August 13th
Sister Hovorka has now
become Hermana Hovorka...at least I think she is getting used to me calling her
that because "Sister" just doesn't seem to make its way out of my
mouth. :) She is from Orem and her family now lives in Highland...good 'ol
Utahns we are! She is so adaptable and ready to be here...I feel very blessed.
We are already seeing how now was the time to Zebra here because, especially
with 2 families we are teaching where the kids learn better in English and the
parents/grandparents in spanish so we are able to teach to their needs with our
dynamic duo. The Lord is definitely sustaining me with his "enabling
power" because translating and teaching would not be possible on a daily
basis if He wasn't. We are being prayerful about putting a good handful of
investigators on date for baptism this week! :)
Some Highlights:
 |
With recent converts. They are the lights of my l
ife in the Basin |
Sandra and Jose
finally came to church yesterday...the last 30min. and LOVED IT! Sandra said
that she learned more in the last 30 minutes than she has in the last several
years going to her family's church...pretty intense. Their little girl
Cassi/Cassandra also fell in love with primary and said, "Mom I behaved
really good, so can we come back next week?" BOO YAH! Jose really enjoyed
priesthood and told us this weekend that his great-grandpa actually carried
around a BOM with him and named all of his kids after the names in the book and
nobody knew why! WHAT THE!?!? We didn't have more time to talk about this, but
what a teaser right?!
We've had some rockin
lessons with Aneth, Ramon and Laura...they are praying about a date to be
baptized after their wedding 9/1...they call themselves "sponges that are
soaking up the gospel." Ramon told us about all the blessings he has seen
in his life since he chose to keep the commandments....so cool...so true.
 |
| The abuela, Alexandra & Alejandro. |
Last week Alexandra
and Kassandra's little brother came outside after our lesson and I told
him he should join us next time if he wants...he was there this week, ready and
waiting...completely willing to learn...Alejandro, 8 years old, fascinated
learning about God and prayer. At the end of the lesson, I asked him if
he'd pray and he said, "YUP!" and did...first time, right then and
there and it was celestial. :) His abuela told me that she's never seen him pay
so much attention and be so interested in learning. He made me think so much
about Mosiah 3:19. Alexandra and her abuela told us that since we
taught her how to pray, her fears and nightmares have gone away...she has had
some sad experiences and seen some "adult" things too early in her
life...and pray has chased all of that away. Ummm yeah, that's the power of
prayer my friends. We are getting members there this week!
August 27th
FAMILIA!
We are so grateful we
were able to get our investigator Sandra to the morning-side and stake
conference yesterday! Thank you for you and Sister Greer's encouraging
testimonies and of course we were so honored to have Sister Boyd bear hers too.
Sandra really recognized the Spirit in all of the meetings and told us several
times how happy she was that she came and how comfortable she feels. President
Hadley and Elder Hansen's focus on covenants was celestial! We hope to put her
on date this week! Her boyfriend and father of her little girl, Jose, wants to
be baptized but had to go to California to work for a month. But, that does
help them live the law of chastity and they are being stubborn, but have
admitted that they should get married and really do want to, especially since
they have been learning the gospel because they have never communicated so well
and felt so close to each other until now. :) They both know it is true because
they have been reading and praying and learning how to recognize the Spirit.
Sandra has also been writing down her revelation in a notebook we gave her and
really identifies with the scriptures...AMAZING! This is a lot of change and
commitment for them, but it is coming.
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| New Comp: Sister Hovorka |
A similar situation is
Aneth and Ramon who will be getting married this Saturday! :) Ramon's wife died
and he has 2 children that Aneth has practically adopted, Laura 11 and Jose 7
(turning 8 in November). They love the gospel and have been coming to church
every Sunday for more than a month now. They had a lot to overcome since the
Sisters started teaching them in February, but the change of heart has come and
we are praying to have Aneth, Ramon and Laura baptized before the end of the
transfer and then Jose after his birthday! Their cousins have also seen such a
change in them that they invited them to take the lessons from us too and that
is going really well! (Rosillo the mom, Bertha 11, Junior 9) The Bleazards, our
ward mission leader and his family are so full of charity it is almost
unbelievable until you see it. They don't even speak their language, but they
have been there for them all of the way! Ramon works for them and they are
making their wedding very special. It was also their son with special needs who
softened Ramon and Aneth's hearts to really accept the gospel and change. I
want to be like this family...they truly are mastering "The Character of
Christ" that Elder Bednar talks about...cool talk, look it up. :)
September 3rd
Well, Aneth and Ramon's wedding happened! It
actually happened...I could hardly believe it because I have tried this so many
times with investigators, but I had the faith and the Lord kept me amazingly
calm
 |
Allyson, and amazing girl who just graduated H.S.
