Friday, December 27, 2013

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!





to my dearest family.... MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! oh my goodness I just love you all so very much! I can't wait to talk to you this Christmas! it's going to be awesome! also, so I am sending home your Christmas package, and you are going to love it! I hope... it took me forever to put together. So sorry you are getting it late. But you will live... okay, now let me just tell you a bit about our week.
 
OUR WEEK WAS INCREDIBLE!!!!
oh man I cannot even write to you all the great things that happened. So let's begin on Tuesday. We got to go to the temple with our whole mission. Oh my goodness It was the happiest thing ever! It was incredible to see all of the Spanish speaking missionaries there in the temple. over 100 of us. The spirit felt there was so strong, and it was a wonderful day. Well after the temple we weren't feeling to hot, so we spent a little bit of time in the house, so it was about 7:30, and we needed to go out and do some missionary work, and I just had this feeling we needed to visit this woman, so we finally just went out and visited her. Well she was home and she invited us in and we taught her the restoration and she really liked it and now she is a new investigator!! WOW!
 
Well Wednesday we got to visit with our investigators. And they are all doing pretty great. This one family we are teaching, the Acevez family is awesome. Okay well the kids are awesome. And I love them! The parents are definitely progressing slower... dangit. Oh we have the sweetest family in our ward, Familia Grande. She made us papusas for dinner and then gave us 2 referrals! She is super awesome! (don't worry, I learned how to make papusas! Pictures to come!)
 
Thursday we had exchanges. Oh my goodness. This exchange was just the most hilarious thing of my life. It just seemed like one thing after another kept happening. It all started that the hermanas got lost on their way to our apartment, so they were like an hour late. We started at 3. I went to Hermana Barnes Area. Well in her area we decided to be Bike hermanas for a day. WELL, that was super fun and all, but we only made it about 3 blocks before we had a flat tire. so we decided to go back, ate an early dinner, and then went out again. We contacted a lot of people, and then went and taught an investigator on his porch, and the last thing of the night, we had an hour left to contact, and Hermana barnes said "we are not going home until we have found a new investigator!" Well, that's exactly what we did! we found an old woman who let us come in and teach her. She was such a sweetheart. Well. anyways, our exchanges were awesome. Super funny. Hermana Barnes is hilarious! I love her tons!
 
Okay so one thing I learned on this exchange is how to love to contact. So the next two days we spent basically straight contacting. We knocked tons of doors and we found 5 new investigators in 2 days! I just have to share two more miracles with you. So on Saturday I was reading in old teaching records, and I found the name of this man the elders used to teach about 2 years ago. I felt really strongly that we needed to go by him. So we planned to go see a potential. Well he wasn't home, so after knocking all the neighbors doors with no success, I said to Hermana, "hey that old investigator lives like two streets over lets go visit him." So we go to find him. On our way there we find a man and start talking to him and ask him his name. He said "Soy Gonzalo." Perfect! he was the guy we were looking for! So we taught him right there, and he promised us he would pray and read and come to church! HOW AWESOME!!
 
The last miracle we saw was on Sunday, also knocking doors. We met a man named David from Argentina. He said he is very catholic, but we asked if we could share our message and he said yes. We taught him and his mother. They are the most courteous people I have ever met in my life! We finished sharing about the restoration, and invited them to read the book of Mormon. That is when they told us they already had 3 copies of the book of Mormon, and they have met with missionaries before, and have read the book of Mormon before, and once again told us they were catholic. Well cute Hermana Blacker than says, "have you prayed about the book of Mormon, to know it's true?" and David said "well no.. I guess that is something I am going to have to do." We testified to them about the truthfulness of our message, and I just hope and pray they will be able to receive a witness for themselves that it is true.
 
Well the lord loves us a lot! We found so many new people to teach, and I am so excited about that! We are working hard out here, and seeing tons of miracles! Thank you so much for all your love and prayers! I can't wait to talk to you all so very soon! Have the happiest Christmas. I am so excited to be a representative of Christ this Christmas, and to share this glad message with the world. That our Savior lives! And he loves us, and we can all be redeemed through him. I love you so much family! Merry Christmas!
 
Love Ness

New area- Trainer


Hello there my dear family! Greeting from Sunny California ;) haha I just had to say that because you are all freezing over there! I am freezing over here and it's like 50-60 degrees! Well anyways, so there have been tons of changes!! let me tell you about them.
 
So I am not in North Hollywood anymore! I got moved to Burbank 5to! and holy tolito. I tell you what we are in a classy area. We have Nickolodean Studios right by our house, Warner Brothers studios, Universal Studios (the theme park...) the LA zoo!! all the fun things are in our area! it's HUGE!!! we are in car, and we get lost quite frequently. Our first day here in the area we had a Cita with someone who lived on main street. Well in our attempt to find it (after looking at the map before we left the house) we ended up in universal Studios, no where near houses. After calling the district leader, then the zone leaders, the AP's, and then Elder Oakey who was in the area before us, we finally found our way!! haha only an hour later! (good thing we left an hour early for our cita.)
 
Well as new missionaries in an area, we have no idea what to do really. We spent a lot of time knocking doors. It's kind of a game of hit and miss to find the latino areas in our area. We have met some pretty non latino people. Like a woman who is a stylist for bands! She was cool. Or this guy Valentino who is a movie star and works with Vin Diesel. (okay actually he is latino, and his mom is a member and they are from the Dominican republic. pretty sweet!!) We did find a couple latinos! Some who were very drunk, and then we talked to a homeless guy for a while. My poor new companera, she told me, man missionary work is different from what I thought! I didn't think we would talk to so many drunk and homeless people! hahaha oh cute her! She is in for a fun little time!
 
Speaking of my new companion, I am training!! Yikes! My sweet compie is from new Mexico, and came straight from the Mexico MTC. Her name is Hermana Shantae Blacker. She is a sweetheart and so excited to work really hard. I am super excited to be able to train her. It's been pretty hard trying to whitewash an area and train at the same time! But we are learning together so that's good! anyways, so also something that is super different is there are only 4 of us missionaries here in this ward! us 2 Hermanas and 2 elders. Okay the elders are the cutest things ever. Except no not really they are the meanest!! So they are on bike and we are the nicest to them, and one day they looked the saddest ever, so we sent them a message and told them we loved them and to be happy! Well then they said "please stop wasting our time we have a lot to do..." OUCH!!! aren't they the rudest!! well okay they were just kidding and then they said they love us too, but I'm still bitter about it because they are stinky. Yeah it's definitely different just being two hermanas and two elders. instead of the 10 we had in our last ward.
 
The last and probably my favorite miracle of the week: we got a new investigator!!! So we learned a lot in zone training meeting about how to be great missionaries, and how to find the people that will receive you. One thing the hermanas challenged us to do is ask people if you can come in for 10 minutes to share a message with them. So we tried it and it worked and we made a cute little honey named Graciela and she is so sweet! That was such a tender mercy to us after working so hard in this area. I am excited for what this area has in store for us, and to be able to work with our sweet new members. I love this gospel so very much, and I love being a missionary ever single day!
 
