Week 24

Hello!! Wow well first it just want to start by inviting EVERYONE to please go and check out this link.
christmas.mormon.org

seriously, this video, "He is the Gift" is such a wonderful reminder of what the true meaning of Christmas is. We have this beautiful cards with the picture of mary holding baby jesus and we are encouraged to use them in every contact. Its so interesting to see how everyone is just a little bit nicer once they see that the card has a christmas message. The the change in a jolly spirit is quite evident over here in Jersey thats for sure hahah but yeah anyway, we gave this guy a card and he was like, "FINALLY someone talks about the real meaning of christmas. Its' JESUS'S birthday, not everyone else's" hahah I thought that was so funny and so true! I just absolutely love this season and love being able to share these glad tidings of great joy, thats our Savior came, showed us the way, suffered, died and resurrected just so that we can make it make to our heavenly father.

Second of all... SHOUT OUT to my mother who sent me david archulta christmas cd, wow its just makes me so happy! and makes me a little more okay with this freezing weather.

so this week has been really good. I just love my companion. when she speaks, its not something thats easy because spanish is still all so new, but its so clear when she is speaking by the spirit, because she speaks with ease and its so powerful. Here's an example. so we were with Angel. And we were talking about how he needs to ask god if the book of mormon is true and really ask with a real intent so that he could receive and answer. So we all knelt down together, in this dinky freezing staircase and he prayed so sincerely. After he prayed, he stayed there for 5 minutes after with his eyes closed. It took EVERYTHING in me not to get off my knees because i had lost feeling in my feet by that time. So finally he looked up and said, "I feel really calm, but it want a bigger answer" My comp looked up at him and said that she had never truly recieved a "big" answer from heavenly father. but she has just always known the book of mormon was true, thats part of faith! and then she said that everytime she testifies, she feels in her heart that the book really is true. I just testifed of what she said is true and you could tell his whole attitude changed. CAUSE LIKE CMON. lets be real for a second. we were sent here on earth to walk and act by faith. That means doing and obey without always understanding why. or like Alma 32 says, "faith is not a perfect knowledge!" Sometimes we want to wait until we have evidence and then act, but then we aren't even exercising faith! we talked alot about that and then he said that he wanted to prepare himself to be baptized the 14th of december. We were so happy. We were fasting that day that he would have that desire.

Also, we had a christmas fireside last night and its was all the spanish missionaries that put it on and i got to see so many people from my last area. AHHH i just love them. it was the best. also, I was maria in the nativity HOLLAA. well one of them, there was like 3 of us. Can i just say hispanics are so funny. when they say that someone gives birth, they say "ella dio luz" which means she gave light hahaha how awkward am i right? 

If i have learned ANYTHING, its that my Heavenly Father is so aware of me. I am so insignificant, yet he really does care. He also wants me to learn a lot apparently because this work hasn't been something real easy over here in Jersey. But Ive never been happier and there are miracles every day :)

Last district meeting of the transfer! just a few of us... self timer fail. 

Newark ward members came up big for me with the Maria costume hahah :) 

some princeton members!! 

all of zone 5 at the Traditions with the Taggarts. Sister philbrick and i are the only 2 sistahs in the bro zone.

Week 23

Okay so basically this week was such an emotional roller coaster I dont even know where to begin.

well first off, Thanksgiving was so great! It started with some turkey bowl with a few of nearby zones and the taggarts and APs come to play with us! (fun fact... one of the APs went on a date with my cousin Gina hahaha) OH and we had 3 dinner appts. I literally prayed before the second dinner that we would be able to eat more food. Because hipanics do this thing where you dont serve yourself. They take your plate, and give you everything. So you are eat SO much. Seriously, I was still full the day after thanksgiving. But I love how awesome the members are for letting us come over and spend the holidays with them :) 

Okay so ... THERE WAS SNOWFALL. The first day is always exciting. But walking around all day in it is less exciting. After a full day of walking in the snow, my hip was really bothering me. Like it always bothers me but more than usually. The next day it was just worse. When it gets colder outside, theres more pain. So I got really nervous. All these thoughts were coming into my head like, "but this isnt even anything yet, its gonna get so much colder, what if they send me home? what if i need surgery?" Just everything. So I asked my district leader if he could give me a blessing of health. So  he gave me a blessing and I felt so calm. In the blessing, he said over and over how the Lord is perfectly aware of what I am feeling and the pain that I have. All I have to do is learn to rely on the Atonement and everything will be okay and he will send angels on my right and on my left to bear me up. What a great blessing that was. Sometimes we forget how powerful the Atonement really is. That we can call upon the savior to bear us up and he will! I have such a testimony of the reality of the atonement. that our Savior truly did suffer for all of us, even me. All I can do is put everything I have into His work. When I feel like I cant walk another block, I just close my eyes and pray for strength and I can literally feel myself being strengthened. I feel so much better after the blessing! Im walking with ease now! The priesthood is such a wonderful blessing. 

Marisol was all set for baptism. the program was ready to go, the interview had been passed and we were in constant communication with her everyday! we saw here like almost everyday this week and all was ready to go. On friday, she was so excited and when we left, a friend came over who heard she was getting baptized and showed her a lot of antimormon videos to watch which told her many terrible false things about joseph smith and the book of mormon. We went back and I immediately felt sick. Like the spirit just wasnt in her home. the first thing she said was "no me voy a bautizar manana" and I was just like what happened? She told us about the antimormon stuff. before we said anything we offered a prayer to invite the spirit and I felt so much better. but i was heart broken. She just kept going on and on about what this video told her and about how we dont really know the true story of joseph smith. we talked about the restoration and about how Christ is the head of the church. We were asking her questions to try to get to her tell us how the holy ghost had manifested unto her, because she knows the book of mormon is true, she knows the priesthood is real because she has been healed by the blessings of health. She KNOWS THIS THINGS. but she would not even answer questions. she wouldnt say anything. She looked at me like I was silly when I said christ is the head of this church. I then said the I know he is the head of this church because, by power and authority I am his representative I testified that as members of his church, when we see his face one day, we will know him and he will say, "come, enter into the joy of the lord". I felt the spirit so strongly manifesting unto me that what I said was true. she began to cry as well. 

