Week 19

Some fun/random things from this week...

-One of our super good friends left on her mission.  She’s going to be great but we were pretty sad!  We are so excited for her though!

-Hermana Egbert was pretty sick one day this week so we had to go back to the house but we were able to watch the videos of the Restoration.  I testify that Joseph Smith was a prophet called by God!

-We came home, and our neighbor was having a party with his friends and they were a little drunk.  We went inside, and a few minutes later, he knocked on our door.  We didn’t answer but he kept knocking and usually it is for something about the water bill. But we opened it, and he had a huge plate of ribs that they had cooked!  He said, "Hola Vecinas (neighbors) tengo este for youuuu". Hahahah. It was really funny, and we got to eat some super good meat!  Pretty random though!

This week we have seen a lot of miracles in the work!  We were able to meet with all three of our investigators that have a baptismal date, and they are changing.  Each time we see them they look different--more humble.  And it is really cool to see.  One cool experience that we had this week was in a lesson with a woman who has been an investigator for 2 years.  She never really was interested. But she would let the missionaries in because she is very kind and treats us like her grandchildren.  We had a really powerful lesson with her.  Both Hermana Egbert and I were full of the Spirit and we taught her with power and authority!  The words we spoke were definitely not our own. While we were teaching, it was soooo fluid, and she was staring very attentively at us.  You know it was a lesson taught by the Spirit when you can’t really remember what you were saying.  I remember opening up to a picture of the temple and talking about the blessings that come from it. But, most everything else is kind of a blur.  We both really felt that our words were coming directly from heaven.  That’s how it should be every time and that’s something we are continually working towards.  Afterward she told us that missionaries have been coming for 2 years, and it’s been fine. But since Hermana Egbert and I have been teaching her, she has felt a huge difference.  She said she feels like we teach in a different way, with love.  But we know it isn’t us.  We are only the instruments.  It’s all Jesus Christ.  He cleanses us so we can be worthy of the Spirit.  We learn the Doctrine of Christ to teach to the people through the Spirit.  Because of Jesus Christ, we were able to come out on missions to teach these people.  Because of Jesus Christ, they can feel the power of what we teach.  It’s never us.  It all points back to Jesus Christ.  We couldn’t even be instruments in His hands if He hadn’t paid for our sins.  I love the Savior so much.  He’s my best friend!  What a blessing it is to be His missionary!!

Another sweet experience we had was with another investigator.  We had a family night with him and the family of our ward mission leader.  After the family night, our mission leader called us to tell us that after we left he was talking to him. The man told him that before we knocked on his door, three weeks earlier he had lost his job and gotten sick.  He has no family living anymore and his friends hadn’t been talking to him, so he had been sitting in his house alone, unable to leave and listening to music all day every day for three weeks.  He said he felt very alone. But then a miracle happened, and we knocked on his door!!  He said it changed everything.  That was very humbling to hear.  When we are listening to the Spirit, we are able to be angels in the lives of others.  I would’ve come on a mission just to have that one experience--just to be able to touch one person’s life.  He is progressing a ton and working hard to prepare for his baptism!

Also, this is probably my favorite experience of my mission so far:  All of our appointments had fallen through and we had no more back up plans. So we said a prayer that we would be guided to somebody who needed us.  After the prayer, we felt to knock a certain street.  We did, and we were able to pray with one lady because she didn’t have enough time to have a lesson.  As we left her house, we saw two little boys riding their bikes and playing with nerf guns! We started walking to the next house and one of the boys (8 years old) rode up to us on his bike and started talking to us!  He asked why we were here and I told him, "We are here to tell people about Jesus Christ!"  I gave him a pass-along card of Jesus Christ and he shared how he loves Jesus Christ!  We asked him why he loves God and then I told him, "We are also here to tell you that God is our Heavenly Father.  You are His son!"  As I told him, he was a child of God, I got chills all over my body and really felt the truth of what I had just said.  When he heard that his eyes lit up and very excitedly he said, "REALLY???"  He couldn’t stop smiling.  He wanted to keep talking to us, and we ended up teaching him that just like a boy named Joseph Smith was able to pray and receive an answer from God, so could he.  We taught him how to pray and he asked us to come back and teach his family!  We were able to visit them a few days later and hopefully we can continue to meet with them.  They are a super special family!

One last experience was yesterday. We take 3 minute breaks throughout the day so that we can keep up our energy.  We stopped at a park and there was a girl with her daughter there.  At the end, we started talking to her and asked if we could meet with her sometime!  She said ya for sure!  Then she got up and started walking!  We were like...Oh!  I guess she means right now!!!  We ended up teaching her and her little sister and the Spirit was really strong!  She asked us to come back and teach her more!  It was really cool!

