BAUTISMO Y LA despedida de la Hermana Ihrke :( 28 December 2015

So guess what. Hermana Ihrke left for her casa!!! I can't even believe it. It hasn't fully set in quite yet! But it will be good. I'll miss her, but it was fun being her companion. :)

Hermana Rivas and I are now solo! She's awesome! We're gonna work super hard and baptize lots of people!!!! Whoooot! We have a lot of really awesome people in our area, and they're all gonna get baptized!!! At least, I'll do everything that I can to make sure they do:):) 

So this week we HAD A BAUTISMO!!!!! It was awesoooome!!!! It was craaaaazy though. Oh my goodness. I'll explain why. So that whole day, we had the Christmas conference, and we had to leave a little early to set up for the baptism. As we arrived at the church, we went to start to fill up the font, only to discover the WATER WAS SHUT OFF!!!!! and we only had an hour before the baptism. We try calling everyone, but no one knew how to turn the water back on. The Singles Ward elders tried to find it too, but they couldn't. Safe to say, we were completely freaking out. Iris arrived and we didn't have anything set up. So we had to call everyone and change the baptism to the other building and start the font over there. but there was a problem with that too because the fonts take like an hour to fill up to a good point. and we only had like 30 minutes.... We couldn't wait any longer, we just had to do it. and the water was so short, but it worked out and IRIS got BAPTIZED!!!!!!!! and Antonio baptized her!!!!!!! It was so special :):):) how cool is it that your recent convert gets to baptize his mom!!! and Estrella his sister has a date and Alexis his tio is feeling better about joining the church and everything!!!! LIFE IS SO GOOD!!!! Heavenly Father is giving us so many blessings that we really don't deserve. :):):) 

But now on to the Christmas conference!!! I ABSOLUTELY LOVED it!!!!! It was really fun getting to be with our whole mission. I thought it was a lot bigger than it really is! We got to go and learn all about Christ and the importance of a Savior. That's another thing I love about the mission. We can learn so much about everything. It truly is preparation for life. Preparation to serve Heavenly Father for the rest of our lives!! Because that's truly the way to happiness :) We watched a cute movie and then we ate a delicious dinner. After that we had a talent show. There are so many talented people in this world!!! I was so impressed!! I really like the funny ones though. I always think they're really entertaining. 

So the other day we were talking about Captain Moroni and how incredible he is. We read in Alma 48:17 that if more people were like him all the powers of hell would be shaken. First of all, how cool is that??? and second, why can't that be us?? Everybody can be like him. As we strive to follow the Savior and obey with exactness and with all of our hearts, trusting in God, we can do it! I would encourage y'all to strive with me to become sometime as strong and as faithful as Moroni and help all others around us do the same :)

Another thing I've been thinking about a lot is the importance of this message. Now as I am truly feeling and understanding the importance of this message, it kills me when people aren't interested, think other things are more important, or just 'don't have time'. There really isn't an excuse. God needs to come first if we want to have happiness in this life and in the life after. A quote I love is it's not easy to be a disciple, but it's easier than not being one. or sometime like that. I read it in a talk one time. I have been called to reflect on myself personally and what I need to do to change to put God first. Not gonna lie even on my mission there are looots of things I need to change. but I know God will help me do it so I can accomplish His work. But I truly can attest that I feel so much happier when I am trying to be like the Savior and give my will to the Lord.

Anyway, Christmas was awesome. We celebrated Estrella's birthday as well. It was super fun. There are a pinata and everything!! I am pretty sure I looked like an idiot when I was trying to hit it, but it was super fun. I enjoyed it :) It was a very good Christmas! and I got to talk to you!!!! I LOVE YOU ALL LOTS :) I'm really blessed with the best family on this planet. It's fine :) oh guess what though. this Christmas was 80 and sunny. First one every. It was definitely a little different than Utah! 

Also THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE FOR YOUR WONDERFUL AND GENEROUS GIFTS!!!!!! I am blessed with the best people in my life :) I will be sending cards to you all soon, so I can thank you for real :) but thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As I was talking with people about making Christmas a spiritual experience, it made me remember what we do as an extended family and how we put on the nativity and have a lesson. That's awesome!!!! When I get back, I am going to appreciate it even more. Because really Christmas is a time for family and for thinking about our Savior. :) 

now we are coming up on a brand new year!!! and guess what we get to do!! Make goals!! That's what we are focusing on as a mission this week. I have a lot of goals that I want to make, and I am going to focus on them, so I can accomplish them!!! I have spiritual and ummm temporal I guess? I'm slightly forgetting how to speak not in scriptural terms if you can't tell by my email. It's a problem. But esta bien. I hope you all are doing the same!!! Goals help us achieve what God needs us to during the year and what we need in our lives!!!! 

