May 22, 2012

Hola!
Como estan? Well guess what? Tomorrow are transfers and today we found out who's going where. My companion and I both didn't want to leave...but today in the morning we found out by our zone leaders that I'm getting transferred! :( When I found out, let me tell you, I was not happy! My companion has been here since Dec. and she's staying another transfer! I'm sad I'm leaving Brigham. I'm going to Clearfield which is close to Layton. I don't know what else to say about this. And packing here I come...AGAIN. I came to realize that the Lord is sending me out to Clearfield because someone or people are waiting for me to teach them about the gospel. It's hard to understand at the moment but it's true why I'm gettting sent to Clearfield. But I'm coming back in Aug. for the temple open house here in Brigham. :) So you should all come to the open house and if you do ask for me and say hi! It's aloud. :)
Anyways, we are still teaching investigators ("friends"). No baptisms this weekend. But the work is great! Today I'll be taking a lot of pictures with families since I leave tomorrow.
Oh on Saturday we had an awesome service project with our district. We went to a Sister's house to do service but before we did service she made A LOT of scones. They were huge and I had about 4. After we ate we had a marshmellow fight! Everyone was against each other and Elder Heintz shot me in the face and it hurt like no other. Everyone kept getting hit in the face and it was funny. Even Sister Stephenson who we did service for was playing with us. Then we got to work for reals. We did a bunch of yard work. It was fun! I never really did like doing service before my mission but now I love it. When I come back home, I'll be doing service. haha
Well pray for me while I'm out in Clearfield. Prayers are needed everyday. :) I hope everyone is doing great and having fun without me. I miss you all and keep the letters coming! Sorry this is short but this P-Day is super busy!
Hasta Luego!
-Sister Marin

p.s. Sorry I don't have any pictures for this week! Next time!

May 15th, 2012

Hi everyone!
I hope everyone spent Mother's Day with your moms. :) If I were home, I know I would of that's for sure. Well on Saturday we had a baptism!! Claudia got baptized! She wanted to get baptized at 10:00 a.m. early huh? haha I didn't have a problem at that time since we wake up at 6:30 a.m. anyways. Everyone else had trouble waking up I'm sure. But the baptism was amazing and spiritual. She's really happy she's baptized now because she's been waiting for more than 3 years to get baptized. I know that everyone has their time to get baptized. Then on Sunday we had another baptism. Francisco got baptized. It was a great weekend!

I was able to skype my family for mother's day too. It was great seeing my family, family De Jesus, family Vasquez, family Hafen, Erik Espinoza, and Erick Garcia. I really miss everyone but I didn't get homesick. Everyone looks great and I know sooner than I know it, I'll be heading home. Time goes by fast! We skyped at the Hale's home and they're a really nice family. They let us use their ipads and they gave us dinner before we had to go to Fancisco's baptism. I wish I could go back to Sunday! haha After the baptism, Cate Pacheco (she served a mission in Peru) gave us a ride to Logan to do exchanges. My companion went to Logan and Sister Gott who only has 2 months left came here with me. I was a bit nervous because I had to do all the planning and tell her where to go. So on Monday, it was a lot of fun! Sister Gott is awesome! We had a good time and had a few lessons. We found new people to teach and we had a referral and we went to contact him and found him! We're meeting him (Yonny) tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. We did service too and we pulled weeds. It looked like a jungle! But it was a lot of fun. We had a good laugh while pulling weeds. Well I hope everyone is doing awesome and miss you all. Write me people! Trust me, your letters are very much needed! I need to know what's going on. :) Love you all! Adios!

-Hermana Marin

May 7, 2012

Hey!

 

Last week was great and a lot of fun! I honestly love my area and the people I serve. Well guess what? Transfers are coming up!!! It's almost 6 weeks, well we just have 2 more weeks left until transfers. Rumors are that my companion is getting transferred and I'll be getting a new companion who will be finishing training me. One of the Sisters told us but she wouldn't tell us who is going to be my new companion. I kind of have an idea of who might be my next companion. I just hope I don't get transferred because I love Brigham City, well mainly the people. My companion (Hermana Galaviz) has been in Brigham since December so most likely she will get transferred. If so...I'll miss her. We have a great time and she has taught me so much!

 

Anyways, remember how I said we were going to have a baptism last week? It got cancelled because we couldn't get a hold of out investigator and couldn't finish teacher her the lessons. She has been going through so much. I feel bad for her but she wants to get baptized. On Friday we went to drop off a few things for her and she asked "So what about my baptism? When am I getting baptized?" My companion and I just stared at each other because we were really surprised. We didn't bring it up because I thought she wasn't going to get baptized anytime soon but like I said we see miracles everyday. It's amazing. We told her she can get baptized any time that she wanted and she wants to get baptized this Saturday. She said that she already started inviting her family and friends to her baptism and she's super excited so on Saturday we will be having a baptism for sure this time. :) Oh and we're having another one on Sunday. We are super excited. 2 baptisms in one week. Also last week we got another call and it was a member asking us if we could teach his 10 year old niece. He told us that she wanted to learn more about the church. We showed up and we ended coming out of their homes committing them to baptism. So 2 more baptisms this month. :) We taught them to pray and they said they want to come to church. They're so cute! Their names are Jessika and Desirae. Jessika is 10 and Desirae is 7 and turns 8 this month so it's perfect.

