12-29-14 Happy New Year everyone

Hola!!

Well I absolutely loved talking with the family on Christmas! It was pretty unreal. What's funny is that an hour later we were out working and I had forgotten that it had happened. I said to Sis. Tait, 'Sister, did we just talk to our families?" Although she confirmed that yes it actually happened, I still think I just had a crazy realistic dream. haha :)

This last week was awesoommmmeeee! Christmas was a blast and I ate way too much. Thanks to everyone who sent me something or wished me a merry Christmas. I am full of gratitude for my amazing family and the support I have. I love you!

Most of our investigators and members were out of town this past week, so I'm pretty surprised by how fast it passed by.

Yesterday Sis. Tait and I felt a little frustrated with our area because we lost one of our 2 progressing investigators to unfortunate family circumstances and have been having a hard time finding people. It's completely the typical missionary struggle. Literally every missionary goes through times like this, I think. The important thing is to have faith and keep working hard. We cannot measure our success by numbers of investigators or anything like that. Our success is in our dedication to the work. And so, dedicated I will be! God's trying to teach us a lot right now and I'm determined to figure out what it is and grow so I can be a better tool in His hands.

I'll finish with a probably-not-that-funny but really-funny-to-us story. On the 23rd we saw a family we've been teaching and they gave us some tamales they made for Christmas.

**Everyone makes tamales for Christmas here. Not just the Mexicans. I guess it's become a Texas thing? I'm ok with it.**

Anyway. They gave us tamales. About an hour later we decided to eat some because we hadn't had dinner and were pretty hungry. We just stood outside our car in the dark and in the wind, stuffing tamales in our mouths. Funniest picture. It was super windy and we were trying to eat as fast as we could so we could get back in the car and go. And thus was born our new saying of "tamales in the wind." We'll probably form a band with that as it's name one day. Watch the headlines.

I love you all and hope you have a great new years and stay safe!! Everyone go watch Elder Holland's BYU speech "Remember Lot's Wife." Super pow pow and perfect for the new year.

Adios!

Hermana Lance

                                          Our apartment's cooler than your apartment

                                                              This is my island.

                                                     The view from our apartment

                                 Our advent calendar...We love it. Thank you Amy!!

12-22-14 Merry Christmas everyone!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

super pumped for skype. but not distracted, of course!

This past week has been pretty awesome. This time of the year is amazinggg. especially getting to serve the Lord Jesus Christ at the time we celebrate his birth. Such a cool feeling.

The last week there were probably 3 or 4 main highlights. 1-Ashley 2-Will 3-Christmas conference 4-irony

Ashley is 14 and is the niece of the Reyes family that's living with them. and who now has a baptismal date! She's going through some hard times and we were able to help her out and help out the Reyes fam. We're not teaching the family more until they come to church, but now we're teaching Ashley. funny situation, right?

Will is a 25-year old guy who has lotsss of questionssss. It's awesome! We taught him about the BOM and he had tons of questions about why we need another witness of Christ, prophets, baptism, you name it. It was challenging but really fun. He basically just soaks it up without accepting it till he knows it for himself. which I respect a lot.

We had our Christmas zone conference on Friday and that was a BLAST. We had some great trainings by Presidente Maluenda and Hermana Maluenda. Then we got to watch a video with pictures from the missionaries from 2014 and then a video of family pictures/baby pictures of every missionary. Lots of fun. Then every zone (there were 4 there) did a skit and we had a gift exchange before ending with more training. I laughed so hard I lost my voice.

Now for the irony. So I've been gradually getting sick since last Monday. I think it was all that singing. Our zone's skit for the conference was about "elder george bailey" and he had "Clarence the angel" show him how he'd made an impact in his mission because he was feeling discouraged. 

Elder Bailey affected me and sis tait because he brought pudding to a district meeting so we didn't get bronchitis. (ain't nobody got time for that) So, we pretended to turn down a musical number from president and sang horrifically. And in reality my throat hurt and I could barely sing. Now I've got a decent chest cold (don't worry I'm fine!). What's ironic is that on Sunday I was technically supposed to be in 4 spur-of-the-moment musical numbers. But I couldn't. Because I couldn't really talk to well. let alone sing. The skit kind of became a reality for me. And so I let my district leader know that I'm going to be needed some pudding at our meeting this week. :)

I hope you all have an amazing week and seek out those who need a little extra Christmas cheer!

