BUENOS DIAS!!!
Let me just say that this last week there have been quite a few times where my stomach has literally dropped to my butt! Last Wednesday, after picking up the new sister, Hermana Freile from Ecuador, Florida and Utah, I went to the temple, departing dinner and testimony meeting with the other departing missionaries. It was so great to go to the temple again, but I'm not going to lie, it was SO weird just sitting around the house, visiting with the other missionaries and not going out to work! The dinner was good and the testimony meeting was good, except for the fact that I was SUPER nervous; and it was great seeing everyone there. The dating advice I thought was a little weird, but I guess that is to be expected. Everyone has made it a point to tell me it's like I've been to the other side and then back again. I'm grateful that I did get to come back for a little while longer!
Sister Freile is awesome. She converted to the church, her and her mom, when she was 13, and she was born and lived in Ecuador until she was 8 and then moved to Florida. Then she went to school at BYU, so she's been around I guess you could say. She's a great addition to our companionship and I love having her around. Being in 3-somes has proved to be quite a treat! I love being in a 3-some and Sister Wyatt is doing a fabulous job in helping me train. I think the new responsibility has been a good thing for her.
Sister Laird came back to visit with her mom. She came out with us on Thursday night and we ate dinner with her and Karoly's family yesterday; so I got to talk with her quite a bit. She is doing really well and we are going to be planning a surprise for General Conference; so you all better PAY ATTENTION in Conference! It's going to be "bomb"!
It's been weird to think about how these are the last few weeks of my mission. Last night we had our transferly meeting with the Stake President, and he shared the story about his last day in the mission field. He had a sense of urgency and when he knocked on the last door, he knew it was going to be his last. Nothing came of it, but he said he came away feeling like he did everything he could. I seriously was so sick to my stomach listening and it made me think about how I need to be treating every day that I have as if it were my last day, and the last door. I think that President Williams was inspired to share those words, even though it did make me sick, because I needed to hear it.
I just want you all to know that I have a testimony of this gospel. This is Jesus Christ's true church, restored to the earth once again, through the Prophet Joseph Smith. What an amazing experience it has been to be able to share this message with everyone these past 19 months. The gospel changes lives and it's been a blessing to see that in the lives of others and my own life as well. I am so grateful for all the wonderful people I have had the chance to serve. They have helped me become the person I am today. I know that my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live and love each and everyone of us. Jesus Christ is our Savior and our Redeemer and through Him, all of us may live again with our families forever.
On that happy note, let me kill the Spirit by sharing the C.A.M.E. moment of the week:
While out tracting, I caught a guy picking a very deep wedgy and had no intentions of shaking his hand; but Sister Freile, who hadn't seen, went right for it and I had no choice. Big Boy Butt Hands... Lets just say that we used lots of hand sanitizer when we got back to the car! YUCK!
Love you all and on that happy note, have a GREAT week!
Love Always
Hermana Bradfield
Monday, September 28, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Another Baby??? ;)
Yep that's right... President Jardine found out last week that the 2 Spanish sisters scheduled for November got bumped up to this transfer, and I'll be training again in a threesome with Sister Wyatt as well! I'm going to be a "mom" again! Crazy... It's always so cool to see the Lord work His miracles, especially in missionary work!
So Sister Wyatt and I are staying and we are going to be training a native speaker. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for these last couple transfers and the opportunity I've had to serve Him with these amazing new sisters. It's been a great blessing and now he is answering one more prayer, one I didn't think would happen, and that's to have a native Spanish-speaking companion! I am so excited and I hope that my Spanish-speaking abilities and accent will improve drastically this last transfer.
[WOOHOO! We almost got the boot out of the office for a meeting, but they told us we could stay if we could handle being locked in for 15 minutes... I think we can handle it ;)]
MOM- Would it be possible for you to send me the BiNGo Conference game so I can use it with some of our investigators and recent converts? Thank you so much for sending me my card and the crunchies. Sister Wyatt and I have pretty much devoured them all.
