Another transfer come and gone...again!

Good Morning family and friends!!

Well this past week was better, a little bit more exciting, but I can't believe it is already the end of the transfer...where did the last 6 weeks go!?!?!

(Nurf gun war!! This is what it looks like! It went down fast after this.)

Monday- We had a fun district activity, that was a NURF GUN war! It was fun! We set up tables in the gym and all had guns and pretty much just shot each other with darts! I was really bad, but it was still fun to watch the other missionaries. We played it like real life, so if you got shot in the arm - you lost that arm, or if you got shot in the leg you had to limp around. That night we ate dinner with the Juarez family and then had an FHE with them and taught them about the word of wisdom! After that we headed over to Sheila's and had a lesson with them and helped them share the gospel more with their friends. 

Tuesday- I hit my 1 year in the field today! Crazy that a year ago I left the Mexico MTC and headed for the real deal! I am glad that phase is over, it was quite nerve wracking! haha. But we had a lesson with Esmeralda, she is a less active, and we talked about how we can help her daughter Rosemary get to church and then we shared a little bit from talk from Conference about keeping the commandments. After that we passed by Rosaura's, and she sadly told us that Maura (her daughter) and her son in law don't want us to come over any more because they think we are stealing, which is crazy. Rosaura was really sad and started to cry because we couldn't come over anymore. But we told her that we were going to stop by another time before she headed back to Mexico. We then had a lesson with Rosemary and read Ether 2-3 with her and talked about agency and how she has the choice to go to church or not, or to read or not, or to get baptized or not. But she must make that decision and follow it to reach her goals. That night we ate dinner with Hna Roman and then headed to the Alvarez family...but funny story, so we are running late and they called us to see where we were and they said they were waiting for us to...EAT DINNER!!...we got there and they had this huge dinner prepared...so that night we ate 2 dinners, and we were so full and felt so sick afterwards...haha. Life of a Spanish missionary...

( MLC Friends!! )

Wednesday- We headed up to MLC that morning and learned some really awesome things. A couple things they trained us on was faith. It seems that our mission is going through a rough patch with Faith, so we talked about how we can raise our faith and that we all must personally re-evaluate our faith. Also we talked about how to get our investigators at church because that is one of the hardest things to accomplish in missionary work. Later we shared a quick message with Hna Rodriguez about the Book of Mormon. Before dinner we did a bit of contacting and we had a referral named George and we found him at home and talked to him for awhile and simply shared the restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon! We are hoping to begin teaching him in the coming week. We then ate dinner at Hna America's and shared the restoration, which lasted an hour...haha. 

Thursday- We did our planning for week 6!! CRAZY how fast the transfer went by...like I don't get it anymore! We ate dinner with the Lara family and then contacted another referral named Susie- she is Sheila's friend and we got a return apt with her! We then passed by and taught Melanie (she is a 15 year old girl who got baptized about 2 years ago). And we also read with her in Ether 2-3, and something that has really stuck out to me in these 2 chapters is that God isn't always going to give us the answer to our prayers or questions, but he wants us to come to him with what we think is right and then he will let us know if it is right or not. What an awesome lesson we can learn from the Book of Mormon. We then had a lesson with Pedro! And we were helping him share his favorite Book of Mormon scripture with those who are going through a tough time. 

Friday- We had ZTM this morning and Hna Soto and I gave a training on using family history work to find new investigators. We then contacted until dinner and found out that a few of our less actives don't live there anymore, but we found a couple potentials that said we could come back and share a message with them! We ate dinner with the Ramirez family and then had a lesson with the Morelos family and we taught about the fall of Adam and Eve, about agency, and then about the atonement of Jesus Christ. It was such a good lesson!

Saturday- We did some service at the Hilton's house- we were pulling weeds, and there were a bunch of spiders..so I was screaming a lot..haha. We then had a lesson with Chris Parra and it was so good! He is changing so much and has such a strong desire to be better and get to the temple. We contacted a bit before dinner with Hna Arnold. After dinner we made some church calls to get our investigators at church and then we had our coordination meeting with Hno. Gutierrez. And quickly before we headed home we passed by Hna Ponce de Leon, but she was already sleeping. So we didn't get to talk with her. 

