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!

General Conference, Lesson learned...

Hi everyone! 

Wow, I haven't had a week like this in a long time... probably not since Toppenish.  So, this week, in a gist, I've learned so much about companionship responsibility.  A LOT.  I've really enjoyed helping Hermana Buss with the things she's working on, and it should be getting better... anytime soon, but I have really learned that I truly can't carry on the work by myself.  And when things happen, you roll and go with the flow.  That's all you can do folks, just get down on your knees, and say an out loud personal prayer and He will listen to you. He IS There, and I know without a doubt that He is listening, and that He knows me!

I have LOVED listening to conference, we watched one session completely in Spanish.  I couldn't understand a lot of it, but I hope to understand it more soon!  I loved it all, especially the announcement of the new temples. We will have 175 temples once all the temples in the world are built. WOW!  What progress!

I invite you all to ponder the things you've learned in conference, and to apply it TODAY! 

They all talked about good habits we MUST build right now, so find one and work on it. 

Love you all!

Hola todos dondequiera!

Hi everyone!

So this past week was to say the least... interesting. So I haven't quite explained what exactly the work is I'm doing here, so I might as well tell you now, a week after arriving!  I am serving in the White Salmon ward, and we are the only missionaries to our ward. (which also feels very weird coming from our Spanish branch in Yakima, which had 5 sets of missionaries to cover all of Yakima. Here in White Salmon, we cover the English work for our ward, but we also cover the Spanish work of the area of 2 wards. So we have our hands full! We cover a very large area, not including the other ward. Some of our investigators live 45 minutes to an hour away. Our usual weekly and monthly missionary meetings are typically from 30 minutes to an hour and 15 minutes away. Because our area has a lot of terrain, we have been assigned to drive a Jeep Compass, which I must say.. is a fun car to drive as a missionary. We are very blessed to be serving in a great area with Juanito our Jeepo. This is my 4th area, and we cover an area that is about 1 hour and 15 minutes top to bottom and about 2 and a half hours from West to East. We don't have much work in the boundaries of the other ward, so we mainly work in our ward and the Spanish work within our area. 

So this past week was decent!  We didn't get to meet with Trevor this week because he didn't have a car due to his accident, and his recovery from his accident. We WERE however able to have him at church yesterday! He loved it! He wasn't super lost with the whole 3 hours.  He said he usually spends 3 hours playing video games on Sundays, so that was a great substitute!

We did service this week at a thrift store where we were sorting baby clothes and boxes of kids clothes, it was a lot of good work, it kept us super busy!  Although we had 2 appointments fall through later that same day.

We visited our recent convert Shelley, who is working on reading the whole Book of Mormon. She has a hard time understanding some things, especially the Isaiah chapters in Second Nephi, but she has managed to push through them! She is now in Jacob, and she loves it!

We had a lesson with Zon Sprinkle, who is 99... Yes, you read that right, 99. He is hard of hearing, and he is incredibly healthy for his age.. No joke!  We taught him the Restoration with Sister Lemmon, who is a member of the ward and is from Venezuela originally. She is super awesome!  We had a good lesson, but he is quite firm in his beliefs. We asked to come back and read in the Bible and Book of Mormon to him since he can't read too well, and he agreed! 

We had a super sweet lesson with Debby, who is an amazing investigator!  She is carefully studying the biblical history along with the history in the Book of Mormon. She wants to start doing family history!  We have an appointment with her to check out the Family History Center tomorrow and to start her family tree!

We had a Zone Meeting this week as well, which was amazing!  We woke up early, picked up the other sisters across the river in Oregon, and drove to a members house 30 minutes away, who drove us to The Dalles where our meeting was held. It was a loooong day!  Our members who drove us there, took us through a drive thru Zoo early on Saturday morning, it was so cool!  We saw Zebra, Giraffes, Yes mom. Giraffes in WA!

Sunday was... interesting, like I said. 

Hermana Buss was searching for a glass early on Sunday morning, which I was very confused about. This past Sunday was Fast Sunday, So I almost thought she was skipping her fast... (of course she wasn't).  We caught a very gross looking bug in our bathroom with a jar in our cupboard... don't ask me about it.. Haha!

