El Fin

Ay fambly!

Cuanto les quiero! I'm so excited to see you and hug the stuffin outta yous. I can't wait to wake up to Elijahisms and baby love. I got Chelsea's email about Audrey...I had no idea that was going on, but it sounds like they've been taking the right steps to learn more and to help their beautiful baby. I'm looking forward to being home. I'm not a huge fan of this intermediate state where I'm gone but not, incredibly happy but sad to leave...ya know?

Big changes are coming to our district... 5 people are leaving but only 3 are coming, so our ward will be back down to 6 missionaries. I think that will be better for our ward, though. Strange as it may sound, we attend to their needs better when there are fewer of us...largely I think because when there are less of us, they are more likely to actually eat WITH us rather than give us dinner and fun away. Also, Hermana Prince is going to train!!! I'm going to be a grandma!! I'm so excited for her. She's going to be absolutely incredible! Hna Quick is receiving Hermana Prince's current companion. That's a huge relief for her because they already know and love each other....and Hna Clayton will only have to move from one room in the apartment to another.

We had some beautiful milagros this week. We had another couple of appointments with Sandy, a young mom who is VERY wise and receptive to the spirit. We have had a hard time connecting with her recently, but this week we taught her about the Restoration and we watched the Restoration movie with her. At the end, we asked her if she thought this story could be true. At first she just said "well, I don't know, I didn't see it happen. Maybe it did...who am I to judge?" but then she began to analyze the ramifications of what it would mean if it were true and referred back to a lesson we had taught her about asking the Lord to know what is Truth. We Invited her to pray about it and we invited her to be baptized. She said YES!!!!! We told her that the gospel is made for families and so we want to be able to teach her husband and children so that they can progress spiritually together. That's fairly risky, since wives rarely progress beyond where their husbands will go, but we felt  that that family goal woul be incredibly important to communicate to her right off the bat. She said, "yes of course....but you know? Maybe even if they're not very interested right away, they'll see my example and follow" Oh my gosh, she's so great! I loved Sorella Smith's phrase, so i think  I'll steal it for Sandy....she's so elect! God has prepared her in such special ways.

Another milagro: our elders met a Pentecostal preacher while we were on a blitz in our area and we've been able to teach him a little about the Book of Mormon. He wanted to know primarily about our religion so that he can teach his congregation what we believe.....We taught him about the Restoration as well and invited him to be baptized. He said no right away, saying "I'm sorry, but I think you're wasting your time with me. I already know about God. I'm on the path. Nothing could take me away from my church." We talked to him a little bit more about knowing FROM GOD, the all-powerful, all loving, omniscient creator of the universe what He wants us to do. We asked "If you KNEW from God that this is His only true church, would you be baptized?" He said "Yes of course." "Then are you willing to ask Him?" "Yes." After explaining a little about having real intent to receive an answer, we promised him that if he was sincere in what he said about following the will of God, he would get an answer.

The hermanas are going back tomorrow to visit and see how his prayer went. The spirit was SO strong in that room. I know that our words were being guiding by the Lord. I'm praying that he will be sensitive enought to the Spirit to be ablet o recognize an answer....and that he has enough real intent to GET that answer.

Church yesterday was really cool, too. Jose Reyes(my first convert) came to church. He was helping our recent convert, Jeovany look up scriptures, understand different points of doctrine, and even directed a small part of the lesson in sunday school. He's almost done with his temple prep classes and he's super excited to go in a month or so. It's such an incredible blessing to see how much his life has changed. I am so grateful that I have been a part of that.

I reread the account of Ammon talking to his brothers in Alma 26. I am so happy that I have been a part of this work and I feel strongly that I can echo his words.

2 And now, I ask, what great blessings has he bestowed upon us? Can ye tell?

3 Behold, I answer for you; for our brethren, the Lamanites, were in darkness, yea, even in the darkest abyss, but behold, how ^amany of them are brought to behold the marvelous light of God! And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made ^binstruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work.

I have learned so much during this time. It's one of those life changing, character molding, life intensified experiences that lays the foundation for the rest of my life. I love the people here. I have learned so much about God's love for each of us. I can't believe everything that has happened in the last year and a half. There is no way I would have even lasted a day had it not bee for the Savior's grace. I love him more than I ever have. I feel that I have a better understanding of the role He has and needs to have in my life. I know that living the gospel is what brings us joy. It helps us avoid unnecessary hurt and pain and help stretch us into who we need to be. There is a song that I have fallen in love with and it reminds me of that part in Alma 5 where he talks about feeling to sing the song of redeeming love...

Savior, Redeemer of my soul,
Whose mighty hand hath made me whole,
Whose wondrous pow’r hath raised me up
And filled with sweet my bitter cup!
What tongue my gratitude can tell,
O gracious God of Israel.

Never can I repay thee, Lord,
But I can love thee. Thy pure word,
Hath it not been my one delight,
My joy by day, my dream by night?
Then let my lips proclaim it still,
And all my life reflect thy will.

O’errule mine acts to serve thine ends.
Change frowning foes to smiling friends.
Chasten my soul till I shall be
In perfect harmony with thee.
Make me more worthy of thy love,
And fit me for the life above.

I love God! He's just so wonderful.

Give yourselves a big hug from me and just wait a few more days for the real deal!

I love my mission, I love the gospel, and I love you more than despedidas!

:)

Hermana Manzana

Finishing Up a Great Adventure

(Note from Mom:  Allison is returning to Colorado from her mission on Saturday, June 16th.  Her homecoming talk (sermon) will be at 12:30 pm on Sunday, June 17th at the Timberline Building in Lone Tree, Colorado - call 303-799-1913 for directions if you're interested in attending.  The service is 70 minutes long, and her talk will be about 15 minutes.)

 

 

Ay, so much thinking to do! :)

Thanks for the info. I'll take a look at Elder Hales' Conference address and and get to work on my homecoming talk. There's a lot of little loose ends to take care of before I go home, but it'll work out just fine. I've felt your prayers bearing me up again this week....thank you! We had a really good week teaching-wise...we found a bunch of new investigators and we're excited to help them receive the gospel. As for the referral, we had set an appointment with her, but alas, she wasn't home. We have dinner with her friend who gave us her number tonight so we're hopeful to be able to contact her again.

We went knocking yesterday with one of the young women in our ward and had quite a bit of success in finding people with her. We knocked one door at the very end of the day, but right as we knocked, a HUGE German shepherd came around the corner. We kind of freaked out and then ANOTHER ONE came around the corner to stare us down. We were begging and praying that the woman would open the door so that we could escape inside, but when she did, the dogs became very relaxed and even playful. She wasn't interested, but I guess my intro wasn't all that powerful. It's a little difficult when you think a monster dog is going to maul you to bits. Ay.

Side note....I have "Big Rock Candy Mountain" stuck in my head. I miss you Papa.

Thank you for arranging things for me. I appreciate it so so much. I'm excited to go to the dentist! I like the idea of being able to let my body recuperate and actually take care of it. :)

mmmmm que mas? We had a departing missionary training by President Martin in the which he told us his 10 commandments for business success, we talked about life purpose statements, marriage (of course), and how to finish our missions well. I'm excited to teach a ton this last week and really take advantage of the opportunity I have to be in the same calling as people like Alma, Amulek, and Ammon. I have fallen in love with the scriptures and the gospel and I"m so grateful for them in my life. 

Please pray for us to have the Spirit with us so that we can help people come unto Christ! President Martin said something that I really loved: "the Atonement and a repentant heart meet in the baptismal font and that is nothing short of a miracle"

I love my mission president with all my little heart and I pray that they will also be able to have success and joy in these last few weeks of their mission.

I love you more than all the earthquakes Sorella Smith is feeling!

:) (Allison's birthday twin and good friend Hannah Smith is serving in Northern Italy, and has been near the epicenter of many of the earthquakes they have experienced over the last three weeks.  We thought Allison would be the one to experience earthquakes!)

Hermana Manzana

Milagro

Ayyyyyy cuanto les quiero! I just love to read your emails. And Hannah's. She's such an amazing missionary and I love to think of her and try to emulate her.

Thank you so so much for your prayers. I love the phrase you used "storming the gates of Heaven" I can't even tell you how much those prayers have helped me. I feel like me again! It was a REALLY good week and we had some truly amazing miracles.

We knocked into this incredible woman who already seems like a relief society president...she just has that air about her. Her name is Nina and she is from Jalisco. She is in the middle of a big project to restore a small cathedral in her hometown in Mexico  so she's got her calling tree to raise money for it. She said she hadn't ever been to our church, but she's seen the San Diego temple and loved it so much that she used the idea of the lights around the spires in the restoration of the cathedral. She put lights all around it so that it would light up the town and be a "beacon of God" as she put it. She said she has ALWAYS wanted to go to the San Diego temple and wants to see inside....we didn't get the chance to tell her more about the temple before the conversation changed, but oh, we will!

