8-19-13

Hola Familia!

Well this week actually went really well and i easily survived my first area change.

My last few days are in Pasco. We taught a lot of people and they were are doing really well! I was sad to be leaving when they are all doing so well, but i hope that they will continue to do really well!

And then.. the adventure begins! Wednesday I headed off to Royal City. It ended up taking all day to get both me and my companion in the same place. Now a little bit about Royal City, it is a farm town. One of those everyone knows everyone and everywhere. It is a totally different environment than Pasco but i am really excited. I am covering both an English ward and a Spanish branch. It is definately an adventure, neither of us have served there before and finding a map of the place isn't really that likely. The longer we are here the better it will be. People give directions based on where other people live and "the four way stop" and the yield light. It is called "the four way stop" because it is the only one in town. I am excited for this Farm town part of my life! A memeber was nice enough to loan us the GPS she had... and only parts of the city are recognized on the GPS. We have been working on trying to find people/find places. It is a new adventure every day.

Yes, I have met Susan relatives, they were very nice to me. What are the chances of me going to Royal City and knowing people? It is very fun! The members are amazing here. They are super willing to help us out with anything, and hopefully we will figure out what to do so they can help us with it!!

We do have a baptism coming up of one of the most humble people i have ever met. He is from Jamaica , and is super excited to learn and be a member of the Church. I am really excited to be seeing the progress.

My companion is Hermana Heninger from...... Gilbert, Arizona!! She went to Highland and ASU as well. We are actually in either the same major or a similar one. She is pretty awesome. Also the sisters that we split the branch with are both from Arizona too! Hermana Hatfield actually went to Mountain View and graduated in 2012. Small world right.

We live with a member, Sis. Iverson, she reminds me a lot grandma actually. She is wonder woman! Very nice and wonderful. Everyone in town knows her.

As for the title it is like a treasure hunt because every time we go try to find someone or are looking for someone new it is an adventure and we have to search for them. But we get fresh fruit and vegies a lot and it is great!

I will report more on my area when i know more about it! Just know that i am really liking it here. Only one direction to go and thats forward.

Love you all and pray for you! remember that God loves you and there for you!

Con Amor,

Hermana Ray

8-12-13

Hola Familia!

First off, congrats Mom!! Sounds like you rocked that tri-athalon! I couldn't see the pictures, but Sarah also gave me a play by play! So Proud!

This week has really been a growing experience on how i can love other people. At zone meeting and everything, we talked about having God's view in our eyes for other people. Once we see them as God sees them we have a desire to help them and bring them to the same hope of God that we have found in our lives. And since we talked about it this week and i was learning about it, of course Heavenly Father blessed me with experiences to go along with what i am learning. We have been working really hard as a companionship to try and make sure we are teaching the lessons specific to the people. And because of that i have had some really cool experiences.

1. We were at the home of the Salinas Family and they are awesome and so strong. We have been helping her learn to use the atonement to overcome our fears. As we were teaching her about President Uchtdorf's talk from the last young women broadcast, "Your Wonderful Journey Home" she told us that she loved us and what we were doing for her. She said that she can tell we have taken her life and looked for things that could help her. We have taken some of her burdens and she knows that we love her and really are there to help her. And it is true, every time we go and teach her a lesson, I want so bad for her to know of God's love for her and that we all have different Roadblocks on our road of life, but we have a map and Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are our guides and with them we can't fail. It was a really cool experience.

2. The other was with one of our investigators. She has really has been given a hard life that has and probably will continue to challenge her. She has been good at turning to God in these times, but she has just never really felt that any place was for her, but she does have a really strong relationship with God. As we took the time to take a whole lesson and focus it on one of the questions she had, she began to trust us more and thanked us over and over for helping her understand. As i studied and prayed about what to share with her, my love for her and desire for her to find what she was looking for grew and i just really wanted her to know that we were here for her and so was her Father in Heaven and her brother Jesus Christ. It strengthened the relationship between us and she realized that as missionaries we weren't just there to help her learn but to help her build, grow, and change the things in her life that she didn't want. It was a cool experience. Also cool about this investigator, she has lived in AZ before, Tucson, Phoenix, and Mesa. Cool huh? She used to live off of Broadway, who would have thought? 

One thing i do know is that I like helping people. As i have been learning about loving in the way that Christ would want me to, my love for other people and my desire to serve them has grown. 

We also were looking for new way that we could find people to teach. Hermana Pierce got a letter from someone that talked about using your talents to improve your missionary work. We then wrote down our talents and then each others talents and then we had the other sisters that we live with write down our talents too. From that list we are praying to figure out how we can use our talents in our missionary work. It is still a work in progress and as we start to weave in our talents and trying to use those to help other people we will be able to find and connect with people.

