Monday, January 30, 2017

January 30, 2017 White As Snow


Hola mi Familia y mis amigos!
 

If you look close to the corner of the picture
 it says St Paul. I love this area so much!

I hope you all had a wonderful week! This week has been a little different because they recently made changes to our daily schedule. It's nothing super huge, but we do have more time to be out teaching and I love it so much!! We have more time in the day to be out teaching and serving, yet the days seem to go by so much faster. It's been snowing here every couple of days here. I love how white it looks outside. It's so pretty!
   

Waiting at the bus stop so we took a selfie!





This week we had a lot of service opportunities! On Tuesday we went as a zone to this place called Feed my Starving Children. We got to help make mana meals for little kids who live in the Dominican Public. As a group we were able to make a lot of meals that would feed around 70 kids for a whole year! Also, on every Friday we volunteer at Salvation Army and what they call a Food Fair. People from all over the twin cities come to receive food every week. I love all of the service opportunities that we have as missionaries! It makes me so happy to just help other people who are just so humble already.



 

Feed my starving Children! This is my awesome zone after we finished making all of the mana meals. We love each other and love serving others haha and we are a little crazy. 

 




     We had a really awesome week of miracles and inspired lessons! On Tuesday we went on exchanges with the Korean Sisters.

Sister Heath! We had a really good exchange
 and I got to hear her pray in "Karen'!
I feel like I could never learn a language like that haha 

(FYI : The Karen /kəˈrɛn/ or Karenic languages are tonal language
s spoken by some seven million Karen people.
They are of unclear affiliation within the Sino-Tibetanlanguages.
The Karen languages are written using the Burmese script.
The three main branches are Sgaw, Pwo, and Pa'o.)

Sister Heath came with me to our area. We had a lot of little lessons with less-active members and also some of our investigators. It was funny because our GPS stopped working and a lot of our addresses that we have for investigators were wrong (and I don't know this area super well). But, thankfully with a lot of prayer and following the spiritual we were able to find people to teach. I love Sister Heath so much!! She's awesome and taught me so much about what it means to really be a 100% dedicated to being a representative of Jesus Christ.
     We also had two really awesome lessons this week with some members and their families. The first one, Hermana Garcia asked us to come and have a Family Home Evening with her family and also these four girls who are foster kids (and aren't members). This FHE was probably one of my favorite lessons that I have had on the mission. The girls who Hermana Garcia is taking care of right now already have so much faith in God. They have a tough background, yet they told us that them pray together every night as sisters and give thanks for what they do have! We are super excited to continue to teach these girls and what them progress in their trust in God. Secondly, we were visiting a member, Elisa, on thursday and we got to meet her little boys!! Her boys aren't baptized. We had a really awesome lesson about the Plan of Salvation. The boys were asking the most interesting questions like, "Did dinosaurs exist before Adam and Eve?" and other questions that we didn't really know how to answer. The oldest boy, Christopher, really loved the Plan of Salvation and how we can be with our families forever. We are also really excited to see if we can continue to teach her and  her family!
    We had a cool little miracle this week at a bus stop!! Last week, Hermana Warmbier and I were going to go knock some apartments. So, we parked across the street and as we were walking we noticed that there was a Hispanic women! We walked up to her and started talking to her, and she was just the nicest person ever. We were able to have a quick little lesson about Jesus Christ and what we do as missionaries, but her bus got there and she had to leave. It was so cute, because she started walking away and turned around and said "vamanos! van al bus?" She wanted to continue talking with us on the bus, but we didn't have bus passes so we weren't able to get on. Then right as she left, we realized that we didn't get her number or address so we could teach her some more! So this week, we went to the bus stop hoping to see her there. We waited for about 30 minutes and we were not sure if we should wait any longer. But, then we said a prayer and right as we opened our eyes she walked right in front of us!! We were able to get her number, and hopefully we will be able to teach her this week! I love the power of prayer!!!
     In John 14:26 it says, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Jesus Christ can bring that peace into our lives. We need not be troubled or afraid, because Heavenly Father sent His Son so we could have this peace and comfort. Often times, we search for and rely on things of the world to bring peace, comfort, or happiness. But, the reality is that the only lasting happiness, lasting peace, lasting comfort is that which comes of God. I know that we are all children of our Heavenly Father and that He wants us all to be happy. I know that all of our sins can be made white as snow through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that when we use the Atonement of Jesus Christ we will be so much happier!!
    I love being a missionary and I love the happiness that this gospel can bring into the lives of those we are teaching. I love you all. But more importantly, Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ love you all so much more!! Have a wonderful and happy week!!
Love,
Hermana Duvall