from an amazing family |
and confident! It is so cool that they have had such support and excitement
from english members that they totally put on a gorgeous wedding for them, but
usually we just have them sign the paper at the courthouse because the temple is where we want "gorgeous!" So yeah,
it was a crazy stressful week, trying to stay focused on the week, but everyone
needing us for wedding stuff...I'll be glad to be back to
normal this week. The stories I will tell you when I get home will be memorable,
but just for a teaser, when the lady who made the cake shows up...she's
rattling off in Spanish about how she got lost out
here finding the house and steps out of the car holding the cake and gets her
huge high heel jammed in the grass and trips over her dress and face plants it
into the cake!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Total movie, where was
my crew! So sad, so funny, so stressful, so speechless...don't worry folks,
this was a Meximerican wedding so the peice she demolished was just part of the
cake...we made it work....oh my goodness...it was too much. The American and Mexican
opinions, traditions, etc. were all mixed and I was the translator and my voice
is horse and it was awesome. :) Now to get them baptized so that they can be
sealed in the temple...that is both of their goal and what they are most
excited for. I have thanked Heavenly Father countless times for investigators who
keep their focus and know the priority...they know that getting married civilly
is just the first step...they have been so humble and grateful. :) Our
goal is to get them baptized by the end of this transfer...in the next 2 weeks!
Sandra came to all 3 hours yesterday with her daughter Cassi and really loved
it!!!!! We got her a front row seat of the sacrament (My mission president and
his wife's voices rang in my head to "The power of Godliness is manifest throughh the ordinances....Get them to the ordinances!"),
then she was totally participating in the BOM class in Sunday School (She has
read up to Enos and has pages filled of the notebook we gave her for revelation and finally moved to her laptop because she
had so much!). Then I guess there is a new slideshow presentation from the
church that they showed in combined RS/EQ yesterday that explains a lot of the outward living the gospel that others
would observe of members and wonder about. So the presentation is to help
members learn how to address daily gospel life questions rather than the detailed doctrine or mysteries. I assume that this is because
of the upcoming election and there are many misconceptions being tossed around. Have you heard about it? They say that anyone can have
copies from online...? Either way, it was neat to see how the members really
got excited about missionary work and feeling more capable of having casual and
positive conversation of the church and then redirecting people to missionaries
for doctrine. Sandra was also really into this and felt like it made her way
more at ease of who the church is in the world and what she would be a part of.
We again extended the invitation to be baptized last week and she is still struggling to
leave Catholic tradition...but knows that this is the truth...so that was a
very powerful lesson with a member present and
she accepted our invitation to fast with us for her conversion yesterday and
she really liked that! She also told us how she just keeps loving the gospel
more and more and our other ward mission eader offered her a job...an answer to our prayers! :) It's really cool to see
how all the units we serve really love and support one another...
September 11th
LISTEN UP! THE ENRIQUEZ FAMILY IS GETTING BAPTIZED
THIS SATURDAY!!! We put them on date 9/5 for 9/15! So life after the
wedding made things more calm to finally have a serious sit-down and we
had the Branch President come and it was so smooth. The morning after
the wedding they felt so relieved, but at the same time how hard Satan
was working on them...a lot of contention in the home until we came
over. So, we explained how having the gift of the H.G. asap and how
Ramon can then
baptize Jose when he turns 8 in November...they
were so humbled and loved it and it was so spiritual and I can't even
possibly write down all the details...but these last 2 weeks have been
exhausting spiritually and physically, but only because the
Lord is on our side. Yes family, after being out 10 months the Lord is
letting me see not just 1 baptism, but 3 (Aneth, Ramon and Laura)!!!!!
These conversions are the efforts of years of the Bleazards
fellowshipping, Branch members and other missionaries concerted
efforts...but conversion does not happen until the individual chooses
it...AGENCY. Ramon had the biggest change of heart...he is so
converted...he is seriously Alma the Younger! It has humbled me to the
core. This is so cool...I could tell you cool stuff for days. Just take
my word for it...they are
converted...this is a MIRACLE. They were all
interviewed Sunday and ready to go! We are visiting them daily to fight
off Satan trying to pull any fast ones. All of Ramon's friends are
making fun of him...but he is standing strong. He makes me ask myself if I
am that converted to the gospel? I love them. I love my mission. I love
being a missionary. :) I don't deserve all of this...but I know they do.
Transfer calls are the day of the baptism...we'll
see what happens with a new spanish sister coming in. Sister Hovorka and
I have had a fun and exhausting transfer! This companionship was meant
to be...I know that we would not have been able to prepare
the Enriquez family for their wedding or baptism if she had not been
here with me. :) What a tender mercy that the Lord is letting us both be
here to carry out their wedding AND their baptisms!
LOVE YA...BYE!
