Week 27

Cambios (Splits) with Hermana Josie

Hola mis corazones, (people call people here Corazon a lot, its very cute) 

Mom, I like when you speak spanish in your e-mails!!!

I had a spiritual experience this week during intercambios (splits) with Hermana Josie! That was super fun. So Hermana Josie and I were walking to an appointment that we had up this HUGE hill and I kinda forgot how fast Hermana Josie walks, and my body was hurting a little more than usual this day and I found myself complaining in my head. We got to the lesson and I was pooped. I just felt super exhausted. But then, a thought quickly came into my head. I was reminded of how on Broadway, you treat EVERY show like it's someone's first and last time seeing the show, so you give your absolute best every single time you perform. It's not about YOU, it's about the people who have paid to come see a quality show. I related that to missionary work, and how every person we meet, it could be their first time ever talking to Missionaries and hearing the gospel. So just because I am "more tired than usual" doesn't mean that I make someone's experience of hearing the gospel anything less than my best. Because it's not about me. It's not my time. It's the Lord's time. It's my time to open my mouth and share the gospel with every person I talk to, despite my own personal circumstances. I quickly thanked my Heavenly Father for this little parallel and taught a great lesson with Hermana Josie, they even accepted to be baptized! I love how the Lord performs miracles when we submit our will to His!

AHHHHH, I JUST LOVE MY INVESTIGATORS. 

ALEX: Oh mi madre Alex has made SO much progress. Thanks to many prayers here and from home, we had a wonderful lesson with him AND HE CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY! During our lesson with him last thursday, one of our planned appointments with him fell through, so we thought that we would just go drop in and visit Alex. We got to his house and yelled his name and he goes,"Hey! Guess what I'm doing!...Reading the Book of Mormon!" He came outside and told us," yeah so I finished all of the chapters you gave me to read, so I just asked God where He wanted me to read and I asked him to stop me when he wanted, and He stopped me in Mormon 9, this prophet talks a lot about Baptism, and I realize now.. it isn't enough to be just a good person. You need to get baptized AND be a good person...." and he really really related that to his own life. We taught Lesson 3, which is The gospel of Jesus Christ, (Faith, repentance, baptism, recieving the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end). He realized in this lesson that he does have the faith to overcome the temptations Satan had been throwing at him throughout his life and that through Christ all things are possible. He also told us about how he has noticed himself trying to be a better person, and things that once seemed good to do, he doesn't have a desire to do them anymore. He has seen a change in himself, and has receieved his own witness of the truthfullness of the gospel. And we invited him to come to church (the previous week he said no, but we could see that he changed), and we asked him to come for at least one hour, (sacrament) to see if he liked it. A couple days pass.. Sunday comes, and he CAME! He really liked it, and the Bishop talked alot about baptism in his talk, and every time he mentioned a scripture reference in the Book of Mormon he would turn to us and say,"I read that one!". Once sacrament meeting ended, he turns to us and goes,"so, I was thinking.. I want to get baptized this Saturday. Yeah, can I do that?" We were in SHOCK! But, we were overjoyed at the same time!  SO... we're having a baptism this Saturday March 4th - WOO HOO!!!!!!!

Ivette and Nicole: We had felt like throughout the week that they had been ignoring us and we were really sad, and then we ran into them on Saturday night leaving a cafe that is owned by one of our new investigators Brian. We invited them to church and they said they would come. They didn't come, which was sad, and we thought that maybe they didn't want to see us anymore. But we thought we'd give it one last shot, so we went to pass by their house last night to see if they were home. And they were! We taught them the gospel of Jesus Christ and they were SUPER receptive. Nicole told us about how she prayed to know if the plan of salvation was true and she told us that she got a warm feeling in her heart, and she knew it was true. My heart almost burst of joy. Ivette had kinda been feeling so so about everything until we talked about how through the atonment and through repentance, we can truly be free of any guilt, problem, and weakness, and that through the Holy Ghost as our guide after baptism, we can become more and more like the Savior. The Spirit was super strong, and we reinvited them to be baptized, and they said YES! so their baptism is scheduled for the March 11th. ITS AMAZING, We are SO, SO, SO excited!

Juan Carlos: He is this 40 year old war veteran who is super cool! he loves learning about the gospel. He has been visited by missionaries before and we've been teaching him for the last three weeks. We realized that he didn't believe that their was an apostasy, so we watched the first vision with him last week and he thought it was true. So we are going to continue working with him. 

Brian: Hermana Pichiule and Hermana Larsen found him near the plaza by our house on Friday night on their intercambio (exchange). We taught him our purpose as missionaries Saturday night with his girlfriend in their cafe business. He's 23 and has a lot of potential! 

 We live in a cute apartment. 

Hermana Pichuile or Hermana Green?

I CANNOT BELIEVE BERGEN (Kali's Cousin) IS GOING TO RUSSIA THAT IS SO SO SO SO SO COOL!! I TOTALLY GUESSED THAT IN MY HEAD. I AM SO PUMPED FOR HER. TELL HER THAT I LOVE HER.  WOW I AM SO PROUD OF HER! #nenosarmyforlife

I LOVE PRESIDENT BOUCHER (MISSION PRESIDENT) HE IS THE BEST. 

So this Friday we had an all Sister's Conference, and last night Hermana Boucher (President Boucher's wife) called us and asked if I could help gather some missionaries for a special musical number!!!! I am so honored that she would ask me to do this, and I am so excited and humbled to use the talent Heavenly Father gave me and sing. I love singing, it feels just like old times. 

WELL ITS BEEN 6 MONTHS THAT I HAVE BEEN SERVING AS A MISSIONARY, CRAZY, RIGHT? I am loving my mission. I love what I do. I never want to stop being a missionary. I love that this message we bring, changes lives. I love being a representative of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and that I can stand as a witness of him in a world that is full of evil, difficulties and sorrow. I am very grateful and humbled for this path in my life. 

Last week was really rough in some ways. We faced a lot of rejection (but hey, thats life, right?) but more so, rude rejection. It really tested my patience and kindess (haha), but we represent the Savior and the work goes on! I am excited to see what this week brings. 

I am so grateful for all the people I have in my life who have helped get me to where I am today. I pray for the wellbeing of you all and I am especially grateful for my family. Words can not express or explain my love for you all. 

Till next time,

Hermana Green​