Please bless my little missionaries that love popcorn

 Heyo!
The weather here has been a little funky lately. It looks freezing outside. But then you step out and it's like 70 and HUMID.

We had some pretty awesome meetings this week to help our whole zone know what are goals are and how to hit them. During our district meeting one of the elders gave an awesome training. He basically showed us the main theme of the first three lessons. 
Lesson 1: Revelation
Lesson 2: Atonement
Lesson 3: Access to the Atonement

We are helping so many people gain access to the Atonement. If they aren't doing these things they don't have access to it. As missionaries our purpose has two verbs in it that we should be using/doing everyday. Inviting and helping.

And when we extend commitments to people they should be inviting our investigators to do something. Which means we are helping them draw closer to the Savior in every commitment we extend. This is our focus. We have to let people grow and learn and gain a testimony of the Gospel. But if we aren't having them do small simple commitments how will they be able to do the bigger commitments for baptism?

I felt the spirit so strong during that. Anytime I listen to anyone that reiterates our purpose as a missionary or how we can improve our actions I just get this burning desire to go work 10x better and harder than before. That's why I love having meetings centered around why we are serving a mission.

I wouldn't trade being a missionary for the world. The people I have helped have helped me. They are the example, not us. They are proving to God that they want to use his son's Atonement and be cleansed from any sin they've ever committed. Jesus Christ will always be there for us. No matter what we do nothing can separate us from the love of God. I know that is true. I know that so many people have risked their lives for the restoration of this gospel and church. But I also know that we don't have to do things alone. God and Jesus Christ are just waiting for us to ask them for help.

But this reminds me of something I've been thinking of lately.

There was a member in Brownsville that reached out to me one day in Mission. She said that she missed me so much and it was really hard when I got transferred out. So we had a little conversation about how it sucks getting transferred and whatnot. But then I explained this to her...

"Yeah changes suck. But I've had a different companion...my whole entire mission...so far. And was suuuuuuper ticked when (some people) left. I didn't want to be in the ward with some new elders, a new comp, same area, and two other roommates. I admit I was angry and frustrated all the time, but didn't let it show. And I was sitting on the ground one day...just mad(basically a pity party😂). And questioning why does this have to happen."

"Then 'BECAUSE IT WAS NECESSARY' popped into my head. I almost started crying it hit me soo hard. But it made sense. We have changes so we can grow. We have changes so we can help other families that need the light of Jesus Christ in their lives. So I changed my attitude. I changed my perspective and look on my purpose as a missionary. I needed that change in order for me to grow spiritually, mentally, and physically."

I told her, "I love you to death. I miss you guys soooooo much. But God is giving us these sucky times so we can grow and learn how to help people that are going through the same things. I'm sorry that I can't be there in Brownsville because trust me I wanted to stay too. But you have some amazing missionaries and members over there that can help you overcome any obstacle. And there is one person who is always going to be there no matter what. That's your Savior. He loves you and he knows what you're going through, he's done the same thing. Please reach out to anyone that can help you. They want to help you because they love you. And I'm here too. Just not exactly where you are.
I love you and your family SOOO much. I'm praying that I'll be able to serve over there in the future.
But for right now I'm in Mission helping other people receive the gospel of Jesus Christ."

I love my Savior. I know he lives. I know he loves me. I want to help everyone have the ability to feel his love.

Something super awesome happened this week.

I got permission for my brother, Dalton, or Elder Whelan to facetime in on a lesson with our investigator Cecilia.

She's from Sao Paulo, Brazil. So Dalton and his comp were able to help teach a lesson for us. It was super cool.

A few weeks ago I also had permission for my Dad to facetime in on a lesson as well.

She knows some English and Portuguese is her first language so obviously she feels more comfortable speaking Portuguese. 😂 She was super impressed with him and his companions' Portuguese. She loves missionaries and talked to a ton when she was living in Brazil too.

It was a pretty good week.

We also had an investigator pray for us and she said "please bless my little missionaries that love popcorn." Hahah we tries so hard not to laugh during the prayer. 😂😂

I know this gospel is true.

I love you guys!!

Stay 2 Legit 2 Quit, party hard this week!

Con todo mi amor,
Hermana Darling

Here's the video of Dalton teaching Ty's investigator in Portuguese. Pretty cool. :)

Wow...It's 2020!!