BTW here's a photo of Hermana Buss and I finally!  She and I are doing good, could be better, but it's a work in progress. 

 

Love you all, Have a wonderful week!

It's beginning to look as lot like....

Hi everyone! 

This past week was awesome!  We had our Trainer/Trainee meeting at the mission home just down the road from us in Yakima, and it was so awesome!  It was super interesting to see that I was only 1 of 3 "old" missionaries who were training, and the other trainers are all just fresh out of BEING trained.. and I was the only one who went last transfer for Hermana Parry, and now this transfer for Hermana Aldrich!  So it was funny that I was there twice in the past 2 months for the training meeting.  Heavenly Father has a sense of Humor to call me to train again, and not even finish my first trainee's training... It's all part of His plan, that's all I know!  It was so much fun to see how much we all had different "being trained" experiences, and now we get to step into our Trainer's footsteps! 

This week we had a goal to talk to 70 people, 10 every day. We didn't quite hit our goal, but it was awesome to see how when we set goals if we put our faith in making them that Heavenly Father helps us stretch just enough to work our potential to talking and teaching as many people as possible!  One thing that makes it all possible is this AMAZING video we've been able to share with so many people and give out the cards.  You all have been able to watch the video, correct?  I invite you to share it with someone, or on social media!  It's the best video ever and this is one way to bring the spirit to conversation while also sharing your testimony!

We also taught Jose! This is the man who's basically a member, but he's not... He's taken all the missionary discussions. He's taken all of Gospel Principles classes, he's even taken the TEMPLE CLASSES AND JUST FINISHED!  He's NOT a member.....  He's absolutely amazing! You may ask, "Why isn't he a member?! Baptize him already!"  Well that's where it gets complicating... His girlfriend, who he's lived with for quite a long time is an active member, but they have been living together for a long time, and she's still technically married to someone else... they are waiting for the divorce papers to go through, then they will get married, and then he will get baptized, and then he has already talked about going to the temple. He's so knowledgeable and so ready, just waiting on the divorce. So that's a masterpiece waiting to be shown :)

We had a sweet zone meeting about becoming consecrated missionaries, meaning we truly put EVERYTHING on the alter of sacrifice for the Lord, and then in return he opens doors for us to teach with power and conviction, and truly giving up all worldly desires to put our whole hearts into the work. It was amazing, and I truly loved it! I already see a change in me since I first put my tag on in the CCM, but Heavenly Father has chiseled me into the person he needs me to be. Training for the second time around is a bit tough. We are just getting used to our area, but it's great while we've been knocking everyday, finding new wonderful people!

We found Francisco and his daughter Chesy, who are so ready! We shared the Christmas video with them and Chesy started getting emotional, it was so cool!  We gave them both Book of Mormon's, and Chesy is preparing for January 9th to be baptized! We've seen itsy bitsy miracles from being as obedient as possible and talking to everyone, and it's truly been amazing to meet and talk with so many people!

Friday we planned and went to a Christmas Program that our stake put on, and President and Sister Lewis were there, since they attend the ward covering the area of the mission home.  It was so much fun seeing people from different churches and beliefs come, it was so humbling and exciting!  We've shared the video cards with so many people, and maybe it's just because of the wonderful season, but it's so much fun being a missionary around Christmas. Everyone is so happy and willing to talk and open doors to you!  It's the best feeling ever, and of course sharing something in common with our neighbors, friends, family, and all in between.  Sadly we aren't sure if we will have snow here in Yakima... It's extremely rainy from all the crazy stuff happening on the coast.  I'd love to have snow, but I'd be fine with a bit of rain. I love it here. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, and I can't wait to see and talk to my family next week. It's crazy that just yesterday it feels like I got here on my mission, (February) and now it's already December, and we are even having our Christmas gathering this week here in Yakima with all the zones from the south part of the mission.  We will be having lots of fun this week with Christmas parties for our Branch, Christmas lesson preparing, and even a sweet baptism and Christmas program this weekend!  It won't be our baptism, but it will be a great guy from the other missionaries in our Branch.