THEN she told us that she has read the Book of Mormon before. Not only that, she FINISHED IT and LOVES IT! She has applied principles that she learned from it and has felt the healing effects of the Atonement in her life. She was able to forgive someone who hurt her very deeply and towards whom she held a lot of rancor (is that a word in English?) and she was able to better understand God's will for her mother who is dying. Is this woman not AMAZING??? Also, we started telling her about our church services and when she heard that we take the sacrament every week, she said "I'm going to go to your church. I don't know when, but I will. I've visited a lot of churches, but most of them don't take the eucharist. I need that spiritual nourishment of the bread and water." Ay, she's so great.

BUT she's going to Mexico soon to take care of her mom and she doesn't know when she's coming back. But we prayed with her and she gave us HUGE hugs and asked us to come back soon. 

BLESSINGS!!

Also, last night we called a referral that we had received from one of our recent converts to see if we could visit her. We started out talking about who we are, what our purpose is, etc but she shot us down fairly quickly when we asked if we could come to her house and meet her by saying "oh I already have my church, but thanks anyway". We kept talking for a bit and somehow the Spirit guided our conversation to genealogy and then to fasting. We had a really great conversation and we could tell that she really felt the Spirit, so we asked again if we could come by and meet her sometime. BAM! She gave us her address and we set up a time to meet her. MILAGRO!!

We're trying really hard to find new investigators and we're both making really good progress spiritually. Hna Quick is SUPER shy and is working hard to overcome her fears of talking to people and being more internally motivated. She's a really wonderful missionary and she is incredibly perceptive. I love her so much!

While I'm sad that my mission is ending soon and that I won't have this incredible calling or constantly be with my wonderful friends and companions, I am also excited to be with you and bask in your glow. I'm so grateful to Heavenly Father for the blessings and miracles I've seen during this time and for all of the ones yet to come. I'm so grateful for the Atonement and for the scriptures that teach me how to be happy.

I love you more than all the sticky notes used by missionaries!

Love ,

Reply to "Howdy from Texas"

Dear Fambly,

 

I'm so glad you've been having so much fun in Austin. It's true that traveling is one of the best passtimes ever but is it exhausting. I guess we are creatures of habit. Please say hello to the Dragon Blaster and tell it that I will see it again someday...

 

So emotions are still pretty up and down, but I talked to President the other day and he told me to MAKE SURE that I'm keeping myself physically and emotionally healthy. He said that if I think of something that would help me stay sane but is outside of white handbook guidelines, to let him know. And then, by golly, it won't BE outside white handbook guidelines because mission presidents can adjust those as he sees fit! Saturday morning was especially rough..... it felt like Satan was throwing everything in his stupid arsenal to bring me down and just want to stay inside all day. But I figured that if he was working that hard, there must be something super important we needed to do...someone we needed to see. I had a "potty prayer" as Hna Prince terms it, begged for grace and hope, then we went out to work. We met a man named Francisco who was working on a house not too far from our apartment. We asked a couple of questions to get their view of religion, God, etc. Their answers were the usual vague, all-encompassing, zero-demand for personal development ones... "As long as you're being good, God's happy" "God's everywhere. Wherever people talk about Him, He's there." "Just be good to people" "I'm kinda busy for church, but God knows me, I'm not hurting anyone, so I'm ok"

We asked Francisco if he thought that it mattered to God where you go to church, and he said no. Usually, I try to gently nudge people in the right direction by bringing up different doctrines and how you can't please one without offending the other, so which one's right? But I was fairly short on patience, so I just said "It DOES matter. We are His representatives and we're here to tell you that He has a plan for you. He wants you to be happy. He established HIS church to bless you and your family." I actually didn't notice it at the time, but Hna Quick told me later that he started to cry at that point. We left him with a card and the address of the church closest to his house. Later on, we had a blitz in the elders' area. We picked a street but got sidetracked and decided to knock an apartment complex on an adjacent street. The normally-locked gate just swung right open as we walked up to it and we found some really great potential investigators. They all seemed a little hesitant at first but once we prayed with them, they seemed much more comfortable and open. They told us later that someone had been impersonating a Mormon missionary and using that as an "in" to do all kinds of bad things to people in their homes.

I'm a little concerned for what that might mean for us as the legit missionaries....but I'm praying hard that people will use their spidey sense/gut feeling/light of Christ to be able to discern true from false.

 

Tommy is doing REALLY well. He got a job this week and he's determined to get Sundays off so that he can be here. The ward is thrilled to have him and Jeovany preparing to receive the Priesthood. We have a lot of callings to extend, and they'll do GREAT! As for our other investigators, they're being kind of flaky. We're going to search out some more escogidos ("chosen ones") and help them come closer to God. :)

 

I'm doing good and taking this time to learn how to rely more on the Savior. President is helping me a lot and Hna Quick is such an angel. I'm so grateful to be a missionary! I love the scriptures and the guidance they offer. Thank you for your prayers and love!

I love you more than all the lessons our zone taught this week!

Hermana Manzana

It's Always Nice to Talk to the Ladies!"

Thank you so much for being my parents! I hope it's okay that I brag about you.... a lot. You're just awesome :)

 

President called us last night to congratulate us on the baptism...which was WONDERFUL, by the way. Tommy bore super powerful testimony about searching the scriptures and coming to know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. He's so excited to be put to work in the ward and help others come unto Christ. Anyway, President told us that due to so many sisters going home all at once, he has to close a Spanish sisters' area. He said that he discussed it with the zone leaders but they insisted that they needed all of us in their zone. They said "They only make up 15% of our zone, but they've had 25% of our baptisms!" So I seriously doubt that our area will get the ax, but we'll be praying and working hard to make absolutely certain that they don't touch the NoHo 5to Hermana Bici area. (Note: no idea what this means.)

 

I LOVED Hannah's letter. It's actually something that we've been working on a lot lately...presenting a plan to Heavenly Father in prayers and then working to make our faith in that prayer plan come to pass. We divided our goals up into monthly and weekly goals and then make promises to God according to how we'll put forth our effort so that He can do His part....we adjust our weekly goals based on our area's need and our efforts according to how to become better missionaries.

 

It's been helping me grow my faith in the Lord's desires and abilities to make miracles happen and realize that we can have a much greater impact on our circumstances than we comprehend at the moment.

 

We're also trying to focus more on repentance. Our job is to help people develop a relationship with Heavenly Father by teaching them how to make their lives in harmony with the teachings of Jesus Christ. In other words: change. We have to help people make changes in their lives. Sometimes they aren't willing to do what's required to have that relationship, but when they are and when they do, they are pleasantly surprised by how much Heavenly Father DOES have and DOES want to bless them. It's so cool!

Anyway, gotta run, not the runs, but I love you more than all the palm trees on Sherman Way!

Hermana Manzana

(Note:  Allison was called "Appleton"...and then "Apple" when she was little, and apple in Spanish is "manzana".  It rhymes! - Mom)

Dear Fambly:

 

I read the second email about Mariah's experiences in India before I read about how and why she's there and it totally blew me away....I was a little confused. That's so awesome though! Man, she's so awesome. She'll be there for her 16th birthday? JEALOUS! I'm excited to hear more about how she's doing.....and to go with her :)

 

Ya know what else I'm excited for? TALKING TO YOU IN 6 DAYS!!!! We have church from 9-12, so what if I call around 3 our time, 4 your time? I'll coordinate with Hermana Quick and give you a call probably Saturday night to set it all up. It's so soon!! I can't even believe it!

 

Life is truckin' along...we found a SUPER cool family totally by inspiration this week....we tried to stop to see Melissa, our recent convert, after a lesson on Tuesday but she wasn't home. We started heading back down the stairs, but the roof of a distant building caught our attention (for no apparent reason) so we decided to go knock that house.

 

Lo and behold, the woman who answered had been praying for guidance to know what to do concerning church and was in need of comfort. We visited with her for about 2 hours, in which she told us all about what she feels should be defining points of the true church of God. Unfortunately, we had to leave shortly, but we set up an appointment for the next day when we met her daughter and her husband. They were very kind and VERY receptive. They had been attending an evangelical church for a number of years but became disappointed by a few of the members. That got them thinking about what should REALLY happen in God's true church and what should be taught...They miss their church very much and feel that it's time to come back to full activity in a congregation, but they feel uneasy about going back to their old church.

