Hellooooo =-) Hopefully my email doesn't get errased this time lol. So things are going good, not easy but good. I'm not even sure who I've told about and who I haven't... We're teaching Maria Martinez and Jose Luis Villasenor, the parents of Jeremy Villasenor who was baptized a few weeks ago. They have a looooot of drama going on with their relationship (that I won't talk about) and the past month Jose Luis hasn't even been going to church because he's been working. There's a member of the church who is a lawyer and so I called him to see if he could help Jose Luis get divorced from his wife who lives in Mexico so Maria and him can get married and then they can be baptized, which is a veeeeery common situation. Hermano Pogue, the lawyer, said he could help. So I told this to Jose and gave him the number and he told us he would call but he didn't. He gives us excuses, not lies but excuses of why he can't or didn't call. The real issue is like an iceberg. He's just giving us excuses or the tip of the iceberg but there's the whole iceberg under the water or the real problem/situation underneath the surface that he's not telling us. So we honestly don't know what to do only to pray that we know how to help Maria and especially him really receive a testimony of the gospel so they will change and have the desire to be baptized for the right reasons. It's just sad because they have two young kids who have already been baptized and I know that if their parents aren't baptized and active then they will also fall away. I've never seen young kids be baptized when their parents haven't been and I just hope that Maria and Jose can really really receive a testimony of the gospel for their kids also.
We are teaching a few others. I said before that each of them were being prepared in their individual ways and I thought they would progress in the gospel but in the last couple weeks a lot has happened and I don't know if they will anymore. One of them who we were teaching, la familia Gomez, totally dropped us because Salvador, the husband, is a strong catholic and doesn't want to change. That was suuuuch a bummer because they're going through a tough time with the health of their little girl and if only they knew that no matter what may happen they can have the comfort of knowing that through the gospel of Jesus Christ they could return with Heavenly Father again with their family forever but they told us they don't want to learn anymore so we have to respect that. I just wish everyone understood what the gospel can do for them and their families.
I have more that I wanted to say, as usual I have a lot to say =-), but I keep running out of time. Next week I'll try to make sure I get the email typed before the time runs out (the computers here are timed). Anyway I'll just say that last night we had a lesson with Jeanette Fernandez who is now starting to investigate the church but we committed her to be baptized the 3 of April and she accepted it and is so excited to learn and everything. It all went so well I'm nervous to get excited. I'll definitely talk more about her next week, I just hope it's still happy news!
Anywho, I love you guys and hope all is well. I'm doing so so so good. I feel incredibly blessed to be here serving a mission for the Lord, incredibly blessed. It definitely isn't easy but it seems that in difficult times we draw closer to God and our Savior Jesus Christ and learn the most. I know that this is the true gospel and I hope all will take the opportunity to know for yourselves if you don't know. It's not easy to follow the gospel but so worth it. Who says salvation is easy. I love you guys again. Hast luego!
Love,
Hermana Alvey =-)
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
1/11/10
Bueno mi familia y mis amigos!
Well the last two weeks have been going pretty good. I kind of have a brain block and I'm trying to think of everything that has been going on.... let's see, not this last week but the week before that things seemed so hopefully. We had a lot potential people to teach and it just was awesome, and I felt really good about everything. On the mission I feel pretty bi-polar ha but just after that week all those that seemed like they would progress in the gospel pretty much decided they didn't want to learn. Man I was so excited about everything and within days I faced dived into the ground. Ok, so I'm exaggerating a little but quite a few of those who we thought for sure would progress in the gospel no longer wanted to. In fact one of the men told me he felt like he was being pressured and to stop pressuring him. I absolutely took that personal and felt horrible. Some others just no longer want to learn and aren't around for their appointments and then their was a couple women we were teaching because the Elders told us to in the beginning even though they live in their area, because it was hard to get another priesthood holder to come with them to the appointments (a mission rule is that there has has to be 3 people, including you, of the same sex if you are teaching someone that is of the opposite sex) Then last week they told us that they were going to go ahead and teach them. That was a pretty big bummer to me, I mean as long as they're being taught it's ok but at first I wasn't kind of upset with them for doing that. Anyway so that's what happened, we lost a bit of the people we would be teaching. I was way bummed but bounced back and things are still looking up. I wasn't thinking man what am I doing wrong? I don't know how to be a good missionary and was thinking it was me fault that we weren't having a whole lot of success. So I prayed and prayed and I know that we're doing our best and so Heavenly Father will see us through, it's just not meant to be easy, woo hoo! ;-) Although still a little discouraging there's a lot of awesome things going on right now. So now that I've babbled on forever, I know I'm good at it ha, I'll tell you what eventful things have happened.
