So Hermana Bennett and I taught the Gospel Principles class in Spanish... that was an adventure haha 

We have the best investigator in the world! Her name is R and she's 19 years old. She's actually a referral from another investigator in the ward! She is amazing, so fun and we're already best friends! She's so so so SAD! She's struggling a lot and was just searching for happiness. I know I was sent here for this girl. She's amazing! We had set up an appointment with her but she wasn't home. So we tried to visit a couple other people over there in another town but I felt the Spirit tell me that we need to go back to R's at 4:00. We did and... there she was! We had a short lesson with her but it was powerful. We taught her that God is our loving Heavenly Father... the first point we teach to people, a line we say over and over and over that it seems to be robotic. Until R said "Wait.. He is my Father? I didn't know that.." I've been so accustomed to teaching this point that I feel like everyone knows. But for someone who doesn't realize their actual relationship with God, WOW! How powerful it is to know that He really is our Father. It touched her heart so much. She said it's great to know she has another Father figure looking over her because her dad and uncles protect and help her so much. We told her imagine how much you Father in heaven loves and cares for you? It was incredible. We taught her how to pray and she said "Thank you for sending these sisters to help me. I needed this because Ive been feeling really emotional lately.." She began crying and thanking God for all the trials she's had because she knows they are really blessings. I look at her and I see myself a few years ago. I'm going to help this girl find the peace and happiness I found through the gospel!  She came to a baptism on Saturday and the ward already loves her. The Bishop is her best friend now he's planning a Family Home Evening to do with her haha 

We had another lesson with her where we talked a lot about Christ and how we can receive answers through reading and praying. She cried again and told us some of her trials and how much she needs this right now. We decided we're going to spend our Pdays with her and we're gonna get Jamba Juice. When she prayed she talked about how excited she is for me to try Jamba Juice haha it was hilarious. But it's really beautiful because when she prays, she really is talking to Heavenly Father just like any father, or any friend. 

We are going to set a baptismal date with her tonight! Pray for her!!! :DD

So I went on an exchange with English sisters. So weird teaching in English! We didn't have a car so we had to walk all day. Got some new blisters on my feet, but it's worth it. People are rude sometimes haha a guy was walking towards us and the Sister I was with tried to talk to him but he ignored her so I stopped walking looked him in the face and said "Hi how are you?" and he kept walking! I wanted to trip him. :p

So what are you all doing to invite one person to hear the gospel between now and Christmas? Our ward is fasting this Sunday for missionary opportunities and then the missionaries are on assignment to go around to all the active members and then inactive members to pray with them about who they can invite. It's gonna be awesome! I know we will see miracles as we help the Lord hasten His work!

We have 4 investigators that are progressing very well. Every one of them are ready for baptism, we just have to help them see that. They are really awesome. I already love the people here and the area. Still getting to know everything but Heavenly Father is helping me learn it quickly.

We drew the Plan of Salvation on the sidewalk using chalk and wrote Mormon.org under it. That was awesome. Hopefully someone will see it :) 

We picked up an investigator that Hermana Schwegler had taught when she was being trained here. She had a baptismal date and she still wants to learn. Seems promising! She's a sweetheart and it's a family of 5. Her and her husband, her mother and 2 sons. Hopefully we can start teaching the whole family this week!

So we decided to walk for awhile because we're getting close to going over on our miles... while we were walking a hobo ran out of the bushes, sat on the sidewalk to get dirt out of his shoe. Since we are to talk to everyone, we said hello to him and asked what he was up to. He said, I'm homeless, not much. I'm homeless because I hate the government. hahaha He had no shirt on and his clavicle was poking up out of his shoulder, it was pretty gross. But he was wearing pumas... fancy shoes for a hobo. So we walked and talked with him about the church and family history. He said his name was Frank Bottles lol weirdo. We were wondering what people were thinking about 2 girls in skirts were doing walking with a shirtless hobo man. Goooood times.

Another funny story. We went to see a family we haven't taught yet. We introduced ourselves to the mom and then the son came to the door. He had to have been like 12-14 years old. He shook Hermana Schwegler's hand and then mine and as he had my name he was like what was your name? Hermana Schwegler said her name and he said "No... her name.." and looked at me. Creepy 12 year old hahahaha We laughed about that for a good hour.

We did a huge service project painting house in the ghetto. That was fun. We got free donuts, chickfila, and tshirts!

My trainer had her exit interview with President Kendrick. :( We are going to work our faces off this week!! We're going to try to set 4 baptismal dates this week. We're going to pray like it all depends on God and then work like it all depends on us!

R is baptized!

I don't have a lot of time to email today but the most important thing is R is officially a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! YESSSSS!! :D I am so so so happy I was able to attend his baptism. It was beautiful. I started crying when I saw the Baptismal program, then again when I saw him dressed in white, then again when Bishop baptized him. hahaha Man! No greater feeling than watching someone you've come to love, dressed in white, entering into the waters of baptism. Taking that first step on the path that leads back to Christ. Used to be Atheist, studied with Jehovah's Witnesses for 2 years, chased us down for a Book of Mormon, took 5 months to get him here. Every tear, every scripture, every prayer, every fast was so worth it. He was mine and my trainer's miracle, and we got to witness his baptism together! Funny how God works sometimes... :)

I was transferred to Oceanside/Carlsbad California. It's beautiful here. Driving over one hill, once you get to the top you just see the vast ocean ahead of you. Paradise. So beautiful. I'm with my trainer again! This never happens in mission life! haha We are having so much fun and working hard! So goes home at the end of the transfer but she is the most consecrated missionary I know. I wanna be like her when i grow up! :D It's a blast! 

Emergency Transfer

This week has been pretty rough. Ive been struggling with feelings of inadequacy and perfection. Ive always been some-what of a perfectionist, I never feel like Im doing enough or reaching my potential. It's really hard in the mission field as we try not to measure our success to that of other missionaries. Struggling with these feelings we ended up having a Zone Conference about how President Kendrick is worries because performance level in the entire mission has gone downhill. So then I just felt even worse haha But it's okay, just keep swimming!

 

We had a lesson with R at a member's home and watched Finding Faith in Christ. Something beautiful that I just realized watching it that night was that many times, BEFORE Christ would heal someone, He would ask them if they believed. Faith is the first principle of the gospel for a reason. Without faith we don't have the power to do anything. But with faith we have power to do anything by the will of the Lord. One of my favorite quotes from conference, :Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith"

 

The one day we planned a "car fast" to save on our miles, it rained. It never rains in California! So we went, step by step, walking for 3 hours in the cold rain doin our missionary thing. I didnt think it would stay rainy and cold so I wasn't dressed appropriately. Freezing! But it was worth it, we met lots of cool people to share the gospel with. :)

 

We went with a recent convert to help a less-active family move some furniture. That was fun! We thought we were taking this big entertainment center out of this little trailer until hermano got a hammer and just started whacking at it and tearing it apart piece by piece. Hahahaha On the drive home we saw a man on the side of the road, dead in a pile of blood... Dont know what happened but if we had been just 5 minutes earlier, it would have been us to find him there. :/

 

So we've been doing this thing called a Harvest Blessing where you offer contacts or door approaches a blessing on their home. We got a return appointment, went back and she actually let us in! We taught her the Restoration but Satan intervened and right when we got to Joseph Smith, her husband came home and she kicked us out! :( But then we started knocking the street and someone let us in their home to leave a blessing. She said it's not mormons knocking on my door, it's Jesus Christ. :D So we went in, kneeled with their family and blessed their home. Since Sister dont have the Priesthood, we have to say "By virtue of our calling as missionaries and representative of Jesus Christ..." How powerful is that?! I don't know what I'm going to do when I won't have the authority to just walk in a stranger's home as an authorized representative of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's such a privilege and blessing to be a missionary!

