Going Home

Hello friends! 

So, not to be trunky or anything but this is the last e-mail you will ever get from me. At least as a missionary. How crazy is that? So, I think the best thing we did this week was last p-day. First, Sister Gibbons and I went to Holy Family, which is like the Catholic version of Deseret Book. They looked at us funny when we walked in but it was fun to look around. Then at zone sports we were trying to decide what game to play and someone suggested duck duck goose as a joke. But then we really ended up playing it for almost an hour! It was pretty great honestly. 

This week we also had the weirdest lunch ever. Last week we spoke in church and the wife said "Yeah, when I saw you up there I thought you looked like you were going to be a terrible speaker but it turns out you were pretty good." Ok... thanks? Ha, anyway, it was a weird meal to say the least. That same Sunday after we spoke Bishop Kemsley announced that I was getting transfered in a few weeks. Which is true, I am leaving but everyone has been super confused all week about who is leaving and why are they going and how do you know so early and is it an et and what happened and all of that. So my attempts to just disappear from the mission field have been ruined =D 

Another highlight of the week, everyone this week has been sick and on the verge of death. At Zone Training alone, out of 14 people about 5 of them had either thrown up in the past 24 hours or were well on their way. Ha, so it's been a bit of  tough week for the mission field out here in ABQW but things can only go up right? 

Oh, the other great thing that happened this week, we were having dinner with a family and the son wanted us to play a game where you have to guess riddles. One of the questions was something along the lines of " There are two people at a party, if one more person shows up it is going to be a friend of both of them. True or false?" We said true of course because "where two or three are gathered in my name there also will I be." The kid looks at the answer and says "correct!" I'm pretty sure that's not what the card said but we got the answer right! 

Well friends, let me just end with this thought that came from the EQ president a few months ago. Don't get distracted. We were outside of a potentials house, waiting for our other member to get there and he said "You know, I think the biggest tool Satan has is that he just keeps you busy until before you know it, you've died." I can promise you that is so true, I have seen it again and again and again. Even if it is something good that you are doing, you can not let it keep you from what is best and what we need to be doing here. If I had a penny every time someone over the last year and a half has said to me "I don't have time for ...." I probably wouldn't have to work this summer. Whatever you are doing, I doubt it is more important that what we are sharing. When I was taking psych, we talked about something called relational preference. It is the idea that we show what really matters to us in life through the way that we spend our time. When we choose to do something, by nature we are not choosing to do something else. We evidence our preferences through our actions. Of course we have to do some things we don't want to do, and a lot of things are needed to live and be happy like working etc. But if we aren't careful, we can get distracted and loose our sense of priorities. We can forget why we are here, what our purpose is, and that we are here to progress and come closer to Heavenly Father. Everything else, is just a nice perk along the way. It isn't enough to just be busy, anyone can be busy, there is a quote that says something along the lines of even the ants are busy, it is what we are busy about that matters. Look at your time, look at your priorites, remember what you are doing here and who you are! And what that means for you and what you need to do! 

I hope you all have an amazing week! 

Love, 

April

Be A Light To the World

Hey friends! 

How was your week? I feel like there's not a lot to update you on since it's been one less day than usual since I wrote but we'll see. We had an awesome lesson with Loc this week. He says that the Holy Ghost freaks him out because of how often he feels it and how personal it is. He says "it's scary, but in a good way." It's pretty funny. We talked to him about baptism and he said he wants to do it but he has to talk to his wife first. We're hoping to set a date with him on Wednesday, which would be awesome! 

We had some interesting dinner adventures this week. So the Bosque branch is fed my members of the stake since their branch has about 10 people in it and each ward takes turns feeding them (by the way if you ever find yourself being asked to feed someone in a branch, Spanish, YSA or whatever please do! Those poor people never get any food). So this week it was our ward's turn to feed Bosque but somehow their dinner calendar and ours got put together, so we both thought we were going to the same places for dinner. So the members started freaking out when they thought that 4 missionaries were coming over and then we also have a mission rule where we aren't allowed to eat with other missionaries at members houses. So we got to do some fun juggling to see who got to eat with the member which night and who got to take their dinner to go or fend for themselves. It all worked out pretty well in the end though.

We've been really hitting the pavement to find new investigators this week since we still only have two solid ones. We didn't find any news but we did find some interesting people. One guy asked us if we had ever been enlightened and offered to hang out with us some time so we could try some "unnatural enlightenment". Needless to say we politely declined. He told us we were really missing out though, because "that's how you really dream". So I guess my dreams will just always be lacking, oh well! 

We also had a few funny dinner experiences this week. We traveled back in time and had dinner with one of our zone leaders, Elder Thompson as a toddler. Elder Thompson's parents are divorced and less active, his first name is Brennen, and he has a twin sister. Anyway, we had dinner with a recently divorced less active mom in our ward who has twins, a boy named Brennen and a girl named Evelynn. So we thought that was kind of funny. We also had dinner the other night with our Relief Society president and her family who tried to set up Sister Gibbons with their son who is on a mission in Wyoming. Ha, don't do that either! It's weird! 

This week we've also been getting our focus for next month ready. We must be doing decently on them because they asked us to give a training on how to have a good focus at MLC this week. Anyway, last month's was "look not behind thee" and this month's is "You are more than what you have become. Remember who you are." It comes from a devotional given by President Monson at BYU (yes I was there, that's my hipster plug for the day) called Be A Light To the World. The idea though is that as we remember our divine nature, who we are, we can become better and we have the confidence to do the things Heavenly Father would have us do. In my interview with President Miller, something that he said was that confidence comes from knowledge. I think in a sense that's true of all things, when we have knowledge, we naturally have confidence. So, spiritual confidence comes from spiritual knowledge. When we have and understand who we are, we have the confidence to not only be the people he wants us to be but also to do the things that he wants us to do. If you find yourself afraid of sharing the gospel or afraid of standing up for something, or not even afraid but just being tempted, study your divine nature. Study who you are, where you came from, why you are here and what is really important in life, and you will naturally find your confidence growing, your happiness increasing and your priorities realign in the right direction. 

I hope you all have an amazing week! 

