Spanish and Smartphones!

This week has been a crazy one! We had exchanges with the Spanish sisters! I went to their area with Hermana Mitchell. It was fun! We taught this lady who hasn’t been to church for a long time. One day they were going through a list of names trying to find people and they came across hers. The only problem was that they had two addresses. So they picked one and went. No one opened the door so they left a note with their number on it, but as they were leaving, her husband drove up and asked what they were doing. They told him they were missionaries and he told them that the sisters used to visit a while ago and he would love for them to come back. The next day, they get a call from a man who says he lives with them and he found their note and wants to come to church. So he went to church last week and loved it. They set up an appointment with him for the day I was on exchanges, but he cancelled last minute, however, Hermana Mitchell asked Mirtha, the less-active member if we could still come over. We go and it’s kind of awkward at first getting small talk started, but then gets really comfortable. We were getting to know Mirtha and it turns out she’s been a member her whole life but no one else in the house is. She said that she’s lazy so she doesn’t come to church. Then, Oscar, the one who called the missionaries, and the husband walk in and are all confused because Oscar cancelled the appointment. Mirtha tells them, “this isn’t his appointment! It’s mine! His is on Friday!" That was kinda cool haha but here’s the real cool part. The husband, and Oscar are super open and prepared for the gospel. They really want to learn more and start going to church. While Mirtha was talking I thought of something that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. One time I heard my dad talking about how he really loves skiing, but the hardest part is just getting ready and going, but once he goes, he always has such a good time and loves it. I’ve thought about how there’s things in my life that are the same for me. I was able to share this with Mirtha and relate it to coming to church. So often for us, the hardest part of church, is just getting ready and getting in the car and going. Same thing with other parts of the gospel, sometimes it’s hard to have motivation to pray or read scriptures, but when we do the things God has asked us to, we feel good and better yet, God blesses us! Who doesn’t want blessings or to feel good? Anyway, it was a super cool lesson, and I hope Mirtha returns to the gospel. I know that the joy of living this gospel, is better than any kind of joy we can get from anything else in life. I’ve felt it and seen it in my life and I’m so grateful for it. 

Well, Sister Hicks and I got a smartphone this week. It’s a big update from our little slider phone hahaha. We had a bunch of trainings on how to use smartphones in our missionary work! It was really good. There was something that Elder Bednar said that really stood out to me. With smartphones, and using Facebook and everything, there can be a lot of potentially bad things that could happen, distractions, etc. He said that the Lord trusts us with this tool and that we have the capacity to obey and keep his trust. Wow it sounded better when he said it, but I can’t remember the exact phrase. I’ve been thinking about this and how it really applies to every commandment. God sent us to earth and gave us commandments so that we can return to live with him. We have the capacity to obey his commandments. He wouldn’t give us any commandments that we are not capable of following. That doesn’t mean that it’s not super hard. We all have different struggles and temptations, but God trusts us so much, he still sent us here so that we can gain a body and eventually become like him. However, God knew that we would never be perfect in this life, so he gave us His only begotten son, Jesus Christ. And through him and his sacrifice, we can be made clean from our sins, and return to our Father in Heaven who loves us so much. 

Today we went and looked at some ice sculptures and got Thai rolled ice cream! So if you want to see some pictures of that and a 2 minute video of my ice cream being rolled, keep scrolling! 

Yummmm!

 Vikings!

This fish got frozen in the ice! (The little circles are coins people stuck to the ice)

Mom notes: I asked Brooklyn where she ate dinner on Sunday during the Super Bowl and she said they went to a couple's house who are probably the least worldly people she knows so they definitely didn't see or hear any of the Super Bowl. She also said they will probably make another video in a couple of weeks. They are rotating through all the companionships and just doing one a week. She said the video they made was super simple about how God created us and we lived with Him before earth and how He knew we wouldn't be perfect so He gave us His son to be our Savior. Looking forward to the next video of them teaching!