Rego it is!!!
Date: September 18, 2012
Area: Rego Park, Queens
Companion - Sister Gonzales
This week flew by! Well I left you all hanging with Transfers :) I was transfered to REGO, back to Queens! Queens is definately way different than Brooklyn. In Midwood I had to search for the hispanics....amongst the Jews and Russians, however here in Queens they are everywhere! My new companion is Hermana Gonzales, and she is half Mexican. She is a convert of 4 years and has a strong testimony, and a big heart. I am so thankful for the lords hand in this work for without the Savior and our Loving Heavenly Father, none of this would be possible! We are so blessed with the knowledge that we are children of a loving Heavenly Father and to know that just as our parents....he wants nothing but the BEST for us. I have truly seen the lord bless me as I seek him in earnest prayer. I know that Heavenly Father really does answer our prayers and that he is just WILLING and WAITING to bless us. All that we have to do is ask!
There have already been SO many miracles here in Rego! Miracles happen everyday! you just need to look for them :) So we have been doing a TON of fearlessing and talking to EVERYONE that we see. Wednesday we were doing look ups and talking to everyone. We got lost quite a few times. This one time in particular we had gone the wrong way and then proceeded to turn back around and walk the opposite direction. As I looked in the distance I could not believe my eyes! I saw JOSE Martinez! He was the first soul I was able to bring unto Christ through Baptism! I had not seen him in over a year since I left Jamaica. The missionarys ever since I left have not been able to get in contact with him, due to the amount of work he does. My heart swelled with Joy! I then began pondering about our Savior Jesus Christ, and how if he had 99 sheep and 1 was lost how he would leave the 99 to go and find that 1 sheep. It was really neat to be able to talk to him, I then called the elders and made an appointment right there with the Missionarys to go and visit him. That was miracle #1 here in Rego! I then told Jose where the new church was located and he said that he was going to start going back to church. :) I couldn't be happier!
We have been able to go and meet a few of the members this past week. I am trying to get to know the ward. That is one of the best things about being on a mission is getting to know and LOVE the members whom we serve with. They truly are amazing and have such strong testimonys of the gospel. It is just another testimony to me that this church is true! So we were able to see the Arguello family on Thursday with the other sisters. ( They opened another pool of Sisters here in Rego Hermana Simplicio and her "kid" Hermana Chipman) funny note- Mom So you know how everyone says that you and I know EVERYONE? ha well when I got to transfers meeting and I saw the new missionarys I paused when I saw Hermana Chipman...I said I know you, as we both looked at each other. She said the same thing. We were trying to figure it out, then we remembered that we were study buddies in our BYU Geology Class) haha love it! Anyways so we were able to eat with the Arguello family and get to know their conversion story.
Thursday night our appointments fell through so we felt like we should go and visit this lady named Martha. We rang her doorbell twice and then she came down. She was as full of energy as ever and said, " Are you here to teach me?" To which we replied yes :) I then asked her if she had 10 minutes and she said yes. We then followed her up to her humble abode and she was so excited and wanted to start the lesson right away! We then were able to teach her the restoration, she was all smiles and so happy that we were there. After we explained about the Savior and his earthly ministry, I felt impressed to invite her to be baptized. To which she GLADLY and immediately accepted. We were then able to explain to her about the Book of Mormon. She then interupted us and said, "How much does that book cost? Tengo Ganas ( I just have this URGE) to read it! I wish you could have seen her face when we told her that it was free and that it was hers. She said that she was so so excited to read it and accpeted a baptism date for the early part of October. She is So excited! Pray for her :)
Friday we had a really cool ward activity- where we were able to teach the plan of Salvation and there were certain auxillarys were in charge of the 3 kingdoms of Glory. Each person was able to draw a number at random and then was sent to one of the
Kingdoms of Glory" -
the celestial kingdom, the terrestrial kingdom, and the telestial kingdom. The glory we inherit will depend on the depth of our conversion, expressed by our obedience to the Lord's commandments. It will depend on the manner in which we have “received the testimony of Jesus” (D&C 76:51; see also D&C 76:74, 79, 101).
The Members were then able to bear testimony of their experiences that they had. I am so thankful to know that our Heavenly Father gives all of us a fair chance to either accept or reject the gospel. Heavenly Father loves all of his children and he wants us to return to live in his prescence, but we have to be clean through obedience in order to do so. That is why baptism in his church is so important.
