Reality of being a Missionary

So, this week was not what we expected at all.. We went from being on fire last transfer, to slowly turning into small tiny little sparks. I want to be honest with you all, my missionary friends, and my friends who will soon be going on missions. Living with someone for 24/7 is not easy sometimes, and when it's not you have to work it out. Heavenly Father wants the best for us, but he also expects a lot of work on our part.

I have been on quite the roller coaster on my mission with companions, and I want you to all know, that it WILL work out. Not everything is easy, but it's all worth it, and missionary work is only accomplish-able with the Holy Ghost. He is so extremely important to have at all times. And whenever you can't push through, you kneel in prayer and you ask for the strength, just as Nephi of old did.

17 But it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound.
18 And it came to pass that when I had said these words, behold, the bands were loosed from off my hands and feet, and I stood before my brethren, and I spake unto them again.

This work is SO important. What a blessing it is that we have been baptized, and that we have the Holy Ghost with us always. We MUST keep the Holy Ghost near. He guides us through everything, and if we don't listen to him and follow what he says, we will receive consequences of all shapes and sizes.
I promise that all is well.. But when problems rise up, I've kept my head above the water and never looked back.. I just keep swimming just as Dory explains.. :)

Love you all, have a great week.

Oh it is Wonderful...

Hello everyone!

So as I've talked about since I've gotten here to the Dalles area, I've been having some struggles with my companion. Everything is going back to normal, but we also have transfers this Wednesday. I will be staying in White Salmon and I will be receiving Hermana Knight, who was one of my greenie's MTC companion. What a coincidence! Hermana Buss will be transfered to Othello. This is something  new, and I'm pretty torn between how I feel about Hermana Buss leaving. We've grown so much together, and we've seen miracles. But having Hermana Buss as a companion was probably one of the most growing times for me on my mission. We've both learned so much together and I am excited to see where her mission will take her next. 

I realized this whole past transfer, I was letting myself be pretty selfish in the midst of helping my companion. I never realized how much she was struggling until she finally opened up to me last week about how she wasn't looking forward to leaving her first area on her mission. I felt sorry, but a bit rough at the same time, thinking to myself, "Well, you've got a ton of time to spend on your mission, and I've got zip-zero time. So enjoy it." There were times I had to be blunt with her, and take the lead in our companionship, and in a way, take the lead in everything we did. I felt no motivation, and turned very inward to myself when I was trying to get her motivated and help her out with her problems. Finally, I found my way through serving her. I found ways to relax, and to not become so anxious and stressed about every little thing. I especially learned through prayer, that Heavenly Father truly, completely, and utterly knows EXACTLY who I am. Though I struggle with finding a balance in my stress, and despite all the noise and struggles happening around me, I turned so inward this past transfer, and I didn't see it until we had a special tender moment this past week.  

When she confided in me about leaving her first area, I first had that thought that I mentioned earlier, but I decided I was done with being this way. I told her stories about when I left my first area, and how nervous I was, but how I became so excited to go somewhere new. I even told her the struggles I had as a missionary, and how the struggles I've had with my self confidence, and trusting in the Lord, every SINGLE trial has made me who I am, along with Jesus Christ and his confidence in me. I LOVE being a missionary, but the ways I've personally struggled have held me back in my potential, and I finally dropped the gloves to the mat, and I loved her with every part of my small, ignorant heart. We both struggled a lot this past transfer, but I became more hard on myself until I truly turned my heart to him.  

What happened next was a complete surprise. I don't know where the words came from, but they just simply spilled out of my mouth. It went something like this...

"Hermana, I know you're missing home, and family, but Heavenly Father wants you to know how much He loves you. You're doing great, keep being productive in every way possible" 

Later, I told her about every single member of her family and why she needs to be a missionary right now. Everything I said, was completely, and utterly from our Heavenly Father. On her end, she cried until I was done. On my end, I teared up while I told her about how proud her Dad is of her.  THINGS HAPPEN FOR A REASON!

Christ is my Savior, He truly felt everything that I feel and that we each feel every day, and He is key to our salvation.

I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me.

Confused at the grace that so fully, He proffers me. 