This church is true,

the Book of Mormon is too.

Love you all!

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!

Thanksgiving and Semana Loco!

Hi everyone! 

We haven't had any snow, but we HAVE been able to enjoy our wood burning stove! I feel like I'm back at the cabin!  

So to first off tell you our transfer info....  I think Heavenly Father must have a sense of humor, and of course an intelligent mind. I have been called to train another new sister missionary, and I will be LEAVING Toppenish. These past four months have flown by, and Neither of us thought we would leave... I will be sent to a BIG area in Yakima, to cover just Spanish work *secretly so excited to meet a new branch!* and I will be training this sister, which means neither of us know ANYTHING about the area... This should be a good challenge for me! I am incredibly excited and nervous at the same time, but this is what Heavenly Father has asked of me, and I have accepted! As for Hermana Parry, she will be going to Sunnyside, and will be taking over for a sick sister to finish being trained by someone she came in with. She and Hermana Pons will finish training each other!  As for Toppenish, there will be two elders sent here to take over. Our area is pretty awesome, but due to more Elders coming in this transfer and to less number of Spanish Sisters, Heavenly Father guided President Lewis to DOUBLE US OUT. Yeah, I still can't believe it. She's only a half hija to me now... hmph. 

Other than that, this past week was again, slow. Everyone was incredibly busy due to Thanksgiving. We've all heard of missionaries getting multiple meals for Thanksgiving, right? Well, luckily we only had one! As I explained last time, we basically became part of a family reunion... I was a bit 'trunky' seeing all the grand kids of the members and meeting all their family, but in the end, it was fun being with the family!  We had a blast!  For most missions, at least hearing from friends in other missions, not too many missions had to work on Thanksgiving.  Unfortunately, we worked still on Thanksgiving, and NO BODY WOULD TALK TO US. pft...  It's all good, we over all had a good week!

I honestly still can't believe that we are both being sent out of Toppenish, but I know that there are these wonderful Hispanics waiting to hear from the elders!  Upon my calling, again to train a sister, I have definitely learned so much about not only being trained, as I experienced with Hermana Wortley, but to train is such a privilege. I feel very honored that Heavenly Father would want me to train another sister, and especially going to a new area, and as some of you can imagine, I am under quite a bit of stress, to prepare an area for elders, and to prepare myself to be completely new to this sweet area of Yakima, but I am extremely proud to accept the call to train, OTRA VEZ! Again! I can't believe it still, I can't express how i feel! I had to explain to Hermana Parry about how we can totally feel the spirit as we listen to the voice mails of where everyone is going and what companionships will be new in our zone.  We just felt so much power after talking with President Lewis this past Saturday morning. 

I am very sad to leave all these wonderful people behind, but I am now looking forward to starting fresh in Yakima, and being even closer to rely on my leaders, (4 of us sisters will be living together, our Sister training leaders!) I sure do love them and I always seek for their counsel, and not only theirs but the Lord's, and I look forward to coming to know my Heavenly Father even more! 

We will be back for Molly's baptism next Sunday and for when Burt gets baptized, and even Joann! I am leaving behind a wonderful place, and I absolutely love this place despite how unsuccessful I feel as I prepare to leave, but excited to leave off what the Elders will have to work with. I don't feel like I've done enough, but I know I have because I've been called to train again. 

I have no doubt in my heart that I know The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-Saints is true. I feel such great power and authority as a missionary, and I am extremely happy to be a Disciple of Jesus Christ!

That's all I have for this week, have a good week!

Me and Tana Johnson, who is the daughter of Joann, who we just got permission to teach, and who referred us to Burt, her husband's handyman on the farm. 

Buenas Dias de El Templo!

Hey everyone! 

I am emailing on a Tuesday this week because we went to the Columbia River Temple, so we are taking today as our P-day. This morning at the temple was BEAUTIFUL! It was just a bit chilly, but it was wonderful to go and to be with my trainee Hermana Parry and to be reunited with my Zone, Hermana Taua and everyone else. 