Oh dear Family I love you lots! Try to stay warm, and cherish this Christmas season. I love you all and miss you all the days! You are always in my prayers!

Friday, December 13, 2013

Sharing Birthday loot




Hello there my dear family! Greeting from Sunny California ;) haha I just had to say that because you are all freezing over there! I am freezing over here and it's like 50-60 degrees! Well anyways, so there have been tons of changes!! let me tell you about them.
 
So I am not in North Hollywood anymore! I got moved to Burbank 5to! and holy tolito. I tell you what we are in a classy area. We have Nickolodean Studios right by our house, Warner Brothers studios, Universal Studios (the theme park...) the LA zoo!! all the fun things are in our area! it's HUGE!!! we are in car, and we get lost quite frequently. Our first day here in the area we had a Cita with someone who lived on main street. Well in our attempt to find it (after looking at the map before we left the house) we ended up in universal Studios, no where near houses. After calling the district leader, then the zone leaders, the AP's, and then Elder Oakey who was in the area before us, we finally found our way!! haha only an hour later! (good thing we left an hour early for our cita.)
 
Well as new missionaries in an area, we have no idea what to do really. We spent a lot of time knocking doors. It's kind of a game of hit and miss to find the latino areas in our area. We have met some pretty non latino people. Like a woman who is a stylist for bands! She was cool. Or this guy Valentino who is a movie star and works with Vin Diesel. (okay actually he is latino, and his mom is a member and they are from the Dominican republic. pretty sweet!!) We did find a couple latinos! Some who were very drunk, and then we talked to a homeless guy for a while. My poor new companera, she told me, man missionary work is different from what I thought! I didn't think we would talk to so many drunk and homeless people! hahaha oh cute her! She is in for a fun little time!
 
Speaking of my new companion, I am training!! Yikes! My sweet compie is from new Mexico, and came straight from the Mexico MTC. Her name is Hermana Shantae Blacker. She is a sweetheart and so excited to work really hard. I am super excited to be able to train her. It's been pretty hard trying to whitewash an area and train at the same time! But we are learning together so that's good! anyways, so also something that is super different is there are only 4 of us missionaries here in this ward! us 2 Hermanas and 2 elders. Okay the elders are the cutest things ever. Except no not really they are the meanest!! So they are on bike and we are the nicest to them, and one day they looked the saddest ever, so we sent them a message and told them we loved them and to be happy! Well then they said "please stop wasting our time we have a lot to do..." OUCH!!! aren't they the rudest!! well okay they were just kidding and then they said they love us too, but I'm still bitter about it because they are stinky. Yeah it's definitely different just being two hermanas and two elders. instead of the 10 we had in our last ward.
 
The last and probably my favorite miracle of the week: we got a new investigator!!! So we learned a lot in zone training meeting about how to be great missionaries, and how to find the people that will receive you. One thing the hermanas challenged us to do is ask people if you can come in for 10 minutes to share a message with them. So we tried it and it worked and we made a cute little honey named Graciela and she is so sweet! That was such a tender mercy to us after working so hard in this area. I am excited for what this area has in store for us, and to be able to work with our sweet new members. I love this gospel so very much, and I love being a missionary ever single day!
 
Oh dear Family I love you lots! Try to stay warm, and cherish this Christmas season. I love you all and miss you all the days! You are always in my prayers!
 
Love Ness

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Jannessa is transfered


Dearest family,
 
first of all, thank you all so much for the sweet birthday gifts and wishes!!! you are the best little family I ever knew!! I love you all so much!! Did you have a wonderful thanksgiving? We sure did! Aye let me just tell you a little bit about our week!!!
 
So last Monday we had turkey bowl, and Our team rocked. I tell you what. Some Latinos can just naturally pick up football and be good, and others have no idea how to play because it's not like soccer at all! ahahaha cute little elders I just love them with all my heart.
Tuesday We got to go to the TEMPLE!!! happiest days of my life!
Wednesday, well I don't really remember that day.
Thursday we went to 3 thanksgivings! okay well, let me explain. So first we went to one thanksgiving at Hermana Leivas. And let me tell you holy tolito was it good!!! She had turkey and ham and beef and potatoes and pastas and pumpkin pies and sweet potatoes! Oh so yummy! Hermana Clifton spent all morning In the kitchen making rolls to take with us. After her house we went to our investigator Yahel's because she wanted us to try her tamales. Which were just not good at all!!! ick! and then last we stopped by monicas to give her a pie, and she invited us in so we ran in and stole all the delicious treats and desserts from her table! We took her a pie and she gave us a cheesecake! ha! fair trade! Friday it was my birthday and it poured rain all day. So we spent the day opening birthday presents and then going on a service spree delivering birthday goodies to all the elders and hermanas. Later we had a birthday party at hermano Miguel's house and he got me a birthday cake!! yay! I love him all the days!
Saturday well I am not going to go into details but we had some companionship drama. We received transfer calls Saturday night, and IM GETTING TRANSFERRED!!! don't worry mom I'm not going to bike ;)
Sunday we spent packing and then we took sweet Hermana Hadley and Wendell up to the mission office, because they are flying our to Argentina. Ah I am just going to miss them so much!
 
Okay now here is the juicy story of the week that you are all going to love!!! So. Wednesday we were in comp study. And Hermana Clifton says to me, "okay so we have planned for a baptism this week, and we have been working so hard. So how are we going to get it?" well we brainstormed for a bit, and then we realized, there is this less active we meet with, Hugo, and his mom has never been baptized!! okay so back story. Hugo was found like 8 months ago, and he was baptized when he was 8, but then never went to church after that. We have been going every week to meet with him to teach him and reactivate him. He is a little different, and has a special disability. But anyways, his mom always sits in on our lessons with us, but she has never been baptized. Most people just write her off as old and senile so she just gets ignored. But she comes to church with Hugo all the time! So we said, she's been to church enough times, and she knows the stuff, she could totally be baptized this sunday!!!
 
So we go to Hugo's house to meet with him. Well his mom went out to the market. Oh no that's not going to stop us from having our baptism. So we said that's okay we will wait for her to come home!!! so 30 minutes later she comes home. Well we taught her lesson 1. At the end we invited her to be baptized. She said she really wants to be! So we asked if she would prepare to be baptized on Sunday. She said yeah she would do it! perfect! So we walk out of there with a baptism planned for sunday. Sweet Hermana Albertina is getting baptized!!! The only problem was we just had to teach her all the lessons in 3 days!!!!
 
So the next day (thanksgiving) we stopped by in the morning to see her. We taught her the 10 commandments and follow the prophet. Anytime we asked her a question she just said "si, Exactamente!" ha! can you just imagine her baptismal interview? Hermana what does it mean to you to repent? "si Exactamente!" keep in mind this woman is like 90! ahaha oh man.
 
