MARCH 13, 2017

HOLA!!! HOLA!! HOLA!!! 

First of all, I am pretty sure that every single week just keeps getting faster and faster and even harder to keep track of everything that happens. Hna. Tyrrell and I are having such a blast! I have really lucked out so far with all my companions. We spend about 90% of the day laughing. It’s been a blast so far. 

Last P-day, I FINALLY got to see the ocean (actually the gulf of Mexico but it had the same effect). It was so beautiful, I felt like I was dreaming. You have no idea how much peace I have found in this area. We got to walk down this really long pier and it was so pretty. It reminded me a lot of home.

There has also been a huge fire burning for the past week. Bike days are always the best when it’s raining big huge chucks of ash.  I think it ended on Wednesday or Thursday but considering the fact that I can’t watch the news, I really don't know. But it was really fun, honestly! I got some really cool pictures! 

This past week we found a lot of new people to teach! It was really great! We worked really hard and saw a lot of success from it-- which is always nice. We area actually teaching a famous Cuban PopStar.... yup. hahaha He showed up to church randomly twice with his neighbor, Hno. Alberto, and we got a return appointment with him yesterday for last night and Oh. My. It was the most hilarious/interesting/crazy night of my mission so far ha-ha. We get there and start teaching him the restoration of the gospel, we hadn’t even gotten to the part of Joseph Smith yet when he raises his hand  and asks "Okay, but how and when can I get baptized, I’m ready right now." ha-ha Hna. Tyrrell and I just looked at each other and were in shock. He then spent the next 7 minutes trying to convince me to let him get baptized this weekend. We explained to him that he needs to have all the lessons first, he then begged us to teach them all to him right then and there. And this whole time I’m trying to make him realize that this isn’t something you just jump into...It was honestly crazy and so fast and Hna. Tyrrell can’t really understand Cuban spanish so I flew solo for a little. It was all around hilarious. But then we finally got him agree to getting baptized on the 25th (after his big events in Las Vegas and Miami? ha-ha) and we then closed the lesson with a prayer and a personal concert in his living-room(I have the recording to prove it). I’ll try to send you pictures!! 

All and all, great week!

My scripture from this week is in Alma 17:11, I'm not sure if I have shared this one before but it’s one of my favorites, especially as a missionary.   “11 And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls.”

A lot of the times we feel like being a missionary or a follower of Jesus Christ, things should be easy. But it’s not. It has never been easy to share the gospel or to be "an instrument" in the hands of God. But that’s part of it, that's part of being a follower. We need to go through challenges to know God and to grow. 

I love you all! SO MUCH! and I pray for you every day!! have a great week! 

Pictures:

1.Us at the pier with the Vanderbilt Sisters. 

2. Hna. Tyrrell and I 

3. My Zone

4. PopStar and Our Member

MARCH 06, 2017

HOLA HOLA HOLA from NAPLES!!! 

NAPLES IS SO PRETTY!! I feel like I am in a super cute/cheesy Nicholas Sparks movie. It’s the best! I love it over here. It is so peaceful and clean and a real "change of pace" from my last area! Now I know what people say when they say Florida is so beautiful! Its amazing! 

 I am companions with Sister Tyrrell. Its a blast! She’s so sarcastic I love it! Greenie-Breaking is definitely a different experience than I'm used to. We rely on my spanish A LOT! so basically, we are forced to rely on the SPIRIT because without it, I wouldn't be able to say anything. You can absolutely see the hand of the Lord in our work. 

This past week was crazy. Our area is HUGE and so diverse. We have a place called the "estates" where the houses are really big and super far apart. But then we also have the typical Miami neighborhood. Although no matter what, it’s always fun! 

Oh! and THERE ARE SO MANY MEXICANS! I LOVE IT!!!! Mexican Spanish is so much easier to understand than that of Cubans. And also, I forgot how much I missed and love Mexican food. So basically, all and all, life here is awesome! It doesn't feel  like "home" yet but it will get there! 

