Week 69! "Blessed Non-Baptism..."

From 5/4/15

Hola Family and Friends!

Good week. Like Tiffany mentioned in her email last week, we've been running into people with some seriously heavy duty problems. It's a little daunting sometimes because I feel like they want us to have the answers. We realize that it's a great trust we've been given to know them, and to be trusted to help them help themselves. It's been amazing to see the progression of one investigator in particular:

Her name is Sister M. I think I mentioned something about her a couple weeks ago. She confided in us some devastating events that have occurred in her life involving her marriage also. We've been trying to teach carefully to invite her to find the answers herself through obedience to the commandments and prayer. With each visit we have with her, she is doing better and better. She told us that her marriage is so much better, she's learning to forgive, she's learning to listen to the Spirit and she even points it out when she feels His promptings.

Sister M is so special.

She is progressing because she ACTS. She doesn't sit around and wait for blessings to fall from the sky, she asks, seeks, and knocks....and she gets answers. I LOVE THAT. We taught her yesterday, and we realized that she is basically a member already. She and a few of her kids. You wouldn't know that they were investigating the church. It's so awesome. I love seeing how the Atonement, forgiving and receiving forgiveness heals hearts.

One of my favorite General conference talks was from President Packer. He said:

"Through His Atonement and the power of the priesthood, families which are begun in mortality can be together through the eternities. The Atonement, which can reclaim each one of us, bears no scars. That means that no matter what we have done or where we have been or how something happened, if we truly repent, He has promised that He would atone. And when He atoned, that settled that. There are so many of us who are thrashing around, as it were, with feelings of guilt, not knowing quite how to escape. You escape by accepting the Atonement of Christ, and all that was heartache can turn to beauty and love and eternity"

It's so true! Sister M bore her testimony to us yesterday by saying how the Atonement and prayer has really helped her to change, to seek forgiveness and to forgive others.

Ahhh...I love being a missionary!

We are teaching another woman named Hermana M also. She is having major problems with her 15 year old son, Boy J. He is getting involved with the wrong crowds and is becoming, for lack of a better term, a problem child.

We were excited to meet him for the first time and try to teach him. But, like his mom warned us, he was rude, tried to act disinterested, and wouldn't respond, but my comp and I acted like we were best friends with him. As we left the appointment with him still pouting and shrugging his shoulders, we both said, I think he totally loved the lesson. Well, the eye rolling kind of gave it away right? The next time we saw his mom, she was super excited and told us, HE LOVED the lesson!!

O.o (really?)

Boy J said he was glad that we weren't pushy or obnoxious about teaching him, and he got lots of attention! SUPER. :) We're on to something. Our goal is to be "bffs" with him. We invited him to watch a movie (Meet the Mormons) in the stake center with his mom. Hermana Q said, "You like movies right?"

J literally grumbled/mumbled an idon'tknow/idon'tcare/imightbehatingyourightnow response. :3

We invited his mom also. And guess who showed up to the movie later that night at the church? BOY J and his mother, Hermana M! GLORIA hallelujah. We also bribed him to be our friend by giving him snacks for the movie. This little guy soaked it all up. He loved it, his mom loved it. They finally were able to come to church. It was such a miracle. We gave them an hour notice to come to the movie and they came.

Ahhh...I love being a missionary.

J feels a like a little brother to us, or someone who needs EXTRA attention. Sometimes the most unlovable need the MOST love. He really is a good kid, he just needs someone to care about his well being and what he likes, and thinks, and needs, and feels. He comes from a broken home and a lot of difficult trials. But the Lord works in mysterious ways, and we can see part of His beautiful plan to help J and his mom to be better people.

Also, this past Saturday was interesting. Friday Hermana Q (quack) and I went to the church to clean out the font, fill it up and get everything ready for the baptism on Saturday. Well Saturday morning, whodduthunk that the water drained out of the font overnight, so we starting filling it up again with an hour before the service---and then we ran out of water in the building when it was knee high filled. Well, the baptizee was not showing up, three members were there including a less active young man (who we threatened to go to the baptism just kidding) and a half filled font. Then Brother D was about to be baptized, but oh yeah......he never showed up.

AWKWARD.

So that happened.

