Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Live Long and Prosper

Officer's Log Stardate 2.25.2013

I have been transferred to the starship USS Bullseye, serving under the command of Captain H. P. Kirk.  We are on 1st contact mission and diplomatic relations with the people of planet Esteban.

Captain Kirk is a great leader, with dedication and devotion.  She is going to exceed expectations for the assignments here in Esteban.

We saw some of the natives in the city of Tarleton, but did not make contact.  They have a very strange reputation, which preceded them.  They wear purple robes and conceal their identity.  I am not sure of to precede.  

Agriculture appears to be the main form of survival, especially with dairy production.  

Temperatures are fairly mild, if a bit on the cold side.  


Spock out.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello Everyone,

So basically I have the coolest companion ever.  Our first day out, Hermana Potter asked me about what I did before the mission, so I started explaining about the Space Center.  And she is a trekkie.  We have been having so much fun together.  She is like Captain Kirk and I am like Spock, and we get along so well.  
I love Hermana Potter so much.  We can connect on a very academic level and I learn so much from her.  We have so much to share and learn from each other.  It is going to be an amazing transfer.  I think it is funny that I had to come to the Cowboy Capital of the World to meet Hermana Potter, and have an excellent conversation about academics and scriptures and such.  I am currently teaching her to solve a Rubik's cube in our spare time.  

Stephenville is a lot different from my other areas.  Yesterday, at church, there was only 6 people in Spanish Sacrament Meeting, including myself, my Companion, and the Bishop.  So really there were only 3 spanish members who came.  

We go to about 4 hours of church.  Spanish is only a group here, and so there is English Sacrament, classes, and then Spanish Sacrament.  

We are going to be doing a lot of member work and helping out in the Rescue as we try to build the Stephenville Spanish Branch.  (It should be split into a dependent branch soon, which will be interesting seeing as how there wasn't anyone there on Sunday).  

I was studying about the people in 4th Nephi this morning.  In verse 1, they participated in the Doctrine of Christ.  They repented, were baptized and received the gift of the Holy Ghost.  But, they didn't endure to the end, and so they fell away, and were lost.  In the last chapter of 3 Nephi, 2nd verse, it commands us to be filled with the Spirit.  It is not enough to receive the Holy Ghost once.  We have to be filled with the Spirit, and we have to always be filled with the Spirit.  We have to live worthy so as to have the spirit with us always.  Baptism is not enough.  The Doctrine of Christ without Enduring to the End is incomplete!!!

We also do a lot of English work as well.  The rule here is basically to teach who you find.
My first day we went and taught Lindsey and Austin.  Austin is a member and Lindsey is his fiancee.  They have a 4000 acre ranch, and Austin does a lot of rodeo and stuff.  They are really cool and we were able to set a baptismal date with Lindsey.  

After that we went to see Deborah.  Lindsey and Deborah are complete opposites.  The only similarity is english.  It was interesting to see the differences.  

We found a new investigator named Kenny.  He is super smart and knows the bible very well, but is very open to learning more.  He is very sensitive to the spirit, and both times when we have taught him, he just says, "wow" every time the spirit hits him strong.  It is very wonderful to teach him. 
I love Stephenville so much.  It is going to be amazing to serve here!

Nos Vemos,
Hermana Julie Anna Sanchez

Earthly Father, Heavenly Father

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Leave it better than you found it

Hola todos!
 
We are so excited for the Leon family, the ones that came to church last week.  On Tuesday, our Ward Mission Leader and his wife drove us all the way out to Decatur to teach them a lesson.  We taught them the first lesson and they loved it.  They asked us questions like, "Where should we start reading in the scriptures?"  and "Will I be ready to be baptized?  They are so amazing.  It is such a miracle that we were able to find them, or rather, that they found us! :D  They committed to be baptized on March 9.
 
We taught Claudia on Wednesday, and she is so cute!  She has been reading and praying.  Now, all she needs to do is to pray about the Book of Mormon.  She is getting close to getting an answer.  :)
 
We also taught Florencia on Wednesday.  She is the cutest old lady!  She doesn't understand when she reads very well, so we read with her.  We started with 1 Nephi 1.  We read verses 1-6, and asked her what she understood from it, and she didn't understand any of it, and asked if we could read it again.  So, we did.  We took it very slowly, and bit by bit, she may have understood a bit. 
 
We walked about 6 miles on Thursday.  Our mission president has asked us to spend one day a week without our car, so Thursday was our no car day.  And we ended up at Vanessa's house, with no way to get home, besides walking, so that is what we did.  We did make it home on time, though. ;)
 
I have loved the time I have spent here in Denton.  I have met a lot of amazing people, and I have learned a lot.  It has been a very good area.  I am very pleased to be leaving the area in much better condition than I found it in.  We arrived, and the area had not been updated in 3 months.  We have kept the area book very well updated, and we have found many more people to teach.  We are teaching good people, and helping to build up Zion here.  It has been a pleasure to serve here.
 