 Zone Birthday Lunch













   ICICLES

Monday, January 23, 2017

January 23, 2017 Sweater Weather

¡Hola mi familia y mis amigos!

Hey look, it's me in candy form! Just call me Hermana Duvalín :) 

      This was a pretty interesting week because it was soooo warm! By warm I mean it was in the high 30's all week. It's crazy to me that that temperature seems warm to me, but I guess the mission really does change you haha. I didn't wear my coat for 5/7 days of this week! I have just been wearing sweaters and one pair of tights. How exciting haha. I am loving not being freezing and having to wear a bunch of layers, but I'm sure this weather won't stay this nice for too long haha.

Watch out for turtles!

 
   
   
   
     We had a lot of cool experiences with first lessons and finding some new people to teach this week! We also had an interesting lesson where this guy just laughed the whole time as we were teaching him. We still aren't able to figure out why he was laughing at us, but it makes for a funny memory!
    We taught "Pollo" (Leo) this week again! He is slowly progressing in his testimony about the gospel. I don't remember if I mentioned it before, but he cannot read or write. So, it has been a little different teaching him because he didn't even know much about God before he met the missionaries. This week we had a really good lesson about how we lived with God before this life. I love teaching about this, because we are all children of our Heavenly Father who loves us so much. Knowing that I lived with Heavenly Father before this life has just provided me with a lot more meaning and purpose.
    Every Saturday night, we play soccer at the church building with some of the members and people that all of us missionaries serving in our ward are teaching. We had a really cool experience with Luis after soccer finished! Luis is brother in laws with a member in our ward.  He has come to play soccer almost every week, but hasn't really been taught by missionaries before. However, after soccer we were able to teach him a little bit about the Book of Mormon and answer a lot of the questions that he has had about Mormons. He also came to church yesterday stayed for all 3 hours, and he really loved it!! It's cool to see how the gospel influences others for the better. We are going to try and meet with Luis sometime this week and teach him more.

Okay, I know the lighting is absolutely horrible but this is Ketzali! I love her so much. She is one of my favorite young women here in this ward. She has so much faith and trust in God; I look up to her so much! 

     We were not able to meet with Eva this week because of some things that came up. We are still going to continue to work with her and help her gain a stronger relationship with Jesus Christ. Eva has such a strong desire to change and come closer to her savior, and I know that as she trusts in Him that she will be able to overcome the things that may be holding her back at this point!
   A random little miracle that happened yesterday: As Hermana Warmbier and I were walking to Relief Society, a guy walked in the church building. He simply explained to us that he had been meaning to stop by for a while and he finally found a chance to come to church!! We were able to answer some of his questions and then he sat in with the Elders as they translated for him for the last hour of church. He doesn't speak Spanish, so we aren't going to be teaching him. However, some English Missionaries are hopefully going to teach him! There really are people out there who are just searching for the truth. I am excited to hear more about Zach's progression in the future.