We got a nice phone call from Elder Cisternas last night, our district leader (I've served with him all but 4 transfers of my mission, including serving near him at the MTC!), who was laughing his head off until he finally said in an Argentinian-English accent, "Hahahahaha! I get to see you die!!!" It was funny and I can't seem to escape the truth that time is winding down. Tomorrow after we go and pick up the new sister, I'm staying with the other missionaries, that are going home on Thursday, to go to the temple and dinner with them. So Sister Wyatt will be training by herself the first day, and I'm going to be hanging out with all the "trunky" missionaries... I'm really excited about going to the temple!
Today we will be destroying SID (the purple/pink unicorn pinata that has been the theme for this transfer in our zone.) We've worked hard to get the "star power" to defeat S(atan)I(n)D(isguise) and now the moment has come. We were all told to bring the ball of our choice to defeat SID, so Sister Wyatt and I decided to use our "SID whacker" and a couple of golf balls. Oh yeah, it's going to be good!
This morning I was reading a really good talk by M. Russell Ballard from March 3, 2002 about how we can put on the armor of God and protect ourselves. I would recommend that you all look it up and read it (from a CES fireside). That scripture in Ephesians is probably my favorite scripture. I love thinking about the armor of God and the way it illustrates the battle in which we are fighting today, not a battle against flesh, but against principalities and powers of darkness. As we arm ourself with the armor of God, with the little acts of righteousness we do everyday, we will increase our own defenses and strenghten our armor every day! It was such a good talk! READ IT!
I can't wait for this Sunday. President Winkle, the temple president of the Sacramento Temple, is going to be speaking to us about the promised blessings and importance of the Book of Mormon, specifically for the Latin American people. It's going to be so cool. I have grown to love these people and I have loved getting to know them and serve them, and be a part of their families. They are truly amazing people!
I don't remember if I told you, but Angie Walker (aka to you Sister Walker from Savory Ponds Ward) has come out with me on exchanges a few times now and it's been so fun. She's doing really well and she told me to tell you "Hi!" for her.
Some C.A.M.E.'s for the week:
1- The elders had a baptism this week of a women who has been investigating the church for a long time. The elder was very nervous as he performed the baptism and the sister forgot what she was supposed to do as she was immersed in the water; so the elder had a hard time lifting her up out of the water. Poor guy, but it does happen sometimes, especially when nervous.
2- I had a less active ask me if I was going to give her my Bible when I went home... It caught me off guard because I had never said anything about giving my Bible away and I felt bad telling her that I was planning on using it after the mission... The good news is the Church finally finalized copy right stuff and released the Church's edition of the King James version of the Bible in Spanish with all the correct translations and foot notes/cross references; so everyone is excited about that!
Well, that's all I have to say for now! I love you all and I wish you a wonderful week!
Love Always-
Hermana Bradfield
So Sister Wyatt and I are staying and we are going to be training a native speaker. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for these last couple transfers and the opportunity I've had to serve Him with these amazing new sisters. It's been a great blessing and now he is answering one more prayer, one I didn't think would happen, and that's to have a native Spanish-speaking companion! I am so excited and I hope that my Spanish-speaking abilities and accent will improve drastically this last transfer.
[WOOHOO! We almost got the boot out of the office for a meeting, but they told us we could stay if we could handle being locked in for 15 minutes... I think we can handle it ;)]
MOM- Would it be possible for you to send me the BiNGo Conference game so I can use it with some of our investigators and recent converts? Thank you so much for sending me my card and the crunchies. Sister Wyatt and I have pretty much devoured them all.
