Week 3: New Kids on the Block

 

We are finally beginning to be known in our ward, it really helped that we gave talks on Sunday... Sister Lindsay gave a great talk about agency and then I kind of froze and muttered something about accountability ... oh boy! It is kind of fun being in a biligual ward because you switch from one language to the other really fast and from one culture to the other as well.

We are trying really hard to get more service, the mission goal is to do 10 hours a week but right now we are working really hard to squeeze 2 or 3 because there is very little here.

On Sunday we drove an hour into the lone wilderness to try to visit a family of very less actives. We talked for 10 seconds before they left and then we had an awesome drive back and I took a picture. The vineyards off the side of the road will look really pretty in the summer when they are bursting with grapes! YUM!!

 

Last Saturday we had dinner with some members of the ward. The Brother served in Urugay and had some incredible stories of people walking up to him in the street asking to go to church or to hear their message and I was very jealous and wished that would happen in Monterrey County. He also had this incredible story about being the body guard for President Hinckley when he was down in Urugay with President Tanner. It was amazing!

 

Something amazing that happened this last week was that we were finally able to meet with the mother of one of our young investigators. She is this incredible teenager who has a real desire to serve a mission but her parents won't let her be baptized. The youth in the ward came together to fast and to pray so that the parents' hearts would be softened and that they would let her come to church. The father came across some anti mormon website and would not let her come to church or any of the activities. We were super happy to see her at church last Sunday.

 

Another incredible thing that happened is that our investigator Lupi finally picked a date to be baptized!!!! Missionaries have been trying to get her to pick a date for nearly a year but she finally committed to June. My companion really wants her to move it up but I am just so happy she finally said yes. I know she can feel the spirit and she loves church already. She is also bilingual which will really help in the fellowshipping.

 

Being a missionary is very tiering and stressful but I am beginning to learn to have fun and really enjoy myself. I am so blessed to be here and to be able to see the spirit working in the hearts of the investigators.

 

Lots of love,

 

Hermana Quintana

Week 2: A Place to Call Home

We are finally getting an apartment today!!! We have been living with a very kind family from our ward. They have been more than accomodating but I am glad to give them back their space. I am excited to be able to have a proof of address which is something I never thought about before.

Yesterday we went to Carmel beach. It is incredible! At first only our district was there but then the rest of the Monterrey sisters and a few Elders showed up. We had a wonderful time. It was a rush of excitement to see other missionaries because we are the only ones for miles and miles. It was also wonderful to see stores and restaurants I recognized like Walmart and Target and Olive Garden haha. We live so isolated from everthing I felt like a kid in the candy store when I entered Target.

The work in the Greenfield area is coming along. We met our goal for lessons taught have yet to have a baptism. One of our investigators is getting close, she had a date before but called it off because she is waiting for a sign. It is frustrating when people KNOW and FEEL that this is true but won't show their faith by ACTING!  It is the same thing for church attendence. i wish I could rent out a 15 passenger van and drive by everyone's house and drag them out of bed and take them to church but then I remember that that was the Devil's plan so I repent...

The members are all super sweet and so excited to have Sister Missionaries. Sister Lindsay had to give a talk in Sacrament last Sunday and there was still a ton of time left afterwards so they just announced I would be speaking as well. I wasn't paying a ton of attention so I was really supriced and I hope what came out of my mouth made sence to others because it did not make sence to me. Anyway, there is a lot of work to be done in the area and we pray for people we meet on the street to accept our invitation to come to their house and teach them.

Last Sunday we were contacting at a park and I sat down next to an older blind lady. She was super sweet. I taught her the first lesson and she listened so well! Sister Lindsay asked to end in prayer and she began to whisper her Holy Mary's under her breath while my companion prayed. We are also really excited because a lady we met on the street agreed to have us over today! We are planning on visiting her tonight and hope everything goes well.

I am so thankful for this opportunity to serve the Lord. The biggest lesson I learned this week is that trials are for our benefit and are in reality a blessing.

The first picture is of the beach and the second one is at Pinnacles we call it "the weight of Greenfield is on our shoulders"

Lots of love,

Hermana Quintana

Week one: Banished!

Greetings form the Greenfield ward!

 

I arrived in the San Jose airport just last wednesday. The first thing they did was let us loose on the local college campus to go contacting. It  was kind of intimidating but fun. Then we had some training and lunch and then we got to go to the mission home and hear some words from our Mission President. President Watkins is so wonderful! He is incredibly dedicated and he really knows and caters to the needs of his missionaries to help us be the best we can.