So basically, we have seen a lot of miracles this week as we have really focused on listening to the Spirit.  Also, I feel like I should share this real quick (sorry this email is super long).  I’ve been studying virtue and holiness for the past month and it’s been incredible!  Virtuous thoughts are something I have been really focusing on!  Virtuous thoughts don’t mean only clean thoughts, they mean good thoughts too!  When we think good and uplifting thoughts, we are filled with pure love and joy.  Virtuous thoughts don’t include thinking things like, "man they didn’t wash the dishes again" or "that really bugs me" or "how many times have we talked about this and they keep doing it" or even "I’m not good at that".  No, those aren’t virtuous.  Virtuous thoughts come from seeing the good.  Looking for the good.  Choosing to see the good qualities in someone rather than be annoyed.  Looking for the good in ourselves. Taking time to appreciate the little but beautiful things about life! It also includes choosing faith rather than doubt or fear.  That’s virtue!  I invite you guys to practice having virtuous thoughts about family members and friends and yourselves more this week with me!  Then enjoy the blessings of joy and profound peace that come from it!!  I love you guys so much!!  Have an amazing week!!

--Hermana West

Hermana Egbert and I are always making up random holidays, and Friday she made a "happy Hermana West is my friend day" with some random things we found on the beach (some weird painting hahah)

Week 18

Hola,

Wow...It has been an incredible week!!  I can’t even try to put into words how I feel!  It’s hard to write a week’s worth of stuff into one short email.  But some trivial things to start off...

- HAPPY SWEET 16 RACHEL!!  I LOVE YOU!!

-And Happy baptism to my amazing  Aunt Lylianna (is that spelled right haha?) and her Family!!  I love you guys!!

-We had intercambios this week and that was super fun!  I was with Hermana Hyde

-I finished my training this week! (woohoo)

-It gets light here at 4:30 and dark at like 12 so we wake up all night long hahah

-I got to help an abuelita in our ward plant her garden!  She’s 92 and still lives her life like she was 50, haha. She is so cute!

Ok. So a few weeks ago, we felt prompted to suggest a ward fast for the missionary work here in Estrecho!  Last week we fasted as a ward.  This week, we have seen so many miracles!!  Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers!  When we started this week we didn’t expect to have 3 people accept baptism, but that’s what happens when you follow the Spirit!!  We were walking this week and we had extra time that somehow we didn’t plan for.  We were walking past the house of an investigator that has been sharing with the missionaries for about a year.  We said, "Well I guess we are here for a reason!" and knocked her door!  She let us in and we started talking!  A normal conversation quickly turned into us following a prompting from the Spirit to ask her to be baptized....AND SHE ACCEPTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  She also has never been to church and SHEC CAME TO CHURCH THIS SUNDAY!!! WHATTTT???

The next one is after Lunch one day we walked out of the house of a member and we had to go run an errand for the financiero in the mission but we had the thought to pass by an investigator real fast that we hadn’t been able to meet with for a while.  We passed by and she was there!!!  We also followed the prompting to invite her to baptism and...drum roll....SHE ACCEPTED!!  And she hasn’t been to church in about 2 months because of family problems but...SHE CAME TO CHURCH THIS SUNDAY AND BROUGHT HER MOM!!

The next is that night, we were going to our 2nd lesson with a new investigator and we were going to teach him the Restoration.  We had the thought to invite him to baptism at the end of the lesson and...HE ACCEPTED!!!!  Actually, he said he had already prayed to know if the things we were teaching were true and he got the answer that yes, they were.  He hasn’t been to church before either but....HE CAME TO CHURCH!!!  MIRACLE!!!!!

We know that none of it is us though.  All of this is the work of Heavenly Father in the lives of His children!!  I know none of it is me.  I’m only an instrument.

I had a really sweet experience this Sunday.  I was sitting in church with some little girls sitting by me and the speaker was talking about how we should become as little children, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, etc.  As missionaries we walk a TON and our boots are covered in dirt basically all the time.  One of the little girls ran to the bathroom and came back with a paper towel and she began to clean our feet.  I immediately thought of the woman washing the Saviors feet.  As a representative of Jesus Christ, this little girl was basically washing the feet of the Savior, and I felt how much the Savior loves little children.  They are so kind and full of pure love.  I want to become more like these pure little children!!  I never want to forget that experience!

Also Karina, the bishops daughter is leaving to Honduras on her mission tomorrow!!  We had a goodbye party for her and she is getting set apart tonight.  It made me remember everything from my few days before leaving and how much saying goodbye hurts!  But immediately I remembered how much peace I have felt every step of the way, how many miracles I've seen as a missionary, how happy I am, and what an incredible experience it is to serve a mission!  Even though it may be hard at some times, most of the time it is just pure joy.  I remembered why I came on a mission.  I came because I love Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Father and I want to help His children have this same happiness that I have and help my brothers and sisters make it back to live with Heavenly Father too.  I love being a missionary!!  I love you all!!  Have an amazing week!!!

