Darn Near Transferred!

Woo-hoo another week full of some amazing experiences. 

Monday-We had a super spiritual FHE with Blanca, Angel, their 3 kids and then a family that also is investigating the church. We watched a short restoration video and ate some snacks that Angel and Blanca bought for us.They loved the video then after we played a little pictionary and all the kids loved it.

Tuesday - We visited some neighborhoods and went around with the ukulele and sang some songs and tried to talk to a bunch of people. Had some delicious food from the Pugas. Then went out trying to find the Lord's people. We went by this referral from our bishop but he wasn't there. His neighbors were outside. Manuel y Maria. Anyway he found so copper in the trash can. So he snatched and hauled it back to his house so he could strip it and sell it. We asked him if he needed help. He told us we were to pretty to be helping him. He doesn't want us to mess up our hands. I was like -Bro feel my hands. He touched them and was like going over the calloused parts on my palms. He was freaking out that my hands were a little tough. Haha

I explained how I helped build our house and I love helping people by using my hands. He was super funny and definitely drunk. But I got to help and I used my knife which he loved because it was way better then what he was using. Thanks Dad. Haha

Wednesday-tried finding more people and found some pretty awesome potentials. We had a dope lesson with Blanca y Angel to prepare them for their baptism.

Thursday-We started working earlier in the morning and met a really cool guy that has been playing the bass guitar in rock bands for like 35 years. He's super awesome. We met so many sweet old Mexican women that want wanted us to come back because they loved when we played a song for them on the ukulele. The rest of the day was pretty nice.

Friday-tried to go by a bunch of appointments a ton fell through so we knocked and sang a ton.

Saturday--We had an awesome lesson with Jessica about the Plan of Salvation. She loved it. She accepted an invitation to get baptized on the 26th of October and she wants her husband to get baptized too. Ah I love their family so much!!!

Sunday-Church was crazy.

I'm being transferred to a new area!!!!!!

I'm going to Mission 3rd ward. Spanish speaking thank goodness and I'm in a trio with Sister Bainbridge and Sister Durrans. One of them is really sick and might have the possibility of going home which sucks.

I know the church is true. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet. I know we ha e a living prophet on this earth today.

Love you all.

Stay 2 legit 2 quit

Love, Hermana Darling

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~

A New Transfer Begins

What a flipin awesome/hardcore/sweaty/smelly/happy/crazy week we've had.
We had transfers on Tuesday.
It was a hard good-bye to Bennett. But it was a super amazing experience being with her. Oh man we got along soooooo well. I felt like if I had a sister it would be her. She has an amazing testimony and love for every single person in the entire world. But God has a plan for all of us even though it might be tough in this moment it will all work out in the future.

I got a new companion. Her name is Hermana Kelly she's from Las Vegas and she's only on her 3rd transfer. She was also in an English area before coming to Brownsville. But she's slowly remembering Spanish. So I literally know more Spanish then my trainer. 😂😂
It's hilarious. But through this week the spirit has been with us as we've been trying to speak Spanish and teach people. Haha they want us to come back so I guess they are understanding what we're saying. Blessings!! She also always is like "I don't feel like a trainer because you came pre-trained" haha not even.

Anyway the zone changed a ton. There are like 3 companionship that are white washing areas. We also have only 8 sisters and 16 elders in our zone. Basketball and soccer are going to be soooo fun!!!!
Oh we also don't have a car anymore so our area is a bike area now!!! I honestly love it. But I never new I could sweat this much until we started biking all day. I feel bad for the people we have to teach because I know I smell bad and they have to put up with it. Haha😂😂
But it's okay. It makes me feel super successful when I come home completely exhausted and completely drenched in my own sweat. I take more good pictures for sure.

We have been knocking doors constantly and trying to find some new people. We've found some pretty great people and we invited literally everybody to come with us.
But one important thing I've learned this week is change is necessary. When we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Mayra, who is getting baptized on the 7th or 14th, one thing that Kelly said that I really loved was how we need to go through repentance. Mayra wants to get baptized again, her first baptism was when she was a baby in the catholic church. We explained how they didn't have the proper authority of God. She kind of understood it. But then Kelly was asking her questions about if she repented as a baby. She said no. Kelly told her that she couldn't have because when you are born you are innocent and don't know anything so how can you change. You need to have the ability to make decisions for your own so then you can decide that you want to change and repent for your sins.
The lesson went really well. She's getting so prepared for her baptism. It's crazy.

