8-18-2014: Hola

Buenos dias familia!

Miracle number one from the week: We went on another exchange with our Sister Training Leaders in Hurst, so this week I was able to go back to my first area!  It was AWESOME.  I love Hurst so much.  We were able to see la familia Silva (who I consider part of my family.) and they hadn't been to church for a few weeks but we were able to talk to them and commit them to coming back!  Oscar, el papa, jokingly accused us of being witches because their life started getting harder when they stopped coming to church--the church is sooooo true and makes it easier for us to get through the day to day struggles!  But we all cried because I love them so much and it was just a lovely reunion.  I told them if they ever come to San Francisco they are welcome in our home...hope that's ok! ;) 

oh, and by the way, no changes this transfer, me and Hermana Ford are staying together :)  She's doing really well with the language!  We visited a family this week that we hadn't seen since her first week and the Mom was like, "hey, she speaks a lot better Spanish!" and I was like "God provides a way for us to be able to communicate his gospel" and then she said "and it helps to have an experienced companion!" So I guess my Spanish is good?  hah.  It was just a funny experience.  I love speaking Spanish.  On another note, 2 of my previous companions are going home this Wednesday!   Hermana Ram and Hermana Gomez.  Crazy how time flies!  I love those girls. 

We haven't been able to see DG or MP this past week, but this week coming up for sure!  But we DID see this family A, they've been inactive for a few months just because they were kind of overwhelmed with how fast all these new doctrines were being thrown at them and then he didn't want his kids to get confused, just trying to be good parents.  Then I bore my testimony about how incredibly grateful I am that my parents (hey, that's you!) raised me up going to church because the values and principles I learned there and in the home are what have helped me develop my relationship with God.  Then right after that he (the dad) sat up and said, "ok.  How about we come to church this sunday.  I want my kids to grow up to be good people and at least I know the values that this church teaches will help them do that."  I almost started crying I was so happy, he committed himself and his family, we hardly did anything!  It was powerful. 

AND oh man. so many awesome experiences.  We taught this one part-member family, and the Dad (AG) is not a member and he's usually very inquisitive about a lot of little details, and at first we weren't sure if he was doing it just to do it or if he was being serious, so we were just patient with his questions, and then at the end of the lesson this week we asked him if he wanted to know if these things were true and then he got all serious and said "well, I guess the reason that I ask all these questions is because I do want to know."  So we asked him if he had ever prayed about it before and he said, "Of course I've heard missionaries tell me that I needed to pray all the time, but the thing is that I've prayed and I haven't felt like I've gotten an answer."  One question we asked and it changed the dynamic of the whole relationship, now we know that he has "real intent" and that he really is searching!  It was such an energizing lesson!  I love it when people have questions. 

As a mission we are reading the entire Book of Mormon by October 16th (starting last week) and we've been reading about 8 pages every day and President Ames asked us to study a particular topic as we read, so I've been studying the nature of the Godhead and how God works.  Something cool I learned/saw scriptural evidence of is that The Lord reveals information to us according to our stewardship--for example, after Nephi finished building the ship Lehi was the one who received revelation that they needed to get on, and he got that revelation because he was the patriarch and that was his stewardship.  Just a cool thought. 

Thanks for your insights on women and their role in God's kingdom, mom, I'm going to take some time in my personal study to study that topic this week. :)

Glad that y'all had a good week this week, some baseball, some dinners, some service, some good things!  Hope that this week is even more awesome.  Those things all sound good for taking up to Utah, and I would appreciate it if you took the bigger boots with you as well :)  When I go out to school, will I be driving or flying? I thought driving, right? just making sure. 

Anyways, I love you all so much!  Cuidense y portense bien, ok?

<3

Hermana Sangre

8-11-2014: Happy Monday!

Hello Beautiful family of mine!

What a week.  Man oh man.  Where to begin...

So we taught this lady MP this week, she is SUPER cool and her husband is super sick (dialysis/chemotherapy) and super depressed it's really sad, but having that trial in her life has really had her searching for God, so we taught her the first part of the plan of salvation and left her Alma 34 to read and we come back the next week and she pulls out this FULL 8 and a half by 11 page of notes and questions.  This lady is so stinking prepared and wants to come to church!  But her husband suffers from anxiety and has a hard time being left alone and being with large groups of people so...we're praying a lot for them. 

