SOPES 07/26/21

This week felt like a life time! There was lots of things that happened...One of which, is that I found out what my favorite Mexican food is...SOPES! They are so good. The Ramirez gamily fed us them for dinner on Monday night and hmmmm so good:)

We had Zone Conference on Tuesday and the topic of it was having faith to see miracles. I always learn so much from Zone Conferences. One of the pre-work assignments for the Conference was reading "Christ is Risen; Faith in Him Will Move Mountains" by Russell M. Nelson. A quote that really stood out to me was "the Lord does not require perfect faith for us to have access to his perfect power" We all struggle and doubts come, but it gives me so much peace knowing that my faith doesn't have to be perfect to receive his help in my life. Jesus Christ is always going to be our strength and help us if we exercise our faith. Even if it is just a particle!

Dion! We got a referral this week whose name was Dion and he is awesome. We gave him a call then stopped by to drop off a Book of Mormon (his request) We started talking and he expressed his desire to come closer to Christ. We taught him about the Book of Mormon and the whole time his face was lit up and smiling. Sister Watson and I are pumped to have a lesson with him.

Carla! This past week we taught Carla about Baptism and invited her to pray about a baptism date. We are super excited for Carla! 

Pictures:

1. Some treats Juan and his family gave us:)

2. Sister Watson and I visiting members

3. The Apartment in our matching shirts we got from service

GAME POINT 07/19/21

Happy P-DAY everyone!!! This past week a goal we had is growing our member relationships and helping the families in any way we can. We have seen SO many blessings and little miracles from it! 

On Friday we were at a funeral for a member and there was a lot of people that came. The elders told us how there is a lady that we should talk to that was there, so we were waiting for the right time to go up but we lost her. We decided to take a lap around the church so we could bump into her and we found her playing the piano. We started to talk to her and she really opened up. She is only 24 but has gone through a lot of hard things in her life. She asked for our numbers and we plan on going to visit her this coming week! 

The Ramirez family! They are SO AWESOME! Last week we dropped off cookies and their containers (every time we visit they send us home with food) and she mentioned that there is a sister in the ward that we should visit with her. We were super shocked Hermana Ramirez gave us a referral but we are so excited to go visit! Sister Watson is giving a talk this Sunday so we hope that they will all come to church with us!

Saturday night we went to a Sports night with the Stone Mountain Ward and it was a lot of fun. We played volleyball and soccer! Half way through volleyball we switched to soccer and let me tell ya, I can not kick a soccer ball😂 Everyone was dying of laughter at me but hey at the end I made the game point! It was a lot of fun getting to create closer relationships with the Spanish Ward. 

I hope that you all have had a good week as well and that you have been able to feel God's love in your life! I love you all and am always here if ya'll need anything! 

Pic: Sister Watson and I (we always accidentally match;))

Todo en Español 07/12/21

 Hey everyone! This week was a good one! To start off, I thought I would explain the subject. Sister Watson and I are really trying to set up our Spanish and so this past week we came up with a game. Everyday from 9am-9pm we only speak Spanish! (With the exception of having 5 "lives" or first asking for permission to use English) By the end of the night if either of us breaks Speaking in Spanish more than 5 times then other gets to pick what they have to drink blended up. My idea was whoever wins get something good, yet Sister Watson said how it has to be whoever looses so it pushes us. Neither of us have had to drink anything yet so  'm crossing my fingers! 

On another note, we had the opportunity to go to "Quest" It is similar to a Trek experience in a sense. All of the kids in the stake get to go camping and experience living the Book of Mormon! They are put into families and the Stake leads it. They re-enact the Book of Mormon, and talk about stories, do fun activities, and have a spiritual week. Our Stake leaders asked the missionaries serving in this area to attend and surprise the youth at the camp! President and Sister Needs attended as well and talked to all the youth about the importance of missionary work and sharing the Gospel! It was an awesome experience that I wont forget.

We were invited to a birthday party for a couple's daughter we are teaching in the English classes! The party was located at the very bottom of our area so it was fun to see a new environment! We had the opportunity to talk with so many people about our purpose as missionaries, and some people were interested in learning English too, so we got to meet new people!

On Thursday we visited the Ramirez family. They are an inactive church family that went to both our English ward (Centerville) and our Spanish ward (Stone Mountain). They are my favorite family. We have visited them three times and every time Hermana Ramirez makes us dinner or snacks. This past time, we talked about prayer. We shared Alma 37:36-37, we asked Hermana Ramirez to read it for us and half way through she stopped and started to cry. She told us how this scripture has always been her favorite scripture since she was a little girl. The Spirit was so strong and the lesson went really well. Both Hermana and Hermano Ramirez have strong testimonies of Christ and every time I leave learn something new from the Spirit! 

Pictures:

SISTER WATSON 07/05/2021

 HEY EVERYONE! This email is going to be a short one but here are some things that happened!

-Sister Anderson left the area

-Sister Watson is my new companion and she is awesome

-We met a new friend who wants to be taught about the gospel of Jesus Christ

-I saw fire flies for the first time

-Celebrated the 4th of July as an apartment

PICTURES:

Delivering a Bible 06/28/21

Happy p-day everyone:) For me this week was wild! Lots of crazy things happened! For some odd reason our Wednesday was packed with 6 lessons. One of them was a missionary visit that a member referred us to. We were told that she wasn't a member but was interested in learning more so of course we went to visit her. It wasn't until half way through from getting to know her that we saw a Come Follow Me church book sitting on her side table. We asked if she does the lessons in the Come Follow Me church book with anyone and she said how she does it with the other members in the ward. She said that she is in the other stake. Once we left the house we were dead! It explains why she wasn't in our area book. This is because she is already a member! It was awesome getting to know her but definitely a plot twist!

