Goals for her last 2 1/2 months!

So this week I have been thinking a lot about my goals as a missionary and how I want to be better and that I should be holding myself to a higher standard. 

•    I will contact 30 every day until the end of my mission
•    In June we will baptize 7 people
•    I will walk faster (even though my body feels like it is falling apart sometimes) 
•    I will teach my companion better and help her to start leading so she will be ready after her training to work REALLY REALLY HARD. 
•    I will challenge more people to be baptized
•    I will be more direct
•    I will commit people to read, pray and go to church....

Zone Photo

Basically I just want to be the perfect missionary so I am going to work a lot harder. I want to leave the Gomera even better than I found it so I promise to do everything I can to do so..even if I have to be put on life-support when I get home haha.

"I ate cake for your birthday daddy...don't worry I enjoyed it :)"

"I love you Hna Blown"

Last Weeks email and Mother's day call

A week late and Mother’s Day call!

Contacts: 314

Making tortillas

This week we've had a lot of help from our branch president and a few of the members. Our converts are progressing as well. I'm still a little worried about D though because he was super positive when we visited him and said that he would go to church and that he missed going and everything but he didn't go this Sunday and then we saw him with his girlfriend. I think she has a really strong influence on him but we are going to keep trying to get him back to church! he is really great just confused.

We have also been teaching a kid named K who is really positive. The only problem is that his parents aren't very happy with him receiving the lessons. He loves church and he received his answer that it's all true but his parents are the big problem. We are going to try to go talk to them...

J & J are doing great! The branch president talked with J last week and he agreed that they need to get married quickly haha. They want to do it in June (which is better than July because that's what they wanted before...). 

We also ran into an old investigator who a member’s girlfriend and she said that she was going to stop working so she would be able to go to church on Sundays!  I talked to her boyfriend and he was like yeah we want to get married as quick as possible and she needs to get baptized! It was pretty great.

We've been teaching W. He is perfect when it comes to the word of wisdom. He doesn't even drink soda or juice...just agua pura. But he said that he did have a problem with the law of chastity but that he was going to obey the commandments! 

Other than that there have been some problems with some of the members in the branch so that has been pretty tough these last couple weeks for some of the families but everything is going to get straightened out and our branch is going to keep growing.

ALSO. E is getting eye surgery on the 28th of this month! She will be able to see again! This family is going to have SOOOOOO many blessings for being true to the gospel. They are unbelievable.

Other than that I have been doing well. I can't believe how fast time is going by. You said that if at the end of our missions we don't feel like we can take another step, we haven't worked hard enough...well I am already feeling the effects. My whole body hurts always and so does my spirit sometimes with all that the mission puts us though but I love it and I am going to work as hard as I can for these months that are left. My goal for June is to have 7 baptisms so we will complete it because I feel like it's what God wants for our area! Have a great day.

Zone P Day

Yesterday we played with water balloons for p day with our zone :) I had a contact this week that was pretty cool too. we were walking by a bunch of kids playing soccer and the ball was by me so I shot a goal and told them all that they had to go to church cause I made the goal...they didn't come but it was legit. We also had a contact whose son  was named after a famous American BB player!

I asked her about what she wished she had or what she didn’t need so I could let newly called missionaries know how best to prepare.

I'm glad that I have rain boots (thanks to Janice), they don't need irons...just lots of American food haha...but just that as soon as they're here there are places called pacas where you can buy used clothes and its normally pretty nice so they don't need to bring a ton of really anything. Just like a few pairs of REALLY GOOD SHOES haha like the ones I have now :) 

We got the information and travel itinerary for her release – Aug 8^th!

I don't know if you have seen the date....but in exactly 3 months and 1 day....I WOULD LIKE YOU TO BE WAITING FOR ME IN SLC WITH AN ICE COLD COKE AND A REALLY REALLY REALLY BIG HUG :)

I just love you so much daddy :) I was reading in the scriptures in Helaman 3:20 and it was talking about how he walked in the ways of his father and that's why he was blessed...I am blessed to have righteous parents like you and momma. :)

Well it's about that time...love you so much talk to you on Sunday!! at 6! GOSH I JUST LOVE YOU GUYS!!! 

Well J & C got confirmed which went really well. They are really happy. 