On January 2 Jeremy Villasenor was baptized. He has 8 years and we are teaching his parents. His brother Jr. who has 12 years, was baptized less than a year ago. Maria and Jose Luis, the parents of them, want to be baptized but Jose needs to get divorced first with his wife who lives in Mexico. There's a loooot of drama in their situation and so we're trying to help them and get Jose to talk to a lawyer in order to get the divorce. We commited them to be baptized March 13. Maria is so excited to be baptized but Jose wasn't so confident that all he be able to be divorced by then. I guess we shall see, we're trying to work with him a lot. He loves the church and says he believes it to be true but it needs to be a deeper testimony and he needs to really seek forgiveness for some things that he has or might have done in the past. Time will tell with them but we trying, thank goodness the Lord is on our side. So the baptizm of Jeremy went well and Jose Jr. gave a talk which was sooo awesome. He was way nervous and almost didn't give it but he did an awesome job. We also went to San Jose because 2 of my investigators Hermana Lowry and I were teaching were baptized Dec. 26. That was so awesome to attend and see them baptized, amazing.
I'm running out of time but we're teaching a few others that are really amazing but we're having a hard time getting them to church =-/ We're now teaching an adorable family, the family Gomez; Silvia; Beder; and Felecia. There's a few others that we might be teaching and they seem interested so hopefully they will progress =-) Next week I'll talk more about them because they each have their own story and we're starting to see lots of miracles and how the Lord is preparing each of them in different ways to accept the gospel. Hermana Guzman and I are helping a few members in the ward do what they need to in order to prepare to enter the temple. We're trying to find out who else has not gone through. We've been surprised how many have not and we're soooo excited to help them prepare, I hope their prepared for lots of blessings!Oh and also about how I got pulled over by a cop, yikes! Anyhoo, I love you guys! Please pray for us and those who the Lord is preparing. Hasta next week!
Love,
Hermana Alvey =-)
Well the last two weeks have been going pretty good. I kind of have a brain block and I'm trying to think of everything that has been going on.... let's see, not this last week but the week before that things seemed so hopefully. We had a lot potential people to teach and it just was awesome, and I felt really good about everything. On the mission I feel pretty bi-polar ha but just after that week all those that seemed like they would progress in the gospel pretty much decided they didn't want to learn. Man I was so excited about everything and within days I faced dived into the ground. Ok, so I'm exaggerating a little but quite a few of those who we thought for sure would progress in the gospel no longer wanted to. In fact one of the men told me he felt like he was being pressured and to stop pressuring him. I absolutely took that personal and felt horrible. Some others just no longer want to learn and aren't around for their appointments and then their was a couple women we were teaching because the Elders told us to in the beginning even though they live in their area, because it was hard to get another priesthood holder to come with them to the appointments (a mission rule is that there has has to be 3 people, including you, of the same sex if you are teaching someone that is of the opposite sex) Then last week they told us that they were going to go ahead and teach them. That was a pretty big bummer to me, I mean as long as they're being taught it's ok but at first I wasn't kind of upset with them for doing that. Anyway so that's what happened, we lost a bit of the people we would be teaching. I was way bummed but bounced back and things are still looking up. I wasn't thinking man what am I doing wrong? I don't know how to be a good missionary and was thinking it was me fault that we weren't having a whole lot of success. So I prayed and prayed and I know that we're doing our best and so Heavenly Father will see us through, it's just not meant to be easy, woo hoo! ;-) Although still a little discouraging there's a lot of awesome things going on right now. So now that I've babbled on forever, I know I'm good at it ha, I'll tell you what eventful things have happened.
On January 2 Jeremy Villasenor was baptized. He has 8 years and we are teaching his parents. His brother Jr. who has 12 years, was baptized less than a year ago. Maria and Jose Luis, the parents of them, want to be baptized but Jose needs to get divorced first with his wife who lives in Mexico. There's a loooot of drama in their situation and so we're trying to help them and get Jose to talk to a lawyer in order to get the divorce. We commited them to be baptized March 13. Maria is so excited to be baptized but Jose wasn't so confident that all he be able to be divorced by then. I guess we shall see, we're trying to work with him a lot. He loves the church and says he believes it to be true but it needs to be a deeper testimony and he needs to really seek forgiveness for some things that he has or might have done in the past. Time will tell with them but we trying, thank goodness the Lord is on our side. So the baptizm of Jeremy went well and Jose Jr. gave a talk which was sooo awesome. He was way nervous and almost didn't give it but he did an awesome job. We also went to San Jose because 2 of my investigators Hermana Lowry and I were teaching were baptized Dec. 26. That was so awesome to attend and see them baptized, amazing.
I'm running out of time but we're teaching a few others that are really amazing but we're having a hard time getting them to church =-/ We're now teaching an adorable family, the family Gomez; Silvia; Beder; and Felecia. There's a few others that we might be teaching and they seem interested so hopefully they will progress =-) Next week I'll talk more about them because they each have their own story and we're starting to see lots of miracles and how the Lord is preparing each of them in different ways to accept the gospel. Hermana Guzman and I are helping a few members in the ward do what they need to in order to prepare to enter the temple. We're trying to find out who else has not gone through. We've been surprised how many have not and we're soooo excited to help them prepare, I hope their prepared for lots of blessings!Oh and also about how I got pulled over by a cop, yikes! Anyhoo, I love you guys! Please pray for us and those who the Lord is preparing. Hasta next week!