 

We had a lesson with the R family that I've been working with a lot because of how similar our family situations are. We're trying to help hermano advance in the priesthood. He told us it's because he doesn't have enough money to pay his tithing and he owes like $12000 or something. I testified to him about the miracles my family and I have seen and promised him if he would pay his tithing FIRST, he would have enough money for everything he needed. He just looked me in the eyes and said okay, help me. How much do I pay? So powerful.

 

The other Hermanas had a baptism on Friday night. R came but he was like "ive never done this before, Im missing Mexico playing soccer for a baptism. I made the right choice." hahaha It was a beautiful baptism!

R had his baptismal interview and passed! He's soooo ready! I'm stoked!

 

I found out on Sunday that I'm being emergency transferred. Broke my heart. I cried and cried. But I sucked it up long enough to keep working. I don't know how but those are the times when I know there are guardian angels all around to lift us up. I had to say goodbye to R but he said "Don't worry Hermana. We're under the same God and in the same church. you're in my prayers that all will go well in your mission and go with happiness in God, bringing people to our holy Gospel and God will protect and bless you." Greatest soon-to-be-convert ever!

Saying goodbye to the R family broke my heart too. Hermano shook my hand. looked me in the eyes and said "Thank you. You have helped us so much. If you come visit and we're not here, search for us. You're a part of this family now." His 8 year old son hugged me like 5 times and made me pinky promise to find them. I love them so much. It feels good to know that I have helped so many people. I did what I was sent to Escondido to do. i helped who god sent me here to help. And I know I will do the same in my new area.

 

Yesterday a guy contacted us. We were walking and he called us over asking what we were doing. He asked us to read from the Bible with him. Im still not a pro at the Bible so I was flipping through with no idea what to share. I wanted to use the Book of Mormon somehow but I didn't know how. I've been tabbing my scriptures but it didn't seem to be helping in a time of need in which I didn't know what I needed exactly. I flipped and a page opened to something I had marked and tabbed previously. It was a scripture about how with two or three witnesses my word will be established. Still right now I couldn't tell you the reference. But because I had put in my effort beforehand to study, the Spirit guided my hands to find that scripture so I could introdcued this man to the Book of Mormon. He accepted it and is excited to learn more. YES!!!

 

The mission has it's ups and downs but it's all about learning and growing. I'm so blessed to be here. Every day is so precious.

The church is true!

 

-Hermana Gutknecht

(This is from last week, my modem died so I couldn't update the blog, sorry guys!)

Next week we are going to the temple again! And we will be emailing on Tuesday, monday is a holiday or something. I dont know I just do what I'm told :p

R is so great! We reviewed the baptismal interview questions and he is so so so READY! He just needs to quit drinking coffee!

We had a fun lesson with C using dart guns and water bottles. Yes, we are fun missionaries! :D We went on exchanges and I was able to help a newer missionary with some of her struggles. It's crazy I'm not the new missionary anymore! Where is the time going?!

R asked us a long time ago to come to appointments with us but we haven't because he's not a member. But Thursday we had a lesson after English Class so we had a recent convert stay with us and R stayed too. Our investigator has a lot of doubts about the book of mormon and the church and R bore testimony to him that he used to be Atheist but has come to know for himself that this church is true. He even tried a different church just to make sure. He told him the only way he can know is to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it and he'll know it's true and this is the only true church. It was so powerful! He's going to help so many people with his testimony!

I went to my first quinceanos! So much fun! Mexicans know how to party... ;p It was killing me not being able to dance haha I was dancing in my chair and the members were cracking up!

How much did you just LOVE conference?! So great! So misionary minded! The time is now! Step it up members! :D

R came to all 4 sessions of conference and loved it all. After the one about attending all Sacrament meetings he leaned over to me and said "After my baptism, I cant miss?" hahaha I listened to 3 talks in Spanish until my head hurt. :p

We had a lesson with E... sad. We found out she doesn't have a testimony of ANYTHING. A week before her baptism. Gah. :( So we dropped the date and are working diligently with her to help her overcome her doubts. 

This reminded me of something my mission President said. He was helping us learn how to do a new numbering system for baptisms and then reemphasized that we're not about numbers. The numbers represent real people, our brothers and sisters we are helping come unto Christ. He said if we were a church about increasing numbers then we would be like other churches. Go into any other church and ask the pastor to join, he would probably gather your information and get you registered in some way. If someone walked into our church and asked the Bishop to become a member he would say YOU CAN'T. You can not become a member of this church until you have a personal witness and testimony that this is the true restored church of God, that the Book of Mormon is true and that the Priesthood authority is again restored to the earth through a living prophet. After learning from the missionaries, attending sacrament meetings, THEN you can be baptized and become a member. What a beautiful truth. We don't want to increase the numbers in our church, we want to increase how many of our brothers and sisters gain a testimony of the restored truths and enter into the waters of baptism, beginning their journey home to our Heavenly Father in the Celestial Kingdom. So, we will not baptize E until she had this deep and abiding testimony. She is reading the Book of Mormon and I trust in the promise that if anyone reads this book and prays sincerely, they WILL receive an answer.

I know this is the only true church on the face of the earth. I know it and I will not deny it. I cannot deny it.

Hermana Gutknecht

October is looking mighty fine... ;)

My companion's recent convert has got us 2 referrals, he's determined to baptized everyone he works with. Haha, we taught his young friend, W last week. Hes really quiet and shy and we made the mistake of not making sure he understood what prophets was. So I'm pretty sure he didn't hear anything else we said because he was stuck on prophets so when we shared the first vision he was like wait whos Joseph Smith? Whats a prophet? FAIL. Live and learn haha we'll clear it up tonight.

