March 31, 2014 {Kaitlyn}

Buenas Tardes! Well I have no completed my first week in my new area. Things are going well, but I do miss the good old Alejandro Korn. :) I´ve decided that the Lord wants me to learn how to better adapt to change and for this reason I am transferred every 2 transfers. Haha every area it is right before a baptism as well. I sure am being blessed with the abilitly to adjust to things pretty easily. I have had a week FULL of learning :) 

We are in an area that is completely country. It´s really neat though because it´s a tourist place because it has a Laguna. We go running(if you want to call it running hehe) at the Laguna everyday... BEAUTiful. It makes me want to jump right in. :) I added pictures in dropbox so you can get a little glimpse of it. It gives me a little taste of home because I always think of boating and Lake Powell with the fam! :) 

The people here are super nice. I am already feeling like I´ve known some of them for quite the time. My companion and I both gave talks in Sacrament Meeting yesterday, and all went well. I´m getting a little bit more confident with my Spanish, considering that all I had was an outline. Believe it or not I actually enjoy giving talks... because I always learn a lot more in my studies while I am preparing for it. It´s excellent! I spoke about prophets... ohhh  I LOVE this subject, because I have gained the strongest testimony about a living day prophet. I tied this in with the importance of prayer, because as I was studying I recognized that President Monson always touches on this topic. He has the most incredible testimony of prayer... It was perfect for me to study because it is something that I am trying to improve on. I love conference talks. I CAN´T WAIT FOR CONFERENCE!

This week we shared the story of Naaman and I recognized something that I hadn´t thought much about. As we know in the story of Naman he had to bathe 7 times to be cleaned. We were teaching a menos activo who knows all the principles of the gospel but just will not commit to going to church. As we were teaching it came to my mind the symbolism of 7. If Naman had only bathed 6 times the disease wouldn´t have been cured. It is the same thing with ourselves. We can be perfect in our studies of the scriptures, prayer, but if we do not bathe ourselves on that 7th day we are never going to be completely clean. The sacrament is critical... we MUST partake of it each and every Sunday. As we complete with this ordinance we will start off each and every week clean and energized to make it through the next week. It was quite neat, because with every person we shared this story with... another symbolism came into mind. The scriptures are FILLED with symbols. 

Hahaha so funny story. Last night my tire popped on my bike so we ended up just doing ALB (open the mouth) for the last half hour of the night. This is not my strength in the mission. Haha I am so awkward when I do them... but last night I realized that the experience is what you make it. Haha we had a very interesting story. We started talking with a couple and before we knew it we found out that they had actually just met. In the end of the conversation she said that she doesn´t know this guy, but they should know a bit more in the morning. Ayy ayy ayy you know me. Hahaha I WAS DYING. Just about started laughing right then and there. Haha oh the things we hear on the mission. Haha :)  

Quick story about the food. We went to a members house and we had a steakhouse right then and there. I was thinking of how much Brandon needed to be here in this moment as I ate all this food. First we had a huge chunk of Sausage, then he puts both the chicken thy and wing on my plate... drum roll please... then he slaps down a huge chunk of steak. Lets just say I have no idea how I put down all that CARNE. Haha He´s the cutest little member though. He has an AMAZING conversion story. He used to smoke and drink alll the time... but he left it all for the church and is now enjoying every bit of his experience in the church. 

My companion is good. She has 3 months in the mission, but she is a great teacher. I learned something really important these last few days and that is that there is something good to find in each and every companion. It is so important that we do not compare one companion to the other because they all have their own strengths. I was missing the good bond that Hna. Diaz and I had developed and then once I put this into play everything got better. Things we always good with my new comp but now things are even better. I´m learning plenty of great things in this area. :) 

I was going to share a few other things but the letter is getting a bit long so I am going to close for now. We set somebody on date for the 26th of April. She didn´t come to church, but I have high hopes for her so I´ll keep you posted. I hope all is going excellent for you all. Remember the importance of family scripture study. It is VITAL. Not just personal, but with your spouses as well. As well as family prayer. And FHE! :) Love you all. Have an excellent week! 

March 31, 2014 {Kim}

Hola! Well i dont have much time right now. But this last week has been good. Crazy but good. We've kind of been preparing for transfers. Sister Garn will be leaving tomorrow and i will be running the area and getting a new companion. Not excited. I love Sister Garn and i dont think im ready to lead the area. ahhhhh. well other news for this week. This sister officially has ADD says the doctor. haha.

I gave my 2nd talk in sacrament meeting yesterday. Everyone said my spanish has improved a TON so that was good to hear. well i gotta go.. sorry i dont have much time. but ahhhh transfers. bummed. scared. Love you all so much! Have a fantastic week!

 

Love, Hermana Josse

March 24, 2014 {Kaitlyn}

BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT TO THE NEW DADDY!!! :) Happy Birthday Brandon!!! Have the best week EVER! I´m sorry to say that I didn´t even ever get a letter off. Yes I did write a quick letter and I was even going to send a package, and then I didn´t get around to either. I was going to send the letter today at transfer meeting, but it ended up being CRAZY! But HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY! HOPE YOU HAVE AN AMAZING DAY :) PS... are you 30?! WOAHHHHH. 

