Snowy Staunton = Miracles

Hola amigos!!

This week has been so so great. On Wednesday it snowed all day long. We couldn't even drive until 1:00. One of our investigators works for our branch presdient but we were just at his house and President Lagos was home so we knew our investigator would be home. So we went to his house and his brother answered. His brother's name is Arnulfo... haha! He answered the door and we started talking to him and all of the sudden he says "Do you speak English? I would rather speak in English." In a super thick New Yorker accent haha. He lived in New York for 38 years and was also a doctor! At first he didn't really want to listen to us so we were trying to explain what we believed and his brother, Jose (the one who has been coming to church) kept saying "this is what I believe". Then Jose told him the story of Joseph Smith. Basically Jose thinks he is already a member haha. Once we explained to Arnulfo why we have the Book of Mormon, he relaxed and let us talk a little more and he really liked what we had to say.  We were getting up to leave and he gave me a hug... it was so weird... Then we explained to him that we can't hug men.. haha! But he just told us that he really likes us and he likes it when we are at his house. Then we went back on Saturday and taught him the restoration and he says that whenever he reads from the Book of Mormon he gets goosebumps. Then on Sunday Arnulfo and Jose came to church and Jose asked me "what do I need to do to become a missionary like you guys and help people in other countries?" It has been really hard to sit Jose down and teach him and tell him why we keep coming to his house so I took advantage of this and told him that he needed to be baptized but before he was baptized we need to teach him and that's why we keep coming over... so before he left church he made sure to tell us to come over tomorrow! So we are excited!

Friday was full of miracles. We went to a town that is like 20 minutes away where there are more Hispanics and we found 2 new investigators! Then we were finding in Staunton that night and we had one more house that we needed to try and we were soooo tired. We didn't want to keep going and it looked like we were in a pretty not Hispanic neighborhood but we just tried the last house. We knock and this white guy answers and we tell him who we are and that we share a message about Jesus Christ. He said "let me see if you can come in" then he leaves. He comes back and invites us in and we ask where he is from and he says Peru. We were so stoked so we started speaking in Spanish to this super cute older Peruvian couple and we shared the Prince of Peace video! Then we asked if they had heard of our church before and they said yes because Yenni (the wife) has a sister who is a member and her nephew is a missionary in Peru!!! So we talked with them for a while and it was so great. They want us to come back and Yenni kept saying "God brought you to us". We can't go back for a couple of weeks because Rolando is going out of town for his job but hopefully we can go back and visit Yenni! We are so excited. They are so cool :):)

I have been studying the last week of the Savior's life and it has been amazing. President Smith actually gave us a study guide thing that has been super helpful. (I will attach a picture, Then all day yesterday we have listened to The Lamb of God. Its amazing. I have also been reading Jesus The Christ and with all of this I have really been reflecting on and learning more about the Savior. He really came and lived a mortal life for us because He love us. He arose after 3 days and because He did, we will too. He came to save us. Salvation is free for everyone but He has also given us a chance to exaltation. Through repentance and using the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can live with our families forever in the presence of God. I know that He lives.

I love you all and hope you have a great week and a great Easter. We have such an incredible opportunity to listen to and sustain Russell M. Nelson as prophet! I am so grateful that God loves us enough to give us the restored gospel.

Happy Easter! He is risen!

What is Fibula in Spanish?

Hello friends! :)

This week has been a little slow in the Spanish work of Staunton, Virginia. It was full of talking to a lot of people and being told, there aren't many Hispanics here, so good luck! They may be right but there is someone here ready to hear the gospel and we will find them.

We had zone conference this week and it was super good. We talked  a lot about how your attitude determines everything. it is a great reminder especially when we are in a place that is not filled with too many Hispanics. But we have the right attitude and we know the work is going to continue here. :) President Smith talked March Madness and I was talking to him a little later and said that was not fair haha! But he did inform me that Virginia is the number 1 seed!  Go Virginia! I was actually in Charlottesville for zone conference and that is where the university is! So that is cool :)

