Trust in the Lord's timing

August 15^th, 2016

So this week our investigator was scheduled to have a baptism on Friday. We were really excited for it and we had invited a ton of people and it was going to be great, but...due to circumstances we have to delay his baptism. That was such a bummer. The really hard thing about it is that we have no idea when he will be able to get baptized; we may have to wait a few weeks or even a few years. The night that we found out about this we were so sad and we called our Sister Training Leaders and they were able to give us words of comfort. 

It was pretty crazy though because that day we received calls from our District Leader, our Zone Leaders, and even the Assistants (in that order, too) because they all felt like they needed to call us and see how we were doing. I joked that we would be calling the prophet next :P But anyways, basically what all of our leaders told us is that we need to trust in the Lord and in His timing. He wants everyone to be baptized, and He will make it possible. Our investigator will be baptized someday, and the Lord is not saying "No he can't get baptized," rather, "Not yet." It's also really awesome that we were able to feel the love that all of our leaders have for us, and the fact that Heavenly Father knew we needed their love during that time.

And yesterday during Relief Society I learned a story about President Howard W. Hunter which also gave me comfort. Pres. Hunter's father was not a member of the Church and he didn't let him get baptized when he was 8. When Pres Hunter turned 12 he was sad that he couldn't pass the sacrament or hold the priesthood since he wasn't baptized. So he was able to convince his father to be baptized at age 12, meaning he had to wait like 4 years to be baptized, and it meant so much to him. Pres. Hunter had such a deep appreciation for the sacrament, even years later as an apostle, his fellow apostles noticed that he had a special spirit about him whenever he said the sacrament prayer. To me, that goes to show that Heavenly Father gives us trials for a reason. I told our investigator this story because I feel like he too can have a stronger appreciation for his baptism now that he has to wait longer.

We taught a less-active and his nonmember girlfriend again this week, and we love them! They are so awesome. During our lesson I really felt prompted by the Spirit to talk about the Book of Mormon and the relationship it has with the Bible. It turned out to be perfect because she's been struggling to know Joseph Smith really was a prophet, and we were able to explain the Book of Mormon in a way that has never been explained to her before. That was all the Spirit right there! The Spirit is the teacher.

They both came to church yesterday and it was so perfect for them because the sacrament meeting talks applied to them so well. The topics had to do with blessing from obedience, and how to know if the Book of Mormon is true. That's exactly what we want to teach them about tonight!

Yesterday there was another less-active sister and her nonmember husband who came to church, too. I cannot even believe the trials that they have had to go through at this time, but I was grateful that they could go to church and feel the Spirit. The Sunday School lesson was about eternal families, which I thought was perfect for them to hear.

I know that it was no coincidence that all of these topics were addressed at Church today. Heavenly Father was mindful of my needs and the needs of all the people we are trying to help.

Just a funny random story: Elder Simms was joking that we as missionaries should be following the police around since they visit the people that need the gospel the most, hahaha.

On Saturday we were biking around and we stopped and talked to a young man. He was so nice and so cool! He is Catholic but he was willing just to chat with us and ask about what we do and what we teach. We told him about prophets and about the Word of Wisdom. His friend came at one point, too, and even though he wasn't interested in learning more, he was still really nice and joking around with us. They were both blown away by the fact that we believe that there are prophets on the earth again today. They also thought it was crazy that as missionaries, we aren't paid. In fact, we pay to be here as missionaries! We were talking to them for like an hour. They were super cool and we gave Brandon as a referral to the Young Single Adult missionaries, and I hope things go well with him.

I never realized how sensitive I am to the Spirit until I came out on my mission. Like, for example I felt that our investigator wasn't going to be baptized, but I didn't know why. I can also always tell whether I'm going to be transferred or not, and most missionaries can't tell. I'm grateful that I have been able to learn how to recognize the Spirit more and more throughout my mission.

.

Love you!

Hermana Aburto

Confiar en el tiempo del Señor

15 de agosto de 2016

Pues resulta que esta semana un investigador estaba listo para bautizarse el viernes. Estábamos sumamente felices, habíamos invitado a un montón de gente y todo iba viento en popa, pero, por causas de fuerza mayor, el bautismo se tuvo que cancelar y la verdad que nos dolió mucho. Lo más duro de todo es que no tenemos ni la menor idea de cuándo podrá bautizarse, tal vez tenga que esperar semanas o incluso años. La noche que nos enteramos nos pusimos tan tristes que llamamos a las hermanas entrenadoras y ellas nos dieron algunas palabras de consuelo. 

Tan fuerte estuvo la cosa que ese día recibimos llamadas del líder de distrito, de los líderes de zona y hasta de los auxiliares del presidente (en ese orden), porque todos sintieron que tenían que llamarnos para ver cómo estábamos. Hasta dije de chiste que también íbamos a llamar al profeta. Pero bueno, en resumidas cuentas lo que todos nuestros líderes nos dijeron fue que debemos confiar en el Señor y Su tiempo, ya que Él quiere que todo mundo se bautice y Él lo hará posible. Nuestro investigador se podrá bautizar algún día y no es que el Señor diga: “no, no se puede bautizar”, sino más bien: “todavía no”. Por otra parte, fue bien lindo sentir el amor que nos tienen todos nuestros líderes y el hecho de ver que el Padre Celestial sabía que necesitábamos el amor de ellos en ese momento.