I don't have too much time today, its been busy week, but let me give you a run down!

We met Michael (just graduated high school and wants to be an example to his siblings) about a month ago and went back to visit him this week and we invited him to pray to know if baptism is the right thing for him.

We met Nanci this week, who's a junior in high school, who's actually friends with a member, but we knocked into her and we left her with a Book of Mormon and an invitation to read 3rd Nephi 11 about Christ coming to the America's. We plan on inviting her to be baptized this week when we get in with her.

Burt and Joann came to church this past Sunday! Burt was greeted by so many members and Joann was able to reconnect with everyone she knew before she stopped going to church. Burt asked if he could meet the Bishop, and commented on a young member's testimony about becoming a missionary, who's reporting to the Boston Massachusetts Mission Portuguese speaking, and told us she would be a great missionary. He and Joann, and even Tana Johnson are all coming to the Ward Harvest Dinner this week, and then we are having a lesson with them the night after that. It should go really well!

We had a funny little incident this week while knocking in a close-by neighborhood where Sister Parry, out of nowhere  had to use the bathroom really bad... We don't know why, I won't talk about it, but we then ended up leaving a guy on the phone who we started talking to, got distracted with a call from Mexico (Typical for the Hispanics) and left us hanging...  Well, she really needed a close-by bathroom, and asked me if there were members in the neighborhood... "Uhh.... There aren't any members in this neighborhood, Why?" 

"Hermana, I really have to use the bathroom!"  We zipped over next door where we saw a lady walk back into her house from taking out the garbage, quickly introduced ourselves, and then impatiently asked to use the bathroom, and Laura, who was currently home, let us in. It was a good save, but that's all I may say about that.... 

This week has been rewarding, and it all yet happened in a flash. Just goes to show how long It's been since I started my mission.... cough cough, 9 months.... next week...  Nope, can't face the realization right now, haha! I have 9 months left to live up the best job I've ever had, and all I am given in return is blessings, for me, for my companion, for my family, and the strongest testimony I've ever had of the gospel of the best person that ever lived on this earth, who I can't ever thank enough for His sacrifice, and His blood which was shed for me, for you, and for everyone on this earth!

My time is up, but I love you all and I wish you all the best week ever! Share the gospel with someone this week! :)

Transfer week, New Companera!

Hi Everyone! 

This past week was a little slow because of transfers, but I'll give you the short jist of it. 

Sunday night we ate with the Corona's non member family where we ate ceviche.  It's salsa but with shrimp and fish, (So incredibly good!) and said some goodbyes for Sister Taua.

Monday we went to P-day in Yakima and said goodbye to all the missionaries who just recently went home and finished their missions. So many wonderful sisters returned home this week that we got to know at ZTC's which was saddening, but it's exciting that they are all returning to go to school and such. We also had our first lesson with Molly, the Ibarra's daughter. We taught her the restoration and invited her to be baptized on December 6th, her 18th birthday, and she said yes!  It was a good leave off note for Sister Taua, as she loves this family to death just as much as I do. (You too Alaundra!) Our lesson ended in tears shedding down everyone's face and with some sweet goodbyes and pictures. We sure do love them!

Sister Taua gave me a Ei-lava lava before
she left. I'm Hawaiian now guys! #nbd

Tuesday we ate with some members who took us out to dinner to El Porton, which was super good. We've seen a particular truck around town with the letters spelling "Hawaiian" on the back window, and Sister Taua has been wanting to meet them. Turns out we had met him before at the post office, and we saw him again while we were at the restaurant. She got to talk to the wife and husband about Hawaii and then left on their way. Well, on their way out they paid for our dinner!  It was super nice, and we are trying to look for them in town to thank them, but we haven't seen them since that night. 

Wednesday, I received my brand new companion!  I was a bit jittery because we were supposed to get a ride to the transfer site in Yakima by a member so we could save miles, but instead, we had a miscommunication with her and we ended up driving ourselves to the meeting in Yakima, then we got lost in Union Gap after taking a different exit than normally... it was a stressful morning, but we made it just in time, where we were greeted by President and Sister Lewis along with the other missionaries moving around their luggage. We got in and everyone settled down. One of our President's assistants got released to train before he and the other assistant go home next transfer. It's been another transfer of crazy changes! 

