Week 46 - Ceres, Hughson

Well I figured I'd start of saying that I love you. We don't say it enough.

I hit 11 months tomorrow and we receive transfer calls Sunday night!  I think I am going to stay here with Hermana Trejo but we shall see.

I feel like this week was incredible.  Sure it had it's rough spots but overall, we found new people to teach as well as have a few investigators that have kept every commitment extended.  Now we just need to work on inviting to church and finding a way to invite members to accompany us.  It seemed for me that it had been a while since we found so many ready people.  We are excited to grow our love for them and teach the restored gospel.

I have pondered the word sacred and consecrated a lot.  When the apostasy happened the teachings of sacredness vanished.  Everything we believe in is something sacred.  I feel like I shouldn't say the word so much to diminish it.  We are here. We are sons and daughters of a loving perfect Heavenly Father.  We come to receive bodies.  We grow up in families.  We serve others. We strive to work out our faults. We make promises with God.  We donate 10% of our income to build up God's kingdom here on earth. We get sealed for not just time but eternity.  We have homes filled with love.  The gift of the Holy Ghost. 

As a society the word Sacred is not used very often.  I believe one of the greatest blessings of being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is realizing that every aspect of our life is something special and consecrated to the Lord.  It's sacred.  Our thoughts, words, actions, and beliefs need to be in line with the purpose God has given us. 

D&C 104:65: And thus shall ye preserve the avails of the sacred things in the treasury, for sacred and holy purposes. 

Helaman is writing in the plates pertaining to the care of the records but I hope that as you read this verse of scripture, you think of the things above and how you can keep them more sacred.

Alma 37:14:And now remember, my son, that God has entrusted you with these things, which are sacred, which he has kept sacred, and also which he will keep and preserve for a wise purpose in him, that he may show forth his power unto future generations. 

A new mormon message was released the link is below, check it out. I know as we make every moment more cherished and focused on the sacred purpose of all, we will find joy and satisfaction in our lives daily.  I know that we will be able to love others with greater love, and understand our purpose.  I know that as we make our lives more sacred that we will feel closer to our Heavenly Father and our personal families.  Never forget where we came from and where we are going.  This is all part of God's great sacred plan.  This I know and leave in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Week 45 - Ceres, Hughson

Hello

We had many, many, many miracles this week.  They really come in the smaller things. I'm going to recount a few because I feel grateful.

 We were just putting the bikes on the car to head out to Waterford for the day when a man pulls up in an older car.  He had rolled down his window and was speaking to us in his little english asking who he should call to see if there were vacancies in the apartment complex. We happened to be out just at the right time. We responded in spanish, telling him we would look into it and get back with him.  He asked us what we do and after telling him who we were, he told us where he lives and invited us to come by and share a message with him and his family over dinner.  It really was amazing how every minute a missionary has is greatly valued and precious for we met this kind Guatemalan man Dito right outside the apartment.

That same day we were biking in Waterford when I saw a man sitting out with 2 little kids playing in a pool. We got talking and a young woman came out.  She asked us who we were and what we were doing on bikes in this heat.  Before we could even respond, she said, 'are you missionaries?' She goes on to tell us how she's lived in this little home for 2 months with her boyfriend and 2 children and how she didn't really know a lot of people.  We explained about the special message of the restoration.  She told us we need to come by and teach her.  She speaks english and explained the transition to the english sisters.  She quickly took their number and we took hers in exchange.  We rode off as she was telling us to have them call her any day. 

In the night of that same day (we were blessed),  an 18 year old girl approached us on the street after we had said, 'hello'  She had her hand extended out and a smile on her face.  I believe I had a weird look on my face wondering what was happening and if I should know her... She knew exactly who we were and began talking with us.  As we talk we find out she lives in Modesto, has a cousin who is a member, and has always had interest in what we have to share.  When she was younger, missionaries came by but her mom always said, 'you have to stay true to the faith' referring to their catholic tradition.  She just kept lingering with a smile on her face, also waiting for us to say something.  Maria is her name.  She is super special and how lucky are those Modesto missionaries.  It really was such a special contact.