Love,

Hermana Lance

PS I got several packages and letters from family for Christmas: THANKS SO MUCH!! I LOVE YOU!! also I'm doing my best to wait to open the packages till Christmas. #dedication

PPS I hit my six month mark and burned a skirt!! woo! time flies and it's not real life.

Also I'm having struggles uploading pictures. I'll send some next week! sorry!

12-15-14 Happiness, no matter what!

Happy 10-days till Christmas! 

I hope everyone is doing marvelous! I know I am. actually this week I've been doing some soul-figuring out and getting sick and stressing out. BUT. I feel great. and I'm not just faking it or pretending to be noble. I'm bearing my testimony of the power of God. because even though I'm weak and all that's been happening, I've been able to still feel truly content and happy. That's the power of the gospel, people. HAPPINESS. NO MATTER WHAT. who wouldn't want that? blows my mind.

Anyway! I forgot to rant last week about a little thing called musical numbers and rumors. If you know me well, you know that I love belting songs, but don't love performing for lack of talent/confidence. You know what God did this last week or so? He basically said, "Sister Lance, I want you to stretch yourself and do more than you think you can." And so what did He do? He gave me the chance to sing with Sis Tait at zone meeting. Then our zls spread the rumor that we're musical, and told some women in the stake. Then last pday we got a call and got roped into a musical number for a STAKE MUSICAL FIRESIDE. then our bishop asked us to put something together with the young women for next week. Then on an exchange I got thrown into the stake choir and another musical number. And so. Stress. prayers. and a sore throat. BUT. all went well. God teaches us things in all sorts of ways. 

One thing I learned is to not limit God. Because really that's impossible. But if we think that we can't do something, that's us not trusting in God and His ability to use us for His purposes. Self-doubt is something I've been struggling with. But guess what! that's really not good because if I doubt my own capabilities, it's like I'm doubting God's power. Not very faithful, is it? And so I'm working on it. We all have moments like that. But just remember, God is ALL-POWERFUL. todopoderoso. Don't try to hold Him back. trust him and jump in with two-feet! And watch Him work :)

Everyone make sure to share the light of Christ, especially in this wonderful time of year. The pure joy of the gospel needs some sharing these days. 

I love you all! Merry Christmas!

Hermana Lance

                                     

                   #1: the sunrise this morning. This is in the parking lot of my apartment. I live in heaven.

#2: The ladies we performed with yesterday. Sis. Tait played the piano and the three of us sang.

                                       

                                            #3: Elder Santa Clause and Elder Elf at the ward part

12-8-14 Miracles, people!

Hola a todos! 

Well this week was just delightful. Well, every week is, but I had a better attitude this one, so that's always great! It's cool how your attitude matters so much. It's not like I've been sulking or murmuring or anything, but I'm really trying to enjoy everyday. Even when the Reyes family doesn't come to church and you're tempted to throw a mini tantrum. :) 

This week we found a girl named Brittany. She's 20 and super ready for the gospel. only problem is that after the first lesson she disappeared. But don't worry. We'll find her. God's got a plan. :) 

Last night was an awesome night because Caroline (the woman from Honduras) called us. That's right. She's been in Houston for over a month and she just got back and she CALLED US. Also we have no clue what she said on the phone because Spanish is still a struggle. But it's all good. We've got an appointment. that much I can do. MIRACLES, PEOPLE.

Besides that, things have been pretty low-key. We had a zone meeting on saturday and I got Amy's package---Thanks Amy(and family)!! I was super excited to get an advent calendar of my own and it's hanging up in our apartment. :) 

Really all I have to say is that my testimony is growing everyday. This is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I know it. I know that through the atonement we can receive the forgiveness and strength we need to get through every struggle we face. Really lately I've just felt SO HAPPY. for no reason other than the influence of the spirit and the gospel. Also because Christmas is coming! A world-wide focus on Christ. the best. The light of Christ is shining brighter than normally and I LOVE IT.

I love you all and hope everything goes well this week! 

Love,

Hermana Lance

PS I literally forget it's December till I realize there are Christmas decorations everywhere. Yesterday is was in the sixties and I was freezing. hahaha...

PS we went to Five Guys last Monday as a district. We definitely asked for mayonnaise and mixed it with ketchup to make fry sauce. It was a very Utah moment and very delicious. Don't mind the photo struggles. we had several cameras and aren't skilled enough to coordinate. :)

12-1-14 Welcome December!

HOLA!