Ayer en la Sociedad de Socorro escuché un relato del presidente Howard W. Hunter que también me dio consuelo. Resulta que el papá del presidente Hunter no era miembro de la Iglesia y no lo dejó que se bautizara cuando cumplió los ocho años. Luego cumplió 12 años y se sentía triste por no poder repartir la Santa Cena ni recibir el sacerdocio debido a que no se había bautizado. Al final pudo convencer a su papá para que lo dejara bautizarse a los 12 años, o sea que tuvo que esperar cuatro años para bautizarse y eso le ayudó a valorarlo más. El presidente Hunter mostraba un gran aprecio por la Santa Cena, incluso después de haber sido apóstol durante muchos años, los demás apóstoles se daban cuenta de que él ofrecía las oraciones sacramentales con un espíritu especial. Yo eso lo veo como que Dios nos pone pruebas por algún motivo. Le conté ese relato a nuestro investigador, ya que espero que también llegue a valorar más su bautismo ahora que tiene que esperar.

En esta semana también les dimos una charla al hermano que es miembro menos activo y a su novia, y la verdad es que los queremos mucho porque son muy buena onda. Durante la charla sentí el impulso de hablar del Libro de Mormón y de la relación que tiene con la Biblia. La cosa fue que resultó perfecto, ya que ella ha tenido sus dudas en cuanto a la idea de que José Smith haya sido un profeta, pero pudimos explicarle el Libro de Mormón de una manera en la que nunca nadie se lo había explicado antes. ¡Todo eso fue obra del Espíritu! El Espíritu es el maestro.

Ayer fueron a la Iglesia y todo salió perfecto porque los discursos de la reunión sacramental les aplicaron muy bien a los dos. Los temas que se trataron fueron las bendiciones que provienen de la obediencia y cómo saber de la veracidad del Libro de Mormón. De eso es precisamente de lo que les enseñaremos hoy.

También ayer, asistieron a la Iglesia una hermana que es menos activa con su esposo que no es miembro. Me cuesta creer todos los problemas que han tenido últimamente, pero sentí agradecimiento de que hayan podido ir y sentir el Espíritu. La clase de la Escuela Dominical fue sobre las familias eternas, lo cual me pareció perfecto que ellos lo escucharan.

Sé que no fue ninguna coincidencia de que todos esos temas se trataran en la capilla. El Padre Celestial estuvo al pendiente de las necesidades de las personas a las que tratamos de ayudar.

Ahora déjenme contarles una cosa chistosa que no tiene que ver con nada: El élder Simms dijo en broma que los misioneros deberíamos andar detrás de la policía, ya que ellos van a las casas de las personas que más necesitan el Evangelio.

El sábado andábamos en la bicicleta y nos detuvimos para hablar con un muchacho que se portó muy bien con nosotras. Él es católico pero se mostró dispuesto a hablar y nos preguntó sobre lo que hacemos y lo que enseñamos. Le hablamos de que hay profetas y de la Palabra de Sabiduría. Después llegó un amigo de él y a pesar de que él no tenía interés, aún se mostró amable y bromeó con nosotros. A los dos les pareció increíble el hecho de que creemos que hay profetas en la actualidad y se impresionaron al saber que no nos pagan por servir en calidad de misioneras. ¡De hecho, uno paga para ser misionero! Hablamos con ellos como por una hora, se portaron muy bien y dimos el nombre de Brandon como referencia a los misioneros del barrio de jóvenes adultos solteros. Ojalá que haya futuro con él.

Nunca me había dado cuenta de lo sensible que soy al Espíritu hasta que salí a la misión. Por ejemplo, yo sabía que nuestro investigador no se iba a bautizar pero no sabía por qué. También siempre tengo una corazonada en cuanto a si me van a cambiar a otra área o no, y la mayoría de los misioneros no siente nada. Siento agradecimiento de que he aprendido a reconocer el Espíritu cada vez más durante la misión.

Los quiero,

Hermana Aburto

"Sing Me a Song, Elenits"

August 1st, 2016

Hey I forgot to mention that Bishop Roberts wrote me last week and he is seriously the sweetest person ever. I was really touched by the things he said about me, like how I show my genuine love for people.

So we have this investigator Rxxx who is preparing to be baptized this week. But yesterday it was really sad because he was supposed to come to church but he didn't because he was feeling sick and stressed out. I don't know, the whole thing seemed kinda odd to me, and I really hope he's doing OK. I know that, whenever something really good is going to happen, like a baptism, that's when the adversary attacks. I hope he can stay strong.

