Happy Monday! This week was good but kind of long. I learned a lot though! :o)
On Tuesday, we basically spent the entire day at the Leadership Conference that President George and the Assistants host every transfer for the zone leaders and sister training leaders. It was good, but these things seriously consist of hours of learning. The week before President George had asked us (Hermana Arellano and I) to give a small training to the other STL's about how to be an STL for like 40 minutes. I can't lie, we both felt super incapable when he asked us. BUT it turned out well, and we not only survived it, but learned a ton as well from all the preparation we had to do.
On Wednesday we had interviews with President George. However, there was a huge line, and we ended up having to wait forever to talk with him. The best part about it all was probably eating the brownies that Hermana George made. :o) We taught English classes as well, which we're basically pro's at this point. We visited an investigator who has been investigating the church for a while because her husband is a member. My awesome companion gave a good example I'd like to share. In life, we have lots of obstacles and barriers in front of us. It's like being in a big city with lots of buildings and skyscrapers. With the view from below we can only see what's in front of us: buildings and barriers. However, with a look from a higher point of view, everything changes. The barriers are down below and there's just open sky in front of you. But, how do you get to that higher viewpoint? Well there are things that lift us up. Things like experiences with the Atonement, or a baptism, church attendance. These things change our point of view and help us see beyond.
On Thursday we brought a member, Hermana Silvia, along with us and the people we wanted to visit weren't there. Any return missionary knows that this is the worst. It turned out okay, the work of the Lord can never be frustrated. The hardest part of Thursday was actually that my companion lost her voice and could only whisper. I guess we could call her, "the investigator whisperer" haha. Because of a zone conference we were going ato have the next day, and because their area is kind of far away, the Hermanas from Villaflores came to stay with us. It was like being able to have a big sleepover!
At the conference, Hermana Arellano had to use a microphone because she could only whisper, but it went well. Afterwards, we gave a mini-Hermanas only zone meeting as well. We talked about being a successful missionary and what "success" is in the mission. We also talked about the missionary rules (modesty). The zone leaders tried to sit in on the meeting but basically sprinted out when we started talking about skirt lengths and appropriate nail polish colors. Haha. The most important part was honestly about the section "A Successful Missionary," on pages 10 – 11 from Preach My Gospel. Sometimes we think success is defined by how many lessons we teach and how many people we baptize. It's totally not, it's about your personal commitment to the work and diligence, trying your hardest to carry out the will of the Lord. Every missionary chooses to be the type of missionary they want to be. All the behaviors of a successful missionary are within our control.
On Saturday I almost died from boredom because we stayed inside all day so Hermana Arellano could rest and recuperate and all that. She actually slept almost all day, whereas I read (many) copies of the Liahona, washed my clothes, painted my nails, embroidered, wrote this letter, laid around in bed, and made a dream catcher - very productive day! Then at night, we did venture out though for the evening session of Stake Conference. At one point they asked all the full time missionaries to stand up and that was kind of cool.
On Sunday at Stake Conference, Jorge F. Aeballos from the Quorum of the 70 taught us. It was really good, and I learned a lot. He taught us that for any problem or difficulty in life, the answer is always: "Increase your faith in Jesus Christ," and I believe that it's true. Like it says in Ether 12:4, faith is an anchor for the soul. It's the first step when we have faith, we believe in Christ and that He will forgive us so we repent. In that process, we realize the great necessity that exists to be baptized, but by someone who has authority to do so, and by immersion for the remission of sins. That's the key, we complete the baptism with the confirmation of the Holy Spirit and then endure until the end, but not just until the end of your earthly life – "the end" in this sense comes when we return to the presence of God. We all need to follow those steps because they can solve literally any problem.
Sunday night we had a cool miracle contact. There was a woman burning papers in the street, and we stopped to help her. She was kind of busy, but I was kind of persistent, and she invited us in after she finished burning everything. It turned out that she had already been taught by many missionaries before us and accepted that we visit her. Only God knows the true timing in things and when people are prepared and when they're not. Clayton M. Christensen taught that "people learn when they're ready to learn, not when we're ready to teach." Hermana Arellano and I are always ready to teach, but lots of times there are people that we encounter that aren't ready to learn. However we talk to everyone, do our part, and put the rest in the Lord's hands. I hope you all have a great week!
