April 28, 2014

Haha....actually, I cut 10 inches off my hair last Monday.  I got a free haircut and it went to locks of love!  It's about shoulder length.  I like it a lot better this way, actually. 

Thomas told me he's planning on going to the temple on MY 27th...but he won't be here to meet you guys because his wife wants him back in Mexico by June 1st.  He's sad about that, but he says that me and my family always have a home in Mexico if we ever decide to visit him and that he hopes to meet you guys on face time or something.  Haha. 

Right now we're really working on finding new people to teach.  Our investigator, Rafael, was supposed to get baptized this past Saturday, but he has only been to church 2 times.  We read 3 nephi 18:11-13 and explained the importance of sacrament and the difference between doing these things (partaking of sacrament) all the time and only sometimes.  Do you want a house build on a rock or sand?  He said he'd come to church, but he wasn't there and we're probably going to have to give him an ultimatum soon.  He has all the desire in the world, but we can't force him to show that desire.  We're not looking to baptism him when he still has such a sandy foundation.  We do have a few new investigators in Boulder City, which we're excited about. 

Oh, guess who I saw at walmart last monday after emails?  Jay Munoz from Ensign!  Remember him?  They moved to North Las Vegas, but he's working here in Henderson.  Blast from my missionary past!  I feel like I don't have any memories outside of the mission....I've been out so long. 

Saturday morning I went back to Desert Bloom for the baptism of Pablo and Kelvia jr.  an 8 and 9 year old.  Before that, though, we ate breakfast with the stake president Steadman with our whole zone.  Guess what I found out?  Brandon Flowers lives in the Lake Mead stake!  In our area...probably the grey area....it's super nice over there...anyway... yeah, he goes to the Calico Ridge ward, which sisters Nielson and Area cover.  They're in our district and I'm emailing beside them right now. :)  They said they eat with him and his wife sometimes.  They eat with his parents a lot, apparently.  Haha. 

On Wednesday one of the members in our branch, Sister Ripplinger, drove us to searchlight.  On our way back, she decided to show us this super intense lake that was in the mountains, so we drove through searchlight down this deserty road until we saw this huge, glorious lake just chilling with huge mountains surrounding it.  Apparently it's right by lake mead... we took pictures with her phone, but I don't have them...:(  It was intensely gorgeous and all still in our area!  Haha.  I'll have to take you guys there and we can maybe even go on the lake. 

As for what I plan on doing after my mission...I would like to study locally before transferring over to BYU.  That way I'll stay busy while I wait.  Although, I'm not sure WHAT I want to do yet.... I feel like I've been able to get to know myself a lot better and am more clearly aware of my strengths and weaknesses, but as for talents that I want to pursue in order to help others enjoy their lives, I have no idea... I want to do something that will benefit others in some way and bring them happiness, because that's what makes me happy, but I don't know how to really do that as far as a career goes.  I'll be praying really hard.  And I don't know if any of that really makes sense, but I have a lot of things on my mind.  Still working hard, though!  No sepeocupe. 

I'm not sure yet what time we'll be on skype for mothers day....sorry!               

April 21, 2014

Sorry we didn't post last week.  She sent a very brief message about some crazy guy who was following them around and texting them.  We were worried and contacted the mission president who assured us that he was on top of it.  

He also bragged about Sam saying that they kept preparing to open doors for her only to find that she has already run through them.  I am not sure what that means but it sounds like a good thing.
BTW  there were 111 baptisms in her mission last month. 

Sam....

Wow!  It sounds like you are having so many awesome missionary/spiritual experiences!  We didn't do anything huge for the "Because of Him" video.  We got permission to look at our emails early just to read the email link for the video and how we could spread the word, but we don't have internet access/ipads in our mission yet, so we didn't have as many resources and we just found out about it in the middle of this last week, so we didn't do any activities... just shared it with some members and investigators who understand English. Hah.  That's super awesome, though, that the missionaries over there are totally legit.

Sister Pecjak told me you found the missionary mama's page and that you talked to her.  She's the ultimate missionary mom.  She gave us a huge basket with all kinds of toiletries in it for easter.  She's awesome.  Pretty much the hispanic sister Neider.  The member we live with, sister Bindrup, also gave us some easter treats and brought us rolls and cinnamon rolls from the temple as a pre-easter treat.  She's also amazing and it's really comfortable living with her.  We ate dinner with the Relief Society president, Hna Limon and watched "because of Him" with her and her family.  Good day.  

