Two weeks worth of email and picts...

[Week one]

Wow... Back at it again.

It's so crazy to me that this transfer is almost over. We literally just had one haha.
But I'm told that's how you feel your whole mission.
Lemme think about all the things we've done this past week.
Everyday we add a miracle we see on a sticky note and put it on our wall. Our wall is getting pretty filled and I love re-reading all of them.
Sister Kelly was still not all the way 100% this week so after P-day ended we had to stay inside so she could rest. But she had just gotten her ukulele so she laid down and played that for like three hours. Que bendición.
We've been trying to find a lot more people to teach but this week has showed that a ton of people don't want the gospel right now. But we're still having a positive attitude about our area.
On Thursday we helped Brother McCarthy with some family history in the library. He's so funny. He's an 80 year old and doesn't speak any Spanish but refuses to go to any other ward because he say's, "Barrio tres is my barrio." His conversion story is super amazing. In 1968 he was working in a hospital at the a time when two missionaries got in a super bad accident. He helped both of them for two weeks. They taught him about the Book of Mormon but at that moment he wasn't interested. And eventually they got better and left. But in 2008, literally 40 years later. Two elders knocked on his door with a Book of Mormon in their hands. And he said right as he saw that book he knew that it was true. Then he got baptized and he's been to church every Sunday since. He super funny and he's one of my best friends in the ward.

We made flyers for the ward party we had on Friday. We went to one neighborhood. Stood on the corner and sang while Sister Kelly played her ukulele. We waved at every single person and got like 6 or 7 cars to stop so we could give them an invitation. We talked to a ton of people that night and invited soooo many to the party. We have this family of 5 and two other people come with us. They loved it.
The ward party was soooooo amazing. They had tradition Mexican dancing and food, games, piñatas, candy...ah we loved it soo much. I got some awesome pictures and videos. We even tried to dress up a little bit for it. 😂

But that morning we had a women's retreat. We got to hangout literally all day with all the sister missionaries from the mission. I got to see Hermana Larsen again!!! Ah she's doing so well. We got all the Hermanas from our old district in the CCM and got a nice lil photo.
That was pretty fun. I hope on my mission I'll be able to be companions with any of the Hermanas from that district.

The next day our bishop invited us to a baby shower. It was super fun. There were like 60 or 70 people. It was ridiculous. But we played games and had some amazing Mexican food, juice, candy, ice cream...everything twas delicious.

All the missionaries in our zone got the opportunity to watch the face 2 face on Sunday. It was pretty good. We tried to invite a buttloads of people, but no one came haha.
After that we went ukulele proselyting and found some awesome guys that are gonna play basketball with us Monday. Where we play pros ball. I'm so excited.

Oh and Shout out to my Bro!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! HE'S 20 HOW CRAZY!

Love ya Dalton!! Keep Killin it in Brazil. 

[Week 2]Heyo!!

Hope your week has been pretty awesome.
We had a lot happen this week.
We had Larry S. Karcher come and speak with all the missionaries in the whole zone. So at the zone conference we listened to some amazing counsel and ways to increase our efforts. The spirit was there for sure. He also was pretty funny and called some elders to repent for not skiing haha.
Anytime people come and basically give us constructive criticism about being better missionaries it just give me an adrenaline burst like let's go out and do all these things they talked to us about. But this week has been a little difficult. We have been having very much luck finding people to teach. But we're trying to come up with different ways to find people. The ukulele has been a pretty awesome conversational started haha.
Samir Jr. was BAPTIZED. He was so happy the whole entire time. He had the biggest smile on his face and you could tell he was waiting for this for a long time. He's 11 and he's been taught on and off for like years. He finally was able to have his Dad baptize him. It was at 9am Sunday morning because his dad literally had no other time on any other day.
We were worried that people wouldn't show up because that's too early for everyone here. But every showed up before 9. Except for Samir haha. They showed up at 9:30 hahaha
That was a lil stressful. But it always works out in the eyes of God.
We've been figuring out wedding stuff for our investigators that are wanting to get married and baptized by the 28th. Transfers is on October 1st. So there's a possibility that I could leave Brownsville and go to a different area. We talked about it before. But I told them they don't have to get baptized on the 28th because they didn't know if it was possible to get married before that. He has to fix some stuff with Mexico before he can get married. So there was a ton of things and little time. Anyway I told them that they don't have to get baptized on the 28th we can change it if they need more time. He told me no. He said they are getting baptized before I could leave.
OH MY GOODNESS!!! They are soooooo amazing. They literally are already talking to us about fasting and tithing and all these amazing things. The spirit guided them to us because it was all part of God's plan. I LOVE BROWNSVILLE!!!

