Dia de accion de gracias

Hola amigos!!

What else did we do on Thanksgiving? We did weekly planning, We tried to plan some zone meetings that we have coming up. We attempted to find some people to teach but people were not that thrilled to talk to us. We did have a miracle and come in contact with an investigator/part member family that we have a really hard time contacting. We knocked on the door and they let us in and we invited them to church and tried to set up an appointment with us. They offered some juice and we said yes and then he brings out this dark red drink in a tall beer glass... the first thing he said was "its not alcohol"... haha! I am pretty sure it was just some sparking cider grape flavor haha.

This week we were able to have some really solid lessons with Robinson and Zulma. On Monday we were reading in Alma 32 and asked them what they needed to do to strengthen their faith and Zulma went off about how they had went to go buy shirts the other day (on a Sunday) but they were shirts for church and she felt like that was a great act of faith and she feels like they are good.. haha sounds like we need to review keeping the Sabbath day holy again.. but we asked Robinson what he needs to do and he said he needs to get baptized but he still won't commit to a date. On Thanksgiving we read part of the talk "He will place you on his shoulders and carry you home" by President Uchtdorf. It such a good talk and I think it really helped them see that it doesn't matter where you were before, but with Christ's atonement we can become whatever He wants us to be. They shared with us some of their not so good experiences with the Jehovah's witness church and how they were shunned and they tried to go back just a couple of months ago trying to find peace but they said they ended up feeling worse than they did before but how they felt like they have found that peace here in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

We went on exchanges one day and it was COLD but we were working hard and we were able to talk to have "meaningful contact" (leaving them with something, testifying of something and inviting them to do something)  with 14 people. so that was awesome. 

I have been a little sick the past couple of days... I am feeling better but remember when I had pneumonia in 2nd grade? it kind of felt like that.. my throat hurt, i was super weak and couldn't do like anything and had a lot of pressure in my chest and a pounding headache.. I rested the past two days and am feeling better today.

I just want to share a quote from President Uchtdorf "It matters not how completely ruined our lives may seem. It matters not how scarlet our sins, how deep our bitterness, how lonely, abandoned, or broken our hearts may be. Even those who are without hope, who live in despair, who have betrayed trust, surrendered their integrity, or turned away from God can be rebuilt. Save those rare sons of perdition, there is no life so shattered that it cannot be restored.

The joyous news of the gospel is this: because of the eternal plan of happiness provided by our loving Heavenly Father and through the infinite sacrifice of Jesus the Christ, we can not only be redeemed from our fallen state and restored to purity, but we can also transcend mortal imagination and become heirs of eternal life and partakers of God’s indescribable glory"

I know this is true and through the atonement of Jesus Christ we can become better than how we started. In fact, that is the purpose.. to become better!

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Family History to Find?

Hola amigos!

We have plans for Thanksgiving but with a family that doesn't speak any English so I'm pretty sure It won't be super Thanksgivingy haha but it's all good. It won't make me miss home too much because it will just be so different hahaha. Yes we teach young women's every week. It's super fun but hard because young women don t talk hahaha

We are still teaching Robinson. Something cool that happened is that we went over one day for dinner and Robinson told us he had come home early from work and was working on family history and wanted help with that. We had literally come prepared with a lesson on temples and family history. Then the next day we had a zone conference where we talked about family history for like 2 or 3 hours. So that was awesome. Other than that the work has been pretty rough this week.  We have talked to a lot of people lately but no one is really interested. We are trying to be creative with our finding efforts so we are hoping that will be helpful.

Like I mentioned earlier we had a zone conference about family history and it was awesome. On my mission I have been called to repentance multiple times to become actively involved in family history. We were shown ways to use it to find people to teach so after zone conference we go and put it to work. People are pretty interested. On exchanges I talked to this lady about family history and she told us to come by in a couple of days. So we were pretty excited. We text her to confirm the appointment and she said she was busy so we tried to reschedule for Sunday and she then just said "I have something on Sunday but how about you come over on Saturday and have dinner with us?"  We are stoked. No one ever does that haha but we get there on Saturday and knock the door and nobody was there. We called and texted and She never answered. We totally got stood up HAHAHAH. We were pretty bitter but now we just laugh.

I am grateful to have Thanksgiving this week where we can really focus on the blessings God has given us. I have seen so many in my life and feel like I receive more and more every day. I know that God is aware of us in every circumstance and that we all have things to be grateful for.

I love you all and hope you have a great Thanksgiving! I'm grateful for ya! 🦃

 

Hermana Barton and Hermana Anderson Round 2

Hola amigos!!

This week for me has been an adventure! We started the week with teaching Robinson and Zulma with our branch president and his 6 year old daughter. We had the little girl ask him when he was going to be baptized and he said "very soon" it was precious. He has finally opened up about some doubts that he has concerning the law of tithing. He just wants to make sure that he will be able to live the laws that God commands. Then they came to English class to say goodbye to Hermana Bray and we read in the plan of salvation pamphlet in English. It was precious. On Thursday we went over so they could meet my new companion and had a lesson and we went on Saturday and tried to invite him to prepare to be baptized but he wont commit. It makes me super sad but I know one day he will be baptized :)

My new companion is Hermana Barton! We were companions back in June when I was in Staunton. It was so much fun then and it is just as much fun now. We play basketball at every chance we get haha and we just work really well together.

On Sunday Robinson and Zulma came to church and our Sunday school lesson was perfect for them. Also this is the 2nd time Hermana Barton has served in Fredericksburg so all the members recognized her and it is fun because we don't have to take time to explain who all the members are. WE are still doing a lot of finding but we are working with some part member families.

I love this work. Is it pretty hard? yes. Robinson asked this week about why I came on my mission and I told him it is because I felt the happiness that came from the gospel and wanted to share it with others. I still stand by that. This gospel brings more happiness than anything else and its because we have access to the full light of Christ. I love this gospel!!

Dia de los muertos :)

Hola familia!

This week has been great! We had some great lessons with Zulma and Robinson!! So on Monday we got there and he talked about some fears of failing after his baptism and we explained that we all fail but that is why we have the atonement of Jesus Christ and we are able to repent. Then on Tuesday we went and we decided to bring a member who has only been a member for a year. His name is Luis and he doesn't have a ton of knowledge about the gospel but he has a lot of faith. We had planned a lesson on the priesthood and we were so excited but we started our lesson with the questions Robinson always has. The question was this "do you believe in miracles?" so we said yes... and then he asked "well Jesus  did miracles like healing the blind and stuff.. does the power to do that still exist?"  and oh my goodness we were so excited because that is literally what we wanted to talk about. Then we had a super powerful lesson on that! Then on Friday they came to the dia de los muertos/family history part that the branch had on Friday and that was super awesome. THEY LOVED IT. We went over on Saturday and had lunch and then had  a lesson and they said they couldn't stop talking about it. Robinson wants to do his family history and he told us that "he found his church" He wants to be baptized it is just a matter of when. He felt like he didn't know much about the church but then we wrote out everything we had taught him and how he has been taught everything. then they came to church on Sunday and stayed for all three hours and loved it! Zulma might even give a lesson in relief society next week. We are so excited.

We have transfers this week and I will be staying in Fredericksburg another transfer and Hermana Bray will be leaving. So I will continue being an STL and get to spend thanksgiving here.

We went on exchanges with the Massaponax sisters and we had dinner with their ward mission leaders wife and had quite the interesting discussion on the law of chastity! hahaha!

Well I know that the priesthood has been restored and that miracles are possible because of that! I love you all!!