Week 11

Hi everyone!!

This week has been so good :)  Thursday we went to the stake and saw "Meet the Mormons" with our zone!  I loved the movie and we are excited to be able to invite our investigators and other people that we know so that they can see we are normal people :)  We also had interviews with Presidente Felix, it is always such a pleasure to see him and his wife.  Saturday we were having study time and Hermana Felix sent us a text telling us to come out.  We went out and there they were, Presidente and Hermana Felix waiting for us with cinnamon rolls!  :D  They love us so much :)

We had discussions with Connie and it looks like she is not very interested right now about learning more about our church, she is too busy.  But it's ok.  We get along really well with her so she told us that we can still come visit her.  So we are going to go see her once in a while to share a scripture with her or just see how she is doing.

We taught Richard about the Plan of Salvation and we were able to answer a lot of his questions.  He likes that we are teaching him, but he still has a lot of questions.

Juan is really happy and doing well.  We have been reading the Book of Mormon with him and he is understanding it.  We are going to teach him about the Restoration next week.

Well, other than that, nothing else is going on :)  But everything here in Arroyo Grande is good.  Sorry that this letter is short but I don't have anymore time left.

Have a great week!  I love you all!!

Week 10

So CONFERENCE!!!

I don't know about you but I loved conference.

I love to be able to see the Prophet and his Apostles and to be able to heard what our Father in Heaven wants us to know!

My favorite talk was from President Monson about how we should walk "Like" Jesus Christ.  Walk in love, service, charity, diligence, patience, and everything else.  I invite you all to walk as Christ walked every day of your lives and love everyone like He would love them.  Remember that EVERYONE is a child of God.  Even that lady who looked at you meanly in the store.

This week we had discussions with Juan, Richard, Olga, Connie, and Sandra!  They were all amazing!!  Juan is reading the Book of Mormon a he really likes it.  He wants to believe the things that we are teaching and we have faith that the Spirit will help us with this..  Richard is super cool and super weird!  But he is also really willing to learn.  He grew up around Mormons so he knows a lot of things, but he also has a lot of doubts.  So we are going to see if we can help.  Olga es really good!  Her son Rene, who had problems with alcohol, is in LA in Rehab so we are really happy that he is looking for the help he needs.  Connie is also weird but she has been studying the brochure that we left her about the Restoration and she really liked it.  And Sandra is new.  She let us in her house because it was so hot outside.  And she gave us water :)  We were able to talk to her and she said that something is missing from her life and that she wants to raise her children with good values.

We also did lots of service this week.  We worked at the Food Bank cleaning, at the Catholic church we went to help with their food storage and we also went with Hermana Pettit to work in her garden.  OH!  Shane is also in Rehab and we are so happy!  We gave him a list of scriptures to study while he was there.  We promised him that the Lord will not leave him alone, he just has to look for Him.

This week it was SO hot!  We were 99 degrees that past five days---But its ok---I am two different shades since last Monday.  Also this week I killed four spiders, I know, I can't believe it either.

Thursday we are going to see Meet the Mormons.  We are so excited!! :D

Well, that's all for now, I don't have many pictures because we were so busy this week.  The boy in the picture is a boy from the ward.  It was taken a day when we went to eat with their family.

Thanks for all you guys do, I love you all!

Week 9

This week Hermana Rubow went home and Hermana AhMu and I are left here in Arroyo Grande!  I love this area and the members love us and support us so much in the missionary effort.

This week we meet so many people.  We visited Juan and had a discussion with him.  Last time we went we left a Book of Mormon and we explained that we believe in the Book of Mormon and the Bible and that they work together to teach.  So this week we went and he told us that he tried to read the Book of Mormon but he thought that the Book of Mormon was a guide to reading the Bible.  So we explained that they are two separate books and we read the Introduction of the Book of Mormon with him and now he understands that they are different.  We left him an assignment to read during the week and we are going to go back this week to see what he thinks.

We also meet Connie and Linda and we taught them about the Restoration.  They both were so willing to listen and learn.  We'll see how it goes this week.  We also met Noe.  We talk to him because he has truck where he sells taco like the Waffleluv truck.  So we went to ask him where he parks and also to talk about the Book of Mormon.

We have been doing service at the Food Bank and I love it!  We go twice a week to help and pack food and then later people come to buy it for a lower price than at the store.  The other people that work there really love us and I know that they are going to start asking what we do and why we are in California:)

He have been knocking on lots of doors trying to find new people to teach.  This takes so much time, but this way we meet a lot of different and interesting people.

Oh, I almost forgot!  It was my turn to say the closing prayer at the transfer meeting so I went up and said the prayer in Spanish!  It was a surprise for everyone and not even Presidente Felix knew what was going on.  But all the missionaries liked that I did it :)

I have been studying Hope and Charity.  I invite you all the serve others in any moment that you have.  And I promise that you will feel the love of Christ for others.