It's december, guys. that just hit me. how is it possible? I really don't know.  time is FLYING. as all missionaries and human beings say. :)

sounds like Thanksgiving with the Oswald's was great, as always. I'm glad :) Thanksgiving here was good too! We had a great dinner with an amazing member from my ward here and her family. Besides that the day was pretty boring and slow as a missionary because of the whole holiday thing, but it's all good. it was great still!

This week was actually pretty difficult for me and Sis. Tait. mainly we just felt like we were hitting a wall all week as we tried our best to do what the Lord wanted us to do. Good news is that we finished the week off strong and learned a lot. We learned about missionary work, ourselves, and the way the Lord works. So although it was a numerally-bad week, it was still very valuable in the progression of this area, in my opinion. Now it's time to apply those lessons and get every aspect of the work to improve.

Also, looks like I'm staying on North Padre for another transfer! that's right. transfers already. luckily I'm staying here and get to finish training sis. Tait. I feel like I have a lot of work to do here still and I'm excited to get another transfer here.

Spanish is going alright. Whenever I do get transfered, I hope it's to an area with a lot of Spanish. Because here my spanish isn't needed much, and so it's naturally not progressing as quickly. It's all good though. I'm still improving and will be grateful for the time I had to learn before getting thrown into an all-spanish environment. :)

Well I hope that everyone has a great week and is super excited about Christmas! It's an amazing time of year and I hope we all get to know our Savior a little better this season. The church has produced an amazing video called "He is the Gift" for Christmas. It's similar to the easter one they did, "Because of Him." Everyone go watch it and share it with your friends! You won't regret it. :)

All my love,

Hermana lance

11-24-14 Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Hello everyone! 

Happy Thanksgiving this week! 

So as I mentioned last week, we had a general authority come and speak to us! It was Elder Foster of the seventy. and it was AMAZING. I don't think I've ever received so much revelation at a time before in my whole life. Our zone leaders had us read our patriarchal blessings the night before and bring three questions with us to the meeting. Other meetings that I've brought questions, I've received answers, but usually they're vague and I have to discern them from the spirit. This meeting, with Elder Foster, however, my questions were answered very specifically and directly. It was insane! For example, one of my questions was "How can we start a fire under our ward/investigators?" At one point Elder Foster told us an analogy and HOW TO START A FIRE. the answer? kindling. So simple and yet so mind blowing. 

He talked a lot about the work of salvation and I learned a LOT. At the end he emphasized how God knows and loves each of us individually. How God knows us BY NAME. The spirit was very strong as we closed with one of my favorite songs: A Child's Prayer. I felt God's love for me as I sang the words to that song and it just hit me how special each of us is to our Heavenly Father. It's hard to grasp the infinite love that He has for us, but I know that it's real. I'm only starting to get a taste of that love as I serve the people here in Corpus Christi and it is rich and sweet. Something Elder Foster told us was that everything we do should be motivated by love. Pretty good idea for servants of the Lord, right? 

Anyway, that was definitely the highlight of my week. Spiritual outpouring. 

Besides that the only exciting thing that happened was that we helped clean a very dirty apartment and I got really good at coexisting with cockroaches. Also a rat ran into Sis. Tait's foot. #memories

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving and really stop to give thanks to our Heavenly Father for all He has blessed you with. 

I love you!

Hermana Lance

I got to see Elder Sherman, who's from the good ole Edgemont South Stake in Provo! Weird seeing someone you know from home, but fun!    #tbirds 

Sister Tait and my beloved Sister Sarmiento Wolff and her trainee. So much love!

Sister Emily Lance and Sister Sarmiento Wolff

11-17-14 WIND OUT OF THIS WORLD

Holaaa! 

Well, this past week our leaders had a three-day training in McAllen, so we didn't have any meetings till Saturday!! It was amazing. Don't get me wrong, I love our meetings. I learn lots and love being with the missionaries. The only problem is that we don't have as much time to proselyte and teach, especially since we live pretty far from the chapel and have driving time tacked on as well. So we were very grateful for the chance to just work all day long! Even when none of your investigators are progressing, there's still so much to do. So we had a busy, meeting free week. It was great!

This past week was pretty cold again. Definitely not as cold as in Utah, though! Burrr. It was in the 40's here and I felt like I was in Washington or something. Misty rain, really humid, Tons of wind, chilled to the bone. especially when you're riding a bike in a skirt. But it's ok cause at least it's not snowing! :) The weird part was that it went from 70's to 40's overnight. Today it will be in the 50's with WIND OUT OF THIS WORLD. Adjusting isn't a real thing. 

