En Memoria

Abraham passed away last Wednesday, after fighting for so long. On Tuesday, we were on exchanges, and we went to visit the Ramirez family, and I walked in and it was quiet. They had told me earlier that Abraham and his mom had gone to the hospital, so I asked them how he was. And the oldest son, Jorge, who's 13, tells me, "Abraham's dying." .. . ......... And I think I saw it coming. But we listened to Hno. Ramirez for a little bit and had a prayer with them, then we went on to the hospital to go see them. So it's me, an English-speaking missionary who just barely got switched to speak Spanish, so she doesn't know much, and the Elders, who have been struggling with Spanish. So I'm talking to Hna. Ramirez, and she's telling me how the tumors in Abraham's brain are just inflaming and inflaming his head, so much that it forces his eyes shut, and he's been unconscious and wasn't going to wake up. That they were pretty much just waiting for him to take his last breath. I was the only one who could understand what she was saying.. only cuz I was trying to put together the medical words with what I know from Mom hah :) so I start crying. But I had to gather myself and let everyone know what was going on. Sooo. We just sat in silence for a good while with Hermana Ramirez, because at 22 years old, I don't really know what to say to try and make someone feel better. Then we all knelt down around Abraham's hospital bed and had a prayer. Sooo that was Tuesday night! Wednesday he died. And Friday we had the funeral for him. So the branch, this AMAZING branch, was absolutely incredible putting everything together so fast. Oh! Something else! The Ramirez family asked that I speak at his funeral. So not only do I have no idea what I'm going to say, my very first talk as a Spanish missionary-other than bearing my testimony on fast Sundays-is at a funeral. Who EVER. would have thought hahah. But anyway. Everything's really okay now! Death is such a hard thing to go through. It is such a hard thing for me to accept. The fact that you won't hear one's voice again for a little while, the fact that you can't just go over and see their face. But everything beyond is so much more. There is so much more hope that we can have, because WE KNOW where these people are. WE KNOW they have a chance to be happy, and we have a chance to see them again. We know that Heavenly Father is paving the way for something so much more amazing for us than how great our pain is.

  Abraham had a hard life, especially a hard past couple of years, fighting and fighting brain cancer. But at the funeral, his Mom went up and spoke (Hermana Ramirez), and she said something that I will never EVER forget. She said, "I would do it all again." All the pain she had to go through, all of the heartache seeing her son go through every painful surgery and treatment, everything. She would do it all again. And that's how I want to be when I get older. Instead of saying, "Man. I wouldn't ever go through THAT trial again." hah I want to be able to take every single thing I have learned from my trials, and be eager to learn more. Or to love more. Because I always notice that I am wayyy more sensitive and have wayyy more love when I am going through something tough.

  Cambiando el tema! There is this investigator we have, Salvador. And we went on Saturday to visit him. He wasn't home, but there were 3 people sitting outside his house drinking. We went up to one of them who we knew and were talking to him for a little while.. while the woman and the man who were sitting down were just sitting there. full on MEAN MUGGING us, just glaring hah. When all of a sudden, the woman THROWS down and completely shatters her bottle of beer and gets up with the man and they start fighting in Spanish.. and she's trying to hit him over and over. This man who's twice the size of her. Then she goes over to us and is yelling, 'QUE??! VETE!' as in.. 'what?? GO!' hah. Soooo we left ! Haha what goes ON in this town I WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND IT. But anyway. That was prooobably the funniest thing that has happened this week. Everything else is pretty much the same.

  I wanna let ya'll know that I love you! I'm praying for you, especially for Charlie, Sylus, and Tyler's families. You will be in every single on of my prayers, and the prayers of everyone around you and me :) I'm sorry this is such a sad week. Trust me, I'm feeling it here in NM. But we always have a reason to smile, no matter how hard it gets. And Heavenly Father is with us..carrying us every single step of the way. I love you :)

La Iglesia es verdadera....

La Hermana B.

PSALMS 116:8

10 Months Down :o

  This e-mail is prooobably going to be a little short, just because I have no clue what to say to even start. But main things!

