Week 62: La Rosa

Hola! Buenas tardes!

I can't believe it's pday again.

The weeks are just flying by. I don't know when the change happens because people used to tell me I was a young missionary but now whenever I say how long I've been on the mission, they tell me "ya mero," which is basically a Mexican phrase for "you're almost done." So, now I've converted to telling people the classic "a little over a year" when they ask me how long I've been out.

The thought of going home scares me. Like for real, last week, I had a nightmare that I was home and someone was taking my tag off. Don't get me wrong, I love you all and I am excited to see you. But this is the most fulfilling, joyful experience of my life and I never want it to end. Although sometimes the thought of going home paralyzes me, I think overall it makes me realize how precious this time is.

The mission truly is a microcosm of life. As I approach the end (don't worry, I still have a few months left), I spend a lot of time reflecting on what is most important. Somedays of the mission are really hard, and it can be so tempting to waste time or move slowly. But just like no one gets to the end of their life and wishes they spent more time in the office, no one gets to the end of the mission and wishes they spent more time in prolonged planning meetings or "hanging out" with other missionaries or any other time waster.

As I get closer to the end, I'm trying to shift my mindset away from the steady repetitiveness of transfers and missionary meetings that is so easy to get sucked in and I remember why I am really here. I am here to minister as Christ would. These are the 18 months of my life that I get to walk with Him more closely than ever. 

My biggest fear is to go home with regrets. These final few months, I want to surrender everything to the Lord and let Him mold me and use me to do whatever work He foreordained me to do.

I feel like one of those people I promised I would meet here is Haydi.

This last Thursday when I was on exchanges with Hermana Garcia in my area (La Rosa), we got a referral for Heydi Gonzales. As missionaries, we love referrals. We spend hours every day diligently searching for those who are ready to receive the joyful message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Sometimes we can spend hours and hours before we find even one person who wants to meet with us. So when someone seeks us out, it's amazing!

We called Heydi shortly after we received the notification. We introduced ourselves and asked her why she requested a missionary visit. Her simple response was "because I'm looking for a church!" MILAGRO!!! She is so prepared. She moved here recently from Nicaragua and she is currently in between jobs. She and her partner were looking for a church where they could both go together! We set up a church tour the next day.

On Friday, we were on exchanges again. This time Sister Hall was with me in my area. Hermana Julia Herrera agreed to pick up Heydi and join us from the church tour. The moment I met Heydi, she felt like a long lost friend. She is kind and cheerful, despite the many trials she is facing, including unemployment, not speaking the language in a foreign country, and being separated from her two teenage children in Nicaragua. She loved all the paintings of Jesus, especially the one where Jesus is holding a lamb in his lap looking out at his flock. She told us she felt so much peace and tranquility looking at that picture. As we explained how the church is like a family, I could tell she felt like she belonged. 

When we showed her the chapel and read with her in the Bible when Jesus Christ instituted the sacrament. We explained how we have the opportunity to partake of the sacrament each week and she loved that idea! We also talked about the Book of Mormon, and how of course a loving God would call prophets and teach truth to all His children throughout the world, not just in Jerusalem. The coolest thing about teaching the Book of Mormon to Latinos is that we get to tell them that Christ came and literally ministered among their ancestors in the ancient Americas.

When we gave her her own copy of the Book of Mormon, I could see the hunger and thirst she had to read it.

Then we explained to her that only two Sundays each year, we don't have church because we have the opportunity to listen to the counsel of our living prophet and apostles, but she agreed to still come on Sunday to watch General Conference! And she ended up coming with Hermana Herrera, Hermano Palacios, and Hermana Sandra to watch Conference with us. She loved it so much that she asked Hermana Herrera for the link and said she was going to go home and watch it again with her partner (he was working).

Literally this whole experience was the Lord saying "I am able to do mine own work" (2 Nefi 27:20). He is in charge. He is a God of miracles.

It's true. This gospel of Jesus Christ really is true. I know that "there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise" (2 Nefi 2:8). He is risen. He is the living Christ. His New Testament church is on the earth in our day. We have a prophet and apostles who speak face to face with Him and are preparing the world for His second coming. I know that if we follow Him and live His teachings of exercising faith unto repentance, being baptized by immersion in the name of Christ, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, and keeping God's commandments and covenants throughout our lives, we will be changed. We will become like Him. And we will be prepared to return to live with our Heavenly Father someday.

A testimony is the most important possession you can have in this life. It affects everything. If you want to know if these things are true for yourself, it is simple. You need to exercise faith. Faith=action. So you need to read the Book of Mormon with the hope that it is true and to pray to God to ask if it is true. "And by the power of the Holy Ghost, you may know the truth of all things" (Moroni 10:5).

I promise you as a representative of Jesus Christ, you will receive an answer. And it will change your life, just like it changed mine.

Love yall! Hope you have an amazing week!:)

Hermana Dudley

1. General conference with Familia Palacios

2. Zone Conference (Hermana Echeverria, Hermana Votaw, Hermana Ayala, and AP Elder Lynn)

3. Sister's Devo (Hermanas Echeverria, Garcia, and Romero; Sisters Cook, Taimana, Ritchie, Hill, Murri, Wheeler, Hall, and Kynaston)

4. Exchanges with mija Hermana Garcia. It's been cool to see her change from day 1 Hermana Garcia to 8 month Hermana Garcia.

5. We had a lesson with Hermana Herrera in her car while on exchanges with Hermana Garcia

6. Pickleball tournament with HBN last pday. I just want it to be in the record that Elder Jepson and I beat every single one of these elders 

7. Sister Hall and I after the miracle church tour. This was the painting that Heydi loved. 

8. Gathered with Hermana Herrera, Hermana Sandra, Heydi, Hermana Palacios, and Luis Palacios for Sunday afternoon General conference.