Recipe for Personal Revelation

Hola Familia!

A su!! Don't tell me about hiking Payson canyon and "nacho bars" and planting new flowers, ALL OF MY FAVORITE THINGS! haha but seriously, I'm jealous, it sounds like you had a great week! And the pictures look beautiful. I'm pretty sure that the people sitting around me in internet thinks our family is a little hippie, but we're happy nada más haha 

This week has been great! The new temple in "Los Olivos" is super close! It's just outside of our mission boundaries but will be a HUGE blessing to all of the members in our mission! I don't know how long it will take to be built but it should be two or three years no? My companion is doing great. It's fun to have a "daughter". My hair is doing a little better. I bought a baby shampoo and I feel like it's falling out a little bit less so that's good. 

This week was really good. We have a lot of people progressing, just not progressing to baptism just yet. They all have little things to repent of or to understand better or something like that, but I feel happy that God is preparing a lot of people in our path. Something that I have realized and that we have combated a lot this week is this phrase: "Si Dios me permite..." it is an AWFUL EXCUSE. It is to say "If God wants me to go to church I'll go." "If God wants me to get married, I'll get married" Now, these statements aren't bad, but it is bad to sit and wait for God to remove every obstacle that could possibly get in the way of going to church, getting married, etc. GO OUT AND DO IT. FIRM MIND. GOALS. PLANS. I try to have patience with people but sometimes I think it would be better settled like a football coach yelling out orders. The people just need to understand that as it teaches us in D&C 58:27-28, we are our own agents. Our DECISIONS despite our circumstances is what helps us progress or fall back. I was also doing a lot of personal study this week about personal revelation. I have come to find that the recipe for personal revelation is searching, faith, repentance, and our obedience to the commandments. I hope that you guys can receive personal revelation to be able to achieve not only what you want, but what God has prepared for you. Have a good week!

Hermana Stone

 

April 18th, 2016

Hola Familia!

I loved seeing the pictures of the homemade cookies- that was always a Sunday tradition that I loved! In fact, this last P day we taught all of the Latinos how to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. They were all amazed and needless to say, we only made it to baking half of the dough because everyone ate the rest of it! 

This week was really good, it flew by. We are working hard and finding lots of people to teach. One of my favorite memories this week was sitting outside teaching a family and a few of their neighbors about the restoration. We finished the lesson and called all of the kids playing in the street to come and join us for the closing prayer. They all sat down in a huge circle, probably about 15 people including my companion and I, and we taught them all how to fold their arms, close their eyes, and talk with God. It was really special. Another of my favorite memories this week was when Hermana Antúnez and I acted out Mormon dying and giving the plates to Moroni and Moroni later appearing to Joseph Smith to reveal where the plates were hidden. It was necessary because you've just got to adapt the teaching to the understanding of the person! We all ended up laughing but by the end, the woman understood where El Libro de Mormon comes from! We had our last interviews with President Erickson this week too. The next time we have interviews, it will be to get to know our new President! I have learned SO much from Presidente Erickson and will miss him a lot. We are facing a lot of different problems to help our investigators progress, but with patience and a lot of prayer, I know that things will get better. 

Delaney looks so beautiful for the wedding! Give her a big hug for me. Thanks for everything,

Hermana Stone

    

Alex as a Missionary

Look Familiar??? >>>

My sunrise this morning

Making Cookies!

To BE is different than to DO

Familia!!

It's always so good to hear from you guys. This week FLEW by. I know that missionaries always say that but it's so true, and so weird. You asked if my Spanish is fluent now. I would like to say yes- but sometimes when they talk super fast and don't pronunciate clearly I have to just smile still and agree to whatever they're saying. haha I guess not a lot changes :) I shared with you guys a little bit last week about how the woman who we were going to baptize this week moved away at the last second for a disease recently discovered in her spine. We were heartbroken, I loved her like a grandma. I have come to see her grow so much and to find the Savior. She had attended several different churches but never was baptized because she always felt like something was missing. I know that she will still be baptized, it just might take a while for her to recover, and come back home. While we were praying and fasting to find more people that we can teach and that will progress, a woman came up to me in General Conference (We all watch it in the Stake Center). She told me that she was recently baptized in Huanaco- a provincia en Peru- and that she wants us to teach her husband. We went Monday to her house and taught them together. He is great and accepted a baptismal date, we just need to work with him in a few things before he can be baptized. There was a quote by President Packer that said "God is not a stranger to His servants" I know that this is true. 