  You know la familia Ramirez? Well CHECK THIS OUT. On Tuesday we picked them up so they could follow us to visit the temple. And they all looked so good! In their white shirts nd skirts and everything ! Like a little family joined in the gospel x) makin it HAPPEN. Abraham hasn't really been doing well. Yesterday when we went to visit them, he had been asleep allll day long because he's on morphine to help his tumors. So we've been trying to teach them how important the temple is.. because without it, we can't be with our families forever! Who doesn't want THAT??! SO. They absolutely LOVED. The temple. And now they have a goal to go together to get sealed :) the only thing is, is 2 of the sons, Xavier and Jorge, need to get baptized. And soo far Xavier is taking the lessons. So it'll be work. But it won't be impossible. Aiight !

  ANyway, la familia Ramirez is the family we have been working with day in and day out, and as sad as it is to say, we've just been able to be in and out with others. It's like we just keep finding people who are too nice. Or something. I don't know what in the world it is. This has been a way hard week, because Heavenly Father has been testing our faith, and it isn't until it is tested that I realized how important it is. It's like when every single thing points to something not being able to happen, faith is the only thing that makes points us the opposite way.. to possibility, if that makes sense. It's such a blessing being here. It's one of those times where you just look back and know that wen you weren't able to walk anymore, Heavenly Father was the One who started pulling me along. And that alone is a blessing to be able to look back and see His hands in our lives so much.

  Anyway! That's the e-mail for this week. Enjoy :) We're having exchanges tonight, so I'm sure I'll have something more next week ahah. ;) Be good!

La Hermana B.

runDEEOWN

Haha this week was horrible. But let's get started family !

     Sooo. This past Wednesday was my birthday, and we had Zone Conference! So it's 7:30 a.m. and we're at the chapel with the other missionaries doing car inspections, and we get a call from President and Sister Miller. Those calls are TERRIFYING when we see their name come up on our phone. Cuz it could be ANYthing from someone getting emergency-transferred (E.T.ed) to something happening in your family. But I'm being dramatic.. I knew everything was fine hah. But! it turns out that they were calling in the car on the way to the chapel to sing me happy birthday ! Sooo then we had Zone Conference, and our branch was in charge of providing the lunch for all the missionaries, and this complete rockstar, Hermana Ruiz (the Relief Society President) had made me a fullon GORGEOUS tres leches cake for the dessert.. and I had told her at dinner before that my birthday is the Dora the Explora theme.. even though I wasn't gonna do anything haha. But she went and got Dora decorations for the cake and EVERYthing ! When she's WAY tight on money too.. way.tight. It's so sad, I'd be happier with them being better off. I could have done without a cake, but it was so sweet anyway. Then.! Later on that night, we went to the TOMPKINS to get DOWN with dinner. Haha they had bbq'ed, they bought a DAIRY QUEEN cake hah, and they got me presents!! They kind of fought to get dinner on my birthday, and I just thought we were gonna eat! It was so sweet of them, especially after going to the Ramirez's house and seeing that Abraham is NOT doing good with his health. Actually, we went over there yesterday and just did chores to help clean up the house while they were helping the little girl, Jannet, with a bee sting, and Abraham with all of his medicine. It was sosad.sososososad. Seeing a family with so much pain, and so many problems that we alone cannot fix. And it's hard just relying on Heavenly Father to do what we can't. But what we CAN do is be there, and that is better than nothing at all.

  Sooo Friday was a good day. Hahah. Before dinnertime, we either got dropped or had to drop 3 of our investigators, and after dinner we got dropped by one of the less active families we're working with. 4 in one day. beautiful. absoLUTEly beautiful hah. Sooo right now we feel like we're stuck. With the area we're in, with the investigators we had that we thought were so ready, with everything. We have no idea what to do when it seems like everyone is falling through these tiny. TINY cracks of the world. Just today we tried giving cards to people at the store and stuff, and 3 people wouldn't even take a card ! ay YAY.! But it's okay. Because things like this happen on missions. We're BOUND to come across these tests of our faith. Actually, on Friday after we got dropped the 3rd time, we walked out and I said, "Que hacemos??!" like. what are we doing??! and I stopped and realized that we had just taught SUCH a powerful lesson, and bourn the most of our testimonies that we had, and still nothing. At times, it really isn't what we do wrong, or anything like that. At times it just ISN'T the time for this person in their lives. Maybe we're just their stepping stone for when they're more ready.