Love, 

April

Living in a FOG(H)

Hey friends! Sorry to write you on a Wednesday instead of a Tuesday but we had zone conference yesterday so our p-day got switched to today. 

So first, the best thing that happened this week, it rained! It was seriously the greatest thing ever, especially since it's been in the 90's recently. Rain is my favorite thing in the whole world I think, ice cream of course being a close second.

We had a really good lesson with a new investigator named Joe this week. He was a referral from the Spanish Elders. I was a little skeptical because he doesn't seem to own a shirt and his house stinks like weed like you wouldn't believe but, it was actually really good. He recognizes that his life is better when God is in it and he wants to get back to that. We were supposed to see him yesterday too but it didn't work out so hopefully we'll get to see him again soon.

Jessica also has a baptism date of June 11. I'm not sure if she's going to make it since she is still really struggling with the word of wisdom but we're keeping our fingers crossed! We also had a lesson this week with a man named Melchezidck! How crazy is that! He's friends with a family in our ward but it turns out he lives out of our area. But, another family has a friend named Loc staying with them that we had our first lesson with on Sunday. He's not Christian but open to other ideas and he really likes church so we'll see how it goes! 

The real highlight of this week was being able to go to zone conference. It was good as usual, but this one was a little different because it is the last on the we will have with President and Sister Miller before they go home in July. So they gave us their dying advice at the end. Ha, all the zone leaders "had something in their eye", and Elder Sanchez was very concerned about what was wrong with Elder Bracken. It was really good though, President and Sister Miller have been amazing and I'm so thankful that they were here for my whole mission. I also had my dying interview this week, which was strange. We spent a lot of time talking about spiritual gifts obtained and how to continue to progress for the rest of your life. He also said that if I wanted, he would interview my future fiance before I got married so I might have to take him up on that =D 

As for a spiritual though, I have two but I think I'm going to save one for next week because I'm a bit low on time. Something that President Miller said both in my interview and in his advise at zone conference, was that living the gospel is simple, it's living life that's hard. And life is what can sometime trick us into over complicating the things of God. The primary things we invite investigators to do to progress in CPR. Go to church, pray, and read your scriptures. Generally, assuming you're attentive, and apply and all of that, that's all you really need. Sometimes, when questions, concerns, and trials come up, you need other things, and of course you have to follow and listen to the council and revelation you get, but when you are doing those three, and for members of the church attending the temple regularly, you will progress, you will grow, you will move forward. It is something I have seen again and again. No matter what stage you are at, high or low, we can always do better. We can always ask with an open heart "what lack I yet?" and find the answer in those things and come closer to Christ. So, if you are doing those 3/4 things, keep it up, and if you're not, commit to start, today. 

Oh, one more thing that happened, I told President and Sister Miller that they couldn't get trunky in their last few weeks and he just looked at me and said "ain't nobody got time for that!". Sister Miller said they were living in a FOG(H) (the H is silent I guess), a fear of going home. Ha, I told them I was in a pretty thick FOG(H) too. 

Well, I hope you all are doing great and having a good week! Talk to you soon! 

Love, 

April 

Are you less active?

Friends! We just got back from a baseball game! There was an afternoon Albuquerque Isotopes game and our zone got permission to go! It was I have to say pretty awesome, and certainly a change of pace from basketball in the gym. Not that that's not good too. 

Last week at sports we played a game called flicker ball, which is like ultimate Frisbee but you play it in the gym with a football, and instead of getting the ball into the end zone you get it into the basketball hoop. It was pretty fun, so if you're ever looking for a weird new game to play give it a try! 

We picked up a new investigator this week! Yay!! His name is Eric and he's friends with a member of the branch. We met him at FHE and after we left he asked the Branch President for our number because he "wanted to talk to us about Jesus." Can do Eric! Can do! He doesn't know much about the church though, or even Christ really. In our first lesson he asked us what it was like to be nuns and he brought us some incense that Catholics use for some kind of ceremony. So that was nice... Ha, he's a nice guy though so hopefully he's interested in learning more and is willing to put some effort in. 

We met with that family that I was telling you about a few weeks ago, where the father passed away suddenly. We hadn't ever really talked to them up to this point just because of everything that was going on but we did this week. Guess where they lived before Albuquerque? Marysville, Washington. How weird is that?!? 

We also went on a few less active adventures and were happy to find that a few of them were actually active and just like to travel. We were talking to one thought to be less active member who asked what we were doing for the day and we said "going to go see less actives." They laughed and said "I hope we weren't one of those!" ... they were... 

As far as something spiritual for the week goes, we are still reading those books by Elder Bednar. Today we talked about being offended and taking offense. This is a clip from one of the talks we discusses. 

On of my favorite quotes from Brigham Young goes something like: A man who takes offense when offense is not intended is a fool. A man who takes offense when offense is intended, is also a fool. 

Ha, anyway, I hope you all are doing well and have an amazing week! 

Love, 

April

p.s. Sister Gibbon this morning accidentally called Pahoran Pathoran.

Answered Prayers

 Friends, I have bad news. I forgot my planner today, which has all of my notes on the crazy shenanigans that have gone on during the week. So, I'll tell you two stories and leave you with a though and try to not forget it next time, sorry!

 We were having a meeting and somehow off hand it was brought up that Sister Gibbons has a Cost-Co card. One of the Elders started protesting about how he lived right behind Cost-Co and he had to see if every day but he didn't get to go inside. She offered to let him use her card. He thought about it for a minute and then said "No, I'm too poor for Cost-co. All I really want is a hot dog.". So now whenever we see the Bosque Elders or something disappointing happens we just respond with "will someone please get that man a hot dog?". Maybe you had to be there but I was, so it was pretty great.

 The second thing happened yesterday during our weekly planning. We live about half a mile from our zone leaders and the other sisters in our zone. Around 2:30 we got a text from the zone leaders asking us to call them. We did and were asked if we could bring over some butter. When we asked if they were home now they said yes and that they weren’t going anywhere any time soon. When we asked why they said "Well... it's kind of a long story but Elder Thompson was trying to fix a leak in the sink and now his hand is stuck in it." So naturally then needed the butter to get his hand unstuck. We came over and brought them my tool kit, Windex, and some butter but... it turns out that they actually just wanted butter so that they could make cookies. It was pretty funny and we totally fell for it, but we came away with a new motto for the transfer. "Don't wait around for your Zone Leader, he's probably stuck under a sink.".

