"Driving By Cornfields" 7-27-11

Hi everyone!

      This week has been really interesting. It's felt a little bit weird being in a new area but I know it's going to be good. The branch here seems to be struggling a lot. I'm not sure exactly whats been happening but they recently called a new branch presidency and they are currently working on getting a relief society presidency because of various things/drama that have happened in the past months. Also 3-4 families just moved to Mexico. So it's pretty small. They called the branch president out of one of the English wards in the stake so he has to drive like 45 minutes to get to church. He's not hispanic but speaks Spanish from his mission, same with one of his counselors. They have the Youth and Primary combined with the English ward so the classes are first with Sacrament meeting the 3rd hour. I was feeling pretty overwhelmed when Sunday school started and there were only like 6-8 people there besides the missionaries. During combined relief society/priesthood meeting (since there's currently no relief society) more people showed up and by the time sacrament meeting started there were between 20-30 people. That number made me feel a little better but still I realized it's probably going to be a little bit of a different experience than the Elgin branch, especially in trying to get member present lessons. I'm really hoping that I can help in some way to strengthen the branch and bring more members. I was able to meet some of the less active members this week and one of them told us that she quit one of her jobs so now she can come to church! That was good. 

      My area is like the farthest north in the mission which means we're not very far away from Wisconsin. It's really spread out too and it takes a while (driving by cornfields) to get to and from the different towns. We get to drive a red car though. That's been fun.

       We had a really cool finding experience the other day! On one of the doors that we knocked a lady came out to talk to us named Olaya. It turns out she grew up in Chihuahua Mexico right by the LDS community around there so she had a lot of LDS friends and their way of life had left a really good impression on her. We asked her if we could share a message with her and she said yes but that her house was a disaster so she'd rather we talked outside. So we talked about the restoration with her right there on the porch. We could feel the spirit as we talked with her. After we told her about Joseph's Smith's experience she got really excited and told us that in all her conversations with LDS people she had never heard about that before. We gave her a pamphlet and she said she would read and pray. She was so happy that she told us she was going to go tell her Mom about it! The Lord really does guide us to the people who are ready.

      We also had a not so great finding experience when this old guy started bashing on us. Probably one of the worst I've had so far on my mission. He took the approach of telling us what we believe, that it's wrong, and even going so far as to say why we believed it. Most of what he said was completely wrong and/or twisted around which was frustrating but he wasn't willing to listen so we just left it. It think he was trying to convince us that we were wrong but all he really showed was how much he didn't understand what we believe. It made me sad. 

      My new comp Hermana Delis is great. Her Spanish is pretty good because she'd been the only Spanish Hermana in the area for 3 weeks. Her last companion, Hermana Miller had to go home 3 weeks into last transfer because her celiac's disease was going crazy and she couldn't work. So they put her with the English sisters who work in our same area and they covered both English and Spanish. So she had to be pushed a lot those 3 weeks. She's also my first companion who also went to BYU Provo which is cool. I think it's going to be a good transfer. My district is one of the few where sisters outnumber the Elders haha. Yesterday we had a zone service project which was pretty cool. We helped out at an organization that takes children's books that others have donated and gives it to kids who are more needy and don't own a lot of (or even any) books. I helped put books into bags to get them ready to give out. It was pretty fun and the guy who runs it was really grateful that we were there.

      I'm sorry to here about Brother Vietti. It must be pretty hard on his family. Yeah I remember Cassidy from Young Womens. Since she graduated though I don't think I've seen her. Hopefully she's doing ok. 

      Glad to hear that you all had a great time at your various camps! Hope this week is a good one as well and hopefully you all have found the time to rest and recover haha.  

Love,

Hermana West

"Transfered This Time" 7-20-11

Hi family!

     So I actually ended up getting transferred this time! Now I'm serving in the Woodstock area which is pretty much the middle of no where. There are lots of cornfields. It's North of my area and to the west a little bit. It actually touches a part of my old area. My new companion is Hermana Delis from Virginia, really close to Washington DC (like 15 minutes I think). She's only been here for two transfers now starting her third so now I'm senior companion which will be fun. Also I'm pretty sure she was the one I was supposed to train that one transfer with all the confusion. So It's funny how things work out. It was so weird to get the new that I was actually changing. It was pretty stressful too. After being somewhere for 8.5 months and finding out you have to leave only 1 day before kind of blows your mind a little bit. I was able to say bye to some people and pack and everything so It was good. Hna. Frandsen is training for the second time so she's excited for that. I'll miss her but so far my new companion seems really nice too. Apparently it's a pretty small branch here with only around 25-30 people at church every week, also apparently the area had been having kind of a rough time (not a lot of success). I'm hoping to be able to help turn it around. Hna Delis and her last companion Hna Miller were able pick it up from where it was before though so it's on the right track. There are a set of Elders in the branch actually one of the Elders who was working with me in the Elgin Branch also got transferred here so that was interesting. I don't think that happens very often. haha.