  So Saturday!! haaaaaahahahh. This was a good day. Saturday. We went on exchanges, and I was with my 'sister', Hermana Jardine. We have the same trainer. And our 'grandma' in the mission has already returned home, but she came back to Rio Rancho to live there after her mission. So she had called the Sisters out there and asked them to help with this special needs fundraiser.thing. So we go there thinking we're gonna be helping Special Needs children for a few hours, but in reality ! It turns out to be a fundraiser to raise money for these children.. and the fundraiser was like. a Zumba concert? Class 'extravaganza' hahahah. And if yall don't know what Zumba is. It's like. A dance-workout type class, that goes to music like Pitbull and Lil Jon and everything. So! We're handling the tickets in this huge stadium for 4 hours or so, with this BOOMING rap music in the background and everyone dancing the ENTIRE TIME. Apparently half of the Spanish branch there had come down to do it too hahah. OMGOSH I feel like if I could survive not dancing to that for 4 hours, I could survive anything. .. . ....well no that was dramatic hahah. But seriously. So! While we were there, we put pass-aong Mormon.org cards with all of the fliers we were supposed to give everyone hah. What else are we gonna do :p And it was way cool, because we stayed calm and decided to roll with it, since we couldn't do anything else. And I realized right then that the Spirit was still with us, because we have the GIFT of the Holy Ghost. In whatever situation we're in, in our families, our marriages, our companionships, if we have the Spirit with us, we can be in any place and be absolutely fine. But if it is the opposite, we can be in the temple and the Spirit won't be with us if we aren't being worthy to have it, or dependent on it. It saves us. It really really saves us.

  So anyway! That's the week I had. Thank you for everything you do. And thank you for those who are even reading this. Who have SOME kind of interest in what it's like out here hah. Todos nosotros necesitamos recordarnos de que si tenemos la fe, tenemos todo. Pero la responsibilidad es la nuestra para controlar y averiguar exactamente en que tengamos esta fe. Porque yo testifico con todo que si no es en Dios, no es en nada.

I love ya'll! I'm sorry this e-mail isn't. that amazing. haha but know that I mean well. Es que mi cabezita esta locita ahora :)

pray for Abraham please! And the Ramirez family! I love ya'll!

La Herm

ana B.

8/6/2011

So I have no idea what to name this e-mail.. not that the title is what you look forward to every week anyway haha. But. You know. Anyway!

  So this week we've been getting a GRIPP of referrals from our neighbors, the English Elders. And 3 of them turned out to be these beyond amazaing people that we've been trying to teach.. one of them is 20 years old, and he has a daughter and has been trying to get off of Coke for awhile now, and we brought a member to our first lesson with him who has a brother in the same situation.. and we didn't even know it ! And she's basically teaching the lesson in tears, while he's sitting there tearing up, and the Spirit was SO THICK you could hardly see through it hah. But the problem is, is that we've been trying since then to teach him, and we've seen him, but he's always on his way out to work, or on Saturday night we visited him, and we saw THE SIGNS. He had a Rockstar drink in his hands, and he went outside because his friends were inside, and his eyes were glazed. Like he was partying. So we go home feeling disgusting. And I'm praying and praying, and I try to go to sleep, and I just start crying, and crying. Because how can that happen?? How can someone feel something SO strong, and then just lose it so quickly. It's so sad how we only have an hour, if that, to change his perspective of the world he's living in the other 23 hours of the day. It is so hard, and it's even harder seeing someone hurt like that. After finding out just a little bit about someone's life. But afterwards, Hna. Holland climbed into bed with me hah, and we started talking and I don't remember WHATT she said, that made me laugh SO HARD. And it made me realize that even in the saddest moments, when you hurt the most for others, Heavenly Father has His OWN way to bring us out of it. The world is tough. But we're tougher than the world. We're better than it, because we were created from Him in the heavens.

  So PLEASE!! I have a few people for you to pray for. Abraham, the boy with brain cancer who has a baptismal date. He went into the hospital the other day because he had thrown up blood with some kid of worm-looking thing in it. So! We had dinner with the Elders that night, and they followed us after dinner to give Abraham a blessing. And Abraham gets tired just walking, and has to walk REALLY slow to get around. But Elder Naumann gave him a blessing right. And in this blessing, Heavenly Father promised Abraham that soon. He'll be walking, and running, and playing with his friends again. What that means, I do NOT know. But the Spirit was so strong, it was incredible. It was incredible to know that Heavenly Father sees what we can't. He guides us so much.

