Week 48: The Spirit doesn´t speak to us with a voice of thunder, rather than with simple thoughts, what feels good and what feels right

This week was such a good week!

First of all we had changes!! I was so happy to stay for my third change here in this ward named The Conce, and I have a new companion!! And she´s my first gringa companion! Haha her name is Hermana Jones, and she went to BYU before the mission, is really cool and also did cross country so we´ve been going on runs in the morning in our exercise time. It has been funny because I have realized that I am now at the point where it feels more comfortable talking just speaking in Spanish, and so this week has been full of some good spanglish conversations. The first day it was hilarious because we were talking in English and then passed by the house of a member and I talked for about 30 seconds in English to the member without realizing it and that she was just like ummmm.... ey don andurstan...

This week I really began to learn about the importance of the spirit. As missionaries there is no goal to force information or convince people that what we believe is correct, rather to help them understand God´s eternal truths. The spirit gives us feelings of is comfort, gives us feelings of assurance of what is correct or incorrect, and gives us the desire to change who we are and we are doing. God´s eternal truths can only be understood by listening to the Spirit, so if I as a missionary am not listening to what the Spirit guides me to do or say, I can have no success.

It´s sometimes hard to know if what I am saying are really my words or the words of the Spirit, but this week I had an experience where I learned pretty clearly what it meant to be guided, or not be guided. A girl was asking a bunch of doctrinal questions, in the mission it is called "Bible bashing" because she was pulling out a bunch of things out of context to contend with the Restoration of Jesus Christ. I mistakenly thought that if I tried to convince her with other scriptures I could convince her that she was wrong, and was teaching just from my personal knowledge and getting heated up as I explained, I was contending too!! She then asked me a question that really stumped me. I had no idea what the answer was, and my mind just went blank. How weird I thought, normally the answer just pops in my head I´m able to teach cleary and simply. But then it all came down on me that I had no answer because the Spirit had left me, and luckily my companion saved it and gave the most simple and pure response that the Spirit was able to testify to her more powerfully than anything I could ever said. Let me remind you that my companion can´t roll her Rs, and what she said wasn´t anything magnificent but what it did was it brought the Spirit. It was a huge lesson to me that the Spirit doesn´t speak to us with a voice of thunder, rather than with simple thoughts that come to our head about what feels good, what feels right. After that lesson I felt horrible, and from that moment I vowed to never do anything like that again! Libre soyyy! Let it gooo, let it gooo

Also something funny that happened this week was that it started POURING rain, like serious thunderstorm and we needed to catch a bus that was just leaving and didn´t see us so we ran through mini-lake puddles literally sprinting until it stopped to drop people off and we thought oh Good it will wait for us, and then it started leaving again so you can just imagine two little gringa americans in dresses in the pouring rain running for our lives for this bus. And then I tripped and fell in the mud. And it never stopped. Good times!

I love you all!! Have a good week!

Hermana Bernal

Week 47: God Wins

This week was a really good week, a couple of highlights 

Firstly we have been seeing some MAJOR progress in the family of Ivis and Josue, as I think I explained before they have been making some huges changes within their family. This week we were able to teach about the Law of Tithing, which before Josue had commented to his wife that their savings would be too tight if they payed tithing, as we taught and read the promised blessings that we can receive from Malachias, when we challenged Josue to pay his tithing he said "I`ll pay, because I need more peace in my home, and more blessings". It is so awesome to see people understanding that in return for our faith to God, he is obligated to bless us (DC 82:10).

We had a baptism this Saturday and it was crazy because the pila water was running BLACK and last minute we had to change church buildings, and that was a huge mess because changing buildings meant we had to find transportation for everyone that was to arrive and make sure that there are clean rooms available and in the end it turned out to be huge miracle, and so many people showed up! And Ivis and Josue showed up without anyone picking them up to drive them there we still dont know how they arrived they are so awesome!!! And then Sunday we found out that the pila water had started runnning clear again... All part of Satan`s failed to plan to prevent the baptisms but God wins!! Ya!!

Then Sunday we were passing by the house of Ivis and Josue, and we were surprised to see only Ivis there, and she then told us that she had said that she didn`t want to go (and she was kidding) and Josue just responded "eso es tu rollo" or in other words "you do your thing" and then Josue and two of the little girls had already left walking to church!!!!! You guys don`t understand every week I am amazed at the change that is going on with them they are so so awesome and they are selling hamburgers this week to pay for their wedding!!! AH!!

