First week Here!

Me and Hermana Wortley, best trainer Ever!

So I made it! Here in Washington its absolutely gorgeous!

We first flew all day on Tuesday and met up with our Mission President and his wife and the APs. We then went to the mission home and ate a ton of food and slept peacefully. The next morning we had our first meeting about where our areas were, and then drove all day to our areas. I am currently in East Wenatchee, which is the whole east side of the Columbia River here in Wenatchee. 

My Trainer and Senior Companion is Hermana Wortley from Bountiful, Utah. She's awesome and we always have something to talk about together at the end of the day. 

So apparently, from what people have told me since I got here, Wenatchee is the Apple Capital of the world. That was tested this past week and I ate some fresh apples from my first area. They are absolutely delicious, holy cow!  My zone here is all completely Spanish speaking, even though some of us cover English wards, and we have a pair of sisters and a pair of elders who speak English. They are all such wonderful missionaries, and they are so amazing! I enjoy every minute I have around them. For my first day in the field we had trainer-trainee meetings back south in Kennewick, so we carpooled all the way back down to Kennewick, which was a 2 and a half hour drive... but it was also fun, because whenever we stopped for gas we all got out of the van and all gave out the new 'Because He Lives' pass along cards. We even tried to street contact around 8:30 at night when we stopped on our way home to deliver some district videos to other zones. My zone leaders and district leaders are all so awesome! 

My companion and I cover an English and a Spanish ward, thereforer our Sundays are extremely busy. Our Spanish ward is extremely small, so there's a lot of work to be done.  I have a lot of pictures of this beautiful area I am privileged to be in. I love it here so far, and the ward members here are so awesome!

For those of you who aren't serving missions, have you checked out the new video 'Because He Lives'?  I encourage those of you who have not seen it yet to find it and share it with everyone you come in contact with.  It's so absolutely wonderful! 

This week will be my first full week here in East Wenatchee and I'm so excited to see how this goes!

I'm loving it so far, and I'm sure I will love it even more the longer I serve here. 

I love you all and I wish you all the best Easter and General Conference weekend!

Matthew 28:6

#becausehelives 

and Yes, I have a car. 2014 Volkswagon. Its a wonderful car that we are blessed to have! But we also have done a lot of walking, so my legs are getting wooped into shape!

She Made It!

President Ware, Hermana Marble, Sister Ware

Dear Missionary Family,

We are delighted to inform you that your missionary has arrived safely to the Washington Kennewick Mission.  We already love them and are excited to serve with them.  We have enjoyed becoming acquainted with them and are confident that they will become an effective instrument in the hands of the Lord in sharing the gospel with the people of Washington and Oregon.

We have assigned them a companion who is an experienced, devoted, and motivated missionary.  All of our missionaries understand that one of the greatest privileges available in the mission is to train a new missionary.  This first companion will be a special person in your missionary’s life and will help give them a great start here.

We feel that our greatest responsibility is the care and welfare of your child.  We want to assure you that we will be in regular contact with them.  We will be observant of their physical health, happiness and spiritual well being.  We will work closely with them throughout the mission to help them succeed and fulfill their calling as a representative of the Church and as an ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Please be assured that we will be in contact with you if we encounter any concerns that would call for your attention.  We see you as a great asset to the success of your missionary while they are serving here and will work closely with you if the need arises.  You would help us immensely by informing us of any changes to address, phone number or email for you, your bishop or your stake president.  We want to keep our records current so that we can keep in touch whenever necessary.

Attached are photographs of your missionary taken with us at the welcome dinner at the mission home, along with a map of the mission.  Please feel free to contact us at the mission office with any questions that you may have.

Thank you for the sacrifices you are making at home to have your missionary in the field.  We have seen the Lord bless the families of missionaries who are serving in untold ways.  We know that His blessings will be upon you as well.

With love,

                                           

President Boyd S. Ware                                                       Sister Linda P. Ware

Washington Kennewick Mission                             

8202 W. Quinault Ave., Ste D

Kennewick, WA  99336

Happy, as usual....

Estados Unidos Aqui Voy! (US here I come)

Hello all! 