Samir Jr. Is getting baptized next Sunday. Woo-hoo!!! This boy is so awesome he really loved when we talked about getting the Holy Ghost to be with us at all times and he is so ready.

We have just been working non-stop for so long and are loving it. Brownsville is going places.
I know that my Savior lives and loves me. I feel his live for every single person as well. It's crazy how much we love random strangers here. The atonement is such an amazing gift that we get to use whenever we possibly can. He gave it to us for a reason. Why do we need to suffer when he has already suffered for us?

I've already learned a lot more since I've been out here on the mission. And I'm so grateful that I am an instrument in the hands of our God. This is not my mission this mission started back when Jesus was on the earth, I'm just somewhat helping this work press forward.

I love you all. I hope you've had an amazing week and have felt the spirit as well.
Let me know if you need help with anything. I'm not that far away.😉
Be yourselves.
Love, Hermana Darling

There is a God. And he loves all of his children.

Busy... Busy... Busy
Everyday is super busy and it honestly makes the day go by sooo fast.
We have so many new people we're teaching and they are all filled with the light of Christ...it's crazy!!

We met Mayra who is amazing. She was a referral from a member and she wants to get baptized so bad but she's a little scared of her parents. She lives with them and she is like 25 years old. She really wants to grow closer to Jesus Christ so much.

We went to this apartment complex and we were talking to some referrals by the other sisters. We met Samantha and her mom Maria. They are so awesome. She wants her kids to grow up in Christ's church and for them to stay on the straight and narrow path, especially through school.
We also met her brother-in-law, Angel and his wife Sandra. We called them last minute to come to a baptism with us. And they came!! He was telling us that he would love to be baptized.

There is also Lily who lives right by Angel and Samantha. She is super sweet and she has a 5 year old that she gained custody of from one of her daughters. Her name is Melody and she loves to dance. She's soooo cute. We had Lily pray for us on one of our last visits and when she was done she just started crying. The spirit was so strong in the room. She even told us she doesn't know why she's crying. Ah I love these people.

I also am getting a new Companion. Bennett is going home on Wednesday. Also the whole zone is basically leaving. I am the only one left from my district. Both elders are going to different areas and so are the other sisters from my district. I'm a little bummed. But it's what God wants done and I'm alright with that.

Also our apartment will go from just us 2 to 4 so I'm getting to live with 3 new sisters. What fun that'll be... 😞 Haha it'll be fine

The church is true. God lives. He answers prayers for everyone.
Love you all
Open your mouth!
~Hermana Darling ~

That's That Gooooood Junk!!

Santos frijoles!!!

¡Que una semana! La semana pasado Hermana Bennet y yo fueron enfermo con la gripa. Doce misioneros están enfermo también. Es un trabajo de Satanás.😝 Es muy molesto. Pero estamos sentir mejor. Porque tenemos sido enferma no tenemos encontró muchas personas por bautismo. Ay...muy triste. Pero el hijo de Samir quiere ser bautizado!!!! Perfecto!

There hasn't been a ton of things happening because we've been in our apartment for majority of the time the last three days.
I had an interview with my mission president. I love him. He is such an amazing servant of God. I walked in and he had his iPad, phone, journal, tissue box and a bowl of suckers all prepared for everyone that would walk in. You can just feel and see that he cares so much for every single person in the mission.
And when we were done he said "Here take a sucker" haha it was awesome.

Oh we went by this drug dealer (well x-drug dealer...if that's a thing) to see how he's been. He yelled at us...
Orlando: "Who is it?"
Us: "The sister missionaries."
Orlando: He swung open the door
Either said "I'm on drugs" or "I'm drunk" (totally looked like it too, his eyeballs were all sorts of crazy)
"Y'all can come in...I won't do nuttin to ya"
Us:(so nice of him...nervous laugh) "Oh we have another appointment we were just stopping by to see how you were doing."
Orlando: "You don't trust me do you?
Us: (in my mind NOPE!)" we were just stopping by"
Orlando: "I thought you were sent from God" (as he's talking he is literally about to fall backwards)
Us: "We are. "
Orlando: staring into my sole... "leave don't ever come back... Go away" (in a mad voice)
Us: "Alright"
Me: "Anything we can help you with?"
Orlando: "No, never come back here"
Us: "Okay, bye"
Orlando:... Slams door...
Us: "holy cow that was hilarious!!!" 😂
We both walked away with a pit in our stomach and feeling gross. But that was super funny to me for some reason. I had to try not to laugh when he was getting ticked at us. Que bendición.
"That's that gooood junk" is something everyone is our zone says. Especially about food haha.

