believe that Jesus Christ, Heavenly Father and the holy ghost are separate. he said no they are one, I shared a scripture in the bible ( he believes in the bible) about Christ's baptism, which clearly explains they are 3 separate beings. Well actually his two cousins showed up at this moment and I had his cousin read it and spanish he read it and I asked what he learned from that passage, he said "that it has a lot of big words." so I explained it. they took it well and they were both really interested on what we had to say. For some reason I was so excited and the spirit was guiding my words, I explained the Amos 3:7 how God will do nothing without his servants the prophets and how God has called a prophet today! So we can know what we need to do to be happy and return to love with him with our families that we love so much. somewhere in there I did rehearse the first vision.

 

Then I asked what do you think happens after we die? he said we are 6 feet under and that's end of it. (What?!!) Then I was filled with even more excitement and I said that is why Jesus came to earth so we can be forgiven of our sins and he broke the bands of death and  because he Resurrected we are able to also and we have the opportunity to live again!. I also explained the character of Christ and helped him understand how we go to people that have been through similar trials that we are going through, so they can comfort us and when people that haven't gone through it, we don't trust as much because they don't know what we feel, has that ever happened to you? or are you the person people come to for advice? he answered and said yes I know what you mean I am a counselor among my friends. Exactly that's why Jesus can heal us because he's been through everything we all ever have gone through and will ever go through and he knows how to succor his people( I read him another scripture that said that) I explained that because God loves us so much he gave his Son so we can all be saved with out loved ones! Juan smiled very big and told my companion " I love spirit" and I said yes I'm so excited because it's true and I know that you can know of these things for yourself and we invite him to pray and my companion asked if we can leave them with a  prayer and his cousin joined us and took his hat off! how cute!

 

Well I gotta go! I don't have time to send pictures sorry and there is a lot more things I want to say! any way this boy is going to get baptized I can feel  it and also his cousin and he will be a great example to his family and they are all going to join the church and be amazing and he is going on a mission!