Well p-day was awesome. We drove up to Corpus because we had like 500 extra miles to use. So we played basketball for like 2 1/2 hours. Corpus against Robstown. After that we drove all the Sisters...so only 6 to North Padre Island. We went to this shop on the island and got some pretty awesome stuff.  After that we drove home.

We had some appointments fall through. But ended up teaching Sister Childers and her Son who just got baptized about the new children's program. It went pretty well.

Tuesday we had a pretty good district council meeting. After that we went by some people to see how they are doing. Then went to the FHE we had with Cecilia and the Andersen family. She wasn't there yet and she is never late. She also wasn't answering our calls.

So we left to go to her house to make sure everything was okay. But as we were getting out of the car. Sister Coleman tripped on her backpack. Then as she got up to catch up to me her knee popped out of place and the she tripped and fell again and it popped back into place. So she ends up on the sidewalk. Laughing/crying holding her knee. I was DYING laughing. I felt so bad. I tried to help her up but was laughing to hard I couldn't. Then this random guy stops his car in the road and asks if we're okay. It was so awkward. But I had to help her get back to the car. And I was still laughing... so I stopped walking because I physically couldn't 😂and she ended up just hopping to the car. I just kept apologizing...while laughing so it wasn't very sincere.

But Cecilia showed up right after we left. And we had an awesome lesson on the Plan of Salvation. It was a great FHE.

So Wednesday we didn't go anywhere because of Sister Coleman's knee. It was HUGE. So she just iced it. We got some crutches. Eventually we went to our dinner appointment and then another appointment right after. Who wasn't even there.

It was a great start to our new year. Haha

Thursday we went to an urgent care in Corpus to check her knee out because she still had a lot of pain. We were there for 3 1/2 hours. It wasn't very urgent apparently. But when we got there everybody and their dog decided to show up at the same time.

Sister Coleman got a blessing from some of the elders right after that. Then we headed back to Portland straight to an appointment with John, our investigator. He's pretty cool. He said he's going to read the whole Book of Mormon by Sunday. We were like...okay awesome haha. He's super interested in the church.

The rest of the night was just some appointments. But right before dinner there were two huge rainbows 🌈 🌈. Double rainbow all the way!

Friday was pretty great. We had some good appointments with our investigators. When we were done with teaching Cecilia we asked her if she needed help with anything. She said she needs help buying groceries at the store. Because it's hard when she has to take her baby with her.

So we all went to HEB right across the street and we pushed the cart so she didn't have to worry about the cart and her stroller. She was so happy we could help her. Then after that she made us dinner because we were just going to go back to the apartment anyway. She told us that when we come back the next time she also will cook us lunch. She was a chef on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean for 5 years. Her food is delicious!

Saturday, umm. We went by a ton of people and reminded all of them about church. I hope they actually come. The worst thing is when they say they are excited to go to church...then they don't show up. And then tell you oh sorry we were busy. Nothing is more important then God. It's only 2 hours of your whole stinking week that you physically go somewhere to worship him. Why not go?

Anyway we had some appointments that were pretty good. We were just trying to find as many people as we can that would be interested in learning more about Jesus. We actually found a cute little family of 5 that said we could come back. This week. That was a miracle.

We had one person at church on Sunday!!! Yay!

Holy cow Sunday felt like an eternity for some reason. But we had not been doing very good this week about finding new people to teach. So Sunday night we running to almost every possible person we could to teach them and see if they were interested or not. We hit our goal for the week almost in one night! Haha we had a ton of fun and it honestly made time fly.

I love this work. I love being a servant of the Lord. I know I'm here in Portland for a reason. I know I am meant to be here and touch people's lives whether I know it or not. SISTER COLEMAN IS AMAZING. She is such a hard worker and we get along so well. We have being doing super well with each other and our area is showing it...hopefully.

I know I represent our Savior. I know what I'm doing is his and not mine. I have a testimony that the Book of Mormon is true and it is the word of God. If you don't know that yet. Study, read, and pray about it. God will answer your prayers.

God is real. Jesus loves you.

Stay 2 Legit 2 Quit

Con todo mi amor,
Hermana Darling

Oh fun fact.

There is a family in this ward that has a son named Collin and another son named Braedon. And there is this sassy women who I absolute love that is also in our ward and she has a dog named Milo.

😂😂😂