This week, I received Hermana Parry. She is from Tucson Arizona, and she has 5 younger siblings, so she's the first child out on a mission!  She's super excited to work, she understands A LOT of Spanish, and I am just incredibly impressed with her and I am proud to be her trainer!

Thursday we went knocking doors, and I let Hermana Parry take the lead to where we should knock. We knocked on a door she picked where we talked with Jesus and his wife, strong Catholics, but with great big hearts, because they invited us to eat with them. This was Hermana Parry's official first Hispanic meal, and it was Chile con Queso (Big chile with cheese stuffed inside in a red broth/soup) Super delicious, and perfect timing because is was starting to get cold outside. She really liked it, and she didn't seem to mind the Chile. Haha! They sent us with water bottles as we left, and they thanked us for sharing our light with them. They were super sweet, and had a really cute, shy 4 year old. Gosh, the Hispanic kids are the best!

Friday we went to Yakima with the new Sunnyside sisters, who are now in our district, to our Trainer/Trainee meeting at the mission home, and this home... is so beautiful!  I had never seen it until now, and we are so lucky and fortunate to have a beautiful home for the mission.  It resides in Selah, a bit north of Yakima where we drove with a member and spent the afternoon in trainings, and separating into trainers councils and trainee councils. We had a wonderful talk with President Lewis about sharing our vision of our trainees with them, and giving them as much guidance as possible. We sure do love President Lewis and Sister Lewis... Homemade cookies and all!

Saturday our Elders here in Toppenish had a baptism for our ward, so we attended in support of the family, and also Molly and the Ibarra's came!  It was a sight to see this beautiful part member family get baptized.  After that, we went to a surprise birthday party for an elderly woman in our ward.  We walked in expecting party food, but this party... was CLASSY... Holy cow. We had courses - soup, salad, even a sherbet/pallet cleanser... Her son went ALL OUT!  We felt pretty awkward because we can't sit at the same table as the elders, so they sat at a table all alone and we sat at a different empty table..... I'm pretty sure everyone thought we were weird!  We also had a lesson with Burt coming up in the next 20 minutes, so we ended up saying goodbye and heading out, and we busted out laughing when we got in the car. #awkwardsignfordayz  We grabbed some McDonalds and headed out to Sister Johnson's to teach Burt.  Another awesome lesson, talking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Not a baptism date... yet! 

That, I guess isn't necessarily slow, but it's been good. We should be picking up work soon! Have a good week!

A good friend from California sent me this adorable gift, and I seriously
have clothes just like the doll does. THANK YOU ELIZABETH

Fruits in our Labor, Fruits in the fall!

 

Hola mis amigos! Como esta? 

This week has been crazy so let me get straight to it!

On Monday we met our sweet less active girl, Mia and we've been challenging her to read and pray every day. She's got such a sweet spirit, we're hoping to take some of the YW with us to her lessons. 

Tuesday was a LONG day!  We went to Yakima for our Zone Meeting and we had awesome discussions and trainings on becoming "The 4th Missionary," which is a description of becoming completely dedicated, focused, and willing for the work. We were able to get some awesome stuff out of the trainings that we started working on personally this week. We went to our sweet Tia Ana Maria's house for a lesson right after, which went super well! She asked a lot of good questions about the Book Of Mormon. Later that day we visited a less active named Tim, who's been less active ever since he had a motorcycle accident in High School. He's finally starting to show a little bit of interest in coming back! 

Later that night we gave the car to the elders and caught a ride to our dinner in Wapato. On our way there we were talking with the two members who drove us, and one of the sisters just moved down here from British Columbia. She said she was from Kamloops which is were my best friend, Robbie served as his first/second? area on his mission. She loved him to pieces and talks very highly of him!  She rocks!  After they dropped us off, we were welcomed into the members' home, where they unfortunately couldn't feed us, but they gladly gave us some money for dinner and we left... but we were just brought by a member because we didn't have the car. Oh my gosh, we laughed our socks off!  We couldn't stop laughing that we were stuck in Wapato with no car and no ride. Then we missed a call from our Zone Leaders, which you know... typically means business about lessons and investigators.  Well, we called them back and all they wanted to know was the name of some girl scout cookies.... "Um, Elders, We have no idea!" "Oh okay, cool, awesome, no big deal sisters, have a wonderful night!" Yeesh. Funny Elders! 

