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 :) 

6-23-2014: In His Heart Daddy Knows He's Funny... ;)

Buenos Dias!

 

Business meeting: thank you so much for the package!  SIster Cannon (member we live behind) actually just texted us to say that she put the package in the fridge for until we pick it up.  :) 

The Cannons are the best.  Literally.  We had dinner with them last night and we had probably the best Texas Tacos ever--the key? BBQ sauce and cream cheese.  Sounds weird, i know, but SO good. 

 

Also, tell Chris the friend/boarder thanks!  Something that I've definitely learned on my mission, especially being in a zebra, is the love that I have for the Spanish language.  It's something I definitely will keep with forever. 

 

This week has been AMAZING.  We taught lessons like crazy every day, we have 4 people committed to be baptized in the next 2 months and 2 of those people came to church!  It was LA and RW!!  My two black grandpas.  Multiple people asked them if they'd see them next week and they both said, "oh yeah, we'll be here!"  It has been SO cool seeing the change in them.  We actually met RW first, and it was just tracting into him.  We set up an appointment for the next day, so we stop by and see that the door is wide open, and we can hear someone washing dishes, so we knock on the door frame a few times (we were persistent because we knew they could hear us) and RW's roommate LA comes out and we share something with him and then it just went from there! LA has since told us what he thought about us at first, he was very much against letting us "change" him, he would tell RW when we weren't there "nope, them are y'alls people, I am NOT letting them change me, nope, no way."  But, we're pretty persistent ;)  So after we kept coming by and coming by to visit with RW and sometimes with LA, LA opened up to us and told us some things he wanted to change in his life, and here he is, 6 weeks later, coming to church, praying, reading in the Book of Mormon, and preparing to be baptized on August 2nd, 2014.  They are my buddies. 

 

We also went on a really good exchange with a trio of sisters, and I love these sisters SO much, I went with one sister and we just clicked right away.  It was really good, but we made some goals with them to help them out.  Trios are hard for a lot of people, just because it's an extra brain and set of feelings and opinion to take into account.  President Ames doesn't like to put people into trios, but only does it when absolutely necessary. 

 

Cool miracle, we were driving trying to contact a referral and later in the day, we had plans to visit a Less Active near by that is hard to get a hold of.  But, as we were driving away from this referral we had just contacted, the thought came into my mind, well, the S family is super close by, we should just drop by now instead of later.  So we did, and RIGHT when we pulled up, one of the sons was just barely getting out of his car and his dad had just barely opened the door to let him in, so we parked the car as soon as we could and ran up to talk to the dad!  He's really a nice guy, just SUPER hard to get in contact with.  He didn't have a lot of time, but we just shared a quick scripture with him on his front porch (alma 32:21 because it was in the chapter I had just barely read for language study) and afterwards he says, "That scripture, that was exactly what I needed to hear, how did you know that?"  It was pretty cool.  The Lord works in mysterious ways. 

 

It was so great to hear about y'alls VERY busy week!  You are amazing and I am very proud of all the good things you are doing.  Keep being awesome, and make sure to have a wonderful week this week! 

 

Les quiero bastante.  Cuidense y portense bien, ok?

 

<3

Hermana Sangre

 

6-16-2014: It's a New Week!!

Hello Family!!

 

Fun fact: I think my 2nd (or 3rd?) cousin is in my Zone!  His name is Elder Colby Bullock from Lehi(?) UT, we were doing some role plays during a zone meeting and he saw my nametag and asked where my Dad was from, when I said Wyoming, he said that his Grandma is Anne Blood Tanner! And he's Beth's son!  SO, Dwayne/Dwight would be his great uncle, right? Anyways, cool connection!

 

We had Interviews on Thursday with President Ames and we had a great talk about Gainesville.  I've been pondering where Gainesville will be going and it was a very spirit lead discussion, he asked my opinion on some things (which, I'm not going to lie, made me feel pretty cool) and we talked about whether there's enough work for 2 spanish missionaries or if a zebra is what it needs (he doesn't love zebras, but he's willing to put them in when he needs to) and he might be thinking of putting Elders in instead of Sisters, but he described it as "studying it out in our minds" and he will pray about it and see what his keys say are the best things for this area.  BUT I hope that I can at least stay here until the end of July because we have 2 people getting baptized then!  It's LA and RW! They both committed to baptismal dates and that was a legitimate miracle.  They are the black grandpas that I never had, and they are my buddies.  LA's mom died on Saturday so he wasn't up to going to church on Sunday and RW needed to help him get some arrangements together, but they are DEFINITELY coming next week.  :) 