So this area is kinda hard, to be honest. My companion has been here for 2 and a half transfers now, and before I came here, she never found any new investigators. I really really don't want to sound prideful by saying this, but I have hope because ever since I got here, we have found 4 new investigators, and they've come directly from my efforts. I guess the thing is that in this area, the missionaries tend to just hang out with less-active members without spending too much time outside finding new investigators, and asking everyone for referrals. It's just interesting to me because I've always felt like I don't know what I'm doing, but with results like that, I guess I do know something!! Really, though, I give all the credit to the Lord for allowing me to learn from trial and error, and for putting those people who are ready in our path.

Recently my companion and I started taking my guitar and singing hymns while we walk around talking to people in the street. A few people actually came up to us instead of the other way around and complimented us on our singing. Music is such a super awesome way to preach the gospel!

"The most effective preaching of the gospel is when it is accompanied by beautiful, appropriate music.”-- President Harold B. Lee

Even though it is hard to find new investigators, everyone in this city is very polite. I don't remember anyone being rude to us yet, and we're like halfway through the transfer already. But it was funny because we were on the phone with our zone leaders and we told them how nice everyone is here and they were in shock. They were like, "We talk to at least 5 rude people a day in that city alone. It's because you're sisters." Elder Elliott said, "It's because you're Hispanic." Haha I don't know what that has to do with it, but OK. I have been able to speak Spanish a little, which is awesome since Spanish missionaries don't usually serve here. We also told them about our musical street contacting, and they were like, "If we sang to people they'd be even more afraid of us." Haha they just crack me up. We asked them to sing for us and they sang a peculiar rendition of "Families Can Be Together Forever."

So something that I learned recently is that, it's interesting that we as missionaries go by our last name. As a sister especially, in a few years I won't go by this last name anymore. But it made me realize that we are literally giving up a huge part of our identity, our first name, so that people can remember us as representatives of Jesus Christ. That's super cool!

We have a new investigator, Dxxx, who goes to church every week in another ward since she works there on the weekends, but we are teaching her. It's cool because the other missionaries in that ward that she's going to, are teaching her too, so we all are going to work together to teach her. She is really sweet and the other missionaries say she already thinks that she's a member of the church, so we'll have to explain to her about baptism this week. I'm excited to help her! She's had a lot of hard experiences in the past, and I'm looking forward to teaching her about the Plan of Salvation.

Whenever I'm having a hard day, I just think about the day that I will see you two again and give you a big hug. That is what gets me through every day.

It's pretty crazy that I've been out for 11 months. It doesn't feel like it...

And yes, the weather is getting a lot better now that it's not in the hundreds! The 90s actually feel good.

Here in California, people say "I'm so jelly" instead of saying "I'm so jealous," so yeah I'm so jelly that you get to watch the Olympics! Let me know how that goes.

But anyways, thank you for all of your support and kind words! All the things that you've sent me have helped me out a lot. 

Love you!!

-Hermana Aburto

P.S. I heard that Elder Moreno and Elder Rey (King) are visiting you soon? That is so punk-rock!

“Cántame una canción, Elenits”

1 de agosto de 2016

Se me olvidó contarles que el obispo Roberts me escribió la semana pasada y en serio que es una persona muy dulce. Me llegaron mucho las cosas que me dijo y de que tengo la capacidad de demostrar amor sincero hacia los demás.

Pues resulta que tenemos a un muchacho que es investigador y que está preparándose para bautizarse esta semana. Sin embargo, ayer fue un poco triste porque se suponía que iba a ir a la capilla, pero al final no fue porque estaba enfermo y estresado. No sé, todo me parece medio raro pero espero que esté bien. También sé que siempre que está a punto de suceder una cosa buena, como un bautismo, es ahí cuando al adversario ataca. Espero que este muchacho se mantenga fuerte.

Por otra parte, para ser sincera, esta área es media dificilona. Mi compañera ya lleva aquí dos cambios y medio y antes de que yo llegara ella nunca había encontrado a nuevos investigadores. En serio, en serio que no me las quiero dar de la gran cosota al decir esto, pero tengo esperanza, porque desde que yo llegué hemos encontrado a cuatro nuevos investigadores y han sido producto directo de mis esfuerzos. A mí me parece que en las áreas en inglés los misioneros como que tienen la costumbre de solo visitar a los menos activos, sin dedicar mucho tiempo a la búsqueda de personas ni pedir referencias a nadie. 

Eso es interesante, porque yo siempre me siento como que no tengo ni idea de lo que ando haciendo, pero con ese tipo de resultados supongo que sé una que otra cosa. En serio que todo el mérito se lo doy al Señor por permitirme aprender de mis errores y por poner en nuestro camino a personas que están dispuestas a escuchar.

En los últimos días, a mi compañera y a mí nos ha dado por llevar la guitarra y cantar himnos mientras caminamos por la calle. De hecho algunas personas se nos han acercado en lugar de evitarnos y nos han dicho cosas bonitas sobre nuestro canto. ¡La música es formidable para predicar el Evangelio!

“La manera más eficaz de predicar el Evangelio es acompañarlo con música hermosa y apropiada”, presidente Harold B. Lee.

