Sometimes you just have to Laugh :)

Date: January 30, 2012
Area: Long Island
Companion


Querida Familia,

Once again the weeks be a flying! But its like they say, "Time fly's when you are having fun! Maybe I am having a little bit too much fun :) So where to begin. Welp I drove to Queens for the first time, that was fun :) Mom you should be proud! ha Driving in the City is NOT easy! Don't you worry I am still alive and running! So on Monday night- Tuesday night we had exchanges. This is why I drove to Queens. I dropped off my companion Hermana Hughes and had the opportunity to work with Hermana Tanielu! She is Samoan and lived in Hawaii!! Apparently we went to BYU Hawaii at the same time and did not even know it! Ha But it was super cool because it was like a Hawaiian reminiscing! I Just LOVE Hawaii and everything about it! We even had some li-hing powder that we put on some candy! haha oh the little simple joys! *Made me really miss my Li-hing Sour Hawaiian belt candy! * haha

Anyways so on our exchanges we were able to teach Eder, he is a New Investigator. We were able to teach him the Plan of Salvation. I absolutely LOVE teaching the plan of salvation because it is something that most people do not know about, and when they find out about their potential and what their purpose really is in this life, there is always a little light bulb that goes off in their face. When we were talking about the three kingdoms Eder got excited and told us that he wanted to go to the Celestial Kingdom. It was a really good lesson, and I was able to learn a lot from Hermana Tanielu. I love exchanges because we get to take bits and pieces and learn different ways of teaching. That is also something that I love about life and the mission in general. We are ALWAYS learning and progressing. That is apart of this life- we are put here to learn and grow and to constantly make changes and to work every day to become the people that our Heavenly Father wants us to be.

We had another exchange type thing with the Elders- meaning that they came with us teaching. Which as well is always a good experience. So we went to this lady across the street that we had talked to the day before. (P.s. they are Peruvians) We were able to teach Cecilia and her daughter Jocelyn the Restoration. The spirit was there and we were able to testify of the plain and simple truths of the restoration. We talked about the Book of Mormon and the mother was more than happy! She said that she is going to start reading out of the Book of Mormon and has a sincere desire to learn. It is such an amazing feeling when you meet someone who has a real desire to learn and grow and to learn.

After that appointment we were able to go to the Carpio Family! I LOVE THEM!!! Alfredo ( The father- which is probably the coolest man I have ever met!) Let us right in and this time his ENTIRE family was there together! We were able to teach them the plan of Salvation. Alfredo said, " You told us that we need to find out el camino, the path that our Heavenly Father wants us to be on, so we are reading as a family everyday out of the Book of Mormon." Moments like these are ones where I have to restrain myself from shouting for joy :) Seriously one of the coolest feelings. Alfredo also told us that he wants to make it to the celestial Kingdom with his family and so they are doing the things that we have asked them. They are so welcoming and told us to come over whenever we can. We are working hard with them, and seeing them progress.

As my companion said, "Anyone who says that Sunday is a day of rest, obviously has not been on a mission" haha ok so every Sunday feels like running a Marathon! But its all worth it! So Sunday as always we were calling everyone and their dog to remind them about Church. To our disappointment no one was going to be able to go to church. So on our prayer before we left, I prayed that Heavenly Father that he would send us some sort of surprise, because to our knowledge no one was going to be able to make it. We went on our day and I thought nothing of it. We then got to sacrament and I was up at the stand playing the piano for the ward. During one of the songs THREE girls walked in. I had to do a double take. Two of them were 2 investigators that we had taught in the past and one was a new face. After the song I quietly sat down and then the three girls came and sat next to me. Yesica a former investigator then leaned over to me and said, " I kept my promise." So that was one of my miracles for the week. Yesica, Magdalena and Betty stayed all three hours. They really enjoyed it, Yesica even said some really good comments in Young Women's.

