Mar. 22

tesr

Mar. 16th

Hello All! Sorry, I don't have much time today so please enjoy my companion's blog post for the week :)

 

"He's still perfect! Can't you see him shining in the sun from how golden he is?" is what Hermana Hurley said to the Elders in our District as Joel walked to his car after church. Yup, the man is still getting baptized and he had no problem moving his baptismal date from Saturday to Friday because of work.

On Thursday we went to the temple to do baptisms with la Familia Salazar, Angeles, the Elders, and their recent converts Brian and Stacey. It was magical! Berta was sooo peaceful, my heart was warmed. 

On Friday we had a mission wide conference where the apostle David A. Bednar and Lynn G. Robbins came to speak to us. The Elder Bednar got up and I.... felt such peace. He was so sweet and he said he just wanted us to be comfortable. I learned so much about the way the Holy Ghost works. We had a question and answer session and in the end, although not everyone asked their questions, we realized that everyone got their answer through the Holy Ghost. Elder Bednar promised that if we "feasted" on the Book of Mormon everyday we would not fall, he emphasized this for after our missions. Which brought me a lot of comfort, I want to stay on my A game FOREVER!

 

On Sunday after we watched Joel walk to his car in perfection. They announced his baptism in Sacrament and every other classes. It was wonderful seeing the look of excitement on everyone's faces.we had one member present lesson and that was a our dinner appointment. We asked if Joel could come and they said yes! It was with the Perez family and their son just got home from his mission and got engaged. We taught about the priesthood and temples! SPOT ON! The we had dinner with Joel. Imagine a tall Mexican man from Hidalgo at a table with 4 sister missionaries and mother talking about disney princess's. BTW, there's a hispanic one coming out! WOOHOO! Anyway. I realized, again, that sometimes you gotta take a step into the dark for it to light up. Like Moses and the Israelites, they stepped into the water believing that they would pass through the Red Sea on dry ground. 

 

Hermana Hurley goes home next week and it's starting to hit us, like a 1%. I forgot what missionary life was like without her. I know that the Lord will bless her, we're seeing so much of that already! Many things are falling into place for her. We're working hard! 

Pray for Joel, pray for Hermana Hurley, pray for all da orfans in da wurld (nacho libre), and pray for yours truly,

 

Hermana Cuesta

Mar 9th

Hi everyone! the work was AMAZING this week! we had a million member present lessons and met great people and Joel and Salvador came to Stake Conference yesterday! Joel met a member this week who was like- you should get baptized and Joel said: I am! On the 21st! 

He's perfect.

Love,

Hermana Hurley

 

 

Mar. 2nd

Well, this week was pretty awesome as far as the missionary work is going! Joel came to Church on Sunday!!!!!!!!! He is amazing!!!!! We have had tons of lessons with him. Every single appointment he arrives early, he comes having read and highlighted the sections in the Book of Mormon we assign and comes with questions! Here are a few examples of the amazing things things he says:

When we asked him how he felt about continuing forward preparing for March 21 to be baptized.

He said: "Yes, we should keep going with that goal! It's really important to have a goal, if you don't have a goal, you won't go anywhere in life."

 

Tonight we taught the plan of salvation. We asked him what he thought about it and he said it's true! it all makes sense. We know that if we want to get to the celestial kingdom, we have to get baptized and follow the word of God. It's kind of like if you read a book with a weight loss plan but you never do the things it tells you then it won't work!

 

Then he invited us to dinner with Hermana Angeles for Wednesday! He's the best!

 

We also had another investigator at Church on Sunday! Her name is Elena. She's an older lady who is full of fire and sass! She is not afraid to tell us how she feels! She is awesome haha. When we met her she had been praying to have someone to listen to and we showed up! We love her and she said she felt a really good Spirit in the Church so we are excited about her!

 

I also had an interview with my mission president this week, it's called "Exit Interview" because I will soon be leaving my mission. It was really nice and made me feel really happy and calm and prepared to leave my mission and go home.

 

So it was a great week! Love you all!

Hermana Hurley

Feb. 23rd

Hi everyone! 

This week the work is amazing- in our area and also in my old area! We also had a golden investigator at church yesterday and another one is coming to church this week! yay for miracles!!

The one that came yesterday is Salvador. He is super nice and really respectful and loves to learn and actually remembered and showed up for our appointments and actually came to church yesterday and then called us today to confirm our appointment for this week! what? that never happens!

The guy that is coming next week is name Joel. We found him by complete accident. We got a referral that didn't exist but we found Joel's roommate who isn't interested but Joel is! He has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying and we had 3 lessons with him this week and he had to work yesterday but is really excited for church on Sunday. He said that he feels much more peace from reading the Scriptures and praying. He doesn't feel so alone. I LOVE THE GOSPEL!

I think three transfers of prayers and hard work in good old rt north/east (my last area)  did it some real good and now the new hermanas get to reap the harvest and that is awesome. 

love you all!

Hermana Hurley

 

i'll send you my companion's weekly email too so you can hear more about our week!

