September 30, 2014
September 30, 2014
Hey there!!!!
BUENAS!!!!
So this week all went so well!!! Thanks to miracles and blesses from the Lord!!!! We were really trying to get up our lessons with members, so we put a goal to focus more on our every day goals. Every day we are going to strive to get the goals we really put, that they are going to be focused goals that we know with the help and the will of the Lord we can complete!!! We had set a goal in district meeting that each area should
have 20 lessons with members and our goal as a companionship was to have 25. We set a goal to get 3 each day to at least meet the goal of the district and by way of hard work and miracles we would have 25 with members!!! Well, we did it!!! We focused on getting 3 to 4 lessons a day and had some amazing, amazing miracles!!!
On Sunday night, our last lesson was with the little boy Antoni we are teaching!!! We took him and his Mom, Reina over to the F. Galindo's house and there we had a GREAT lesson. He understood all of it and we were able to teach all of the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (lesson 3)!!! We ended up at the end of the week with 12 lessons in the house of a member!!!! Almost half of our lessons with members were in houses of members!!!! I am SO GRATEFUL to this ENTIRE ward who is helping us SO MUCH!!!! We are getting a few references here and there including one from the Bishop!!!! We are contacting him today!!! It's a Dad of a family that just moved to the area. He has no problems with the Word of Wisdom and they are married. We just have to build his Fe and bauptize him!!! I am SO EXCITED!!!!
Hna Graham and I had a good growing experience this week as companions. It turns out that she kind of hurt my feelings one morning and I told her off for it. Then I thought we had gotten over it, but in my rash words I had hurt her feelings. And she felt that I wasn't listening to her. Well on Monday morning during exercise, we had a little out burst. And I was like, oh great, I really don't even know what to do here!!! I started praying and I know she did too. It was amazing though because we started Personal Study and both of us were led by the Spirit. We both studied what we could do better to communicate our feelings. She read in Preach My Gospel about Listening and I read the talk by, I cant remember his name right now, one of the Seventies from last General Conference entitled, What Are You Thinking. I know contention literally comes from the devil, he will use those weaknesses in us to bring feelings of hurt, hate and pride. But Heavenly Father will use those weaknesses to teach us to rely on Him and be made strong. I know through Christ we can conquer any temptation of Satan. He can heal hurt feelings, take out hate and cleanse us from pride. Whenever you feel even a tint of one of those bad feelings attacking at your heart, start praying and be careful what you say!!! And do!!! I was SO THANKFUL and HAPPY because durring Companionship Study we were able to completely talk it out!!! We shared what we learned and discussed what we could each do better and what we could do to help the other person feel loved and appreciated!!! I know that at times, maybe more times then I would like in the future, my husband and I or whoever else are not always going to agree. We are going to have sensitive and hurt feelings. But there is never cause to raise your voice or act irrationally. Heavenly Father will help us work things out. He knows our hearts and understands our point of view. Turn to the Spirit to guide you in all you say and do, especially when communicating with a loved one, everyone really, because we all should be LOVED ones. We are all children of the same Heavenly Father who LOVES and UNDERSTANDS us PERFECTLY!!!! And don't just avoid contention. when we feel hurt inside. Make an effort to show more love to that person and you can start by figuring out how it is that they feel LOVE. For example, maybe someone likes when you make cookies for them, but maybe just listening to them now and then is actually of more worth and value to them. Its a bit tricky, but that is why we have the help of a Loving Heavenly Father through the Spirit!!! Yeah, so that is what I learned this week!!! It definitely gave Hope for the future with my spouse!!! Hahaha!!! Lets Hope that is FAR, FAR in the future!!!