We had a  lesson with our friend Jose, the guy from church last week. It was so awesome. He said that the two churches that have always stuck out to him were the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses. He has been reading and listening to the Book of Mormon. As of Saturday, he was on 1 Nefi 7!  He loves it. We had a really powerful lesson with him as we taught him the Restoration. He is a little bit older and suffers with gout. So he has a lot of pain in his knees. Our branch president offered to give him a blessing so we explained the priesthood. It is so cool to tell people that we have the same power and authority that Christ had when He was on the earth. I love to tell people that, because its true! The next day Jose came to church and said the pain in his knees was gone! How crazy is that? He thinks its so cool. Sadly he came to church and hour late because he didn't know about daylight savings.. haha! Something cool about Jose, he was a doctor in Cuba. Sometimes its hard to connect with older Hispanic men and build a relationship but Jose is so cool and he teaches me anatomy. :) He pulled out his phone and got an app out and explained about the pain in his knees. So I am learning the bones in Spanish. A lot of them are the same haha but some are different like fibula is el peroné. Still getting my anatomy fix:)

There are so many churches in Virginia. Not like Utah were they are all Mormon but it feels like there are just as many churches here in Virginia haha.

 As I learn more about the Savior, I learn more of His atonement and how necessary the sacrifice was. There is a quote from The Infinite Atonement I really like. It says "He took upon him infinite suffering, but chose to defend with only mortal facilities, with but  one exception--his godhood was summoned to hold off unconsciousness and earth that would otherwise overpower a mere mortal when he reached his threshold of pain. For the Savior, however there would be no such relief. His divinity would be called upon, not to immunize him from pain, but to enlarge the receptacle that would hold it. He simply brought a larger cup to hold the bitter drink." I love this quote. I feel like it shows the kind of love the Savior has for us. His Godhood could have defended Him from the pain but he chose to not use that power so that we could be Saved. But he did used his Godhood to stay awake and alive so that he could be sure to feel of every pain, affliction and sorrow that would ever come to mankind. That is infinite love. I am so grateful for a  Savior that was willing to do that for me. He is why I am in Virginia. I want everyone to know of His love.

I love you all and hope you had a good week :)

Staunton, where there are as many churches as there are people

Hola amigos!!

So I am in Staunton, Virginia. My companion is Hermana Ashcraft. She just got out of training which means she has been out for about 4 months. We are in an area that has never had spanish missionaries before, so we don't have much to work with. Its super exciting. Only two active members live in our area and all the rest of the active members live about 30 minutes away. There are so many churches here. We were told that there are over a hundred churches here and its only an 11 mile radius of the town...

Mom, will you look up how many churches there are in Staunton? and the population? The mountains here are hills compared to Utah but they are still pretty mountainy. It is super windy here. Its not terrible, like our power hasn't gone out or anything but we did get a warning on our door saying that it might. The branch is so small. I am pretty sure only like 30  people were at church. There were 9 people in Relief Society, 4 of which were missionaries. My new apartment is awesome. It is sooooo nice. We live on the top floor and we have a pretty awesome view. There are two bathrooms and and its just super roomy.

The first thing we did when we got here was meet with the branch president's wife. We wanted to meet with him but he was working. He has been the branch president for almost 9 years so they know a few things. We were talking and she gave us a referral so we decided to go try the referral the next day. Well we went, and we found her!  She is really sweet and has lost a son in a car accident so she is a little bit sad right now but we have an appointment with her this Wednesday! We are really excited!

We found another investigator, Tato, in a trailer park. He thought the Book of Mormon was super interesting and he told us he wanted to come to church! We have a part member family we are working with. The Elders were working with them before. They have two girls and the mom that aren't members. The mom isn't super interested which makes it hard but the girls want to be baptized. So hopefully more on that next week :)

MIRACLE ALERT.  So we went and tried the potentials in our area book (which is a solid 5 people). We tried this guy and he wasn't home so we left a card and didn't think anything of it. Well the next day we were at church and the branch president points to a guy who I totally thought was white and said "hey he is from Staunton, go talk to him." Well, he wasn't American, he is from Cuba. He works for our branch president and the branch president had invited him to church... well we had also left a card at his door yesterday!!!  He came with that card.  We asked if he was a member and he said "no but what do you have to do to become one?" So we got his information. He then told us that he used to live in New York and always thought the story of Joseph Smith was interesting. He was reading the Book of Mormon during the sacrament and he loved the hymns.  He loved church so much. The testimonies were so awesome because they had just gone to the temple. Jose, the investigator cried and said he wanted to go and testify too because he felt the Spirit so strong.

So yes. Staunton is awesome. Its hard work but its awesome. I love this place already so much.

I love you all lots!

1 and done?

Hola amigos!

So transfers are this week and both Hermana Clark and I are leaving Stafford. I am so so sad. To do one transfer and done here is so lame. I love this area and the people so much but not a ton is happening in our area right now so its all good. President Smith told me that I will be opening a new area :) So I am exctied for the new adventure!

