"Bear Lake" Service. Merry Christmas!

We were going to Olive Branch to do service for toys for tots on Friday and it was raining so hard! It was really hard to see and there was a lot of flooding. 

The service project was in a warehouse and we were getting lost but as we got closer there was a BIG puddle, probably like a good sized pond. I called it Bear Lake, after the huge lake near where my family lives in Utah.  :) We started to drive though it, but it was SUPER deep and the water splashed a little onto the hood of our car. We quickly turned around and got out of there! 

But then we called the Collierville sisters and found out that the service project was on the other side of the pond. We thought they had driven through it so after we watched another small car successfully go through the puddle, we decided to go for it. It was pretty deep, but we made it across! And then it turned out that it wasn't near as deep when the Collierville sisters went through it and it drained by the time we left so no one else had to do that or even saw it. We took a video though, so we have proof that it happened.

*"Bear Lake" video will go here

This week as I was reading in the Book of Mormon, the last part of verse 30 in Alma 49 stuck out to me. "Being baptized unto repentance, and sent forth to preach among the people." Even in Book of Mormon times, preaching repentance and baptizing converts was the goal. When a person has truly learned repentance and been baptized because they are converted, they will never, ever fall away. This is what happened to Helaman, Shiblon, Corianton, and Ammon, and they never went less active. That's why it's so important for me to be continually repentant and teach my investigators how to repent, so that we never become less active.

Exchanges with Southaven- Hermana Keller with Sister Woolley, Sister Zollinger with Sister McNall

Caroling

Dropping off Christmas

Cavesha's baptism

More Cavesha's baptism

Trusting God

This week, as we were on our way to a meeting on Friday, we had just crossed the Mississippi and were in West Memphis, when we saw a car straddling the lane line. It was very odd but then it kind of drifted back over towards the far side of it's lane so President Faulkner sped up to pass it. Right as we were in the car's blind spot, it started drifting back towards us. The car got really close to our car. President Faulkner started honking the horn and Sister Johnston started yelling that the driver was asleep. It was so scary but right before he hit us, he started drifting the other way. We called 911 to let them know and said a prayer for him. I am so glad Heavenly Father watches out for his missionaries!

In my BoM reading this week, I read Alma 38 and I love verse 5:

And now my son, Shiblon, I would that ye should remember, that as much as ye shall put your trust in God even so much ye shall be delivered out of your trials, and your troubles, and your afflictions, and ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

I think trusting in God is one of the biggest lessons I've learned on my mission. It's not enough for me to trust him most of the time or even 99% of the time. But when I give him my all and fully submit my will to his, then that's when I'll be delivered from my trials. And with that, every burden can be made light, sadness can be made happy, and we will be lifted up at the last day. And all of that just because God is our loving Heavenly Father!

Exchanges with Oxford

Welcome to Memphis

Merry Christmas from Hermana Keller and Sister McNall

Being Better Leaders and Servants

This week, the zone leaders called and asked us to read Matt. 20:25-28. After we did, they asked us to think about what we can do to be better leaders and better servants. I studied that one day this week, and as I was clicking on the footnotes on my iPad, I saw something that talked about humility and then something else about repentance in relation to those verses. So the answer I came up with about how I can be a better leader is by being humble and continually repentant. I think that's important because those are the things I need to do to have the spirit with me.

On my mission, I've been so surprised at how I don't actually know what I'm doing. I'm still only 21 years old, but Heavenly Father trusts me to help him bring salvation to his children. I don't want to mess up. But what I'm learning is that as long as I have the spirit with me, then I won't mess up. The key to being a successful missionary is living worthy of the spirit always so that He can always tell us what to do. And I think the same thing applies with a leadership position. I need to be constantly worthy of the spirit so I can know what the best way to serve those around me is.

Exchanges: Sister Jones, Hermana Keller, Sister Smith

Paint Memphis! :)

  

Headed to West Memphis. Fun fact: West Memphis is a town in Arkansas! LOL. It's across the Mississippi River from Memphis, TN. We had to go across to West Memphis to get our TIWI fixed. 

Headed back to Memphis, TN. Fun fact #2: TIWI is a device that are in the missionaries' cars that monitors driving and reminds them not to speed, etc.

Exchange, Gabriella's baptism photos

I was on exchanges this week with the Russellville Hermanas, working with Hermana Colwell in the Russellville area. We had planned to go see some less active members. The first one wasn't home, so we went and talked to some kids that were playing by the apartment next door. We gave them some stickers and showed them the Light the world video, and then asked them where they lived so we could go talk to their mom. They showed us, so we went and knocked. She was on her way out the door, so we just set a return appointment but then I looked inside her house and saw a Finding Faith in Christ
pass along card taped to the cabinet in her kitchen! It was so cool!

