22 Dec-- Merry Christmas:)!!!!

Everyone has been asking what our Christmas plans are. Christmas Eve and Christmas day, we have a different schedule. We leave the house earlier and get home earlier. Our plans are: visit a few members that we know are gonna be alone on Christmas, anyone else who will let us into their house haha, and call our families!

I have a new companion who is from the Dominican Republic which speaks Spanish but when she speaks English she has a sick accent like she’s from the Bronx and she loves Beyonce and Rihanna so needless to say we are getting along just fine ;) She taught me what is called a “tubi” to keep your hair straight.

After straightening your hair, you part it on the side and wrap it around your head and hold it in place with bobby pins. Then you put on some kind of hair net or beanie or whatever you want (as long as it’s not something that sucks the moisture out of your hair and makes it static-y) and you’re good to go. We had to leave the house at 1 in the morning to board the bus that took us to Guadalajara, so when we got home at 9, we showered and got ready, packed a picnic lunch, and decided to sleep for a few minutes while we waited for the taxi…

Which never came!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That night we were part of a miracle because somehow I woke up at the last minute and we called another taxi and got to the bus station JUST BARELY in time. That night was a big holiday in Michoacan, so all the taxis were booked and everyone was out partying. I seriously felt soooooooo blessed. We got to hear Elder Russell M. Nelson and he shook everyone single one of the 500 missionary’s hands. It was such a special day and a great Christmas present!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All the missionaries of our mission (Guadalajara East) and the Guadalajara mission were there. I saw my old companions, and found out that the missionary I trained, Hermana Moran, is training. Wow!!! Que emocion!!!! It was sooooo great to see her. It was the closest thing to family that I have here in Mexico.

4 “generations”: my trainer, me, Hermana Moran, and her “daughter”

December 15: What is Christmas like in the mission?

In downtown Morelia

First off: I have the best family and friends ever. I’m definitely convinced. I’ve been convinced my whole life, but now it’s like a more-sure-about-this-than-I’m-sure-I’m –alive type of thing. Haha but seriously! We always get mail the first Friday of the month, but these past couple months we have also gotten it two other times and the point of my story is: There has not been one opportunity to get mail in which I have not gotten MORE THAN ONE letter! Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!! It is sooooo awesome to have that support and to hear news from home. Whatever you send, however boring the news may seem to you, it’s so interesting and important to me. Or if you don’t want to write, just email or mail me a picture! Those are bomb.

 

No it's not snowing. My camera's dirty. Haha

You’ve all been asking me how we are going to celebrate Christmas. I can't stop celebrating Christmas all day every day! Even though it’s nothing like the rest of the Christmases I'm used to, it’s wonderful. It is so easy to talk to people on the streets when you just have to bear your testimony of Christmas. It is so great to be on the Lord’s errand at Christmastime. We got treated to a meeting with an APOSTOL! Serious Christmas present. The neighbors put up Christmas lights and we have a poinsettia (they’re called “Christmas Eves” here).  I thought it was gonna be hard not to be home at Christmas butin reality there is nothing better than sharing the Gospel at Christmastime. That’s not to say that whenever some leader who’s speaking to missionaries mentions out families, I don’t cry. I do. I miss you all. But it’s not a sad time, Christmastime. It’s the best time of the year because it is filled with hope. The hope Jesus Christ brought to the world is alive. He is alive .His love reigns. Maybe it doesn’t seem like it at times with all the sadness and ugliness in the world, but if we could only see the whole picture, we wouldn’t doubt it.

This week, I invite you all to decide how you can more fully turn yourself over to the Lord. There are so many things we can do. The one thing we can truly give God is our will. It’s nice to give of our time or our resources, and I’m not saying don’t do that, but those things are already His to take when He wants. The one thing that doesn’t already belong to Him is our will, our agency. So turn yourself over to Him this month and you will find a new perspective, a new life-substance, new revelation. Turn yourself over to Him and make a goal. Maybe it will be something that just occurred to you while reading this, but more likely it will be something you’ve been wanting to do for a long time but never just made it happen.

News

Today we had transfers!!!! I'm staying here and I'm getting a new companion, from Domincan Republic, but we're waiting for her right now; I still don't know her.

This Saturday at 12 am I'm going to wake up to catch the bus to go to Guadalajara to listen to Elder Russell M. Nelson!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow!!!!! It's awesome!!!! Our whole mission and the Guadalajara Mission-- some 500 missionaries.

1 Diciembre—El es la Dádiva

Well I am reading a few emails from y’all this week and everyone is talking about Thanksgiving… yeah that came and went without me hardly realizing it. Although on Saturday I decided to be more festive and I made a list of my blessings… :D ß that’s how I felt

And that’s how I still feel! Because there is something so exciting going on in the missionary world right now… soon to be “in the Christian world right now” because pretty soon everyone who believes in Jesus Christ will know about it! And even people who don’t.