We got a nice phone call from Elder Cisternas last night, our district leader (I've served with him all but 4 transfers of my mission, including serving near him at the MTC!), who was laughing his head off until he finally said in an Argentinian-English accent, "Hahahahaha! I get to see you die!!!" It was funny and I can't seem to escape the truth that time is winding down. Tomorrow after we go and pick up the new sister, I'm staying with the other missionaries, that are going home on Thursday, to go to the temple and dinner with them. So Sister Wyatt will be training by herself the first day, and I'm going to be hanging out with all the "trunky" missionaries... I'm really excited about going to the temple!
Today we will be destroying SID (the purple/pink unicorn pinata that has been the theme for this transfer in our zone.) We've worked hard to get the "star power" to defeat S(atan)I(n)D(isguise) and now the moment has come. We were all told to bring the ball of our choice to defeat SID, so Sister Wyatt and I decided to use our "SID whacker" and a couple of golf balls. Oh yeah, it's going to be good!
This morning I was reading a really good talk by M. Russell Ballard from March 3, 2002 about how we can put on the armor of God and protect ourselves. I would recommend that you all look it up and read it (from a CES fireside). That scripture in Ephesians is probably my favorite scripture. I love thinking about the armor of God and the way it illustrates the battle in which we are fighting today, not a battle against flesh, but against principalities and powers of darkness. As we arm ourself with the armor of God, with the little acts of righteousness we do everyday, we will increase our own defenses and strenghten our armor every day! It was such a good talk! READ IT!
I can't wait for this Sunday. President Winkle, the temple president of the Sacramento Temple, is going to be speaking to us about the promised blessings and importance of the Book of Mormon, specifically for the Latin American people. It's going to be so cool. I have grown to love these people and I have loved getting to know them and serve them, and be a part of their families. They are truly amazing people!
I don't remember if I told you, but Angie Walker (aka to you Sister Walker from Savory Ponds Ward) has come out with me on exchanges a few times now and it's been so fun. She's doing really well and she told me to tell you "Hi!" for her.
Some C.A.M.E.'s for the week:
1- The elders had a baptism this week of a women who has been investigating the church for a long time. The elder was very nervous as he performed the baptism and the sister forgot what she was supposed to do as she was immersed in the water; so the elder had a hard time lifting her up out of the water. Poor guy, but it does happen sometimes, especially when nervous.
2- I had a less active ask me if I was going to give her my Bible when I went home... It caught me off guard because I had never said anything about giving my Bible away and I felt bad telling her that I was planning on using it after the mission... The good news is the Church finally finalized copy right stuff and released the Church's edition of the King James version of the Bible in Spanish with all the correct translations and foot notes/cross references; so everyone is excited about that!
Well, that's all I have to say for now! I love you all and I wish you a wonderful week!
Love Always-
Hermana Bradfield
Monday, September 14, 2009
Buenos Dias!
How is everyone? Hopefully everyone is doing well with school and work. Things are going well here. Sister Wyatt and I got a head cold this week so we've been a little under the weather; but things are looking up once again, so that's good news!
Today was a different p-day. The zone decided to go to RPM, a indoor race track, and race go karts. It was fun but to me definitely not worth the $10 (which is discounted for missionaries) you have to pay. Luckily for us, we have a couple of elder companionships that live with members, that help them out more than is necessary with food and such, and they offered to cover Sister Wyatt and me. I didn't have any intentions of racing and was only planning on watching; but they all insisted, so I figured why not!
Ok, I'm gonna go ahead and get started with this weeks C.A.M.E. moment...
1. Tracting into an opening garage only to see the guy coming out of his house in his underwear... YES it happened last night. So to make things NOT awkward, I continued contacting the guy as if nothing was wrong... The moment we were out of ear shot and sight, Sister Wyatt and I couldn't help but bust out laughing! That guy was not expecting to get caught! We asked him if he believed in Jesus Christ. Sadly, he said no!
There you have it... This weeks EXTREME C.A.M.E. moment.
Other C.A.M.E. moments:
2. All the elders and my companion counting down my days for me. I hate it, but they all find it very amusing! I personally feel like they are the trunky ones, not me!