Enjoy New Years!!! I love you sooooo much!!! Let me know if I can do anything for you!!!!!! :):):) tomen buenas decisiones!!!!! :):):):)

Oh My Goodness Gracious! 21 December 2015

Let me just say, I am SUPER happy. and I have looooots to tell you because I didn't really write last week. it was a little crazy.!!

So first of all, WE HAVE A BAPTISM TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!I I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited!!!!!! She's amazing and she's finally getting baptized!!!!! We've been working with her from the beginning when I got here. It's IRIS!!!!! :) and she feels sooooo good and prepared. and the coolest part is that Antonio will be able to baptize her!!!!!!!! Me alegre mucho1!!!! I can't wait to see them both dressed in white and Antonio using the priesthood authority that he has to baptize his mom so they can live in the celestial kingdom and be sealed forever. How amazing is that?? :) 

We went to the temple with Antonio Friday!!!!!!!! The Spirit was so strong while he was getting baptized. I love being able to go with them to the temple because that's our goal. Part is to get them baptized, but also to bring them all through the temple and then help them keep going forever!!! We are not done when we're baptized, we have to keep going!!! and he's going to be a missionary. He's already preparing. :) He's my favorite!!!!!!!! Okay, well everyone is, but I just love the people here. They're wonderful!!!

I'm now officially TWENTY!!!!! Can you believe it? I'm out of my teens. It doesn't really feel like it though. But whatever! I had an AMAZING day though. People are so wonderful!!! Arturo brought me a giant cake tres leche! That's the Hispanic cake. Super yummy, but wow filling!! It was so nice of them!!! Then we had a dinner with hermana Suarez and then another one with Hermana Wells (which was my birthday dinner that she invited me to). They're so wonderful and so generous. They're truly disciples of Christ and are trying to do all they can for this ward and for everyone they meet. They are such great examples for me.

Then we had ANOTHER dinner. Oh my goodness. I'm sure you can imagine that I was about to die. I still feel full. Because it's not just 3 dinners, it's three hispanic dinners (well one was with an American family, but still!!) haha we were with Manuel y Iris and all of them. They wanted to celebrate my birthday with me :) how cute are they??? and they got me a cake to!!!! and as you can see in the picture, Antonio smashed my face in the cake!!! I did not expect that, but it was hilarious. I loved it:) haha, I think Iris took a video, it may be on her facebook. but i really think in that short time, I gained like 30 pounds. Yup. it's rough. but so good!!

I love you all so very much!!! I'm excited to chat with you on Christmas!!!!! The gospel is true!!!! Christ really was born, so that we can have eternal life. Keep going forward and reading every day!!!!! Love you all infinitamente!!!! Let me know if I can do anything for you!!!!!! :) Los amo!!!!!!!!!

14 December 2015

I really don't have any time this week, but I just wanted to let you all know that I love you very much and I am looooooving it here!!!!!!!!!! :):):) the mission is the best!!!!!!!!! 

We had a ward party!!!! and let me tell you H2 knows how to throw parties!!! It was awesome :) our ward was so cute and they gave us all HUGE gifts. Man, they are generous. They don't have much, but they want to give it all to us. Big examples for me!!!

LOVE YOU ALL!! next week will be better :):):) hasta luego!!!!!!!! I'M ALMOST VIEJA!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHHA I'M TURNING 20 WHAAAAAAT :)

Buenos Dias!!! 7 December 2015

THANKSGIVING DINNER WITH MY FAMILY :)

I'm trying to be better at taking photos, but I'll be honest with you, it's not me, my companeras are the good ones..... hahahha I've never been good at that. 

So this week was AMAZING!!!! Let me just tell you!! There is so much joy to be found in this work and this gospel :) wghoooooo! So there are some new videos on the church website and you NEED to see them!!!!!!! go to christmas.mormon.orgthe videos are so cute. and if you haven't seen the video from last year, you need to as well!!! It helps us focus on why we really have Christmas. because A Savior was born. 

Okay first some funny stories and then some spiritual ones!!! So some funny ones, we had to take the bus a lot because my bike tire died and the people on the bus are hilarious!!!!

The first time we got on the bus and there was a black mane and as soon as he saw us, he said whoa, look at them white ladies!! How you doing white ladies? and then he started singing about white ladies. He did that for like a straight five minutes. hahah, I died, it was hilarious.

Then while we were at a bus stop, a black man came up to Hermana Rivas and started talking to her. He asked for her name and  she told me, and he was like man, I've always wanted to know an Hermana Rivas... hahaha and asked for her number (she's so cute because when black people speak they have a different accent, so she couldn't understand very well and so it was really funny because she wasn't realizing he was hitting on her.) Hermana Ihrke and I were dying.  He was super drunk. Hilarious. 

