March 17, 2014

Hola everyone! 

Don't have much time!!  But here's some fun information for y'all!!

We have a baptism this Friday!!  Erik is so ready.  From what I know and have seen he has been prepared.  He is very solid.  I know that he is going to be such a great member of the church.  And a great contribution to the Solvang Ward.  If I am correct I think this is the first Spanish Speaking baptism the ward will see.  Erik has come to church.  He is very excited to be baptized.  I really look forward to it.  It is so neat because he is the first investigator and the first lesson we had when Hermana Howell and I first got here.  It was such a great feeling to know we had this solid investigator who would be baptized.  We both hoped that we would be here to see it.  And we are.  I know Hermana Schmidt has seen his potential in the few weeks of her being here too.  I always had a good feeling about Erik! 

That's about all I have time for!!

Love,

Hermana Ah Mu

March 10, 2014

Erik!  We taught him many lessons.  I think the most exciting thing was, we asked him if he was planning on attending a baptism in Santa Maria.  He said yes.  And then he said, "And I am ready for my baptism."  So we scheduled a baptismal date for the 21 of March!  It feels pretty solid.  I have total confidence in Erik, he is so solid.  I really hope to see him baptized.  I know he will really love it, and he will keep progressing.  He is so awesome, and he can feel the spirit so strongly.  I can't wait for him to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

We gave Karen a break because she asked us to wait for her to call us for an appointment.  But Hermana Schmidt and I decided to go visit her just to see how she is doing and give her a Living Christ.  It was so cool.  We talked with her and her husband Carlos!  We had a little lesson and prayed with her.  Then Karen said, "When can you come back?"  Oh!  I was so happy that she wanted to meet with us again.  We are teaching her tomorrow.  I am excited!

We had a great combined lesson with Erik and Jose, who is a less active.  We hadn't met with Jose for months!  And finally we got a hold of him again.  And we thought it would be great for both Erik and Jose to meet with us.  So we read 2 Nephi 31 with them.  We had a wonderful discussion!  Erik talked about his baptism freely too and invited Jose, which was so cool!  And it was good for Jose, considering how long it had been since we met with him last.  He has a desire to learn again, which I love.  

I am really enjoying our zone goals this transfer.  And also the assignment the Sister Training Leaders asked us to complete.  The zone goals, part of it is we need to write 1 reason we believe we have the assignment we have and 1 reason we love being on a mission!  We do this everyday.  I LOVE it.  And also, the assignment the Sister Training Leaders assigned us is we need to write down 5 things we are grateful for everyday.  I love how well these goals go together!  What great timing too.  I really feel like I needed these goals this transfer.  I really look forward to writing these down.  And I think it helps me remain positive and happy because I am remembering the things I am grateful for, why I am here, and why I love being here!  I love it so much.  

I really appreciate Hermana Schmidt.  She is so kind and patient with me.  Even when I am not feeling well, she helps me see that it is okay to not feel well and that it is okay if I need to rest or eat a snack.  I so appreciate her and her selflessness.  I know that she is supposed to be my companion this transfer.  She is so supportive and understanding.  She is a good, strong missionary!  And she KNOWS her Spanish, I am hoping it can rub off on me...atleast a tiny bit.  Haha.  She helps me when I have any questions about Spanish, which is so helpful.  

I love this work.  It really is a privilege to be on a mission.  I am thankful for all that the Lord does for me.

We have zone conference next week.  I am excited!!  I hope you all have a great week.

Love,

Hermana Ah Mu

March 3, 2014

iHola!

I haven't been feeling very well this past week.  I have been getting many headaches on my mission.  So I have been trying to get that figured out with Sister Castro, I am perfectly fine.  But this week I just didn't feel very well.  I've lost a bit of weight because I couldn't eat much.  This week will be much better.  I know you are praying for me.  I am thankful for the support.  

Last Thursday we were to teach the Plan of Salvation a couple times during the day.  I felt that was very fitting considering that marked 12 years from the time Mom passed away.  I felt like it was a little tender mercy from Heavenly Father.  I was grateful to study the Plan.  It is such a beautiful part of our church.  It is one of the reasons I am out on a mission.  I want to help as many people possible to know that they can all see those they have lost.  It is something I treasure.  I love knowing that I will see my family and friends again.  