Also, we needed a ride to Colleyville Texas on Thursday for a New Missionary Follow Up meeting with President and we needed a member to drive us--well last second (like 9:45 Wednesday night) an emergency came up and our ride couldn't take us...so we were scrambling last second, like hardcore calling members until 10:45 at night to find a way to get us there.  hah. The Lord definitely blessed us for our preparation and we have amazing members that don't hate us for calling them past their bedtime ;)

But at that meeting, president mentioned an interesting contrast between consecration and sacrifice, so I've been using some of my personal study in the morning to ponder and study that because it's a really interesting topic: what's the difference?  And so far what I've come up with (and this answer is incomplete I'm sure) is that sacrifice is giving up something you don't need for something better (such as, TV for a year and a half for the opportunity to serve the Lord) and consecration is giving everything good you already have to the Lord for his work/making yourself holy (such as using all the talents and abilities that I already have as a missionary and using those to help bring others unto Christ).  I LOVE that topic.  any cool topics y'all have studied/pondered lately? 

DG is doing pretty well, he too doesn't have a ton of support from his spouse, but he has sooooo much potential!  We're going to try and bring some Priesthood holders over to an appointment we have with him this week to give him a blessing.  He wasn't able to come to church yesterday, but he said for SURE next week.  :) 

Also, I am going to repent and be better at putting on bug spray.  I think my bite count is up to 38.  Thankfully, they don't itch! 

AND mom thanks for the card!  :)  I filled up what I needed, thanks sooooosososo much!

To answer some questions dad: we speak a TON of Spanish here!  And they all live in mansions.  It's crazy.  Arlington is basically like little Mexico.  I love it.  The Ward is really good, we can fill up a sacrament meeting pretty solid--and the chapel is about the size of CS2.  All the leadership is from the Spanish ward so that's awesome.  We're actually trying to look for more service opportunities, we need to make time to do that more.  Any suggestions?  And I just read your email from last week: yes. It's weird feeling like one of the more senior sisters.  Where has the time gone??!! :) hah

I'm glad y'alls week went well!  Busy as usual :)   Glad Stake Conference went well and that things are continuing to go well with Kelly and her missionary discussions!  I went ahead and printed your talk, Mom, so that I'll have enough time to read it thoroughly. :)  And I LOVE  the pictures you sent me of Yosemite!  They look super cool!  I'll try and attach a picture or two

I'll go ahead and ask around how much it costs to send a bike to california. I'm sure some elders will know. 

I love you all sooooo much! have a wonderful week!  The church is true and the book is blue!

<3 Hermana Sangre

8-4-2014: August Heat Wave!

Hello!!

This week was wonderful!  We taught a ton of people this week and we taught this new guy named DG who is in his early 50s, late 40s and he has multiple sclerosis.  We stopped by one day and he really is searching for God in his life.  He is super prepared and he has a ton of potential!  We met him this last week and committed him super hard core to come to church annnnnd he didn't come...so we stopped by after church to see what happened!  The first thing he said when he opened the door was "I tried to come today but I couldn't find your church!" D'ough!  Poor guy!  But it warmed my heart to see that he tried and at least now we know that he'll need a guide to get there haha.  He is really awesome. 

I also got a suuuuuper cute package from a miss Karenna Meredith!  The theme was "Be ye fishers of men" so it had all this cute fish stuff and some yummy goldfish and Swedish fish that I absolutely devoured.  It was a fun surprise :) 

We had a dinner this week with a less active who has openly expressed that she doesn't want to come back, but that she loves having the missionaries over as good examples for her kids.  So we set up this time to eat with her and we were helping her get everything together and we THOUGHT we were getting along well with her and whatnot (I mean, come on, who DOESN'T love me...hah ;) but then we finished eating and she was like, "Alright, time for a prayer so that the missionaries can go!" and we were like, "uhhh can we at least share a scripture with you before we head out?" so we shared from the 2000 stripling warriors and how they listened to their mothers (a good, wholesome, uplifting message, right?? totally not offensive.) and we even geared it towards her kids and committed them to listening to their parents and then she says "ok, now I'll say the prayer" out of NOWHERE and then right after she gets up and opens the door signaling for us to leave, before we've even gotten out of our seats and before we have our bags or anything.......suuuuuper awkward.  We'll see if she ever lets us come back to eat...hah 

Fun things.  Man, it's awesome being a missionary. 