This morning was really funny because it was extremely windy and pretty cold. I felt like I was in a vortex of humid, sandy, and cold air. Quite the combination. Especially with hair like mine. (ps my hair is super long. mission miracles. :D )  Hermana Tait and I definitely laughed at ourselves a bit. 

As far as the work goes, our investigator from Honduras is out of town for the month (bummerrrr.) and the rest of them are not progressing. We're really trying to light a fire under them so they realize just how amazing this gospel is and start acting. Also we're trying to find more investigators because we just know someone is out there on the island, just so prepared for the gospel and longing for 2 sister missionaries to knock at their door and help them find what they've been looking for. :) 

This week we have a general authority coming to talk to us! I'm excited. He's a member of the seventy, I believe. It should be a great opportunity to learn and receive revelation for my area. I can't wait! 

This past week I reread President Monson's talk from general conference about walking as the savior walked. This really spoke to me this week. I want to invite all of you to read it/watch it/ listen to it this week. You won't regret it :) 

That's all for this week! I love you all! hope you're all doing really well and are always striving to walk as the Savior walked :) 

Love,

Hermana Lance

PS tomorrow is my 5-month mark. Pretty unbelievable, seeing as I've been here for about five minutes. 

Don't freeze to death!

Also here's a picture of one of the greatest sunsets I've ever seen.

11-10-14 Manna from Heaven

Hello, hello! How are you all? 

This past week was grreeaatt! Hard, of course, but really great. Lots of daily miracles. We even received manna from heaven. no joke. There's a german bakery on the island and through a member friend of the owner, we got to go and get their left over bread on Friday. We're talking three huge flour sacs FULL of delicious german bread, people! Sis. Tait and I are real big fans of bread, so we definitely had a wonderful time. Luckily we had zone meeting the next day and we gave most of it away to the other missionaries, but don't worry. we still have lots in our freezer.
You know the scripture in the bible about tithing and how if we pay it we'll receive more blessings than we have room to receive? that's what our bread blessing felt like. God is very good to his missionaries. :) 

Spanish is coming along. haha. we try to speak it as much as we can together, which is limited because of our lack of knowledge, but we try! haha. Language study consists of many things. haha. we have grammar books we work out of and do activities and practices together and test each other on vocab. everyday is a little different :) also Spanish lessons with real people hardly exist. we teach this very old mexican lady sometimes. She's cute but MUMBLES. We just smile and pretend we understand. it's cool. and now we have Carolina! great stuff. 

Guess what I found out!! Turns out it's not a rule that everything has to be sent to the mission office. I think Sis. Sarmiento Wolff just thought that cause all the mail she gets is from Chile and stuff. I dunno. but ya! packages are safer if you send them to the mission office because otherwise they sit outside our door till we get home, buttttttttt ya! woo!! fun fact. whoop whoop! 

So once a week we go to Port Aransas, a small fisherman's town that is about a 25 minute drive from North Padre. This week when we went, we taught a lady from Honduras! in Spanish. and she accepted a baptismal date!! Milagros. The gospel must be true if two very new missionaries can teach someone in broken Spanish and have them want to be baptized. That was a cool experience cause it was Sis. Tait's first BD and it was in Spanish! in Corpus! so awesome. 

As I briefly mentioned above, we had our zone meeting this past Saturday. We had some great trainings and then we got in a circle and all of us bore our testimonies of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The spirit was very strong and I loved every second. I have a strong testimony of the atonement, and it's growing more and more every day. As missionaries, we're responsible for A LOT of things and we make A LOT of mistakes. I'm so grateful that even though I make a lot of mistakes and that it's hard, I can be forgiven and keep moving forward and progressing. The atonement is real. Its healing power and its enabling power know no bounds. We are so incredibly blessed to have access to such infinite power. I cannot fully express my gratitude for it. I love my God and my Savior!

I'm loving being a missionary and learning so much everyday. Thanks for all of your prayers and support, I need it. :) I love you all!

Hermana Lance

PS This past week got pretty stormy and chilly. That's what I get for sarcasm. haha :)

Sorry these pictures are kinda crumby. 

HAHA

                                               

                                                               Manna from Heaven

                                               

11-3-14 Cold front in the 70's

Hello all!

Como estan?

