I'm having a baby!!!!
I'm finally on par with the rest of the non-missionary world...
But really. I'm training a greenie! I'm going to be her mission mom! Actually, she's a friend of Hermana Strong's. Her name is Hermana Prince, she's from Utah, she's a dance major, does triathlons, and Hermana Strong just adores her...This is sounding promising. Hermana Erickson's very sad to go, and I'm going to miss her so so much but I'm excited to work with Hermana Prince! She and all the other new missionaries are arriving Wednesday afternoon, so I'll be with an English sister, Sister Starr till then.
Dang. I'm stoked. Scared out of my mind but so excited!
Gosh, what else happened this week? Thoughts of training, picking up my baby, figuring out how to get Hermana Erickson going are occupying most of my brain cells currently...
Oh yeah! We had a musical fireside for the Spanish units in the Stake last night. We had a bunch of choirs made up of primaries, youth, young single adults, and the missionaries as well as individuals perform songs about the Savior and His life. We had a fairly good turnout and Sister Erickson and I sang solos at the beginning of one of the missionary choir songs. Eek! It went well though.
We had quite a few people at church who hadn't come in a while...like Ricardo.. Maybe I haven't told you much about him....He's PHENOMENAL. Seriously. if he became bishop right away, it wouldn't surprise me in the least. Back in April he was going to be baptized and he was so so excited, but he isn't actually married to his wife because there were complications with a previous divorce. It's so frustrating because one little typo on a form is keeping him from making promises with God. Stupid red tape. He hasn't been able to come to church for quite a while because he's working a TON and when he's not working, he's taking care of his wife Leslie whose health is pretty poor at this point. We brought our branch president and the executive secretary over to give them both blessings, and we had an awesome discussion afterward about the Holy Ghost and the purposes thereof. They're SO amazing. Leslie is pretty stubborn, and insists that our beliefs don't really mesh (even though they totally do.) I think that during our discussion, she finally started realizing that our beliefs don't go against hers at all, and that the doctrine that we teach actually expand the truths that she already understands and holds dear. Yes ma'am that's the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Rivers and Eduardo got confirmed yesterday and it was so sweet to see these usually bouncy, distracted, "oh-look-a-chicken" type boys sit so reverently, arms folded, eyes closed, completely focused on what was being said when they received the gift of the Holy Ghost. Eduardo even drew a picture of Jesus with children in my planner for me. We taught his grandmother Guadalupe again this week and she's SO wonderful. She wants to be baptized as well, but she feels that she has a lot of bitterness in her heart that she needs to work through before she would feel comfortable doing so. We promised her that if she prayed and read from the scriptures every day and came to church consistently for two weeks, her heart would heal and the Savior would take away that weight she has carried for so long. i love being a missionary!
Also, we took Alexis Cueva to the singles ward and it was SO GREAT! She made a ton of friends, she's going to go to Institute on Wednesday, and she's even going to visit the temple on thursday! I love friendly members.
I've gotta run, but here are some pictures, too. One is yours truly expecting my mission baby (the blanket was a little lumpy) and the other is of my district here in Palmdale.
Love you more than all the great singles' ward members in Antelope Valley!
Hermana B
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
Happiness in Palmdale, August 15, 2011
Hey Fam,
I'm sorry I haven't updated on the packages I've received. I got the skirt, I've been wearing it a ton. I got the obedience lesson and I LOVE IT. I remember reading it with you a few years back but I understand a lot more about the gospel in general now so it's awesome. The CD hasn't gotten here yet, but I'm sure I'll love it :)
Thanks mama!
I'm so glad for Josh Ogle and Adam Shapiro and Jennifer Prusse! Dang! They really are dropping like flies. Hoowee! Baha. I'm glad to hear about Cambria G. I hope she recovers from reverse culture shock soon!
Please smother my niece and nephew with love and kisses for me! They're so stinkin beautiful.
As far as struggles, just general mission ups and downs. Like I said last week, obedience is making a HUGE difference in my perspective. It's a little pathetic how many times I have to be hit over the head with the "DUH! Just do what God says and your life will be easier!" stick. I'm just grateful that Heavenly Father hasn't struck me down for my persistent stupidity. :) I am noticing that I'm learning some major life lessons that I really need. Go figure, eh? I'm constantly learning new things about my personality, my capacity, my habits, etc. Rough stone rolling, right?
Rivers (the son of Amanda and the grandson of Carmen) as well as Eduardo (the grandson of the lady who flagged down the missionaries on the side of the road) got baptized yesterday and it was so great! Of course they're old enough to understand that baptism's important and a major blessing, but boys will be boys so they were super squirmy during the baptism. Rivers doesn't speak any Spanish but neither his nor Eduardo's grandmother speaks English, so it was a very Spanglish baptism. Rivers' uncle who is deaf also got to come and we arranged for an ASL interpreter from one of the English wards to come. I sat next to her and translated the Spanish bits to English, which she then signed. She did so great and the Spirit was really really strong. Carmen, Ric, Alexis, Amanda, and all of the rest of their family were really touched that we cared enough to arrange that. I'm so grateful!!
