Mis Amigos

Wednesday, August 28, 2013 0 Comments

I'm turning Spanglish out here. That's what I get for hanging out with Mexicans all the time (which there are a lot of in Southern California). I love Mexicans, I really do. :) I couldn't live without Mexicans in my life.

I don't have a lot to say other than you are all awesome. I know that your prayers are working! Even when I'm not doing 100% of what I can do, the Lord blesses me. I know it's because all of you are rooting for me!

We had an investigator we've been working with for months finally come to church on Sunday! We were so excited we almost cried. She's 14 and is learning about the church all on her own. I think she was a little overwhelmed by it all, but I hope that doesn't stop her from coming back!

Temecula was so hot this week, I couldn't even stand it. People here in California don't believe in air conditioning below, like, 105 degrees (weird, I know) and so every house we went to was sweltering. You go to sleep before 10:30 every night and then spend the next hour and a half trying not to let your sheets suffocate you to death. I have no idea how I get any sleep.

Anyhoo, I just wanted you to know that all is well here and that I love hearing from you! Thank you for your constant support!

Love you,

Sister B

P.S. I never realized until I came out here that I love snails. They creep out onto the sidewalk after the sprinklers come on at night. They're so cute!



...Weird things happen to you when you're a missionary.

P.P.S. Sister Saxton and I realized that we never are very good at taking pictures of ourselves doing things. So, sorry about that.


0 comments:

16 Things About The MTC

Monday, August 26, 2013 0 Comments

I've been asked a few times about tips and things to know about the MTC. I swear I planned on writing a blog post/email all about that, but then mission life got in the way and here we are, two months later.

Better late than never, here are some tips from my companion and I about things to know about and do in the Provo MTC:

1. Buy a zip cord/clip/whatever for your blue meal card. Ask at the counter in the bookstore. Seriously. This will save your life. Do it!
2. Buy a clip for your badge. They're at the register on the counter in the bookstore.
3. Speaking of buying things at the bookstore... Stock up on materials. They are cheaper in the bookstore than in real life, I promise.
4. Speaking of materials... BUY A MINI PREACH MY GOSPEL. If you have a little time before you report, do it now. You will want it! Trust me! I have my mini PMG in my bag every single day.
5. Take a picture by the big map pointing to your mission. The map is located in 1M outside of the cafeteria. Don't worry. You'll know what I'm talking about when you get there.
6. Take a district picture, and if you can, a zone picture, during your temple walk!
7. Eat breakfast at the temple! It's SO good!
8. If you can, try to get out to the field with your district at least once during gym time. It's so amazing getting out of the MTC gates, even for .5 seconds.
9. Drink chocolate milk! It is delicious and doesn't have laxatives (hope you don't like juice...).
10. If you're adventurous, welcome the newcomers on Wednesday in a different language! You will know exactly what sort of welcome I'm talking about once you've gotten through your first day in the MTC. Even if you're English speaking, like me, just cover your badge with your hair and shout "Benvenuto!" or "Bienvenu!" or whatever language you want to everyone with an orange sticker. It is so satisfying.
11. Go through the giveaway bins in your building. Keep an eye on them throughout the week, but the best time is the night before people fly to their missions (Sunday or Monday nights) and the morning after they're gone. You can find some gems!
12. Also, check the vents and ceiling tiles. My companion found a jar of quarters and candy in the vent. Treasures!
13. Eat a sack lunch at least once. It's a good decision!
14. Don't forget about the vendors that have carts randomly out on the main campus. There's Subway sandwiches and water and soda and juice and cookies and chips and guess what? It's free!
15. On Sunday night, GO WATCH A TALK. I managed to catch an Elder Holland talk given in the MTC last Thanksgiving that literally changed my life.
16. *Cheese alert*: Give it your whole heart! I know you've heard it a million times, but the MTC is what you make of it. If you are willing to be humbled every day and struggle through your challenges, you will be blessed so much and feel the Spirit so often.



I love you all! Keep being the best you that you can be. Missions are a blessing to everyone involved!

P. S. Caffeine free Dr. Pepper in the bookstore. It's like heaven in your mouth.

0 comments:

"Forget Yourself and Go to Work"

Friday, August 23, 2013 0 Comments

Going on a mission is like being a freshman at college. (Sorry about the following terrible metaphor.)

You take all of your core credits, from "Scripture Studies" 101 to "Talking to People about the Gospel" 115, and you major in "Find, Teach, and Baptize" (at least here in the Carlsbad mission). My least favorite class, but the one that you have to take for whatever major you have, is "Get Over Yourself" 101.

Seriously, not the most fun of classes. 

Okay, I'm dropping the metaphor now. All that you do as a missionary eventually contributes to getting over yourself. Teach a really great lesson? Awesome. Get over yourself. It was the Spirit teaching, not you. Have a really bad street contact and want to cry? Get over yourself. Life goes on. Keep on truckin'.

