Week 32! "Broken Rules...and Photos"

From 8/18/14

Hola Family and Friends!!!

Thank you for emailing me fam bam! I love your emails and I appreciate all the support, counsel, funny stories, and everyday details. Please tell Grandma Putt Putt I said hi and that I love her. I hope you have a fun trip this week! I am really going to try to apply what you all have shared with me. :) Here's some fun stuff for the week first:

1) Today is my 8 month mark. I am almost halfway through my mission. WHOA.

2) And next week is my 20th birthday. WHOA.

3) We've accidentally broken many rules the past two weeks. I'm not proud. This is a confession:

a. We left our area of proselitismo without permission to proselyte. Always by accident. Our boundary lines are a bit confusing.

b. I watched a Disney movie. (Tinkerbell is da bomb)

c. Hna Noob went swimming after dropping my name tag in a pond (see the previous email for details).

d. I went on a third wheel date. It was really Hna Noob that was invited for a nieve (or ice cream) but they had to get me one too....because I'm her comp. Awkward for everybody.

e. I held a baby. An investigator was holding his baby and decided suddenly that it was urgent to turn the fan on. So he dropped off his baby on my lap in my arms. My face. D: :O Then I just decided to enjoy the moment cause I love that little baby. In my arms is better than dropping the 5 month old on the floor. Which I considered for a second...but just one.

4) Hna Noob got a package from her family that was full of birthday party stuff!! So awesome. Her family sent a card for the both of us and a baseball keychain. How cool is that? If Hna/Obispo Noob reads this blog entry: Thank you!! Your family is awesome :) and I appreciate and love your daughter so much. She's an incredible missionary!

5) We had a multi-zone conference where we each put on a little skit as a zone...ours was the best. To the other Zones, sorry but the truth hurts sometimes. The conference was just awesome in general. As always. And I learned a lot from our leaders.

6) Mom and Dad: I read a letter you both wrote to me from a LONG time ago. It was from when I went to the church history tour, when I was 13. I reread it yesterday and I couldn't believe it. It was if you wrote it for me being on a mission and not for back then. It was super cool. In both the letters, I read some awesome things that I needed to hear. I might try to send you a copy so you can see it too. Reading it reminded me of an article in the July Ensign called "two letters from mom". Read it on this page. It is so good. https://www.lds.org/liahona/2014/07/latter-day-saint-voices?lang=eng

7) "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got." WISDOM.

Well, this week was great. We've learned a lot and the Lord has lovingly taught us a bit more about ourselves, about Him, and about being better teachers.

This week another baptism fell through and no one came to church out of the 20 we had with baptismal fecha (date). Obviously it's difficult to see results like that. I feel better because I know that God always has a much better idea. We are doing our part and the outcome has always been what the Lord actually wants.

On the other hand, the adversary is working very hard on our investigators in this area. They are all really great investigators with sincere desires to find the truth. Sometimes for one reason or the other, they are unable to go to church or keep a commitment, and that eventually means that we need to 'drop' them from our teaching pool and keep finding more. You better believe that we are fighting for every last one of them!!

There is a really amazing man named "A" that I mentioned last week. He came to church a week ago, then we visited him officially for the first time this week. When we first arrived to his home he showed us his workshop where he makes all of his candles. They are beautiful!! And he even showed us how he makes them. It was neat to hear a little about his life as he welcomed us into his home and opened up to us about his desires to know God. As we taught him about the Restoration, I was stunned to see how humble this man was in his search for truth. I have met very few people in all my mission like him. He could not have been more prepared to receive the message of the gospel!

Something that also touched me was how we met this man to begin with. We talked to him on a combi as we do with hundreds and thousands of people. I thought we had a regular conversation with him (meaning that most people aren't actually serious when they say they'll come to church on Sunday). So I didn't think very much of it, to be honest. Then Sunday, we had heavy hearts as we looked in sacrament meeting for our investigators to not see a single person. When A came in it was a shock to us, and I realize again Isaiah 55. The Lord's thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are higher than our ways.

