Mormon 9

Dear Friends and Family,

This week, the daughters of the R...... family got baptized!! That is a recently activated family and the two daughters that got baptized.  They have been going through a hard time financially lately, but members in the ward were so willing to help them out.  So many ward members came to the wonderful baptismal service.  Also, a lady in the ward got Ana and Emily some dresses for the special day.  They are such sweet girls!

Also, Alex is progressing really well with the lessons.  We don't know if he can get baptized this Sunday or next (because of conference), but will keep you updated.  Alex even came to dinner with us at the Sale's.  The Sale family feeds us every Thursday and this week, they made curry! Brother Sale just loved how I helped myself to three servings.  I was the only one okay with the amount of spice I think.  (My dad would have been coughing haha)  Anyway, there Alex (who is 19) and Brother Sale (who is in his 50s) made really good friends. Alex even agreed to make the dessert next week!

On a side note, a funny thing that I have been realizing is that I have callouses on my fingers from knocking so many doors lol.  That's a pretty cool thing to say.

Also, that picture with me and bike grease all over is when I went on an exchange with Sister Juchau and noticed that two of the bikes in their apartment have flats. In the morning, I bought some bike tubes and, with the help of Sister Juchau, we put the new tubes in :). It was so much fun to learn how to do that!  A cool thing that happened on the exchange is that nobody was being very nice to us that day, but our goal was to find one new investigator.  I decided to say a prayer to find one, and the next lady we talked to was really interested in coming to church and everything! It was sooo cool!

This week, we had zone conference, and President Torres has elevated our vision once again.  He is so great, and really wants us to focus on the Spirit to lead and guide us.

Also, women's conference was so good!!! It literally answered every single one of my questions!

Challenge of the week: read Mormon 9. I just want all of the people in my area to read it and recognize their pride in not believing in living day prophets. Also, take some questions to conference. I know they will be answered!

Week Full of Flat Tires

So, first, I will explain the heading of my email.  This week on Monday,  we had our jeep tell us that there was low tire pressure, then, we filled it up with some air.  At the end of the night, it went on again, so we had to take it into the shop on Tuesday and bike the rest of the day.  At least they replaced the other tires as well so it wouldn't happen again. 

 

Then, when I was on an exchange with Sister Pinto, we were biking during the two hours we have in the morning to find less actives, and on the way back home, both of her bike tires popped.  Instead of saying how bad it was, the first thing she did was laugh hahaha.  She is awesome.  After that, we called the other sisters because they were using their car to come pick us up.  Right after we put the bikes on their car, we heard a weird sound as we were driving.  When we pulled over to discover what it was, turns out one of the tires on their car was flat.  All four of us sisters didn't really know how to change a tire, so we called the elders--Elder Nelson and Elder Galloso. 

During this time, Sister Pinto told me it was probably for a reason, so during this time we knocked several doors on the street.  None of them, unfortunately, were very nice, but at least we tried!

This week, we had two investigators at church and five less actives at church! One is named Alex, and he is a friend of a young woman in the ward.  She told him we should go by and talk to him, so we did, and then he came!! He was even sticking up for us because when we were talking to him, one of his friends cussed, and he turned and said, "Hey, respect!"  Also, when he came to church, he even volunteered to pray after Sunday School and Elder Quorum! Crazy prepared! Also, this little girl named Anna is getting baptized on Sunday.  We thought for sure this other lady was going to come to church yesterday, but she didn't.

Here is the story about her. So we talked to her one day this week, and invited her to church, but she said that she didn't want to come to church because she has her church to go to in the morning.  When we came back and shared the Restoration, she felt the Spirit so strong that she was like when can I come to church?? Then we went by Sunday morning, and she made the same excuse again.  That was disappointing..but there are other cool people so it's alright.  

Also, I got to go on an exchange with Sister Valdez, and she taught me a lot of things like how to be a better teacher.  That was awesome.  

This week, we have zone conference AND women's general broadcast!! It's like Christmas! LOL!  It's weird what missionaries get excited for...