BUT...here's the silver lining for this whole story:

One of the three people who showed up to the baptism was Hermano J, who hasn't gone to church in about 2 or three years; the others were a Stake missionary and our ward mission leader. And they are basically the closest you could be to being exalted or translated but they are still on the earth to help baptize, retain and reactivate people. SO. While my comp and I disappointedly shut down the church, Elder A and M talked to Hermano J: Men to Man. We informed them that the baptism would be postponed, then randomly J said, "You know what, I'll be here at church tomorrow"...Then he left.

Yesterday at church, guess who came........ HERMANO J!! We were so so happy to see him. He sat quietly on the back row with Elder M and his family. I thought of how he's letting the Atonement help him change his life. He did it. He came. And now his good choice will help him to make better choices today and tomorrow that will help him to repent and to progress.

Sometimes (usually all the time) we see how the Lord works in mysterious ways. The baptism (that didn't happen) was not an earth shattering devastating experience. Of course it was a little disappointing, but not discouraging. We felt peace about it. The baptism was for Hermano J. It was really cool to see that. Picturing him in church makes us hopeful and happy each time we talk about it.

I love it!

And in other news, we are teaching a few recent converts reviewing the missionary lessons...aaaand we taught someone who is 65 years old but acts like he's 85. His memory is that of a goldfish. Not to insult the fish out there. We taught him about the Godhead this past week. When I say that we taught him about the Godhead for FORTY MINUTES, I mean that we literally wrote out the words, Padre Celestial, Jesucristo, and el Espiritu Santo on a piece of paper--had him repeat it out loud and tell us who they are. That's when the funniest things went down. Super quoteables:

Espiritu Santo Celestial

El Espiritu Jesuscristo, No?

El Espiritu nuestro Señor

Nuestro Padre Señor

Dios, Nuestro Señor

Jesus Nuestro Padre Celestial

Cristo nuestro Señor

 

Voy bien? "NO!!!!" (He asked my companion halfway through, am I doing well? Then through a laugh, she shouts NO!!)

 

We asked a different question to see the level of his comprehension and memory retainment.

 

"Who gave his life for us and died on the cross?"

 

..........................................Jose Miss, no? O no.................... TOMAS!!  (Joseph Smith, then he said Thomas S Monson)

 

"Uhh, have you ever heard of Jesus?"

 

Yeahhhh....

 

Last quotable comment of the lesson--then we knew we had to cut the cord:

 

"Padre........nuestro santooooooo.....ssss......AMEN."

 

What a little gem that guy is! He goes to over 5 hours of church on Sundays. He goes to the ward before ours, and then goes to our services. He gets to church about an hour early too. In Principios del Evangelio he shared a comment by swearing or saying the equivalent of the F-word in Spanish. He also does not know what the name of the church is. He is the funniest guy around--we love him.

 

Also, the children here call us Hermana Quack and Hermana Fer. It's great. No one can pronounce our names. This is our new alias.

 

What other random things should you know?

 

Our bathroom in our house is outside. The shower is in one room outside and the toilet in the other. There are lizards everywhere. Everywhere.

 

I think that's all, but I'm going to remember everything I wanted to say when I'm laying in bed tonight at 10:30 pm. :) Love you all. Have a great week!!!!!!

 

Con Amor,

 

Hermana Fernelius

Week 68! "I'm Alive :-)"

From 4/27/15

Hola Family and Friends!

 

I don't have a lot of time - I'm alive.

 

We've seen a lot of blessings of being in the right place at the right time. We randomly knocked on a man's door looking for a reference named Hermano M. He didn't live there, but the man who answered the door let us in and said that while he lived in Cuernavaca many missionaries had contacted him, but he had never talked in depth to missionaries before. His wife came out, we introduced ourselves and said that we share a message from God. Then she burst into tears and went inside and closed the door. Uhhhh... What had we said wrong? Well, the moment that we knocked on their door, they had been fighting. His wife doesn't believe in God because of all the trials she has gone through in her life. And that on top of the struggles she's had, they have not been getting along in their marriage. It was so sad to see her husband cry too. We gave the best counsel we could in that moment - and we felt impressed to tell him that God sent us to his house as an answer to their prayers and struggles. We left with a return appointment and felt a great responsibility to help them.

 

It felt like Heavenly Father has given us a lot of challenging situations this week with our investigators because He trusts us. It's really amazing to think of how much the Savior loves us to help us overcome our personal challenges and trials. He bore all of these things before we ever did in order to know how to run to our aid. I know that He lives, I am grateful for His sacrifice and to be able to testify to others of Who will truly heal them and make them whole.