None of the other less actives we had planned to see were there either but we were able to set up return appointments with two more women we saw outside. It  was so cool and I know Heavenly Father leads us to where we need to be.

Memphis: Sunset coming on

Little Rock Mission Hermanas Skype call

Gabriella

Hermana Keller, Gabriella in baptism whites, Hermana Petty

Hermana Keller, Gabriella in baptism whites, Hermana Robles

After the baptism: Hermana Keller, Hermana Petty, Gabriella, ward member

Las Hermanas at Gabriella's baptism: ?, Keller, Petty, Robles

Gabriella!

In May, on my first day here in Memphis, we found investigator, Gabriella. We happened to bring one of our branch members with us to visit Gabriealla, which was about 2 weeks after she began learning with us. That turned out to be our last visit with her. After the visit she dropped us because her husband didn't want us to come back. 

It was really sad to be dropped by her because we felt she was so ready to hear the gospel. She did say that she would keep reading in the Book of Mormon though, and I left with the feeling that she would join the church one day.

In August, Gabriella and her two kids walked into church with the same member that had gone to visit with her us back in May! We've been working with her ever since! She and
her kids love church, and she has become our top investigator!

Recently, she's really wanted to get baptized but has been really scared to ask her husband. After a lot of waiting and praying for a miracle, she did it! The first time she asked (about 3 weeks ago) he said he would think about it. She asked him again this
week and he said yes!! There have been so many miracles with Gabriella and she is getting baptized on Saturday!

Last Saturday,we were pretty far from our apartment and all of our plans fell through. We didn't want to go home because we had an appointment later that night in the area we were in. So we decided to go try looking up some less active members. We looked on our Area Book Map clicked on the person closest to us, then went to the house and knocked on the door.

Right after we knocked, someone pulled up in a car. We waved, and they dropped off a boy that looked our age. He walked over to us, and when he got to the door, another boy about our age opened it and they both tried to open the glass outer storm door but it wouldn't open. The boy inside said, "go around to the back door," so the boy outside left and the boy inside closed the door. All this happened in about 30 seconds with us standing right there. It was so weird and we didn't know what to do so we knocked again.

The boy that was outside before came and opened the door and said, "she'll be right out." We were a little confused because we were looking for a teenage girl and an adult man and we didn't know either of them. After a few minutes, they both came back and said, "do you want to leave something or...." And we said, "actually we're looking for Juliana or Iriel Velches." It turned out they don't live there anymore but we left them with a Light the World card.

Our trip to NYC lol

Our district in the parking lot at the church.

Elder Smalley, Elder Diaz, Elder Sotomarino, Elder Short, Hermana Keller, Hermana Robles

Lani Barrios

The Barrios girls

Favorite lesson this week and finishing the Book of Mormon in Spanish!

We've been working with so many less actives the past couple of weeks! Just this week, we found one who pulled up in the car right as we were about to drive away from their house, we went to dinner with another, we taught another's non-member husband, and painted another's fireplace blue for her. 

I think my favorite was a lesson that happened on Thursday. We were visiting the sister and it was a little frustrating because she keeps saying she'll go to church and then she doesn't come. So we asked her how her Book of Mormon reading has been going, and it turns out she hasn't been reading. And it's like this every week. 

As we were sitting there, I had the impression to promise her that if she keeps the Word of Wisdom, her health will be better. It was kind of random, but it made sense because she drinks coffee and had just been complaining about some pain that she's been having in her back. So I told her that impression, and she said to me, "I know hermana. But I just drink coffee to help with my diabetes." So Hermana Robles asked, "does it help?" And the less-active sister said, "well... no..." So then we committed her to keeping the word of wisdom. It was pretty sweet and the three of us laughed together about how the coffee is so expensive and it doesn't even help like someone told her it would. :)

I finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish for the first time! It was awesome! I love the Book of Mormon. I know it's true. I am so grateful for it. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to go share it with the people of Memphis every day. I've loved seeing how my investigator's lives have changed because they've read in the Book of Mormon. Even all the ones who haven't gotten baptized yet. I have a testimony of the phrase, "a man can get closer to God by reading the Book of Mormon than by any other book." Heavenly Father loves us so much and has blessed us with additional scripture so that we can get
to know him better! It's awesome!

