Miracles To End The Transfer! (week 40)

Another crazy week has gone by!! And another crazy transfer has gone by as well. I can not believe how fast these past 6 weeks have gone by. And seriously this week was insane and it was a miracle in itself that we got any prosylyting time!! Thats how nut was. But i just want to start my email out with a scripture. I love scripture gems and I definitely found a lot of them this week which was great. So here is one of them. As a missionary, obviously I pay attention to the examples of the awesome missionaries in the scriptures. I definitely have a few favorites. But one of them is Alma. And in Alma 29:9-10 he says, "I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but i glory in that which the Lord has commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.....And behold, when I see many of my brethren truly penitent, and coming to the Lord their God, then is my soul filled with joy; then do I remember what the Lord has done for me, yea, even that he hath heard my prayer; yea then I do remember his merciful arm which he extended towards me." AH Alma was such a great example!! And I just love that scripture. Its just how i feel. I love to see these people repent and change their lives. And he is so right. When I see these people change and repent it reminds me of how merciful the Lord is and how much Heavenly Father loves His children. Every single one of them. I love being a missionary and getting to feel the joy that Alma felt.

Okay so now for the crazy week! So on Monday we got a text from the Zone leaders saying that we needed to stay off of the island until Wednesday. So that was another 2 1/2 days of not being in our area! It was so stressful and we had to go back and figure out what was going on with our investigators because we hadnt seen them in forever. It was a good couple days though. I was absolutely exhausted but it was really fun. I think I am still adjusting from the exhaustion. But the rest of the week was great too!! 

Wednesday we had Zone Conference with President Ashton and once again it was AMAZING. It was an Atonement Training. I love when Pres. Ashton does Atonement training's because he understands the Atonement so well and teaches it to us in a way I have never heard before. And it made me think about the Atonement in a way I never had before. My mind was blown!! Still is. I learned so much though and i was so spiritually fed. Then after that we headed back to the Island! Right when we got back we did some personal study then headed out to visit our abandoned investigators!! But get this. So we were biking home that night and the phone was on silent. We got into the apartment and I walked into the bathroom, pulled out the phone and saw a call and voicemail from President Ashton. I was like what? why did he call us? Then i listened to the voicemail and this is all it said, "Hi hermanas this is president ashton. we would like you to train next transfer. give me a call back." and i think he said something else too but i was too busy freaking out to listen. WHAT?! TRAINING?! SOOOOOO crazy!!! i was so surprised and i couldnt believe it!! i yelled and Hermana McGrath got freaked out!! Haha she goes home on the 28th of March so we will be cotraining for 2 weeks. Then we had the training meeting on Thursday. Freaked me out more but i am really excited. I am grateful that the Lord has given me this trust to train a new missionary from the MTC. I am grateful for this chance I have to learn and grow even more and become a better person and missionary. I wont know who she is until Wednesday but i am so excited and anxious to meet her!!!! :)

So then the rest of the week it was really hard to focus and i was like falling asleep on my bike everytime we had to ride!! But I made it through and we saw so many miracles this week! we had lots of really awesome lessons. AND WE HAD 4 INVESTIGATORS AT CHURCH. we did EVEYRTHING that we could to get them there. We literally woke up early and rode our bikes around galveston to wake people up and get them to church. The people whos doors we knocked on didnt come... BUT others did. So when we do everything that we can then the Lord blesses us. So Alvina and her son Daniel were there and Claudia came! We had no idea Claudia was going to come but a member texted us and asked us to find her a ride 10 minutes before church and so I texted Claudia and asked if she was coming and she said yes and that she needed a ride!! i was STRESSING!! But we have some amazing members that came through and picked her up. it was awesome and they all loved church!! I was so happy. 

Ah okay I am all out of time but i love you all so much and i am so grateful for all your support and prayers! keep them coming!! the people here in Galveston are so close and so ready!!! pray that they will be able to act on their faith and repent!! :) I love this work so much and I know that this church is true. Even when its hard... its so true!! 