 So anyway, now on to something slightly more spiritual. A lot of times on the mission I've thought back to my old areas or my old companions and thought "if only I could go back and serve there again, I would do so much better the second time.". Not that I was bad before, just because I know more now. Towards the end of my last transfer in Hondo Pass, when I knew that I was going to leave, I asked Heavenly Father that if it was possible, I would like to go back to somewhere I had been before. Or get the change to work with/ around some of my old comps I had before. And I promised that if that happened, I would be better this time. I would use what I learned to do what I should have done the first time. In this transfer and last I've been blessed with that in literally every way you could imagine. I'm an STL again, in a YSA again, in a family ward again, I'm serving in ABQW again, and work in Rio Rancho again, and even get to work in two of my old areas. I've had the chance to see and work with many of my old companions and even just people that I've known from the past. And I know I haven't been perfect this time around, but I hope I can keep my end of the deal and do my best to make things better this time and make things right Anyway, just a thought, what a huge testament of the love Heavenly Father has for us and how perfectly He knows us! Anyway, have a good week!

 Love,

 April

we got to go to the Albuquerque temple yesterday

Well friends, I know that you're not going to believe this but, I don't have a lot of time! So sorry if this ends up a little short. This week we had some fun events. One of which was our poor little car being the victim of a hit and run. We weren't in the car when it happened but someone smashed out bumper and then took off. Don't worry though, we used our detective skills to find them again (we were just across the street and saw it happen) and get their plates and file a police report. And that was 3 hours of pure fun, let me tell you! It actually wasn't that bad, it just took a long time. 

In happier news, we got to go to the Albuquerque temple yesterday. which was great! We get to go twice a year, usually after conference, so we were surprised that it was this early but hey, I'm not going to complain. And going up to Albuquerque from El Paso is always a full day trip since it's 4 hours one way. We got all of our planning done though so it was still productive, don't you worry (because I know that you were all so worried right?)! It's always nice to be able to go up as well because the whole mission goes on the same day, so often you get to see other friends who are serving in different areas. Unfortunately for me though, I owed one Elder some Mentos and I brought them all the way up from El Paso to give to him but I didn't see him there. So naturally I had to eat them on the way back. 

I think that I told you all that we have been focusing more on part member families and unbaptized children of record here in the mission. This week we received three new investigators from it. All of them are children who have a member parent but haven't been baptized themselves. Teaching kids helps us to remember how to be simple, but it's always cool to see how easily they get it, and really how simple the gospel really can be. 

Something else that I've really enjoyed this week have been Charles' new member lessons. He is teaching them to us and we are being "investigators", which is really fun. It's like an enjoyable role play, and it's good to be able to see his growth and understanding. His wife has even "secretly" been listening in and last week she told us that she wants to read The Book of Mormon! So we'll see where that goes. 

We met with James again this week, and he is still doing really well. He is very honest in his questions, which is nice. Often times, people ask the same questions he does but without the intent to understand, just as an attack. 

Which brings me to what I've been thinking about this week. I've been reading over my journal and something we talked about in one of the Sunday meetings in the MTC has been on my mind. We talked about when Christ goes to the temple and reads the scripture that talks about the coming of Christ and says "this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." Saying in essence, I am the messiah. Well, the people had a freak out, yell blasphemy, and decided to stone him. And he leaves of course and goes somewhere else to talk to other people. The lesson to learn though is that what Christ said was true, he was the messiah, and just because it was different from what the Jews were expecting, didn't make it any less true. If they had opened their hearts and listened and learned from what he had to say, they would have been enlightened and found a lot more, peace, happiness and certainly spiritual understanding. But instead they get angry, defensive, refuse to consider other options, and literally try to kill the messenger. Now, obviously we can apply this to investigators, and people that we as missionaries meet on the street, but more importantly, we should apply it to ourselves. When we hear something that doesn't quite fit in exactly with everything that we already believe, especially something spiritual, do we stop, think, open our hearts and try and learn? Or do we get defensive, justify, and get rid of or try to "kill" what we are hearing? Sometimes, what we are hearing will be wrong, and if we are calm and rational about it, we will learn and understand that. But sometimes, it will be right and true. And just because it's different from what we think or think we know, doesn't make it any less true. And we may be denying us of further peace, happiness and understanding. Anyway, something to mull over.   

Well, I hope you all are doing amazing and talk to you soon! 

Love, 

April  

p.s. A quote from our bishop this week when talking about fast and testimony meetings. "I just figured eventually that this was the Lord's true church. He wants these weird people in it just like he wants the normal ones." 

one cool experience

Well friends, I'm not sure that I have anything really all that exciting to report this week. Honestly, really just the regular stuff. I am considering getting color contacts though. We had a lesson with one new investigator this week who we promptly dropped after, when he sent us a text telling us how much he had fallen in love with my eyes. Yeah... I wish that was the only time that has happened. I think that's probably #4. Just as a word of caution, when someone starts complimenting your eyes, especially someone you don't know, just leave. It's just going to go down from there. But hey, I haven't been called or asked to participate in prostitution for a good month now so things are looking up I guess! 

We did have one cool experience this week where we tracked into a guy who invited us to come in right there and teach him. He seems like a really cool guy so that was pretty nice. We've also been working with Charles more this week with his new member lessons. They're pretty fun because he teaches us and we pretend to not know what he's talking about.

We also got to take Shirley to a baptism this week. She has been doing really well, which is awesome, especially considering her situations. She is living with her son and daughter in law and her son is deploying later this week. Her daughter in law won't let us in the house though so we always have to meet somewhere else. She has a lot of determination though and said "If we have to meet on the driveway, that's fine with me!". At the baptism she also gave Elder Montoya a hug and his reaction was pretty funny.   