Wow, this week was full of surprises. First things first I got transferred. I am now in an area called Monte de San Miguel. Wherever that is? It´s in the middle of NOWHERE. It took us 3 hours to get here. My new companion is Hermana Martinez from Columbia and has 3 months in the mission. She seems super nice, and seems to have a ton of energy! Transfers were a bit crazy because I wasn´t expecting to leave... or maybe more than anything I was hoping that I wouldn´t leave. Everything was going so well in Alejandro Korn. I´m going to miss the people so much. They were my family hear in my home away from home, but even I know that the Lord needs me in this new place. It really is amazing what the Lord can do, because you know me, I HATE change but through all the changes I have had I have really been pretty calm. I´m going to miss Hermana Diaz but it´ll be excellent to learn from a new companion.

We had a baptism 2 hours after I arrived. Haha kinda neat eh? :) I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost :) Bienvenidos! We are in a branch that has about 15 active members so it´ll be SUPER different. I´m super excited because I´ll be able to strengthen some of my weaknesses... because we´ll be doing the majority of things here. They LOVE the Hermana that was here before me and she was here for 6 months so I have some BIG shoes to fill. :) Sorry don´t know to much still... but I´ll give you a better update next week.

Hermana Diaz in the end isn´t going to Venezuela. THey took out all foreigners. They gave her a decision of whether she wanted to be reassigned or if she wanted to stay here. Pretty crazy eh? She ended up deciding to stay. She´s seriously so amazing. Along with her family. He dad seriously is going to be some grand leader. He receives revelation of all things. He had basically warned her that this was going to happen by the words that he shared with her on monday. Wow, I learned so much from her... and her family! 

I had a ton of things to share for this week, but for some reason I have forgotten everything. We had an excellent last week. We picked it up a ton, because for some reason we both kinda had a dragging week the week before. I went on exchanges with Hermana Wyeth (friend of McCall the neighbor of SHellie). Oh she is incredible! We had this lesson that was seriously INCREDIBLE. I surely knew this man in the preexistence. He usually doesn´t sit in on the lessons, but this time he did and even more, he participated. We talked about eternal families, and WOW I haven´t had so much desire for a family to be sealed in the temple in quite some time. The spirit was SO STRONG. He´s going to start taking the discussions, I know it. :) We also went out of our little shell and made the goal to do our ALB (Open the Mouth). We met some amazing people :) Aww the miracles that pass in the mission. 

Haha Jose wanted me to take his piano so that I could practice in my mission. Haha and make my mother happy because one day I was telling him how my mom always told me that I would regret this. Haha yep she was right! Haha WHAT WAS I THINKING?! I regret it more than anything else in this world. Haha maybe I´m exaggerating... but I do regret it quite a bit.

Anyway, I can´t believe I´m forgetting everything that went on this week... but I had an excellent week. The transfers are a little bitter sweet. I´m already missing Hna. Diaz. She became like a sister to me really... but that´s ok, I´ll do the same with Hna Martinez. She´s excellent! :) Lopve you all so much! Happy Birthday to all because I know that it is also Uncle John´s and Austin´s birthday or something. HAPPY BIRTHDAY WEEK :) 

PS Hope you are all looking forward to conference like I am. YIPEE! Christmas is on it´s way!!! LOVE YOU ALL! Have an excellent week!!   

March 18, 2014 {Kim}

Hi. Welllllll.....This week was good! Haha we have contacted some more crazy people this week. I almost burst out laughing in one of our contacts when the guy we were talking to just started going off about Genies, Demons, and angels and how Mary wasnt a virgin. He was so crazy. haha i was dying i had to keep acting like i was coughing cuz i was trying not to laugh. Wow i sound like a terrible person now. So yes...something i am working on is keeping a straight face. Ha. So yes...we have been doing a lot of contacting again this week. We only have one legit investigator still (China - She has a date for the 27th of April which is happening forrrr sure. I love her.) ....Its so hard to find spanish people in our area! I mean there are soooo many hispanics in Jersey but we have the cities that border all the hispanic areas. Ha. Out of 48 people we contacted yesterday 2 were hispanic and they both lived in the city that the elders cover which is mostly all  hispanic. Its super frustrating. We get a lot of referrals for the english sisters that cover our area though. We did actually find a cool dominican guy the other day and he works in a barber shop. So he had us come to his work to teach him. Ha it was so awkward. We just stood in the middle of the shop while he was cutting someones hair. but it was good and hes way cool. We have another appointment with him tomorrow!