Yesterday, I had the wonderful opportunity to give a talk in my ward! I was pretty nervous because it was my first full length talk in Spanish that I have been asked to give on my mission. Nevertheless, I loved the topic that they assigned me. I talked about the scripture in D&C 58:41 that says, "Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more." I love this promise so much! When we sincerely repent, Jesus Christ will not remember our sins anymore. It's a promise! Sometimes I think we forget about that promise, but the truth is that the Atonement of Jesus Christ works for anything!! President Boyd K. Packer said (talking about the Atonement):
      “Restoring what you cannot restore, healing the wound you cannot heal, fixing that which you broke and cannot fix is the very purpose of the atonement of Christ. …
      “I repeat, save for the exception of the very few who defect to perdition, there is no habit, no addiction, no rebellion, no transgression, no apostasy, no crime exempted from the promise of complete forgiveness. That is the promise of the atonement of Christ.”
I know that this is true! I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love all of us. They do not want us to suffer in guilt or sadness, that's why God sent His Son to be the Savior of the world! I know that there is nothing that Jesus Christ cannot help us with. All we have to do is have the desire and open the door to Him! He is just waiting on the other side with open arms and a big hug. :)
I hope you all have a wonderful week! Thank you all for the love and support! I love all of you! But more importantly (don't forget) that Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, love you all so much more!!
Love,
Hermana Duvall

P.S. I can't believe that I forgot to mention in my actual letter that I went to the St. Paul Temple this week! I hadn't been to the temple since August, so it was so amazing. I love how strongly I can feel the spirit when I am in the temple. When I was in the temple I just felt an overwhelming comfort and peace and so much love for my Heavenly Father! It was really cool too, because 2 other districts of missionaries ended up being there as well! I got to see Sister Richardson which was a fun surprise. She was my STL in Lakeville so it was a good reunion because we hadn't seen each other in about 3 months! Also, the Elders (Elder Porter and Dyerly) surprised us with doughnuts after. Overall it was a wonderful experience and I am so grateful to be only 5 minutes from the temple!!

Hermana Duvall and Hermana Warmbier


Some missionaries from the Anoka Zone, St. Paul Zone, and us-North St. Paul Zone 



North St Paul Zone

Sister Richardson!  

She was my STL for my first 4.5 months of my mission



Elder Porter and Dyerly surprised us with doughnuts after.




Just a little video I took of a snow plow earlier last week!


Monday, January 16, 2017

January 16, 2017 Hola, soy la Hermana Zoo hlub

¡Hola mi familia y mis amigos!
     This has probably been one of my favorite weeks in the mission so far! It finally snowed again here! It hasn't snowed here for a couple of weeks, but now it did and it looks so pretty. It's actually kind of weird that I am starting to really love the snow. I love looking outside and just seeing blankets of white everywhere. It's so pretty. I also love it when it snows, because it isn't as cold haha.

Sister Xiong and I loving the snow. Funny story: we started the car and cleaned all of the snow off. Then after about 10 minutes she turned the windshield wipers on and on just FLEW OFF OF THE CAR. It was funny. 



     This week I had the wonderful opportunity to go on two exchanges! On Tuesday, I went on an exchange with Sister Xiong in Hmong work. Sister Xiong is one of the sweetest sisters I have met on my mission. I feel liked I learned so much more from her, during the day I was with her! We saw a lot of little miracles together. We were going to go "finding" for an hour and started driving to these apartments that are known to have a lot of Hmong people there. However, we ended up missing our turn. As we were looking for a place to turn around, we saw red corn hanging over a door of this house. So, we stopped the car and went to knock on this door. At the end of this hour, we met 3 Hmong families, who lived on that street, who were interested in hearing more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I would say that it wasn't an accident that we missed our turn to go to the other apartments. Also, one of the members that we visited on Tuesday gave me a Hmong name. It's "zoo hlub" and it means "lovable." She told me that even though she couldn't understand most of what I was saying (because I was talking in English) that she just felt so much love from me. Also, her son who is normally super shy around strangers warmed up to me super quickly. So, that's why she gave me that name.

I sadly can't spell the ladies name who named me "zoo hlub" but she is so awesome!


Exchanges with Hermana Hughes. This picture is with their investigator, Maria. She's the one who taught us how to cook different Mexican dishes! 

