9-22-14 Chilean festival

Hey guyss!

Thanks for the pictures of Oliver. SO CUTE! 

Well, good news! we found 3 new investigators this week! hallelujah! I'll tell you more as they progress. 

They're just little seeds right now but we're gonna care for those seeds real good and hopefully they grow and progress. :)

This week was good. we had our Chilean activity on Friday and it was awesome! We wore awesome dresses and ate good food and it was a great success. Lot's of fun! 

Side-note: The members in our ward are so great. I'm learning so much from their examples and stories. I'm so lucky to get to be here and get to know some of the most amazing people ever. We love the members and they love us. it's a great cycle. 

We also have learned this week to never trust elders. hahaha. Our favorite punchline this week has been: Ohhhh....Eldersss... We love our elders. don't worry.  haha

Anywho. So this week is gonna be INTENSE. wanna know why? because we have meetings literally every day. we have 3 district meetings, 2 zone meetings, AND zone conference this week. Why? because President Maluenda isn't afraid to do crazy things to help the work. We're gonna have a teaching-boot camp this week and I am seriously so excited. This week we have a million meetings, plus the general women's meeting on saturday, then we have general conference the next week! SPIRITUAL OVERLOAD. I'm so excited I could cry.

Anywho. I love you all and hope you're all doing super well! Choose the right!

Hermana Lance

                                                   Hermana Lance with Sis King and Hermana Wolff

Hermana Lance, Hermana Wolff and the Elders

Hermana Lance and Hermana Wolff in traditional Chilean dress

                                         

                                                       Teaching about Chilean history and culture

                                         

                                                                       Ohhh Elderssss ha ha

Just for fun!

                                                      Padre Island...I promise I'm not on vacation!

9-15-14 Mosquitos and everything

HOLA!! 

Guys the mosquitoes are back at me with full force. it's been raining this past week which means the mosquitoes are goin' WILD. I know they're God's creations and all, but man. I hate those things.

Anywho. mission stuff. 

This week was TOUGH. In the moment we were just dealing with it but looking back, dang. haha.
Remember our curse of having everyone get sick or be in the hospital? well it's spreading to the less actives. scary stuff, man. one of the less active women in our ward got in a serious car accident and we visited her in the hospital this week. Another less active had a heart attack. and lots of other drastic things are happening. It's freaky. pray for the island, please! cause this is just nuts. and frustrating.

We also lost close to all of our investigators. and I'm not exaggerating. The few we have left don't have a lot of potential and aren't progressing.. so... vamos a empezar de nuevo! cool beans, right? 

Probably the hardest one to lose was Lisa. not probably. it was. All I gotta say is that Satan is flipping good and I'm not a fan of his work. 

BUT. I have learned a lot and grown a lot and all of those great things that happen frequently on the mission. SO DON'T WORRY. :) My companion and I have grown closer and we've received a lot of love from other missionaries, the members, and God especially.. 

Tenemos mucho animo y estamos listas para encontrar, ensenar, y bautizar TODO EL MUNDO. Es verdad. Y podemos hacerlo!

So this coming Friday we have a ward party! and guess what the theme is? CHILE. (aka Sis Sarmiento's country.) We're having typical food, a typical dance, and learning about the history of the LDS pioneers in Chile. Also Sis. Sarmiento and I made typical dresses with a member which we're going to wear. So get ready for some great pics next week. we're PUMPED! :) I'll include a picture of me by the sign we have in the foyer of the church. 

I just wanna close by saying that God is aware of each and every one of you. He knows exactly what we need and when we need it. Sometimes it's hard to accept that in the moment, but trust in Him! He knows what He's doing. I promise. He loves you so much. Leave it to Him. Put your trust in Him and go to work! that's what we're going to try to do and I challenge all of you to do the same in your own way. 

I love you all lots and lots and pray for you always! 

Love, 

Hermana Lance

                                                                Beautiful full moon in Texas

Sept 8, 2014

Well hello there! 

This week has been weeiiirrrddd. real weird. not really that weird. I'm just being dramatic cause it's fun. 

ANYWHO. I hope school is going well for all you who just started up again (haha. school.) Needless to say I'm pumped I'm on my mission and not at school. #sorrynotsorry but ya, good luck! you'll all do great. just remember to put the "big rocks" first and keep your eyes set on the Savior. :)

We had a lot of trouble this week with people being gone/ not being able to contact people. apparently the whole island made a pact within itself to avoid the missionaries. cause no one was home and everyone was having "phone problems,' if you catch my drift. It's cool though. Cause guess what. It was still a great week!!
take that, Satan!

We decided yesterday that football is the worst. Don't get me wrong, I still lovee football, but man. We had 4. FOUR. people not come to church yesterday because of the darn Texas showdown football game or whatever. Football is stealing people's chances to take the sacrament and receive blessings! such a bummer. I love football. but not when it's the same time as church.

Funny story for you all. Sis. Sarmiento and I have a curse. It's called almost all of our investigators are either really sick or they have a relative in the hospital. We found two new investigators this week and we're praying our curse doesn't make them bedridden for weeks like some people we're trying to help come unto Christ. Satan is reallllll clever, dang it. It's cool though. Si se puede!! 

Wow I feel like I've just been complaining. Here's a pick-me-up story. Last night we had an awesome lesson with a guy who was a reference. We taught him the Restoration and had a boss member with us. (this member served in the Texas McAllen Mission and has returned to sell dish and stuff. so he's boss. cause the TMM makes dang good missionaries.) Anyway. This guy basically stopped believing in God 7 years ago when he had 6 loved ones pass away in one year. Hurts your heart, right? Cool thing is that when we taught him, he was super into it all. He said a powerful prayer and asked God to show him how to be a better person (commandment lessons here we come!) and readily accepted a baptismal date. He said he felt really good when he prayed. I think he's so ready to start believing in God and following Christ. That was last night right before we went home. Endure to the end, fellas, cause there's a golden light at the end of the week. (see what I did there?)