We had leadership training this week. its where all the new missionaries get together and have trainings and practice teaching aka role plays after role plays after role plays. (I HATE ROLE PLAYS i feel so dumb in them when i dont know what to say. I was dreadddding Leadership training for weeks. And i freaked the night before because the assistants called me and asked me to give the monthly scripture...which means standing in front of like 60 missionaries and all the senior couples and president and sister jeppson and talking. what. I was so scared. But it was finnnne. and guess what..... I LOVED leadership training! I learned so much. Main thing i learned is confidence and trust are KEY. I already knew that confidence makes a huge difference...but during some of the role plays there were some missionaries that i was teaching with that were so scared and you could just tell they were not confident at all. (Something i realized about myself is that when im put in a position where i have to lead. I can lead) So i stepped up in these role plays and just did it and trusted i would know what to say. and they were so good. I usually sit there while my companion is talking and try to think about what im going to say when she is done talking but i tried my best not to do that and just let the spirit work and it was awesomee! I was more myself and i was super bold. I dont know what happened. Haha. and of course President Jeppson decided to come join one of my role plays and mediate for us. I was like you are kidddding. He is the most intimidating man in the world. But the greatest. I was so nervous but it was a goooood role play because i decided to trust that i would have stuff to say. And i did. wow. I loved Leadership training. We also had to teach the youth class yesterday at church and they are PUNKS. Just the biggest punks. They just have no care in the world and think they are the coolest teenagers. We had a really good lesson though and we got a few of them to really pay attention. I hope we actually have the opportunity to teach them again because my goal is to help all the youth gain testimonies and not be punks haha.

I have to give another talk in sacrament next week...haha scared. talks in english are hard...so yes....talks in spanish are HARD.  At least i got more of a heads up this time. Not like i have much time to prepare anyways though. haha. Well guess what...this is the last week of the transfer. I am panicking. I loveeee sister Garn and she is leaving for sure. She has become one of my best friends. Everything is so fun with her and i am completely myself. geeez i love her. shes such a great person. Im gonna have a hard time with this change. But Itll all beeee good. Im also scared because i will be leading the area. ahhh. But mostly I just dont want my best friend to leave. haha. Well i gottttta go. but i love you all so much! Have a fantastic week!

 

Love, Hermana Josse

March 17, 2014 {Kaitlyn}

Buenas Tardes!!! Sorry, this one is going to be super short. Pday ends in about 25 minutes. Haha but wow, it was so good to hear from all of you! Shout out to Brandon and Whitney because I got novels from both of them :) I almost started crying I was so happy! ;) Wink, but not really. Haha... so now that I have heard that Zeus is doing well I have to tell you. The week that he had this scare I had had a dream that something happened to him. Only in my dream it was worse, I returned from the mission and asked about him and Brandon started tearing  up and ya you get the rest of the story. I never have Lamanite dreams so I wasn´t thinking anything had happened to him, but I guess this time it really did have to do with real life. Scary scary, but glad to hear that all is well. I LOVED the photos that Brandon sent. Ry guy (RZ) is such a little stud. 

Well, as far as this week goes nothing much went on. We had a good start to the week, but struggled towards the end of the week a little bit. We have been keeping up on our goals really well except for this past week, but we´ll pick it back up this week. We did set Daniela on date for the 12 of April. She´ll be confirmed on Dad´s birthday :) She seriously has changed so much already. It is absolutely incredible to see the effect that it is having on both her own life and the life of her family. She is the HAPPIEST girl now. She´s already starting seminary, and excited about it... and she even told the bishop that she´s GOING to be baptized. Last sunday was a huge breakthrough for her. THESE ARE THE BEST STORIES. :)

I laughed when I saw the beginning of mom´s letter. Haha I had completely forgotten. I pinched the Elders and it took them a second but then they just started laughing. Haha I didn´t have time to read all the letters yet because we were doing a deep clean in the house today. I did read the good old traditional St. Patty´s day dinner. Boy am I jealous! :) Eat double for me.  HAPPY ST. PATRICK¨S DAY! 

Heads up, next week is transfers... I don´t think that we´ll be moving... but it is possible so if I don´t email for some reason don´t be worrying. It shouldn´t change anything, but just to be sure.

Haha I laughed at Sara´s humble comment because that´s exactly my problem. I want the forwarded response of Brett.  I´m still working on humbling myself... but it´s a hard attribute to correct. Being too negative affects it but so does being too positive. Wow, Sara seems to be doing absolutely AMAZING. She seems to be a completely different person. I look forward to meeting my new friends when I get home. :) 

Well, I hope all is going well. Sorry that I don´t have much to share this week. It was a bit slow with the work. We had many things fall through, but we´re keeping our heads up high and ready to have a miraculous week this week! Have an amazing week!!!

COn mucho amor,

Hermana Wright

March 11, 2014 {Cara}

LOVE YOUES

Wow! I am just so happy seeing all your letters! It truly made my week! Wow thank you so so much! It means a ton to get a letter from you guys... I never know who to write- ha ha so thankyou! I dont have much time so I just printed the letters, and I'll write you guys back later! I'm sure they are awesome, thankyou and MAHALO for all of them:) I miss you guys! 

