Kumusta po kayong lahat? Miss na miss ko na po ang ward at kayo pong lahat diyan...
Ako po, I'm growing old! I'm already done with my 12-week training! And it all ended amazingly! Yesterday (May 11, Sunday) was my last day as a trainee and was Crystal Jennings and her son Donovan's baptism! It was very spiritual experience experience for them yesterday, specially for Crystal. She said that she felt that her sins were washed away and felt clean now. I love her and her sons so much!!! We met them one month ago while knocking doors in an apartment complex. It was such a miracle find because everything went well. She was so receptive and submissive that she's was so willing to accept what she hears and to do what God wants her to do. I know Heavenly Father has been preparing her to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ before Sister Dahl and I got here. It was the Spirit who touched and change her life and I'm grateful that she allowed the message of the restoration to enter in her heart. I'm so grateful to be one of the instruments in God's hand to help her receive the gospel.
Last February 18, My trainer and I got here. We were both new in the area. There was no progressing investigator and we never thought that we would have baptism. But we saw lots of miracles here! We are indeed in the Lord's errand. He's helping us accomplish His work. Our part is to rely on His help and do our very best to labor in His vineyard. I do love missionary work! I'm getting transferred. Sister Dahl is staying here and I'm leaving. It's sad but I'm ready to face new challenges in my future new area. I'm nervous but excited.
Please continue to pray for me and for ALL missionaries dear brothers and Sisters. Missionary work is really hard but I know that through your prayers, we can be successful!
Aaaahhh! I'm growing old! I'm already done with my 12-week training! And it all ended amazingly! Yesterday (May 11, Sunday) was my last day as a trainee and was Crystal Jennings and her son Donovan's baptism! It was very spiritual experience experience for them yesterday, specially for Crystal. She said that she felt that her sins were washed away and felt clean now. I love her and her sons so much!!! We met them one month ago while knocking doors in an apartment complex. It was such a miracle find because everything went well. She was so receptive and submissive that she's is willing to accept what she hears and to do what God wants her to do. I know Heavenly Father has been preparing her to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ before Sister Dahl and I got here. It was the Spirit who touched her life and I'm grateful that she allowed the message of the restoration to enter in her heart. I'm so grateful to be one of the instruments in God's hand to help her receive the gospel.
Last February 18, My trainer and I got here. We were both new in the area. There was no progressing investigator and we never thought that we would have baptism. But we saw lots of miracles here! We are indeed in the Lord's errand. He's helping us accomplish His work. Our part is to rely on His help and do our very best to labor in His vineyard. I do love missionary work! And hey, I'm getting transferred. Sister Dahl is staying here and I'm leaving. It's sad but I'm ready to face new challenges in my future new area. I'm nervous but excited.
Please continue to pray for me and for ALL missionaries dear family and friends! Missionary work is really hard but I know that through your prayers, we can be successful!
As promised, I'm gonna tell you about the most solid investigator that we have right now! Her name is Crystal, a mother of two primary age boys. She's scheduled to be baptized on May 11th. She came to church yesterday with her 2 sons and her ex-husband (yes! they're divorced. I wanna tell you the story behind it pero too personal) They look so cute in the picture, aren't they? They look so perfect. This reminds me of our own family. We went to church together several times before our parents got separated. When we started investigating the church way back 2006, I thought that it would make everything perfect! We went to church together, had family prayers, family scripture study, family home evenings. Our father, my 3 sisters and I were baptized together. Our mom wasn't able to witness our baptism though because she needed to go back to Hong Kong to work. But that day ( February 4, 2006) was so memorable! Unfortunately, the head of the family wasn't truly converted and didn't apply the gospel of Jesus Christ into his life which eventually led to our parents' separation. So I was crying last night and was pleading to God to bless me and my companion with strength and guidance to help this family specially the father. He reminded me of my father a lot. If only they use their agency wisely and see the blessings that their family could have from living the gospel of Jesus Christ, everything would be so perfect for their family. Even though I came from a broken family, I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ can bless all families but it's possible only if every member will act on it. So "what can I say more?", to all those who read this, be wise.. Do all the best you can to live the gospel of Jesus Christ and apply the Atonement in your life. That's all I wanna share with you today! Love you!
