The last one! Newsletter Week 79, mission accomplished.

The unbelievable truth that I've learned on my mission, stronger than

any other is LOVE.

Our Father and His son Jesus Christ love us so much. More than we

could ever comprehend. Beginning to understand this incredible

principle has helped me to begin to develop this love for others. It

has changed me completely.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that

whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting

life." John 3:16

Can you believe that!? God loves us, you and me, so much that he gave

his ONLY begotten son for us. As we come to understand this we will be

changed forever.

When I began to understand this love He has for me, it changed me. I

began to love Him in ways I never had before. I learned that I obey

the commandments and the mission rules, not for extra blessing, but

because I truly love God and want to make Him proud. I want to do the

things He wants me to do.

As we learn in the scriptures, the greatest commandment God has given

us is to love one another. Loving our fellow man is the same as loving

Him. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my

brethren, ye have done it unto me." Matthew 25:40

They are all connected. Our love for man and our love for God is only

possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The Atonement has

given us the capacity to love, even in our most imperfect state.

In the end, it is love that drives us to do everything we do. If we

love God we will keep His commandments. If we love our family we will

read our scriptures, pray, and go to church because we understand that

our actions affect them also. If we love our ancestors we will do our

family history and help them enter into paradise. We do it all out of

love.

I truly love Texas so much, the Texas pride, the food, the people. I

will miss them all dearly. These people have changed my life and I

have learned so much from them. The Ward member, investigators,

companions, my mission president and his family, and mostly my

incredible family who has supported me and helped me through it all. I

am new. I love you all and I am so excited and grateful to see you

this week. I would also love to see you at my homecoming on May 15th.




Pics:

1. The district threw us a funeral. It was presh. Hna VanDyke gave an

obituary speech for me.. Jajajaja :)

2. We did sooooo much service this week helping with the flooding. It

hit Jersey Village super hard. We would just walk down the river of

roads and help random people tear out their walls and carpets.

3. At the mission fireside last night, so good to reunite with my

comps before I leave. :)

Newsletter Week 78

Hey y'all! I hope you are doing great. Things are good here in Texas!
We got a ton of rain last night and everything flooded... Not to
mention that the fire alarms of our entire apartment complex were
going off all night.. Haha but due to all the rain our baptism had to
be postponed until Wednesday.
This morning we went out to check on the car.. It was fine we just
pulled it onto the curb, and then we walked down the roads.. In some
points the water was up to my thighs! Crazy stuff. I am going to miss
good old Texas rain season.
This week went really good, we went to our investigator who is getting
baptized on Wednesday 25th birthday party. It was a blast! I love the
people here so much. He has literally changed his life so much to be a
member of this church. I know that the gospel changes lives for the
better and helps us find true happiness. <3
I love ya all! :) I love being a missionary:)

Newsletter Week 77

Hey friends and family. I hope y'all had a really spiritual week this week.

I've probably taught the Plan of Salvation hundreds of times
throughout my mission, about where we go after this life. The Spirit
World, especially Paradise, the place that is prepared for the
righteous. And even though I know it, this week I couldn't seem to
wrap my mind around it. What is it really like?

In Alma 40 it says:

"11 Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the
resurrection--Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that
the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal
body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are
taken home to that God who gave them life.
12 And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are
righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called
paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest
from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow."

Every righteous soul is received into this state of peace, and even
though I don't know exactly what it is like, I know it is better than
the world we now live in. The people in Paradise are happy. What a
comfort to know.

I know our loved ones that pass from this life are there, they are so
close to us. This week I had a spiritual experience and felt her so
close. President Russell M Nelson said "our loved ones may be just as
close as the next room--separated only by the doors of death." This
spirit paradise is near us. What a wonderful opportunity it will be to
continue to learn and grow there. To be reunited with all of our loved
ones that have passed on.

As we see death through gospel eyes it gives us a whole new
perspective. I stand by Paul asking “O death, where is thy sting? O
grave, where is thy victory? …" it takes the pain away to know that
families are forever, that our loved ones are in a state of happiness
until they will receive the blessing of the resurrection and along
with us be judged according to our actions here.

Thinking about the final judgement can often bring feelings of fright.
But this is not how our sweet loving Father in Heaven wants us to
feel. He wants us to be prepared and to receive us with open arms. If
we are faithful we too will be able to hear the loving words of our
Savior saying: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast
been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many
things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord."