Ok. So this week was great. I'm going to be honest. I'm so tired. Spiritually tired, and starting to get physically. Everyday is getting more and more busy. BUT you know what?! It's all because my awesome companion and I make it that way:) I have never, in my entire mission, been so busy. I'm starting to really get this whole missionary work thing down the the T. Haha. Hilo is known for being really slow pace and not many baptisms or much to do/laidback...... but Sister Buckner and I are changing that around! We have been meeting with our Bishop, and got to give him great ideas for the ward (its a very old ward with few - i repeat - very few young families. In fact... I think there is 3 families with kids. Lots of elderly - but aint nothing wrong with that:) So we have this cool missionary activity planned and got the members on board! We have 11 member present lessons this week! Record I've ever had on my mission. Its awesome. We taught allllmost 30 lessons this week! It's worth it though. So worth. I mean it makes so much sense... if you want to work.... you really can! Hilo is no longer going to be known as a slow area:)

Ok sorry for that rant.... We are teaching Lucy Jolet. She is marshalese and speaks very little english. (we have lots of language barriers here- but it doesn't stop the spirit from touching their hearts) She has a baptism date for March 22- RANDOMLY during the lesson she goes- "ok- I have decided. I will be baptized. I love Jesus and I know I am ready." The cute lil white aunty who is a member that we brought with us, jumps up and said, " I love baptisms! I'll make you a cake Lucy!" Then  BOOM- Lucy (big marshalese woman) jumps up and bear hugs this little grandma and says, "Oh Aunty I love you!" and they start talking for like 5 minutes and start PLANNING HER BAPTISM!!! Hahahaha me and Sister Buckners eyes were like wide open, and we looked at each other and hugged and then just started laughing! It was the funniest moment and lesson in my life. We have been trying to get a date for Lucy for 4 weeks.

Except we just found out she's pregnant and a lot- a lot- of things change and just got complicated. Please pray for her.

Then we taught Albert Einstein ll. His name is Arthur Chris Eccel. Oh my goodness- this man writes dictionaries you guys. And speaks 5 languages. He even lived in Jerusalem. He is 70 yrs. old. You cant see any thing on his walls but bookshelfs with books. His house is PACKED full of artifacts and gold and silver given to him by Kings from all around the world. He is sadly Agnostic. Nothings too exciting. I'm just so obsessed with history. Just thought I'd tell you about him. Nothing cool. Just a cool experience. Someone Id never thought I'd meet. 

Ok so Analyn Domingo is next. Well she is 12 and has been going to church for long time. She wants to get baptized. Well for weeks we have been trying to contact her parents. Every single day actually- we stop by her home to see her family. We have been praying every night for her.. and finally...... their neighbor across the street- Brother Sewell invites them to dinner!!! He invited us to come too. So last night we shared an awesome message and the dad agreed to come to church with Analyn. Ahh... Pray for them please! It was a miracle dinner. Super cool too.

Ok well please pray from Darrell and Kirruu and Analyn, Elijah, Mark, Lucy, Grant, Helen. Buck. I wish I could tell y'all all about them and let you know the countless miracles that we see everyday! It's spriitually and physically draining... I remember when unko Randy told us about Joseph Smith passing out because he saw so many angels and ran out of strength. Yeah.. teaching so much is harder then I thought! I fell asleep during a lesson once. Haha.

It was a long day and a very old aunty, with an english barrier.
Sorry gotta go.

Sister Olsen

Just know that I know the church is true and I'm so grateful for you and the knowledge of the Gospel.

February 24, 2014 {Cara}

"He will leave the 99...." 

Ohana-

Wow, sounds like theres a lot... a lot of new and exciting things going on over in Oklahoma! Want to know something? I tell everyone I'm from Oklahoma. Because everyone else is from Utah and Idaho, and I don't get rolled eyes when I say I'm from Oklahoma. Haha so I say it proudly!

Hilo is great. Hilo is wonderful. Hilo is green. Hilo rains every single day. When it gets to 75 degrees we turn our heater on. Hilo is slow paced. Hilo has a lot of locals. Hilo is beautiful. Hilo has the bluest, biggest ocean I've ever seen, and I get to look at it everyday. The missionaries here in Hilo have trucks because you have to go off roading in some areas. Our apartment is a lot smaller then the previous... and its across the street from a Japanese graveyard, and the other sisters apartment, so we see them a lot. Our neighbors blast the radio every morning so I have to plug my ears during studies usually. Temptation. Ah.

