7-21-2014: The Days Are Just Packed!

Buenos dias familia!

This week was an awesome one!  (duhhh, every week is awesome!) :)  We've been getting to know the area and the ward a little better day by day, this ward is so awesome!  Zion truly is everywhere.  We've got TONS of people that we're visiting, which is crazy because we're both brand new to the area!  The elders left us a solid group of people they were working with that we've been visiting as well and we also did our own finding to work with some new people.  It's awesome to see the Lord guide us in everything we do. 

For example:  We received a referral from the zone leaders (they were on exchange with an English elder who covers the same area as us and ended up talking to a few Hispanics, so they gave us their addresses and names and such).  So our appointment canceled last night, and both me and Hermana Ford felt we needed to contact this referral, even though we knew there was a large group of people that we also needed to contact in another area.  But we followed the spirit and went to visit this guy, and he didn't end up being home, but we were able to talk to his daughters and they were very sweet and we gave them our card and said we'd come back another time.  As we were walking across the street to our car, we saw this English-speaking lady on the phone in her driveway.  I was hesitant to go up to her because she was on the phone, but we went anyways and Hermana Ford gave her a card with the church's website.  She said thanks very graciously and we walked away.  I put my scriptures in the backseat of the car and was about to open the driver's door when this lady jumps up and calls over to us

"hey, do y'all pray with people?"

"Yeah, we LOVE to pray!"

So we said this brief prayer with this lady for her and her family and the spirit was SUPER strong.  she was crying and thanked us very graciously and we asked if we could send missionaries to her house and she said "OF COURSE!" so we got her address and we'll be sending the English elders over.  It was a really cool experience. 

We also had a lesson with this girl ALP, she's 16 and her mom is a less-active member, but ALP is super sweet and we talked about the Restoration movie and she had a TON of questions at the end, she just wanted to know everything! It was awesome, she was so interested and excited and has such a great desire to learn more about God. 

AND we had an exchange with our Sister Training Leaders this week!  I stayed in the area while Hermana Ford went to Hurst (my home!) and HERMANA RAM came to Arlington! I stinking love her, I consider her one of my best friends, truly.  So it was a super fun exchange and it was super awesome to have her in the area because she knew exactly the things that I needed to hear in order to be a more effective missionary/trainer/disciple of Christ.  While we were on exchange, we were tracting and found this kid ER who is 18 and was like "Yeah, it's actually one of my goals to be baptized by the end of the year" sooooo we were like "we can help you with that!"  :)  It was a really good lesson.  We'll be seeing him this week to share more about the plan of salvation. 

We also met with this Less active family the A family, who I barely know, but as we were teaching them I just felt this huge love for them and a desperation for them to understand how much they need the gospel, and how much the church needs their talents, abilities and testimonies.  It was an interesting lesson that caused me to remember several other lessons in my mission where afterwards me and my companion just fall to our knees and truly plead for the souls of these people, more than I've ever pleaded for myself.  It was a very humbling thought and a special peek into the windows of heaven.   

Man, I love being a missionary.

I am so excited for Karenna!  She is going to have such an awesome experience in the DC north Spanish speaking mission!  She's going to be awesome.  I'm so glad that Kelly is going to be taking the missionary discussions, too!  That is going to be so awesome, I hope Nat's feeling better by Thursday. I'm glad they were able to have the blood drive this week, it's not a real blood drive if the Bloods aren't there! ;) 

Business meeting: i'll keep in mind the things that I'll be needing for school, I'm thinking the storage bins will be good just in case and I like the idea of the zebra thingy being out there in Utah, too. The only thing that I can think of as well would be maybe my winter coats?  Nothing really comes to mind, but I'll keep pondering and let you know.  end of business meeting?  OH falsehood.  I'll be going to the store today to buy some new shoes: my tracting ones are falling to pieces!  So, just so you know.  I'll see what is at Ross and hopefully find something there. 

I love you all so much! have a wonderful week, make good choices, be true to your school etc etc

cuidense y portense bien :)

<3 Hermana Sangre

7-14-14: Week One in Arlington!

Hello Family that I love so dearly!