Love,
Hermana Alvey =-)
1/4/10
HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!!!!! I don't have really time to write today, but things are moving along. The last week has really been looking up and we're starting to teach a lot of amaaaaazing people. I'm so excited! I had been feeling a bit discouraged before. So yeah things are going great. We're way blessed and I'll tell you all about our investigators, baptism, getting pulled over by the police and ya know what ever else happens this coming week! Take care until next week and I hope you all make some good new year's resolutions. Woo 2010, make it happen!
Love,
Hermana Alvey =-)
Love,
Hermana Alvey =-)
12/28/09
I hope everyone had a good Christmas! Ours was good. For Christmas Eve and Christmas day we didn't have anyone to eat with but last second people invited us. We are loved after all ha. We were calling people to plan the bauptism we have coming up and one of those people was Sister Welch who is going to be playing the piano for us. She asked if we had anywhere to eat for Christmas Eve and Christmas day we told her one of the members would be ordering us pizza and so we'd be eating it in our apartment for that day, wlhich was Christmas Eve and Christmas day we had someone to eat with. She felt bad and asked us to please come to her house that afternoon and eat with them. We gladly said yes. So we ate with the Welchs. It was a lot of fun. She made turkey, home roles, pie and other things. Soooo good! We were getting ready to leave when we saw someone pulling up to their driveway which they thought was weird becasue they weren't expecting anyone. It ended up being Santa! Also known as our Bishop who dressed up like santa. We were soo excited! We took pics and everything and they even had stockings for us which were full of goodies, it was awesome. For Christmas we ate pancakes for breakfast after studying and we got to call our families which was sooooo fun and nice, I love you guys! We ate with the Padilla family. They had been eating for the last two days straight so they didn't eat with us but talked to us as we ate ha. She just kept putting food on the table to it was an amazingly delicious combo. She made us pancakes, salad, rice, tomales, mexican hot chocolate, champurado, eggnog, soda, atole, pies, salsas, and I can't remember what else. It was so fun though and the food was good. Hermana y Hermano Padilla do foster care so they have three foster girls who are living with them, Brenda (15 yrs), Sammy (12), and Deisha (11) (not sure how to spell her name). They've all had hard lives and it's awesome that they have such a wonderful foster home. We've been able to get to know them a bit more which has been cool. Brenda is a member but Sammy and Deisha aren't. They all go to church though and we're hoping that we'll be able to start teaching them. Deisha's mom has been going to church the last couple Sundays which is awesome. She wants to change her life around. I think we'll be able to start teaching her and her daughter soon, which will be so awesome. So right now we teaching la familia VillaSenor but Jose Luis VillaSenor is still married and needs to get a divorce in Mexico so they can get married, which costs a lot. but even though it costs a lot we think it's possible but he's not trying as hard as he could. We going to have a sit down with them and make a plan to help them. Jeremy VillaSenor, their son who has 8 years, is getting baptized this Saturday which will be good. The others that we were, kind of teaching, are canceling their appointments a lot or they just never around and so we might be dropping them which never is fun... We have other's who are potentail investigators but with Christmas it's been hard to get a hold of people so I'm hoping it'll change within the next few weeks. Yeah not a whoooole lot is going on but things are going good here. Enjoy the snow for those in Utah!!! The weather has been pretty rough here it's been between 55 to 70 degrees the past few weeks I've been here... I know rough huh?? ha =-) Anyway I'll talk to you all later, take care!!!
Love,
Hermana Alvey
Love,
Hermana Alvey
12/21/09
We've now been here in Watsonville for 2 weeks and things are going good. My companions name is Hermana Guzman. She is from San Antonio, Texas and is awesome. She helps me a lot with spanish and has just been awesome with everything. When we arrived to our apartment, which was were the Elders used to live, they not only cleaned it but decorated it with paper snow ALL OVER, a big Merry Christmas sign, a little Christmas tree, and HUGE stockings. The stockings are so big, you can pretty much fit in then ha. I'll have to take some pics, with my new camera (thanks mom and dad!) =-) So on our drive to Watsonville the first day we were together we discovered we have the same Birthday! How awesome is that! So yes we both turned 22 on the same day. Our birthday was good. We didn't know very many people, and still don't, but one of the members that we met bought us cake that said Feliz Cumpleanos Hermana Guzman y Hermana Alvey! It was so cute. That was actually a the 15th, so two days before our birthday. On our birthday we went to zone conference which was way awesome. They fed us a huge lunch and decorated the gym waaaay Christmasy. It was fun. After we ate there was some really good musical numbers from some of the missionaries. Also the assistants presented President and Sister Jackson a framed picture of Jesus Christ and on the sides of the picture there was the name of every single convert in the mission since President Jackson has been president. It was so cool and president cried like a baby lol. I love our misson president so much. And it was so fun to see the other missionarie who were in the area I was last in, like Hermana Lowry and Hermana Kelson. It was so nice. After lunch we had talks and what not and it just all was perfect. So the last couple weeks have been pretty crazy. Watsonville is about 85% spanish speaking so President Jackson took the eglish Elders out and put in spanish Elders and Sisters (us). They split the area and so half is ours and the other half is the Elders. Our area is huge. It goes from Watconville up to north Santa Cruz. We pretty much had to start new with investigators because the Elders gave us some investigators but they're not exactly progressing so we might or might not drop a lot of them and start new. It's been pretty hard to start all over like that but things are good. We're doing A LOT of contacting and having really found anyone but with time/patience, faith and diligence; I know things with look up. The ward we go to is english and spanish which is really different to get used to but it'll be good. I've been a little bummed about stuff but all is good and will only get better. Hermana Guzman is so awesome also. Her idea was that I only speak english one hour a day and so kind of reluctantly I said ok and with just two days of doing it my head hurts lol but It'll definitley help with learning spanish. So that's pretty much what is going on. I'll write more details next week but I have to go. I love you all and have a very very very Merry CHRISTmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Hermana Alvey
Love,
Hermana Alvey
12/7/2009
It's already December! This is my favorite part of the year!!! You wouldn't believe it but it was raining all last night and there was even snow on the hills or mountains. Crazy huh?? So it's been pretty cold here. Probably in the 40s or so, burrrr!