     Then, on Thursday I went on an exchange with Hermana Hughes. I was really glad to be in Spanish land, because I could actually understand what was going on haha. I love Hermana Hughes so much. It's crazy because we are so similar in so many different ways. On Thursday morning, we went over to one of their investigator's house and she taught us how to cook. Her name was Maria, and she is so awesome! She told me that she wanted to teach me how to cook so I will be good marriage material hahaha. During this exchange, I learned so much from Hermana Hughes and we saw some really cool little miracles. We found a couple of new people who are interested in learning more and taught some really inspired lessons together. One thing that I learned on exchanges is how much Heavenly Father really loves all of His children!! I have been able to feel that love, even for people who I just meet. Heavenly Father knows all of His children perfectly and has a specific plan for all of them!

Then later that day we saw this little library outside, so we stopped and put a Book of Mormon in it. I know, we don't have our coats on and it was really windy outside... so the picture explains how crazy we are I guess haha


   Okay, so we had a MIRACLE this week!!!! On Saturday, we were just getting out of a lesson and we saw that we had 2 missed calls from an Investigator, Eva, that we hadn't taught for a while. So, we called her back and she asked us if we could come over! We ended up going later that day; and, I will never forget this lesson that we had with her. She has been struggling with addictions to drugs since she was very young and she is about my age right now. As we were in this lesson with her, she just told us that she wants to leave all of that behind and change. She wants us to continue to teach her, because she knows that as she learned more about God and His son Jesus Christ that it will be easier for her to overcome what she is struggling with. Also, at the end of this lesson, we asked her if there was anything else that we could do for her and this was her response: "actually, yeah. I was wondering if I could be baptized?" OF COURSE!!! She told us she wants to be baptized as soon as possible. So, we are going to work together to prepare her to be baptized on February 11th!! During this whole lesson I was honestly just in awe with how prepared she is! She was just soaking in everything we were testifying of and teaching her about.

We took this picture after the miracle lesson with Eva!
 We were so happy and couldn't 

wipe these smiles off of our faces. 

I know that as she continues to learn and gains a stronger relationship with Jesus Christ that she is going to have the strength to overcome her addictions. I love Eva so much! I know that Heavenly Father has a very specific plan for her and that He loves her and wants to help her. I feel so grateful to know Eva and to get to continue help her come closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ.
     Something that I love about this Gospel is the sense of purpose that it has provided my life with. I know that we are all Sons and Daughters of our Heavenly Father and that we lived with Him before we chose to come to this earth. We knew the chance we were taking leaving His presence; however, we also knew that we would have a Savior, Jesus Christ, who was going to make it possible for us to return to live with our Heavenly Father again. For me, sometimes it has been easy to overlook this simple truth: I really am a Daughter of God. Therefore, I have divine Worth and divine potential. I was reading in a talk, "In the Strength of the Lord," by David A. Bednar this week, and one simple line that he said really stuck out to me. He said: "Be Loyal to the Royal Within You!" I know that we all are sons and daughters of a loving Heavenly Father. I know that we all have a very specific purpose in this life and that we can all return to live with Him and His son again. I hope that none of your forget how important each and every one of you are in Heavenly Father's eyes!! He loves you so much! I also know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and that He WILL HELP YOU with anything and everything!!
     I love being a missionary. I love this gospel soooooo much. And, I love all of you so much!! But more importantly, Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ, love you all SO MUCH MORE!!

Love,
Hermana Duvall

Last pday! Hermana Warmbier, Hermana Davis, Me, Hermana Hughes. These cookies were seriously SOOO cool. Apparently they are famous here (and pretty expensive but so worth it!) 

Alex, Ana, y Diego! Ana is a member in our ward and Diego is her son! Alex is investigating the church. They actually live in the Spanish Elders area, but they invited us over to dinner. They are the funniest family ever and all have such strong testimonies of the gospel. Alex will be getting baptized soon! 