A pesar de que cuesta mucho encontrar a nuevos investigadores, la gente de esta ciudad es muy educada. No recuerdo a nadie que se haya portado grosero con nosotras y ya estamos a la mitad del cambio. Una cosa chistosa es que el otro día estábamos en el teléfono con los líderes de zona y les estábamos contando de lo amable que es aquí la gente, y ellos se quedaron helados. Entonces dijeron: “Nosotros nos topamos con al menos 5 personas groseras al día en ese lugar. Lo que pasa es que ustedes son mujeres”. El Elder Elliott dijo: “Es porque usted es hispana”. Ja, ja, no sé si eso tenga que ver algo, pero en fin. También he podido hablar español con algunas personas, lo cual es padrísimo, ya que por acá no hay misioneros que sirvan en español. Además, les contamos de nuestra novedad de cantar en la calle para buscar a personas y ellos dijeron: “Pues si nosotros nos pusiéramos a cantar, la gente nos tendría más miedo todavía”. Ja, ja, eso me dio mucha risa. Entonces les pedimos que nos cantaran algo y pues cantaron, de forma muy peculiar el himno “Las familias pueden ser eternas”.

Una cosa que aprendí hace poco es que es interesante que los misioneros usamos solo el apellido. En particular, por ser mujer, puede que en unos años hasta eso pierda. Entonces eso me hizo darme cuenta de que literalmente uno renuncia a una gran parte de su identidad, el nombre de pila, para que la gente nos recuerde como representantes de Jesucristo. ¡Eso es súper buena onda!

También tenemos a una nueva investigadora que asiste a la Iglesia cada semana pero va a otro barrio que le queda cerca de donde trabaja los fines de semana, y nosotras le estamos enseñando. Es muy lindo, porque las misioneras de aquel barrio también le están enseñando, así que vamos a trabajar juntas con ellas. Ella es muy linda y las otras misioneras dicen que ella ya piensa que ya es miembro de la Iglesia, así que esta semana le explicaremos el asunto del bautismo. ¡Siento mucha emoción por ayudarle! Ella ha tenido experiencias muy difíciles en el pasado y espero poder enseñarle sobre el Plan de Salvación.

Siempre que estoy teniendo un día difícil, me pongo a pensar en el día en que los volveré a ver a ustedes dos y a abrazarlos muy fuerte. Eso me ayuda a pasar el día.

Es una locura pero ya llevo once meses y en serio que como que no parece.

En efecto, el tiempo está mejorando ahora que la temperatura ya no llega a los 100 °F (38 °C). De hecho se siente bien ahora que solo anda como en 90 °F (32 °C).

Aquí en California, la gente dice “I'm so jelly” en lugar de “I'm so jealous”, y pues sí “I'm so jelly” de que ustedes pueden ver las Olimpiadas. Por ahí me cuentan lo que pase.

De todas maneras, gracias por todo su apoyo y sus palabras. Todo lo que me han mandado me ha servido de mucho.

Los quiero,

-Hermana Aburto

P.D. Por ahí escuché que el élder Moreno y el élder Rey (King) los visitarán pronto. ¡Eso está muy punk-rock!

Taco Time

August 1st, 2016

You know what's ironic, is that I think I've eaten more tacos this week than I have my entire mission...and they are super white tacos! But they are really good!! Ha

This week was pretty good. We saw that brother again, and ever since the first time I met him I had told him to read his patriarchal blessing. I had a feeling that it would help him. So this week he finally read it after we visited him one night and then, he texted us saying that his patriarchal blessing told him exactly what he needed to hear, and he thanked me for following the prompting to have him read it. That made me so happy!

On Saturday we saw him again, and there's something that I like to do with people who probably don't pray very much. At the beginning of the lesson I'll ask them, "Would you like to offer the opening prayer or the closing prayer?" That way they have to pray "yes or yes." When I did that, he was like, "You are so aggressive. Other missionaries will be like 'Who would you like to give the prayer?' and I'll just pick one of them. You're going to be the one to take me out of rebellion." No one has ever called me aggressive before! But that gives me hope that we will be able to progress a lot with him. I invited him (forced him) to prepare a lesson for Family Home Evening tonight, so we'll see how that goes.

On Tuesday we met with a sister who's been inactive for a while. It was the first time I had met her and it was crazy because she could tell right off the bat that I am not the happiest person, and that I was struggling with sadness. She was really sweet and started crying because she didn't want me to be sad, so that was very touching. She's very welcoming and wants to feed us dinner this week, so we'll see how that goes. I really hope that we can help her because she has had a hard life, too. 

We also saw a family this week. They are an awesome family who got sealed in the temple just barely. I noticed that their walls were covered with Raiders merchandise. So just to tease them, as we were leaving I took out my 49ers lanyard and said, "Do you like my lanyard?" Brother Neely was like, "NO! ARE YOU SERIOUS? YOU ARE NEVER ALLOWED IN MY HOUSE AGAIN!" And we just drove off laughing.

