At-tone-ment

Hola Familia!

This week I had an experience that gave me the biggest taste of The Atonement of Jesus Christ.
But lets start from the beginning…
Monday was pday YAY! I love Pday because my body needs a break and so does my mind. We had an awesome lesson with Efrain, but his cousin is hard core catholic and said its a sin before God to change religion….sometimes I want to revoke agency.
Tuesday we had zone conference from 8:30am-4:30pm….longest day..all in spanish.

I was so sick on tuesday and then when we got to zone conference they called on me to present the “pre-assignment” which I had totally spaced….soooo good thing testimonies are acceptable hahah. But we had the missionary department from SLC come and teach us a new way to teach! we only teach with pictures now! Its awesome and the spirit is SO pure because you cant just read paragraphs…its all about the investigator!

Wednesday we had FHE with an awesome less active family and they fed us and we had so much fun! Also, it was the birthday of Hna Bain! yay! So then we went home and had cake and made her spaghetti!
Thursday we drove down to Seattle because I had a doctors appt….I thought I was going to die…but seattle was SO FUN! we were only 5 minutes away from the space needle, but we were obedient and didn’t go. I expect blessing haha jk
Also, that night we found this way cool girl named Aricelle! She is 19 and has 2 kids and was telling us her whole life story. She was so nice! Its funny when people just tell us everything and then after say “sorry, I dont usually tell strangers this stuff.” But its awesome becuase I know that we aren’t strangers!

We also met the girlfriend of Gustavo, he grew up here and just got back from being in Mexico for 3 years. His girlfriend just got here, she is 6 months prego and super nice! We started teaching her the 1st lesson and showed her a pictures of Jesus and asked her how it made her feel…she said “it makes me feel protected” and said “yea, because christ wants to protect us, because he loves us” and she started crying so hard because she has another son she had to leave in Mexico and she doesnt know if she will ever see him again…my heart hurt so bad for her, I would do anything for families to be together.
Then on Friday Hna Bain and I got invited to a special conference so we had to drive a whiles to Marysville and we had a presentation from a bigwig from Franklin Covey give us a leadership training, it was amazing! and it was actually Sister Bonhams Brother!
Then on Saturday we had the wedding of Elvia and Gerrado! It was awesome! we sat up everything that morning and then we were home and get a call saying they forgot the reserve the church and there was a stake dance….

So we had to move everything and re-do everything and it was crazy to say the least…but the moment the wedding came is was AWESOME!

Then we ate and danced and hugged and….ahhh I am in love with this place.
Then yesterday we were out working and nothing was working out…people weren’t home or we couldn’t come in….nothing was working….so we decided to ride somewhere else and we met Rosio. We had a normal contact and asked where she lived and she said 332….we looked at each other and then said to her…”do you know sylvano” Then she broke down into tears and I jumped off my bike and gave her a huge hug. She told us he had just been arrested for Domestic abuse….I saw the pain in her eyes and the hurt. She looked at us and said…”did I do something wrong….was it my fault?” I looked at her and said…you have done nothing wrong…you need to know our father in heaven loves you and you deserve the best. I listened and hugged her and listened to what the spirit wanted me to say….before we ended the talk I told her a little bit of my story and I told her to listen to her parents…they might seem strict right now but no matter what listen to them, thank them, be strong and I promised her that she would make it through.

As we were talking with her….sylvano walked up…she froze and said…thats him!
But we already knew him because we had visited him before! He just stood there looking at her because he has a restraining order…I asked her if we could walk her to her door…so we watched her walk to her door and my heart broke inside for her…
When we got home I cried for her….I asked heavenly father to protect her and to not make her go through this….I would trade spots with her in a heartbeat and take the burdern for her. Id do anything if it meant she wouldnt cry….or be in pain. Then I had the spirit touch me and help me see that this is a tiny paritcle of the atonement. The way Jesus feels everytime we go through anything…he is just sitting there…waiting for us to take his extended hand. He wants to take the burden and give us strength. I partook of a tiny bit of that last night. I know Heavenly Father puts us where we are needed in the exact moment.
On Sunday it was beautiful! Francisco (who just got baptized) received the priesthood last week and passed the sacrament! The Gospel changes lives!
It helps people find the Godly potential we all have!

I have had a busy week but I have learned SO much.
I know that everything God does in life is meant to exalt us, to raise us and for our progression!
Another thing that I have learned is that its not a prerequisite to be all knowing to be a missionary 🙂

LOVE YOU MUCH!

