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

Stafford

Hola Amigos!!

I get to go to the temple on Friday which is my 6 month mark:) so that's pretty cool. 

My companion is a little bit of an adjustment from my last companions. She is not as humble and I don't have her trust on like anything. But she really loves the gospel so thats really nice!

This week has been crazy!! We found 6 new investigators this week!!  We started the week by visiting a less active. He didn't know that Jesus came to the Americas so we read 3 Nephi 11 with him mand he is interested in learning more so we have apointments with him!

The next morning we woke up and our car had gotten towed. I was so mad. The church doewn't pay for it so I had to pay 50 dollars. We didn't have our parkng pass in our car because we switched cars with the elders. It was super lame.

We wen't on exchanges with the sister training leaders this week and I went with Sister Wastland. We went searching for potentials (this was in their area so it was all lin english) and we were loooking for a guy, Ryan. We knocked on the door and asked for him but they said he didn't live there. So we asked this girl, Megan, if she had heard of our church. She said she had but she didn't know much about it so we started teaching the restoration and she said the drove psat a building in DC that had a guy with a trumpet on it!!! Her dad was wondering what it was so she googled it and learned that it was the angel Moroni! She thought the Book of Mormon was so interesting and set up a time to meet with the sisteres againa nd said she would invite her dad!! So that is awesome!!

My spanish is improving day by day and I can understand basically everything if  I actually concentrate. so that is aweosme! Thats all I can really remmeber from this week haha but it was awesome!!

I love you all so much!

our relief society chairs that are in our apartment

Hola Friends and Family!

So I am in Stafford. Its the most Northern part of our mission :) This week has been a little crazy because the transfer day got moved to Tuesday due to a "snow storm" that was coming. So I have been here since Tuesday. My new companion is Hermana Clark. She is from Park City. She has been on her mission since September. So yes, I am the senior companion and am expected to know more Spanish hahah. That also means I get to drive. So that is fun. Virginia roads are super crazy!

My last night in Henrico was a blast. We had a family home evening and our investigators came! It was so sad to tell them that I would be leaving. But hopefully I will be able to go back for their baptism. :)

My area in Stafford doesn't have a ton of investigators so we are spending our time doing a lot of finding. We haven't found any Hispanics to teach this week but we have found some English referrals that were super cool! One of them took the Book of Mormon and then wanted to give us a donations haha!!

We have an investigator whose name is Cindy. She wanted to be baptized last year but her parents will not let her. They won't let her come to church either but her faith is incredible. She shared her testimony with us about reading your scriptures every day and doing the little things to maintain her testimony. She is so incredible and is trying to move to San Diego so that she can be baptized. I have only met her once but have learned so much from her.

I have been reading some conferences talks lately and a lot of them tell the story of Joseph Smith in liberty jail when he is told "thine afflictions will be but a moment" and then basically gets told, so "endure it well". It has really helped me keep an eternal perspective about moments that are hard! Hard times will pass :)

I love you all so much!!

Me with Hermana Clark

Last Week in Henrico

Hola amigos!! 

Your relief society lesson is awesome. I have had a self check on what "my rudder" is this week. Is it wanting to find people and teach people for numbers and so we will look good to the mission president or is it because I love the gospel and want everyone to have it? I love this gospel and this work and that is why I am here. It has been good to check and make sure that I have the right mindset for this work :)

This week has been super cool! We have been teaching this couple, Angel and Gisella since I got to Virginia and this week, We put them on date for baptism!!! We were having a lesson with them and it was getting late. We had like 5 minutes before we needed to leave but we felt like we should extend the baptismal invitation. We had been talking about the plan of salvation and we just finished talking about the 3 kingdoms of glory. Gisella was excited but Angel was pretty tentative to accept the date. We explained that it is like a goal to work towards and he said yes! Then they came to church on Sunday!!

On Friday we were able to watch President Monson's funeral and that was really great. I am so grateful that we have been given prophets to guide the church today. We are so blessed to have that. I am also happy that President Monson is with his wife and is no longer suffering physical pain.

We went to a recent convert's house, Joaquin, to teach him about faith and the lesson was going really well. Then his mom came in (she has investigated the church before but then loss interest) and some things happened with her boyfriend and she was pretty upset. She sat down with us and we talked to her about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how it can help her through all of her problems. She said she wanted to start coming to church again. She came on Sunday! She brought Joaquin (who hasn't been to church for 2 months), and the rest of her family! It was so so awesome!! Our church starts at 1:50 which is super late but its nice because more people are coming! We had another less active that we have been working with come to church and she hasn't come for over 2 years!! It is so awesome!!

On Saturday we got the call saying I will be leaving Henrico. I am super super thankful for the time that I have had to serve here. This branch is so amazing! I am excited to go to a different part of Virginia and serve! I will let you know about an address next Monday!

I love you all so much!!

District pic! 

This lady asked if we wanted a picture with her so we said sure!