This week I have been considering how everything Heavenly Father does is for our benefit. And if we don't understand now, we will in time. We were watching Prophet of the Restoration and it was talking about all of Joseph Smith's children who have died. I was thinking about how of course that was tragic and from our perspective it seems unfair, and like he was being punished, or at least not blessed or something. I thought though, that there is that thing about parents being able to raise children who have died during the millennium. Joseph Smith had a crazy life. Perhaps, his children were allowed to die, so that he would be able to raise them later during a happier and more peaceful time. I mean, obviously I don't know, but, when we take the time to really stop and think about things that seem unkind or unfair, we find possible positive reason. And even when we don't, we can take what we know about God, that he is our loving Heavenly Father, that really does want and only do what is best for us and exercise the faith to know that it will all work out in the end.  

Anyway, hope you all have a good week.

Love, 

April 

Charles got baptized

So this week Charles got baptized!!!! Finally, !!!!!! Charles is only the second person that I have been there on the day that we met and then also there on the day that he got baptized. The first was John, who is also amazing! So we spent a good portion of the week getting things ready for that. They interview and speakers and all of that good stuff. Our WML was out of town this weekend too so that added to the fun. 

This week was also Pope Day! That's right, the Pope came to town! Well, actually he came to Juarez, but you know, close enough. I was expecting honestly it to be a bigger hindrance for us than it was, but really it just meant the people were all inside watching the Pope on tv and got mad when we came to their door. So pretty much just like any Sunday when a football game is on.  

We had a really cool experience this week when we went to go see a recent convert that just moved into our ward. She lives in an apartment complex that has a big "no soliciting" sign in the front of it. As we were leaving the complex a lady come out from the office and starts following us. I was pretty sure she was going to yell at us for "soliciting in her complex" aka walking through it, but actually she asked us if we had an extra copy of The Book of Mormon. Her brother is a member and told her to look into it! So we gave her one of course and are planning to meet with her later. 

We're still meeting with Tina and Molly and they're doing alright, although both of them need their dates pushed back. One of Judi's struggles with the Word of Wisdom is that she gets really bad migraines and drinks coffee to get rid of them. That's why she started even drinking it in the first place. So we're not quite sure what to do about that. If you have any ideas, we'd be glad to hear them. Molly is the same old stuff. Crazy family life and trying to work things out with her dad. But we're going over later this week and we'll see how it goes. 

We also had a good lesson with Tina who lives out in Chappy. She really asks a lot of good questions and thinks about what it is that we're saying. And when we brought up baptism she said "I'm glad you mentioned that because I do want to get baptized. I've always known that I needed to." Of course we still have a way to go before she gets there but, it's pretty great! Oh and it was also Sister Dummar's birthday this week. So we of course told as many people as possible. It reminded me of when it was always Sister Bowen's birthday. 

This morning we listened to President Uchtdorf's talk about the forget me not's where he talks about the difference between a good and a foolish sacrifice. This is something that I've thought about before so hopefully I haven't talked to you about it already, but I was reminded of it this morning. He says that somethings are obviously good to sacrifice for and some things obviously not so much. I was thinking though about how a lot of the time, if somethings is a good or a foolish sacrifice is up to us. Take a mission for example. The sacrifice has already been made, but if it's a good sacrifice or a bad one or not is up to me, the things that I choose to do, the way I spend my time and thoughts and attitude. Getting an education is a sacrifice, and if it's a good or a bad one or not is up to you. What you choose to study, how diligent you are about it, and what you choose to do with what you study. In so many instances what the sacrifice becomes is up to us. Another talks says it similarly. He talks about how Christ says that Heavenly Father only gives bread, and fish and eggs, and not serpents and scorpions. So, Heavenly Father only gives us good things. But, with our actions and our attitudes, we can turn those good things into bad things. Especially if the good thing he gives us, isn't the thing we want or the thing we expect. So ask yourself when you are in a position of sacrifice, is this a good or bad sacrifice? Or if the sacrifice has already been made, am I going to make it a good one or a bad one? 

So anyway, hopefully you all are doing well and have an amazing week!

Love, 

April  

#diesouth!

Hello friends, not a whole lot of excitement I feel like this week to report. I guess that's a good thing though because it means that I might actually get to finish writing this to you without having to rush. I guess the biggest missionary things is transfers. And the verdict is.... #diesouth! Ha, I'm still here in Hondo Pass going on transfer #5 and at least 8 months in El Paso before I leave. If I ever do that is. It's a good place though and good things are really starting to happen here though so I'm excited. This time for transfers the district all met at our apartment and our District Leader gave everyone a candle. If you left, he blew out your candle. He had way too much fun with it but it was fun and different. Only one person from the district left though so it was a little anticlimactic. I was really surprised though how few changes there are going to be in the district/zone, especially considering the new stake that we're in but hey, it's fine with me. 

  

In other exciting news, we went with Charles to a baptism in Spanish this last weekend. Since only 1st ward and us speak English almost all of the baptisms are in Spanish. Despite only being able to understand every other word it was pretty great, and I think that he liked it. When we asked him what he thought he said "Well, the water will be cold and I need to bring a change of clothes." Um... yes... I guess so? Ha, he is doing well though so I'm excited to be able to be here for his baptism in a few weeks. 

Speaking of Spanish, we had exchanges this week and I got to go to Rio Grande. It was kind of fun to be back over on the West side. Don't tell our friends here in the North East but the west side is the best side! The north east has freak weather. Like yesterday when it was 70 in the morning and sunny and snowing in the afternoon. How does that work? 

We were able to pick up a really cool new investigator this week named Erika. is interested in the gospel has had a rough and interesting past, but she seems really eager and open to learn, which is awesome of course! I'm excited to be able to work with her more. 

At dinner the other day our ward mission leader and his wife were telling us about the possible places that they might be sent to by the army and they said "Hey, you're from Washington. do you know a place called Marysville?" Ha, yes, yes I do. So they might end up living there or in Everett. I've never heard of someone going to Marysville because of the military but who knows! So, if the Maenhardts end up in your ward you people back home say hi and know that we hung out first in El Paso. 

Other exciting news of the week, we had some authentic Jamaican food. It was pretty good; I have to say that I am a fan. I saw on the menu that you can get ox tail there so maybe I'll try that some time. The member that took us, who is originally from Jamaica said that Ox tail is only good if you have someone who really knows how to cook it right so... there you go I guess. 