This year in celebration of Christmas, the church launched a huge and I mean huge iniciative to help us all feel Christ at Christmastime. They made a seriously beautiful video called He is the Gift, and on Friday, they launched it on Youtube and on an amazing website called christmas.mormon.org. We got to spend an hour on this website this week (which is totally totally not normal!) and it was so beautiful! Spiritual feast!

mormon.org/Christmas/Story

 I didn’t even miss out on Thanksgiving haha. Starting today, the video will play on the screens in Times Square until January first :D And you all should go to Youtube this Sunday December 7, but I’m not gonna tell you why.

The scriptures say that the gospel will be carried to the four corners of the earth, that every nation will hear it in their own tongue. This year, 220 million people will see a 30-second version of the video. It’s really crazy and beautiful to live in this time, when prophecies are being fulfilled. I always pictured some big guy with a megaphone when I heard these scriptures, but now I realize how funny that is. It’s not gonna be anything like how I pictured. It’s going to be through means we already have—the internet, missionaries, and members of the church who invite their loved ones: one here, one there—until everyone has heard the gospel, the good news.

It is the best news I have in my life, and it’s important to me to help others feel it.

To my family and friends who are reading this, I love you a lot. You are in my thoughts a ton!!!! You are in my prayers. I am excited to come back and see you. I am learning how to receive the Gift for myself this week through some of the things I printed off from links I followed on the site christmas.mormon.org. The Gift make changes in my life—peace, hope, confidence, love—every day that I am willing to subject my own will to a Someone whose will is much bigger and wiser.

As Caitlin taught me, God is big and He is close.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

mormon.org/Christmas/Story 

My Heart

These past couple days have been so amazing.

On Friday we had to do splits because at the same time we had two appointments. Splits are always hard because you don’t have another missionary to help guide the lesson, and I never like doing them! But coming out of the lesson, we all (3 members came with me so that they could get to know the family) were on cloud nine. Walking out into the dark night, all our thoughts and feelings started bursting out, and we had all felt the Spirit so strong.

On Saturday we had a long-awaited baptism!!!!! She came early so we were calm and happy and could talk with her about how she felt. She kept saying she felt calm and sure. But hearing her bear her testimony for the first time after her baptism was even better. It filled my heart to see how much she has progressed. She really and truly knows the sacredness of the covenant she has made and the value of this church she has found. If only everyone could know these things for themselves.

I know that God is the father of our Spirits. I know that we lived with Him before we came here. I know that coming here to earth is part of our Father’s plan for our eternal progression, that He is so worried about us while we are here and just wants us to be successful and come back to Him. He spends all his time and energy trying to make that happen, without overriding our agency. I know that Jesus Christ is our Heavenly Brother and that before sending us to earth, God prepared Him to be our Savior and make our redemption possible. God didn’t send us to earth without all the tools we’d need in order to come back and be perfected and eternally happy, and Jesus Christ is the center. The prophets, the scriptures, and priesthood, families, prayer: the list of tools at our disposal goes on and on. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is sanctioned and directed by Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ—it is the church that includes all the tools. I have no doubt. I don’t apologize and I don’t want to apologize—what I want is that everyone could know these things for themselves.

Every single one of us is a child of God, and as such has the right to know these things for themselves—if they humble themselves more than they ever have before, if they truly desire and diligently work for that knowledge. It was not easy for me to truly find out, but it is the best thing I have ever done and has brought me more peace than I ever had before.

November 10: Some very important things you should know

I’ve had a cottage cheese conversión!!! I don’t know how I didn’t like it before. I don’t know how anyone could NOT like it. I thought of Jeremy.

These are the sisters of our ward. They take suuuuuch good care of us. If you want to know how to take care of the missionaries, I’ll give the 411 right now. Feed them on time. They have appointments to go to right after. Hopefully! If not, there’s something else you can do for them: references. You can do that by inviting your friends to a FHE or an activity and there, introduce them to the missionaries. The missionaries will invite your friends to have them over and listen to a little bit more about the Gospel. Don’t make the missionaries come with you to eat if it’s not the scheduled time to feed them because they should be working. Don’t encourage them to be slackers (Dad:p). But if you still want to feed them, send them with leftovers or drop off leftovers at night. There’s no time to cook sooooo it’s amazing!!!! What else? Come with us to teach people!!! The lessons go soooo much further when a member is there. Share your testimony. Don’t take over the lesson haha; reaffirm whatever the missionaries just said.  And invite the person to church! You guys have no idea how much you can help people.

Well, now yall are VIPS. I love this Gospel so much. It is more perfect than an human could ever devise. It is the plan of God, and how incredible that we have this knowledge at our disposal!!!!!!! Take advantage of it, never take it for granted. Share it with others. Serve your neighbor. Remember that good will always win and there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. Be fearless. Pray as if God were sitting there on your bed listening. Picture Him there. Be obedient. Remember what is everything and what is nothing. (If that doesn’t make sense, I will say it in a more boring way: Remember what is eternally important and what is actually not important.)

I love you all!!! I love hearing from you. I treasure my friends and family more than ever. (And I already knew you were the best I could ask for before, imagine how I feel now!!!)

October 27: Treasure

Hey everyone! This week was Halloween and check out the adorable Maleficent that came to trick or treat at our house <3 She’s the daughter of one of the less-active families we teach. It was my first time in my life giving out treats and she was the only one who knocked but I was so happy!!! Giving out treats is just as good as getting treats, who knew.