I know the Lord wants me to learn a lot of things out here, but the greatest thing I have learned is how involved he is in our lives. How much he loves us and how badly he just wants us to come unto him. I know that because as his representative, Ive felt the sorrow that comes when people dont do his will. 

So yeah rough week, but spiritually enriching week as well so you cant complain right? I hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving and I love you all!

This is on kearny ave. notice that no one is outside because freezing hahah love you!

This is right outside our chapel.

Week 22

Hello all!

This week has been so awesome! a roller coaster per usual. but still great. Well to start off... ALFREDO GOT BAPTIZED!!!! :) Seriously. I cannot even tell you how happy I felt even though I wasnt physically there. I called him on saturday night to tell him how happy I was and before I even said who I was he said, "a la gran hermana california bontia mortensen! Te extrano un monton!" we continued to say that the starts to come out to shine at night and that the sun is sad and doesnt shine and all is dark since i left hahaha it was so great. He was really so excited to be baptized. He made me promise that I will be there when he goes through the temple since I couldnt be at his baptism and so i said okay and then he said okay perfect I will be going through the guatmalan temple... yikes. I gotta start saving up I guess hahaha. I dont have pics of the baptism yet but hermana detrinidad is going to email me some soon.

So, our baptism here in Newark with Marisol got postponed until next sundaybecause your health is still pretty bad. But she still came to church! :) She passed her interview and everything is ready to go for next week :) The members here are so amazing with the investigadores. We have had a baptism here every week since ive been here and seriously the ward comes out and supports so strong for these baptisms. like im not kidding. comida for days. Also here in the ward, the fourth sunday is all about missionary work. so the missionaries are to address the ward. and do a musical number and what not. So being the newbies here in the ward, sister philbrick and I gave a talk. Sister philbrick went up first and oh my word is was so amazing. I sat there just smiling so big. It is amazing to see her progress. She and I are so different but it just works! and I know we got put together so I can learn from her. She got up and start saying that she has always wanted to serve a missionary and know that she is finally here, she is really to give her whole heart to the Lord. I just teared up as soon as she said that! Shes truly so awesome. She gave her talk and then two elders sang and then it was my turn. The counseler to the bishop said that I would need to take what ever time was left over and finish up the meeting. So I got up there, look at the clock and and saw that there was about 17 minutes that I would need to fill. and I had up there was my pmg, and my scriptures and I felt so calm! I got up there, start talked, and it all just flowed out! I talked about the difference between a testimony and conversion. I shared about my own background and my own conversion story. I then talked about Alma the younger and the sons of mosiah and how they were the vilest of sinners. but when they decided to change, and truly had become converted by the power of the angel they saw and through the remission of their sins, there desire was to go out and share the gospel! So if we, as members, really are converted, that means that we too should be trembling at the thought of people we love not having a knowledge of the gospel.

We had a former investigador that we just picked up this week at church and after all three hours (first time at church for the whole time) and seeing his first baptism, he came up to us and asked, what do i have to do to get baptized? The same thing happened with this less active mother we have been working with a lot. during gospel principles, she leaned over and asked me, "what do i have to do to make more covenants in the temple. I want it." THIS is the power of the spirit. it becomes less of us pushing people to do these things or trying to convince them of what they need, and turns into a desire that they truly want for themselves.

okay one more story. so there is this less active family that as REALLY been through it this past year. The husband and two of the three sons were put to jail about a year ago because the oldest son was doing illegal things with his business and the father and other son got put to jail unjustly. When the husband got released because they realized he was without fault, he got super super sick. and now he has to get blood transfusions every other day. He is really dizzy all the time because of his medication and doesnt want to sit in a wheelchair or use a cane because it shows weakness. and he has to eat every 3 hours and they dont have a car so its hard to find a ride to church. those were his reasons for why he hasnt been coming to church. He has kinda of given up and is just waiting to die, since people on the blood donor list have been there for at least like 10 years and they cant find a match for him. his wife on the other hand goes every sunday and is taking the temple prep classes. During the lesson we were having with him, I felt really prompted to promise him that if he stopped excusing himself from the commandments of god and did all he could to prepare himself to go to the temple, Heavenly father would bless him so that the doctors would find a donor for him so that he could live to be sealed to his wife. I felt the spirit so strong. I know everyone in that room did too. He committed to come to church and for the first time in a long time, he came to church. I have such a testimony that the Lord is with me, working right along side me. I know it and its the best feeling ever! I love this gospel and this time i have to be a missionary. asi en serio

member who seriously LOVES dad and remembers him from when he served in peurto rico. she says that everything i do reminds her of him hahaha this was at the thanksgiving party we had. it was crazy! these ecuadorians got all decked out and danced. seriously. sometime i forget im still in the US and i love all the different cultures!

okay so its like little peru over here and the peruvians drink inca kola like its water. the first time i had it i thought it was gross but now i love it. so anywho, it was a walking day and a member gave a this gaint think of inca kola just in case we got hungry hahah classic. 