I've gotten really good at asking everyone that we talk to, for referrals, and it's really paid off! Even youth or children are good people to ask, since they have friends who aren't members. And yesterday, we had dinner with a really cute young couple, and we showed them the Mormon Message "Enduring Love," which you should totally watch if you haven't seen it. Then we asked if they knew anyone who could benefit from the message, and they told us about a recent convert named Rxxx whose girlfriend is not a member. So we went right over to Rxxx house and showed him and his girlfriend the video, and it went really well! We'll be seeing them again next Sunday. They are really nice and cool people, so I'm excited to work with them.

So this week we had zone training and I got to see my old companion Sister Smith. She was just barely companions with Sister Hogan and she told me that Sister Hogan would talk about me all the time, since she loved me so much. That was so touching to me and it was an answer to my prayers. I'm so thankful that Heavenly Father keeps assuring me that I am doing a good job and that there are lots of people who care about me even when I don't believe I'm that cool.

I love you, I love you, I love you!!

-Hermana Aburto

Taco Time

1 de agosto de 2016

Es irónico, pero han de creer que esta semana he comido más tacos que los que había comido durante toda la misión… ¡y han sido tacos súper gringos! ¡Han estado buenísimos! Já.

Esta semana nos fue bastante bien. Volvimos a ver al hermano que mencioné antes y desde la primera vez ya le había dicho que leyera su bendición patriarcal porque tenía la corazonada de que le ayudaría. La cosa es que por fin la leyó esta semana, y después de que lo visitamos una tarde nos mandó un texto en el que nos dijo que había leído algo en su bendición que era justo lo que necesitaba y me agradeció por haber seguido el susurro de sugerirle que la leyera. ¡Eso me puso muy feliz!

El sábado lo volvimos a ver, y a mí me gusta hacer algo con las personas que probablemente no oran mucho: Al principio de la lección les pregunto: “¿Le gustaría ofrecer la primera o la última oración?”. De esa manera tienen que orar sí o sí. Entonces cuando hice eso con el hermano, su reacción fue: “Usted es agresiva. Porque los demás misioneros solo preguntan: ‘¿Quién quiere que haga la oración?’, y yo nomás escojo a uno de ellos. Usted es la que va a acabar con mi rebeldía”. ¡Nunca nadie me había dicho que era agresiva! Eso me da esperanza en que podremos progresar con él. También lo hice que voluntariamente a fuerza preparara una lección para la noche de hogar que tendremos hoy en la noche, así que ya veremos cómo nos va.

El martes nos juntamos con una hermana que ha estado inactiva. Era la primera vez que la conocía y fue curioso porque enseguida se dio cuenta de que no soy una persona muy alegre que digamos, y que de hecho andaba media triste. Se portó muy linda, comenzó a llorar porque no quería verme triste y eso me conmovió mucho. Ella es muy hospitalaria y quiere que cenemos con ella esta semana, así que a ver cómo nos va. Ojalá que le podamos ayudar, ya que su vida ha sido ha sido muy difícil. 

Esta semana también visitamos a una familia. Ellos son muy buena onda y hace poquito que se sellaron en el templo. Me di cuenta de que en las paredes de su casa tienen muchas cosas de los Raiders de Oakland. Solo para molestarlos, ya que íbamos de salida, saqué un llavero de esos que se cuelgan que es de los 49ers y les pregunté: “¿Les gusta mi llavero?”. El hermano se “indignó” y dijo: “¡NO! ¿EN SERIO HERMANA? ¡NO VUELVA A PONER UN PIE EN ESTA CASA!”. Nomás nos fuimos muertas de la risa.

He mejorado mi habilidad para pedir referencias a todo mundo y ha valido muchísimo la pena. Incluso vale la pena pedir referencias a los jóvenes y niños porque ellos tienen amigos que no son miembros. Ayer comimos en la casa de una pareja joven muy linda, les enseñamos el mensaje mormón “Amor duradero”, que por cierto que, si no lo han visto, véanlo. Después les preguntamos si conocían a alguien que pudiera beneficiarse de ese mensaje y no dijeron de un muchacho que se llama Rxxx que hace poco se bautizó y cuya novia no es miembro. Así que fuimos a la casa de Rxxx, le enseñamos a él y a la novia el video, y nos fue muy pero muy bien. El próximo domingo los volveremos a ver. Ellos son muy buenas personas y será un gusto trabajar con ellos.

También la semana pasada tuvimos capacitación de zona y me encontré a una de mis antiguas compañeras, la Hna. Smith. Ella hace poco tuvo de compañera a la Hna. Hogan, y me dijo que ella, la Hna. Hogan, siempre le hablaba de mí y que decía que me quería mucho. Eso me llegó y como que fue una respuesta a mis oraciones. Siento agradecimiento de que el Padre Celestial me sigue confirmando que estoy haciendo las cosas bien y que hay mucha gente que me quiere, con todo y que a veces siento que no doy el ancho.

¡Los quiero mucho, mucho, mucho!

-Hermana Aburto

The Return of the King

July 25th, 2016

All right so I have served in this English area for about a week now. Honestly...it's weird!! I don't mean that in a bad way but it just feels so different than Spanish work. I almost feel like I'm serving in an entirely different mission. But it's cool!