We had some other funny stories, but I can't remember them right now! So now for the spiritual ones because that's the best!!! :)

Antonio is my favorite person on this planet!!! He is so cool!!! We practiced street contacting with him and he loved it!!! He practices it all the time and he learned how to pray in English because he wanted to be able to do it. He's the best!!! and he keeps sharing his testimony with everyone and reading and praying everyday and he's so excited about everything!!!! He goes out with us and the elders all the time!!! He was telling about an investigator family of the elders and he was talking about how they were going to get baptized. He explained to the family that they needed to get baptized again because their church didn't have the authority and our church is the only one that does. HOW AWESOME! :) He also told his friend that he needed to get baptized in our church because they don't' have the authority. and that wasn't even a lesson!!!!!

and another thing!!! 

Iris is progressing really well!! It helps that her son got baptized and is so strong, but we had an amazing lesson with her where she told us that she knows this is the true church, jose smith fue un profeta, and that she needs to get baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!!! the church and the gospel are so true!!!!!!!! :)):):):):) her date is for the 19th and then she'll get confirmed on my birthday!!!! BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER!!!!!~!! whoooooooo!!! :):)

Manuel finally came out teaching with us and he shared his testimony about how much he's changed. It's so amazing to know that the gospel can really change us. That's what it's about!!! Helping us to become more like our Heavenly Father because we know that's the way to have happiness. People think otherwise, but I know that when I am trying to act the way Christ would, I'm happier. 

I forgot to tell you all that I'm staying here again for another transfer!!! I hope I never leave because I love the people here!!!! But I will love the people wherever I go!!!!

I love that I am able to focus on Christ this Christmas. I love how every year as a family we do the Nativitybecause that's the time to think about Christ!!! and to spend family time. I love you all so much and I'm so blessed that I have you in my life!!!! Family and friends! Let's make sure to focus on the most important things: God and our families. 

Love you all so much!!! :) Let me know if I can do anything for you!!! LOVE YOU!~!!:) LOVE YOU! Can't 'wait to see y'all soon!!!

30 November 2015

HELLO!!!!!!!! COMO ESTAN???? we are only speaking spanish and I looooooove it. It's like my favorite thing on the planet. It's helping me a lot. Sorry this email will be kind of crazy because I'm a little scatterbrained today. Don't know why. Maybe I'm really tired and hungry. Also P-day is way more stressful than any other day. No se porque. 

We had a super good week!!!!! It was lovely. 

Thanksgiving was awesome. We went to the Well's house to eat and it was delicious. I ate SO much. one tradition that they have is they go around and say one thing they are thankful for and then light a candle. Hearing everything that people were grateful for was pretty incredible. Antonio went with us and he said he was grateful for having the church :) AHHHHHHHHH!!!!! He's so converted and he's going on a mission!!! He already loves coming out with us and he loves sharing his testimony. He's my favorite :):):) 

What are you grateful for??? There are so many things in this world for which we can be grateful. I can't even count how many blessings I have in this world!!! But I'll name just a few for you all :) I've got my amazing family that I love to death, the gospel, the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people, the church, happiness, ability to work, my friends, my future. Wow, I could just keep going on and on. I've always in my prayers started out with things that I was grateful for, but now every morning I only say prayers of gratitude. It's changed my day. I'm happier and I know it's because I'm trying to be grateful for everything I've received :)

Also another cool thing!!!!! Prayers are totally answered!!!! I had been asking Heavenly Father for help with something and all of a sudden, it just happened. I know it's because He wants me to work harder and He knows I truly needed His help. and I got it!!!!! How amazing is that? And it can happen for every single one of us :)

I gave a talk yesterday on the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13) You should read it. But I've always loved that story. Especially since during one Girls' camp we had the walk on that. I felt the Spirit really strong then, and well it's impacted me ever since. As I was studying this talk, something hit me super hard. In verse 12 it talks about the Bridegroom saying I don't know you...... how would you feel if he said that to you? If Jesus Christ had to say, I'm sorry, but I don't know you. You didn't do what I asked you to do. I had the way for you to be happy, and you didn't want to do it. You chose not to follow me......... I can't even imagine that. I would be devastated, and I would be just as devastated or even more if I had to see that happen with a member of my family or my friends. We need to remember that we don't know when He will come, but we need to start now!!!!!! If you don't have a testimony of His church, find it! If you're not keeping the commandments, do it!! 

This mission is changing my life and I LOVE IT!!!! I'm so blessed to be able to be here and take part in this work. :)

Iris accepted another date, and this time, she feels super good about it. After seeing Antonio take this act of faith, she's been reading and really growing her testimony. and do you want to know the coolest thing?!?!?!? Antonio will be able to baptize her!!!!!!!! yes!!!!!!!