This week I have been studying a lot from last year’s Relief Society and Priesthood book because I realized that I have it but never really read it so now I am. Anyway, today I was reading about "follow the prophet". One of the things it said is that the most important prophet is the one who is alive today. And to beware of people who would put a dead prophet over a living one. He also goes on to talk about how people praise the prophets of old but mentally or emotionally reject or crucify the current one. We see that a lot of course with people who don't believe in prophets but I think that if we are not careful we can also see it in ourselves. A prophet tells people what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. And if they say something that we maybe don't like or pricks us in the heart, maybe we should consider 1 Nephi 16: 2-3  "wherefore, the guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center. And now my brethren, if ye were righteous and were willing to hearken to the truth, and give heed unto it, that ye might walk uprightly before God, then ye would not murmur because of the truth.Now, does that mean that you are a terrible person if you are doing something wrong? Or if you don't agree exactly the second you hear some council? I certainly hope not because otherwise I'm a pretty bad person. But it is important to remember who knows best? You? Or Heavenly Father's servant (btw, probably not you in case you were wondering)?

 Something that really called me to consider my attitude towards the prophet was when Elder Bennett was talking to us about inviting to baptism. I asked what to do when you invite someone and they freak out and don't let you meet with them again. He talked a lot about why it's important and how to do it and all of that but at the end of the day the bottom line was this. The call to invite others to be baptized at the first lesson the majority of the time and no later than the second lesson the rest of the time comes from the prophet. If you don't support that principle, you don't support his council. Sorry, that's just the truth. Now, does it always "logically" make sense? The way that it appears to our natural eyes? No. But neither does tithing, or fasting, or so many other commandments that don't 'add up" if we scientifically analyze them. But they are true, and they are from God. And as we do them and do his will, we will be blessing, including being blessed to understand why. So, when you have a fork in the road ask yourself, who knows best? Anyway, sorry for the ramble. And lest you think I am contradicting myself by my last ramble about scripture study, prophets say to study the scriptures so there! Ha, just don't put them above the living one =D 

Anyway, I hope you all have an amazing week! 

Love, 

April     

Don't Worry Be Happy

Oh my lanta friends! Why is there never any time to write anything! I promise that I will write you first next week! This week was fantastic! We were able to pick up 6 new investigators and one of them even came to church. We also tracked into a less active that has been looking for the church and hey look, it just came to you! We were able to do a lot of service this week as well, including vacuuming up dirt from a person's yard. I know, that doesn't make any sense but you know, that's the service that they wanted us to do so we went with it! We spent some fun time out in Chappy this week and Charles is now totally off of coffee and making his way quite well towards his date. This is the last week of the transfers and now that Monday p-day is no longer a thing I might get to write you next week from a new area! But you never know, they do say, go south die south and so far it's been true to its word! #greaterthanorequalto5transfers. By the way, are hashtags still a thing? If they aren't I'll just use them occasionally to annoy Autumn but that's it. =D 

As for a spiritual thought this week, I really liked what I friend sent me so I 'll just send that to you! 

"I feel like people get lost when they think happiness as a destination. We always think that someday we’ll be happy. When we get that car or that job or that person in our lives who will fix everything but what people fail to realize is that happiness is a mood and it’s a condition. NOT A DESTINATION. It’s like being tired or hungry. It’s not permanent. It comes and goes and that’s okay. And if people would think that way then they’d find happiness more often." 

Be happy! But if you're not happy 24/7 don't worry, that's ok! Happiness comes when you're not expecting it and it's the moments of joy when we realize that we really are happy, and happier than we knew! 

Anyway, sorry this is so short! Love you all and talk to you next week! 

April

Our area is really starting to do well

Hello friends! This week was I feel like pretty eventful so hopefully I can say everything that I'd like to! I feel like our area is really starting to do well and we are really having success at finding and teaching new investigators. Which inevitable means that I am about to get transferred. Whenever the area really starts to turn around and good things start happening there I get booted. But who know, I guess we'll see in a few weeks.

 Let's see, where to start. This week we were able to pick up two new investigators who both now look like they have a lot of potential. The first is a girl that we tracked into named Haley. She and her son Colton are looking for a new church to join and have never heard of our church before. What they have heard of though is some scary sounding Korean church she was investigating a few weeks ago where you have to wear veils and they have additional scripture that answers all of your questions that you can't see or know about until you become a member. So you know I figure, if she was willing to give that a shot we ought to be pretty golden! She was it seems pretty involved in Wicca in the past though and probably has been watching a little too much Buffy the Vampire Slayer/ Supernatural (we got a lot of questions about Lilith and succubus and the Hell Mouth (ok, maybe not that last one...)) but that shouldn't be too hard to straighten out. And she is really interested and honest with her questions so I'm excited for her!

 Our second new investigator is named Victor and we've had some interesting times with him... We scheduled two appointments with him which were both dropped (he forgot about them) and we helped him move some branches out of a truck. Finally, on Saturday we had a lesson with him which was a disaster! He kept getting distracted about random things, we would say apostle and he started talking about opossums and about how he liked my boots and oh my lanta it was a mess. Sister Bishop is amazing though and even with all of that nonsense going on she still invited him to baptism! And somehow we got a return appointment with him the next day. I don't know for sure what happened between Saturday night and Sunday afternoon but the next day the lesson was totally different. He was on track, calm, listened and answered questions and we were able to teach a good and powerful restoration lesson. At the end of it he said "I know what you are telling me is true." and as we were leaving he stared reading the chapter that we left for him in the Book of Mormon.

 Charles and Judi and continuing to do well, and working on their word of wisdom fantastically! This week were also able to meet with some amazing potentials as well! So we are hoping to get some great new investigators this week.

 We've been having some fun with the Chaparral Elders recently. Elder Evan's new companion is from Peru and doesn't speak a whole lot of English, so Elder Evans has been teaching him English and he is practicing with us. He is also teaching us a little Spanish as well. The Elders came over the other day to bring us back our GPS and Sister Dummar and Sister Bishop kept offering him food. The poor guy didn't know it was ok to say no! And he also made us lunch yesterday when we went out to Chappy to see our new investigator Tina. We also got to see Elder Evan's hole. Apparently for exercise he just digs a hole deeper and deeper every day. I guess you can do that when you live out in the middle of nowhere. I'll have to take a picture of it the next time I go out there but it's at least 6 ft deep.