 

We ate sushi with R and he started scaring me. He told us he needed to tell us something but we would be mad. He made us pray first so we would be more calm... haha So he told us that he's not getting baptized.... but then said he was kidding. And then told us he went with his friend to a Jehovah's Witness church, and he hadn't been to our church in 2 weeks. :/ He said he told his friend he's happy where he is and he still wants to be baptized. So that's good! He hasn't smoked in 6 days but he's still struggling with coffee. We bought him some fake coffee I guess Utah Mormons use, but he said it'll still take some getting used to. Then he canceled our appointment later that night. I worry about him so much. I just know how hard Satan works the weeks before someone's baptism and I just can't let him fall. He's come to far and I've come so far with him. Both of my companions wanted to give up on because we could never get appointments with him but something was tugging on my heart not to let him go. He's grown so much since the day he chased us down for a Book of Mormon almost 5 months ago. I've been able to witness the changes in his life and how different he is, how much closer he is to the Savior. Sometimes I just watch him interact with others and I can see in him the light of Christ, I can see him doing the things Christ would do. He's not afraid to help people or share the gospel. He truly is becoming like his Savior.

I know that the years I had been preparing for a mission, God was preparing R to hear the message I would share with him. R was born Catholic, was Atheist, and recently developed a faith in Christ when he found us. I was the one to help him strengthen his faith and now he's just 3 weeks from baptism. I know I was sent here for him, Heavenly Father has kept me in this area for 5 transfers because of him and I'm doing everything I can to help him stay converted to the gospel.

We finished teaching him all the lessons and now we're just helping him overcome his doubts and fears. 3 more weeks! We fasted with him friday-Saturday to help him stop drinking coffee.

 

We finally had a lesson with E. We haven't been able to see her for like 2 weeks since we set her baptismal date. I was so worried that she would have changed her mind but she didnt! She has been keeping all her commitments but I know Satan has a lot of temptations to throw in her path. We have two more lessons and she'll be interviewed for her baptism this weekend and baptized the following. I love her so much! She is pretty much a dry-mormon, she goes to church faithfully without us bugging her about it. She reads and prays with her 3 girls every night, we just had to show her a lot of love and patience to build her confidence to overcome her problems. We fasted with her Saturday-Sunday for the health of her little girl. It was the first time she's fasted because she's heard a lot of different things about fasting from other religions. Yes, my companion and I fast one day, ate dinner with Reyes, and then started another fast. Not the healthiest thing in the world but hey, im willing to do anything to help these two amazing people!

 

Friday night the other sisters investigators, K, was baptized. Instead of watching videos or something while they are changing into dry clothes, our mission president has asked the missionaries to use that time to teach because that brings the spirit stronger than anything else. We were asked to teach during this time and i was so nervous. Im fine teaching in Spanish but i get nervous in front of a lot of people because... well, my Spanish isn't THAT good. Needless to say, I prayed a lot. I prayed for the gift of tongues, I prayed that the Lord would guide my lips to say what I needed to say, I prayed that the Spirit would testify to the people there, through me. And God answered my prayers. Although still a little nervous, my companion and I went to the front and began teaching. I was amazed at how fluent I was and I literally felt the Lord guiding my mouth. I know it wasn't me because I was saying things I had never even thought to say before, things Ive never said before, and the looks on the peoples faces confirmed that they felt the Spirit. One of the best experiences Ive had with the language so far on my mission. And afterwards, a little girl came to me and said "Hermana Gutknecht! Your pronuncation in Spanish is so good now! You don't have an American accent anymore!" hahaha gracias a Dios!

 

We have assignments to find less active people for Bishop so we can find out if they moved or not. We went to one house and no one was home. Hermana Moffit felt impressed that we should stay. So we sat in the car for a few more minutes when a truck pulled up! After he went inside we went to knock on the door (yes missionaries are professional stalkers) and the guy named F answered. He gave us some info about the member we were looking for and I felt impressed to invite him to listen to our message. He said yes I would love to! YEAHHH! We took down his info and we asked if there was anything else we could do for him and he said "how bout a handshake" haha we're teaching him tonight!

 

Sunday... oh Sunday. On the way to church it was bright and sunny, we had the windows down, listening to MoTab.. and I just had the thought, "today is going to be a great day." And it was! Three of our investigators were at church, one old investigator that we had dropped, a less active recent convert, AND a referral we've been trying to find for 6 MONTHS!!!!!!!!!! So F, we've had his name and address for months and it says "GOLDEN. Anxiously waiting for missionaries. FIND HIM! GOLDEN!!!" So obviously we couldn't just throw it away! So we've tried on and off for the past few months. Hna Moffit have tried every week since we've been together- Heavenly Father rewards diligence and persistence. F showed up at the church on Saturday looking for service times, our Ward Mission Leader happened to be there and told him all the information. Sunday morning we were sitting in the foyer making phone calls when the Elders come to us super excited rambling about some guy who showed up to church who's in our area. We met him, asked his name and when he said F, hna Moffitt and I just turned and looked at each other. I asked him if he lived in the apt complex of the guy we've been trying and he said YES! We told him we've been trying to find him but so happy he found us! A member shook his hand and asked if he was a member he said no and they said oh, but you will be right? He said yes! hahaha He stayed for all three hours and loved it. R made friends with him and showed him around. He's coming to watch General Conference this weekend! I can't wait to teach him! He's so cool! R asked us who he was and we told him and he said he must be good, he came to church in a suit! :p

 

MISSIONARY WORK! MISSIONARY WORK! LA OBRA MISIONAL ES LO MEJOR! :D Escondido... la tierra de los milagros!

 

Escondido Forever!

Still not getting transfered, but i'm totally okay with that. :D I love it here! But pretty sure this will be my last transfer here in the dirty Dido.

This week was pretty rough, our less active members have gone crazy, been doing some family damage control with them but praying all will be well. Satan really is attacking families so much, guard your homes against the adversary. We have the gospel of Jesus Christ to counter his efforts, we need to use it! We have power over Satan, he does NOT have power over us. 

Family Home Evenings are so much fun here. We've been bringing R and he loves it. Since Mondays are P-days I'm usually too lazy to do my hair so throw it up in a bun on the top of my head and go to Noche do Hogar like that. R called me Hermana Cebollita (little onion) haha

We taught at the NdH about Sacrafices as members of the church. R participated and said since he started investigating the church he doesn't watch as much TV anymore, now he's either reading the book of Mormon or thinking about church hahaha We ate some tacos and I put a bunch of spicy salsa on it and and Hermana in the ward said "Ella es mexicana!" (she is Mexican!) haha thanks family for helping me love spicy food before my mission :p 

R didnt come to church Sunday so we went to his house that night and what was he doing? Looking at pictures of temples online... how cool is that? :p 

We have 3 baptisms coming up Im super excited for. E Oct 12, R oct 19, and M nov 2

We taught a member referral last night and it was so awesome. It was in English, you know how hard it is to teach in English when you only ever teach in Spanish? We forgot to practice the first vision in english so we went over it real quick before we  went in and I thought I had it down but then when we were in the lesson and I went to say it, i totally blanked. But thats when I truly realized that im not the teacher, the Spirit is! Even though I didnt say it perfectly, the Spirit was there and M felt it. He said while I was reciting it, everything else tuned out and all he could hear was my voice and he felt a tingling sensation go from the top of his head to the bottom of His toes and he felt at peace and knew it was true. WOW!! It was incredible. We set a date with him in 6 weeks!