I don't think that I mentioned in my letters that the building we attend church at is right next to the temple!!! I pass it almost every day. I feel so blessed to be so close to the temple. It reminds me every day why I am out here. I know families are forever!


Did I mention that  I LOVE THE SNOW!


Monday, January 9, 2017

January 9, 2017 Change brings so much Joy!!


.Just waiting for our car to warm up
 so we thought we would take a selfie haha

1-9-2017
¡Hola mi familia y mis amigos!

     I hope everyone had a wonderful first full week of 2017. It's so crazy to think that it is already 2017. Time is just flying by. This week was a pretty good week! I feel like so much has happened in just one week, yet it went by so fast!! The weather wasn't super cooled until the middle of the week where it got down to -24 degrees. It has been in like the 20s for a while now, so I dropped like 40 degrees and my body had to readjust. We have to warm our car up in the morning now and scrap ice off of our windows. It's super fun, besides the fact that my face and hands freeze so quickly haha.

 

All of the STLs and Sister Forbes as well at MLC

 I went to my first MLC (Missionary Leadership Council) and it was so awesome. During this meeting we kind of just talk about what's going on in the mission and how we can help the other missionaries. It's so cool to see 19-20 year olds getting together and sharing their testimonies and thoughts. We also had a couple of some really inspired trainings. One was given by Brother Ellerts and the other was given by President Forbes. I learned so much from each of them! The main thing that I was reminded of during this meeting is how important repentance is.Repentance is just change; having a change of view of oneself and of God. I love that we can all repent (change) to become better every single day!

Sister Brown was my STL back in North Minneapolis. It was so good to see her! She's going home at the end of this transfer so we had to say our goodbyes there.

    This week was a little different because Hermana Warmbier was sick some of the days, so we weren't able to leave our apartment as much as we wanted to. However, the work still went on and we saw some amazing miracles!

     We had a lesson with Vania this week, and we had a really amazing lesson with her about Repentance. In the lesson she even told us that all she wants is to just follow Jesus Christ and do what He wants her to do. She has been investigating the church for a while now and has a desire to just follow the path that God has set for her. She wants to be baptized, but wants to make sure that she is prepared and ready. I am excited to continue working with her and see her faith grow.

    Another really amazing miracle this week was that we were about to meet with Jesus Hernandez. He was the investigator who randomly just called us last week and told us that he was on his way to church. Hermana Warmbier wasn't feeling well, but we already had the lesson set up. So, we ended up having a short exchange with the other Hermanas. I ended up going with Hermana Davis to the lesson and Hermana Hughes went with Hermana Warmbier!!  Hermana Davis just got here to the mission about two weeks ago, but she is such an amazing missionary and her Spanish is getting better day by day. Anyways, we ended up teaching Jesus and his son, Daniel, as well. Daniel just moved her from El Salvador. The lesson was directed by the Spirit the entire time and it was just amazing. Jesus has so many questions that can all be answered just through the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We invited Jesus to be baptized and he said, " Claro que si!!" which means, yes of course! He wants to make sure that he is prepared because he understands that he will be making a very important covenant with God. He wants Daniel to learn more about the church as well, so Daniel will be able to grow up with the influence of God in his life. They both are also AMAZING at socccer! They came and played soccer at the church with us on Saturday night, and their feet just move so fast. They were on my team and we won :) Mainly because of their skills though, not mine!! I am so excited to continue to teach them and help them gain a testimony of the restored gospel!
   
    One last miracle that happened this week! The missionaries have been teaching Leopoldo Vasquez for a while now. He started out with not having any knowledge about God and/or Jesus Christ. He isn't able to read either, so the missionaries have been going over there and teaching him about God and Jesus Christ and reading out of the Bible and the Book of Mormon. I have been able to teach him about 3 times, and just in those 3 visits his understanding level has started to grow!! He is just soaking everything in that we teach him and asks the best questions. We invited him to be baptized on March 11, 2017 and he said yes!!  It's amazing to see the difference that the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ can bring into peoples lives. Leo inspires me. I feel so grateful that I get to help him learn more about his divine identity as a Son of God. I cannot wait until he enters the waters of baptism!!!