Well, this was an awesome week. As of now our investigators are doing really well! Our Mission President, Presidente Jackson, challenged us to invite our investigators to give a gift to the Savior and be baptized in the month of December so as of now Josie and her mother Josefina still have a baptismal date for Dec. 26 and Hermana Lowry and I think that we should commit both Jose and Silvia to be baptized this month instead of January. We still have a lot to teach them but I think it will be good and we can get the lessons taught. They're all doing really really well. I love them all so much. Although Silvia has been so much more quiet and a little dissoriented ever since we talked about the law of chastity. I think she really wants to change and is feeling bad. I'm not sure how we can help her but I've been thinking to myself that if we commit her to baptism, this is what will help her because if she will commit to change and pray for more help she will receive a remission of her sins. I want her to feel that burden lifted off her shoulders and the wonderful feeling of being a member of Christ's church and following him. She is going to receive sooo many blessings and especially feel more happy. We've been planning on commiting her to baptism for a while and should have commited her already but everytime we planned to something happened where it just didn't seem right anymore. I need to have more courage and just do it. That's something I'm trying to work on, instead of just relying on Hermana Lowry.
So yeah they are all doing pretty well. So exciting, Mayra Bravo was baptized on this last Saturday, Dec. 5, and was confirmed a member of the church yesterday! Everything went sooo smoothly I thought it was fake or something bad was going to happen. She is doing great though and is so strong. A lot of it has to do with her suegra being a member and helping out so much. She almost was going to be baptized in cold water too poor thing. The Elders told us that there was no hot water and so Hermana Lowry and I were going to boil hot water to make it warmer but we ended up not having enough time to do that but luckily Hermana Lowry figured out that there was hot water after all, the switch for hot water hadn't been turned ha. Never listen to the Elders ;-) Anyway all we could find for Mayra to wear was a wrinkly suit. I felt so bad because she looked soo pretty and then had to put that on! You could tell she didn't feel to pretty and was a little embarrassed but she was baptized. Other than the wrinkely suit, oooops, it was wonderful. The spirit was strong and a lot of people went to the baptism, it was awesome awesome!
On Saturday, the same Saturday Mayra was baptized, we went to the temple. Mayra couldn't go, which we really wanted her to go, but Eva Lugo and her girls, Jessica, Lupita, and Venessa; Josie and Josefina went. Moises Campos, one of our less active members came also which was great. Laura Ramirez and her son Chris, who is Josie's boyfriend, came also. It was such a good thing for all of them. Chris is very inactive and doesn't want really anything to do with the church but he went to the temple and attended church because Josie wants him to. I think he'll start coming around with her example. At the temple we watched the "Families together forever" exhibit, watched a short film about the birth of Christ, the Joseph Smith movie, and walked around the temple grounds. They all absolutely loved it and even Lupita, who has 13 years, was talking about what temple she wants to be married in. I can't wait until they start going to church in January. There's just so much to say about each of our investigators and all those we are teaching but I'll just say that things are going well and I'm very grateful.