Well, I love you all lots.  Send me pictures of Halloween :)  I am going to dress up as Hermana AhMu :)

Kisses!

Week 8

This week we were able to find lots of people.  We parked the car and started walking around the whole neighborhood.  This way we found more people and more opportunities to serve others.  We found a few people who were excited about the Gospel and want to learn more.  We had a discussion with Alejandra and we invited her to be baptized.  She told us "no" because she doesn't think that she can dedicate her life to living the Gospel.  But she told us that she would like us to still come visit her.  So we are going to stop teaching her but we are still going to visit her once in a while to see how she is doing.  We also met Matthew.  He seems like he is a person that has studied our church, but only the bad things.  So he was asking us lots of things about the church.  It was cool to be able to answer lots of his doubts.  We taught him the first discussion because he had questions about Joseph Smith.  He seemed to like the thing we taught and we are going to go back this week to see if he wants to continue learning more.  We also went to visit a lady named Ida, but it was starting to get dark and I think she must have been drunk or something....so we got scared and we left.  We think she was possessed.  We also met Maria...I know, another Maria...and she was trying to kill a chicken.  And after she made us some tacos.

Anyways....transfers are this week and I am going to stay here in Arroyo Grande another 6 weeks with Hermana AhMu!  I am so excited and happy :)

Also this week we had a zone conference and Elder Mahlm (an elder from the 70) came.  It was really cool and we learned a lot!

I love you all lots and hope you are all happy :)

Helaman 5:12

Hermana Cuevas DaSilva :)

Week 7

Well Hello Hello J

Happy Independence Day for Mexico, Viva Mexico J

So, last Monday we went to eat at Sylvester’s Burgers!! I ordered the “Holy Jalapeño” and yes…I ate all of the jalapeños.  I know you don’t believe me,  but I’m a missionary…I don’t lie.  Also for district activity we went on a hike.  It was SO hot and it was hard, but it was worth it…I liked it because as a district we were able to share our stories of how we decided to serve a mission.

We had Exchanges on Tuesday with Sister Schmidt and Sister Taylor.  I was my turn to work with Sister Schmidt and that day I learned a lot from her.  We focused on asking inspired questions and it helped me lot to have that goal throughout the day.  We went to visit Rebecca but she was sick and we only talked to her daughter.  We also offered help in whatever they needed and we gave them our phone number so they can call us anytime they need us.  Later, walking to the car we met two guys and we had the opportunity to talk to them about our beliefs.  They gave us their name, address, and phone numbers so we can call them this week and visit them at their house. Later we went to a house of a lady that Sister Rubow met during the last transfer, but she wasn’t home.   Her brother Gabriel was there and told us the whole family was sick and he didn’t have that much time.  We offered our services to help cook or clean, but he told us no thank you but he told us me could help her plant some seeds.  So we went to his backyard and we had the opportunity to talk to him for about an hour about how we are all brothers and sisters and that we have a Heavenly Father that loves us so much.  He liked what we were sharing and he was interested to learn more.  We have an appointment for tomorrow with him and he is very excited.  Later coming out of his house we found Tracey (is a guy) and we talked to him for a minute and he was really grateful the message we shared with him and for the spirit we had.  Later we went to look for Rene and Olga but they weren’t home.  But Rene’s dad was there and he told us that Rene is in rehab.  So we are really excited that he is going to receive the help that he needs.  It was a day full of miracles!

On Wednesday we went to visit some less active members, but they weren’t home.  After that we went to visit Shane and he doing good and he feed us.  And he is still on track with his goal to quit smoking by October 3^rd.  Thursday we had a district meeting and it was good.  I loved to be able to get together as a district and be able to help each other.  Sister Rubow and I sang “Mas Cerca Dios A Ti” because it was Hermana Rubow’s last meeting.  Later the Elders (the ones who speak English) sang “Para Siempre Dios Este Con Vos” in Spanish and it was so sweet.  Later we went to visit Charo and she was home and we read 3 Nephi 11 with her.  I invited her to read 2 Nephi 31 for this week.  She really liked what the scriptures say.

On Friday we received another companion!  Hermana Ahmu!  So we will be a companionship of 3 until the next transfer.  Later we went to visit Tracey again and he practically invited himself to church for next Sunday.  He told us that he wants to change his life and he believes that the Gospel can help him to do it.  We also contacted a reference, Pedro, and he is very excited to learn our Gospel.

This weekend was Stake Conference and Presidente Felix and his wife attended.  An Elder form the Quorum of the 70 also came.  It was a really good conference and I learned so many things.

Today during my scripture study I found a scripture that I like a lot, 1 Corinthians 10:13.  I know that the Lord never leaves us alone and that He gives us the strength to go through anything. 

I love you all and thank you for all you love and prayers!!