Well, we had a lot of things to teach her on Friday, but guess what. They left to palmdale for thanksgiving!!!! so they were in palmdale all day Friday. All of their cellphones don't work, so that was frustrating. We went by at least 5 times to see her. Almost ever hour. But no luck.
 
Well the same thing happened on Saturday! we kept going by, but they just weren't home from palmdale yet!! It was super frustrating, and I was just so discouraged. We weren't going to get our baptism!!! well. we kept going by every hour, and then finally they came home!!! it was a miracle!!! So we went and talked to hugo, and he said hermanas this isn't a good time. We are locked out of the house because I left the keys in palmdale. Oh great!!! of all the luck. So we said, okay nope, there is no way were are letting this minor detail get in the way of our baptism!! so we may or may not have assisted them in breaking into their house! shhhh don't tell anyone! well. Finally after that whole ordeal we were in! The only problem left was we had to teach her every single lesson!!
 
Well, we did just that. We taught sweet albertina the plan of salvation, the doctrine of Christ, the law of chastity, the word of wisdom, tithes and offerings, fasting, baptism and confirmation, all in under 45 minutes!! That is unheard of!!! oh man everything was straight on track. She was set and ready to go everything good for the baptism. She still felt good about it, we were all set for her interview, we had the people to give the talks, everything was set! I felt really good about it.
 
Well, sunday morning comes, and our district leader calls us. He says "Hermanas I was just in ward council, and we were talking about Hermana Albertina and her baptism. It turns out I have some funny news. Albertina was already baptized!" .......... WHAT!!......... "Yeah she was baptized in 1954." Well, so our baptism got cancelled....
 
I guess the moral of the story is, don't ever trust old people when they tell you they haven't been baptized. And thank heavens for church records!! That could have been a bad thing! Well Dear family, I love you all so much!! I miss you like crazy, but I can't wait to talk to you in 23 days!!!!
 
Love Ness






Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Feliz dia de accion de Gracias!!!


Hola familia? que tal coma estan? okay so it's thanksgiving time, so I am going to write you about what happened this week in the format of what I am grateful for. ready?
 
I am grateful for the opportunity that I have to be a missionary. The opportunity that I have to wear my saviors name above my heart for 18 months is a calling that I am so privileged to have. Of course there are times that it is hard, and times I wish I could be normal, but I wouldn't give up this privilege for anything.
 
I am grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful that I have a perfect older brother. And because he is perfect, he makes up for all my faults and shortcomings. This week we had a little experience where we didn't act as good as we should have as missionaries. But I am grateful for the atonement that helps us to move past these things. Of course we will all fall. But what really matters is that we get back up again. Take the hand the savior is always extending to us, and just try to be better the next day. I am so grateful that I have a savior.
 
I am grateful that as missionaries we are guided by the spirit. We had an incredible miracle this week. We decided to go knocking doors on a street we have never been before. I didn't even know the name of the street, I just knew that it existed and I kept thinking we needed to go there. When we got there I didn't know where to start, so Hna Clifton suggested from the beginning! So we go to the very bottom of the street, and started at an apartment complex. The first door we knocked the woman opened the door, and before we could even introduce ourselves she invited us in!  of course we went in, and sat on her chairs and as we introduced ourselves she said, "I know who you are. I was baptized a long time ago." This woman hasn't been to church in over 8 years. Ever since she has moved from Mexico. She has been wanting to go back for a while, and take all her kids, but she has been scared and doesn't know the schedules. She said she has lived there for 8 years in that apartment, and not once has any missionary knocked on her door. WHAT A MIRACLE!!! I am so grateful that the spirit directs us!
 
I am grateful that Heavenly father keeps us safe! This week we received a referral from a member, to go see his neighbor. Well we went to visit him, and surprise! he is actually a leader of a gang!!! he was telling us crazy stories about how he's almost been killed like 6 times, and how he could have taken 4 peoples lives and gotten away with it, but he didn't. Because he's good. He's changing the gangs. Don't worry, he told us were all good, and that the streets are safe because he's in charge. oh man, thanks a lot members for those great referrals!
 
I am grateful for the members of our ward. They are all just so amazing for so many different reasons. I have taken a new love for the Enciso family, who are like in their late 70's and absolutely crazy! We take them to our investigator, Fransisco who happens to be 77 and they get along just perfectly! Cutest little honeys I ever knew. they all just are old and happy together. I am also super grateful for the familia pastor, because when we couldn't find anyone in the world to take us to the temple, Hermano said hey don't worry I will just take you. me and my wife. (mind you they don't have recommends to go in....) but he said no don't worry, I have work tomorrow but I won't go. I'll take you to the temple instead. They are the sweetest family I have ever known. So giving!
 
I am grateful for the temple! Every time I get to go I just feel so much peace and love. Even though we had to pass through every trial in the world to get there, and we were practically running to make it to our session, right as I sat down, it was like coming home. I know the temple is the house of god. There is an undeniable spirit there. And I love every single minute I get to spend inside. and talk to my heavenly father.
 
I am grateful to have a heavenly father that loves me. Sometimes I feel like a little girl, who's a long ways away from home. But I know I can always talk to my daddy, and he is always listening. He knows everything that's going on in my life, and he is just so anxious to help me. I love talking to him every chance I get. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to pray, and that I know that he is always listening to me.
 
I am grateful that I have a family here on earth, and they love me so very much. I love my family more than anything. And I am so excited that I can be with them for all eternity! if there is one thing I have missed the most here In the mission it is my time with my family. I love you all with all my heart, and I hope you have the most amazing thanksgiving in the whole world! Remember all your blessings, because we have so many. Heavenly father is so good to us. Enjoy the time you have together, and always remember that I love you with all my heart.
 
And last, I am grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know I would be nothing without this gospel. Without it I wouldn't be here as a missionary, I would never know these amazing people, I wouldn't love my family as much as I do, I wouldn't know my heavenly father, or know how much I need my savior. I know that this Gospel is true. I know that that our family will be forever. I know that what I teach is true, and it changes people's lives. I love every single minute I have here, because I have the opportunity to share this glad message.
 
I love you all! Happy thanksgiving!!
 