Week 21

THIS WEEK WENT BY SO FAST. seriously. This whole mission needs to slow down. a ton. I cannot believe its already the middle of November! There are Christmas lights everywhere and its just all going way too fast. Also, major blessing is that I think I am adjusting to the cold relatively fast. Everyone is hoping that snow will come soon because its so stinking cold without snow. So hopefully it comes. My companion and I just have to snuggle up and laugh at our ridiculously red noses and our patheticness when we try to write with numb fingers hahah but oh my word shout out to my mom who sent hand warmers. it changed my whole life. We had a recent convert team up with us one night and he was freezing cold and I handed him a hand warmer and he looked at me like I had just picked off a fruit from the tree of life and gave it too him hahahah he kept saying, "de verdad, este cosa es un milagro"

soo good news!!! we are going to have a baptism!! There was this women who was a church our first week there and he had been dropped because she had a bad experience with the elders and was not progressing for months now. she called us over and said with tears in her eyes that she knew from the second that she saw our faces that god sent us there to teach her. so CLEARLY we set up an apt with her. She has a ton of health problems and unfortunately she just went into the hospital this morning so right after this we are going to go visit her. But our first lesson with her, we just straight up asked her why in the world she hasn't been baptized yet! She replied that she loves the church and members and she knows she needs to be baptized one day but shes just not there yet and a ton of reason why she couldn't do it. So we asked her why she thinks she needs to be baptized. She replied that it was to become a member of our church. I grabbed her hand and told her that baptism is for so much more than just that. That we are baptized to be able to enter into the reino celestial and live in the presence of heavenly father for eternity. there is no other way! The spirit came in so strong that tears came to all of our eyes! We knew it was true. after a pause I asked her, "okay Hermana, que va a a hacer?" or "okay, what are you going to do" and she quickly replied, well I will prepare myself for next Sunday to be baptized. how remarkable! That the spirit can change us in just seconds if we let it.

This week was seriously so amazing. We have hardly no other progressing investigadores and our zone set a competition for who will get the most contacts this month. oh my word did it light a fire in us. especially since we are the only sisters. so theres like 9 companions ships and we are in 3rd place so stay tuned folks. Its has been AMAZING so see how easy it is to contact. there are always opprotunities (well its getting harder cause no one wants to be outside) but its been amazing to see how many people the Lord puts in our path. We have so many potentials and new investagadores from it. but yeah so we are making a goal for about 20 contacts daily. at the end of the day, my voice is almost gone from talking so much but I just love it!

Oh and this week we went to Ellis Island!! so amazing and interesting. we volunteered in the family history section where people went on computers to find their ancestors that came into Ellis Island from other European countries. You could totally feel the Spirit of Elijah when people would say, "I found her!! I found my great grandma!" We to take a tour too and learn about the voyage and how Ellis Island operated and wow it was horrible. It made me so grateful to my ancestors who left their countries so that I could be born here and enjoy all the blessing of a free country.

Oh one more thing. We had the Primary program in church this week and how my word the spirit was SO strong. I couldn't keep myself from crying when the kids starting singing, "Yo Trato a Ser como Cristo" It made me miss my family a ton! especially my primary aged brothers. Also, "Las familias pueda ser eternas" got me good. #emotional hahah I love this work and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

pics from ellis island. HOW CUTE IS MY HIJA?? I just love my companion. The Lord has blessed me with the sweetest best comps.

Week 20

wow I cannot believe its already been a week! I feel like I say this every week hahah but yeah its going great over here in Kearny!! Its interesting how getting juked in a walking area is like way different than when your in a driving area. because when you walk ALL the way over somewhere and you just wanna sit down and teach someone but then they are home and its just like way more heart breaking than getting back in a car and driving to your next apt hahah but asi es la vida.

We have had some pretty remarkable experiences this week. So we have this investigador named Estuardo. I think I talked about him a little last week. He is albino.... its that so cool?? He didn't tell us that but I did a project on albinism in like my junior year and so im certain he is albino. its crazy because he has super blonde hair and light skin and light eyes but he doesn't know a word of English. ANYWHO, we texted him between our appts to remind him to read the intro to the book of Mormon and he said that he only read a little and that he would need us to explain it. okay and just background on estuardo. hes super sassy. and kinda a punk. but I don't let him have it don't even worry. so we thought, oh gosh, maybe he doesn't know how to read and hes just too embarrassed to say anything or maybe he doesn't even want to read it at all. and then we go to ask him about his reading. and he looks at me and explains the first like 6 chapters of nefi PERFECTLY I KID YOU NOT. and then he smugly said, yeah I like to read. I just wanted to worry you guys. but like come on that's so great that he read! so we asked him what he thought about the book and he said that he thinks the book is definitely from god but he doesn't want to get baptized again (because he was already baptized catholic) because he doesn't want baptism to be like a broma or something that he takes lightly. So we are meeting with him soon and hopefully as we explain baptism, he will have a date for baptism!!

Also, this ward that I am serving in is AMAZING. so many solid people. literally, ward council was full. EVERYONE was present. and they give so much time to the missionaries and delegate people to hermanar our investigadores. its truly amazing to watch and be apart of the behind the scenes. Its truly amazing to how the lord magnifies our efforts everyday. I am 19 years old people, have lived a pretty easy and sheltered life and people call us and to come help them and honestly I have NO IDEA what to say to them or how I can help them, but the lord helps me know what to say and what they need. For example, we had a less active call us that we have been trying to get a hold of. She said that this has been a terrible day and nothing is going right and she needs us to come over now. So we went over and her electricity got shut off and she was crying because she didn't have the money to pay the rent and was scared they would be homeless and that day she had seen a little 11 year old girl get hit and killed by a car and as we were with her, he husband called to tell her that he just had gotten in a car accident. Like WHO IN THE WORLD AM I TO SAY ANTYHING?? that is like the worlds worst day. and she didn't know what to do so she called us. All I could think to do was put my arm around her as she cried and scratch her back and I don't quite remember what we talked about or what scriptures we used, but the spirit was so strong. she came back to church this sunday with her daughter. and shes called us everyday since. I just love her and I know that the love I have for her is just a fraction of the saviors for her. What a blessing for me!!

Keep the prayers coming! I need them more than ever. Espicially when its cold and I forget my umbrella :)

week 19

First of all, I recieved the cutest notes from the girls in the Young Womens in the Irvine Stake and my leaders and it just made me love and miss my second family over there like no other!! Definitely a great start to my week :)

Hello hello from... KEARNY NEW JERSEY!! I feel like i am in a completely different mission. so crazy. SUPER city. like super super city. oh and also, fun fact... its a walking area!! just in time for the snow... yay... i love it... its refreshing to be in the nice little briskness right? (working on positive thoughts) hahah no but really its such a blessing in a way because when it snows, we will still be able to go out and go to work!! instead of being stuck in our apartment with nothing to do. Speaking up apartment, we live on the 7th floor like right next to a big street so still getting used to loud cars at all hours of the night. AND you can see New York from our apartment! We are serving in the Newark zone and the only sisters in this zone!! because newark is kinda super sketchy but our area here in Kearny seems pretty mellow. Its really interesting because almost everyone in this area is from Peru or Ecuador which is so different from my last area where everyone was from Guatamala. I love learning about all these different cultures.

