BIG NEWS (week 13)

Well it literally amazes me how fast the weeks go by sometimes.  Mission life is just absolutely crazy and busy. Especially this last week!! Sooo... on Monday we got transfer calls. My companion and I didnt get transfered BUT we were supposed to go to transfer meeting! which was weird. we were going to either get a new companion, get our car taken away, or have Hermana Tauteoli bear her testimony at the meeting because this is her last 6 weeks in the mission. TRY and guess what happened. CAR is GONE and Hermana Tauteoli had to bear her testimony. bahahah YEP. I am now in a bike area!! In AUGUST...in TEXAS... Its so great. But really I love it. We come home so exhausted a tired everynight and so sweaty and ugly but I love it. Its so nice not having to worry about washing the car or miles or anything. You guys seriously would laugh your faces off if you saw me. Especially this morning! We had to ride our bikes to the Washeteria with our laundry stuffed in our backpacks and hanging off our handlebars. and the washeteria is across a busy road. Soooooo funny. We fit right in with the people here in Houston. I just feel so self reliant and so independent. Its great. I never would have done that before the mission huh? Missions change people ;)

Anyways, so then on Wednesday was transfer meeting. It was really fun to see all the other missionaries there. So afterwards we got dropped off at our apartment and got ready to go to our citas. On our way to a cita with a lady named Alba that we had found the day before, we rode right by her!! And guess what she did?! Hid her face so we couldnt see that it was her. ohhhhh my i was so upset! she was so legit and seemed to interested! But lately in our district and in a lot of our areas, we arent seeing any success with investigators. Or i guess the old ways of finding. Such as talking to people on the streets or knocking on doors. The work is changing so much here in my mission. The mission president wants us to focus on our members right now. He says we should fill our days with visiting members and then find through them! So i guess Alba just wasnt ready! So then later that night.. oh my weirdest thing ever happened. So we go to teach our recent converts, Eslendy and Eliud. When we got there we called the Elders to see if they could come help us fix our brakes on our bikes because they were totally loose and just not working well. So the Elders came over to help us and while they were doing that Bruno, Elsendy and Eliuds uncle, just sat on a bunch across from us and just stared. And he was talking to the Elders a little bit too. Then after the Elders left, he came over and asked me if I needed help locking up my bike. I was like "uhh..... sure?" so he grabs my lock and just locks it up for me. weird. THEN he had to come into their apartment with us because there were no other adults. He came in and sat on the couch and was ready to listen to our lesson. This has NEVER happened before. he is always too drunk to even remember who he is. so we were like umm.. ok? and just went on with our lesson! we were reading some scriptures and I looked up and Bruno was sitting there STARING at me!! It was sooo weird!! and then to top it off he proceeds to tell me that he could get me a sloth because the girls told him that is my favorite animal. what the random?? The people here in Texas. haha such a weird day. Then on thursday we had planning and visited with an awesome family in our ward! they are struggling so we try to visit them a lot!! We talked to the 2 girls Claudia and Liz about missions. They both have been thinking about going so we assured them that it would bless their lives and make them so much happier!! I hope they still decide to go. It would bless their family sooo much!!

Okay now this is the greatest thing that happened this week. So thursday  night we were planning and we had no idea what to teach our members the next day! So we thought about it and we decided to show a mormon message about the book of mormon to the first member ( who is less active) and then watch Finding Faith in Christ with the other member. When we showed up to both appointments and just talked to them, we realized that what we had planned to teach them the night before with the help of the Lord and his guidance, was EXACTLY what they needed to hear and really got them to think. The spirit was so incredibly strong in both those lessons! And even though the rest of the day didnt go so well, that made up for it. The power of the spirit was so strong.. I dont think i have ever felt it so strong in my life. I just love this gospel so much. I can already see my mission changing me. I have never been so close to my father in heaven as I am right now. The rest of the week was super stressful and we had to work really hard. Hermana Green, Hermana Tauteolis old companion, came to visit us and went out with us teaching. Sooo fun!!