Monday, November 18, 2013

6 mo. 11/12/13


Dearest family. I cannot believe 6 months of my mission have already gone by. Man I tell you what. They flew!! that's crazy!! I only have a year left! gross!! okay but let me tell you. you are going to be super disappointed with my weekly email this week. Not too much happened. It wasn't a very crazy week like last week. well lets see what happened.
Oh! we had a zone training meeting, and it was incredible!! the main focus of the training was that we need to go back to our main purpose, and that is to baptize! So there are these crazy statistics, that you know how the number of new missionaries went up like crazy? well the number of baptisms actually went down!! I know nuts right?? So president Ballard had a meeting with the mission presidents, and he said we need to be getting back to our purpose, and that is to baptize!! so me and Hermana Clifton are looking for a miracle baptism this week. It's really true though. Basically everything you do in missionary work leads the people up to baptism. Man I tell you what. We are gonna be stepping up our game for sure. We need to be baptizing!! I will be a successful missionary if I baptize.
well anyways, that training was awesome. then right after we had exchanges. I stayed in the area with Hermana Barnes. We had a pretty crazy day. We visited a lot of families, and they all wanted to feed us food! okay let me just tell you a little about our day. We went to this investigators house, she said, hey I am making papusas so we are going to eat them okay? oh man. She actually made pretty good papusas, I don't usually like them. Well then after that we went over to Monica's and she said oh my goodness my sister made some zupa Toscana from Olive garden, so naturally, we had to try it!! haha people just love to feed us I tell you what. Also, the other day, we were visiting this member right before a dinner appointment, and she said oh I made some Mole I want you to try it. And we said oh no we've got a dinner to go to... she said oh no just to try ok? and I tell you. I HATE mole. grossest food I have had so far on the mish... So she gives us this aweful aweful mole, and I wanted to die. Then we went and ate some yummy enchiladas at our dinner appointment. don't even worry, I am just becoming the fattest missionary ever!!!
Other side note, I am becoming a soccer super star. We played yesterday for P-day, and our team rocked. Actually I got like 7 red cards because I play really dirty and I may or may not have tripped District leader very bad and clearly on purpose. Okay he tripped me first!!
In other news, Miguel is now officially a member of la iglesia de jesucristo de los santos de los ultimos dias! he got confirmed on sunday. He is so excited to be a Mormoncito:) umm, well, I tell you, I am sorry this letter is the lamest! We didn't have too many adventures this week! But don't worry, next week we should have some. We are going to the zoo for my birthday!! so I will have lots more pictures and fun stuff the next couple weeks. But for now, Enjoy this picture of Hermana Hadley and I for our 6 month anniversary :)
I love you all so much, and I hope you have the best week ever!!!
Love Ness


Mail time


Okay sweet family, here comes the weekly email. Well not too much has happened this week. I have a feeling my next weeks email is going to be pretty crazy!! but this week, let me tell you what happened.
 
So on Tuesday we had our interview with President Hall. Can I just tell you, he is the greatest man I ever knew. He is just the perfect mission president. I love him so much!!! So we talked for a bit, and he helped me out with things, and we talked about what I wanted to work on. So I really want to just work really hard! It has been a struggle I am having with Hermana Clifton and myself. But president told me that it is okay to push your companion. Because we need to be working hard.
 
So this week I put his advice to the test. I am sick of staying in the house when we could be going out and talking to people. We need to be finding the people we are going to baptize!! So Friday morning Hna Clifton was in a particularly sour mood. She is just frustrated because she is sick and hasn't slept well and is just discouraged. Well I made her get out of the house, and she was just super grouchy. We contacted a ton of people. Didn't really find anyone super interested. But We met with the familia rosas, and we got a member referall from that! so that was a small miracle.
 
We tried it again on Saturday, but with not too much luck. Also, we had a cita with one of our investigators, and when we went she left our book of Mormon outside with a note saying she wasn't interested... So that was hard to hear. It just seems like one trial after another. Grouchy companions to not finding people, investigators cancelling citas and people dropping us. Just one hit after another. Satan has been playing dirty up here in North Hollywood. Missions are hard work. It is a constant struggle to keep my positive happy attitude. But I try hard everyday.
 
Well after a hard week, Saturday night we had a mission activity. the whole ward was there and we helped them know how to better help the missionaries. It took a lot to keep it together through the activity. At the end of the night, I just burst into tears. I just couldn't keep it together anymore. But I will tell you what. The Lord is so great to us. He is so wonderful. He knows we have been working so hard, and doing everything we can. So he showed us some great tender mercies. On sunday, we had 4 people come to church. 4. That NEVER happens. Najhi came to church, and after we had a lesson with her, and invited her to be baptized, and she said she would like to be!
 
back story on najhi, we are teaching her whole family, but her mom is super not interested. Najhi is the only one who is even interested. The mom has cancelled all of our citas for the last couple of weeks, so finally we went straight to Najhi and asked her if she wanted to come to church. She said she really wanted to, and she came and loved it, and is going to come back next week!! so everyone, PRAY FOR NAJHI!!!!
 
The lord is so great to us. He knows we are working so hard and trying to find new people. And even though we didn't find any new investigators this week, we were able to experience a miracle at church. The Lord is so aware of us. Always look for those tender mercies. They may not come in the way you think!! I love you so much family, and I pray for you always!! Love you!!

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

My First Baptism!!


Okay family. I will tell you. This has been the best week of my mission. It has been hard, and crazy, lots of fun, and lots of times I had to take a deep breath and count to ten. Lots of laughs, and a couple tears. Are you ready to hear all about it?? here we go.
 
So My sweet companion Hermana Clifton. Well she is so nice and so fun, but sometimes I tell you, she can be a Grinch. I think I have told you she is at a really high stress level right now yeah? well she is seeing a counselor and we are working on it. But there will just be some days where she will just be grouchy. And I tell you, it is probably one of the hardest things I have had to deal with on my mission is grouchy people. I just don't handle them very well! that's all there is to it! I just love being happy, and grouchy people are just no fun. So during her grouchy days I would have a jolly good time looking for fruit from peoples trees. There is this really yummy fruit I love called Guayaba. oh in English it's just guava. Yeah they are pretty yummy. So in her down moments we would find strange fruit and then try it! I think we may have accidentally eaten a rose the other day... it was pretty gross. And some sort of strange berry/grape. That was fun! also we found a guy selling corn from a cart! you know like in Nacho libre? oh man I tell you. It is the yummiest thing ever!! and he gave it to us for free!! Cute little Helote man:)
 
We had a Halloween activity this week, and Hermana Clifton and I dressed up as nerds. It was super fun. We actually had a pretty good turn out!! there were a lot of investigators there too. They had like musical chairs and stuff. Hermana Hadley tried to teach us all thriller!! haha and then they played the Gangnum style song. All the missionaries about died because we couldn't dance :( saddest!!! don't worry, I am sending lots of pictures!!! Halloween day was super fun. We got lots of candies and got to help monica decorate her house. More pictures don't worry. And also, we got 2 trick or treaters!! how fun!!
 
I tried to use a real pumpkin this week to make pumpkin cookies. Well... they now have a new name! pumpkin chunk cookies!! haha. Also, we didn't have like any of the ingredients, so they turned out bien extrano... bien wuakala no? haha
 
Some other fun things we did this week was we got turtles!!! ahahaa so our investigator, cute little fransisco, poor guy he is so sick :( but his son gave us turtles! it was the funnest! all the other missionaries were jealous!! well we couldn't keep them of course, so we decided to give them to hermano Miguel in honor of his baptism!! but not before we played with them of course!! we painted them, and then named them! Princessa and Sebastian :) oh man. Hermano Miguel about died when we showed up with TURTLES! haha who gives someone turtles for their baptism? oh yeah only us!
 
another thing we did for hermano Miguel before his baptism was paint his room! it was super fun. His room looked like a five year olds room before. Super splotchy and funny. He had a ton of toys and stuff too. And weird posters. So we helped him out and gave him pictuers of jesus and the temple and of all of us together. It was super fun. It took us the whole afternoon too!! he loved it a lot though, and he was super grateful! oh it was a surprise too! so that made it even funner!
 
