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 :)