Todays the 11 month! :o

Whoa. So guess what CHECK IT. Salvador's getting baptized this Saturday whoop WHOOPP ! I. am SO excited for him ! He's already changed so much. It's so SO cool seeing how the changes someone makes on the inside show so much on the outside, just in how differently they act. It's like Heavenly Father just chips us and refines and refines and refines us, so that others can see Him when they look at us.

  So I'm way excited for Salvador. But we can use all the prayers that we can get k ! This week could be a hard one for him. But it's GO time down here. It ain't NOTHin.. ... ? hah

  Also, we've been having thunderstorms like.whoa. over here. We were gonna leave a less active family's home last night at liiiike. 8:45 or so. But out of nowhere, it just starts. POURING. and thundering, louder and brighter than I have ever seen it before in.mylife. So we stayed there a little longer, since it wasn't too safe. And Hna. Orozco gave us milk and homemade copies and bread.. anndd then. When we saw that it wasn't dying down at all, we just decided to go home so we wouldn't be way late. And we start driving out of the neighborhood, and the streets have waves of water, and the water was up to where our doors start ! hah after only like. 20 or 30 minutes of it. Crazy huh :o

  Umm. We et someone named "Angel Fire." He was a borracho-a drunk- who was outside his apartment, and we were on our way to an appointment. But. He was outside, so we went up and talked to him. So we start talking to him, he tells us his name is Angel Fire, and he has his 40 right next to him. And we did what we do ! We started bearing our testimonies to him, telling him that the restored gospel is on the Earth, that'll take us back to our Heavenly Father with our families..while his friends are inside laughing at us hah. And he says, "You know what. We're not going to heaven. heaven's coming to US." . .... .. ...and I felt SO BAD, not being able to say anything, knowing that I would start laughing if I did. But in the reality of it all, it is so sad seeing people so caught up in sin.. Hermana Perez was telling me yesterday how her grandma had told her, "It's not easy to sin. It's not easy to live with guilt, and too feel bad constantly, and to do the only thing you know how to do more and keep sinning." It's so hard that people look for the complete wrong ways to justify it and make it feel right. But how many times do we keep doing what we do, hoping, or feeling that if it becomes a habit, it becomes okay ? An Elder I know said that people do what they do because they don't see a way out. We shouldn't have to get to the point where we don't see a way out, but Hna. Perez told me this too.. that every single step in the right direction is a step.. no matter how big or small it is. It's one more than you took yesterday.

  I also learned this week that you need to learn to respect yourself if you want respect from anyone else. It's hard being in situations where you're made fun of, or talked down to, even if it's just joking. There is not one single person that has the same life as anyone. There is no point in generalizing anybody, or in putting anyone in a stereotype. Because once we do that, we stop listening. And we stop seeing how much worth every single soul has. And once we see our own worth, and we show that we know what we are worth, we will notice that everyone will start to treat us better. And that we are not EVER worth being talked down to.. and that none else is either.

  Ayyy pues. Asi es la vida esta semana. Ojala que tengamos mas fotos del bautismo de Salvador en este Lunes que viene. Cada dia hay tanto que necesitamos aprender, y disfrutar también. Ojala que busquen estas oportunida

des para ver la felicidad que puedan experimentar. Ojala que vean que el amor es lo mas importante, y que no hay ningún lugar para nada mas. Les quiero, y oro por ustedes. Siemmmpre voy a tener tanta gratitud por cada palabra de esperanza y apoyo, la cual me ha dado mucha mas fortaleza aquí. Gracias gracias !

hasta. la vista baby.

La Hermana B.

 

 

Una Semana

... til I hit the 11-month mark :o ! I hear that after the 1-year mark time just FLIES.. not that I would know. I haven't gotten there yet :)

  But anyways!! You want to hear something way cool?? We felt like visiting this investigator of ours one day, but she wasn't home. Bt outside of the home next to her, we saw this woman sitting down. She's elderly, and doesn't have much hair and looks like she may be sick. We decided to go over there, and we approached her and say hi. And we got the absolute coldest look ever. And she was just staring at us and says, "well. what." so! We told her that we have a message for her about Jesus Christ. And we sat down on her porch in front of her, and! we start sharing with her the plan of salvation. and we start talking to her about prayer, and we decided to ask her if she prays. And she starts telling us how she prays in the morning, night, nd before her meals. And I don't know what happened, but out of nowhere she starts crying. sobbing crying. And she just says in between her tears, "Yes. I pray." by the time we got out of that lesson, her heart and attitude had COMPLETELY changed. They had become complete opposites, and she had become so much more open to us and what we had to say. In the matter of less than an hour. I think it is very easy for us to undermind (is that the word ?) the power that our Heavenly Father has. He can make anything happen that we couldn't believe would be possible in our wildest dreams. He can change any- and everyone :)

  Speaking of which! I still have pictures of Salvador dumping out his coffee under the porch of his home when I remember to bring the cord :) He has been beer-free for one week yesterday :) and he came to church again yesterday, and is changing so much! I always wanted to be able to see the hands of our Savior working in the life of someone who has an addiction.. it is so amazing what He can do !