This week I had a super cool experience with being an instrument in the hands of God. We were at a members house for dinner and the father does not feel ready to go to the temple because he still makes some mistakes! like minor things like forgets to read or will raise his voice at his kids. But we felt prompted to tell him that God wants him to go and make those covenants with Him. It was a really powerful experience. I know I was the one moving my mouth but I wasn't the one speaking. If that makes sense? We shared part of the talk "Be ye therefore perfect, Eventually" by Elder Holland and it was just really powerful.

We had a lesson with this less active and her 11 year old son. it was so good. We shared the restoration with them and committed them to come to church the next day. Then we invited them to this activity we were having that night. As a stake we were going to watch "Meet the Mormons"and we really wanted them to come. Well the mom, couldn't go but the son was a little sad and said "yo quiero ir" (I want to go). So we told him that he could get dropped off and we would just hang out with him. And he agreed! But then a couple of hours later, eh texted us and said he was scared to go without his parents but we told him to come and he ended up coming! It was so awesome. We asked him how he liked the movie and he said "I am speechless" it was so precious. He was telling everyone that he really wants to come back to church. It was so cool. So much faith for an 11 year old.

I got to speak in church on Sunday,... IN SPANISH. It was terrifying but I did it and people actually understood what I said and the Spirit was there. It was cool. Super scary but cool. It was only like a 7 minute but great strides.  I love Spanish!!

I love you all so much

I bet you are still single!

Hola amigos!!

We had lessons with some less actives that we have not been able to contact so that was awesome!:) One of them let us in and she was so happy to see us! She gave us a hug and then went and got her 11 year old son who was so excited he ran out of his room and gave us hugs! She told us that her husband (who is not a member) had said the night before, we should go back to your church! How awesome is that?? God's timing is real. We are going to go back this week and work with them some more :) 

We went on exchanges and I had to translate dinner so that my sister training leader could understand and so that the member could understand.... so that was cool! My spanish is improving :)

We had a lesson with a part member family (husband is not a member but has been taught  by missionaries). He basically told us that he is waiting for "the moment" but he thinks that one day he will get baptized because the church has so much to offer and doesn't really have any cons. We don't know how to get him to know that he knows its true... ideas are appreciated? haha. We watched the conference talk "To the friend and investigators of the church" by Joaquin Costa and it was so solid. Then we had a really good discussion about repentance and why it is important before and after baptism.

We had stake conference this weekend and it was so awesome. Missionary work and the temple were a huge focus. And 'beginning with the end in mind' and how we should do that as missionaries. When we went to the washingtion D.C. temple the sealer talked about how we should do that we the people we are teaching. We should picture their family going to the temple and being sealed. That is why we are teaching them, so they can have eternal families. It was really cool and I am excited to talk about it with the members during dinner messages.

Now to explain the subject line... We were driving with a member to stake conference (she is literally so awesome. She is like my mom in Stafford. She literally bought us clothes because she thought of us at the store. She also gives mom hugs.) But we were with her and her kids and she stopped at Mcdonalds to get some ice cream and this is how the conversation went
Hermana Sodorholm: Can I get 4 hot fudge sundaes?
Mcdonalds guy: Sorry our ice cream machine is broken
Hermana Sodorholm: You just disappointed a bunch of women
Mcdonlads guy:that wouldn't be the first time
Hermana Sodorholm: I bet you are still single! (and then drives away without ordering anything else) hahaha! I died! She took it from 0 to 100 so fast!!

Anyways! That is all for this week!

Dogs and Trucks are Coming for Us

Hola amigos!

One of our investigators took us to Applebees this week and the TVs had the olympics on and I was so confused. I forgot the Olympics were a thing!

This week has kind of been a blur.

We met this guy, his name was Orlando. He was super cool and actually pretty interested about the gospel. He is definitely on house arrest though so that was really interesting. We haven't really been able to contact him since then but he was really cool!

We almost got attacked by another dog. This dog was really big and tied up. It barked at us so we ran away because we have PTSD from the last dog. But then we went and talked to the neighbor and she said the dog was nice so we went to go up to the door. The dog started walking back into the garage so we thought it was fine but then it turned and chased us and it knocked over the thing it was tied to. The owner of the house came out and told us that it would have bitten us if it could have just because it didn't know us. So that was terrifying. We did give the guy a Book of Mormon and he was really nice.

