Nueva Area, nueva companera, nueva semana‏

                                                                                                                               8/25/14 

Well. hahaha Hola otra vez!! I can't believe I was here a whole week ago. Time confuses me. 

But! This week flew by really fast. Lots and lots of walking. It's a little weird because our area isn't bigger than my last area, but the church isn't in my area anymore! 

But this week we found 2 new investigators. The first is 14 years old and his name is Alfredo. We taught him on the door step and it was a bit weird. He doesn't know how to read very well, because we asked him to read 2 verses out loud, and he only mumbled the letters for about 7 minutes. It was awkward. But he listened when we explained more, and when we asked him if he wants to learn more, he was really sincere and he wants to learn more. The problem is that he works a lot and doesn't go to school (that's why the reading). Agh! I love finding people that have the desire to learn more, but I hate it when we can't find them in their houses. We can't teach them if we can't find them!! bagh. We'll see what happens. 

The second new investigator, Cristina, is a Mom of two little kids. We contacted her in the morning, and returned to teach her in the afternoon! We wanted to teach her whole family, but it ended up being just her. But it was okay, because she was really interested in what we had to teach. She accepted baptism for September 27th! I really really really hope we progress with her and her husband. And now we need to contact more people. 

Oh, our new house does not flood as much. hahaha but we had a really huge rainstorm and there are some leaks in the walls in our room. But not too bad, really. We want to find a house closer to the chapel, closer to a member, that has air conditioning and that doesn't leak. Possible? Let's hope so :D

Just remember that there's always ALWAYS something new to learn :) I never knew how much there was to learn from the scriptures, from the prophets, from our friends and family, from Life!! Never stop growing or learning. Remember the scripture in D&C 130(I think) That says all that we learn in this life will go with us to the next life, and greater will be our advantage. I have to remember that in those moments where I feel like I know nothing. That this life is to learn, and if I have to get embarrassed to learn it...well...such is life. Haha "no pasa nada." 

Have an awesome week everybody!! 

Love, 

Hermana Daniels

Oh! I forgot to tell you about the giant map!! hahahaah we didn't have a little map for the first week, but still needed a map! So we just took that thing around with us! And we used it!! Good times :D 

                                                                      
                                                                                   My Zone

 

 

P.S. Matthew congrats on starting school :) Say hi to Mrs. Swinton and Mrs. Pace for me. And ESPECIALLY Brother Kjar!! You'll love him for a teacher. Tell him "hairy Sairy" says hi. hahaha. Not sure if he'll remember that. 

And you want some advice for school? Don't put stuff off. haha Always always ask the teachers for help if you have questions! And buy a mouse. Or borrow mine, but you'll go nuts if you just use the little pad! Oh, and write me letter!! Hellooooo!!! I want a letter from you. Matthew.daniels@mountainheightsacadamy.org? no way. that's way to long. Have fun learning!!

Transferred to Villa Verde!

Alright, here it goes!                                                                     Tuesday, August 19, 2014

We wake up Sunday morning with the house flooded...again! Oh goody. We can clean up really fast before we go to church! But then we get the transfer call. Hermana Bobadilla went to ¨La Paz” - in the Baja Peninsula, I´m going to Villa Verde!! Ah, okay. But Hermana Bobadilla had to leave at 4:00 Sunday afternoon! And a lot of our clothes and her suitcases were wet!! Yay! But she got everything ready, and we barely made it to church. Then after church a member took us the bus station and there we waited for the Elders for 20 minutes so they could leave for Culiacan.

Aaand….. adios to my first companion and trainer!

Anyway, I spent the rest of Sunday with the Hermanas in Villa Verde (my new area), but we only a had a meeting and after that went with a less active and back home so the THEY could pack. 

Then, Monday morning we all went to the train station to exchange and pick up our new companions. Mind you, all of my stuff  isn´t fully packed because of the water and it's still in Flores Magon! But we went to the bus station, left the bus station to an area of another Hermana, went back to the bus station, found out that our companions weren't gonna get there for a while and left to eat, and came back again and waited for about an hour.

And finally they got here and we eventually got all of our stuff in the proper house  (which we're hopefully going to find another house because this one also gets flooded with heavy rain.) Good times ahead!