  Also! Saturday when we had dinner with the Elders, we ate at the home of the Ruiz family. And Hna. Ruiz is the president of the Relief Society, and we were talking about the singer Selena.. and the movie. THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER. And she goes to the other room and puts on Selena songs on her computer and comes out dancing hahh ! OH MY GOSH TEMPTATION. I was like. Do I sing?? Do I freak out? hahah. Whatever. But she was all, "Es un regalo para su cumpleanos!" and keeps dancing. haha why are these people SO COOL !

  But anyway. I absolutely love being a missionary. Through everything, I have learned that we need to be patient, because it.is going to be okay. It will ALWAYS. be okay. Heavenly Father knows us, a dentro y a fuera. He knows who we need to meet to change us. He knows who we need, in EVERY.single moment of our lives to keep us hanging on. Yo se que vive mi Senor. Yo se que el Evangelio, y nada mas, trae felicidad. La felicidad la que estamos buscando cada dia. No la podemos encontrar en nada mas. Y yo SE que vamos a hablar Espanol en los cielos. Aprendan!

 hahaha I love you all so much. No puedo creer que voy a cumplir en 2 dias. GUACALA. Pero asi es la vida. Siempre pasan los dias. :p Portense bien k familia!

con amor. con mis oraciones. con mi estilo.

 La Hermana B.

ATTACKED.

Hahhhahah oh my gosh. So tell me why we wake up at 6:15 and I go to the bathroom and find this HUGE DRAGON of a cockroach in the bathroom sink. No somos cochinas o NADA asi ! Pero we've been finding spiders and cockroaches infesting us all.week.long hah. I woke up the other morning with 2 bites of SOMEthing on each of my legs. What was attacking me. I may never.know. hah. But it's okay! We're still kickin. Let's do dis.

  Sooo memba Debra?? She speaks English, but we are constantly running into her at

       'THE Casa Bonita Apartments"

we're there just about every day.. because there's A LOT of Spanish there, and she happens to live there ! So she had asked us to try and help find a detox place she can go to..so we found this place called MATS, and you are accepted and free to come and go on your own will, and it's free for people in Alb.! They just have to have a bed free for the patient to stay. So we called her Wednesday to tell her about it. And you know what she says! She's all, "Oh my gosh how crazy! I just randomly thought about that place last night! You know what, if they have a bed free, I'll go! I'm THERE!" So! They didn't have a bed free Wednesday or Thursday, but Friday we ran into her AGAIN at Casa Bonita, and she was getting ready to go! I guess SHE had called and they finally had a bed free for her. So PLEASE pray for her ! She's gonna be in there for 2 weeks, but if it gets too hard, she can leave on her own will. ..and it'll be hard. So prayers for her would be WAY more than appreciated. :)

  Also! We've been working with la familia Ramirez, with Abraham who has cancer. He doesn't really like Spanish and has a hard time reading Spanish OR English.. so we come over for a little every day to read the Book of Mormon with him in English, since his mom only speaks Spanish. It's SO COOL seeing them change ! He said a serious prayer the other day, with his eyes closed and everything. Him and his family went to church..including Jorge! Remember Jorge!!! Way WAY cool. We've found that most of the work that's actually having success with us is with the less actives.. but I'm WAY more than okay with that hah. Lives are lives. People are people, and they only find happiness when they find God. Because when He is the center of our lives, happiness is the center of our lives. I've found in the lives of these people and in my OWN life that once we realize how important God is in our lives, every decision, every situation becomes easier. It only becomes a burden when the human in us make it a burden.

  this week has been absolutely inSANE. But I can't think of what else to say. We have a loner car right now while ours is getting fixed. And it doesn't have air conditioning, so we've been baking these past couple days hah ! But all of these things that happen..the problems we have with dragons in our house, the air conditioner, the way more than necessary awkward moments that we have, we can either complain about or laugh at, because these are the things that make a mission what it is. The people, and the experiences in between. It's so weird. I never EVER would have thought a mission would be what this one has been to me. I never would have thought I'd feel so lonely, but at the same time, I never would have thought I'd feel so loved. It's incredible.

  La Iglesia es increible. El Evangelio tiene tanto sentido. Es absolutemente lo mas claro y bonito aspecto de la vida. Y esta aqui para nosotros! Para hacer nuestras vidas mas felices, y mas faciles. Nose hace. :)

Este es un poco cortito.. pero es hecho con amor !

con mi testimonio. con mi corazon.

La Hermana B.