Pages

Monday, June 16, 2014

Mexico Week 17 -- Let's Get Caught Living the Gospel

To all of my favorite people in this world, 

First things first, HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAD!  I love you tons and you have always been an amazing example to me!  I hope that our family spoiled you rotten! 

The rains are coming!!  Please enjoy my awesome storm pictures as it storms almost every night! Those are the nights that Hermana Buttars and I buy ice cream as we get soaked! 





Also! Mas o menos, I know the story of Great-Grandpa on dad’s side, but what are the conversion stories on both sides of the family?  I am going to be such a family history nerd after the mission. 

I got Rach’s graduation announcement and she is beautiful!! I LOVE the announcement! 

La Hermana is Vania!  She is so awesome and does such a great job with the young women in the ward. 


We have a new investigator!  Her name is Veronica and she is practically perfect!  We met her outside of her apartment building.  We have had three lessons with her and every single one has been incredible!  She is so prepared and we feel the strongest spirit in her home.  She is reading the Book of Mormon and praying about everything.  She is really sweet and my evidence that the Lord prepares people to receive His gospel!  She has a cat that had 5 kittens about five days ago and they are tiny!!  I definitely thought of Sister Randall and when she converted me to liking cats! Ha! Ha!  If it wasn’t against mission rules, Hermana Buttars and I would have one! 



So this week we visited the Moreno family. We met them in the street and they are so perfect!  The wife and daughter had baptismal dates and are just great, great people.  We went by one night and their dad told us that he just wanted to be honest and that they were never going to change religions. His house is our house whenever we want because we are friends, but they just aren’t going to change.  He told us that his wife had thought about it, but they were going to stay Catholic.  So we enter their home and find the mom and daughter and ask if we can sing some hymns.  They tell us sure and we are all in the kitchen and the dad gives us the same speech again. The look on Brenda’s face is saying that she really does have interest and wants to learn more.  We sang “Yo Se Que Vive Mi Señor” and shared testimony of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon.  Brenda gave me the biggest hug and I just know that she wants it!  Ahh, its hard because you don’t want to cause problems in the family but she also has the desire to learn.  I think that this is one of the reason I am so grateful to be in the Gospel and a big reason I am so determined to be married in the temple.  We just can’t have religious conflict in the home!  We need to all be on the same page! 

So awesome story of the week!  We had a Family Home Evening with the Reynaga family!  I was looking through some Liahona’s for ideas and found a sweet FHE!  So we talked about temples and we all drew one!  We listened to some Paul Cardall music and was just really special.  Paty asked Roxton to draw their family there.  I started thinking about my family and the family home evenings I want to plan and have!  Ahh, I got so excited to be a cheesy Mormon mom!  Haha, but really, it was probably the highlight of my week and I am so grateful to be here with some really special families. 


So we have an investigator named Lupe.  I have so much faith in her, but we really need to get some more friends for her that aren’t her mother in law!  We got to the lesson one night and I was tired and feeling a little stressed and anyways, we started to teach Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy.  Their house is always a mad house and then her mother in law starts talking about how important the sacrament is ... then she adds … Well, as long are there aren’t any kids there.  Because if kids are there you can’t feel anything and you might as well just not even go to church.  Here’s me, starting to get annoyed with everything.  I just took a deep breath and started talking.  The spirit was so strong. The words just fell out of me after that.  I got a little choked up and just said I go to church because I need help, that I literally can’t make it through the week without the Lord’s help.  I need my 15 minutes of the sacrament to be filled with hope and healing and love.  The whole room got really quiet and nobody had anything to say.  My companion continued teaching, but whoa, I just felt the strongest spirit. This is what it means to teach with power and authority. 

But truly, I love the sacrament.  Yesterday was the first time we took it in two weeks because of stake conference.  I just feel it, I really feel it when I need to take the sacrament.  Before, I was stressed, I felt like we were working really hard but not seeing any results.  We took the sacrament and I just felt different.  I had more faith and hope in the Savior and I didn’t feel so stressed and negative.  The sacrament truly does cleanse us … it purifies us.  I am so grateful for this opportunity almost every week. 

I ran into Hermana Valdez this week!  It was so fun to see her again and introduce our new companions!  Love this girl!!



Well I would like to wrap this up with a quote this week that I loved from Jeffrey R. Holland. He said, “When He comes, I so want to be caught living the gospel.  I want to be surprised right in the act of spreading the faith and doing something good.  I want the Savior to say to me Jeffrey, I recognize you not by your title, but by your life, the way you are trying to live and the standards you are trying to defend.  I see the integrity of your heart.  I know you have tried to make things better first and foremost by being better yourself and then by declaring my word and defending my gospel to others in the most compassionate way you could.  He will certainly add I know you weren’t always successful with your own sins and with the circumstances of others, but I believe you honestly tried. I believe in your heart you truly loved me. “

Let’s try to be like that.  If the Savior were to come tomorrow, could He say that to every member of our family?  Well, I have some work to do, but I love this vision! 

Love you all to the moon and back! 


 photo sig_zps85124238.png

No comments:

Post a Comment