Saturday we were invited to go and eat at a members house named Elizabeth. To our surprize she invited 4 of her co-workers to have dinner with her as well. This was so wonderful and it made everything so "natural" to share the gospel because the member was able to bear testimony about how the gospel has changed her life. We were able to share the message of the Book of Mormon with them and they said that they would look into it. It was really neat to see the power of the atonement and how their attitude towards "mormons" and missioarys completely changed by reading passages from the Book of Mormon. It truly has power to change our lives, because it is God's word. It is NOT like ANY other book. If you have read it, I invite you to start another serious study of the book and if you have not read it yet, I invite you to Read it!
Sunday was another wonderful day! Church- I am so thankful that the lord gave us sundays as a day to rest from our labors. I have seen so many blessings at home and on my mission from always obeying the Law of Keeping the Sabbath day Holy. I was able to meet a lot of the members and feel the spirit that they bring. Sunday night we went to go and look up someone that my companion had talked to on the street. When we got there we quickly found out that we had been given a wrong address. So we decided to go and knock on the doors upstairs. When we did this man named Pedro opened the door. Right after explaining to him who we were and what our purpose was as missionarys he paused. Then he knocked on his brothers door next door and told his brother Regoberto to listen. We were able to have a lesson with them both and were able to watch the restoration video. They are both SO humble and loved the message. They were both willing to pray and ask Heavenly Father what He wanted for them. They felt the spirit, they were edified and at the end of the lesson we were all able to kneel down in prayer. It was such a powerful lesson and it made me so incredibly grateful for the spirit. I am not the perfect teacher, however with the Spirit- who testifys of truth it can change people.
I know that our Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us Individually. He knows our needs and is always there with open arms. If you do not feel your Saviors love, get on your knees and pray to your Heavenly Father. Always remember your worth. Your father in Heaven loves you and wants you to be happy! All that we have to do is trust him. He knows best. He knew us before we came to this earth and he knows what will make us the most happy! I am grateful for commandments, because really they are nothing more than guide posts to make us happy! I know my savior lives, I owe everything to him.
Thank you so much for you love prayers and support. I can feel it.
Let Heavenly Father direct your paths!
Love you mucho!
Go and serve someone :)
Hermana Gray
Heavenly Father Still Answers
Does Heavenly Father still hear prayers today? Does He answer prayers? President Monson says that in response to such questions, he promptly replies: “There is no expiration date on the Lord’s injunction to pray. As we remember Him, He will remember us,” noting that “most of the time there are no flags waving or bands playing when prayer is answered. His miracles are frequently performed in a quiet and natural manner.”
There have already been SO many miracles here in Rego! Miracles happen everyday! you just need to look for them :) So we have been doing a TON of fearlessing and talking to EVERYONE that we see. Wednesday we were doing look ups and talking to everyone. We got lost quite a few times. This one time in particular we had gone the wrong way and then proceeded to turn back around and walk the opposite direction. As I looked in the distance I could not believe my eyes! I saw JOSE Martinez! He was the first soul I was able to bring unto Christ through Baptism! I had not seen him in over a year since I left Jamaica. The missionarys ever since I left have not been able to get in contact with him, due to the amount of work he does. My heart swelled with Joy! I then began pondering about our Savior Jesus Christ, and how if he had 99 sheep and 1 was lost how he would leave the 99 to go and find that 1 sheep. It was really neat to be able to talk to him, I then called the elders and made an appointment right there with the Missionarys to go and visit him. That was miracle #1 here in Rego! I then told Jose where the new church was located and he said that he was going to start going back to church. :) I couldn't be happier!
We have been able to go and meet a few of the members this past week. I am trying to get to know the ward. That is one of the best things about being on a mission is getting to know and LOVE the members whom we serve with. They truly are amazing and have such strong testimonys of the gospel. It is just another testimony to me that this church is true! So we were able to see the Arguello family on Thursday with the other sisters. ( They opened another pool of Sisters here in Rego Hermana Simplicio and her "kid" Hermana Chipman) funny note- Mom So you know how everyone says that you and I know EVERYONE? ha well when I got to transfers meeting and I saw the new missionarys I paused when I saw Hermana Chipman...I said I know you, as we both looked at each other. She said the same thing. We were trying to figure it out, then we remembered that we were study buddies in our BYU Geology Class) haha love it! Anyways so we were able to eat with the Arguello family and get to know their conversion story.