Things are going great down here in Texas. This last week we had a bit of a cold front and lots of wind. Cold front meaning the low 70's. It was roughhh. Good thing it's back up to the 80 degrees so we don't completely freeze! That was a close one. (I hope you all appreciate my sarcasm and slight depression because I really did get cold. haha) The other night I definitely had some hot chocolate. Don't judge me.

This week was pretty normal. None of our investigators are really progressing, so that's a bummer, but we're seeing lots of daily miracles that are keeping us going. No one said this work would be easy (in fact everyone said the opposite), and that's ok with me! The slower, harder times make us strong and refine us. We're going to keep working hard and we know we'll have success. Patience is key :)

If you ever want an incredible example of fighting through pain to reach success, take a look at Genesis 32:24-28. This is when Jacob gets his new name of Israel. He wrestles with an angel and even though his hip gets dislocated, he fights all through the night and demands his blessing. SUCH A BOSS. "At the end of pain is success." -Eric Thompson, motivational speaker.

Sorry this is kind of short but I don't have a lot of time. Asi es la vida de los misioneros, verdad?

Love you all! Have a great week!

Hermana Lance

PS: Soul-mate update: Sis. Tait has a small bladder too. We're literally a match made in heaven.

PPS Lisa is moving to a different part of Texas. so that's a bummmerrrr. I still love her though. Don't worry she'll be active forever. :)

10-27-14 New Companion!

Hello, all!

Well I'm sure you're all dying to know about my new companion. Wait no longer! Her name is Sister Tait and I think we're soul mates. She's from Ceder City, UT and went to the U of U for a year before coming out here. (don't worry we're past the BYU vs UofU thing already) She played volleyball in high school and we have similar senses of humor. I love her! Plus she's got a powerful testimony and is ready to work hard. It's awesome! We're both working a lot to improve and become the best missionaries ever. I think we're going to learn a lot from each other and grow a lot this transfer. It's exciting. :)

**side note: Sis. Sarmiento Wolff found out at 10:20 Monday night that she's training, too! so from my last district, 5 out of 6 are training. 3 of them are white washing/opening new areas, one is also my district leader, and one just finished training (aka me). CRAZY.

This week has been reallllyy slow pertaining to the work. For our whole zone, really. We didn't find anyone new to teach and neither did most of our zone. Ouchhh. We're not sure what we're doing wrong, but we've got a lot of animo still and are gonna kill it this week. Cause there are souls on the line and we don't have time to wait. Bring it onn!

This past Saturday we had interviews with President Maluenda. Guys. He's incredible. When I hear the words "inspired man," I think of my mission president. Every word he says is powerful and feels just for me. I love it.

Anyway, I'm still going strong and loving life! Being a missionary is the best, even on weeks that no one wants to listen to you.

Happy Halloween!!

Hermana Lance

This is our family picture: Sis. Wannacot, Sis. Sarmiento Wolff, Sis Cannon (Sis. SW's trainee), Me, and Sis Tait

10-20-14 Big changes coming

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIC!! Hope you have a fabulous day! Love you bro :)

Well. This has been one incredible weeks. To answer all the questions, yes! LISA AND JACKIE GOT BAPTIZED AND IT WAS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFEEE. 

I can't actually describe the way I feel about their baptism, but let me just say that I'm full of joy and love and gratitude. and lots of other great feelings. I love Lisa and Jackie with all my heart and am seriously just full of happiness.

Yes, I did get to see the "Meet the Mormons" film. Two other zones came to Corpus Christi and we all watched it. SO GOOD. a lot of us got kinda trunked-out though with the last story. haha. it was really great though. The goofy dancing reminded me of Dad. ;)

Also I have news about transfers. I'll start with a little story. 

This past Thursday night Sis Sarmiento Wolff and I had just finished daily planning and were starting to talk and such as sisters do, when our phone rang. I will now describe a basic version of the conversation before, during, and after this phone call.

Sis. SW: Who's calling us? *picks up the phone and screams: IT'S THE ASSISTANTS!

me:WHAT. (inwardly: CRAP.)

Sis. SW: answers the phone

"Hi this is Elder Walker (AP), Sister Sarmiento is your companion there?" 

me: hiiiii.....

E. Walker: Sister Lance are you sitting down? (me:yes.....) 

E. Walker: Good, because the Lord has called you to TRAIN A NEW MISSIONARY. You need to be in McAllen tomorrow at 10am for the new trainers meeting, see you there!

