Week 47: La Rosa

Merry (almost) Christmas!!

It's been a busy week to say the least! We've been covering two areas, La Rosa (the Spanish branch) and Pleasant View (the English ward that Sister Clements was serving in before). We are busy from when we wake up to when we go to sleep and there's still more work to be done! Here are some highlights/miracles from this week:

☆Sister Clements agreed to speak Spanish with us from 9-9! Her Spanish has improved so much. And we even ordered her an Hermana tag!!

☆We had MLC (Mission Leadership Council). I love MLC because the counsel we receive always gives me opportunities to exercise my faith to be more obedient and consecrated! I also got to see my friends, Hermana Votaw and Hermana Young!!

☆Exchanges with Sister Langi! I love Sister Langi. She was in my zone when I first came into the mission. She came to the Spanish area with Hermana Clements and me. My favorite part of the day was when we were eating at a member family's house which was all decorated for Christmas. She asked us how to say decorations and we told her "las decoraciones" and then instead of saying "I love the decorations," she said, "las decoraciones mi amor!" We laughed so hard! 

☆I also had exchanges with Sister Kynaston in her area. She is so cool and has such a desire to learn and improve! We went park contacting in Miles Square Park around midday and it was so fun! We met two people who we were able to teach and who are interested in learning more! One in her area and one Hispanic lady named Gabriela that we're going to send off to the Santa Ana Elders.

☆Saturday we had a really faith-building experience. We were doing daily contacting (texting/calling our friends we are teaching) at the church when we had a random, quiet thought to go visit Araceli. Araceli lives in the top corner of our area, almost 20 minutes away from the church. But we followed the prompting. When we got to Araceli's apartment, we weren't sure why we were there because she's normally busy and we had a lesson planned with her for the following day. But we felt to enter into the apartment complex next to her and we got the phone number of a lady who is interested in hearing a Christmas message! Then we headed up to Araceli's apartment. When we were on our way upstairs, we noticed a young family in their garage and thought to ourselves that we should talk with them on the way back. We checked in with Araceli and confirmed our lesson. Then she asked us to help us take some boxes down to the garage and guess what!! Her garage is right next to the family's garage. So we were able to teach with the mom of the family, also named Araceli, a Christmas message and about the Book of Mormon AND she is interested in learning more!! MILAGROOOOOS!!!!

One more milagro: later that night, we were supposed to have a church tour with our friend Lucas. We just needed to find a member to be there with us. So we spent ALL DAY calling members and we called every single active member family in the ward. Finally, 30 minutes before Luvas was supposed to come, we saw Hermana Alcocer's name on the list and even though we didn't know her at all, we felt a prompting to call her. She said she never picks up calls, but she felt that she should pick up this call even though she didn't know who we were. She was on her way home from work and was available to come. She just felt hesitant because she didn't feel worthy enough because she hasn't come to church for years. But we told her we needed her and of course she was welcome to come. 

Turns out Lucas never showed up but we know the reason we had this lesson in the first place and then couldn't find any members is because Christ was rescuing Hermana Alcocer to bring her back to His fold. We invited Hermana Alcocer to come into the chapel and I played some hymns while they sat and pondered. Then Hermana Amezquita suggested we play and sing the song "Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd."

Verse 2 of the song says: See, the Good Shepherd is seeking,

Dear to the heart of the Shepherd,

Dear are the lambs of his fold;

Some from the pastures are straying,

Hungry and helpless and cold.

Seeking the lambs that are lost,

Bringing them in with rejoicing,

Saved at such infinite cost.

Out in the desert they wander,

Hungry and helpless and cold;

Off to the rescue he hastens,

Bringing them back to the fold.

In that moment, the Spirit was so strong. We could feel the love the Savior has for Hermana Alcocer. We testified that the moment that she doesn't feel worthy to go to church is the moment where she most needs to be here. No one at church is perfect. There is a saying that I love thay says "The church is not a museum for the saints but a hospital for the sinners." I know that through going to church, repenting, and partaking of the sacrament each week, we can be healed. I know that Christ will never turn from us. He is waiting for us with open arms, ready to rescue us if we let Him. 

I am grateful for the chance I had to witness His miracles this past week and am excited for the miracles that will come as we celebrate His birth! 

Love yall! Merry Christmas!

Hermana Dudley

1.Taught Edwin a Christmas message!

2.Dinner with los Peregrine ("Las Decoraciones mi amor" jaja)

3. La Biblia y el Libro de Mormón trabajan juntos!

4.Trio foto! Hermana Amézquita y Hermana Clements

5.In front of the árbol de la Navidad con nuestra amiga Maricela

6.Exchanges with Sister Kynaston! An ASL missionary. She's so cool:))

7.Park contacting at Miles Square Park

8.Sidter French from the Pleasant View ward took us out to Thai food

9.some of our favorite Hermanas from the ward! Hermana Palacios, Hermana Herreira, y Hermana