We found our sister, Courtney could come get us as we started the evening with having a member come tracting with us, which she's been the first one who's wanted to come out with us, also because she's going on a mission! She's going to Boston, Massachusetts Mission, speaking PORTUGESE!  She's gonna do amazing, and she's literally on fire with the spirit!  We had two door step lessons with her, where she was able to bear her testimony about the Gospel in her life. She then took us back to the church where we ended the night with picking up our car from the elders.

Wednesday the elders had a lesson out quite a ways that they couldn't find a ride to, so we figured out getting a ride to where we were going for the day while they took the car. We had 4 appointments set, and 3 fell through, but we had one with Guillermina who is a sweet young Grandma. She LOVES her grand kids!  We later caught our car back in Granger and drove back to the house for a House inspection, in which a couple missionary came to the house and marked inspections of what we need. They said they'll be getting us desks soon!  We are super excited and can't wait to stop studying on the couch and on a table.  We miss desks!

Thursday we did service for a member packing up some living room things for her father-in-law to move. We packed away all of his China dishes, (Mom, you taught me how to pack them well! it worked!) while we also kept her daughter, Shawna busy. Shawna has a speech disability, in which she communicates through sounds. She spits at you when you ignore her too long. She's so cute! She kept throwing newspaper balls at me, that silly girl. She loves playing catch, so we played with newspaper balls for a while. Then we were on our way to dinner, where we stopped by a potential who has a troubled drinking son and husband, and she's been looking for a bit of peace lately. We gave her a pamphlet and testified of God's love for her and her family. 

Friday is when we had a MIRACLE!  Tanna Johnson's parents were always members when she was growing up, unfortunately they were excommunicated and divorced.  Her mother has expressed her desire to be baptized again in the church, and Tanna was asked to feed us one night.  She felt impressed to say yes, but hesitated. As she was out on her farm that same day, the Spirit told her that her neighbor Burt, was ready to take the lessons. She ignored it twice, and the Spirit literally stopped her and told her he's ready.  A few minutes after she was still taking care of stuff on the farm, she said the Spirit told her that her mom was also ready to hear the lessons again.  This lady is so amazing!  She's married to a nonmember, and he's unfortunately not interested in the church at all.  We had a sweet lesson with her Mom Joanne, and Burt their neighbor about the Restoration. She was extremely happy to see that Burt was getting along with us, which was sweet to see that she was eager to see things go well. She also pitched in on the lesson more than we thought she would!  It was super sweet!

Then Saturday we met a recent convert in Wapato who wants to marry her boyfriend, who's also a member but extremely less active.  They are working towards their civil marriage until they can go to the temple together next July!  She actually was baptized by an Elder who I came into the mission with, Elder Johnson, before the mission split. He's currently in the other mission sadly. 

That's all our biggest news this week, people!  We are so happy to see our little fruits growing!  We are extremely happy to have 5 new investigators this week! 

Hasta proxima semana!

Les Queiro!

Slow and Steady we continue...

This week was a bit rocky, but overall we had a blast! Don't be confused if I talk about walking and knocking a lot, we are finding new investigators this week :)

Monday night after P-day we went and found some less actives whose membership papers were in our area book. We had a feeling we should go find them and meet them. Why not, right? Members that were baptized over 5 years ago and they haven't attended since? Of course we are gonna go find them! We met Eloise and Brian who are mother and son, Eloise's husband was working. We recently got a GPS from a member who donated it to our car so we plugged in the address and went a searching! We found Eloise and talked with her a bit. She and her husband and son, Brian were baptized in Hermiston, Oregon, and then moved to Toppenish for work. She is such a sweet lady who doesn't know how to read, but she listens to the Book of Mormon on tape, (YES! Partially active!)  We were extremely happy to meet them and have a return appointment on Friday. Still haven't met her husband, but we will this Friday :)

