"I Want to Learn More!"

We went on exchanges with the other sisters in our apartment.  It was so much fun!  We visited with members in our ward and also found a new investigator.  She was a referral from our Ward Mission Leader in the Spanish Ward.  He works in a welding shop in front of her house.  During his lunch breaks he reads the Book of Mormon and because of that, our new investigator would start up conversations with him about the church, and now she's interested in learning more.

Disappearing Elders = Pistachio Ice Cream!

On Sunday....all the missionaries (4 sisters and 5 elders) were supposed to do a musical number during sacrament meeting in the Spanish ward.  We got everything set up before the meeting, then right after the sacrament, the elders disappeared without saying a word.  Half way through the first talk, we sent a text to them asking where they were.  Turns out they left and were not planning on coming back, so we (the sisters) were left to do everything by ourselves....now we are receiving a tub of Pistachio ice cream sometime this week.

Teaching Reflections

Most of the time, the dad (of the family I mentioned yesterday) is out of town working.  We've talked to him a couple of times before, but this week, we were able to sit down with him.  He's a big jokester, so lessons are usually pretty fun.  This time, we had a member with us as we were teaching the Restoration.  There were a ton of distractions, and I just remember I was contemplating just leaving for the night and trying it another day, but in the end, we stayed and made our way through the lesson.  At the end, we invited him to pray to know it the Joseph Smith story was true.  After he prayed, we asked him how he felt, and with a very sincere smile, he said, "Me siento bonito." or "I feel really good,"  We invited them to church and the whole family came!!!!

And For This Week's Proselyting Adventures...

...We got egged!!!

The Spanish)Ward had an Easter Party on Saturday.  It was super fun!  Apparently the missionaries were supposed to help with a game, but nobody ever told us.  So, we just went to have a good time, get to know the members better, and set up times to take them out with us to visit our investigators.

At the party, there was a giant bounce house, hot dogs, and an Easter egg hunt.  I don't know if any of you know much about Latin American Easters, but let me just say, I definitely think they are more fun than American ones!  They have real, painted Easter eggs filled with confetti that they hide.  Then all the kids run and go find all the eggs.  

That's when the fun begins!

As soon as all the eggs are found, there is a huge egg fight.  Everyone runs around cracking eggs on each other's heads.  I got attacked by a ton of little kids!  Needless to say, I was a big, confettied mess by the end of it!

It was a good conversation starter the rest of the day as we were tracting!  As we were walking around, we saw smashed eggs and confetti everywhere!  It's like a community event.  I love Easter!

A Wedding and Two Baptisms! I Love Being a Missionary!

A favorite couple of ours got married on Friday!   :)

The wedding ceremony was beautiful!  We had a lot of help from some wonderful members who have developed a strong friendship with the couple over the last few weeks.  They helped us enormously to plan and put together the perfect wedding.  A member from the Spanish Ward made the cake.  The groom bought the flowers and we, with some help from a ward member, made the bouquet.

 

Then, on Sunday, the bride got baptized.  Everything went smoothly.  It was a wonderful baptism and the spirit was so strong.  I am so grateful I had the privilege to be there.  The groom bore his testimony in sacrament meeting.

 

On top of all that, we had another baptism in the Spanish Ward.  The son of a member was baptized.  

I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to get to know all of these absolutely amazing people!  They are incredible.  I love them soooooooooooo much!  It was truly one of the best weekends of my entire life.

 

We could not have done it without all the help we received.  The members truly played their part very well.  They took the "new bride"  under their wing and made her feel worth a million bucks.  The timing of everything was perfect.  In reality, we as missionaries did very little and that's how it should be. :)

 

I love being a missionary!  :D

 

Among other events this week:

• General Conference this weekend!  So stoked!
• I got proposed to --- long story, super awkward
• I got to watch the Women's Conference  :)
• One of the young members decided to make a service club and went around the neighborhood asking people if they needed help with anything.  One lady accepted their offer to cut the grass.  They didn't know how to use a lawnmower so they used scissors!  hahaha it was pretty funny!

Anyway, as you can tell, it's been a fantastic week!  Crazy busy, but super great!

 

I've learned a lot.  We saw a lot of miracles in preparation for these two miracles.  I'm grateful to have played just a small role in them.  I think everyone should serve a mission.  It's more fun than going to Disneyland!

Faith and Prayer Work!