OKAY ABOUT MI HIJA. Shes is so sweet!! I just love her so much. Her name is Sister Philbrick. She is from Utah and the oldest of six like me!! When they announced us and put us together she said, "The only thing I told president I wanted was someone who was a hard worker, and I just now that we are going to go to work. Ive been praying and praying for you!!" I was just like... oh my, could I have gotten a better trainee?? Shes very new with spanish and I can see a lot of how I was in her. She just wants to be fluent and perfect now! but it will come with time.

Its definitely different for me being the trainer here because my two other companions that I had before were like born and raised speaking spanish and always knew more than me, but now that I have an American new comp, Im the one that knows more!! I have seen the Lord helping me in ways like never before. Not once has there been an instance when I didn't understand a phone call or something during a lesson. MIRACLE. and speaking of miracles... we have seen SO many. Particularly last night. we had a few people cancel on us last night and it was very cold and windy. Like your eyes are tearing up windy. So obviously no one was outside! So I felt really strongly that we just needed to stop and pray. We needed to promise the Lord that we would knock every door and this giant street if he would just give us a new investagador. Sometimes I feel very helpless because I am the trainer here and I don't even know what to do sometimes because I dont know the area. But when this thought came to my mind as we prayed, I knew it didnt come from me. So we went to work knocking doors. Well as we were walking up the street, we went to walk up some stairs to knock the next door and there was a women all huddled up sitting out sit smoking. poor Sister philbrick almost screamed because she nearly stepped on her hahaha. so we began talking with her and explaining to her who we were. we got to know her and turns out she has an 8 year old son who is her motivation for everything. We began talking about how families can be eternal but it only depends on if we do our part here in the earth. She gave a day to meet with her again before we even asked!! and then we left her with a prayer. There was our new investagador.

I was reading in Jacob chapter 7. this is where the multitude is like all becomes converted because the Antichrist, Sherem takes back everything he said about there being no Christ and they all fall to the ground. in v 22 Jacob says that he had requested this of the Lord, and the Lord has heard and answered his prayers. Tears came to my eyes as I read that!! Because I, like Jacob, know that the Lord hears and answers my prayers.

I have never been more emotionally, physically or mentally tired in my whole life, but nothing is better than crawling into my warm bed aboslutely exhausted knowing I worked hard with the Lord. 

sister detrinidad's and my pumpkin that one the contest (yes sticks for teeth because we lack in carving skills)

Hermana Philbrick!!

Hermana Stone!! she came in with the new missionaries and shes a friend from BYU!
She is also from Katy, Texas and Dad met her before she left to go to NJ

New York from my apartment :)

Week 18

okay so turns out that im getting TRANSFERRED!! Leaving this area is going to be so sad espicially because its my first! I had I feeling I was leaving so I may or may not have teared up saying good bye to the ward members and investigadores. Seriously its amazing how easy it is to love these people. 

On thursday, we went about our day as normal and we went home, did nightly planning, prayed to close and then we opened our eyes and we had a missed call from president taggart.... when the mission president calls you your heart just kinda drops a little bit. So then after fighting about who was gonna call him back (hna detrinidad won because she pulled the foreigner card and how she cant speak english when she gets nervous) I called him back and he extended the call for me to be a TRAINER! and so I accepted and my comp was all like, "I TOLD YOU I TOLD YOU" and then he asked if he could speak with my comp and I asked her to be a trainer too hahahaha after we hung up we just started at each other for a long time. and then we started crying a little bit feeling really sad that we weren't going to be companions for another transfer. 

The next day we had a training meeting at the mission home and wow the feelings of inadequacy were so real. President said that the trainer he had in his mission is the reason why he stayed on his mission and the reason he is the mission President he is today. I thought about it and the influence a trainer has on the trainee is HUGE! I learned SO MUCH from Sister Boudesocque and in my mind I still ask myself, "what would sister boudesocque do?" It is pretty nerve wracking thinking about how I will train in an area I don't even know and possibly with someone who knows less spanish than me but every time I start thinking about those things, the spirit quickly reminds me that its time to start living what ive been teaching and confiar en el senor con TODO mi corazon. It's amazing how much I already love my little hija and i cannot wait to meet hertomorrow!! 

Okay so this week was so awesome!! Finished off the last week of this transfer strong. So my least favorite thing in the whole world in missionary work is to knock doors. And one day one of our appts juked us and we didn't have enough miles to go and drive away to try someone else. So we just got down to work knocking on doors in this apartment complex. We were knocking for a while without much success and finally someone answered! She was Mexican and had darling cute little kids. We told her who we were and she said, "When can you come back!! I need your message in my life!" so that was really exciting. We have met with her two times since then this week and she is someone who is just so prepared. She told us that a few years before, when she wasn't married and didn't have children, a friend gave her a book of mormon and she hadn't ever even opened it and now she said that after she read the intro, she couldn't put it down! we talked about how we have the book of mormon and when we talked about jose smith she said she had the chills and knew that it was the spirit testifying to her that it was true. Its people that this that make knocking doors worth it!

Also one of our investagadores salvador came to church! He is so funny and I just love him. Also mexican. when we invited him to be baptized his eyes got all watery and he started laughing and said that it was like god himself extended the invitation. anways, he came to church and he wore his best suit and had is bible and book of mormon in hand! There is no happier feeling than seeing your investagadores at church. 