 

On Thursday I got to meet my companion. Sister Lindsay is my trainer. She only has 2 more months so I get to "kill" her. She is a super missionary. President told us we were going to open a new area so he gave us directions on how to get here and set us loose. We are about 90 miles south of the mission office which is as far away as you can get without leaving the mission boudaries. We are super isolated and our ward alone covers 4 towns and a few out croppings. The people here are very friendly and it is amazing how ready some people are. The very first day I gave away a Book of Mormon to a man I met outside of the bank and yesterday we taught the first lesson to a blind lady at a park. She was so sweet and I felt like I already knew her.

 

Because we are so new we are currently living with some members but we hope to be able to get a lease for an apartment soon.

 

We are the very first sister missionaries in this area and I feel like we are in a zoo because all of the members are always looking at us and we can hear everyone wispering as we walk by in church. The ward is combined English and Spanish. I don't really understand why they don't have two branches but the auxilary leaders are a total powerhouse. I have never heard of a ward mission leader doing so much. He and his wife are amazing people and work very hard to teach their insitute students and help them to love the scriptures.

 

Yesterday we went hiking at Pinnalces. It is ablsolutely beautiful! We passed through some caves full of water and slime and came out to a beautiful reservoir with amazing rock formations. I forgot my camera today but hope to post pictures soon.

 

Things are rolling along and we are able to teach more lessons as we get to meet the members and gain their trust. We hope to have two baptisms within the month.

 

I'll now share this cute little missionary parable I learned form sister lindsay:

 

A missionary's mission is like a man going to a faraway land who visited his friends and gave them addressed envelopes. To one he gave 5 and to another 2 and to another one. To each according to his ability and left on his journey. The one who received 5 took an initiavite and wrote 5 more of his own accord, the one who received 2 felt inspired and wrote 2 more, but he who received one got sloppy and lost it and upon the missionary's return received but a flimsy handshake.

 

I hope you all get the hint.

 

Lots of love,

 

Hermana Quintana

Goodbye Utah!!

I leave for California tomorrow at 4 in the morning which is kind of crazy because my companion left this morning and the other two girls in my district leave at3 p.m. So I am going to have to be a Solo missionary for 13 hours!!! I have never had a problem being alone or doing my own thing, in fact, i actually liked having my space and doing what i wanted to do but after having a companion around 24/7 if feels kind of weird to be with someone else. 

I taught my last lesson to my MTC investigator Saturday night. Ruben agreed to read the Book of Mormon and i invited him to pray to receive a confirmation about our message. Even thought it is just my teacher pretending to be an investigator Hermana Oteiza and I prepare real lessons and constantly pray to have the Spirit with us to guide us what to say and what to do. People have told me that if you prepare yourself the spirit will tell you what you should say and I believed it was true but now I KNOW that it is true and it feels so surreal. You know you are teaching by the spirit when you learn something from what you have just said. I have also learned to love people. Sometimes in practices we come across difficult scenarios and I have no idea how to answer or what the proper thing to do is but I open my mouth to say what I do know and that is that We are Children of our Heavenly Father and He loves us no matter what. 

I also testify again and again about prayer. Our purpose as missionaries is to "Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored Gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end." The word "convince" is nowhere in that purpose, that is the Spirit's Job and I am so thankful that He takes care of that because that is honestly the hardest part. 

I am personally learning a lot about the atonement and strengthening my testimony through constant repentance. Exact obedience to the missionary rules and the Spirit is the only way to grow and learn out here and I can feel how fast and easily the spirit retreats when we get too rowdy or conversation turns into debate. There are a lot of crazy theories out there about Kolob and the Church's stand on specific political things but the truth is that those things are not part of our missionary purpose and thinking about them just distracts us from what we came here to do. Our district has been having some issues with that but we all love each other anyway. I was sad to see Elder Beltran leave yesterday, he reminded me of my little brother and his testimony really touched and strengthened mine. Elder Akhmetov left this morning with Hermana Oteiza, we joked that he was a russian spy because his family is Russian and he is kind of athletic but we confirmed our suspicions when we saw him climb to the balcony of the second story apartment with his bare hands! I thought he was going to fall down and break something. 

I am super excited to be able to go to California tomorrow. I am nervous about the airport and the ride over there but President Tyler helped me to calm down and answered some questions about what to do once we get there. I feel like the MTC was like drinking water from a fire hydrant but at the same time I know that most of the learning will come once I am out in the field.

Here are some pictures of our last night as a district. Us girls moved our mattresses to the living room and stole some of the Elder's food (Elder Akhmetov had 3 boxes full). It was so much fun!