 

We had set up another appointment with them for this weekend, but when we got there, only the daughter was there. We had a number of close calls on the way there (I almost got hit by a car peeling out of the strip club parking lot...go figure) so we figured that Satan really didn't want us to be at that appointment. We stuck around and talked to the daughter for a long time, and even challenged her to pray about Joseph Smith as a prophet and about the Restoration of the Church. Please pray for them to recognize answers to their prayers and to follow the Spirit to do what is right!

 

Also, Tommy is getting baptized this weekend! Oh shoot, that might interfere with phone calls.....We'll get it worked out.

I love you more than beans and rice!

Con mucho carino,

Hermana Manzana

Love in Our Family

Oh my gosh you two are so stinkin' cute. I just love you.(Reference to a story about Mom&Dad holding hands in Sacrament meeting.)

I'm glad to hear things are going well around the house! where did you put that ornamental bush? I'd love to take a swing (ha. get it?) at the tree. But if you want to get it out now, please feel free. I won't feel gypped in the least.

Today starts my very last transfer in the mission! AAAAHHHHH!!! one of my roommates is going home this week, so it's been pretty weird to see her go through this process....I'm dejunking little by little....I only sent one box to you, FYI, so no need to look for another one in the mail yet.....

My brain shorted out a couple times this week, thanks in part to our elders who are having a grand ol' time helping me accept/encouraging the onset/just making me crazy by constantly talking about being trunky. (trunky=anxious to finally come home/dreading leaving the mission field.) I love them a lot. Most days. After dinner one night, they stole our bikes and left us their car, saying that they had an emergency that they needed our bikes for. We were all kinds of confused but met them at the church about 20 minutes later. Turns out they did it so that we could have a break and we wouldn't have to ride all the way to the church.

 

Also, Hermana Quick and I are staying together!! Hooray!!

 

We met a really cool family this week who had been taught by the Hermanas about 3 years ago. They lost contact with them when the family went to Mexico, but they have been reading from the Book of Mormon fairly consistently as a family and praying together as a family every night since then. How amazing is that? They're so sweet. We haven't met the husband yet, but he's excited to meet with us. We've started teaching another man named Jacinto who used to be a leader in an evangelical church but is looking to come closer to God after 15 years away from any church. He says he feels really good about our church and has been to 2 baptisms and church twice. AWESOME!! Also, Vanessa REALLY wants to be baptized, so she said that she's going to talk to Marlo about getting married soon so that we can help them progress spiritually. Betty doesn't want to be baptized again because she doesn't see the point, since she's been baptized 2times. we'll need to cover priesthood authority and the restoration again. We're finding so many people who are SO READY!! I LOVE IT!

I love you more than subjunctive form!

Hermana Manzana

I love it! I'm so happy for everyone! I sent Emma an email (Allison's best friend is expecting) but I'm not sure if she still uses that one anymore. She's been in my thoughts quite a bit. I haven't been able to write her since she's been moving everywhere.....but will you tell her that I love her so and that she is just beautiful and wonderful in every stinkin way? 

 

I'm sorry my blister sister is feeling crummy. But hey, you said it's a good sign, right? (Her sister is expecting, also.)

 I got my camera, thank you!!! I got a Sony cyber shot Carl Ziess DSC w650. I love it! One of our elders even crocheted a little bag for it. Precious. :)

 

We've been having SUCH good weeks! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!! Dad, you're so right, we have major ups and downs, even within the same day, but this work is so fulfilling, so rewarding, and I feel awfully privileged to be a part of it. Melissa and her little sister Angie got baptized this weekend and it was so wonderful! Our whole ward came to celebrate with us and the missionaries even got to sing a musical number. They both looked so beautiful and happy. I'm so excited for their family to progress together towards the temple. Melissa is a very quiet girl but so thoughtful and kind. She's an amazingly hard worker and she's so willing to help in any way needed.

Thank you for all of your prayers on her behalf!

 

We're working a lot with a new family (I think I wrote about them last week) Betty, Vanessa, and Marlo. Miracle of miracles, they LOVED church, despite a super rambunctious little boy (I honestly have never seen a kid so hyper. I'm fairly certain he has ADHD or something similar. His 15 month old brother has a better attention span and listens to his parents better than he does) Vanessa's husband Marlo came too and he seemed to really enjoy it. They are praying about being baptized in May, so please please pray that the Spirit will touch their hearts so that they'll know that this is something Heavenly Father wants for them. Also, we're not certain, but they might not be married. Please pray that they will have no barriers to getting married. BODA!!!(wedding)

Ay. maybe I'm ADHD. My brain's going a mile a minute. oh look a chicken! Ha. just kiddeando. (Spanglish:  kidding)

 

Also, we had sister exchanges this week, and I got to go to the real ghetto in Canoga Park with Hermana Busch. She and I have been friends our whole missions but we've never actually gotten to be companions. It was such a beautiful day! We taught some AWESOME lessons, met amazing people, sweat our little brains out, and got to catch up and reflect on mission life. She's such a wise, insightful person and I look up to her a lot. I'm so grateful for people like her in my life! 

 

Their area doesn't look all that different from ours, but I think our area has more families, whereas they have a ton more single men in theirs. One of their recent converts gave Hna Busch's companion a knife as a welcome gift. So far as I know, they've never been physically threatened (president would take them out right away if that ever were the case) but they do lock their bikes 3 different times everytime they go anywhere. they've gotten a bunch of their bikes' tires stolen. Pobrecitas. (Poor girls) I got to meet a number of their recent converts who are single men who have such a deep desire to follow God. They are so wonderful! We've just got to find those bright, shiny needles in a dirty, sinful haystack. Haha! I remember when I first got to the mission, President said "Welcome to San Fernando, California. The media capitol of the world. Sin runs rampant here, but there are good people searching for God. We have to find them."

And it's true! Heavenly Father is preparing people every day.

 

Daddy, thank you for telling me how much you love me and mom. I love that our family is so expressive about our affection for one another. it makes life so much more secure, happier, peaceful. I love our family! We are so stinkin' blessed!

I love you more than all the 90+ days we've had this week!

Hermana Manzana

More success

oh boy I love you a lot!

I'm glad you've been having so much fun with family. It's the best! Thank you for letting me get a new camera...I'm super stoked! Hna Quick is a photography fiend so she'll be able to teach me how to actually take cool pictures. I'll try to print some of the neat ones she's taken soon.

We had a really good week with lots of milagritos. We went on a blitz( where a bunch of missionaries knock in one companionship's area) to help out some of our elders. The first door we knocked was a very old white man with beautifully brilliant blue eyes. He asked us where we were from and I told him I was from Guadalajara (everyone's been telling me I should say that because people will believe me) but he said , "No you're not..I'M from Guadalajara". Super cool. He's this super nice man who has been looking for the right church for quite a while now. He said he really likes the church he's at now, but he said "Maybe God sent you to me to answer my question.....which is God's church?" We got to share our testimonies with him and taught him about prayer, the Holy Ghost, and the Book of Mormon. He's so great and we're praying that he'll be sensitive enough to the Spirit to know what Heavenly Father wants him to know!

Also, we had 5 PEOPLE AT CHURCH YESTERDAY!!! It was awesome! Super exhausting and overwhelming, but great. We had taken a recent convert, Hermana Salegio, with us to an appointment with a couple of women named Betty and Vanessa. Apparently they already knew each other a little but they became best friends. Both of them came to church on Sunday (Betty opens up her church every sunday so she had to find someone to cover for her) and Vanessa brought her two little boys. Kids aren't allowed at the church they currently attend so I think they liked the idea of a real family church. one of her boys was very bouncy and rowdy though so I think she felt rather uncomfortable in Sacrament meeting. They didn't have anyone for the nursery so we tried to help her son enjoy Primary....that didn't go too well either. But the third hour, a few other mothers stayed in the nursery with their little ones and chatted with Vanessa aobut the church and our beliefs. I think they really helped her to see that a wiggly child in church is not a big deal. Everyone's got one! or two. or five. We're really praying that she will have good feelings towards her experience and that she'll want to come back. They're a sweet family and we're excited to work more with them.

 

Hermana Salegio's daughters are getting baptized next week! One is 8 years old, so she isn't actually our convert, but we're teaching her and her older sister Melissa to help them prepare to be baptized. Melissa was avoiding us for awhile, just because she's super shy and doesn't like the whole soul-searching aspect of what we do as missionaries. She really wants to be baptized though, so we worked it out so that we're apparently teaching Angie, but she's listening and lets us know if we need to review any information. Not ideal, but there's a change in her face. She's internalizing the things we're teaching and so even though we don't have a whole lot of physical communication, we can see the effects.....which is AWESOME!!!!!!! She was paying very close attention to the relief society lesson yesterday and seemed to be happier and more relaxed at church. Please pray hard for her!!