Starting with me and moving counter clockwise: Hermana Hunt, Hermana Wilson, Hermana Robles, Hermana Quigley, Sister Lange, Hermana Olson, Sister Van Orman, Sister Lumpkin, Hermana Thornton

Hermanas Quigley, Robles, Keller, Wilson, Hunt, Olson, Thornton

Hermanas + Sister Feinga and President and Sister Hansen

Hermanas Robles (my trainee), Keller, Thornton (my trainer), Quigley (my trainee)

Hermanas Keller, Quigley, Thornton

<Jacksonville or Jonesboro video>

Teaching Plan of Salvation; Prayer

Hi everyone! 

This week we went to visit a less active member. She is awesome and totally ready to reactivate herself. We had planned to teach the Plan of Salvation. Her husband is not a member and hasn't usually been there for our lessons because he works all day. But this week, he was there. 

He started talking to us and ended up asking a question that had to do with where we came from. So Hermana Robles taught him about the premortal life. The lesson went something like this: We said something like, "We used to live with our Heavenly Father as spirits," and then he would say something like, "I just want to know where we came from because not a lot of people know where we came from," and we would say something like, "Yes, but we know that we used to live with our Heavenly Father as spirits." And then he would say, "Exactly!!" It was so funny and when we were almost done, he had to go back to work. 

After he left, we finished the lesson with just the less-active sister and she was awesome. She totally understood everything and now has the celestial kingdom as a goal for her and her family!

This week, as I was studying the topic of prayer in Preach My Gospel, I looked up a bunch of scriptures looking for the answers to the questions "Why must you pray for the Spirit?" and "What should you pray for?" I loved this activity because I love prayer. I love that we have the opportunity to council with our Heavenly Father anytime, anywhere, and about anything! With the questions, "What should you pray for?", here are some of my favorite answers that I found: 

• Pray in behalf of the welfare of the souls who know not God (Alma 6:6) 

• Pray to be led by the Holy Spirit (Alma 13:28) 

• Pray for mercy (Alma 34:18-27) 

• Pray to counsel with the Lord and to give thanks (Alma 37:36-37) 

• Pray for anything which is right (3 Nephi 18:20). 

I love that prayer is the "when the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other." (Bible Dictionary, topic: Prayer)

With Hermana Robles at Memphis BBQ

Fall

Service project on Saturday: Raking the Benitez's leaves

Because my mom says I don't send enough pictures of me:

The district: Hermana Robles, Hermana Keller, Elder Diaz, Elder Sotomarino, Elder Short, Elder Smalley

The Castanedas

Nerves and investigators progressing, and my birthday!

We've been working quite a bit with our investigators this week. Gabriella,  who has been needing to tell her husband she wants to get baptized, finally told him this weekend! We've been pretty nervous for this to happen because we don't know what he'll say, and we've been afraid he'll get angry and not let her come to church anymore. But he said he will think about it. I think that's great! 

We were also nervous to go to Leonel and Flor's house on Friday. But it ended up going really well. (They are the ones we first taught with the mission president). We read in the BoM with them. They have so many questions but I love it because I know the BoM has the answers to their questions so as they read it, they will find their answers and that will be the foundation of their testimony! Leonel didn't come to church this Sunday after he said he would, but we are trying to contact him right now to find out why. Pray for them please!

Also, this week I did an activity in Preach My Gospel where I read a bunch of scriptures and then wrote down what an investigator needs to feel to be converted. I noticed that there are a LOT of different things that an investigator can feel that will help with their conversion, but the common denominator in everything is that they have to have a desire to know God and be converted. And when they have that desire, they begin to do things that are necessary for a lasting conversion, such as keeping the commandments, praying, etc. That desire also leads to faith and repentance, which lead to baptism and confirmation. So I thought that was really cool that all an investigator needs to start their conversion is a desire to be converted.

Happy Birthdaa 2 MEEEEEEEEE at Wing Stop! Thanks Hermana Robles!! And then dinner at Olive Garden! Thanks Uncle Larry and Barbara! 😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀

HERMANAS Skyping for an all-hermana meeting. 

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Teaching with the Mission President!

Hi Everyone! We had an amazing experience being able to teach with our mission president this week! Here's what happened.

We got an email from the APs Friday morning saying that President Hansen would be in our area that night and was wanting to go teaching with some of the missionaries. So if anyone had any solid appointments, to let them know. So of course we texted the APs super speedy quick and told them we had a dinner appointment/first lesson tonight with someone that has been coming to our English class. And that's basically how we got President Hansen to come teaching with us and had the best lesson ever with Leonel and Flor! 

