Sister Alvarado. My 17 year old "Mini-Missionary".
Well this last week has been amazing and heavenly father has blessed me soooooo much. i told you that we were having mini missionaries and wow it was sooo tiring and a bit stressful but heavenly father most certainly helped me. so the deal was that i would take over the mcallen area (which is the new area that we were just given this last transfer) and sister behrmann took over the pharr/eddinburg area (which is the area that i had last transfer) so i know her area like the back of my hand, but it is soley spanish speaking... so she took that area and the car and i took mcallen and the bikes! it was so much responsibility. it was like i was training someone who was 17 and not even set apart as a missionary. but i rose to the challenge and we went tracting the whole week and found some amazing families. mcallen isn't as heavily concentrated in spanish as pharr is, but i still had to speak it. i had an amazing experience when i found this family and they let us in to teach and i taught them the whole 1st lesson in spanish. i don't even know the words that i was saying, but heavenly father used me to share the gospel with these people. the spirit was so strong and i am so grateful that even though this week was stressful and more work than i have ever done, i have grown so much from it. This was the first time that i ever felt like i actually had been give the gift of tounges. i am so grateful for this gift that i was given at this time. i am amazed how much i have learned in spanish this past week because everyday i taught at least one lesson in spanish and i had to contact people in spanish and everything. but i have loved it because it has been a time where i have been forced to open my mouth and the lord has filled it.
We have a baptism on the 22nd for an awesome girl named jessica. she has come to church 3 times already... (which is the hardest thing to get people to do down here) this last sunday was fast and testimony and she went up and bore a beautiful testimony. you could tell she was so filled with the spirit. but then as she was walking down... she didnt even realize there were stairs and she just biffed it and fell off the stage. she is so sweet and took it like a champ. i think it was a blessing in disguise though because so many ward members came up to her afterwards and talked to her, gave her hugs, and thanked her for her testimony. whereas before no one ever really introduced themselves. it was awesome because so many ward members approached her and she felt at home. so i am really excited for that. it is sad.. i can't even tell you how many baptismal dates we have set but then they fall through because they get anti-ed or they aren't married and don't want to, or they just never come to church and progress. it is so sad. there are so many blessing waiting for these people if they would just keep the commandments.
This week me and my little missionary were knocking and this lady invited us in and i started teaching her.. she tried bible bashing with me... i couldn't understand everything she was saying but the spirit was dark. so i just started testifying. 1st about jesus christ, then she brought up joseph smith and asked where does it talk about him in the bible. and then i asked her if abraham ever testified of any of the prophets who would come after him? no... prophets don't testify of each other... only jesus christ. i then testified that joseph smith in reality was a prophet of god, called by jesus christ to bring about the restoration of the fulness of the gospel... by this time she just wanted to keep bashing... so i stood up... "muchisimas gracias hermana pero tenemos una cita. tenga buen dia." and we left. people just don't want to listen or even open their heart to the spirit. sad news.
But this week has been wonderful. heavenly father has strengthened me. we had zone conference and it gave me an even stronger determination to work harder and testify more frequently. i am so grateful for this gospel. it is so sad that so many people won't listen... but they are not rejecting my message... They are rejecting His.
i love you all so much! thank you for all your support and love! keep working hard and whenever it is hot outside remember you have no room to complain :)
have a wonderful week!
-herm osborne-
President and Sister Miller,
It has been a wonderful week and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with the mini-missionaries. This experience has allowed me to soley work in the McAllen area and tract as much as possible so that we can build up an investigator pool here. Not only was this a wonderful week for my mini-missionary, but for me as well. It was my responsibility to make sure that she was growing and learning, and also my responsibility to plan and prepare for lessons and take care of the investigators and the area book. It has been such a blessing to be placed in teaching situations in spanish and see how the Lord has filled my mouth and broadened my understanding. I am so grateful for the experiences we had this past week, people welcoming us into their home so we could teach, and others slamming the door in our faces. These experiences have strengthened our testimonies in the Lord, Jesus Christ and His restored gospel. I have a stronger understanding of why it is important to talk to everybody, to open my mouth and testify. Zone Conference was such an uplifting experience and I am grateful for the growth I have experienced this week. The youth of the church are so wonderful and so strong. They are more prepared for a life of missionary work than I ever was at their age and I am so grateful for their examples.
Sister Osborne
New investigators = 14
Contacts = 270
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