Sister Cheta, she is from Argentina, she always calls me Mom ha ha…she is so sweet, and we have a great time together. I always try to take care of the roommates with food and dinner so that we can spend time together… It’s a lot of fun, and we enjoy our time together.
I have some amazing news from just today, a couple hours ago in fact- we talked to this man…well he just turned 18 yesterday!! And he was asking if there was really a God, and he has the most sincere and sweet heart that I can even describe….over the course of the conversation we shared with him about prayer….about how much Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us, individually, that we are ALL children of a loving Heavenly Father, and that there is a plan for us…so that we can know our eternal purpose as well as here on earth…and it was such a spiritual experience. The situation went from him questioning if there was a God to being able to FEEL the truth and a difference, the prayer that we shared at the beginning of our talk with him, was one of the first prayers that he had been a part of in his life. He said it felt so right, we asked him to pray that night and in the morning to know if the things that we were sharing were true…..we talked to him this morning, and he said HE FELT that it was true, that he wants to know more, that he hungers for the words that we were sharing, it is amazing! We then asked if he continues to have those feelings, if he would be baptized, and he said YES!!! He said, “I don’t even know what baptism completely is, but I know that I want it” so we explained more, and set a date for him to be baptized!! DECEMBER 5th 2009….That is his goal, and we are so excited to get him to that point, at the end of the day – we aren’t doing anything, it is a personal conversion, a personal prayer and readiness that it takes to be able to listen to the words which we speak. At the end of the day it’s their choice, our choice, ONE Persons choice to choose whether they listen or not, we can't force it on no one….we are mere guides on the journey to follow Heavenly Father, and wow, what an experience that has been. We will continue to meet with him over the next 3 weeks and teach more so that we can continue down this path together, it’s amazing!!
We have learned so much this week, we had a CHAT meeting with the mission president and he talked to us regarding all of the things that we need to do in order to become better teachers…..and after that talk, all of us had a new perspective of the “work” which we were doing, it is such a blessing to have a Mission President who wants to be the best in the world, and us to be the BEST Missionaries in the World as well…..I know that he is chosen by God, that he is an inspired man, and it’s wonderful to hear his words.
We have been soo busy, we have high goals to reach, and want to be productive teachers…so we are studying and learning and researching, it’s an amazing thing to be able to be here and learn so much!! I have never felt so right about anything in my life….and its great, because when I have doubts or questions I’ve tried to find out the reason or purpose behind it, and I find answers all the time…it makes more and more sense as I study. Its sooo great!!!!
I feel like time has been so slow, but flying by all at once, it’s a weird feeling…we’ve been working so hard that P-day seems to happen then I blink and here it is again…its always such a short day, we have so much to do and so little time! At the end of this next transfer I’ll have 1 year left…and its gonna fly… : ) I’m at my 3 and a half almost mark…its slow but fast all at once!!
I have some amazing news from just today, a couple hours ago in fact- we talked to this man…well he just turned 18 yesterday!! And he was asking if there was really a God, and he has the most sincere and sweet heart that I can even describe….over the course of the conversation we shared with him about prayer….about how much Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us, individually, that we are ALL children of a loving Heavenly Father, and that there is a plan for us…so that we can know our eternal purpose as well as here on earth…and it was such a spiritual experience. The situation went from him questioning if there was a God to being able to FEEL the truth and a difference, the prayer that we shared at the beginning of our talk with him, was one of the first prayers that he had been a part of in his life. He said it felt so right, we asked him to pray that night and in the morning to know if the things that we were sharing were true…..we talked to him this morning, and he said HE FELT that it was true, that he wants to know more, that he hungers for the words that we were sharing, it is amazing! We then asked if he continues to have those feelings, if he would be baptized, and he said YES!!! He said, “I don’t even know what baptism completely is, but I know that I want it” so we explained more, and set a date for him to be baptized!! DECEMBER 5th 2009….That is his goal, and we are so excited to get him to that point, at the end of the day – we aren’t doing anything, it is a personal conversion, a personal prayer and readiness that it takes to be able to listen to the words which we speak. At the end of the day it’s their choice, our choice, ONE Persons choice to choose whether they listen or not, we can't force it on no one….we are mere guides on the journey to follow Heavenly Father, and wow, what an experience that has been. We will continue to meet with him over the next 3 weeks and teach more so that we can continue down this path together, it’s amazing!!