Maybe I'm sounding harsh here, but a mission is not all butterflies. You will not always be a wildfire, passing the Spirit like a torch to everyone you meet. You will most definitely have days where Satan is pelting you with a fire hose, trying to get you to lie down and quit.

But you can't. You can never do it. You just have to get over yourself and keep moving forward. This is definitely the most important lesson I've learned over the past two months as a missionary. 

Oh yeah, can you believe that I've been Sister B for two months already?

Back to all of my metaphors that I said I'd drop.

When you're a missionary, you have to be a missionary. 100%. No holds barred. Pull out all the stops. You are sprinting at 100% all day, every day. Is it exhausting? Oh yes. Is it rewarding? You bet it is.

If I could give any advice to pre-mission missionaries preparing to go into the field, I would tell them not to waste any time being homesick. There's this amazing quote in Preach My Gospel (p.121) by President Ezra Taft Benson which I have on a sticky note on my cork board in the study room. I look at it every morning before I begin my studies.

"I have often said one of the greatest secrets of missionary work is work! If a missionary works, he will get the Spirit; if he gets the Spirit, he will teach by the Spirit; and if he teaches by the Spirit, he will touch the hearts of the people and he will be happy. There will be no homesickness, no worrying about families, for all time and talents and interests are centered on the work of the ministry. Work, work, work--there is no satisfactory substitute, especially in missionary work."

I can't tell you how true this is. If you're like me, and have a lazy streak, this is not the most fun lesson to learn. It means getting over yourself every day and working hard, even if you didn't get much sleep the night before and you're feeling sick from that wacky dinner the night before. (Come to SoCal. No wacky dinners here. ...Yet.) It means truckin' on even when you've had a streak of bad lessons or terrible dinner conversations or crushing rejections.

But you can do it! We can all do it! Whatever you're struggling with, turn to the Lord. I've never had a stronger testimony of the power of the Atonement. I have to pray all of the time and beg the Lord to give me just enough strength to get out the door. I have to pray that Heavenly Father will give me experiences that will help me become the best me I am capable of being. On Sunday, we taught our ward's Gospel Principles class, and the lesson was on honesty. I loved the last section, which was titled, "We Can All Be Completely Honest."

They didn't say perfectly honest. They didn't say infallibly honest. They said completely. The reason that we can be completely anything is because of Jesus Christ's sacrifice for us. He took on our sins so that we could work past them and repent of them. When we truly repent, those sins are erased from the mind of our Heavenly Father. He remembers them no more. Then, for that small period of time, because of the power of the Atonement, we are perfectly something.

Christ completes all of the things that we cannot, and helps us with all of the pains that we can't bear on our own. Don't let a trial pass you by without turning to the Lord. Don't let a perfect day pass you by without giving thanks for it!

I love you all! I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be a missionary and to be able to share my testimony every day. Your support gets me by when I am struggling.

Love you,

Sister B


Pictures: 1. My snack drawer. Seriously, I don't know where I'd be without fruit snacks and Goldfish. There's a startling lack of chocolate in there, though. Good thing it's p-day. ;)


2. An Olympic torch! A man in our ward ran with the torch for the Salt Lake City winter Olympics in 2002, and he has the torch to prove it. And I got to hold it!



0 comments:

AI-YA!

Monday, August 12, 2013 0 Comments

People!

I have 0 minutes to write you today!

Well, I have a little more than that, but it feels like zero.

I'm going to level with you for a second: this week has been very hard, maybe even the hardest week yet. We're still struggling to find new investigators to teach and I've been hit with the homesickness bug. It's crazy how much not-crying I've done.

I can't say this enough: Thank you thank you thank you for your support! There's no way I'd be able to do this without all of you.

And can you believe it? I've finished my first transfer (or 6 weeks)! On Tuesday, a fresh batch of greenies will be coming in and I will no longer be the youngest of the babies! It's an exciting, and also terrifying, thought.

On the 19th I'll be celebrating my 2-month anniversary of being a missionary, probably with Ben and Jerry's ice cream and a lot of missionary things to do. These past two months have flown by. I just know that I'm going to blink and I'll be going home.

One of our favorite families, the Palos, are moving to Wyoming for a few months! We helped them pack up the rest of their things and said goodbye to baby Rees, the chubbiest baby in the whole world. I sure will miss them!


Collin, the nine year old in the family that we live with, loves WWE wrestling. Who knows why. But he has a bunch of wrestler toys, and one day, they decided to host a WWE dance class. Sister Saxton and I were lucky to witness the event and take some pictures. And then Collin came down and found them. ;)

Our district picture (plus our zone leaders)! only took us 6 weeks to get one. :) We have a lot of goofballs, obviously, but I love it.
Love you all! Thanks for the mail and the emails!

Te quiero mucho (that's probably terrible Spanish, I'm sorry),
Sister B

P.S. Next time you send me a letter, you should print out your favorite talk and send it to me. I'm trying to start a collection!