So this transfer, we are doing an ayuno de ingles. English fast. And we are supposed to speak spanish alllll the time no matter what. The first one we did was really hard for me but this one has been a lot better. The thing with spanish is you can tell when you say something wrong. So this time its easier for me to just talk and correct myself because I know what sounds wrong. I really do love spanish. Its a fun language. And I know that the gift of tongues is real. I have experienced it sooo many times on my mission. This week i was studying a lot about prayer. And I am so grateful for the power of prayer. Sometimes we feel like Heavenly Father doesnt hear or answer our prayers. I have felt like that many times on my mission. But I KNOW that He does! We just need to have faith. And move forward with faith. I love this gospel. Share it with everyone!! Thank you all for your love and support. Have a great week!!

Con mucho amor!!

Hermana Dorian

Just Keep Swimming (week 12)

The nice thing about changing your P-day to a Wednesday the previous week, is that the next P-day comes sooo much faster!!! haha its just nice to have that break!! and.. i dont have as much to remember for my emails. ;) but anyways these past couple days have been pretty good!! last week was definitely a lot better than the week before. well.. in some ways!! but this past week we got to go to the temple!! that was sooo amazing. and such a refreshment. its been a while since i have been to the temple and it was just so great. I love the Houston Temple. anyways,  so then thursdaywe had lunch at one of our members homes!! Her name is Lexi and she actually served in this same mission!! and then came back and married a guy that is from the ward i am serving in now!! which she also served in!! how crazy is that! it blows my mind. so her neices are 2 of the young women in our ward. they are the greatest and always have questions about missions. so we went over and visited with them for a little bit! I love them sooo much. Then we did our weekly planning. sooooooo long. its miserable at times but its just one of those things!! anyways so then on fridaywe did exchanges!! i stayed in my area and hermana bennion came to my area with me. it was a fun day. we taught Eslendy and Eliud. We are doing personal progress with them and they absolutely love it!! and i never finished personal progress so getting to work on it with them makes me super happy :) One day I will get it. One day. Anyways! so then we went out with a member to visit some people. And of course they werent home. One thing you experience on a mission is disappointment and rejection. We saw a lady that we taught who had a baptismal date and she gave us a dirty look then walked into her friends apartment. sad!!! but its okay!! it wasnt her time. Even though those things happen, you just have to have faith and keep working!! so we did!! but then after that we walked around an apartment complex and just talked to people. Then after dinner we rode bikes around the neighborhoods!! sooo fun. i love riding bikes!!! and the neighborhoods are so beautiful!! we talked to lots of people. jewish, baptist, and something else i cant remember! haha but it was fun. and we talked to a lady whos son is LDS and he served a mission in Italy. sadly she doesnt have an interest.. but then we went to visit a family in the ward but they were busy so we walked around a little bit more. We then visited a less-active with a member and this less active is catholic now. she is kinda crazy. i love her though. but she refuses to read anything out of the book of mormon. it HAS to be out of the bible. like nooooo book of mormon. soo crazy!! someday she will come back!! i have faith!! but it was a pretty good day!! then saturday was just super busy. Hermana Tauteoli wasnt feeling very good so we just did what we could. And Sundaywas so stressful. We had to give talks. in sacrament. in spanish. AHHH. i was freaking out!!! and i was sooo nervous!! but it worked out alright! other than the fact that i started bawling. and our investigator was there. i just hope everyone felt the spirit and could understand a little bit of what i was trying to say in spanish!! haha people told me its getting a lot better so i hope that's true! i really do love spanish. and its coming!! slowly but its coming. i can understand it and read it perfectly. cant speak it! WHATS UP WITH THAT?? oh well.. im trying :) OH!! so the other day we walked by these 2 crazy white guys and this was our conversation:

Them - "Heyyy ladies... how's mr.smith doing??"

Us- "huh?? mr. smith?"

Them - "Jospeh Smith!!"

Hermana Tauteoli- "Well, i think hes doing pretty good!!"

hahahaha soooooo funny. texas people are insane!!!! but i love them!!! anyways so yeah had to talk in sacrament and our investigator (Elsendy and Eliuds mom) came!! finally!! and we visited a lot of our members so that was good. The new transfer starts on wednesday!! i am staying in my same area!! it will be good to still work with my wonderful family :) i cant believe its my third transfer in texas!! i love this work!!! its amazing!! i love this gospel and my heavenly father!! hope yall have a great week!! thank you for all the love and support!!

con amor,

Hermana Dorian

The Lord Is Really Hastening His Work (week 11)