I know families are eternal. We will all be in the Celestial Kingdom
together. And there we will experience even more joy than we felt with
our families here. There is nothing I love more than my family and
what a blessing to know that we will be together Eternally.

Even though this week I wanted so badly to be at home with my family,
I wanted to be with them during this time, I felt my Savior so near to
me. I know He loves us, He comforts us and He will never leave us
alone. Especially during the hardest times. This gospel is true.
Families are eternal. Death is nothing but a door to a better life.

Newsletter week 76

Hey y'all! I hope ya had a great week. We had a good one! We really
worked hard to reach our goals this week and came super close to
meeting all of them:) I had MLC this week.. My last one! :) I love
that meeting.. But it always stresses me out.. Haha. I also had my
last zone meeting. I was able to talk about faith. I love faith. Our
Mission President challenged every companionship to baptize every
month. I love seeing the faith of the missionaries as they strive
their hardest to fulfill this challenge.
I absolutely loved conference, the spirit was so strong, I know that

those chosen men are servants of God! This is His one and only true
church. I feel so blessed to be a part of it. We watched it in English
on Saturday but on Sunday we watched it in Spanish with our
investigators. I sure am going to miss speaking this celestial
language all the time.
So ready for a story?

The story of last P-day.
So last Monday I decided that I really wanted to go hang out with the
district. So I plea the cause with my comp and she tells me that she
doesn't want to go cuz it would be lame. I assure her that it would
NOT be lame and that we would have a lot of fun.. So against her will
she finally agrees to come.
It was the end of the month.. And we were completely out of miles. The
chapel we were going to go to as a district is about 45 minutes away.
We decided to just drive to the Canyon Lakes Hermanas apartment about
15 minutes away and then we would car-pool with them.
We jump in the car with them and it is all off to a great start. I
give my companion and encouraging smile that all will be great. She
doesn't seem to be convinced.
We finally get there... And to my great despair.. It was really lame.
We tried to do some things to make it fun... And it just wasn't
working. So me, my comp, and one other of the Hermanas decide to go
get frozen yogurt to escape.
Pday comes to an end and we all pile back in the canyon lakes hermanas
car and make the trip back home. When we pull up to their apartment we
see, to our amusement, that the GPS had fallen off our car's
windshield and hit our hazard lights. I reach into my bag to grab the
keys and turn them off. To my great despair the keys were not there! I
looked frantically for them with no luck.
We had a super important appointment in 30 minutes and we were 35
minutes away. Not to mention that we were house keyless, carless and
in our pday clothes with our pros clothes locked in our hazard light
flashing car. The canyon lakes hermanas phone ring.. Their appointment
cancels. They came up with the great idea that they would just give us
some clothes, drive us to our appointment and contact in our area
while we were in the lesson. What Angels <3 so all goes well.
We receive a call from the Katy Hermanas and they inform us that they
found our keys in their chapel. They take the hike all the way down
here to bring us our keys and use every last mile hey ever had. They
are true saints. By the time we get our keys it's about.. 9:40. And
our hazard lights are starting to flash quite dimmly....And I had
officially made all the hermanas in my district get home super late. I
felt real bad.
We thank the Katy hermanas for the keys, hug them, and send them back
on their way to their apartment. Me and the other STL Hermana head to
the car, as we were planning to do splits the next day because we had
MLC super early the next morning. So I finally unlock the car.. Stick
the keys in the ignition.. Turn..... Annnnnd...... Nothing. Absolutely
nothing. The car was completely dead.
We frantically think of what on earth we could do... We decide to call
our best friend Suamy... But he didn't call any jumping cables.. So we
call our other best friend Victor. He listens.. Then laughs.. Then
says he'll come save us. He lives over 30 minutes away. He gets there
at about 10:40 and jumps our car for us. What a jem. He told us that
we couldn't turn the car off for another 20 minutes. We thank him for
saving us and he goes on his way.
We decide to just stay the night with the Canyon Lakes Hermanas.. We
sleep... Well didn't really sleep... But attempted on a super old
hide-a-way bed until the alarm went off at the unspoken hours of the
morning and me and the other STL head over to MLC and try our our
hardest not to fall asleep.
Moral of the story... My companion easily convinced me not to leave
the apartment today.. So we are staying peacefully at home. Sometimes
I wish i just would have listened the first time.

Pics:
1. Victor to the rescue
2. Sleep tight.....
3. My companion hold my head when I feel stressed. #compunity