Hermana Cuevas Da Silva J

Week....6

This week was another good week J  Tuesday we tried to find some people that we meet before, but nobody was home.  Then we went to try and find a reference that we found in our Area book and they were home!  Her name is Justina and we talked to her about Jesus Christ, our Father in Heaven, and the Book of Mormon.  She told us how much she likes to study the Bible so we gave her a Book of Mormon and she said she is excited to read and study it!  We are very excited and we are going to go back tomorrow to see what she thinks.

This week we also met a lot with Shane.  Tuesday we meet and read Enos with him and he loved it!  He really liked verses 3-4 where the Lord forgave Enos and it made him feel good to know that it doesn't matter what sins we do in our lives, the Lord is going to forgive us.  It was a really nice discussion.  Then on Wednesday we taught him to go to church, read the scriptures, and pray always and he also really liked it because now he knows that we can’t just be praying but that we have to do these three things in order to be come closer to our Father in Heaven.  He also made the goal to stop smoking by October 3^rd! So we are helping him with this too.  Yesterday Shane came to church!  We were so excited because the last time he came to church was about 6 weeks ago.  We are so excited with the progress he is making.

Thursday we went to see if Charo was home because we always go but she is never there.  But Thursday she was there!  She told us that she was busy helping her daughter with her homework but that we could come back.  Just as we were leaving she asked if we had a few minutes and we told her of course.  So she asked us if we could help her with her daughter’s homework because she didn't understand a few things.  So she let us in!  We were there about an hour helping with the homework and talking with Charo.  And even though we were not able to teach her something we were able to give service.  And she told us to come back this week in the morning sometime for a discussion. 

Friday while we were knocking on doors we talked with a very nice man of another religion and we had a really good discussion about the gospel and God.  I love these moments when people from other religions can talk about the gospel without fighting.  Because we are all children of God and we are all trying to be better every day.

Also, Saturday we found Olga and Rene.  They were references that were given to us about two weeks ago but every time we went looking for them they we never there.  So at last we found them.  Rene has a big problem with alcohol and his mother Olga is really worried about him.  She wants us to come back to teach her and Rene because she is open to listen to anything that will help her son.  We shared a scripture with her and we prayed together.  They are a family with a lot of problem, but I know that if they let the Lord into their lives He has the power to help them.

Last week we ate with a family who at dinner asked what was one HIGH and one LOW of the day.  I loved this idea and so now we do it every day to remember the miracles that we see every day.

My plant is growing!  The picture I’m sending is from last Monday….and it is already bigger J

Yesterday we ate with our mission leader from the ward and he made us ribs!!  They were so delicious! (Almost as good as Kevin’s)

Yesterday I also shared my testimony (in English) and it was really good J

I am so grateful to be a missionary and I invite you all to study and read Teach My Gospel!  You are going to love it J  Also, remember that it doesn't matter where you are in your life but who you are with.  Always try to have the Spirit with you.

I love you all!!

Surprise, Surprise!

So. Yesterday when we went to write our letters they only gave us 30 minutes instead of an hour.  But today we received a message from our zone leaders saying that we have another 30 minutes!  So you get to hear from me again!

We just went with Alejandra and we were so excited to have another discussion with her and invite her to be baptized, but when we got to her house her mother answered the door and told us that Alejandra is very sick and feels very bad so we can’t see her today.  So, we are going to go another day to see how she is doing.

Last week we had zone conference and it was awesome!  We talked about so many things but one thing that I liked was that we talked about Peter and that he was scared to share the gospel but with time he began to have more courage and later nothing scared him.  Presidente Felix told us that we should replace fear with faith.  Because faith is the opposite of fear.  We can’t have faith if we have fear or are scared of something.  Yes, being a missionary is hard and every time that we go to knock on a door I get scared but I need to have faith in the Lord and that He will fill my mouth with that things that I need to say.

We also talked about charity and how Jesus Christ was serving at all times and to everyone.  If we want to be like Christ we have to serve everyone in whatever they need.  And by serving others, they will see that we are serving the Lord.

I have also been studying the Liahona and I love it!  Take time to read it.  There is an article from the August 2014 edition called “Becoming Children of Light.”  It talks about how we all have the light of Christ inside of us and by serving others and by keeping the commandments people around us will be able to see that light.  I liked how at the end it says something like, “at times we may think how is it that the Lord wants me to serve others when I am the one that needs help.  But the Lord has faith in us and He needs us to share the Light of Christ with the world.”  I shared this message with a family in the ward after dinner and the mom thanked me and told me that she liked it because it made her think of her son who is at school and is the only member of the church and he is an example to his classmates.  I told her that yes, we are all examples to those around us.  And though we may think that we don’t shine very bright because we aren't good examples…even in a dark room a small bit of light makes a big difference and helps to see.  We are all shining this light of Christ that we have inside of us and others will ask what is this light.

I love you so much, see you next week J

-nono