I tremble to know that for me He was cruficied.

That for me a sinner, He suffered, He bled and died.

Oh it is wonderful, that He should care for me, enough to die for me.

Oh it is wonderful, wonderful to me. 

I know this past transfer was so needed for both she and I. I will never forget the experiences we had together. I love her.  She will always be one of my favorite companions.

So, Wednesday morning, I will have a new companion!  I will keep ya'll updated on our hard work next week. Love you all, I feel the power of your prayers!! 

Our zone conference was this past week, I was asked to give a training on working with members, and it went awesome!

Anyone want some.. WHITE SALMON?

Hi everyone! This week has been busy and a good one!

Transfers are on Wednesday, and we did not expect what is going to happen! Hermana Aldrich and I are going to be doubled out (we are both leaving the area) and two other Spanish sisters will be doubled into our area. Hermana Aldrich will be serving in the other Spanish branch in Yakima, which is the Moxee Branch. I will be transferred to the partially new area of our mission, the Dalles Oregon specifically White Salmon/Stevenson, and I'll be serving with a sister who came into the field with Hermana Aldrich. I've heard a lot of good things about this area, and it's sparking some flames of work. I had thought about how I could possibly serve there one day on my mission, and apparently it's time for me to head down there!  

We are pretty sad to leave behind the Ochoa Paredes family, but we know the new other sisters will take care of them.  As for their baptism, It did not happen. Things came up in the baptism interview with Delia that will need to be addressed to someone else.. They have good desires, just need to work on the some things together before any kind of baptism planning. We are sad to see them make some choices, and it's a bit heartbreaking. But I know one of the new sisters coming to our area, and I know she will take good care of them. Both Hermana Aldrich and I will be returning for their baptism, when it happens. 

We got a sweet referral this past week for the brother-in-law of a member, who was baptized in another area in the mission which I can't spell to save my life, but they are amazing.  Both her boyfriend and his brother are excited to come to church, and they've come to church multiple times before, just not to our branch.  We have set a date with them for March 19th!  They made sure that we said we could come back so we could see them both get baptized, and they are a super sweet family!

Overall, I've been thinking a lot lately about the things I've been learning since being in the heart area of my mission, and I know I've talked about it a lot lately in my emails, I'm sorry if that's a bit boring... Haha!  But I've truly learned a lot, time has flown by that I've been here in Yakima, that literally I haven't written in my journal since I got here... So, I will be doing a lot of journal writing before I get there, so it's gonna be a busy, tiring week! Haha, I am really excited to start fresh... nothing bad happened in my experience in Yakima, I'm just looking forward to starting in a new area.  I'm going to miss the branch and our investigators so much, but it's time for a new start! 

Buena Suerte con todo, y les quiero muchisimo!

I'm now a Yakimite, and MOLLY'S BAPTISM!

Hi everyone! 

This past week has been quite the adventure! We doubled out and met at transfers on Wednesday in Yakima, and handed our car over to the new elder for him and his coming companion to have it for Toppenish, and then I met my brand new Hija, Hermana Aldrich! We are getting along great! She's from St. George Utah, and she has an AMAZING story!  I would tell it all, but I'll give a general Idea. 

She is probably the most GPS-like person I've ever met. We've gotten lost so many times and she's helped us find out way out, even when we walked all the way home from 16th, (we live on 41st) That night was exhausting!  But it's okay, we share a car so we are currently on foot and in the car, half and half.  But as for the branch, I've never seen a stronger branch on my mission. These members are amazing!  We have some sweet investigators we are waiting to meet, and the members are so EXTREMELY HELPFUL. 

Thursday I lost my wallet, so that was a bit nerve racking, but later in the mission office, someone dropped it off! Apparently it fell out somewhere during transfers and I couldn't find it later that night, so Hermana Aldrich and I had the car for the night when we drove to the mission home, (less than 5 miles away) on a black-ice night to the safe arms of President and Sister Lewis who handed over my wallet.  What a sigh of relief!