  We've been having a lot of adventures out in Chappy recently including talking to random German people, eating a lot of food, and organizing jewelry with Tina. So it's been fun! This is my 5th transfer covering Chappy and I still see something exciting every time I go there. One of these days I'll have to go explore it as a regular person.

 In other quick news, our stake split of course but only the same way that it was already split by zones so it doesn't really influence us, Sister Dummar has officially become my secretary ( I just realized that I always make her write everything down for some reason) and probably will be forever. When is secretary day? Someone tell me and I'll get her something =D Also, I've been teasing her because she almost told someone their house smelt nice when it reeked like pot ha ha.

 Ok, really quickly, I have been thinking a lot recently and wanted to talk about something a random man in a Rio Rancho Walmart dubbed as "low informational Christians". He told us he was sick of talking to and running into them and I have to say I agree! Ok, now let’s not get crazy here, you are always learning of course and you are never going to know everything, especially random things like dates, but so many people claim to be Christians and don't know anything about it! Do you know how many people don't know the 10 commandments? How can you follow them if you don't know what they are! And even in the church, it scares me honestly how little people know about their own faith. I've had missionaries ask me "wait... the Book of Mormon was written where again?" Please, read and study your scriptures. Lean, grow, fulfill your purpose of being here on the earth! If you can tell me more about Minecraft than Nephi we have an issue! The way that you obtain freedom is from knowledge, enlightenment and understanding. Do you know how many people have died, sacrificed and given anything so your scriptures could exist today! Don't waste their sacrifice. It has been said that the scriptures have never been more accessible than they are today BECAUSE they have never been more needed. Heavenly Father is giving us the tools and he expects us to use them. Ok, sorry, this turned into way more of a lecture than I wanted but I don't have time to beat around the bush and make is eloquent. I promise next week I'll write about something more uplifting!

 Love

 April

"Did you know it's cold outside?"

Well, I know that Christmas is over but Merry Christmas on last time! We are still our caroling at least until the new year. But caroling is a lot cooler now (literally and figuratively) because it's snowing! On the 26th it started dumping snow and church was even canceled, which is really kind of a bummer since we had like 4 people we were pretty sure were going to go but what can you do? El Paso can hardly handle the rain so the whole city pretty much shut down, which was nice for us. People had nowhere to go which means that they are home! They're so funny though, they always say "Did you know it's cold outside?" Oh yeah? I didn't know that... 

So, the exciting news, Charles is on bap date! He should be getting baptized February 22nd and we have a word of wisdom plan for him and everything! It's even more exciting because the last time we really talking to him about it in detail he said maybe in a few years! So February is a pretty good improvement! We also talked to Judi about picking a date to get baptized on as well so she should be getting going here as well! Yay! And we got to see Ron and Teresa and we might get to help them with their remodeling soon. I was really glad we were able to see them again after so long. They need to get themselves to church! 

This Christmas Eve we had a Christmas miracle! They mail that they said we weren't going to get until January came on Christmas Eve! So it wasn't cancelled ha ha. We also got to pretend to be President Monson again this year and visited all of the single/lonely people in the ward. Mostly old people but a few Sisters whose husbands are deployed. It was really good though. One older sister we went to go see when we showed up said "Before you got here I was literally just praying that someone would come by." So that was pretty cool to hear. And lots of people told us that our coming meant a lot. It was a good way to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas. And all of our Hispanic friend invited us to party with them on Christmas Eve and have pasole and tamalies and all of our Caucasian friend were out of town because White people don't like El Paso ha ha. 

Also, we had a real Christmas miracle when we were caroling the other day. The lady that opened the door started crying and told us she had been feeling so down because people haven't been focusing on Christ. She said that she is looking for a place to go to church and that we should come back. So that was really cool. 

By the way, I totally had an insight this week that applies to what I know all of you are going to make one of your New Year’s resolutions. Exercise! We were teaching the word of wisdom and talking about the spiritual insights that come from abstaining from the things God has asked us not too. And we were talking about how for most of us who are already baptized the next step is do eat right and exercise. Imagine if we can see spiritual insights and growth from living the bare minimum word of wisdom that most of us do, how much better it will be as we live it as fully as we can. And I was thinking about the missionary schedule. The first thing you do when you get up in the morning is exercise. After that you prepare for the day and eat and then study. Exercising right after you roll out of bed is the worst but, I think that it might be designed that way to help us be able to get more out of our studies. And we take the opportunity to live the word of wisdom by taking care of our bodies through exercise and then eating a god breakfast, it will open our minds to further spiritual insights we can then receive as we study to help us throughout the day. At least, that's my new theory and it's a little better intensive at least for me to not be a slacker than "because you're supposed to do it." Spiritual and temporal knowledge is in the balance here! Ha, ha anyway, I'll try it out and let you know how it goes! Have a good new year! 

Love, 

April 

Merry Christmas!

Hey friends! Merry Christmas! Holy cow can you believe that Christmas is this week? That is crazy!! Also, sorry but I forgot my old planner at home so I'm just going to have to go off of memory oh what we've been up to. Mostly it has been adjusting to being in a trio! So far, so good. We even have like 6 inches between all of our beds so you know, what more do you need? Really though it's not bad at all and now when Sister Dummar is talking in her sleep I can just tell her to be quiet from my bed instead of having to get up. Ha ha, don't tell her I said that though =D

One thing that made this week exciting was that we had to take our car into the shop again. That's the third time since I've been here in Hondo Pass that we've had to take it in. When we got to the dealership people were like "Oh hey! Welcome back! Good to see you!" And stuff so... probably not the best place to be well known. Oh, that just reminded me of the best commercial ever for some electric car, I think a Prius but sadly I can't show it to you right now. Someone remind me in 5 months. Poor Sister Bishop though, we were like "welcome to the mission! ready to walk everywhere all day?" Thankfully we got it back the next day though and everything has been good since. 