  Heavenly Father has shown me so many weaknesses that I have, in just the short almost 11 months that I have been out here. And Hermana Perez and I keep talking about our weaknesses, and how similar ours are. It is so easy for a missionary to recognize them and be so hard on themselves, but in the reality of life, we're out here trying to consecrate ourselves and be the best we can be, but we don't realize that we still have the rest of our lives to improve after this mission. We may get down on ourselves for not doing right what we keep striving to, or not getting a good grade for example. But life will keep going on! We will keep growing, and we will keep learning from every single day if we search for the lesson in it. There is always a reason Heavenly Father gives us another day. We just don't look for the reason all the time. We will always be weak. But we will always be loved, and always be carried so that we do not feel alone in our weakness.

  Entonces, yo no se que mas debo compartir. Hoy vamos a hacer papusas..? una comida de El Salvador ;) pero les quiero muchisimo. No se que decir del mundo, sino que no mire la pelicula de Harry Potter. Pero gracias les doy por las 3 cartas de correo electronico que recibi yo, explicando que tan asombrosa que fue ajaj ! Broma :p pero con todo que tengo yo, el Evangelio es real, y es lo unico que nos trae el descanso que necesitamos. En los momentos de sonido mas fuerte, nos trae el Evangelio la paz que buscamos.

Portense bien mi familia. Y brace yourselves. 7 meses.

jaja o nunca. los dos estan bien. ;)

La Iglesia es Verdadera....

La Hermana B

And WHAT! Unodostres :o

Hahahh so in 2 weeks I'm gonna hit my 11-month mark :o so loco no. Pero andele ! Vamanos.

  We have this investigator, Salvador. He is SO INCREDIBLE!! He has been trying and trying to quit coffee and beer, and he has a baptismal date for this coming 30th de Julio. We are so excited for him. The other day we went over his house, and we asked him about his coffee and brought him this coffee substitute we had bought him. And so we asked him to go inside and get his coffee, and so he brings it out, and we asked him if he was ready to leave it. he said yes, so we invited- ;)- him to dump it out underneath his porch hahh ! I'VE ALWAYS wanted to do that ahhah. So I got a picture with him while he was dumping it out, and then afterwards with him and the Nescafe jar. He has such a happy smile on his face! But I forgot my camera cord. So next week. :)

  Allllso, we had a lesson with Salvador last night. He had beer yesterday :/ and knowing that by being a missionary of God, He can give me His power to be able to help others in whatever way they need it. So when he told us this, he kind of laughed, not realizing that. well. drinking is bad. hah, but I started praying to know what to say, or how to bring up the fact that what he did was wrong, so that he knows not to do it again. And then Hermana Perez starts bringing up the commandments, like completely setting it up for me to be able to talk to him about drinking. So before we knew it, we're talking without even realizing how bold we were being, and needed to be. So now! We are going to get him bottles of Coca Cola so that whenever his friends offer him something, he can say. "Oh naw I'm cool, I already have a drink !" genius. haha, but it was so cool, feeling Heavenly Father working through us to help one of His children stop drinking, and be happier! I don't think I will ever be able to fully realize how happy we as human beings can make others. Everything we do can become so contagious.

  Salvador is our main story for this week. We are so excited to see who we can help together. Heavenly Father's hands are in our lives constantly! And I don't mean the lives of me and my companion. Every single one of our lives, if we let Him. YO siento que somos los que lo hacen mas dificil para dejar que nuestro Padre Celestial nos ayude. Pero es mi punto de vista :) yo no puedo predicar lo que no practico, pero de propias experiencias mias, yo se que la vida en general es mas facil que damos todo al Senor. Solamente es dificil hacerlo. Pero asi es. Vamos a tener que econtrar nuestra fe cada dia nuevamente. Porque si no caminamos por la fe, de que caminamos ?

  Ok entonces, es mi tiempo para irme. No recorde mi agenda, entonces no recuerdo la semana cuando pase eso. jaja bien hecho Hermana ! Pero mi familia. TODA mi familia, de la sangre y del amor, les quiero tantisisisimo. Ojala que sepan esto siempre jamas ! Portense bien. :)

La Hermana B.

