Awesome Lesson with Maria Mendoza 10-26-2011

 Hola familia!

      This week was pretty good! Jose came to sacrament meeting again for the 3rd time in a row! This time he brought two of his granddaughters (ages 9 and 6). He's also read in the Book of Mormon through 1 Nephi 8 which is awesome! We tried to set a baptismal date this week but doesn't feel ready. We didn't have a lot of time to resolve his doubts so we'll see if we can help him feel more comfortable with it next time. Yet again another situation to remind me to have patience. It's hard, especially because I feel like my time here is going down a steep incline. 
     This week we also had a really awesome lesson with a woman named Maria Mendoza who we found a couple months ago but hadn't been able to find her since. She'd listened to the missionaries around 5 years ago and was interested in listening again. She understands the apostasy/restoration really well, has a desire to read the Book of Mormon, and wants come to church (when she can get work off). We had a really good discussion with her about how to gain spiritual knowledge though the Spirit because she says she gets so confused by all the different opinions out there. At the end of the lesson we asked if she would offer the prayer and she did. During the prayer she started crying and thanked God for the peace she was feeling in that moment! I think her heart is really open to this! We're so excited to teach her again and we hope that we can get her husband to sit in on the lessons too.
        We had a really bold lesson with a less active member who was baptized a little over a year ago and is going through a hard time. It was really hard. She kept looking for sympathy and had all of her excuses saying things like "hermanas I don't know if I'm going to be able to come back to church because the only job I think I can get will have me work on Sundays - but I have to eat and pay rent". As sad as I felt for her I knew I couldn't tell her it was alright to not come to church. We read in 3 Nephi 13 where it talks about putting God first and everything else will be added unto us and promised her over and over again that it was true. By the end of the lesson she stopped fighting with her excuses and had decided to see if she could get an appointment with the Branch President. We hope we helped her at least a little bit. 
       This week, magically, we've been getting more meals from the members. One Hermana invited us over on Monday, that night another Hermana (who actually is in the English ward but still wants to help us) gave us a huge pot full of posole (sp?). It's this Mexican soup with Hominy and meat. It's pretty good - I want to try and figure out how to make it so you can all try it after I get back. ALSO, yesterday Hna Aguilar offered to send us home with some Posole. I laughed and told her that we had just gotten a huge pot full the day before. She asked us which kind and I said "rojo" (because there's different kinds) and she said oh this one is verde. Oh in that case...haha. So we're pretty much going to eat posole every day this week. But it's all good because it's delicious.
       More good news! Yesterday I found out that Evila Perez, whom I was teaching the entire time I was in my last area finally got baptized this past Friday! It's a miracle because while I was there she would go back and forth all the time - I think I probably told you a lot about her. So that made me happy.

Other random comments:

1. The guy on the computer next to me had a mini-freak out session a few minutes ago. It was really confusing. He started making noises and picking up the keyboard. He also almost fell out of his chair.  One of the Librarians came over to try and help and he stood up and walked away. Maybe he has some sort of mental condition. The Elders, who were also here doing e-mails, thought it was pretty funny
2. It's getting colder and I don't like it
3. We think we'll carve pumpkins today and try to figure out how to bake the seeds
4. On Halloween they want us to be home by 7 (unless we have an appointment) so that we're not out there knocking doors with the trick or treaters. haha. 

Well I love you all! Have a great week!

Hermana West

"Special Zone Conference With Elder Ellis" 10-19-2011

Hola todos!

      This week was pretty good! We were able to get more lessons this week which was awesome! We've been inviting everyone to come to invitation Sunday this week and we're hoping to get a really good turn out. We haven't been able to get many member appointments to encourage the members to invite their friends because they keep flaking out on us. But we're still trying. On Monday one of the members flaked out on us really bad last minute because she had to go "shopping" which put us in a really difficult situation because she was going to come with us to 2 appointments with men. So we've been a little bit down about that and we're not really sure how to get a woman to come with us to Jose. We haven't been able to get his wife to come listen yet. She literally ignores us. He told her last time to respond back and she said "no tengo lengua" (I don't have a tongue). She's kind of scary...in a funny way. We don't think it's just us though because she's always yelling at the other people in the house. We're excited for Jose though because he's come to sacrament meeting twice in a row now and says he plans on continuing! We want to talk to him about baptism next time we're able to have an appointment. 