I just have such a testimony that we cannot do anything without the spirit. those are two people who have felt the spirit so strong during lessons that they are acting and desiring to learn. If i don't teach by the spirit, I cant do anything! I cant train, I cant speak spanish well, and cant find people to teach. I am grateful to be a part of this work. Pray for me and my hija!! 

Week 17

oh my word. so i am already freezing cold. this morning was 45 degrees and i couldn't believe it because i was certain it was like 15 degrees. It seriously is so humid that you can feel the coldness in your bones. And everyone keeps saying this weather is NICE. sorry everyone but this colder than december in california! So this week was really good! We really saw miracle after miracle. Ive been in this area for almost 4 months now and we finally found this less active lady that we have never seen before! she was outside cleaning her car and i just love my companion because before we even say anything hermana detrinidad goes up and gives her the biggest hug and they are just talking about this mexican singer that shes listening too and im just like um.... should we ask what her name is first? because at first i had no idea who she was! after talking for a little bit outside she invited us to come in. We had a really great lesson with her and she totally opened up to us and started crying. That is something that I love about my companion. it doesn't matter who it is, she just loves them. its funny because im not a very like touchy walk up to strangers and hug them person but i am certainly becoming one hahahah that happened with two other less actives that we have been trying to get a hold of this week as well!! (we have a TON of less active). I remember before the mission thinking that I would feel accomplished by the number of people i baptize. but the fact is that right here in this area, that it not what is needed. This area that i am serving in use to be a ward but for the past seven years has been brought down to a branch. We are really trying to zero in our efforts on our less actives and inviting them to come back and we are definitely seeing a difference. 

Okay so Alfredo update. We had a good lesson with him and our ward mission leader hermano pinto was with us and alfredo ended up telling us that in order to come to church on sundays, he has to get sundays off and find someone to cover him. and so he still hasn't found someone but he is sure there are many people that would be willing. he then said that he wouldn't be able to come to church next sunday but the following sunday he can and thats his baptism. so yeah we will see what happens. he honestly could have been baptized over a month ago but esta bien also during that lesson Ricardo (his son who served a mission and would always come out with us as a team up during the summer) came home during the lesson from like maryland or something and told us that he wasn't going to church anymore because he was working. I couldn't believe it! Thats the biggest trial for me as a missionary. Just about everything is out of my control. And people like alfredo are very passive. and I am the opposite of that. Imagine how our heavenly father feels!! He has power to do anything he wants to. and yet he lets us make our own silly decisions and learn for ourselves what is right. the only thing i can control is whether or not i follow the spirit. I truly do feel like I am learning to recognize it more and more everyday. Hermano Pinto told us after the lesson that it was a blessing for him to see the spirit working through us and he felting stronger during that lesson than ever before. I think that was exactly what i needed to hear because honestly after that lesson i just wanted to cry a little thinking about how we were probably going to have to move alfredo's date again and how i didn't know what else to do and how ricardo, who was suppose to baptize alfredo isn't even going to church! But when hermano pinto said that, I felt so calm. Like I am doing everything i can do. And that's all I need to worry about. Because as long as I do everything I can do, the Lord does the rest. So this is probably all over the place but yeah. Thats all I can think of for this week! Love you all! 

background story on the pic. okay so we were in trenton this morning with a less active and this big eyes are on this old empty building so we were like oh thats cool lets take a pic... then we went to cvs and to flu shots right by and this guy was like, "oh hey those are the girls that were taking pictures with the eyes of trenton" yup. we're awesome. so embarrassing. 

Week 16

Oh my goodness hello hello! I'm trying to think of anything noteworthy to share hahaha oh my goodness well first of all I'm all mind blown right now after looking at pictures of sister boudesocque with my family!! That was so fun to see! So so cool. Okay so this week was super busy. just doing a lot of missionary work. its funny because literally everyone will ask, "so what have you been up to?" the worst question hahaha oh you know just going about the lord's work. and honestly depending on the hour that could be anything. but anywho, on saturday we had an exchange and for the FOURTH TIME IN A ROW, i stayed in the area with an English comp. I want to shake my district leader because i was just like oh my word AGAIN? give me a break! (classic prideful Mallory) I even asked him, Elder Pacheco! Are you sure you want me to stay in the area again? he told me he would pray again and let me know. that night he called me and was like, yup i think you need to stay still... sorry! so i was like alrighty then. so Friday was really tough. Probably one of the hardest days on the mission. I don't know why but it was just really hard, i was feeling down on Spanish, and sometimes when you have a Latin comp, you can feel pretty invisible because if I'm not like 110% energetic mode, i feel like i lose the interest of other Hispanics sometimes. So yeah anyway, Friday was not fun. So we exchanged that night and i planned for the next day and went to bed and that was that! so we went about our day and I'm not kidding you... miracle after miracle happened. we did a service that morning and then I felt like we should go try this old investigador family that we have and what do you know... THEY WERE ACTUALLY HOME! we went over at like 10:30and they had us come in and fed us rice and beans and chicken for breakfast... yum... felt kinda sick the rest of the day hahah and we had a really nice lesson with them! and later on that day I felt like we should go by a less actives home and HER HUSBAND WAS THERE WHICH IS SO HUGE HE IS NEVER HOME. and so we sat down with him and we just invited him to come back and on my word the spirit was so strong you could have cut it with a knife. and the wife started crying say that the spirit brought us here and just crying and crying. After we left, my sister training leader said, "i have NO idea what just happened, but the spirit was SO STRONG. tell me everything" and that was such a testimony builder to me, like the spirit it a presence. we don't have to understand or know what is going on exactly, but when its there, you can really truly feel it. Then after we met with Alfredo and he had gotten in a car accident earlier that day! It wasn't his fault thought some lady just side swiped him. it really shook him up and gave him a super reality check about how like we don't have time to procrastinate the day of our repentance. We recommitted him to a baptismal date for the 27th because he couldn't come to stake conference. but yeah so i am super hoping that everything works out for him! I brought a picture of a temple to the lesson and we talked a lot about eternal families and how that is only possible by the covenants we make in the temple and he was getting really excited about baptism and all that and he was was just like, "will you come when i go to the temple??" I was just like YES ALFREDO BUT GET BAPTIZED FIRST! I just love that little Guatemalan guy. anyways. we are in super finding mode because we have dropped almost all of our investigadors. Sister Detrinidad is too pretty and funny. we have more creepers than investagadores. but yeah that's it for today! Love you all!