I apologize (specially to you mama) for not emailing you yesterday! But guess why we weren't able to do e-mails yesterday!!! (We have 1 hour to do emails today) Okay, the New Jersey Morristown Missionaries met with ELDER L. TOM PERRY!!!! A living Apostle of the Lord just talked to us yesterday! It's so amazziiiing!!!! Just staring at him made my testimony that I really belong to the TRUE and LIVING CHURCH of CHRIST. We have the priesthood of God. Christ runs this Church. We were given the privilege to shake his hands one by one as well! I took some pictures of him.. I'm gonna send it. Check it out!<3
Last Saturday and Sunday was our Stake Conference here. In the Saturday session, my companion and I were asked to do a role play/skit about opening the members' mouth. Imagine?!!! Fisrt stake conference in my mission, had to do it?!! It was scary! I was super nervous but my companion helped me to feel comfortable and just be natural. (I'm having my acting career here :D) Just kidding. Nway, everyone said that our skit was awesome! They laughed and learned from it. (That's what they said) It was a 5-minute role play. I played the role as the member who missed the opportunity to share the gospel while having my haircut and then made a rewind of how to grab that opportunity to share the gospel to the hair cutter. Cool, isn't it? :D
Today, I gave my very first training in the District Meeting about the importance of bearing our testimony and experience in our teachings. As usual, I was nervous but it was great! I'm so grateful for the opportunities that Heavenly Father is giving me to build my confidence, to learn and to grow in my testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ even more.
I'm sending you our pictures taken during our Zone activity last Monday. We had Easter egg hunting and kite flying in the Jersey shore. (We didn't actually fly kites, just took pictures. Haha)
Okay hope you enjoy the pictures.
I'll tell you about the most solid investigator that we have next time!
Wow! I got a lot of e-mails today! Thank you so much. I want to respond to every e-mails today so I won't make a long email okay?
When will be the General Conference there? We had it last Saturday and Sunday (April 5 & 6). It was awesome! I love all the talks. I had two questions written in my journal before the conference and they were both answered! Awesome, isn't it? You can also do that, ask a specific question. Will you do that? And share it to me after. I can promise you that God will give you specific answers through His living Prophets and Apostles and other Leaders. My most favorite talk was Elder Richard G. Scott's. It perfectly answered my question and resolved my concern the night before the Saturday session. I actually written this in my journal that night, "The more questions and confusions I hear from other people, the more I become strong in my testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. The more complicated things I hear that other people worry so much about, the more I appreciate the pureness and simplicity of the doctrines and principles of the gospel that I know. As a missionary, I need not to know every details and all things, it's enough that I have a firm belief that I know the truth' that the Church I belong in does have it, and above all, my understanding of the perfect plan of God for all of His children and the very center of it, Jesus Christ, His only Begotten Son. I'm so grateful for Him and His atonement. I'm helpless without Him.
I hope and pray that each of you as you listen to the talks in the General Conference, your testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ will be strengthened even more and you will desire to repent and be better persons and be willing to follow Christ's examples. I love you all, Wave, smile and hugs for all of you! <3 :)
I have something to confess. I wasn't able to concentrate during the last session because the family that we were expecting to come, didn't make it to Church yesterday. They just texted us that morning that they will but they didn't. I and Sister Dahl was so disappointed. But I'm happy that we are teaching a family now. The couple's name is Evan and Crystal. Dennovon (10) and Aiden(7) are their sons. Please pray for them. It's also a blessing to hear their first out loud prayers with us. <3
Pictures? I'll just send it to mama and will upload it in facebook. How's facebook by the way? :D Just kidding.
Your emails are waiting for my response right now, Hehe. so babye. I love you all so much!
We had exchanges with our Sister training leaders (if you don't know what it means, please ask the missionaries serving in your ward or the RM's there :D) last Friday (March 14). My original companion Sister Dahl stayed in our area with Sister Houghton and I went to Manchester to be with Sister Bair. So if you see the picture, that's me with Sister Bair. She's from Utah. So pretty isn't she? And these are the things that I learned from her:
1. Being grateful means understanding the mercy of the Lord. 2. Pray specifically, not generally. (I'm working on that, being specific in ALL things) 3. Think or identify the specific things you do where you feel the Spirit most to develop the ability to recognize His help and guidance. 4. Show love and care for your investigators. This has something to do with "Teach People, not lesson." 5. I'm daughter of God and I'm pretty. She said this after sharing with her about the distractions I was having this past week. I know most of you know what it is. I'm super fine now. :)
We didn't have any investigator or less active at church tomorrow! It was a sad day! But, our last night was so great! I invited our investigator Victoria to be baptized on May 18th! I'm not sure if I'll still be in this area on that date but it's fine, as long as she'll be baptized. The original date is May 4 but she will be out of the country on that time so we needed to move. Include her in your prayer roll list. :)
I haven't seen any big miracles here yet but recognizing the little miracles every single day such as finding potential investigator, having new investigator, someone who opens the door we knock and talks to us nicely, investigators that are receptive in the lessons, contacting more than 10 people a day is so helpful to keep me motivated and endure this sacred calling that I have. We are still planting seeds in this area and it takes time to grow so I hope you'll not get disappointed with me if I can't send you baptismal pictures yet. I'm learning though that the measure of success is not really the number of baptisms you have but how much committed, obedient and diligent you are in performing the sacred task that Heavenly Father has entrusted in us, It's hard to be a missionary! I've been having tough days which make me want to give up and go home but my faith and trust in the Lord always prevails. Eating pizza also helps! :D
Please continue to send me e-mails. I feel loved when I receive e-mails from you, family and friends!
