Milagros

Kay this last week was awesomley perfect! I love being on the Lords errand:) 

so last Monday we had a super fun pday with our district, we played with water guns and ballons. (picture attached)

this past Tuesday was the best day ever though. so we had English class in the morning, then we had set appointments with investigators for every hour after that, 2,3,4,5,6,7, and 8. its not uncommon for us to have that, but usually, not all the appointments work out and most fall through. and none of them were a dinner. so after English class we were hungry for lunch but we didn't have time to eat before our appointments, so i just figured that one of them would fall through and we would eat then. nope! every appointment worked out. three of the investigators we saw i found them in the area book that hadn't been visited in a while since the old missionaries left. they are prepared. they accepted us and our message and it was amazing. we were super hungry though all day! all our lessons were so amazing though. finally after our 7:00 appointment, our 8:00 cancelled, it was like 8:15-8:30ish and i asked Hna. Diaz if she wanted to grab a pizza or something, she said no.. i was like okay, lets try to at least see one more person before we go home. i pulled out the ward list and i just went to the first name i saw that was inactive. it was so late i wasn't expecting them to not answer because Hispanics always go to bed so early. a man in a wheelchair opened the door and invited us in immediately. so the mom that lives there, is inactive but her two kids and granddaughter were visiting her for the night, and they are active in the church, but a different ward. the granddaughter(like our age) was making dinner, and for some reason, she didn't know why, she had prepared two more plates of food even though they had all already ate.. right when we sat down they put the food down in front of us.. we said that we had not eaten all day and we were so hungry, and grateful. i seriously wanted to cry. they were so loving, nice and welcoming. we talked a little bit about mission stuff and then Hna. Diaz asked my to share a scripture. i shared D&C 6:20 its one that i like to share with members usually. i asked the son that's in the wheelchair if he could read it. i asked him to replace Oliver's name with his own. he started to read the scripture, but he couldn't even get past the first few words. he choked up and starting crying. he said he couldn't finish it so the granddaughter read it. i didn't really understand what was going on, but the son the daughter were both crying. the son finally said that we came to them with hunger, but really we were the ones to feed them. spiritually. they said that they needed that visit and they know the reason why the spirit told me to go to that house. they said that we have a special spirit with us so strong and its impossible not to feel it. and he was grateful for the opportunity he had to be in our presence. he bore a brief, simple, very powerful testimony and we ended with a pray. i started to cry.

sometimes as a missionary, its very hard the recognize the spirit we have with us. and its very easy to get down on yourself. i couldn't believe the simple scripture i shared could touch someones heart and help them in time of need. at first i was just grateful for the food, but i left being so filled with happiness and the spirit.

on Thursday we set a baptismal date with David this weekend, on my dads birthday:) also i found my future husband.

on Friday we had interviews with president. i love seeing him and his wife they are the best!! i told him everything was great except my Spanish sucks. he asked me if i ever practiced with hna. diaz and i said no.. so he told hna. diaz that now she is not allowed to speak English with me. solo espanol. i want to kill myself. its really hard! 

on Saturday we went to eat a Salvadorian restaurant with a member, and funny thing, they have this Jesus picture hanging up and its one from our church! i was laughing. i wish i would of taken a picture. 

Yesterday we had a mission presidents fireside and it was super amazing and uplifting and the spirit was so so strong. we sang in the missionary choir. even though i cant sing it was good. if you can, watch the video by David Bednar, Patterns of Light. super good! they had three recent converts speak, and their testimonies are so powerful and amazing! we should all strive to be reconverted to gospel to gain testimonies like theirs.

so its getting super super super hot here. and i want to die. so im thinking about cutting off all my hair! its touches my butt now(proof attached) so im super over it. its too heavy and sweaty. so im chopping it!

Weather

not much to say this week except the weather here makes me want to kill myself and run back to Utah.. :)

some days its super hot, and then some days its rains so hard that the roads start flooding and you cant go anywhere. and you are basically just never dry. oh well im over it.

we are still teaching a lot of part member families and the same investigators. we just need to set some baptismal dates! its really hard because they have to be reading the book of Mormon and coming to church.

oh yeah, and my 6 month mark is this Wednesday. time goes by slow and fast. it just depends. right now its going by slow, so I feel like I've been here at least 10 years.

I really would love some letters because I haven't gotten any mail since I've been in my new area!

