Bike Week!

okay, so here is the deal. Sometimes I get really bored doing the same thing every day, so I have to think of fun ideas to get me excited about life. Well. Here was the latest. Bike Week! It's like shark week, except without the ocean, or the sharks, and instead of a whole week we only went three days.... but other than that exactly like shark week.

 

So we rode bikes this week. and. it. was. so. FUN!!!! (sorry I didn't tell you about my genius idea mom ;)) why have I never been on bike my whole mission! It is the funnest thing I ever knew! Except we are super sweaty and look nasty and people probably think we are crazy riding bikes in skirts! haha but let me tell you, it was just a hoot! our first day on bike we rode 18 miles! we may or may not have had trouble on the way home... Hermana Barnes chain was being a sissy and kept breaking, but this very friendly skateboarder with the mouth of a sailor ended up helping us out! cute him. What a miracle.

 

okay enough about bike adventures, I will tell you some cool story adventures. So we are teaching this mom and son, Maria y Andres. My favorite little family. Well we were at the church Tuesday night talking to sweet Andres, and we asked him how his reading in the book of Mormon was going. He said good I'm already in 2nd nephi like 25! so we read with him 2nd nephi 25:26, and it ends by saying "that their children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins." and cute little Andres just looks at us and says "speaking of sins, I think i'd like to be baptized." WHAT!!

 

okay so we say "well why do you want to be baptized andres?"

and he says "I just want to be clean from all my sins"

"Well what kind of sins do you have Andres?"

"well, sometimes I tell lies. One time I told my teacher there was a zombie in our classroom. I think I just want to be clean of all my sins and have a fresh new life."

Stop everything he is the cutest honey I ever knew!! We're going to get him baptized!!! (hopefully. Pray his older brother can have a soft heart)

 

And last my favorite thing ever, my sweet investigator Martin from Burbank was baptized yesterday. We got to go, and it was so special. It was especially amazing because Hermana Barnes and I taught him his very first lesson in February when we were on exchanges. He is our little miracle we found together, and now he has made covenants with heavenly father that will change his life forever. I am so grateful for this gospel. So grateful to be a missionary. I love every single day of it. I can't believe it's almost been a year! It's so crazy how fast the time goes. I love you all and miss you, but there is no place I would rather be than here in California serving the Lord. I love you! Have a great week!

Save the River!

Dearest family of mine,

 

HEY! how has your week been? Ours was eh... pretty decent. We had two exchanges, and I left the area both times. So basically, I didn't work my area the whole time! haha! I have no idea who half of the people we are teaching are :) but it's fun! We actually had a few crazy things happen with our investigators.

 

okay HA! so last week I failed to mention a hilarious thing that happened. One of our Investigators Ever (the one who took a smoke break during church) well last week we tried to get him to go to English Church, and we brought over the English missionaries Sunday morning and he came out all ready to go looking super spiffy in a nice light blue suit. Well. he's good to go right? and we are just waiting for his ride to come and all the sudden he says, "Well Goodnight" and walks back inside. What the...? So finally his ride came, but Ever refuses to come outside. I felt like someone from the movies with my head pressed against his door trying to lure him out, and him yelling from the inside "No i'm not going!" it was the strangest experience! Well... yeah ever since then he has not been well. Something psychological and so now we can't teach him anymore.

 

In other good church news, we have this awesome new investigator Victor. And he came to church! he loved it! the downside was, he brought his 4 year old son who did not love church. At one point we took them out to the bathroom, and then the son took off running and we lost him!! he actually just ran back into the sacrament room and hid under the pews and when he came out he got caught in my skirt!! needless to say church was an adventure yesterday! cute little James.

 

In saddest investigator News, we have this stellar investigator Xiomara, who dropped us :( she is going through a divorce, and has all sorts of health problems, and it's just not her time. So we went by and took her flowers and it was just so sad!! she loves us a lot, and I just love her she is the cutest! But one day it will be her time and she can be baptized!

 

okay now to answer the question as to why the heck this email is called save the river, on Saturday we got to clean up the LA river with Mormon helping hands!! hooray for service! it was kind of a big deal, the mayor came and everything! okay I don't really feel like I did a lot, just picked up some trash and got eaten by bugs, but hey, it was service nonetheless and now the ocean will be clean or something! (also, side note to this story, the mayor came right? and he looks super familiar. I am not 100% sure about this, but i'm pretty sure that we see the mayor out walking his dog every morning while we are out jogging, and we always try to give him a card but he's so snoody pants and hates us. I can't prove it yet, but i'll let you know next week. To be continued....)

