Monday, March 23, 2015

#think20

Hola familia!!

Well this week was so much better! :) So much better! Like the best week of the transfer. The miracles of week 6!

Well to first start out, I am staying again!! This will be transfer 5 here in Joshua! I am so happy to stay again. I love this area and we are going to see miracles this next transfer for sure! So by the end of this transfer it will be 7 1/2 months in the same place! Does it feel like that long, not really! But crazy thing is after this transfer ends, I will only have 2 more left...

So, onto the week!

(It is a good day when you find a pass along card already on the post!..there is more to this story though...so look on Wednesday in my email :))

Monday- We had a zone activity and we just ate food and played sports, soccer, football, volleyball and slack lining. We did a bit of contacting before dinner and the amazing thing is- IT DOESN'T GET DARK UNTIL 7!! I love it! We then ate dinner with the Rojas family and then had an FHE with Sheila and her family. We also started a theme within our district called #think20. We are doing this because most of the missionaries here are having trouble finding new investigators, so we had this in our minds all week to have more faith to find people. 

Tuesday- We headed to some service in the morning and then contacted more before our lesson with Rosemary. With Rosemary, since she didn't come to church on Sunday, we had a drop talk with her- pretty much told her that we can't do anything more- she has to make her own decision to go to church or not. So we left her with the commitment to come to church and that once she comes to church then we can help her start preparing for baptism again. It was sad, but we can only do so much until someone has their own agency. We then had dinner with the Rasch family and then stopped by the Juarez family and shared a quick Mormon message about Hope from Pres Uchtdorf. And then we passed by a less active, Jeny Ortiz and read a scripture from Mosiah 24:14-15 about burdens and how Christ can really lift those burdens as we trust in him. 

(Birthday celebration in the branch!)

Wednesday- Not much happened this day, but #think20 is going on it's way! We found a new investigator!! His name is Arnold, he is a 28 year old with a daughter and came from Honduras. He has been catholic for his whole life, but he has a lot of questions about the Plan of Salvation and simple gospel things. He has never met missionaries before, but he let us share a message with him. So it was cool to talk about the gospel. And we are hoping that he will want to learn more! That night we were in charge of the relief society activity and we threw another birthday party and it was a blast! Of course, we are in Spanish work, so everyday is a party! :D But we had desserts and we played 2 truths and 1 lie. And then we played another game like the fruit basket called "Ha visto me chiva" (have you seen my goat) and you ask a person that and they respond with what someone is wearing and you can also just respond with making a goat sound! Yeah, imagine all these older Hispanic women making goats noises and running around the room trying to get a seat before someone else. FUNNY!

Thursday- We had a lesson with a potential named Susie- another #think20. She is a single mom of 4 boys, and is friends with a member in our ward- Shelia, and that is actually how we got to start teaching her. She has been taught by missionaries before, but didn't really have time with work and her MS disease. But this time she wants us to come and teach her. We are excited for her and to see her progress. We taught her half of the Restoration because we spent the first half of the lesson getting to know her and telling her what we do as missionies. We then went and visited Rosaura to say hi. We then planned for week 1 of the next transfer...! what?? Yeah, its happening. We then were contacting later that day and we knocked on a guy's house. His name is Carlos, he is a younger guy and has been through a hard life, but has now been sober and reading the bible more and when we knocked on his door we talked about the Book Of Mormon and he said that he wants to know if this book is true. He loves to read and we are excited to keep teaching him and help him understand the gospel more and more. So he let us sit outside and teach him more! And he accepted to be baptized and he has a baptismal date for April 25th. That night our lesson canceled with Pedro because he wasn't back from work yet, so we stopped by Hna Harding and shared a message with her from PMG. 

Friday- We had district meeting this morning and I gave a spiritual thought on 2 things- a talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland ("Missionary Work and the Atonement") This is the part that I shared with them -- 

"Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, Why is this so hard? Why doesn't it go better? Why can’t our success be more rapid? Why aren't there more people joining the Church? It is the truth. We believe in angels. We trust in miracles. Why don’t people just flock to the font? Why isn't the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font? You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary. Now, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking about anything anywhere near what Christ experienced. That would be presumptuous and sacrilegious. But I believe that missionaries and investigators, to come to the truth, to come to salvation, to know something of this price that has been paid, will have to pay a token of that same price. For that reason I don’t believe missionary work has ever been easy, nor that conversion is, nor that retention is, nor that continued faithfulness is. I believe it is supposed to require some effort, something from the depths of our soul. If He could come forward in the night, kneel down, fall on His face, bleed from every pore, and cry, “Abba, Father (Papa), if this cup can pass, let it pass,” then little wonder that salvation is not a whimsical or easy thing for us. If you wonder if there isn't an easier way, you should remember you are not the first one to ask that. Someone a lot greater and a lot grander asked a long time ago if there wasn't an easier way. The Atonement will carry the missionaries perhaps even more importantly than it will carry the investigators. When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions. The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through Him—the Way, the Truth, and the Life." 

I love this talk. It has changed my mind and helped me really understand the power of the atonement. And then I shared the scripture in 3 Nephi 18 5-10 about bringing other unto Christ. As we bring others unto Christ and help them understand the atonement, we at the same time will better understand the atonement. We then contacted a bit and found another new investigator! His name is Gabriel- he is an older guy and has been taught by missionaries before, we are not sure how interested he is, so we will be going back this next week and seeing if he wants to continue learning. He likes to talk and ask lots of questions. We then ate dinner with the Alvarez family and then had a lesson with them and read some of Alma 5 about really being prepared for when we see God. That night we had a lesson with the Morelos family and talked about the spirit world and the importance and power that it is to do the work of our dead in Holy temples of God. 

Saturday- There was a baptism in the branch for a 13 year old boy named Antonio! He is so cute and so ready to accept the gospel! We did the missionary minute and it was really spiritual and his non-member family was there. So it was cool to have them there and see the baptism and feel the spirit really strongly. We then contacted before dinner with the Gutierrez. That night all our appts were cancelled, which was a bummer, but we headed to correlation with Hno. Gutierrez.

(LOOK WHO CAME TO THE BRANCH TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY BEST FRIEND!!! It was so good to see her and talk with her again :) I have missed her like no other!)

Sunday- Church was good, we sadly didn't have anyone come. Aida was going to but then her ride couldn't go to church and then she wasn't ready for church when we stopped by...bummer. And then guess who came to the branch!??!!? HERMANA LAU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I saw her coming into the church building and I ran down the hall and gave her the biggest hug ever!!!! I have missed that girl so much and it was so good to see her again. We then had a party/dinner at the Gutierrez for Hermana Lau and her family and then we left and contacted a bit and stopped by Carlos and had a lesson with him about the 5 principles of the gospel. And then that night we had a lesson with the Rasch family and the Rojas family. 

Well family, I am loving my time here. I have been through hard times, but I have also been through great times. I have learned a lot and have more things to learn. 

I love you all and am so grateful for all you do!!

Have an amazing week!

Love, Hermana Aase

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