 

Have a great week!

 

Hermana Fernelius

 

P.S. There is a sugar factory in our area that literally looks like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. It is always sending white smoke out of the towers and it looks like it's from a movie.

 

There are SO many caña [sugar cane] fields here. It is an area that produces SO much sugar.

 

I will try to send a picture next week. 

Week 67! "Spanglish"

From 4/20/15

Hola Family and Friends!

This was literally the fastest week of my life. I cannot believe that it is already Monday! We're all good, we're healthy, it's hot here. The fun times go on:

We got onto a combi with the Elders in our ward after our food cita [appointment] to go into our areas to go to work, when a VERY drunk semi-bilingual man got on the combi too. He sat next to my companion and pointed at the Elders and spoke to them in Spanglish the whole time. haha. They were in trouble for talking in Spanish and they were also in trouble for talking in English. This man could not be pleased. So he looked at one of the Elders and shouted in English: "ARE YOU A WOMAN OR A STUPID MAN?!"

It was beautiful.

My comp and I laughed until we cried. As the Elders got off the combi at their stop, the man tugged on the same Elder's tie a little then let him get off. Later he pointed to a young woman on the combi to get her attention and then to my companion, and said -- "She's from immigration...... DO YOU HAVE YOUR PAPERS?!!"

He tried to talk to me too. I ignored him. He says that I FOR SURE am half Cuban and half French. That's a new one. When Hermana Q couldn't handle sitting next to his sweatiness any longer, we hopped off that combi onto the highway and got onto a different one into town. Fun times.

In other news, this week really was great! We were able to see many blessings. One of these blessings was seeing an investigator in church yesterday for her first time:

We've been teaching her whole family for a couple of weeks. In our appointment this past Saturday she expressed her excitement to come to church and also told us that one of her daughters decided that she wanted to be baptized too. There were several other investigators who were supposed to come to church, but Sunday morning as we passed by for them, just about all of them canceled with us. :(

We walked into church alone. We arrived and decided to pray to feel comforted about our efforts to get people there and also our desire that more would still come. After we prayed we stepped into the foyer and immediately saw Sister M!

Sister M is the mom of this family we've been teaching. She was all dressed up and she looked nervous. Kind of like the first day of school. She sat with us and soaked up every minute of the meetings and classes. It was like the lessons were planned just for her.

Later, after church, we went to her house for a teaching appointment and taught her family about the Restoration. It was so cool!! Everyone in the family was there. The Spirit was really strong when we shared the first vision.

We came with young members of the church, named Sister V and Brother O. They are siblings. One is 19 and the other is 16. Brother O had never gone to an appointment with missionaries before and he was really nervous. We asked him to teach part of the lesson and to share his testimony. They both did a great job.

Afterward, as we walked home, he said that he loved going. He wasn't really sure about missionary work before, then when he went with us, he felt much more excited about going out with the missionaries. I think he literally said, "I'M SO STOKED to be a missionary...."

Yup something like that :) I especially love seeing youth grow in their faith and testimony. It's probably one of my most favorite aspects of missionary work. I love working with the youth and hearing their growth and progression. One of the young men that we visited often in my first area already has about 5 months on his mission. It's just so cool!!

I hope you all have a great week. Lots of love!

Con Amor,

Hermana Fernelius

The sign says "PROHIBITED TO DUMP TRASH!!!"

BAPTISM!!  Brother F, his wife Sister C, and his son.

Week 66! "Repentance is Like Soap"

From 4/13/15

Hola family and friends!!!

Hope you all had a great week! Thanks for your emails and encouragement. This week was AWESOME!

Brother F was baptized on Friday! He's an amazing person. He says that he's been on a search for truth his whole life and when he started learning about the gospel, he felt that he finally found what he was looking for. After his baptism he shared a powerful testimony and I just felt so grateful to have been there and to see his excitement in taking this step.

Lots more happened this week!

I'm new to this area, and my companion is actually pretty new too. So there are many, many members that we still do not know. One of these members that has stopped coming for a couple of months now is named Sister C:

She and her daughter were baptized in January of this year but, like I said, have stopped coming for some time now. We went by her home and found her there, she let us in and we talked for a little bit. She is SO SWEET! I have to give her a hug every time I see her because she is just the sweetest sister ever. We sat outside of her humble house on her dirt patio and got to know her. We asked her directly what was keeping her from coming to church. She told us that she doesn't have a job or a source of income, so by the time the week ends and Sunday comes around, there is no money for transportation to church.