Mom, I promise I will repent and start bringing my water bottle with me..hah but if I do happen to get heatstroke, have no fear, Hermana Ford is studying to be a nurse, so i'll be in good hands.... ;) haha but seriously, I'll hydrate.  (actually, the 2nd time I was in the hospital on my mission, my attending nurse was a less active member and we got to talk to her a little bit about why she's not coming to church! Coincidence...? I thinknot! )

also, I love that phrase from Hermana Watkins "missionary mantle intact" haha I'll use that from now on.

I'm glad that y'all had a fun trip to Sonora!  It looks like this week you had some hotter weather than we did!  We've been having perfection here, usually in the low 90's which is SUPER not normal for Texas in the beginning of August....but hey, I am NOT going to complain! :)  Let me know how the next meeting with Kelly and the missionaries goes!  This is so awesome that she's getting to meet with them.  :)

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe and not super hot week this week!  We've got a few meetings coming up this week and some awesome appointments with investigators so I'm excited.   Also, this week I hit my one-year-in-texas anniversary!   Time is flying by soooo fast!  Craziness. 

Business meeting:

For the bike, I would probably like to have one over at BYU but the style of this CTR bike isn't super comfortable for me, so I might like to buy something else out there? Ya know?  So I probably wouldn't want to ship it out to UT.  I don't know how much it costs to ship bikes out to CA, but I know missionaries do it all the time just at a local bike shop, but honestly, it's up to y'all.  I am happy to look into selling it somewhere for as close to 600 as possible (it's still in SUPER good condition) or we can do it on ebay or something if we just want to ship it out.  Or if you want to use it, mom, that'd be awesome too!  It's a nice bike and it might be perfect for you.  Just let me know what you decide pretty much.  end of business meeting :)

I love you all so much, be good, listen to your mother, be true to your school, do what is right, let the consequence follow, etc etc.  ;)

<3

Hermana Sangre

7-28-2014: Happy Pioneer Day last week!

Hello beautiful family!

We had an awesome week this week!  And thank you for the package!  The cookies (yuuuummmm) and the beauty supplies were perfect! Thank you sooo much :)

On Tuesday we had Zone Conference which was super fun, and at the end we invited all of our Ward Mission Leaders to come which was a cool experience seeing the members and the missionaries working together in this stake. 

We also had a cool experience with this service that we're offering, the 21 tips for getting better grades in school!  It's a program about a year old, but President wants us to use it more.  It's basically a poster with 21 tips for being a better student and we come by, teach it to them, and the last step is prayer.  We're supposed to use it purely as a service, but if the people ask us about us as missionaries, we set up another time to come back and share the 1st lesson.

So the English elders sent us a referral for this man named Jose that they tracted into and knew spoke Spanish. So we stop by his house, and it turns out that he had just started working crazy hours and was hardly ever home, but his 2 daughters, one college-aged and the other just about to enter middle shool, answered the door. We asked if their Dad was home, he was not, so we mentioned that he had talked to missionaries like us and we left our card with our number on it and just as we were about to leave we thought to bring up the 21 tips, so we did and set up another time to come back. We did, and we taught the 21 tips, we taught a few and then skipped down to the last one, and just spent the whole time focusing on how to help them in school. As we were leaving, the grandma, who was there just to visit, asked us if we also prayed with people. "Of course!" So we set up another time to come back and share a message with them. We went back 2 days later to share the first lesson and the Grandma loved it! She lives in Houston, but we got her address to send the missionaries over there to her house to follow up on her reading in the book of Mormon, and we have an appointment to go back and teach the Mom of the 2 daughters. It was a cool experience where we otherwise would not have been able to get in the door without the 21 tips. 

