Thursday, June 14, 2012

New VC Picture, Los Angeles


Hello Family and Friends! :)
 Okay...to the story. This morning we were walking around the apartments where the other sisters live and my companion, being 5'1, tries to jump and touch the light covering thing that protects the lightbulb on the ceiling of the hall we are walking down. She obviously didn't touch it (but was close!) so I, always being competitive, decides to give it shot. Well, I was DEFINITELY able to touch it...and I knew because we heard something fall and crack on the ground. Yeah...apparently I hit it too hard and it fell off haha! The embarrassing part was going to the apartment management office and telling the guy, "uh....soooo I kind of broke this. I just wanted to know if I could hit it and well...clearly I could. Do I owe you any money for it?" Luckily they have plenty of replacements and so he said it wasn't a big deal. Yup...never doing that again.

Thanks for the letters I got this week!: Elder Petersen, Paul, Bishop Farley, and the McKinley family! I only get letters on either Thursday/Friday so if someone else wrote one...I'll probably get it this week! PLUS! ABBY! MY SCOTT! I need your address. I think I remember it because well, I did live there for two semesters but I don't remember the new apt number and I mailed home all of my letters I got at the MTC. So pleaseeeee send me a letter and then I'll write you back :) Plus, do you still have the memory card? If not...welp...oh well haha life moves on! Oh yeah, mom and dad...did you get that package I sent from the MTC? With all of my letters and other random stuff? I hope so...and dad, make sure mom doesn't snoop around and try to read any of it ;) Oh yeah! And P-days I'll email different times each Monday because it all depends if we have morning P-day or night P-day. We kind of get shorter P-days then the other missionaries...which is a bummer but, oh well!

Okay, another cute story that happened this week. When we were giving a tour to this family, we were in the "God's Plan" room where it talks about family and at the end of every tour we hand out a referral card (still suuuuper awkward on asking people if they want to fill one out...own personal reasons lol) and I told them how it's a great opportunity to share the gospel! This little girl, the youngest one in the family raises her hand and says, "I shared the Gospel this week to one of my friends." ADORABLE! We asked her what she did and she said she told her friend that God is our loving Heavenly Father and he wants us to live with him again. My heart instantly was full and haha I almost started to cry. The spirit was present and it was because of that little girls sweet testimony. Oh...it's moments like those that make me so happy to be serving in the VC!

So...remember how I said Tuesday was the BEST day of my mission?!? Well...it still is but haha NONE of our appointments followed through! Every investigator either wasn't home, had work randomly (which was legitimate because we still went by to see if his roommate was home and the one with work was in his work clothes about to leave) or just didn't show up. Ugh. So sad. Then we had this girl jog by us and flipped us off...that was pretty much the cherry top to our melted ice cream of that day haha. But hey, the church is still true right?? :) Just because people don't accept our message or doesn't want to learn does NOT mean that the church isn't true. As discouraging as this week was...what I'm doing is still important and I still have a purpose in the calling I am called to serve in.

Well...unfortunately I really have no stories for this week because lol everything failed. Okay, not failed but didn't go according to what we HOPED it would go. Sooooo we saw facebook yesterday haha that was weird. Sister Hardy who is one of the senior couples that serve in the VC was on FB and showing us sisters the sisters that just left and are already engaged. So we all huddled around the desk (which we are not suppose to do but...it was slow so I guess that was our excuse?) and looked at the pictures. I never met these sisters but I've heard all about them so it was nice to put a face to a name. But FB still looks the same from what I was able to see :) Oh FB...it's funny how much I don't miss it. Another thing that happened last night was that there was a tour in the Christus room and the narration was playing and then these three little boys starting running up to it yelling, "JESUS!!!" and haha the family quickly were trying to tell them to hush. Children are seriously so pure in heart and spirit, it was a precious moment.

Spanish is....meh. I still haven't had a full hour of straight language study. I AM DYING OVER HERE! I need the language study and I don't get it and it's hard to feel confident in my Spanish. My companion and I talked a lot about it the other night where again, I just cried to her and told her how I was feeling. I swear, I haven't cried so much in 3 weeks haha it's great. But, we made a goal where every day I would learn just 5 new verbs and learn how to conjugate them and then after daily planning she would quiz me on the verbs to see if I learned them. But, just like I said in President's letter this week, I just need to accept the fact that because of my service in the VC...I really won't have many opportunities to study the language on my own for an hour. Sure, my companion can talk to me in Spanish (which is one of her goals to do this week) but, it's not going to help if I don't know what to say back to her haha! So, it's hard and it's not a good feeling knowing I'm not really progressing in Spanish but...it'll all work out! I just need more confidence and I feel like ever since I've been here my confidence has been shrinking. Not the best feeling ever. Ughh I just need that time to study spanish...if only. But, who am I to complain! I'm here to serve not to learn Spanish! Haha if you haven't noticed already...whenever I write on my blog (used to write) and emails I like to give myself little pep talks...sooo...hope no one minds :)

A scripture that I randomly found this week (which I still don't know how I found it to be completely honest) is in Luke1:37 " For with God nothing shall be aimpossible" and I feel like this will help me a lot this week. I'm sorry if I sound like I've been complaining in my letters lately. I really try not to. But, I want to open up and express how I really am feeling. But I hope no one ever thinks that I wish I wasn't here. Because I know for a fact that I AM suppose to be here. I've said it before and I'll keep saying it throughout my mission but no matter how hard it is or how much I struggle or how many tears I shed, it is SO worth it! I love this work! I love how it's hard (I know...I can't believe I just wrote that)! It's making me stronger and it's giving me a greater appreciation for the Gospel. This gospel was something I fought to have one day in my life. I had friends in high school who tried to talk me out of it and I had other people who just couldn't understand why I wanted it so bad. It's because this is the only thing that can truly bring REAL happiness. Better yet, ETERNAL happiness. It was this gospel that saved my life and helped me become the person I am today. It's this gospel that gave me a greater understanding of what my purpose on life was. Before, I didn't think I was worth anything. I knew my family loved me but I didn't know if God did. I didn't know if Jesus Christ truly died on the cross for ME. I didn't have an understanding of anything that God wants ALL of His children to know. I went to other churches that were amazing but still...I didn't have a confidence in these questions that my heart searched so long to find answers to. Now that I have it, now that I know what church is the true church on the Earth today...I have those answers to my questions. I do know that I am a daughter of God. I do know that God listens to my prayers. I do know that I personally have an individual plan set out for ME by my Heavenly Father. And more importantly, I DO know with all of my heart and every fiber in my body that the atonement was also for me. If there is one thing that gets me through every day is being able to read from The Book of Mormon during my VC shifts when time is slow. That is the one thing that can easily make my heart smile every, single, day. This church is true. How can it NOT be!? I hope everyone has a wonderful week and I will write again next Monday!

Love,
Hermana Baeza



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