We had a branch picnic on Saturday, complete with water balloons and slip-n-slides, and one of our investigator families came! They haven't been able to come to church and this is the first activity we've had in a while. The parents seemed to have a good time talking with the members (we have a really cool, really funny Cuban couple who told tons of neat stories and kept the parents entertained) and the kids had a blast running around and playing with the other kids in the branch. I hope this experience gets them more intrigued and excited to come to church.
Also, we had been teaching a little girl some Bible stories (per her mother's request...the mom told us that if whatever message we had included her changing her religion, she wasn't interested) but after the second visit with the little girl, we asked the mom if we could come to specifically teach HER. She agreed and we arrived at her apartment, hoping to meet with her and her husband. She said he wouldn't be home for another hour, but he showed up not 30 seconds later and sat in on the last part of the restoration lesson, and was quite attentive during the part about Joseph Smith. Claudia (the mom) said, "Wow. I'm trying to imagine how he must have felt. That's so amazing that he had that experience!" So we're meeting with her and her husband again this week to see how things go.
Please, please, please pray for Virginia that she'll receive an answer to her prayer (she loves the church and wants to be baptized, but after her son recovered from a bad accident, she promised the Holy Spirit that she would stay in the church her son was attending. She doesn't want to go back on that promise, but her homework this week is to pray to be released from that promise since she knows the church is true), that Nick and Cheryl will have a good experience with their scripture reading this week (they need to get married, but are afraid to because they have established bad habits in their relationship regarding bickering and teasing.... "The study of the doctrine of Christ will change behavior faster than a study of behavior will change behavior"....They are to read 5 verses together every day so they can have the Spirit in their home and maintain a better perspective and respect for each other), that Gus will come to the conclusion that baptism is something he can do to enable God to bless him, and that Ricardo's divorce will go through so he can get married then baptized. I'm not trying to keep you in the dark, I promise. Sharing each of our investigators' stories is really tough and very sensitive, and I'm nervous to share immediate successes because we also have so many disappointments. Like Sister Erickson told me, it's sometimes easier to share the stories once the end is known. But thank you so so much for praying for our investigators! Your prayers are helping me immensely and I feel your love and strength support me all the time :)
Love you more than missionaries love basketball!
Hermana B
I'm sorry I haven't updated on the packages I've received. I got the skirt, I've been wearing it a ton. I got the obedience lesson and I LOVE IT. I remember reading it with you a few years back but I understand a lot more about the gospel in general now so it's awesome. The CD hasn't gotten here yet, but I'm sure I'll love it :)
Thanks mama!
I'm so glad for Josh Ogle and Adam Shapiro and Jennifer Prusse! Dang! They really are dropping like flies. Hoowee! Baha. I'm glad to hear about Cambria G. I hope she recovers from reverse culture shock soon!
Please smother my niece and nephew with love and kisses for me! They're so stinkin beautiful.
As far as struggles, just general mission ups and downs. Like I said last week, obedience is making a HUGE difference in my perspective. It's a little pathetic how many times I have to be hit over the head with the "DUH! Just do what God says and your life will be easier!" stick. I'm just grateful that Heavenly Father hasn't struck me down for my persistent stupidity. :) I am noticing that I'm learning some major life lessons that I really need. Go figure, eh? I'm constantly learning new things about my personality, my capacity, my habits, etc. Rough stone rolling, right?
Rivers (the son of Amanda and the grandson of Carmen) as well as Eduardo (the grandson of the lady who flagged down the missionaries on the side of the road) got baptized yesterday and it was so great! Of course they're old enough to understand that baptism's important and a major blessing, but boys will be boys so they were super squirmy during the baptism. Rivers doesn't speak any Spanish but neither his nor Eduardo's grandmother speaks English, so it was a very Spanglish baptism. Rivers' uncle who is deaf also got to come and we arranged for an ASL interpreter from one of the English wards to come. I sat next to her and translated the Spanish bits to English, which she then signed. She did so great and the Spirit was really really strong. Carmen, Ric, Alexis, Amanda, and all of the rest of their family were really touched that we cared enough to arrange that. I'm so grateful!!
We had a branch picnic on Saturday, complete with water balloons and slip-n-slides, and one of our investigator families came! They haven't been able to come to church and this is the first activity we've had in a while. The parents seemed to have a good time talking with the members (we have a really cool, really funny Cuban couple who told tons of neat stories and kept the parents entertained) and the kids had a blast running around and playing with the other kids in the branch. I hope this experience gets them more intrigued and excited to come to church.