Also, we have a bauptism on Friday!!! WHOOHOO!!! Javier!!! I am SO THANKFUL and EXCITED he finally gets to be bauptized!!! He has waited SO MANY years!!! He said he doesn't want to wait another day!!! And he only has 3 more left!!!! And last Monday, we had a Noche de Hogar with the Bishop in his house with Natali and her Mom and her little sister Angi. And we finally by way of the Lord got the permission from her Mom that she can be bauptized!!!!!! MIRACLE!!!! She was the first person I taught when I came here 6 weeks ago!!! She was SO EXCITED!!! She has wanted to be bauptized and Serve a Mission since her parents were bauptized when she was four!!! But what happened is that when we went to get her Saturday morning for her interview, we were asking a few questions and it came out that she had drunken coffee the night before. She doesn't have a habit of doing it at all, she just drank it accidentally. But we had to move the bauptism until the 12th. Poor thing, she was SO disappointed!!! But we are going to see her baptized and confirmed this month!!! I am very, VERY excited for this month!!! September was the first month and change in my entire Mission that I have never had a baptism, but I know that The Lord just needs us to keep growing our Fe so that He can work miracles through us in October!!! We will focus on baptisms each week and I know by our Fe and prayers of EVERYONE we will see COUNTLESS MIRACLES!!!!! We have the meta of 6 bauptisms, with 2 families and 2 men!!! I know we can complete that goal as we focus diligently on the little steps everyday!!! Like 3 with a member, 35 contacts, 10 families. Reading our scriptures every night and filling out registros. Focusing our studies on the needs of the investigador and doing things effectively!!! I know that it is those little things each day, the virtuous thoughts every hour, every minute that bring to pass the miracles that the Lord wants to work through us!!!! I Know The Lord!!! I KNOW He LIVES and LOVES US!!!!! I KNOW that He suffered and died for us ALL!!!!! I know that through Him we can all be cleansed to enter into the Celestial Kingdom and live with God in the Mansion He has prepared for us!!!!! I LOVE and am SO THANKFUL I have the opportunity to Serve our Heavenly Father in doing His work here on Earth as a personal Representative of Jesus Christ!!!! I Hope with all my heart, might, mind and strength that in this life, I can complete all I covenanted with the Lord I would do in the Premortal Existance!!!! I know that only by following the Spirit and being EXACTLY OBEDIENT will I be Blessed with those Miracles I desire!!! But I know and testify that the Lord fulfills ALL and EVERY SINGLE ONE of His promises and Blessings!!!! I LOVE my Father in Heaven and I am SO THANKFUL for His Eternal Plan!!!! I am SO THANKFUL for my Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. I testify as a personal Representative of Jesus Christ that they LIVE and LOVE US and ONLY BY HIS PLAN, by the Sacrifice and LOVE of our Savior Jesus Christ we can return to live with Him!!! So to all those that have not yet choosen to completely give your life to Him, to all those I LOVE SO MUCH with ALL my heart who are reading this and not yet bauptized, please read the Book of Mormon, pray to know if it is true, pray to know if Joseph Smith was a true Prophet of God and that their is a true and living Prophet guiding His church, His one and only true church that has the rightful claim to His Power and Authority, the Preisthood and when you feel the answer come over you, filling your heart with LOVE, JOY and Hope from Him, by the power of His Holy Spirit, be bauptized by someone holding that true authority, someone who honors their Preisthood, in the name of Jesus Christ and enter into His Glory!!! I share these things, in the Holy name of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, Amen.
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!! GOD SPEED!!!!!!!! LE AMO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LE AMO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LE AMO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU FOR
ALL OF THE FE AND PRAYERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOVE,
Hna Tarah Ray Sherrod
So lets see in Conference if they extend the time for girls to serve to 2 years!!! I think those 3 Nifites knew what they were doing when they chose to be Missionaries forever!!! haha!!!!!
Zone at the Zoo
September 24, 2014
September 22, 2014
Okay, so today I am writing because for a Zone activity tomorrow we are going to the Zoo!!!!! WHOOHOO!!!! I wanted to go to the Temple, but we voted and it was 10 to 8 and the Zoo won!! Oh well, next time!!! I am going EVERY WEEK to the temple when I get back, don’t you worry!!!! But yeah, we had to change our Pday because like the temple, the zoo is not open Mondays. But I didn’t know until yesterday about that, so sorry I didn’t warn y’all!!! I promise I LOVE Y’ALL and LOVE to hear from y’all!!!!!!