So on Wed. we got a call from President Jackson. We expected him to call because we pretty much were positive that Hermana Lowry would be training one of the new hermanas that would be coming in. So sure enough he called but none of us were expecting him to say what he did. He was talking to Hermana Lowry and told her that he would like to invite her and me to the training meeting. I could hear him on the phone and so my mouth just dropped open in shock when I heard that. Then he said now let me talk to Hermana Alvey before she drops dead to the ground, which I pretty much had ha. She gave me the phone and he told me that there would be another Hermana coming in that he wanted we to train and Hermana Vawdrey and Cowley would receive their chance to train in January, which is when I was planning on training. Oh my goodness I was so nervous, I'm going to me a mommy! So he called back later that day and asked to speak to both of us because he needed our oppinion. He told us that one of us would be staying in Las Colinas and the other would be going down to Watsonville to pretty much open up the area. We both didn't know what to say just wanted him to make the decision himself but he wanted our oppinions. Hermana Lowry gave me the phone and said here you tell him what you think and then left. I didn't know what to say but I told President that I felt like our members investigators were more comfortable or attached to Hermana Lowry, which is what I think. After I was done Hermana Lowry got on the phone and President told her what I said and wanted to know if it was true. She was like uuuh, well, I don't know. Maybe because I speak more spanish and then President said thank you that's all I need to know. So after that we pretty much figured that I would be leaving and she would be staying but didn't know for sure so it was driving us crazy! On Friday when we went to the training meeting we asked him and he said yes that I would be going to Watsonville and she would be staying. So guess what! I'm leaving and going to Watsonville, yikes! But don't worry President isn't sticking me in a place that I don't know and make me train an Hermana who doesn't speak spanich, she already speaks spanish thank goodness! Hermana Kelson told President that she wanted to train her because she speaks spanish already and he told us that he thought about it but he wasn't going to make me open an area and train an Hermana who doesn't speak spanish, thank goodness!!! So yeah that's what's going on. She'll be coming tomorrow and it should be fun. She'll probably be expecting a trainer who already speaks spanish very well and knows the people and area but nope she get me who doen't know either haha. I was a little nervous about all of this but I prayed about it and I feel like this is the best and it won't be all that easy but all will be well. I guess we'll see how it goes tomorrow! Oh one thing I'm kind of bummed about though is that in this area President had 2 sets of Elders there, spanish and english. What he is doing now is pulling out the English and just putting spanish missionaries there and we will be teaching both english and spanish. He told us that 85% of the people there were spanish speaking so it was pointless to have english missionaries there. I didn't exactly like the idea of teaching english and spanish but it will be ok, I know I'm going to learn spanish and this is where Heavenly Father wants me to be. So we shall see how it all goes. I'm glad that mi nueva can help me out with spanish though =-) So yesterday at church Bishop announced that me and Elder Garcia would be leaving and so we bore our testimonies in Sacrament meeting. It was so sad! I had to keep fighting back tears. I love the people here in Las Colinas so much! I'm really hoping that President will send me back here in Las Colinas the last part of my mission, I guess we shall see. And we're allowed to come back for baptisms, so I get to come back to Las Colinas to see our baptisms. That makes me so happy because I would be soooo sad to miss those. So that is what's going on right now. I'm sure I'll have lots to say next week! Wish me luck lol. And I have no more to say... I'm the queen at writing novels ha. I hope my emails aren't way boring for you guys hehe!
I love you guys mucho muchisimo!!!
Love,
Hermana Alvey
Well, this was an awesome week. As of now our investigators are doing really well! Our Mission President, Presidente Jackson, challenged us to invite our investigators to give a gift to the Savior and be baptized in the month of December so as of now Josie and her mother Josefina still have a baptismal date for Dec. 26 and Hermana Lowry and I think that we should commit both Jose and Silvia to be baptized this month instead of January. We still have a lot to teach them but I think it will be good and we can get the lessons taught. They're all doing really really well. I love them all so much. Although Silvia has been so much more quiet and a little dissoriented ever since we talked about the law of chastity. I think she really wants to change and is feeling bad. I'm not sure how we can help her but I've been thinking to myself that if we commit her to baptism, this is what will help her because if she will commit to change and pray for more help she will receive a remission of her sins. I want her to feel that burden lifted off her shoulders and the wonderful feeling of being a member of Christ's church and following him. She is going to receive sooo many blessings and especially feel more happy. We've been planning on commiting her to baptism for a while and should have commited her already but everytime we planned to something happened where it just didn't seem right anymore. I need to have more courage and just do it. That's something I'm trying to work on, instead of just relying on Hermana Lowry.
So yeah they are all doing pretty well. So exciting, Mayra Bravo was baptized on this last Saturday, Dec. 5, and was confirmed a member of the church yesterday! Everything went sooo smoothly I thought it was fake or something bad was going to happen. She is doing great though and is so strong. A lot of it has to do with her suegra being a member and helping out so much. She almost was going to be baptized in cold water too poor thing. The Elders told us that there was no hot water and so Hermana Lowry and I were going to boil hot water to make it warmer but we ended up not having enough time to do that but luckily Hermana Lowry figured out that there was hot water after all, the switch for hot water hadn't been turned ha. Never listen to the Elders ;-) Anyway all we could find for Mayra to wear was a wrinkly suit. I felt so bad because she looked soo pretty and then had to put that on! You could tell she didn't feel to pretty and was a little embarrassed but she was baptized. Other than the wrinkely suit, oooops, it was wonderful. The spirit was strong and a lot of people went to the baptism, it was awesome awesome!
On Saturday, the same Saturday Mayra was baptized, we went to the temple. Mayra couldn't go, which we really wanted her to go, but Eva Lugo and her girls, Jessica, Lupita, and Venessa; Josie and Josefina went. Moises Campos, one of our less active members came also which was great. Laura Ramirez and her son Chris, who is Josie's boyfriend, came also. It was such a good thing for all of them. Chris is very inactive and doesn't want really anything to do with the church but he went to the temple and attended church because Josie wants him to. I think he'll start coming around with her example. At the temple we watched the "Families together forever" exhibit, watched a short film about the birth of Christ, the Joseph Smith movie, and walked around the temple grounds. They all absolutely loved it and even Lupita, who has 13 years, was talking about what temple she wants to be married in. I can't wait until they start going to church in January. There's just so much to say about each of our investigators and all those we are teaching but I'll just say that things are going well and I'm very grateful.