 MY last week with Hermana Frandsen went really well! We had a new family come to church for the first time! Maria Pineda and her 4 kids. It was great. Also Humberto came for the first time in like 6 weeks so that was good. While at church we were able to set up 3 appointments with members which was great because we hadn't been able to visit with 2 of them in a while. We got three really awesome phone calls after church. One from a less active sister who we hadn't been able to get a hold of for a while, another from one of our investigators, and another from a guy named Daniel who we met while knocking! That never happens. All of them were calling to set up appointments. Also, while we were visiting with a less-active family, one of their friends came over who we'd been able to teach a couple times before. It turns out she's been reading the Book of Mormon a little bit! So we were able to set up an appointment with her for the next week. Later that night we stopped by an old investigator and we were able to teach her whole family and 2 other friends! 6 new investigators. All in all a pretty good day and a pretty good week with 10 new investigators total! After we got home that night we realized that that was the day the leaders in the Branch had set aside to fast for the success of the work in the Branch. We called  Presidente Urrutia and he was really happy to hear the news. On Monday we were able to have the appointment with Daniel who called us. He's super willing to learn and has a huge desire to follow Christ in his life. He is soo ready! Too bad I wont be able to see his progress. But from what Hermana Delis says they have some pretty promising investigators so I'm pretty excited to meet them.


Other random things

1. We all have DVD players now (the ones that you can like watch in the car). Apparently it's worldwide (or will be) for all missionaries. It's so we can watch the Preach My Gospel videos and the proselyting videos more often
2. Sometimes it's so humid that my glasses fog up when I get out of the car. 
3. It was over 100 degrees yesterday
4. I got an envelope from the Jennings. Thanks for the pictures and everything! I actually didn't have anything to teach plan of salvation before (my companions always had one) so thanks for that copy of the one Ben drew! It makes it more special
5. I feel like there's something else I was going to say but I can't remember. I'll probably remember randomly sometime this week. That's what usually happens.

Pictures!

1. Me with Evila, Jesus, and Maria (Jesus's Mom)
2. Me with the Familia Montelongo. They would have us over to eat every Tuesday
3. Me with the Pinedas who came to church this week and two of their friends
4. District picture: cheesy family photo style

Well I love you all and hope that this week goes really well at the various camps you have!

Hermana West

"Spiders Everywhere" 7-13-2011

Hi everyone!

 

      This week has been pretty good. It's hard to believe that transfers are next week already. I'm not really sure what's going to happen, my chances of leaving seem to be high since I'll have been in this area for almost exactly half my mission next week. But I found out yesterday that there is a sister in the the Naperville area who's going to finish her mission in the same area she started in so who knows. Thats pretty crazy. There is also I chance I could train, or be made senior companion but thats not for sure either because the majority of Hna's in the mission right now have been here about as long as me or longer (14 out of 20).

 

      We had 4 investigators come to church this week! Evila, Jesus, and Maria (his mother) for the first time in a while and Estela the sister of Deyci who got baptized on the 2nd. we were able to have a really good and bold lesson with Evila this week reading scriptures about the dangers of procrastinating repentance and testifying like crazy. The spirit was really strong and by the end of the lesson she had decided that she shouldn't wait any longer for baptism and would tell us which day soon. So we're hoping that this will finally be the time she actually goes through with getting baptized. We're excited for Estela this week because she's going to girl's camp with the young women so we're really hoping that she'll have a spiritual experience there. We think she will. So hopefully she'll be able to follow her sister's footsteps soon!

 

      There are spiders everywhere and I don't like it. Super ugly ones too with big fat juicy bodies. There are bushes and trees outside our bedroom window so there are big spiders and trapped bugs all over the window. We feel like we're in a bug zoo or something. most of the are on the outside but there are a few that somehow managed to get between the window and the screen. So we decided we will probably not be opening the windows in there any time soon. Also there are spider web strings everywhere. Especially in the morning when we go out to exercise. A few days ago for morning exercise we went on a bike ride to carpenter dam which is pretty close. We noticed a little paved pathway that we guessed would come out about where we wanted to so we took it on the way back. About halfway down the trail the pavement ended and it was a dirt trail, we decided to continue. Then it just kept getting skinnier and skinnier and more overgrown with bushes. We alternated going first every time one of us went through a spider web. eww. The last stretch of trail was literally a tunnel made out of bushes and tree branches. It was a great experience. And we were right it did take us out where we though it would...a little while later after we were home the weather took a dramatic turn and we heard thunder, rain, and ferocious winds. By the time we left the apartment for the day it was sunny and nice again, but there were branches and trees fallen down everywhere. We saw one tree smashed through the roof of a house, that must have been exciting. We heard about another one that smashed a parked car. Some people lost power. I didn't even realize the wind was that intense until we left.

 

    Another funny story for the week. When we drove home last night there were about 5-6 hispanic guys out having a barbeque in front of where we park our car. They were staring at us very obviously so I made a comment to Hna Frandsen that we should just make a bee line for the apartment and record the miles in the morning. We got out and Hna. Frandsen noticed they were talking about us in spanish so she said "buenas tardes" to let them know that we also speak spanish. haha. They said it back then looked around at each other with looks of "oh crap!" on the their faces. About 20 minutes later we get a knock on the door...we reluctantly answered fearing it was them. It was. There were two of them standing there with a plate full of meat with tortillas on top for us. Without much Hesitation Hna. Frandsen began to contact them, telling them that we were missionaries, giving them pass-along cards, and making sure to emphasize the fact that we were dedicating all of our time to the Lord. Then we said bye and they walked away. We don't think we'll be having any more visits from them. haha.

 

Sounds like you all had fun at the West camp out! I remember last year it was only a few days before I got my mission call. Hope you all have a great week!

 

love,

 

Hermana West

 

"Deyci Got Baptized!" 7-6-2011

Hola Familia!