It is interesting how the lord works. He works in ways that we do not comprehend. I had been praying for the Carpio's and other people to come to church and none of them came. However the lord sent me a miracle and answered my prayer in a way that I had not even thought of. Sometimes we want things and we want them done our way. However we need to stop and think and end our prayers, with "Thy will be done". We need to make sure that our will is in line with the Lords will. There have been so many times in our lives when we think that we know best. However we need to set out pride aside and trust 100% in the Lord. Especially when it comes to missionary work. Who knows these people better than our Father in Heaven. Heavenly Father knows what is best for us! Sometimes we can only see what is 10ft in front of us, Heavenly Father can see the WHOLE picture, so we just need to put our trust in him, and know that whatever happens, is for our benefit. *Proverbs 3:5-6*

So the last bit...Sunday afternoon I had the attend an English baptism... Funny Note- The other day I jumped out of the car to go and fearless aka talk to this guy. I started blabbering off in Spanish and then he spoke English back to me. I then replied YOU'RE ENGLISH?!? haha oh got to love the mission,, my companion sure gets a laugh out of me! Anyways So the English elders had a baptism and a little 10 year old girl gave one of the sweetest more simple talks I have ever heard. One by one she held up pictures. She first showed a picturef of our Savior Jesus Christ, and talked about how he died for us and that we can repent. Then she held up a picture of Baptism and said, " that baptism is the first step that we need to take to make it back to live with our Heavenly Father". Then she showed a picture of the temple and talked about how we need to go there to make sacred covenants with our Heavenly Father. One by one she laid these pictures on the ground and had us one one end and a picture of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ on the other end. In between she placed all the steps necessary to make it back to our Heavenly Father. Without those sacred ordinances of baptism and other covenants that we make in the temple we CAN NOT make it back to Father in Heaven which is where we want to be.

I know that this church is true. Like my good friend said, " It is so TRUE its not even funny!" I know that if anyone who earnestly seeks out, reads the Book of Mormon and prays and asks with real intent if the Book of Mormon is true, then they can come to know of a truthfulness of this gospel. Try it! Make sure that you are an example where ever you go. People are watching us,especially as members of this church. Share your testimony, give a pass a long card to someone. Be that light!

Be the change that you want to see in the world!
And make a difference!

I love you all thank you again for your love and support! It really means the world to me!

Love Hermana Gray

"Jesus Christ is our perfect example of one who always stood tall. He is the one who personifies integrity, strength, and courage. " Bishop H. David Burton  

SNOW!!!! (what is that white stuff on the ground?) haha

Date: January 23, 2012

Area: Long Island

Companion - Sister Lewis

Querida Familia!

Guess what!?!!? It SNOWED like for reals :) There was white stuff on the ground and everything!!! haha It's coooooold but I Love it! Alrighty so this week....was wonderful! Full of miracles, laughter, lessons, love, testimony bearing and so much more! Man a lot has happened this week and I wish I could just share it all but lets see what I can remember :)

So Monday we had a Family Home evening with the Familia Mendoza's along with Justo ( a recent Convert) la Familia Majano and Obispo Duran and his family. We were able to read 1st Nephi 8 and we all acted out Lehi's Dream! It was actually really funny! Everyone got into it and it was a lot of fun! It really puts life into perspective. There are people who partake of the fruit (The gospel) and love it and want to share it with others. And then on the other hand there are those who partake of this fruit/ the gospel and then they just depart or fall away from it. And then there are those who never want to partake ( or accept) this gospel. And that part as a missionary is the part that breaks my heart the most. Is to see people that have this chance, this opportunity to partake of the greatest gift that they can receive is this gospel, where by through it they can gain the greatest gift of all gifts of God = Eternal Life! Doctrine and Covenants 14:7. I invite all of you to try, to taste this fruit or the gospel- the teachings of our Savior Jesus Christ! To read the Book of Mormon, no matter how many times you have read it! I promise you that you will feel an increase of love that our Savior and our Father in Heaven has for us! I know that when you read the Book of Mormon daily you will also have an increased strength to resist temptation. Just like my dad always taught me....If you are praying daily, and reading out of the Book of Mormon Daily and going to Church EVERY Sunday you will never fall :) Its part of Heavenly Fathers plan to help us, he has given us all of the tools necessary to make it back to him. We just have to choose whether or not we are going to grab firmly to the Iron Rod! It's our choice!

