Week #57 - Fried Chicken

Hola mi familia,

Yo no se que decir...esta semana pasada fue muy loca, nada pasa! (I'm not a 100% sure that that is a gramatically correct sentence...)

Highlight was probably Elder Zwick (of the quorum of the 70) coming to tour the mission. So we instructed us on Tuesday with the assistance of his wife and the mission president and his wife. It was really awesome. They talked about their experiences being a mission president in Chile... so many crazy stories and they were able to relate to what I've been feeling like (at least in a small part) all of the drama and craziness that goes on in a small Spanish branch... 

The General Women's Meeting was so awesome.... we invited ALL of our investigators and then some... but lo and behold somehow the Spirit communicated to our investigators that there wouldn't be any Spanish translation set up... so no one came. But the meeting was really good. And I learned so much! It is a little weird to me that it has been almost a year since the last time I've been to the temple just because I have been serving sooo far away from Memphis. I am excited to serve there again so I can go back to the temple. 

As far as investigators go... nothing really new to report. 

We had homemade chicken with the Franklins the other day. SOOOOOo delicious. That was the second time that I've had fried chicken on my mission and it was so good. 

The gospel is true. Go out and share it!

Con amor,

Hermana Ives

Week #56 - Eaten Alive and Strange Rides

Hola everybody!

I survived another walk week. Really I should just call it miracle week. The hand of the Lord is just always so obvious when you really have no other option but for the Lord to provide a way.

Do you like the subject title of this e-mail? I thought it was pretty clever. I have been eaten alive by mosquitos, chiggers, and possibly bed bugs (I'm actually not quite so convinced about the last type of bug bit me... oh well) May I just say that my feet an ankles look leprous? I can't even count how many bites I have, lol. Oh well that is the joy of being 9:30 pm missionaries.

I can't tell you how many rides we have been able to receive this week. And not even from our branch members. We received rides from the members of the Little Rock and Benton wards as well as investigators and a super friendly old Baptist lady! :) Who knew that hitch-hiking was such an effective way to find and teach?!? Lol, just kidding.

Anywho, craziness went down this week. Our most progressing investigator, Maritza is... (drumroll please...) ALREADY a member... super less active but she was actually baptized when she was 16 years old... So, now that is now a huge reactivation project. But she is ready to come back and repent and make changes in her life. It was just so funny because all of her lessons were preach my gospel perfect and we were just gearing up to set a date with her when she finally let it out that she had already been baptized...

Ummm....I'm not really sure what else to say. We walked EVERYWHERE. Craziness, we even got Bible bashed in English AND in Spanish! What are the odds?

I can testify that water and soap works miracles after a long hot and humid day ;)

My shoes are so close to having an all the way hole. But with as much walking as we were doing those shoes started giving my blisters, so I had to switch to my other ones. But now that we have a car again and aren't doing that much walking. Maybe I can get my hole!

This is a super lame update... I'm sorry... this week has really just been filled with walking... and then some more walking I truly felt like a pioneer child singing... I even sang the Children's hymn "Pioneer Children Sang as they Walked" for comic relief.

I have never appreciated Gatorade as much in my life as I did this week. Blue Frost is the best flavor..

The gospel is true. We have to WORK as though it all depends on us. And PRAY as though it all depends on God! Then the miracles will flow.

Love,

Hermana Ives

Week #55 - I'm Still Alive

What a week! 

Life has been crazy, lots of ups and downs but whatcha going to do that's just life! :)

I have made the determination that Arkansas drivers are the Utah drivers in the South. They are just really not very good at obeying traffic rules... I can't tell you how many people run red lights! 

It actually got super cold this week! Thanks for sending the tights! I actually had to pull out some of my winter outfits. Not that I am complaining. I much prefer the cold to the hot humidity. Plus I feel like my winter wardrobe is a lot cuter than my summer wardrobe. Gotta see the plus-es where you can. 

Ummmm....I can't believe I am on transfer #10! Where did the time go? And Halloween decorations out already? (I really don't like Halloween, especially as a missionary) Everything just gets creepier at night when you have to be out knocking doors and there are really weird decorations. 

(side note: Hey, mom... I've been having headaches daily ranging on a pain scale of 1-7. I've talked to the area nurse and she said that they were most likely stress induced... I've been taking ibprofen, I even invested in some migraine relief pills... but they really have been doing nothing... I am pretty sure that the headaches aren't coming from dehydration... I have been trying to do deep breathing and some progressive relaxation techniques but they really only help for a couple of moments... do you have any suggestions?)

There was an awesome fiestas patrias activity that our branch put on to celebrate a lot of the independence days in south and central america. It was pretty awesome. Lots of good food and awesome music. Even some traditional folk dances, those really made me miss dancing... 