As we finished our lesson with him on Friday, he contemplatively looked at us and said "...thank you. I felt something as you talked with me now. It might sound weird but it was almost like you actually touched my heart. I felt like you passed an energy into me."

We explained how he was feeling the Spirit, and how He was testifying to him of the truthfulness of our message. We also said that after he is baptized, he is confirmed, and he is promised the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost.

"Do you two always feel this way then? Can I always feel this way?"

Wow, it was a really special experience, just with everything that he said. Later I told Hna Noob that as we spoke with him, I pictured him as a stake president. I can see him a great leader in the church. I am excited to see his progression in the church!

Well, where there is a lot of opposition and a lot of disappointment, there are experiences that are way MORE awesome that override ALL THE REST. Hermana Kusch told me one time, we do hard things. That awesomeness to persevere through trials is built into our divine DNA. It's a part of us!

I know that my Redeemer lives! I know that He came for us and conquered all so that we might be conquerors of our own trials, sin and death too. He loves us perfectly and I know that He willingly will help those who come unto him.  President Monson said this in October 2013. I may have shared this before but I just love it so much and want to share it again:

"Your Heavenly Father loves you—each of you. That love never changes. It is not influenced by your appearance, by your possessions, or by the amount of money you have in your bank account. It is not changed by your talents and abilities. It is simply there. It is there for you when you are sad or happy, discouraged or hopeful. God’s love is there for you whether or not you feel you deserve love. It is simply always there.

As we seek our Heavenly Father through fervent, sincere prayer and earnest, dedicated scripture study, our testimonies will become strong and deeply rooted. We will know of God’s love for us. We will understand that we do not ever walk alone. I promise you that you will one day stand aside and look at your difficult times, and you will realize that He was always there beside you."

I love you, my people. Hope you have a great week and when you're happy say a thank you prayer. And if you're sad say a thank you prayer too. :)

Con Amor,

Hermana Fernelius

This describes our companionship :) Noob is DA BEST! 

This is a puppy we found in the street a few weeks ago. The dog was completely abandoned and left in the middle of the street. We decided to take the puppy over to a family in our ward and give them' this little dog. It was half jokingly and half serious when Hermana N said to the kids WHO WANTS a little puppy?? The four little kids were all over that!! haha. They named her Chilita. hahaha. Unfortunately, little Chilita went to puppy paradise last week. She lived a good life! :) 



One of our beautiful investigators, "S", the night before she moved to Mexico City. She's so ready for baptism! It was a sad goodbye because she really is special and so much fun to be with. She's going to study nursing too! :)

Hermana "F" took us on a hike last week and she carried a machete with her the whole way. We thought it was for bushwhacking. No. No, we were so wrong. Halfway through the hike after we found wild dogs, she says this machete is for the animals. o-o It also doubled as a walking staff for her. Fun times. 

COOLEST skirt ever!!! This is the "T" family that we visited all last week. We hope Hermana "F" [the one with the machete on our P-day hike] will be baptized soon!

One of the daughters, "G", performed a traditional Mexican dance with her skirt. It was awesome!!! It was fun. So fun in fact, that our district leader took a turn in the skirt. haha. I have photo evidence but we will save the blackmail for a later time. :)

So, there is a very good story behind this. I climbed onto a log during our hike and sat royally on my noble steed. I ask Hna Noob to take a picture to send all of you, when all of a sudden I had a great idea! I asked the members to pass me their sombrero to wear and to pass over the machete so it would look REAL cool. Well, as I reached over to get the sombrero, physics challenged my imagination and I slowly started to fall off the log. It was a slow fall which was really weird. So Hna Noob was actually trying to take a picture of me ON the log, but when the picture finally took, I was hanging on for dear life. But don't worry, obviously there was ground right underneath me. I is smart. I can math. :)