Monday, April 29, 2013

Year 1 - Letter 35 - Novato, CA

I can speak Spanish....say what?

Hola! So sorry this is going to be sooooo short because I decided to just write individual people back so just write me that would be sweet! It makes me so happy to see a variety of people in my inbox each week!

So this week we had an incredible Sisters Conference! It was an amazing opportunity to be with all of the Sisters in the mission and to learn about the changes that will be coming up soon! It is so crazy! The Lord is truly hastening his work!

So this week I have realized I CAN speak Spanish! It is amazing I just love that this time has finally come! I still need to keep practicing but I am getting to the point where it just comes naturally now! It is such a blessing! 

We have had some great lessons this week! We taught Faine this week and learned that she has not been living the law of chastity so good thing that we did not baptize her! Heavenly Father really does have a plan and He really will protect us from doing something stupid! 

She has been living her with boyfriend for 13 years so when we taught the Law of Chastity she did not bring it up! We taught her more about the Law of Chastity and she talked about how she wants to be clean and she said the most powerful prayer pleading for Heavenly Father's help. It is just amazing to see how much she wants to change! She said that she is just going to convince her boyfriend that they need to get married! So we will see what will happen but I know it will all work out!

This week has been slow but we are just continuing to be obedient and really getting the members of this branch to help us!

Well I love you all so much! Thank you for your thoughts and prayers! I love you all so much!

Sorry this e-mail is lame but it will be SWEET next week!

Love you!

Hermana Hillary


Monday, April 22, 2013

Year 1 - Letter 34 - Novato, CA

Obedience = Blessings

Hola! Buenas tardes! Espero que todo este muy muy bien en el valle del sol! ( I hope that every things is very very good in the valley of the sun!)

First of all, sad news! I have gotten use to this beautiful weather because it was only 89 degrees outside yesterday and I seriously felt like I was going to melt! I am sure that it is getting warm in beautiful Arizona. I hope that you all don't melt and I hope that it does not get too hot here because I love this weather even though if it is getting a little warm there is nothing like putting some good sweat into the work!

So this week has honestly been one of the greatest weeks ever! We have really been trying hard to be EXACT obedient and as we have tried to be 100 percent in everything we have seen so many miracles.

Before my mission that I knew that I was going to fall in love with the people that I served but it is amazing how much love that I feel for these amazing people that I teach and that I come in contact with. I love putting faces to the miracles and remembering that it is not about doing what I think would be best for the person but trying to understand the Lord's will for them and then qualifying for the Spirit so that I can make the will of the Lord come to pass because let's be honest I am a sweet teacher but my words will be hallow without the Spirit.

The Miracle People of this week:

Faine: So this week was a little rough with Faine because she was supposed to be baptized yesterday but she was very hesitant because she just doesn't feel that she can give our church all of her time while she is also helping her daughter prepare for her first communion in the Catholic church but she said she would still try to come to our church and that she still wants to get baptized! So we set a date for her to get baptized on the 26th of May which is a few weeks after her daughters communion. She felt really good about it and we felt like it truly was the will of God. Then the true miracle of it all is that she came to church yesterday and stayed for all 3 hours and she loved it! It is hard because the Lord's plan for her is not exactly as fast as we would like it to be but she will be baptized soon and it is going to be a glorious day!

Lulu: She is a sweet 18 year old teenage mother and one of our new investigators. She is such a cute young girl and she wants to know the truth. As we were teaching her she said she was a little confused but she said that she knew that as she learned more she would understand better and better. I just love that she immediatley wanted to know more and she knew that she would understand with time and with the help of Heavenly Father. I am really excited to teach her tomorrow and help her progress in this gospel.

Andres: He is one of our less actives that is only less active because he works on Sunday. We went to teach him on Wendesday because we always teach him on Wednesday but for some reason or another we did not really have a set lesson planned but we had an idea of what we could talk to him about but then he ended up teaching us a really awesome lesson on Faith and it was really an answer to my prayers that day because I just needed a little reminder on faith. It is just amazing the little things that Heavenly Father does to answer our prayers!