Thanks for the gluten free pizza recipe. You are going to have to try it out and then let me know if it is worth trying! 

Yup....I don'y know nothing super out of the ordinary happened this week...

Something exciting that is happening next week is that Elder Zwick is coming to our mission and we will get to have a zone conference with him! Boo-yeah! (yup Elder Zwick the once who talked about "What were you thinking?" in general conference!)

We are going on bike week today... oh wait, I mean walk week because Hermana Stevens still isn't allowed to get on a bike. I am planning on my shoes finally breaking through... I was hoping they would last until the end of October but I think realistically they will only make it to the middle of this week before they have gigantic holes in the soles... so I'm excited to send pictures of those.

Ummmm....yeah, that's mostly it for this week. 

I've learned that stressing out about being stressed is a vicious cycle. It's better to just avoid that. Allow yourself to be stressed, that's fine just don't freak out about it. 

The gospel is true. And it is even truer in Spanish!

Love,

Hermana Ives

Week #54 - Whew, That Was a Close One

Hola mi familia!

 

Say what?!? A year and a little bit. Man oh man. Time really is flying by! Good news though! I'm NOT being transferred! Hallelujah! I love serving with Hermana Stevens so much and this area is about to explode. (Which is awesome because these last two transfers have been a crazy lot of hard work!) We found 49 new investigators this transfer!

 

This week was crazy cool because for the first time in my entire mission we reached ALL 6 key indicator goals in a day! What really makes that awesome was that they weren't all 1s! teehee! So that was pretty awesome. We got a member present lesson without even asking a member. We went to teach Roberto y Flor Barrientos and they are actually relatives of the branch president and he just happened to be over there visiting his family when we showed up!

 

Hey, I was wondering if all of you amazing peoplee reading this e-mail would be up for a fun little service project. My companion, Hermana Stevens, is having a hard time right now (and her mail hasn't been getting to her) and I think it would be really cool if you would send her one of your favorite "pick-me-up" quotes/ scriptures/ pictures/ anything you feel so inclined or guided by the spirit to send. Sound fun? It could even be turned into an FHE activity! Could you please help me out :)  Thanks you are all the best!

 

What is super duper awesome is that I first met Hermana Stevens and served with her for the first three weeks in field. And we will get to be together exactly one year from then! Boo-yeah!

 

Fun fact. From actually serving in an all Spanish area. My Spanish has actually been improving! So that is really cool too.

 

Hermana Stevens and I have a goal of 15 baptisms this transfer. It is going to take a ton of work, a ton of faith, and a ton of prayers. But all things are possible with God. And he does all things according to our faith! It is our dream and goal to turn this branch into a ward!

 

Ummmm...this week I have learned a ton about staying motivated. And really something crucial that I've been learning this week is that nothing, I mean NOTHING has besides the Savior has the lasting strength to keep us motivated. There is a youtube video entitled, "Missionary work and the Atonement" we were able to watch this video at Specialized Training. (It focuses on excerpts from the talks found at these sites, https://www.lds.org/ensign/2001/03/missionary-work-and-the-atonement?lang=eng and from https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2010/04/act-in-all-diligence?lang=eng) This world and this work is hard. But with the Savior we can be and will be given the strength to endure and to do His will.

 

I kind of left my old planner at the apartment and it is kind of hard for me to remember everything that happened this past week...

 

I love y'all! Remember always that I love you and more importantly you have a Savior and a Heavenly Father that love you!

Miracles are real and they surround us daily all we have to do is open our eyes.

 

I love my mission,

I love you,

I love our Savior,

Hermana Ives (it's pronounced Eeeee-vez)

 

Week #53 - holllllllllla

Hey now, one whole year. Do you want to hear a precious comment that my companion made on her year mark? "I could be married in a year from now." Yup, that same saying is now true for me... yikes, lol jk!

I am glad that you are enjoying your labor day by spending it at the temple. That is a beautiful way to celebrate. I miss the temple so much! 

I found the coolest vanity license plate ever! It said TRU DAT! teehee! I absolutely love it. I wish I had a camera to take a picture. 

I'm not really sure what all to tell you. We did a TON of spiritual harvesting. Knocking and then some more knocking and then a little more. 

We are teaching Dilan (14 years old) and his younger sister Fidelia (14/13 years old). I am excited for them to read in the Book of Mormon every day at least 2 verses (that was our invitation to them). Dilan is so impressive of his knowledge of the gospel. I can just see him as a missionary he is so amazing. He and his sister committed to coming to church next Sunday too!

Amanda Reed (one of my recent converts passed away last Monday from cancer.)

We found a very potential Chinese home the other day complete with Chinese dragon statues and EVERYTHING! We are very excited to go back and to knock that home!

Thank you for the package everything was wonderful and fits awesome!

Love,

Hermana Ives