Hello everybody!! Hope you all had a great week!!!! This past week was a weird one that's for sure!! But I made it. And where do I even begin?? Not having P-day on Mondays makes it even hard to remember what I wanted to email about. Problems of a missionaryyy. So anyways, I guess I will start with how I got to go to the temple this mornin!! The temple is closed on monday's so we had to change our p-day to today. It was so worth it. The Houston temple is sooooo beautiful!! Its so small but I LOVE it. And its been a while since i have been to the temple. I am sooo grateful to have a temple in my mission. Oh well.. sike its not in my mission but it's in the Houston mission. And we get to go if we go with a member. So we did! We went with an Hermana in our ward that has been really struggling lately. It was great to see her so happy at the temple. I just love the spirit that is felt there and the love that I feel from my father in heaven. The temple is truly the Lords house, and its so special. And we are working on family history with Maria so she can go to the temple and do work for all her family that has died. yayyyyy shes is so super cute and excited about it. its the cutest thing! and her little granddaughters went to the temple with the rest of the primary last week and they loved it. sooo cute. and i will be there on the day when Maria gets to go in and get her endowments at the temple. yipee. okay so this past week we have really been working with Eslendy and Eliud who were BAPTIZED on Sundayyy!!! it was the cutest thing and i just love those girls so much. even though they make fun of my spanish.. so lame. but whatevs. they are 12 and 11. i still love them. after Eslendy was baptized she came out of the water and was like "can i hug you??" i was like ummmm DUHHHH!!!! wet and all.. she hugged me :) so tender. and they are so excited about activities and church and the temple and personal progress and reading the book of mormon. basically the perfect investigators. or i guess recent converts... almost!! they are great. oh! and they bore their testimonies to us yesterday and it was sooooo awesomee!! i was almost crying!! and they told one of the hermanas in the ward that they felt something different in their hearts and thats how they knew it was true. bingo!! And their mom, Janie, is getting more and more interested. She hasnt come to church yet but she loved her daughters baptism and she came to the primary activity last night and helped. The ward just involved her so much and they love her. So we are working a lot with her. Maria is basically amazing too because she took us to go visit and teach one of her friends. perfecttttt. love her!! But to be completely honest, i cant really remember anything else that happened. Its been a pretty good week. long, but good. And transfers are next week. I cant believe i will be in my 3rd transfer. i love missionary work so much!! This church is so true. And people change!

Con amor,

Hermana Dorian

Miracles Never Cease (week10)

Holy smokes another week has passed! This week was probably one of the longest and one of the shortest. Doesnt make sense, I know. But in mission time, it does. It was a wonderful week though. It was long because my companion, Hermana Tauteoli was sick (well she has something in her foot and when she eats certain things or is stressed it hurts really really bad). So we werent able to go out during the day for 2 days. But I sure got A LOT of studying and reading done! She told me after the first day that if your companion is sick, you can sleep and take naps. WHATTT??? But then the next day I just felt so guilty sleeping. I felt like I needed to be studyinggg! So i did :) haha I am glad I didnt sleep though because I really learned so mucmore about this gospel than I would have if I had taken a nap. I read Our Search for Happiness, and Our Heritage (well some of it). Such good books!!! So in the midst of having to stay in the apartment all during the day, when we did go out at night, we saw some great miracles happen, hense the title of this email! 