So what else.....Ok we had zone conference on Tuesday! Again I can not believe that it was already time for another zone conference...these days are flying! Anyways we talked mostly about our Purpose for 2012! Which includes 3rd Nephi 5:13 along with a bunch of other things. Mostly we focused on the healing power of the atonement! We talked about how we can and should apply the atonement daily in our lives, so that we can therefore help and teach others about the atonement. I know that you all are probably getting tired of me saying this, but its all about CHANGE! We need to constantly be making changes, focusing on how we can become a better disciple of our Savior Jesus Christ. A better mother, a better father, a better brother, sister, teacher, missionary....etc! The list can go on and on. I just love my Savior more than anything and am SO thankful that he gives us chance after chance to repent and become better. It is never too late, our savior is just waiting with open arms all we have to do is reach up there and grab his hand.

Welp....So we were also able to contact some peeps that we have been trying to this week. One of them was Eder. He is a humble guy in his 20's who just recently moved here to Brentwood. We took the Majanos over there to a lesson and were able to teach him the restoration and he loved it. He is preparing for baptism and is happy and very surprised that we care enough to teach him. Lets see....Oh ok another cool story.... So my companion and I were walking out of the backyard of an investigators house that we had just talked to. When a car pulled up to their drive way next door. ( you have to know this is the third time that this same car has driven up at the same time)

I felt an impression...I had to go and talk to these people. So my companion and I went to go and talk to this family getting out of their car. So I walked over there and the lady sneakily went into her house. I was left with the dad and his two sons. So I talked to him and he said that he did not really have time to talk, because he was getting ready to go to work. He then told us that we could go and talk to his wife. So we went in their back yard to go and knock on her door. We did, then no answer. We tried again, still no answer. So then a little disappointed we went and knocked the other two doors in the back to the other house. Nada! So about to give up I walked around the corner and numbed into the dad again. We explained to him that we knocked and she didn't answer. So then he told us to go back with him and apparently she was in the back room and couldn't hear us. So she invited us to sit down and we did. We talked to her and explained to her who we were and what we did. We taught her a short lesson. She paused and then said," Did Martha send you?" We then asked her who Martha was. Apparently one of her friends goes to a church and told her that she would send two people to come and teach her. We then replied no but told her that Heavenly Father has a big plan for her and that it's not casualidad ( I don't know how to say that in english anymore) anyways it was not by chance that we came) She then told us that she was waiting for us, and she recognized that we were the Lords Servants. She was more than grateful for our visit.

Remember that AWESOME referral the Carpio Family?!! Well we were able to meet with them again with Hermano Lee. Alfredo is the dad and he is seriously the COOLEST guy ever! We were able to have a wonderful lesson with them, we taught the restoration and they loved it! We invited them to be baptized and they all accepted. They are so ready and have been prepared by other missionary's in the past. I am so thankful for faithful, diligent missionary's who have planted seeds in the past so that now their hearts can be prepared and are ready to accept the gospel now. Just like Hermana Creason said, sometimes as missionarys when we do not see the results that WE as humans, natural man want to see, we feel as if we have failed. But that is NOT true. Just like in Preach my gospel it says, "No effort is wasted". We are always planting seeds, and even though we do not see results immediately. All of you that are not full time missionary's I invite you to talk to your friends about the gospel, invite a non member over for a family home evening! Member work is the BEST!

Its that time, I hope that something that I said has inspired someone, somewhere out there to be a little bit better than you were yesterday. To be more diligent in whatever it might be. Maybe in your prayers, maybe in scripture study, whatever it may be, we all have room to change and improve. I am thankful for my opportunity that I have on the mission to look at my weaknesses and see how I can make them stronger. I am thankful for a loving savior, who wants nothing more than to help us return to live with him. May we treat everyone as a child of God, because that is what we are. May we speak kindly of one another. May we always stand up for what we believe, and help spread this message of hope, of peace, of joy and love! We have a great work to do!

I love you Family! Thank you for all of your love and support! You are the BEST!!!