    This week was a good one. Deyci got baptized! It was really great the spirit was there super strong. Afterwards Deyci was super happy and she said it felt really good. Her mom, Maria was really happy and crying a little. We think she felt the spirit too. At the baptism the branch wanted me and Hna. Frandsen to sing so we did. So we sang "Senor te necesito" which I think is called "I need thee every hour" in English. Hna. Frandsen made me sing two lines by myself. It was fine I guess. I NEVER would have done such a thing before my mission. You would be proud mom. haha. I think this is the 4th time now they've asked us to do something like that.

      Evila decided that she wanted to wait again for her baptism this time using the excuse that she didn't feel worthy and that she didn't want to feel obligated. I think Satan is just working on her really hard. We're not sure exactly what to do... we may leave her for a little while. Humberto still hasn't smoked which is good. He says he's going through a lot of personal problems right now which he would prefer to be over before he got baptized but I think we were able to help him feel more confident that taking the step of baptism can only help in what ever situation.

    I have to say this 4th of July was probably the most uneventful and unexciting 4th of July I've had in a while, maybe ever. I'm not sure if fireworks are illegal here or not but there was definitely not as much firework exploding going off the night of the 4th as the typical festivities in Lake Stevens. But we live in a really quiet spot anyways so who knows. There had been a lot of firecrackers, bottle rockets, and roman candles going off in some of the more lower class areas of our area for the past two weeks though. Mostly little kids setting them off too like between the ages of 5 and 12. Not sure how they got all the fireworks, I think maybe someone was walking around selling them to all the little kids. It kind of freaked me out because I kept thinking about how they would probably blow their faces off or something (I think you're rubbing off on me Mom).

      It was fun to hear about all the experiences you all had at trek. Too bad it wasn't as hard as last time it would have been way more fun for Megan with a couple of extra hills and some extra miles. I remember my trek experience being windy too! We had to drop one end of our tents and it started raining like crazy too. It was fun though. And an adventure. That's crazy to hear that Lanny is engaged! Hopefully she's nice. Congrats to him! I think that when I get home and back on facebook I'll probably go on and see that like half the people I know are engaged/married. It'll be weird.

     

Other random things

1. I had menudo this week. Which is cow intestine in soup with some hot sauce. It wasn't as bad as the last time I had cow intestine but still I had a couple of bites that tasted a little too much like what it filters. 

2. I got my hair cut today for the first time since I started my mission almost 10 months ago. I think that might be a personal record for me. It's not too different. Just 1.5 inches shorter and bright purple. So yeah pretty subtle.

3. It's hot and humid.

Love,

Hermana West

At Deyci's baptism. Me, Hna. Frandsen, Hna. Urrutia, Pres. Urrutia, Deyci, Elmi, Estela, Viridiana, Bishop Lestarge, and Sister Lestarge (from one of the English wards, Deyci stayed at their house for youth conference).

Trying to get a good picture with the baby deer

The baby deer. Action shot.

"Humberto Still Hasn't Smokes" 6-29-2011

 Hi family!

 

      

      This week was good! I feel like the work in the area is really moving right now which is always a nice feeling. We did have a couple of low points with Estella deciding she wanted to wait to get baptized and not being able to have a cita with Evila since we set the baptismal date with her two weeks ago, but other than that it's been good. Humberto still hasn't smoked and he says he's been feeling a lot better. 2.5 weeks now!  He says sometimes he still has a hard time sleeping, but thats it. We're pretty excited for him. Everything is all set for Deyci's baptism for this coming saturday (changed again...long story). Despite feeling some nervousness she still seems pretty firm in her decision to get baptized. Yay for spiritual experiences at youth conference!
       We've found some pretty cool new investigators the past few weeks. The first one, Maria, we found knocking doors and she told us to come back a few days later. She was there for the appointment and told us all about how she wanted her kids to learn more about the scriptures and God so they don't become like their Dad (who likes to drink) or any thing else thats out there in the world right now. We went back for a second lesson earlier this week and finished teaching her the first lesson. Her oldest daughter Jessica was listening too and they were just loving it all. We asked them if they would be baptized once they read, prayed and found out that this was true and they said yes. The only problem now is transportation to church because she doesn't drive and her husband doesn't like anything to do with religion in general and wont bring them.
      We had another awesome experience yesterday. We've been doing pretty good on our miles this month so we decided to put some effort into finding people in the far end of our area where the Hispanics are few and hard to find but still there. We made a list of house numbers with hispanic sounding last names and went out to knock them. The street we were on, we discovered, was HUGE but we decided to walk to all the houses anyways. We were hot, tired, and having little success. Also these little tiny bug things kept landing on us and biting us. We have no idea what they are. When we got to the last number on our list we noticed it was in the 500's while we were still in the 200's. We decided to continue walking since we'd already come so far. Approaching the last house I had the thought of how funny (and awesome) it would be if this person let us in just like all the inspiring stories they like to tell missionaries at the MTC. Then it happened. A woman named Rosio answered the door and let us in. After talking for her for a few minutes she told us though gentle tears of how through everything she had experienced in her life she had often felt alone and that God didn't really care about her. She had recently decided though have God be more of a focus in her life. We testified to her that God did love her and that following His Gospel can bring so much comfort and peace. The spirit was strong as we talked about the Book of Mormon and prayer. She said yes when we asked her if she would be baptized after learning that these things are true! Walking away from that lesson we didn't even care how far we had to walk, or how hot it was. God really does guide us to the people who are ready!