..and then not to mention that the sacrament talks were about how to gain a personal testimony, tithing, and fasting. Everything is so inspired. I love God.

A couple of different things that I realized this week.

Before when I would read the Book of Mormon, whenever I got to chapters that talked about the doctrine of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, I feel like I didn`t really understand what I was reading and would end up missing out on really beautiful points of doctrine. This week we taught to a women who feels really weighed down by a lot of sin and like she can never receive the forgiveness of God, we shared in Alma 7:14 that says " 14 Now I say unto you that ye must repent, and be bornagain; for the Spirit saith if ye are not born again ye cannotinherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore come and bebaptized unto repentance, that ye may be washed fromyour sins, that ye may have faith on the Lamb of God, whotaketh away the sins of the world, who is mighty to saveand to cleanse from all unrighteousness.". It is such a blessing to know that no matter what we have done or how unclean we may feel, Jesus Christ is powerful to clean and purify ALL INIQUITY.

I love you!!!! have a good week!!


Hermana Bernal

Week 46: "How can I be a better leader?"

This week was super awesome, I don´t have too much time today but here is the letter that I wrote to our mission President

This week we did divisions with the Hermanas Hermana Posso and Hermana Nuñez, as well as Hermana Gomez and Hermana Moreno. I was with Hermana Nuñez, and I was really astounded by her determination and spirit that she brought. As I asked her about how she has been feeling, what goals are and things she would like to improve, she explained to me that she feels that her progress is really slow, and that at times she feels un-useful as a missionary. This astounded me because though she is timid, I loved to see how she really taught from her heart in lessons. It reminded me of the beginning of the mission when I just felt like there were so many things to focus on that I felt the same way too. But I see Hermana Nuñez as being a great leader, she right now being very humbled but I see that she will progress quickly because she wants to improve.

I really enjoyed doing divisions with Hermana Gomez. She is fearless and full of love- we talked with everyone in the street, and there was no sort of hesitation of "who will speak, who will teach" that sort of thing. That morning I had been preparing for an investigator that we were going to teach the restauration, and while I prepared the thought came to mind that we should share Hebrews 5:4 from the beginning. Before teaching that lesson with Hermana Gomez, I explained that we will focus a lot on the authority of God, but didn´t mention anything about the scripture. But, as we taught, turns out she received the same impression, and while teaching prophets she shared that same scripture! After we were both super happy to have felt the guidance of the Spirit. Hermana Gomez seems to be ready for more responsibilities. It is obvious from her studies that her spirit is hungry to learn and improve as well.

A lot of great things happened this week- we are having some difficulties with the family of the two youth that will be baptized this Saturday, but we know that it is just Satan trying to get in the way!! And we are also seeing the BEAUTIFUL progress of Josue and Ibis, they will be married in September, possibly before!!

I love the mission woo!!

Ivis and Josue are the couple that we are going to marry!!! I am so excited! And they are so prepared it´s not even funny, when we taught the word of wisdom they said that they had already stopped drinking coffee because they heard that Mormons don’t drink coffee, when we taught about Diezmos they told us they had already gotten used to obeying that law in another church, when we told them we were planning to help them out with money for the wedding they explained they already planned to start selling clothes. This week we decided to test their faith and didn´t pick them up to go to church, and they arrived. I am so excited for them.

The week before we organized a talent show in the ward, it´s kinda funny here because all of the activities in the US like the Halloween activity and Christmas, are things that we just know are coming but here we are trying to get the ward in a routine of doing monthly activities. It was such a good turn out, 70 people came and new people showed up!! But I couldn´t take any pictures....................... :P

Oh and about the Hermana Nunez that I did divisions with (she is starting out her mission, not the same hermana Nunez that was my companion) it was awesome because I remember first doing division with the hermana training leaders and they just made me feel worse because she didn’t comfort me whatsoever haha, but it felt good to be able to help out Hermana Nunez by giving her ideas to always write down her accomplishments though they might feel small, and making sure to communicate with her companion.

We went to the temple last week and before going to the temple I came with the question "how can I be a better leader?" and I learned about how in the video, Christ gives us the example of doing everything as the Father says, and reporting quickly and exactly. I realized to be a better leader, I just need to think more about doing what God asks.

I also had a light bulb moment when we were teaching the Dia de Reposo (Sabbath Day). Our Manual says: "Our conduct on the Day of Rest reflects our commitment to God". Made me reflect, what does what I´m doing the Sabbath day say about my commitment to God?

Love you all tons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! XD

Hermana Bernal