 Hilo has big huge whales and dolphins and turtles in the ocean that we get to watch everyday as well. It's illegal to have street lights in Hilo, so night times its suuuuper spooky. Hilo has lots of yummy food. Hilo has lots of hills. The ward in Hilo is small, but super duper close. Everyone is literally like family. It's like the ward I was in, in Maui. Everyone gives everyone a big Aloha hug and kiss and shows SO much love! In Oahu it was a very palangi ward.... so it was awkward transitioning. Funny story- we had tourists from the mainland come into the ward the other day and I go up to greet them... it was probably the most awkward greet of my life. The husband watch me give the most awkward hug and kiss to his wife, and then when I turned to him to say hello- his arm was already stretched far out ready for a hand shake. Lol. I'm warning you when I get home everyones gunna be getting an Aloha hug and kiss!! I'm bringing the Hawaiian love over to Oklahoma;)

I love my new companion, Cara Ann Buckner. Haha tall, skinny, blonde hair blue eyed. She just got done training, so she's only been out a few transfers. I love it! She reminds me of myself when I just finished training. She has that fire and mindset of "everyone is going to be baptized!" She's super positive and strives to be better in every aspect of missionary work! She's awesome.

Ok so you know how a pretty big reason why people join the church is because of the fact that, YOU can be with you OHANA together FOREVER!!?? Yeah- well one of the hardest things/biggest bummers here is- it's Hawaii. Everybody is family. One big ohana. So whenever we say or bring up the fact that theres a way your family can be together forever. We just get confused blank stares and a reply saying," I know. I already know."

Gavin congrats on starting your papers:) I hope that's all going well!! I'm excited to find out where you go! When do you get to turn your papers in? Thanks for the package too mom! Those vitamin C things are great! And pumpkin kisses:)

Alright, well I'm still getting to know the area and people, but we're kinda cleaning things up around here, getting rid of investigators who aren't interested and focusing on those that are progressing. I've definitely turned one of my weakeness into a strength over the months- working smart. One of our investigators name is Mark. He has a ranch FULL of sheep and goats. We help hm twice a week from 7-9 a.m and after wards we give him a lesson. HE LOVES the gospel. Its incredible. His ranch is wonderful, up in the hills- looking down on the ocean and all of Hilo. Dad you would love it! You'd love the sheep too! We feed them, cut their hair, build fences, give them medicine. Lots of service in Hilo!

I'm just going to share with you a story of Mark. One morning when we went to go do service, the sheep were very sick, so we had to give them all medicine very quickly. Well as soon as we arrived Mark and the missionaries (we go with the Zone leaders) run out and gather in all the sheep. As soon as they were all gathered in the shed, Mark walks in and take ONE quick glance at them and says, "Were missing one. Cashmere is gone. We need to find her." and he walks back out in the field calling after Cashmere and looking for her. All of us missionaries looked at each other shocked that he took ONE glance at 60 plus sheep and knew that there was one missing. And he know exactly which one it was- by name! And he knew that the other sheep needed medicine, but he didn't hesitate or second guess, he just went back out to find Cashmere.

So we followed Mark out to find the missing sheep, and then 3 wild pigs were chasing us in the field. Mark was yelling at us to run away from them because they bite. In the meantime, its Hilo- ( so theres spider webs EVERYWHERE) Yeah we're running away from pigs, getting wrapped up in spider webs, trying to find the missing sheep.

Anyway- we found her. Moral of the story.

4  What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine ^ain the wilderness, and go after that which is ^blost, until he find it?

 5 And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

 6 And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.

It was amazing. And the pigs, and spiders represent satan I decided. Haha, but really. No matter how lost or far we are, Jesus Christ will find us. He never gives up us. Every single one of us are important to Him. He knows us by name. He knows where to find us. He will not let us get lost. I'm so grateful for the Atonement, it constantly allows me to repent and get back on the straight path. I'm so grateful for the love from Jesus Christ that is always available. I love opening my scriptures, kneeling in prayer, worshipping in His house and feeling abundant LOVE! Love it.

Ok. Well last thing I want to say is.................... We had 30 lessons this week. It was really cool to have that be Sister Buckners first time having more then 20 lessons. And my first time in a long, long time. Honestly though- it was the toughest week of my life. We are really really trying hard, as representatives of Jesus Christ, to find those lost sheep!!!! They can't hide!:)

Have a wonderful day:)

Read the Book of Mormon.

Pray in gratitude.

Aloha

Sister Olsen

March 10, 2014 {Kim}

Hola!