Here's part of President's letter:

"We taught Erik.  He is so awesome!  We taught him about missionary work and enduring to the end.  He loves the fact that he can share the gospel with his friends.  He was afraid he didn't know enough to do it, but we helped him see everyone can be a missionary (and plus, Erik is so smart and he has a strong testimony, he knows enough to be able to share it clearly and powerfully).  We also had a lesson with him about the power of fasting.  It was really good!  He asked us if there were any baptisms going on in Santa Maria because he wants to take his sister with him to see a baptism.  He is such a great missionary already!  He also said that he knows that his sister has many doubts, but that he is sure that her seeing a baptism will really help strengthen her.  He is just so cool!!  We were excited to find out that there is a baptism in Santa Maria this Saturday.  Erik is excited to go.  I am so excited to hear about their experience. 

We taught Rafael!  He is someone we found a few weeks ago.  We taught him part of the Plan of Salvation.  It was really good.  It was interesting because we were teaching him about the Pre-earth Life.  And we asked him what he thought about it.  He said he didn't agree with it, that it was hard for him to understand.  But then he said, "But, I am sure I just don't understand it yet, I just need to keep studying and keep learning more and then I will know it is true."  He has so much faith.  It is so neat.

Hermana Schmidt and I were able to teach a couple people that Hermana Howell and I were NEVER able to have lessons with.  It is kinda funny how a new transfer does that.  It was really fun.  We had a lesson with this woman named Concepcion.  Hermana Howell and I would schedule lesson after lesson with her, but she would never show up.  And she didn't have time.    Well, we managed to schedule an appointment with her and she did end up being home for it!  It was so cool, we taught the Restoration to her.  She really liked it.  She loved that we have a living prophet.  And she really wants to come to church.  

We also had a lesson with this woman, Arcelia.  She didn't ever have time for us either.  But I went back with Hermana Schmidt and Arcelia decided she had turned us down enough and felt bad.  So she let us come in and share a message with her!  It was a good lesson too.  

We found this woman named Annette.  She is so prepared.  We were knocking doors and we met her.  We had a great Restoration lesson with her.  We found out that she is actually friends with a lot of members from our ward!  Which was fun.  And she has been to the church to see some people get baptized before!  It was so exciting to hear that.  And Annette agreed to baptism when she knows that these things are true.  She also said that this would be really good for her because of the situation she is in right now.  I love finding people that are that prepared.  

I love this work.  I love serving here in Solvang.  I love that I not only get to see the investigators grow and change, but I also get to see members change.  It is such a sweet experience.  There is this one woman in our ward, I know I have talked about her before.  But it was just 2 transfers ago that she didn't want to do missionary work or help us with lessons and such.  But now she is on fire.  She loves teaching Gospel Principles in Spanish.  She loves coming on lessons.  She loves translating in Sacrament meeting.  She fights for the growth of Spanish work here now.  Which is something else that I love!  And she always asks us about the investigators we are teaching.  I have loved seeing her desire to share the gospel grow.  She told us, "Don't ever think that I am helping you, because you are helping me."  She loves missionary work now.  That is one of my favorite things about being a missionary: watching people change.  In fact!  This member is having a Family Home Evening tonight and had us invite all our Spanish investigators!  It is so cool.  

I have learned a lot from being here in Solvang.  One of the sweetest things I have learned is the importance of 1 soul.  I love Matthew 18:12-14 and Luke 15:3-7.  I will always leave the 99 for the 1." 

I really have loved it here in the Great California Ventura Mission.  I love this gospel.  I love the Lord.  I love being on a mission.  I am honored to be here serving with the people I do.  Have a great week.

Love,

Hermana Ah Mu

February 24, 2014

Here's a portion of my letter to President, just so that you can get a feel of our teaching pool right now...

"Erik, he came to church!  That will be his 5 time, we know he is so amazing.  We taught him about recognizing the spirit.  He seemed to really enjoy that.  We thought it would help him more and help him better find answers to his prayers.  We also taught him about the Liahona.  How the Book of Mormon is like our own modern day Liahona.  He really liked that.  He does so well at reading often.  Which is awesome.  