Oh also should mention that I will be staying here in this area again with Hna Ihrke and Hna Rivas. I LOVE THEM BOTH!!!!!! :) I'm super sad that Hna Ihrke will be leaving this transfer. She's incredible. I've learned so much from her, and I've loved being her companion. We still have 4 weeks, but she really was a companion that I had been praying for!!!!!

Sorry my computer is going to shut down, but if I can get another one, I'll write more!!! I have so much to say!!! LOVE YOU :):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

23 November 2015

Wellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll stuff happened this week. it was a normal week, I really just can't think of it. I'm really bad sorry. Antonio and Manuel got confirmed!!!! It was pretty awesome because it really hit me when Antonio was receiving the Holy Ghost that he truly was a member of God's church and that God was so happy with what he was doing. He is so strong and he comes out with us all the time!!!!! He looks like a missionary in the pictures, doesn't he????:):):):):):):) a ver lo que pasa pero el seria lo mejor misionero!!!

 One super fun thing that happened, so we biked to the meeting and we were all set, but then all of a sudden like 30 minutes before we were going to leave, it started pooooooouring. Oh my goodness. and we didn't have anything. It was suuuuuper cold actually. But I loved it!!! I was laughing the whole way home:) life's so much better when you enjoy crazy moments like that!!! 

Weeeelp. I think that's kind of it. Love you all!!! 

BAUTISMO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 16 November 2015

First picture, Hna Ihrke wanted a photo of where we were all Friday. hahahahahah :)

Second: BAUTISMO!!!!!!! :) and the rest following are of the baptism

Hello!!!!!!! Some craaaaaazy things happened this week. First of all, President called us Wednesday morning to let us know that we were getting a new companion! She's a temple square sister and she's from Panama! It's awesome because we basically speak Spanish alllllllllll day long. I really love that. If I could never speak English, I would totally do it that way :) sweet huh?? My Spanish will definitely improve which is what I want. Her name is Hermana Rivas Brackman. She's super cute and super hyper. I really like her. It's going to be a party being her companion:)

Second, we all got food poisoning!!! YAY!!!!!! hahaha, we could not leave our apartment for a straight day and the next day Hermana Rivas still was sick. It was crazy. We don't know what we ate, but apparently, it didn't like us very much; however, after having that, now I feel absolutely AMAZING. Sometimes you go through times that you don't feel so good, so then when you do, it's the best thing on the planet. I had to keep telling myself that while I was sick :) hahaha, Do you remember how I was that night when I got my wisdom teeth out?? Yeah, I was like that during the night too. Kind of almost passed out in the bathroom, just like I did then. HAHAHAHAHA :) it wasn't that bad though. I thought it was pretty funny. 

but then we had the best thing on the planet!!! a BAUTISMO!!!!! Antonio y Manuel se bautizaron. No puedo creerlo!!!! Era tan especial y el espiritu era tan fuerte. Me encanto mucho mucho :) It was really amazing. They're such wonderful people and Antonio's sister and aunt were there that weekend from Mexico and they got ot see it!!!! and they're going to go to listen to missionaries there and they want to go to church there!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH :) do you know how cool that is!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! I think it's pretty amazing, if you can't tell ;) there's not much else to say about the baptism. It was just awesome. Hna Ihrke is suuuuuuuuper happy. and that makes me happy :)

So I've heard a lot about the new policy change that everyone is freaking out about. Well, just like I sent in my email just a little bit ago. We need to focus on the 4 primary questions. Does God exist? Is Jesus Christ my Savior? Is Jose Smith a prophet? and is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints the restored church? If so, then we can't let little things like that pull us away from the church. (and and we can know all of those things if we know the Book of Mormon is true, so READ IT :) haha) God will not change. His commandments will not change. and we know that homosexuality is against his commandments. The Law of Chasity--which is one of the most serious commandments you can break. So first of all that is for the marriages. and second, for the new policy change that they had, if you watch the interview, they did it because they don't want to cause conflict within the families because families are so essencial and important in God's plan. People will get offended over things like that, but as long as we are loving them and not the sin, we are doing what God wants. We have to keep going strong with the prophets words because he truly is a prophet of God. 