 

Yesterday, we had an awesome Family Home Evening with the Vasquez family who their son just got back from his mission. He was serving in the Boise Idaho Mission. That was probably one of my favorite lessons ever. We felt the spirit so strong! We taught them the Restoration. We asked them what they thought about baptism but they want to learn more so I think we're getting there. :) I told them that they should pray and ask God if what we're teaching them is true and if baptism is the right path for them but Bro. Vasquez told us they didn't know how to pray so what we did next was amazing! We all knelt and we all prayed and we all took turns praying. The Vasquez family prayed and it was amazing! It was one of my best experiences so far. I honestly love this family. They're great and I know without a doubt that they Lord will answer their prayers and they will get baptized someday.

 

Today we had a sisters activity and it was a lot of fun! Since Mother's day is coming up we did a jeopardy game and we did a relay game. It was so much fun! I got to know a lot of the sisters that I haven't met since I've been here.

 

My favorite thing about being on a mission so far is the people! It's the truth. The people here are nice! Even people that don't want to hear about the church invite us to eat and want to have a good time with us. They're great! I also have to say the food but it's ridiculous how much the people feed us! We sometimes have 2 dinner appointments a day. haha Now my least favorite thing...I have to say the people that make an appointment with us and when we show up, they're not there! It's so annoying but we get used to it. Well I hope everyone is doing great and having a great time. Hasta luego!

 

-Hermana Marin

 

May 1, 2012

Hola,

 

How's everyone doing? Well after sending you all an update the Elders in Logan wanted us to play soccer to I finally was able to play some soccer. :) I haven't played for 4 weeks and while playing I realized how out of shape I am from not running a lot. I about died! After, the Elders in our district and our zone leaders, wanted to go hiking the "B" that's on this mountain in Brigham City. It was not fun because it was very tiring. My knee was killing me and I couldn't wait to reach the "B". When we finally reached it, I was glad I came hiking. I was able to see all of Brigham City, Perry, and other cities around us. It was a great view! On our way down, we realized we took a wrong turn and we walked more than what we needed to. We had to find our car. haha We were all so tired but we all decided that we're NEVER going to hike the "B" again. After hiking we got invited to eat dinner with a Sister. She saw us and said we looked burnt from being out in the sun. Honestly I couldn't even feel my face and my body. My legs were killing me and I just wanted to go home and lay down. While eating I felt sick to my stomach. I ate slowly because I felt nauseous. My companions face was hilarious because it looked like she was dying very slowly. We both decided that we're never going there again! The next day on Wednesday we had District meeting. Everyone that went was sore and everyone was walking slow. It was hilarious! Everyone just kept saying "ow, ow, ow.." while walking and sitting down. Our District leader Elder Heintz taught us that if we want to be successful we have to be obedient to the mission rules. It made me think a lot and it's true! It made me want to work hard and follow all the mission rules. Now it makes me want to work even harder than ever. :) When our meeting was over we went out to eat for Chinese food. The food that we all ordered had a lot of chiles. We all ate some and 2 of the Elders were crying from how spicy it was! I couldn't stop laughing at them. The owner of the restaurant is hilarious as well. She told us a story of how one of their fishes that were in their fish tank went missing and no one could find it. She asked the chef and they were all looking for it. She said that the fish was under the cubbard where the fish tank was. It was a lot funnier the way she talked because she was talking half Chinese and English and her English wasn't very good and I think that made the story even better. :) So there's these investigators that invited us over for dinner on Wednesday and they made us fried tacos with pork skin and I saw something weird on the tacos and as I got closer to it I realized it was chicken feet! I couldn't believe I was going to eat chicken feet. I didn't want to be disrespectful so I ate it, and surprisingly it was good! I drowned it with a lot of lime and salt and I think that's what made it really good. haha My mom would be proud of me for eating that. And the plate was huge! I couldn't breathe after eating! On Saturday we celebrated Elder Daine's birthday. My companion and I bought him a few gifts and the bag we bought him had a pregnant lady on it and we put an arrow pointing towards the stomach saying "21 years ago Elder Daines was born...". All the Elders saw the bad and loved it! Everyone was laughing. We had cake and ice cream and it was a lot of fun! The Elders here are great and they help us a lot! Well I hope you're all doing great and don't miss me too much now. haha People that haven't written me letters, WRITE ME!!! Hafens...write me ASAP! Oh and I can't wait for Mothers Day because I get to skype my family! Oh and if you'd like to send me some goodies please do! :) I love cookies and candy! Don't hesitate to send me stuff! ;) You'll get blessings my sending me stuff! haha Well I gotta go!