 

Hermana Barnes and I are doing great. Thanks for all your love and support. I am positive I will have great adventures for you next week, so look out! haha Love you all so much! be good and go do some meaningful service or something!

 

Love,

Ness

 

Elder Richards!

Okay so I am the worst and have to write to you the shortest emails! haha but I will tell you great things! okay so this weekend we had elder Richards come visit our mission. Elder Kent F. Richards of the seventy. Oh my gosh blow my mind every day. It was the best thing that ever happened!! He kind of called us out, because we are finding a ton of new investigators, but no one is getting baptized, which means we aren't teaching them good, and they aren't understanding!! holy tolito, aint that the truth. So he taught us something that I am going to use the rest of my life!

1. teach truth

2. invite them to act in faith

3. minister (follow up)

and he also taught us the four basic things that we all need to really understand.

Jesus Christ is our savior

The Restoration

The Book of Mormon

The Preisthood was Restored

Everything basically hangs on these things. It was really eye opening to understand, and see a general authority and how he really UNDERSTANDS the gospel. The real reason WHY we do things. it really opened my eyes to see how important our message really is, that without the restoration, we wouldn't have the priesthood. There would be no way to make the covenants to make it back to our heavenly father! God really does love us and he has a plan for us, and it is an absolutely perfect plan. The church isn't the end goal, the church is simply a vehicle that allows us to make the covenants we need in order to live with God. wow anyways, it was super awesome.

other things that happened this week. My favorite family in the whole world has decided to be taught by the English missionaries, so that their son can understand. Biggest heartbreak of my mission for sure.

Ever our dear investigator who is definitely struggling with the word of wisdom came to church yesterday! He had to take a smoking break half way through, he went MIA for a while and then we found him out from smoking. Ha! he's the cutest!

We met a WITCH! that was cool. She had a purple house so obviously we had to knock It, and she said oh no thank you we practice witchcraft here.

ummm... and we got to be a members miracle this week. We took her out to a lesson with us, and she said, hermanas I always pray that the missionaries will call me so I can go out and share my testimony and change peoples lives. She is amazing.

So family I love you so much! If you get the chance to teach anyone this week, I invite you to teach them truth, and invite them to act, and then follow up with them ;) you will be able to feel the happiness the gospel truly brings. LOVE YOU!

NESS

Happy Easters!

Hey cute family! how are y'all (this is me adopting my companions southern accent. she's from Tennessee ya know?) anyways, back to important things like missionary work.

This week was so fun! and tiring. I feel like I am just a big tired mess all the time. But then we have lots of fun and see crazy miracles and heaven sends us the energy we need or something! Well anyways, this week we had back to back exchanges! super fun!

I left the area both times, so first I went back to my little honey Hermana Blacker in Burbank! I love Burbank so much! it was a lot of fun. We talked to tons of people, and well, that's kind of all we did. ha. sometimes I am not quite sure I have this calling, because I don' really feel like I do a lot to help, but we had a lot of fun, and it was cool to be back with Hermana blacker.

Then the day after I went to North Hollywood 4th with Hermana Simpson! okay here is the deal. Hermana Simpson sometimes scares me. She is just super smart, and a great missionary, and so I was really intimidated! ha! Well it turned out to be a stellar exchange. Like probably one of my favorites. We worked super hard, we learned a ton, and my favorite part, we decided to go back by this family that I had found when I was in NOHO, Monica. Well by some miracle she was home, and not busy, and we were able to teach her and her two teenage kids Jeanine and giovani. It was such a miracle because Monica has always been amazing. She is super cool, just really busy, so we had to drop her because she wasn't really ready, and willing to come to church. Well when we by she said to us, "I had a really bad week last week, and I know you are an answer to my prayers." That was amazing. It was just a really neet experience to be lead by the spirit not only in the work, but with Hermana Simpson, and I was actually able to teach her a lot as well.

Well meanwhile while I was out of the area, our favorite investigator in the whole world Mayra Martin dropped us!!! I am super glad I was not here for that, because I heard it was a sad thing with lots of tears. She is just really confused and needs her space. But on a good note, our sweet mom and son Maria and Andres are just little angels sent from heaven, and Andres wants to be baptized! Maria said she wants more time, but Andres is the cutest honey ever!

and yep that is pretty much our week. I spent a lot of time this week thinking about the savior, and what it truly means to represent him. I know that my savior lives. He is the most central part in God's plan for us. He died for us, so we will one day live again. And he atoned for us so we may be free from sin. He knows our struggles, knows our pains, knows our weaknesses, and he is here to walk with us. I know my savior lives. I love you all. Happy Easter!