So many fun things to write about this week! I got to go to my first Quinceanera!! A member of the Branch was having one and it was so cool. They told us to come for the dinner part. It was really fun. There were so many people there! It was exactly what these big parties seem to be all about! Of course Alma looked super pretty and it was really fun and a great bonding experience for the member because the whole branch had been invited! They sure know how to throw a party.

 

Now... for the big news! Well at least in the life of a missionary. On Wednesday I am being transferred to Othello!  I am not exactly sure where, i just know that my area is in the Othello Stake. Where is that you might ask? I don't have any idea. I know it is north of my current location, but that is about it. I will tell you a little more about it when i get there i guess. Although i am sad to be leaving Pasco, the branch, my companion. I am excited to be off on a new adventure. Luckily i know one thing. The church is the same everywhere you go. I never really thought of how nice that was before, but it is truely a blessing. The church can be a solid foundation no matter where you are at on the map!

I love you all and hope you are all doing well. More to come next week on the new area and all the adventure that brings. What i do know is that both me and my companion are new to the area, so let the maps and the "adventures" begin all over again!

Remember that Jesus is our Savior and that he loves you all very much, we are never alone. Remember that everyone is a child of God. Simple service is a very easy way to show people that you care and that "no effort is ever wasted."

Con Amor,

Hermana Ray

 

8-4-13

Hola Familia!

Another great week has passed here in the State of Washington! Nothing like talking to people all day about Jesus Christ. Some days it hot, but we have dropped below the 100's again so it is pretty nice. 

The fun thing about this week was that literally everyday was different! We had a mini missionary 2 days this week and it was really fun. Had very new experiences and learned a lot, plus i had exchanges with Hma. Robison which was so fun. 

Wednesday was the first day that we had our mini missionary. Her name was Ashley Moto. She was really energetic and excited to learn. Let's back up, a mini missionary is something our mission does. For 2 days a young man/woman goes with the missionaries and lives the same life from 8am-9pm. We literally do everything together. Anyway since we had the minimissionary, we also went with a member and went to 2 lessons at the same time! I was in charge of teaching the lesson and it was a little terrifying at first, but then i realized that i could do this!! It was a really good experience for me and i am learning a lot the more i work with different people.

Thursday we also had fun adventures, once again it was us and our mini missionary. She is one the Seminary counsel at the high school in Pasco, so we spent some of the day working on finding the incoming Freshman of the branch and getting them signed up. Oh seminary, learned so much over 4 years about every book in the scriptures. That night Hma. Pierce got permission to go to a baptism so it was me and the mini missionary. Again i went with the mini missionary and a member to teach a lesson. I seriously have learned so much over the last week. Hma. Pierce knows i will work hard so she doesn't take it easy on me. Over all we have great fun together. And Cynthia wasn't confused about what i taught and i understood her. Those are two miracles all in themselves.

Friday We had a cool experience with seeing the hand of the Lord in everything we do. We were trying to find a member of the branch to take to a lesson with us and we thought about it for like a week and finally asked Hma. Salgado to go with us. When we got to the house of Eren and Martin, we found out that Eren and Hma. Salgado knew each other! They actually were really good friends in jr high and the last time they had seen each other was at a Quinceanera about 12 years ago. It ended up being really powerful and exactly who needed to be there. We are not alone in anything we do. Sometimes we don't even see what happened until after. it was eally cool.

I got to go on exchanges with Hma. Robion who was in my MTC district. It was soo fun! Well, it was lots of hard work and knocking on doors, but again i learned a lot and it was really nice to spend time with her. 

Today, we went and hiked the "mountain" that is here in the tri-cities. it is probably about the size of the wind caves but it is just dirt with dead grass. None the less it felt good to be outside hiking, it gave me a small workout and it was fun. Plus i got to hike the mountain in the area. 

On the more spiritual side, Hma. pierce share something really cool with me this week. It was in a talk by Bednar about Nephi, when his brothers bind him up. He doesn't pray for God to loosen the bands, but he prays for the strength to be able to do it. He asks for the strength but is willing to do his part and put in the effort. Nephi had so many bad things happen to him, as well as most prophets. some of the strongest people have faced the worst adversity. Like Joseph Smith in Liberty. We all have spiritual mountains or wildernesses, but we can pray for strength to work through them. God doesn't always deliver us, but sometimes gives us the strength we need to work our way out with his help. And there is my spiritual soapbox of the week.