 

Also, we had a really good companionship study about continual progression....we have a couple that we teach where the man is a less active member but is wanting to come back to church, she is not a member, he is in the process of a divorce and so they can't yet get married OR baptized. They're sort of at a standstill because of the divorce and while they were doing great for a while with reading the scriptures every day, praying regularly, and coming to church, they're no longer doing any of those. We even see a difference in how they treat us and one another. They aren't mean at all, but just more sarcastic, a little more harsh than they were before. Hna Quick and I prepared for our lesson with them today by talking about the importance of goals. How setting goals, primary, secondary and all the ones in between is an act of faith. Of course things might now go exactly how we want or expect, but setting goals and working towards them is a way to show ourselves and God that Whatever it is that we're working toward is worth effort and sacrifice.

 

Just things to think about.

 

Love you more than birria de res!

Hermana B

Return Plans

Hello Beautiful Family!

Thank you for arranging flight plans...I'm way excited! Although...that DOES mean that the beach is mas o menos off limits. It'll be fine though. I'm just stoked to see you! It will be so fun to be with Ryan and Chelsea and the kiddos, too. I loved what Jo said about Chelsea helping families adjust their attitudes about cranial bands. Life is awkward. Why not have fun with it? I'm realizing that I've gotten super awkward over the last fews weeks, especially. I trust that you'll be gentle in helping me adjust to normal life again..

I'm planning on sending a couple of packages these next few days...they mostly have winter clothes and my blanket and they have the dresses in there as well.

 

HAPPY EASTER!!!! Wasn't it just wonderful?? We actually had fewer people at church, but one of our investigators (Tommy) who we had turned over to the elders (for questions of motivation and genuine interest) came to church AND to a baptism yesterday. We had the chance to teach him a little more this week (he's been having trouble meeting up with the elders for them to teach him) but it seems like things have changed. It just feels different when we talk to him. Before, he was very interested in showing off his knowledge of the Bible and other such things, so he wasn't actually progressing very much. But this week, he's been full of questions and there's a new look in his eye that wasn't there before. He really loved the baptism and is going to pray this week about a day that he will be baptized as well. YESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! I'm not sure why it felt so weird before but now the whole situation feels right, but it's wonderful! I love being able to see the change in people's lives and countenances as they come closer to God. It's the most beaufitul thing!

We knocked doors in a different part of our area this week and we found some REALLY wonderful people. Heavenly Father has been blessing us quite a bit. It's funny how even miracles are rarely an all-at-once thing. Even though it may happen fairly quickly, it never seems to be SO fast that we notice it right away. Heavenly Father works in very quiet ways. He's just amazing. :) We met one man named Sebastian who opened the door right away and began to share his experiences, thoughts and feelings about God. He's had a lot of trials, but has faith like I've never seen before. He is a very sincere, humble man and it was such a tender mercy to be able to talk to him and share that his "conversations with God" actually are prayers and that other ideas he felt that were all his own and that he would be ridiculed for are actually truths from God that He wants Sebastian to know. He said a few different times "You know, I feel really good around you two. That probably is a sign from God. I think something really good is going to come from meeting you."

GAH!! I love when people actually listen to the Spirit!!

 

I just love the Savior. So much. I was thinking yesterday about what other kinds of ideologies I'll encounter when I go home....seeing as pretty much everyone we meet with is some kind of catholic or other form of christian, it'll be interesting to go home to atheists.I thought about conversations I've had with people before where they have been very disparaging about any kind of belief in God at all and seemed angered by the fact that I was so "ignorant." How could I possibly believe in God? well, 3 reasons come immediately to mind. First, considering that generally, a belief in God helps people cope with tragedy, gives direction and inspiration for their lives, and helps them to do and be better is intriguing enough to make one wonder if there might be something beneficial about faith. But then there's the reason that Elder Nelson spoke about. This world is AMAZING! Not just the natural world, but our bodies, our experiences, our thoughts, our emotions, our capacities, our relationships...they're all perfect! They may not seem ideal in our minds, because they are difficult, to be sure, but always just enough to stretch us. Every aspect of our individual lives and characters is perfectly organized and planned. Even and especially the way we learn to control ourselves and our environments. When it comes to  beautiful buildings, events, pieces of art, etc....we ALWAYS acknowledge that there is a designer, a mastermind behind it all orchestrating everything. Why shouldn't life and nature be the same? What more beautiful masterpiece can there be than a human life?

But the most poignant, important evidence for me that there is a God, that He knows me, that He loves me, and that Jesus Christ is my older brother who in reality DID atone for my sins is simply that I feel it. I feel their love. I feel their guidance. When I've felt hopeless or alone, I've relied entirely on the Savior, not an imaginary friend or idealistic perspective, but a real person to help me. I feel that the more I try to get to know them through prayer and scriptures, the more I understand their characters, their kindness, their love. I feel it so strongly. Sometimes I don't pay enough attention or I become so selfish that I forget to look for them, but I know they are there. No one can take that feeling away. I know it and I love them. That's why I'm a missionary. I know that they want to have every other person in the world feel their love and rely on them to be able to make the most of their life masterpiece. They want to help us.

 

Happy Easter, beautiful family.

I love you more than jugo de sandia!

Hermana Manzana

General Conference Time

I love Heavenly Father! I love the Savior! I love that we get to hear their prophets speak! I am totally in love with General Conference. I think it's just the coolest thing to be able to have a modern Moses relay vital information from our Heavenly Father about our concerns, needs, questions, desires, etc. Please tell everyone you know about conference! It is such a sacred, special experience that we can't pass up!

 

Do you remember me telling you forever ago about Manuel? He's a man we met while knocking a year ago who became kind of Hna Waite's project. As missionaries, we generally seek out those that are ready to accept the gospel. We know because of the scriptures that He is always preparing someone for it. Usually when we start teaching someone, we can tell from their attitude and desire to learn and change whether they're ready right now. Manuel was certainly not ready at that moment and I wanted to stop teaching him forever ago. But we keep teaching him because Hna Waite wanted to...she kept saying "I know it'll take a long time, but we HAVE to help him!" My attitude at the time was "If we spent all of our time helping EVERYONE that needed help, we will NEVER find the ones that are ready and waiting." Kind of cut-throat and jerky, I know, but Manuel was NOT progressing, not wanting to change and very blinded by his own bitterness and prejudice. For whatever reason, we've kept in contact with him fairly consistently over the last few months and even though the sisters stopped teaching him while I was in the desert, we started teaching him a little more frequently when I came back. A large part of his beef with God stemmed from the fact that he had once been baptized into a church, but became offended by one of the members and left the church. He feels that God has been punishing him by ruining his eyesight ever since. Long story short, he's been improving his perspective on life and challenges over the last few months, he had a surgery which left him completely blind but offered hope of recovery, he made a pact with God that if God helped restore his eyesight, he would "search for Him" again and try to live a good life. The next morning, Manuel started to see light and shadows and recognized that as Heavenly Father honoring that pact.

We've been working a lot more with him to understand why both personal revelation as well as belonging to a church (specifically, the church of God) is important. He's making really good progress and we're going to share Elder Oaks' talk on the matter with him today.

Mom, I told him about how you had the same questions he had about which church to join. He loves everything we've taught EXCEPT Joseph Smith. Could you write me a letter explaining HOW you came to know that he was a prophet? I would love that and I think it will help him as well.

 

I love you all more than all the orange blossoms in NoHo!

Hermana Manzana

Recovering and Learning

Hey Mis Padres Bellos! (and in Daddy's case, belloso hee hee!!)

 

I'm better!! Not 100%, but I've been able to get out and about. That's crazy that Hannah had the same thing...we were just meant to be sisters. I love her an ocelot! Our elders have been super generous in driving us around this whole week...we went out last Tuesday or so just for an afternoon on our bikes, but my flu got worse, so the elders banned us from bike riding for a few days.

 It rained and rained and rained all day Saturday, and we got transfer calls! I'm staying, but Hermana Marquez is going up to Palmdale. I'm going to miss her so so much. I really love her and look up to her! I know that she's going to be perfect in Palmdale! My new companion is.......Hermana Quick! She's from Kentucky but her parents just moved to Spokane. She goes to BYU and is wanting to be a food science major. She's been my roommate the past 2 transfers, so I already know her fairly well and I love her stinkin' guts. This will be her 4th transfer. We're anticipating that she and I will be together  through the end of my mission.....that's so crazy! Since I've been at home a bunch, I haven't been able to work with our investigators a ton and I'm kind of bummed about that, but I'm super duper excited to get back into the thick of things.