Well, that's all I got for you all this week. Except I wanna invite you all the read the account of Jesus walking on water. Matthew 14: 23-33. Think about Peter. When did he start to sink? When he took his eyes off the Savior. When he looked at the waves. We all have waves in our lives, but if we keep our lives focused on the Savior, we'll be able to walk on water. Always remember that. :) 

Till next week,

Hermana Lance

PS Sister Sarmiento Wolff says HI!!!

9-3-14 September already!

How on earth is it September? LOCO.

Announcement: I'm sorry I just found out, (language probs) but apparently all my mail (letters, packages, etc) needs to be sent to the mission office. They forward letters to our apartment and we get packages once a month at zone meeting. So just erase the windward address from your memory. Don't worry if you sent something here cause I really didn't know. But now I do so.. ya. Thanks. :) Don't hesitate to send letters. just saying.

So this my first transfer is over and I'm staying on the island! Yes, I know I've only been here 5 weeks. President Maluenda has something next week so transfers got moved up and this new transfer will be 7 weeks to even it out. So now I'm in my second transfer.. woo!!

Sorry I'm randomly writing on a Wednesday. Labor Day=libraries are closed. and living on the island means that we have to conserve our miles and we didn't have a meeting in corpus till today. and so! here I am. Happy Wednesday!

Guys we found Lisa. no worrriieeesss. She's great still. still golden. She's going to get baptized on the 20th of this month if all goes well. feel free to pray for her. Satan is hitting her hard, but she's strong and I'm certain she's gonna make it to the waters of baptism and keep progressing forever. pretty amazing stuff. It fills me with so much joy. seriously. The island isn't exactly a booming place for the Gospel of Christ, and so most days aren't filled with numeral success. That's really not important to me though. Even if the whole time I'm here Lisa's the only one to accept the Gospel and get baptized, it's all worth it. every minute and every disappointment. 100% worth it. You can't put a price on a soul. And I'd do it all again for her.

This transfer I'm so determined to continue working hard and progressing. I had my moments this past transfer where my patience and fire were tested, for sure. But I've learned a lot and can't wait to continue getting better and helping more people. Daily miracles are our bread and butter. :)

We taught my third lesson in Spanish yesterday. She's a Mexican woman named Juanita. Funny part is that we thought her name was Bonita. hahahaha. WHOOPS.

I feel like my letters are super scatter-brained. #sorrynotsorry. jk I really am sorry. but that's just how this hour is. haha. hope that's cool.

I love you all! Have a great week! Romans 1:16

Hermana Lance

Mi primero distrito

 This little Philipino man is Bro. Santos. He and his wife took us out to dinner for his birthday and this happened. So fantastic.

8-25-14 Cockroach wars!

Como en el mundo?? Guys it's the 25th of august. just in case you didn't know. that's cool.

Well, this week was good. 

On Saturday the Elders that work in the same ward as us had a baptism Saturday, which was great! the guy that got baptized wanted the sister missionaries to sing at his baptism. Which meant that Sis. Sarmiento and I had to sing. poop. At least I didn't have to sing alone. And at least one of the elders is like a concert pianist and played amazingly to cover up mi voz. :D

Lisa is doing really really well. This last week we had a couple awesome lessons with her and she's currently trying her best to quit smoking. woo!! Only problem is yesterday she literally disappeared. We saw her Saturday night and she was a little sick but not too bad and excited for church. Then yesterday she never showed up and didn't answer her phone all dang day. Scary, right? She goes out of town tomorrow for the rest of this week so I guess you could say we're going to stalk her like crazy tonight. :) Hopefully she was just sick and slept all day or something. I'll keep you posted. 

Really besides that not a lot has been going on. BUT I do have a pretty funny story to tell. 

Cockroaches, man. 

We've only had one in our apartment while I've been here. And it was stuck on its back. (thank goodness.) One day I woke up and there was a dead-looking cockroach by the door so I said, "gross. let me sweep that up." IT WASN'T DEAD. After a lot of silly attempts to kill it without touching it, I finally manned-up and got a shoe. Here's the funny part. 

Sis. Sarmiento. She's incredibly scared of bugs of any kind. it's quite ridiculous. haha. but funny. When I went to smoosh the cockroach, I put a piece of toilet paper to protect my shoe from nastiness. When I put the piece of toilet paper on it, she screamed bloody-murder! After I controlled my laughing I smooshed it while she gagged a little. Best part? she was recording it on her camera. aka we have that unreasonable scream documented. PRICELESS. hahahaha. I wish everyone could've seen my tiny, chilean companion in that moment. hahahahaaha. 

Anywho. The work here on the island is really slow. realllllllyyyyyy slowww. But we're gonna keep working and and having faith, cause for sure there's people that need us and so we won't let them down. Not in a thousand years.

In conclusion, I just want to remind everyone how amazing they are! Seriously. I love you all so much and so does God. Which is pretty darn cool. Also I just want to say that the Book of Mormon is the most powerful asset we have on this earth. USE IT. If you have a question or problem, pray about it and go to the scriptures! I know you can receive answers, guidance and comfort. test it out. It's amazing. 

Keep being amazing! I love you all!

Love,

Hermana Lance

PS I'm finally attaching some pictures! One is of me and Lisa and her daughter, Maddie. My face is super weird cause of lighting/hair issues. but it's fine. The other is a weird-angle awkward picture of me and sis. sarmiento at the baptism on saturday. enjoy!