Con Mucho Amor,
Hermana Gray

“May we ever be courageous and prepared to stand for what we believe, and if we must stand alone in the process, may we do so courageously, strengthened by the knowledge that in reality we are never alone when we stand with our Father in Heaven,” President Thomas S. Monson said during the priesthood session of the October 2011 general conference.

I have to confess I am in love with Peruvians!!  :)

Date: January 18, 2012
Area: Long Island
Companion - Sister Lewis


Querida Familia!

    Well due to Holidays....our preparation day was switched around that
is why I am writing today :) Where is time going? Someone must have thrown
the clock out the window...because time is "Flying"! Anyways I guess that
there is nothing that we can do about that except, live it up! Alright So
Monday....Monday we had a wonderful Family Home Evening with the Montenegro
family along with a bunch of other family's! We talked about the atonement
in our lives and how we can use and need to use the atonement in our own
lives. That is what it is all about. It's about CHANGE! Are we better today
than we were yesterday? Are we repenting and making changes daily? That is
why we are here on this life to learn, make changes and constantly improve
and to be the person that our Heavenly Father wants us to be. To ultimately
reach our potential....we have so much potential it is just up to us if we
are going to reach it or not.
    
We went looking up people the other day and we went to go and look up
a little girl named Areli. We got in and began talking to her, she is 13
and told her that there were other sisters who would come and visit them.We
were able to talk to her and she said that she wanted to know more about
Jesus Christ and she enjoys coming to church so we are going to continue
working with her. She is great!
    
Oh ok so I totally forgot...ok so about 2 weeks ago we received this
AWESOME referral from a Member in New Jersey. So we finally were able to
get in contact with them. The mom and dad were not there, however we were
able to meet with the 3 girls. They are the ages of 24,13 and 9. They are
from Peru and are the most darling girls ever! They let us right in. They
gave us some cool drink thing from Peru, it was some sort of natural juice
it was yummy. Anyways we were able to talk to them about what we do as
missionary's and how we were there to help them. We read with them a
scripture and set up a return appointment. They said that we could come
over whenever we wanted. We then promised them that we would bring them
each their own copy of the Book of Mormon. They were all super excited! I
talked to Stephany on the phone the 24 year old during the week and she
told me that little Alexandra the 9 year old was wanting us to hurry and
bring her copy of the Book of Mormon. They are absolutely adorable! not to
mention they are Peruvian! ( Secretly I want to be Peruvian! )
      
We were walking down the street talking to everyone in
sight...(which right now with this cold....well there are not too many
people walking outside....because its FREEZING! ) However there was this
one man and we stopped him and began talking to him. We invited him to
church and he said that he really wanted to know more. We made another
appointment with him and gave him the restoration pamphlet. We went back
another day with Hermana Majano and he was excited to learn more. We were
able to talk to him a little bit, however his friend took over the entire
lesson and we just ended up listening to him talk the whole time. Eder
apologized for his friend and we were able to give him a Book of Mormon and
set up another time. We went back and he said that he had read the pages
that we left for him, and he said that it was really interesting.
       
 I absolutely LOVE the power of the Book of Mormon. When one really
takes the time to sit down and read the Book of Mormon, automatically there
is a spirit that comes and a sense of peace that comes right along with the
Book of Mormon. More often that not I have found on my mission that there
are many people who have negative things to say about the Book of Mormon.
My first response is always, "Well have you read it?" And 120% of the time
the answer is NO! We can not love that which we do not know. It's just like
that little girl in General Conference said from Canada, " If you have not
read the Book of Mormon, then you have not researched my church, because I
have read every single page of the Book of Mormon and I know that it is
true." I have done the same and I know with out a doubt that the Book of
Mormon is true. This book can change our lives if we read it and apply its
teachings. This is HIS work and it will be done His way! It will not stop
until he says its done.
        