This transfer is gonna be the bestttttt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS. I think I broke my pinky by catching a falling banana... True story.

So this has been an adventure-filled week! Not much with lessons just random fun times. Lessons are slow because we've stopped teaching most of our investigators so theres only a few left. We're working on finding new people, the Elect! 

So I bought a blender bottle to make meal replacement shakes in the morning, its has a little wire ball so you shake the bottle and it blends it. Well me being the blonde I am started shaking it before the top was completely one and the chocolately shake went all over our kitchen and my clothes. mmm :) yeah! Then we were tracting at a trailer park and we were walking up the stairs when my companion realized if the door opened it would smack her so she started coming down the stairs and we both somehow ended up falling, I dropped my scriptures so they went THUD THUD THUD down the stairs.... After hysterically laughing we regained our composure and knocked on the door hahahahahaha so awkwardly awkward. I love being a missionary ;) Ah man we were so tired that night we got done planning and were asleep by 10:10. Our DL called and neither of us heard, Hna Moffitt fell asleep praying. Those days are so great lol

We had lunch with a recent convert, A. He made so much shrimp. Actually it was more like garlic with a side of shrimp. We probably reeked for three days. Ive never eaten so much shrimp in my life. So much cholesterol. haha That day when we were walking to appointments we were so thirsty and neither of us had any water. We contacted this really nice man who offered us water. I love people like him! He came out with a little baby water bottle for each of us and Capri-Suns! We were so stoked for the Capri-Suns, it was so hot and we were SO thirsty. Then we contacted this lady right after who had two small children in a stroller, they looked so hot. The whole time we were talking to her Hna Moffit and I were both having the same internal struggle. "I really want to drink this Capri-Sun, its so cold and we're so hot. But these poor children, they probably need something to drink. But I want the Capri-Sun, but what about the children!" We finally overcame the natural man and gave our capri-suns to the children and the water bottle to the mom. It was hard, but I guess it was worth it.. I guess hahaha Then we finally got to where we were going and our recent convert asked if we wanted water. We said YES! She gave us warm soda..... made us even more thirsty. Then we made it to dinner, and what did she have to drink? Orange juice. We drank and drank but it didnt help. So our motto for the day was "Im full of cholesterol and Vitamin C!" haha 

We got to do service on Saturday for our less active Hermana R. I painted her door and Hna Moffitt painted part of the outside railing. She bought us both a mango to eat, I dont think Id ever had an actual mango before. It was pretty good. She had to teach me how to cut and eat it though haha and she came to church on Sunday because we helped her finish a lot so she didnt have to do it on Sunday! She bore a powerful testimony in RS about the power of Priesthood blessings. Her daughter was in an accident and ended up being in a coma, she recieved a blessing and her finger started moving and with time she came completely around and is fine. So great! 

We had a lesson with a new investigator, G, shes insane! We started talking about Joseph Smith and said one morning in the spring of 1820 Joseph blah blah blah we want to share his experience with you in his own words and Hna Moffit started reciting the First Vision and G interrupted her and said oh so this morning you saw a light? Noooooooo! hahaha oh man it was so chaotic she was crazy. And gave us a cup of water that tasted like fish. All around weird. 

We had an awesome dinner with R on Friday! He took us to a Oaxaquena restaurante (food from the part of Mexico he's from) it was sooooo good! Had some cactus again, prepared a different way but still really good. Annnnnnd we ate chapulines! Grasshoppers! It's a delicacy in Oaxaca, Mexico. We tried one first with nothing on it then with Limon and chile mmmmmm! YUM! Hahahaha they actually weren't bad. Crunchy little treat. One of the Mexican workers there hadnt even tried them. I was like what the heck, im white and Im eating it! hahaha It was a fun little adventure :)

Yesterday at church, in Gospel Principles they were talking about how if it werent for the missionaries a lot of them wouldnt be converted. R raised his hand, looked at us and said "Gracias! Gracias!" I love that man. :)

So Ive been thinking a lot about Enduring to the End. And I thought, to the end of what? To the end of life? To the end of trials? To the end of existence which has no end? An Hermana in my District shared this scripture that is so cool. D&C 19:1 Jesus Christ is the End! We have to endure to Jesus Christ, when we can live forever with Him and our Father in Heaven. Beautiful! 

Oh I forgot to add this to the email.

Our Zone went ice skating today! It was fun. Im glad I had some-sort of practice with Sammy before I left haha Now I can say Ive been ice skating in two of the most sun-shiney states - Florida and California! I didnt fall on my butt! But there was a 5 year old there who had been skating since April and she was doing all sorts of tricks and spins showing us all up lolz :D

What a crazy week! I absolutely LOVE my companion! She's so fun, we laugh ALL the time. Laughing is good for the soul. ;)

We've had some fun contacts this week. One lady told us we were crazy in our hearts and minds, the next day an Atheist told us we were brainwashed, and then a man had the nerve to tell me I don't believe in Christ! Not gonna lie...I let myself be offended my that. Don't tell me I don't believe Jesus Christ is my Savior! But the Atheist guy that said we were brainwashed, by the end of our conversation he said he would pray to God to thank Him for not sending him to war. So we had some progress ;)

I had the weirdest moment at Zone Conference.. We got in groups to share our talks we had written about the Book of Mormon and to tell who would go first we did whoever was the youngest missionary (time-wise in the mission). And.... I WAS THE OLDEST. THE OLDEST! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH D:

R Update: He's a BALLER! For realz. He found out that our zone has a goal of 20 baptisms by the end of the year and he told us he wanted to help us reach it. He brought a FAMILY of 3 to CHURCH with him on Sunday!!! Afterwards he had them set an appointment with us to teach them. We're teaching them tonight and Reyes is coming with us. Seriously, my investigator is doing more missionary work than lifelong members -  STEP IT UP! hahahahahaha Last night he came to a FHE and a member asked him who he was and he said "Im an investigator... well I'm not investigating because I have a date!" :DDDD Made my heart smile!!!!! Everyone can see him changing. And most member treat him like a member because they probably think hes a member! He's going to be a leader in the church I just know it. He's so great! And Elder in my District that's been here the same time as me has seen him from day one and asked me last night what changed, he looks different. He is different. He started reading the Book of Mormon and he's been changing ever since. He's on 1 Nephi 20 now. :) We've been praying to see if we should change his date and make it closer so hopefully we'll know what to do soon.

Hermano R came to the FHE with his son A who I've been working with a lot. He told me A is doing a lot better thanks to me and all I've been doing to help him. It warms my heart to know I'm helping bring souls to Christ or BACK to Christ. It makes it all worth it knowing that my past experiences can help other families come back together, that I was sent here for that purpose because of who I am because of what I've been through. Its amazing, God's plan for each of us.