I'm in the area Villa Verde, which is weird because it's the still the same district. And my new companion is Hermana Hernandez!! Neither of us know the area, so this will be fun! But Hermana Hermandez has 10 months in the mission, is from Tobasco, Mexico and is awesome! 

So, today we didn't do much, but we ate with Hermana Paty. She's super nice and already gave us a reference and went with us to meet her :D 

Hahah Irma, the reference, is a Grandma of a 7 year old boy who has serious attention problems. We're going to work with them and see where we go.

And now...well...lots of members, less-.actives and contacting :)  

 

I also learned last week that, really, we can't forget our identity. Don't ever forget who you are and what you stand for! And that people are always watching, whether you know it or not. Remember Heavenly Father knows you inside and out and is there to listen. Prayer is the best, fastest communication ever and you don't even need batteries. Remember that the commandments are actually blessings. :) 

Have a good week everybody!! Love you and thank-you for your support, prayers and letters!! 

Love,

Your favorite Missionary, Hermana Daniels

And sorry for the late letter. It's also not a very exciting letter, either, but that's what you get

 with transfers! :D 

 This is the Familia Espinoza. A really good family that help and support missionary work.

We Had a Baptism!

Hey Everyone,                                                                               August 11, 2014

Yo decidió que es mas trabajo escribir en ingles, que español, entonces ustedes tienen que aprender español, esta bien? Y no puede usar Google translate...pero tiene su albedrío... 

Este semana fue un poco extraño. No encontramos muchas nuevas personas, pero por eso tenemos una meta este semana. 

Okay, okay, you all are lucky that I have mercy and will write in English. For now. Plus I want you all to understand that I we had a baptism this Saturday!!! 

Daniela Alheli Flores is 18 years old and an amazing young woman. (She is in the middle.)

Jazive, Daniela's friend, was also going to be baptized, but her parents told her she has to wait a little longer and get to know the church more. Que!? Pero, esta bien, because they'll let her be baptized.  Hopefully beginning of September. 

And the family Romero Gonzalez? Well. They're progressing little by little! We have a family home evening scheduled with them tonight, so we'll see how it goes. They have a baptismal date for September 13th. 

And transfers are this next week. Which is weird. I just got here! I'm pretty sure one of us is leaving. I'll let you know how that goes. 

Uh...yeah. I don't have a ton of time to write because we went to the "Grand Plaza!" to buy a backpack. For me. Yeah. We'll see how that goes, too. 

Have an awesome week!! 

Hermana Daniels

Also, thank-you for your letters and prayers :) I know it helps a lot when you pray for me and also the investigators. And I really do love letters!!!!!! 

 Just so you know, the pasta here is awful. Just so you know :D They don't spice it or anything. Just tomato sauce and milk and salt :D And they serve a lot of spaghetti. 

I just had to say that. So when you have pasta, be grateful! 

And..for dinner you can make refried beans, corn tortillas, and fried chicken (not breaded). I have that at least once a week :D 

Speaking of,  how is Grandma? The same? She's still gonna be there when I get back, right? 

Well...Good afternoon everybody!!

Well...Good afternoon everybody!!                                                               August 4, 2014

Uh...I don't really know where to start this week. We contacted a lot of people this week, but most of our appointments fell through. Yay...hahaha. Okay, not so much, but when appointments fall through, we can only find more people to teach! 

We are teaching a family named Romero Gonzalez. Efraim and Marisela have 2 sons, Alexis(10) and Jaziel(1 and 1/2). I think I already wrote about them, but let me tell you how they're doing. Don't people know that their lives would be SO much better if they just obeyed the commandments!?!?!?! añlkgjlkvj. Like any other family they have their problems, so we told them they need to read the Book of Mormon and pray personally, and FAMILY. They always say they will do it, but when it comes down to it...not much happens. We had a really good lesson last night with them, and we will see what happens. 

We have a baptism planned for Saturday!! Jasive and Dani, two young women are doing awesome and hopefully everything goes well with that. 

Sorry, this really isn't a very good letter!! Not a ton of time. Speaking of time can you believe I entered the MTC almost 6 months ago!?!?! Wow. Does not feel like it. 

