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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