Con amor, 

Hermana Dorian

 QUICK FUNNY STORY. So we were biking home for dinner one night and this dog ran up to us. We petted it and said hi. Then left. But it FOLLOWED AND CHASED us from 15th street to 2nd street where we live. I was soooooo mad and I was like "i am so done!! i hate dogs!!" and people were like "is that your dog?" I said no and asked them to take him from us but he kept following us!! I guess he really wanted to hear about the gospel. I wish other people were like that and so ready and willing ;) no they are so out there and we are going to find them! have a great week!!

Our Lives Are So Weird! (week 39)

F-A-C-T. Missionaries lives are so weird. Mine has been extremely weird this week. Well.. more like stressful. I have felt like a chicken running around with my head cut off and a puppy that gets put where i need to and left there. hahaha okay those are weird analagies but for reals. This week was good though! We got kicked off the island again for Mardi Gras and so that gave us about 2 full days of work in my area. which is really stressful. Our investigators have been so neglected but we have been really trying to keep in contact with them through phone calls. So here is a little bit about the week!

Monday we had some really great lessons. We were able to see some great people. We saw Eva, Claudia, and a supperrrr cute family that we have been trying to see forever. And we finally found them!! Eva is doing good and so is Claudia! She is so much happier and the spirit is always so strong in all of our lessons with her. She is such a doll and i really love her. And the new family we found was so adorable!!! When Hermana McGrath prayed, the dad and son repeated everything she said. haha it was a little weird... but they are so open and willing to learn!! i am really excited to work with them!!

Tuesday I went on exchanges with the english sister, sister vea because her comps and mine went to a meeting in Sugarland. So we stayed and worked both areas. I was so stressed but it turned out to be an awesome day. We did a lot of service. And found out i suck at painting. like we painted empty apartments and lets just say that there is paint ALL over the floors. oops! ;) But we taught a lot as well and got TONS of Mardi Gras beads. without having to go! yes! i really just wanted cool necklaces... ;) im a child at heart. 

Wednesday was a full day of work and it was great! We got to see a lot of people that we needed to before we left the island. And we were able to see them all in a short amount of time! miracles!!! 

Thursday we had Zone meeting!! Hermana McGrath and I had to give a training about getting investigators to church and it went really well. It was fun too :) Then we had a REALLY good lesson with our investigator Johnathan about repentance. Part way through the lesson he was like "so what are the requirements for baptism?" i was like AHHHH well how about we read D&C 20:37. He is AWESOME. He has some things he needs to work out but I have so much faith he will be baptized soon!! And then we had an awesome dinner appointment with my favorite family. Then it was off the island! Lets just say... it was only by the spirit that we made it to where we needed to go because we were SOOO lost. I am also really bad at directions. So many weaknesses. hahahaha but its okay we were all safe and made it home on time!! 

The rest of the weekend we were in Kemah with Hermans Beltran and Gudiel. They are both natives and like only speak spanish to each other so it was really fun to practice my spanish!! It was crazy with so many things to do and i have been just dead tired every night but i have learned a lot from those sisters about this work and loving the people. I am grateful i got to be with them for a while. 

I am just so grateful for this work. This is truly the Lords work and this is the only true church. I know this church is true and through it we can find happiness and peace and joy. I love you all so much and hope you have a wonderful week!!! 

Love, 

Hermana Dorian :)

Mardi Gras Weekend! And..the Atonement is SO Real. (week 38)

The church is so true. Can that just be my email for the week? I wish! It was such a great week though. And to start off my email, I just want to say that I know God and Jesus Christ live. And I know that if we trust in the Lord and give everything over to Him, then He will carry us through the hard and the good times. This week I have prayed so hard to have a change of heart and to just be a better person. And I see a night and day difference. The Lord has helped me to change and slowly I am becoming the person that He knows I can be. I wouldnt be able to do this without Him and I know that it is through the Atonement that we can do everything. From making a conscious effort to repent daily and become better, we are forgiven of our sins, changed, and helped through the hard times through His grace and His love. I have been studying the Atonement a lot and there just isnt enough time in the day to study it!! I wish i could all day long but i have souls to save! ;) 

So this week was great. We had to see our investigators as much as possible because we were going to have to leave the island for Mardi Gras weekend. Galveston gets pretty crazy!! And we heard crazy stories! Anyways! so I dont have much time so I am going to just focus on the main points of the week. and of course i cant even really remember anymore. Too much stuff running through my brain. 