So we had our FIRST BAPTISM on Saturday! That baptism was an absolute miracle. So his name is Jorge Garcia. The missionaries have been teaching him for 5 years. He has had tons of baptismal dates but has never gone through with any of them. We went and visited him that first real night I was here in Texas and have visited with him almost every night since then. When we first visited him, he had a date for June 15th. So we continued to teach him. However, he is a very slow learner. And he would never keep any of his commitments and wouldnt come to church because he wouldnt go unless the less active, Carmen, that he lives with went with him. And she was always too lazy to get up in the morning. So it was really difficult and before we went over on Wednesday night, we had planned to drop him if he wasnt commited. So we were there and while we were eating Hna Tauteoli started talking to him and tried to find out where he stood and what he wanted. He told us he wanted to get baptized but was just too shy! Too shy?! ohhhhhh my. He's a funny one!! Anyways.. so then we were like okay well your baptism will be on the 15th with Maria (another one of our investigators with a date) and he was like NO! I cant get baptized with someone else! I dont want anyone at my baptism!! So then Carmen was like "Okay then you have to get baptised this Saturday". He was like what? for real? So he asked us what he had to do. So we read the baptismal interview questions with him and at the end he got his answer. That now he was ready and now was his time to be baptized. FINALLY!!! I was sooooo happy!! So, that night we went home and made plans. The next day he had his interview and passed. He made it to the baptism. And after he was baptised, his countenance just changed. It was miraculous. After so many years, he was finally ready and finally did it. I then knew why I was on a mission. :) So then yesterday, we went over to their house early to make sure they made it to church on time, only to find out that Jorge had been out all night looking for Carmens drunk brother and needed to go pick him up. Church starts at 9 and he left at 8:30 to go get him. We were stresssinnnggggg. I didnt think he would make it on time. But guess what. HE SURE DID. He made it just in time!! So he was confirmed and everything went perfectly. I am so grateful for this gospel. And I know that if we have faith, we will see miracles. Whether they are little or big, doesnt matter. They happen. I know this gospel can bless lives and I am so grateful I get to share it. I know that this church is true. I love you all and thank you for your support. Feel free to email or write me ;) haha anyways hope everyone has a great week!!! :) Read the scriptures and pray. And study the Atonement. You wont regret it. Adios hasta la proxima semana!! :)

Hermana Dorian :)

There Goes Another Week! (week 9)

Holy cow the weeks seriously go by sooo fast. And the days just mush together. So do the weeks!!! I think one thing that is so exhausting about missionary work is trying to remember everything that went on. It seriously gives me a headache just thinking about what happened this past week and how I sum it up in one email, in just like 20 minutes. sooooo difficult. haha :)

Well... to start, on Monday, we obviously had p-day and then it was back to work at 6! we went and taught Janie, Eslendy, and Eliud. Janie is the mom of those 2 girls. We taught her about the Restoration and more about what her daughters have been learning so she can be on the same page as them!! It was such an amazing lesson. The spirit was so incredibly strong. And she accepted baptism. Which surprised both Hermana Tauteoli and I. We NEVER thought she would accept baptism. Something that we have been focusing on in Zone Meetings and stuff is how the spirit testifies the truth to our investigators. I saw that with Maria (since she is illiterate and didnt go to school so she didnt even understand some of the things we were teaching her!). The spirit truly testified the truth of what we were saying to her through her feeling the spirit. It was truly amazing. And saying the first vision, for the first time, in spanish, really was a testimony builder for me! I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. And that he translated the book of mormon and dedicated his life to restoring the true gospel of Jesus Christ here on the earth today. And I am so grateful for living prophets today that recieve revelation and inspiration straight from the Lord. But anyways, such a great lesson. And how open her heart is to the gospel is so great.. and we have already seen such a big change in her! After our lesson with Janie and her girls, we went to do Noche de Hogar (FHE) with a family that lives close that we havent been able to get into their home in forever!! And they are active members. We were a little late and the dad opened the door and was like "I thought you guys werent going to show up!!!" sooo cute.. but it was great! They have 9 kids and all 9 were just gathered in the front room of their small apartment and their dad just sat their and was able to see the miracle of his amazing family right in front of him. It was so touching and so great.

So then the rest of the week we really focused on our less actives, members, and the girls, Eslendy and Eliud. They are sooooo wonderful. And are progressing so much. They were supposed to get baptized yesterday but their mom had to work so they are getting baptized next sunday. And their mom has a date for the 10th of August. Seeing this gospel bless families is so tender. They are a beautiful and amazing family. Kind of like a home away from home. And I just love them so much. The girls are reading, praying (p.s. they have the cutest prayers in the world! ) and love coming to church and church activities. We brought them to the stake talent show with us and then Eliud came to the ward baptism last night. They are so excited to be baptized and to go buy cute new dresses for their baptisms. And they know everything. They are so smart. Sometimes I'm like.. uh okay you wanna just teach me?? haha! so great!! I am so excited for them and I know this gospel will bless their lives and their family. Maria is so excited they are getting baptized. Maria is just the cutest. She got confirmed yesterday and was reading for church at 8 when it starts at 9, her hair was done all pretty and she was wearing a cute green dress. She's the best!!!!!!