Okay now let me just tell you about sweet hermano Miguel's baptism. It was incredible. Most amazing thing of my mission. I am so proud of him!! okay. So finally the day has arrived. After 3 months of teaching him, and having to change his baptismal date twice, he finally made it! he changed his life completely. He is totally different now. he is so much happier and he is just a new person. He was super nervous for his baptism, but he did so good!! We got his whole less-active family involved in the baptism too, and they said they are going to start coming back to church!! how incredible is that!! I love them all the days! I am just so grateful that I had the opportunity to be hermano Miguel's missionary. He has come so far. I know that it is only through the atonement of Jesus Christ that he was able to change his life. Thank you so much for all your prayers for him, and for all your support. You are such a wonderful family and I am so grateful for you. I love you all all the days!!
 
Love Ness



Ward Halloween party



Tuesday, October 29, 2013

10/15/13 Lessons learned

Oh my dearest family how I love you so. So I am just going to tell you lots of lessons that I learned this week.
 
the first is how the spirit speaks to everyone, and everyone is entitle to receive revelation.
So we were super privileged this week with a visit from Elder Kopischke, a member of the quorum of the 70. He was holy tolito, just super incredible. He is from Germany and had an awesome accent, and he shared tons of cool stories. But one thing he had us do in the very beginning was write down questions, of what we wanted to get out of the conference. I wrote my questions very personal to me, and it was incredible to see that throughout the conference, my question was answered multiple times. I received so much revelation specifically for me. Sure I could have gone to that conference and learned a lot about what he said just from his words, but Because I wanted to learn something, I was able to receive personal revelation. It was awesome. Everyone in this church is entitled to receive revelation. So don't forget it. And just oh my goodness Elder Kopischke just blew my mind. He was awesome.
 
another thing I learned this week was the importance of being obedient. We met a family this week who was taught by the missionaries a couple of years ago. We asked them what they liked the most about meeting with them, and they told us that they just had a lot of fun, and they would cook and laugh and have a good time. So I guess these missionaries were super disobedient, and set us up for failure! This family has completely false expectations of us. We had our first lesson, and they started out by asking all these strange questions like who is heavenly mother and just crazy things. So we taught the plan of salvation, and they had CRAZY questions during that. Well we ended up having an 1 1/2 hour lesson, and then after she wanted to feed us! But we were already late! so basically, I am super mad at these old missionaries who were super disobedient and now we have a family who probably wont progress. We invited them to church and they said, oh no we don't go to church. They were taught for 2 and a half years and never went to church? what. Okay well I will keep you updated on this family.
 
The last amazing experience we had this week was that we got to go to the Los Angeles Temple visitors center with our Investigator Miguel. Satan really did not want us to go, and he put every single obstacle in our path, but we got there. We got there very late, and we drove with a member who doesn't have a license (don't tell anyone), but we made it. It was such an incredible experience. We ended up going with a member, Hermano Lico, a less active, Hermana Dominguez, an investigator, Miguel, and then two other people who are not members, or investigators. They no like nothing about the church. It was amazing though, because the hermanas at the visitors center did such an amazing job with them. The spirit was super strong, and it spoke to all of them differently. You see? The spirit speaks to everyone!! We watched that families are forever video, and it had me, Hermana Hadley and Hermana Clifton all crying!! oh man, when the missionaries have a break down, that's when you know you are doing a good job. I am just so happy to know that my family is eternal. It makes everyday out here in the field worthwhile.
 
Other things that happened this week:
We went to yogurtland!! we earned that ice cream!
I got bit by Aisa pastors hamster. Rude.
I had a breakdown on Thursday, and so did Hermana Clifton. Good thing we have Hermana Hadley to play doctor phil.
We had a super rad zone activity and carved pumpkins!
That's about it. I can't really think of the things we did this week. But it was a super amazing week. I love you all, and I am so grateful for all of your amazing examples to me!!
 
Love Ness
 
pics; yogurtland, Elder Kopischke, pumpkin carving, temple


Bodas, Baptisms and a bike 10/28/13


okay, so here is the deal, this week was awesome and super fun!! I am just going to start out by saying we lost Hermana Hadley. But she didn't go too far! she just got moved to the bike area in our district. So surprise! she is still in our ward! which is good, because she needs to be there for Miguel's baptism!! which is next week!!! WOOOO!! he is doing so good. I will tell you about him in a minute. So yes Hermana Hadley is gone. So now it's just me and Hermana Clifton. also, the elders left for argentina, but not before elder Pennington treated us to PF changs! last Monday. Yeah he is the greatest ever! We got a few new people in our district, and it's a bit different, but it's going to be fun!
 
Let me tell you, being with just 1 companion is super different! but Hermana Clifton is fun. We have a lot of fun together me and her. We have nominated ourselves the fun companionship of this district, and it's so true. one thing that is a little bit hard with her though, is she doesn't like to work quite as hard as I do. She is at a really high stress level right now, so she gets overwhelmed pretty easily. Sometimes I feel like we don't work very hard, and it is a bit frustrating, but I am learning patience. This is the transfer for patience I tell you what!! Patience, Love, and Lots of laughs!!
 
Okay so this is what has happened this week. Friday, we had a crazy day! we had 4 member presents, all back to back! (in missionary language, that's a HUGE DEAL!!) Saturday we got to go to a Boda! for my little greengos out there, that means wedding. Ruebin and Yessenia got married, and then on sunday, they got baptized!! how cute! the wedding was so good. It was in the church, and the ward came and there was a little after lunch. Our ward is so good to do that for them. Me and Hermana Clifton made up a rap to sing at their wedding, it was in Spanglish and pretty legit. I was proud of it. But we decided not to. Also, because Elder speth's rap was way cooler than ours. Dangit I hate losing in rap battles.
 
So yeah on sunday we 3 baptisms in our district!!! what!! that is unreal. None of them were our investigators. that's next week! also, we had stake conference, and it was super awesome! Miguel came and he brought his friend Javier! (javi hated it.. but he is hilarious.) man Miguel is just on fire! He is talking to all his friends about the gospel, and inviting them all to church. The other day, we texted him to remind him not to drink, and he said no way hermanas, I'm not going to fail you! oh I just love him every day!
 
Okay so we are a little bit on the blonde side sometimes. So stake conference was in Van Nuys, which is a little ways away. So we didn't realize we were almost out of gas, so because we didn't want to buy gas on sunday, we spent the day as BIKE HERMANAS!!!! WOOHOO!! seriously. I want to get put onto bike SO bad! it was so fun! I was just laughing my head off all the way down the street. But boy golly my booty is hurting right now! man. This week was just a blast! I tell you what family, the church sure is true. And even though this work is hard, it is so worth it. There is nothing on earth I would rather be doing right now. Family I love you so much. Keep being the great members I know you are. Heaven only knows the church needs good members. Us missionaries would be nothing without you members! thank you for everything, and I love you with all my heart!
 