End phone call.

Sis. SW and me: AHHHHHH!!!!!! 

And so. I'm training, folks. Friday 4 other elders and I drove down to McAllen and I got back just in time for the baptism. And tomorrow I get to go down there again and pick up my new companion, fresh from the MTC! 

Crazy, right? for those who are wondering, I'm definitely just finishing my second transfer and my own training. so.. that's cool. 

Am I ready? probably not. But to be honest I'm really excited to see the miracles that are going to come from this experience. I know it's gonna be really difficult and all, but I know there's a purpose behind this. God does everything for a reason. In our training meeting Presidente Maluenda talked about Joshua, the prophet after Moses. Joshua 1:5-9. Sometimes when we have hard callings and don't feel sufficient it's easy to get discouraged/overwhelmed/stressed/etc. But just as the Lord counseled Joshua as he tried to fill the shoes of flipping MOSES, all we need to do is "be strong and of a good courage," keep the commandments, and never give up. I can do that much, and so nothing else matters. God will be there for us and will bless this area according to our faith. :)

Sad part about all this is that Sister Sarmiento Wolff is leaving! :( She's going to Beeville next. Also everyone in my district, except my district leader, is leaving too. Definitely bittersweet cause we've grown super close. in our last training meeting we all may or may not have cried a little. But it's OK because God never takes anything away without giving us something better in the long run. So I guess since this transfer was so great, I just gotta be patient and I'll have even more fun! 

Well that's all for today. Pray for my new companion. She's gotta be trained by a baby. haha. 

Love you all! 

Hermana Lance

Bishop Sturgis and Sis Wolfe and Sis Lance

Our district

At Jackie and Lisa's baptism

Jackie and Lisa's baptism

Happy Days

10-13-14 This is not a drill!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!! hope today is amazing :)

Well I definitely have a lot to say. And before I tell you anything, I just wanna say that GOD IS GOOD. and that miracles are so real it's insane. My heart is full of gratitude and joy. Literally about to burst. Here's why.

THIS FRIDAY AT 7PM 2 BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS OF GOD ARE ENTERING THE WATERS OF BAPTISM.

This is not a drill. This is real life.

Guess who? JACKIE AND LISA. 

Surprise!

So on Friday we got a call from a hysterical Lisa. There was a conflict between her boyfriend and her mom and the police were called and her boyfriend peaced out for good. So she called us (fist pump!) and we dropped everything and hurried over. When we got there, there were 3 police cars chillin'. When we got there they left cause they knew Lisa wasn't gonna be alone with her slightly crazy mother. 

Longggg story really short. We took her and her daughter over to Sister King's house (the best member on this planet) and we had a super powerful lesson with her after she calmed down. We watched President Uchtdorf's talk from women's conference a couple weeks ago and she was like, "that was crazy. it was like he was talking right to me!" (prophets, seers, and revelators have that effect.) Anyway. After that, we committed her to be baptized the next week and she accepted!! She knows that this is the only way to have true happiness.
Doesn't that just make you wanna cry tears of pure joy?

Also we have Jackie! She's a boss and super ready as well. We asked her why she wanted to be baptized and she told us that before she met us she had prayed to God to know what He wanted her to do and then we showed up and she took that as her answer. WHAAAT. God's amazing, guys.

So: thanks so much for your prayers and support on their behalf! Please continue to have them in your thoughts and prayers as this week goes on. I'm sure Satan has tricks up his sleeve to try and prevent their salvation and all. But don't worry cause good will always overcome evil. Cliche but super true. :)

This weekend has been insanely busy with planning everything for the baptism and all the other stuff we do. Today we're having a relaxing Pday cause we're tired. haha. We're gonna go with Lisa to buy a dress for her baptism and then we're having a district-BBQ. Life's good in Corpus.

Wow does Fall exist? I totally forgot! we've been having a lot of rain so it's a bit cooler, only in the 80's! burrrrrr. hahaha.

Also this last week we got to drive a brand-new truck for a day. There was a mix up with cars. but hey, I got to drive it for a day! #lifemade

Well. That's all. I love you all! Have a great week!!

Hermana Lance

A beautiful Texas sunset for you

Me with the glorious truck that Sister Sarmiento named "Fluffy"

Me, Jackie, Sister Sarmiento Wolff, and Lisa

10-6-14 happy Conference weekend

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD AND OLLIE!! tomorrow. :) 

Sister Sarmiento Wolff says happy birthday too! 