My heart is full of gratitude this week for all the marvelous blessings God has given us.

Love,

Hermana Waters

Week 44 - Ceres, Hughson

Hello

I never know how to start these things so bank on them being awkward every week. okay?

​ I was excited to hear that Patricia and Juan in Modesto were married and baptized from the Modesto missionaries! I still remember when Hermana Zapata and I met her out in the street carrying several bags of groceries back to her house. It all started with a small act of service of returning her load back to her house. Definitely a miracle of someone prepared placed in our path. 

Yesterday, investigators Rebecca and Reuben invited us to have dinner with them.  It was delicious-Ortega burgers, homegrown fresh salad and fruit.(definitely something I'm going to miss in Utah)  It was a thick hamburger patty from Costco wish grilled Ortega chiles laid on top.  mmmm. We were sitting at the dinner table waiting for Rebecca to come from the kitchen with our hamburgers already prepared when Reuben started eating.  Me and Hermana Trejo were just sitting there when Rebecca comes out from the kitchen and said, 'REUBEN, IBAN ORAR...'  (They were going to pray) He gives the look of 'oh no' and looked over at us.  We explained that it is a 'rule' that whoever starts eating before saying the prayer, is the one who has to say it.  He had never said a prayer with us before and we were thinking he'd just laugh it off and insist on us or Rebecca saying the prayer like normal.  But all he mentioned was that he didn't know how to pray beautifully like us but ok.  Sin inclinando nuestras cabezas, oro.  Dandole a Dios gracias por nosotras y su esposa. Fue cortita pero poderosa la oracion. Empezo a llorar con lagrimas en sus ojos.  pero fueron lagrimas gosozas. Without bowing our heads, he prayed.  Giving thanks to God for us and his wife.  The prayer was short but powerful. He started to cry with tears in his eyes.  but they were tears of joy.

Though something simple, I know there is power in the small things we do.  

I hope you are taking care. I love you all, miss you so much and think about you a lot.

loves, xoxo

Hermana Waters

Week 43 - Ceres, Hughson

Well this week was a hot one that's for sure.  We are drinking a lot because if we don't, we get a headache. 

The week started of interesting when we received a text from this man we contacted the week before asking if we could go out and get a drink or beer with him.  He sounded interested in our message when we first contacted him but I guess not.  The next time missionaries go by his house to follow up, they'll be elders.

I have pondered a lot about how the Gospel Blesses Families.  It's the second principle we teach as missionaries, right after God is Our Loving Heavenly Father. 

As I have spent time being a missionary, I have realized that most people struggle to place the Gospel on an individual basis.  Yes the gospel blesses everybody and yes it tends to make people happier, but how does the gospel change you.  As we have spent this past week speaking with many who are generational catholics, I have found a lack of personalizing the teachings of Jesus Christ.  Upon asking almost all of them 'How has the teachings of Jesus Christ blessed your life?' they then respond 'en todo' In everything.  It is something held at a very surface, superficial layer that has yet to reach the heart.  

Why is it so hard to apply it to ourselves? I believe that Satan really doesn't want us to apply it to ourselves. He wants us to be satisfied with believing that we don't need to recognize how it truly affects us as a person and our families.  

For me it's meant that although I don't want to let go of things in the past-it's required to progress. It's helped me realize that sure I disagree often but through counsel it can be resolved.  It made me realize that it's not so much about what I want but what my Heavenly Father wants.  He wants us to be happy and he let his son come to teach us that we may make the most of those teachings.

I invite you all to think on how the Gospel of Jesus Christ (or in other words His Teachings) has blessed your life and shaped you. 

The gospel is great for everyone. But really it allows us to have spiritual and miraculous experiences. Made not only for the blessing of ourselves but of our families.  That is how we got the scriptures..Just a bunch of spiritual experiences our forefathers had.  And it's here to bless us and strengthen us.