Molly's baptism! We almost didn't have a ride, so we were about to drive ourselves, but instead we found a dinner on Sunday night, who was also with our solid investigator, Jose, who is currently in a relationship with a member who is married to someone else... so they are waiting on divorce papers to be finalized so they can get married and then he can get baptized!  We ate with the Estradas and the Sotos, the most hilarious Hispanic family members I've ever met!  Hermano Soto drove us sisters (we got permission because there's 5 of us sisters who were going, so it was perfect!  The baptism started earlier than we expected, so we didn't get to see her in the font, but we saw her after, and we greeted her with candy lei's that Hermana Taua had made for her.  I was asked to bear my testimony!  While still in tears, I asked to borrow an elder's scripture so I could bear my testimony, and then I never ended up being asked to come up.. so that was a little sad, but the musical numbers were wonderful. Sister Parry played the piano and Sister Taua did a bit of a Solo in Somoan. :) It was the BEST!

Molly bore her testimony before the program ended, and I could just see this bright light inside of her that I hadn't seen in any one else before!  It was so wonderful, I'm crying as I write this because I just can't get the image of her out of my mind right now.  She looked beautiful in her dress after she changed (right when we got there) and she could not stop tearing up as she bore her testimony, but it was the most JOYFUL day I've yet on my mission so far. I didn't witness Sabino's baptism, but I was partially there for Molly's and she looked wonderful!  I'm just so happy I was able to teach her, and that I was there to see her bear her testimony.  It was the most perfect day, including her confirmation right after.  I literally can't stop smiling because of how beautiful the program was and how wonderful it went. She's my number one! 

Love you all!

Planner out the window, JOANN!!

Hi everyone! 

When I saw this week flew by, I mean it literally flew out the door, and into the street.. literally. 

Not too much has happened, Molly is still on date for baptism, and we've received permission from our Branch President to have the baptism and the confirmation the same night. It will be December 6th, and we are extremely excited!  We've already got some talks figured out, Brother Ibarra is baptizing her, (her dad) and all their family from Yakima, Seattle, and some from Utah are coming. It is soooo exciting!

We didn't get to teach Burt this week, but luckily we know he went to a mid singles dance in Pasco with another mid single member in the ward. We haven't heard from him for a few days, but we are planning on pushing his date back to December 12 so we will have more time to teach him and help him get his interview. 

Best news of this week...  Remember the excommunicated member that is Sister Johnson's mom who wants to be baptized?  WE HAVE PERMISSION TO TEACH HER! She will just need to have her interview conducted by Bishop Stauffer and all will be well :)  We are so excited!  She and Burt have already come to church twice, but neither showed up this past Sunday. Oh well, we'll see them this week!  We are planning on teaching him and her this weekend! Woot Woot!

I have so much to share, but so little time, and I unfortunately lost my planner Sunday at church... I have no idea where it is, We've looked everywhere. Oops!  But on that note, this week... a LOT of appointments have fallen through, we've been trying hard to find, and in result, we've found 3 more investigators!  They are all thirsting for the gospel, and we cannot wait to visit them all again this week!  We are visiting Yolanda and her family tonight, and then we will be visiting George and Mari this upcoming week!  

Since this week wasn't too rewarding, we ended up buying Ben And Jerry's ice cream during a canceled dinner to make up for the feelings... Because you know... we are sisters, and sometimes we need a pick me up. Haha!

We are doing great, and I LOVE training. I feel inadequate sometimes, but I sure do love her and she understands that I tend to stress sometimes, but I've been doing better, and I know I am training her for a purpose only Heavenly Father Knows. She's my hija!  I can't wait to see what next transfer brings, but that's not until November 30th. 

Love you all, please keep Joann Gibson, Burt Ramsey, and Molly Clark in your prayers!

"Fiddler on the Roof" Miracles, Miracles!

Top of the Mornin' to you all!

We've found some awesome new people this week, miracles are happening in East Wenatchee! :)

Just about every day this week we've had 3 set appointments! The first three appointments on Tuesday were ALL invited to be baptized and they all said yes once they confirm their decision with their families!  Marisella and Sabino, Woo hoo!  That same day I gave my very first District Meeting training on Giving Out of Love.  I was truly able to express what I saw in each of my missionaries (The missionaries in my District).  We are all in the zone of remembering our purpose every day and with every person we talk to.  I talked about the "Current Bush" talk by Hugh B. Brown.  It's one of my favorite talks and it helped in my training so much!