We taught a couple less active members in our ward.  Lance is about 20 or 21 and Cory is 18.  They are letting us teach them the lessons. They are trying to come back to church because they really want to go to BYU-I.  And so we taught them the Restoration this week.  They seemed to really like it.  They were able to ask any questions they had.  We seemed to have talked about some things that they didn't ever even think of before, so that was neat to see them thinking about it.  They are great, I think that they want to come back to church, but just don't really know exactly how to do it.  We hope to be helping them with that.

Karen, right when we sat down we asked, "So, how are you?"  She said, "Well.  I'm kind of sad."  We asked her why.  Karen and her whole family are probably moving to Washington.  They've been thinking about moving there for a while.  She said Carlos (Her husband) wants to because it is so expensive to live here in Solvang and there are lots of job opportunities out there now.  I am pretty sad.  I totally understand why they need to move, I just don't want to see her leave.  She is so amazing!  They would be leaving in the middle of March.  And she still hasn't come to church because of her fears in bringing the baby.  I just hope that we can get her new address and send missionaries over ASAP.  I don't want her to stop meeting with missionaries.  We did go over Moroni 8 with her!  It was good.  I think it was a good way to teach her more about authority.  

We taught Andy.  He is doing fantastic!  He has been reading the Book of Mormon everyday!  And ever since he started reading he has been a lot more healthy.  Before he was drinking a ton of Red Bulls.  And he said he just feels so much better without that in his system.  And he has felt more spiritual strength.  The Book of Mormon is just such a powerful book.  I love how much it changes others lives, including mine.  I have really seen the value and importance of reading it everyday myself!  I am able to testify of it in a more powerful way.  And I really can truly bear testimony of the importance and blessings of reading it daily. 

We taught Danny and Kathy.  We actually watched the Restoration with them.  They liked it.  But Danny, especially, doesn't like the fact that the gold plates are not here any more.  He has a lack of faith.  We tried to explain to him the importance of faith on his part and that that is the only way he can know.  He still is not convinced.  He said he will try to read and pray about it.  We hope that he can really know for himself the truthfulness of our message.  We know it will help him and his family so much!  

We taught our new investigator Rafael.  He is so cool!  We sat down with him for a lesson and as soon as we did he pointed to the Book of Mormon and said, "That is a beautiful book.  I read a bit of it.  It is really nice."  It was so cool!  We left him with one our last visit and so to hear that he had read it!  Oh!  It made us so happy.  We taught him the rest of the Restoration.  He really liked it.  And we have another appointment on Saturday.  We are excited to see how his reading and praying goes.  I really think he has a ton of potential.  I can tell he has a sincere heart.  I love it!

I just love this work.  It is a glorious work to be a part of.  I know that I am called of God, and that helps me everyday.  I have seen how much it helps me to remember who I am.  As long as I remember who I am, I am able to do so much!  It's amazing to me that we are missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!  There is so much power in that statement.  I always try to remember it."

I am doing well.  It is a beginning to a new transfer....I am STAYING in Solvang!! :D  Yayyy!!  My companions are ever so kind to remind me that I hit my halfway mark this transfer...EW :P

But!  Hermana Howell and Hermana Prestgard will be companions in the other area, while I will be staying in my area with Hermana Schmidt.  I do not know who she is...so I can't help but think she is going to hate me.  Hahaha, you know how it is.  Now I have to get used to being with another person!  But no, for real, it's going to be great!  I'm excited!  All I know is she has been out just one transfer longer than me.  I know this is all so inspired, I have lots to learn from Hermana Schmidt, I'm sure.  I always learn a ton from my companions...so bring it on! :D  I am pretty excited for this transfer though.  It's zone conference this transfer!! :D

i was lucky to receive a letter from Elder Jon Erickson!! :D  Haha, love that guy!  It is seriously so fun to hear from the people from Blue Springs.  I was wondering if I could get a hold of Kristen Marsey some how??  And Jen Brown??  Anyway, those are just thoughts.  

i hope you all have a fantastic week.  Love you all.  

Love,

Hermana Ah Mu

February 17, 2014

I told President Castro, "Hey President!  Happy President's day!!"  I'm pretty sure he laughs at every single one of my letters....Hahaha.