     We're excited again for Hermana Aguilar and her daughter Bianca. We think Hna. Aguilar is thinking about coming back to church because she keeps asking us questions like "if someone hasn't come to church in a long time do they have to get re-baptized?". She's so stubborn I don't know if she wants to admit it but we are starting to see a difference and the spirit is always there in the lessons. We're trying to get the ward out to go visit them - its hard. I think they've given up on them and the Aguilars are the only members in Marengo so it's far away for most of branch members.

     We had a special Zone conference yesterday with Elder Ellis from the Seventy and his wife. We we're together with the two zones in Chicago. As usually we had to go all the way down there. It took almost 2 hours with traffic both on the way there and back  so It took most of the day. Afterwords I was really tired. It was a really good conference! I feel like I learned so much! I especially liked the part where Elder Ellis was talking about not limiting God with our prayers. He used the example of when Nephi prayed to have the strength to break the ropes his brothers had tied him with. He didn't just ask for someone to come along and help him him out. It kind of helped me see things from a different perspective. It really requires a lot of faith but we don't have to be like "please can we maybe just find 1 person who wants to get baptized this month?" Elder Ellis said "why just 1?" It went really well with what his wife talked to us about how faith can move mountains. The conference also got me thinking more about families and redoubling my efforts to try and teach all the members of a family.

     I'm excited for one couple that we're teaching right now - Lucero y Mario. They talk A LOT in lessons and like to debate sometimes...with us and each other so sometimes it's hard to get a word in but they are both very interested in what we've shared so far especially about having a Prophet today. They say they'd like to come to church for invitation Sunday so we're really hoping they will. I can't remember If I told you already that we have connections at this one taco place in Woodstock. The manager lets us eat there for free. We walked in there to put pass along cards there one day and he told us we could have anything we wanted free of charge - he says "para que el diablo no me lleve al infierno" (so that the devil wont bring him down to hell). He's really funny, but talks so fast so I miss what he says sometimes. He and his wife are old investigators and we talked with his wife a little bit this week and went over the restoration (She also talks really fast). She says she's pretty confused because of all the different religions but she's willing to listen so we'll see how it goes!

Until next week!

Hermana West

 

"Still in Woodstock" 10-12-2011

Hola Todos!

      Transfers were today but nothing changed. I am still in Woodstock with Hna. Delis for the 3rd transfer in a row. We get along really well though so It's good. I'm starting to think that I might spend the rest of my mission here because I only have 3 more opportunities to change after this and next transfer I think my odds of training are pretty high because 4 Hermanas are leaving (which usually means you stay in the same area). BUT who knows? I got the Flu Shot about 30 minutes ago and my arm feels weird...though I'm sure how much of that is real and how much of that is just in my head. Hopefully it doesn't get as sore as last years though. Also it was weird today having to use my first name and hearing them call it out at the Walgreen's pharmacy. It feels sort of like hearing a bad word or something. 

      We had people at church this week again which was great! The Familia Lopez (who came to conference last week after talking with missionaries in a Florida Airport) and Jose. We found Jose knocking doors a couple months ago and had had a hard time getting appointments/llessons with him because his wife really has no interest in listening to us and he wouldn't ever give us a for sure time to we could stop by ("just stop by whenever") and bring a member with us. But he said he enjoyed checking out different churches and would like to come to ours. Saturday we felt like we should call him to invite him to church again and he came for sacrament meeting! He enjoyed it and said he'd like to come back next week. We were also able to have a lesson with him on Monday. There were a lot of distractions with people coming in and out and his wife making snide comments in the background but he is open to baptism and said he will read this week! I was able to get an appointment with the Familia Lopez this week too which I'm really proud of because it was hard. I had to ask like 5 times and finally they accepted "how about we just set a time aside so we don't plan anything else and we'll call you before to make sure it's Okay?". They called us on Monday saying it was still OK so we'll be visiting with them on Saturday night. 

     As far as stumping questions go. It's true like BMW said, one of the best things you can do in any situation is just share your testimony. Like it says in 2 Nephi 33:1 the spirit can touch the hearts of the people we talk with when we share pure testimony. Explain that we don't always know all the reasons WHY we have certain commandments, but if we follow them and pray to know we will receive confirmation that it's true and we will always receive the promised blessings from the Lord. We don't always understand the reasons why we just need to trust that God knows what's best for us. Some other good scriptures John 7:17, Ether 12:6, Mosiah 2:41, and of course Moroni 10:3-5 and James 1:5. Also it's good to try not to focus too much on the nit picky questions and just go straight into the good stuff, BoM, prophets, eternal families etc. =D

Oh here's my address for the next 6 weeks at least:

2045 Willow Brooke Dr  Apt 1-A
Woodstock, IL 60098

Other Random comments:
1. There's someone nearby in the Library who smells like wet socks. bleh.
2. Now my arm really hurts
3. This week the weather has been super nice. I love it.
4. I think I may now be the branch pianist...*mini-panic*

Love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!