Hello. Well this week has been good! We had a baptism!! Victor was baptized on Wednesday and confirmed yesterday! It was awesome. President Crane (He interviewed Victor) Said he was the most prepared Person for baptism he has ever seen. Haha i gave a talk at his baptism and guess who decided to show up.... The Jeppsons! That made it even scarier. Goodness. I was so scared. But i did it. Thats all that matters right? And it was fine. Well our monthly focus this month is the book of mormon. Pretty good focus to have right? And what we are focusing on is contacting with the Book of mormon. Well our goal as a zone is for each companionship to get at least 10 contacts a day. We've been working really hard on this. Especially since i HATE contacting. It scares me because i dont know how to play of things people say to make it good. So ya i usually just let sister Garn take the lead until this week. But now. I just go for it. We have a competition to see who can get the most contacts this week and i want to win. Its not all about numbers but thats whats driving me. Something i realized about myself...well kind of already knew. Is that i am very competitive. haha. i like scoring goals. Im thankful for this competition for getting me going. For making me just do it. Now i just approach everyone and start talking. I still stink at it. but im getting better....well that fact that i actually do it now. Shows some improvement! haha. We got 63(!!!) contacts the other day! It was awesome. I just need to get better at relating things. Its a work in progress and its coming. aNd im starting to enjoy contacting. Its fun! Haha we meet some of the meanest and creepiest people.. and its kinda frustrating because most everyone in our area is polish or italian or macedonian. actually we have a little bit of everything. but around our main cities we have the most polish. and polish seem to be the meanest. haha. shout out to Elder Jake Fotu out there in Poland. Well i dont want to scare anyone but i have to tell this story cuz its kind of funny. on Saturday we were contacting and we rang this doorbell...an old guy opens the door with no shirt on. He has the biggest beer belly and hes super hairy. wellll... he didnt really speak english so we were trying our best to explain to him that we are missionaries but he wasnt getting it. He was just trying to get us to go in his house in broken english (while rubbing his belly and playing with his stomach hair) "sorry no shirt ....come in... please come in. please. No scary. no dungeon. No danger. please come in. no please. In the duration of about 10 minutes he was trying to get us to go in his house saying different things like this and we were like we are so sorry we have another appointment and we cant come in without another woman. "It ok. i a professional (at what? creeping) .. no danger i alone."  hahaha. ya that makes it worse man. we were creeped out but it was funny. and then we met some other weirdos that day. oh and other funny stories of the week.... we rang a doorbell  last night at an appartment complex and it was one of those one that they have to buzz us in. Well no one usually buzzes us in so i wasnt expecting it and a huge buzz noise went off and the door unlocked and i jumped so high and just sprinted sooo fast a few steps and then fell to the floor hahaha i was dyinng. I may or may not have peed a little. hahaha. And highlight of the month was when one of our members randomly decided to teach us how to say hello in chinese...hahaha you had to be there. but it was so funny. Here face was so funny when she did it her voice was hilarious. I was trying to keep all serious. but i loooooost it. full on laugh attack on the floor. and i couldnt breathe. almost had an asthma attack. I was scared i was going to offend our member by laughing. but she thought it was hilarious and she LOVES me now. hahaha. may or may not have peed a little in that as well. Ni ja ma. (thats hi in chinese...i think.). oh i love her so much. I came up with a way cool analogy last night for our investigator named China that doesnt think she is ready for baptism. I dont have time to explain it but its way cool. haha. it involves the wizard of oz. gotta go. Love you all so much! have a fantastic week!

 

love, Hermana Josse

1) Our District after the baptism Ha i love them

2) Victors baptism 

March 10, 2014 {Kaitlyn}

Buenas Tardes! We don´t have a ton of time to write today because we´re running a bit behind on everything. I have so much to write about though, so I´m going to try to do this quick. 

Saturday we were able to take some investigators to the temple with the ward. It was an excellent experience that kind of turned into a disaster. We went with the ward and they said that we would be back at 12:30 and we didn´t end up returning until 4:30 because they decided to do 2 sessions. Keep in mind that we left at 7:30. Well, that´s great except for the fact that we couldn´t enter and we didn´t bring any lunch or anything. The kids of our investigators were crying because they were so hungry. On top of that our investigator Felisa had an infection in her tooth. By the end she was crying in pain. She got a phone call that her mom got put back into the hospital. Anddd ya, Satan was attacking in every single way. When we returned they went to the hospital and they said she needed to buy an antibiotic but they didn´t have the money for it. She asked if there was anything we could do, but we tried to see if the members had this antibiotic but had no luck. The kids still hadn´t had anything to eat all long, and all they had was tea and bread. 

Fast forward a bit to Sunday night when we stopped by to see how she was. She had asked us if somebody could come and give her a blessing, so the Elders had stopped by. In a summed up version all these down moments all ended up for the better. Regardless of all her pain she had seen some sort of light (she asked what this meant) and felt a moment of peace and the reassurance that everything was going to be alright. Then when the Elders put their hands upon her head she said she felt a peace in all of her body that she had never felt before. She shared a few other things that had happened, but overall she said that she knew that this was the right path. All this was through writing because she can´t talk because the infection is so bad. On top of that, she can´t write very well because she just recently learned how to write. Fua, it was so amazing to hear that through all these trials she had gained more than what she had lost. The Lord works in mysterious ways :) 

Good news of the week. Jose was baptized! :) He was telling everyone how if I could baptize he wanted me to baptize him. Anddd that I remind him of his wife. If it was anybody else I´d be a bit creeped out by now, but it´s just how he is. Haha he´s just Jose. He understands everything so well, but just doesn´t quite get the fact of why only the men can hold the priesthood. Ha but anyway, at the end of the baptism the daughter of the less active we have been working with informed us that she is going to accept the discussions. WHICH MEANS that she probably will be getting baptized in the next few weeks :) YIPEE! 