First things first, though. Last Monday was my last day in Ceres, and Hna Gundersen and I got to visit our investigators. Before we went to visit them, she and I were talking about how we think our investigators don't realize how much we love them, because they are the only constant people in our lives. As missionaries we don't get to visit our families ever; we can't even visit other missionaries whenever we want, so really the thing that we get to look forward to is visiting the investigators that we love. So we were thinking that our investigators didn't know how much we cared about them. So anyways, we went over last Monday to see them one last time. We told them that we were both leaving the area and that some new missionaries would be coming in to teach them. Then we asked the brother to give an opening prayer, which he said beautifully as always, and to my surprise after he prayed his mother was in tears. She was really sad that we were leaving. So we were touched by the fact that she loves us too! At the end of our lesson with them, we asked the sister to give the prayer but she couldn't because she just started bawling again. So Hna Gundersen said the prayer and we all really felt the sweetness of the Spirit. 

Last time I checked, the little dog Manchas was recovering well. I don't know if he'll ever be quite the same again but it is seriously such a miracle that he is still alive!

OK so about this week:

With being transferred to an English area: I was really looking forward to eating American desserts, and I have not been disappointed haha. We had homemade ice-cream and chocolate chip cookies yesterday and that was the best!!

But in all seriousness, we have been working with a less-active member. We've only met with him twice so far, but he is already one of my favorite people that I've met on my mission. He is so good at reading people; he correctly guessed which type of music is my favorite (classic rock), and he can tell when I get anxious or thoughtful or really any emotion that I'm feeling. Also, yesterday I asked him to guess how long I've been serving my mission and he guessed that I'm about half-way done, which is right since I'm 10 months out. I asked him how he guessed and he said that I wasn't shy and that I had confidence. That really surprised me since I know for a fact that I still am very shy and I always feel like I don't know what I'm doing, but he said that even though I may not be overly confident, I still have guts. That was actually really touching to me--he probably doesn't know how much that means to me but it really helped because I know that he was being 100% honest, and he is such a smart guy who knows what he is talking about.

Also, thank you for everything that you have mailed to me. It really has been such a big help and I feel a lot better now.

This week we had dinner at a family's house, and they say that they aren't a "typical Mormon family" (but really, is there such thing as a normal family??) because they are really loud and most of the family is inactive. But anyways, I saw that their piano was really old and some keys didn't work, but I felt like I needed to play it. So I played some hymns an octave higher (meaning that I used high notes to make it sound soft and sweet) and the mom hadn't been in the room, but when she came in she was amazed that someone was playing the piano! She thought it was the radio, since her kids don't play the piano ever. The Spirit was definitely there and she started getting teary-eyed, and her children even sang along, which they probably don't do very often. I'm really happy that music has a way to touch people's hearts.

Yesterday was my first Sunday in this new ward, and there was a visitor at church! Elder King!! He finished his mission in...March I think? And he came back to visit. He is seriously the most perfect missionary ever, and the nicest human being! He is so nice and was bragging to the ward mission leader about how he served with me and that I am such a solid missionary that I had to train myself. Haha, he is so cool!

Also I totally forgot to tell you but a brother we used to visit would say something like, "Así está la situation" the same way that Papi says it hahaha.

Love you,

Hermana Aburto

The King has returned

 

These pictures crack me up. He must not be used to taking selfies haha

El rey ha vuelto

25 de julio de 2016

Pues bien, ya llevo una semana sirviendo en esta área; pero, honestamente, ¡es medio raro! No lo digo de mala forma, pero simplemente se siente bien diferente que servir en español. Es como si estuviera sirviendo en una misión totalmente distinta. ¡Pero es padre!

Primero lo primero: El lunes pasado fue mi último día en Ceres, y con la Hna. Gundersen visitamos a nuestros investigadores. Antes de ir a visitarlos, la Hna. y yo comentamos un poco en cuanto a que nuestros investigadores no se dan cuenta de cuánto los queremos y eso se debe a que son las únicas personas con las que estamos constantemente en contacto. En calidad de misioneras no podemos ver a nuestra familia y ni siquiera visitar a otros misioneros o misioneras en el momento que queramos. Es por eso que siempre sentimos anhelo por visitar a los investigadores que tanto queremos. La cosa es que estábamos pensando que esta familia no sabía cuánto nos preocupamos por ellos. Así que el lunes pasado fuimos a verlos por última vez. Les dijimos que nos iban a cambiar de área y que otras misioneras irían a enseñarles. Luego le pedimos al hijo que ofreciera una oración para comenzar y la hizo muy bonita como siempre. Para mi sorpresa después de la oración la madre tenía lágrimas en los ojos, porque estaba muy triste de que nos habían cambiado. Nos conmovió el hecho de que pudimos sentir que ella también nos quiere. Al final de la lección le pedimos a la hermana que ofreciera la oración, pero simplemente no pudo, porque luego luego comenzó a lloriquear. Así que la Hna. Gundersen hizo la oración y todos sentimos la dulzura del Espíritu.