 

Random funny story that has nothing to do with missionary work:

 

      Hermana Frandsen told me a funny story this week from her last companion Hna. Romney. At one point Hna. Romny worked giving tours to kids at a museum of some sort. Before the tour she was reading off all the names of the kids for roll call when she came across a name spelled La-a. Very timidly she attempted to read the name out loud a few times"La-ahh?". Pretty soon this black lady walks up with her daughter in hand and says "nuh uh. its Ladasha. can't you see? 'La'. '-'. 'a'. Ladasha."

 

Other cool and random things:

 

1. Fireflies have been out a lot! It reminds me of when Barry and I caught them with the Jennings when we went to visit them in Illinois when I was 14.

2. We see deer almost every day, multiple times a day. We even saw some bucks

3. Remember in the movie Nacho Libre when Nacho hits a corn on the cob to the ground saying "get that corn out of my face!". I had one of those and they're delicious. It sounds pretty gross because you put mayonnaise on it but it actually pretty good. You put the mayonnaise on first then put like parmesan cheese on it and some chile powder.

4. It's hot

 

 

love,

 

Hermana West

 

Deyci First Testimony 6-22-2011

Hi everyone!

            This week was pretty good, though we didn't have as many investigators at church as usual. We are a little bit worried about the baptism of the Lara girls (Deyci and Estella) which is supposed to be this saturday. Their mom is avoiding putting a time and always makes excuses for why they can't place a time (oh I think we don't have anything to do that day but let me check, Oh I need to talk with my husband, etc). Also the branch presidency has decided that they want the baptism to be moved back so they can make it more special or something. We know the girls would be devastated if we had to move the baptism again. Especially Deyci who just went to youth conference this weekend. Deyci had an awesome experience at youth conference this week. She sent us a text message saying "guess what I did at the stake center yesterday?" we asked "what" and she said "I gave my first testimony :)". We then told her how awesome that was and asked how she felt, she responded "I felt the spirit :)". We were both so happy and proud to hear that she was brave enough to share her testimony and that she recognized that she felt the spirit. It's great to see the impact the gospel is having on these girls lives. We just hope that we can resolve their mom's doubts so she'll feel comfortable with her daughters' decision to get baptized. We're going to try to meet with them today

      A week ago we started the 15 steps to stop smoking program with Humberto again for the second time. We made sure to emphasize the parts where he faltered the last time and gave him a few days before to be sure he had the desire strong enough to do it this time. As we went back to check up on him throughout the week we found that he was actually doing it! Having been trying to help him quit smoking for more than 6 months now without success I could hardly believe it. On the 5th day we went over and he said he almost fainted but he was still clean. Yesterday we went over and he still hadn't smoked and he was feeling better than before! 8 days without smoking. He told us that he is done with smoking and drinking. We talked about baptism again with him and he accepted the invitacion to prepare for July 16th! He seemed a little unsure at first but we told him we'd work with him all the way.

      Yesterday we had zone conference again combined with the Rockford zone. We always go up there so the zone leaders picked up 2/3 of the zone in the transfer van (12 seats). At the last transfer Hermana Maughan (my mtc comp) got moved into my zone and is now companions with hermana Reyes (who was with us for a week in the mtc). It was cool to be able to talk with her again at zone conference for a little while. At the zone conference they really emphasized the importance of prayer in the conversion process because true conversion only comes by the spirit. We also talked about some new finding ideas. As usual I went away feeling like I was a failure and that I have a lot to improve on. haha. Thats zone conference for you. On the way back I found out that one of the new Elders in my district just had a brother pass away. I didn't get the chance to talk with him because the van was chaos but hopefully I can later this week. Hopefully I can be a little like a mini -support group or something.

      It looks like someone went and reserved the computer after me so I can't extend the time like I usually do...pictures next week!

Love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!

Hermana west

"Pee-day" 6-15-2011

Hi Everyone!

 

      This week has been a pretty good week! We've had some really good lessons. I also feel like I'm getting pretty comfortable with spanish. We had 5 investigators at church this week with oldest daughter in the Lara family there for the second time! She's still pretty stubborn but feeling really welcome at church so we're hoping that slowly she will start to open up to us more. She will also be going to youth conference this week. Her two sisters Deysi and Estela are still excited about their baptism on the 25 and have been reading and praying almost daily! So we're happy about their progress. Yesterday their familiy had us and the elders over for dinner and one of the elders mentioned "P-day" to which Desyi responded "pee-day!? ewwww". Hermana Franden, Elder Anderson, and I immediately started dying laughing (as the mature missionaries we are) while the Elder Davidson (who often enjoys taking pride in moments where he can demonstrate his immense amounts of knowledge to people) corrected her (which just made it even funnier).

 

      Interesting random observation of the week: In district meeting this week the zone leaders came and we had an Elder Davidson, Anderson, Harrison, Johnson. Lots of sons.

 

      The weather was moody again this last week with a jump from 95 to 55 (again). My companion was starting to get cold symptoms again, but I've been good. I got the package you sent by the way, thanks for all the vitamins and Allergy stuff. Hermana frandsen was laughing as I kept pulling more things out. It was pretty funny. I think I'll be good now. 

