I love to see the temple

This week was so awesome and spiritual. A good last week in Conroe.

This week I got to go the temple three times! So we can actually go into the temple to sessions two times a year, once in June and December. and we can only to go to do baptisms if we bring a recent convert. and we can go to temple tours once a month, but only the outside. 

I did a session with my district on thursday.

then on friday, we took our recent convert, Francelia to do baptisms for family names. it was probably the most spiritual experience of my mission. she had the names of her dad, grandpa and grandma. we tried to find a male from the ward to baptisms for her family but we nobody could. so we went hoping there would be somebody there to do them so she could see it be done. we went and were just waiting to go in and the temple guy says that there was nobody available to do the baptisms for the male names:( so we were sad, but then three priests from and english ward walked in to do baptisms. and i asked them if they would do some names for us. they were happy to. it was a MIRACLE. watching the baptisms done was probably the most spiritual moment of my mission. everyone was crying. they even did it in spanish so she could understand. we also brought a less active who had been to temple in a year and she did baptisms also. it was amazing. 

then for temple tours yesterday we brought our investigator Paulina who is getting baptized with her mom in January! super good things.

European Chocolate

ATTENTION: dont send any mail/letters/packages to my current address because transfers are next week and im probably leaving. you can send them to the mission office or wait until i get my new address next week.

16623 Hafer Rd.

Houston, TX 77090

this week was a blur..we had some serious up & downs. a real roller coaster week. im not even going to go into detail about the downs. but some good things were that our investigators paulina and maria came to church for the first time yesterday and now they are on track for baptism in january! :) yay

the Christmas season is here and i love it. missionary work is the best during Christmas.

i had some amazing chocolate this week. we ate with this german family and they gave us some. and then we got some chocolate from spain. it was the best. that was probably the highlight of my week tbh. 

we had zone conference this week. it was a lot of information which leads to a lot of headache. 

ive had really bad migraines all week and i thought i was having a brain anerism. so i had to go to the doctor today.

i loved the devotional last night. two of my favorite people spoke, Bednar and Ucthdorf

Obesity, Hispanics, and Weddings

So I don't think I could ever say enough how happy I am to be serving
a Spanish mission. I looovvveee it. I love the Hispanic people. They
are amazing, and mostly they throw the best parties and they now how
to cook and dance. And they love everybody who is white and tall and
blonde. So basically I have the best mission.

I'm afraid I'm going to die on my mission of obesity because I ate
four complete thanksgiving dinners. I have never been so full in my
life. It was refreshing to have American food, but I never want to see
turkey again. We ate with investigators, less actives, and active
families so it was an assortment.

We also got to help a lot of people put up Christmas trees and
decorations this week so that was a blast. I love Christmas music! Me
and my companion have been singing everywhere we go.

On Saturday I attended my first Hispanic wedding. It was the best! Our
investigator Milton, finally got married to his member girlfriend
gabby so now he can be baptized! It was so fun, they play lots of fun
games and we danced and ate even more food..

Baptisms and Birthdays

So we had a really eventful week. Last Tuesday we had a mission
conference with general authority, Elder packer(son of President
Packer) that was an all day conference that just gave me a headache
really. Mostly just chastisement. As missionaries, we usually don't
get praised, we just get told how we can do better. :) it's awesome.

Friday was a fantastic day ha.. So we had the ward thanksgiving party
and it was also elder Hernandez birthday. So something about the
Hispanic culture is every time it's someone's birthday you have to get
your face shoved in the cake.. You just have to. Every birthday I've
been to on my mission someone gets get cake in there face. So nobody
else in the party knew it was elder Hernandez birthday except for me
so I skeemed up an evil plan. I went around and told everyone it was
his birthday so they all started singing, and then I brought out a
cake and pushed his face into it. It was a fun and games until he
picked up the cake off the plate and put it all over my face! It was a
huge mess. And not super fun to clean up the church floor.

And then Saturday, FINALLY the baptism! It was so fun. I've been
waiting forever.. Probably one of my favorite baptisms so far because
for the musical number, are recent convert of like two weeks,
Esmeralda who is 8 and Sherly who is 10 sang and it was the most
precious thing ever! It was my pride and joy.