 

I was feeling a little sad at church because we didn't have too many people there, including recent converts and less actives. I started to feel frustrated because there were so many people and so many ideas running through my head and I thought "oh man. I'm never going to be able to help them all. I won't even be able to remember these ideas after church!" psh. Silly me. Then I thought "wait a second, I can write the ideas down! What a concept!" Ay. Que mensa. But then in Relief society, we were talking about what truly makes us happy....of course family is the first answer, but what about family? I think that as a parent I will feel (and as a missionary for my investigators, I do feel ) the greatest satisfaction in those kinds of relationships (and any teaching situation really) comes from seeing people become independent based on the principles taught. My greatest hope as a missionary is to give investigators and converts the resources they need to always be close to Heavenly Father....to know how to find their own answers and motivation without my having to be there. When they truly establish a good relationship with Heavenly Father, They will always have that sure foundation in Christ that it talks about in Helaman. I was thinking about how key the scriptures and consistent scripture study are in establishing and maintaining that relationship, and lo and behold, we talked about scripture study in gospel principles class. We talked about how Elder Scott advised us to make the scriptures a cherished friend so that we can always have the words of Life constantly edifying our hearts, minds, and spirits. We also talked about how he advised us to write down ideas and personal revelation. Even just doing so shows the Lord and ourselves that we cherish the counsel He gives us and helps to prepare us for more. Go figure that Heavenly father would teach me that multiple times in one day. I will be more consistent about writing in my journal!

 

Also, one more sad bit of news: I lost my camera. I have most of the pictures saved onto discs already, but I've been lamenting its loss this whole transfer. Thankfully my companion and roommates are excellent photographers so most of the memories I would want, they have saved. Blessings!!

 

Thank you thank you for all your prayers! it's been good to have a little respite this week, not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well. It's helped me to renew my perspective of missionary work and I have a better idea of how to teach more effectively and I have the energy to do it! Please pray that we will be able to find and recognize the searchers of truth!

Thank you for the dresses! I'll be looking forward to them :)

 

Love you more than all the cough drops in my apartment,

Hermana Manzana

Elder Perry and the Missionary Flu

Hi Mommy and Daddy,

 

I got both of your emails....thank you! I'm sorry it took me a few extra days to write back. It's been kind of an eventful (well, in a manner of speaking) few days. I started getting sick on Thursday and it totally destroyed me emotionally on Friday. I spent Saturday at home with lots of pharmaceuticals and a very loving, wonderful companion. Oh I also developed what I think is pink eye, but I used that tea that you put in the herbal first aid kit, so it cleared up pretty well by Monday. Church Sunday, a fireside in the evening that was all about missionary work with a focus on recent converts. It was SO great. Our Stake President is an amazing man--very charismatic, very motivated, very inspired. His Spanglish is the stuff of legends. Monday was a way weird day....We had a mission meeting (all but one zone---they're up in the middle of nowhere, poor guys) because they just made reassignments so Elder Richard J Maynes and Elder L. Tom Perry are in charge of the western states  missions now. They and their wives came and spoke to us about how to make the most of member missionary work, how to find "truth seekers", and other such awesome nuggets of wisdom. Elder Perry is a lot more sarcastic and funny than I would have imagined. We got to shake his hand, tell him our names, where we're from, and nothing more. He said "I don't want your life story, just tell me where you're from." I guess we were the last mission he visited in an 8 day tour, so I'd probably say the same. Our former district leader, Elder Gruenewald was the last of all the missionaries to greet him, and when Elder G. told Elder Perry he was from El Paso, TX, all Elder Perry said was "Oh that's too bad" and sent him on his way. I almost died laughing. 

It was a super cool, super inspiring experience and it made me excited to work my little tail off. Afterwards, since we never have more than 3 zones together at one time, we had a missionary fiesta in front of the chapel. SO many pictures, SO many missionaries, it was wonderful! We had another sister cut our hair while we were in Santa Clarita, then we went out for lunch and finally got back to NoHo late in the afternoon.

Yesterday I was so bad that we couldn't even get to the library for email. Our sweet elders brought us food and kept us from going stir crazy. Our members have been helping out so much, too. Our fridge is well-stocked with caldo de vegetales y pollo, chiles rellenos, sopes, pupusas, and ceviche.

I'm feeling much, much better today. Apparently the flu is going around and one of the symptoms is red, gummy eyes, so maybe it's not pink eye after all.....(I'm still dubious). I'm nervous to do a whole lot, even though I really want to, so we're taking it slow. Hna Marquez has been such an angel.

Sorry it's a lot of detail, but I figure nurse mom appreciates it.

Back in July, Chelsea wrote me an email about some defining points on her mission and how they helped her. I've referred back to that email multiple times throughout these last few months, but there was one that really helped me out this weekend. She had written about when she finally realized that missionary work is HARD: physically, emotionally, spiritually and how she learned how to trust the Savior to make up what she simply could not do. I've been noticing these past few weeks that I don't see missionary work the same as I used to....of course, I'm not supposed to, but I found that my motivation of love for individuals wasn't cutting it anymore. Well, on the one hand, yes and on the other hand, no....it's hard to explain...I've been more and more content with my responsibilities as a missionary, but I've just felt totally exhausted. I always knew that I wasn't pushing myself as hard physically as I could, so I figured that whatever I lacked in other areas, my physical reserves could cover it. When I got sick, however, I felt totally defeated and like I had absolutely nothing left to give. Heavenly Father sent me angels to help me right then, and I love my companions, roommates and district members for being so wonderful and willing to help.

I am getting worn down to the nubbins, but I think one of the reasons my recovery from the flu has been so slow is so that I can recover a little emotionally, too. I think this is sounding a whole lot more dramatic than it is....I'm tired, to be sure, but I know Heavenly Father will make me enough, especially for these last few months. I want to share the joy of the Gospel with all the world and everyone I see because I've been able to see and feel the change in my life and the support in difficult moments. We were talking to a woman the other day who felt disappointed in the church because she saw that even the most faithful of members had really terrible things happen to them. We said "That's not the point, though. Living the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not insurance against pain or sadness. It offers hope, direction, and purpose for when those times come. We're here to learn and grow. Some of that process hurts. A lot. But God loves us, so He gave us the Gospel to know what to doand why in those hard times"

That idea really struck a chord with her, and it's something that I know with all my heart to be true. Maybe it's trite and cliche to talk about life in terms of "it knocks you down, but you get stronger every time you get back up" but that's only because it's true. The kind of truth that you can base life decisions on and rely upon, like President Monson says "in world of changing standards and values". There is absolute truth and it comes from Father.

 

Anyway, just a few things that have been going on lately. Jeovany is doing GREAT and the ward totally loves him. Josefina is going to come to church this Sunday. Please pray that she will feel God answering her prayer to know that this is the church He wants her in.

 

I'm so glad I'm a missionary. Really. it's the best.

 

Ok....as for your questions: mom,  I'm coming home June 13th....so would I fly into Denver, get released, then come to Charlotte? I think that would be cool. 

I love you more than Nyquil,

Hna Manzana

Just a little news

Hey Fam! I'm glad you got my package...I'm sorry it was so stinkin' late in the mail....I am getting better at punctuality on some points and getting worse in other areas. 

 

We had a good week....it's going by SUPER fast. President has already started making transfer arrangements....I requested to train again....really, it's the only thing that makes sense for the amount of sisters we have, how many are available to move, etc. Maybe that was a totally crazy move on my part, but meh. Whatever's clever. We've been teaching more and more and it's super exciting. We're going to focus on helping our less active members a lot this week and we're really excited.

Love you more than pancakes,

Hermana Manzana

 

Oh by the way, I've decided to come home in June rather than July. I"m pretty sure that day will be June 13....just in time for Papa's birthday!! 

 

Oh also HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEANS!! He wrote me a super awesome email last week, and I have an awesome postcard for him...I just need to write on it..

Read them scriptures!

Baptism

awwww I love hearing about all the beautiful, happy, peaceful, fun moments at home. I love our family and our wonderful friends. I love how generous my parents are with their time and means. I love that my sister is doing well. I love stories about poop. I love life!!