Anyway, have an awesome week, everybody! Stay happy :) Always be good examples :) 

Love you all!!!

Hermana Daniels

The Rains came down and the floods came up!‏

Buenas Tardes, a todos!                                                                                        07/28/14                                                                   

Last Sunday we dropped off Alexia and America(8 and 7) from church, and as we were walking away, a neighbor, Alexis(10) told us he wants to go to church and to talk to his parents. So we talk to his parents, and they asked us to come back and teach in a couple hours! So after lunch with the Familia Espinoza, we go back and have a really good lesson with them. Turns out that the Mom, Marisela, was already baptized at 12 years old. Her husband, Efraim, and Alexis accepted baptism. They're a good family, but have had to go through a lot, especially economic problems. But they came to a baptism on Saturday! We honestly thought they wouldn't, but they came :) And they came to church Sunday!

Martes(Tuesday) We taught someone named Pedro Antonio. He learns really slow. But he has the desire to learn, and is reading and praying. The problem is with his work schedule. He works all night and sleeps in the morning, wakes up, and goes to work again in the afternoon. And that's why he won't go to church! Most frustrating thing ever! Hermana Bobadilla and I promised him that if we went to church he would receive the rest he needed. Nope. He doesn't want to try. So...we'll see where we go with that. 

This week we finally contacted a less-active family - Familia Avila. Norma was the only one in the house when we contacted her, but she would not let us in. She told us she wasn't going to return to the church and shut the window. After about 2 minutes she opened the door and reluctantly let us in. We had a good "lesson" with her and hopefully she'll build up her faith again. 

Everybody listen to me for a second. Just for a second. Please, don't ever let anybody else affect your faith. Don't let anybody else's actions discourage you from doing what's right. Always remember the atonement of Jesus Christ and that it can help with Anything! It doesn't matter what calling you've had in the church or going to have. It doesn't matter how big of a testimony you have if you don't keep letting and helping it grow! There are a lot of people here that have been bishops, relief society presidents, elder's quorum presidents, etc and are now less-actives. Agh! Don't let your testimony fade! Don't lower your faith or your standards! Ever! 

Friday, was rather interesting, because we had weekly planning in the morning and after that appointments, and then a ward/mission activity. All of our appointments fell through except for 1. So, we went to prepare for the activity. That was fun, because the bathrooms were pretty bad. Good times, cleaning bathrooms in the church :) But the activity went well! We watched the video about John Tanner and the other about the Stonecutter. Both amazing men that gave up a LOT for the service of the Lord. 

At the activity was a young man named Leo. Leo plays baseball(note to Matthew) everybody here plays soccer, but he likes baseball! And he gets paid to play on a team, too! And he really want's to be baptized, but his Mom won't let him. There's a lot to this story, but basically we are working on getting her trust and teaching her also, so they can both get baptized. 

Saturday there was a baptism for the other ward! Yay! And yay because the Familia Romero Gonzalez(Marisela and Efraim) came! AND! Lupita and Julio Elizalde! Their kids are gone for vacations, but they still came! They really are an awesome family and we really hope they progress. 

Oh, the title? Yes. It rained a lot Sunday night and our house got flooded. It was pretty fun, having 1 1/2 inches of water in our house. Good times :) 

 

 

Yup, still teaching piano - although this week everybody went to EFY in Culiacan, so not much teaching piano this week. I play in church every week! Even though there's a young woman that can play, I guess she doesn’t like to or feels like she needs practice. Not sure. Working on that, though. 

Spanish? Pues...estoy mejorando cada dia, pero todavia tengo mucho, MUCHO aprender. A menos, mi companera es paciente cuando siempre digo, "huh? no entiendo..." 

But it was good week! Lots of work contacting and first lessons. Now we have a lot of work following up with them this week and finding a lot more investigators. Thank-you for your support and especially your prayers!! 

Have a good week! 

-Hermana Daniels

I don't know if you can see the second picture very well, but see that outlet? and the other behind it? There was water pouring out of one farthest away. Yay for electrocution! Just kidding, nothing happened. We just had to sleep without the fans, which was not fun because it's so HOT! But it was good.