Those are just some of my thoughts on that. Just for fun :) 

9 November 2015--Pretty Awesome Week

bonjour ma famille! Comment ca va?? Yeah, French...I remember those days, but I've been practicing a little bit when I have free time, so hopefully when I get back, I'll still be able to speak in French. A ver lo que pasa :)

This week was awesooooooome! We have so many awesome investigators!!!!!! We found this one family (well sort of family) Daisy, Henry, Oscar, Jonathan, Isabela, y Luis and they are so cute!!! They love it when we come over! It's fun because they're all basically our age. Isabela even told us that we should come over every day. Super cute :)

Then we have Jaquelin y Gustavo, who are getting married this week!!! We may have to wait a little bit for the baptism just because this weekend is crazy and their daughter may be having surgery. If so, we'll just reextend, but they are so excited. Gustavo came to church and he LOVED it. They talk a lot about how it's reverent and quiet and we aren't yelling. There really is a peace that you can find in the chapel especially in el cuarto sacramental. I love it there. I have come to find it as a place of refuge for myself. I really rely on that peaceful time just for me to think about my relationship with God and how I can really be clean again. I need it every week. I haven't missed a week of the sacrament for a while, but I feel the difference as I partake of the sacrament. What a special gift that we have!! Don't ever take it for granted :)

MANUEL SAID HE IS READY TO GET BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that is a monumental thing!!!! Y'all don't even understand!! He has been listening to the missionaries for like 6 months and he finally said he is ready and he doesn't need more time and he wants to be baptized this weekend on his date :):) Hermana Ihrke and I could not stop smiling. How amazing is that. I am soooooooo happy. And Antonio passed his interview!!! They're getting baptized together!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH  I'm not sure you even understand how happy I am!!!! We see them everyday and now (because they're never going to fall away) we can see them in the Celestial Kingdom :) and they'll get sealed to people in the temple and everything :) awwwwwwwwwwww :) I mean Antonio is only 16, but eventually he will!! hahaha and I just want to be able to see pictures or if I can, go!!!!! :)

We had an awesome lesson with them and the spirit was really strong. Our member really testified as well as nosotras that he needs to be baptized now and not wait if he's ready! and then after he said he was! whoooooooooo!! and then last night we had a carne asada (those are delicious by the way, I'll have to make it sometime for you :)) and we talked a lot about baptism. They already have it all set up!!! and the cutest thing ever. We had to go, so they were like wait, quick think of questions, so they can't leave! and Antonio started 'coming up with questions' but really just talking slow so that we couldn't leave. :) LOOOOVE them!!! haha, but we really did have to go, so we asked we will see you Tuesday and he was soooooo upset that we aren't coming by today. They're seriously family. I want you all to meet them right now!!!! :) Looooooove them!!!!

They want to take to Mexico with Alexis, and Antonio's mom, would that be okay?? It'd be in July. It's really not a joke. They have it planned and everything :):):):) we'd drive there and then stay in their houses!!

I LOVE PEOPLE!!!

Okay, anyways, we had an amazing couple lessons with a 14 year old. She's had a really hard life. But she's amazing. It's so sad because she never got to grow up with the knowledge that we have, and so her situation in life is really really sad, but she wants to change and she's working to change!!! I really felt God's love for her as she was talking! :) she's so cute!!!!!! We are going to re-extend a baptismal date because we haven't finished teaching her everything, but she's going to get baptized cien por ciento!!!! That makes me so happy :):) and she loves it when we come over too!!!

Also Manuel and Alexis bought us food. Not just made dinner for us, but bought us groceries!!!!!!!!!! They are so cute!!! They bought us so much. We don't need to go shopping this week. I love them wayyyyyy too much. They're my favorite :) well they're all my favorite, but their family is super special!!!!

Then we had an amazing regional conference. I want to ask y'all two questions that Elder Corbridge asked. First read the story in John 6:65-69 and then think of these two questions "Will ye also go away? If ye shall, where shall ye go??" Where can we go? There is only one way to eternal life and that is through the Atonement of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He has 'the words of eternal life' We will never be able to truly be happy if we don't have Him and His gospel engrained in our lives. We must understand this. If we don't understand, we have to put in the effort and then we will. If we truly understood the importance of this message the importance of this gospel, we could not fall away!!! 

That was my favorite part, but I also loved how much they talked about simplifying our lives and focusing on the most important : God and our families. We have to do the things for our daily bread, but we have to make sure that we aren't too busy to do things with our family and that we really are working to have a happy loving family. I can't remember exactly what this quote said, but it said around the lines of eternal life is an extension of the ideal home. Wow, pretty profound huh? :):) they encouraged us to delete some things that we don't need in our lives. Declutter the closet of endless tasks and distractions and focus on the most important.

I hope you all know how much I love you and I pray for you a lot!!!! Let's make every week a week where we come closer to Jesus Christ and find more happiness :):) Let me know if I can every do anything for you!!!! :):):):):)

 

2 November 2015

Hello, hello!!!!!!!! We had a suuuuuper good week this week. We should be having lots of baptisms coming up. We will probably have one this week and then 4 or 6 the week the week after. SWEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!! 

Halloween was really weird because nothing happened! (You'll be happy to hear that mom :) but I really thought there would be at least people outside trick or treating, but we saw like 2 kids,. That was it. Very different than Utah. 