0 comments:

Stressin' and Other Missionary Things

Tuesday, August 06, 2013 0 Comments

(Hi there, this is your friendly neighborhood post-er. I had some internet inconsistencies which prevented me from posting Sister B.'s previous message until today so before you read this one, make sure you've checked out the last one!)

Hey y'all.


My life this week:

-rode a triceratops


-said 'adios' to a soon-to-be sister-friend in the Colorado Denver South mission


-had a PJs party with Cambria and Dash the dog
-saw a MexiCali low-rider truck
-tried not to have any wardrobe malfunctions. mildly successful.
I miss being able to Google things and eating in the car, and sometimes I have days (as does every missionary, I promise you) when I wish I could be "normal" again. But really, being a missionary is an incredible experience, and I wouldn't give it up for the world.

I get to say one billion prayers every day and read old conference talks when I'm bummed about something. I get to sing to MoTab and Vocal Point Christmas covers as we drive. I get to stand twelve feet away and back my companion whenever she has to reverse the car.

I get to correct teenage boys when they ask me if I'm nineteen years old. I get to stress out about things like "do we have a dinner appointment for Friday?" and "what if we have to drop this investigator?" I get to wear a skirt every single day of my life.

But the best thing of all?

I get to talk about Jesus Christ every single day. I get to witness changes of heart and mind. I get to see the joy of families united as members in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I get to meet people who are seeking for something that I can give to them: the message that God loves them, and has a plan for them to return to live with Him. I get to hear newly-baptized members share their testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how our Heavenly Father has blessed them.

Is there a greater work than this?

No way. Never.

I had the opportunity to share my testimony to our ward in sacrament meeting yesterday, but for all of you who weren't able to make it (all of you, I'm assuming), I want you to know how fervently I believe in the healing power of Jesus Christ's suffering in Gethsemane. This church that I represent is the same church that He established during his earthly ministry, and the priesthood, the power to act in God's name, is that same power that He used to perform miracles.

He loves you, and I love you too. I pray for you every day. Think about those billion prayers I say every day--in the car, in the house, before studies, after studies, in my heart, out loud--and know that you're a part of all of them.

Thank you for your support! Some days, the only reason I keep on truckin' is because I know that people are depending on me in California and cheering for me back home.

You are the best! Now go out and be missionaries! The Gospel is too good not to be shared. :)

Love,

Sister B

0 comments:

Aloha!

Tuesday, August 06, 2013 0 Comments

Let's just cut right to the chase.

Victor's baptism was INCREDIBLE! We had it on Saturday morning and were afraid that people wouldn't be able to make it because it was in the morning. We went super early and set up chairs and got ready. At around 8:30 the pianist and her husband came in, and we practiced for our freaking special musical number that I was terrified about.

Oh yeah, did I tell you that I sang a verse of "I Know that My Redeemer Lives" all by myself?

Yeah. That happened.

But before that happened, we watched the people come in. And keep coming. And keep coming. We snagged Victor and his family for some pictures, and when we came back in the room was full! Someone counted and said that there were at least 60 people there. So unexpected and so amazing!

Then we sang our special musical number. It was Sister Saxton, Sister Halling (Sister Saxton's trainer) and I and man was I nervous. I was the only one with no vocal training up there, but I sang my little heart out anyway and every told us that it was great, so I guess I believe them. ;)

It was kind of intimidating, not only because of the amount of people, but because our mission president and his wife were sitting on the front row, staring at us the whole time. I love President and Sister Kendrick, but practically singing a solo in front of your mission president and his wife? Scary!

Anyway, it was just an amazing, amazing baptism, and I'm not just saying that. The Spirit was palpable in the room; I think that everyone cried at least once. Except for me. My missionary tear ducts of steel wouldn't let it happen.

Victor and his family at his baptism.
We had a zone training meeting yesterday, which was great as well. President Kendrick was there, and he told the entire zone the story about our lesson with Victor. My companion and I were kind of embarrassed, but apparently he's been telling that story all over the place, so I guess this means that I'm famous in the Carlsbad mission.

The Sisters (and Hermanas) of the Temecula Zone.
This is a short one, but I've got to wrap up. For all of you family and friends who have written or emailed me, THANK YOU! If I haven't responded to you, feel free to yell at me. I think I'm all caught up on responses, for now! Also, thank you for all of your prayers! I love being a missionary, but man is it hard. I need your prayers, that's for sure.

Love you all! If you're preparing to serve a mission, keep doing what you're doing! There is no greater work than bringing souls to Jesus Christ. As a missionary, you see miracles every single day. You can do hard things! You can do things that you never imagined you could do, like giving a talk you had half an hour to prepare for or singing in front of a group of people. If I can do it, I know that you can too. :)

Love,

Sister B

P. S. More pictures because I love you.

I got engaged. Just kidding, I'm a missionary. But I thought it was funny.
 Oh, and Cambria, the three year old we live with, loves taking pictures with us. Can't you tell? :)

0 comments: