Hey!
Yep, we have gotten quite of rain this week, its raining outside right now, this was a slow week, not that much happening. We are staying dry, we only had to ride our bikes in the rain once this week, so that was really nice. We saw Mike and Steve, things are getting hard for Steve, him stuck in the nursing home, his foot, and other stuff, so he has been depressed lately, so we have been trying to cheer him up again. We had a lesson with Claudia, she is doing great! Been to church 5 or 6 times in a row now! She is awesome, and learning so much. She and her fiancé just need to get married. I don't know if I told you this, but we took a member with us to see her, and it turned out that they knew each other when they were kids, they even worked together. He told us that he was so surprised when he saw her at church, and he is a convert too. Amazing how those things work out. The ward has been great at making her feel welcome, that is the greatest help that a ward can do for those that are investigating and attend church, make them feel welcome. On Sunday, the temple president and his wife came to our ward! They both gave talks and it was so wonderful, they were amazing talks about the temple. We had a miracle on Sunday too! We are working with two members to help them go to the temple. Back when it was Elder Rodreigez and I, we would always ask our mission leader every week and the other leaders when they are going to have temple prep class because we have people that really want to go. They kept saying that they don't have it right now, and it will probably start later. So this Sunday, I am walking down the hall and I hear someone talking about going to temple prep in a few minutes, so I'm like "Wait what? Se have temple prep now?" I guess the first class was this Sunday so we went to find the other people to let them know too, so now they can start preparing for the temple! We were not able to see Grace, Mary, and Dorcas this week, but we should see them next week! We had a movie night on Friday, we saw Meet the Mormons, so that was cool to see again. Tortilla tally is 2 for this week. I love all of you! Hope everyone is having a great week, and next week I will have pictures to send to you!
Monday, April 27, 2015
Monday, April 20, 2015
Witchita Falls, Texas- Week 39
Hey!
This was a great week, we actually got rain this week!! That's a miracle for Wichita Falls, and on Saturday, we actually got a tornado warning, nothing happened, so that's good. Elder Rodriguez called me on Monday, so that was cool talking to him, he is staying busy, told me he has been going out with the missionaries a lot. We did more service at the food bank on Tuesday it is fun. We saw Mike and Steve again, Mike is doing good, Steve's foot is healing so we are very glad to hear that, still he has a few more months to go. All the antibiotics he is on is making him really sick though, poor guy, he just wants to get feeling better soon, I think his has a few more days on antibiotics then they can take him off of them, and that should make him feel better. We have a new investigator that we are now teaching, she is a army chaplain, so she already knows about us which is cool, she was a referral. She wanted a Bible so we went over and gave her one and asked if we should share a message about Christ with her, she said yes, so we came back a few days later and she told us that she has been reading the Bible and Book of Mormon together! That is sooo cool and said that she will come to church next week, there has been many miracles this week. Also, one of the members here was having a birthday party and invited us, so we went over there and had party with him and his friends and a few other members of the ward, that was fun to go to. We had exchanges with the District and Zone leaders this week, got to see more miracles because of that! One thing that we have started up again was going down the ward roster and seeing if people have moved out or not, we are working on one small neighborhood that is a little ways away from the main part of the city. We have been having success with that, found out that a few have moved so far, but we got some people that said we could come back as well. So every time we have the car, we try to go out there for a hour or so, to get a little more done. The coolest person we have met out there so far was a this members husband, she wasn't home but he was nice and let us inside. In there front room, he had a lots of cages. They had a rabbit, guinni pigs, chinchillas, rats, and I think it was called a short tailed African possum. And his possum wasn't ugly like a normal one, it was a lot smaller and cuter! It was funny he held his finger out and the possum wrapped its tail around his finger and was just chilling upside down, it was funny, so we thought that front room was cool. Then he says hey, do you want to see the coolest part? Yeah! So we walked into the back room that is was full of different kinds of snakes and lizards!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Some of them were really cool looking, he told us that's what he does is breed these and sells them, he was really cool and said we could come back any time we wanted :) We met with Grace, Mary and Dorcas again on Saturday, had a awesome lesson with them, they can't wait to be baptized! The only thing now is for them to go to church, it's hard because Grace has to work on Sundays and is the only one with the car, so that is what we are working on right now. It's cool how we know that Mary understands, Grace and Dorcas understand English the best so they understand that way, and there are times when Grace will explain parts of something to Mary in Yoruba, she is understanding well to. So how we know Mary understands is when she will tell us something we said about the Book of Mormon or/and Bible, and she started talking about that before she reads the Bible, she will then read part of the Book of Mormon and then everything makes more sense to her! They are awesome! When we came in on Saturday, Dorcas started talking to us, "Hola, Como Esta?" And at first we didn't even realize what she was saying, and she said it again, and we were confuzed, "wait, you know Spanish?!" She told us that she is learning it, so that was cool, we told her that we could help her with Spanish if she taught us Yuruba, so she taught us, how to say Elder (Olori) and what is your name (Kini oruko re) and what's funny about that is we actually used it later on in the week! We picked up the sisters from their lesson, and they told us that the guy they were teaching was from Nigeria, so we talked with him and asked if he spoke Yuruba? He said he did so we asked him Kini oruko re? And he started laughing so hard, and was like "no way!? You know Yuruba?" and told us his name, and we said that our names were Olori Santana, and Olori Santamaria, it was really cool, and I'm sure he was very surprised. That has to be the highlight of the week it was so funny. So with interviews with President, he comes down to your area, and asks us how are we doing? how's the area, things like that, what was the last thing you studied, and he asked me if I have become more Christ like since I have been out, I told him I thought so, I felt the spirit more in my life, so then we were talking about Christ like attributes and he said "Since you have been out, are you nicer and kinder to others?" I thought that was a interesting question, as we become kinder to other we are becoming more like Christ. Hope you are all having a great week! Love you!
This was a great week, we actually got rain this week!! That's a miracle for Wichita Falls, and on Saturday, we actually got a tornado warning, nothing happened, so that's good. Elder Rodriguez called me on Monday, so that was cool talking to him, he is staying busy, told me he has been going out with the missionaries a lot. We did more service at the food bank on Tuesday it is fun. We saw Mike and Steve again, Mike is doing good, Steve's foot is healing so we are very glad to hear that, still he has a few more months to go. All the antibiotics he is on is making him really sick though, poor guy, he just wants to get feeling better soon, I think his has a few more days on antibiotics then they can take him off of them, and that should make him feel better. We have a new investigator that we are now teaching, she is a army chaplain, so she already knows about us which is cool, she was a referral. She wanted a Bible so we went over and gave her one and asked if we should share a message about Christ with her, she said yes, so we came back a few days later and she told us that she has been reading the Bible and Book of Mormon together! That is sooo cool and said that she will come to church next week, there has been many miracles this week. Also, one of the members here was having a birthday party and invited us, so we went over there and had party with him and his friends and a few other members of the ward, that was fun to go to. We had exchanges with the District and Zone leaders this week, got to see more miracles because of that! One thing that we have started up again was going down the ward roster and seeing if people have moved out or not, we are working on one small neighborhood that is a little ways away from the main part of the city. We have been having success with that, found out that a few have moved so far, but we got some people that said we could come back as well. So every time we have the car, we try to go out there for a hour or so, to get a little more done. The coolest person we have met out there so far was a this members husband, she wasn't home but he was nice and let us inside. In there front room, he had a lots of cages. They had a rabbit, guinni pigs, chinchillas, rats, and I think it was called a short tailed African possum. And his possum wasn't ugly like a normal one, it was a lot smaller and cuter! It was funny he held his finger out and the possum wrapped its tail around his finger and was just chilling upside down, it was funny, so we thought that front room was cool. Then he says hey, do you want to see the coolest part? Yeah! So we walked into the back room that is was full of different kinds of snakes and lizards!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Some of them were really cool looking, he told us that's what he does is breed these and sells them, he was really cool and said we could come back any time we wanted :) We met with Grace, Mary and Dorcas again on Saturday, had a awesome lesson with them, they can't wait to be baptized! The only thing now is for them to go to church, it's hard because Grace has to work on Sundays and is the only one with the car, so that is what we are working on right now. It's cool how we know that Mary understands, Grace and Dorcas understand English the best so they understand that way, and there are times when Grace will explain parts of something to Mary in Yoruba, she is understanding well to. So how we know Mary understands is when she will tell us something we said about the Book of Mormon or/and Bible, and she started talking about that before she reads the Bible, she will then read part of the Book of Mormon and then everything makes more sense to her! They are awesome! When we came in on Saturday, Dorcas started talking to us, "Hola, Como Esta?" And at first we didn't even realize what she was saying, and she said it again, and we were confuzed, "wait, you know Spanish?!" She told us that she is learning it, so that was cool, we told her that we could help her with Spanish if she taught us Yuruba, so she taught us, how to say Elder (Olori) and what is your name (Kini oruko re) and what's funny about that is we actually used it later on in the week! We picked up the sisters from their lesson, and they told us that the guy they were teaching was from Nigeria, so we talked with him and asked if he spoke Yuruba? He said he did so we asked him Kini oruko re? And he started laughing so hard, and was like "no way!? You know Yuruba?" and told us his name, and we said that our names were Olori Santana, and Olori Santamaria, it was really cool, and I'm sure he was very surprised. That has to be the highlight of the week it was so funny. So with interviews with President, he comes down to your area, and asks us how are we doing? how's the area, things like that, what was the last thing you studied, and he asked me if I have become more Christ like since I have been out, I told him I thought so, I felt the spirit more in my life, so then we were talking about Christ like attributes and he said "Since you have been out, are you nicer and kinder to others?" I thought that was a interesting question, as we become kinder to other we are becoming more like Christ. Hope you are all having a great week! Love you!
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| I have my rice bag full of stuff to take in case of a tornado :) |
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| There are horses everywhere here, im going to start taking pictures of them all |
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| On the way to Burkburnett, its been raining so its green here for once |
Monday, April 13, 2015
Witchita Falls, Texas- Week 38
Hey!
Thank you so much for the Birthday Wishes! You all are the Best! I had a great birthday :) it is weird, I'm 20 now.... well one more year! Had a good day, we went to the Book of Mormon class that we teach every Wednesday and that was fun, I always learn when we teach that class. On Thursday, we had interviews with President, that went well, he is still as tall as ever hahaha. Then we went to go see Mike and Steve, and then Chris, they are so much fun to go visit, and when we go we always make their day :) And at 8, we took the Sister's recent convert Steve with us out teaching, to go see Grace, Mary, and Dorcas, it was a awesome lesson. I think the thing that stood out to me the most this week was how it doesn't matter if you understand the language being spoken or not, the spirit always brings understanding, when we went to teach them, Grace wasn't there, and she speaks the best English and helps Mary understand because her English isn't the best. So the first miracle was getting in the their home, I didn't think that she would let us because Grace wasn't there, but she let us in! So we taught the Plan of Salvation to Mary and Dorcas, and they understood it :) and even asked good questions, so we invited them to be baptized, Dorcas said yes, and Mary was wondering if she needed to, because she said that she had already been baptized in another church in Africa. So we explained to her why she would need to be baptized, so she thought about it and then said yes! We set up another time for Saturday when Grace would also be home, so we came back with Steven again, talked about the Restoration again, and Invited Grace to be baptized, she also said yes! And then Mary started testifying about Baptism, that she believed everything that we are saying and that her and her family could be baptized 20 times, but if it wasn't by the right authority it doesn't count.... Elder Santamaria, Steven, and I just looked at her in amazement! Before the lesson, I was worried about Mary that she might of not understood us, but after that, I realized how much power the Spirit has in the lesson! It was amazing! On Friday we had a less active Family that we visit and are teaching their son who is not a member, so all morning I kept feeling, go over to their house at 4:00. Originally we had planned to go over later, so it got closer to 4, and we were riding around on our bikes and I told Elder Santamaria that we need to see them now, but he wanted to tract or something and see them later, finally I got him to go, so we knock on their door at 4:00, and they are home and not sick! So talked with her for a while, found out that their dog passed away earlier that day, he was 17! So her son, has been depressed all day, so we talked with him too, teaching him about prayer and that it can really help when we feel sad, and taught the restoration. By the end of the lesson, he had a smile on his face :) so I was so glad we came over at that time to help brighten someone's day. Also I don't know that it was about this week and our investigators saying some pretty profound stuff, but he said things to that I had never thought of before about why we have scriptures, I can't remember exactly what he said but something like, "the scriptures help us to see how others before us got their faith and believed" it was a great week! We also had the Babble Taco Challenge! The Babbles are members here and when their (our) district has all new missionaries, they hold the Babble Taco Challenge- how many tacos can you eat in a hour! Elder Schwartz got 7, I got 12, Sister Ellis got 13, Sister Young got 14, Elder Santamaria got 15, and Elder Staili got 20. The Record was 21. Sooo fullll......... Sister Young and Elder Santamaria threw up right after so we all thought that was funny. I heard about the tornadoes in Oklahoma, but not really worried here in Wichita, everything just goes around us, so pretty safe, we just have rain. Love you guys!
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TOCO CHALLANGE!
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Monday, April 6, 2015
Witchita Falls, Texas- Week 37
Hey!
Well it's the start of a new transfer! My companion is Elder Santamaria, and it's funny what we realized, the elders in our district, Schwartz, Staeli, Santana, and Santamaria, we all start with S! Hahaha, Elder Santamaria has been out for 14 months, and has spent all his time so far in Spanish branches, so he said he is not used to an English ward yet, but he likes it. On April Fools day, we went over to our ward mission leader's house for dinner. For dinner, the drinks were Jell-O, with straws in it, so it looked like a drink, but when we picked it up we realized it. :) For dinner he said we were having cake, so he brought out a cake, the inside of it was meatloaf, and the frosting was mashed potatoes, and decorated with ketchup, it was really creative! And dessert was taco salad, which was ice cream and other things, it was a good dinner :) Well, the zone leaders changed up our district a little, took away our car, gave it to west, so now we share a car with the sisters, and changed some of the ward boundaries, didn't like that at first, but it is getting better now. We met with Grace and Mary this week and gave them a Book of Mormon in their native language of Yuruba, they were so surprised that we actually got it in their language, they loved it! And then they said that they would go watch General Conference at the church with us! They are awesome, and then gave us a ride home which was very nice us them to do, because it was already 9:00 and we were on our bikes and we lived 45 min away on bikes. That saved us from some sketchy situations :) I also have a greater appreciation for General Conference now since I have been out. It is the best! It was so funny, the Saturday morning session, before it started I said that President Boyd K Packer and Elder L. Tom Perry would speak, and that President Packer would be one of the first ones, totally called it! So that was great, and Grace and Mary and her sister showed up and they enjoyed it too! And tortilla tally is 6. I'm not the driver anymore so i like that :) Texas is good, a lot different then Oklahoma, not sure if a like one more than the other, like them for different reasons. When ever people ask me what I like better Oklahoma or Texas, I just say Arizona :) hahaha! Love you guys!
Well it's the start of a new transfer! My companion is Elder Santamaria, and it's funny what we realized, the elders in our district, Schwartz, Staeli, Santana, and Santamaria, we all start with S! Hahaha, Elder Santamaria has been out for 14 months, and has spent all his time so far in Spanish branches, so he said he is not used to an English ward yet, but he likes it. On April Fools day, we went over to our ward mission leader's house for dinner. For dinner, the drinks were Jell-O, with straws in it, so it looked like a drink, but when we picked it up we realized it. :) For dinner he said we were having cake, so he brought out a cake, the inside of it was meatloaf, and the frosting was mashed potatoes, and decorated with ketchup, it was really creative! And dessert was taco salad, which was ice cream and other things, it was a good dinner :) Well, the zone leaders changed up our district a little, took away our car, gave it to west, so now we share a car with the sisters, and changed some of the ward boundaries, didn't like that at first, but it is getting better now. We met with Grace and Mary this week and gave them a Book of Mormon in their native language of Yuruba, they were so surprised that we actually got it in their language, they loved it! And then they said that they would go watch General Conference at the church with us! They are awesome, and then gave us a ride home which was very nice us them to do, because it was already 9:00 and we were on our bikes and we lived 45 min away on bikes. That saved us from some sketchy situations :) I also have a greater appreciation for General Conference now since I have been out. It is the best! It was so funny, the Saturday morning session, before it started I said that President Boyd K Packer and Elder L. Tom Perry would speak, and that President Packer would be one of the first ones, totally called it! So that was great, and Grace and Mary and her sister showed up and they enjoyed it too! And tortilla tally is 6. I'm not the driver anymore so i like that :) Texas is good, a lot different then Oklahoma, not sure if a like one more than the other, like them for different reasons. When ever people ask me what I like better Oklahoma or Texas, I just say Arizona :) hahaha! Love you guys!
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| Us with the Afutiti family |
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| Tostitos!!! |
Friday, April 3, 2015
Witchita Falls, Texas- Week 36
Hey!
Today we had to deep clean our apartments, so that is what we did in the morning, transfers are coming up really soon, my new companion is Elder Santamaria, he was in my last zone, so I know him, he is really cool and I look forward to being able to serve with him! On Monday night we had a short exchange, so I went to west elder's area with Elder Schwartz and we exchanged back Tuesday. We went to do service at the food bank again, that went well. We have been low on miles since this is the end of the month, so we have been biking a lot, the weather is getting warmer outside, and we have had a few rainstorms, sadly they do not last very long, but everything looks a lot greener here now. We have had dinners with members most days this week so that was cool. Elder Rodreigez has started packing, and I have been cleaning, so are place now looks a lot better. Steve is doing well, his foot will still take months to heal though, but once it does, he can be baptized! We have a few investigators that are solid, but they are hard to meet with, busy with jobs or school. But everytime we are able to have a lesson, it is always great! I don't think that there is anything like the Easter Pagent here, but General Conference is coming up soon! We are super excited! And I told you guys last week that the church came out with a new video! have you seen it yet? http://www.mormon.org/easter
Today we had to deep clean our apartments, so that is what we did in the morning, transfers are coming up really soon, my new companion is Elder Santamaria, he was in my last zone, so I know him, he is really cool and I look forward to being able to serve with him! On Monday night we had a short exchange, so I went to west elder's area with Elder Schwartz and we exchanged back Tuesday. We went to do service at the food bank again, that went well. We have been low on miles since this is the end of the month, so we have been biking a lot, the weather is getting warmer outside, and we have had a few rainstorms, sadly they do not last very long, but everything looks a lot greener here now. We have had dinners with members most days this week so that was cool. Elder Rodreigez has started packing, and I have been cleaning, so are place now looks a lot better. Steve is doing well, his foot will still take months to heal though, but once it does, he can be baptized! We have a few investigators that are solid, but they are hard to meet with, busy with jobs or school. But everytime we are able to have a lesson, it is always great! I don't think that there is anything like the Easter Pagent here, but General Conference is coming up soon! We are super excited! And I told you guys last week that the church came out with a new video! have you seen it yet? http://www.mormon.org/easter
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| Cool Clouds |
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| My Zone |
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| Elder Rodreiguze`s "funeral" |
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| My District |
Witchita Falls, Texas- Week 35
Hey!
So on Monday we had zone p-day! It was really fun, we played lots of sports, and that is always a lot more fun with a lot of people there. The church is coming out with another video, Because He Lives and going to continue for the rest of the year it is really good. This week went by really fast. Every Wednesday in the church building, we have started to have a Book of Mormon Class. We go over one question the Book of Mormon answers and talking about it, I think it is really cool that we are doing that. We helped a member paint his house, so that was really fun. And it was awesome, on Sunday, we have been working with some less active members for a while, and Sunday they came to church! That was so great to see them there! This week we have been busy going around and seeing people. We are going on exchanges again today, I am going with Elder Schwartz up to his area for the day. Time has really flown by, about a week till transfers, and two days ago was trainers calls, and have not gotten one yet, so probably not going to train, even though everyone is saying that I am. Oh and the Because He Lives video is like the He is the Gift, from Christmas time. And to let you know, if parts of the email are out of order or sound strange, the computer I'm using isn't that good, and it mixed up the email you send me and this one, so I tryed to separate the two the best I could, and also since I'm on this one, I can't sent any pictures, if I can get on the good ones today I will. Also, Alex Boye and a senior center made their version of this song called Up town funk, it is so funny, in the video there a person who is 92 years old doing the splits (the video was on the Mormon Tabernacle Choir page, thats how I found it) Hope everyone is having a great week! Love you guys!
So on Monday we had zone p-day! It was really fun, we played lots of sports, and that is always a lot more fun with a lot of people there. The church is coming out with another video, Because He Lives and going to continue for the rest of the year it is really good. This week went by really fast. Every Wednesday in the church building, we have started to have a Book of Mormon Class. We go over one question the Book of Mormon answers and talking about it, I think it is really cool that we are doing that. We helped a member paint his house, so that was really fun. And it was awesome, on Sunday, we have been working with some less active members for a while, and Sunday they came to church! That was so great to see them there! This week we have been busy going around and seeing people. We are going on exchanges again today, I am going with Elder Schwartz up to his area for the day. Time has really flown by, about a week till transfers, and two days ago was trainers calls, and have not gotten one yet, so probably not going to train, even though everyone is saying that I am. Oh and the Because He Lives video is like the He is the Gift, from Christmas time. And to let you know, if parts of the email are out of order or sound strange, the computer I'm using isn't that good, and it mixed up the email you send me and this one, so I tryed to separate the two the best I could, and also since I'm on this one, I can't sent any pictures, if I can get on the good ones today I will. Also, Alex Boye and a senior center made their version of this song called Up town funk, it is so funny, in the video there a person who is 92 years old doing the splits (the video was on the Mormon Tabernacle Choir page, thats how I found it) Hope everyone is having a great week! Love you guys!
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