So this week WAS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!!! Where do I begin, I have SO MANY things written down that I want to tell you!!!!! So, the change is coming to a close. Everyone is telling me I am going to train next change. I sure hope not!!!! If the assistants call tomorrow night, I am NOT answering the phone!!!! I am REALLY HAPPY here with Hna. Graham and I want to keep working with her for the next change!!!! We have established/planted some good seeds/work here and we are seeing the flower heads popping up and some have already opened!!!!!! WHOOHOO!!! We had a week of miracles!!!!!!!
To start, I mentioned last week how we are now focusing more on baptizing
EACH and EVERY week!!! Well, because we put goals of baptisms every week. We just need to put our Fe in The Lord to complete them!!!! We have not baptized all this change, or this month. So, we are trying to really focus on the people that could be baptized this month, and out of the blue, Heavenly Father gives us the best present EVER!!!!! There is a man in our ward named Javier. He attends church EVERY WEEK, he reads the Book of Mormon and knows without a doubt it is true!!! And he has the STRONGEST TESTIMONY of Joseph Smith, and he is not baptized. Why not? You might ask. Well, he and his wife are not married and couldn’t be because he is from Nicaragua and there is all this really expensive paper work that needs to happen and a bunch of legal stuff so that they can be married.
Well, last Sunday I shook his hand and asked, “Hermano, cuando va a
bautizar, entonces?” (So, when are you going to be baptized?) And he answered, “Actually this member who is a lawyer can help us to get married and we are going to be married on the 10 of October!!!” My companion started jumping UP and DOWN!!!! (Yeah, it’s true. I really LOVE her ALOT!!!!) But then she was like, look now I am going to have changes and won’t be here for the wedding!!! Well, two days later, we were teaching them and they informed us that actually they are going to be able to get married and he can be baptized on the 27th of Sep!!!!! MIRACLE!!!!!! This family is SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!! And they are SO ready to become an Eternal family!!!! His wife, Brenda is already a member. She was born into the church and their two oldest kids have already been baptized!!!!! It seriously is SO
AMAZING!!!!! We are going to have a baptism and WEDDING this weekend!!!! I am SO EXCITED!!!!!! Heavenly Father LOVES me SO MUCH, I am SO GRATEFUL!!!!
The first Missionaries taught him over ten years ago and he still remembers their names, where they are from and everything!!!! We have been telling all the missionaries who served in this area that he is finally being baptized. And EVERYONE!!! The whole Mission is EXCITED!!!!!!! It is a PURE MIRACLE!!!!!! Please pray hard for him that the attacks of Satan won’t be to any avail!!!!! I know God is more powerful, but He works by our Fe!!!!!!!
I LOVE Y’ALL SO MUCH. I am SO THANKFUL for your prayers!!!!! I know your Fe helps to bring about this Blessing and Miracle!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!! LOVE
YALL!!!!!!!!!!! I am SO THANKFUL and LOVE our Heavenly Father SOOOOOOOO MUCH. He does the nicest things for us EVERYDAY!!!!!!!!!
Okay, so I promised the story of Blanca!!!! We found her the last week of August. We were teaching one of her neighbors who I had contacted on the bus and we were helping carry her grocery bags to her house when she knocked on the door and her neighbor invited her in. Her neighbor as of right now didn’t end up progressing, but we will see. We actually just contacted her again on the street this morning with her husband, but anyway. Blanca is a single mom of two daughters, 6 and 4!!! They are the CUTEST!!! Oh and they all speak English!!! We have been teaching her in Spanglish!!! Haha!!! Blanca was an orphan raised in a kids’ home of about 80 kids, but her "mom" who took care of her there was a missionary of an evangelico church from California. So, she grew up speaking English. When we first started teaching her, she mentioned it to her "mom" and "dad" who are Pastors now and they told her not to listen to us, but she felt good and wants to keep learning more!!!!
