Monday, August 29, 2016

8-29-2016 Goals, biting flies, and fresh picked apples


Hello to my wonderful family and friends!!

    This week was just another awesome week here in Minnesota! Nothing new, there was another really big rainstorm again this week. There are these biting insects (i think they are some type of fly) and they BITE! And let me tell you, these bites are literally the worst things ever! I got 6 bites on my hands these week. So that's great! But good news is that when it gets colder all of these insects freeze and they won't bite me anymore! But then it is going to be super cold...so there is a down side I guess! The members that we live with have an apple tree in their backyard! Hermana Brittner and I picked some of them and we were super excited to try them... they ended up being really tart/sour. Super fun to pick them though! 



And it didn't work out!  Ha-ha
Me trying to do tricks!


   

OH and I tried Mexican cheesecake for the first time this week. SOO good, but so fattening ha-ha Mexican cheesecake for the road!! (After we had already eaten like 2 full meals... It was worth it) .
 We did a lot of finding and contacting this week, so it was a fun week talking to a lot of different people! We still haven't been able to get in contact with Andy (the one who had a baptismal date). He doesn't have his own phone, goes to English class in the morning and works at night, so we haven't been able to meet with him for the last two weeks! We are REALLY hoping and praying that we will be able to see him this week! Karen, from the miracle family who just randomly showed up at church a couple of weeks ago, texted us this week saying that she has so many things going on right now. So, she isn't able to meet with us anytime soon, but she wanted to keep the Book of Mormon that we gave to her and pray about it! 

   We worked a lot with Less-Active members this week! We had two lessons with Vivian, and she is so awesome! She really wants to be sealed in the Tijuana Temple with her family by next summer. She is trying to do everything that she can to make it there. I love meeting with her because you can just see her real desire to come back to church with her family, and she has such a strong testimony. She wasn't able to make it to church yesterday, so we hope she can come next week! We stopped by a house of a less-active family that missionaries haven't been able to visit within the last 6 months or so. And, when we were just about to leave, Samantha and Moises and their dad Hermano Felix arrived home! They let us right in, and we were able to share a scripture with them about prayer (Mosiah 24:14-15) and Hermano Felix loved it! He shared a lot of really cool stories about prayer and faith and how he knows that Heavenly Father really does answer prayers.  His whole family works A LOT, which is one reason why they don't come to church. He got offered to work another job, but isn't sure if it is the right choice. So, we challenged him to pray about it. He said he would!  We were SO happy that we were able to meet them and have a little lesson with them. Definitely a miracle that they got home when they did.

     Jose Saldana, the son of the awesome Saldana Family, got home from his mission (Guadalajara) this week!  The Saldana’s have been talking about him since I got here, so it was nice to finally meet him. They had a homecoming party that we were able to go to and eat some AMAZING TAMALES!!! Oh side story, about 4 hours before the party started, Hermana Brittner was really hungry; so, we stopped by a McDonald's because she had a gift card. When we got there, the manager came right out and told us that she would pay for us! Her name was Brianna and she was a member as well. She was super sweet! I wasn't planning on getting anything to eat and just eat at the party, but she insisted on paying for me.. SO needless to say, I was super stuffed after going to the party and eating some amazing Hispanic food!! 

    We left the party because we had an appointment with Marian. But the second we got out to the car, we got a text from Marian saying that she wasn't able to meet with us.  So we said a prayer to figure out where we needed to go (because we didn't make good back-up plans the night before).  After the prayer I turned to Hermana Brittner and just said "all I am picturing is a Hispanic man, with a striped shirt and jeans. But I have no idea where he is." Hermana Brittner had the idea to go to a trailer park in Burnsville. So we went...and GUESS WHAT??? We ended up remembering that we received a referral from a member, so we went to visit Emmalina and guessed who opened the door!! It was Emmalina's husband, and he was wearing a striped shirt and jeans! We ended up teaching them a lesson, but they weren't interested in learning more. It was kind of sad that they didn't want to hear the wonderful message of Christ's restored gospel, but what I learned from this situation is that Heavenly Father answers prayers and will help you as long as you have faith!! I am so very grateful for this experience, because it really strengthen my faith. 

    I was studying this morning and I found a quote by President Thomas S. Monson, the Prophet,that I really liked. He say said: "Remember the past; learn from it. Contemplate the future; Prepare for it. Live in the present; serve in it."  We have been teaching "goals" lessons to some of our investigators and less active members, where we have them write down goals and steps as to how they are going to reach those goals. Where do you want to be in 5, 10, 25, etc. years down the road? The fact of the matter is that goals affect an eternity of choices and decisions. For example, if you have a goal to loose 15 pounds by the end of the year, are you going to eat a brownie every single day? NO?! Because the day by day choice to not eat a brownie, and to eat something healthy will help you achieve this goal. What's so amazing about having goals is that we have this wonderful life and time to grow and become better. Time is literally a gift from God, and it's our decision as to how we are going to best use the time that we have RIGHT NOW to choose where we want to be, and not just in this life, but after this life as well. In Alma 37:36 it says: "Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever." And I know that this is true. I know that we can receive help and comfort from our Savior Jesus Christ. I know that Heavenly Father answers prayers, as long as we have the faith and willingness to ACT upon this answer. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and the Bible as well. And that we can learn SO much about our purpose in this life as we read and study and ponder the teachings within. 

I am so very grateful to be a missionary! I hit my 3 month mark this week! Isn't that crazy? It's crazy how fast time just flies by when you are having fun!!  I hope all of you have the best week yet, and remember to smile. Smiling is the best. And, don't forget that I love you. But even more importantly, Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ love you all SO much more!!!!

Love,
Hermana Duvall

Last zone pday before transfers last week!! 

   



No comments:

Post a Comment