I love y'all and pray that you will have a blessed week.

todas las cosas son mas facil cuando recordamos Jesucristo y su expiacion:)

here is a  picture of the Hail we had yesterday.. #texasweatherprobs

New area and companion

I LOVE MY NEW AREA AND MY NEW COMPANION AND EVERYTHING IS WONDERFUL:)

So there is so much that happened this last week I don't even know where to begin. Well first off, last Monday was my last day in Bear Creek so I had to say bye to all my investigators:( it was super sad. I have pictures but I'll just have Loni put them on my blog so I don't have to send them to all yall.

And then Tuesday was transfers! I was so nervous, it was my first one! And you just have no clue where you are going. Well I got sent to a whole different stake of my mission. My area is Gulf Bank. Its more like down town in Houston. And it is pure Hispanics:) Its literally like you're in Mexico, everything is in Spanish! I promise you I am the only White person around. Including my companion because she is from Honduras!! I was so happy to get a Hispanic companion, its what I was praying for. All I wanted was a Hispanic companion to help me with my Spanish. I'm going to be speaking fluent soon!

So we have had so many miracles happen this week! My first day we went to our English class. And it is huge. And also, they are not all Hispanics! There are two from Ukraine, one from Russia and one from Iran. So I cant just explain things en Spanish, I have to like try to draw pictures and use my hands a lot. Also I basically teach the class by myself because my companion is Hispanic, she knows some English but with an accent so yeah. I love it. Also there is a ton of part-member families here. Which are just awesome, much easier to teach then contact investigators. 

On Wednesday we were contacting in a hispanic apartment complex and there was a family outside having a barbecue for a birthday and they invited us to come eat with them, we actually didn't have dinner planned so we were like, sure why not, they were having some carne azada. We starting talking with them about who we are and what we do. They actually have a lot of questions and are really interested about the true gospel! so we are going to start teaching them, family of 7:) Im super excited.

On Friday we went to visit a less active lady in the ward and her two grandkids were there who are not members, we taught them and they said they want to go to church and be baptized! so that was cool, but we just need permission from there mom, who is also less active:/ 

On Saturday we found some old investigators, a family, that hadn't been taught in a long time and we started teaching them again and they are awesome. From Columbia, so almost impossible to understand them because they speak horrible Spanish.

Yesterday, they had a recent convert get confirmed, Jessica, and we will going with her to the temple soon for baptisms! Also yesterday we had another temple tour, we have them once a month, and we brought this member and her husband who is not a member. He has been attending church for three years and not baptized! He knows like everything about the church but he just doesn't feel "ready" for baptism. I want to slap him. But President Mortensen talked to him and he is very powerful so he will probably be getting baptized soon.

But the greatest milargro happened last night, we were contacting in a trailer park(sketchy) and we were talking to a family and I wanted to hold there cute tiny puppy. so I sat my scriptures down on their porch, and I left them there! but I didn't remember doing that. we left and went contacting and visited some other people and when I finally realized I didn't have them, I had no clue where I left them. I was dying of anxiety. I wanted to cry. we back the members house we visited but they weren't there. i was praying in my heart and then Hna. Diaz said that I might of sat them down when i was holding that puppy. and I was like YES. that is exactly what i did. but the the area was a really poor sketchy area and i afraid that they would be gone or stolen or something. we went back to the house and they were not on the porch but i knocked on the door and the family had kept them safe for me in the house! i was so happy. 

This past week I have gained a very strong testimony that the Lord answers prayers! And promise me y'all will never go inactive because its just a pain in the butt and stupid:) Love you all!!

My new address:

Hermana Lowry

12655 Kuykendahl Rd. #6102

Houston, TX 77090

Transfers

so im leaving my area and im super sad. we have so much work here and so many people that i have been teaching for months. it is so sad to say bye to everyone. worse than saying bye to my family! oh well, im over it. im sure my new area will be equally as great, hopefully. and i will be coming back here for a lot of baptisms. and not to excited to pack....

so its really starting to warm up here, so i have at least 147 bug bites every night. i am not a fan of humidity. 

i dont have my planner with me so i dont really know what we did last week, nothing too exciting. mostly because i was deathly ill so i just slept for like 48 hours straight. 

basically the best thing ever was conference. my favorite time of year is Easter and conference! its literally better than christmas, and its so depressing when its over:( and watching it in the chapel is like the best thing ever. it is so much easier to feel the spirit and receive revelation. 