This was very concerning to us. The good news is that there are ward missionaries assigned to the Self Reliance Center in the Stake, designed to help people in this type of situation.

We set up an appointment to go back to visit her together with them, so that we could help her develop her capacity of self reliance in some way. When we arrived we discussed her needs in depth and talked specifically of how much she spends weekly on certain necessities. She has a part time job working at a store in her neighborhood. She washes the dishes, organizes the groceries, and does whatever little job that needs to get done. In turn she gets paid 25 pesos weekly and 3 pieces of bread and a liter of milk. 25 pesos is less than 2 dollars, and she gets paid in food because her boss knows that she has children.

The stake missionaries then asked her how much money she spends on food weekly. She replied, sometimes I only have enough to buy tortillas (which is about 80 cents in the U.S.). They asked more questions:

"Okay, but what do you eat, or how many times do you eat? Even if you spend money on salt, sugar, soup, rice, beans..."

Then she told us, "Well, my children and I usually eat one time a day. Sometimes if I have a little more, I make something to eat in the afternoon" (so that they are full longer).

Seriously, our hearts broke when we heard her say that! This sweet sister has been doing the very best she can on her own to support her children. She has a strong testimony of the gospel and an even stronger desire to keep the commandments, but she literally can't go to church because there is no money. She didn't complain to us, or make excuses or even ask for help.

We have been given so many blessings! Back home the church is a five minute walk from my home, and we always have more than enough to eat. The sisters in our ward and Relief Society are working to gather some food staples so that we can help this family get back on their feet.

This experience taught me a profound lesson.

On a happier note, we taught a new family this week. The couple is in their mid sixties and lives with a few of their grandchildren. They have many family challenges. As we talked and got to know them, it was so cool to see how open they are to our message. Even though we are total strangers to them and them to us, we starting talking as if we had known each other for a long time.

It was cool!

We felt impressed to teach them about baptism and repentance. I noticed that they started to pay close attention as we taught them that through Christ we can be cleansed from sin. Earlier I had dropped a paleta (ice cream) on my blouse and stained it. :( Que pena, right? I'm an embarrassment haha. I had tried rubbing it out with water earlier, but it didn't go away. So I carried a book in my arms all day to hide it. :) I told this couple about that stain. I asked the wife, so, I stained my shirt today, how do I get it out? She replied, By washing it. I told her yes, but I already washed it with water and it didn't do anything, what else do I need?

"Soap!" she said.

That soap is like repentance. In order to wash away the sins we've committed in our lives, we need to wash it with soap and water. We need faith in Christ, repent and make true changes and be baptized by immersion. We shared this scripture with the two of them:

"And no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end.

"Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day."

The wife looked visibly different after reading this scripture out loud. We asked how she felt. All she could say was "good".

"How does 'good' feel?" we asked.

She told us, "When you read the words, 'repentance of all of their sins' I felt something inside of me." She then pointed to her chest and said, "I felt something like being satisfied or feeling filled."

I think that it was such an interesting description of the Spirit. She said that she felt satisfied and content. Like something was being filled. It stuck out to me so much. We taught them about how the Spirit feels and that the Spirit was testifying to her that this message is true! We invited them then to be baptized and they accepted! Tonight we are going by to teach them and hopefully one of their grandsons also.

PEOPLE ARE AWESOME.

This week we also met a new investigator whose name is Sister G and her sister M. The two of them are super young but look older than my companion and I. haha. Sister G is pregnant with her third child but she is only 19, and her little sister is a kick boxer who looks like she's 22 but is only 16.

We felt impressed to teach them about the Plan of Salvation. G was so super interested. They both accepted the invitation to be baptized. G kept apologizing because she had so many questions. (But every missionary LOVES questions. I love it because it shows their interest in what we are teaching).

We asked if we could set up an appointment for the following week. She then hesitated and said, "So, how does this work, can you only come by once a week, or....?"

We were puzzled. UH we can come by every day if you want (we kind of said this seriously but didn't think that she was serious).

"CAN YOU? I have so many questions. You can come by any day that you want. I want to know more!"

THESE PEOPLE ARE SO COOL.

A few more random things:

1) I played piano yesterday in sacrament meeting. I don't know how they figured out that I play piano...since I just got here, but I love it!