 

We had a training opportunity with the Denton Spanish Sisters, and one of them is a BRAND new missionary so I went down to Denton to be with her and really encouraged her to speak up in lessons, even though her companion speaks really good spanish.  It was cool to go back to A YEAR AGO (i'm in denial.)  and remember how I felt when I couldn't understand the language as well...craziness.  It was a fun exchange and I tried to give this new sister as many opportunities as possible to take the lead in contacts and lessons. 

 

Sister Lewis and I shared a very cool experience this week. I was telling her a story of a Less Active member I taught once--he was a referral from his Parents in the Spanish ward in Hurst and he happened to live in the Highland Station ward, so we got his address and went to try and find him. We got to his street and found out that the number of house we had didn't exist, so we picked a few houses to knock to see if anyone knew a RC. We were on the last house (nobody had answered because it was the middle of the day and they were probably all at work) and just before we were going to leave, we saw a car drive into a driveway across the street so we went over to talk to whoever it was. "Do you know RC, sir?" A little perplexed, he says, "well, I'm RC..." So we ended up talking to him for about an hour about church and we heard his story. We tried to set up a return appointment but for whatever reason it never ended up working out. As I was telling this to Sister Lewis, she mentioned that she had taught that family when she was in Highland Station and she mentioned that Brother C told them how one time he talked with the spanish sisters on the edge of his driveway for about an hour on a day that he was really having a hard time and that what they had told him really touched his heart--that was us. When she told me that, I had an overwhelming spiritual confirmation that we will NEVER fully understand the extent of the influence we have as we follow the spirit and work as tools in the Lord's hands, at least not until we have a perfect understanding or something. What a cool experience.

 

Another cool story, we've been teaching this Less Active who usually lives in Acunya Coahuila (i have no idea how to spell it.)  BUT she lives with a potential/investigator we teach sometimes (I think I've mentioned her before) but she at first was very anti to the church and barely joined us for the lesson, but as we've come by more and more, she asked for a new book of Mormon, a pamphlet, and she said she'll read them and tell the missionaries there what she's learned--and when I suggested she go back to church in Mexico, she said she'll probably go back!  So neat, right??

 

Miracles happen every day.

 

Our Zebra is going really well, we're teaching about half english and half spanish, and we keep track of how many spanish lessons we teach.  Sister Lewis is such a great missionary and she's so supportive of my spanish teaching and it's been a really cool experience.  We've both agreed in that it's a cool way to grow in different ways than ever before.  AND I do a lot of translating, which is neat.  I've heard that translaters at courts get bank soooo that'd be cool :)  haha annnnyways

 

OK So, I had no idea Shawn and Marcie got married!!! Yayy!!!!!!!  Any cute pictures? (I'm sure, especially since she's a photographer and super cool.) Tell them congrats for me! :) 

And I'm so glad Bay Area Baseball is doing well, they've got to to keep me proud! :) haha

 

I hope y'all have a WONDERFUL week and I love you all so much! Do what is right, let the consequence follow, listen to your mother, be true to your school :)

 

con amor,

Hermana Sangre

6-9-2014: Happy June 9! :)

Hello Family!!!

 

It's funny that you ask me what miracles we've seen these past few days, because they have been NUMEROUS. 

 

MIracle #1.) We went on an exchange with the Decatur sisters.  I stayed in Gainesville, but Sister Lewis was out there and while they were out and about, a Recent Convert from another ward comes up to them and says how she just got baptized a month ago and "do you know Sister T?  She is MY missionary.  She came to Texas for ME."  Sister Lewis said that she did know Sister T and actually she was able to talk to her every once and a while so she would relay the message.  (Sister T is in one of the companionships in our stewardship.)  We decided to call that set of Sisters that night and as we start talking to them, we ask them how their day went and from their answer, it was clear it didn't go well.  We asked what was wrong and Sister T continued to tell all the things that just didn't go well, and to be honest, it just sounded rough.  Sister Lewis then told her story about meeting this recent convert and the impact that Sister T had on her life, and it was silent on the other end for a minute.  The spirit was SO strong and Sister T said in a broken voice, "thank you for telling me that."  The Lord is so aware of us and he knew that Sister T would need that affirmation of the good work that she has been doing, especially on that rough day. 