Last Saturday we had a really cool experience. So we are allowed to do two hours of family history a week and on Saturday when we decided to go the family history library was closed so we went to the regular one. While we were there we saw a man who works in the computer lab and I had the random thought "maybe we're here to talk to him", but I didn't think much more about it and started to log on. About 2 minutes after being there the man came up to us and asked if we were from the LDS church. Well, it turns out that he used to be a member but after breaking an engagement with a girl who was a member (who introduced him to the church) left the church and became atheist. He talked to him about it of course and he said that he was pretty happy how he was, but it feels like it made a difference. Hopefully it will help him some way.

This week we had a lesson with our new investigator Claudy who said something really cool. We were talking about how God loves us and wants to bless us and he asked if we believed in tithing. We said yes of course and he talked about how he has heard lots of stories about how tithing blesses people and told us a story about one of his acquaintances who was trying to out give God. He said that the more he tried the more frustrated he became because for everything he did for God, he got back way more. Things that he couldn't even explain were happening. Oh course you have to do it for the right reasons, but I like the idea of trying to out give God. I mean, it's impossible, the scriptures even talk about that, but I think it would help if we did it with the right mindset to help us to be humble. You know like "Because I Have Been Given Much I Too Must Give." It reminds me as well of this cool Mormon message I saw the other day. 

Anyway, I hope that you all have an amazing Christmas! It really is the best time to be a missionary and the best time if we let it to renew ourselves and help ourselves feel the love and light of God. I think there's a reason we celebrate it at the end of the year (besides of course moving it for pagan traditions and blah blah) because it flows so naturally into the new year and wanting to start again. Talk to you soon!  

Love, 

April    

This week has been full of singing!

So guess what this new transfer is bringing to us? Well, I'm staying here in Hondo Pass! This is the longest that I've stayed in any area so far, so that's kind of crazy. We are also going to be trio training this transfer! Which means that we are going to get another new missionary and Sister Dummar and I are going to train her together while I finish training her during her second transfer. How is that going to work? I have no idea. But we'll figure it out I'm sure. 

This week has been full of singing! We haven’t been caroling almost every night and on Saturday we sang at the mall for a few hours. It was pretty cool I have to say and the institute was super kind and feed us after. I really do feel like people are way nicer to us than we deserve. We also had an awesome ward Christmas party and Charles and his wife came. Ha, she was like "I didn't know Mormons celebrated Christmas!" A comment that became even funnier because just the next day we were talking to a member who told us a story about how she told some guy Merry Christmas and he response was "Don't tell me, you're a Mormon!" Apparently Catholics don't like Christmas? At least here in El Paso apparently? 

We had two lessons with Charles this week that both went really well. Our lesson yesterday we read over the baptism interview questions with him. He still has a long way to go until he's ready (prophets, tithing, and Word of Wisdom) but he has the desire to be baptized. He is doing really well and keep pretty much all of his commitments.

We also had a good lesson with Molly and will hopefully be able to schedule something really soon for her baptism. We're going to have dinner at their house on Christmas though so that will be awesome! 

Other than that it's just kind of been the same old same old. Sorry that I don't have too many exciting adventure this week. Maybe with a new person we can get into more adventures. 

This week I have been studying humility and how it helps with personal growth. I guess I don't have anything really interesting or enlightening to say about it, but really just the thought that it encompasses so many things. I think especially when we see something as either an exception or we think we know better. Of course there are going to be some exceptions to things but in the long run we have to ask ourselves, who knows better? Me or God? Or, what do I gain by "being right"? Sometimes you do need to be right, but sometimes you don't. In the talk We'll Ascend Together it talks about how often we have a choice, to be happy and progress or to be right. Pride also goes both ways. It can be in putting yourself above everyone else but also in putting everyone else above you. A sort of false humility. Anyway, I'm sure you all knew that already. I hope you are having a merry Christmas season and a fantastic week! 

Love, 

April 

Would you like to be Baptized?

Hello friends, how are you today? Unfortunately, almost all of our appointments fell through this week so there isn't a lot of interesting news to report. We were able to meet with Charles and Molly though. They are both doing great! We taught Charles about the Word of Wisdom and at first he was very much like "No, nope, this is never going to happen." But by the end of the lesson, he had really opened up to it and was willing to give it a try. He says he's going to start with alcohol though. Which is good but... not any different than what he's already doing. Oh well, I guess you've got to take what you can get right?  

This week we've had a lot of meetings but it has been good. We had interviews with President Miller and he asked us to ask our ward in ward council what we can do to make it more of a ward where we assist members in doing missionary work, rather than doing most of the work ourselves. We brought up the idea and got a few suggestions but nothing really solid. But, at least it's out there now. Also, if any of you have any ideas that would be most certainly accepted! 

When we met with Molly this week we were able to talk to her about a new bap date! She doesn't have one yet, she needs to talk to her mom, but she said it is something she wants to do as soon as possible! 

On Monday we spent the day in Las Cruces for a zone conference. Elder Bennett of the 70 came and talked to us from 10-5! It was super good though and I was personally chastised for not inviting people to be baptized on the first lesson. Ha, ok not really chastised but he asked why we don't always do it and I brought up how often times for me it's because I'm worried that the person will be defensive and surprised and not want to meet with us anymore. Ha and then he talked about that for like an hour. So I guess I had better do it huh?! He was saying though that what it really boils down to is that if they get freaked out and they're not ready, they're not ready, and regardless of when you asked, they would have said no. And that by putting it off, which is what they're expecting anyway, you're just making it uncomfortable for everyone and actually reducing their likelihood of saying yes, because they want to know why their not being straightforward with you. Kind of like an awkward, beat around the bush dtr. Besides, something Sister Dummar and I were talking about a bit before the meeting anyway was that when you ask someone to get baptized the first time, you really aren't even asking them to get baptized at all. What you say is when you find out these things are true, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the proper priesthood authority of God. So, what you're really asking is, are you willing to change? If you knew for sure that this was the truth and that this was what God wanted, would you do anything about it? Because if you're not willing to change, if you're not going to do anything, what is the point of us coming to see you anyway? Elder Bennett said that if we started inviting at the first and every lesson that we would see the baptisms in our mission double. So! Here we go ha ha. 