She has stopped smoking and drinking cafe and has read in the Book of
Mormon!!! She has prayed about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and just wants to know more!!! We told her that desire comes from the Spirit and that is part of her answer!!! We finally got her to church yesterday and the ward activity the night before!!!!! The members were AMAZING making friends with her!!!! Especially the Bishops wife!!!! Please pray for her too!!!! We are preparing her to be baptized on the 5th of October!!! Please pray that she can be prepared by that date!!!
We also need strong prayers for another hermanita, Natali. She is 12. Her mom is a menos active and she really wants to be baptized but we need the permission from her Mom. Her step dad is evangelico and grew up learning the church was evil, but by prayers of Fe and help from his wife, he is coming around!!! She just told us that he of his own accord is reading in the Book of Mormon!!! Every day at work!!!! He is somewhere in Nefi!!! We have never been able to teach him, but pray that we will be able to!!!! We have a Family Home Evening tonight with Natali, her mom and her little sister Angi. (Angi is 8 so she can baptized too!!) in the Bishops house, but Elder, the dad, won’t be there because he will be working late. So pray we’ll be able to find him!!! THANK YOU!!!
I don’t have time to explain the other stories, about Mirna and her 12 year old daughter and her 12 year old nephew, but please pray for them. We are preparing them for the 12th of October!!! And also Mirna and her 8 year old son!!!!
THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE
YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOVE,
Hna Sherrod
September 16, 2014
September 16, 2014
Hey!!! So this week we had a way special conference with Elder Orchoa, of the 70!!! We learned A LOT!!!! It was FOREVER long, I will admit I totally had a headache at the end, but it was SO WORTH it!!!!! I learned A LOT!!!
Three things, Fe really is a principle of action and that it is power!!! When we need a miracle, God will bring one as we show our Fe by getting out and working!!!! It’s not to just fall from the sky if we don’t do our part, what the Lord asks of us is SO LITTLE compared to all He does, but He does expect us to complete what He asks and when we do I know He will ALWAYS do the rest and that is why we see miracles happen with things that are beyond our power!!!!
I also learned that we never need to have anxiety if we have completed all what the Lord wants us to do, because as we do what He asks, as we are exactly obedient, He will continually give us more to do so that we can still learn more and grow continually, so just go and do and be Happy!!!!! Do the BEST you can and do one better thing EVERYDAY!!!! But go and do!!! And be Happy!!!!!
And I learned that we should be focusing more, not that we need to work harder, we are already doing that, but that we need to work more effectively!!! That we really have the possibility here to baptize EVERY
WEEK!!!! That there are thousands prepared in every one of our areas here!!! We just need to get on our knees and ask to find them and get up and go!!!! Get on your knees and ask, get up and act!!! That is la Fe!!!!
I am SO THANKFUL that we had the opportunity to listen to him and our Mission President and their wives this week!!!! It was really SUCH a cool experience!!!! I know the Lord LOVES US and He is aware of us!!!! And He without a doubt is leading His work, in the Mission field and in the lives of each of the members of the church!!! I know that angels are preparing the hearts of many. Please members, pray for the Missionaries by name EVERYDAY and for those by name who do not yet know God!!! I know by your prayers of Fe the Lord will work miracles among us!!! We are all in this together. The Missionaries can’t do ANYTHING without the members. We are all Missionaries!!!! Please give your Missionaries references!!! We LOVE them!!!! They are better than anything!!!!
Please pray for Blanca and Dennis and Claudia... Their stories are coming soon next week!!!!! LOVE YOU!!!!!! THANK YOU!!! gotta go!!!!