Honestly, I'm totally distracted and DESTRUCTED as I was reading some of your e-mails today! My heart is in pain. Can't believe it!
Well, I'm Sister Mendoza, should not think about it. But I wanna cry and scream right now huh!!! Hahaha. what happened? Just kiddin. don't ever mention about it again okay friends and love ones?
I have lots of stories to tell you this time but don't know where to start. See? I'm really distracted. But hey i know I'm strong. I'm committed to my calling as a full-time missionary so mama and to all of you, don't ever worry. But tell me, I'm pretty right? am i????!! Hehe.I learne yesterday from president jeppson's wife to stop thinking about negative things and replace them with positive things. what postive thing should I replace for it then? :)
Last Sunday, i had my very first three things: 1st baptismal invite which was scary! But I did it! The investigator's name is Iris Crowford. She's about 40 years old. We met her through contacting. We just knocked on her door and said that she wanna learn about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. We taught her about the restoration which was our very first FULL lesson of the restoration. the Spirit was so strong! I felt it. my companion felt it. Most importantly, Iris felt it. she said that everything made sense to her. She's been trying lots of religions but it was the first time that her questions were answered. She was amazed about the first vision. And the most exciting part was the baptismal invitation. She didn't say yes neither no but said that she's gonna consider our message and will read and pray about the book of mormon first, and will try to come to church this Sunday. Amazing! I'm so excited for her. Another name for you prayer roll, loves! :) And the last "first thing" was we had 1 investigator who attended church! Yey!!!!She's Maria who is 81 years old. We also found through knocking on her door. We taught her once then agreed to come to church! I was terribly happy las sunday huh!!! :) :) :) But we're planning to introduce her to the Spanish-speaking sisters cause she speaks Spanish better than English show she has to attend in the Spanish branch. It's sad but of course, my soul rejoices still specially when I see her enter the waters of baptism. Hope so. I'm praying for that.
Last week was also full of training for new missionaries. It was three days in a row so had only 8 lessons. But I learned a lot from that training and helped me to build my confidence.We did a lot of role plays which scared me at first. i love role plays now. Everybody's telling me that they feel the Spirit when I teach. This morning, during our district meeting, yung district leader namin umiyak habang tinuturuan namin yung isang missionary na nag-aact as an investigator. at first time daw yun na umiyak siya sa role play. Haha. Nakakatawa pero tama pala sila dahil kahit sa role plays, dama parin dapat ang Spirit. Madami pa kong papaiyakin dito! Di lang ang sarili ko. hehe. Hay iyakin :) Pero I'm enjoying my mission. The best! I'm in my 5th week pero madami na kong experiences. Malungkot man o masaya. umiiyak parin ako sa gabi minsan. PEro kaya parin! Salamat sa lahat ng nag eefort na makaalalalng mag email sakin. Mahal ko kayong lahat. Enjoy nyo nalang mga pictures okay?
PS Sorry di ko alam na mag-eemail kaming ngayong Tuesday.
Before I begin my story, could you please do a favor for me? Please remind my sisters to e-mail me because I am not receiving emails from them this past 2 weeks. How are they? I'm sending this message to them as well. Thanks so much. And another thing is, let me know if it's okay to send you my long weekly long email or not. I might disturbing your inbox. I'm so sorry for that. Hehe.. Lastly, I will not be able to send emails next Monday because will be having our specialized training on that day. O'oh.