 

Jeovany got baptized yesterday!! Hooray!!! It was SOOOO beautiful and wonderful! He's been facing a lot of challenges this week: critical family and friends, an injury at work, wracked nerves, etc., but he's sought solace and reassurance in prayer and reading the scriptures, so those challenges just brought him closer to Heavenly Father. He was so so happy when we took pictures for his baptism. The man baptizing him was a little wary about pushing him far enough under the water to actually make it a baptism by immersion, so it took 3 times, but hey, 3rd time's the charm, eh? Our ward just loves him and they're well on their way to adopting him. It was actually a double baptism, so we helped the young lady who got baptized before him in and out of the font, and it is just so wonderful to be able to be there for those first few moments with someone when they've been baptized. I really don't remember much about when I was baptized, but I remember that right after I went to the temple, there was just a beautiful feeling of being clean, whole. I love to see that feeling on others' faces, and then to know that I got to help be a part of that is so rewarding/gratifying/humbling/encouraging. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!

Just so's ya know :)

 

I was talking to Hna Prince last night about different emotional phases of the mission as far as motivation, trunkiness, discouragement, feeling on top of the world, etc. It's fascinating to me how we can understand the principle of "forget yourself and go to work" so well intellectually but making the leap to actually applying it seems like such an impossible feat. And really, I think it is, without the Lord's help. Just within this week, I feel so different and I don't know how or when it happened. I have more motivation, I don't want to go back home at night because I just want to keep teaching, I'm more patient, I can't stop smiling!! I love finding those moments in the processes of life where you can't explain exactly how something changes....but by divine providence, it just does and suddenly, you're in a new phase of life. It's just so wonderful.

 

Have a wonderful week, my beautiful family!

Love you more than my thinking dress!

Really getting it

Oh my goodness gracious, I love you both so stinkin much! I just love hearing about your lives and how generous and fun and intelligent and cool you are!
 

Thank you SOOO much for getting something for Hna Marquez. She's been a little bummed this week because she's fairly certain that she won't get anything for her birthday, so I think this will be a nice surprise for her. I just love her so much and I know you both will, too. Right now we're living in an apartment with another companionship, Hermana Quick and Hermana Prince. It's so fun to be so close to my baby again! She's such a dynamite missionary, I love her. Apparently, Elder Perry is going to be coming to our mission at the beginning of March...I'm so stoked! I LOVE conferences. They give me such a good boost in energy and motivation. And to have a meeting with an Apostle of God? It's going to be amazing!!!!!!

 

This was a SUPER good week. We were in a trio for a couple of days with Hermana White, the sweetest, funniest person ever. She reminds me a lot of Kristina, in both personality and in appearance. We had some super powerful, super amazing lessons and we visited with a woman that Hna Waite and I had found last March. Josefina is actually the sister of a former investigator family and we never had time to visit with her before (well, more like she never had time to visit with us) but she's not working now. She's super great. She's very much in need of a strong relationship with Heavenly Father, so we talked a lot about the importance of being able to feel the Spirit in our daily lives. She was very receptive and seemed to grasp the concepts we shared very well.

We also met with our friends Jeovani a number of times this weekend. He's AMAZING!  I liked how Hannah put it in her letter....he's so elect! It's just amazing to see how Heavenly Father has prepared him to be able to accept the gospel. We read all about the gospel of Jesus Christ in 3 Nephi 27 on Saturday. It starts off talking about how Christ's church has to bear his name and it has to be founded on His doctrine. He stopped us right there and said, "That's what I want. I want to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ and not worry about what other people think or say because I'll be able to feel God's approval and support."

Yeah, he's pretty awesome. He's incredibly open with us, and he asks so many wonderful questions. He says he always feels bad for bothering us with so many questions, but it's not a bother at all! Every time he asks something new, I think of the phrase in the scriptures that says that we should "hunger and thirst after righteousness." We see that in his eyes and he's so excited to be baptized on March 4.

 

Speaking of which, Happy Birthday, Lijahsaurus! I sure love you, my sweet boy! Also to Olivia! she's such a beautiful young lady now :)

We're also teaching a man named Rigo who  was baptized when he was 9 but then never went back again because his mom left the church. He is also totally dynamite and has made huge steps in his life to be able to get to this point where he's ready to come closer to God. It's really interesting to see the difference between our investigators who can feel the influence of the Holy Ghost and Rigo who actually has that companionship of the Holy Ghost. He comprehends the gospel so well and so quickly and he automatically knows how to apply the principles to his life, which is something we usually need to walk people through.

Man, I just love being a missionary.

 

I've always loved it, but I've always been rather eager to be back home. Now though, I feel like I'm completely relishing the experience and I'd love to be here (maybe not forever, but ) a long, long time. I thought I understood my calling before, but I feel like I'm just now comprehending how special and sacred it is. I'm so grateful to be a missionary!

 

I love you more than quarters!

Love, Hermana Manzana

Threesome

Buenos dias! I'm not being transferred, nor is Hermana Marquez (thank goodness!) BUT Hermana Prince is coming to be our roommate!! I'm so excited to see her again. I was totally spoiled last week because I got to see her twice, but now I think she'll bring a super cool dynamic to our missionary apartment.

It's been a fairly tranquila week...Jeovani came to church again (he's so great! Thank you for all your prayers on his--and all of our other investigators'--behalf), We're making progress with a couple named Marvin and Mayra (incidentally ALSO from Guatemala). He's actually a less active member, and she's a very sharp, very classy woman. We finally found out more about the barriers they face to her being able to be baptized. Apparently she is divorced, but he is not yet and they are facing some financial situations that are putting a damper on that for now. They seemed super determined to progress spiritually when we taught them this week, but then they didn't come to church yesterday....bummer.

We had a lesson with an investigator named Tommy....well, actually, we have a lesson with him every Thursday, but he was a co-pastor in El Salvador and hasn't really had a verbal, preaching outlet since he got here, so we have a hard time actually getting any teaching done. We went for a different tactic this week and tried to ask a lot of yes or no questions (which is typically pretty counterproductive in missionary work). BUT we made progress...sort of. we've been struggling a bit because he wants to be a part of our church, but won't read the Book of Mormon or pray....on top of that, we just didn't feel right about allowing him to be baptized just based on that. We went through the baptismal interview questions and he answered well to all of them, saying that he feels that Joseph Smith was a prophet and such, but it just didn't feel right. so this week, we finally figured out that he doesn't believe in our idea of priesthood ordination...he had a dream once where God took him up to heaven in a machine, sprinkled water on a crowd of people, told Tommy "Baptize your people" and then sent him back down to earth. for the next few weeks, lots of people started showing up at his door, wanting to be healed or cleansed, etc. He would touch their foreheads and they would fall over backwards. He takes that to mean that God gave him authority to preach and baptize. Once we finally understood that, our confusion made a whole lot more sense. If he doesn't believe in Priesthood ordination by the laying on of hands from one who hold the authority, he can't believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only true and authorized church on earth. In which case, anybody could be a prophet and proclaim that they know the will of God, which gets us nowhere. Guh. We're just having a hard time knowing how to teach him. We've certainly taught these principles very clearly, but he won't actually listen. He wants to preach to us and heal us. He actually tried to give Hna Marquez and Hna Busch a blessing once. Maybe I'm being too critical. But then again, I know how it feels to be around a worthy Priesthood holder, I know how it feels to receive a blessing through that authorized Priesthood, and I know how I feel when truth is being spoken. And I don't feel those things when Tommy preaches. Not that he preaches bad things, but the Spirit tells me that the Priesthood authority is not there.

I'm so grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost. I'm learning to appreciate it in a way I never have before. It's such a blessing to have an internal compass to help me know which way is up spiritually, morally.....everything.

 

Dad, you also asked about meals. Most of our dinners are with members...Our ward is SUPER generous and they LOVE feeding us. Sometimes it gets a little out of hand, but we get fed, they get blessed for their service, so we all win.

 

Hooray for at least 6 more weeks on bike! I'll probably finish my mission here, so more like Hooray for 24 more weeks on bike!

 

I love you more than all the false doctrine in the world!

Hermana Beauchamp

Live what you preach

 

I'm so glad you had such a good time with your cousin! and I can't wait to see all those new pictures you have of family. well, I mean I CAN, but ya know....I've gained such a greater appreciation for genealogy on my mission and I'm excited for when I'll be able to dedicate even a little bit of time to it. For now, the Spirit of Elijah has to take a back burner and the spirit of conversion is my best friend.

 

Speaking of which, I just read our mission President's weekly email and he said we had 16 baptisms in the mission yesterday! Super cool! Hermana Marquez and I got to go to three of them :) One of the investigators I helped teach in Palmdale got baptized yesterday so we got permission to go up there with a member. When I taught Manolo, it started off super great ( I think I actually wrote about him and his response to prayer...) but then got really weird because the moment his parents were within earshot, he denied everything and got all crazy on us, saying there wasn't a God. We visited him a couple times after that, but without much success. Hermana Prince and her companion have been working with him a lot and he decided that he would like to be baptized!! It was SO wonderful to see my Rancho Vista branch. I love them so so dearly. I even got to see Guadalupe and her boys! Also, a less active member named Hermano Munoz who is the cutest old man I've ever met was so glad to see me that he gave me a big hug. Whoops! Ah well.

