Natalio District Meeting and Leadership Mtg

Sept. 5, 2016

Week 3!!! Que loco!!! 

Honestly, I can’t believe how fast the time is going! I feel like every week goes by even faster!

But week 2 [of the current transfer] went really well! On Wednesday, we had a party for el dia del niño in the church and it went really well with all the kids. On Friday we went to Natalio, it is like a 3 1/2 hour bus ride, for the district meeting of the other district. And then we came home, so that was a super long day! But it was good! 

On Saturday, we were going to visit Yeni, but the hermano that was going to go with us didn’t show up. But there were two girls, Fabi and Abi, who came to the church for institute. But they ended up canceling institute because of the rain, and so Fabi and Abi went with us to visit with Yeni. When we got there Nancy, the mom, was there as well and it went SUPER well, super spiritual! 

This whole past week it was raining, including today. So it was been a little sad, but it is all good. It has been like 12 degrees Celsius and I have been freezing my backside off. We are almost in spring and it will get hot soon! 

Hermana Lopez and I are working a lot with the members right now trying to gain some love and unity in this branch. They are amazing people but a little cold. They need a little help, and God is who can help! We have been doing family home evenings with different members and together with two member families and things like that. Poco a poco we are seeing progress. 

Hector and Sofia are reading the Book of Mormon! That is super exciting. (:

Today all of the leaders came to prepare to have our leadership meeting tomorrow. It is always super fun to see all of the missionaries and Hermana Pitts and other missionaries that have become my friends in the mission.  This week we are having splits with our four sisters so it will be a busy week. Plus we are planning for our zone meeting and our zone conference. So life is filled up and I am super happy. All is good! (Except for the rain!) 

The mission is honestly amazing. The spirit that you feel is unforgettable and it is something quite amazing. (:

I love this gospel. Everyday I come to love it more. It is really what brings happiness to other families and to other people. It is what unites us and gives us a purpose to live and do well and be something more. Honestly, it is amazing and I know that this is the true church and that God is at the head of it and that he loves and cares for each and every one of us  no matter what we have done or what we do. He is there to help us be better! 

Hermana Newell

Cookie Bake-Off and Nancy's Baptism

Aug 29: This past week was incredible!!! Honestly, it was amazing and there were so many miracles. Sorry this is going to be Spanglish! 

Entonces fue el miercoles. Hermana Lopez y yo estuvimos muy lejos de nuestra area donde normalmente trabajamos, decidimos ese dia ir por un area un poco lejos de la ciudad. Bueno, nosotros nos sentamos por unos minutos para almorzar en un parque, mientras estuvimos ahi descansando y almorzando dos ninas de 8 y 6 anos llegaron, muy timidas pero nos preguntaron nuestras nombres y por que estuvimos ahi, empezamos a hablar. Ellas nos commentaron que su prima queria vernos pero que tenia 2 anos y era muy timida asi que no habia venido con las chicas. Enotnces nosotras fuimos a la casa de ese nina para saludarla! Ahi conocimos 2 chicas de 17 y 16 anos, y dimos una charla, son muy buenas! Despues las nenas querian que nosotras conocieramos a su mama, entonces nos llevaron a su casa. Su mama estaba muy dispuesta a hablar y muy receptiva a todo, acepto a orar con su esposo y sus nenas! Todo eso paso por haber estado almorzando en un parquet (:  [They were working far out of their normal area, but while eating lunch in the park, started talking with two young girls, who took them home, and they ended up finding an entire family and shared a discussion and prayer with them.]

After that charla, we got a call from the primary president and she said that the activity for The Day of the Child was canceled. She called us at 4:00 and the activity was at 6:00. And we had already invited a fullaso de ninos, so we were like, ¨What do we do??¨ We didn’t want to not do anything because the kids were so excited, so we called the Elders and we decided to cook.

We got back to the city and we went to get some of the children. Some of them were investigators, and we took them back to the church. There we had a cooking competition. We made banana bread and raisin cookies. In the middle of it we had to run to go get another investigator that wanted to come, Yeni, she is 18 years old. We ran and got her, and then other investigators arrived super unexpectedly and it surprised us a ton! So all in all we had 5 investigators there, plus other little kids that weren’t members. It went SUPER well. And then we had to take everyone home. Heck we got home so tired! But the miracles were there! 

Friday we set a baptismal date with Yeni, the girl that came to the activity. It is for the 24th of September and she is so excited! Every lesson with her is so spiritual and, honestly, it is amazing. We met her just like two weeks ago but she is so prepared! 

We have a new elder in our branch. He is Elder Cruz from Tabasco, Mexico! He is a little pesado [overweight]... but he is 18, and brand new. He will learn on the mission, haha. 

On Saturday, Nancy got baptized!!! She is an investigator of the elders, but she has been investigating the whole time that I have been here and we have become super close. She is amazing. It was so exciting to see her get baptized! And her two nieces are going to get baptized. One this week and one the next! 

Esta semana estuvo MUY buena, un poco loco pero llena de milagros tras milagros. Estoy tan agradecida a mi padre celestial por todo lo que paso y su mano que estuvo en cada momento! [This was a very good week; a little crazy, but filled with miracle after miracle. I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for all that happened and that His hand was in every moment.] 

This week was amazing, every week in the mission is amazing! I love this work. I know that it really is the only way to find true happiness in this life and the next! 

Hermana Newell

Busy busy busy

Hey, so I don’t have a whole lot of time today. But transfers were today and I’m STAYING WITH HERMANA LOPEZ!!! Aaah, we were super excited. It is pretty great together. I can’t complain at all!

We have been working with some really cool investigators and we have found some new ones that are amazing! We met Nancy and two of her daughters this week. Then two days later we met one of her sons, and then yesterday we met another daughter. And they are all super amazing and have the desire to learn about the gospel. 

They never grew up in a religion and don’t know a whole lot about the different religions, but they are looking to find one and to find the truth. We have started teaching them this past week and they are so amazing. We are praying and fasting for them!

Also another investigator, Hector, is the brother of Grisel and Norma and he is also super cool and is reading the Book of Mormon!!!

Today for p-day we played volleyball, the two zones together, and it was super fun!

God really answers our prayers, and listens to us! Please pray, but pray with your heart. Alma 38 touched me this past week!

I’ll write more next week! 

Hermana Newell