April 20, 2015

Kylee didn't write an email for the blog this week.  It seems she wanted to talk even less than usual... Sadly, her Grandpa Martin passed away on Saturday, April 18.  We were able to call and talk to her for a few minutes that night.  It was good to hear her voice, but she was so emotional that she could hardly speak. She adores her grandpa, along with everyone who knows him.  We think she looks a lot like him.  She got his tan skin and strong calf muscles.  He will be missed and we cling to the knowledge that we will be together again!

Here is part of her email to family:

It was nice to hear your voice too. I had a feeling that Grandpa wasn´t going to make it to Mother´s Day here on earth. I have a testimony of the Plan and I know it is all true. I still feel really sad though. I´m glad the family is all okay. 

Hermana Karin Perez printed off that picture for me and gave it to me. She is so sweet. She also had us over for lunch yesterday and took us to this church tour thing that my companion and I had to do yesterday because we didn´t know where it was. She has a car so we didn´t have to get on the metro.

I had a cool experience this week while preparing some family history. I was filling out some information on Grandmother Jeffs, (Grandmother Martin´s mom). As I was reminded of some childhood memories of Grandma always telling me that Grandma Jeffs and I had the same birthday, and she actually passed away on our birthday, I felt someone in the room with me. It was one of the few minutes of the day that I have the option of being alone in a room- during personal time. It was so cool and undeniable that somebody was there. I´ve only had one other experience like that so strong having to doing with the spirit of Elijah before. It was in the temple with one of the names Grandmother Martin had prepared and asked me to complete the ordinances in the temple for her. Anyways, it was a really cool experience. If you could share this experience with the family I would love for them to hear it. Also make sure they know that I love them and how grateful I am for every single one. I´m grateful for everything Grandmother and Gramps have done to give us the knowledge of the gospel and opportunities we have as family and posterity. They are a very strong link in our family chain. 

April 13, 2015

Summary:

This week I had to travel and get all my visa paper stuff worked out, so in those offices I met some really great people from all different parts of the world. We also found an awesome family! They were a reference from a sister from Mexico that served here, finsihed her mission, got in contact with one of the converts that she taught, ended up marrying him and moving right back to the ward where she served her mission. Needless to say, she has great references and is a huge help in our sector. I also had exchanges this week and the opportunity to go to the temple with a recent convert, Andrea. We had planned to go with five recent converts, but four of them cancelled, and only Andrea pulled through strong! Unfortunately we got to the temple and there were some problems with her names that we sent in and we couldn't do the ordinances for them yet, but we're going to get them figured out and hopefully try again soon. 

Funny:

While waiting for some of my visa papers in El Registro Civil,  I saw a Tahitian guy with a shirt that said "McNeil Family" on it, which is the name of my mom's side of the family.  I asked him where he got his shirt and he was all offended that I talked to him at first. I explained it was my mom's last name and then walked over to a line to wait. A few minutes later I see him and his brother motioning me over. I really didn't want to go talk to him because he didn't seem too happy with me at first, but my companion and I walked over anyway. He said "Are you guys Christians?" We told him yes and it turns out he and his brother are very faithful and wanted to hear our message. We wrote down their names and addresses and stuff and after that he just randomly said, "And your family can have this shirt if they want..." haha I hope he didn't think I was accusing him of stealing a shirt that belongs to me...

Spiritual:

We met a lady that looked pretty white and started asking us for help in really broken Spanish. I first thought she was American, so I started talking to her in English. Turns out she's from Russia and hardly speaks any Spanish.  We did learn a lot about each other in the one language we had in common, which neither of us spoke very well. She's a member! and she said we were angels sent to her because she was scared to be doing this alone.

April 6, 2015

Summary:

Check out this little guy a little girl gave me
while I was on exchanges.  He's rawrsome!

This week was full of amazing revelation. First in Zone Conference, and then from our prophet and his apostles. Watching conference in this enviornment was AWESOME! I even got to watch it in English. It was weird hearing English without a hispanic accent for an extended period of time. I loved every talk! Also, shout out to St. George when Elder Holland told his story about Snow Canyon State Park. 

My companion and I mostly contacted this whole week. We've gotten some appointments, so pray for these people that they will be at their houses and their hearts will be open to this message! 

Spiritual Experience:

I've been working on recognizing the spirit, and have come to realize that promptings, warnings, and confirmations all have their own individual feeling for me. I've always thought of the spirit as just one specific feeling that covers all of the things He's in charge of, but the longer I've been here, the more I realize how personal and specific it really is.

Funny:

A few weeks ago I told Hermana Vergara about my dog, Noodles, because we always see stray dogs that look just like him. One day this week,  it had been a day of lots of rejections and cancelled appointments we were a little discouraged. As we walked we were talking about the gathering of Israel and our part in the process. Hermana Vergara saw a little white dog and out of the blue said how it would be a lot easier if this was just "The Gathering of Noodles." haha