Hermana Robles and I were so nervous to teach in front of President even though it would be in Spanish, but the spirit ended up being so strong!! Probably the best lesson I've ever taught on my mission. After we went over the first vision, President said he's heard it said 2-3 thousand times in English and that was his first time he had heard it in Spanish but that he felt the Spirit just the same. He later told Leonel and Flor that one of the reasons they came from El Salvador was for this. 

As I was translating that for them, I just felt the Spirit confirm to me that they are people that I am supposed to teach on my mission.That was way cool becase I don´t always fee that about everyone I meet. And then President invited them to church and promised them that if they came and put God first in their lives, He will bless them with more money and better later in the week. And then Leonel came to church!! And stayed for all 3 hours!! It was the best thing ever! This is what President said about it in his letter to the whole mission:

"I was in a teaching situation, on Friday evening, with two of our missionaries in the Memphis area. I was a little worried about this as it was in Spanish and I don't speak or understand more then a couple of words. I wanted to be able to contribute something to this discussion, but didn't have any idea of how I would be able to do that, so I was forced to really focus on the Spirit and it's promptings.  

"As the lesson started, I decided to just say a prayer in my heart that the missionaries would know what to say and that this family would want to continue with the lessons. As the lesson started and I was praying, I could feel the Spirit prompting me to say certain things ever now and then. The missionaries would then interpret it into Spanish for the investigator. We were teaching this family for the very first time. I was surprised that everything that I felt prompted to say was in exact harmony with what the missionaries were teaching at that very moment, yet I wasn't certain if my timing was right, or if I was making any sense. At the end of the lesson, I felt very strongly that I needed to invite them to attend Church this Sunday. (I am doing this in English and it is getting interpreted into Spanish.) They accepted the invitation, and last night I got a text from the missionaries telling me that the father came to all three hours of Church yesterday and really enjoyed it. (His wife had to work and is planning on attending next week.)

"This was a wonderful experience for me as it is the first time I have every heard the Restoration in Spanish, yet the feelings I had were the same as the feelings that I have had the other hundreds of times I have heard it in English. I believe that I was able to play a very important role in helping the missionaries to teach and commit this family. They received the Book of Mormon with great interest and the Father even offered a kneeling word of prayer. My testimony of the importance of listening to the Spirit and following it's promptings, at any given moment, was strengthen and it was reinforced in my mind that the Lord is in charge and can use any of us, regardless of the situation, if we are willing and ready to do the work. (This even becomes a bigger miracle when you understand the Spanish Culture and how hard it is to get them to come to Church for the first time.)"

So yeah. Basically the biggest miracle ever.

This week, I did an activity in Preach My Gospel where I read Alma 4:23-33 and thought about the spiritual gifts that Peter and John sought and how the Lord answered their prayers. I thought it was really cool that they asked to be able to speak with all boldness, specifically. And then they were filled with Holy Ghost and given great power to teach. I thought that was cool because those are spiritual gifts that are really nice to have as a missionary. :) 

On Saturday, as we were getting ready for our lesson with Leonel and Flor, we were really nervous. (Obviously because we were about to teach in front of the mission president). But we prayed to be able to teach with power and say the things they needed to hear, and the Holy Ghost was definitely present during that lesson! I loved that not very long after I did this activity that taught me how to have specifically the spiritual gift of the Holy Ghost when teaching, I was given the opportunity to put it into practice. And I know that lesson was a thousand times better because of it!

Marisol Bustamante and fam- moved to CA this week :((

On Saturday night our branch had a trunk or treat. Hermana Robles and I helped in the kitchen and with games and we even decorated our car to participate. I think it was really good that we were able to show our support to the branch and show them we love them. Also we had a chili cook off which was pretty funny because not a lot of people knew what chili was and they kept saying it's an American food and they don't know how to make it. But 5 people brought chili so it turned out ok. 👍 

We got to do the Musical Tribute in Little Rock! And I got to see the Lopez family (Los Lopez)! :)

Some more friends I got to see in Little Rock! Hermana López, Hermana Barrientos, Hermana Sonia!

More Little Rock peeps- Los Viveros, Hermana Roper, and Hermana Roper's brother.

I got to see my Hermanas in Little Rock too! Hermanas Hunt, Wilson, Petty, Colwell, yo, Robles, Olson

Wow we're so festive we carved pumpkins today🙂🙂🙂 🎃 🎃 🎃 

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