Heavenly Father loves us and he wants NOTHING but the best for us.
That is why he sent his only begotten son, to come to earth and atone and
suffer pains and afflictions of every kind in the garden of Gethsemane.
Jesus Christ suffered so that through him we can be saved if we choose to
repent! If we choose to make changes. If we choose to use the tools that
our Loving Heavenly father has provided us with. One of which is the Book
of Mormon. We also have family's, God has placed each and every one of us
here on this earth in family's so that we might be able to learn and grow.
He has given us the gospel, which really is the

"Good news", and it is our job as members of his ONE and only TRUE church
to go and Spread it! We all have faults, we all fall short, but that is why
there is the atonement of our savior Jesus Christ. Heavenly Father loves us
all the SAME, because he is PERFECT! He is omnipotent and has a love for
each and everyone of us that is uncomprehending. If you are falling short
in anyway I invite you to come unto Jesus Christ with all purpose of heart
and Repent, make those changes necessary so that one day you can live with
your father in Heaven who loves you SO much! He does! Never forget that!
Its never to late to make changes and follow the perfect example that our
Savior Jesus Christ has set.

I love you all! I love being a missionary! There is nothing greater than
serving others and helping build God's Kingdom!

Remember its not about* you!* It's all about others! So go and out Serve!

Con mucho Amor,
Hermana Gray

*God’s love fills the immensity of space; therefore, there is no shortage
of love in the universe, only in our willingness to do what is needed to
feel it. To do this, Jesus explained we must “love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, … soul, … strength, and … mind; and thy neighbour as
thyself” (Luke 10:27 <http://lds.org/scriptures/nt/luke/10.27?lang=eng#26>).
*

2012!2012!2012!

Date: January 9, 2012
Area: Long Island
Companion - Sister Lewis


Querida Familia,

        Well another week has come and gone....where on earth does the time go? I wish that it would slowww down! But I guess that is life :) Time is a precious thing....we need to make the BEST out of the little time that we have on this earth because it is biennn cortito! Alright well lest see where to start.. Ok How about Monday! Yes Monday was a great day! We had a Family Home Evening at the bishops house. The Familia Mendoza came and we talked about those small and simple things that we can do to keep us strong - such as Daily Scripture Study, Prayer, Church Attendance and so forth. We had a wonderful time, the Familia Mendoza are just progressing up the wazoo and are so strong.
         
Welp we had transfers! I forgot to tell you :) Well I stayed here in Long Island and My companion got sent to Queens! So I got my new Companion Hermana Hughes! I am SO excited to work with her. Her and I were companions together in a Tree-O in Jamaica! She is an incredible missionary and I feel so blessed to have the chance to work with her again. Brentwood has a lot of good coming its way :)
         
 What else....Well we have been doing a lot of "Finding" this week, in order to have more people to teach :) So yes a lot of knocking doors... Which is always an adventure, let me tell you...you never know WHAT kind of person you are going to run into here in NY :) Actually last night we knocked on this door and this Italian answered the door lol she could barely understand English. I gave her a card and told her that the missionary's could bring her a book of Mormon in Italian, she was happy about that! So we have been also looking up a lot of formers this week. We went to this one lady's house named Maria....We were looking up a man named Jose, but he was not there and so this man let us in and sat us down at the table with his wife and then he left the room. So we began talking before, she kinda looked at us like we were weirdos...but she was nice. We started talking and then come to find out that she actually used to meet with the missionary's and had been to church quite a bit. We talked to her and set up another appointment this upcoming week.
         
We went to a cita and they were not there, so I decided to give a phone call to a former investigator who we ran into a couple weeks back. He was busy but I told him that we just wanted to come and say hi. So we went and then said hi and met him and his wife and their cute son Jose. We were able to do a little bit of how to begin teaching and set up another appointment for Sunday. ( we will refer to them in a second.)
          