We had an amazing lesson this week with a family we had taught once awhile back. We finished the Restoration lesson and it was truly a beautiful experience. So we were knocking doors awhile back and a 17 yr old girl, L answered the door. Said she wasn't interested at all but thought her mom would love to hear our message so she gave us a time to come back to talk to her mom. We went back and taught the mom, V, and L decided to listen too with her twin sister L. We didn't get to finish the lesson but we tried to come back for the return appointment but they weren't home. They left a note on the door apologizing! So sweet! We finally were able to catch them at home again this week. V was busy cooking so we taught L and L the rest of the Restoration. Their friend showed up in the middle of it so we taught her too. When we got to the First Vision the mood changed, the Spirit swept into the room and everyone felt it. My companion shared the First Vision and all three of the girls wiped their eyes and said they'd never felt anything like that before. That it was beautiful, it felt good. We invited them to be baptized and they said they would think about it because they want that feeling with them forever. :')

I love every day here. Every day being able to share what I know with other people. Even when Im rejected or laughed at. Every no is one closer to a yes. Every no is just helping me get that much closer to the Elect, the prepared people Heavenly Father is putting in my path. I know the church is true. Every single part of it. I know who I am. I know Christ is my Savior. I represent Him every day through my words and actions. I am in the service of my Lord and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. It's hard to explain the feelings I have as a missionary. My Mission President said a quote that explained exactly how I feel about the mission.

"From the outside you can't understand it, from the inside you can't explain it."

6 months down...D':

Time is going too fast! It's been crazy thinking about how long I waited to serve a mission and now... I've already been through the MTC and am a third of the way finished. What happened?!

Well my Hna Jones headed out to Argentina today. It's about a 20 hour flight I think is what they said. I've got a new comp, Hna Moffitt! I'm so stoked! I love her! We have so much fun together and she's an AMAZING missionary. I'm going to learn so much from her!

Hey members, did you know there's a scripture about feeding missionaries? Alma 8:19-20 hahaha

Wellllll.... Monday we went to go get haircuts... I've been dreading/avoiding it for awhile now because they just always seem to mess it up. Hna Jones needed one before she left so I said I might as well get one too. Bad idea. I asked for a trim and to cut my SIDE bangs. SIDE BANGS. The lady put my bangs down the front of my forehead, pulled them up and in a panic I said "This will be side bangs right?" Yep she said. CHOP! nooooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I now have bangs. Like real bangs. Like bangs in the front of your face like a 5 year old child bangs. Don't you fret I've got some beautiful pictures for y'all. Gotta love it.

R!!!! Is doing amazing. I love him to death. We taught him the law of Chastity this week and he said he understands and that he know in order to be baptized and a member of the church he's going to be making a lot of changes in his life. He's still working on the Word of Wisdom step by step. We've gotten so comfortable with him that we got talking at the end of the lesson and miiiiight have forgotten to committ him to live the law of chastity. As we were driving to our next cita I said "Hna Jones! We forgot to committ him to live it! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" She got out the phone and I kid you not texted him "R! Vivira la ley de castidad?" bahahahaha that happened. We committed our investigator to live the law of chastity via text. At least now we have proof? lolz He was able to come to stake conference yesterday. Twas bonita. He loved it. It was in english so he wore the headset for translation and ever every talk he would take of the headset, look at me and say "wowwww" Afterwards he said it was beautiful and he was happy. He was so excited to tell me he hadnt drank coffee that morning. He's so great! Before Hna Jones left he told us that we both have a piece of his heart and that we are noble women sent to him to help him find the right path. He told us he's full of affection and love towards us and is thankful for all we've done. He made us promise to come back to visit him. I told him I would but I didn't know when because I live pretty far. He said how much is a plane ticket from Florida? $600? I told him I didn;t know and he offered to pay for my plane ticket to come back. hahahaha He's so sweet!

We finally found a doubt that C has (the first person I committed to baptism back in April) Shes been taught EVERYTHING even the after baptism lessons. She just wont act on her faith to come to church because of work. She finally told us that she had a doubt about the Priesthood because she came to baptism and it seemed like all the Priesthood holders were young and she feels like they should be older than her. Totally by the spirit because I know we wouldn't have been able to explain it let alone in another language but I drew out the priesthood offices for her and used scriptures and also explained the order from the prophet down to the bishops. It was stressful but we were able to resolve her concern through the power of the Spirit.

We had a lesson with some inactive boys yesterday (17 and 19). They break my heart every time we see them. They're just so closed off, when they start to feel the spirit they change the subject and don't allow themselves to feel it. I asked N if he prays and he said "No, I've tried and tried and Hes never answered me so whats the point?" Man. I just lost it. I testified to him of what I know and how I know it and with tears in my eyes I told him God loves him and hears his prayers but if he's not willing to feel the spirit he will not recognize his answer. 

Its so hard. I cant make anyone listen. I cant make anyone understand. All I can do is teach and testify but still I feel like it's not enough. It's hard when you come to love these people so much but they refuse to follow Christ, no matter what you say. 

We've had some rough contacts/tracting lately. 6 months in and I got my first door slammed in my face! Woohoo! hahaha This one lady opened the door, I stated who we are and she said "YOU'RE WRONG. You're all WRONG. I wish I had some time to show you the REAL GOSPEL." I was like well... you can pray and ask God. And she said she didn't have to because she already knows we're wrong. She was a little scary bless her heart. Then a few door down this young man said "I don't believe in God. I hate God" I wanted to ask him why but I was a little afraid it would be too personal and pushy but I should have asked. I should have testified to him but I didn't. I beat myself up the rest of the night. I should have told him there is a God and He loves him. I failed in my purpose as a missionary that day. :/ But that's what repentance is for. It's a new day, a new week, and I will try harder to not fear man and fulfill my purpose as a missionary in every opportunity. We've ran into some really nice JW's lately. We knocked on one lady's door and she offered us water, told us shes thankful for what we do, and offered us a pamphlet. (Now I was trained in my home to offer literature back to them haha even though it's against their religion to take it.) so I automatically said well if we take this and learn about your faith would you be willing to accept a card with a website? She took it! Yeah! hahahaha Then I contacted a table full of people at the park yesterday and one guy said he knows all about our church and has a BOM. I asked him if he read it. He said a little bit. I asked if he prayed about it he said no, I don't have to because the Bible says not to add to it and went on some tangent about how the Bible doesn't say Satan and Christ were brothers and cant believe we believe that. I didn't really have anything to say to that because I honestly had no answer for him. But I had a testimony! I told him I respect his beliefs but have to disagree with him that I'm not there to convince him of anything but that I do know that what we teach is true and invited him to read the BOM and pray and ask God because Hes the only one who can make it known to us if it's true or not. He said okay fair enough Ill take that. I think he respected the way I handled it so that's always good.

That's about it for fun times this week!