Also, our member who took us is a recent convert named Guadalupe Umana who is a gorgeous, wonderful, faithful lady from El Salvador who we just adore, Well, she and one of the super attractive, super wonderful, super awesome members from Rancho Vista were making eyes at one another, so we've decided to help them get to know each other better.....all three of us were over the moon excited all the way home. I think missionaries make fairly good matchmakers.....although maybe we overdo it because we're so romance-starved and matchmaking is our only outlet.

 

We made it back home just in time for another double baptism at our church building and it was wonderful!

 

Missionaries are in charge of the lessons and talks and things on the fifth Sunday, so Hermana Marquez and one of the zone leaders gave talks (which were AWESOME) and then President Martin, and two of the other elders taught in the 3rd hour about the characteristics of the Church of Jesus Christ, focusing on having unity, charity, and faith. We have a TON of new converts in our ward and they are super amazing, but there have been some MAJOR problems with the not-so-new members and gossip lately. It's getting a lot better, but I think their lesson helped put the importance of being a good representative of the church in all you do back into perspective. One of the things we hear the most as missionaries is how people want to go to church but they see so much backbiting and unkindness and general unChristlike behavior that they think "why on earth would I want to join a church where the members don't even live what they preach?" We always remind them that the Church of Jesus Christ is perfect, even though the people aren't, and to always look at the doctrine to see if that is what is true. But then again, I totally see their point. We as members HAVE to walk the talk (or however that phrase goes in English). Then the changes the doctrine of Christ makes in our lives will attract others to the gospel as well. That is how it's supposed to work. Everything is to be centered on the Savior.

 

Our investigators are doing pretty dang well, and I'm so so grateful! Jeovani set a baptismal date goal for March 4. I really think he'll be ready WAY before that. He's so awesome and it's so cool to see how Heavenly Father has prepared him! Also, we've been visiting this family off and on for the last little while, and the kids are SUPER interested, but the mom is pretty flaky and it never seemed to us that she was very interested. BUT we finally got to meet her husband the other day (he works in a bakery so he's not usually there during typical hours) and we watched the Restoration movie with the whole family and ended with a kneeling prayer with all of them. The kids want to come to church so badly and 2 of them have already had some really cool experiences when they prayed to know if the plan of Salvation was the plan of God. Please pray for them! Your prayers are helping so so much and we feel your love and support every day!

 

Transfers are this next week, so we'll find out Saturday what happens. There's a rumor that I'm training again, which I was terrified of at first but I'm getting more comfortable with the idea. I would hate to leave Hermana Marquez, but she's just so amazing and cool that I would feel kind of selfish to keep her to myself for another transfer. One of the greenies that is coming out is a girl from Colorado who learned her Spanish in Ecuador.... we'll see what kinds of surprises Heavenly Father has up his omnipotent sleeves....Is that sacriligious? Hope not.

Love you more than matchmaking,

Hermana Manzana

Hola

Monday is STILL my Pday.... we just had a long series of monday holidays so the libraries weren't open... sorry!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! Did you get the text from my friend Karla? We were on our way to a conference and I had been beating myself up all day for forgetting to send a card last monday, but Karla sweetly volunteered to communicate my happy birthday wishes. It sounds like you both had a good time...oh dear how I love you! and I think it's oh-so-precious how you both write love notes about each other to me. I love it, para que sepan.

Spanglish is coming back full force. I've determined to have awkward English for at least my first week back home. I'm stoked! :) But that's still forever away, and in a great many ways, I'm so so glad.

Hermana Marquez and I are doing really well. It's been kind of rainy this week which puts a bit of a damper on missionary work for bikes, but we still go to the appointments we have set, try to find more people to teach, and look for service opportunities, and people are usually pretty impressed by our dedication. Being a missionary is the greatest!

We haven't been able to meet with Martin again, and as it just so happens, he moved out of our area this week, BUT he arranged with his new boss to have sundays off to be able to go to church, he STILL lives in our ward boundaries (I'm pretty sure anyway), his uncle wants to start visiting with us, and they want to come to church this next sunday. YESSSSSSSSSS. Please please pray that he doesn't lose animo and that he'll maintain that desire to know more and come closer to God.

I heard a funny story this week....you know how I wrote a while back about the Lancaster Baptist Church bus that picks up local kids to take them to church functions? A member of our ward and her grandson got invited to a pizza party at the church bus church one day and she figured "Hey, it couldn't hurt...." Apparently, once they all arrived, they separated the parents and the kids for about 20 minutes for some "special party" but when the kids came back, they all looked a bit damp.... the grandma asked her grandson " why are you all wet?" he said "I'm not sure, but I think they baptized me."

Bahaha! oh man. I guess that's one way to do it. Tramposos.

 

The missionaries in our ward are giving the 3rd hour lesson next week at church and our Mission President will be there, too. Please pray for us! We need all the brain juice we can get!

 

Also, we had an appointment with a couple of cousins from Guatemala named Jeovani and Jose. They were super interested in the Plan of Salvation, especially the idea of having lived with God before this life to prepare to come to Earth.... Jose commented "So we were kind of like in a spiritual incubator?" I suppose so. I guess in effect that's what our homes are, too. We are nurtured and helped and guided in a safe environment until we are ready and able to move out into the wide world for our BIG growth experience.

 

I think that's all for now on the mission front. 

Love you more than all the "si Dos quiere"s and "Primero Dios"s we hear every day!

Hermana Manzana

17 January 2012 North Hollywood, California

Buenos dias!

Todo bien por aca.... my bike scrapes are all gone now, I have a new (well, new to me) bike, we're working super hard, having a great time, our investigators are great, and I love being a missionary.

The End.

 

No but really, life is super great. Hard days, great days, moments so filled with the Spirit I think I'll just melt into a little puddle of joy, moments that are discouraging....you know, mission life!

 

Last week when we planned, we both felt like we were going to have a really great week. Lo and behold: we did! We were out knocking some doors last week and there was a teenage boy playing around with a soccer ball in the street. As we were walking up to him, I asked him something vague about soccer in English, to which he relplied "No speak English" My VERY huera  (huera=anglo girl) self told him in Spanish "That's ok, me neither!"

 

This boy's name is Martin. He just barely arrived a few months ago from Honduras. He spent a few months on the border between Mexico and the US and learned to love the Bible in that time. He loves God so so much and has such a solid understanding of how He operates. We taught him about prophets and the Restoration on Thursday and he LOVED it. We asked him if he would be baptized if he prayed and received an answer from God that these things were true and that this church has the priesthood authority to baptize in the name of Christ today, and before we even finished the question, he said "Yes. Yes of course." So we invited him to pray that night, but the Holy Ghost was so strong and I felt like we should pray with him then and there (which I really don't like doing because it's just super awkward for the most part). He gave a sweet, sincere prayer, asking for our safety and thanking God for sending us to him, but he didn't mention anything about our message and he didn't ask God to help him know if the things we taught him were true. He closed the prayer, but didn't move, so we stayed kneeling in his kitchen for another 4 or 5 minutes. He started praying again, inaudibly at first, but then he said, almost whispering "I want to know if this church has the Spirit in it and if I should be baptized again." We knelt in silence for another few minutes before he finally looked at us. We asked how he felt. "Good." "Do you feel that that is an answer from Heavenly Father?" "Yes. I think this church has the Spirit in it."

 

Oh my goodness, it was such a wonderful, peaceful, exciting moment. We could feel Heavenly Father's love for Martin and it is such a privilege to be a part of his coming closer to God. Please please pray for him to continue reading and praying and feeling that this is giving him a greater understanding of God's plan for him. He's such a good kid and we're so excited for him!

 

We also started teaching a 31 year-old woman named Estela who is very downtrodden by mistakes and poor choices she has made. She has led a very rough life, but it has been wonderful, even in just these 2 visits we've had with her, to teach her about Jesus Christ and help her see how living His teachings will take away that awful burden of guilt that she feels.

 

I love being a missionary, I love God, I love the Savior, I love my mission president, I love my companion, and I love you more than my new bike.

Hermana Manzana

9 January 2012

Dear Fam,

Dad, words do not express my joy and pride of being your daughter. 

I'm sorry to hear that you won't be RS teacher and Sunday School Pres anymore, but you two must be some dynamite marriage and family teachers. I sure look up to you! But then again, I'm fairly sure you DID brainwash me at some point, so I'm totally biased.