americanizing the niceraguaenca 

one of my favorite members hermana acevedo and the daughter of a less active that always lets us in hahaha 

Week 15

So how great was this weekend?? Seriously General Conference this week felt like Christmas! It was so remarkable to see the conference center all full and to see the prophet speaking to us. It was also so bizarre to think that I was there just a year ago! It was during conference last year that I made the decision to serve a mission! What I even loved more about this conference is that some speakers spake in their native languages! How genius! We watched the Saturday afternoon session in English (because we didn't have any investagadores with us for that session) but then an Area 70 went up and spoke in Spanish and so we ran over to the Spanish room and watched him give his talk in Spanish. You should have seen the faces of some of our Spanish members. They were smiling so big. It just goes to show how the kingdom of God is a worldwide kingdom. It is a fulfilment of the prophecy that the gospel will be preached to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. We had two investagadores with us for the Sunday session (Alfredo came with his wife hna cajas and our other investagador Ernesto). The spirit was so strong! When it was the prophet's turn to speak I leaned over to ernesto and i speak "escuche bien! el es el profeta de Dios!" I felt the spirit so strong within me when i said that. I know its true! Ernesto accepted a baptismal date for November 2nd :) I was wishing we had an investagador with us for the Sunday afternoon session because Elder Bednars talk WAS AMAZING. it was such a good reminder even for me as a missionary and i am sure that it was a good reminder for members everywhere as to why sharing the gospel is so important. I got the chills when he told the story about his sons and how when his son got his scratch all fixed up, and he IMMEDIATELY went out to his friends and gave them band aids and lotion so that they could feel the relief that he felt. THAT is why we need to open our mouths and share the good news! not to check it off and say we did it, and not out of obligation, but because we recognize that peace and relief that the gospel brings and then we share it out of sincere love for our family and friends. 

SO EVERY MEMBER OF THE CHURCH READING THIS NOW: make it a priority to fast and pray this week to know who is around you is prepared to learn and receive the message of the restoration of the fullness of the gospel. As a representative of Jesus Christ, I KNOW that someone will come to mind. There are people everywhere all around us that have been prepared and are looking for something that they are missing and they don't know what it is. It is simple... it is the gospel! I wish i had done this before my mission so badly! 

This week was kinda slow other than that... we had over 25 hours of meetings this week! We had leadership training and oh my goodness it was so amazing i didn't want it to end! learning the fundamentals was just so nice and refreshing. I might be the only missionary in the world that loves role plays... am i weird? probably. But its such a wonderful time to really think and not be afraid of saying something wrong because its practice! and then you have other missionaries right there and they say... oh maybe try this... and then you get to redo and the spirit is so strong! 

ONE MORE THING! we saw the movie Meet the Mormons! so good. everyone go see it in a theatre near you. also definitely cried when the missionary left his family and the airport.... too close to home i just did that almost 5 months ago hahaha 

actually i lied one more thing. So after the training we had planned to go try a less active. I've been in this area for 4 months now and we have only been able to talk to her once and it was when we was bringing groceries in so not for every long. I was thinking to myself, "why in the world are we trying her right now, theres traffic and everything, shes never home, we should just call here" and then the impression came to us, "well why don't we just do what we told the Lord we would do last night when we planned" well flip. so we went and she wasn't there and we were walking back to the car and LO AND BEHOLD MARGARITA IS WALKING UP THE SIDEWALK TO HER HOME! she said today was super rare because she never gets off work this early. she felt impressed that it was no coincidence and so we taught her right there in the side walk. Told her that the Lord wants her to come back and partake of the blessings of his atonement. and so we set an appt with her for tonight. I learned something very important. When we plan by the spirit, and then EXECUTE our plans, we are showing the lord that he can trust us, we are leading out by faith. its might not seem reasonable or maybe just seem like a waste of time, but when we do it anyway the lord will recognize our faith and will bless us.

Love you all! I couldn't be happier :)

Week 14

HEY EVERYONE. this week is such a blur as always hahaha I love my comp. she is seriously so funny. she speaks SO FAST but I'm always able to catch when she says, "como, en serio" which is "like seriously" so she just makes me laugh. She always jokes that I will be speaking like a Nicaraguan after our time together. I hope so! People are even saying that they are seeing a difference in my accent. I just tell them I'll take any accent except a gringa accent. Not much to report this week just that I am happy and loving being a missionary! Something that really hit me was something that happened in one of our appts with our investigator alfredo. Okay so as a missionary, sometimes it seems like you aren't always seeing the fruits of your labors. We were teaching alfredo about sacrifice and the spirit was strong and talking about how he needs to make changes and pray in order to be able to come to church on Sundays. I was feeling kind of discouraged because I felt like a broken record ya know? and I wasn't seeing any results. And I was just feeling like maybe it was my fault as a missionary that nothing was happening. At the end of the lesson, Alfredo prayed beautifully and Hermana Detrinidad commented on how he gives such beautiful prayers. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, "I had no idea how to pray before this missionary came to me and taught me. Shes an angel!" It clearly was not just me. I remember the first time sister boudesocque and I taught him and he wouldn't say the prayer after the first lesson. And I remember again that he would be so nervous to pray that we would use a paper to help him pray. And now he is praying so well and praying daily! He is also reading the book of Mormon everyday! He tells us at the beginning of every lesson where is his in the book of Mormon and the new things he learns. He is in Alma in like chapter 40 i think and talking about how he didn't realize everyone would resurrect (wow i just spelled that so wrong. spelling has gone down the drain). But when he put his hand on my shoulder and said that, the spirit confirmed to me that my labor in the Lord's vineyard was producing fruits. Sometimes, its just hard to see. I was reading in True to the Faith (FAMILIES EVERYWHERE MUST READ THAT BOOK. Seriously so inspired and great Family Home Evening material) where is says the conversion is not a miraculous event, but a quiet process. That is so true. I have seen that in my life as well. I have never had a life changing event or earth shattering doubts about the gospel. I've simply always known that it was true. But as I see people making changes no matter how big or small, I am reminded why i know these things, this message which we share, is true. 