I thought that I would share the meaning of the subject of this line! On Friday night we went to deliver a Bible to a man that requested one from a free Bible advertisement. As we pulled up we saw some people doing yard work. We first gave the Bible to the man, then after we stopped to talk to the other people that were working in the yard. The mom asked if we are Christians and we said yes, she told us she has a teenage daughter that she wants us to meet because she has questions that the mom doesn't know how to answer. We told her how we would come back after our appointment! When we returned the daughter didn't seem interested to talking with us, but we broke the ice and she eventually opened up to us! It was great getting to know her, and we talked about who Christ is and we give her a Bible! At the end the daughter told us they have animals and could show us them. We couldn't say no! They had bunnies, birds, chickens and goats!! It was a great random surprise to meet this family and they said how they want us to come back over to talk to her more and they can make us Colombian food!! 

TRANSFER NEWS!! Saturday night we found out the Sister Anderson is leaving and I am staying in the area. I am super excited and nervous at the same time! On Wednesday we will go to the church building in Peachtree GA and our leaders will tell us who our new companions are and we will then switch. 

Yesterday we had dinner with a family in the Spanish ward and after we had a little baptism lesson with their son Adam because he is getting baptized next week! We asked Adam why he wants to be baptized and he said with the biggest smile on his face "Because I want to follow Christ forever" I thought it was the cutest response ever. How cool is that statement though? An 8 year old boy has the biggest desire to follow Christ and knows that Christ is so important! Just like Adam, I too know that Christ is important and desire to follow Christ forever! I hope that you all can find ways to follow Christ this week and to share his love! 

Pics:

1-3: The animals

4: Hermanas from the other mission that are in our Spanish ward with us

5: Tie dye!

Got Grace? 06/21/21

Hey!!! How is everyone doing?:) Georgia has been good (lots of rain this week)

Two zone conferences ago, all the missionaries were put into groups to make some videos on Wednesday night then President told us we could get together to watch them! (Also watch a movie about the construction of the Salt Lake Temple) Not only could we watch the videos but we could come in casual clothes with snacks. My district and one other district that meets regularly in the building watched together! I thought it was super wack, but it was fun to watch all of the videos from around the Mission! 

Feliz día de los Padres!!! (ayer) for Father's day in the Stone Mountain Spanish Ward there was a BBQ. Hermana Anderson and I invited ALL of our friends we are teaching (including English class students) to come! One family came, which was so fun to have them meet the ward and to celebrate together! Our Centerville Ward had treats passed around on Sunday too and the cute primary kids sang!!!

This week we found two more new people to teach English which is awesome! Teaching English is a big service opportunity for us missionaries. We always start and end the classes with prayers and we ask to share a spiritual message at the end so we can tie the Gospel in! 

During personal study one of the days this week I listened to a talk by David A. Bednar titled, "In the Strength of the Lord" that he gave at a BYU devotional. At one point in the devotional he talks about Grace. He says that "Grace is the enabling power of the Savior" This really stuck out to me because we all need grace, and only His grace allows us to reach our full potential. He mentions many stories in the scriptures where the people cry for his help and that his grace gives them the power to conquer the trial at hand. I know that only through Christ we can have this enabling power we need. I want to invite you all to continue to pray for His grace because through it we can do all things!

Pic:

1. District Night!

Walking in the Park 06/07/21

Happy P-Day my family and friends!!! I hope your week has been great! My week has been BUSY! We had the opportunity to find some new people to teach and visit families in both of our wards this week!

To start, on Tuesday my district had district council and it is always super fun to get together to talk about our areas! After, we had our regular lunch together and this week we went to a place called Waffle house. There is about one every ten minutes away. (there are so many here) Its nothing too special, BUT it is apart of the southern experience, so i gotta check that off the list:)

On Wednesday a lesson canceled on us so we decided for dinner to get some ice-cream and walk around a park. While walking around we practiced our Spanish with some people we saw. Some people were having a good time talking with us, others...were not lol. We met one lady and she was so sweet. She explained how some of her extended family is members of the Church in Mexico. We mentioned how we teach English classes and she said that she would love to talk to us about Christ and classes! 

One thing that we have found this week is that there are 2 AMAZING places that work the best for us to find people to teach about Christ and English classes. 1 is the Park (as stated above) and 2 is the International Market near us! We walk down the Hispanic isle and get to talk to people its a lot of fun! We also found 2 new people to teach English to teach in the store! 

Tomorrow my Mission is having a Zone tour (one of the seventy of the Church) is coming to see the mission and give us training) We received a lot of pre-work to help us be prepared. One of the things we are asked to read is 2 Peter chapter 1. When I read this verse 2 really stood out to me. 

"Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord"

I love this because we all want grace and peace in our lives and this tells us how we can. Through God and Jesus Christ! I know that there will never be a point in this life where we say okay I learned everything about Christ I am done. I know that strengthening our knowledge is a life long process and we should never stop. I want to invite you all to make time apart of your day to strengthen your knowledge of God and Jesus Christ by reading the scriptures. I know that if you do you will be blessed with grace and peace! I love you all and hope that you can take time to strengthen your knowledge this week:)

Pics:

#1: Getting ice-cream with the sisters we live with

#2: District lunch