Hermana West

 Corn Picture

District photo with a Cat we found drawn on the board

 Switching back after transfers with Hermanas Brown and Summers

"Conference!" 10-5-2011

Hola Todos!

      Well, lots of cool things have happened this week!

1. We went on exchanges with the Hermanas in Rockford. I went to Rockford with Hermana Brown who's in her 2 transfer here so pretty new still. It was great until the car wouldn't start the next morning. We opened the hood and saw that the battery was really corroded so we spent the next few hours waiting for a member to come help us jump start it and driving around trying to find a car place that had time for us. It was fun getting to know Hermana Brown though! They actually ended up getting a new car yesterday though (they replace missionary cars after about 60,000 miles probably to avoid all the car problems that start coming).

2. General Conference!  Maria Peña came to conference on Sunday, stayed for both sessions, and the potluck between sessions! She really loved it and the best part was that members were fellow-shipping her! It was awesome. Also, we had a random couple show up for conference. It's a really cool story! They talked with missionaries in an airport in Florida who were on their way to South America. They told them about conference, gave them a pass-along card, and the couple later looked up where the nearest chapel was and showed up at 10 thinking that was when it started. Luckily someone from the English ward found them before they decided to leave (because no one else was there when they arrived). In talking with them we found out that they are looking for a church for their son in Peru who's in a really bad spot in life. They want missionaries to go visit him. They enjoyed conference and stayed for the potluck the branch had between sessions and talk with some of the members. They said they want to come to church next week too! The husband is a little hesitant about us going over to teach them (he said if I'm coming to church I don't need extra classes) but they gave us their information anyway. So it was pretty much awesome and it really shows how the little things we do as missionaries really can have a big impact even if we don't see the results. 

     I thought conference was great! Spiritual feast for sure! I can't decide on a favorite but for now I think I might say President Uchtdorf's and President Monson's. President Monson was really funny. I especially enjoyed every time he shook his head really fast after talking about something he didn't like. haha. I got a lot of things out of conference as a whole. It's a really interesting way to look at it. My mind just pulled bits and pieces from every talk into this overall theme that I can apply to missionary work and myself personally. In summary: The moral conditions of the world are horrible, we need to be strong and we have a responsibility as members to help others (share, teach, support, correct misinformation, etc) and some of the best tools we have are scriptures and prayer (personal revelation).

3. Mission council and leadership training meeting on Monday. We drove down with the zone leaders and our district leader. Took forever with traffic. The meeting was really good! It was mostly a combination of going over zone numbers doctrinal discussion, role plays, and introducing the new missionary training program. They want everyone in the mission to go over the training program for the next 12 weeks in companion study so that everyone is familiar with it. I think it will be cool. It was a really long day but good. 

4. Yesterday we had a really good lesson with Hermana Aguilar and Bianca who I told you about last week. We taught them the Gospel and the spirit was really strong again. We brought up if they'd talked about baptism for Bianca yet and the Hermana said she doesn't really have anything against it but needed to talk with her husband about it. Bianca said she was pretty sure she wanted to! I think the biggest doubt for the parents is church - because they've been inactive so long it will be a big step for them to come back. We can tell that Hermana Aguilar feels the spirit during our lessons so we're hoping with time the decision will be easier for them.

6. Transfers are next week I can't believe it. I'll get my address to you once I find out if I'm getting transferred or not.

7. I got the CD's you sent! Thanks. A few of the songs are so cheesy I want to die but a lot of them are good. Haha. Oh EFY.

8. I'll try to send some pictures next week

9. Thanks for your e-mails! It was great to here about your conference experiences. That is so awesome that some investigators came! I bet the missionaries were ecstatic.

Love you all!

Hermana West 

 This is all the district/zone leaders, and the sisters and a senior couple who were invited to come to the mission conference. It was neat. The other Hermanas next to Hermana Delis and I are the ones we went on exchanges with this week (Hermanas Brown and Summers)