How was conference for everyone? I LOVED it.

Funny story. So for whatever reason, I guess people from Utah get a lot more overly enthusiastic about conference than others. My district leader, his companion, and I are all from Utah and were cheering anytime anyone talked about conference leading up to it. Kinda like how someone yells when their favorite sports team scores a goal, basket, unit. (Go my favorite sports team!). Anywho. My companion noticed and just couldn't understand! Obviously she loves conference, but not with quite as much animo. haha. Anywho. Try explaining that to someone. It's tough.

So anyways. Conference was AMAZING. Did any of you have questions answered? I did. pretty cool stuff. My sincerest desire at this moment would be to re-watch/read the talks from conference. right now would be great. I feel like there were so many solid talks and my mind was so full of everything I couldn't quite sink it all in. Good thing the conference ensign isn't too far away! :) 

I wanna invite all of you to review notes, read the talks, or watch the talks again. And pray to have the "confirming revelation" that the things which the God's servants told us are true. Cause you know, Amos 3:7 and all.

This week has been CRAZY. miracles everywhere. We found NINE new investigators. ya. WHAT. We started teaching Jackie's grandma (who she lives with), a family that we lost contact with after the first lesson, our apartment manager (HAHA), LISA (I'll let you know if she really starts progressing), another former, and an elderly man named Arvin. Right now only Jackie is really progressing (Thanks for your prayers!), but we'll seee :) God's obviously a god of miracles. so I'm not too worried.

Our many training meetings are going well. I'm learning a lot. Super helpful to learn from and practice with lots of missionaries. We're working on teaching more with the scriptures, cause we've gotten into a pamphlet-rut. We're being tested, for sure. It's hard but I know it's super important for us. We're gonna be super powerful missionaries as we apply the teachings of our leaders.

Well, I can't really think about much else to say. I love you all and hope you all have an amazing week :)

Love,

Hermana Lance

The 1st pic is of us at the apartment of the sisters in our zone in between conference yesterday. We made ourselves a variety of frozen foods and feasted like a family. precious, right?

                                           

The 2nd is a pic of the sisters from my zone and some of the sisters from a neighboring zone at zone conference with Sister Maluenda, the wife of the mission pres. Fun stuff!

9-29-14

Hello all!

This week has been super long and super short at the same time. Meetings do that to you. And being on a mission. Also, turns out we're having training meetings 5 times a week for the ENTIRE MONTH OF OCTOBER. Our poorr milesss. But it's cool cause we're already improving in our teaching skills after a week and it's super great. Vamos a ensenar con mucho poder y autoridad!

This last week we had trainings, zone conference, the women's broadcast, and more trainings. I've been learning so much! I have a LOT to improve on. Which is good. Progress is the goal, right? 

One of the main themes from zone conference was setting goals and making plans. On missions, you make goals like never before. The tricky part is making plans and actually following through. I'm definitely working on this cause sometimes I make a lot of goals and then completely forget about them till the next time we set goals. I have a goal to be better at making and doing plans for my goals. and I have a plan on how to do it, too. BAM.

Also something that really hit me was something President Maluenda talked about regarding our attitudes and animo. He said that we don't need to get discouraged when someone doesn't accept the message we share or we have a bad day. Our purpose is to "INVITE others to come unto Christ." And so, as we invite people, we succeed. Regardless of their response! They have agency. We can't control what they choose but we can invite them and choose how we feel. Pretty cool, right? We never have to feel bad when someone rejects us. cause we're already successful BEFORE they say yes or no. I really loved that. Especially since this area is pretty unique compared to the rest of the mission. (aka we're just as successful as the other areas with loads of bautismos.) Great stuff! :)

(PS I got the package! Thanks so much! I can't even tell you how glorious a mini Predicad Mi Evangelio is to have! mucho amor.)

The General Women's Meeting was awesome, right?? Temples. Families. Service, Keep the commandments. Blessings. We have LIGHT. that's what I got from it. I loved it. And it just made me even more excited for General Conference!! WOO!!! 

(I hope everyone is spiritually preparing themselves and thinking of questions and all that cause I have a feeling it's going to be amazing.)

We're teaching a girl named Jackie right now. She's 14 and super prepared for the gospel. Pray for her, k? Thanks. :) 

Anyway. I hope you all are doing really great! I love you all very much. ENJOY CONFERENCE!! :D

Hermana Lance