Anyway.  This week.  SO great!! :)  We had a miracle yesterday....The Solvang Ward had its FIRST Spanish Gospel Principles class!!!!  Erik stayed at church for ALL 3 hours!!!  

We are teaching AMAZING people.  Just amazing people.  I can't even name them all off.  I love it here in Solvang.  This could potentially be my last week here though....in a week I will find out what's happening to me!  :)  I'm excited, I don't really care where go, or if I stay.  I just know I will be where I am supposed to be...but I wouldn't mind staying here.  I love it too much!!

Jen Brown wrote me a letter...I need her email.  It should be on my gmail account.  Would you mind getting that for me?

Too bad about the Volvo!!  But as Dad always says, "Free money!"  Hahaha.  Did I tell you that I am driving a BRAND NEW car?  It had about 100 miles on it when I first started driving it...isn't that crazy?!  I will never drive cars like the ones I drive on my mission...and I'm okay with that because I never want a brand new car!!  

I got a letter from Jon!!  Sounds like Vegas is treatin him very well. 

Did you ever tell Alan and Channing that I live literally a block away from where they took that picture in Solvang....I cannot tell you how weird it is that they were HERE.  What if I would've seen them?!  Crazy.  Just crazy.  

Anyway, I am sorry if this letter jumps around a lot.  My mind is every where.  I hope all of you have a great week.

Love,

Hermana Ah Mu

Feeding Ostriches February 2014

February 10, 2014

Well.  This week.  Very interesting.

Here's a few things that I hope that the Blue Springs 2nd Ward does for the missionaries:

I hope that you all support them in their efforts to be EXACTLY obedient.  

I hope that you all support them in their decisions on how to teach their investigators. 

I hope that you ask the missionaries about their investigators.  Who are they teaching?  What are the investigator's needs?  

I hope you pray for the investigators by name.

Pray for the missionaries by name.

Help them find and teach!  Knocking doesn't work any more.  There are those rare occasions, but it just isn't enough any more.

The reason I say these things is because a few of those things I wish we got more of.  A few of those things have brought miracles. 

We are trying to help our Spanish investigators come to church.  It's amazing that they are even considering church in English.  It's amazing to see them COME to church in English, even though we don't have headsets for translation and even though many of the members don't even look at them.  Including our ward mission leader.  We are working on doing Spanish Gospel Principles class.  We just need support.  We really want the members to be excited about Spanish investigators.  We hope to see excitement soon.  

I am doing great.  I am learning a lot.  I am learning what kind of member I want to be for the rest of my life.  I will seek to be exactly obedient.  I will seek to be trusted more that loved.  I will try my hardest to be supportive of the missionaries and their efforts.  I want to be someone the missionaries can rely on.  I want to help the missionaries find people to teach. 

That is about all I can say right now.  The work is moving along.  Yesterday I just loved seeing 2 of our investigators come to church.  They speak spanish, but they love the spirit.  They know this church is true.  They don't look at the people to determine what kind of church this is, they look at the doctrine.  This is a perfect church for imperfect people.

Have a good week.

Sister Ah Mu

P.S.  We live in our own apartment.  There are just two seperate apartmetns that the missionaries live in.  I know you asked me that mom. 

February 4, 2014

I don't have much time.  Here is the letter I wrote to President.

"This was a great week!  First, a miracle.  We were teaching Erik, and last week I think I mentioned he wasn't able to come to church because he was visiting his sister in Santa Maria.  Well, turns out his sister is taking lessons from missionaries there!  She is reading the Book of Mormon, and Erik was so happy.  He told us her whole countenance has changed.  She is kinder and receptive to the spirit.  Erik, I guess, got to meet the Elders that are teaching her!  I was so excited to hear that!! :D

Okay, We had an interesting lesson with Danny and Kathy.  We taught them the Plan of Salvation.  They had a lot of questions.  They have a hard time understanding the three kingdoms.  They say they agree all the way up to the Spirit world.  It was interesting because Danny said he doesn't want to live with God and Jesus Christ after this life.  So, Hermana Howell and I are re-evaluating what direction to go with them.  We are thinking of going over the nature of our Heavenly Father.  We let them know we are not perfect teachers, and the only way they can really know if this plan was true is if they prayed to Heavenly Father and kept reading the Book of Mormon.  So, we are hoping they did that this past week.  We will see tonight, we have a lesson with them this evening. 