I know I'm here in Brownsville for a reason. The spirit is amazing. It has lead us to so many people that are waiting for the gospel to be in their lives. I know my Savior lives and that he suffered for all of us. It's crazy that I'm in Texas. It doesn't even feel like it. We are literally in Mexico with the amenities of the of the US.
I love you all.
Stay 2 Legit 2 Quit. Pray and read everyday. I know you'll receive the support and blessings that you need from doing it everyday.

Love, Hermana Darling

Blessins on blessins on blessins

This transfer is flying by so fast. We have been trying to find so many people like crazy. Hermana Kelly has been sick these past few days so I've been on splits with different Hermanas so we can still continue to work hard.

A little bit about the people of Brownsville. Hmmm    My Mom wants me to explain the culture and stuff. Haha

The people here are super giving and always tell us they appreciate spreading the word. They literally live in shacks but are so loving and supporting of us that they are always willing to feed us anything they have. There are some neighborhoods that have super nice houses hidden around Brownsville. But then you see that neighborhood and then the next left is a street full little tiny houses with boatloads of mangy cats and dogs roaming the streets. There are a lot of people that love us but then there are people who literally shut the door before we can say what we are doing.

We literally see México when we are riding our bikes. There is a bridge that cars and people cross everyday just to get some groceries here then they go back haha.

We had a baptism for this girl Yossellin. She was going to get baptized in Matamoros but she always is in our ward. She's been coming to church for 4 years. So we met with her and then a week later she was baptized. She was super nervous about it too.

The spirit has been directing us to where we need to go.

We are teaching some awesome people right now.

Angel y Blanca- They have 3 kids and they love when we come over. They went to church with us last week and they loved every minute of it. They have a baptismal date for the 21st but they need to get married before. And he has to deal with some stuff in Mexico. So hopefully that can happen before the 21st. But other then that they are so golden. They have been having some trials and they said that things have been falling into place and they know that it's because they pray as a family and they went to church.


Selene-She's so awesome! We found her knocking an apartment complex. And we gave her a Book of Mormon and marked 3 Nephi 11. We were knocking around her apartment one night and we decided to go try by her. She was there. We explained the Book of Mormon and gave a restoration lesson. She was crying and she told us that she was looking for a sign and we are her sign. We asked her if she wants to get baptized and she said yes. She has a baptismal date for the 28th.

Adrinda-We met her one night when we were knocking randomly. She's super cool. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and she started crying. She told us she never knew that she would be able to see her family again because her grandma died a little bit ago. We asked her if she wanted to get baptized. She said yes but she has to ask her mom. She's like 24. But we were like yeah ask your mom haha.

Ramon- This dude is soooo awesome. He definitely has the spirit with him. He loved our lesson on the restoration. Right after that he was like now I'm going to go and read that book (Book of Mormon) and the pamphlet. Ahh I love it!

Johnny-He works at a restaurant and is always offering us food from his work. We invited him to read the book of mormon. He's so sweet to us. His wife lives in Matamoros for school. So he's always alone. But he said he'll read and let us know if he has any questions.

Samir Jr- He's getting baptized this Sunday at like 9am because his Dad works every day and only has Sunday morning until 3 that he is free. So he wanted to do the baptism in the morning. Haha we'll try to have it happen.

The people we are teaching are so amazing and the spirit is always with us when we are teaching them. It's crazy how God has put us in the right place at the right time. He has brought us to people for a reason. He answers our prayers.

A few days ago we had a warning for a hurricane...that never came...dang it! It dumped for 2 days and we biked in it. 

I don't remember if I mentioned this before or not but we don't have a car anymore. We're on our bikes all day every day. Anyway we biked through the rain and it was so fun. But then a few days after Hermana Kelly got sick. Haha 

We were soaking all day long. It was so fun though. We were just watching the lightening while biking haha.

I love it here in Brownsville. The people are growing on us and they love us so much. The spirit is with us constantly. I love being able to follow it and receive the blessings that come from God. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. The more I teach it and read more about it the more my testimony is strengthened. I love being able to help people recognize the blessings they are receiving when they do the things that God wants them to do.

 

I love you all and I love being a missionary

Hope your enjoying your families, work, school, going to church, reading your scriptures, praying, and being yourself. Let me know if ya need anything. 

Stay 2 Legit 2 Quit😉
~Hermana Darling~