Sunday- Well sadly no one showed up for church. It was disappointing because we were planning on 3 of our investigators on coming, and they didn't. We ate an early dinner and then contacted for an hour or so and we talked to this really cool guy named Saul, he knows a lot about the church and was asking us some questions. We then had a lesson with the Rasch family and had them do role plays to feel more comfortable in member present lessons. Members are so essential. I can't say that enough. There is something more powerful when members share their testimonies than the missionaries. MEMBERS must be involved! We then passed by Pedro and talked to him for a little bit and then we had a lesson with the Rojas family. 

Well family, the mission is a time to grow and learn. To grow your faith and to let it shine. There will always be hard time, but we have our Savior Jesus Christ and his atonement to help us and to lift us. 

I love you all and I am so grateful to know you and to have your support.

Have a wonderful week and I will talk to you next week!

Con amor, Hermana Aase 

The oldest Hermanas' in the mission together again!

Good morning family and friends!

This past week was a little rough again...our appts fell through with almost all of our investigators because of some cold virus going around. BOO VIRUSES!! 

Monday- We didn't get to play sports with the Elders, so we made other plans! We went to Goodwill and I found a skirt and new shoes for $12! That night we had 2 of our appts cancel, so we contacted a potential that the Elders found for us and we talked with him for a while, but come to find out that he isn't quite ready for religion and all that. So we will check back up on him in a few months. We then stopped by Rosemary to see how she was and talked to her for a bit. And then we passed by a family in the branch and we shared with them Luke 15 about the lost sheep and rescuing those who have fallen away from Christ. 

(Our district!!)

Tuesday- We started our exchange with Hna Poole, Han Usher and Hna Cartwright. I was with Hna Poole and Hna Usher - guess what that means?? THE OLDEST HERMANAS' ARE BACK TOGETHER AGAIN! It was a good time! We contacted in an area that we hadn't been before...no one was home, but we still tried! We then walked like 8 blocks because Hna Soto and Han Cartwright had the car and were in a lesson a little bit longer than normal and we had interviews to get to. So we walked to a members house and switched back quick and then headed to interviews. Interviews went well! A question President Wilson asked me in my interview was "what was the hardest thing going from a non missionary to a missionary?", and I told him not being able to talk to my family everyday, or text them. A cell phone, yeah that was hard at first, but that doesn't matter, and movies and music, I got over that quick. But talking and being with my family, that was and is the hardest part for me. He told me that I must have a great family and I smiled and said "yes, they are the greatest!" We then headed to dinner with the Alvarez family and sadly our night appts fell through, so we passed by the Juarez family and had an FHE with them. Even though our appts fell through, it was a good exchange and great to be back with old companions!

Wednesday- We ended our exchange and ate lunch with our hermanas' and our afternoon appts fell through, so we contacted a little bit before we headed to Rosemary's lesson. With Rosemary we went over her baptismal calendar and talked about things that she needs to do before her baptism on the 28th of March. We then had all our appts before dinner cancel, so that was not fun! We just contacted and talked to a few people. That night we went to the Relief Society activity and talked with some of our less actives. 

Thursday- We ate lunch with Sister Hilton and then we started AND finished planning. We planned out in the sun again :) it felt super nice! And then after dinner we contacted a bit and passed by a few potentials and then had a lesson with Pedro about sharing his favorite scripture in the Book of Mormon with those going through a hard time. 

(Meeting up with family friends-- Karen Gilmore)

Friday- District meeting was great! We learned that if we have the Love of God with us we have a 101% chance of succeeding in life. Wealth, looks, talent, etc won't make us succeed. But the love of God will. After district meeting we ate lunch with the daughter of my grandparents friends. She told us about her mission in Guatemala and it was cool to hear her Spanish too from so long ago. After that our afternoon appts cancelled as well...so we contacted until dinner with the Valdez family. After dinner we stayed and did role play practices with them so they can feel more comfortable sharing the gospel. 