Karen, we read with her 3 Nephi 11.  She LOVED it.  She really loves the Book of Mormon.  And we talked some more about baptism.  It was really cool, we always go in wanting to teach her something, but she always ends up teaching us what we were intending to teach!  She is so smart. 

We taught Cecilia.  We talked with her about prophets.  Cecilia really loves us to come and teach her.  But she has always told us she didn't remember what we had taught the lesson before.  Hermana Howell and I were thinking, "Maybe she isn't really putting this gospel first.  We need to really see if she is interested."  But then at this lesson Cecilia told us she has an illness where she cannot remember things.  She even forgets where she lives sometimes!  However, Hermana Howell and I really felt strongly that if she would put forth faith, then she will be able to remember the things we teach.  So we told Cecilia this, but she isn't ready to put full faith into it yet.  

Our lessons with Erik went very well.  We had a lesson at Bishop's house.  And Erik loved it.  We read Alma 22.  Erik picked out everything before we could even point it out, it was so cool!  He loved the fact that a king would give up his kingdom just to fully partake of the gospel.  Erik ended up coming to church yesterday!!  And he LOVED it.  We had a member in our ward translate for him.  Her name is Maggie, she is from Argentina.  And it turns out that she was really touched to be able to do that.  She went up and shared her testimony and said, "It has been 12 years since I have willingly gone up and shared my testimony.  But while I was translating for Erik, I could feel the spirit so strongly and I just knew I needed to come up and share my testimony.  And I want to do it in my native language."  And so she did.  It was so powerful!  One of the most powerful testimony meetings I have ever been in.  After the meeting Erik told us how amazing the meeting was.  He said the spirit was so strong!  He loved it!!  

I know that Hermana Brown going home changes things a bit.  But I know that this will work out, and everything will work out great.  I love Hermana Brown.  She is a fantastic missionary.  I hope to see her back here one day.  Hermana Prestgard will be just fine, I love her a ton.  It's nice that we already knew each other from Oxnard.  I am not worried about juggling the two areas, we will be just fine.  

That is about it for the week.  I am thankful for this opportunity I have to be serving a mission in the Great California Ventura Mission.  This is the greatest mission for me.  I love it.  I hope that you have a great week President."

Hermana Brown, one of the sisters serving in our ward, had to go home today.  So I am in another trio.  Hermana Howell, Hermana Prestgard, and I.  It will all be great.  We are over two areas, but it's the same ward.  If y'all have been keeping up on my emails, this has happened before.  I'll just become the queen of Emergency trios I guess.  Haha just kidding.  But I'm not worried, I know it will all be great.  I just really hate to see people leave.  It really makes me sad, can't help but cry with them and for them.  I never realized how hard it all could be.  And I'm not even the one going home.  

Well, have a great week.  I'm doing GREAT.  i'm healthy, speakin spanish, eating pastries, I'm a missionary.  Una misionera en la Gran Mision California Ventura.  Es un gran dia para ser una misionera.  Love you all!!

Love,

Hermana Ah Mu

January 28, 2014

Hola familia y amigos,

This week was great!!  The work is just moving along!!  I love it.  We were supposed to have our golden investigator at church yesterday...but he decided not to come.  HUGE disappointment.  :(  We made sure he knew of our disappointment, you know, that is important.  Our ward is just amazing.  I can't remember if I mentioned this, but we get to go to Ward Council, which is FANTASTIC!!  And it's so great to see the discussions in there...sometimes they get heated.  Haha, it makes me just wonder how other ward councils are!  Hahaha.  Dad, now I understand what it is like to be in that meeting...

How funny it is that you saw that sister that came to FIND me and take me to the Singles ward!  Hahaha, sometimes I think of them and wonder how they are!  I'm surprised she remembered me!  Haha.  

I'm glad to hear that all is well in Missouri.  And that Kristen and Emily are enjoying BYU-I do...I mean BYU-I.  ;)  You make sure to tell them NO getting married while I'm gone.  Tell them to email me!  I miss them.  I'll send them a picture to make their day!!  Hehe. 