    This week, I studied a lot about the life of Jesus Christ in The New Testament in Mark. I am just marveled as to the miracles that Jesus Christ performed. He healed so many people of pains, sicknesses, infirmities; He forgave those who spit on his, mocked him, or trespassed him; He followed God's will and gave up His life so that we all can return to live with our Heavenly Father again. As I think about everything Jesus Christ as done for every person who has lived, is living, or will live-- I am filled with awe and wonder. Yet, as I think about what He has done for me personally, I am filled with love and gratitude. One of my favorite stories in the Book of Mormon is Alma the Younger. Alma's Father was the prophet at the time, yet he went about teaching/preaching false doctrine. He sought to destroy god's church. However, one day an Angel appeared to him, and he describes this experience to his son later on in the Book of Mormon, saying:

"17 And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.

18 Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.

19 And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.

20 And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!

21 Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy."
I love this scripture so much! The second that Alma felt as if he had a lost soul, the knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ saved him! He was able to repent of his sins and feel of the redeeming love and joy as a result. I know that Jesus Christ really is the light of the world. I am so grateful for this knowledge that I have, and that I can share it with everyone. Jesus Christ can save us from sin, pain, sadness, stres--any feeling we have he can help us! I know that as you simply turn for him in Faith that your life will be filled with love, joy, and hope. Sometimes it seems scary to change, but as rely on our Savior, Jesus Christ it doesn't have to be!! Repentance (change) bring more joy than we can even imagine.

  I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week. Don't forget that Heavenly Father and his son, Jesus Christ, love you all so much more!!

Love
Hermana Duvall

I took this as we were driving to mlc!! Downtown Minneapolis.

Our district out at lunch at "d-spot". They have really good burgers! The Anderson's are senior missionaries in our district and we love them so much!! 


                 Random video as we were waiting for our car to warm up 

 

The Hmong sisters left this note on our car with the BEST tasting cookies. So sweet of them 


Monday, January 2, 2017

January 2, 2017 New year, new area, new companion, new everything!!!!

¡Hola mi familia y mis amigos! Espero que hayan tenido un buen tiempo festinando el Año Nuevo! It's crazy that it is already 2017. Time just seems to fly by. I am so grateful for all the wonderful experiences that I had in 2016, and I am excited to see what happens in this New Year! It's crazy to think that I will be coming home at the end of this year and kind of makes me a little sad at the same time ha-ha. I really love being a missionary and I feel like the time is just going by so fast! I got transferred to East St Paul this last week. It was kind of hard saying goodbye to some of the people that I met in North Minneapolis. It's crazy how close and how much I grew to love the people there, even though I was only there for 6 weeks. 

Jessica!! I am going to miss this crazy girl so much. 

It was like saying goodbye to my little sister.
I hope the best for her and I know she will eventually get baptized.
She's so awesome and such a great example to me! 


la Familia Hernandez! We ate with them every week. Hermana always made the best food.
They both have super strong testimonies of the gospel and I learned so much from them!

So this was taken a couple of weeks ago, but I tried Camel!!
Yeah, I actually ate a camel burger. It was interesting.

Hermana Vicenta!! I am going to miss her so much. 

She was holding up her physical therapy exercises that she has to do every day, 

because she wanted to make sure my family knew that she works out. So precious ha-ha 





Elizabeth Ayala!! Love her and her crazy awesome kids. 


Jose and Ellie!! 

This was such a good lesson with them and it was so sad saying goodbye.

They are continuing to progress towards baptism. 

I hope one day I can attend it! 


But, I am so grateful to be here in St Paul! My new companion is Hermana Warmbier. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Toasting at 10:15 because we are missionaries and can't stay up late ha-ha.
She is originally from Germany. Her dad is German and her mom is Mexican! So she's fluent in German, Spanish, and English! She's so awesome and I love her so much already. We have a lot of fun together. I think I may have mentioned this last week, but I was called to be an STL in this North Saint Paul Zone. As an STL, basically I just get to serve the sisters in my zone and visit their areas. I love it! 