love Ness

Pics: Hermana Simpson

Monica Jimenez little miracle woman

Conferencia

Querida Familia Mia,

 

can we all just pause for a second to think about how awesome conference was! Holy tolito. We are so blessed to be able to hear from living prophets who receive direction for US! so amazing. We actually had one investigator Leo who came to conference, and his remarks after was "I liked it a lot. A lot of them talked about missionaries. It seems to me that the missionaries must be failing." hahahahaha! truth. But I did really love the follow up we received from elder Ballard. I absolutely loved his talk. From listening to that talk I want to invite all of you to obtain your own copy of preach my gospel and begin to study it!! It is an incredible tool in learning the gospel! I would suggest starting in chapter 3. That is where you can really learn the basic Doctrines of the church. Also, I am going to follow Elder Ballards Council as well as I share with you what I am learning from preach my gospel!

 

I have spent a lot of time thinking about my investigators, and why the heck they aren't getting baptized. Hermana Barnes and I are expert finders. We find tons of new people to teach, but then none of them progress toward anything. Well. Here is the Problem. They aren't keeping commitments. They aren't going to progress if they are not keeping their commitments. Conversion comes as they act upon the message they are receiving. So they can't really ever be converted, or gain a lasting testimony if they don't read and pray about the book of Mormon. So I made the decision that I am going to walk the path of conversion with my investigators. I have decided to do their commitments with them. If I invite them to read their scriptures, I do it too. If invite them to repent, then I do it with them. I have seen such an incredible change in these people, as we walk the path of conversion together.

 

Another amazing thing that we learned this week and I have been loving is how to treasure up the doctrine. We really need to know the doctrine of the gospel in order to help others become converted. So every day I have been studying the doctrines found in chapter 3. Hyrum smith once said. "Learn the principles of the Gospel. Teach them over and over again." the doctrine of the gospel; Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Repentance, baptism, the holy ghost and enduring to the end. Those things are essential for our conversion, and our salvation! I invite all of you to begin to study preach my gospel, and treasure up the doctrines found therein.

 

We had exchanges this week and it was amazing. I got to be with Hermana Evans! My MTC companion. It was so much fun. back in Noho 4to for a day! it was so much fun! I love Noho 4to. The people there are just so amazing! We got to have dinner with some recent converts that I just Love! Rene and Violeta. Oh man if only everyone could be as humble and as faithful as that sweet family, I think the world would just be a happy place:)

 

And lastly, me and Hermana Barnes were almost terrible missionaries this week! We almost didn't talk to our 140 people of the week. Well President Told us, maybe it will be okay for you two to not hit your 140. Maybe you need to focus on your teaching. But we decided, well we want to do both! So I don't know what happened, or why we were so behind, but come Sunday we had only talked to 86 people. What the heck. That is just not acceptable. So we had to go out and fix it! Well WE DID IT! we talked to 54 people that day and it was SO Crazy! I learned a really cool lesson. We could have taken President's advice, and not hit our goal, but because we were devoted to talking with everyone, and not giving up, we met some incredible people we probably wouldn't have met. I am really learning not to be complacent, and how to really give it everything you have. Mission life has taught me tenacity. And I am not giving up on anyone or anything. This transfer has been the funnest ever being able to work my little heart out with my best friend Hermana Barnes.

 

In other great news, Hermana Barnes and I are together for one more transfer!!! yay!! I am so happy! We are going to work miracles here in Noho 5to. Look out! Love you all so much! Go be good missionaries!

 

Love Ness

 

pictures: Hermana Violeta. So sweet:)

Hermana Blacker caught a lizard during conference! ha! I am so proud of her! my little baby girl!

 

Earthquake!

Hey Dearest Family! Happy St. Patricks day! fun story of today, as I was happily sleeping and dreaming of all the great people that are going to be baptized (because those are missionary dreams you know..) I was woken up at 6:24 by our house shaking!! We had an earthquake! aaaaah! okay lets be real it wasn't big or anything, and it only lasted about 15 seconds, but it was AWESOME! and now I can say I have lived through an earthquake;) haha

This week was awesome. We did so many things, I can't even remember them! I feel like life is flying a million miles a minute! probably because it is. I feel like it has become a nightly routine that we are running to our car at 8:55 every night trying to make it home on time. There is just so much to be done, and so little time! but here is a really cool story you might like

Hermana Barnes and I go running three times a week. Trying to be healthy or something.. well anyways, we decided to take out temple cards to pass out to people as we ran. One morning we ran passed this woman, gave her a card, got her name (Linda) and pet her dog for a few seconds, and went on our way. The next day as we were out running, we passed her again. She stopped us and said "are you LDS?!" and we said yes! and she said "oh I have seen your temple their in LA it's so pretty and I just think that the LDS people are so great" and she went off to talk about Elizabeth Smart and how amazing her family is and how all LDS people are just amazing, and how we were so kind, and then she said she wanted to come to church so we gave her the address and she hugged us and left. What the! That was one of the coolest things ever! I have talked to a TON of people on my mission, but I think Linda has been one of my favorites. Just seeing how talking to everyone really does matter. Our little decision to give her a temple card and invite her to go visit it one day just brightened her whole day and made her so happy. That was such a tender mercy to be a part of.