Also, Women's conference was so good! I loved President Uchtdorf's talk the most. Something he said hit me like a ton of bricks. As a missionary, sometimes its easy to lost in the "okay if you want this blessing... you have to do this. And you cant have this blessing... if you don't do this" but he changed that WHOLE outlook for me. When he said "Heavenly Father is constantly raining blessings upon us, but it is our fear, doubt and sin that, like an umbrella, block those blessings from reaching us," That's when it all made sense to me! I have SO many blessings that frankly, I didn't do anything to deserve. But my willingness, or rather, my ability to recognize them has varied depending on the level of my faith. Now I see how truly blessed I have been my whole life. I just love this gospel and I love my Father in Heaven. My relationship with him how grown so much as i can feel the love he has for his children. 

Week 13

Okay you guys. So heres the sitch. I got a new companion. And you guys aren't even going to believe who it is. Okay so I was telling sister b that if I could people anyone to be my comp, I would pick Sister Detrinidad. She and I came into the mission field together and we just hit it off and were always joking about how we are totally going to be comps one day. So then we go to transfer conf and shes there with her comp! and we are like oh my gosh shes getting transfered out watch her get transfered to Princeton! And then everyone was like no way you two just got out of training. but I still secretly felt like we were going to be comps and then we are sitting in transfer conference any my stomach is just like hurting the whole time because the suspense is unreal. And then President Taggart said "10.7 Princeton will be... Sister Detrinidad" and then the rest is just a blur and I jumped up and the whole entire room was just like "what?!" because we both just got out of training! After the conference, President came up to us and was like, "its time for you two to just kill it up there okay? If you two can't, no one can" So we were just like okay its go time. Seriously I cannot even believe we are comps. We are having so much fun and working so hard! And I am learning SO MUCH from her. Her knowledge of the scriptures is unreal. She has such creative ways of teaching. We had an appt right after the conference with an investagador with a baptismal date and we were talking about the authority and why its important and he just wasnt understanding and then sister detrinidad pulls out here bible and uses the map in the back and example how jesus traveled very far, all the way to the river jordan to be baptized by juan the baptist even the the sea of galilee was closer. This shows the Jesus himself knew how important it was to be baptized by someone who holds the proper authority of god and not just by anyone in anyplace. I just sat listening mindblown the whole time. hahah so yeah shes awesome. She was born in Guatamala and lived there for like 12 years and then lived in Niceragua. We joked because the language barriers is so real sometimes. So we speak a lot of spanish and i am learning so much more conversational spanish. 

Also another fun fact. Last monday, sister b and I walked home from grocery shopping and I guess the people who live above us had a major flood because water was coming in through our ceiling. I have the WORST LUCK with housing arrangements. So now we have a giant whole in our ceiling and some carpet has been removed. So thats fun! 

Okay so we are teaching a family right now and we found this guy Omar, he's from Mexico, a while back and he texted us saying he wanted to meet with us. We had a really awesome lesson with him about our purpose and the plan of salvation. he invited us to come over to meet his wife and his kids. Okay PLOT TWIST: his wife is Korean. and oh my word their babies are so cute I cannot even handle it. So basically what i'm trying to say is that Koreans and Mexicans should date. anyways, they where telling us that they have been looking for a church for their family to raise their kids with good standards and the spirit was so strong in the lesson! Oh and the wife speaks spanish because her husband is more comfortable with spanish so yeah. Right now we have about 4 investagadores with baptismal dates! We are working hard and let me tell you, leading out an area is a little be exhausting hahah but its getting easier and easier the longer we are together. 

Okay and now for this weeks big miracle. So on Thursdays, we cannot drive our cars. So we had a member pick us up and help us out and then we had an appt at 7:30 and she had to go back home, so we decided that she could just drop us off and we could take the bus home. So we met this guy outside the Plainsboro library and we were talking to him and oh my word he was.. well we can just say interesting. And wouldn't stop talking and every time I would open the book of mormon to share something with him, he would be like "no i just wanna hear about your life story, don't use the book like a cheat sheet, just be real" like a super hippy Guatamalan. And sister detrinidad and I would like try not to laugh at times. anyways. During the lesson with him, i watched with my own eyes, the bus leave the bus stop and I was just like well there goes the bus! So we told me we had to leave and he kept offering us a ride home and in my mind I was like "wow it would be so nice if we could just let him drive us home" but we told him no like 10 times and started walking back. So our apartment in like 2.5 miles from the library and theres no side walk. its just kind of a highway and then corn fields on both sides and no street lights. So it was kinda freaky. And Sister D was like, how far away is the apartment, and I was just like.... ummm far. AND we had to make it back home before 9 and it was already like 8:20. So we stopped walking for a sec and I said a prayer that we would make it back home on time so that we could be obedient and be safe. So we are walking home and I felt really peaceful. Like not really scared at all. And then up in the distance we see two guys in white shirts and ties running towards us and oh my word I have never been so happy to see missionaries before. They were at a members home and he was dropping them off and they just happened to bring their daughter with them. If they hadn't brought their daughter, we wouldn't have been able to get in the car! And she spotted us in the dark and was like "are those two girls in skirts missionaries?" So they pulled over way up ahead and we didn't even see them and the missionaries ran out to us. The whole drive home i just kept thinking to myself oh when Jesus Christ is teaching the people in the Americas or in Doctrine in Convenants when he is counciing the missionaries that they should take no thought in what they should eat or drink because God already knows that we are in need of these things and the Lord will always provide for them. Things like this happen everyday, and I am so blessed to be an eyewitness to the miracle that happen to those who are in the service of the Lord. 