Also it was my little friend Andrea's birthday so we had cake for her
too las Monday.
Alsooo it's my 13 month mark of that means anything. Solo me faltan
cinco meces!

El Bautismo de Jesus

It's my little brothers birthday this friday and I'm so sad I can't do
anything special for him so everybody at home give him lots of love
for me! It's also my good friend Elder Hernandez birthday this Friday
who serves in my ward and I'm going to shove his face in a cake :)

This week was marginal at best. We set 6 new baptismal dates for
December so that's great.
We went to Jesus' baptism on Wednesday and it was so awesome! I
remember I taught him his very first lesson with Hna. Jorgensen on an
exchange and it was the best taught, most powerful restoration lesson
I've had on my mission. His a stud. He's 17 and he's gonna serve a
mission!

Yesterday was the primary program in church and it was so special
because our investigators kids and our recent converts kids
participated and it was so cute!

I heard in Utah it snowed last night, that's unfortunate. It's 75
degrees here right now:) but it is getting a little chillier in the
mornings and nights.

So funny thing, my companion got her drivers license only two weeks
before she came on her mission. Then she went to Mexico for 6 weeks
and didn't drive, then she was in a trio in her last area so also
never drove. So I'm suppose to teach her how to
drive..hahahahhahahahahahah. I literally don't have the patience to
teach someone how to drive in Texas. or at all. its actually kinda fun but also gives me anxiety, headaches and motion sickness. if you all get notified i have died in a car accident, you'll know why.

this week im ponderizing D&C 15:6 

I cant wait to be neighborhood friends with all my converts in the celestial kingdom!

Patience is a Virtue

I remember when my sister was on her mission in Florida, she would always write how the Lord was teaching her patience. and how she learned a lot of patience. 

I truly understand what she is talking about now. i think patience and charity are the hardest Christ-like attributes for me to achieve. or even try to have. this transfer will be really long and difficult but hey, missions are anything but easy.

i also just want to give thanks to my amazing step-mother and everything she does for me. she has taken care of me my whole mission and i know why, and am so happy, God put her in my family's life:) 

so i got my new companion, her name is Hermana McCurdy. she is from Connecticut. not from Utah..she has only been out 2 transfers/3 months. so she just got down training and is still really new. im "greeny-breaking" her is what we call it our here in the mish. i don't know if any of yall remember my CCM companion, but she is a lotttt like Hna. Ingleby.   :)

so this Sunday was an awesome, interesting, long, stressful, spiritual day.

our investigators Reina and Sherly who will be baptized sometime this month ha.. we just don't know exactly when right now. we had a regional conference in houston which was long but really good and perfect for Reina. then we came back to Conroe for the Elders baptism so Reina and Sherly could see one. they loved it. Reina said she wished she could of been the one in the water. so cute.

then we went back to Houston to the temple tours. the freeway was closed off for some reason so it took us like 8 years to get there and i had the biggest migraine I've ever had in my life. and we were so late but it was really good. the temple is a special place. I've now seen the same tour like 9 times but i love bringing investigators there so they can have a vision even after their baptism. 

me and my companion found a really cute new family this week contacting and I'm really excited for them. we have seen lots of other miracles this week. we also get to go back to my old area this week to a baptism of Jesus, a boy i taught like 3 months ago!

i have a ton of cute pictures to send from this weekend! i will send them separately from my ipad:)

this week im ponderizing: Hebrews 10:36

"For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise."

Twins, cats, and hurricanes!

So at the first of my mission I started the Book of Mormon in English and also the Doctrine and Covenants, I'm happy to say a year later, i finally finished them ha! i have read the Book of Mormon in Spanish twice on my mission but it took me a while to do it in English.. but I love the Book of Mormon so much. I learn so much each time I read it. Also the Doctrine and Covenants is my favorite because most of it is the words of Jesus Christ talking directly to us. 

now time to start again! :)

here is autumn in Texas for you. two weeks ago, it was still about 90-100 degrees everyday. then last week we had a little hurricane come through and it hasn't stopped raining. but its still not cold. it wont cool down until like December..

this week im ponderizing Romans 5:19

our ward mission leader took us out to texas road house!

also one time when we were knocking doors a cat just ran up and jumped on me..my companion took a picture instead of saving me.so this past week was so crazy, busy, stressful!!