I know this is the only true church on the face of the earth. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It is confirmed to me every day, more and more, as I teach and testify to the people here in California. I don't need to have all the answers to every question. I don't have to be a scriptorian or know the ins and outs of the Bible or BOM. I don't have to have millions of scriptures memorized to spute off at any given moment. Because I am an authorized representative of Jesus Christ. I have a testimony that He lives. That through the Atonement we can return to live with our Father in Heaven, to become like Him, to progress with our families for eternity. Christ suffered so that we don't have to, so that we can be forgiven, so that we can find peace in this life when things are hard. Christ died on the cross and overcame death so that all people to ever live on the earth will receive the gift of the Resurrection. I know that the message I teach is true and I cannot deny it. I will not be ashamed of it. Even as the worlds standards continue to decrease, even if it's not "cool" to be religious, even if people laugh and mock us as we share this message, I will not be give up. I will glory in my God. I will be faithful. I'm a representative of Christ, and I can't help but think that if He were here doing the same things, people would treat Him the same exact way. They wouldn't recognize Him. You can be well versed in the Bible, know Christ's life from beginning to end in every detail and still not KNOW Him. I know my Savior. I know my Heavenly Father. I know They love me with a perfect love. I will continue about my Father's work to find those who are ready to accept the gospel. I know its true. I have a testimony that I worked hard to get. I worked hard to be able to know the things I know. I will continue working hard in this work because my testimony and the Spirit of God is all I need to bring souls back to Christ.

The Most Beautiful Day in My Life.

I'm out of time but this is all that's really important this week.

R is doing AMAZING!!! We set a baptismal date with him this past week!!!!!!! He's been so afraid of pressure so we've been a little scared to push him too much. He told us he's still working on his faith and isn't ready to be baptized but I knew we needed a date for him to work towards. My comp totally followed the spirit and took out a calendar and told him to look at the calendar for 30 seconds and think about his baptism, not pick a date or anything just look and think. He did and he picked a date himself. Oct 19! It's a little far but hey, we'll take it! I cried, real tears. For like five minutes when we got home. I've never been so happy in my life. I love him so much with the purest love Christ has for him.

Now he's talking about his baptism and is excited, he's even telling members about it! And he asked to come to appointments with us so he can learn more! We taught him the WOW and he told us he's been quitting all those things since he met us and he didn't know why. he doesn't even buy beer or cigarettes anymore. He took a sip of coffee the other day and poured the rest down the sink. he was like "I don't know why, I think it was the spirit." HE'S THE BEST! I seriously love him to death. I feel like if anything I was sent here just for him, and if he's the only other person who gets baptized on my mission, I'll be as happy as a bird with a french fry. :DD

My companion got her VISA! She's heading to Argentina in a week so I'll be getting a new comp. We have 19 investigators in our area where most areas have 3-7 and 108 contacts when we used to have 30-60. TEARIN' IT UP!

:D

YAYYYYY MISSIONARY WORK!

One more transfer in the Dirty Dido!

Escondido, la tierra de los milagros!

I love it here. I was so scared I would get transfered but I had this feeling in my heart I have more work to do here. I prayed and prayed for Heaveny Father to let me continure working here. I promised Him I would work even harder than before if He let me stay. Transfer call came, I felt sick to my stomach of the though I could possible leave. 4 missionaries were leaving. My companion and I held hands and held our breath. SAFE! Heavenly Father knows me and loves me and heard my prayers. He has more work for me to do here. There are people here that I still need to help and Ive got another 6 weeks to do it. Estoy muy feliz. :)

R is progressing well. For some reason he enjoys only coming to church every other Sunday :/ but he's making great baby steps since the day we first met back in May. We taught the plan of Salvation this week and tried to help him see how far he's come and he just needs to stay on this path and he will be fine. I'm really attached to him. 'Ive cried for him, Ive studied, Ive exhausted all my faculties to try to find how I can help him keep making steps to baptism. I feel so strongly that he will one day be a leader in the church and thats why Satan is tearing him down making him feel like he cant do it. My heart ached with the thought Id be transferred and not be able to finish teaching him. Hes one of those I promised to help in the premortal world and Heavenly Father knew I needed to stay, if only for him.

A is progressing well too. He committed to come to church this Sunday so we will see how that goes. He's been reading but not praying too much. Its hard for Catholics to get used to pray when it's not memorized, they feel so awkward haha but he's getting there, step by step.

A lot of our investigators have awesome potential but they are so scared of pressure and moving too fast. Building their faith is the first step of the gospel though. we can't just jump to baptism or the 4th article of faith would be a lot different haha

E is doing well, we got a picture book of mormon for her and her daughters and they love it. Theyve been reading a lot more. We finally had a chastity lesson with her but we were not as bold as we should have been... We regretted it after we left and when we got to our correlation meeting with our ward mission leader he told us he received revelation that he needs to tell the missionaries to remember who we are. We are personal representative of Jesus Christ and we have a missionary mantle placed on our shoulder that we wont feel until we are released. We get so used to it we forget our duty and obligation but we must remember we represent Christ and we must say and do what He would say and do if He were walking the earth. He then challenged us to give out 2 copies of the Book of Mormon that night. We knew that revelation was for us. We left and knew we had to go talk to E again. We stopped by her house with hearts pounding knowing we needed to be bold as Christ would for her salvation depends on it. We didnt know what to do. I received revelation during our pray to give her the Chastity pamphlet and have her read the scriptures and questions in the back. We got to her door, she had company, she was about to leave, Satan didnt want us to do our job. Hermana Jones asked to use her bathroom, went and prayed and received revelation on what to do now. She pulled E aside and told her we felt we needed to come back and talk more, gave her the pamphlet and asked her to do those things because we love her and want to help her reach the desires of her heart. It didnt go according to plan but we did what we needed to do and will continue working with her and being bold.

It was getting late, we had tracting planned and hadn't given out any copies of the BOM. I prayed and prayed to be able to do it. We only took two copies out with us, one in Englisha and one in Spanish. We were able to testify with the Holy Ghost of the power of the BOM and we gave out 2 BOMS that night- one in SPanish and one in english. We have a potential investigator and one for the ENglish Elders. Blessings! Miracles! God answers prayers!