We have learned so much this week, we had a CHAT meeting with the mission president and he talked to us regarding all of the things that we need to do in order to become better teachers…..and after that talk, all of us had a new perspective of the “work” which we were doing, it is such a blessing to have a Mission President who wants to be the best in the world, and us to be the BEST Missionaries in the World as well…..I know that he is chosen by God, that he is an inspired man, and it’s wonderful to hear his words.
We have been soo busy, we have high goals to reach, and want to be productive teachers…so we are studying and learning and researching, it’s an amazing thing to be able to be here and learn so much!! I have never felt so right about anything in my life….and its great, because when I have doubts or questions I’ve tried to find out the reason or purpose behind it, and I find answers all the time…it makes more and more sense as I study. Its sooo great!!!!
I feel like time has been so slow, but flying by all at once, it’s a weird feeling…we’ve been working so hard that P-day seems to happen then I blink and here it is again…its always such a short day, we have so much to do and so little time! At the end of this next transfer I’ll have 1 year left…and its gonna fly… : ) I’m at my 3 and a half almost mark…its slow but fast all at once!!
So this week has gone by sooooo friggin fast its crazy! We have such little time before transfers again…already 3 months on the mission….so crazy! *And I wouldn’t know how long I’ve been here…except someone asked if I thought it was crazy that we’d been here 3 months…so yeah ..IT IS!!
Our roommates left on Tuesday for Park City..they spend a week up at Family Search up there, so we are all alone in our apartment… great day!! Not really…it is sad, we don’t like it….*were like a little family..so its sad! But they are coming back on Tuesday so that is good news!! Life here is great; the weather has been surprisingly great! Blue skies, and not too cold…but yeah…it’s going to get there soon, I don’t like it!!
We have been studying so much lately..because of all of our investigators and all that! I cracked open the Bible and have been starting from the beginning, along with the Book of Mormon and Pearl of Great price…so I’m LEARNING A TON!!!!! It’s such an awesome feeling to be able to explain this to people…that it’s something I can comprehend and through studying of my own, I am able to help others and help them understand more clearly!! It’s great!!!
Well for winter, I bought boots…..and they are great!! Today hopefully we will make some arts and crafts for fun!! Just little things to put up in our house, or at CHAT so we can remember different sayings or things as we talk to people…its gonna be fun!! We don’t have much time on our p-days and today we got a late start…we were teaching…but we will see if we get to crafts or not!! :D ……
So to tell you about our newest investigator (*someone wanting to learn more about the church……) we actually started talking to him on the CHAT yesterday from Mormon.org…and it was awesome! *Jason we will call him, he came on with all these amazing questions and just so fun to talk to …so we set up a return appointment today…and we decided to call him on the phone, and talk –it was an amazing conversation!!! He has such great questions and insight, its soo much fun to share thoughts and view different opinions…he is meeting with missionaries in his area right now, but has more questions so we are there to help! HE is 30 years old…and looking in to “Mormonism” so it’s awesome that we can be there to chat along with him, it was a great conversation today, being able to share so much with one another *when we talk on the phone, Sister Mondaca and I are at separate computers but on a conference call next to one another, so we are BOTH talking!! It’s such a neat experience…we are going to talk again with Jason again tomorrow…so we will see how it goes, but he has a great spirit, and an open mind so it’s amazing!!!
Our roommates left on Tuesday for Park City..they spend a week up at Family Search up there, so we are all alone in our apartment… great day!! Not really…it is sad, we don’t like it….*were like a little family..so its sad! But they are coming back on Tuesday so that is good news!! Life here is great; the weather has been surprisingly great! Blue skies, and not too cold…but yeah…it’s going to get there soon, I don’t like it!!
We have been studying so much lately..because of all of our investigators and all that! I cracked open the Bible and have been starting from the beginning, along with the Book of Mormon and Pearl of Great price…so I’m LEARNING A TON!!!!! It’s such an awesome feeling to be able to explain this to people…that it’s something I can comprehend and through studying of my own, I am able to help others and help them understand more clearly!! It’s great!!!