I am also very excited to be going to Stephenville.  This is going to be amazing!
 
Les quiero,
Hermana Julie Anna Sanchez
 
 
Top District!
 
Hermana Powell and I
 
Sisters Holiday, Rhoades, Hermana Powell and I

 


Vanessa and her family feeding us ice cream at Dairy Queen! :D
  

Enchiladas Verdes 

 

This is from Hermana Plaza. 
  • blend
    • 15 tomatillos
    • 1.5 small peppers (either cerano o jalepino)
    • garlic
    • 1/4 onion
    • chicken boullion
    • cilantro
    • salt
    • water (1.5 cups ish)
  • lightly fry white corn tortillas
    • if you don't have time you can just microwave them for a few seconds
  • Roll shredded chicken in tortillas, and place in a baking dish
  • Pour the blended salsa over the tortillas
  • top with shredded cheese
  • bake until cheese is slightly brown
  •  
  • alternatives:  layer tortillas chicken and salsa (like lasagna).  (you don't need to fry the tortillas this way)
 

caldo de pollo con verduras (chicken soup with vegetables)

 
This is a typical mexican soup, appetizer.  Sorry that it is just a list of ingredients.  It also from Hermana Plaza.
 
chicken breast
water
carrots
corn on the cob
broccoli
zuchini
potatoes
chicken boullion
salt
 

Monday, February 11, 2013

Expectations

Hola todos!
 
I have been studying a lot about hope lately.  In spanish the word for 'to hope' is esperar, which also means 'to wait' and 'to expect'.  I think that hope and expect are synonymns.  God expects us to hope for success, or to expect success.  Then he expects us to work as hard as we can for success.  Then he will bless us with miracles. 
 
This has been the pattern for the last week.  We have been expecting God to bless us with miracles, specifically with new investigators who are going to go to church, and get baptized and confirmed, and then live worthy of their covenants for the rest of their lives.  As we have been expecting this, we have been diligently praying and asking for the Lord's help, and we have been diligently working, doing all we can to find these people. 
 
And our expectations, or our hopes, are starting to be realized.  God is blessing us with miracles, and I expect him to continue to do so.  It has been an amazing week, and we have found so many new investigators. 
 
You really do get what you expect, or hope for!
 
On Tuesday, we had officially dropped all of our old investigators.  We started completely brand new, and expected miracles from the Lord.  And on Wednesday, we received one of our miracles.  We were driving to a lesson with a member (to Hector and Flor :D, they are investigators again!)  Hermana Powell got a phone call, so she answered it, and it was this really nice Hispanic man who lives near Decatur.  He had gone to the English ward in Decatur, and loved it!  But, he couldn't understand it, and really wanted to come to a church in Spanish. 
 
His name is Fransisco, and he and his family came to church on Sunday.  They drove for more than an hour to get to church, and stayed for all three hours (plus a mini-lesson after church), without ever even meeting us, or having received a lesson from us!  We are so excited for Fransisco and his wife, Teresa, and their son, Alex, and his wife, Marta!  We are going to have a lesson with them on Tuesday (our ward mission leader and his daughter is going to drive us out there).  It is going to take our entire Tuesday evening, but they are worth it! 
 
We have been finding a bunch of other investigators as well, and we are so excited for many of them.  
 
Funny story this week:  We knocked a door, and a hispanic man came out, so Hermana Powell started talking to him in Spanish.  He responded in German.  Hermana Powell didn't know what was going on, so she continued in Spanish.  Needless to say, it was quite amusing!  (We found one of the few hispanics who get offended when we speak to them in Spanish.)
 
Les quiero,
Hermana Julie Anna Sanchez
 
P.S. Moroni 7
 
 
Going bowling on P Day for Sister Powell's birthday!

 


 Nancy and I.
 
This what happens when someone from California hits 50 degree weather! :D



Here is another recipe for Pasole.  This one is from Hermana Cuevas.
  • Blend for a very long time, at least 20 minutes.
    • chile guajelocajo (These are very big and are not spicy),
    • cumin,
    • water,
    • 1 tbsp salt,
    • 2 (unfried, from the store) corn tortillas. 
  •  Boil
    • spine of pig
    • 1/2 an onion (don't chop it up, just put it in)
    • 2 tbsp salt
    • 1 tbsp chicken boullion
  • Pour the salsa into the meat mix through a strainer.  (Throw away the strained part, or save it to make chorizo)
  • Rinse 2 large cans of hominy and add to the pot.
  • Add 2 whole bay leaves.
  • Cook for a while, then serve.  (remove the bay leaves and onion)
  • Top with shredded lettuce, and chopped radishes.