Also super cute thing!!!!! One of our investigators signed up to feed us. Now she and her family have literally nothing. It's so sad. But we went to go to her house to eat. She and her husband set up a little side table for us and put a cute little table liner as a table cloth, so we could have someone nice to eat. She then made us the food and gave us the plates and gave us so much food while she and her family ate off of little baby plates. I immediately felt a rush of love for all of them and not gonna lie, I teared up a little bit. She doesn't have much, but what she did have she wanted to give to us. There are amazing people in this world and I'm so blessed to get to know them. 

This week we didn't teach as much as we normally do because we basically had three days that we didn't have time to teach. First day we did service!!!! I LOVED IT!!!! we got to help underprivileged kids get their eyes checked. They were adorable :) I loved them a lot!!!! I got to talk to them and get to know them. They are so cute and innocent. It's amazing how you can feel so much love for people you don't even know. They all need to find the gospel ASAP!!!!!!!!!!!! Everyone needs it. 

Then we got to listen to Elder Corbridge from the seventy....... THE SPIRIT WAS SO STRONG!!!! It was a 7 hour reunion and I loved it!!! I learned so much. First of all I loved how President Hall explained that a better question to what is your spiritual language is how can the spirit speak to me? because really the Spirit won't talk to you in only one way. I'm now going through PMG looking at all the ways the Spirit can talk to you and marking down the scriptures and times when I have felt that way. It's pretty incredible. I haven't noticed the Spirit as much as I should've because I've felt it a lot!!!!

Then Elder Corbridge talked. His question really was what is the most important thing? Y'all should think about that. Truly what is the most important thing?? I'll tell you because we all need to know!!! I'm sure a lot of you know already :) the most important thing is the Atonement. We truly can't have any good thing without the Atonement. Jesus Christ already paid the price for us, but it's up to us to accept that. What do YOU need to do to accept it? It's nothing huge really. In Alma 7:7-17 it talks about the doctrine of Christ (also found in 2 Nephi 31 and 3 Nephi 27, which you all should read!!!) faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. We are all right now on enduring to the end, and we have to do it!!! We can't live with our families forever or have joy in the eternities if we don't!! and truly we find more joy in this life when we follow what God wants :)

Another amazing thing that he explained was that people fall away or don't get baptized because they don't understand. I know that's true. I didn't understand any of this before my mission. I didn't realize how important everything was until I got here and I studied and learned about it. When you understand the doctrine, you know of the necessity of this gospel and you would be willing to do whatever it takes to receive eternal life (our goal) and you can do that through the Spirit. We have been given such a huge gift that changes our life for the better. We have the Spirit which can lead and guide us and it can bring us what we need. We feel love, joy, peace.... (Galations 5:22-23) all those buenos sentimientos podemos sentir. All good things come from Christ and come from this Gospel. This is the true Church on the earth and this it the way to eternal happiness and joy. and it's the way to have joy here as well. 

Many people think it's hard to be a disciple of Christ, but in reality, it's easier to be a disciple of Christ than not. We receive so many blessings. So many!!! I can't even tell you how blessed I feel that I grew up in the gospel. I got to avoid so many different struggles. I hear about some people's life and I think to myself, there's a commandment about that. There's a commandment about that too, and I truly realize that commandments are here to bless our lives. They are gifts from God. Protection is keeping us from straying into tinieblas and sadness and trials. Sure, we will still have trials and challenges, but we will be able to overcome them through Christ and we will avoid a lot of self-inflicted pain as well! I don't know about y'all, but I definitely want that!! I don't need more pain in my life. Another thing Elder Corbridge said is that we don't need to suffer more. Jesus Christ already suffered, he has the way out to suffer less, so why don't we take it??? 

There was so much more, but I'm running out of time!!!!

Last thing, we went to the temple with two members here for their first time. It was really special and I got to listen to the session in Spanish again. LOVED IT! :) It's really special listening to it in a different language other than English. I really like it! One day I'll listen to it in French, Chinese, Japanese, and I dunno, whatever other languages I want to learn!!!!

Love you all so much!!!!!!!! :):):) Keep reading and praying every day!!! Dios los ama!!! Y los amo tambien :) Hasta luego mi familia!!! 

ALSO I ATE INTESTINES AND COW BRAINS!!!! not my favorite thing on the planet, but I found out I've been eating cow tongue a lot and it's actually really good! Quien sabia??? Just thought y'all should know :) LOVE YOU!!!!