Saturday- We did some service at Sister Hilton's and helped clean a part of her house and we jammed out to Jenny Phillips! It was a lot of fun haha. I call Hna Soto and I the "Professional missionary house cleaners!" We then had our appts cancel again, so we stopped by Rosaura and had a quick lesson with her about the sacrament and the importance of going to church and then we passed by Rosemary and Aida's to invite them and see if they were planning on coming to church. They both are planning on it! So we are crossing our fingers. We then ate dinner with the Quinteros and after that had coordination meeting and then ran by Sheila's and got a referral from her! 

Sunday- well, no one showed up for church today :( sad day! We were so looking forward to seeing our investigators came and then they didn't come...After church and our studies, we had a lesson with the Rasch family and did the same thing we did with Pedro, we had them share their favorite Book of Mormon scripture with a friend going through a hard time. We then taught a cool guy named Edwin! He didn't become a new investigator because he didn't make a return appt and didn't want to get confused with the church he just started going to, but we know that he will get baptized sometime in the future! He has a lot of faith and is curious to know more. We ate dinner with the Parra's and then had a lesson with Presidente Rojas and his family and we started the 5 week program with them and did role plays to help them share the gospel more simply. And we celebrated their daughter Korina's birthday! We sang happy birthday and ate cupcakes. 

So...lots of cancelled appts...but this week is bound to be better! 

I hope all of you are safe, healthy, and happy!

I love and miss you all!! 

Oh and guess what, I hit my year mark of being IN the field tomorrow! Crazy how fast time flies!

We will talk next week!

Prayer list- Rosemary, Aida, Manuel, Andres, and the Morelos Family

LOVE YOU!!

Hermana Aase

It gets worse before it gets better!

Good Morning Family!!

What a wonderful day today it is...it is a whole 50 degrees outside and I am dying...! What am I going to do when I get home and it hits winter...? But it is supposed to be warming up this weekend. So fingers crossed! 

This past week was SOO, SOO much better. Like 3x better than the first 2 weeks put together. We had a great week of meeting and having lessons with our investigators and finding new people to teach!

((left) Me on the slack line! it was kinda hard, but a good challenge! (Right) Zip line!)

(Swinging)

Monday- Well, the Zone Activity that we had was SUPER fun! We went to this backyard giant play ground! It was cool! They also had a trampoline so I got to jump and flip on that. I was in heaven for sure! But, my body was hurting later..haha. That night we had a lesson with Miguel and we read more in the Book of Mormon and helped him see the importance of daily reading. We then had our other appts cancelled, so we went to a potential named Mary, and she was home! And she had her friend there, so we got to teach her and her friend! We then stopped by a members house, and invited her to a lesson we had with an investigator. 

Tuesday- We headed over to the soup kitchen and did service there, but guess what?! NO one showed up to volunteer in the kitchen, so Hna Soto and I took care of the WHOLE kitchen by ourselves!! Stressful?...just a tad! We then passed by a members, Hna Rodriguez, and shared a short message with her. And then we headed to a different street and contacted until dinner time. After dinner we passed by another members house and shared a message about the lost sheep parable in Luke 15. I love this parable, because we, at one point in life, have been lost, but others and the Savior can help us come back to the fold and be happy and safe. After that we had a lesson with Sheila and her family. We are starting to do a 5 week program with some active families, less active families, and recent converts in the branch. The program is to help them feel more comfortable sharing the gospel with their friends and family. We did a role play with Sheila and her family about sharing the message of the Restoration in 3 minutes. That was a blast!