This email will be short due to things on my to-do list, but tonight I leave the CCM to fly to Washington.  It has come so fast!  It's very exciting and I can't wait to meet my mission president and his wife.  At this point I have no idea what my flight plans are because they've been mixed up. I could be flying to San Francisco or Houston, but I trust the Lord will guide us and keep us safe. 

This past week has been super spiritual and uplifting.  I have become pretty anxious and stressed about tonight, but I'm praying for comfort and safety.

Quick funny story...  I was washing clothes yesterday to pack, and I hit my head pretty hard on the cabinets in the laundry room and now I have a slight goose egg.  I don't have a concussion, I can think clearly, it just feels like a huge bruise.  It shall heal, and I will be fine.  I plan on asking for a blessing tonight before our Elders go to bed. 

Love you all, I'll email you all next week!

Una Semana Mas!

Just a cheesy picture on of my District's hermanas took of me earlier after breakfast. thought you guys might like it. 

Hola everyone! 

This week has been much better. We've had many opportunities to be of service to the Kitchen and Cleaning staff. It's very humbling being able to work side by side with the wonderful humble people who do so much for us! 

Recently I asked one of the cooks if they make many meals without milk, and he said it rarely happened... Pero.. (all talking in Spanish and pero means but) he said he would like to make some CREPES for me sometime this week since I leave for Kennewick next Tuesday. I thanked him over and over again and he gladly smiled and laughed with me. 

This is the hail we received last Tuesday night.

So... ya'll know how I was complaining for some moisture, right?  Well... last Tuesday, it hailed here in Mexico City.  It was insane. On Tuesday evenings we have a great devotional with our MTC presidency which is always a burden lifter for me. Not that I carry burdens, but that it completely uplifts me when I need it most, along behind Sundays which I have mentioned that are the BEST day of the week, besides P day, which is also our weekly devotional night. This particular night we had our raincoats on, knowing from the weather that Hermana James in our room predicted. (she wants to be a meteorologist and can predict rain)  She suspected it would rain this night... but no, It HAILED!  It was pretty hilarious.  During our nightly discussion after our Tuesday night devotional, the hail was coming down so hard it knocked the power out right in the middle of our Zone testimony meeting! The power was only out for about less that 2 minutes and then came back on.  It was so interesting to see that in our devotional.  We watched a video about Elder Holland and one of his 'get right in your face so you can feel his breath' missionary talks.  He talked about our need to SPEAK UP among all the contradicting churches and falsehoods told about our church.  I bore my testimony, and immediately when I began to talk, the hail stopped.  I mentioned in my testimony, that just as the hail was beating down on our buildings, those noises can be like those contradicting voices.  We MUST speak up!  That talk really got me throughout the rest of the week.  We are told many times during our classes where we only speak Spanish, to try the phrase first in the language we will be teaching and we will be surprised on how well our brains can work so fast to translate and say what our hearts want to say.  That really impressed me!   It helped me a lot with our lessons this week, which were mainly about the Commandments and the Word of Wisdom. This was quite an opportunity for me to feel the spirit work through my words and my mouth. 

Watch out, Washington! (caption by Linda)

This week we also had many friends leave for their missions to Chicago, Redlands, CA, and Provo, Utah.  It gave me a great opportunity to be with them for these past 5 weeks, and have them help us around campus. They have been here a week longer than our district, and basically were our family.  I seriously have made some life long friends here at the CCM.  Its been quite amazing!  I look forward to seeing many of these friends after our missions, especially the sisters I've become close with.  I have one more chance to email next week on Monday evening before I fly to Kennewick Tuesday early morning. 

I am excited and also nervous to see how this week goes, but I have great faith that i will strengthen me thoroughly as I push full force in to my last week of lessons with investigators and language classes. 

I love you all!  Be safe, enjoy the sun my Utah friends! 

Hip Hermanas!  (caption by Linda)

Aannd I´m almost there!

Hello, Hello everyone! 

Hope Utah is still getting good moisture!  We received quite a bit of moisture last night... I'm pretty sure it rained at least 2-3 inches yesterday evening. We had just finished with teaching our classmates 'new pretend investigators' about the Restoration. It's been fun to just teach each other and act as investigators. We taught a lot of good lessons last week and had TRC again (teaching random citizens) who are basically church member volunteers for us as we learn to teach. That went REALLY well. Hermana Harston and I are really progressing together. It will be hard when it comes time to separate in Kennewick when we are given our areas. 