So Claudia is AWESOME. we had a great lesson with her thursday night!! sadly she was in the hospital but she is doing better now i think! We showed her the Story of Joseph Millet from the D&C videos and it was sooo awesome. The spirit was SO strong. And then we talked about how God loves her and knows her and has a plan for her. I just love Claudia so much. She is doing so good and she is totally going to get baptized! She just has to stop smoking!! pray for her please! she needs your prayers!!

Eva is doing great!! We tried to teach her the Atonement this week. She kinda has a hard time and thinks its so sad that He did that so we were trying to help her see that it was part of the plan and that without the Atonement we would be completely fallen and lost and have no hope. And we found out her husband might be baptized!! We almost extended a date and he was like "i remember doing that". what the random?!!? haha so that was pretty cool. But when we left, Eva prayed and asked Heavenly Father to please help her to get baptized soon. She has to get married and we think its going to be soon. She has so much faith. I love that family to death. 

So funny stories for the week. One, we had a prayer circle one night. These guys stopped us on the side of the road and wanted to have a prayer circle. so we stood there on the side of the busy road in galveston and all held hands and we each took turns praying. Greatest experience ever. I was trying so hard not to laugh. He was so serious about it! I love Galveston. 

Two, we had to get kicked off the island for Mardi Gras weekend!! So on Friday in the middle of the day we had to leave. We packed up 5 peoples stuff in a tiny car and set off! Luckily we werent all going to the same place. 2 of the english sisters went somewhere else and then me and my companion and sister workinger all went to Kemah. it was such a fun weekend!!! and so crazy!! The first night we all played volleyball and the second night we had noche mormona!! We played tons of fun games and just laughed our faces off. And had lots of awesome conversations about the gospel. I am SO grateful to be a missionary!! This is the greatest work and the church is so true. I love my Savior and I love my Father in Heaven. 

Hope everyone has a great week!! Love you all!! 

Con Amor, 

Hermana Dorian :)

Priesthood Blessings, Miracles and A Baptism!! (week 37)

Oh man what a week!! Lets just say i am completely exhausted!! But its the best feeling ever. Because we worked really hard this week. We have so many great people here in Galveston and there is a lot of work to do. But just to start, I just want to tell yall what a great testimony I have of the restored Priesthood and power of God through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know that it has been restored and is for us. For blessings, ordinances of salvation, and so much more. I love getting priesthood blessings and I know that they are directly from God. I am feeling a lot better about everything and I am happy and grateful to be here in this wonderful area. It took me a few weeks but the more time I spend here, the more I love this area and all the people. It was so hard to leave my old area. They all hold a special special place in my heart! But the Lord needs me here now so I am here and I am working as hard as I can to help these people know of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and all the joy and happiness that it brings :)

So Tuesday was the coldest day of the century. It was cold AND raining. AND i am in a bike area. AND we were just getting over being super sick. So lets just say it was a pretty adventurous day. such a great memories. Luckily, we had a member take us to one of our lessons. So that took about an hour out of riding in the rain. But later in the afternoon, we went to an appointment with Ana and Jonathan and Jonathan told us that his mom ana wasnt home! and the member we had brought with us was a man! BUT... luckily the english sisters were just down the road and since they are in a trio we got one of them to come to the lesson with us. And it was such a great lesson. We had planned on teaching the end of the plan of salvation but it wasnt what he needed. We just talked about the Atonement the whole time. Which was EXACTLY what he needed and the spirit was so strong. Then he came to english class later that night! Which was so awesome! He was so excited to go! But after that lesson we had a dinner appointment. So we get there and we were SOAKING wet. So we changed into clothes that she had at her house and put all our wet clothes in the dryer. I was so grateful for that rain coat you sent me a little while ago mom because it kept me so dry! And then we got a ride to english class. So grateful for awesome members that feel bad for us ;) haha but it was such a great day!