We also got our fair share of treats because on Sunday it was reverse trick or treating, all the kids came up to us with the treats and let us choose which ones we wanted!!!! Hahaha it was the cutest thing ever and I didn’t even have to miss out on the traditional stomachache from too much candy. The only thing that was missing from this Halloween was the candy corn. And chocolate chip pumpkin bread. Oh and you guys!!!!!!!!!!

Dad sent me a picture of the little Grinch hahaha way tooo cute!!!!! Now it’s time for a haircut. Idk what Brig or Rae or my cousins dressed up as for Halloween, but I hope it was fun.

We had Zone Meeting this week, shout out to Meg and Nona for the letters :D Know that I love you all and think about you all constantly!!! You are in my heart and I appreciate all the support. I can feel it, so even though I love hearing from you, even when I don’t hear from you I feel your support and love. I hope you can feel mine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Something I read this week in Preach My Gospel, in the lesson about callings in the church, is: One of the greatest blessings of being a member of our Church is providing service. This really hit me!!!!!!!! I mean when you think about all the blessings we have as members of the Church, they are astounding: a prophet and 12 apostles, being able to be sealed as eternal families, and yet, our callings and many opportunities to serve are one of our greatest blessings!!!!!!!!!!

Reading the New Testament is inspiring because you read about the actions of Jesus Christ, and it truly is incredible to even start to think about the magnitude of service he gave. You can’t be like Jesus or apply WWJD if service is not a huge part of your life. So the opportunities in our lives to serve truly are some of the most important and more profound blessings we have.

October 6: General Conference (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2014/10?lang=eng)

Dang!!!! Was it just me or was this General Conference the best we've ever had (or at least since I've been born/watching them)?

It was probably just me.

I learned that eating cinnamon rolls and sitting on your couch is not, contrary to popular belief, the best way to watch conference!! Who knew!?

Being in the church building, being physically and spiritually prepared, and sitting with other people who are paying attention changed everything. When you’re not getting up to serve yourself another glass of milk, distracted by the burning pancakes, or asking someone to pass the maple syrup, Conference is another story. A way more interesting one. Every session of conference passed sooo fast. There’s no way I’m going back to watching Conference like I used to. I’m gonna sleep and eat enough before that I’m physically prepared. I’m gonna act like I’m in church. Cause it’s at least as important as church. The part with the good food—that’s gonna be in between sessions, and it’s not gonna run into my time and opportunity to listen to the prophets, apostles, and leaders called of God.

If you guys had the same kinda-distracted, kinda-sleepy experience with Conference I used to have, you’re missing out of so much!!! I invite you to make it a goal to have a new Conference experience in April and every General Conference after. And I invite you to look up my fav talks from this one :D

·  Lynn G. Robbins

·  Tad. R. Callister

·  Jorg Klebingat

·  Dieter Uchtdorf

This week, I turned 6 months old—in the mission. See y’all soon!

October 13—El Rancho

Today one of the members of our ward took us out to her ranch!!!!! Nona and Oldie, I was thinking a lot about you and about all of the mountain men you have known in your lives. I was thinking about your stories about your acquaintance who lived in his cabin, a hermit, and about Nona’s cousin who built his log cabin by himself.  Because she built this house herself!!!!

 It was so much fun to go out in nature and I felt so happy.

Also wearing pants was cool haha. I love wearing skirts, they’re so comfortable, but it was cool to wear pants for the first time in almost 6 months haha!!!

Here are some pics of the road trip…

…which wouldn’t be complete without a pitstop.

These tortillas are made by hand and cooked on a giant round stone :DD

Lately, I have been thinking about prayer. I never understood before the effort that is required to really communicate sincerely with God in prayer. I was reflective and grateful when I prayed, but here in the mission I have been studying the scriptures and found that when people prayed in the scriptures, MAN THEY PRAYED. That's why they got such amazing results. 

Remember the story about Socrates? A man came to him and asked him to help him acquire knowledge. Socrates said, Yes of course, meet me on the beach at 6 am. So at 6 am the guy comes out to the beach ready for some transcendental knowledge. Socrates says, We just need to go out in the waves a bit. The guy thinks, Okay... So they go out. And suddenly the guy's head is underwater and he's choking and gasping and scared. He tries coming up for air but Socrates seems determined to drown him. At the last moment, Socrates lets him up. What was that?!?!?! And Socrates says, What did you want more than anything when you were underwater? AIR! 

...When you want knowledge as bad as you wanted air just now, you will find it.

I invite you to change your prayers. To offer them with all the energy of your heart, mind, and body. Why was Alma the Elder's prayers answered with an angel scaring the pants off his son and turning his son into one of the greatest prophets of all time? He must have wanted it as bad as Socrates' student wanted air. He must have "wrestled in mighty prayer." It is only through this kind of prayer that we become one with Divinity. Prayer is not about changing God, it is about changing me. Offer your prayers as if Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ were sitting right there next to you: be focused, be sincere, beg them for spiritual eyes.