So funny story... yesterday we went to see Eslendy and Eliiud and Eslendy was super upset. Long story short, she told us she didnt want to study with us anymore because her and Eliud got in a fight and they both felt like they werent loved by the other one and stuff like that. It was sad because they were both crying but we talked to them about how much Heavenly Father loves them and that they are sisters and they need to learn to love each other no matter what and show each other that they love each other. I felt like I was talking to myself and one of my sisters like a couple years ago. And I never wanted to listen to what my parents told me. And now I love my sisters more than anything and I would do anything to take back those years and years of fighting. But I learned a very valuable lesson last night teaching them and I am glad that we were able to share experiences that helped them. We told them to say a prayer together and then hug. Eliud told us they did it and then Eslendy started doing her hair. I love those girls.

Well.. this past week has been so great and I wish I could tell yall everything! Oh!!! I forgot!! we did another mini mission this past week and I went by myself with a girl in the ward. soooo terrifying!! but with the Lords help we were able to help others and teach them and I was able to communicate in spanish. haha its coming very slowly!!

I love this gospel and i know that it is true!! Share it with everyone!! :) Hope yall have a great week! I love you all!!

Love, Hermana Dorian

Best Week On The Mission So Far! (week 8)

Its almost impossible to put into words the love that I have for my Heavenly Father and for my Savior Jesus Christ right now!! My heart is so full of thanks for the miracles that I have seen the past week and for how much I have seen the Lords hand in my life lately. This work is truly Gods work and it is marvelous!! Truly truly MARVELOUS! So this week started out with interviews with President Ashton! He is the most amazing mission president ever. I am so grateful to have him as my mission president. He is exactly what I needed. He is so close and in tune with the spirit and knows exactly what to say and when. The interview was so great and reminded me of the daddy daughter interviews we used to have every fast sunday :) I left knowing what I needed to work on. I love knowing what i need to work on! Oh p.s. its been super rainy and stormy here lately. LOVE IT!! and its been soooo much cooler!! Anyways, so then for the reast of the week, we extended dates to a few of our awesome investigators and sadly they havent accepted them yet but I have faith that they will accept them. One of them, Adela, has been with the missionaries forever and she is sooo close!!!

One thing that I have really learned this week is to have faith. Faith is something that I prayed really hard for this past week. because in order to baptize weekly, we have to have faith. Faith in the members, faith in the investigators, and faith in the people in our area. And of course faith in our Heavenly Father. As I was sitting in church on Sunday with 5 of our investigators and a less active that we have been working with forever, I really was thinking about how everything happens in the Lords time. We just need to work hard and do our part, and everything will work out. But all in the Lords time! If its not happening when we want it to, it's because its not supposed to be yet.

Another thing I know is true is the gift of tongues. I have really struggled with Spanish these past couple weeks but this week something just clicked. I have been learning it a lot faster, I am able to understand people better, and I can speak more in lessons. And I am not as shy about it. Its such an amazing feeling to know that the Lord is watching over me and helping me by giving me the gift of tongues :)

Last night was Maria's baptism. She got baptized with her granddaughter Roxana. They were both soooo excited!! Everyday we went over there and I taught Roxana, she would say, "3 more days" or "1 more day!". With a big smile on her face!! She is absolutely amazing!! And just a sweetheart!! it was a tender and very special moment when they both were baptized yesterday. And here is the miracle. Well a few of them. Maria flat out stopped smoking a week before her baptism. And she lives right next to her daughter, Janie, who has 4 kids that we talk to all the time. They have HATED us this whole time we have been teaching Maria!! Like would glare at us and just did not like us. They thought we would just go over and play with the little girls. But we found out they had been meeting with Jehovahs Witnesses. Which is why they didnt like us. But they had an incident with them where the JW's told them their baptisms in the catholic church was of the devil. They did not like that so they told them they couldnt visit anymore. So then they started to open up to us. There is Nenii and Eliud. (Those are Janie's girls, 12 and 11 years old). They started talking to us all the time and then they decided they wanted to come to church!! so they did!! and Nenii the 12 year old LOVED it!! sooo much!! and told us she wants to get baptized. NEXT SUNDAY!!!! ohhhhh my miracle!!! I have never been so happy in my life. She is so ready and so prepared. The Lord has been preparing her this whole time we have been teaching Maria. And my testimony has grown so much and if we have the faith to baptize weekly, we can.

I know that this church is true with all my heart and I am so grateful to be one of the Lords tools. And to help him with this marvelous work. I love you all so much and hope you have an amazing week!! :)

Con Amor,

Hermana Dorian