Now, my story begins. I'm thinking of a different way to tell you what and how I'm exactly doing here. I wanna share 5 miracles I saw this week:
1. Contacted 38 people in just 4 days. This is a miracle because during our first 2 weeks here, we've been just contacting 2 people a day coz we were afraid to talk to everyone and had no enough courage to knock on doors! There were even days that we contacted NO ONE! Till I learned that the mission's goal is a minimum of 10 a day. My reaction was "Whaaat? 10 is hard! That's impossible!" But after our Zone emeting last Tuesday, I got a positive attitude towards contacting. We got courage to talk to EVERYONE we see and knock on doors as many as we can. But honestly, I and Ssiter Dahl were motivated because of the challenge given by our Zone leaders that companionships will compete and the winner will get a PLANNER COVER with his/her portrait drawn by one of our Zone leaders Elder Ramos "Hamos" (he's from Brazil). This was justr a motivation though.... Our purpose is still TO GIVE EVERYONE CHANCE TO HEAR THE GOSPEL AND FIND THOSE SOULS THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR US :)
2. Met KEISHA. We saw this lady while trying to knock on doors. She was walking down the street carrying a huge plastic bag (which I didn't know what it contains) We offered her a help and she did let us to help her carry it. Of course, it was an opportunity to tell who we are and what we do. And guess what?!! We found out that she and her mother were meeting with some Elders SIX YEARS AGO. And she said that SHE DID NOT KNOW why they STOPPED. She also mentioned that her mom passed away 2 years ago. If I were you, what are you gonna tell or ask her? Well, I asked her "do you think that you can see your mom again?" She answered, "Uhmm. Not sure. Maybe." Then I told her that "We know it's possible and our message will help you know how." Our conversation with her was cut when we got on her apartment. But she asked us to wait to grab the Book of Mormon copies that she has and showed them to us. While talking with her outside her apartment, she noticed my my YW medallion and asked "What's this?" I said, "oh, this picture is a temple, this is where we do family sealings." And to help her understand it, we shared Matthew 16:19 and testified about the restoration. It was just a quick and short message but for me, it's so powerful! she agreed to meet with us again to teach her more. Our appointment with her is this Tuesday. Please include her in your prayers. (Keisha, about 30's)
3. KYLE got a desire (about 5%) to come to church. Rememebr Kyle? The 19-year old young man who is confused on what and who to believe in? Who doesn't believe in God? We had a great lesson with him last Thursday but still, he said that he didn't have a great feeling about our message yet. But he's super nice and willing to learn. He has been studying different religions and still not sure what to believe. He's reading the Book of Mormon as well. We invited him to come to church and testified that as he does it, he'll get specific answers to his questions. And he agreed! Yey! BUT, on /Saturday night, he texted us that he can't make it coz her sister who's attending in a school far away from where he lives visited him and they wanna go hiking. ANOTHER BUT, we were still happy because for the first time, he responded to our text!!! He's starting to have connections with us! He also said that, "I'll still meet you guys on Tuesday :)" We're still hopeful for him. Please continue praying for Kyle, okay? :)
4. WALKED AND DID'T FAINT. Last Thursday, we had an appointment with an investigator named Sister Ellen at church. Because Thursday is car fast, we weren't allowed to use the car. The member who supposedly working with us that day cancelled it so we needed to walk to go to the church. We started walking at 11:30 and got there 12:45! We were freezing so bad but I didn't get tired! We walked again back to our apartment but I felt so strong that I didn't feel any pain :)
5. NO CRAMPS/ABDOMEN PAIN ON MY PERIOD. Sorry this is an awkward thing but I love to tell you this because it's a miracle!!!! Before, I always have that cramps on my 1st and 2nd day of monthly period. Miracle, indeed :)
Remember, Obedience gives us blessings but EXACT OBEDIENCE brings MIRACLES :)
I don't have enough to review and edit this so sorry for the wrong words and sentences and grammatical errors! Hoo! Honestly, it's really hard to speak PURE English but I'm continually relying on the Lord's help and in His Spirit...
MAMA, ATE, JUDY, JONA AND ATE: I super super duper miss you all now. My personal prayer before I sleep is specially for you, for your safety, for your health, for your happiness and for everything that you need. I know you'll receive blessing that you haven't received before as I do my very best here. I love you all!
HAIZEL: Thanks for updating my mission blog. I love so much! Regards to all Batac ward/batac stake members and friends!
CRISMAR, JETRONE, JEZA, NOEMI, ELDER BURGOS, ELDER TODD, SISTER RODRIGUEZ, SISTER PUTUTAO: Thanks for your emails this week. :)
I expect more emails on March 24 :)
Mom's birthday is March 18, please greet her, hug and kiss her for me. Please! Hahaha. Just kiddin. Please greet her on facebook! thankya!
The picture attached was taken during our long walk to church. We always have a copy of the Book of Mormon in our hand :)