September 9, 2014
September 9, 2014
Okay, so let's just start this week with how GRATEFUL I am for the Priesthood!!!! I testify that the power of the Priesthood is REAL!!!!! And that it works MIRACLES, pure MIRACLES!!!!!!!!!!!!! I testify as a Representative of Jesus Christ, that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-Saints is the ONLY TRUE Church, THE ONLY CHURCH THAT RIGHTFULLY HOLDS THE PRIESTHOOD OF GOD!!!!!!!!!! I know it is by that same power that Jesus Christ under the direction of our Father in Heaven, created the Heavens and the Earth. I know it is by that same power He suffered and died for us, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US, and I know it is by that same power that he laid down freely His life and I know that it is by that same power He took it up again!!!!! I know our Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ LIVES and LOVES US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know that He was sent by our Heavenly Father who knows and LOVES us COMPLETELY and PERFECTLY!!!!!!! I know that our Savior lived a perfect, sinless life to show us the way, because He LOVES US and wants to spend eternity with each one of us!!!!!!! And I know that it is by that same Priesthood power that the Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles healed the sick. And I know that it is by that very same power that I testify has been Restored through Joseph Smith, a True Prophet of God that I was healed on Sunday. Since about Wednesday, I had been running a fever of 100. I am normally 96.8, I believe (right, Mom?) and well I had started to have aches and pains in my body. My companion had also been sick but hers had come and gone in about a day and half and mine was choosing to stick around for awhile. On Saturday night I was freezing, absolutely freezing. I couldn't sleep. I had on my long pajama pants, my hoodie, my knee high mismatched Essa socks and a thick blanket and not for anything could I get warm. We woke up at 5:40 and I just got my blow drier and started heating up my feet. I did that the whole time Hna Graham was in the shower. It helped a little but then, well, I had to take a shower in the cold water... Haha... Fun experiences... Well I was absolutely shivering all morning through all of the meetings, just praying that Heavenly Father would make me warm. And well of course I thought of asking for a blessing.
When the meetings ended, it was the same hour that the Elders, our Zone Leaders, in their ward were getting out of Sacrament meeting. So, I asked if they would be willing to give me a Blessing. They said of course. And I testify that when a worthy Holder of the Priesthood, a worthy holder of the Power of God puts his hands on your head, his words are not his own and it is as if The Lord is Blessing you and they are the words of your Father in Heaven. Immediately after IMMEDIATELY after, I was not cold. At all. And all the other symptoms were gone. Completely. I am healed and I am so thankful that I can continue to work!!!! Every day is PRECIOUS here in the work of the Lord. Every day I get up, I see Miracle after Miracle!!!! The
Lord LOVES US!!!! And He Blesses us according to our efforts. These last two weeks we hadn't had any new people coming to church, nobody, at all!!!! And then out of no where my Faithful and Fearless, PILAS
companion sees a member family from our ward on the bus and invites them to bring somebody to church. (I can tell you EVERY contact, every effort you make to share the Gospel is of GREAT WORTH in the eyes of God!!!) So then on Sunday in Sacrament meeting walk in this PILAS family and a friend, Reina and her 8 year old son!!!! I testify that God IS PREPARING HIS CHILDREN to accept the Gospel and you guys, the normal everyday members of the church are the ones who know who those children are, the ones that are chosen and the ones that have been prepared to accept the Gospel, TODAY!!!!! Please pray by name your friends and family who are not members!!!!!! Ponder their needs and invite them to come unto Christ. Invite them to listen to the Missionaries!!!! We cannot do this work without you!!!!! We need you!!! The Lord needs you!!!!!! And He knows you can do this!!!!!! You don't have to have a plaque to be a Missionary. You shouldn't need a plaque to remind you that you are a Missionary. You just need an open, loving heart, open ears to the Spirit and others!!!!
I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!! I am SO THANKFUL for all of your prayers for me, my companion, our investigadores and for all of the Missionaries. Your prayers are answered and honored by God and greatly appreciated!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
September 2, 2014
September 2, 2014
Okay, let’s see... So we are burning up this area with bustante nuevo investigadores!!! Almost all of our appointments fell through this week or the people we were looking for weren’t home, so we knocked doors and contacted in the street and we found crazy amounts of nuevos!!! MUCHOS BENDICIONES!!!! And some of them are really positive people too!!! We have some positive people that we are already teaching but we weren’t able to find any of them the last two weeks and I was getting worried. I felt a little like we were opening this area, because even though we have positive people that we are teaching, we don’t really have a lot of progressing investigators. But hey, I’ve always wanted to open an area!!!