This past week went as normal, nothing too exciting. But for those who are wondering and asking how my health has been, it's been better. I'm coming to find out I am lactose intolerant. Of all places and times, now in the CCM! It's pretty hard. But I am starting to feel much better after revising what I allow myself to eat. Things have gotten so much better. I'm definitely feelings your prayers and love. 

So we have two morning teachers that teach us together, and we really enjoy their company and their help. Hermana A. returned from her mission in Utah about 2 years ago, and she loved it!  She is returning to Utah for a month to visit her mission and to visit friends. She leaves this Wednesday and unfortunately we said goodbye to her yesterday since she leaves this week and we won't see each other again. She's my absolute favorite and I´m really going to miss her. It also rained like crazy yesterday evening... FINALLY!  I've missed the rain so much! Mom, i finally got to use my umbrella!

Our zone has been singing a lot together lately before we retire to our casas. I taught the whole zone the song 'Come thou Fount'.  Now no one can stop singing it. It has truly helped me get through this week when I felt down on myself. Since I don't have much to say about my week, I´ll give my testimony. 

Come thou Fount of every blessing

Tune my heart to sing thy grace.

Streams of mercy, never ceasing.

Call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet. 

Sung by flamming tongues above.

Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it.

Mount of thy redeeming love.

2 more beautiful verses for you to find for your selves ;)

Yo se que La iglesia de JesuCristo is verdad, y muy amoroso. Dios mando su Hijo para nuestras vidas. JesuCristo expiado para nuestra pecados porque El Amor para nosotros es muy grande. Yo se que Dios tiene un plan para todo personas en la tierra. Yo Amo Todo Usted!

I love you all! Heavenly Father is so mindful of all of us, I know that to be true. Love you all, be safe!

I've been in Heaven for a MONTH!

Hey everyone, 

Hope all is going well! So this past week has been quite a ride.  I've been sick this week, but I'm getting better! Haven't had to miss any class, so that's a plus!  It's been a month tomorrow since I arrived and It's wonderful here!  Everyone is so awesome, and we've made lots of friends!  

So last Monday we did service again by cleaning the Water Jug, filling, things... Still don't know what to call them!  We have started teaching two people during the week which got stressful, but now we are back down to one investigator for each companionship this week. 

Tuesday, as I said last week, we went to the Mexico City Temple and visitor center.  I forgot to take pictures of my book covers, but I'll send those next week!  We also played volleyball, and did a LOT of laundry. On Sunday I had spilled gravy all over myself.... it was quite an adventure! 

Wednesday was the day that it was only the Hermanas in class all day. Our District Leader, Elder Johnson, of our trio companionship of elders, got sick with the 24 hour flu.  He's doing much better!  I also got a bit more sick, but I started taking medicine which helped a bit. 

Thursday, I went to the Infermeria for my stomach problems and was given medication, that's helping too. 

Friday and Saturday I was still pretty sick to my stomach, so I asked my morning Hermano teacher to give me a blessing, and my Hermana teacher to translate as much as she could.  Hermano V can't speak much English, but he spoke the blessing in Spanish for me.  Then Hermana A. translated it all for me on paper for me to keep, I'm so happy I did!  I've been looking back at it when I need a boost of energy. 

Sunday was Fast and Testimony Meeting, which we started fasting Saturday night from dinner, then Sunday morning breakfast.  We have Sacrament Meeting right before lunch, so it worked out perfectly!  Sundays here are the BEST!  They are so spiritual and wonderful.  We were able to watch The Testaments video Sunday night and oh man, was it amazing!  It's probably one of my favorite church videos of all time. We later had a District overview, and talked about the video together.  I encourage you all to watch it sometime soon if possible!  

Miss you all lots, thanks for emailing me every week!  I really enjoy reading what everyone has been up to! Thank you for praying for me, I feel the comfort of all your prayers. 

Perseverar hasta el fin!

Hermana Marble