So on Wed. we got a call from President Jackson. We expected him to call because we pretty much were positive that Hermana Lowry would be training one of the new hermanas that would be coming in. So sure enough he called but none of us were expecting him to say what he did. He was talking to Hermana Lowry and told her that he would like to invite her and me to the training meeting. I could hear him on the phone and so my mouth just dropped open in shock when I heard that. Then he said now let me talk to Hermana Alvey before she drops dead to the ground, which I pretty much had ha. She gave me the phone and he told me that there would be another Hermana coming in that he wanted we to train and Hermana Vawdrey and Cowley would receive their chance to train in January, which is when I was planning on training. Oh my goodness I was so nervous, I'm going to me a mommy! So he called back later that day and asked to speak to both of us because he needed our oppinion. He told us that one of us would be staying in Las Colinas and the other would be going down to Watsonville to pretty much open up the area. We both didn't know what to say just wanted him to make the decision himself but he wanted our oppinions. Hermana Lowry gave me the phone and said here you tell him what you think and then left. I didn't know what to say but I told President that I felt like our members investigators were more comfortable or attached to Hermana Lowry, which is what I think. After I was done Hermana Lowry got on the phone and President told her what I said and wanted to know if it was true. She was like uuuh, well, I don't know. Maybe because I speak more spanish and then President said thank you that's all I need to know. So after that we pretty much figured that I would be leaving and she would be staying but didn't know for sure so it was driving us crazy! On Friday when we went to the training meeting we asked him and he said yes that I would be going to Watsonville and she would be staying. So guess what! I'm leaving and going to Watsonville, yikes! But don't worry President isn't sticking me in a place that I don't know and make me train an Hermana who doesn't speak spanich, she already speaks spanish thank goodness! Hermana Kelson told President that she wanted to train her because she speaks spanish already and he told us that he thought about it but he wasn't going to make me open an area and train an Hermana who doesn't speak spanish, thank goodness!!! So yeah that's what's going on. She'll be coming tomorrow and it should be fun. She'll probably be expecting a trainer who already speaks spanish very well and knows the people and area but nope she get me who doen't know either haha. I was a little nervous about all of this but I prayed about it and I feel like this is the best and it won't be all that easy but all will be well. I guess we'll see how it goes tomorrow! Oh one thing I'm kind of bummed about though is that in this area President had 2 sets of Elders there, spanish and english. What he is doing now is pulling out the English and just putting spanish missionaries there and we will be teaching both english and spanish. He told us that 85% of the people there were spanish speaking so it was pointless to have english missionaries there. I didn't exactly like the idea of teaching english and spanish but it will be ok, I know I'm going to learn spanish and this is where Heavenly Father wants me to be. So we shall see how it all goes. I'm glad that mi nueva can help me out with spanish though =-) So yesterday at church Bishop announced that me and Elder Garcia would be leaving and so we bore our testimonies in Sacrament meeting. It was so sad! I had to keep fighting back tears. I love the people here in Las Colinas so much! I'm really hoping that President will send me back here in Las Colinas the last part of my mission, I guess we shall see. And we're allowed to come back for baptisms, so I get to come back to Las Colinas to see our baptisms. That makes me so happy because I would be soooo sad to miss those. So that is what's going on right now. I'm sure I'll have lots to say next week! Wish me luck lol. And I have no more to say... I'm the queen at writing novels ha. I hope my emails aren't way boring for you guys hehe!
I love you guys mucho muchisimo!!!
Love,
Hermana Alvey
Monday, November 30, 2009
11/30/2009
Hey! How was your Thanksgiving? We were a little worried about ours but it ended up being so fun. We didn't recognize the name of the family we were giong to be eating with, la familia Toscano, so we starting worrying that maybe they didn't even realize that they signed up to feed us on Thanksgiving and forgot. So we found their number and called to see if they were planning on having us eat with them lol. They were like yes! and very excited about it, so we didn't end up eating at Wendy's or home ha. So we went to their house, which was soo nice because Hermana Toscano is an interior decorator, and we sat down and started talking to them and what not while Hermana fishined preparing the food. So, we ate with hermana; her son David who is 19 and getting ready to turn in his mission papers!; and Miguel and his daughter Iris who rents a room in their house. We had turkey of course, stuffing, rolls, mashed potatoes, and salad for dinner and for dessert we had pumpkin pie (yum!) and flan. I never liked flan before and just thought it was nasty but I've had it quite a bit here because they all love it and I've really come to love it too; weird huh? lol. So it was fun and after we asked if we could share a message. We had a talk por President Monson from one of the General Conferences but I can't remember which one and I can't even remember the name of it at the minute.... yeah I can't remember ha. Anyway I picked out some parts of it that talked about having gratitude and it was just wonderful. Miguel read a lot of it and after I shared a thought about what was said. Miguel had a question and so Hermana Toscano answered it and so I threw in my 2 cents too and them I bore my testimony and told Miguel that I knew he wasn't a member but that through the Gospel he can find more joy in his life, that he could know for himself that it's true and if he'd just give it a chance to find out more and if it's true he'll truly be blessed and some other stuff that I can't remember. After I was done Hermana Toscana said pero Miguel es un miembro, or in english Miguel is a member. I looked at her and said mande? or what? Oh my goodness I was so embarrassed haha, but then she said but Miguel is not active so it's ok. I look at Miguel all embarrassed and said sorry and said so do think you'll come to church again then? or something like that. He kind of laughed and said it's ok what you said is true and then it was a little silent and awkward after that and the subject was switched which I was so happy about haha. So apparently I don't understand english either ha because before we ate dinner we were talking to David, the son of Hermana Toscano, who told us that he is a member but inactive; which was all in english and somewhere along the way I had missed all of that ha. Anyway that was a little embarrassing but it was a really great Thanksgiving. Hermana Toscano even already signed up to have us over for Christmas Eve dinner which I might not be here for that which I'm sad about, but we shall see next Monday if our mission president will transfer me somewhere else or have me stay, I can't wait to find out! So that was my thanksgiving dinner. That day before dinner we cleaned the house and went grocery shopping, ya know typical P day stuff and then we went to a park to find that the Elders left and went to the institute so we left the park and went there too and ended up playing ping-pong, some pool (I don't know how to spell it but you know where you hit the balls in the pockets with sticks ha), and played some horse and knock-out which I'm amazing at ;-) I could barely make any baskets ha. Then we came home and relaxed which was soooo nice. There was a very long description of our Thanksgiving, I know you all enjoyed that!