WE had a baptism on Saturday for Carlos.  It was awesome.  So many people showed up (which is huge because the branch is TINY) and the spirit was so thick.  Carlos is from Ecuador, but has lived here for 20 years and is a super talented chef.  When I came the sisters had taught him The first 3 lessons, but sister Hill and I taught all the commandments together.  We had one scheduled for this upcoming Saturday as well, but we're going to have to move it back because he didn't come to church yesterday and you have to come at least 3 times before baptism.  His name is Rafael.  Rafael can't read, but he listens to the Book or Mormon on CD and loves it.  His wife just left him and he has a lot of ups and downs. Last week he told us he felt like God wasn't listening to his prayers, but we promised him that if he prayed honestly to God, and share with Him his frustration, he would feel the presence of God in his life.  So the next day we came by and he had a powerful experience with prayer where he really felt like God loved him.  That was so cool.  

Don't worry, Jose Manuel doesn't stalk us.  He only has eyes for sister Jeronimo.  Don't be scared for my safety.  Seriously.  Apparently he's writing a book called, "The book of Love: Another testament of True Love."  Yep... haha.  

I love you all very much!  Today I got an email about my departure.  :(  They wanted to know all my plans and apparently I have to call them today or tomorrow to let them know you're picking me up.  So soon.  :(  Mah!  It's a good thing, though.      

April 7, 2014

Still haven't got any of your package.  :(  But I got a letter from Ben Welling.  Is he in the stake presidency now? 

First week in Alta Vista, whooo.  Did you know the Hoover Dam is in my area?  It's pretty different from Desert Bloom.  It's much more deserty and a little ghetto in many parts.  We're going out to Searchlight and Boulder City tomorrow.  Sister Webb was never my training leader, though...

Ay, that makes me sad to hear that .... had a bad experience.  You definitely don't want to make the members cry or feel bad... why do you say they will never forget who she is again? 

I have to admit, it has been kind of hard for me adjusting to this new area, but it's only my first week, so we'll see where it goes.  Sister Hill is a sweetheart, but it's a little bit hard at the same time because I will often try to start up a conversation with her and she'll just either ignore it just doesn't want to talk about anything.  I want us to have a friendship as well as a companionship and it's just a little harder to be myself around her.  But again, it's only the first week.  It's also kind of hard because they already have like 4 people set with a baptismal date this month and I feel like I don't really know them at all even though they have a strong relationship with the sisters already - well, sister Veazey and Hill.  That's gotten better towards the end of the week, though.  I just don't feel like I'm a part of the area yet, but everyone I've met so far has been super friendly and welcoming.  We ate with the branch president on Saturday, President Pecjak.  They're an awesome, missionary minded family.  He's American, but served his mission in Venezuela, which is where his wife's from (speaks perfect English).  They lived in South Florida for years where he served as a bishop in a Spanish ward full of Cubans. 

We also had district meeting on Thursday and we were given a training on how the elect are connected...basically asking for referrals from our investigators.  The district leader asked us why investigators are a good source for referrals and one of our zone leaders compared it to a woman's period... yep.  He did it in a very classy way, though, if you can imagine that's even possible.  The idea was that people are naturally attracted or drawn to changes that they see in those around them, like their friends, just like a woman's cycle naturally alignes itself to be on track with that of another woman's cycle.  Haha. Anyway... it was a good training. 

How was Renee's birthday?  I need to get her something, but I have no idea what....any ideas?

On the bright side of all this, so far the investigators all like me and think my Spanish is really good.  (Not true, but hey...) I am going to work hard, though, and try to help my companion open up a little bit.  She was trained by sister Veazey and while sister Veazey is obviously a boss missionary, she was also a little hard to feel completely comfortable around.  It's one thing to be a hard working, diligent missionary, but there should always be room to let your companion be your friend and see you as a human being who you can actually talk to as well.  Heh, anyway.. I don't have a lot of time left here on my mission sadly and I want to be the best I can be.           

General conference was amazing as well!  I took many notes and I just loved everything.  That Brazilian elder of the Seventy who talked about the fruits of the gospel being delicious and desirable spoke while I was in the MTC.  He's cool.  He spoke at the last Sunday Afternoon session.