Love Ness

10/21/13


Hey family! how are you all doing?! I hope you are all so so happy.
 
So I have been staring at this computer screen for like 5 minutes, and I just can't figure out with to write about. okay I think I got it. 2 things. Finding and Hermana Hadley. So as you know we got transfer calls, and our dear Hermana Hadley is leaving us. Which is absolutely terrifying!!
 
I cant really tell you my favorite part of the week Just that we did a lot!! our week was packed! we did lots of normal missionary stuff, then some not so normal missionary stuff. But the weekend was amazing! okay so you remember that family that had super disobedient missionaries? yep? well we got that taken care of. We set our purpose so good, there is no way they are going to not progress. The trick will just be getting them to church!! We had an incredible lesson with Miguel/the whole house. We got everyone in on that cita! We got Miguel, Hermana Dominguez (side note, she is my absolute favorite!!!) hermano Dominguez, who is incredibly less active, the mother in law, the neighbor and the two little girls. And then we rocked it with the restoration. it was awesome!!! the only one we didn't get was Giovani, but we'll work on him. Might have to use the flirt to convert strategy with that one... haha but Miguel is doing so great! He is going to be baptized! loving him!
 
Saturday we had a blitz, and that is where we all get together and go knocking in one area. (our area:)) so all the elders came to help us find new people! can I just say, I love elders. Okay not like LOVE but I just respect them so much. They just work so hard, and seeing them all knocking the doors of our area was amazing. We just happened to send them into cholo land (gangster area) but hey, better the elders than us right? ha! seriously I am growing to love finding so much!! I love being out and walking around. Okay get this, so right after our blitz when we went to all meet back up, this woman comes up to us, and just stops. she stopped to talk to us!! that never happens. She is interested. You just wait, we are going to teach her!! oh and mom, we took some of the pumpkin bread to the blitz, and the elders LOVED it!! haha they all say thank you and they love you!!
 
Okay so saddest ever, Hermana Hadley is transferring out. it's going to be so incredibly hard, but I know it needs to happen. Because Heavenly father knows I need to grow. I have been kind of naughty and hiding in her shadow. she is an incredible missionary, and I have learned a TON from her. She has left a huge impact on our ward. I can see that she loves all the people with her whole heart. She has an incredible testimony, and she listens to the spirit so well. Even though sometimes she is difficult I am so greatful that she has been my companion these past 3 transfers. But I know that now that she is leaving I am going to have to step up. I am not living up to my fullest potential, and I know I need to grow more. So I need to learn how to love more, how to talk more, and how to teach better. I will miss her greatly, and I know it is going to be incredibly hard without her, but it's going to be amazing!!
 
okay dearest family, so sorry my email was not the best thing you ever read! ha but I will pray hard for a good miracle to tell you next week! Never forget how much I love you, and you are always in my prayers!!
 
pictures: the elders are leaving for argentina!
I ate a hamburger as big as my face! yumm Fuddruckers!
 

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

5 Months in the Mission!!


Wow happy anniversary to me! (and Hermana Hadley of course, because we celebrate our anniversaries together!) I can't believe it's been 5 months! Holy tolito next month I will only have 1 year left of my mission! Eww Gross!!
 
Okay holy tolito did anyone watch general conference? talk about spiritual explosion! Wasn't it just INCREDIBLE!! oh man i'll tell you some of my favorites. David A. Bednars talk on Tithing was amazing! who would have thought? oh man he's great. Uchtdorf's talk was just stellar. I wish all of my investigators were there for that one. D. Todd Christofferson's on the moral authority of Women? wow. Mom are you helping your boys become priesthood men? S. Gifford Nelson's on how to be a member? haha I can't wait until I get home so I can be a MEMBER! haha wait isn't that a little backwards? JEFFREY R. HOLLAND. Absolute favorite. this life is super hard for sure. The only assurance we have is that we were promised a savior. Oh although his talk was directed to those who have depression, I really think it can help us all. Henry B. wow. Saddest ever I didn't get to much from Thomas s. Monson because Miguel came and we watched that one in Spanish. One that I loved a lot that surprised me was Kevin S. Hamilton who talked about attending all 3 hours of church. That one impacted me a lot. But okay I lied Holland's was my 2nd favorite. I loved the most elder Nelsons. Wanna know what I am working on? Self Mastery! Holy tolito it's hard! But one day I am going to have to stand before Jesus Christ and give an account of what I did with my precious gift of a body that he gave me! So I better be taking care of it now!
 
Alright enough about conference, I am sure you all watched it and loved it. Probably not as much as I did though ;) a couple things that happened this week was Hermana Hadley had a meltdown on Thursday, so we spent the whole day doing a lot of nothing. The next day though the elders made us Goobs! (aka one of my most favorite treats!) Friday was Hermana Clifton's birthday!!! That was a super fun day. Hermano Miguel is great and he bought us dinner and a cake:) Okay Hermano Miguel. Boy do I have a story for you!!!
 
So hermano Miguel. He has been having ups and downs. He didn't make his baptismal date for the 29th so we switched it to the 13th. so he has been having some struggles with coming to church for all 3 hours, and Conference sunday was just rough. So he promised us he would come at 9, but he showed up at like 10:15 only to hear like 2 talks. He loved them, but missed most of conference. Then he promised he would come for the afternoon session, but when we texted him he said he was far away in van nuys so he couldn't make it. It was pretty frustrating. But he invited us to come over for dinner that night. Well our did not go as planned because his house was crazy. The people that live in the back were having a birthday party, and his brother was drunk and pretty much going crazy, and his sister was way too stressed out to cook us dinner. He told us some crazy excuse for why he couldn't come to conference, and then he left the room for 2 minutes and his sister told us he was lying to us and he drank yesterday. Aye Hermano Miguel! So we were praying super hard during this lesson. Even though we were in the middle of a party, and backstreet boys was playing, and there were all sorts of fowl words coming from the drunk brother, the spirit was there. He was feeling it. And we were very straight forward and direct with him. We asked him if there was anything he needed to tell us, he said no. We asked him if he had had a drink recently, he said no. He told us he was still on track to be baptized. So we left that house SUPER discouraged. It was rough.
 
Well, here comes the happy part. The next day, we have a lesson with him, (yesterday.) and here is how it went down. Right after he finishes the opening prayer, he says to us, Hermana's I drank yesterday. WHAT! okay whammy right there. But of course we were ready for it. We didn't say anything for a while and we just let him talk. he told us how he felt bad, and never wanted to disappoint us. He is going to keep reading and coming to church, and he is going to be baptized. One thing though that he said that made me so proud was that he said, I prayed last night and I asked God to forgive me. We had an incredibly spiritual cita with him, and he decided that he is going to pray, and him and the Lord are going to decide together the day that he will be ready to be baptized. So we are going to figure that out today.
 
