9-2-13

Hola Familia!

Things here in Royal City are going pretty great. I have been so blessed and have definitely been counting my very many blessings.

The members here have continued to be awesome, every other day we have someone new coming up to us and asking us to tell them when they can come out with us. It is truly amazing! Members are becoming so active in the missionary work it is awesome.

Funny thing that happened this week, we were driving home the other night and i felt like i was in the star wars ride at Disneyland when you are going through warp speed. why? because that is what it looked like. There were a crazy amount of bugs! Not kidding!

So this week i have learned something that will likely impact the rest of my mission. We were having a training on talking to people outside of their door and how when we introduce ourselves people become really closed off really fast because they think we are trying to convert them. Well we talked a lot about talking about being representatives of our Savior Jesus Christ rather than being missionaries from a church. It totally changed the way i view talking to people. It opens up the conversation to Jesus Christ and it has really been awesome. As we were talking to people, we tried to make sure that they knew we were there to help. One man after we knocked on his door was very reluctant to be talking to us (as most people here right now are because of harvest, very busy) and as we were leaving, i asked him if there was any questions that we could focus on the next time we came back and reluctantly he answered and asked us about heaven and how you could know whose view or ideas about heaven were right. It was so amazing, it was one of those little miracles. Also on Saturday we found a neighborhood to knock!!  It was awesome! As we were going through, towards the end of our journey we knocked a door and a lady answered and as we told her about sharing messages about Christ she was very closed off, right after my companion asked if anyone she knew neeeded service and she said no. Jokingly (sort of) my companion said that we were really good at pulling weeds. She asked us how much that would be and when we told her free she thought we were kidding. It gave us a great opportunity to  talk about service and trying to be like Jesus Christ both in word and in action. By the time we left her door the entire attitude of the conversation changed and we were able to testify about the thing that is most important and that is Jesus Christ.

We had interviews with President Ware this week. It is always good to talk with him and have an opportunity to receive strength and guidance from others. We had a great chat and he motivated me to continue to learn and grow and be a better missionary in every way. We talked about talents and how we could use ours to become better missionaries and how the gifts of the spirit that they talk about in the scriptures are some of the spiritual talents that we can develop. And i don't think it is any coincidence that i ended up teaching gospel principles this Sunday on talents.

Another cool thing that has happened here is that our ward just sent off a sister missionary last week, and everyone knows this girl. It has been a huge opportunity to talk about missionary service and open up everyone to talking about Jesus Christ. She has been a great help to us here and she doesn't even know it! Plus in general, people ask us questions about our life as a missionary. People have been asking us questions, and it has been fun to talk with them and get them thinking about what is important in life.

The event of the week: Owen's Baptism!!! He has been working with the missionaries for quite a bit here and was baptized and confirmed yesterday. I think i have mentioned him in emails before, but he is really awesome. He was so ready to be baptized. His baptism was amazing, there were so many members there supporting him. The spirit was there and strong the whole time. The closing song was The Spirit of God and Owen had never heard it, well, i hope he made the connection to that song and what had just happened. There are almost no words to describe it but amazing. After, we were talking to Andres, one of Owen's friends that we are teaching and he said he only understood about 30% of it, since he speaks mostly Spanish, but he could feel it 100%. He said after he learns more that he would want this too. He had gone to both Darone and Owen's baptisms plus one other and every time his desire to learn has grown a little stronger. I imagine that when i am looking back on my mission that this will be one of those nights that i will never forget.

It has been a great week and I feel very blessed to be a servant of the Lord. Thank you all for your love and your prayers. Hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Ray

8-26-13

Hola Familia!

Life here in Royal City is going good.Happy Birthday MOM!!!!!!! You are the best!

Life is full of adventure. Last night we were eating dinner and when we left the house it was pouring! turns out they get crazy random rain storms just like we do.