Ok so....Sunday! We now have 9:00am church, which I was kind of a bit nervous about because I did not think that many people would want to wake up that early to go to Church. However to my surprise the entire congregation was FULL! They had to keep getting more and more chairs because it was so packed! It was a wonderful sacrament meeting! Ada was able to get confirmed, she was so excited to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Ok so Sunday was Fast and Testimony meeting. **(Side note- The other Sisters took Wendy and Rey out to go teaching with them earlier in the week, and Wendy told the Sisters that their whole entire family had been practicing what they were going to say to bear their testimony's. This just melts my heart) ok anyways so during testimony meeting the Entire Mendoza family stood up and went to bear their testimonies! Including Ada, they talked about how as a family they study the scriptures, they have family prayers! They testified about what a difference the gospel has made in their lives. The Gospel really does CHANGE lives! That is what it is all about! We proclaim the atonement! We help people so that they can apply the atonement into their own life's to make changes, to become a TRUE disciple of Jesus Christ!
       
Sunday Sunday Sunday! We went to go and teach Donald and Xochitl ( those people that we looked up the other day) and we brought Wendy and Rey along. We were able to have a really powerful lesson with them about the importance of the Book of Mormon and talked about how Joseph Smith was just a mouth piece for the Lord, and that really Jesus Christ is the Head of this Church. Wendy and Rey were excellent teachers and were able to bear powerful testimony about how baptism is the Puerta o sea...the door that we enter, it is the gateway. We asked them that if they knew that these things were true if they would get baptized. Donald and Xochitl said that if they knew and if God gave them another chance that they would get baptized. YAHOO! Such an incredible lesson, they have great potential!
      
Last thing, we went to go and teach a new investigator that we found but the appointment fell through. So then we went knocking.. and we knocked on this front door, no one answered. So naturally we went and knocked the garage door, ok this sounds funny but NO one in NY uses their garage's they use them as houses! SO just laugh if you may :) haha but no then we went and SIster Hughes felt that we should knock the side door, and to our surprise they let us RIGHT in! It was a sweet Dominican Lady and her family. They sat right now and we chatted with them for a while! I just wanted to give a shout out for all of those incredible missionary's who are serving in other country's especially in the Dominican Republic and El Salvador, because a lot of these people in NY have heard about the church from you and have attended church in their country's and talked to the missionary's so thank you! Yes this goes to you Hermana Eryn Hill and many others :)  SO thank you :) We were able to have a really good lesson with them and set up another appointment.
    
       I love this Work! This is truly the lords work, and It makes/ brings TRUE Joy! I love NY! I love the Ward that I am serving in, and I love my Companion and I just love everything! I am so thankful to everyone that has sent your love and letters and support my way, it really means a lot! I am truly blessed! Familia Gray I love you so much thank you for your everything! I love you!

Con muchisimo Amor.
Hermana Gray

The Purpose of Missionary Work

"The purpose of our missionary work is to help the children of God fulfill a condition prescribed by our Savior and Redeemer. We preach and teach in order to baptize the children of God so that they can be saved in the celestial kingdom instead of being limited to a lesser kingdom. We do missionary work in order to baptize and confirm. That is the doctrinal basis of missionary work."

Dallin H. Oaks, "Why Do We Do Missionary Work?" New Era, Sept. 2009, 2

Topics: Mission of the Church

Feliz Ano Nuevo!!

Date: January 2, 2012

Area: Long Island

Companion - Sister Lewis

Happy New Year!! Feliz Ano Nuevo!!

Familia!!

Can you believe that we are already in the new year? I cant! Well this week just like the others was wonderful! Full of finding, teaching and baptizing!! You know the usual Ok so Monday we all went to Sushi for one of the Chinese Elders Elder NG's birthday! It was super fun! I have decided that I am quite the fan of Sushi :) I have tried many things on my mission....I have officially decided that I no longer like American Food! Hispanics and other countrys know how to eat!