 

-Hermana Marin

4/25/2012

Hi everyone,

Sorry I haven't sent an update! I've been super busy and everytime I get on to send emails and I'm home, I somehow realized I forgot to update the blog! haha You all know I have a bad memory. ;) Anyways, I'm now out of the MTC as of April 10th. I'm serving in Brigham City. It's probably a lot smaller than Caldwell but this place reminds me of Caldwell. It's great! I love it here. The members and the investigators are awesome! They all want us to come over but we don't have enough time to visit everyone. They all feed us amazing food! At fast food places, we get free food but we don't really go that much to fast food places. Members and investigators feed us all the time. My companion's name is Sister Galaviz. She's from Mexico but lives in Price, Utah. A couple hours from Provo. She's awesome, funny, and very random! I sent pictures of when I was in the MTC and a couple of 2 days ago. That should make up for the times I didn't update and couldn't send pictures in the MTC. So enjoy. On Sunday, April 29th we will be having a baptism. We committed our investigator, Claudia to baptism and she said yes. :) We have another baptism May 13th. His name is Francisco. He knows a lot of the gospel already though so it should be easy. We have another baptism in May but this investigator works a lot and can't go to church on Sundays but she said she's going to start coming this coming Sunday since she got her schedule changed. Also, there's an Elder serving in the Boise Mission and I know him well. Well guess what? We're teaching is family (parents and siblings). They're not members and they know this church is true and they're waiting for him to come home to baptize them. We taught them on Sunday and we felt the Spirit strongly. I love missionary work. I couldn't have made a better decision. :) I truely learned so much being here. I hope some of you decide to go on a mission because it will change you lives. I see miracles happen everyday I'm out preaching the gospel. It's amazing how the Spirit testifies to people that this church is true. Well I hope you're all doing great and pray for me and my companion. We need to find more people! Also, we went to the Logan temple and can I just say the temple is amazing! We went to a session and it was great! I love being a member of the church! Well I gotta go! Adios!

 

-Hermana Marin

April 5th, 2012

Hey everyone,

How's it going? Well guess what? I leave to Ogden Tuesday, April 10th. :) I'm super excited and cannot wait! I'm also sad I won't see a lot of Elders and Hermanas that I've made friends with for a long time. I've gotten the opportunity to know everyone very well. It's like we've known each other our whole lives. I guess that's what happens when you work together 24/7. It's great! Hermana Kreutzer and I are both going to Ogden and we can't wait until we get to serve together even though it'll be a while until we can. These past couple of days have been really crazy. We teach about 10 lessons a day or more. I know once I get out to the mission field I'll be teaching more but I love teaching. We got all of our investigators committed to baptism. Our investigator Carlos talks a lot and sometimes we can't teach him what we have planned but it's ok. The lesson is still very spiritual.

Things with my companion are about the same. We had companion inventory Sunday and talked to her about eveything. I thought she would change but still hasn't. I pray for her everyday. I know she'll learn, someday. haha But other than that everything is great! I don't remember if I told you all but I saw Sister Janelle McCune my 4th day here in the MTC. I was happy to see her! We see each other everyday and sometimes her and her companion eat with my zone. We took pictures Sunday but I can't send pictures from the MTC computers. I guess you'll have to wait until I leave. :)

Yesterday my district got asked to host the new missionaries. We received about 360 new missionaries. Imagine how crazy it gets here. After we got done hosting we got told that 3 of our Elders got reassigned to another mission until they receive their visas. It was very depressing saying bye. We also took a bunch of pictures. I wish you could all see them right now but I guess you'll have to wait as well. haha Well I have to go. There's never enough time to send emails! Until next week everyone!

-Hermana Marin

P.S. Write me people! I want to hear about everything that is going on! Don't forget to write me to my mission field address. Adios!

March 29th, 2012

Hey everyone!

Everything here in the MTC is great but very stressful. I'm only going to be here 3 weeks and I'll be going out to the mission field April 10th. Last week on Wednesday when I got here everyone said "Hi, welcome to the MTC!". Not one person didn't say that. It was great! :) There's so many missionaries here training to go out to the field. My companion's name is Hermana (Sister) Aguirre. She's from Atlanta, Georgia. She'll be going to New York for her mission. I get very stressed with her. She wants everything her way and loves to flirt with the missionaries. I try to help her by walking faster but doesn't work. I think I'll have to talk to her about her flirting. It's hard working with her. She thinks she's right all the time and wants attention. Oh well. It's very spiritual where ever I go. I have 2 teachers. Brother Liztenberger and Brother Pacheco. They're both students at BYU. They've taught me so much and it's something I won't forget.

My companion and I have 3 investigators and tomorrow which will be Friday will get another investigator. They're names are Thomas, Rolando, and Carlos. We've got them to commit to baptizm. It was great. The first lesson I had to teach made me very nervous but now I'm used to it. but hey I got to go!

-Hermana Marin

P.S. David Archuleta is here in the MTC. I'll try to get a picture! :)