Tuesday we did service at the food bank again and got a whole bunch of bananas. They are always trying to give us food, not because they can, but because they have extra that will go bad soon, so they gave us some and then gave some to the Scouts, who were finishing service hours with us at the bank. We had some awesome lessons planned, which all ended up falling through, which was so so sad, but in return we did some solid knocking and contacting  of 'formers', which helps us clean out our area book.  We met Ricardo while knocking, who's a solid guy. Super nice and welcoming.  His family wasn't home at the time and he was headed out to Yakima to work, so we took down his name and address, but then he said he wouldn't be able to meet with us for another month because he's working HOPS.... #goshdarnyouharvestseason.  We definitely assured him we would be back in a month at his request. He looks forward to seeing us and getting his family together when we come back. 

Wednesday we had our District meeting and decided we would focus on inviting members every day to come out with us, because we can't find many members to come out with us for lessons or tracting. I also was able to give a training on diligence and how we are responsible to be diligent to our Heavenly father, our companions, but more importantly ourselves... It's so crucial that we are on time, and obedient because it brings miracles!  Exact obedience brings blessings and miracles!  Then we had some less actives we visited, and then had dinner with the Guzman family. They are both converts with 7 kids, and they are partially active where they live currently.  But we were able to talk a lot about the temple and baptism covenants.  Then we had another lesson with Katrina!  This girl though... She has so many questions and seemed to become more confused while we watched the Restoration video.  Luckily we had Brother Ibarra with us during this lesson and we were able to include his testimony and his solutions to her questions.  She's having a hard time accepting that there's a direct correct authority from Heavenly Father.  We will work on that though. There are some missionaries that have been able to teach the Restoration with only the Bible.  Who of my missionary friends knows how to?  Can someone help us out? Email me! :)  Much Appreciated!  We then started our exchanges with our Sister Training Leaders, who are such gems!  I left Toppenish and served in Yakima for the day with Hermana Cain.  She's from Georgia and she's the first missionary of her family and siblings to go.  She's a diamond!  She taught me so much!  The only little down part of exchanges was that they work in a walking area.... Merp.  They have a car for the first half of the week and then they give their car to the elders, who they share it with.  I can now say I have rock hard shins! I really enjoyed taking a break from driving though... I really do love walking! 

The whole next day was full of rides to appointments and walking. I loved working in Yakima that day!  I guess you could say I got a little break from Spanish, because we taught in English all day.  That was because the Sister Training Leaders, who have been called to speak Spanish, are in an English walking area, which sounds silly, but it's as the Lord wants :)  I was able to meet a lot of wonderful English less actives and try to give English lessons... It was so weird to not be speaking Spanish!  We finished out the day with a lesson with some sweet less actives, who drive truck and who are sick once in a while, but they have great faith!  Then Hermana Taua and Johnson drove to us in Yakima and we exchanged back.  They were able to find some awesome potential investigators for us to return and see this week!

Saturday was a lot of knocking as well. We met someone SO SOLID!  Cezar answered the door very shyly but curiously. We talked a little bit about faith and blessings from having Christ in our lives. We invited him to pray with us before we left and he turned out to be VERY hesitant.  He's catholic, so he's only used to the crucifix hand motion thing.  So we taught him how to pray from the Restoration pamphlet and he said a really short, sweet, powerful prayer.  "Dear God, please help my struggling family, please help me find work, Amen".  We told him he did a great job!  We set up a return appointment for Sunday night.  We also received a call from President Lewis... He asked Hermana Taua to sing in a big conference we are having tomorrow with Elder Packer's son, who is a member of the area of 70.  She accepted, and he invited me to join with her as a duet if she'd like.  We said we'd do it!