I wanted to share a story that one of the Elders shared in church yesterday. I´m going to try to write it quick so I hope it makes sense. He spoke about 2 angels (friends) who had received their callings for life. They were super excited to open their calls to see what their life would entail. The first friend opened his call and read that he would be born into the church with a wonderful family, he would have wonderful friends, and tons of other blessings from the gospel and such. The next friend opened his call to find that his parents were not going to support him. He would live with his grandparents or maybe nobody at all. He would have terrible influences of drugs and alcohol and live a life full of temptations. He would never have the opportunity to be invited to listen to the gospel. It was now their time to depart. The 2 friends hugged one another crying as friend number 2 said please please come and find me. Friend number one said I will do whatever it takes to find you and share with you the gospel. Wow, I probably didn´t describe the story super well, but it was sooo powerful. How important really is our job to share the gospel. We promised people before this life that we were going to find them and share this message with them. I´m not sure about you, but this put many things into perspective for me. One, I recognized really how important my calling of this mission is. Two I realized that we already have a calling for this life. The person who we are is what God wants us to be. Many times in the mission I fall into the trap of wanting to be other missionaries, or at least wanting their talents. It´s easy to desire the things that we don´t have. ESPECIALLY when I am new to a country and don´t quite know how to speak the language. I desire many things that I haven´t quite developed yet, but this story made me think differently. God knows which things I need to learn, what things I need to do in this life. All he requires of me is to try my best, and if my best isn´t the same as somebody elses, it doesn´t matter. Aww, I just love this story. It made me think a lot of Kim as well because she is so hard on herself. But really, this more than ever describes that God really does have control over all things. He knows best. Moral of the story= SHARE THE GOSPEL and BE WHO GOD DESIGNED YOU TO BE. :) 

Well, sorry for the rambling but this week was a week of MIRACLES! Mostly a Sunday of miracles! Haha Hope all is going well for you all. Love you all so much! Have an excellent week! 

Love you all so much,

Hermana Kaitlyn Elyse Wright :)

March 3, 2014 {Kaitlyn}

Wow, I just spent a good 35 minutes trying to copy yours and dads emails.  I am on the slowest computer ever. I was going to send some pictures, but I think I´ll hold off and send them next week. (Sorry dad, I know you love the pictures) 

Well, crazy news for this week. We were anticipating the call from President all week to hear more about what was going on with the Visa.Sunday the Zone leaders were still looking for a mini missionary for me. All day we were joking around saying that she wasn´t going anymore. Well, Sunday night we got a call from President saying that she´s not going anymore. Hahaha Crazy! She had already started packing and everything. How´s that for a last minute change?  For now she´s here until the end of this month. 

My friends are STUDS. Sara seems to be doing amazing!  I can just picture her saying every word that she wrote to me. Haha, oh how I love her. I didn´t hear from Kim this week but I´m excited to read her letter. AND Cara... un capo. Haven´t heard much from her, but no doubt she´s doing amazing. Jordan Clark sent a nice 9 month pic :) Mine will be coming next week. Wow... halfway??? What is this?! In one way it seems like it´s been a whole other life, but in the other way I can´t even believe that I´m halfway through! 

Anyway, this week went pretty well. Nothing too exciting happened, or at least that I remember. Haha Jose is getting baptized this upcomingSunday! We went to the capital which is out of our mission! I wasn´t ever going to see Buenos Aires... but we decided to just go for one morning. It´s only a few stations out of our area. ;) Haha nah we had permission don´t worry. Hermana Diaz needed her Yellow Fever shot. It´s SOO different there. I didn´t know that big buildings existed in Argentina. Haha I´m pretty sure I´m in the tiniest city in the mission, so it was a HUGE difference.   

The highlight of the week was a lesson we had with Felisa and Ramon. We brought a member with us and taught ¨Plan of Salvation.¨ Hna Diaz was supposively leaving so they shared a few of their thoughts about what they have learned. Seriously it was amazing. She talked about how her relationship with her family is so much better now. She explained how thanks to us she now knows how to pray and really uses it as a strength in her life. Everything that she was describing was exactly what the Lord promises us. I have gained the strongest testimony on one of the simplest principles of this gospel. The gospel blesses families. There is no doubt that the gospel really does seal the family together. The 9 principles: Faith, repentance, forgiveness, love, compassion, work, recreational activities, prayer, and respect are key. The gospel helps us apply these 9 principles in our homes. El hogar es como el cielo cuando hay amor! I LOVE THIS SONG! :) Nobody knows it hear, but we always sing it. ¨HOme can be a heaven on earth.¨ 

I´m continuing to see the fruits of this gospel working in the lives of many, including my own. I really am so grateful for the things I am learning each and everyday here. Hope that you all as well are recognizing the blesses of this gospel each and every day of your lives. It truly is amazing.