I invite you to write down in your journal sometime this week how the teachings of Jesus Christ, his gospel, has lightened your burdens, gave you more perspective, shaped your life, and lifted your family.

I know God loves us. I know as we individually apply the gospel of Jesus Christ which consists of Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the end we will find ourselves happier and we will consider ourselves blessed.

I love you,

xoxo

Hermana Waters

Week 42 - Ceres, Hughson

Buenos Dias mis queridos,

First off, my new companion Hermana Trejo is awesome! My fourth Mexican companion! ahh natives.  They are blessings.  Hermana Trejo is from Chihuahua Mexico.  We find ourselves humming to the Beverly Hills Chihuahua song 'ay chihuahuaaa' Hispanics in general say ay (sounds like I in english) a lot like oh is used in english and so when she says ay, I say chihuahua.  So 1st invitation, listen to that song for me and think of my Chihuahuense companion and I.

This week there was a stake activity at Zions Park that we were able to attend.  They had horses, canoeing, hiking, rock climbing, dancing, movies, oh and family history for those who weren't tempted to do any of the above. That was a 40 minute drive out with the Juan and Isabel Ortiz family.  We got a bit lost which was scary until I remembered that I had a handy dandy GPS.  

We sang hymns with our investigator Juanita.  SHE LOVED THEM. We have it all set up on her phone so that she can listen to them whenever! 

Juan Abraham is almost done reading the Book of Mormon completely after 3 weeks.

amazing... we are working on coming to church

we got a bunch of referrals from strangers this week and that was awesome! They have lots of potential we just keep working.

I have to say how much satisfaction I get from working.  I get tired when I'm not working but when you get to work, you forget how exhausted you feel. 

Missionary work is great. I have too many stories to even write them. Trust me after the mission, everyone is invited to come up AF canyon, pitch a tent for a week and share all that happened in their lives these 18 months.  I know you are all doing good things and I am thrilled to share and hear our memories!

love you,

hermana waters

oh and ps. i hit 10 months this past saturday-------> how?

Week 41 - Ceres, Hughson

 This week was crazy. Lots of emotions. We found several new people to teach while at the same time struggling to return and find them home. I am sad to see Hermana Pimentel go but looking forward to knowing Hermana Trejo better. We met this young mom named Maria and her boyfriend Efrain. Maria has 3 children and Efrain has 2. When we knocked her door after meeting her the previous week, she explained that we were her friends and invited us in. They explained that they met through work and although were dating, were not living together. In the end of the time spent knowing them better and sharing the Book of Mormon, the invitation we extended to Maria to give the closing prayer was accepted. It has been a while since I had seen that invitation be accepted in the first lesson so quickly and so willingly. As we all prayed-Maria, Efrain and Alejandro (son of Maria), she prayed fervently. She asked Heavenly Father that we would be protected and that she would come to understand the 'new but beautiful things' that we were teaching her. A spark of hope lit inside me after this long week of feeling like maybe God didn't hear my pleads or maybe I wasn't doing something right. I remember not wanting to leave her presence. As they followed us out of the house and walked us to our bikes, watching us until we were out of sight, I feel like that is why I am here. In my studies this morning I was reading in 1 Tim 4, I was reading and came across verse 10 'For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.'  We are out on the streets giving it all we got, not expecting people to accept us but because we trust in God. That there is a point that we are here. A thought that I lacked the the many days before. To remember the promises of the Lord brings me comfort. Jeffrey R. Holland said in the Broken Vessel video that after we have done all we have done, we need to hold to ''the Light at the end of the tunnel and blessing at the end of the day.'' 

Isn't the gospel beautiful?

Love you all,

Hermana Waters

Week 40 - Ceres, Hughson

It was nice and cool this week.  We lucked out since our air conditioner broke yesterday so we just leave the back door and front door open to keep cool air running through while we are there. 

I got a flat in the other tire so back down to Turlock we went and I got a stronger back tire with slime between the tire and the tube.  We walked near the end of the week which wasn't to bad since it was nice and windy.