Can I have Jon's address?  I wanna see how he is enjoying Las Vegas!!!  I can email him or just write him a letter.  But please get me his contact info!!  :)  Thank you!!

We are having lovely weather!!  Just beautiful.  I love it here.  Everyone!  Come to Solvang!!  it's SO fun!!! :)  It's really fun because we live like 2 blocks away from downtown Solvang.  It's fun!

 

We have Presidents interviews this wednesday!!  SO EXCITED.  And nervous.  I know, I'm still weird and confusing.  I'm excited to talk with him, but nervous because it has been so long since I talked with him last...I've changed a lot.  So it'll be interesting.  

Well, sorry, not too much to write.  Same old Same old....I'll include some portions of my letter to President so you can hear about the investigators...

"This week we had a couple lessons with Karen.  She is just amazing.  We read with her 1 Nephi 8.  She had already read it before, but we wanted to go over it because it has such great symbolism.  It turned out Karen had already figured out the symbolism, she is just so smart!  She really loves the Book of Mormon.  We had another lesson and talked with her about church attendance, the baptismal covenant and the importance of the Sacrament.  We had a member present (they are good friends now) and the member took it away!  It went so well, and we are working on a church tour.  Karen wants to, but she wants her husband to come too.  Which is understandable.  Karen knows just how important families are in our church.  She knows that this is for families, so she has been trying to get her husband more involved.  So have Hermana Howell and I.  When we see her husband, Carlos, we always try to talk with him.  Karen is so neat, she told us that she feels the spirit VERY strongly when she reads the Book of Mormon.  And then she said it was the same feeling she gets when she is around missionaries, and Maggie, her fellowshipper.  It was so neat to hear that.  Karen knows that this is true.  She is golden.

Erik came back from Mexico!  We were so excited to see him.  He actually joined us for the 2 lessons we had with Karen, and then we had a lesson with him.  We talked about how his trip was and if he kept the commandments out there.  He kept the Word of Wisdom, it was neat.  Erik was offered coffee by his family, but he said no.  And they all told him he was weird, but he just told them, "I don't drink coffee any more."  We were so happy to hear that!!  And we also told him we had prayed about a date for him.  We feel that the 22 of February would be a good date.  Erik said, "Hmm, I will pray about it and I know that the Spirit will tell me if it is right."  It was so cool!!  So Erik is praying about that as his date.  He was supposed to come to church yesterday, but he decided to go to Santa Maria and visit his sister instead.  We were very sad, we really hope he will come this next sunday. 

We met with Cecilia.  She is very neat.  She has so many questions about the plan.  But we showed her a visual and explained everything, showed her some scriptures.  And Cecilia told us she felt it was right.  So she committed to pray about it.  She is a cool lady, she has been prepared for this message.  She fed us dinner that night.  (Every time we have been there she wants to cook for us, but we always had a dinner appointment, so finally we accepted.  She was so happy!). 

Hermana Howell and I found this girl, Kyleen.  She is pretty young, 15 years old.  But she really wants to know more.  We gave her an Articles of Faith card, a Book of Mormon, and a Restoration pamphlet!  She loves it.  She said she wants to read it to find out more because she has family in Oklahoma who has the Book of Mormon.  We didn't find this as a coincidence.

We had exchanges with Hermana Siddoway and Hermana Linford.  I got to go out with Hermana Linford!  It was a blast.  We found some very cool people.  We found this girl, Belen.  She is super prepared.  She had the perfect questions.  We taught her the whole Restoration at her front door.  She just soaked it up, and we asked her if she would be baptized when she knows that these things are true, she said, "Well yes!  Of course I would!!"  She was excited to read the book of Mormon and pray about it.  And she is excited to listen to the other things we teach.  Belen really wants to know the truth.  We are very excited for her."

Have a great week everyone!! 

Love,

Hermana Ah Mu

P.S.  Something FUNNY.  Cecilia, the lady we teach.  Every time we see her the first thing she says, even before "hola" is, "Tiene un novio?"  "You have a boyfriend?"  Hahaha, we ALWAYS say NO!  That we have no time!!  She just tells us we need to get one or else we'll run out of time, get old and never have a novio.  Hahaha.