Ilse: She is one of our most solid investigators! We had the best lesson ever with her because we had an awesome awesome member present! We found a member that totally understands how she feels and is able to help understand the many many questions that she has! So because of this crazy awesome lesson Ilse is considering being baptized!

Carmen: She is our awesome investigator who owns the best mexican restuarant ever and we had a great lesson with her about the plan of salvation and she just soaks up everything! We taught her and then she asked if we would like to have something to eat and so of course we said yes! The best part of this story is that we felt like we were in the movie Return to Me as we sat at the back table right by the kitchen with the owner of this family owned restuarant! It was sooooo fun!

Lino: I got a little upset at him this week but it was cool because I was able to get upset in Spanish! So my temper is now bilingual! Woot! Woot! No I did not get super mad I just got frustrated because he was not listening and I just want him to com to church so bad!

Well I hope that you have enjoyed the run down about all of the people that I love! They are all wonderful and it was a really amazing week!  I love you all so much! Thank you for all of your prayers!

Pray for missionary opportunities and they will come! It is amazing how the Lord will answer our prayers!

Love,

Hermana Andrews

Monday, April 15, 2013

Year 1 - Letter 33 - Novato, CA

Painting Novato White

Hola Familia!

Sorry this is goig to be short but I am going to send pictures so yay! This week has been crazy! We had a wonderful Zone Conference where we learned more about our purpose and how not only is our purpose to invite others to come unto Christ it is to help others access the atonement. When I think of this it is even more powerful because I want to help others understand the atonement because the atonement is what has helped me through the hardest times of my life! We also learned that if we are not inviting others to be baptized then we are not fulfilling our purpose and this was such a slap in the face! I want to fulfuill my purpose and so I must make sure that I am inviting everyone to be baptized! So I am going to stop fearing inviting others to be baptized! President Alba shared with us about the first vision and how when Joseph Smith was praying Satan was working on him because he did not want him to talk to Heavenly Father and that it is the same way with us and that if we don't open our mouths we are giving into Satan and then we must plead with Heavenly Father for his help. So that is exaclty what I am going to do!

Also this week we were prepared for Faine to be baptized on Sunday but she is wondering if she should wait to be baptized unitl after her daughters comunion so we are just going to try and help her realize that she just needs to be baptized! So please pray that we will know how to help her and that her heart will be softened. But last night we invited Lino to be baptized again and he said yes and he understands now what he needs to do.

WE are just teaching like CRAZY and trying to find new investigators and now we are going to invite everyone and paint this city white.

Also a funny thing that Hermana Zurita said this week when we were talking about how I have hard time speaking English sometimes she said "it's like stretch marks and wrinkles it means your growing". I thought that was really cute and true! I am growing so much and it is great!

Sorry this is hsort but not too much has happened except for that we are just trying are hardest to be obedient and bring our brothers and sisters to Christ!

Thank you for all of your prayers!

Keep on keeping on!

Love you more than the beautiful weather here!

Hermana Hillary

Andres, Hermana Merk and I.

Hermana Merk and I - We just love each other so much. She is now training and still in Fairfield.

Me and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Me and the bridge.

Me and Hermana McKay trying to be sad.

Hermana McKay and I on the bridge.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Year 1 - Letter 32 - Novato, CA

Primeramente Dios My Eye!

Hola! Buenos Dias! Como esta todo? 

Ok first things first! Was conference awesome or what? I loved it so much! I loved how missionary focused it was! We watched conference at the Stake Center here in San Rafael there were not very members here watching with us but there were a decent amount of members from our branch watching it in Spanish because that is one of the only and easiest ways to listen to it in Spanish.

Oh ya.... before I get into details with conference my new companion is Hermana Zurita she is originally from Bolivia but has lived in Provo, Utah since she was 17. So the most amazing thing is that she speaks fluent Spanish and she drives which is wonderful! She has such a strong testimony and desire to do this work it is wonderful. I can feel all of your prayers because it is hard but I just have this amazing strength to carry through all of this! 