26 October 2015: #lotsofrain #apartmentfloodedalittle #ihatehashtags

I really don't like hashtags, but lately I've just really wanted to use them. Don't ask me why. I have no idea, but it's been raining a lot here! Crazy! Everyone was freaking out. They said we were supposed to have another flood like they had in May this last week, but it was supposed to be worse....but it wasn't even bad!!!!!! I was really excited to have to bike in knee deep water, but I guess that just wasn't meant to be! haha, so you don't have to worry :) our apartment got a little bit of water inside, but not too much! Thankfully we heard about it, so we put all of our stuff high up! So it worked out!

speaking of our apartment complex, our investigators are going to be our neighbors!!!!!!! I'm so excited!!! They're the investigators we see everyday!!!!! :) I love them a lot!!!! they just need to get baptized though!!!! With one of them, Iris, we have hit a giant bump in the road. More like the Berlin Wall (but even that came down, so I'm hopeful that we will help her get through it! :) hahaha I still remember some history stuff!) but she HATES halloween. I can't even explain to you how much she absolutely loathes it. She knows the book of Mormon is true and everything, but she thinks that because we have Halloween activities and people of the Church celebrate Halloween, that this can't be the true church because that's wrong and we're supporting all this horrible bad stuff. She even asked us to pray about Halloween and she said God will tell us it's wrong. But it's all about the intention. Halloween really is for the kids. But I get it. It's something that she has grown up with, so we will work with her and she will get baptized. Her date is for this Saturday (she picked Halloween, so we couldn't go out and do stuff..... ahahahahahhaha:) but I feel confident she can and God said she was ready. One other thing He said though was that she will ultimately make the decision.

Can I tell you something though? That is the hardest thing on the planet. You grow to love these people more than you can even describe. You see their good qualities and how much they NEED the gospel. They NEED it, so when they don't accept it, it hurts. It really really does. Salvation, Eternal Life, Eternal Families all depend on this. This is the most important decision of their lives! IT's the most important decision of all of our lives! We all need to follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ and be in the true church. We cannot be saved without it. Do we all realize how important this is???? I see investigators refusing baptism and it kills me. I see members who were so strong, fall away. If you think about the eternal scheme of things and even now with all the blessings that they are losing, it hurts. How would it be if it was your family members?? I wasn't the perfect person, member, or anything like that by far. Still am not, but I know now that we need to stay strong and keep going. We can't have an eternal family or the blessing of God in the Celestial Kingdom if we don't stay strong. We all NEED the gospel. We all do. Let's not give up on it. Let's keep going strong and find joy and love and happiness and peace in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Sorry that was really long, but I just felt like I should say it. Please keep going strong. Pray, Read, and Go to Church. :) PLEASE!!!!!!!!!! also y'all should read DyC 19:15-20

Anyway, back to the investigators, we are working really hard with them. Manuel has a date along with his kids, Adrian y Jonathan, and we know they can make it! They just have to work hard and prepare themselves!!!!!!! Any prayers you want say for them would be awesome!!! Also for Antonio, he is the son of Iris. 

We also have the cutest family on the planet. Gustavo y Jaquelin!!! I love them so much!! They're so humble and really accepting. They act on what they feel. They don't need to know everything, but when they feel it, they are willing to act on it. They want to be married soon, so they can get baptized!!!! They are adorable and I'm so excited for them!!!!!!! :):)

This week I have been studying a lot about Joy. I love it. Really what I want in life is to be joyful and happy. and the true and only way of finding that is through God. all the good things from from God, so that makes sense doesn't it??? I was reading in Alma 29 and it talks about joy from being an instrument in God's hands. Isn't that true joy? Being able to do what God needs you to do in bringing salvation to others? We first bring ourselves and then we bring others. "you can't convert someone beyond your our conversion" The more converted someone is, the more they can speak with the Spirit and then the Spirit can testify to them. How incredible is that?? and we find so much Joy in bringing people unto him, including ourselves. 

What ways do you find joy??  How are you trying to be more converted to Jesus Christ??? (food for thought:)

Love you all!!! Let me know if I can do anything for you!!!!!!!!!! ":):):)

Kasey's Address

Sister Kasey McMullin

Texas Houston South Mission

602 Eldridge Road

Sugar Land, TX 77478

19 October 2015

So guess what. I had the craziest best week on the planet!!!!! :):) 

all right, first I should probably say, I'm not getting transferred!!!!! HERMANA IHRKE AND I ARE STAYING TOGETHER AND WE ARE GOING TO BAPTIZE SO MANY PEOPLE!!!!!!!! :):):):) they are so close!!!! They need to get baptized!!!! It's their SALVATION!!!!!! but anyways, i'm super pumped and ready to work hard :) and I love H2. it's awesome!!! There are so many people who speak Spanish here. Totally different than Kemah!!! and the good thing is I'll probably be here for a while because Hermana Ihrke is going home in December halfway through the transfer, so I'll probably kill her (mission term, don't' worry!!!) and then take over and then be there for another transfer (hopefully two!!!!) pero a ver lo que pasa:)

now for this week!!!!!! Guess what!!!! WE WENT TO KEMAH!!!! it was so fun!!! We were all laughing so hard!!!!! Our investigators are the best!!! I loved it and I got to see Jorge!!!!!! He even brought me a gift :) awwwwwwwww people are the nicest!!!! We went on all the rides and I wore pants!!!!! (sorry just had to throw that in there, but I haven't worn normal pants--even though those were dress pants-- in like 9 months! What!!!!!!) but it was so fun. I love them all so much!!!!