Oh, Sister Dummar and I had hot chocolate this week made from egg nog instead of milk or water or whatever. It was actually not bad but holy cow was it rich! Well, I hope you all are doing awesome and loving Christmas! 

Love, 

April 

Merry Christmas!

 Now that it's officially December I guess I can say that right? I hope that you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving. Ours was pretty great. We went in the morning to help with a service project our stake was having cleaning up after the Thanksgiving parade. We thought we were meeting when the parade ended but actually it was when it was starting, so we got to watch that first. I don't know, my opinion still stands that parades are kind of pointless and boring but it was a little interesting to see the difference in what made up an El Paso parade compared to an Everett or Marysville one. The El Paso parade was about 70% some form of military or police force ( Ft. Bliss, Border Patrol etc.) and 20% Catholic school or other Catholic things and then 10% random stuff.

After the cleanup we went and had a lesson with one of our new investigators Tim. Yeah, that's right; he's so cool he meets with us on Thanksgiving! Ha, actually his dad is in the hospital so they had their celebration on another day but it was cool to see him. We just started teaching him last Monday but he is doing really well so far. We also only had three dinners. It's kind of funny though because up until like a few days before no one was going to feed us. We were well taken care of though, as we always are! The last dinner we had was with two of our other new investigators Sarah and Iliria. They're Italian and Guamanian so we had gnocchi and lamb for dinner. And turducken ha ha. I actually didn't get to try that though but I will some day! Apparently it's a southern thing?

 Along with those three investigators we met another lady this week named Carol, who used to have missionaries come talk to her a lot about "Joseph Brown". Well, at least that's better than John Smith right? Ha, so clearly we have some foundation work to do but she seems pretty cool. She has a lot of questions about who God is and what His role is in our life.

Because of the Holiday this week we did a lot of less active work too, probably the most actually that I've done since coming to this ward. So that has been kind of cool to see. Less active work is always kind of interesting. Oh we saw Charles this week again as well and he finally prayed with us again! Right before he prayed he looked at us and said "a miracle is about to occur." ha ha. He is really coming along pretty well. 

Other than that we have really just been doing our mandatory caroling. That's right, mandatory spreading of the Christmas spirit, ha ha. It's been going pretty well though, and it makes contacting people after dark a lot easier. We haven't seen anything too cool happen from it yet, but I'm sure we will in time.

Something interesting that's been on my mind the past little bit is something that happened in one of our lessons yesterday. We were teaching about the restoration and more specifically about prophets. The member who we took with us likes to blather and as soon as we got into apostasy went into a long spiel about how God has proven that the apostasy would happen in his scripture and started throwing out scriptures from Daniel and Amos and Revelations and Corinthians. And then he went on about the Roman Empire and Nero and blah blah blah. It was really kind of interesting to see because it really showed how you just cannot prove that the gospel is true. You can't with history, or theological or philosophical debates, even or maybe even especially with the scriptures. How we use the scriptures in our teaching but we have to use them to support and explain, not to prove or convince. God doesn't stoop to man's level of persuasion for spiritual things, and I think he especially isn't fond of when we try to use His words to do so. Anyway, I don't mean to rag on this member, he's a good guy and was doing I'm sure the best he knew but it was just interesting to see. No, the way to find truth is so much more simple. Ask and rely on God, believing that He will answer and he will give it to you. Maybe not the answer you want, or the whole answer, but peace, or knowledge or comfort or something.

Well, I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Love,

April       

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello and welcome to another week! By the way, happy Thanksgiving! I hope that you all have an awesome Thanksgiving and really do take a moment to remember the things that you are grateful for and the blessings you have received. I know that I certainly have a lot to be grateful for this year! Last Thanksgiving I had just been in the MTC for a week! How crazy is that?

This week we taught Charles a few times, who has been doing pretty good! He even told us yesterday that he was willing to pray with us! So, it was too bad that we had to cancel our appointment with him. But, now that he's fessed up that he's ready there's no getting out of it! Ha, ha. It was pretty cool, we taught him last week and after we finished he said "What's next! Tell me more!" So we were pretty happy about that!

We also met a woman this week named Vivian and her niece. They sent us a message asking if we could come over and we said "Of course! Who are you?" Ha, it turns out that Vivian had been talked to for a few minutes and given a card by Sister Mckendrick and Sister Williams back in July and she was just now calling. So, I guess those little oym's do pay off in the end some times. It was cool to talk with them and hopefully they'll let us come back soon.

We also picked up three other new investigators this week. One was a referral in a trailer park named Tim and the other are two sisters that we tracked into named Ilatia and Sarah, who actually invited us to come spend Thanksgiving with them, so that's awesome! The trailer park that Tim lives in is an interesting place. People just seem to wander around there for no particular reason. And we met a few people there that we are most certainly never talking to again ha ha. We did meet one really cool guy there though named Dennis. He looked at us and said "You go to that church on Hondo Pass right? I want to go there. I want my son to go there too." Apparently he fell in love with a member in Utah who rejected him but, he's kept her picture all of these years and he's always wanted to know more about what was in her life. So, I'll run with that! Flirt to convert, I guess it works sometimes? Still, not recommended though.

Also, holy referrals Batman! We have like 11 referrals this week! So hopefully something good will come out of those! This week we also found Blockbuster! What! Yeah, it still exists, in El Paso at least. Apparently there are 5 here. And, we made a cake because Sister Dummar finished her first week in the mission and I finished my first year (well, only year I guess) so why not right?

This week I have been thinking about gratitude of course, and Mosiah chapter 2, which is all about gratitude and blessings. Verses, 19-24 and 41.It is amazing how all that Heavenly Father asks us to do is to keep His commandments, which he only gives us to make us happy in the first place! And, equivalent exchange is clearly not a things with God. If we do even our smallest little part to try a little harder, we are ridiculously blessed and compensated for our efforts! That is something that I have really come to see on my mission. I feel like if I never received another blessing, I still wouldn't be "even" with God for all of the things that I have done and things that he has given me! Anyway, something to think about.

Well, I hope you all have an amazing Thanksgiving!

Love,

April