This week we were able to build a roof! I got to go to lunch with Hermana Haro and Hermana Eliason (Haro was my second companion and Eliason was my companion in the CCM!) It was so fun to catch up and talk. I got the package of pictures and letters and the new paintings by Sadie are hung on my wall. Tell her thank you from me! Yesterday there was the elections for the new president. There was a TON of people in the streets but it made for good contacting. I also loved the quote by President Monson "May we ever choose the harder right, instead of the easier wrong" and thinking about the importance of not only our decisions, but our PLANS. The decisions affect the plan, but if we have no plan, the decisions don't matter much. We need to not only plan on what career we study, where we go, and in what we work in, but WHO we are, HOW we will treat others, or react to situations. SER ES DIFERENTE DE HACER. To BE is different than to DO. I hope that we can each have goals, and a plan on who we want to be. And remember the calling from our Lord and Savior: "Be thou perfect" I hope that we can look to the Savior and be perfected in Him. Until next time folks,

Hermana Stone

With Hermanas Eliason and Haro

Ok, I never said we constructed the roof "well"

My "daughter" is cute (and the food is GOOD)

My turtle Pablo found a friend

Found some chicks (And Elder Alder found a conch shell)

Have you never been so happy that you had to weep?

Familia!

Que tal?¿ This week has been super good. So my new companion is MY DAUGHTER! (aka I'm training) It stressed me out a lot at first when I got the news, but now that we're a week in, I feel good and she is really sweet. Her name is Hermana Antúnez from San Pedro, Honduras and say that I'm crazy, but she is the 21 year old, Honduranian version of Vanessa Madsen. It actually freaked me out when I realized it the third day. She is all into natural remedies (we cut savila to put in salads and apparently it's juice will help my hair not fall out??) has a lot of the same body language and a genuine love for everyone. She is one of 5 kids and the first missionary in her immediate family. She's very sweet. There are some perks to training, the first of which was a lunch with all of the trainers and the newbies eating Papa Johns. The garlic sauce for the crust may or may not have brought tears to my eyes. I miss real pizza! 

We also had a special capacitacion by presidente- It's like a mini general conference. I always love his capacitaciones! Unfortunately, our Zone Leaders forgot to tell us and when the assistants called asking where we were and why we were late, I thought it was an April Fools joke. But we got there and only missed about an hour. President talked a lot obedience and decisions that we make (along with the theme of Monson and Uchdorf in the conference!) and said something that really impacted me- "El señor nos da MAS instrucciones de explanaciones", or that God gives us more instrucciones than he does explanations. We can't expect to understand His reasoning in every moment. We are asked to walk by faith, not by sight because His thoughts truly are higher than ours. He has so much information to give us that He has to keep the instrucciones coming- Like a child about to touch a burning oven, you don't yell out "if you touch this stove you will get burned and it will hurt" and some other direction, but "yes", "No" or "Stop". God is often the same. He also talked about how we can not be slaves to our own feelings and thoughts. "Solamente porque algo viene a la mente no quiere que decir que viene de Dios". Why trust in ourselves when we have the Creator of the Universe giving us perfect instructions? This week I got a package of letters written in June. Better ten months late than never. It was funny to see all of the questions about how is the food in the CCM and if if my ping pong is getting any better. haha I don't remember who it was in conference, but there was an invitation to "palpar sus manos" or as it describes in 3 Nephi, thrust your hands into my side and feel the prints in my hands. I know that as we remember our Savior, as we follow Him and remember the prints in his hands, we will develop so much love for Him, that whatever He asks of us, we will willingly obey. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God. I know that he holds the keys of the Priesthood here on Earth and that through God's Holy Temples, we can have eternal families. When the second temple was announced here, I was brought to tears. I remembered a quote I read by James E. Talmage that said- "Have you never been so happy that you had to weep? I have" I can add my testimony to his that the best things in life bring TRUE, not temporary happiness. I love you guys,

Hermana Sav

Con Hermana Antúnez

March 28, 2016

Sorry I don't have any time.... But this week has been good. We have transfers tomorrow. I ate cow lung and liver in two different days this week (then got sick and despite how hot it is have to drink this tea to help my stomach feel normal). I am trying to fill out the "Mi Familia"  booklet for Family History and would like some details about my great grandparents (the grandparents of you guys!) If you could send me the dates of their birth and death as well as a memory or something I can write down to show others how to fill it out, I would really appreciate it. Also, mom how is ward council at home? I hope that you guys are all doing well. 