I know that the Lord really is preparing people to receive us. Sometimes, we just don't know who they are. So that is why we have to talk to everyone. Because you never know when you are going to pass by a Linda.

lots of other great things, we taught this man named Lorenzo who is basically golden. Asked us a million questions about the book of Mormon, and he is SO interested, and I am SO excited to teach him more. also, I am just in love with one of our investigators named Mayra. She is the sweetest thing I ever did know. She is 63 and just my favorite thing. She talks for days though, but we just love her lots. She says she wants to be baptized, but she is waiting for her son to come home from his mission to baptize her. How awesome is she!!

And lastly, I love my calling as sister training leader so so so much. We did some studies with our hermanas, and they are all so awesome. it is so much fun learning from them, and teaching them things that I know. It's the best. There is another new Hermana in our zone, Hermana Simpson is now with Hermana Evans and Rodriguez. They are going to have a stellar Trio I just know it. Next week we are going on exhanges with all the hermanas, so I just know we are going to see miracles. Be ready for a great email next week!

Well Lovers, I have to go now, but I love you all oh so much! Don't forget that no act of kindness is ever wasted. Just think about Linda! So the invite of the week, say hi to one new person this week, and see what happens! Love you all with all my heart!

Love Ness

picture: cute Mayra Martin:)

Exchanges

Dearest familia of mine,

 

This week has been awesome. Just stellar I tell you. We got to go on two exchanges this week, and both of them were really amazing. I went with Hermana Cable for my very first exchange ever! (well as a sister training leader) and we learned a lot together. We were able to contact like a million people, and find all of these crazy less active people! She really helped me on my exchange to remember the Why of missionary work. Why are we even out here? Why am I even talking to this person? Why do I even want you to read in the book of Mormon? learned a lot about how these people are never going to change if they don't understand the WHY. so that was a tender mercy. It was also super fun to be back in my old area for a day. Oh man I tell you what, Burbank is where it's at. That area is stellar!

 

For the second exchange Hermana Rodriguez she was just having a hard time in her companionship. She is in a trio, which is rough. Trust me I know a thing or two about trio life. So I was really able to help her lead in my area. At the end of the exchange she said Hermana thank you for letting me lead. We had a lot of fun, but on that exchange we saw this amazing miracle. Carlos. Ready for his story?

 

So we had planned to visit a street called corteen. Well I don't know anyone in this area or on this street, so I look at a list of people who are potential investigators who live on corteen and I write about 5 people down. So we were having a super unsuccessful day up to this moment. So we get to Corteen and we are knocking doors, and then I see this building and I say oh we have a potential who lives here, Carlos. So we went and knocked his door, and his friend said no he's not home come back like at 6. Well we were like dang. It's only 5, what are we going to do now. So after knocking a few more doors with no luck, and having no direction whatsoever I look to Hermana Rodriguez and say "Hermana I am lost. I have no idea what to do." So we decided to pray to see what to do. After the pray I asked her if she felt prompted to go anywhere. She said "well maybe we can try that brown building. brown people live in brown buildings right?" ha okay! so we go to the brown building, look at the directory, it's totally all AMERICANS!! so dang. Well then she says "maybe the lord is leading us in the direction he wants us to go." we turn around to keep walking, and run right into a LATINO! guess who? CARLOS! so we taught him right there and then on the street, he was super awesome, and want to know the best part?? he came to church yesterday!!!!!!!! That never happens! He is so cool!

 

I think my favorite part of exchanges is all the little miracles we see. I know the lord is in the details of our lives, and whatever the miracles, big or small, he is mindful of us.

 

in other news on Monday we went to the zoo. I love the zoo!

other things, Lorenzo, from last week, he is super awesome! we took him on a church tour and he loved it! I am pretty sure he is going to be stellar. Just wait. and lastly, we are going to have interviews with president hall this week, so next weeks email is going to be exceptionally amazing.

 

But I love you all oh so much! you are all my inspiration. But my invite to you is when you just cant figure out what the heck to do, ask the lord. Because he will always lead us in the direction he wants us to go.

 

Love Ness