 

Elvia & Gerrado

DancingHappy Birthday Bain

 

 

Letter from Sydney

A scripture that I have fallen in love with is in D & C 16:6

“And now, behold I say unto you, that THE THING WHICH WILL BE OF THE MOST WORTH UNTO YOU will be to DECLARE REPENTANCE unto this people, THAT YOU MAY BRING SOULS UNTO ME that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my father, Amen”

I love this so much! because not only are  we ALL missionaries in this life, but the investigators we bring unto him here we will see them and rest with them in the next life as well! We will get to see Alma and Nephi, Almulek, Lehi and Moroni and we can talk about our missions and our stories, there is nothing sweeter than seeing people in white, enter into the waters of baptism.

Yesterday 3/23/14, we had the baptism of Gerrado, Elvia, Benjamin and Braulio. When they walked in the water, in white, one after another my heart felt a joy I can’t explain. The spirit was so pure and I believe there were truly angels there, smiling and rejoicing. Our mission presidency was there and missionaries came from Everett and Bellingham, we had 12 missionaries present. Its because Gerrado are so special, they have been praying there tithing.

Heavenly Father has some major blessings in store for them and for all those we seek him.

Now the 5 sons of Elva’s and Gerrado will be baptized in the gospel and can now serve missions and bless generations.

And all because 2 sister missionaries asked if they could help carry in groceries.

 

The point is, missions are necessary for the work to hasten and for people to find what they’ve been missing. I love my mission.

So, who will be the next to go on a mission? **wink wink**

Hello my darlings,

Hello my darlings!

This week has been good! we have got a lot done and we are working SO hard!

22 lessons and working hard on the Bikes!

Funny story real quick, so Hermana Weymouths tire went flat, so the elders came and patched the tire, but it kept going flat so we just pumped it up and we were good to go. Until we are riding home one night and all of the sudden her tire falls off her bike hahah. I have never died laughing so hard, but thankfully we made it home and in bed almost on time 🙂

We were blessed to find 5 new investigators this week and to be blessed with a few families! The Lord is moving forward like crazy and I’m just trying to keep up with him! My spirit is always like ” lets go lets go!” and my body is like…”i want to breathe!” But I keep telling myself that can wait…Ive got work to do. Which isnt always good because now both SIster Weymouth and I are sick and so we have to learn to rest a little bit. But still work hard!

One of our new investigators name is Ernesto and he was totally heaven sent, we were having a hard day and nothing was working out, everyone was canceling and no one was home! So we prayed on the corner and asked Heavenly Father to guide us to help us to know where we needed to be, we started walking and saw this man sitting on some steps and we said hi and started talking to him, we taught him about prophets and the Book of Mormon and he was SO preapred! It has been fun and a blessed opportunity to teach him and I know that he will be baptized soon!

Funny story, we live by a member in the English ward and she is SO FUNNY! She comes to our house sometimes to say and hi and check up on us, last night she brought us a cake she created and said the funniest thing yet she was like ” I just grab stuff and throw it in and it always turns out good! Its not me, its a gift from God, its Magical!”

This week has been an uplifting week! we have a wedding on Satuday of Elvia and Gerrado. THey are our investigators and they are getting married so they can get baptized! and we have a baptism on sunday! His name is Jorge! What a week I have,  and i love it! and I cant believe how fast the weeks are going by and I turn 5 months this week…weird.

Our new branch mission leader is Bro. Reed and he is awesome and so full of knowledge and every Wednesday we have a meeting with him and I learn so much! one thing he said, is that the investigators and everyone we meet need to see us as disciples of Jesus Christ. “They have to know you well enough to recognize the magnificence of your spirits.” So in light of that, I have started a 40 day fast. Not a fast of food, a fast of everything that takes the spirit away. I made a list of everything I want to perfect and everyday day and night I ask for the Help of Heavenly Father because I am bound and determined to become perfect! Like is says in DyC 88, “perfect your ministry” and thats what I want to do!

You guys are awesome and I love you much! Share the gospel with everyone! Share the plan of happiness and plan that he has for everyone!

I LOVE YOU!

untill next week 🙂 LOVE HNA L.

hey…write me letter 🙂

Sister Sister Lyman

Washington Everett Mission

PO Box 13390

Millcreek WA, 98082

The Tulips are blooming

Eliva and Gerrado

 The first berries