Ha sooo depressing moment of the week... I have officially lost every last bit of muscle I ever had. Uhh tried to do a few pull ups today when we were playing football at the park. Ya... I´ll just give a little thanks to the mission love. Depressing moment for a bit, but then I decided ahhhh it is what it is... I´ll stress about that after the mish! Just be expecting a warm welcome to the new and improved Pudgy Mana Wright ;) Haha 

Love you all so much! Have an amazing week!! 

March 3, 2014 {Kim}

Hola!!!

welllll hey! This week has been crazyyyy. I'll first start off by saying....we have another baptism on Wednesday most likely! His name is Victor! We had him set for the 9th but it will just work out better if it is on a Weekday so he wants to do it on wednesday! Its not 100% set since his actual baptismal interview is on wednesday morning but it should be happening. and guess who is giving a talk at it? me. ya i kind of in a way volunteered myself. hahaha what was i thinking? panicking here. So This week i had a crazy/scary experience. Satan is working really really hard on me in so many different ways. This experience has kinda motivated me a bit more actually. So its all good. Well i have no time but i wanna share a few scriptures real quick that i found this week that are way cool. 1 Nephi 17:13 - change wilderness to world and change promised land to celestial kindgdom. READ IT. I have been getting better at applying scriptures. So ya this ones one of my favorites now. and also Yesterday i was able to find a scripture and apply it to one of our investigators named China so well! Sister Garn and i were planning on talking about something completely different for this lesson with China but about 30 minutes before we decided to change our plan. We decided to talk about the word of wisdom and find a scripture about faith that could help her overcome her addiction to coffe. I found 1 Nephi 7:17 - "But it came to pass that i prayed unto the Lord, saying: o Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt though deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that i may burst these bands with which i am bound." When i read this i immediately thought of China and how i could apply it. I changed it to "But it came to pass that i prayed unto the Lord, saying: o Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from my addiction to coffe; yea, even give me strength that i may burst this addiction to which i am bound." Haha... when i first read through this and thought about changing it to the coffe i said to myself. .."haha thats the dumbest thing ever" and i wasnt going to mention it to sister Garn but i did and we ended up sharing it. It was an awesome lesson! Our investigator and her husband (hes a member) thought it was the greatest lesson ever. And now we feel like her husband likes/trusts us a little more. To be honest...It was the first lesson that i have ever liked and felt even somewhat good about. Also this morning i was reading through Jacob 5 and i thought it was way cool. I may be completely off on what these scriptures mean haha but I got some cool insights out of it. Jacob 5:17-18 -"Now, if we had not grafted in these branches, the tree thereof would have perished" - If we are not given weaknesses/trials we would not progress/grow. we would remain the same. verse 20: "I nourished" - Nourished = tested/tried
verse 21-"How comest thou hither to plant this tree, or this branch of the tree?" - Why are we given weaknesses and trials? To learn and grow and eventually bring forth better "fruit". verse 22 - "counsel me not: i knew that it was a poor spot of ground." - he knows our strenghths and weaknesses. verse 23 - "Behold i have planted another branch of the tree also" - We are given another weakness/trial so we can bring forth even Better "fruit" than before. verse 27 "let us prune it, and dig about it, and nourish it a little longer, that perhaps it may bring forth good fruit unto thee" -Sometimes he pushes us to the max for us to reach our potential. Because he knows our capabilities and strengths. verse 29 -"a long time had passed away" - sometimes our trials may last "a long time" but its for our benefit. He knows what we need. verse 34 "because thou didst graft in the branches of the wild olive-tree they have nourished the roots" - We come out stronger. verse 36- "I know that the roots are good, and for mine own purpose i have preserved them and because of their much strenghth they have hiterto brought forth, from the wild branches, good fruit" - God knows us better than we know ourselves. Verse 45 "and because i plucked not the branches thereof and cast them into the fire, behold, they have overcome the good branch that hath withered away" - We cant let our weaknesses overcome the strenghths we do have. and thennnn personal study ended. Haha. i'm not quite sure what these sciptures actually mean but thats what i got out of it. hahaha Its been really cool this week being able to apply scriptures better. It makes it easier to read and retain what i do read if i can think of it in a simpler more up to date way. This week i have also been able to be myself more and i have been happier because of it. Still lots of struggles but im seeing more of the positive. I also started taking two medications this week for depression/anxiety. I think they will be helpful. I guess it takes about 3 weeks to take full effect. And talking to Anne Broadband is actually helping. Hahaha never thought i would need a "councelor" buuuut its been helpful. Some of the main things im working on that i talked about with her are
2)Test my assumptions -dont just assume im going to fail/not know what to say.
3)use my love/concern for others to counteract my hate/negativity toward myself
4)separate feelings from thoughts

 

welpppp. this is awkward. haha

hope all is well for ya'll!

 

hasta luego

 

love you allllll!!!!!

 

ps. If you are not doing family scripture study... do it NOW. Why? well for 1 - so your children can know the true meaning of a concubine and that its not a pentagon shaped building! Hahahahahaha no idea why that is what i pictued everytime i read that but apparently i was wrong. Those verses make a little more sense now. family scipture study is important do it.