Love you all and pray for you. Have a great week!

con Amor, 

Hermana Ray

 

 

7-29-13

Hola Familia!!

 

Oh you know it is just another great week to be a missionary!

 

Now looking back at my week and what i need to tell you it is much more eventful than i remember. It feels like many of the things that happened were so long ago when it was only like 5 days ago.. It is very strange.

 

Cynthia came to church last week and seriously, it changed everything. Her attitude was so different to our message after she came for church. When I ask her about it she said that she had never felt so welcome in a church before, she said she could feel the love of God through the love of other people. It was really cool. Plus her 9 year old son, Alex, was telling us all about what he learned in Primary and about temples and Joseph Smith and it was amazing what he learned from one week in Primary. What we learn in our childhood really shapes who we are. So thanks to everyone who put up with me when i was a little kid and helped mke me who i am today. Anyway, Cynthia was really cool, she has had a pretty rough go at life so the fact that the church made her feel welcome made a huge difference. Then on Friday she came to a baptism with us. It was a really cool baptism. Anaberta is 16 years old and has a very strong testimony which she shared with us at her own baptism. It was so powerful. There were 5 missionaries there and i think her testimony at that moment was more powerful than any of ours could have been. Since Friday, Alex basically begs his mom to get baptized everyday that we are over there. And I know that being in the church building and being able to feel the Spirit that it has, both of the Spirit itself and the people who make others feel welcome there can change lives. 

 

We have since last week, again sent off another one of our companions. Hma. Syphus is now in Argentina preaching the gospel. It was fun to have her and to learn how i could improve, what i was already doing well, and just seeing a different perspective. It also taught me this week, how amazing Hma. Pierce is. The more I learn from her and get to interact with other missionaries, the more i am grateful for everything she has taught me. 

 

We also had zone conference this week! President Ware and Sister Ware are pretty amazing people. President Ware has so much knowledge but he is still very easy going and fun. It was fun to see both sides. They stressed the importance of Church tours (It seems to be a theme). And it was just really good, to have that day of listening and learning! Man i miss just sitting and learning (who would have ever thought i would say that). The same day of zone conference, i used my service gloves from my package for the first time.... helping catch chickens and put them back in their pens. It was definately  a different experience. Chickens are fast!!! And they smell relly bad, but what can you do. It was great to give this service, this lady couldn't believe that we had volunteered ourselves to do this. I would catch them (our try) and deliver them to their correct pen, cause they had like 4 different kinds and you couldn't put them with each other. The really hard ones were the little ones! The lady that we did the service for had kids and her little 3 year old was a chicken catching ninja! seriously he would bend over and just pick 2 of them up, i don't know how he did it. But overall i had fun, it was a good experience, i ended up smelling like chicken and we were late for dinner... And then my companion was a little upset that there was chicken in our salad at dinner.

 

Saturday i had a very interesting experience that i would like to share a little bit about. We went to this house for na appointment and earlier we had challenged him to read the book of Mormon. He had accepted and we were going to see how it had been going. After we had started he began to go off, basically how everything we believed was ignorant and foolish. Seriously we couldn't really get a word in, we tried to bear our testimony and then knowing it wasn't doing anything we finally told him that we had to leave. But it was very interesting, because honestly i have never felt like that before, it was such a dark feeling. And i didn't feel dark because of what he was saying or that he had sparked doubt in me. Cause he actually did the opposite, but the feeling in the room, the complete absence of the Spirit and honestly i could feel something there that was just so dark. The whole tme i felt this i just thought to myslef, "Why would i ever listen to what you are saying? I feel so gross right now and i know how i can feel, i know the happiness that has come to my life because of what i believe." He concreted my testimony in everything i believe. I Know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and he had the help through the power of God, and that all my ancestors sacrifices were to bring me happines and that my Heavenly Father loves me. Luckily after that we had a lesson with Cynthia that was able to help us feel the spirit agin. We turned on some hymns and just let happiness sink in again. It was definately a learnign experience and i know that the gospel has brought me happiness in my life and with that hope of the Gospel i don't need to have doubts.

 

Then this morning i was reading about Faith. I was in ALma 32 and i just love verse 37. Basically all we need is to desire to have faith, and with that desire and some effort we can gain that faith and testimony!

 

I love you all, thanks for your love and support. I hope that this email finds you all doing well and that you remember that the Lord and OUR Heavenly Father loves you all very much. THis i know for a fact. Have a great week!

 

Con Amor,

Hermana Ray

 

 

7-15-13

Hola Familia!

