Week 25

Feb 25, 2013

SHALOM!!!

Hello my dear family! I hope you have all had a stupendous week! It sounds like you all had some fun time together this week! I am glad to hear that all is well!

It has been quite the adjustment here for me. I am loving it though! I LOVE my companion! Hna Redondo is so awesome! She is such an amazing missionary! She is learning English and has the best accent when she is speaking it. I am teaching her a lot of very valuable phrases in English. She said "gee-dang-it " the other day; I am a really good teacher! She is so great to help me with my Spanish! She is helping me to sound a lot less like a white girl.

The area we cover is ginormous! It is so huge! Compared to my little mile by a mile and a half in North Hollywood. The members here are super great! Its odd because a lot of them speak English and it throws me off just a bit when I am talking to them but it definitely makes my life easier.

So we have 13 investigators with baptismal dates and I have only met a few of them but they are all really awesome. There are a lot of them that have problems with getting to church because of work or family stuff so we have work to do in that area. The investigators I have met are so humble and have so much faith. We saw one last night and she is a young single mom of 4 I think, and she was telling us how she was really having a hard time the other day so she said a prayer and opened the Book of Mormon and she came across a verse in Alma. As she was sharing it with us she was just crying and she was saying that it was a perfect answer to her prayer. She has so much faith! I was about in tears just talking to her. It made me realize I need to have more faith. I love the things that I can learn from the people we are teaching.

Our apartment here is a bit different because we have roommates. We have 2 English sisters that cover the local YSA ward living with us. They are a lot of fun. One of them is only 19. I actually took her out last week for her first knocking experience. She is really sweet. It makes me wonder what I would have been like as a missionary at 19. I'm pretty sure it would have been a train-wreck. haha She is awesome though.

I love it here. I am just trying to get the hang of things and figure out where the heck I am. I love you all!!!

P.S. Hna Higley just told me that the investigators that we were teaching forever, the family that had to get married ARE GETTING MARRIED!! I am so excited I am dying!!! Also the couple that had me over for dinner for my birthday got married this weekend!!! BAPTISM ALL AROUND DOWN THERE!!! I am so excited for them!!!!!!!!!

                                          Me and Hna Redondo

Week 24

Feb 19, 2013

BIG NEWS!!

Today I got transferred!!!! I am so sad and excited!! We got the call Sunday morning that I needed to pack up because I was leaving! I was super sad. I LOVE North Hollywood and I LOVE our ward and I LOVE Hna Higley and all the Elders in that district but I was excited to see what God had for me next.

It was super sad to say good bye to Gregorio last night. It about ripped my heart out.  I just love that guy! I bore my testimony and right after he said he wanted to share his testimony with me and he had tears just streaming down his face the whole time! It was hard to leave everything I know and love about my mission thus far.

We had the transfer meeting this morning and I thought I had it all figured out. We had asked around to all the Hermanas to see who was leaving and who would be on bike and car and all and I was sure I had it all figured out. Pues, I was super wrong. I was hoping to stay in the Valley (the ghetto) but nope I am now here in Santa Clarita! It is SUUPPERR nice here. I am already missing the hood but I know God wants me here for a reason.

My new companion is Hna Redondo she is sooo awesome! She is from Columbia, like straight up. She is learning English. I love her already though. We also have a CAR! I am the driver. It feels so good to drive. It’s a little sad to not have my jams going but its all good. ;) I am also the senor companion. Haha I think God thinks He is funny sometimes.

I am super excited to see what experiences this area has to offer me. They have 14 investigators with baptismal dates. That is insane! I hope I don't ruin it. I had a few tears saying goodbye to all the Hermanas and especially to Hna Rocha, the member in that ward that I just love soo much! But I am ready to go and love these people too!

For my last Pday in the Valley they called and asked us to help out with the new missionaries that came in. We had 28 new missionaries this transfer!! That is so amazing! We had the opportunity to take them out for their first time contacting. It was soo fun! Like I have never, ever enjoyed knocking that much. We went out in shifts and Hna Higley and I were in charge of the English sisters. The first time was super awesome. I had a girl that is only here waiting for her visa to go to Brazil. She is learning Portuguese. So we were going to have to walk somewhere to contact but then she told me she just happened to have leggings on so we were able to take the bikes. I asked her if she had faith and she was so excited and said YES! So I let her take the lead and tell me when she felt that we needed to stop. She stopped us in front of a house and told me it was the winner. We found the nicest lady there! She was so open and was interested in having missionaries come back to here. She was awesome! After the contact the sister I was with was just so excited! She gave me the biggest hug and just could not get over how fun that was and how good it felt. She is so great!! I felt bad because after that we only ran into Spanish speakers so she didn't really get what was going on but she did jump in with every Spanish word she knew.