So this last Sunday only one of our investigators came to church when 5 said they were going to. Family members ended up coming over so they didn't go =-/ But wonderful and independent Maira came to church with her sweet little girls, Leslie and Elisabeth. Maira Bravo is getting baptized this coming Saturday, yay! We still have a bit to teach her but it'll happen. We commited Josefina and Josefina to baptism and they very excitedly excepted to be baptized Dec. 26! We'll see if it actually happens that date but they'll get baptized for sure. Josefina, who is pregant, needs to get married to her boyfriend Chris so we'll be discussing the law of chastity quite soon. Speaking of the law of chastity, oh my goodness. We were gong to teach Silivia the plan of Salvacion but it turned into the law of chastity. That is not the funnest topic to suddenly need to talk about without preparing for it, yikes, especially in spanish lol. So let me tell you how this came about. We assigned her to read 3 Nefi 11 which she read and continued to read into chapter 12 and 13. In chapter 12 around verse 30 or something, Jesus Christ tells the people that a man that putteth away his wife (pretty much because he wants to marry another woman) is sinning (claro que si) and whosoever marries the divorced women is commiting adoltary and so is she. That's roughly what it says because I don't have my scriptures. She had very big concern with this because she is divorced and didn't like the fact that if she remarried she'd be commiting adoltary. In so many words we explained that she wouldn't be if she was remarried but we really did not know how to explain this scripture. If you'l like go and look for it and let me know what you think. So then she asked if men in our church can have more than one wife, because her boyfriend said he heard we did, but we explained that we don't and then we asked if she had anymore questions and so she had one more. She asked us if it was bad that she had a boyfriend. We were a little puzzled and said no and then Crystal Torres, a member from the ward, asked if she was asking if it's ok to have sexual relationships with him. So that started the big conversation of the law of chastity. We shared some scriptures, explained why it wasn't ok, and bore a lot of testimony. At first Silvia told us that she thinks it's different now days and that it's not bad but by the end they admitted that she did feel bad about it and knew it was a commandment. She told us that she wanted to stop and would but didn't know when because it's hard and she doen't know if she wants to give it up yet. She also doen't want to marry her boyfriend. So this is definitely a problem but I know she can stop and Heavenly Father will help her, she just needs to be commited and pray and seek for help. We're thinking we need to be a little more blunt with her that it's going to be so much harder if she procastinates repentance and she can't return to Hervenly Father or join His church. This will be tough but she can do it. She also needs to receive a firm testimony that the gospel is true because once someone knows this they will do all in their power to withstand Satan. We're teaching her tonight and so I'll keep you posted on everything with her and our other investigators.
Oh something funny and cute. Hermana Lowry and I have been passing around a sheet for the members to sign so that we know who and when members can come with us to our appointments. When the papers came around in Priesthood Jose Gonzalez, one of our investigators, signed it haha. At the last lesson we had with him, last Sunday, he brought it up and wanted to know when he could come with us. We weren't sure what to say ha. I don't know if it works to bring investigators to lessons to teach other investigators ha. We'll see if he still remembers and maybe we have him come with us to something, I don't know what though. Oh also on Sunday Militza was telling me something cool about her mom. We taught Militza sometime last week and her mom is never very happy when we come over. She gets mad and mumbles not very nice things about us under her breath, most the time I can't understand what she is saying but Militza does so it bugs her a lot. Any way we came over and I started talking to Militzas mom. She was making salsa so I asked how she made it and what she put in it. She was surprisingly nice and even smiled. I think she was just shocked that I was talking to her. After we taught Militza I went over and said bye to everyone in the house including her mom who I gave a hug. I didn't think she it would do anything but I figured why not be nice and try to express that I care since we all are children of God. So on Sunday Militza told me that after I hugged her and we left she was smiling and said did she just hug me? Militza told her that that's how we always are, Militza is so sweet she thinks we're way more amazing than we really are lol. But I guess as of now Militza's mom has been nicer and hasn't said anything rude about us or complained about us coming over Militza going to church. That really helped me realized how much I think I misunderstand people and I need to be more like Jesus Christ and always express my love to others no matter how mean someone may come accross or be. I don't know how like it will last that she has good feelings towards us but I will continue to be as nice and serve her as much as possible.