We got a referral from a member this week and we knocked on the door and this girl, Yeli, answered. She is super cool. She is in highschool and is starting to play softball! How awesome is that? But she accepted a Book of Mormon and asked us to come back and said she would for sure read it! I am excited! Then we went and told the member about it and she told us we went to the wrong house haha!! But God sent us there for a reason :)

We found a new investigator through facebook. He is really cool. He is not really religious but said he would like to know about our religion. So we did a video call and he had a lot of good questions. We have another appointment set up with him next week! I am excited :)

So we almost died. We were driving on the freeway and I was in the right lane because you can't really go fast without this little box yelling at you haha. So this semi truck started coming up behind us but he was in the lane next to us. All of the sudden he starts to come over into our lane and he didn't see us. I had to pull off to the side of the freeway and somehow I pulled over really smooth. Otherwise we could have ended up really messed up on the side of the road. Also, if this would have happened 30 seconds later, there would not have been a place for me to go because they are doing construction on that part of the freeway and there is a barrier. It was so scary but I know God was looking out for us.

I love you all so much!!

The Week Where Everything Happened

Hola amigos!!

Like everything happened this week. We found 3 new investigators with some serious potential. One of them we knocked on the door and explained the Book of Mormon. It was super cold outside and he asked us "do you guys do this every day in the cold?" So we told him yes and we told him that we do it because it is so important and we want everyone to know about it. So then he told us to come back when everyone is home so we can share our message with everyone! So that was awesome.

Crazy event of the week, we went to go knock on a formers door and there were chickens walking around everywhere. I got a little nervous because loose animals kind of make me nervous. But we get out of the car and this dog starts barking at us so we look at each other and say.. .can we get back in the car? So we go and the dog starts chasing Hermana Clark around the dog and it was barking and growling. It was so sketchy. But we made it out alive.

On Friday we went to the Washington D.C. temple! It was so beautiful. We got there and then we went to a sealing room and talked to a sealer! Then we were able to do initiatory and an endowment session. The temple is so pretty. We were able to sit in the celestial room and it was such a spiritual experience. I don't think I stopped smiling the entire time I was in the temple. I felt like I was at home. haha! The Spirit is so strong. We were able to talk with the temple president and he told us that we should be learning something new about the Savior and His atonement every time we go to the temple. I loved that day so much. I will never forget it. After the temple we went to the visitor center and we talked with some missionaries and I talked with someone who had been companions with Emerie Mabey.  So that was really cool!

On Saturday we were able to go a baptism for someone Hermana Clark taught when she was with the english sisters for a few weeks. His name is Mike and he is super awesome. The font was not filled too high so the first time he was baptized he did not go all the way under. So they had him kneel and he still didn't go all  the way under. So they had him sit. He literally sat and his had was still above the water and that is how he was baptized. It was so awesome. I love hearing testimonies of recent converts. It is so powerful!

My Sundays are pretty routine... We wake up and do some studies but then we have branch council at 11:30 so we go to the church. Then we have church from 1-4. Then we have dinner, then we go find for the rest of the night. This week was cool because they do a linger longer to break their fast. So we got to eat with the whole branch :)

Investigators from last week. 2 were from Facebook. We are no longer teaching some of them. None of them were super interested but the ones from this week are promising.

The church is like a mile away from our apartment but we don't live in our area haha. It takes us like 8 minutes to get to our area each day. We have a chick fil a just out of our area but we have one a little more down south that we have gone to a few times :)

This week, one day the weather was super warm and then the rest it was freezing. Super cold like one day I wore two pairs of tights.

there are three sets of missionaries in the branch. We cover like 4 English wards haha. Then the other elders cover the rest of the stake.

I am glad to hear that the eagles won!! sorry mom... hahaha! We knocked on a house last night and they turned us away because they were watching the superbowl... I didn't know that Hispanics liked american football haha!

The story about cherri gave me the chills. It is so crazy that she was willing to send him in 3 weeks. That is some serious faith. I don't know if I would have been able to do that. That is so crazy.

I am giving a "training" in district meeting this week on the Brother of Jared. :) I love that story so much. I love that they had so much faith. I think that as a missionary, I am a stone. I have been "touched" by the Lord and given a calling. I get to be the light and guide the way. I can't do anything for my investigators but I can light the way. Just something cool that I thought about this week :)

I love you all so very much! Thanks mom and dad for everything you have done for me in my life and that you are doing even though I am across the country.

District Volleyball