This zone is super cool. It's all language missionaries: Spanish, Hmong, and Korean. I love this area and we have already had some really cool lessons and experiences.
On Sunday we had a really cool miracle! We were driving to church and we got a call from an investigator, Jesus Hernandez. He called to tell us that he was on his way to church and wanted to make sure we would be waiting for him at the door. We tried getting a hold of him the day before to invite him but he didn't answer us. But, he still ended up coming! It was his first time coming to church, and he loved it. He just moved to a different apartment which apparently has made it a little difficult for missionaries to visit him, however he is finally all moved in to his new apartment and we are hopefully going to meet with him this week!! He has such a desire to learn and he is so humble. I am excited to see how he progresses. We also visit a lot of Less-Active members in this area, and I got to meet a few of them this week. Our ward is super awesome! It's smaller than the ward that I was in back in North Minneapolis, but the members are pretty strong and just the nicest people ever. I love this ward so much already! There's this super cute girl named Ketzali. She is actually pretty active, but we still visit her to help her out every once and a while. This week we read in Alma 36 and talked about repentance and taking the sacrament. Ketzali is a junior in high school, yet she had so many insightful comments. She has such a strong testimony in the Savior, and has a desire to continue learning and growing. She's such a good example to me, because it just helps me remember the importance of continuing to strengthen you faith in Jesus Christ. We need to continually strengthen and nourish our testimonies just like we need to water seeds so they can grow and become strong!! Sorry for the cheesy metaphor, but it's true. :) On Friday night we had a prompting to stop by a member, Hermano Barrascout. We didn't have him in our schedule and didn't have too much time until our next appointment. But we went anyways. This visit was so inspired!! He has been having some health problems and hasn't been able to come to church in a while due to it, and he was just not having a good day. We shared a little message about Jesus Christ and after he just started crying and thanking us for stopping by. He told us that he really needed the visit. Also, on Sunday he was able to make it to church too!!! I had to bear my testimony and introduce myself to the ward on Sunday, and when I was up there I just saw Hermano Barrascout smiling so big. It's so cool to see the difference that the gospel of Jesus Christ can have in people's lives. Jesus Christ can mend anything if we just turn to him, and we can always find joy when we do so!! This week I've been reflecting a lot on the Joy that the gospel of Jesus Christ has brought into my life. I was reading in a talk titled "Have we not a reason to Rejoice?" By Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf this morning and I found something that I really loved. He said,
"Wherever you live on this earth and whatever your life’s situation may be, I testify to you that the gospel of Jesus Christ has the divine power to lift you to great heights from what appears at times to be an unbearable burden or weakness. The Lord knows your circumstances and your challenges. He said to Paul and to all of us, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” And like Paul we can answer: “My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9)." I love this quote so much!! Jesus Christ can help us with anything. No matter what we've done, where we are, he can help us up and bring the light into our lives that we may be missing. I know that He is always there at our side, and all we need to do is turn to Him. Due to the fact that this is a new year (wooo!) I want to invite you all to think of ways that you can become closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that as you do this and make goals to strengthen you relationship with Jesus Christ you will be able to find more peace and joy and happiness in your life!! I love you all so much!! But more importantly, Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ, love you all so much more!!! Have an amazing week!!
Hermana Duvall Minnesota Minneapolis Mission

La Norcutt Familia. They are from Peru! They are all super awesome.
They kept telling me that I look like a "Muñeca""Barbie" ha-ha. So funny. 



Hermana Irma!! She is seriously one of the sweetest people that I have met!!
We visited her last night and she made us some chamomile tea when we got to her house
 because it was so cold outside. 



Video: The last day that Hermana Chavez and I had together. I miss her lots already! Super cheap ice skating, am I right?