I actually hadn't heard anything about the arson fires in NoHo, but once I mentioned it to Hna Marquez, she said "you know, there have been a TON of fire trucks out running around lately." Turns out that the arsonist got to a building right near our district leader's apartment. Poor kid's already got a lot to worry about.....

I've got some sad news....do you remember me telling you about Linda? She's this amazing black woman we met in Wal-Mart but kept running into in different places. We went with her to church and she was SUPER receptive to the spirit....I got a call from Sister Jensen this week and she told me that Linda died. We're not sure yet exactly what happened, but it kind of looks like a suicide. The owner of the senior apartment complex said that Linda struggled a bit with depression, so it wasn't entirely a surprise. I'm so grateful I had the opporutnity to meet her! I'm sure she's just loving learning more about the gospel on the other side... but please pray for her family!

Thank you for your bike prayers! I think our automotive angels are doing double duty for me these days....you know how we always say that any car accident that we have happens in the best possible situation? Well.....I wiped out on my bike this week, but a former investigator (Juanito--a really nice guy who actually got baptized but never confirmed...he still always helps out the sisters with whatever bike maladies that occur)  happened to be driving by so he ran over to help (he told us that he watched me biff it and he said "Ay no! My beauty!"), Hna Marquez happened to have just the right size band-aids, the tire shop we were in front of happened to be owned by friends of Juanito so I could use their bathroom to wash up, and the bike (which is this super nice road bike I'm borrowing from a member) HAPPENED to be perfectly fine. Juanito even filled the tires and tuned up the brakes for me. I scraped my elbow and my hand pretty good, but everything else was totally fine. We thanked him for all of his help, to which he replied "Is OK, my beauty. you pray more, OK?" Baha. I love it here!

      Right after that, we had this AMAZING lesson with an old investigator, Manuel....I don't know if you remember me writing about him...Hna Waite and I found him forever ago. He was super negative, always contradicting himself, insisted that he didn't want help, and was just the most bitter, angry person I've ever met. We kept in contact a little while I was in the desert, so we came to visit and see if he's interested in visiting with us again (so that we can teach him). He's almost an entirely different person. He's way happier, more positive, more humble, and it's incredible to see all of that bitterness leave him. We had an awesome lesson about how to get to know Heavenly Father and the Savior better by using the same principles that you use to establish and better a relationship with friends or family (get to know them: talk to them=prayer, learn about them= read the scriptures; listen to them=be receptive to the Holy Ghost; work with them= Heavenly Father's work and glory is to help us grow...when we work with him to accomplish this, we get to know Him on a very profound level. ) It was so good!

    we were feeling a little down on Friday and a bit discouraged because a ton of investigators dropped us, but we had a feeling that things were going to turn around fairly soon. Lo and behold, another former investigator called us and asked us to come over right away because his friend wants to learn more about our church and is willing to be baptized, if he feels it's right. Whoa. So we went over and met this 20-something young man named Bray and his friend/roommate/I'mnotsurewhat Christina. Bray had actually met the sisters a few months ago and asked all about our lifestyle as missionaries. He said he was very impressed with how dedicated we are and how much we give up to live close to the Holy Spirit. So Heavenly Father just basically dropped this amazing investigator in our laps. And we are so grateful!

     In other news, two awesome new investigators named Giovanni and Jose (cousins from Guatemala) came to church yesterday!  They LOVED it, although we somehow forgot to tell them that church is 3 hours. whoops. but Thankfully there are a TON of Guatemaltecos in our ward and everyone was super welcoming. They were both very eager to read and answer questions during our gospel principles class as well as in the priesthood class. I think this will help our ward get a much-needed motivation-boost to do missionary work and help us out. By the end of church, they had a bunch of new friends and each had copies of "Teaching of the Prophet George Albert Smith."

Also, my first convert, Jose Reyes came to church and it was so good to see him! He lives in another city on the other side of the valley, but his brother still lives in our ward, so he came to visit yesterday. It was just the coolest thing to watch him pass the sacrament and to hear him give the opening prayer in sunday school. It's the most amazing feeling to know that I had just a little part in helping him come to know the Savior better so that He can help Jose become the most amazing, wonderful person the Lord knows he can be. I love it!!

    Javier's baptism was WONDERFUL! He has SUCH a strong testimony, especially of the Book of Mormon and he loves the feeling of wholeness and divine love that has come into his life since he has started coming to church. A bunch of the sister missionaries sang a gorgeous arrangement of "I stand all amazed" and I got to give the talk on the Holy Ghost. I took the main theme from Elder Bednar's talk from Fall 2010 conference " Receive the Holy Ghost" It was awesome! I love being able to be guided by the spirit. Speaking of which, halfway through the talk on baptism, I felt like something wasn't quite right ( I found out later that Hna Marquez had the same feeling) so I started mentally going through all of the elements that needed to be there to have the baptism go smoothly and I remembered a story my friend told me about the font being empty when they went to baptize their investigator. I motioned for Hermana Busch to go check the font.....it turns out that it was only half full! Thankfully it was full by the time we were ready for the actual baptism. The Spirit was so strong and it was so wonderful to be able to see how special of a moment it was for Javier.

Anyway, my pday is still Monday, it's just been a weird couple weeks.

gotta run,

Love you more than all the bike-related miracles in the missionary world!

Hermana B

Nappy Hew Year! January 3, 2012

Hey Amada Familia!

I can't even begin to express my joy at being back in Spanish (working and teaching in Spanish.) I LOVE NOHO!! (NOHO = North Hollywood) The people, the food, the language, the bike (well....kind of....if it would work I'd love it more)...it's just so great. It was way weird at first to be back without my old district and all the missionaries I associate with this area, but I absolutely adore Hermana Marquez. She was trained by Hermana Waite and Hermana Busch (who was in my district when I was here before) and she's just an incredible missionary. She joined the church about 3 years ago in a Young Single Adult branch  in a Tongan stake near San Francisco. She's a super powerful teacher and I've already learned a lot from her. It was really sad to leave Lancaster (definitely not the place, but the people) but I'm just so glad to be back. It's been fun to have so many members and former investigators do a double-take when we go visit.

They found a spare bike that I had actually ridden at the very beginning of my mission, but it was a lot more well-loved this time around. The gears were kind of loose, so we were told that anytime the chain could slip or break and cause me major problems. Thankfully, Heavenly Father make the bike unrideable before that happened: my tire popped  on the way home from church. My companion was way far ahead but eventually figured out I wasn't behind her anymore. No falls, no nothing, but I happened to stop right next to a nice homeless man who I'm sure would have helped had I wiped out. So anyway, they're looking into buying a new bike for the area, while I borrow a member's super sweet sporty boy bike. Yesssss.

It's been really neat so far to see and feel how much I've grown since I was last here. That has been a really great tender mercy for me and it makes me excited to keep working hard to keep growing.

I love teaching about Christ. It's just the most amazing thing. I love helping people realize how much they are loved. Dad, do you remember when you told me about peoples' near-death experiences instigating a dramatic lifestyle change, largely because of how loved and cherished they felt by someone they encountered? I've shared that a couple of times with people and I've thought a lot about the power of love and charity. I also started reading the new Relief Society manual of the teachings of George Albert Smith. I only perused a couple chapters, but I really liked that his whole....mantra I guess you could say, was all about how kindness opens doors, inspires patience and gratitude, and softens even the hardest of hearts. It's such a positive, loving attitude and I'm excited to put that to work.

We have a baptism this weekend! He's a sweet, soft-spoken man from Mexico named Javier whom they found back in September. He loves the Book of Mormon and has the most wonderful gift of knowing how to apply the principles he reads to his life. We have a lot of other really great investigators that we're very excited to help along. Hermana Marquez and Hermana Busch focused a LOT on contacting new people as potential investigators,and we're going to try hard to keep that pattern going.

 

Thank you for the picture of Ryan and Chelsea and their beautiful family!!  They are all so sweet and I love to think about that day at the temple (when Jared got married - Allison was allowed to be there.) It was so wonderful! It is still such a source of inspiration and motivation for me. I just love our family so much and I'm so grateful to be a part of it.

 

Also, I LOVE Guatemalans. They're so stinkin' cool! Just so's ya know. 

 

Ummmm....I think that's about all from the Missionary front.....

My address is back to being 6835 Laurel Canyon Blvd #408 North Hollywood, CA 91605

Oh and I haven't heard anything about arson...nor have I seen anything....we live in a very little bubble. (The news reported that an arsonist was lighting automobiles on fire at apartment complexes right in North Hollywood; Mom's notations are in italics.)

I love you more than Spanish!

Hermana Manzana