I had a Missionary Leadership Council. and then I had to plan for a zone meeting to train some missionaries. that is always the most stressful thing! it went well. 

also, they have asked me to teach a language study program every friday to the spanish missionaries in the district. haha i dont know why because my spanish sucks. the Lord has a sense of humor. also i went on two exchanges this week. and on saturday we had to be in at 6 pm instead of 9 so we did a lot of role playing with the elders to practice. so it made the week go by fast. 

on friday we had a fall activity with the ward and it was awesome. it was a trunk or treat. in our room we had a doughnut game. it was way too much fun ha. my comp and I dress up as twins:) we had the same shirt, skirt, shoes, and watch! ha you cant really do much of anything to dress up as missionaries.

yesterday in church our recent convert who is 8 bore her testimony and it was the most tender thing ever. everyone was crying. 

transfers are tomorrow! hermana christensen is leaving and i will be staying in conroe..

El Espiritu Santo

yesterday was just a very spiritual day.

in sacrament meeting our two recent converts received the holy ghost. and then the bishop gave an amazing talk about the gift of the holy ghost very similar to President Eyring's talk from conference.

our other investigators that were at church Reina and Sherly that will be getting baptized here in the next upcoming weeks, loved it and are so excited to also get the holy ghost. 

last night we had a missionary Why I believe Fireside. they are super awesome. its a fireside for investigators or people learning about the church. and the recent converts share their testimonies and the missionary choir sings and our president and his wife speak. they are the best. so so spiritual usually everybody cries. so they had three recent converts already picked out to speak. one was Claudia Guzman. my recent convert from my last ward! i was so excited. but one of the other people speaking didnt show up..so about 5 minutes before the fireside started, our recent convert francelia, who was just confirmed a member of the church that morning, was asked to speak. she was so nervous she didnt even know how to do a testimony. we helped her and it was amazing. she shared her experience she had about a year ago. she had a dream of two muchachas knocking on her door and her letting them in. and how that was us a year later! it was so beautiful. i almost cried, but i dont do that. 

I also had a really amazing study this morning about the Holy Ghost. how he is who purifies and sanctifies us. so this week i am ponderizing;

I've also started my 6 months to sexy..because ive gotten extremely fat on my mission. so im bound to eating this for the rest of my mission.

I owe everything to my dad and mother

I just want to say that i have the most amazing coolest dad ever. he is my hero. he has changed so many lives. i strive to be like him.

also shout out to my angel mother, happy birthday:) i wouldn't be the missionary or person i am with out the amazing examples i had as parents.

La Conferencia General aka Navidad

this past week was so many things. mostly stressful, tiring, meetings, exchanges, more stress, headaches and sleep deprived.

so last tuesday i had a leadership meeting that was so long. we learned a lot of new things that we then need to teach to all the other missionaries. its so scary because you dont want to mess up! so i had to practice that all week.. 

also i went on two exchanges this week with two other areas trying to help some other hermanas..

then friday was zone meeting where i had to train the zone on how to teach the plan of salvation and invite people to baptism. basically i didnt sleep all week. 

but saturday conference was such a delight. it really is a relief to know and feel the love of living apostles and leaders of the true church.

but yesterday was like the best day of my mission. our investigator francelia and her daughters that are getting baptized this month came to conference at the church and brought us flowers and food. i almost cried it was so cute. also a student from our english class came who has never even taken the lessons before. and the best, our investigators Reina and her family finally came to church for the first time and we have been teaching them for months. and they loved it! they are also getting baptized. 

we also taught a lot of amazing lessons this week and helped a lot of people feel the spirit and understand Gods plan for us. the work we do really is so important, to make this know unto all the inhabitants of the earth.

Matching Sister Mortensen

Role Playing