--Hermana West

Week 17

Hola!

Sorry, it’s a holiday today so the Ciber is closing soon, and I don’t have too much time to write!  Basically, this week was full of experiences where I have really relied on the Spirit.  He knows things that we can’t see or notice.  If someone is struggling and they aren’t showing signs of it, if there is something bothering a person but they haven’t said anything, if there is a situation that appears harmless but will later end up dangerous, the Spirit can tell us of those things!  I have had to rely on Him a lot this week to help me do work that I couldn't see.  Also, if we just are trying to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ every day and trying to do what's right, we are always going to be in the right place at the right time and everything will work together for our good!  If we are living righteously, "Angels will go before our face" and prepare the way for us with opportunities or just taking care of situations!  I love you all a ton!!  I promise you that Heavenly Father knows exactly what you feel. Your joys, your worries, everything.  If you love Him and you are TRYING to do the things He asks of you, your life is going to turn out EXACTLY how it is supposed to.  His plan for us is always better than the plan that we think we want.  One day, if we stay close to Jesus Christ, we will all look back and be so grateful things didn’t work out how we thought we wanted them to.  I love you all!!  Talk to you next week!!

--Hermana West

Week 16

Hello!!

To start off, I would just like to share how the mission has pushed me in multiple ways and helped me grow a ton, but I think one of the biggest is that it's helped me be able to eat seafood.  I'm not sure if you remember, but I can barely eat salmon without gagging hahahah.  This week we went to a members house for lunch and they had prepared a really big bowl of this seafood soup thing.  There was allllll types of animals in there hahaha.  To name a few, octopus tentacle things, clams, shrimp, muscles, random bits of other fish, and who knows what else.  I HAVE NEVER PRAYED HARDER HAHAHAHAH.  It was really kind of them to feed us and I really did appreciate it, but it was hard not to show any sign of disgust.  When I took the first bite I almost threw up, the second bite I literally almost started to cry, and I started praying on the third bite and was able to finish the whole bowl of soup without showing anything!  MIRACLES hahah. The only noticeable thing was after Hermana Egbert told me she has never seen me so focused on eating my food before.  

We had a Noche de Hogar (family home evening) with a less active member of the ward this week who owns a Hostel (kinda like a hotel where people just go and sleep for the night).  We planned on doing some practices with her of how she can share the gospel with her friends, but before we even started she invited the people who were staying there for the night to come in and join us!  They did, and soon we had 5 investigators, all really tall intelligent men from Santiago that were just passing through for their job.  We just listened to the spirit and started teaching the Restoration to them.  At first they weren't interested, but as time went on they all started asking sincere questions and wanting to learn more.  We felt a little bit like the missionaries in the Book of Mormon who "couldn't be confounded before men" because the Spirit gave us "in the very hour" what we needed to say.  It was one of the coolest experiences of my mission.

We also got to see a baptism this week!  The girl is 8 years old so we dont get to call her our investigator and the baptism was counted as a ward baptism, but we were still instruments in teaching this girl and helping her get to the point where she could make covenants with her Heavenly Father.  Hermana Egbert and I sang "As I have loved you" and it was a really sweet experience.  After she was confirmed and recieved the Holy Ghost, she ran to sit by her mom who was crying, pointed to her heart and said "Mom!  Mom, I feel something!!"  That was really special.

Conference was SOOOOO good!!!  After the first session on Saturday I felt like I had just come out of the temple or something.  I was filled with SO much joy and I couldnt stop smiling for about 45 minutes after!  That is what the Gospel of Jesus Christ does to us!  After the last session on Sunday night, I left feeling an overwhelming sense of Peace.  What a blessing it is to be able to have the Holy Ghost with us always!  Every talk was full of absolute fire and I was just drinking it up the whole time.  I especially loved the emphasis on Serving and lifting where we stand, developing a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon, our relationship with each member of the Godhead, and really Centering our lives on Jesus Christ.  I think my favorite talks were by Elder Rasband and President Eyring.  Also the very last talk by Elder Anderson really hit me hard.  In that moment I felt such a strong overwhelming peace and the Spirit testified to me that he is really an apostle.  I know those men are called of God!  They are apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ on the earth today and and Jesus Christ is alive and guiding His church.  President Thomas S Monson is the Lords prophet on the Earth right now and he is a virtuous and good man!  What a blessing it is to be a Member of Christs church!!  I love my brother and Savior Jesus Christ with all my heart and its so special being a missionary for Him!!  I love you all so much and hope you have an amazing week!!

--Hermana West

p.s. I got to watch conference in English and Elder Fengai was there.  He said that at his first conference he was watching it with Elder West, and I was watching it with him at my first conference in the mission so that was a really fun connection!  I love you Jacob I keep finding random connections to you out here!