Monday, February 13, 2017

Tall buildings? No. Corn fields? Yes.





Traditional banner from momma and daddy.
 Hermana Warmbier put it up for me and
decorated the rest of the apartment



Washington DC  South Mission Apron from JereBear for my birthday



Hermana Duvall and Hermana Warmbier

Picture from our last district Meeting.
 I loved serving with my district in the St. Paul area.
Hermana Anderson made an ice cream pie for my
birthday and it was so good.
Hola mi familia y mis amigos!
       I hope everyone had a wonderful week! Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday. I really appreciate all of the sweet messages that we sent to me! I had a birthday that I will never, ever forget. I got to go out and get sushi to celebrate last p-day, and then on my actual birthday I ate 4 different kinds of cakes, pumpkin chocolate pancakes, caldo de res, panvasos, homemade tortillas con salsa verde, 5 enchiladas, ensalada, and a bunch of random stuff that people kept giving me. It was the best birthday ever and I got to spend it with some of my favorite people.
       It was really bitter sweet leaving East Saint Paul. I grew to love the people there so much only after six weeks. They became like my family. It's funny how goodbyes have become harder and harder the longer that I have been out on my mission. I love being a missionary so much.

EVA! I am going to miss Eva soooo much.
She has been a light in my life
and I have learned so much from her. 

Love her so much.

The goodbye that was especially hard was Eva. We had an amazing lesson with her where the spirit was so strong. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to be there with her during this life changing experience. Her faith in Jesus Christ grew so much and she has been able to have the strength the begin overcoming her addictions. When we told her that both Hermana Warmbier and I were going to be leaving, she was really sad because we have been the ones who have helped her and never gave up on her. But she told us that we will see her at her baptism and she will continue to meet with the Elders!!! I cannot wait to attend her baptism in the future and to be able to see her again.
     

I'm 20!














Sweet Ketzali. Love her sooo much












The Torres family. Hermano Torres was our ward mission leader. He was the best ever and helped us out so much.

Hermanas Duvall and Warmbier with Hermana Cisneros. Love her!



Hermano Cordero is awesome and is so good at futbol.
Going to miss him and his family


Hermano Jorge Brito. He is on fire and working towards going to the temple.
He made me a special birthday lunch (He's a professional chef)
and it was absolutely amazing food.


Our last Dinner as a full district at the 
Vilorios house. I love the Vilorios. 
They have been so nice and welcoming 
to all of us missionaries into their home. 
So grateful to have met them.








Hermana Duvall and her new companion... 'Hermana Duvall" actually it is Hermana Dean
Cornfield photo shoot...

We were driving in the middle of nowhere the other day and we stopped to have a photo shoot in the cornfield haha. I love this part of Minnesota because it's so much calmer than the cities. It's awesome and the stars are really pretty..
 So this last week in Faribault has been one of the most interesting and different weeks of my mission. I am not longer surrounded by tall building, sirens, and a lot of Hispanics. There are a lot of corn fields and other fields, a lot of white people, and no tall buildings. It is really pretty out here. Due to the fact that both Hermana Dean and I didn't know the area at all coming here, we have just been doing a lot of stop by's and meeting people. We have met some of the most interesting people that I have ever talked to and have had some really funny experiences. I'll just say that there are some people here that are very different...

















 Anyways, we have an investigator named Zelynda that is supposed to be getting baptized in a couple of weeks. She is so cute and really wants to be baptized. We were able to meet with her once last week and had a really good lesson about repentance. She needs to come to church a couple more times before she can be baptized, but we are excited to get to work with her and help her strengthen her testimony.

This is Zelynda! She's 12 and is really excited to get baptized.
We are going to continue to work together so that
she'll be more prepared for her baptism. Love her already :)
 I love the ward. We have been able to meet a lot of the members here; they really are willing to help us with whatever we need help with. It has been really nice to have their support, because Hermana Dean and I have gotten lost several times. Last night, our ward mission leader had to come find us and drive us to his house because we were so lost haha. I am so grateful to be serving around such great members of our church here in Faribault. There are 2 really strong Hispanic Families that come to church, and we found them on Sunday and were able to speak Spanish to them. It was like a breath of fresh air speaking Spanish and being around those that can :)

Brother Beach!
Elder Porter y Elder Aroaz drove down
and stopped in our area and introduced us to
some of the members. This is brother Peach.
He is awesome hahah

The scripture that has been my motto for this week is 1 Nephi 3:7, which says, "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." Although it was hard to leave East St. Paul, I am so grateful to know that Heavenly Father always has a plan in store for us, better than what we can ever imagine. I know that this is the Lord's work and it is not my work, and I am filled with gratitude that God trusts me to help bring some of His sons and daughters unto Christ. I know that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can receive the strength to do all things. I am so grateful to be a missionary. I love it. I love this gospel. I am so happy and filled with joy that I have this wonderful opportunity to be out on a mission right now!!
Thank you for all of your love and support. I love all of you!! But don't forget- Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, love you all SOOO much more!!!
Con Amor,
Hermana Duvall
Sushi lunch, last pday. We went to am all you can eat sushi place and it was heavenly.
 I may or may not have eaten way too much, but it was worth it.


La Familia Pliego decorated their house for me
and threw me a fun birthday party.

Hermana Pliego became like a momma to me
while I was in St. Paul!
.

Eduardo did a really cool card trick
 and gave me that happy birthday card.



They threw me a surprise birthday party at the church.
 I thought we were going to an FHE
 but they surprised me with yet another cake.


This is one of my favorite little kids.
We always called each other “Cucui”.
I don't know how to spell it but it's the
equivalent to the booth man in Spanish.




Hermano Cordero made this for me. It was the best gift... it's tripa.. intestines in English hahaha so funny.

Here are some head smashing into the birthday cake videos... tap to view...

 





No comments:

Post a Comment