 

       My trainer Hermana Gailey (who ended her mission 6 weeks ago) came back to visit with a small group of other return missionaries. They showed up to sacrament meeting on sunday so it was cool to be able to talk with them for a few minutes. Also she was able to come with us to a couple of lessons yesterday. The first one was with a less-active/part member family in the branch. We talked about the plan of salvation with them and were a little bit frustrated when one of them said she would be ok with going to the terrestrial kingdom. We tried the best we could to encourage her a little bit more...we'll see. The other lessons was with Evila (the one who's been investigating for almost a year and whose progress looks more or less like a roller-coaster). We went in with the midset to teach her the plan of salvation (again) and ask her to be baptized (again), even if her really catholic mother-in-law was there. And we did! It was a really amazing lesson we were able to resolve her concerns by sharing some experiences along with some great comments from Hna. Gailey. She accepted a date to be baptized July 9th. We promised her blessings and the spirit was really strong. Since she backed out her date in March, we'll probably have to help her out a lot to keep resolving concerns, but for now we're excited for her decision.

 

      Yesterday I got a little bit sunburned on my right arm when a member fed us outside. It was actually really nice yesterday it was in the 70's (which the weather usually skips over its only like the third day so far we've had in the 70's mas o menos). Hermana Frandsen and I are really starting to get some pretty sweet farmers tans.

 

      I am reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish now which wasn't too bad until I got to chapters quoting from Isaiah in 2 Nephi...hard even in English. I finally finished that part today though. Thats great to hear that Megan and her friends had a giggling fit while singing at the seminary graduation. Another thing to add to the list of embarrasing moments to share whith your children. To Barry I only have to say that yes that's the way it should be and that you may be getting over your head with your settlers of catan challenge.

 

Well I've used up all my time already, I'll try to send pictures next week!

 

Love you all,

 

Hermana West

Hot and Sticky Allergies 6-8-2011

Hola familia!

 

      So results are in for transfers again and.......I'm staying here again! surprise. The Branch President has been joking a bit about how they'll probably just go ahead and give me a calling in the branch soon. I'm also with Hermana Frandsen still which we're happy about. Elder Faamu who had been in my district the same amount of time as me is leaving though so I will have been in the area way longer than everyone else (maybe even in the whole zone). Another exciting but mostly weird thing is that today marks my 9 month mark exactly. As in halfway through my mission. Weird sauce. President Doll sent out departure dates a few weeks ago. Mine is March 29. As for my favorite scripture...thats a hard one but the one that comes to my mind first is probably the "by small and simple means shall great things come to pass" one which I think is in Alma 37: 6-7 ish. If one of the other missionaries out from the ward though chose that let me know and I'll pick something else.

 

      Last wednesday we were planning on going into Chicago again but then found out that they changed the rules and now we're considered too far away. President says we'll have to wait until we're serving closer to the city. But we had fun anyways. We pumped up the tires on the old bikes in our apartment and went a little ways on the fox river trail (which is really close to where we live). It was fun, but we were extremely saddle sore the next day. Also the very next day my allergies decided to magnify 5 bajillion times. I'm not sure what changed, but something did. So this week I was pretty sore, dying of allergies, and hot and sticky from the humid, 90-100 degree weather. Also I'm starting to get a nice farmer's tan. haha. It was a good week though. We've just recently started trying some new ideas with the members to try to get them more excited about missionary work. We're trying to have every family in the ward have a Preach My Gospel so we can teaching a little bit from it every time we go over. Also we're doing role plays with them to help resolve their fears about sharing the Gospel. So far it's been getting a pretty good reaction. Presidente Urrutia loves the idea. We're hope that it works! On sunday we had a special stake conference where one of the seventy came to speak (Elder Lynn G Robbins I think). It was pretty good. He talked about the importance of Temples and always being ready and worthy to enter. He said "If we can't get into the Lord's house on earth here how do we expect to get into his kingdom afterwards?". He also talked about the parable of the 10 virgins and how its not really that they were 5 good and 5 bad people but that they were all good people, 5 were just prepared when the bridegroom came and the other 5 weren't.

 

      Last week we stopped by an old investigator named Abigail to see if she'd be interested again. It was lucky that we found her there because they'd just recently moved a few miles away. She was back at her old place to clean it up some more. She seemed a little bit weirded out that we came and didn't really appear to be interested but agreed to let us come back to help her sweep inside and outside (no one ever lets us help so we were excited!). So we went back a few days later and helped her clean a bit. Afterwards she was way more friendly and open towards us. She even invited us to go to her nieces graduation party. Even after we told her that we don't drink or anything she joked; "yeah come - drink a little, dance a little, and maybe even find some cute Mexicans". Hermana Frandsen protested and said "but I have someone already" to which Abigain responded "but maybe thats not your true love". haha. She also said we could come back and share a message with her, which was the cool part. We've been really thinking a lot about service since then and how it can really be the key to the door a lot of times. Just like Ammon (probably one of the best missionaries ever) and how his service eventually brought the gospel to many.

 

      Well I hope that everything continues to go fantastically back home, hope you have a great week!

 

Love,

 

Hermana West

     

"Same Sense of Humor" 6-1-2011

Hola Familia!

      This week has been good, I was still feeling a little bit distracted from the news about Ben but I've been getting back into the swing of things more every day. I'm really glad to hear that everything went smoothly with the funeral services,that the Jennings have been strong through all of this, and have been receiving a lot of support.