OH man, this week was AWESOME! Also, words that would be appropriate to describe it would be Crazy, nuts, fantastic, and loco.  :)  We had a TON of stuff to do in Gainesville to prepare everything for the Elders that got there Wednesday afternoon--from writing notes to updating records to telling people, it was crazy.  Then Wednesday morning we got up bright and early to drive down to the Hurst Stake Center so that I could meet my trainee!  We had a small breakfast there, all the trainers and trainees and a small training from President Ames.  We also took pictures with our trainees and the areas we were going to--that should be found on Sister Ames' blog or the Texas FTW mission fb page or something. Fun stuff!

So Wednesday we took our car (red 2014 corolla with 6500 miles on it.  quite the dream), filled it up with both of our suitcases and bikes, and drove down about 20 minutes to Arlington!  We're in the southern part of the stake with a ton of the city of Arlington and all of Mansfield, so it's way different than Gainesville, a lot more city-slickers ;)  but it's a super cool area.  Tons of Hispanics and the ward is pretty big too!  But, me and my companion are the only two that can play the piano, sooo thankful I can play more than 5 hymns now...hah. 

SPEAKING of my companion, she is so cool! Her name is Hermana Ford and she is from Redmond (close to Seattle) Washington.  She is 19 and just got into the nursing program at BYU.  She took 3 years of Spanish in high school, but only spent 2 weeks in the MTC in provo, so she knows Spanish pretty well and she is so ready to learn and grow!  I love her tons. She is more soft-spoken but for sure not afraid to open her mouth and just talk to people.  We've been doing a TON of practicing and it's awesome for me to just go back to the basics of missionary work as a trainer.  Something I've realized is that "I know stuff" (to quote Dwayne aka Dwight aka gpa sangre) but it's not enough that I have a years worth of experience, I need to share it with this awesome, ready to learn sweet missionary so that she can be a waaaaaay better missionary than me. :)

Another fun fact, the Zone Leaders used to live in our apartment (we split their area and they moved to another apartment when we came), and like a gazillion and a half elders have finished their missions in this area, so if anyone needs any old sweat-stained missionary shirts for whatever reason, we've got PLENTY :)  But its actually a really good apartment, we've got a gym for the complex and everything and there are even computers in the office, so that's why we got a head start on emailing today. 

new address is:

Hermana Kate Blood

1800 London Lane #808

Arlington, TX 76017

did I already send that to you? I can't remember...

This week we've just been getting out, walking, and talking to EVERYBODY.  It's been awesome.  Especially in 100 degree weather everyday.  But for real, because then people feel bad for us.  And I get a good tan ;) NO seriously, I promise you that I am tanning. For the first time in my life, it is actually becoming a reality.  halleluiah amen and amen.   But we've talked to some really cool people and it's just been all around awesome. 

I'm glad Girls Camp went well!  It sounds like it was a blast.  I stinking love Girls camp.  THat's soooo cool that y'all took Kelly to the Temple grounds/fireside! You are being such awesome missionaries, I'm so proud! :)  I hope Jake's internship thingy goes well and I'll keep Michele in my prayers for her job interview!  Are y'all making a list of all the movies that Caleb does the music for so that I can watch them at home? If not, don't worry, there's still time to repent ;) haha

I love you all sooo much, cuidense y portense bien, k? :)

<3

Hermana Sangre

7-7-2014: Happy July 7th

BIG NEWS:

 

-Gainesville is getting "whitewashed" out by Spanish Elders, it's a better area for Elders than it is for Sisters.  Whitewashing means when 2 missionaries leave an area and 2 brand new missionaries come in, so that means that both Sister Lewis and I will be going.

-Sister Lewis is going to a ward in Arlington, she has been an amazing companion and I will miss her tons

-I WILL BE TRAINING A NEW MISSIONARY!  SO what's happening is I will be opening up a new area for Hermanas in the Arlington spanish ward and training a new spanish sister.  There is only one of those coming in this transfer, so it's going to be pretty exciting. 

 

my new address:

1800 London Lane #808

Arlington, TX 76017

 

I am so excited!  At first I was super nervous, but now I'm just excited. 

