Week 29

 

Hermana Green & Hermana Josie at Zone Conference

                                                                                            
It´s p-day a.k.a. my favorite day of the week, because I get to talk to my Family and Friends! 

Yesterday we were contacting, and it had been a particularly hotter day than usual.  We had been walking around and all over town for 3 hours and the sun was killer, and we had been getting rejected from house to house. We contacted this lady who came out of her house, saying that she believes in god but doesn´t attend any specific church. She started talking to us about how our world today is getting worse and worse and how she

can´t trust any church because of experiences in the past. After listening to her talk more, I remembered a quote from a couple of leaders and Preach My Gospel, saying; that we are here to testify of the restored gospel. I told her that as missionaries we are here because the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored on the earth once again, with the same authority, same doctrine and principles of the gospel that was taught by Jesus when he walked the earth, and there was a time on the earth where the teachings of Jesus were lost, which is why we have tons and tons and tons of churches. Once I shared my testimony, she became so silent, and very moved by that. Something changed in her eyes, and even though she didn´t want a return date, I knew and felt the spirit so strong, and became so grateful for the fact that the gospel is restored and that we aren´t going to be lost when trying to find answers. It was very impacting moment for me. 

 

Investigators... Alex got confirmed a member of the church yesterday! He is a giant teddy bear. Very emotional and feels the spirit a lot. He was SO,SO, SO emotional when I told him about Dad´s challenge coin and gave it to him, and read him your letter you wrote me directed to him. He was so,so,so happy. He told me to tell you that he loves you two and is grateful for you both. 

Presenting Alex with the Armor of God Challenge Coin

Ivette and Nicole.. we had to push their baptism off because they don´t feel prepared yet. But they want to keep coming to church and want to keep learning. We haven´t lost the faith and we know they know these things are true! 

We met this cool man named Lester last week who we contacted and we taught him the first lesson and he totally understands that there are a ton of man made churches that are teaching by the wisdom and interpretation of man, and not from God. It was really cool. He thought that the First Vision was true and thanked us for teaching him all these new things he hadn´t known before! He also told us to pray for his wife that she might be able to have her heart softened and that she will want to listen too. He also gave us pens because ours ran out of ink!  It´s the little things in life that make me happy, even if it´s just a pen. We are going to see Lester tomorrow and we are PUMPED.

We had to drop Juan Carlos because he is very firm in his catholic faith and doesn´t believe he can receive revelation from God... that was sad.

We again had to drop a lot of people and we are struggling a little to find new people, but we aren´t giving up hope. The Lord has promised that He has people prepared, we just have to find them. I highly recommend looking up The Riccardi letter.(The letter is about a friend’s mission experience, and in particular the important things he learned from his trainer).  It is beautiful and explains a lot about what missionaries go through and is entertaining to read. 

Recent converts.. We taught Waddy last week and he told me he might come to California, and while he´s there he wants to meet my family! He has a heart of gold and is so kind.

Cindy! She is fantastic. She makes me have this warm, fuzzy, home feeling. I will write you a letter and tell you about her story. She has lived a rough last ten years, and yet she is the happiest most kind person I know. every Saturday we help her push the things she doesn't sell at her pulgero (swap meet) back to her house in shopping carts and we help sort the clothes. She is just so great. I love her. I love serving. She's also helping us learn how to cook!

YES I GOT YOUR PACKAGE IN THE MAIL AND I LOVED IT AND IT WAS ALL SO AMAZING. MY FEET THANK YOU FOR HELPING WITH MY ARCH SUPPORT. The shoes fit perfect.  Also, those peanut butter Girl Scout cookies were gone in a day. I still have the thin mints. The earrings are so cute and I love, love my called to serve challenge coin - thanks Dad!. AND THE HAZ LO JUSTO CTR RING WITH ¨the HB group¨ on the back made me really happy as well.  

Thanks Mom & Dad gone in one day!!!!

Called to Serve Challenge Coin from my Daddy!

Part of my routine: For breakfast I eat cereal, oatmeal or eggs on toast - something simple. Lunch is only 30 mins KILL ME and dinner is an hour. Its hard to sit and make good healthy meals but we try. Members feed us Wednesday afternoon, and its the same thing every time, really fried meat that is super hard to bite into and rice. Sunday night we go to a members house and we eat rice and beans. There is a local library about 5 minutes away from our house where we go on P-Day to email. 

Updates: This is the last week before transfers! Hermana Pichiule is probably leaving the area considering she has been here for 7 and a half months. I have learned so much from her and she is awesome! I have grown very close to her and will miss her if she gets transferred, but that's life in the mission!

Hermana Green and Her Companion Hermana Pichiule

Once again, for the third week in a row, we got POURED on while walking back with our groceries to home. It was pretty funny, and cold.  I am SO BEYOND EXCITED to hear from Elder Neil L Andersen this weekend!  We taught an older member of the ward named Hermana Flores this week.. she is darling. She is probably 90 years old and has the STRONGEST testimony I have ever heard. Cindy came with us to visit her. I shared Mosiah 16 verses 8 and 9 (some of my favorite scriptures) and she testified with so much power. I can´t describe it in words but all I could think of was that she is a great example to me of enduring to the end. I gave her a hug and told her that I wanted to be like her when I grew up and she started crying and hugged me again. Life made!

So that was my week. A bunch of finding, not finding and working hard, but all is well in Zion! 

I am so glad you both loved your letters. Dad you made me cry reading your thoughts about me and my transformation, I am so beyond grateful for you two! 

Yay for Mothers Day! I am excited for that day and being able to facetime my Mom, its coming so soon! Time really does fly. I have 7 months next week! I swear I just said I had 6! Wowowow! But I sure do love being here, being a missionary and serving the people of Puerto Rico. 

All my love, 

Hermana Green