      On Monday we went on exchanges with the hermanas in the Arlington Heights area which was really cool. I went with Hermana Reyes to Arlington Heights. I was in the MTC with Hermana Reyes (she was my companion for about a week and a half before they moved her to the intermediate class). So It was really fun to be able to serve with her for the day. It was really different working in another area but awesome. We were able to have some good lessons. We found 2 old investigators, had a member lesson (and a really good barbecue lunch), and a less active lesson. It was great to be able to learn a few things from Hermana Reyes. I think exchanges really help us to come up with new ideas and learn from the strengths of other Hermanas.

       When we switched back yesterday me and Hermana Frandsen decided that we pretty much have the same sense of humor because we both had moments during the changes where we thought something we said would be funny and our temporary companions didn't get it. We really do laugh a lot. I've been really glad I'm with her because it's helping me to stay positive and happy since the news. On Saturday the branch wanted us and the Elders to do a skit/song for the mothers-day activity they were having so Hermana Frandsen taught us a song she made up to the tune of "La Bamba" about missionary work. She plays the guitar so we found one she could use and I fashioned a couple maracas out of the easter eggs you put in my birthday package and some random beans/rice we had in our kitchen. At one point in the song I try to grab the guitar from Hna Frandsen being "jealous" and start strumming while she does the chords. During that part the Elders got up and started being goofy. So it was pretty hilarious, probably a little over the top, and everyone loved it...well at least thats what they've told us.

       So far Daisy and Estella (the two girls on date) are still super excited about their baptism. Daisy has even been telling her friends. We had a little worry moment when their mom expressed concern about them not being ready or knowing enough but we were able to resolve her doubt by telling her that their are certain things that we teach everyone before baptism and that we should cover it all in 3 more lessons. I'm really hoping that she will come around soon as well for herself. She still really loves it she's just a little stubborn. She loved our lesson on the word of wisdom so much she wants us to give it again when her other two kids are there too. We've had several other really good lessons this week and 5 at church which makes it like 27 for the whole month. We were happy about that. So the work in the area is still going strong. I actually wouldn't mind staying here longer. We'll see though - transfers are next week.

Well I love you all and I hope things go great for everyone this week!

Hermana West

Ben 5-25-2011

Elder Ben Jennings and Hermana Kristen West at the MTC in Provo

HI Everyone,

       Well, I'm not really sure how to start. When my mission president told me the news about Ben I was definitely shocked. He was able to tell me in person because he was already on the way to a baptism in one of the English wards here. He called me and asked if he could meet us at the church at 7:30 (It was about 6:45). I immediately had this feeling of worry. When we got there he pulled me into a room and told me the news; that the cousin who was in the MTC with me and serving in Chile had died earlier that day and they don't know why. I was shocked and confused. My thoughts then immediately went to the Jennings family and how hard this must be for them. Afterwards we stayed for the baptism and I was trying to wrap my brain around what happened. It was going back and forth from memories, to his family, to everyone else, to wondering what happened, but one thing that I realized then was that I really have no doubts about where he is right now and the plan of salvation. That he will probably just keep on doing missionary work like he was doing before just in a different place. After the baptism, which was really nice, we went back to the apartment. While I was talking to my companion about everything it clicked what day it was and that it was the anniversary of Stewart's death (I'm still not sure what to make of that). I didn't really sleep well that night. On sunday I was pretty distracted, though at the same time happy that 9 people that we're teaching/ about to teach came to church. I knew that I wanted to keep going strong in the missionary work here. It was a little bit hard being so far away from everyone and feeling a little bit in the dark about whats going on/how everyones doing. On Monday I decided it would probably be a good time to get a blessing so I asked the Elders at District meeting. They were acting pretty awkward about it like they didn't know what to say to me and didn't really ask questions about it but I think it really helped. Hermana Frandsen has also been really supportive and helpful.

      Overall I think I'm still a bit shocked but comforted by the spirit and the knowledge that we have about God's plan for us. I feel privileged to have been able to known Ben as a missionary at least a little bit during our time at the MTC. If there was no other reason for me entering my mission earlier that would be enough. I could really sense his dedication and excitement for the work even just in the few moments I had to talk with him. I have always been impressed with what a genuinely good person he was. My heart aches for the Jennings family - wish I could be there to give them all a big hug or something. They've been in my prayers.

      Yesterday we had a lesson with the Familia Lara where we talked about baptism. We went in with the mindset to set them for the 11 of June. During the lesson the spirit was really strong and when Hermana Frandsen gave them the baptismal invitation the 2 teenage daughters, (Daisy and Stella) who have been coming to church, were both nodding in agreement with sweet little smiles on their faces. Maria, their mom, is feeling some doubts for herself but she said she would pray about it. We asked them if they would prepare for June 11 and they said yes! We then added "with the permission of your parents of course". Both girls then turned to their mother in unison with the biggest puppy dog eyes. She said its fine. They are both really excited and we're excited for them too. We're going to keep praying for and working with the rest of the family as well.

     I know that the Gospel is true! Christ really did suffer for us so that we can be clean and so he could make  God's plan of happiness possible for us. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet, that the Book of Mormon is the word of God as well as the Bible, and that this church is God's restored church in these days. I hope that everyones doing well back there

Love,

Hermana West

"low 60s to nearly 100" 5-18-2011

Hola familia!

 

     Well another week has passed, which is weird because they seem to be passing so quickly. Both Me and Hermana Frandsen have been feeling sick pretty much this whole week though, along with half the other people in Carpentersville. Probably due to the rapid jumps and falls of the weather. This week it went from low 60s to nearly 100 and back down to 50's and high 40's. Today is about 54 (grrr). With the rapid jump to 100 it like weakened everyones immune system so we all have some form of cold. I think this is my 6th cold since arriving here in November I think it comes from being around so many different people all the time (well and the weather).  Hna. Frandsen has a sinus infection (we went to the doctor for her yesterday) and I just have cold symptoms like a sore throat and cough.