Wednesday- Was a busy busy day! We had a lesson with Rosaura in the morning and we talked about the importance of baptism and we set her with a baptismal date for March 21, right before she heads back to Mexico. We then had a lesson with Rosemary and we talked about the power of fasting and prayer. And we talked to her about how she is feeling about baptism, and she still feels good about it, so we decided to pray with her and help her pick a date. While praying she felt sometime in March, so then we prayed again, and she felt the 28th of March, so we prayed one last time to have her confirm for that date and she just smiled and said "yes, this is the day"! The spirit was really strong in that lesson and we were so happy! We hope and pray that she will be baptized at the end of March! After that lesson we did a bit of contacting before our lesson with Aida. With Aida we taught about the importance of going to church, praying and reading. We call this CPR - just as CPR revives your heart when you stop breathing, going to church, praying and reading revive your spirit when it is down. Aida then told us that she wanted to come to church! So we hope to see her on Sunday! We then ate a quick dinner and headed to a lesson we had scheduled with a potential named Andres. He was waiting for us to come when we got there! Who does that?? We taught him the Restoration and he had a few questions but committed to read the Book of Mormon. And lastly we visited the Alvarez family because Hna Soto hadn't met them yet, and we talked and then shared the parable of the lost sheep. 

Thursday- We didn't have such a busy day, but our appt with Rosaura got cancelled, so we tried to visit a couple of Hna Arnold's friends that she wants to share the gospel with, but none were home. We then sat outside on our balcony and planned in the sun! It felt so good to feel the sun on my skin. That night we stopped by Enrique and Claudia to see what was going on because we haven't seem them in 2 weeks. Enrique was sleeping, but we got to talk to Claudia for a bit and see how she is feeling. She told us that she isn't ready to commit and change religions, but would still like to learn. It was good to see her and she what she was feeling. That night we headed over to Pedro's and did the 5 week program with him and it was so much fun!! He was getting mad cause we were quizzing him on the lesson, but he got to role play and practice sharing the gospel. I am sure I say this about Pedro every time we have a lesson with him, but he is so awesome!! He is growing and everything!

(Hna Meacham and Hna Flood on exchanges)

Friday- We headed to District meeting and I had the training for it and I talked first about being personable, with all that we come in contact with- so smiling, being open, asking questions, and the most important, listening. Listening is key and if we don't listen to our investigators or members, then they wont be as open to telling us what they are thinking or feeling. And then the other thing I trained on was attitude. Now, I always feel like when you are assigned a talk in training, it is more for you then those you are teaching...haha. But I talked about how we need to have that positive attitude all the time in missionary work, we are doing the Lord's work, that should give us joy right!? What I like to think is, "happy attitude = good things to come." After lunch we started our exchange with Hna Meacham and Hna Flood. I was with Hna Flood and we started the day out with contacting. We met this guy named Tino and we talked with him for like 45 minutes about church and the gospel. We are planning on going back for sure! We then contacted a bit more before we went to dinner, and then after dinner we stopped by a former investigator's and talked to her for a little bit and made an appt with her! Then we had a lesson with Maria Morelos and we taught about the Atonement and what it can do for us in our lives right now. It was a good lesson where our Spanish was being tested for sure! haha. Lastly we went to a lesson with the Valdez family and did the 5 week program with them as well.

Saturday- We got out and contacted a little bit, and then the Hermana's left to go back to their area, and we contacted for the afternoon. Before dinner the bike elders in our branch did a blitz in our area and helped us find a couple more people to teach and talk to. After dinner we passed by Hna Paty and talked to her about family history work, had correlation, and then tried to visit a couple investigator, but none were home.

Sunday- Aida came to church!! And she loved it! We were so happy she came. After church we had a lesson with the Rasch family and started the 5 week program with them as well, and it was really fun to watch them do role plays and to practice sharing the gospel with their friends. After that we did a bit of contacting and talked to a few people. Later that night we visited the Rojas family and shared with them what this 5 week program is all about and invited them to do it as well, and then we shared a quick message with them. 

All in all it was a much better week! We are excited for this week! We have exchanges and interviews with President. So, it should be fun!

I love and miss you all tons!

Can you believe that I only have 5 months left...NOT COOL! haha. But "come what may and love it" right? I just gotta love and cherish every moment here. 

I hope all is well with you! Stay warm and we will talk next week!

