Mosquitos are RUTHLESS (Week 7)

Well this week has been amazing!!! Definitely much better than last week. But that's how missions are. One week is hard, the next is amazing!! This week was all about Maria. She is progressing sooo much. We have taught her everything and we are just reviewing the things we havent taught her in a while. Earlier this week we went over to teach her the Restoration again and as we were talking to her about it, her granddaughter Roxanna was very interested and telling the other little girls to be quite so she could hear and listen. Then we watched the Restoration video and Roxanna just loved it. She was eating it up. And so we started teaching her this week! She is 8 years old! And Maria really wants her to be baptized with her. They are both getting baptized this sunday! It was be amazing and I am just so excited for them. Its been amazing to see how far Maria has come in the past 8 weeks that we have been teaching her. She is currently quitting smoking. It has been 3 or 4 days now. Her body is going through withdrawals but she is so strong and she is really trying! She has candy all over her house and we gave her a ton too :) haha she really is the funniest lady and I love her so much. She does everything she can to get herself and her granddaughters to church and to activities and devotionals. She knows this church is true and she believes in it. She answers questions and participates in church and the ward just loves her. So do we!! She is an amazing woman. I love this gospel so much and I know that it blesses lives. And blesses families. I have seen it first hand and it is so true. Share the gospel with everyone that you know. That is our responsibility as members of this church. We also got to work with some investigators, Carmen and Adela this week who are jsut waiting for an answer to get baptized. We are trying to get them to church and teach them more. They are great! And they know our church is true but they just need an answer!

So this week we also got in to see a lot of our less actives. Karla is 25 i think and a single mom. She is darling!!! We taught her this week and she really was touched and told us how she has the desires to change when we are there. We were hoping she was going to be at church but she wasnt. But we will keep trying!!! :) We visited Irais though who is the daughter of a member, 19 and going to school and hasnt been to church in a while! But she was there yesterday!! It was so great to see her there.

We were also blessed to find 4 new people this week. The Lord really does put people in our paths that are ready to hear the gospel.

I know this church is true with all my heart. My testimony has really been strengthened this week. And when we really align our will with the will of the Lord, we are blessed and more happy than ever. And I know that to be true because its been happening to me lately, especially this week. I am sorry this is so short but I hope you all have an amazing week!!! The church is true!!! Thank you for all your love and support! Love you all!

Love, Hermana Dorian

Sometimes We Like To Pick Up Dead Frogs and Keep Them In Our Apartment....(Week 6)

What a week!! I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!! Mine wasnt very exciting.. haha! but it was good! And we actually got to see some fireworks that I was suuuppperrrrr excited about!! :) I just love fireworks so much.. anyways! So this week we focused a lot on our less actives. We have a lot. Carmen was baptized like 8 years ago and has been inactive for I think 6 or something like that. She is wonderful. And she has a testimony and everything but she is just so lazy and cant get up to go to church or read her scriptures. We have left her with tons of chapters to read in the Book of Mormon but she hasn't done any of them. We got her 7 year old son to read though!! He didnt even want to eat dinner.. he just wanted to read!! I love that kid :) But Carmen came to stake conference a couple weeks ago and loved it. Then she came to church yesterday and her son Steve didnt want to go to primary and she was telling him to just call his dad to pick him up because she wanted to stay! She was determined. It made me so happy to see her get herself and her son to church and to walk in. I had the biggest smile on my face. I love that lady so much and she is seriously like family. :) But we taught her about the gospel of Jesus Christ with a cake and she is wanting to share the gospel with her friends which is amazing! Total miracle. We also were able to see our other less active, Karla. And it was the first time we have been able to get into her house and teach her something. We talked to her about everything and she seemed ready to start changing little by little. She is so great.

Then of course there is Maria. Man... shes my favorite. Its amazing to see how far she has come from the first time we taught her to now. She knows everything and has no problem with any of the commandments and is excited to start paying tithing and fast offerings! I always leave her house sooo happy. Shes so ready and we are praying she will be able to quit smoking in the next 2 weeks before her baptism on the 20th. Pray for her!!

So this week was kinda super crazy. It was a little slow but on Wednesday night a creepy man followed the other hermanas home and so they came to stay with us that night!! We had a fun sleepover in the living room :) And then we did our studies. It was scary for them and for us but I am glad they live so close and were able to come stay with us! It was so much fun!! And then we went on exchanges. I stayed in my area and hermana cardoza came to stay with me. I really had to speak and use my spanish and it helped sooo much!! I love spanish. But this week was transfers so lots of new missionaries came in and we do this thing called running. Where we take the new missionaries out for 30 minutes and we find people to talk to and invite them to do something. We had to help with that so i took 3 different hermanas running at different times. It was so stressful. But fun at the same time! I love everyone serving in this mission!! :)
So my companion has been looking for a squished dead frog on the ground for a while now.. and guess what! we found one!!! its in a bag in our apartment. so gross!! But we are supposed to talk to lots of people right? So there is this guy that sells stuff from a cart like ice cream and chips and we see him every single day at the same apartment complex. I had to talk to him about the church so i started talking to him and he asked me, "What state are you from? Because your eyes are very beautiful!" awkwardddd..... and then on exchanges we found him again and started talking again and he told us that he isnt legal and that he is just waiting to marry an american woman. ahhhhhhhhhhh. so creepy but so funny. and he said that as he was talking to 2 american girls. hahaha oh hispanic men... they are too funny. and we see him everyday! we are basically best friends now!

Line of the Week:

" Pick up the candy!!!.... and then give me one!" -Maria

" Stop eating so much candy or your stomach is going to hurt!" ( As she is eating candy!!)-Maria haha she is seriously the funniest lady every. and she LOVES NACHO LIBRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we were meant to be best friends. i love her more and more each day!! :)

So this week I have been studying the Christlike Attributes in Preach my Gospel. And its been amazing. I have learned so much and I think it is so important that we strive to become more and more like Christ. Like it says in Alma 12:24 that our time here on earth is a time of preparation and a time to prepare to meet God and to follow the example of Jesus Christ and live the way that He did. Life on earth wasnt meant to be easy, but every trial we go through makes us stronger and if we stay close to the Lord and pray and have faith and strive to become more like Christ, then He will help us through. And that leads right back to the Atonement. The Atonement is central to our life here on earth and everything we believe and teach. Be missionaries in your lives everyday with all the people you come in contact with. That is our divine purpose and responsibilty here on earth. We are the Lords chosen children in the last days and we have a responsibilty to share the gospel with everyone!! I know that this church is true and is the only true church here on the earth today!! I hope you all have a wonderful week!! Love you all!!

Love, Hermana Dorian