Alright where to begin...well Monday night we had a wonderful Family Home Evening with our recent converts The Mendoza family along with the Familia Majanos! (they are like my parents on the mission). Anyways we watched Finding faith in Christ and also talked about testimonys and the importance of doing those little things everyday so that we do not loose our testimonys. You know? Those primary answers- Read your scriptures, say your prayers and go to church. It's funny because you know they sound simple but those are the things that keep up strong in the gospel. I promise you that if you read your scriptures everyday, pray everyday and go to church you will Never Fall! It all starts with those small and simple things :)

We have had many lessons with Ada - (she is the neighbor who was preparing for baptism) anyways she is SOLID! She gets it! She is so humble and that is something that I have learned a lot about is humility on my mission. The ones that are humble, ready to make changes and use the atonement in their lives are the ones that are ready to make changes. Really another word for atonement is change! Making those changes whether big or small in our lives so that we can live in accordance to the will of the savior. Ada talked to us about the first time that we taught her the Word of Wisdom. I remember when we asked her to give up Coffee, she pretty much said, " I can't live with out my coffee." We told her that at first it would be hard, but that if she did so that the lord would bless her. She told us on Tuesday when we asked her how she was doing that she had not drinking coffee for a while now, ever since we taught her about the word of Wisdom. She said that with the power of Christ and this atonement we can do anything! I think that she said if perfect! With the healing power of the atonement we can make changes. She is so ready!


We had a lot of fun finding new investigators. So we went to go and look up a less active and she was not there, however her daughter named Carol was there. She said that we could come in and so we did. Her dad then came and sat down on the lesson. We then talked about/taught the Restoration of the gospel. We asked Carol how she felt, and she said that the Restoration of the gospel was a blessing. We then told her that we were going to come back the next day to give her a Book of Mormon. We did and then we explained to her about the Book of Mormon and we assigned her a chapter and then left. We came back the following day and we asked her if she read. With a Big Grin on her face she said YES! And then she showed us her notebook full of notes that she had taken on the chapter in the Book of Mormon that we had left. She understood and really got the meaning of the Plan of Salvation and loved the fact that she will have the opportunity to be with her family again :) She is such a sweet heart and has a real desire to learn.

New Years Eve was great! A party in a half J You’ll never guess what we did! Well ha the same thing that we do every day! Lol but no anyways so we went and taught some lessons and then at 6 oclock we had to be in our pad. So we just hung out with the sisters making Crazy videos! It was a blast let me tell you! I am so thankful that I have been able to spend this last part of the year 2011 doing what brings me the most joy! Sharing the message of the Restored Gospel in the Language that I love the most! Espanol! I truly feel blessed and it is a privilege to be serving the Lord 24/7! I never thought that I could be this happy! But I am !Yo soy Feliz!

Well having this new Year and all that Jazz....people you know usually try to make goals....There is always that goal to loose that extra ten pounds, eat healthier...go to the gym...ETC. As the new year approaches may we try to make some spiritual goals. Whether it be to have or cultivate a better relationship with our Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ. I once heard a quote, "You cant love what you don't know". For me, if we want to have a better relationship with our savior Jesus Christ we need to learn of him. We can learn of him by Reading of his words. Especially out of the Book of Mormon. It says right on the front of it, It is ANOTHER testament of Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon is ALL about our Savior Jesus Christ. If you want to know more about him, you need to spend time with him. I feel the love that my savior has for me by reading of him in the Book of Mormon. Maybe we want to be more patient, have more Love, Be Kinder....Develop those Christ like attributes. Maybe we are searching for more, I promise you that if you read out of the Book of Mormon everyday that you WILL that peace and love that our Heavenly Father has for you and you will be able to find out what his will is for you! Well you know how we all want to kind of start over trying to better ourselves well Our investigator Ada made the BEST decision that she could have made, in order to start over new and be closer to her savior. By Entering into the sacred covenant of Baptism, to be completely CLEAN and pure. She knew and recognized the importance of baptism. It was such an incredible experience. Every baptism is a little bit different. I can not explain to you in words the way that I feel and felt as I saw her come out of the waters and was able to give her a hug. Her Heavenly Father is pleased with her.


I hope that you all had a happy New Year and that you can make goals, set plans and DO it! Achieve what you want and have set in mind. You are the only one that can accomplish you dreams! Go and DO! I am living my Dream! Whats yours?


I love you Family!


I havent talked to you since last year....SO LONG ago :) haha I love you!


"May we remember these ABCs as we begin our journey into the new year, cultivating a positive attitude, a belief that we can achieve our goals and resolutions, and the courage to face whatever challenges may come our way. Then the abundant life will be ours." President Monson