Week 42, May 23, 2016

Obedience brings happiness! This past Thursday we had interviews with President and so while we waited for our turns, we received training from our APs. They taught about having confidence to invite people to baptism and to always remember to testify. It was really powerful and really good. On Friday, we were able to see some miracles. The first was that we found someone new to teach! Her name is Hedrei and she's 18, works at Baskin Robins, and is saving up for college. We found her by trying a house we were told has Spanish speakers; she opened the door, we introduced ourselves, and asked for 2 minutes which she agreed to. We have the 4 minute Restoration and at the end invited her to read the Book of Mormon, the 21 day challenge (which is where they read specific verses from the Book of Mormon to gain a testimony of it). She said she would and then we asked her to be baptized and she said yes! I think I was a bit stunned because I forgot to give a specific date (my bad, I'm working on that...) but she said yes to baptism!! We also invited her to church but she said that she works a lot and that she couldn't make it this Sunday, so we'll shoot for the 29th. It was amazing to see such immediate results to promises given by leaders. We were, and still are, trying to apply what we learned from Thursday, and so far it's working pretty well! We are going to try and visit her with a young woman from our ward who will be serving a mission soon; they're close in age and we felt she would be a good fellowshipper for this girl. Now, to find Hedrei again and her family is the trick! After we met and taught Hedrei, we were coming off the doorstep when we saw 3 girls walking across the street so, naturally, I chase after them. I didn't sprint at them, but I definitely wasn't walking =) They stopped and spoke with us and we had a lesson with them using the Hallelujah video. We were about to invite them to be baptized when they told us that they were already meeting with missionaries. Turned out that they live in J2 area (another Spanish ward) so we reassured them that the elders and sisters there are fantastic and invited them to continue listening to the missionaries. We then texted the zone leaders to report the lesson. This experience was really cool for me because I could feel 2 parts of myself: one wanted to run and talk to them and the other thought it would be weird if I did that and to just leave them alone. It was a weird feeling to feel myself war between the two ideas, but fortunately the correct side won out. I can feel my faith improving little bit by little bit, and that for me was a big bit =) I am naturally outgoing and talkative, but I'm also sensitive to social norms and so it can be hard for me to override those fears and invite someone to baptism on the street or speak to gringos =D But it's very simple; courage is of God, fear is of Satan. Who I choose each day, each moment, determines who'll I'll become and how much I'll help others. After speaking with those girls, we walked back to our car and on the way there walked by a house where 4 men were working landscape. Again, I had that tug-a-war inside me for a bit because who wants to be interrupted during work? but we stopped and talked to them. Of the 4, only 1 stayed and talked with us and his name is Jesus. We asked for 2 minutes and he said he needed a break and so we did a 2 minute restoration and at the end invited him to be baptized. He didn't say yes, but he didn't say an outright no so we invited him to read the Book of Mormon. He said he already has one and that he's even read the first few pages (introduction up through Joseph Smith's testimony). We promised that if he read it and prayed, he would feel ready for baptism, invited him again, and received a "maybe". He lives in Roy, a city to the west of us, so we got his information and sent it off to the Roy sisters. It was pretty cool. Saturday was pretty good....pretty normal, but good. Sunday was pretty good too; the major highlight was our lesson with the Roger Family from the 6th ward (an English ward. I'm sorry, I forgot to explain; my companion and I are the only sisters serving in this stake and surrounding stakes and so we are helping with a program where female leaders take charge with reactivation and baptizing; hence, we are working in English) . We had gone to their ward council this morning and as they were talking about this family, they turned to us and said we'd probably do well with them. They, mostly priesthood holders, have been trying to work with them because it's a family of mom and dad and their 3 boys. They haven't made a lot of progress though so they asked if we would go and see them and the Elders told us that they had a lesson set up for tonight, so we went. We went with a couple, the Treglowns, and taught about faith. At first it felt a bit awkward to me because we didn't really know this family while the Treglowns do and they had prepared a lesson to share. But, after a little while, the Spirit helped guide us with the right questions to help this family. They shared very personal experiences with us and shared their spiritual goals and the Spirit was very strong. We will be going back this Wednesday for service (their house needs a little.....love.....and elbow grease.... I didn't realize how much a clean house makes a difference in feeling the Spirit!) and for a lesson later that night. I love them so much and we got along very well with them. The mom is a stay at home mom so I think that having sisters will help her stay spiritually strong, which in turn will help the rest of her family. They have made such progress to be where they're at right now and I can't wait to see where they'll go! Life is good! It's hard, there are low moments, but it is also joyous and amazing. I love what I do and I am starting to see how much Heavenly Father really believes in me. My dad wrote me an interesting letter recently where he warned that being self-critical is just as prideful as being egotistical. He didn't say out right that I am too self-critical, but he warned me to stay from that path. I think that part of humility is not only recognizing our weaknesses but our strengths too. Jesus Christ is our greatest example in all things and even He pointed out His divine nature, His strengths, His talents. He knew the balance between acknowledging who He is and what He's don, and knowing His dependence on God. I am striving to be better in how I view myself, and my companion knows that and is helping me. I love growth! I love you all and I hope that you are seeing your personal growth. I know that you're all amazing people and I'm so blessed to have you in my life. Please stay safe, be happy, and remember who you are! Love, Hermana Lindh

Elders Ortiz and Juarez

We were practicing having only one minute to invite someone to baptism. The people in the inner circle would run around to find an open "investigator" and after a few times with this group, we switched and the people on the outside became the missionaries. It was really funny trying to run in a pencil skirt and then invite someone to baptism while out of breath =) these are most of the missionaries in my zone.