 

Miracle #2.) We were able to see LL on friday, who we hadn't seen in probably 2 weeks because he was out of town.  I put him in the plans because I figured we would give him one more try, and sure enough, we pull up and there he is sitting on his front porch.  This is the man that we stopped by one day and said, "Man, it just made my day that y'all stopped and talked to me.  I see missionaries on this street all the time and it offends me that they have never stopped to talk to me about Jesus before, but it makes my day that y'all stopped."

 

Miracle #3.) Sister F in our ward has been working with this girl JS as a life coach for a while.  We've offered to stop by and visit with her before, but Sister F was a little hesitent and she had said in the past "no, we'll just wait a little bit."  Yesterday before Sacrament Meeting, she comes up to us looking determined and exasperated and says, "you know what sisters, I think it's time we go see J and her mom. Can we go today after church?"  

"absolutely, Sister F!"

She then begins to describe where they live and a light bulb goes off in my head...

"Do they live on ["x" street]?"

"well, I think so, I can't quite remember the street."

"Is her name JS?"

"yes..."
"is her Mom's name FR?"

"yes..."

"we've already taught her!"

Sister F's face was PRICELESS.  She just looked amazed!  Little did we know 3 days before, that we had taught the girl that Sister F was working with AND that we had taught her mom a week before that. 

FR speaks spanish and we started talking to her outside her house one day.  We set up a return appointment but she had just stepped out when we stopped by, so instead we talked to her daughter, JS.  We shared with her about the Book of Mormon, and even though she's just 13, she is very bright.  We told her about Christ coming to the Americas and she said, "wow, I've never heard that before!"  The spirit was SO strong as we visited with her and I felt impressed to tell her that the Lord was/is very aware of her, and that we had been guided as his servants to visit with her that day.  We left her with a Book of Mormon and set up a return appointment for later the next week.  But, Saturday night as we were planning for Sunday, we felt we should talk to her mom FR to make sure she knew that we had taught her daughter, so we set aside time to go and visit with her Sunday at 8. 
"sister F, we already have a time set up tonight to go see them, would you like to come?" 

"yes. absolutely."

We went and visited with FR, I translated for everyone and she agreed to have us come back so that we could teach their whole family. 

 

Miracle #4.) RN was baptized back in the beginning of February, and the Sunday he was supposed to get confirmed, church was canceled due to an ice storm.  That next sunday, he left for Oklahoma to work because that was the only work he could find.  He then couldn't get work off for 4 months because he was working 7 days a week from 4pm to 4am on a racetrack.  Finally, the racetrack season ended and he was able to come to church yesterday with his wife so that he could get confirmed a member of the church, and recieve the gift of the Holy Ghost.  Amazing.

 

Now, these are only a few of the miracles I've experienced this week.  But I KNOW that this work is directed by God himself. 

 

Dad, I'm sorry you haven't been feeling super great lately!  But I'm glad things are getting better.  Now you'll be able to enjoy that guys trip! That will be fun. Tell that Chris internship kid "Hola" and ask him how much he likes "pupusas" (El Salvadoranian food. it's SUPER good.)  Speaking of Thunderstorms, we had a doozy last night.  The thunder was nice and loud and a few tree branches were struck down by lightning.  It was neat, but now it's just going to be raining the rest of the day.  Me and Sister Lewis are getting along GREAT!  She is exactly the person that needs to be here with me in this zebra.  

 

I'm glad the Spaghetti fundraiser went well!  Those are always fun.  And that's so cool that one of Caleb's friends is in the ward!  That was a good fireside.  Thanks for taking care of that Denton Regional bill and for scheduling that Dentist appointment.  Just so you know, In December we'll have a 5 week transfer so that I'll be coming home on December 18th.  Details to come.   

 

AAAAND.....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JAKIEPOO TOMORROW! Man, Jake.  You're getting old.  :)  Make sure to eat lots of cake and to watch Modern Family and to do cool things cuz you can cuz it's your birthday/birthweek/birthmonth.  It's cool.  Have a very happy birthday! Feliz cumpleanos!

 

I love y'all SO much!  Have a wonderful week this week and do great things, k? k. :)

 

con amor,

Hermana Sangre