 

      We had a zone meeting yesterday which was pretty cool, we talked about the importance of obedience, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and baptism. It was really good I always feel like I have a bajillion things to improve on after zone meetings but it always makes me motivated to be better.

 

      We were able to find some more new investigators this week which was great! 3 of them are the teenage kids of a couple that we've been teaching. We're hoping that getting their kids involved more will help them find more motivation to come to church, read, and pray. The lessons went really well and we have another appointment tonight. Also we were able to find a new investigator from stopping by an old investigator who I haven't seen since since I was with Hna. Gailey. We're still not sure though if he's really that interested in what we have to say or just likes likes to talk. We had 4 investigators at church this week too which was great. The familia Lara has come 4 of 5 times in a row now and the two teenage daughters are really loving young womens which is great. We think they're really ready!

 

President Doll sent us an e-mail today saying that we had to deactivate our facebooks so I did. It was weird going on Facebook for like 3 seconds in order to do it. So now I am Facebookless for the time being. I'll be able to activate it again when I come home. Also some people might not have my mission address anymore...oh well.

 

It was great to hear about how everyone's weeks are going. you all sound pretty busy! I'm going to try sending pictures again but in a separate e-mail in case it doesn't send again

 

Love,

 

Hermana West

 

Kids More Friendly 5-11-2011

Hola Familia!

 

       It was great being able to talk on skype this Sunday! Too bad it kept freezing up, it was still cool though. Yesterday the weather decided it would be funny and jumped up nearly 30 degrees. It was about 100. We almost died. The humidity also jumped up too. We had to be outside for a lonnng time too. Today will probably be just as hot if not hotter. Today we're going to Schaumburg for a zone activity. Apparently we'll be playing "Chicago ball". Its supposed to be like baseball only with a larger ball. So that'll be fun. I'm excited. Hna Frandsen and I are still getting along well and we're having a good time.

 

      This week has been pretty good! we've had a few cool experiences. One of them is that we finally had another lesson with a less active who's been avoiding both us and the branch for about 2 months. She says it was because of her arthritis and because she's going through menopause. At the end of the lesson she told us that one of her cousins and one of her friends were both interested in coming to church and taking the "classes" from us. We told her that was great and that we would love to. On Sunday she came with both of them and we have an appointment to start teaching them on Thursday. So we're excited for that.

 

      Also, yesterday we had to knock doors almost all day in the heat but it was good because one lady let us in! She's named Laura and she has 4 kids one which is only about a week and a half old! It was really awkward at first because the kids answered the door and we could hear she was on the phone. They disappeared for a few seconds and came back saying we could come in. We were hesitant though because a lot of times little kids have a tendancy to be more friendly to us than adults. But then she came and beckoned for us to come in and we sat there awkwardly while she finished her phone call. Afterwards though we talked for a bit then started teaching the first lesson. It went pretty well and she said we could come back. We left the restoration DVD and she said she would watch it with her husband. She was super nice. we also found several people who told us to come back (we'll see) and also a few people who just wanted to argue with us/ go away. Pretty normal. I think I might end my mission with an unusal fear of white people because they tend to be the nastiest.

 

  Well everyone I hope that everything continues to go fantastically! Good luck with school, work, swimming (Kevin) and learning how to drive (Megan).

 

 

Love,

 

Hermana West

!CAKE! 5-4-2011

HI everyone!

      It's been another week. Me and Hermana Frandsen have been together about a week now and we are both still alive and sane so I think it's going to work out. Haha. She's actually pretty cool. We have a very similar sense of humor which is good but it also makes us more easily distracted... So it'll be a good transfer I think...she hasn't shown an evil side yet or anything. My birthday was relatively normal. Some of the branch members found out though and one hermana took us out to eat for lunch at a restaurant called "Pauls". It was kind of like a refined Denny's. It has like every food type you can dream of and it was packed full of viejitos (old people). It was pretty good actually. I got a gyro and the waiters/waitresses came and sang happy birthday to me and brought me some free ice cream (free ice cream always makes the singing seem a little less torturous). The Hermana also bought a slice of cake for us. That was only the beginning. Later that day we went to the familia Segura in the branch and they gave us left over cake from their daughters birthday (they didn't even know it was my birthday) and later that night the familia Franco gave us a cake too. But first they smashed my face into it. Apparently its a Mexican tradition or something on birthdays. I'm still wondering though. My companion was way to excited about that. I have pictures but I forgot the connector thingy. Did the pictures work last time? Needless to say we had a lot of cake that day and we were pretty sick of it by the end of the day. Oh and yes I got the package. Actually right on my birthday! So that was cool, THANKS!

      We had 5 people we've been teaching come to church this sunday which we were excited about. The Lara family has come 3 times in a row now! Also Evila and Jesus came for the first time in a long time so we were excited about that. We've also had some luck finding some rather elusive less actives this week which was cool. One of them was Mercedez Delcid who's the only member in her family. We ended up teaching the whole family about prayer and it went really well (Hna Frandsen is really good with teaching little kids). We're going back this week. One of the others was Hna. Barraza who broke into tears about how her 13 year old son got offended at church but they've been wanting to go back. So it was good.