Con amor, Hermana Dangl
On Tuesday, we basically spent the entire day at the Leadership Conference that President George and the Assistants host every transfer for the zone leaders and sister training leaders. It was good, but these things seriously consist of hours of learning. The week before President George had asked us (Hermana Arellano and I) to give a small training to the other STL's about how to be an STL for like 40 minutes. I can't lie, we both felt super incapable when he asked us. BUT it turned out well, and we not only survived it, but learned a ton as well from all the preparation we had to do.
On Wednesday we had interviews with President George. However, there was a huge line, and we ended up having to wait forever to talk with him. The best part about it all was probably eating the brownies that Hermana George made. :o) We taught English classes as well, which we're basically pro's at this point. We visited an investigator who has been investigating the church for a while because her husband is a member. My awesome companion gave a good example I'd like to share. In life, we have lots of obstacles and barriers in front of us. It's like being in a big city with lots of buildings and skyscrapers. With the view from below we can only see what's in front of us: buildings and barriers. However, with a look from a higher point of view, everything changes. The barriers are down below and there's just open sky in front of you. But, how do you get to that higher viewpoint? Well there are things that lift us up. Things like experiences with the Atonement, or a baptism, church attendance. These things change our point of view and help us see beyond.
On Thursday we brought a member, Hermana Silvia, along with us and the people we wanted to visit weren't there. Any return missionary knows that this is the worst. It turned out okay, the work of the Lord can never be frustrated. The hardest part of Thursday was actually that my companion lost her voice and could only whisper. I guess we could call her, "the investigator whisperer" haha. Because of a zone conference we were going ato have the next day, and because their area is kind of far away, the Hermanas from Villaflores came to stay with us. It was like being able to have a big sleepover!
At the conference, Hermana Arellano had to use a microphone because she could only whisper, but it went well. Afterwards, we gave a mini-Hermanas only zone meeting as well. We talked about being a successful missionary and what "success" is in the mission. We also talked about the missionary rules (modesty). The zone leaders tried to sit in on the meeting but basically sprinted out when we started talking about skirt lengths and appropriate nail polish colors. Haha. The most important part was honestly about the section "A Successful Missionary," on pages 10 – 11 from Preach My Gospel. Sometimes we think success is defined by how many lessons we teach and how many people we baptize. It's totally not, it's about your personal commitment to the work and diligence, trying your hardest to carry out the will of the Lord. Every missionary chooses to be the type of missionary they want to be. All the behaviors of a successful missionary are within our control.
On Saturday I almost died from boredom because we stayed inside all day so Hermana Arellano could rest and recuperate and all that. She actually slept almost all day, whereas I read (many) copies of the Liahona, washed my clothes, painted my nails, embroidered, wrote this letter, laid around in bed, and made a dream catcher - very productive day! Then at night, we did venture out though for the evening session of Stake Conference. At one point they asked all the full time missionaries to stand up and that was kind of cool.
On Sunday at Stake Conference, Jorge F. Aeballos from the Quorum of the 70 taught us. It was really good, and I learned a lot. He taught us that for any problem or difficulty in life, the answer is always: "Increase your faith in Jesus Christ," and I believe that it's true. Like it says in Ether 12:4, faith is an anchor for the soul. It's the first step when we have faith, we believe in Christ and that He will forgive us so we repent. In that process, we realize the great necessity that exists to be baptized, but by someone who has authority to do so, and by immersion for the remission of sins. That's the key, we complete the baptism with the confirmation of the Holy Spirit and then endure until the end, but not just until the end of your earthly life – "the end" in this sense comes when we return to the presence of God. We all need to follow those steps because they can solve literally any problem.
Sunday night we had a cool miracle contact. There was a woman burning papers in the street, and we stopped to help her. She was kind of busy, but I was kind of persistent, and she invited us in after she finished burning everything. It turned out that she had already been taught by many missionaries before us and accepted that we visit her. Only God knows the true timing in things and when people are prepared and when they're not. Clayton M. Christensen taught that "people learn when they're ready to learn, not when we're ready to teach." Hermana Arellano and I are always ready to teach, but lots of times there are people that we encounter that aren't ready to learn. However we talk to everyone, do our part, and put the rest in the Lord's hands. I hope you all have a great week!
Con amor, Hermana Dangl
Our zone at zone conference.
The Hermanas in our zone.
Hermana Ilizarbe, my Sister Training Leader, when I was in Mapastepec.
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