Wednseday we had Zone Conference and it was AMAZING. President and Sister Ashton are so amazing!! I recieved so much revelation and learned so much. We talked a lot about how to study and improving our personal study, so that we can receive more revelation and learn more and get more out of our study time! It was so great! They also talked about have a life vision and deciding things that we want for the future that have to do with our relationship with God, family, marriage, education, and everything so that we leave our missions knowing or having an idea about the future. So that was pretty cool! Then that night the coolest thing happened!! So we taught our investigator Claudia and then we didnt really know where to go but we both felt that we needed to go see a less active name DJ. Well.. DJ wasnt home but his older brother was! We asked him if he had talked to the missionaries before and he said that he has been to church before as well!! So he kinda told us a little about his life and we were able to answer some questions that he had about the Book of Mormon. SO AWESOME. the spirit was so strong!! And we ended up talking about baptism and repentance and he really wants to change his life. the greatest thing was that he just really wants to talk to Jesus and really wants Him to come again. I was like yeah i am with ya on that one!!! But we invited him to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it and he accepted a date! Such a miracle!! 

I dont have much time left but the rest of the week was super great!! Valentines day was so fun!! We had a TON of appointments. My favorite was with our friend Danielys that doesnt believe in God but we are trying to help her build her faith and when we were talking to her and inviting her to pray she started crying. She is the sweetest lady ever!! I love her!!! And we had a lunch appointment and i felt like i was at home with my family!! I had major flashbacks. Then us and the english sisters went to dinner at The Strand. Galveston is so cool.

But here is the best part of the week. ALEX'S BAPTISM! This meant that I got to go back to Houston 9 and see a few people!!! Not many members were there but it was the most tender baptism in the entire world. So Alex is 12 and we found him and his family 9 months ago and we dropped them becasue they werent progressing. But, we found them again about 2 months ago and Alex got baptized this weekend. When he got baptized I just lot it and started crying. Then when he came out and during the musical number and the rest of the service, he was crying because he just felt so good. He is such a special kid and holds a very special place in my heart. He will probably be an apostle someday or something. He is AMAZING and we are bffs. I was balwing too and it was hard to say goodbye. But I am so grateful that he made the decision to be baptized because it will change his life for the better and I know that he can now return to live with his Father in Heaven who loves him so much. And I think he felt that. It was so amazing :) and I am so grateful to be here and serving the Lord and helping people change their lives!!

And then here are the last of the miracles. 4 PEOPLE CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY!! It was sooooo awesome!! Claudia came for the first time! FINALLY!! She wasnt feeling very good but she came and its been so long since they have been teaching her and she finally came. Nelson came of course. He comes every week. And then Ana and Jonathan came! And they were early and absolutely LOVED it!! Ana was so excited to go to church and it was because she watched the restoration video and she was like "They have a nice family. and i want that. So i am coming to your church tomorrow! and I am going to read your book." MIRACLES!!! The work is just moving right along here in Galveston!!!

Thank you for all your love and support. Love you all so much! This is the true gospel! The church is so true! Have a great week!!

Con amor,

Hermana Dorian

Broken Heater=Sick For Days (week 36)

Well... this week has been quite interesting that is for sure!!! There have been some really great parts and some really hard parts. But hey.. that's mission life. I knew this was not going to be the easiest 18 months of my life. But basically I have been super duper sick for the last 2 days and so has one of the english sisters. So we have stayed in the apartment while our companions have gone out to work. I am just glad that we were able to do that and that our areas still got worked. I havent been sick my entire mission so I think my body just gave out on me. But I am feeling a little bit better today! But here is how the week has gone.