We had to drop a few investigators this last week because they don't feel the need to change. One of them is the girlfriend of D (our convert from March) and it's really bringing him down because he didn't attend once last month, still doesn't have the priesthood. Ok so he did attend but the evangelic church with his girlfriend. There were 8 recent converts in all last month who didn't attend and we are doing everything to get them to church and I seriously don't know what to do. I just got so frustrated on Sunday. I seriously just want to visit all of the converts everyday and help them.  And then there are those who only went once this month. Out of 4 Sundays they showed up one. The only miracle that we had was that F decided that he was going to go to church this weekend even if his boss said no and even if he was going to lose his job. And he showed up! There are a lot of members that have more time being members than he does that say that they can't go to church for work or for whatever...BUT THEY DON'T HAVE FAITH IN GOD. Seriously Heavenly Father promises all the things that we need if we keep the commandments but the only person who has had enough faith to try it out is F. They are so awesome. They are going to have SOOOOOO many blessings. Seriously they have NOTHING and he was willing to lose his job to go to church.

We have been working with J and she wants to get baptized but she kind of wants to give up too...She doesn't have the support of J. He really doesn't help her with anything even though he is already a member. He just plays soccer all day after work. She said that he is drinking tea and she told him "the missionaries said we can't drink tea and you already know that since you go to that church" ...but he is still drinking tea apparently. 

I don't know....we are just going to work really really hard and the miracles will come.

  

Both zones won for having the most baptisms I think because we had the pday yesterday.  Our zone and Solola zone.

My knee hurts and I think I’m going to have arthritis but other than that I'm doing good. I played soccer yesterday which was fun but our zone leaders promised me some American football next week :)

YEAH!! Brad Sorenson to the CHARGERS!!!!  (Former SUU QB)

April 22, 2013

The Wedding

J and C got married and baptized yesterday!! yay! It went great! It was a little stressful but all went well. We had members help with food and everyone was very happy. Her family even brought them gifts and everything was great. The lawyer is a member of the church and so she gave a little message too from the proclamation to the world about marriage and families.

The Baptism

We talked to H's mom and she said that he has been behaving himself but she still doesn't want to give him permission. He has been praying to get permission though so hopefully she says yes. If not we might have to drop him for a little while.

J and J came to church yesterday. Now we just need to get her wedding and baptism planned too! Josue really loves soccer so he hasn't been too much support for her. He is always just playing so we are going to talk to him about his responsibilities...maybe a little chicote. 

We also are teaching I & V again. It was the first time that we had seen them in a little while and I was talking about how he's not sure if he believes in God and that he has seen satanic things and so he doesn't know what to do...And we don't really know how to help him so we are going to pray lots to get some good revelation on what we should do.

As for me things are better especially after the interviews today. I love the Gomera and the people here. My companion is still having a little bit of trouble but alli vamos. We had some new investigators come to church so we are hoping to start working with them

Ok well I got to go but I love you and have a really good week!! LOVE YOU!!!!!! 

Anyone notice a trend here?  Since she has been allowed to email friends her emails to us are getting shorter and shorter and shorter!  

April 16th post

(Her email started off with this response from when I told her about all the mission calls in our ward).  Those kids are old enough to go on missions?! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING what am I...a grandma?

Hurry quick!! Send me the talks from L Tom Perry and Pres Monson from conference! Also I got the package..It probably arrived like on the 5th or 8th of this month....THANK YOU!! 

So we had 276 contacts this week...

The good news: Our branch president gave us a reference of the girlfriend of a member and she is really positive and we are going to marry them and baptize her! but not until the first week in may. They are great and he is working on getting the Melchizedek priesthood. 

A & JL still can't get married but we are praying really really hard for them.  

Hector's mom still hasn't given permission. We are hoping to talk to her a little better about it tonight. He is doing well though reading and praying.

BETTER NEWS: J & C are getting married and baptized this weekend! They are doing really good. We got permission from her parents since she's only 16...It just made me think about my parents and how I would never have permission to get married at 16 haha but I didn't want to get married at 16 so that's ok...but all is well now so yeah.

The elders went and talked to E yesterday too and he said that he wants to get baptized. Elder Nelson said he doesn't have any problem with any of the commandments so we are hoping to see a HUGE miracle this month with him.

