Week 16: Cerritos

I can't believe we're at another p-day already. This week we've had a lot of crazy experiences (I got bashed for the first time) and some hard experiences (one of our favorite friends who we only taught twice doesn't want to be taught anymore) BUT through it all we saw the hand of the Lord. 

HIGHLIGHTS!!!

☆Zone Council! It was so good this week. The ZL'S enacted a whole proposal & wedding and related it to baptism. But they taught us this really cool Conversion formula that helped us to see how we can help our friends progress more:

Spiritual (spiritual experiences) + Intellectual (understanding of doctrine) + Social (friends at church) - distractions = Conversion

☆We went to Anaheim to do service at Salvation Army! We passed out food and we made friends with a few people that are interested in learning more about the gospel!

☆I went to my first Spanish Ward party! The music was so loud we had to yell to talk to each other and all these cute Hispanic grandma's were dancing! It was so fun. And Brenda came with her 3 kids! They had a fun time and even danced!

☆Yesterday we went "caroling" with the Norwalk sisters to some of our/their friends in Norwalk. Hna. Midence brought her ukulele and we sang "I'm Trying to be Like Jesus." It was really fun and Hna. Midence and I found two new people to teach from it!

☆We were able to watch an AMAZING devotional from our Prophet, President Nelson. He inspired us to consider our divine identity and potential. 

MIRACLES!!!

☆We had a great lesson with Brenda on baptism! She truly wants to be baptized but still wants to learn more before she knows for sure. But she wants it to be true and has such a strong testimony. Honestly I think the biggest thing holding her back is that she's had some bad interactions with members of the Church and she doesn't really have friends at church. But she set a goal to be baptized in July! 

☆Brenda came to our ward on Sunday. And people were so nice to her! She made some friends AND she participated in relief society and bore her testimony on temples and the peace she has felt being outside of the temple.

☆We had a good lesson on the commandments with Yarita and she is willing to give up coffee to follow the Word of Wisdom. 

☆God led us to find 7 new people to teach this weekend while we were walking around, including two young couples with little children! Something that we've learned is that if we bring up restored truths as fast as possible, specifically from the Book of Mormon, the Spirit is able to testify to their hearts and they have a desire to learn more. We love street contacting!

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT

Recently Warren sent me a talk to listen to by President Monson called "In Search of Treasure" and there was a quote that really resonated with me and I had the feeling to share with you.  

In the talk, he told the story of a young man who gave away his career in an orchestra and sold his greatest possession, a violin, to go on a mission. Looking back, the man said:

"The greatest decision I ever made in my life was to give up something I dearly loved to the God I loved even more. He has never forgotten me for it."

We all make sacrifices to serve the Lord. It is one of our temple covenants. Sometimes it is hard to give everything we can to the Lord as His disciples. But it is worth it! Because every day, this sacrifice shows the Lord how much we love Him & He will never forget it. And I know that when we put the Lord first in our lives, He will make more of it than we ever could. 

I invite each of you to consider how you can sacrifice more for the Lord this week. As a missionary of Jesus Christ, I promise you that as you sacrifice everything you can for the Lord, you will see miracles in your life. 

Love y'all! 

Hermana Dudley

1.Brenda's kids are THE CUTEST! Alex and Jovani love us and we love them too! They always entertain us :)

2.Caroling with the Norwalk sisters

3.Cali's so pretty

4.Went to teach Fedra and Christian, the couple who the Elders are teaching because Fedra likes to be taught by hermanas some times. They are so sweet! 

5.We found out that the most comfy place to do studies in the church is the mother's lounge. I don't know why we never thought about that before 

6.Fiesta para el día de la madre

7.Service at Salvation Army

8.Julie!

9.Fiesta pt. 2