Sister Detrinidad and me at transfer Conf!!

sweet hole in the ceiling.

Week 12

SO MANY THINGS. I feel like my whole week just leaves my mind as soon as I sit in front of the computer. So this week caused a lot of reflection for me. I was just mentally preparing for a new companion (tomorrow is the day!) and also with my companion ending her mission in just two days, I have been thinking about the missionary I want to be right now so that I can leave feeling like I gave my everything to the Lord. I have learned so much about the power of prayer! Something that I have really learned and loved from my companion are how sincere her prayers are. As a companionship we pray together like maybe 45 times a day. Before lessons, after lessons, during lessons, to open study, close study, praying over food (even in public places... yes still getting use to that one hahah). something that I have learned is that she takes long pauses and really really thinks about what she is going to say to her Heavenly Father. Something that I have learned is that Heavenly Father already knows what we need! Better than WE do! It is up to us to really try and listen to the spirit to be able to know what things we must ask him. EVIDENCE OF THIS:  okay so I was praying and felt like I need to pray that we would have energy to cumplir (the word is escaping me right now) the will of God for that day. I felt like we were kinda trudging along and getting really tired way fast! So as I have been praying for this, we have really seen the blessing that have come! This week I felt like I had SO much energy. Just going and talking to everyone, and i felt really happy too! and then we would come home at the end of the day and be like.... woah no way did we actually teach 6 lessons today! and woah... 3 of those were member presents! and suddenly we were seeing how much we were able to get done without even being that exhausted!! Wow. Heavenly Father just loves us so much! I don't think I can think of anything specific right now. Just that I love my comp! So blessed to be trained by one of the best missionaries in the NJMM mission. The trainer really does have such an impact on the rest of the mission for the trainee. We have shared SO many spiritual experiences together and it will be so sad to say goodbye to her tomorrow! But I really am so excited and anxious for a new companion and to lead out the area! So we will see how that all goes. One of the less active members in the branch was saying goodbye to sister B yesterday and she first saw us she couldn't believe that we were missionaries because we were just jovenitas flacitas but that when we taught, she felt a giant mature spirit coming from us and how she has learned so much from us. That really was something we needed to hear! We teach and teach and sometimes its easy to feel like nothing is happening, like inactive members wont consistently come to church again, or baptisms aren't coming. And thats when it gets easy to feel like YOU must be doing something wrong. But when she said that, I really felt this peace and calm that we are doing our part the best that we can. We are trying our hardest to teach with the power of the Spirit and our purpose is to invite!! Something funny our ZL Elder Owens said at zone meeting was that "Agency kicks our trash sometimes" hahaha SO TRUE. But there are tender mercies everyday.

We are still teaching that cute lil Colombian girl Monica! We taught her this morning and talked about the Plan of Salvation and set her for a date to be baptized! the spirit was so strong! 

So I can relate to my brother right now! Anders is playing soccer with all these latinos and that is me!! we started playing soccer with this group of Latinos that come together at a park by our apartment to find more investagadores. They are all hispanics and people from Haiti. So we go over there to play, the ONLY girls... and I am the ONLY white person in the whole group. So they are all like calling us hermanas and I played back up in defense (felt like coming home :) hahah) and its so funny cause our stradegy is just to like get our bodies in the way cause they don't wanna hurt us and every time we touch the ball or do anything they get all excited for us! hahah such a surprise cause i definitely thought I was going to die. they play so rough with each other! last week some guy broke his nose so thats good. and its working! we found two new potentials! hahah so many experiences. I still cannot even believe I have already been out for 4 months! I love this time of my life right now.  

Week 11

okay so i don't really know what to say! I just have sooo many pictures I need to send hahaha okay so the work is going and going strong. MIRACLE. we have been trying to find this less active lady for the past two months and could not find her. and finally we went to trenton, knocked and knocked and waited and finally someone came and we asked to see Elizabeth and he took us to this building on the side of the house and there she was in this like make shift salon of hers! she was doing someones nails and did not want to talk to us and would not set with us so i was like okay here I go, "Bueno. Podria cortar mi cabello?" Sister B looked at me like no way ahahah I'm a little nervous and we are going over there today at 3 so send some prayers my way that my hair will make it out alright hahaha but hey at least we set an appt with her! 

Okay so i dont really remember exactly what i told you guys last week but I'm pretty sure I talked about Elio from Guatemala and how he is so awesome and humble and wanted to pay me after the lesson when we gave him a book of mormon hahah okay so when we met with him I felt impressed to invite him to read Alma 32 and looked at it and I didn't really take into account how long it was and he was like "well i cant really read very well" and So we committed him to read just a little every night until our next appt. we called or texted him everyday to remind him to do it. okay so we saw him this friday and he explained that whole chapter to us better than i could have! I couldn't believe it. I almost cried because someone actually kept a commitment! hahah seriously such a blessing when we have people that truly want to learn and what is even better is that I don't  feel like i did anything! he read for himself and learned and bore testimony of what he knows is true. that was all him and the spirit. I am just blessed to me about to witness it and grow. I'm so lucky to be a missionary!

Okay so sooo many pictures.
I will send them in a different email.

our investigador! he is the best. he is finally able to come to church

All of the sisters in my zone!

some of the young women in the branch. we were on our way back from a service project and contacing in hamiltion when the yw pres saw our car and invited us over. all the yw hid from us but by the end of the breakfast we were all friends hahaha

La familia Combas! hna combas knows dad from when he served in puerto rico! their house is BEAUTIFUL. like an art gallery in there

Labor day (P-day)  we went to this Grounds for Sculptures day and this was a giant labor day american pride sculpture!

teaching the sculpture guy about the book of mormon. during this picture this group of people were asking me about the book i was sharing with him because he (the sculpture) cant read. hollaaa so we talked to them about the book of mormon 

initial shock when the air vent went off

missionary version of marilyn?

we gained some weight

muggin with mona