 

Sorrythese emails are coming atdifferent times, we are having some computer issues. The libraries are super busy during the summer.

Since Wednesday i have been doing really well, and i bet you can't guess, but i have been doing... Missionary Work!! Yep, knocking on doors, teaching (or trying to teach if it is in spanish) the word of God. We have had some really great experiences the last few days and somethings that we have decided that we need to try and laugh about.

For instance: yesterday i definately had cow cheek for dinner... Not a huge fan, it was super duper chewy and lots of fat attached. But it was a new experience and wasn't as bad as fish. And we had peanut agua fresca.. It tasted like a big hunk as a drink, it was actually pretty good. It was like horchata but made with peanuts instead of rice. It was one of the Elders in my districts birthday yesterday so we had a fiesta with one of the branch members.

 

Anyways the missionary work is going good, we are working hard t otry to find peopl to teach. Right now we are teaching a few people who are having some really hard trials, luckily we have the perfect solution for how to deal with them. Jesus Christ. Anyway another guy we were teaching at first had a lot of questions and wanted to know about our church and Jesus Christ. He had really good questions and things like that, then he started asking other questions. He said well i have heard this and how do i knowt this happened. Some questions we were able to answer, at the end, we bore testimony. We said look, in the grand scheme of things, what is important. We gave him a Book of Mormon and said, look everythng is based on this Book. And testified that it is true. I know the book of Mornon is the words of God and that through this book we can recieve answers. If we pray and read the Book of Mormon, and pray sincerely we can know that it is true. That is the key! when we know that this book is true, it open up faith in everything in the Gospel. We challenged him that if he really wanted to know, read it, pray sincerely. We can't convince people of anything, we can only invite them to do things that we know will bring pople unto Christ. How do i know? because I have felt it! I have seen lives completely change through making promises with God, and that is  worth everyday and hour that i am out here. To do everything i can to help the people.

 

Spanish is coming long a lot better but this week one of our invetigators asked us to bring someone who speaks more spanish... Shot to the confidence, but i accept it. I know it isn't that good. i laughed. i just wanted to tell her to give me more than 3 months hopefully it will get better.. I didn't. But it is ok. Oh ya!! Happy three months to me last wednesday!!!!!!!!! I forgot to include that. Well i love you all. be good, and remember who you are and the many blessing we have recieved from our Father in Heaven.

 

Con Amor,

Hermana Ray

 

 

P-day Switch

Hola Familia!!

What a crazy week it has been. Sorry i forgot to tell you all that P-Day got switched to wednesday for the week... Oops. But it was for a good reason. We got to go to the temple!! The Columbia River temple is really small. But at the same time i really really liked it. Angel Moroni on the top looks gigantic. But it was so great to get to go to the temple. I love the feeling that i have there, and that ultimately is the experience and feeling i want everyone i teach to be able to experience. It was a reminder of just how important my work out here is, which was great! Starting out the week my companion was still sick. They were talking about sending her home. It was a pretty rough two weeks on our companionship, but if i am learning anything from trials in life it is that we can reflect on them and realize how strong we truely are and how much those trials have blessed our lives.

Pasco is still going good. We are working trying to find people who are interested in the church, but we are also working a lot with our branch list because there are quite a few names that the leaders of the ward don't know. But it is great to see how much we are being blessed with work. Right now we are working with a family who is trying to get back on their feet after losing a loved one. And the more we go over and teach them and encourage them the more they let us in and the closer they get to coming back to church to see how much the people around here actually do love them.

The Lord has definately been blessing us for doing the work we were able to while our compaion has been sick. We are still finding people to teach even when it seems like the day is looking bleak. Then we saw a small little miracle. So my compaion had been really sick for almost 2 weeks at this point and the doctors couldn't figure out what was going on. The doctors were talking about sending her home, but the mission president really didn't want to because she is almost one of the oldest missionaries in the mission and they need trainers. So we prayed, we were doing everything we could for her to get better, nothing was really working. after talking to multiple doctors and tests, symptoms continued to pile with no diagnosis. One doctor decided to try a pro-biotic that you can buy on the sheleves and she started to get better. Just as she had gotten sick really fast, she has finally bounced back really fast to. It has been such and interesting experience. Plus there were blessings, we got to get to know our new mission president pretty well, and truely realize how amazing they are. As my compaions and i were talking about our trials, we talked about how much we all had learned from them throughout our lives. We talked about how much better these trials had made us. They come in a different degree for everyone, but it all comes down to who you turn towards when times get tough. Turning to our Savior Jesus Christ is always the answer! It doesn't matter what you are going through, Jesus Christ and his Atonement are the answer. If we turn towards Christ we will have light in our lives and darkness cannot dwell in light. President Utchdorf talked about this and how it is we need to realize that darkness exist but choose not to dwell there. I love that. 