 

Tuesday, we ate SO much!! So we had zone meeting which was really great. We talked about extending baptismal dates and OYMing! That was great. And it increased the amount of baptismal dates that we have in the zone. Woohoo!! so great!! Baptismal dates are the best :) Then we went to CiCis as a zone which was pretty fun. Its not the best food but we were all starving! Then we went to an appointment. Kinda a crazy appointment but they agreed to read the Book of Mormon which was awesome!! we love when that happens. Then we went to our first dinner appointment. Okay at this point i was already really stuffed. still! And then this lady gives us each 4 huge tacos! whatttt?? i was like oh my gosh how am i going to do this!!! but i did!! well.... i think i did. yeah i basically ate all of it. that was great. felt so sick. but we shared a message about temples and she cried when she was telling us how grateful she is for the temple. it was really sweet. Then we went to go try our investigator Claudia. And get this! This was such a MIRACLE. So we were knocking on Claudias door and she wasnt home. But we heard someone from across the way say "quien es??" and i was like wait? where did that come from?? and we said las misioneras and she opened her door!! we were like oh!! hi!! haha so then we were introducing ourselves and she opened the door and stood back and invited us in!! I was so surprised!! then as we were teaching her we foound out that she had been taught by missionaries a while back in Honduras and she loved what they taught but has just been catholic her whole life and didnt want to change. so we were like okay cool. then when we invited her to be baptized she said she had already been baptized. so... we read Acts 19:1-6 with her and I was like hey.. these people got baptized again when they realized their baptism wasnt complete!! Then she sat there and was like, "well.. i am gonna have to think about it i guess!". YAY!!! So now we have used Acts 19:1-6 with everyone that tells us they have already been baptized. MOTED. It was so great though. And then we had another awesome lesson with some cool investigators :) and they fed us mole (not mole as in the animal.). i was sooo full. But it was a good day.

 

Wednesday, was really good too. We taught a lot of lessons!! with lots of great investigators. And Wednesday was one of the coldest days. Our less active was not too happy that he had to sit outside so that we could teach him a lesson. We then had a dinner appointment at the Canos! Probably the most normal dinner appointments ever. Everytime we go over there it reminds me of when we lived in California and had the missionaries over for dinner all the time. They are a really fun family though! I love them so much. Then we had the BEST lesson with our investigators Karin, Olga, and Carlos! They all accepted dates!! SOOO AWESOME. and we got invited to be there when Karin has her baby. uhhh.. yeah right! Love them and all but we are just missionaries. hahaha!

 

Okay I dont have much time left but the rest of the week looked like this. We were all dead in bed. Sister Workinger came on exchanges with us on Thursday and our heater was broken. That night I started feeling super sick. Sister Cano had to bring a suitcase of blankets so that we wouldnt die. Then the next day we had to use the car because i felt horrible! And then on Saturday we just did some mini exchanges. I slept almost all day saturday then we went to the english sisters apartment so me and sister vea could stay home and rest while everyone else went out to work! Sunday, we had to go to church because i had to play the piano and give a talk in sacrament. But after, we went to the sisters apartment so we could do the exchange again! It was a pretty exciting adventure. we were all so sick. it wasnt very fun. But we had lots of awesome people come to church so that was great!!!

 

It was a pretty crazy week!! And its pretty dang cold here on the Island! Our heater is fixed though. Hallelujah!!!! Well.. thank you so much everyone for all your prayers and love and support!!! We could still use yalls prayers down here in galveston :) love you all so much!! hope everyone has a wonderful week!!!

 

Love, hermana dorian

Transfer Week! Soooo Crazyyyyy! (week 35)

Alright alright. I know yall are just DYING to find out where I am now serving. I finally left my home of Houston 9 North and went somewhere else. Here are some clues as to where I am now... 

You know you're in this place when...