the womens session and the saturday sessions were basically all about families..which is great for my investigators, and my companion who is going home soon and super excited to get married and have children, but for me it was kind of a bore....like im not going to starting a family for a long time and i just want to focus on my mission! but it was super good for our investigating and less active families. and i am super grateful for my eternal family. my favorite was the the sunday morning session. like i loooooovvvveee Jeffery R. Holland and President Uchtdorf so much. By far the best talks ever. if you did not have the opportunity to listen to conference, DO IT. it is such a blessing that we can just go online and listen to them and print them. it makes me sad i didnt take seriously conference when i was younger. it is a miracle. we literally have the chance to listen to a prophet of God. it is really just like talking to Noah or Moses. amazing. you just want more! i am so grateful my dad was always such a good example and making us listen to conference. also super grateful for Gia Allred who always is sending my cute packages and love from my mom:) she is awesome!

Also on saturday we had an easter egg hunt with claudia and her sister and her friend. (our investigators) it was awesome! they are from Hondurus and they are super poor. and have never had a easter egg hunt before! so us and the elders went all out and hid a bunch of eggs and candy at the park and got them baskets. i will be sending pics. we also had a water balloon fight.. that was fun!

so I'll let y'all know my new address next week! Dios les bendiga!

#graciasaqueElvive

So to begin, I had 4 baptisms yesterday:) But I'll tell you more about that later.

so the weather here was cold, but now its super hot and humid everyday and i hate it because im always sweating to death. 

so my companion got sick last week, strepthroat. so we kinda have just been hanging out getting other stuff done. hopefully i don't die because she is contagious. but i know im not going to get sick because like father like daughter, "I don't have time to get sick!" :) i found out that im not a very comforting or sympathetic person because i didnt really want to take care of her.. i just wanted to work! im not very patient either.

so on saturday we had the general women conference broadcasted and we had 5 investigators come to that. it was great. i even got to watch it in english so i was super happy. it was all about families!

also at church yesterday we had 12 investigators at sacrament meeting:) my highest number yet! and also the highest for Hna. Coley and she has been on her mission for 15 months! it was awesome.

Anyways, about my first baptism now. So we had like 5 dates set with Claudias family for the 28th of March and we had 6 dates set for April 4th with the Huerta family and the Alcaraz family. 

Last sunday, all of Claudias family dates fell through because they are not keeping commitments..Alcaraz too. i was so upset. and we really really wanted to have a baptism in March! So the Huerta family was a hand off investigator family from another ward close by. they have been trying to get baptized for a while but things keep on coming up. her daughter is really sick and needs surgery, her other daughter broke her ankle and cant walk, and recently she just diagnosed with sists on her ovaries:( so she is in a lot of pain. they have been going to church for like a year though so that is not the problem. we felt impressed this last week to ask them asked them if we could push up their date to sunday, the 29th. the mom said yes, surprisingly because next week she has to get surgery and it will be a long recovery time. i was so happy i wanted to cry. my companion said it was my mom who helped, which is true. i am so lucky to have an angel watching out for me and preparing the way! i have received so many blessings. so we were super bust getting everything prepared this last week for the baptism!

and in all the rush i might have forgoten to call and reserve the building for the baptism so when we got to the church yesterday the english ward was having a dinner activity thing and there were people and food every where! i wanted to die. but we just kind of let them know that we had a convert baptism and kicked 'em out! :) they were really nice. 

transfers are next week so no letters or packages please! I have been here 4 and a half months so i might be leaving bear creek:( i dont want to leave because our work is so good. president told us last week that we have the best numbers in the mission.. not to brag but:)

So tomorrow is three years since my mom passed away. everyone go to her tombstone and take pictures for me. i miss her so much but i still feel her love everyday. 

Easter is the best time of year! i always remember my dad saying it is his favorite holiday. and the church has an amazing video for it! #graciasaqueElvive 

i dont know what its called in english.. but everyone should watch it and share it and remember Christ this season! One of my favorite scriptures in the the Book of Mormon is 

Mosiah 16:8 But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ. 

maybe i just love it so much because it applies to me but its just so amazing that we have this knowledge!

Yo se que mi salvador vive. se que mediante El, puedo vivir otra vez y ver mi mama. La expiacion es la mas grande bendicion que tenemos y estoy muy agradecida por este don. Usa la expiacion diaramente para mostrar su fe y amor por El. les invito para compartir este video con los de mas:)