Funny story:

We ran out of toilet paper. It wasnt pday and we wanted to be exactly obedient... so in the morning when we realized we were out we MIGHT have put on our running clothes and shoes, ran to Ihop, used their bathroom and stuffed toilet paper in our pockets.... then called our investigator to ask for toilet paper. Probably the funniest text of our missions. But we got toilet paper, fear not little flock! The Lord provides! 

bahahahahaha

I love writing home about all our AWESOME miracles! This week has beeeeeeen beautiful! :D

We went on exchanges with our Sister Training Leaders, I stayed in my area and hna Jones went to Vista. We set 2 1/2 baptism dates! We went to visit a guy we contacted before and Hna W and I made it into a game. We both set goals for the lesson and whoever did the best had to buy the other a snocone. My goals were smiling while teaching (I focus too much on the Spanish and look angry when I'm trying to teach this beautiful message haha) and not correcting my Spanish. Hna Whicker talks a lot so her goal was to teach simply in 3 sentences. We both FAILED hahahaha it was SO hard! But the main goal was to teach a brief but effective Restoration lesson and invite to be baptized and we did! August 24. Then we went to visit J, she was raised in the church but never had the chance to be baptized. We thought something that would hold her back was she was living with the father of her child and we thought they weren't married buuuuut as of December I guess they are! So we read in the BOM about baptism and invited her to be baptized on August 24. She was s excited she said yes that's what Ive always wanted, I feel like I have the Spirit with me sometimes but it's only half way and I want my husband to understand that its a commitment, im not just going to get baptized and then quit going to church. She just has to find a way to get Sundays off of work. :D Annnnd we got a member referral who said a young lady wanted to meet with us. We had to skip language study for it but it was sooooo worth it! Her name is L, she's 17 and friends with Hna A's son because they do track together. She straight up told us she was to change to Mormon. Shes English speaking so we went ahead and taught her the first lesson but explained we'd have to send the English missionaries after. She's so excited to learn. She already had a BOM, For Strength of Youth, and Faith in God for girls hahaha all in her backpack! She said she wants to be baptized but needs to talk with her family first. Shes so cute! She told me before we left, "I was kinda scared to come because S wasnt here. but then I realized you were young and pretty so it was okay." hahahahaha! We taught E, shes pretty much a dry Mormon, comes t church ever Sunday with her girls, watches GC, todos. Weve talked about baptism several times but she always says theres things in her life she needs to fix but we knew there was something deeper, we just couldnt get it out of her! Hna W helped us find her concern so we now have more direction on how we can help her reach the waters of baptism. Yay!

We set ANOTHER baptismal date after the exchange with V. August 24 tambien! Im so excited he's golden! Im so glad we've followed the spirit in finding him.

We had another lesson with J (25) and A (18) and it was great. We taught the Restoration and they really liked it. J has been through a lot but is trying to change and get everything back in order. He has so much potential. A has a close friend whos a member but she wasnt able to make it to our cita. We invited them both to be baptized but Juan is afraid hes going to do it and then screw up again and doesnt want to do that. So we asked him to pray and read the BOM to find more peace about it. When we asked A he said hes learning a lot and then J TESTIFIED to his little brother. It was beautiful. He said Ive made a lot of mistakes in my life but youve been the strong one in the family and learned from my mistakes and youre propable the best one out of our whole family and I know that baptism will just make you even stronger and help you stay on the right path. MAN! The power of a brother testifying what so incredible. J gave the closing prayer and thanked God for putting us in his path so he could learn more and have this conversation with his brother that he probably wouldnt have otherwise. awwww!

We taught R again! We hadnt heard from him in awhile so we stopped by his house Saturday night to invite him to church. He said he was debating on going and when we showed up he knew he needed to go. We set expectations and told him we're hear to teach and help him but if he doesnt want to learn anymore then thats okay but our purpose as misisonaries is to help him learn but we cant do that if he always cancels citas or doesnt do his part. So we set a cita for after church and we invited our ward mission leader to come with us. We had planned to teach the plan only because that was the next lesson (bad on our part we teach people NOT lessons) we told R (mission Leader) and he was like do you think thats what he really needs? We were like NO! We both could not study for him that morning we were stumped something just wasnt right. So R helped us figure out what he needs and make a game plan. We had our lesson and R laid it down on him (in love of course) but pretty much talked about diligence, line upon line, todos. He asked him where he wants to see himself in 2 years spiritually and what hes going to do to get there. So he now understands he has to do his part to see changes in his life and to get closer to God. We stressed how much potential we see in him and R even told him that he can see him being not just a member of the church but a leader. And its true! It was a great lesson and we will be teaching him tonight and working on setting a baptismal date he can work towards. :) Say a prayer for us!

We went to our apointment with L (the first baptismal date we set this week) and he wasnt home. BUT we were still in the right place at the right time because a member walked by who lives near him and we asked him how he was doing. He said not very good. he has a son hes been having a lot of problems with the last 2 years, he told us thats why he didnt come to church because they got in a fist fight and he was angry. I had just gotten a letter from my brother the day before that was so powerful describing the changes hes making in his life. I was able to testify to him with so much power that I know for a fact people can change. I told him I know how he feels and I understand how hard it is on the family. I told him Ive always had a spot in my heart for Alan because he does remind me of my brother. Hno R was like I understand now why youve been the one always trying to push him along, inviting him to church and lessons when everyone else just gave up. I told him that is the reason because I know he can change. I know because Ive seen the changes in my brothers life and Im going to help his son. He thanked us and gave us a time we can come over this week. I know A is one of the people Ive been sent her to rescue and Ive been pleading with the Lord to help me find a way to do that.

Our Zone Leaders were so excited this week because we met almost every single one of our goals. It was the best week so far. We worked so hard and stayed focused and Heavenly Father blessed us so much!

Man, how great is this work of our Lord and Savior?!

This week has been insane but great all at the same time. The good times outweigh the bad. Seems to be the theme every week of the mission. :)

Our district just hiked up this super steep hill that felt like a mountain today. It was intense. My calves hurt and I looked like a Mexican by the time we got to the bottom again I was so dirty haha I only almost died like 5 times but it was an adventure! So fun and then we ate donuts to make up for all the calories we burned ;)

We're teaching a lady named E, her 7 year old daughter said she wants to be a missionary just like us. :) CUTE!

We contacted a family the other day and had a beautiful miracle with them. This little 8 year old girl named L and her brother J and his girlfriend C. They said we could come back and we tried and tried but they were always busy so we've just been teaching L. She loves us and loves learning about God. One day we were teaching her and J said dont worry we want to hear what you have to say, come back tomorrow at this time. We were like well okay! We went there the next day and L answered the door and said they were about to fall asleep. We said we'd try another time but L was like "well you can just teach me if you want!" We had already taught her the restoration so we went back to the car to get the plan pics we use to teach kids the plan of salvation. We started teaching her and she was like hmmm wait a second im gonna go see if theyre awake. They were so she made them come outside and learn with her. She's our little angel miracle worker. The plan ended up being exactly what J and C needed to hear. If we had started with the Resto with them I dont think they would have felt the spirit as strong and allowed us back. But the plan ended up being perfect. In the beginning J said i just want to know what my purpose is in this life. We promised him if he would listen to our message he will feel and know what it is. By the end he said I feel something, something different, I dont know how to describe it but it feel good. He asked his girlfriend how she felt and she said good too. I testified to them that that was the Holy Ghost testifying that what we're teaching them is true and it is of God. J said I know what my purpose is I need to keep learning from you guys I need this in my life and this will give my mom the peace she needs to be able to leave us without worry because she'll know that I know God. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! Our little angel didnt even stay for the whole lesson but she asked for a Spanish BOM so she can read with her mom. We LOVE  her!!!