2) I was studying this morning and remembered what [my former companion], Hermana N taught me from a long time ago. Maybe Salvation is personal, but Exaltation is with the family. After general conference and a few experiences this week, I've thought about the importance of our perspective of eternal families. It's the best.

3) We met two young men and women that are less active this week and we taught them that there are no coincidences and there is a reason that we live where we live and so on. As members were are in the exact place where we are needed. Then the young woman spoke up and said, I was just reading that this morning on Facebook. I put an image on my wall that says, "Lo que usted llama casualidad es la obra de Dios" ["What you call coincidence is the work of God"]. I like that phrase; there are few accidents :)

4) I will have 16 months on the mission this week. YIKES

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Fernelius

Week 65! "MIRACLES Are Real!"

From 4/6/15

Hola Family and Friends,

This week was AWESOME! Happy Easter! And happy General Conference!

Conference was so super awesome. If you were unable to see a session, watch it!! Each session was so powerful. Before going to conference, I had several questions and thoughts going through my mind. They were all answered. It truly is amazing to have living prophets and apostles who lead and direct the restored church of Christ on the earth. Watch it!

This week in our area was so wonderful and I've learned so many things. I love the way that Hermana Q teaches! She is great at asking inspired questions and helping children and adults alike find how the gospel relates to them.

This upcoming week, we are hopefully going to have a baptism. Brother F is an amazing person and he loves searching for truth. I was really impressed when I met him for the first lesson not only what he knew--but to see his conviction and faithfulness to that truth. His wife is Hermana C, a member of the church, who started coming back to church regularly about two months ago. They are both progressing wonderfully together and have made the gospel the first priority in their home. We are so excited for them.

We have seen many miracles although this week was irregular in schedule and activities. I mentioned that we were in the process of moving last week, so we found time for that, I got sick this week too, but there was still time for everything else, and we had more than normal conferences and meetings, but we still could do all the most important plans we had. The Lord helped us so much!

Yesterday, after conference we had about two hours of proselyting time before our missionary curfew. We went directly to our first plan for the hour. It was far away, and we were unsure if they would be home. When we got to the home---surprise! The parents of the girls we are teaching were not available. We spoke with the young girls outside and asked them if they knew of anyone else we could go visit. The girl responded no, at first. As she thought about it, she said, well there is someone that lives right there on the corner of the street.

"Who are they?" We asked.

She said, that's my aunt house, she's never gone to church before, but the Elders used to teach them.

We just about said, thank you and goodbye in the same sentence to the little girl as we headed off to the house. We knocked and a really happy woman greeted us. We introduced ourselves and invited her to hear more about the church. She told us, "right now, I can't be visited. I have a painful headache, but please come back again this week."

We set up an appointment and asked her about her family to know if they were also interested in hearing about the gospel. She told us that they are hardly ever home and that it was difficult to find them available. She paused and looked at us for a moment, then said, "Well, why don't you come inside and meet them. They are here right now. We've started talking out here, you may as well come inside and sit down."

YESSSSS!!!!! We incredulously hopped right on inside and met her family. :') They are a beautiful family! We spoke a little with them. Elders had met and taught them only a year before and they spoke about how they left an impact on them. The mom told us, "I loved how they talked about the importance of the family, they always talked to us about the family."

They were really humble as we spoke with them. I was impressed by their desires to change. As I watched them participate and listen and respond to our questions carefully, it was seriously the best to 'see' them feel something. We invited them to be baptized and they each accepted right away. They were unsure about being baptized in such a short amount of time, but as they let themselves be taught and motivated by their faith in Christ they accepted a baptismal date. We left feeling SUPER HAPPY! It was an answer to our prayers yesterday to find this family. It was another direct answer from a loving Heavenly Father.

Earlier this week, we were looking for old investigators but didn't know how to get to the street. We walked down the long highway and passed by a man watering his lawn. He caught my eye and I felt impressed that we should talk with him. Before I knew it, Hermana Q darted across the gravel path and asked him for directions. AWESOME. We talked to him for a little bit and invited him to accompany us at church. We also taught him about the Restoration of the gospel, he accepted another appointment with him and his cute wife his week.

It was so cool to see how we've been praying for such specific miracles (like finding a complete family or a future leader of the church, or future priesthood holder) and the Lord leads us to them. Most of the time it's by accident on our part. But it's definitely not an accident that we are trying the best we can and seeking knocking and asking, and the Lord gives us all that we need.