I love you all and I just want to say thank you to my family and friends. Thank you sooo much for you support and prayers. I really really mean it. I'm praying for you all and hope all is well!
Love,
Hermana Alvey =-)
So this last Sunday only one of our investigators came to church when 5 said they were going to. Family members ended up coming over so they didn't go =-/ But wonderful and independent Maira came to church with her sweet little girls, Leslie and Elisabeth. Maira Bravo is getting baptized this coming Saturday, yay! We still have a bit to teach her but it'll happen. We commited Josefina and Josefina to baptism and they very excitedly excepted to be baptized Dec. 26! We'll see if it actually happens that date but they'll get baptized for sure. Josefina, who is pregant, needs to get married to her boyfriend Chris so we'll be discussing the law of chastity quite soon. Speaking of the law of chastity, oh my goodness. We were gong to teach Silivia the plan of Salvacion but it turned into the law of chastity. That is not the funnest topic to suddenly need to talk about without preparing for it, yikes, especially in spanish lol. So let me tell you how this came about. We assigned her to read 3 Nefi 11 which she read and continued to read into chapter 12 and 13. In chapter 12 around verse 30 or something, Jesus Christ tells the people that a man that putteth away his wife (pretty much because he wants to marry another woman) is sinning (claro que si) and whosoever marries the divorced women is commiting adoltary and so is she. That's roughly what it says because I don't have my scriptures. She had very big concern with this because she is divorced and didn't like the fact that if she remarried she'd be commiting adoltary. In so many words we explained that she wouldn't be if she was remarried but we really did not know how to explain this scripture. If you'l like go and look for it and let me know what you think. So then she asked if men in our church can have more than one wife, because her boyfriend said he heard we did, but we explained that we don't and then we asked if she had anymore questions and so she had one more. She asked us if it was bad that she had a boyfriend. We were a little puzzled and said no and then Crystal Torres, a member from the ward, asked if she was asking if it's ok to have sexual relationships with him. So that started the big conversation of the law of chastity. We shared some scriptures, explained why it wasn't ok, and bore a lot of testimony. At first Silvia told us that she thinks it's different now days and that it's not bad but by the end they admitted that she did feel bad about it and knew it was a commandment. She told us that she wanted to stop and would but didn't know when because it's hard and she doen't know if she wants to give it up yet. She also doen't want to marry her boyfriend. So this is definitely a problem but I know she can stop and Heavenly Father will help her, she just needs to be commited and pray and seek for help. We're thinking we need to be a little more blunt with her that it's going to be so much harder if she procastinates repentance and she can't return to Hervenly Father or join His church. This will be tough but she can do it. She also needs to receive a firm testimony that the gospel is true because once someone knows this they will do all in their power to withstand Satan. We're teaching her tonight and so I'll keep you posted on everything with her and our other investigators.
Oh something funny and cute. Hermana Lowry and I have been passing around a sheet for the members to sign so that we know who and when members can come with us to our appointments. When the papers came around in Priesthood Jose Gonzalez, one of our investigators, signed it haha. At the last lesson we had with him, last Sunday, he brought it up and wanted to know when he could come with us. We weren't sure what to say ha. I don't know if it works to bring investigators to lessons to teach other investigators ha. We'll see if he still remembers and maybe we have him come with us to something, I don't know what though. Oh also on Sunday Militza was telling me something cool about her mom. We taught Militza sometime last week and her mom is never very happy when we come over. She gets mad and mumbles not very nice things about us under her breath, most the time I can't understand what she is saying but Militza does so it bugs her a lot. Any way we came over and I started talking to Militzas mom. She was making salsa so I asked how she made it and what she put in it. She was surprisingly nice and even smiled. I think she was just shocked that I was talking to her. After we taught Militza I went over and said bye to everyone in the house including her mom who I gave a hug. I didn't think she it would do anything but I figured why not be nice and try to express that I care since we all are children of God. So on Sunday Militza told me that after I hugged her and we left she was smiling and said did she just hug me? Militza told her that that's how we always are, Militza is so sweet she thinks we're way more amazing than we really are lol. But I guess as of now Militza's mom has been nicer and hasn't said anything rude about us or complained about us coming over Militza going to church. That really helped me realized how much I think I misunderstand people and I need to be more like Jesus Christ and always express my love to others no matter how mean someone may come accross or be. I don't know how like it will last that she has good feelings towards us but I will continue to be as nice and serve her as much as possible.
I love you all and I just want to say thank you to my family and friends. Thank you sooo much for you support and prayers. I really really mean it. I'm praying for you all and hope all is well!
Love,
Hermana Alvey =-)
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