3. People who don't understand the NO CONTACT rule who are of the opposite sex. It's always weird when someone who doesn't know or understand that rule comes up to put their arm around you or give you a hug! What do you say??? "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Touch me not or God shall smite thee..."-Abinadi
Since we were sick this week, Sister Wyatt and I were told to take it easy and ended up staying in all day Wednesday. I hate staying in and not being able to go out and work. I feel very unproductive. BUT, although we were sick, we went over to visit the Islas family's cousin, Humberto and Norma, who just lost their 4 year old to a fever. We've been visiting them on and off for the last month and decided to go by and visit them again this week. We set up an appointment and watched "Finding Faith in Christ." They really enjoyed it and we told them what our hopes were for them as far as being baptized, coming to church and later being sealed as a family; they said that we could keep preparing them. It might take a while, but then again it might not. Norma came to church this week and loved it, and we are praying that Humberto gets Sunday mornings off from work so that he can go! They are a great family!
MIRACLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! WHOOHOO!!! YEAH! This week's miracle has to be Ricky. Ever since Alma,his mom, was diagnosed with breast cancer, he's been really closed up and claimed that he didn't believe in God or Jesus Christ and all kinds of bologna... Anywho, we went over to listen to a conference talk with him from the 2006 Annual Conference given by Thomas S Monson on "Maka Fetes" and the different kinds of lures Satan tries to distract us with. It's a really good talk but Ricky, being a typical "punk" teenager, was letting anything and everything be a distraction to him. With God on our side, we said something that grabbed his attention and he said, "I have noticed that!" It completely changed everything! He opened up once again and we are going back over tomorrow to finish our plan to help him stay strong in the gospel. It was a MIRACLE, nothing less!
I was reading about Joseph Smith's experience and pondering over it today: I just love his story. He had a question, in which he wanted to act. Not knowing what to do or what was right, what God wanted him to do, he humbly and faithfully asked God to tell him what was right, with every intention of acting upon that answer. How many of us are like that? How many of us ask "What does God want me to do?" or "Who does God want me to be?" I know there have been many times I catch myself thinking "What do I want?" or "Who do I want to be?" and when I go to the Lord in prayer for guidance, it's hard to know what's right. I was listening to President Eyring's talk, from the same General Conference, about an experience he had when he was younger. He prayed for hours, searching for the right answer, but it wasn't until he changed his attitude from "What do I want?" to "It doesn't matter what I want, but what You want! Thy will be done!" that the Spirit was able to speak to him and guide him to what the Lord knew was best for him, with or without the outcome President Eyring wanted. As a missionary, I have personally gained a testimony of this principle. This is the Lord's work and it's not about "What do I want to do today?" but rather "What would the Lord have us do today?" Our Heavenly Father loves us and is ready to give us the guidance we seek. No one knows better than our Heavenly Father and as we seek and follow his guidance, no matter what it may be, we will be shaped and molded into the child of God that he knows we can be, we can reach our full potential!
I love you all so much and I wish you a wonderful week. Remember next week is transfers so I won't be writing until Tuesday!
Love Always-
Hermana Bradfield
Today was a different p-day. The zone decided to go to RPM, a indoor race track, and race go karts. It was fun but to me definitely not worth the $10 (which is discounted for missionaries) you have to pay. Luckily for us, we have a couple of elder companionships that live with members, that help them out more than is necessary with food and such, and they offered to cover Sister Wyatt and me. I didn't have any intentions of racing and was only planning on watching; but they all insisted, so I figured why not!
Ok, I'm gonna go ahead and get started with this weeks C.A.M.E. moment...
1. Tracting into an opening garage only to see the guy coming out of his house in his underwear... YES it happened last night. So to make things NOT awkward, I continued contacting the guy as if nothing was wrong... The moment we were out of ear shot and sight, Sister Wyatt and I couldn't help but bust out laughing! That guy was not expecting to get caught! We asked him if he believed in Jesus Christ. Sadly, he said no!