Also a cool thing that I learned from Preach my Gospel was that essentially charity=missionary work.  Some of the sisters that I am over are struggling a lot, but when we are intelligent, charitable people, we will enjoy the mission that much more.  A quote that Sister Barton has up on the wall is "How much you enjoy your mission is how converted you are to the gospel."

Also, remember that rat in Sinton?? Yeah, they finally killed him this week. He filled up one of those giant glue traps! Wow!

Miracle Week

Dear Family and Friends,

This week God just felt like blessing us so much.  Before I came into this area, the most new investigators they found was about 5 (meaning teaching them something and setting up a return appointment).  This week, however, we found 16!!! It definitely wasn't me doing that...some weeks, people are very receptive.  The thing that I have to think of now is them being in all white for their baptism.  It doesn't stop there either! I want them to be sealed in the temple and do all they can to return to live with our Heavenly Father who loves each and every one of us.  The part that I have to remember too, is that only one person came to church...I mean it was stake conference at a different time and a different meeting place, but dropping comes just as fast as finding when they don't act.  A lot of people, though, are reading the pamphlets we give them and are praying though!  One family that we found is named Didi and Victoria.  It was fortunate that I was on an exchange with Sister Hortal (look at the pictures) that day and she used to be in this area.  Anyway, she remembered teaching them before, but funny thing was that they didnt remember her, and we were a little hesitant asking her if she has listened to the misisonaries before.  She is fluent in Spanish because her parents are from Argentina and her Spanish is so pretty!! I made her practice with me throughout the day.

Another exchange I went on was with Sister Sanchez.  Our first appointment was with one of their less actives named Billy and he made the grossest chicken fried steak ever! Good thing he was just at the right angle for me to fold my paper plate over and pretend like I ate it..  The next day, when I was fasting, we biked for a whole hour to get to one person's house.  I had no idea how long it would take, but man, was I sweaty when we got to the less active's house!

This week, at stake conference, Elder Sitati came from the quorum of the seventy.  It's kind of bad, but now, when I see leaders of the church, I usually think it's pretty normal.  It was really cool because he addressed the audience and asked if they had any questions.  One question was "How can we be happy in the refiners fire?" Then he answered with if we have charity, the pure love of Christ, we will be happy.  It is so true.  Whenever I have a bad week, I think of if I had charity that week or not, and it is usually a no on bad weeks.

I love you all! I am so thankful for the restored gospel and the Priesthood keys we have on the earth today!

Con amor,

Hermana Findlay

Crazy Week

It seems like everything this week lasted like a month because it was crazy busy! Some of the things we did was we went on three exchanges, had a meeting with President Torres, all the district leaders, zone leaders, and the two STLTs (they are over all the sister training leaders).  President talked a lot about how we need to sustain him as our mission president and do what he says because everything works under the keys he has. At church we saw success because 2 investigators came to church and 15 less actives! Also, I got to see Sister Stanfill and Sister Eggett there!! That was fun. 

First I am going to talk about the pictures because I don't even know where to start, but the girl with red hair is Sister Hill and this is her second transfer on the mission. She is awesome.  We had such a fun time biking in the rain, and she didn't get impatient with me not knowing the area that well. 

 

The girl with dark, curly hair is Sister Wood.  She and I were instant friends.  She usually works in the office, but she was excited to go out to work with me earlier than she is used too. 

 

Also, that picture of a house and the two jeeps is the car I get to drive and the house I live in! Yep, they really spoil us here.

 

Also, we got to do face masks last night.

So great! I love the sisters I live with. 

The last one is of huge cactus that we found in someone's front yard!

One picture that I don't have is of Sister Wagstaff.  I got to go to La Joya, her area, and work. It is only 3 miles away from Mexico and I didn't speak very much English at all when I was there.  Their phone sometimes doesn't let them call people because it thinks they are in Mexico making international calls.

Oh! This week, I met one of the less actives and he and his daughter surf! I don't know what waves they can surf on here, but I felt like I was in San Diego talking to them.  It was awesome :)

This week, my testimony of teaching to needs has really grown.  No matter what lesson or scripture we share, it will apply to something that someone is going through.  I love the mission!