Well for winter, I bought boots…..and they are great!! Today hopefully we will make some arts and crafts for fun!! Just little things to put up in our house, or at CHAT so we can remember different sayings or things as we talk to people…its gonna be fun!! We don’t have much time on our p-days and today we got a late start…we were teaching…but we will see if we get to crafts or not!! :D ……
So to tell you about our newest investigator (*someone wanting to learn more about the church……) we actually started talking to him on the CHAT yesterday from Mormon.org…and it was awesome! *Jason we will call him, he came on with all these amazing questions and just so fun to talk to …so we set up a return appointment today…and we decided to call him on the phone, and talk –it was an amazing conversation!!! He has such great questions and insight, its soo much fun to share thoughts and view different opinions…he is meeting with missionaries in his area right now, but has more questions so we are there to help! HE is 30 years old…and looking in to “Mormonism” so it’s awesome that we can be there to chat along with him, it was a great conversation today, being able to share so much with one another *when we talk on the phone, Sister Mondaca and I are at separate computers but on a conference call next to one another, so we are BOTH talking!! It’s such a neat experience…we are going to talk again with Jason again tomorrow…so we will see how it goes, but he has a great spirit, and an open mind so it’s amazing!!!
Things are going great here :D I can’t believe we are already in week three of the transfer….SLOW DOWN!! I hope that sister Mondaca and I are able to be together another transfer…only if it’s what Heavenly Father wants…but it would be great for the Holidays…to cook together and have fun!! We shall see…anywho! Life is busy these days…we are always on the go, and today for P-day we had ZONE CONFERENCE…it was fun, but strange…we wore JEANS! Crazy! It was so strange…to feel “normal” ha ha …we went to heritage park “This is the Place” Monument, and did a huge Service project :D it was a ton of Fun!! This little village is used to reenact pioneer times, a mini village straight from Brigham Young’s time, people volunteer to go around and talk to people and have this “live village” so all the pioneer clothes they use,, have to go somewhere RIGHT? Right….so WE (well a couple companionships) were assigned to the Closet there..it was a ton of fun! We hung up clothes, and were silly with bonnets on our head…but when we were done, it was SPOTLESS!! It was amazing, I wish I had a before and after of the room. Such a fun experience!! We are trying to eat healthy, and as a little roommate family, so I get to cook here and I love doing it! My roommates are amazing and beautiful people…very blessed for this transfer it’s amazing!! Right now..it’s cold…and I am wearing sweat pants and t-shirt under my skirt… ha ah with boots it’s pretty funny!! I’m laughing at least!! What else…well our investigators are doing great, we are busy busy busy! But it’s amazing work..we are always in the back room of the RC ha ah…not a soul knows us anymore…all the time we spend back there! But its sooo fun!! Life is going great…
I love my new companion!! We have been together now for almost 2 weeks…it’s crazy! I wish it would slow down ha ha…we are loving CHAT it’s an amazing experience to talk with people from around the world!! We have one man who was a convert for 1 year, stopped going to church and it’s been 30 years now, but he still remembers how he felt from that long time ago, and he wants to go back to church…so we are helping him do just that! It’s amazing!! Superb!! We spend every waking moment in the CHAT it seems, but that is not a bad thing…we have appointments and people that we teach every day!! Our own investigators!! We can teach to baptism if that is what they want, such a blessing! It’s at mormon.org (check it out!) We have been missing lunch and dinner…because we are always chatting ha ha finding people to teach, helping answer questions, give comfort – such a great thing!!! But don’t worry we look like two moles in a corner….we have all of our stuff strewn about in the cubicles next to each other…complete with our water bottles, packet of insta flavor juice and snacks galore….so we eat!! In fact I’m eating red vines, and Pumpkin bread at the moment….trail mix from Costco, the kind with M&M’s in it is great as well…also pre cut mango from Costco to snack on….we try to eat healthy!! Haha… I feel like I should just live at the Square….today we had a meeting at 7am….we went home at 9pm last night…it was dark outside *pitch black…both times, so I’m thinking to myself..”I just went to bed, why am I walking down the hill again?” …ha ha its great work and I’m sleeping like a baby lately!! Over all life is good here!
The other morning we woke up to find strange men working on the windows…they were painting the window sills…and we were like, ummm..hey there is a man in the window..that's weird…and then as they painted they had to lift all the windows 2 inches…it was frigid in the apartment for the last two nights ha ha!! So great! Life is going good though here, it’s a lot of fun… Right now I’m pooped…and need to get home for laundry!
The other morning we woke up to find strange men working on the windows…they were painting the window sills…and we were like, ummm..hey there is a man in the window..that's weird…and then as they painted they had to lift all the windows 2 inches…it was frigid in the apartment for the last two nights ha ha!! So great! Life is going good though here, it’s a lot of fun… Right now I’m pooped…and need to get home for laundry!
Sister Enkhbold -my friend from Mongolia...she is learning English, and is soo much fun!!