Ensalada de Tuna.    This recipe is from Hermana Cuevas

pasta
corn
green beans
peas
tuna
mayo
vinager
Mix together and serve cold on tostados.

Monday, February 4, 2013

The Light of my Week!

What a good good week!  Luz got baptized! 
 
On Tuesday, it rained and rained.  There was a ton of lightning, and the rain was super heavy.  It was a lot of fun to drive in! :D
 
We set a marriage date and then a baptismal date.  We were so super excited for Tara and Victor.  Tara only speaks English and Victor only speaks Spanish, so when we teach them we have to teach everything twice, so that they can both understand.  This lesson, we divided into two mini lessons:  Hermana Powell taught Victor in Spanish for a bit, while I taught Tara in English for a bit.  Then we joined together and commited them to live the law of Chastity, and they agreed to get married on Feb 14 and baptized on Feb 16!  We were super excited.
 
But all good things have an end, and later on this week, Tara told us that they aren't ready to get married right now.  So, we will have to see what happens.  But Tara did come to church!
 
We have been tracting around our apartment complex a lot, and we have met a ton of Arabs and some Germans as well.  Who'd have thought that there would be so many poeple here who don't speak English or Spanish.  I have loved being able to communicate with almost everyone I meet.  It is really strange not to be able to communicate with the people.  I definitely love being bilingual.  It is great to be able to communicate with so many different people.
 
On Friday, I went to ZMCs (Zone Mission Council, I think).  Because Zone Leaders are always elders, they always invited two sisters to attend each month, and this month it was my turn.  Que chido!  President Sagers talked about a lot of cool things.  I felt like I was at a water fountain of gospel knowledge.  It was a really cool opportunity to attend.  There are 28 new missionaries coming out and only 6 leaving.  Our mission is really going to start growing soon.  We talked alot about setting goals and using the Book of Mormon.  The mission focus for the next month is going to be revelation through prayer, the Book of Mormon and Church attendance. 
 
Saturday Luz got baptized!   And Vanessa too!  Vanessa was one of the Spanish Elder's investigators, and I have gotten really close to her as well.  She definitely has a very special place in my heart.  The YSA sisters had a baptism as well, which means that everyone in our district had a baptism this week!  Que chido!
 
Luz and Vanessa's baptism was very special.  Both Luz and Vanessa have been coming to church very regularly for the past several months, and many of the ward members were there to support them both.  It was the most well-attended baptism I have been to so far.  I am so happy for Luz!  She glowed at the baptism, and I know that Heavenly Father is very pleased with her.  It has been such a privilege to teach Luz and help her decide to make the commitment to get baptized!  I am so very happy for her!  :D :D :D 
 
But with Luz's baptism, we have kinda run out of investigators.  Almost all of our investigators have been dropped these last two weeks, so we are kinda starting off this next week with a clean slate.  We are going to have to work very hard to find quality new investigators.  But I am expecting miracles this week, and we are going to work our hardest to do everything we can to acheive them!
 
Tara did come to church this Sunday.  Fortunately Sacrament Meeting is translated, so Tara understood that.   Then during Sunday School and Relief Society, I sat next to her, and translated everything into English for her.  It was really cool to see how much I understood.  Although, I have a confession to make, when I didn't understand everything, I started making stuff up.  Especially in Relief Society.  The maestra was very good at getting class participation, but it is hard to go back and forth between different people and different accents really rapidly and still understand what is going on, so I started making up some of the comments. :D 
 
In Sunday School we talked about the Creation, and that was fairly easy to translate, because the creation is one of my favorite subjects in the gospel, and the foundation of my testimony.  In Relief Society, we talked about Pioneers, which was a little bit harder, especially in some of the stories and such.  I don't know the stories of the Pioneers as well as I know the creation, and so it was a lot harder to fill in the gaps of the things that I didn't understand.  Oh, well, I hope that Tara got the gist of the meeting, and felt the spirit.  And that is all that really matters, anyways.  :D
 
Today is Hermana Powell's birthday, and she is very very excited.  She turns 22 today, and we are going to have a blast. We are going to go bowling and get frozen yogurt!  She is very happy that her birthday fell on a P-day!
 
Tenga un buen dia!
 
Hermana Julie Anna Sanchez
 
P.S.  Moroni 7:20-21 How can you have every good thing?
 
 
 
Hermana Powell and I, Luz and Favian, Victor, Vanessa and her children, Elder Van Dusen, Elder Brueggeman, and Elder Petersen
 
Two baptisms, one baptismal service!

Me and Hermana Powell.