Thursday night our appointments fell through so we felt like we should go and visit this lady named Martha. We rang her doorbell twice and then she came down. She was as full of energy as ever and said, " Are you here to teach me?" To which we replied yes :) I then asked her if she had 10 minutes and she said yes. We then followed her up to her humble abode and she was so excited and wanted to start the lesson right away! We then were able to teach her the restoration, she was all smiles and so happy that we were there. After we explained about the Savior and his earthly ministry, I felt impressed to invite her to be baptized. To which she GLADLY and immediately accepted. We were then able to explain to her about the Book of Mormon. She then interupted us and said, "How much does that book cost? Tengo Ganas ( I just have this URGE) to read it! I wish you could have seen her face when we told her that it was free and that it was hers. She said that she was so so excited to read it and accpeted a baptism date for the early part of October. She is So excited! Pray for her :)
Friday we had a really cool ward activity- where we were able to teach the plan of Salvation and there were certain auxillarys were in charge of the 3 kingdoms of Glory. Each person was able to draw a number at random and then was sent to one of the
Kingdoms of Glory" -
the celestial kingdom, the terrestrial kingdom, and the telestial kingdom. The glory we inherit will depend on the depth of our conversion, expressed by our obedience to the Lord's commandments. It will depend on the manner in which we have “received the testimony of Jesus” (D&C 76:51; see also D&C 76:74, 79, 101).
The Members were then able to bear testimony of their experiences that they had. I am so thankful to know that our Heavenly Father gives all of us a fair chance to either accept or reject the gospel. Heavenly Father loves all of his children and he wants us to return to live in his prescence, but we have to be clean through obedience in order to do so. That is why baptism in his church is so important.
Saturday we were invited to go and eat at a members house named Elizabeth. To our surprize she invited 4 of her co-workers to have dinner with her as well. This was so wonderful and it made everything so "natural" to share the gospel because the member was able to bear testimony about how the gospel has changed her life. We were able to share the message of the Book of Mormon with them and they said that they would look into it. It was really neat to see the power of the atonement and how their attitude towards "mormons" and missioarys completely changed by reading passages from the Book of Mormon. It truly has power to change our lives, because it is God's word. It is NOT like ANY other book. If you have read it, I invite you to start another serious study of the book and if you have not read it yet, I invite you to Read it!
Sunday was another wonderful day! Church- I am so thankful that the lord gave us sundays as a day to rest from our labors. I have seen so many blessings at home and on my mission from always obeying the Law of Keeping the Sabbath day Holy. I was able to meet a lot of the members and feel the spirit that they bring. Sunday night we went to go and look up someone that my companion had talked to on the street. When we got there we quickly found out that we had been given a wrong address. So we decided to go and knock on the doors upstairs. When we did this man named Pedro opened the door. Right after explaining to him who we were and what our purpose was as missionarys he paused. Then he knocked on his brothers door next door and told his brother Regoberto to listen. We were able to have a lesson with them both and were able to watch the restoration video. They are both SO humble and loved the message. They were both willing to pray and ask Heavenly Father what He wanted for them. They felt the spirit, they were edified and at the end of the lesson we were all able to kneel down in prayer. It was such a powerful lesson and it made me so incredibly grateful for the spirit. I am not the perfect teacher, however with the Spirit- who testifys of truth it can change people.
I know that our Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us Individually. He knows our needs and is always there with open arms. If you do not feel your Saviors love, get on your knees and pray to your Heavenly Father. Always remember your worth. Your father in Heaven loves you and wants you to be happy! All that we have to do is trust him. He knows best. He knew us before we came to this earth and he knows what will make us the most happy! I am grateful for commandments, because really they are nothing more than guide posts to make us happy! I know my savior lives, I owe everything to him.
Thank you so much for you love prayers and support. I can feel it.
Let Heavenly Father direct your paths!
Love you mucho!
Go and serve someone :)
Hermana Gray
Heavenly Father Still Answers
Does Heavenly Father still hear prayers today? Does He answer prayers? President Monson says that in response to such questions, he promptly replies: “There is no expiration date on the Lord’s injunction to pray. As we remember Him, He will remember us,” noting that “most of the time there are no flags waving or bands playing when prayer is answered. His miracles are frequently performed in a quiet and natural manner.”
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