We once again taught Gospel Principles in the Spanish Ward.  The lesson was supposed to be on the Atonement, but we decided to teach about faith.  It went really good.  A long-time member shared a story about how she had a knife that she loved to use for cooking because it was sharp and could just get the job done, but one day, it had fallen into a box that she had thrown away.  She looked everywhere for it for 3 or 4 days then finally decided to pray about it.  She then had the thought to check in the box she had thrown away.  She thought that would be ridiculous, but she decided to follow the prompting and she found it.  She kept saying it was a silly story, but we were able to use it and analyze it to show what she did to exercise her faith and what God did to answer her prayers.  It was a reoccurring theme throughout the lesson that we used to teach that a huge part of having faith is acting and not just praying and waiting for something to happen.  She had to get down on her knees and pray then follow the inspiration she received....the knife didn't just appear before her.  It was a really good lesson.

"Hay Alguien Que Me Puede Ayudar?

Well, we've decided I pretty much have a calling in the Spanish Ward.  I'm the organist/pianist, a translator, and now the substitute Gospel Principles Teacher!

Last week, after sacrament meeting -  2 minutes before Sunday School - the elders who also serve with us in the Spanish Ward came up to us and said that Surprise, we're teaching Gospel Principles because the teacher wasn't there!  Long story short, we taught about scriptures with quite literally 30 seconds to prepare ---- in SPANISH!!!!!  It went good.  There were a few awkward parts when I'd ask a question and be met with blank stares.  But I learned a valuable lesson - when all else fails - just act adorable.  With those blank stares, I would just smile and say super sweet, "Hay alguien que me puede ayudar?" and then five hands would immediately shoot up. 

Primary Songs Teach the Gospel!

We've been having fun using the Primary Songbook (in Spanish)  I got for Christmas.  I never realized how much doctrine Primary songs have in them!  You could teach every single Preach My Gospel lesson in just a few minutes singing those songs!  We were teaching them to a cute little family.  They had two little girls ages 7 and 4.  It was adorable!

Dedicate and Consecrate Yourselves!

Elder Ballard's final point:

Dedicate and consecrate yourselves - We've all been given different talents and gifts that we need to use to build up the Kingdom of God.  We should be generous in giving it all (D&C 4:2). We need to be willing to give God not only our talents, times, and resources, but also our hearts.

Seek First the Kingdom of God

Elder Ballard's third point:

Seek first the Kingdom of God - Don't get so caught up in life that you forget the things that are most important.  Yes, it is very important to have a stable job, to make a living for your family, to get a good education, or to become a contributing member of society, but what is just as important (if not more) is that we stay close to God throughout all our lives.  Make time in your busy schedule to read the scriptures, pray, go to church, serve others, and do home and visiting teaching.  Throughout my mission I have learned that the best way to combat stress, worry, doubts, exhaustion, or any other negative feelings is to work and serve others.  You begin to see that things more in an eternal perspective rather than focusing on the stresses of the here and now.  Doing the small daily things living the gospel requires will help us focus on what's most important and will improve our outlook on life and give us lasting happiness.

Do Your Part!

Elder Ballard's second point:

Do your part - As members of the church - people who know the true and complete gospel of Jesus Christ - we have the responsibility to give others the same opportunity to partake of the blessings of the gospel.  We know that this is our responsibility and the only way for us to be truly happy in the gospel is when we know we are doing the things the Lord wants us to do.  Even if our part is small, it can have profound effects in the future (Alma 37:6-7).

Replace Fear With Faith!

My sacrament meeting talk was about amidst all the turmoil in the world, we can still look to the future with faith and hope as we live the gospel.  It was really good.  Elder Ballard highlighted four things we can do to have optimism.  The first point was:

Replace fear with faith - There is still much good in the world.  God has promised that his gospel will spread throughout the entire world and God always fulfills his promises (Alma 37:16-17)

Enfrenten el Futuro con fe y Esperanza

Last Sunday, I gave a talk in church on an article by Elder M. Russell Ballard called "Enfrenten el futuro con fe y esperanza."  It was completely in Spanish!  My talk was about 10-15 minutes long.  Afterwards, everyone told me I did great and that I sounded like a true hispánica.

Compliments? Be Careful!

