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