Tuesday, April 12, 2016

LA ÚLTIMA: "There and Back Again... A Missionary's Tale" (April 11, 2016)

i thought that title is appropriate :)

another week down!! we kept working, contacted a few new people we will be teaching now and we found a few less actives to visit as well! 

bauti´s bday!
in terms of sabrina, this week was her sons 6th birthday, we made brownies and brought a really cool candle to sing happy birthday! he was so happy! and she was really thankful. we had an hermana from the primary come and acompany us. we had a little party with her neighbor less active who has other kids in primary so it was perfect! friendshipping at its finest! sadly, sabrina is still smoking every once in a while. its so hard because for her smoking is her only release from the trials of everyday life but we read the book of mormon with her and everything. it just is a matter of will know. but she has a work interview this week and should start to get on her feet soon. 

melani and her mom are doing great! they saw general conference last weekend and loved it! thisweek we started the new member lessons with a family named the family jadzianagnosti...haha what a name right? well he is the mission leader and we went with his wife and him. they made friends and it was great! in church on sunday melani gave a spiritual thought in releif society, (the young women were visiting for the announcements) and her mom sat by some other members who friendshipped her. tonight we have a family home evening with them. they are so wonderful!! and are progressing. the mom is fully reactivated now and we are working on getting them to the temple in time for the next temple trip in may!!

selfie with the compy!!
well im not sure what else to say! haha i was sick again for a few days and i got pretty frustrated but the stls came to help in the morning with some appointments we had so that was a huge help, something funny is that we made some flan from a little packet..well it made me get super sick in the nighttime, i threw up, then, the next day we had lunch with a member and they made us a delicious lunch. and then they brought out the dessert, what was it? flan. hahahaha i ate it thinking i would get sick but it was actually delicious and i was fine afterward hahahaha

the work goes on! and it never ends next week ill be back in the states and another sister will come here and continue the work! the cool thing about missionary service is two things. 1. it doesnt matter who you are, as long as you let the Lord work through you he will do his work. and 2. we learn more from being missionaries than we ever teach anyone. 
i guess ill start my end of the mission thought rant haha
centro during the siesta.
but this is how my area looks
except there are always tons
of cars and people haha
being a good missionary doesnt mean doing everything perfect. it means recognizing that the work has nothing to do with you. theres tons of pressure at the end of the mission, there are a lot of expectations. i always thought at the end of the mission i would be celestial, super pacient and humble, for a while i was getting pretty frustrated with myself because i thought i wasnt at the level i needed to be. then we had a zone conference with president and hermana zanni. he was very strong and bold about many things. and after the conference i felt like i had so many things to improve on and no time to do it and i honestly got really down on myself. i got sick the next day and had the whole day to just be down on myself. but then i snapped out of it on sunday. i felt really strongly in church that im not supposed to be perfect at the end of my mission. i have 21 years and i have the whole rest of my life to improve. also, who are we to think we need to be perfect. the only person in the history of the world who was perfect is Christ. He lived a perfect life so that He could save us from our imperfections. It is after all we can do that His Grace takes affect. but mind you, the scripture says all we can do. i know ive been converted and i continue to be more and more converted. i know that my life has changed becuase of the mission. i have changed my nature, and even though its not easy, everyday i try harder and harder to be better. life is a big testing period and as long as we trust in the lord and let him guide us, we will be lead by his extended hand to the places we need to be. that is Grace. doing everything we can but understanding it will never be enough. that is why our older brother paid the price for our salvation. 
I love my Savior and i know He lives. I know He is always there and never abandons us. He takes care of His sheep. and through His perfect atonement we will be able to be saved. He has provided the way for us to form eternal families, that way is through His sacred power, the priesthood, the which He has restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. Today we have that power to seal us for the eternities and i am forever grateful for the love and mercy He has shown us. Families are forever, The Atonement is real, and repentence works. We can be changed and made worthy of His kingdom as we keep trying. He makes up the difference. 

i invite all of you to my homecoming talk the 24rd of april! ask my mom for more info if you want to come. 

have a wonderful week and ill see most of you very soon ;)

xoxoxo
hna sanders

(Jessica's homecoming talk is at 1:00pm at 24443 McBean Blvd. Valencia, Ca 91355)

me and argentinaaa


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