I learned a valuable lesson at the Spanish Ward: Never compliment anyone on something that they could easily give you.  Twice - right before Relief Society - I complimented a lady on her earrings and another sister on her cool multi-colored pencils.  Well, now I have a new, really nice pair of earrings and a cool multi-colored pencil.  I felt super bad.  But.....it was super sweet of them. :) Next week, I am only complimenting on hair or a dress ---- something they can't take off and give to me.   :)

Splits!

Splits this week were fun!  I went on splits with a member who really wanted some missionary experiences.  Needless to say, she was just giddy when we called her up for help.

"Hermana, can you come be Sister Bettinson's companion today?"

"Siiiiii!!!!!!!!" - Adorable (or qué cute! as she would say)

I introduced her to people from the English ward and she introduced me to her friends.  It was a win-win (win) situation :)

I also went on splits with a YSA who served her mission in Utah.  It was fun hearing the "Utah missionary" side of things.  Utah is a completely different world!  She said that tracting is extremely hard there so how they found investigators is they would visit members and get the run-down on the neighborhood from them, then go visit their non-neighbor friends.  We have to work very hard to find a good balance between visiting members and finding by our own efforts.  She was in charge of 11 stakes at one time....we're in charge of two wards down here.  She was a Spanish-speaking missionary so if they ran into anyone who spoke English, they would have to refer them to the English-speaking missionaries.  It's always interesting to hear how other missions work...all are so unique.

Tex Mex, Anyone?

Esta week ha sido bien long!!!!!!!  El Tuesday, tuvimos nuestra conferencia de la Christmas.  Solo mi zona y la zona al lado de la nuestra fueron. Aprendimos de la Navidad, hicimos skits, cantamos Christmas Carols, y recibimos presents.  Fue bien fun!

Haha like my Tex Mex?  This is how almost EVERYONE speaks down here! We run into the most unique situations here in Texas!  We always have English-Spanish mix-ups.  Half the time, we don't know which ward to tell our investigators to attend!  Almost everyone speaks Tex-Mex.  A few speak only English, a few speak only Spanish.  We had the Spanish Ward Christmas party on Friday.  It was super fun :)  One of the families we are teaching came to the party!  The mom is besties with a member so she wants to attend her ward (the Spanish one) with her, but her kids only speak English.  It's kind a crazy situation!  LOL.  We had a lesson with them at the member's house (BTW the member only speaks Spanish) so we had this weird English Spanish thing going on...that's not the first time we've done that :P

Spanish Relief Society Choir

The Spanish Ward Relief Society has been practicing to sing "Cantan Santos Angeles" and "Noche de Paz" ("Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and "Silent Night") for the Ward Christmas Party.  They are getting so into it.  It's really fun! Very few individuals in the ward - except for maybe us missionaries and the choir director - have any musical background.  The choir director wants things to be perfect, with perfect parts and everything.  The last two times in Relief Society, the meeting has gone over 20 minutes because the director has been trying to get everyone to sing the same note.  It is probably the most adorable thing I have seen in my life.

My English and Spanish Don't Mix!

Last Sunday, during the Spanish Ward, I had to do English translation during sacrament meeting.  It was super hard, but super fun!  I learned that in my mind, English and Spanish simply don't mix.  I was trying to listen to what was said in Spanish so I could translate it in English, but then I would find myself just repeating what was said in Spanish.  I somehow managed to get the message of the talk across and the English-speaking members understood it and even felt the spirit!  Apparently, I look like the Ward Mission Leader's daughter.  Everyone was telling me that yesterday.  It was so funny!  I don't think we look alike, but apparently everyone else did!

Visiting Teaching is Practically Missionary Work!

In Relief Society in the Spanish Ward, they had this huge presentation about Visiting Teaching.  Visiting Teaching is super important because it practically is missionary work!  They gave some tips that I think Mom would like since she's Relief Society President!

- Pray daily for the sister and her family

- Seek for inspiration to help you get to know the sister and her family

- Visit her regularly to see how she is doing and to comfort and strengthen her in time of need.

- Maintain frequent contact with her through visits, phone calls, cards, e-mail, texts, or little acts of service

- Greet her during church meetings

- Help her when she has an emergency, is sick, or has another urgent need

- Teach her the gospel through the scriptures or through the visiting teaching messages

- Inspire her by your good example

Texas Bound!

Although I didn't have time to email a letter home this week, I did send a few pictures.  I also sent my departure information entirely in Spanish to my family via "snail-mail".  I will be leaving the MTC for Texas early next week!  I am really excited!  Please keep the letters/packages coming...