One thing I have learned from this whole ordeal with Miguel is Patience. Yes I am sad that Miguel isn't getting baptized on sunday, but it's okay, because He needed to have these experiences. He is gaining a testimony. He is changing his life, and the Lord is working with him in his own time. Maybe I won't get to see Miguel be baptized in this transfer, But he will be baptized, and when he is, He will have a testimony of the gospel. Here in the great California san Fernando mission, we don't just baptize, we convert people unto the Lord. I know this church is true, and I am so grateful for every single day that I have to say "I am a representative of Jesus Christ."
 
I love you all so very much! Keep the faith, rise to the call of the brethren, and work together with the missionaries in this great work of salvation.
 
All my Love,
 Ness

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

October 2,2013


Dearest Family of mine! okay well, it's been so long that I can't even remember what has happened!! Okay lets see I will just give you some highlights if I can remember them.
-We met a 96 year old woman from El Salvador who is still kicking. She is hilarious and makes me laugh like crazy. She is our new investigator.
-umm Miguel bought us all Italian food last Monday, and it was amazing!
-we had the relief society broadcast on Saturday, and Hermana Hadley sang, and me and Hermana Clifton were her backup singers, but freaking Hermana Clifton made me laugh in the middle of the song and then we ruined it.
-umm Violeta's birthday was on Thursday, and I accidentally sat on my piece of pizza, and then we had cake which may or may not have had real coffee in it.... and then monica called us to come to dinner, so we had double dinners that night... yikes we were super fat missionaries this week!!!
-I offended a member because I don't know how to speak Spanish and I guess I told her she needs to wear a skirt to church, and she got offended...
-yesterday we met a crazy woman who offered us some medical marijuana from a crayon box! haha "okay we are going lakers at 7! yellow and purple! we want the rainbows. we don't want any of that devil stuff." Oh man it was quite a riot!!
-we got Monica and her whole family to do family prayer! (except for Fransisco he wasn't home :( but still, that was a special experience. In her prayer she said, "I am grateful we could be here to do family prayer which is actually starting to be kind of fun! haha oh Monica, she is a doll.
Now let me tell you about today! today has been amazing. This morning we were so very blessed with the opportunity to go to the temple! I haven't been to the temple in over three months! oh man how I have missed it. But I tell you what. The LA temple is absolutely gorgeous. And the rooms are all amazing. oh man. We are totally going here when you come to pick me up. it was an amazing experience! Then! after the temple, we decided to be so sneaky, so we blindfolded Hermana Clifton, and took her out to lunch at her favorite restaurant! PF Chang's! it was super duper yummy, and I loved it a lot! It has been an amazing day!
Okay now that you are all jealous of the swanky life I live as a missionary, I am going to share a tender mercy of the week. So I have really been struggling with finding people. In the beginning of my mission I loved talking to people. I would talk to everyone. Well I don't know what's wrong with me, but I sometimes just feel like I don't have the energy, or I don't want to talk to that person. so me and the Lord have been working on it together. So yesterday we were doing personal study in the Laundromat, and there were two Latina women there also. I kept getting the impression that I needed to talk to them, but I didn't want to, because I didn't want to bother them and yada yada. But heavenly father was just saying to me, Janessa, just trust me, I need you to go talk to those people. So I ate a big piece of humble pie and went to go talk to those ladies. Well we ended up having like a 30 minute conversation, found out she is our neighbor that lives like a street behind us, and then got a return cita with them. That was incredible, and I am so happy the Lord let me be a part of that special miracle. Talking with everyone. You just wait I am going to come home and be the chattiest Cathy you have every known!
Well family, I hope you are all doing so super wonderful! I love you all oh so very much! Be good to each other, and remember I love you all with all my heart! Enjoy the pictures!
Temple
Hermana Clifton's Birthday surprise!






Monday, September 30, 2013

1 week June 24, 2013


So I survived my first week! Are you so proud of me!! haha let me tell you all about it really quick. Oh and by the way, save these emails for my journal! because they are going to be awesome!

So monday we got here to the beautiful San Fernando Valley. Okay it's actually not as beautiful as everyone led me to believe. Well at least my area isn't. But that's okay it's great. We met president Hall and his family. They are all great. Tuesday we got our new companions. I am in a trio with two lovely Hermanas. let me tell you a bit about them. Hermana Hall is from Idaho. She is a little strange... but super nice. She was on the ballroom team in high school. She is younger than I am, and I can definitely see that. And get this... She is a boy scout. Yeah what! I didn't think that was a real thing! But yes I guess girls can be boy scouts, who knew?! Anyways, my second companion is from Utah, but she is half Brazilian. So she is slightly crazy! but she is so so so fun. And she sings with the voice of an angel. At first being in a trio was hard. But I love both of my Hermanas a lot. I am learning a lot about how I can't be in control all the time. It's kind of hard to be being trained, because I want to be the leader, but that's mallo of me! Anyways, so lets tell you a bit about the days. On tuesday we went and read scriptures with this member (less active, basically an investigator) named Hugo. He is super adorable. He reminds me of brad barnes. I think he is a little odd. But I love him. Then I can't really remember what we did. I think we went to the store. Oh yes we did. And then we had dinner at the bishops. I just love the bishop and his family. and then we had correlation, or pretty much ward council. Yes that was an okay day. I don't know why wednesday was worse, it just was. I was feeling so overwhelmed, and so not used to everything about the mission! Seriously, we spend four hours of our morning inside studying. It drives me crazy! I want to get out and go find people! But no we have to be prepared so we can teach well. We taught this woman named Teresa wednesday afternoon, and the lesson just went aweful! I think she is confused about the reason we are there, and she just isn't being receptive to our message at all! She is super nice, but the lesson went on for almost two hours, and we didn't get anywhere with her. It was rough. The saving grace of that day though, would have to have been English class. We teach some of the Spanish member how to speak English wednesday nights. It was SOOO fun!! oh my word I got a little glimpse into the members of our ward, and I just love them! My favorite would have to be Hermana Soliz. She is so sweet. I told all the Hermanas that I don't like watermelon, or any kind of melon, and now they all laugh at me and we all make jokes about it. But it's so cute because they all remember how much I don't like it:)

Anyways, so thursday we had what they call weekly planning. It's crazy we seriously plan out like every hour of our next week. It's nuts. And it takes like 7 hours!! also, in the middle of our planning our elders brought us treats!! I seriously love tem!! (i sent a picture don't worry) So we didn't finish it all the way. We had to leave to go read scriptures with the DeGantes. They are this family that can't come to church because the wife is paralyzed, so we read scriptures with them. I love them so much! Then we went to plan some more, and then we went to visit the Aguillons, who are a member family, but they have cousins that aren't that my comp. has been teaching the lessons to. The investigators weren't there, so we just shared a spiritual thought. Then we went to visit a less active member, Hermano Chan. Oh my gosh he is my favorite. He is so shy and quiet, and so humble. He lives in this tiny little trailor all by himself. he is only like 24 or 25, but he is so great. We brought Luz with us, who is a member, and she is wanting to go on a mission. She is seriously so great. She has such a powerful testimony! Oh my word I LOVE HER!! anyway that lesson was just so so powerful. It was awesome fo feel the spirit so strong, and made me really greatful for coming out here and being a missionary.