Sunday was a little hard to pay attention because there weren't that many people at church, a lot of our members are going back to work for harvesting the Hops. #darnyouhops.  Neither of us felt the Spirit much, we didn't know why.  This continued all day and we started to have contention between us without the Spirit.  Before returning to Cezar, who we met the day before, I had to get out of the car and stretch and just try to relax.  I couldn't relax without the Spirit with us then.  The spirit of contention was so harsh we barely spoke outside of lessons and prayers before lessons.  After saying a prayer to bring the Spirit back, the only bad thing was... when we arrived at Cezar's door there was a note... "Somos catolicos aqui".  We are catholics here!  NOOO.... Darn it. We vaguely saw him as we walked away, but he quickly shut the door when he saw we left him a note with our number.  It was really sad to see this in result of not striving enough to have the Spirit with us.  We were able to talk today about what we can do better to keep the Spirit with us as a companionship, and we start our goals TODAY.  

It was a great week, and I wish luck to my friends going back to school and to working at the schools. Have a great week!

A Whole New... Hoppin in Toppenish!

Hey hey everyone! 

This week has been insane!  We had some sweet member present lessons back in East Wenatchee before I left on Wednesday, and let me just say, the land of my mission birth was extremely hard to say goodbye to, as every missionary says.  Holy Cow, I miss it so much!  I will never forget the memories I had in East Wenatchee, and I hope to go back someday.  Who knows, maybe I'll get sent back later during my mission... Just kidding. 

Transfer day was so sad...  I said goodbye to some amazing members before meeting at the transfer site. Then it came time to say goodbye to Hermana Alcocer... I've never had a more difficult goodbye. She greenie-broke me good and hard.  She was amazing.  I can't wait to hear about her adventures as an STL.  She is so wonderful and I can't imagine spending that transfer without her.  I needed her so much, and we grew so much together.

Hermana Taua and I

Transfer day we received bad news of a recent convert in Chelan who passed away.  Hermana Alcocer was so broken, and so was my new companion, Hermana Taua.  Hermana Kennedy and I arrived in Yakima to meet our new companions and we unfortunately had to brake the bad news to Hermana Taua, who helped her get baptized in Chelan.  Kathy was so blessed to be taught by Hermana Taua and Hermana Safesten in Chelan in February. All is well, and All will be well.

Anyway, remember how I covered a HUGE area in East Wenatchee?  Well I've got news... my area in Toppenish is even bigger.  Yahoo!  It's a bit stressful, but also exciting!  There's a lot of Less Actives to round up!  Our branch is pretty small without the less actives, but it surprisingly bigger than the Columbia River Branch I worked with for a short time in Wenatchee.  There are so many amazing members!  When we got to our Farm House (Yes, I just said farm house, because we live in the middle of corn and asparagus fields), Hermana Taua and I grabbed some dinner and then headed out to see the Ibarra family.  Holy Cow, I've never met such amazing members!  I felt so welcome in their home, and they are so missionary oriented.  They help out so much, they feed us every Sunday and bring home made lunch for after church every Sunday for everyone who comes to Daily Dose. 

Planning this week took TOO long.  We have so, so many less actives we need to round up, but Toppenish and our whole area looks very promising for those Hispanic families!  We are so excited to work in this area!  We cover around 6 little towns, that are all about 15 - 20 minutes away from each other.  But luckily with our sweet '14 Corola, we've got it handled. 

Hopper Fields: They grow like a vine, except a lot taller!

We had a chance to visit one of our investigators named Veronica. She's been taught multiple times by the missionaries, and by one of our good missionary friends, who's now home, Elder Hacking. Her two sons were baptized by him, and her daughter just recently turned four years old.  But Veronica hasn't been baptized yet! That's gonna change... :)  We are so excited to get to work here and help Veronica.  Our area has so much potential, and we can't wait to get to work!

Referring to my email title... Yakima Valley is known for the Hopper Fields.. what are those?  Well let's just say it's an important ingredient in beer... Good thing the hopper festivals are over!  I've heard from a lot of other missionaries it STINKS when they harvest it or have the beer and hopper festivals.  Lots and LOTS of asparagus and corn fields, a long with a TON of Hopper fields. It's pretty interesting!

You are all wonderful, Love you all to pieces!