We saw a lot of miracles this week! One day, we were going to go visit a man that the sisters had talked to a week before. We knocked on his door at the house/apartment complex place. He wasn't there but all of his neighbors were outside. So we went up to them and started teaching them the Restoration. I wish I could've taken a picture. Here we were standing in front of all these men, in a sketchy apartment complex, Latin music blasting, Sister Tyrrell and I teaching so hard and them just listening so intently. It was great. All of them want to get baptized on the 19th. We still aren't

sure how legit they are but still! cool experience. 

Right now we are also teaching a 22 yr old Man se llama Carlos, He is super great and has the best questions. He just came here from Honduras (My favorite people) and is so excited to find gods true church. He is preparing to be baptized on the18th. We are teaching him and his cousin tonight! 

My Spiritual thought for this week comes from Alma 4:19, y dice "  19 And this he did that he himself might go forth among his people, or among the people of Nephi, that he might preach the word of God unto them, to stir them up in remembrance of their duty, and that he might pull down, by the word of God, all the pride and craftiness and all the contentions which were among his people, seeing no way that he might reclaim them save it were in bearing down in pure testimony against them”

​I love this scripture so much. For one, you can just feel how much Alma really wants to help these people. He has been called by God to share the gospel with these people and he has so much "urgency" to do so. Pero la cosa mas importante aqui es, when it says that he did "stir them up in remembrance of their duty". What is our duty? What is your duty? We each have an individual "duty" or purpose as children of God on this earth. I love also how in the end it says the only way he could help them understand their duty was the "bear down in pure testimony". He could only help them if he first has his PURE testimony of the things of the Lord. 

I love you all! So much! I testify of God’s love for you! It’s so pure and so real. I can feel it for the people here. I pray for you all the time! Till next week!!! 

MARCH 28, 2017

TRANSFERS YALLLLL! 

This week FLEW by! it was seriously the fastest week/transfer of my mission and also one of the most successful. I will be transferring out of my "baby area" to the west coast to "greenie break" (she just finished her training) someone in Naples, Bahia ward. I am so excited! Really sad to leave this area because I really don't feel like my work is done here but it’s okay! Movin' on! Also, Sister Healy and I are seriously the dream team so we are both pretty sad about that but it’s all good! I have learned so much from her this transfer and I am so blessed to have been able to serve in this area for this long! I love EVERYONE here so much but I can’t wait to go LOVE the west coast just as much! 

We found a lot this past week. It was crazy. So many miracles. A family that I taught in my training called us this past week and really wants to learn again so that was so cool! Also, we had the opportunity to take Gaby, my recent convert, out to one of our lessons. AND IT WAS SO AMAZING. It was such a cool experience to be able to see someone that I taught everything to and has found so much joy in the gospel then going on and sharing her testimony. She has the most pure love for the gospel. I am going to miss her and her family so much! 

Oh, I also gave a talk in sacrament this past week! I spoke on the importance of fulfilling our callings in the church. I used the story of El Rey Benjamin. It was a super cool experience speaking for the first time in Spanish in front of everyone. 

This past transfer I learned how to be BOLD with so much love. You can never be too bold as long as you love the people so much. For example, the savior was the most "bold" man to walk the earth but his love for us overwhelmed the "sting" of the truth. I love these people. I say it all the time but It’s so true! I LOVE THEM! SO MUCH! 

My spiritual though from this week is in Mosiah 24:14-15

  14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

  15  And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

Sometimes the lords will is so different than our own. I see that over and over in the lives of our investigators and in my personal life all the time. But as long as we are submissive, continually humbling ourselves we have the lords promise that he will walk with us, He will carry our burdens but it is our "part" to let him. 

I love you all! I am so thankful for my mission and everything that I’ve learned already! Thank you for your love and your example! Keep on changing and getting better and I will keep on praying for you! Till next week! (hopefully I’ll have some cool alligator pictures for you all)