Also, we had been teaching a little girl some Bible stories (per her mother's request...the mom told us that if whatever message we had included her changing her religion, she wasn't interested) but after the second visit with the little girl, we asked the mom if we could come to specifically teach HER. She agreed and we arrived at her apartment, hoping to meet with her and her husband. She said he wouldn't be home for another hour, but he showed up not 30 seconds later and sat in on the last part of the restoration lesson, and was quite attentive during the part about Joseph Smith. Claudia (the mom) said, "Wow. I'm trying to imagine how he must have felt. That's so amazing that he had that experience!" So we're meeting with her and her husband again this week to see how things go.
Please, please, please pray for Virginia that she'll receive an answer to her prayer (she loves the church and wants to be baptized, but after her son recovered from a bad accident, she promised the Holy Spirit that she would stay in the church her son was attending. She doesn't want to go back on that promise, but her homework this week is to pray to be released from that promise since she knows the church is true), that Nick and Cheryl will have a good experience with their scripture reading this week (they need to get married, but are afraid to because they have established bad habits in their relationship regarding bickering and teasing.... "The study of the doctrine of Christ will change behavior faster than a study of behavior will change behavior"....They are to read 5 verses together every day so they can have the Spirit in their home and maintain a better perspective and respect for each other), that Gus will come to the conclusion that baptism is something he can do to enable God to bless him, and that Ricardo's divorce will go through so he can get married then baptized. I'm not trying to keep you in the dark, I promise. Sharing each of our investigators' stories is really tough and very sensitive, and I'm nervous to share immediate successes because we also have so many disappointments. Like Sister Erickson told me, it's sometimes easier to share the stories once the end is known. But thank you so so much for praying for our investigators! Your prayers are helping me immensely and I feel your love and strength support me all the time :)
Love you more than missionaries love basketball!
Hermana B
Monday, August 8, 2011
Obedience and the Spirit, 8 August 2011
It's been an interesting and cool week and I've learned so so much already. I had had a few weeks where I felt really down and frustrated and helpless. I tried hard not to acknowledge it but how I was feeling was manifesting in missionary work, too. I'm not sure what exactly changed but Wednesday I just threw myself into obeying with exactness (specifically for keeping a more regimented missionary schedule)....maybe more to have something to occupy my mind than anything else, but Wednesday was the best day ever. Not only did we see quite a few big and little miracles, but I just felt happy. So there you have it. Obedience= happiness. Amen, the Church is true!
We had had lunch with a member and were trying to decide whether we should visit a man on one side of town or a woman on the other. We decided to stop by the woman's house first and it JUST SO HAPPENED that her daughter drove up at the same time. She invited us in and we talked for quite a while, even getting to teach her about the Restoration. She felt really really good about all the things we taught and she said, "You know, it's funny how God puts people in your life at just the right time. I was supposed to meet you today." She's AWESOME!! We met with Joel again and it went pretty well. We got to know him a bit better and read the introduction to the Book of Mormon. I really hope he reads this week! I'm learning that one of my favorite things is to have the people we teach really get into reading the scriptures. They really are so cool and SUCH a blessing from Heavenly Father!
We hadn't seen Carmen's husband Ric at church for quite a few weeks and we really wanted to see where he's at with reading, praying, gaining a testimony and such. We went over to their house after church yesterday and he was fairly resistant to talking with us but thankfully, Carmen helped us drag him into the other room and we talked for a good 2.5 hours about his concerns, experiences, etc. He's very strong willed and we read the first part of Enos with him about how Enos "wrestled in mighty prayer" with God.He had been reading the war chapters of the book of mormon and was getting frustrated by the lack of spirituality. Pues yeah! You have to read more than just the war chapters or the isaiah chapters, ayou HAVE to pray to get heavenly father's help to understand why the prophets wrote about specific things. We talked a LOT about Heavenly Father's perspective in regards to the scriptures, family, marriage, the role of women in the church, and a ton more super deep doctrinal things. They are a really remarkable family and I feel so so blessed to know them.
We also got Nick back!! Nick had dropped us but we had a really great conversation last night and we're going to continue teaching him.
Also on Wednesday: We visited two teenage brothers with the plan of dropping them, but we ended up inviting them to be baptized instead, to which they said yes! Whoa. Divine intervention is the BEEEEEEEST!!
Oh PS I ate my first helote this week a la Nacho Libre. Dericious.
I got the family newsletter and it brought me SO MUCH JOY!!!! I just keep staring at the pictures, feeling our family's love for one another and basking in the residual glow of family camp. I think my comp thinks I'm crazy. Meh. Totally worth it. THANK you for the pictures. Give Sabrina a HUGE hug from me! I love her little guts!
We're putting on a zone talent/variety show this afternoon and I'm gargling primary songs. Pray for me!
I love you and pray for each of you every stinkin day!
Hermana Manzana
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