 

This week, it was super hard to say goodbye to all our investigators, especially LA and RW, my black grandpas :)  We were all pretty sad, but they are going to keep coming to church and working towards their baptismal dates.  LA even said something really funny, I guess a friend of his asked him what church he was going to, and gave him a hard time for going to the mormon church, so he told us, "Da[rn] what they say, I'mma be a Mormon!"  It was pretty funny and definitely made me smile :) 

 

Good things are happening in the mission, we've heard that announcement about iPads, so we don't know when exactly we'll be getting them, but that will be awesome when we finally do! 

 

Our Fourth was AWESOME, we went to a BBQ with a few families and it was delightful, with some REALLY good Texas steak and hamburgers.  I love Texas...but I'm also super excited to start eating more Mexican food again!  Gainesville itself didn't have a fireworks show and we were busy planning for the next day anyways, so unfortunately we didn't get to see any fireworks to celebrate the 4th, but we did get to go to a Mission Leadership Council meeting that morning and sing some patriotic songs!  It was fun. 

 

I'm glad Dad and the boys got to have a fun trip!  And Good luck, mom, with Girls camp this week! I'm excited to hear how it goes.  Send my love to everyone! 

Les quiero bastante, cuidense y portense bien :)

<3 Hermana Sangre

6-30-2014: Happy 4th of July This Week!

HELLO beautiful family!!!

 

What a wonderful day it is to be a missionary.  I love you all so much!  Some great things have been happening this week. 

 

1.) Mom's Donut Shop, where we do service and talk with our buddy E.H, is going on a "summer vacation" for a week and is closed for a full 7 days, so me and sister Lewis got to record the voicemail for the donut shop ;)  If you want to hear my supes awkward voicemail, call 940-665-1863 for the donut shop voicemail in the next few days. Really, it's pretty bad, but we had fun.

 

2.) So this Kid who is 17 comes into church yesterday, and the ward knows him pretty well because his step-parents on both sides are members, but Bishop introduces us to him and we start talking to him.  His name is CJ and he basically says, "so, I was in my other church [he goes to a christian church with his family] last week and the spirit put into my heart that I need to get baptized and serve a 2 year mission for this church" WHAT?! Our jaws were basically on the floor.  It's not every day that someone walks up to you and says "baptize me".  NUTSO!  Miracles are happening here.

 

3.) LA and RW are still my buddies.  Quote from LA "Don't get old."  Also, did I tell you he asked us if he would get resurrected black?  They're funny. 

 

We have been teaching a TON of people up here, and it's been so amazing! We see so many miracles all the time here and Gainesville just has this really special place in my heart.  We'll know about transfers this coming week to see if we get to stay or what happens to this area!  I love the people here.  Good things.

 

For the Fourth of July we'll be in a meeting all morning for the Mission Leadership Council and then we'll be having dinner with some super cool members. Happy Independence day!

 

Mom-thanks for the update on the boarder!  Of course he can stay in my room, I just don't think it registered in my mind about the situation.  Also-Aubrey's mom will be emailing you about me living with Aubrey and haley post-mission ;) 

 

I'm glad the boys-best-behavior trip was successful!  Fun stuff to watch sports and whatnot. Jake--being a missionary, "trunky squared" has put on a whooooole new meaning for me, so I definitely made an audible laugh when I read that.  haha Keep doing awesome as a kollege stoodent :)

Caleb-OHMYGOODNESS if you get to meet James Roday by any chance, you make sure to tell him that your sister on a mission got you hooked on psych, ok? ok. Also, make sure to become best friends with him so that I can meet him one day. no pressure. kthanks. And happy 2-year anniversary to you and michele! :)

Nat-gahhh I can't believe you're old enough to graduate from high school! Just kidding, I can.  Especially since when I show my companions pictures of my family, everyone thinks i'm the youngest....my pride is only a little bruised, don't worry :) Keep up that max and relaxing and shooting up bball outside of school, but don't let a couple of guys that were up to no good start making trouble in that neighborhood, ok? ok. hah. 

 

Les quiero bastante y espero que tengan una semana maravillosa! 

 

<3

hermana Sangre

 

p.s. I'm so excited for y'all to have sisters in the CS2 ward!  Cuidenlas :)