Like this afternoon, we went downtown to a commercial grocery store that has all the food a missionary could want at a great price and sometimes with American brand foods that you can't find anywhere else--aka paraíso yo. We got all of our dream foods, like milk that doesn't taste like cheese. haha, and got onto a combi (small bus) home. I'm laughing right now about the milk reference because we got onto the combi and Hermana Q told me how relieved she was to find cold milk (not from a carton) that didn't taste like cheese....when we suddenly hear someone next to us say. "Wow, it is so great to hear people speaking in English."

In perfect English!!!!  0.0 haha...I LOVE it when that happens because people tend to bring up the fact that they speak English right after you say something dumb (like I did this week. We passed by a man with a curly afro on our mototaxi, and I said, "Wow, look at his majestic hair. It's glorious, definitely better than mine can ever be."

Then the chauffeur says..."I speka little Inglish." 0.0 haha)

Back to the story! We started talking to this guy on the combi and we asked him where he's from.

"I'm from Las Vegas."

WHAT. ME TOO DAWG. I'M FROM VEGAS TOO!!!!!! "What part are you from?"

"I've lived everywhere, I used to live on Rainbow and Torrey Pines."

O_O

"We are basically NEIGHBORS sir!!!"

And Hermana Q is from another part of Nevada, so there was just a whole lot of commonality and normalness going down which was so weird. We made references to things back home and he understood!! Then we just start talking and I'm in total disbelief and shock at the strangeness and uncoincidentalness of this whole situation. My neighbor is on a random Mexican combi in this small town, and we just happened to get on the EXACT SAME combi out of the 12,000 who could've gotten on at the exact time that they did.

He and his awesome mystically quiet family member who was also on the combi have been to Utah and have met missionaries before. His grandma, who they were on the way to visit, used to be taught by Elders. Their gma's house is 5 minutes away from where we live. They invited us to go visit her and gave us their address so that missionaries could visit them where they currently live.

Wow.

So cool, are miracles real or what? It was a clear witness of the love that Heavenly Father has for the both of us and it was a message to me that He knows where we are at and is working alongside us. He's sent us here together for a reason to help the rest of His sons and daughters who are within our reach to help. We can't do everything but with Heavenly Father's help we can do enough. We can do exactly what He wants us to do. Wow, so cool. I know I write that a lot, but for real. It's awesome.

I love all of you so much. I hope you each have a wonderful week and count your blessings because I've personally seen that there are so many!!

Love you,

Hermana Fernelius

1) Random comment from conference: "Elder Bednar looks like a bird. Elder Birdnar." Se paso.

2) I went to the hospital on Thursday because I almost died after a cita [appointment]. (I'm being a little dramatic :) but not at the same time o_o) The doctor took a physical exam and an ultrasound, found nothing wrong, basically told me that I was crazy and sent me home. All is well now, Hermana Q took good care of me.

 

3) We didn't have a fridge this week, and we kept forgetting about it. So Hermana Q I think was also sad about it when we bought a little bit of bread and she says, "When we get home, I'm going to warm up my bread in the fridge." hahaha We didn't have a microwave for a week either so that was a little distressing also (joking) and it is clearly starting to affect our emotional wellbeing.

 

4) Introducing a new missionary vocabulary word: MANDMENT: Like commandment and mandamiento BUT BETTER

 

Love you all!!

Week 64! "Transfers [for the Last Time?!]"

From 3/30/15

Hola Family and Friends!!

Guess where I'm at and who I'm with? Transfers today, I'm with my new companion Hermana Q!!!!

Hermana Q is so super great!!! She is 20 also and she is one of six siblings. As we left the offices this morning and I listened to her testimony, it is so sincere and powerful. We contacted a taxi driver who was visibly touched by her testimony also. It was super cool.

I'm excited to be in this new area. It's HOT. Our house is brand spanking new and we have moving stuff everywhere. The Zone leaders just found this house for our area like 2 days ago. From what I've heard, I'm really excited to be here with all the work there is to do! It's going to be a lot of fun!! I'm excited for the adventures ahead.

So that's what's been going on around here.