Friday was way way good. We had our studies a bit in the morning, and then we had district meeting. I seriously love our district so so so much! District meeting went good, and then afterwards, Elder Jossie was carrying a big bowl of fruit, and he had a little pepper in the bowl, and he dared me to bite it, so I did, and then my mouth was on fire for two hours. Sorry for that random story, just thought you'd enjoy my little stupid moments that I have. Well After district meeting we went to district lunch at TACO BELL!!! yay i love taco bell so so much! Miracle of the day! haha then we had more studies, and then we went out finding! We stopped and talked to a black lady about the gospel, it was super awesome. She was english, but super cool. We went to stop by some old investigators, but they didn't have time. No here was the best part of the day. We got to meet Renee y Violeta. They are recent converts, and they are so awesome!! they seriously have the strongest testimonies I have ever seen! We are having dinner with them today. anyways, they made my day so happy. I love them.

On Saturday we got to go out finding again after language studies. We didn't really have any success, but it's always super fun. We had lunch with Hermana Hortado, she is so sweet. Her grandson isn't a member, and so I talked to him a lot about the gospel. Anyways, the real best part of the day was at night we had an appointment with Armando. He is an investigator that has been investigating the chuirch for two years. He is seriously so awesome!!! I love him!!

Sunday church was so great! i love latinos. I am pretty sure they are tone deaf, and that makes them even better! But I am almost out of time! So sorry! I will make my next letter shorter, and just add the most important stuff!! Ah I lobve you all so much!

Ah I seriously have to go! But Write me a letter and I will write you letters, because I just don't have enough time!!! I love you all so much! Don't forget that the church is so true, and if you ever get down, just look for the miracles you see. God's hand is everywhere!

Love Ness:)

1 month


So here is the deal, I super have to go to the bathroom, but I am in the middle of this letter! Ah it's the worst ever! anyways, let me tell you about my week.

last p-day we got to go to the universal studios city walk!! Like all the little shops and the restaurants and stuff they have outside of universal! It was super fun. But oh my goodness it was different! I felt so worldly! They were playing music and I was like oh my goodness I don't know some of these songs! but i still knew most of them, I haven't been out of the world too long! It reminded me a lot of our family trip there a couple of years ago! I miss you all a lot. we passed things like the hard rock and bubba gump where we ate. All that super fun stuff! AH don't worry we will for sure have to go when you come to pick me up:) also, here is the funny thing. On the way home from universal we got lost (Like usual) hopefully we didn't accidentally go out of the mission again like the naughty missionaries that we are! But we were definitely lost. Yeah I'm pretty sure we were somehwere near Justin Beibers house, so if you see any tabloids with some crazy missionaries with Justin, yeah we're pretty much famous! haha just kidding. But back to missions!

This week has been kind of the same missionary stuff, visiting people, going by less active members, going finding, and stuff like that. But it's been kind of sad! A lot of our appointments have fallen through. We only taught two lessons this week (well to investigators)  we teach a lot of lessons to less actives, and recent converts. But here is what we spent a lot of time doing this week. So one of the elders in our zone likes to write plays. Like theater plays. So he wrote this play, about the restoration. In spanish. with like 20 different parts. and it's like 35 pages. And guess who were the stars of that play? yeah that's right the missionaries! haha guess what I was?! an atheist librarian! and also spirit #2. so we spent like all of our language studies all week learning this play, and then I friday we spent most of the day rehearsing it. we performed it on saturday and it was basically the best thing in the whole world! I totally killed my atheist librarian part. (don't worry I sent a picture). But the play actually went really good. For the lack of planning, and the fact that all we had to work with was 18 missionaries and a church, I think it went pretty good! I wouldn't be suprised if they took it to broadway. I can see it now The Restoration the Musical! (only available in spanish). Basically, I am going to be famous! I knew they had great things in store for me here in the valley! haha but because we are working on latina time, the play that was supposed to start at 7 started at 8:30, and so we didn't get home until 10:30 when we were supposed to be sleeping!! ah we are naughty missionaries! First we get lost at universal, then we stay out all night, and then! okay you're going to die with this one, this one was really naughty. So they want us to take members with us to lessons, so yesterday we asked a member if we could take her grandaughter with us. Her name is Adrianna. She is 11. And it was TOTALLY against the rules. So basically, we went proselyting with a small child and we are the naughtiest missionaries ever!!! Ah! We try so hard to be good, but we just do the dumbest naughty things on accident! But it's okay heavenly father still loves us, and he gave us great miracles! Let me tell you about them.

So I told you we only had two lessons with investigators right? well it's the truth. But we had one with Armando, and it was amazing!! So Armando has been investigating the church for 2 years yeah? and he won't commit to baptism. If you ask me, it's because he is waiting for his wife. So i've been working on her. Me and her are going to have a pedicure party one day, but that is beside the point. So for Armando we prepared this killer lesson about the atonement. and it was obvious that satan didn't want us to give it, because there were tons of distractions, and all that. But we had our lesson and it was killer. So we invited him to our play and to church like we always do. But he didn't come to the play because it was his grandsons birthday, and then we didn't see him at church! and he always comes to church. So I was devastated!! but then in Sacrament meeting (because we have sacrament last) he was there. And do you wanna know who came in halfway through sacrament meeting?!?! HIS WIFE!! Victoria!! Yeah she came to church isn't that the best news you ever heard?! I think that if we can get her, we can get both of them! it's so exciting! also, we had another investigator come to church. His name is Nicolas, and I am pretty sure he is handicap, so I don't know how much he is receiving. But it was so cute we went to get him for church and he was totally ready with his Book of Mormon and pamphlet. He was shaking everyones hands, and he was wearing a basketball jersey! ha I love him! I think you could probaly compare him with that boy from Radio... the handicapped one. Well so anyways, I am running out of time because this man sitting next to me started talking to me about the devil stealing his stuff and homeless people. But he was nice. His name is richard.

Okay last thing. We got to go out finding with the sister training leaders on saturday afternoon. I went with Hermana Arguello. And people were SO MEAN TO US!! here is the deal. There are a ton of Jehovas Witnesses around here, and sometimes people think we're JW's. So they hide from us. It's the saddest. So we would knock on peoples doors, and we knew they were home, and they would hide from us. People avoided us like the plague, and it was the saddest! Well the other problem was too, that most of them were white. And everyone knows white people just aren't nice. So moral of the story, be nice to people. And I am not a JW!! Well, technically am, JW like janessa watts, but no! I'm a mormon!! anyways, this week was super great. I hope you are all doing well and are seeing miracles in your life. And also, I hope you are sharing the gospel with everyone you come in contact with. Because they need it. I hope you know that I pray for you everyday! Love you all so so much! Don't miss me too much, and be good!


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