1. the people are super duper nice

2. its pretty cold this time of year

3. the roads are a grid system

4. there are english and spanish speakers in my zone

5. i am serving in a spanish branch

6. there are lots of palm trees

7. there is ocean surrounding....

okay well in case you havent guessed (because you probably havent..) i am now serving in... GALVESTON ISLAND!!!!!! WHAT?!?!?! Literally. I am serving on an island. I was soooo surprised when my picture popped up on the powerpoint for Lehi East area. (which is the spanish branch here on Galveston). Holy cow. It is so different. But i am serving on an island!! I have so many feelings as i bike along the roads here. I feel like I am in disneyland sometimes, california sometimes, hawaii sometimes... just so many feelings!! Its so great. The weather has been a little rough lately but i am excited for it to get warmer! It will be so beautiful. There are so many old unique houses. And a lot of them have been made into apartments because when there was a huge hurricane here a while back it destroyed like everything. But Galveston really is so great and there is so much work to be done. So many great investigators!

Okay so it was basically super hard leaving Houston 9 north. That was my home! I was there for 9 months and I opened up the area!!! So it was SO hard to leave!! And part of it was that i didnt realize how hard it would be until I left. That ward is absolutely amazing. Shout out to obispo lomeli. seriously he runs that ward like sooooo well. Anyways but we had SO many miracles happen before I left!! Like so many!! The Mirandas came with us to see Moniqua which was actually really really awesome and things turned out okay. Then on Tuesday we had 5 member presents!!! soooo crazy!!! That like never ever happens. We taught a lot and I got to see a lot of my favorite people that meant so much to me. They are dearly missed. I try not to think so much about it or i break down and cry. 

Moving on!!! To my time here on the island. So we didnt get back from transfer meeting until about 8 and we had some things to do. So after we got my luggage from the english elders and figured everything out, we walked down the street a little bit because Hermana McGrath was going to show me a little bit of the area. But as we were coming to a corner, an english member that lives in our complex saw us and invited us to come share a message. Cutest family ever! reminding me of the Rollins! It was great. Then the next day we went to go visit one of the elders investigators in the hospital which is in our area. Like actually 2 seconds away. And most of the people here on the island are medical students. Okay sorry for all the sidetracks. So we saw her in the hospital and she has been through SO much. Her name is jessica and she has just been really sick lately. she is awesome though and we are excited to start teaching them. Then we did weekly planning! Hermana McGrath had to tell me about everyone so it kinda took longer than usual! But it was good. and then we went out to go try some people. We ended up getting in to see Margarita. She is really sweet and has crazy puppies. I am excited to keep teaching her. 

Oh okay so we have Sister Workinger here on the island and she is a senior sister training leader. But neither of her comps can drive so we have to drive them up to meetings and stuff. So on friday Hermana McGrath took Sister Workinger and Sister Susu up to Houston while I stayed on the Island with Sister Vea. We had a lot of fun. We did service at Our Daily Bread where we served breakfast and lunch and then played a dominos game. SO FUN. The people were so funny. Then we went back to the apartment to get some stuff. P.S. we were left phoneless so we had no way of contacting anyone. So we decided to go visit Jessica at the hospital. We get there and turns out she had an infection or virus and she didnt want visitors. Uh... too bad. we went in anyways! we had to put on gowns and gloves and we couldnt touch anything. Such an adventure. So then we just talked to her for a little bit and said a prayer with her. She has so much faith and is so strong. Then we went to a dinner appointment and so I got to meet some members in the branch. They were super duper nice!! Such a sweet family. Then we went to see one of the sisters investigators, Ramon. He is HILARIOUS. and we poured out ALL his liquoir. VICTORY. they  have been trying to do that for a while. So that was way fun!! 

Saturday we had TONS of success. I finally got to meet a lot of our investigators and put faces with names. which is what i really wanted. Oh, did i mention Hermana McGrath goes home in 5 weeks and I have to take over the area? Yeah. stress. But yeah we saw lots of cool investigators and got fed. what?! we NEVER got fed in Houston 9 and now they have a meal calender here for the missionaries. So different! haha but that part is a good different :) And then yesterday was a good day too. We have been able to teach a lot. There are so many great people here on the island. And everyone is so nice and willing to listen. I really love it. More details to come next week when i get a little more situated in my new home. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful week!! Keep the prayers coming!! We need them!! love you all so much and thank you for all the love and support!!! Yall are the best!!! Que tengan una buena semana!!

 Con amor, 

Hermana Dorian