 

 

Dear Everyone,

 

I am calm now. My zen is through the roof, that is how calm I am. This week was full of so many miracles. Hermana Hurley and I had it a little rough individually and as a companionship, but then we realized it was el Chamoco (Satan)! On Monday after emailing everyone I went a little cray cray and started pacing around the FHC, I didn't even use all my emailing time! Emily came home this week, Broday and Jon as well, and with this being Hermana Hurley's last transfer it finally sunk into me that one day soon I won't be a full-time missionary. I started worrying about BYU, how to keep being a missionary after the mission, Abuelita, Mami & Papi, how life with my married brother and new sister would be, Snowy, my future husband, my future self, Aurelio, Elias, Galt it just all came rushing into my little head. I mean I think about those things sometimes, but not all at the same flipping tiempo! Then I said a little prayer, just like Madonna said to, and it worked! 

 

During the week Hermana Hurley and I seemed to be on different waves of worry. She'd be fine, then I wasn't, vice versa, and so many miracles were happening in the middle of it! Through it all though, I was never angry. Que milagro! I've been an angry little tea pot too many times, it was not okay. Now I feel back to normal! Happy camper I am! 

 

So this Joel character, he is GOLDEN! De puro oro! we started teaching him at the church and he is just so sweet and such a kindred soul. He brought up how he had been baptized before and never went back to that church. This time around he's ready, he said it was no joke, he's tired of just floating around in the world. The next lesson we had with him was also at the church and he asked us what the word "apostacy"meant. We read it in the back of the pamphlet and afterward he said, "so I have been apostate by not following God" with a huge smile on his face! Not because he was apostate, but because the light bulb in his head clicked and the Spirit touched him. In just one week he has progressed so much. He reads faster, he's not so bashful to answer questions, he loves praying and singing! He's excited about the gospel! After that lesson we played soccer with Joel, the other hermanas, our ward mission leader, and other hermanos from church. It was like the perfect lesson! (We have to play soccer in our proselyting clothes, so picture me in a skirt charging at a tall Mexican man for the ball. F.U.N.). Joel has a baptismal date for March 21st. 

 

Salvador, another investigator came to church yesterday. I thought he hated it, but afterward he said he loved it and wanted to know the soonest day we could come back.

 

Hermana Hurley and I are seeing a pattern. Most of my time on the mission I have spent teaching older, single men- Sargent Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band. Every single one of our investigators is in it right now. I need to find me a family to teach! Speaking of which, the Salazar's got their Patriarchal blessing yesterday! During which the Hermanas and I snuck into their apartment (Berta left the key under the mat) and decorated for Janet's Sweet Sixteen. they hadn't planned anything for her and we noticed she seemed really sad about it so we whipped something up last minute. Obispo GAVE us a quad with her name embossed on it to give to her for her birthday. Blessings!

 

Our ward mission leader! We got one! we haven't had one the whole time I've been here and it's been rough. He's Colombian! I'm very proud of that ;) The work is progressing so much. There's nothing like hard work and lots of love!

 

Please pray for Jose, Berta, Jose Luis, Janet, Junior, Anthony, Joel, Martin, Salvador, Juan, Eduardo, missionary opportunities, and all the missionaries in the world.

 

Love,

Hermana Cuesta

 

One day I got stressed because I was getting text messages literally every five minutes, so Hermana Hurley and I switched and I drove for a day. It was a win/win situation because she needed to relax for a minute as well.

 

Feb 16th

Hi everyone!

We had a great week! We had a huge meeting with all the leaders in the mission in order to plan another meeting we have called Zone Training. Our zone training went well, we worked in unity to plan a powerful zone training where the Spirit could teach. It went very well!

I've personally been working this week to recognize miracles. I know that as we are more grateful for the blessings in our lives we are happier and we receive more blessings! 

One lesson I learned this week was to always talk to everyone! We saw someone and I felt we should talk to him but I ignored it. Finally I voiced my feelings to Hermana Cuesta and she said öh, we've talked to him several times already." I felt relieved because I frankly was just not in the mood to contact! 

Minutes later we got a text from our district leader challenging us to a contacting competition. So we went and talked to him anyways and he was great and we added him as an investigator! How many miracles do I have to see from contacting to learn my lesson? haha but I'm grateful that the Lord keeps sending me reminders.

Another miracle we saw this week started when we received a referral through text from another missionary and wrote it down in our planners. Soon after we had to delete the messages in our phone and we completely forgot who sent us the referral. When we went to contact it there was no one in the house by that name but there were 3 spanish speaking men who live there so we made a return appointment but when we went they were not home. The next day was the last day of the week. We had no appointments set up but we really wanted to get a member present. I got the idea, which I now know was a prompting, to call them! They answered and said we could come over at 5:00. We took a member and it was a very powerful lesson. We realized later how unique the experience was and that it truly was a miracle.

One kinda funny thing that happened, I tripped over the curb and fell down in front of a bunch of elders this week, including the assistants to the President! #embarrassingmoments #whatismylife

Love you all!

Hermana Hurley

Feb 10th

We had a great week!!!! Transfers were this week and:

I stayed with Hermana Cuesta!!! I'm soooo happy! We can't wait to finish out my last transfer strong!

Love you all! Sorry! No time today!

Love,

Hermana Hurley