Get ready for GENERAL CONFERENCE WHOO HOO!! 

Thanks for everything. Love you guys lots!

Hermana Stone

In honor of all my friends getting engaged this week (Shout out to Madi, Syd, and Braiden) 

Bienvenidos a la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de Los Ultimos Dias

zona comas

These kind of pictures always make me laugh. I won't even show you guys what I looked like with black hair... haha

We found a little "museum" of cars. There was a thousand things to read. Good thing dad wasn't there.

Trucha. How Special!

Familia,

Ah! I'm so jealous you got to go to the temple dedication (and the bridal shower!!) It was Elder Robbins that spoke to us just a week ago, he was really great. I love the comparison with having a current temple reccommend to the five wise virgins. Also, I always love the pictures you guys send. Keep them coming! This week was a good one for us. First of all, it is starting to cool off a TINY bit. Everyone says that winter should start in April. Second of all, because I realized that General conference is in 2 weeks (!!!!) and Third of all, because we are finding a lot of new people to teach! It is one of my favorite things to teach new people. It is crazy how you can be outside of a door, not knowing who is inside or anything about them, and when they permit you to enter, we can not only share something that is needed by everyone, but also show them how the gospel is needed in THEIR family, with THEIR problems and THEIR lives. 

We had a barbeque as the zone the last monday and we taught everyone how to play signs and other "camp fire" games. It was a big hit and reminded me of the countless times we have all played as a family and friends. We had another capacitación (training) by Presidente, another borracho (drunk) sang to us. three times. and we were able to do some heavy duty yard work for our servicio. I was so dirty I almost looked Latina, de verdad. This week started La Semana Santa which is huge here in Peru. Yesterday it was Domingo de Ramos and everyone had woven leaves/palms to "welcome in the Savior". It is also tradition to not eat carne (beef/meat) so we ate a special dish called Trucha. It is a special, hard to find, expensive fish (so we were told). I was a little dissappointed to look it up in my Spanish English dictionary to find out that it was trout. But hey, I like that now! I hope that you guys have a good week and enjoy Easter this Sunday. Don't forget the reason we celebrate it. 

Stay sweet,

Hermana Stone

I found AJ in Peru!

I'm basically latina now (super dirtyyyyy)

If you can't see stars, at least there's something to look at in the night time

We Find What We Seek

Familia!

This week Marisol got baptized! It was super stressful because our ward mission leader called us about an hour before the service telling us that he can't come because his mother in law was in the hospital. That means that we had to open up the capilla, sweep and mop, set up the chairs, buy a little treat, set up the music and write the program. The nice thing is while writing the program you get to assign others to speak- I ended up leading the music :) The baptism was really nice- Her whole family came, including her dad who didn't want her to get baptized. I felt the Spirit so strongly as we sang the closing song, after hearing her humble testimony, "I am a Child of God". While singing, I looked over at her family and her dad was mouthing the words as the rest of us sang. I know that he felt something special that day. There are never a lot of members that go- there was the bishop and like 2 or 3 other people but we talked to the whole ward council sternly about the need of their support!! haha 

This week  we had a special capacitación (training) with Elder Lynn G. Robbins from the 70 and the area president (Elder Uceda) and his wife. We were junto (together) con Lima Este (I sat right next to Hermana Ekins and Hermana Minson this time!!)  and learned a lot. One of my favorite themes was that of "murmuring" that is expressed as a characteristic of Laman and Lemuel several times throughout Nefi. In 1 Nefi 17:2 contrasted with 17:20 we can see how the perspective of these brothers was so different on the same experience. Elder Robbins said "Encontramos en este vida lo que buscamos". We find what we seek. Technically, Laman and Lemuel were obedient... They went to the desert, they returned to Jerusalem for the planchas (plates). They too "suffered in the wilderness", but only Nephi was able to be happy despite the circumstances. I hope that we can all search for the best because I know we'll find it. For the rest of it...well one day when I'm home you can read my notes or something! But it was all super good. Oh yeah, and I learned how to make causa!! It's super yummy and I hope that we have the stuff in Utah so that I can (try to) duplicate it! Good week. Love you guys!

Hermana Sav

With Hermana Kingston!

Learning to make causa!

A convert gave us these political tshirts. Elections for the new Peruvian president are in 2 weeks!

The braid train