      So for Sunday. I just found out that we can actually use skype or something similar for our phone call home. We just have to find a member who has a webcam. We're thinking we'll try to work it out. If we figure it out I'll call you first to see if we can set it up. The timing will be the biggest issue though because of the time difference, church, and coordinating with a member. We have church 9-12 so the morning probably wont work out (unless you want a call at like 5 in the morning your time). We're thinking we'll try to call more in the evening, like around 4 or 5 your time (maybe 6). Hopefully that works for you. If it ends up being way different I might try calling in the early morning right before we go into church just to inform you.    

      Well thanks for the e-mails this week it was great to hear about how everythings going! Talk to you sunday!

love, 

Hermana West  

"Still in Carpentersville" 4-27-2011

Hola Familia!

 

     So I am still in carpentersville (now called Elgin 2 north Spanish) and My new companion is Hermana Frandsen, she's been out a year. Yesterday was a very interesting/confusing day. It started off with a phone call from President Doll saying that I would be training a new missionary. A little stressful at first but throughout the day I started getting used to the idea and was getting more excited. Especially because they're starting a new training program from the MTC and this mission is one of the first ones to implement it. Also I knew that I really needed it to push me out of my comfort zone. At the end of the day I was feeling really ready and excited...then I got a call from President Doll saying that there were some unforeseen circumstances with one of the hermanas coming in (some health problem) and one of the hermanas already here (throwing a fit about leaving her area) and they had to make some changes. So I will not be training this transfer. I was a little bit relieved, but also disappointed because I realized that now, because there will be a big space with no hermanas leaving (except for one in June), It may have to wait until October or November before I become senior/trainer. I think I feel even worse though for the hermana who's training instead of me because they told her last night that she will actually be transfered AND training when she thought she would be staying in her area with a new senior companion. Its called whitewashing when both missionaries are new in a certain area. So that plus training is really stressful. I think she was freaking out a little bit. My new companion seems really nice. She's pretty outgoing and her spanish is good. She's from california. I know I'm probably meant to learn something from this whole experience and that missionary work is still missionary work no matter where you are or who you're with. So I know things will work out for the best.

 

      This sunday was pretty awesome we had 8 investigators come to church! I think it being easter had a lot to do with it, but it was still cool. The one we were the most happy about was one investigator who went to church once about a year ago and said it was really boring and didn't want to go again. So he was there with his family and hopefully it was a little less boring for him this time. Overall Hermana Rojas and I are happy with the ways things are going in our area. I think soon we'll probably start seeing some miracles. Hermana Rojas was super sad to leave everyone but still happy about how it was going. Some members from the branch threw her a surprise going away party yesterday which touched her a lot. Oh and I decided that I want to go visit Greece to go see her. So if anyone wants to make donations to the cause I'm more than willing to accept. haha just kidding...well half kidding.

 

      Well I hope that everyone has a good week this week! Did the pictures I sent last week get sent? It sent me an e-mail back saying "fatal error" or something so i'm not sure. let me know so I can send them again next week If i need to. Until next week!

 

love,

 

Hermana West

City Pictures 4-20-2011

"Into The City" 4-20-2011

Hi Everyone!

      Thanks everyone for your e-mails this week! Its great to hear from you. This week has been pretty good! As I told you last week we went into the city. It all went a lot more smoothly because I had my map of the busses/L-train and I knew the metra times. It was fun! We went to navy pier and met some other Hermanas there. Two of the hermanas in our zone who we were meeting ended up getting lost a little bit which was funny. But they eventually found us. We walked around a bit and ate food. And yes I took some pictures don't worry! The ones of all of us as a group didn't turn out well though. We missed the train we wanted on the way back though (we saw it pull away as were were racing to catch it) so we took the next one and got back a few minutes late, but other than that it was good.

      We had 5 investigators come to church this week! The two children of a part-member family and the familia Lara (with 3 of their 6 kids). It was really great I think their two daughters ages 13 and 14 really felt welcome in young womens and the mom (Maria) said she was really touched by the last song (I know the my reedemer lives) and felt the spirit. So we're really excited for her.

This week we've had all kinds of weather. I think I jinxed it when I told you all last week that it was "finally starting to get warm". It snowed on sunday night and then its been rainy and stormy for the past few days. oh well.

Someone in the Library sounds like he's sick and is making really nasty grunting/snorting noises and it's starting to gross me out. Just thought I would share that with you.

      We had exchanges this week, which is fairly rare for sister missionaries. It was Hermana Rojas' first time ever on the mission. We switched with two other Hermana's in the zone; Hermana's Mackley and Veliz. I had to stay in my area which was a little bit of a bummer because I've been here forever but it was good. I was with Hermana Veliz who has only been here a month. Her Mom is from El Salvador and her Dad from Guatemala so she knows spanish. She grew up in California though. It was interesting (and stressful) being the senior companion for a day. It went really well we found a lot of contacts (which is sometimes hard in our area) and we had 4 lessons. So It was good. We switched back yesterday at zone meeting and President Doll asked Hna veliz if she thinks I'm ready to be senior. He's been giving little hints like that for the past two transfers now so I think I may be going senior companion at the end of this transfer. Hermana Rojas thinks I will train but I'm hoping not because the names of the 4 hermanas coming in all sound very very American and very much not Hispanic. I'll find out on Tuesday because transfers are weds. Hermana Rojas is still pretty sad about leaving. I think I'll probably stay in the same area...

 

Love,

 

Hermana West