Lo último que supe del perro Manchas es que se está recuperando. No sé si volverá a ser el mismo de antes, ¡lo cierto es que es un verdadero milagro que todavía esté vivo!

Ahora déjenme contarles de esta semana:

Como ahora me cambiaron a servir en un área en inglés, tenía muchos deseos de comer postres gringos, y la verdad es que no me ha ido tan mal. Ayer comimos helado casero y galletas con chispas de chocolate horneadas en casa, ¡y fue algo fenomenal!

Hablando en serio, hemos estado trabajando con un miembro menos activo. Solamente lo hemos visitado dos veces pero ya es una de mis personas favoritas que he conocido en la misión. Es muy bueno para analizar a las personas; por ejemplo, pudo adivinar correctamente mi tipo de música favorita (rock clásico), e inmediatamente se da cuenta cuando me pongo inquieta o pensativa, o cuando me embarga una emoción de cualquier tipo. Ayer le pedí que adivinara cuánto tiempo llevo en la misión y dijo que como la mitad, lo cual es correcto porque ya llevo 10 meses. Le pregunté cómo había adivinado y dijo que porque no era tímida y que se puede ver que transmito seguridad. Eso me sorprendió muchísimo, ya que tengo la certeza de que aún soy tímida y siempre me siento como que no tengo ni idea de lo que estoy haciendo, pero él agregó que a pesar de que no parezco tener exceso de confianza aún tengo valor para hacer las cosas. Realmente me llegó lo que me dijo y probablemente él ni siquiera se dio cuenta de lo mucho que significan sus palabras, las cuales me ayudaron porque sé que las dijo con toda honestidad; además, es un tipo inteligente que sabe lo que dice.

Por cierto, gracias por todo lo que me han mandado; todo me ha servido muchísimo y ahora me siento mucho mejor.

En la semana fuimos a comer con una familia, y cuando llegamos nos dijeron que no eran “la típica familia mormona” (¿acaso existe una familia que sea normal?) porque son muy escandalosos y la mayoría de los integrantes son inactivos. La cosa es que en su casa tienen un piano viejísimo y algunas de las teclas ya no sirven, pero como que me entraron ganas de tocar. Así que me puse a tocar algunos himnos una octava más alto de lo normal (o sea con notas más altas para que se escucharan suaves y dulces). Entonces, la mamá, que andaba por otra parte de la casa, se asomó y se sorprendió de que alguien estuviera tocando el piano. Dijo que pensaba que era la radio, porque sus hijos ¡se ocuparan de tocar el piano! Sin duda que el Espíritu se hizo presente y a la mamá se le empezaron a llenar los ojos de lágrimas. Los hijos incluso se pusieron a cantar algunos de los himnos, lo cual probablemente no hacen tan a menudo. Me da mucha felicidad que la música tenga el poder de tocar el corazón de la gente.

Ayer fue mi primer domingo en mi nuevo barrio, y, ¡llegó una visita! ¡¡El élder King!! Él acabó su misión creo que como en marzo pasado y había venido de visita. De veras que él es el misionero perfecto y un gran ser humano. Es muy buena onda y al líder de la obra misional del barrio le estaba presumiendo que había servido conmigo y que yo soy tan buena misionera que incluso me había entrenado sola. ¡Eso estuvo bueno, es muy lindo!

También se me pasó contarles que un hermano a cada rato dice: “Así está la situation”, de la misma forma que lo dice papi, ja, ja, ja.

Los quiero,

Hermana Aburto

El rey ha vuelto

Estas fotos me dan risa. Como que él no está acostumbrado a tomar selfis.

What is life?!

July 18^th, 2016

We received our transfer calls yesterday!

I knew that I was leaving!

But there's still a plot twist! As usual...

I'm going to serve in English!!! I will be companions with Sister Miller. We'll see how that goes. That's crazy unexpected though. It reminds me of that quote from Ratatouille that goes something like, "The only thing predictable about life is it's unpredictability."

Sister Gundersen is leaving too, which was strange since we thought at least one of us would be staying.

Anyways, this week I have a story to tell, which may be kinda weird but bear with me.

One day we were walking with one of the sisters in our branch, so that she could accompany us to see some investigators. She is really awesome, but she has been having a really hard time in her life right now, and the one thing that gives her the most happiness in her life is her dog, Manchas. As we were walking, her dog suddenly caught up to us since he had escaped from their front yard. So he followed us as we kept walking, and he's followed us before, so we didn't think much of it. But then we heard this loud noise on the street and I looked and saw Manchas get run over by a car. This sister started freaking out and bawling and took Manchas in her arms and it was just awful. My companion and I were just in shock. I don't want to go into details of his injuries but he was dying in her arms, and we all cried and didn't know what to do. Then a very nice woman saw us and she called the vet and took this sister and Manchas to the vet, since we missionaries couldn't since we don't have a car, and it was late in the evening so we couldn't go at all. After they left, my companion and I prayed and were just so sad for this sister since we knew how much she loved this little dog. It was so depressing. The next morning I studied about death to receive comfort, but then when we called this sister she told us that Manchas was still alive, and that he was at home. I seriously cannot believe that he survived. It's obvious to me that God was watching out for this sister, and I'm so grateful to know that anything that is important to us is important to God.