Transfas! - 7/4/2011

Sooo THIS transfer's different. Hermana Holland's getting transferred to Horizon TAY-HAWS. My first area!! I couldn't even be sad, because I know how happy she's going to be down there, and how 'made' she'll have it, with how amazing it is. I am s completely and thoroughly convinced that it is the best area in the entire world.. I'm not kidding. hah. But of course, this area is absolutely amazing too. Ayy YAY ! I can't believe I'm a missionary. I don't think I ever will. But Hermana Perez is going to be coming up here with me..she's been out a transfer less than me, and didn't speak any Spanish before her mission I believe. But she has the name. Lucky. hahahh ! I'm kidding :)

  Well this week was TAN locita ! We met this woman from Columbia, Janett, who we had given a pass-along card to one day, and Hna. Holland wanted to follow up on it. She's black! Her and her entire family, but her husband is from Cuba, and they all speak Spanish. It is so crazy seeing it, but it's my ab.solute DREAM. hah. but forreall. She's so cool too! And it turns out, miracle of miracles, that she had been having the missionaries over about 2 years ago, and wanted to get baptized and everything! So we taught her again, and never..ever EVER had I seen someone listen so intently in a lesson before. She is so amazing.

  We also have our investigator Salvador! He was a referral from the English Elders, our neighbors, and we were visiting him for a little while, and out of nowhere we visited him the other day, and he's all, "Yo oro? Ok. Yo lo hago." ..like. "I'll pray? Ok, I'll do it." and just starts praying! And he had read his Libro de Mormon, and you know what? Lessons are SO MUCH BETTER wen one reads and prays! haha, now he is trying to give up la cerveza (beer) and coffee in the mornings. We're gonna get him a substitute today :) so! Way cool. Please pray for him. pleaseeee please please these people need them more than us family. :) lives can be made so much better!

  ALSO. We have been visiting the Ramirez family everyday, and they're doing well! It's not easy for them, having lost Abraham. But they have so much support, so they're gonna be okay :) I feel that slowwwly. but surely. Everything will be put back together with the family. They can only get better from here.

  You know what the biggest lesson I learned this week was? Because to start off. After speaking at a funeral for our investigator, Abraham, on Friday, and then hearing about Charlie on Monday, I was so exhausted, and drained, and overwhelmed that we just went home after e-mailing, and I cried until we went out to work..only to get dropped by investigators that night hah. But I just cried. and cried. But I gave it all to the Lord. Knowing that there was NO possible way I would be able to go out to work and smile without Him. And He carried me, through every single step that I took. Through every moment of sadness, it was like He was filling it the sadness with even more love that I couldn't have possibly been able to provide myself. It was so incredible, knowing that HE knew just what I needed. And it's what got me through! He is what gets every single one of us through.

  Another cool thing that happened! We were on our way to visit the Ramirez's the other day, when all of a sudden I felt that we shouldn't have been there. What may have happened, I didn't know. But I felt that we should have visited one of our investigators, Gabi. Even though we had just visited her less than a day before. WAY weird, but it was SO CLEAR. So we stopped by Janett's before, who wasn't home. Smart. on our part. Way smart. But I told Hna. Holland about it, and we decided to go to Gabi. On the other side of the city hah. The entire time we were driving there, I was thinking, kay this is miles. Am I ABSOLUTELY SURE that that is what I thought.  And then I thought about it and I was all. Nothing. EVER has come so clear to me as her name did. So! We walked in and talked to them, seeing if everything was okay, saying that we just had a feeling that we should come over to make sure. And Gabi's mouth DROPPED, and her mom was saying that everything was fine, but Gabi looked at me and shook her head, as if it wasn't. WOW the Spirit is SO COOL! Sooo. We talked with them a little, and they're fine now. But paying attention.. REALLY paying attention and basing our hearts and actions off of what Heavenly Father tells us is how we're going to go about doing the most good. How cool is THAT.

  Sooo I'm gonna get going so I can send pictures. Today for the 4th of July we went to this GORGEOUS park to play ultimate frisbee with the Tompkins, and the Pratt's and our Branch President and his family. That's why we're so late. Cuz dude I dominated. hahah ! Just kidding.

  ANyway I love you family! Thank you for all of your support, for all of your love and pray, por mi, pero mas, por nuestros investigadores. Muchas MUCHAS gracias.

La Iglesia es verdadera !

La Hermana B.

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.