Love, Hermana Aase

I guess the will of God is to knock doors

Hi family!! Well, this past week went by a lot faster than the first. Not much happened, but it was a better week. Our spirits were higher :)

Monday- After emailing we did shopping and had a bit of time to relax at home before we came back to the church and played sports with the other missionaries. We then ate dinner with the Rasch family. Sadly our 6 and 7 o'clock appts cancelled, so we ended up contacting a bit and then we had FHE with Sheila and her family. We read Ephesians 6:11-18 about the armor of God and drew a lovely picture with it. After that we had our "refreshments" and Hna Soto decided to warm hers up in the microwave, but forgot about it, and 3 minutes later there was smoke coming out of the microwave...haha. We opened all the windows and doors and let the house air out. It was pretty funny. The whole bottom of the dish was melted...Good times, good times.

((left) Note to self -- DO NOT microwave a cake in a plastic cup for 3 minutes or it will create fire...! (right) Lancaster...where you can find shopping carts ANYWHERE!)

Tuesday- We did service with Miguel and helped him clean up his yard and then we had a lesson with him and read in the Book of Mormon. We then contacted for pretty much the rest of the night until our appt with Claudia and Enrique was cancelled, so we headed over to a friend or Hno. Gutierrez and we taught him about the Restoration and it was a spiritual lesson! He is interested and already had a Book of Mormon. After that we ran by Hna. Ponce de Leon and shared the Armor of God with her as well. 

Wednesday- the definition of Wednesday was contacting...having our appts cancelled..and more contacting. BUT we found some really awesome people who want us to come back. God has a different plan for us, and it is our responsibility to align our will with God's. That night we had a lesson with Chris about the power of the Atonement and it was, like always a good lesson. He is changing more and more every time we go over there! It is so awesome to see! 

Thursday- We had a companion study with the AP's and we did this really cool role play where we were contacting people and we had to talk to them about other things for 5 minutes before we introduced ourselves. It was fun! I love just talking to people, it is a lot more natural and easy flowing. Who would have thought! We then stopped by and visited a less active for a little bit and then headed home to plan! That night we had a lesson with the Valdez family about baptism. The youngest daughter is turning 8 this summer, so she is getting ready to be baptized. SO the lesson was more for her...funny thing is is that she fell asleep haha. 

Friday- We had district meeting in the morning and we did a similar role play where we got to know the person first and then shared a small gospel message. And then guess what we did..CONTACTED! haha. But here is a funny story for you all, we knocked on this guys door and no one answered, so we knocked again...a second later this guy pops his head out of the top window and he is shirtless and is like "I am busy right now, so it isn't a good time!"...so we asked if we could come back another time, and he was like "I am busy right now, so it isn't a good time..." The funny people we find here in Lancaster...haha. Our appts later that day were cancelled, so we picked a couple streets and knocked doors and we found a few interested people so that was a miracle! 

(Valentines day!!...not a super special holiday for missionaries, but we decided to take a picture anyways!)

Saturday- Valentines day! The holiday that means nothing to missionaries..haha. But we contacted all day, and the good things was because it was valentines day, they were all nice to us! Win win for us! Hna Soto and I took ourselves out to eat and then we got some ice cream, thanks to my grandma :) And then we had a lesson with Pedro, and we also taught him about the armor of God. He enjoyed it! Like most people do. haha

(Okay, tell me what is wrong with this picture...HAHAHA...THE GIANT T-REX!)

Sunday- Sadly we didn't have any investigators come to church, but we had a guy named Mario that we met while tracting come to church! And he brought his friend..who didn't know any Spanish..so I translated...(well, tried to translate) sacrament meeting for him. He said that is was good. He has never met/talked with missionaries before, so it was a really cool experience to just share a bit of what we believe with him. Later we had a lesson with the Rasch's before dinner about family responsibilities and we watched a Mormon message called "Heavenly Father, earthly father". If you haven't seen it, I am telling you to see it! It is such a good message! That night we had a hard time finding people at home, but we made it through!

Well, I hope all is well with you! I am doing good! Just pushing on every day. I love what I am doing and it is crazy to think that I only have 5 months left!... 

Thank you for all the support and prayers, I can feel them for sure on those hard days. 

I love you all! And I'll talk to you next week!

Love, Hermana Aase