Speaking of light, last night, we were teaching a lesson to this cute little family and teaching the little girl how to pray. We had just taught them about prophets and Joseph Smith and God, We taught them how to pray, and then she said a prayer before we left. I listened to a little 7 year old pray to her Heavenly Father, who she knew loved her and it was such an awesome experience. We taught them "Soy un Hijo de Dios" or "I am a Child of God" in Spanish and they loved it. Never underestimate the understanding or the faith of a little child. I am thankful for the primary teachers i had that taught me about being a child of God, and having patience with me. Which i can only imagine that Jannae and I were hard to handle as primary children. 

I love the Lord and i Love the opportunity i have had to serve him. Don't shrink in times of trials, let down your pride and take it to you Heavenly Father and turn toward Christ. I know this Church is true and have been greatly blessed by it. I love you all who support me in this time. Never stop looking for the light in the darkness of every situation!! Have a great week! oh and p-day will be back to normal on monday :)

Con Amor,

Hermana Ray

7-1-13

Hola Familia!

Sounds like everyone is doing good, Stay strong and stay happy!

This week has definately been an interesting one. We have had a lot of great experiences and some not so great ones.

The week started off really good, we taught some lessons and are starting to find people who are actually interested in our message. It is nice to know that those people exist. One thing I have found on my mission and am really excited about the change from the braodcast is the churches being open all the time. Here we do church tours with people to try and make them more comfortable coming to church and i have had some of the most amazing experiences there. One of those was this week. One of our investigators was scheduled to come to a church tour. He loved what he was learning about all of our classes and the fact that we had a center where you could search for your ancestors. It had been going great the whole time. When we got into the chapel, he really liked it. He told us that he knew what he was hearing from us was true and he wanted to learn more, but his wife was against it. He is torn because he wants a good relationship with his wife and God. We told him we would help in anyway we could to try to make both of them more comfortable. But as he was telling us this, i knew somehow everything was going to workout, someday he would be able to have what he wanted. I don't know when that is, but Heavenly Father does, and i wouldn't leave it in any hands less capable than His.

Also this week we met a family and helped them move into their house. Lets just say so much good came out of that service. I learned a lot. At first they were a little hesitant, but finally they let them help us. We started helping them unpack and i ended up helping the mom unpack and set up her room... by myself... and she didn't speak English. At first i was pretty scared, i have never thought my Spanish skills were as bad as i did at that moment. But i just started talking, As time went on, i understood her better, she was teaching me words in Spanish as i pointed to things. She asked me questions about the Church. She was so nice. by the end i had told her about church, prophets and my awesome family. The part she seemed to like the most was that no matter where you were in the world the church is the same. It was such a great experience. Plus as you will see in a picture. They had Parrots! big parrots. They were nice enough to let us take some pictures, and then before we left she asked us like 4 or5 times if we were hungry, which meant we weren't leaving without eating. and then she taught us how to make tortillas!! they are sooo good. and i think i might have only burned off 2 of my finger prints trying to flip them over.

All i know is that the more i share the gospel, the more i love it. So many people tell us how awesome it is that we are willing to go and share a message of Jesus Christ and how they are impressed with our courage.

Friday is when our week got interesting. First the Greers left. Second, Hermana Pierce started getting sick and we have spent all weekend trying to figure out what is wrong with her. Luckily we found an awesome member of the ward that our branch is connected to, Sis. Monson and her daughter Sis. Tippets, have been helping us so we can still try to get out and do dome missionary work. Luckily today she seems to be feeling a little better, still haven't figured it out yet whats up. But i have had an opportunity to dig into my scriptures and PMG to try and fill my time. I am so grateful that we have the power of God on the Earth to help bring comfort.

Luckily i get lost a lot less often than before but i still find myself going on "adventures" often. It reminds me of when mom would get lost and tell us that "we weren't lost we were going on an adventure". Mom, i go on lots of "adventures." but your right, life is more fun that way.

The knowledge that we get from he gospel gives me so much hope. To know that there is more than this life, to know of God's love for me and how i can obtain the most blessings possible. I love you all and pray for you everyday! Have a great week!

Con Amor,
Hermana Ray

I think we should make this our slogan and drive a car like this.

As for the awkward pose: 1. the bird was trying to eat me (don't do thumbs up with birds) and 2. the bird was falling off my arm!