then we went to the temple as a mission on Thursday!!! I loved it! We didn't learn as much as we did last time because it was a little different, but we talked about what we wanted from our missions and what we want for our lives. Kind of a big topic right? We studied it and I'm still doing that, but one thing I know is that whatever I want (por ejemplo happiness) I can only get it through having God in my life!!! and it's the same! Only good things come from God, so we need him now more than ever in our lives!!!!  True happiness only comes from Him and His gospel :) the temple is amazing and it's the only way we are going to have eternal families!!!! (also another way to have joy in this life and in the eternities :)

then SATURDAY WAS CRAZY!!!!!!! this isn't so much spiritual, but just crazy and funny and maybe a little sketchy! hahahaha so Hermana Ihrke's bike broke, so we had to take the metro. and while we were waiting for the bus after a cita, some policeman drove by us and they were staring at us hard core. then they flipped around and came over to talk to us. they asked us "what are you doing here? Do you know where you are? Don't you have a car?? You really shouldn't be here..." They were really worried about us being out!! (but don't worry it's not that sketch, they just think it is!!! hahah) 

Then we went to another cita of a new investigador and he tried to kiss hermana Ihrke!!! hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha, it was sooooo awkward, but she handled it well. I probably would have hit him in the face really hard. His friend was cool though and pretty interested. the other guy...... maybe not......

THEN ANOTHER THING happened!!! We were walking to another cita because the bus was really slow. and as we were walking a car passed us, and then stopped and backed up to where we were. We were a little bit nervous, but then it was a lady who was really funny. She got SO mad that we were walking around there at that time of night in that area. She told us, I see that you have your tags and you've got that missionary thing, but there is no way  I am letting you walk around here at night! I am giving you a ride to wherever you're going! hahaha, she was adorable :) I really liked her and she knew about us too!! Her cousins live in Utah!!!!!

Our investigators were really freaked out when we told them. It was pretty funny. 

Then we had an amazing service! We got to help with a race and I loved it!!! The people there were so cute! We worked at a kids carnival and they were adorable!!!!:):) 

I have lots of pictures to send, so we are trying to get it to work and then I'll send them to you!! LOVE YOU ALL!!!!! If i can i will write a little longer, but the time is about to run out!!!! LOVE YOU!!!!!!! :):):):):):):):):):)

12 October 2015

Hello!!! I'm emailing y'all a little early because we're going to GALVESTON!!!  and KEMAH!!!!! our investigators wanted to take us and we got permission, so we are heading off!! I'm super excited actually :) I mean I was just there, but still. it will be awesome!!

This week was amazing!!!!!!! We found so many people and these people are legit!!!! They came to church and the ones that couldn't was because they went to Mexico. So I guess that makes sense :) but how cool is that??? We are so blessed here in this area and Heavenly Father is helping us so much! Love it!!!

One cool thing is we had a referral, so we went to try him. We started talking to him and then we asked him if anyone wanted to listen, so he went and got all of his primos, tios, and all of those guys and so they all came out and started listening to the lesson. It's a good thing we brought extra stuff because we had about 7 people that were there and we were all having a great time!! IT was kind of funny because it was 7 guys and then us two, hermanas. pretty great. It was kind of weird though because we have to be outside because we can't be inside with only 2 girls, so we all just stood on their balcony in front of their door. They were really cool though and the ones who didn't go to Mexico went to church!

Que mas..... I'm really bad at remembering all that happened. There are so many miracles every week, but I can't remember them when I'm emailing!!!!

One thing I've been studying a lot is a talk called the fourth missionary. One of the greatest talks on the planet. I absolutely love it. But it's talking about having to give up everything that you want good and bad to serve God and all you have to do is choose to do it. It's the same for life. It's really the only intelligent thing to do to accept God and do what He wants you to do. It's the way to happiness and the way to eternal life. It's a principle i'm trying to incorporate in my mission more and then what I want to do at home. :)

Also this week we learned how to make coconut fish soup. It was pretty good! and do you remember how I hated fish when I was home?? For some weird reason, I can eat whatever I want and I don't hate it! Heavenly Father really blessed me to get over that, so now i eat whatever. Also, I can eat SO much food. I've always been able to, but now I eat even more. It's really bad, but I guess it's kind of a gift too because they love having you eat a lot. They normally give us give 5 servings and then desert. It's delicious, but it's also bad because I don't want to eat that much..... :) 

well I think that's all for this week!! LOVE YOU TONS! :):):):):):):)