Other than that a lot of our investigators have gone into hiding...we are in the process of looking for more positive people.

My companion is progressing...slowly but surely. She still has a really hard time contacting and teaching and understanding a lot of things but she will be great when she gets the hang of things...

We have a mouse in our house right now! That’s about it though. I still love the Gomera!  

 I have to tell you guys that I might not be home till the 15th so I don't know if I will be able to see Michael because president is sending all those going to school (going home early) a week later but I told him that Mike would be going on his mission so if it were possible to send me on the 7th and he said he would have to talk to the area 70 but that he would ask....

Love you all and I hope you have a great week! You are the greatest family ever!! 

New Temple in Cedar City!!!

WE'RE GETTING A TEMPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So this week was a little crazy with the 3 days we were in the capital for changes, our retention meeting, and then the meeting for the new missionaries... and conference (in which Pres.Monson announced my new favorite temple...THE CEDAR CITY UT TEMPLE!!!!) but thankfully we were able to at least make the mission goals and get our 27 lessons. We had 296 contacts.

We were able to meet some really great new families and other investigators that we are going to start working with. So far they have been really receptive. One said that she prayed and then she paused and was like...I know that it's true. It was really great to hear :) We visited her and her husband last night and her husband has a lot of really great questions too so hopefully he prays! 

H's mom didn't let him go to conference in the morning because he was behaving really badly but we convinced her to let him go in the afternoon so that was good. He said that he wants to get baptized but we told him that he has to behave really really well and pray a lot so that his mom gives him permission to get baptized.

C & J came to church too! They loved conference. It was perfect because I felt like it was ALL about keeping the commandments and the law of chastity and families so that should help the process of marrying them a little quicker. 

A had to work so she couldn't go.

I felt like all of the talks were really powerful about keeping the commandments and then we walk out of the church right after President Monson said that the only way we can have true happiness is by keeping the commandments and like half of our members go to the store or the market or the taco stand to buy food. It was a little annoying.

Also I realized the answer to my question about converting our converts....we can't do it. We do everything we can to help them receive a testimony but conversion is choosing to act for yourself and keep the commandments without anyone telling you that you have to do it.

My new companion is Hermana Morales. She is from Chiapas Mexico..yep

another Mexicana!! She is really timid. She hasn't had more than 10 contacts in one day yet..and that is with taking buses but I am working hard to help her. Everything will be ok with her because she has a great desire to serve. We just need to get her a little more confidence. She of course contacted her first bus..and second...and third haha this week was crazy. But she will be a really good missionary though when she starts learning the lessons better and starts gaining a little more confidence. She also did her first baptismal challenge so that is good. She's going to be a great missionary in no time

I can't even explain how much my testimony has grown of the Book of Mormon from reading it..I have now finished it 3 times :)

Well I gotta go. LOVE YOU!!! Have a good day

Getting a "Greenie"

April 2, 2013

I'm expecting a child..I will have her tomorrow. I have no idea what she will be named or if she is Latina or gringa but I am expecting...(this means she will be a trainer to a brand new missionary, right out of the CCM.  Transfers are tomorrow.  We won’t find out anything until next Tuesday.)

Well I did something I never should have done...I prayed for patience and humility at the same time. I realized that God doesn't answer prayers by just giving you what you want...He gives trials to get what you need. Instead of patience or humility God gives us challenges to humble us.  That’s ok though we keep working hard and we do what we can and we leave the rest up to Heavenly Father. Elder Flores told us this week a quote that I really like. He said Pray like everything depended on God; Work like everything depended on you. 

The best thing that happened this week was that Abelina went to church so that was great. The only thing is that her daughter isn't really happy about it but she said she really liked church so we hope she will get an answer soon so she will recognize that it doesn't matter if her daughter doesn't want her to go because it's what God wants.

The Rama (Branch) is going through some hard times with the members and the teenagers and gossip but everything is getting worked out.

We had a REALLY powerful lesson with the Castro Family and the spirit was there SUPER strong but he has a huge pride problem and he doesn't want to ask forgiveness or forgive.

I have a question…what do we do to help our converts be converted and not just receive a testimony? It's not strong enough to just have a testimony so how do we help them be converted to the gospel? 

 I love you so much momma and I can't wait to see you in 4 short months. you and dad are the greatest! LOVE YOU!