Some fun facts I have learned since being here:

1. I live with one of the Pioneers of Royal City. She was one of the first five families to move up here to farm. Her name is Doreen Iverson and she is just the sweetest lady there ever was. Grandma, she actually reminds me quite a bit of you!

2. We know we have found the right street when we realize it as we are passing it.... Everytime. This is the conversation between me and my companion the other day.

Me: "Oh, i think that was it."

Comp: "Of course it is, i just passed it."

It is very fun and exciting and we are slowly but surely becoming masters of the area. My favorite thing is that almost every road we turn on say warning: primitive road no warning signs.

3. The value of writing in Pencil. Learning to roll with the punches and the changes thrown our way. Writing in pencil just makes our lives so much easier.

4. I am learning all about different crops. Yesterday my directions to dinner said pass the bean field and then turn right. (luckily he described what a bean field would look like)

5. It is Harvest season/Apple picking season = very busy people in Royal city and... wait for it.... FRESH FRUIT AND VEGIES!

Overall we are having some pretty good success here. I really like it. THe members here are nothing but helpful and encouraging in every way. They have showed me what i want to be like toward the missionary effort after my mission.

This week was pretty solid. We are teaching some great people. We are working with a girl who is really awesome. She was baptized a number of years ago and we are there to be her support in the church. So the other day we asked her to read the intro to the Book of Mormon. When we came back she summarized paragraph for paragraph for what she read and told us that before we came over that she had set a goal for reading the Book of Mormon all the way through and that she wanted a stronger testimony. She is 13, what an example it is to me that she was able to find the truth so early in her life and want to be strong in it. Being a great example to everyone else in her family.

Also we will be having a baptism next week! His name is Owen, he is from Jamaica and i think i talked about him last week. He is such a good example and basically follows everything that will make him a good person. He calls everyone younger than him his children and so to us, and Darwin (his friend). He is just a crack up. But he really does know that this is what he should be doing and everyone in the ward here already loves him and have been more involved with his conversion than any missionaries. I am excited to see him make this step in his life.

As well as with investigators, we spend lots of time right now getting to know members and i have had the opportunity to learn so much from them. This week i learned a lot about having compassion for other people and how we can learn to know and serve other people better. Everyone has a different background story and that leads everyone down different paths and we need to learn to help those people in whichever way we may need.  I also am learning everyday about following the spirit and trying to be more and more in-tune everyday so i can fully be an instrument in the Lords hands. Right now i am reading the chapters in the Book of Mormon about Moroni and the wars between the Nephites and the Lamanites. Almost to the Stripling Warriors but not quite yet. And I never ceased to be amazed at the difference of having the Lord on your side. He is never failing . Everything we do with him happens for a purpose. Moroni cared about his people and did everything in his power to protect them and help them be prepared for what was coming. That is what President Monson does too. Last conference his talk was on obedience, and right before that he gave thousands of more young people the opportunity to serve a mission. And obedience plays a huge role in missionary work. Let me just say i am glad to have the Lord on my side, and i will work everyday of my life to keep him there.

Yesterday and today so far have just been pretty awesome. Yesterday we had a huge chunk of time where there we didn't have a specific plan and we were knocking doors in one of the three place there is to knock here and we ended up both finding people who were interested in the gospel as well as having an opportunity to share the message of Jesus Christ with them and bear testimony of him. It was huge proof that the Lord is on my side and i am so grateful for that experience.

Last little spiritual pick me up for the day. we were getting gas at the station in town and as i am washing the windows a car pulls up by our car, rolls down the window and asks us if we are from a church. We of course smiled at the opportunity and shared with him who we were. He told us that he had just moved from California and was looking for a Christian church to go to. Luckily we happened to know of just a place. He was from a neighboring town, but it was a short and simple way that i could do my part in sharing the gospel with him.

The Church is true. I love you all and hope that this email is finding you happy and healthy. Until next week, hope you will join me in finding joy in our journeys where ever they may be.

Con Amor,

Hermana Ray

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