Sister Doggett and I- at transfer conference last transfer :D
A taste of Transfer conference..all the sisters leaving!
Sister Baylis and I - I met her with Jennifer last conference...and she is from Russia, and then a citizen of Israel now! COOL!
Sister Storer (Left) and Sister Packer (Right) Sister Packer just left for her outbound..Montana!!
Sister Cummins -in my class :D, Sister Slight (outbound now...Florida!!) and ME!! on transfer night :<
My artistic ability...I had time on my hands last transfer :D
Sister Aslam from Pakistan :D so funny!! LOVE HER!
Me sleeping on a bench...what else?!
Me in a giant pile of stuff...ha ha
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The view from my bed!! Amazing
Sister Garcia and Sister Pena singing ..and Sister Kai in the background...being a goof ball...being "inspired" by their singing ha ha
Sister Mcclellan Sister Fluckiger and I ...getting ready to go home! Back to the Square :D
Sister Doggett and I...so fun!! MTC roomie!
Weird pic. I know...I'm sitting on a mini rocking chair ha ha
CHAT district!! WOOOO HOOO In front of "This is the Place" house...thing...one of them :D with President and Sister Holmes..also Sister Kai on bottom left *She is one of the Assistants..so great!!
A train they take tours on...and its our time to get on the train, and mosey home!
The other cooler version of me in a cape ha ah
We have a cemetery in our back yard..no joke!!!
Over 55 people are buried here...the Prophet and his family
Sister Mondaca and I behind a tree...on the way home to nap!
Sister Mondaca and I behind a tree again....still having fun!!
Sister Mondaca, the temple and the SKY IS PINK!! SO PRETTY!!! These are from today.....back from the service project and stuff, they are recent ...before that, its from the beginning of the transfer! Hope you can see all of them...let Cheri know as well of the photos!!
If you are going to be in the area and would like to see me you can schedule a tour with mission services @ 801-240-1706. Other wise you may have to just ask around. If you want to send me something and don't know what- gift cards are the best way to go- (missionary funds aren't that big.) Walmart and then just those visa gift cards would be super. (not needed but a suggestion)
On the way to the South Visitor Center there were 3 ladies looking a bit lost so we stopped to talk with them, they were asking about the Tabernacle and if the could go in, we said "yes of course and we can take you in," so we did! They were preparing for The Nashville Tribute Band to come in that night playing with lighting and sound. (If you get the chance please look up the song "Tribute to Joseph Smith" by Nashville Tribute.) I had a chance to talk to there 3 women to find out their story. One woman- who was asking about the Tabernacle- she is a member of the church and she had met these two other ladies while camping @ Zion's they were tent neighbors. They started talking and found out that these two ladies were from Switzerland and the member lady (Terry, for stories sake) she had many family member from there and had even traveled there with her husband, They made quick friends and so Terry invited them to come to Temple Square when they got up to Salt Lake, they all agreed. So the two ladies, Elizabeth and Evelyn were from Switzerland, Elizabeth spoke a mix between English and French. Evelyn Spoke only French. We walked into the Tabernacle and I shared only a little history of the building as simple as I could put, having a couple times to try and explain differently but here was the amazing part, after I told Elizabeth about the Pioneers and how hard they worked on traveling 1300 miles carrying very little with them even losing their family members. She says this, "I can feel something different when I came here, it gives me...."(she shakes her body)-I say "chills"- "yes" she says, there is something you can feel in your heart, amazing that they worked so hard." *at the point in my head I'm so overjoyed to hear her say aloud what so many people feel when they come to Temple Square but do not realize right away or at least vocalize like she did! So great, then we continued to chat, at this point waiting for a French tour to come so Evelyn could understand...but she (Elizabeth) asked about the Organ -11,623 pipes 122 original carried from Australia, hard work put into everything all because of the Book of Mormon explained that Book of Mormon goes with the Bible to testify of Jesus Christ and that's why the pioneers traveled so far and sacrificed so much. Because the really believed! She stopped looked at me and said, "your..(motioning for something of feeling, a word to describe what she felt) I said, "like my testimony." She said "yes" and again searching for another word to complete her thought. She pulled out here English/French Dictionary after a few moments of thumbing the pages she says with excitement "STRONG!" Your Testimony is strong, I can tell you believe these things in your heart and in your head equally. Both are important, a balance." Wow that just floored me, to see this woman seeing and expressing just how I felt was crazy! The other Sisters came for the French tour, but that was a wonderful experience indeed! Made me smile. Moments like those make the hard times worth it!