The training meetings were so wonderful and worth it! It was great to learn more about all of the responsibility and to be with all of the other Hermanas and other wonderful missionaries. Something that they really focused on was helping our companions develop their spiritual gifts and apply the atonement. I loved this emphasis because I think it is so important to apply the gospel to our own lives. It seems like it would be obvious that as missionaries we would think to use the gospel principles to solve our problems but sometimes it is hard to remember so I am really trying to help Hermana Zurita apply this to her missionary work.

Soooo life here in Novato with Hermana Zurita is AWESOME! We have had awesome lessons together! We teach really well together and the Spirit has been so strong and guiding us all the way! 

We have had great lessons with so many of our investigators who we have not seen for a while and so it has just been so awesome! 

I am really not that stressed and life is great! 

Ok so now for our conference miracle! 

So Faine was finally going to come to church for the first time and we were so excited because she needs to come to church a few times and then she is going to get baptized! The Sunday morning session started and she had not come yet and I was a little disappointed so during President Uchtdorf's talk I started praying so hard that she would come and that she would at least be able to see the prophet. So through out the session I just kept praying that by some miracle she would come before President Monson spoke. I just kept pleading that we would get a miracle! So then right in the middle of Elder Perry's talk Faine walked in and my heart sank. I was so happy! My prayers had been answered and it was wonderful! She was barely able to hear the words of the prophet! It was a conference MIRACLE! It was honestly one of the most amazing experiences of my mission! It was just so great to see her just soaking up conference! It was so great! 

Ok to explain my title in Spanish Primeramente Dios is a phrase in Spanish that means only with the help of God is something possible and people say it all the time! This week I have realized that this phrase is so not true because we have to do our part and then God will help us. I have had so many experiences this week that have helped me realize that we can't expect Heavenly Father to just answer our prayers we must do our part and then we will receive so many blessings.

I hope you all LOVED conference! 

I love you all and thank you all for all of your prayers!

You are all great! Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Hillary

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Year 1 - Letter 31 - Novato, CA

Voy a ser una mama (I am going to be a mom)


Hola! Buenos dias!

Ok so the news is out! I am going to be a mom or in other words I am going to be training here in Novato! I knew it was coming but I am still a little shocked! It still does not seem real at all! We will leave for Santa Rosa in like a half an hour and then it might be real but still I don't think it will really seem real until tomorrow when my new bundle of joy is in my arms! In the MTC I knew that this time was going to come way sooner than I would like it too but I know that the Lord trusts me and that this is part of his plan for me. I am honored that He has chosen me to be a part of the hastening of His work. This is going to be a challenge but it is going to be incredible because I know that the Spirit is going to be stronger than ever and that I will be stretched as far as I can be stretched but that it will be good for me! I recieved a blessing of comfort yesterday and it mentioned how forces seen and unseen are helping me and this week I have just felt like Grandma is right by my side cheering me on. I know that she a long with many other angels are helping me and will continue to help me.

So basically I am so nervous I have been naucious since Friday night but everything will be alright! So I know you all ALWAYS pray for me but this week and these next six weeks if you could pray specifically that I will be able to recieve the strength that I need to be the best example that I can for my new companion and that I will be able to remain calm and feel the Spirit guiding me. Thank you!

On to a quick run down of the rest of my life:
- The Golden Gate Bridge is beautiful and it was so fun! I will send picutres next week when things are back to normal
-We found a less active couple who has fallen away from the church which is really sad but the good thing is that even though they don't want to come back to church they are willing to let us come and practice on them!
- We picked up a new investigator this week that we had been trying to see for a really long time and the lesson that we had with her was awesome! Her name is Maria and she really wants to find a church that is true and that she can raise her kids in.
-We went to two baptisms this week and the Spirit is just so so so so Strong!
-Lino recieved a blessing this week and ever since that he has been more willing to listen and he is starting to progress again
-Our recent convert Katiuska is trying to decide what college to go to and is so neat how the experiences that I had with college is helping her
-We have not been able to see Esmeralda this week and she is moving soon so we are really praying that we will be able to see her soon.

Life is great! I am nervous but I know that there is nothing in the whole world that I cannot do even training! So BRING IT ON!

Keep the prayers and e-mails coming!

Love you all!

Hermana Hillary