This past week we had very special experiences also. I hardly said goodbye to anyone, but one person I did see was Ao. After the lesson we had, I mentioned that we'll come back to see him soon. He said, when your parents come by will you point to me and say "El es mi obra"? hahaha. Or in other words, look at my masterpiece. hahaha. I told him NO WAY JOSE. Then he said it's okay, you can tell them that I live under the bridge. ......what??? Not one of us understood the vague reference. Then he said that when he lived in the United States, a lot of foreigners lived under a freeway bridge in the streets. haha I'm still a little confused by that reference but it's okay. :) Ao is a homeless man as far as my parents know.

Hope that was as confusing to you as it is to me.

Hermana C and I went to go teach a family investigating the church this week. The last time we went to teach them, they didn't let us inside. This past week, however, it was raining. (Can I get a glory hallelujah?). We were able to get inside to teach them in their home.

It was perfect, we were able to say a prayer and it invited the spirit so strongly in their home. As we talked, S (the dad of the family) opened up to us and told us his desires to be a good father for his little family. His wife (legally married...WOO), M also expressed how she wants to do what's right for her children. S became very sentimental as he told us about some of the struggles he's been having with bad habits--and how greatly he wants to change. He told us that the day we contacted him in the street with his son, he felt something as we talked with him:

"That day that I met you two, I felt the true love and concern you had for me. I felt something different as we spoke. I know that there is something in this that can help me. I've looked in other places and have not found it. I think that this is what I've been looking for."

**Cue missionary tears of joy**

It was so awesome. He gets it. He sees a vision of how their family can become. He and his wife committed to come to church--as far as his work schedule allows it. He sometimes is called to work on Sundays which worried us about this past Sunday. We prayed for him to have the day off. We decided to go by on Saturday with a  member to confirm our plans. As he opened the door he told us, I'm going to be able to go! The whole family. I'm bringing my kids too. Yesterday, we went to pick them up and it was so cool to see a beautiful little family all together and dressed and ready to go. It was super special and a highlight of the week.

In other news, G (the English speaking member) is doing great!! We have really challenged him with the commitments we've left him, but he's stopped smoking marijuana for 7 and half days now. :) It was a strong addiction before. But he put his mind to it and has taken it one day at a time. Every time was see him we ask how many days? and he says 4 and a half or 6 and a half. he is pretty attentive of the duration of his success. :) Anyway, he's doing awesome. He says he feels free. He has never been able to abandon smoking before, but he's finally doing it!! :) We took his old bong and destroyed it on a cement wall...well Hermana C did, and it was great :) He's the best!

Also the women's general conference broadcast was super awesome. We watched it in the Stake Center in English with my comp, Hermanas M, C, M2, P and H.

Watching the broadcast really strengthened my testimony of the need for living prophets and apostles. It was powerful to hear the testimonies of women who are called of God to teach the doctrine of Christ. Something that I loved from Pres. Eyring's remarks was the story he told of a mother who had lost her son in an accident. JOY always follows sorrow. The things that have happened today to Hermana Q and other missionaries has been a testimony to me that the joy will come. I know that it is exactly what the gospel of Jesus Christ promises. A comfort and reassurance that the promises of God will all be fulfilled. In the Lord's way and timing, yes, but He keeps His promises.

I read a talk this morning that is called Beautiful Mornings from Elder Porter of the Seventy. He says, "Trials may come, and we may not understand everything that happens to us or around us. But if we humbly, quietly trust in the Lord, He will give us strength and guidance in every challenge we face. When our only desire is to please Him, we will be blessed with a deep inner peace."

Hope you all have a great week and enjoy General Conference!!

Con Amor,

Hermana Fernelius

Week 63! "WOO!"

From 3/23/15

Hola Family and Friends!!!

Wow!! Another week has flown by!! And it was a great week!

Yesterday Ao blessed the sacrament!!! :) He did awesome! It was so incredible to see him bless the sacrament for the first time. He is progressing so well! He really inspires us. He's preparing to receive the Melquisedec (I have no idea how to spell that) Priesthood in a couple of months. :) He also blessed the sacrament with the member that baptized him. It was really cool!

We met some really neat people this week! We've been striving to use each minute the best we can. Sometimes we finish a lesson a littler faster than planned, so we have ten minutes before the next appointment. We've been praying to find the people who are waiting for us in that time. Either we look for investigators who are progressing, less active members, or contact on the way.

One day we walked down a street and decided to take a turn up a callejon or alleyway. As we walked, we noticed a man smoking from the second floor of a house looking out into the street. We couldn't help ourselves. We said hi and introduced ourselves. We offered to leave a pamphlet on his doorstep and started to explain a little bit. He told us--hold on, I am going to go downstairs.