There you have it... This weeks EXTREME C.A.M.E. moment.
Other C.A.M.E. moments:
2. All the elders and my companion counting down my days for me. I hate it, but they all find it very amusing! I personally feel like they are the trunky ones, not me!
3. People who don't understand the NO CONTACT rule who are of the opposite sex. It's always weird when someone who doesn't know or understand that rule comes up to put their arm around you or give you a hug! What do you say??? "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Touch me not or God shall smite thee..."-Abinadi
Since we were sick this week, Sister Wyatt and I were told to take it easy and ended up staying in all day Wednesday. I hate staying in and not being able to go out and work. I feel very unproductive. BUT, although we were sick, we went over to visit the Islas family's cousin, Humberto and Norma, who just lost their 4 year old to a fever. We've been visiting them on and off for the last month and decided to go by and visit them again this week. We set up an appointment and watched "Finding Faith in Christ." They really enjoyed it and we told them what our hopes were for them as far as being baptized, coming to church and later being sealed as a family; they said that we could keep preparing them. It might take a while, but then again it might not. Norma came to church this week and loved it, and we are praying that Humberto gets Sunday mornings off from work so that he can go! They are a great family!
MIRACLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! WHOOHOO!!! YEAH! This week's miracle has to be Ricky. Ever since Alma,his mom, was diagnosed with breast cancer, he's been really closed up and claimed that he didn't believe in God or Jesus Christ and all kinds of bologna... Anywho, we went over to listen to a conference talk with him from the 2006 Annual Conference given by Thomas S Monson on "Maka Fetes" and the different kinds of lures Satan tries to distract us with. It's a really good talk but Ricky, being a typical "punk" teenager, was letting anything and everything be a distraction to him. With God on our side, we said something that grabbed his attention and he said, "I have noticed that!" It completely changed everything! He opened up once again and we are going back over tomorrow to finish our plan to help him stay strong in the gospel. It was a MIRACLE, nothing less!
I was reading about Joseph Smith's experience and pondering over it today: I just love his story. He had a question, in which he wanted to act. Not knowing what to do or what was right, what God wanted him to do, he humbly and faithfully asked God to tell him what was right, with every intention of acting upon that answer. How many of us are like that? How many of us ask "What does God want me to do?" or "Who does God want me to be?" I know there have been many times I catch myself thinking "What do I want?" or "Who do I want to be?" and when I go to the Lord in prayer for guidance, it's hard to know what's right. I was listening to President Eyring's talk, from the same General Conference, about an experience he had when he was younger. He prayed for hours, searching for the right answer, but it wasn't until he changed his attitude from "What do I want?" to "It doesn't matter what I want, but what You want! Thy will be done!" that the Spirit was able to speak to him and guide him to what the Lord knew was best for him, with or without the outcome President Eyring wanted. As a missionary, I have personally gained a testimony of this principle. This is the Lord's work and it's not about "What do I want to do today?" but rather "What would the Lord have us do today?" Our Heavenly Father loves us and is ready to give us the guidance we seek. No one knows better than our Heavenly Father and as we seek and follow his guidance, no matter what it may be, we will be shaped and molded into the child of God that he knows we can be, we can reach our full potential!
I love you all so much and I wish you a wonderful week. Remember next week is transfers so I won't be writing until Tuesday!
Love Always-
Hermana Bradfield
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Buenas Dias!
Como estan todos? Les quiero mucho! Everything is well in the Grove. Not much exciting happened this last week. We had interviews with President on Wednesday. It went really well;I always enjoy meeting with President. And the best part was that we FINALLY got to be the first group, which meant that we got to go out and work that day! SAWEET. It was a good day!