Mi testimonio es creciendo. Mi amor por cada person es creciendo también. La obra misional es increíble. Estoy hablando con cada person cada día acerca de Jesucristo y Dios. Quien no quería esta oportunidad?
Mostrando fe en Jesucristo es muy importante mientras estoy una misionera. Una manera mostrar me fe es compartindo con cada persona. Me encanta siendo una misionera.
Yo sé que esta obra es para Jesucristo y Dios. Esta es no me misión. Yo fui llamado para Dios por un razón, por la oportunidad predicar el evangelio de Dios por todo mundo.
Yo sé que José Smith fue un profeta en la tierra muchos años más tarde. Tenemos un profeta hoy. Yo sé que Russell M. Nelson es un profeta llamado de Dios. Es través un profeta recibimos revelación. Recibimos revelación por medio oración con Dios. Necesitamos orar cada día, muchas tiempos través la día también.

I love everyone and hope that everybody is having an amazing day, week, month, year, life. Jesus Christ suffered for all of us so we don't have to go through hard trials by yourself. Because God loves us he sent his perfect son to atone for all of our sins. Giving the people here an opportunity to change theirs life's has been amazing. I truly truly love being a missionary for the church of Jesus Christ.
Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, concerns, I am here for ya.
Love you guys!!!!
Stay 2 Legit 2 Quit!!
If you're not sure about serving a mission... Just do it.
You wouldn't be the only one reaping the benefits.
-Hermana Darling😊

Oh and shout out Hermana Morgan's birthday is the 15th!!!! 👌🏿

Samir and Julieta were baptized!!!

Samir and Julieta were baptized!!!!! Yeah!

That was such an awesome experience. They both were so prepared to draw closer to their Savior. Samir was baptized, confirmed and then given the Aaronic priesthood. Then he baptized his Mom, Julieta. Oh my goodness when she came up from the water she started moving her arms up and down fist bumping in the air and clapping. It was hilarious, she was so happy. She just kept giving us hugs afterwards too. What a blessing both of those are. Samir's son also wants to get baptized. He comes back from Mexico soon. So we'll have to talk with him about it. He's 11. And his dad would be able to baptize him as well!!

We have had so many amazing experiences this week.

One thing Hermana Bennett and I have noticed is the members are one of the most amazing tools we can use during lessons. We had Hermana Tovar (a convert) come with us to teach this lady Elena. Elena is catholic but isn't super sure which church is the right one because there are so many of them. Especially, in Brownsville. We gave her a lesson on the restoration. She thought it was amazing that Joseph Smith saw Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. She said she has the same question he had when he was younger. Then Hermana Tovar went off. She explained how she was catholic but always felt like something was missing. Her testimony brought the spirit so strongly. Elena really connected with her. She wants us to come back too.

Then right after that we had a lesson with Lupita. We finally got in contact with her. We had Hermano and Hermana Lopez come with us. We only got three sentences in the whole entire lesson. Hermano Lopez talked like the whole entire time. He explained so much about how the Book of Mormon was written and the ancient Americans. Then he brought up who founded the Catholic church because pope is not mentioned in the Bible a single time. It was so awesome. Lupita agreed with everything he said too. She can't come to church because she has work. They promised her so many blessing if she finds a way to change her work schedule. Another great lesson with the members!!! The spirit was so strong too!!!!

I get so happy when people can feel the spirit when we teach them. We had a fast and testimony meeting this past Sunday. There were so many awesome testimonies shared. It was an awesome Sacrament meeting. I love Brownsville!!!!!

I love all of you also!
Hope you've been having a great week and enjoying the last few days of summer before the school year starts.
Open your mouth and tell everyone that Jesus loves them!!!
Stay 2 Legit 2 Quit

~Hermana Darling~