We finally taught R! Hes the one who chased us down for the BOM awhile back. He comitted to baptism but not a date yet. We'll keep working with him :)

We taught V! We found him awhile back right when he found out he had cancer. He's been in the hospital ever since but we walked past his house and I felt prompted to knock his door again. He was home and feeling better and said we could come back Sunday. We did and shared the Resto with him and he comitted to baptism as well! He said hes coming to church this Sunday as well. Yay!

The work is going great here and it's amazing to see how Heavenly Father has every tine detail planned out so perfectly. I know this church is true. Every bit of it. The work is joyful, it's hard some days but these beautiful miracles make up for it even more! We walk when we don't want to walk and we talk when we don't want to talk. I love being a missionary and I love serving my Heavenly Father.

I got a blessing the other day from our DL and a part that really stuck out to me was that I need to push forward and keep working hard to find those that I promised Heavenly Father in the pre-existence that I would help find the Gospel. Tears came to my eyes as I realized this was the reason I've always had such a powerful desire to serve a mission. I promised to before I even came to earth!

Hermana Gutknecht :D

Greenie Break!

Wow. One of the most trying, insane, tiring, growing, learning, miracle weeks of the mission. I don't even know where to begin...

Tuesday we said goodbye to President and Sister Cook. We had a special transfer meeting to say goodbye and switch things around to get ready to welcome President and Sister Kendrick today. Hermana Schwegler got switched to English work... =O She was sad but she loves the work more than the language so I know she'll be okay. Remember that Hermana I went on an exchange with that was older than me in the mission but I had better Spanish? She's my companion now... Needless to say it was rough the first few days. She's Senior Companion but I feel like I am because it's in my area so I know the people and I have to be the one to plan know where to go because she's still leanring the area. I know that Heavenly Father prepared me for this through all the exchanges I went on taking "the lead" in my area.  But it was still REALLY hard.  Tears were shed, overwhelming feelings of fear, hesitation, doubt, frustration, todos. But prayer, dilligence, and hard work can fix anything! I was trained well, I know how to work, and I know how to rely on the Lord. We're both really young in the mission so sometimes it's hard to communicate in Spanish because we're both at about the same level. But I've noticed when it's something important, we're able to understand, when it's not then we don't as much but that's okay. The Holy Ghost helps us understand what we need in order to do the work. It took a few days to get on our feet but we ended up seeing miracles and having one of the best weeks we've had in awhile! I'd been praying for paciencia and Heavenly Father answered haha He's so funny sometimes. :p As I pray for paciencia (I dont know how to spell that in english anymore) and love for my companion and the people, I'm able to recognize more clearly the attributes they have that Heavenly Father loves about them. I'm learning the true meaning of "the pure love of Christ." It's crazy how much my feelings have changed for people and how I can see the good more than the annoying things that don't really matter. 

We had 4 investigators at church on Sunday! The most we've had all transfer! Miracle? I think, yes. 

C and C! Oh my goodness they are golden! They told us that they had been going to a church previously and just didn't feel right about it. They decided it was between Jehovahs Witness or Mormon. They felt like they should go to the Mormon church so they walked to the church on a weekday, banged on the door but no one was there. They wanted to know how to contact someone from this church. The landscaping people were there and told them what time it opened on Sundays, so the next Sunday they were there. They went to the English service 3 times and said they felt like this was the true church, the feeling there was different than anything, they found the love and peace they were searching for. They found out that we services in Spanish and they searched for the missionaries. They found us and asked us to teach them. We've been teaching them ever since, they come to church every Sunday, and always tell us how much they love us for helping them know the truth. We just have to finish teaching them and they'll be baptized soon! Beautiful miracle!

We have a lot of investigators who want to be baptized but something is holding them back. We're trying to find their concerns or doubts but man, it's tough sometimes! We picked up 4 new investigators this week, Escondido is the land of miracles! 

We're praying for 3 baptisms this transfer! We've been working our faces off, Heavenly Father is going to bless us to help these people come unto Him. Im so tired. But I feel like a real missionary now without my trainer, doing everything on my own. (well with the help of my comp and the Holy Ghost of course)

We contacted this man in his yard, he was looking at us so I just said Hola como esta? and he was so surprised he was like you speak spanish? We were like of course! He died laughing he was like that's so cool I would have never guessed you two white girls could speak spanish! We invited him to English class because he wasn't interested in our message BUT maybe something will come out of it if he comes. :)

It's been a rough week, I'm exhausted, but I feel good about the work we're doing here. I know Heavenly Father is pleased. :)

LOVE YOU ALLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Well tomorrow I lose my trainer and my title as a "greenie" SAD! It's been a fast 2 transfers and I got gipped a week because of the mission split :( But my trainer is so good she trained me in 11 weeks easy! I'm going to miss her so much, she's taught me so much and is such an example to me. I've learned so much be the small things she does every day, she has so many attributes of Christ that makes her such an amazing missionary. I want to be like her when I grow up! :D 

Missionary work is so amazing. There is so many changes being made to allow us to more fully help the Lord hasten His work. It's such an exciting time to be a missionary, I'm so blessed to be out here to watch everything change! In the Guia of the Spanish BOM it says so simply that missionary work is by word AND example. Never forget how much you can influence someone by your actions. Strive every day to develop attributes of Christ: Faith, Hope, Charity & Love, Virtue, Patience, Humility, Diligence, and Obedience. Pray for them as they are gifts from God that He will help you develop as you pray and try every day to develop these attributes. Member missionary work is SO important. If you lead by example, others will notice and desire what you possess. Full-time missionaries are here to assist YOU in helping YOUR friends learn the Gospel. This is so much more useful than us knocking door after door. So Members, get involved! Get excited about helping the Lord gather the harvest. Even if you don't think someone is interested, lead by example, open your mouth and invite! You have a responsibility as a member of the church to share the Gospel. You know how happy you are with the Gospel in your life, you know the joy this knowledge brings, why not share it with everyone? 

Also, I know I can't even talk about this because I was a failure at it, but as a missionary I now see the HUGE importance of Home and Visiting teaching! We're having a very hard time in our ward right now. We have the highest baptizing ward but awful retention! Missionaries can't do it all. We need the members help in fellowshipping new members and visiting inactives to help them remember what they're missing. GO VISIT YOUR FAMILIES! Right now! :D

Man, I love serving the Lord everyday! I've come to realize that we're really not teaching anything new. We are all literally spirit children of God, and because of this the Holy Ghost can testify to our spirits of truth. Before this life we all heard our Heavenly Father explain this beautiful plan He has for us, at the veil we forgot all these things so we have to walk by faith in this life. Our Spirits haven't forgotten though, as missionaries we're actually just teaching our brothers and sisters things they have already heard before this life, and the Holy Ghost can testify to them, through us, that it is of God. Amazing, right?! 

We have been finding a lot of people to teach but none are progressing towards baptism right now. We continue working with them but they have to be ready to hear and accept our message. We've had to drop a few beautiful families but we know in our hearts, one day another set of missionaries will find them again at a time that they are ready to accept the Gospel. We're planting seeds so no worries. :) 

The church is true! I see a witness of that every single day!