On Wednesday we had ANOTHER 3 lessons.  They were ALL invited for baptism!  Conchita again for confirmation that she wanted to be baptized (still no date) and Evonne and Victor.  Evonne has been taught by the missionaries before, but she was in a serious relationship which kept her and him from being baptized.  They also broke up along with all the drama.  He's moved out (which helps with her baptism) and she also expressed how ready she is to be baptized, ready for the lessons! :)  She speaks more English than Spanish so we are planning a hand off lesson for her and we will DEFINITELY be at her baptism :) 

Con Amor, Hermana Marble

Thursday went pretty slow, but we had dinner with the Merrill family, who's son just left for his mission in Brazil, and Brother and Sister Merrill are headed to the Provo MTC in two weeks to become service missionaries in Peru!  They had us over for dinner while their daughters' kids were playing.  Their grandson, LeRoy tried leaving with us to go teach people.  "Mommy, I have to go help the missionaries! I have to help Jesus!"  I just about died, cutest 4 year old ever!  We had a lesson planned with Wendy, which didn't go as planned... She was super distracted and nothing was clicking for her, so we decided we would come back another day.

Friday we planned all day and then went on exchanges with Hermana Capi and Sister Larsen. They are the SWEETEST Sister Training Leaders we've ever both had!  Super fun exchanges helping them with their on dates investigators and contacting their referrals all day. 

Yesterday Wendy didn't come to church, and this time none of her family came.  It was super sad and we were so looking forward to it, but we have plans to go by Tuesday with a member.  We drove up to Orondo for a return appointment, but it fell through, so we stopped by Angelita and Elizabeth.  Remember them from a few weeks ago?  Well, they are going through a divorce right now and they are looking for some divine comfort and help.  We invited them both to be baptized and they both said yes!  They didn't have a specific date set, but we will be putting them on date this week!  Then we had a sweet member dinner with the Olson family, Cutest family ever! They are so much fun!  We grabbed some dessert from them after a fallen through appointment.  Later that night we found our Less Active/Recent Covert Salvador at the church while we were waiting for a member to come with us to a lesson. He told us a wild story about something that was happening in his apartment building and asked for our help...  We didn't end up helping him, but we sent some other help for him.  We were both pretty nervous for him, but we do know he's been having some mental health issues.  If you could, please Keep Salvador in your prayers. 

We are planning on fasting for him this week. There's so much that's happening and we are so excited for these stake changes to happen soon!   

Love you all, have a wonderful week!

Columbia River Temple week!

Buenos Dias you all!   What a week! 

This week we had a definite struggle with our golden investigator, Manuel.  We received a call from him about a month ago, but neither of us knew who he was, and Hermana Wortley had never taught him before. His number was already in our phone, so we knew he would have a teaching record somewhere in our area book. Turns out he would sit in on the lessons that his identical twin was taking (and when I mean identical, i mean.... SUPER identical) and has been looking for a church to go to. YES!  We had a church tour with him and invited him to be baptized, and he said he would.  We didn't set a date with him because he wasn't ready to set a date. Unfortunately this past Monday and Tuesday we have been worried sick for him.  We haven't been able to have a second lesson with him, and he finally called us last Monday night that he is "going back to mexico..."  He's being deported and he doesn't know when he will return, or return, period, for that matter....  He was so ready, and we are very sad we won't be teaching him anymore, but he promised he would call the missionaries in our area as soon as he returned.  He thanked us for all we've helped him with, especially teaching him the gospel. That was definitely not a single lesson gone to waste.  He still has a Book of Mormon and he says he reads frequently during the week.  We sure will miss him. 

We also have a recent convert that was baptized in February who has been struggling.  He was attending for 6 MONTHS before he took the missionary discussions and was baptized.  He has really struggled since his Mom and sister moved in with him this past month.  Working more for more paychecks.  He has also completely lost his testimony and treats the church like a joke...  We've invited him to come every week, and he laughs and says, "yeah, we'll see.." SALVADOR. NO!  He has completely lost his desire to attend church and has lost his sight of the importance of church attendance. 