I am just amazed by the miracles we encounter everyday! Being a missionary is the best!

Well family I just love you all a lot and could really go for some prayers right about now :) I don't know my address yet so it would be best to just send stuff to the mission office until I can get it to you. LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Week 23

Feb 11, 2013

Well family its official Gregorio is now LDS. (I had to teach him that term yesterday he kept thinking it was JC something haha) He was confirmed yesterday and as soon as it was over he came back and sat next to me and said "Ok, next step is the temple." He is so awesome! I really am so grateful that I got to see him make this change in his life!

Other than that we have had a pretty routine week, nothing super exciting has happened. We have been really focusing on finding lately, which can be a bit frustrating, but we know there are other Gregorio’s out there and we just need to have the faith to find them.

One thing that we have recently started to help us find is an English class. This is my new favorite thing. It has been a really good way to find. We have a member in our ward that is an amazing teacher; I mean he even pulled out the Rosetta stone with them! It’s a super legit class. We have had about 13 people each week, members and nonmembers. It’s been a good way to get people comfortable with the members and comfortable with coming into the building (sometimes that is the hardest thing for people to get over). Its super fun to help the people, who think that I am an idiot with Spanish, with their English. ;) Its been really fun and super effective.

OHHHH I almost forgot! We got the most exciting news this week! I have been teaching a couple here since my very first week. They are actually the ones that sent the birthday pictures. He is a member but his girlfriend isn't and missionaries have been teaching her for over a year now because they have been waiting for his divorce to be final so they could get married and THEN baptized. Well they told us this week that the divorce is FINALLY final and they are ready to go!! I was so excited!! I just started to cheer and couldn't stop smiling! I just LOVE them so much! I am a bit sad that I probably won't be around to see it all because they are planning on getting married the end of March and I'm sure I will be gone by then but I just am so excited for them to be able to progress!! I am super PUMPED for them!

Sorry there isn't a lot to report this week but we are doing well and working hard! I love ya'll so darn much!! Have just a super duper week!!

Also pray for la familia Noriega. They need prayers!

Week 22

Feb 4, 2013

HE DID IT!!! Gregorio got baptized!! You guys I wish you could have all been there! I love this guy so much! He has had such a crazy rough life and now that is all gone, he is all clean!!!

It was so awesome! I can't even describe it! He brought with him his daughters and wife. He just had a huge smile all day yesterday. We met with him before church and watched a talk from conference. It was the Dare to Stand Alone by Pres. Monson and he just loved it. He could really relate to it because he is already getting a lot of people telling him how terrible we are but he is so full of faith and just doesn't even care what anyone says. He always says, "I know where I'm at." Anyway, finally 5:00 rolled around and it was dunking time. During the actual baptism Hna Higley and I were having a hard time controlling ourselves because the dumb font was making a really loud awkward sucking sound, we have had to master the silent laugh since being together.

The BEST part of the whole day was when he shared his testimony after the baptism. He is so awesome family! I just can't wait for you all to meet him! He started off by saying he knew that Jose Smith and Thomas S Monson exist. Ha precious. But he also said that he was so excited that he was able to be the example for his family now, something he has never been before. He said he was excited to go to the temple in a year, that's the next step. He is so great! He has been so excited about the temple ever since we talked to him about it. We are planning on meeting up in Salt Lake next Feb for him to go through. He used to work in Salt Lake and he can remember his boss, who was a member, saying to him as they were driving passed the temple one day "that Gregorio is our temple. You can't go in there" He is so excited to be able to now! Anyways his testimony was so perfect and his daughters were just bawling to see their dad up there. All in all it was perfect! I am so excited for him. He has so much faith and is just the most humble man. I am SO grateful that I got to see God work to change him. I can't believe that I got to be a part of it. I know that I really didn't do much of anything it was all Father in Heaven and Gregorio. He is just so amazing! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!

Anyways I love you all so much and I will send the pictures from the baptism.

             Gregorio and us!! he calls us his angelitas. He is just adorable

                       Gregorio and Obispo Colocho, he baptized him.

 

 My very favorite picture! Hna Higley and I laughed for  about 20 mins straight as we were going through the pics last night and saw this one. hahaha it is just soooooooooooo awkward. We have no idea why they are holding hands, none of them are smiling, this one is just gold.

                                                  Gregorio and his cute daughters.

The after shot with his tie. He has been that dressed up since his first first Sunday for church. There are members who have been members for years in our ward that still just wear jeans and a t shirt. Everyone always says, "Wow he's an investigator I thought he was a member." He is so great!