WOO!

He came downstairs, and we shared a little bit of our message. He told us, I have been looking for peace in my life. I'm trying to do the right thing! We asked him if we could return to share more about how to find that peace in his life. We also felt impressed to ask him to be baptized so that he could have the guidance of the Spirit in his life. He accepted without hesitation!

It was so neat!

We returned on Saturday with a fabulous young woman from our branch to teach him. He said he had read the pamphlet and so we explained a little more to him. The young woman we went with is beginning to reactivate in the church, but still comes inconsistently. We've wondered and prayed to know how to help her and her family. We especially wanted to make sure that she was sure of her testimony. In that lesson, it wasn't even a question! Her testimony is powerful! It brought the Spirit into the small apartment room, and it helped him [the new investigator] to recognize this message as something more. It was cool to see how member missionary work strengthens the three of us. The investigators, members, and us as missionaries.

Later in talking with her mom, she said that her daughter was so excited to come with us to teach! Then this member told us, please keep taking her. It's helping her! Another one of her sons was close to coming to church this past Sunday, but he felt nervous going by himself. The family is so special! When one starts to progress in the gospel, it pulls the tie with another family member, and the family begins to propel forward in progression together. They are just really awesome, we feel at home when we are with them.

We also went to see a stinking awesome new investigator this week. He lives on just about the most extreme end of our area we could go. We weren't even sure that his streets existed because we couldn't find it on any maps. We met him super lejos [far] from his house in the area that we live in. He was pacing on the sidewalk in the street listening to music, I think. We passed by him, and we felt like we should talk to him. It was a typical awkward, how do we start talking to this kid or get his attention without having to literally poke him or interrupt his pacing. Well, we got his attention somehow (I think we shouted at him a little and waved around a pamphlet just joking) and he invited us to come by to share more!

The day of the appointment comes. We have to block out a couple of hours when we go to that area during our day for transport and visit time, but it was worth it. We found his house after a little bit of searching. Basically in the middle of nothing!

We started off with a prayer and shared a little message about our purpose there to help him. We asked questions to try to listen for his needs. He recently had a family member pass away. He shared with us his anxiety of losing another family member unexpectedly and we told him about God's plan of happiness and eternal families. He looked so attentive and had a knowledge and recognition in his eyes. He also accepted the invitation to be baptized! And committed to come to church with us! He even said the last prayer when we invited him. It was great!

 

We were practically giddy coming back down the hill onto the highway, when Hermana C said...we should go look for Hermana so-and-so to see if she's home. We had never met this less active member and she was basically never home when we've been up there. So we decided to go by.

We stood out in her lot and shouted BUENAS TARDES for a what felt like a solid 10 minutes. Clearly someone was home, but no one was coming out...awkward. Well, this sister saw us from her balcony and decided to come out to talk to us. She welcomed us into her home. It turns out that she is very hard of hearing--basically deaf in one ear. She doesn't hear when we are outside shouting. It was a blessing she came out at all! As we sat and talked and got to know her a bit, she told us that she had stopped coming to church for a little bit and felt a need to return. "In fact," she said, "I had just made an inner commitment to go to church this Sunday. Because you two are here, it's a confirmation to me that I really do need to go."

 

And she did! Yesterday she came to church on her own! She was beaming as she participated in the classes and made sure to say hi to us when she got there--just to be sure that she kept her word. :) I just love that. I am so grateful for the blessing of seeing people progress in the gospel and especially when they accept the Atonement of the Savior.

 

Something that I have witnessed is how crucial it is to be consistent and diligent with members who have separated themselves from church. Don't give up. Be confident in them and love them! Most of all, be diligent. It's so important. Retention and reactivation in church is just as important as finding, teaching, and baptizing. Yesterday, a less active family we have known for months now set up an appointment to have a family home evening.

WOO!

It's progress no matter how long it may take. LOVE IT.

 

We had a great week and are looking forward to another week of finding and teaching and serving. I love being a missionary! 

 

If you would like to, here is a link to an awesome talk about the Atonement which is one of my FAVORITES. It's called "The Savior Wants to Forgive":

 

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/the-savior-wants-to-forgive?lang=eng

 

Hope you all have a beautiful week!

 

Con Amor,

 

Hermana Fernelius

Last week we went to see the pyramids of Xochicalco!! And we went with some of our most favorite people, Hermana C and M :)