The sisters in my zone

I also had the opportunity to go on exchanges with one of my Sister Training Leaders, Hermana Capi.  She's originally from Mexico, so she's totally a native, and she only had to spend 2 weeks in the Provo MTC.  She's most recently from outside of Los Angeles, CA.  This time, I was able to take over our East Wenatchee area and drive us to our appointments and investigators.  I was able to learn more ideas for planning days out.  We struggled trying to figure out when to go where because of miles and not wanting to backtrack, haha!  But we followed the spirit, and we had one great lesson with Concepcion and his wife Esperanza.  Let me tell you, they are the CUTEST Mexican native Abuelo and Abuela you will ever meet! (grandpa and grandpa)  Every time we visit, they offer us apples, just as most of our investigators and our less actives do.  They are such a wonderful couple!  We have invited them to take our "Tendreis Mis Palabras" learning program, but they refuse to ever learn how to read or write Spanish...  We thought they would love it, but we have great plans to give them the Book of Mormon in Spanish on tape for them to listen to.  We are very excited to keep teaching them!

We also went to the temple this week, HOLY COW!  It was amazing, and I am so grateful I was able to go this transfer with my trainer and companion, Hermana Wortley.  As I sat in the Celestial room, I prayed to my Heavenly Father to help me cope with my stress and anxiety, and as soon as I felt like tears would start rolling down my face, a wave of calmness came over me as if it was a cool breeze on a summer day.  I know I am here for a reason, and I know that certain people need me, and each and every full time missionary in the world right now.  I can testify to each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, that I know that His grace, and Our Heavenly Father's grace is SOOO sufficient for each of us who will ever live on this earth, and there is no way we can comprehend how much that is.  Christ's atonement and grace and blessings are overflowing our daily buckets, and we must try to recognize them every single day.  He pours daily blessings upon us every day, do not look past them!  He needs each of us, every single day in his vineyard, just as the whole section of Jacob in the Book of Mormon testifies.  I invite you to read Jacob, and to look for the things we can do as members and to be Christlike examples to do our part in the vineyard in every change we get. 

Love you all, tenga un buena semana!

My wonderful zone!

3 months, but no time!

All is well.  Everything is getting better, hotter, busier, and more fun!

This week is our trip to the temple!  This is extra special for me because the mission split is July 1st.  Next transfer will determine where we will go for which mission.  I feel that I will most likely stay in the Yakima mission because there is more Spanish work to be done here.  The only problem is that there is no temple within the Yakima Mission (soon to be) Boundaries.  If I stay in the Yakima mission, I won't be visiting the temple at all for the rest of my mission.  Anything could happen though!  So after this next transfer, if I am put in Yakima, I will not have temple trips at all.  I won't be able to attend the temple until I return home.  I look forward to going to a session with my wonderful Zone, and more importantly, not being the only sister companionship!  Ha ha!  We only have two sister companionships in our zone, so I am excited to go to the temple with the other sisters!  We have plans to go to a Deseret Book in Far West, which is out in Richland before we leave to come home.  We will wake up at 5 in the morning, leave at 6:30, attend a session at 9, shopping and lunch after, and then return home.  I am so excited to go!  This will be the 4th temple I have attended since I received my endowments! (Brigham City, Logan, Mexico City, Richland)

We have tried some new finding methods, which include chalking pictures of the Plan of Salvation, Mormon.org, etc. We also have started 'garbage tracting', which is picking up garbage as we talk to people.  Multi-tasking!  It is especially needed in the trailer parks, in which we met someone who came out and gave us water bottles! She was so sweet!  She thanked us for cleaning up her neighborhood. 

We also have had more members come to lessons with us, which has been a blast!  We have been talking with an older couple who are interested in learning how to read, and we plan on inviting them to take the Daily Dose classes, which are Spanish classes from members in the Spanish ward, who speak English as well. 

The work is slowly progressing!

Love you all! have a safe and awesome week!

My planner for this transfer: the Ukraine Temple