So we hadn’t been able to find a lot of positive people and then yesterday we had a miracle!! We found two really positive girls that Hna. Graham and her companion had been teaching and were trying to prepare to be bauptized, but since I have been here I had only taught them once!!! It was seriously a miracle!!! They were both home yesterday after about two weeks of not finding them!!!!
It would be amazing if y’all could please pray for them!!! A.M., she is 19, really likes us teaching her. She has been to church once, but she just got a new job that will only allow her to come to church every other week. She said she is going to come to church this week and so we hope in two weeks from this Sunday she can be baptized!!! And you know how Satan likes to work hard Sunday mornings, so please pray hard that she will be able to come!!! Please pray for her best friend E.A. She is 14 and she is really sweet!!! We were reading with her in the Book of Mormon yesterday, in Nephi 4. She hadn’t read since we last saw her on my first day in the area, so we read with her and it is really awesome how much she enjoys it!!!! Reading it with her slowly was really fun. I noticed new things in that chapter that I have never noticed before!!! It was really funny, because I was noticing things about the way Nephi explains things and I feel like he writes in a style similar to mine. I think we would have been friends!! Hna. Blackmer once told me that I am the only person she has ever known that laughs at funny phrases in the scriptures, but it is true, the scriptures really are some great pieces of entertainment!!! I read things in a different way than other people,
haha!!!
I was really happy too because Hna Graham was also finding it very entertaining reading the chapter and making it relatable for E.A.!!!! She is a very good teacher and I am learning a lot from her!!! She is very good about always teaching the person individually and not just giving a lesson. I am really thankful for that!!! I know we are learning a lot from each other!!!!
Oh and that is another great thing that happened this week!!!! Hna Graham and I have gotten used to how each other teaches and I can tell we are teaching with a lot more unity and love now. And I can feel the Spirit stronger, which of course just makes it all a lot more fun!!!!
Right now we are a little low with our lessons with members. We really need to build the relationships A LOT with the members here. We need to figure out something awesome we can do to get more references of their friends and family!!! We have been trying to offer more service and we going to start asking members. We wrote a lesson plan of a little message we could share to get them excited in participating more in the obra misional!!! We will see how all of that goes!!!
I know without a doubt that there are sons and daughters of God here, ready to accept the True Gospel and we just need to find them!!!! And there are some great eternal friendships God wants us to build here!!!! Bring it on!!! I am excited!!!!!
We played soccer yesterday with the Elders and it was WAY FUN!!!! I haven’t played for about 3 months. My last district wasn’t too into soccer, but this one is FULL of Latinos!!! WHOOHOO!!! It was A LOT of fun!!!! I did a couple of cool moves (on accident really if we are being honest); but, I megged one guy and got an assist and one of the Elders asked if I was related to some famous soccer player! Haha!!!! But yeah, I am going to be playing A LOT more with Vallan and Kannon when I get back!!! I really miss it!!!!
Oh, so on Sunday we found out that a convert moved into our area and he is AWESOME!!!! He is 19, just got baptized in June and has received the Melchizedek Priesthood and is preparing to Serve a Mission!!!! Yeah, he is PILAS!!!!! Well, his sister is not a member and we had a lesson with her and his mom, who is not a member either, was also listening a little. And it was amazing!!! She is this awesome girl, a bit of a wild spirit. She has red hair and about 7 studs in one ear, but she was incredible listening to us!! We just had our first lesson with her yesterday, but please pray for her too! A. C.! She is 21. We challenged her to be baptized and she said she is going to pray!!! I know the the Lord is answering our prayers!!!! We will see miracles this month!!!!! I know we will!!!!! Because we are exactly obedient and working hard!!!!!
I Hope y’all all have a GREAT WEEK!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU FOR ALL!!!!!!!!! LOVE
YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE
YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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