We found a family at the beginning of the week and went back to teach the mom and daughter again. It went really well. She read in the Book of Mormon and she read more than what we left. She said she knows the Book of Mormon is true and that the church was restored, and that Joseph Smith was a prophet; BUT she's still Catholic as of right now and she's not ready to change. We invited her to be baptized anyway and she said no, BUT she said she wants to come to the baptism this weekend.
Karoly, Andrea's mom, is getting baptized... Again! She was baptized when she was nine, but now she has to be baptized again because we can't find her records anywhere. Apparently they didn't get taken care of right the first time. Anyway, it's been fun teaching her, and we are getting ready to teach her and her husband the Word of Wisdom this weekend. We are trying really hard to reactivate her husband.
It's so great to see the changes in the lives of the people we teach and get to know. Sometimes its hard and it feels like you aren't making a difference in the lives of the people, but I was reading in the new Ensign about the sister who faithfully did her visiting teaching assignment, even though she never thought she was making a difference. By the end, when the less active sister she was asked to visit was getting ready to move, she thanked her visiting teacher and told her that because of her love and friendship, her and her less active husband were going to go to church in their new ward. Sometimes I've felt the same way, that nothing I do makes a difference but it does. If it does nothing but plant a seed, that's good enough. I may or may not see the fruits of my labors, but I know that they haven't been wasted, and that goes for anyone who serves others.
Some more C.A.M.E. (Common Awkward Missionary Experiences)for today:
1. Talking to people thru ridiculous black or white security screen doors, with hundreds and thousands of little holes about this size -> O (NO JOKE!) You can't see who you are talking to 90% of the time, and sometimes you don't know where to even look; we don't know if we are looking at their face or above their heads or at their chest... it's so awkward, it's funny!
2. Walking around in the wind and your skirt starts to fly up; OR in the middle of a door contact! It's not even awkward anymore for me to do a swift movement to tuck my skirt inbetween my legs.
I love you all very much and I hope you have a great Labor Day and week!
Love always,
Hermana Bradfield
We found a family at the beginning of the week and went back to teach the mom and daughter again. It went really well. She read in the Book of Mormon and she read more than what we left. She said she knows the Book of Mormon is true and that the church was restored, and that Joseph Smith was a prophet; BUT she's still Catholic as of right now and she's not ready to change. We invited her to be baptized anyway and she said no, BUT she said she wants to come to the baptism this weekend.
Karoly, Andrea's mom, is getting baptized... Again! She was baptized when she was nine, but now she has to be baptized again because we can't find her records anywhere. Apparently they didn't get taken care of right the first time. Anyway, it's been fun teaching her, and we are getting ready to teach her and her husband the Word of Wisdom this weekend. We are trying really hard to reactivate her husband.
It's so great to see the changes in the lives of the people we teach and get to know. Sometimes its hard and it feels like you aren't making a difference in the lives of the people, but I was reading in the new Ensign about the sister who faithfully did her visiting teaching assignment, even though she never thought she was making a difference. By the end, when the less active sister she was asked to visit was getting ready to move, she thanked her visiting teacher and told her that because of her love and friendship, her and her less active husband were going to go to church in their new ward. Sometimes I've felt the same way, that nothing I do makes a difference but it does. If it does nothing but plant a seed, that's good enough. I may or may not see the fruits of my labors, but I know that they haven't been wasted, and that goes for anyone who serves others.
Some more C.A.M.E. (Common Awkward Missionary Experiences)for today:
1. Talking to people thru ridiculous black or white security screen doors, with hundreds and thousands of little holes about this size -> O (NO JOKE!) You can't see who you are talking to 90% of the time, and sometimes you don't know where to even look; we don't know if we are looking at their face or above their heads or at their chest... it's so awkward, it's funny!
2. Walking around in the wind and your skirt starts to fly up; OR in the middle of a door contact! It's not even awkward anymore for me to do a swift movement to tuck my skirt inbetween my legs.
I love you all very much and I hope you have a great Labor Day and week!
Love always,
Hermana Bradfield
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