April 29

Hola Familia y Amigos!

 

Monday we had a zone activity of a barbeque where we played volleyball which was fun. I climbed a tree which was also fun. It's nice to slowly start getting to know all of the missionaries in our zone. I don't think I'll ever get to know all the missionaries in our mission there are so many! We're actually going to be getting 50 new missionaries in the next two months, and it's crazy. Every single Hermana is going to be training! I'm glad I have at least 7 weeeks of training left for myself.

 

Tuesday was a pretty good day, and we found a new investigator named Manuel. It was kind of sad because the reason he doesn't believe in prophets or that the church could have been restored is becasue the world is just too bad. We're trying to help him understand that God loves us and that is why no matter how bad the world gets he still wants us to have and preach His gospel to all people!

 

Wednesday we were finally able to meet with Concepcion who has been a potential investigator for a while. The lesson was interesting because at first she was super distracted by the TV and didn't seem to be listening very well, but as we used several 'how to begin teaching' points (from preach my gospel) and really started teaching  about the restoration she focused in on us and realy seemed interested. We also found a new  investigator named Cristela who actually has a sister that's a member! I love finding people with ready made support systems to help them stay active in the church after they are baptized.

 

Thursday our ward missionary Hna Sanchez went to a lesson with us for our investigator Celia. It was so good to have her there because she was able to answer a lot of Celia's questions and alleviate some of her concerns. Celia is so interested in the Plan of Salvation, and she is also really interested in the 5 principles and ordinances that make up the Gospel of Jesus Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end).

 

Friday was a weird day because we had to split our studies up around district meetings and a few other appointments. We had lunch with Gabby, and taughter her the 10 commandments. It's cool because we have these hand signs that help us remember what each one is. I've actually used them once at a door when a contact challenged me that I didn't even know the 10 commandments. Thanks to those hand signs I remembered them all.

 

Saturday we went as a zone to help out with a stake Mormon Helping Hands project of cleaning up the Los Angeles river. It was fun to pick up all the nasty trash. We found lots of shopping carts (I know it sounds random but in CA it's really not), but the coolest thing I found was a pair of snowboarding boots. They were stuck out over a tree branch over the river so I spent 10 minutes getting them untied from each other so I could pull them in.

 

Sunday was Stake conference which was cool, although I didn't understand a lot of it since it was all in Spanish. I got bits and pieces of all the talks, but the speakers all seemed to speak really fast or mumble... Eventually I'll be able to understand, but not yet. We were also able to meet and have lunch with some of the missionaries who served in Sylmar and have since gone home. It was cool to meet the names that we see on teaching records some times.

 

I love this gospel. It is becoming more and more clear to me that this truly is the way to happines now and for eternity. This morning Hna Whetten and I were talking, and we came to the conclusion that the people have things that rub at them spiritually or hurt their spirits, and in order to deal with it they've become spiritually numb, and turned off those senses. They still have the wounds and need to be healed, they just don't know it. Our job as missionaries is to find and recognize those wounds and provide the healing that really only comes through the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have to be able to see and recognize and diagnose the spiritual ailments of the people we meet without them being able to tell us what they need, or even know that they need what we're offering.

 

I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the savior of the world. Through Him all things are possible!

 

Love,

 

Hermana Marin Hardy