Yesterday we stopped by a member's house, and the young daughter Brianna, who's like 12 or something, offered to come with us as we knocked on doors. She is seriously so awesome! She was testifying without any fear and she was super nice to everyone we talked to. She will for sure be an awesome missionary someday.

Best news for last: Our investigators came to church yesterday for the first time!!! We had arranged for a member to give them a ride, and when we got to church and saw them there I seriously was so happy I freaked out a little haha. They seemed to like it! The wife said she wants to come back next week. Sister Gundersen and I are kinda sad that, since we're both leaving, we won't get to see them progress more. We pray that the missionaries and the members here will take good care of them.

Love you,

Hermana Aburto

Painting at an investigators house

With some children

District picture

Elder Rivera, Elder Eager, Elder Williams, Elder Bonola, Sisters Pratt, Arevalo, Waters, Pimentel, me, Gundersen

Me and my comp

Keeping Busy

July 11, 2016

This week we went to teach Paula and her son Luis again. They are seriously so awesome! They are still reading the Book of Mormon and Luis is still doing so well with his prayers. We taught them about the Holy Ghost and how to receive revelation, and we also taught about the Ten Commandments. I truly believe that they will get baptized someday.

Our investigator Irene took a big step this week to progress towards baptism. She is kind of struggling since the decision she had to make was very difficult but I have no doubt in my mind that she will be blessed and that things will work out somehow, someway. 

It has been tough lately because for the past two days, every appointment that we had canceled. And yesterday a Jehovah's Witness was arguing with us for like half an hour, and he wouldn't listen to our message at all but he was just being a nuisance. He was first arguing about how Jehovah is God, not Jesus. We've had that subject come up a lot lately. So we basically have not been able to catch a break and it's been kind of rough.

This week we also visited our recent convert Norma, who was baptized in March but she is so solid you'd never guess that she's only been a member for a few months. She is the sweetest person ever.

I saw an ad for Finding Dory and it actually made me kind of homesick haha. I guess it's because I feel like I grew up with Finding Nemo and I wish I could go to the movies with you guys, but I know that we'll have good times when I get home.

I don't even know what else to write, it's just been so exhausting lately. 

Next Sunday we get our transfer calls, so I'll see whether I'm staying here or not.

Love,

Hermana Aburto

P.S. In Turlock there's this frozen yogurt place named Brain Freeze which I will take you to someday; it's the best!

Transition to Bikes

July 4th, 2016

So the transition between having a car to just being on bikes has been interesting...

Because of the fact that we had too many investigators, we felt the need to give some of ours to the other Ceres sister missionaries in our branch. So our teaching pool was basically cut in half after that, but then some of the investigators that we kept were not progressing so we had to drop them too. So we've been doing lots of biking and we've talked to a lot of people in the street but we didn't find any new investigators this week. I can't believe how dramatic a change that has been...but I'm not discouraged. I still know that it was an inspired decision to take our car away, and I have faith that we can still do missionary work effectively.

It is so stinkin' hot though! When it drops down to the 90's it feels kinda good since we're so used to it being in the 100's. But still, I've never sweat this much in my entire life. We drink lots of water though and Sister Gundersen's friend sent these towel things that we can wear while we bike to stay cool.

Yesterday we contacted a referral and it was a young couple. They don't really believe in God, but the lesson that we had with them was so interesting. They understood that the Bible isn't completely accurate, that some government had taken away certain parts and kept the parts that they liked. They knew about the Book of Mormon already but we explained it again to let them understand that the Book of Mormon only has one translation and so it sort of "skipped" what the Bible went through (getting manipulated by man, I mean). The wife said that you can't know a spiritual experience until you have one, and she's right. We explained that that's why it's so important to search, ponder, and pray because that is what opens the door to revelation. We left them some chapters to read in the Book of Mormon, and even though we may not go back to teach them, our lesson with them was a very good spiritual "touchpoint" as President Palmer would say.

We also have this investigator who has cancer and she is so incredibly skinny I can't even believe it, and we hadn't been able to see her for weeks because she was always in the hospital. We finally got to see her again this week, and she was SMOKING. Seriously woman, you have lung cancer and you're smoking!! We taught her the Word of Wisdom, and committed her to live it, but the next day she was still smoking. It made us so sad.

We are still helping Irene to prepare for baptism. I don't remember if I've told you about her, but her situation is pretty complicated. She really does want to get baptized though and we are so proud of her for truly wanting to fix her situation so that she can make that covenant with Heavenly Father. 

To answer your question, I haven't seen Luis or Laura at all since I left Hughson :( They haven't come to church or anything. I don't really know what's going on with them but I do want to mail them a letter or something to let them know that I still love them.

And yes, I'm still using my musical talents. I'm still playing the organ in the branch, and I've been teaching Sister Gundersen a little bit of the guitar.

I love you!

-Hermana Aburto

P.S. Did you ever see Kung Fu Panda 3, or Finding Dory? Or any new superhero movies?