Today as we were washing our laundry, 5 investigators passed by with whom we talked.  It was awesome.

e to see them and follow up on the commitments we left with them.  To our sweet knowledge many had been reading in their Book of Mormon and praying.  We just need to help them understand the importance of church.  We hear, 'oh all the churches lead you back to God' or 'oh but it's all the same God.' And it all goes back to the apostasy and restoration. We are working on teaching that more clear which becomes more and more easier with a growth in vocabulary and testimony.  We have found some really solid new investigators who are so interested in the Book of Mormon so we are looking forward to knowing them better.  

I find myself wanting to leave the house right after we get ready to go out an talk with people.  In studies I just get stuck thinking and when I think, I go crazy.  Someone told me I should run 5 miles in the morning in 30 minutes-so now you all now know what my workout will be everyday. 

On the downhill of the mission, I have felt a yearning for home.  A yearning to just be with my family again. I find myself as a missionary with constant changes in who you live with, who you talk to, who you eat with, who you teach, and where you are.  Nothing ever seems sure.  A quote shared by my mom says, "Great things never came from comfort zones." Socrates said that the secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.  The point of this life is to become new.  

• Matthew 9:17

  17 Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into
  ​ ​
   new bottles, and both are preserved. 

• Ether 13:9

  9 And there shall be a new heaven and a new
  ​ ​
   earth; and they shall be like unto the old save the old have passed away, and all things have become 
  ​ ​
   new. 

• Doctrine and Covenants 75:7

  7 And I give unto him a new commission and a
  ​ ​
   new commandment, in the which I, the Lord, chasten him for the murmurings of his heart; 

• 2 Peter 3:13

  13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness
  ​.​

• Luke 5:36

  36 ¶And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old.

• 2 Corinthians 5:17

  17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

• Ezekiel 18:31

  31 ¶Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
• How many times does God invite us to become new.  to leave the old us and move on in strength.  Old parts he wants you to drop are not only sins but those things that keep you from progressing or distractions.  As well as laziness.  
• Be born again is a common other phrase. As a missionary we teach that the investigators need to become clean by starting habits of repentance which leads to baptism.  To less actives we teach to practice repentance which leads to the Sacrament. 
• In the Infinite Atonement by Tad R. Callister, He quotes C.S. Lewis and his view of the atonement and how we may become perfect using it. He uses his experience with the Dentist as he explains
• He says, "When I was a child I often had toothache, and I knew that if I went to my mother she would give me something which would deaden the pain for that night and let me get to sleep. But I did not go to my mother—at least, not till the pain became very bad. And the reason I did not go was this. I did not doubt she would give me the aspirin; but I knew she would also do something else. I knew she would take me to the dentist next morning. I could not get what I wanted out of her without getting something more, which I did not want. I wanted immediate relief from pain: but I could not get it without having my teeth set permanently right. And I knew those dentists: I knew they started fiddling about with all sorts of other teeth which had not yet begun to ache. They would not let sleeping dogs lie, if you gave them an inch they took an ell.
      Now, if I may put it that way, Our Lord is like the dentists. If you give Him an inch, He will take an ell. Dozens of people go to Him to be cured of some one particular sin which they are ashamed of or which is obviously spoiling daily life. Well, He will cure it all right: but He will not stop there. That may be all you asked; but if once you call Him in, He will give you the full treatment.
    ... ‘Make no mistake,’ He says, ‘if you let me, I will make you perfect. The moment you put yourself in My hands, that is what you are in for. Nothing less, or other, than that. You have free will, and if you choose, you can push Me away. But if you do not push Me away, understand that I am going to see this job through. Whatever suffering it may cost you in your earthly life, whatever inconceivable purification it may cost you after death, whatever it costs Me, I will never rest, nor let you rest, until you are literally perfect— until my Father can say without reservation that He is well pleased with you, as He said He was well pleased with me. This I can do and will do. But I will not do anything less."
• Let us all invite others to become new through the Lord with fresh starts doing so in his way.  

Love you all,

Hermana Waters