We also had a sports activity as a ward this Saturday, it was in the evening and it was suuuuper hot but suuuper fun!  We're not allowed to participate in the sports but it was a good time to get to know the members better. 

That same day a little bit earlier in the day me and Hermana Ford did a little bit of tracting....it was 104.  Good times.  :)  It was soooo hot and I forgot my water bottle at home, so I just had this prayer in my heart that someone would open the door so that I could ask for some water....and finally someone did!  They also invited us to come in (tender mercy from the heavens) and we shared a little something from the Book of Mormon and set up a time to come back and teach them!  The Lord answers prayers for sure. 

Also, funny story, we were teaching this guy just on the street outside his house, he's like 50 and blind and has lots of faith in God and we were trying to teach him the first lesson, but he just kept interrupting because he was so impressed that we were so young and had dedicated our life for a year and a half to God and he would just say things along those lines.  But we felt like we weren't getting anywhere so we asked if we could leave him with a prayer, and after the prayer he puts out his hand to give us a hand shake, so I shake his hand and then he asks me for a kiss! (eww.) Like, he meant a kiss on the cheek, which Hispanics do alllll the time to other Hispanics but NOT to the missionaries...hah  so I was like "uhhhhhh sorry we don't do that as missionaries!" things got super awkward super fast.  Needless to say we won't be stopping by there anytime soon, but maybe the elders will have success there.  :)  #sistermissionarylife

Well, I love you all so much! hope you are doing well. 

les quiero!

<3 Hermana Sangre

[BUT WAIT!  THERE'S MORE!]

sorry, I don't know why, but earlier I didn't get your email!  Thankfully we had a second and the computers are just by the office of our apartment so we came back down just to finish up some emails and I now saw y'alls email!

Glad to see that you had a good week this week!  A successful meeting with Kelly, she seriously is more active than some young women hah :)  And it's good to hear that the Blood/Watkins clans are still the main source of musical numbers for the CS2 ward.  Sorry that Lisa will be heading out, send her my love and I hope all goes well with the move.  And tell her to be careful at the Argentinian Spanish school, they speak funny Spanish ;) haha

Yes, dad, we still run every morning, but thankfully there's a gym in this apartment complex so we get the comfort of being able to do it on some fancy treadmills.  SO nice.  I seriously feel like I'm living in the ritz over here in Arlington!  I don't run a whole lot, just about 15 minutes and I can get usually about a mile and a half in that time.  Nothing too crazy

And I was honestly thinking about my bike that I have honestly used probably 3.5 times in my whole mission....I don't know that i'll want to pay to ship it back home or to school or anything, should I just try to sell it to some shop or something here?  Thoughts?

It's interesting, Mom, that you mention the whole re-charging of batteries, because I was thinking the other day how I was kind of sad that I haven't been able to go to the temple in a while (We'll probably be going next month at the end of the month, finally!).  It's been probably just over a year.  But then I remember someone saying somewhere how the sacrament is a renewal of all covenants we've made, so that next sunday I thought about that as I was partaking of the sacrament and I just felt this overwhelming calm feeling from the spirit, kind of like a recharge to my spiritual battery.  The sacrament meeting is the most important meeting at church and it's because we need that re-charge of our covenants that we've made. I'm glad you'll have an opportunity to speak in Stake conference, good luck!

I don't know if I told you this, but one time Hermana Ram said something that really stuck with me.  Another sister had asked her why "MLC's" or Mission Leadership Council that Sister Training Leaders and Zone Leaders go to once a month with president, wasn't Hermana Ram's favorite meeting (granted, it's a cool thing to experience, a real council of people working together and seeing President use his priesthood keys to sort through all the revelation).  At the time, Hermana Ram didn't say anything really, but later she told me what was going through her mind.  She told me, "First, MLC's is a council, not a meeting.  Second, how could I say that MLC's is my favorite meeting when I just finished telling someone that the time when we partake of the sacrament is the most important meeting in the church?"  I've come to appreciate that meeting so much more. 

love you so much! have a great week!

<3 Hermana Sangre