3-16-2015 Happy pi day

Happy middle of March!

This week was pretty wild. 

First off, we had a lovely pi day! a member gave the other sisters a pie and we all enjoyed it thoroughly to celebrate. (picture included)

Really a lot of stuff happened this week, but it's hard to think specifically of something. haha. Lots of daily miracles, lots of struggles, lots of success, etc. Something out of the ordinary is that I was pretty sick this week, which was a bummer. I've just had a solid cold/cough thing going on since last monday, and so have several other missionaries in our zone. Luckily I'm getting a lot better, unlike most of them. #blessings

This week us sisters taught the young women in the spanish branch here about being a missionary and how to prepare for a mission. It was funny because I remembered listening to the sisters talk about that with my home ward a long time ago, and now I'm doing the same thing! It also reminded me how different missinaries are. haha. You should have seen the face of one of the young women when we told her we don't watch TV. Priceless.

We're still working a lot with the family Rodriguez (our miracle less active, Ally, and her mom). Sister Rodriguez has a goal of the temple for herself and her daughter, and I have no doubt she's going to make it there. It's so exciting! We're also working with Judith, Laysha, and Armando. All teenagers we found through Ally. Judith is progressing the most right now but doesn't feel ready for baptism yet. hopefully this month though we can help her feel 100% ready and excited, because she's darling and I can't wait to see her make her first promise with God :) Please pray for her and all these youth, they have so much potential. 

This week I'm going to hit my half-way mark, which is pretty insane. Not quite sure what to think about that. We'll probably do something crazy for it (like burn tights or something), so I'm excited.

Also, a member is taking our zone to CiCi's pizza again tonight and a different elder has challenged me to an eating contest. I'm dreading it but cannot back down. I'll send victory pictures next week. 

I love you all tons! thanks for all the prayers and support, I appreciate it so much. I'm so grateful for the time I've had so far to serve here and can't wait to see what the second half of my mission has in store! 

With all my love,

Hermana Lance

                                      

                                                               Sisters with pie on Pi day

                         

                                        ....and a selfie with some of our lovely Spanish members.

3-9-15 Miracles are growing

Hello everyone! 

Well.

This week was pretty solid. Learning lots. Seeing miracles. Meeting awesome people. Meeting not-so-awesome people that you still love because they're children of God, but mostly awesome people. The usual. :) 

Lot's of stuff happened with our miracle less-active girl, Ally. (She's the one we found last week.) On Tuesday we brought the elders over to give her a blessing. Then her other friend with tons of issues called her and asked if she could come talk to us too. (WHAT). So then we had a great lesson with her other friend, Laysha, who now is preparing for baptism. Then the next day we went over and found out that Ally had gotten a lot worse and had to go to a mental hospital for a little bit. Then we went and visited the friend that was there the first time, Judeth, who actually was a potential investigator that went to church with Ally when she got baptized. And now Judeth is possibly getting baptized this next Sunday. (WHATTT). And yesterday Ally, her less-active mom, and Judeth all came to church and were BEAMING. Probably one of the happiest sights of my life. 

So many miracles in such a short time that all started with God's goodness in letting us meet these girls. 

Basically we're doubling the size of the young women class. No big deal. (just kidding it's a huge deal.) 

Besides that though, most of our investigators are being super flakyy. aka they all missed church yesterday. haha really a lot of members did as well yesterday. In the english branch, there were literally the same amount of missionaries as there were members. #daylightsavingsandrainproblems

We're teaching a guy named Humberto right now that has come to church once so far. He's struggling to get a testimony of why it's important what church we go to and that this is the true church. Some prayers for him would be great, because he is an amazing guy and once he has a testimony, he will work wonders in the kingdom of God. 

Also something fun this week is that I ate pig skin for the first time! basically like eating strips of straight fat in a soup. not chewing too much is the key. haha

Anything exciting happening at home? How's the new provo temple looking? 

Love you all! Don't ever forget how loved you are!

Hermana Lance

3-2-15 Miracles in March

Happy March!

So no worries, I'm still in Laredo!! Which I'm way excited about. Sister Dupape stayed as well, so that's fun. Transfers was insane cause we didn't find out ANYTHING until 10:50 monday night. which is pretty ridiculous. but it's all good.

This transfer's going to be awesome! no one left from our apartment and we're going to have tons of fun. We even started a hardcore diet and exercise thing because mexican food is making us all fattt. but don't worry we're still eating and all. Just less of the bad and more of the good. It's a good challenge for me because food is definitely a weakness of mine. haha. Good thing God helps weak things become strong, right?

anyways,

This past week was pretty good. we definitely saw God's hand in our work.

One of the coolest things that happened was this weekend. On Saturday we felt like we needed to go to a certain street (definitely not in our plans) to contact. It's also one of the most sketch streets in our area and it was pretty dark outside, so it was weird that we were there. But anyways, right after we got out of our car, a car pulled up on the other side of the road and some people got out, so we went to talk to them. As we talked to them, a 15-yr-old girl that was still in the car opened the door and asked what church we were from and when we told her she said, oh! I'm a mormon too! Turns out she's a less-active member we didn't know existed that lived in a different part of our area. She told us she's glad she met us because she has pretty serious depression and problems with cutting herself and other things and that she wants to go back to church. Seriously such an incredible miracle. we went by the next day to teach her and had a super spiritual lesson about our worth and the power of the atonement. Her friend that was there even wants us to teach her family now! If that's not a miracle, I don't know what is. It grew my testimony so much of how aware God is of us and our needs. We had no clue she even existed or would be with friends on that random street at that precise moment, but God did. And God knew that she needed to be rescued. It was amazing. I'm so grateful that I have this chance to be an instrument in God's hands. There is nothing better than to know that you were where you needed to be and were able to help someone feel God's love and come closer to Him.

I love being a missionary and am trying my best to enjoy every moment, because seriously it goes so fast. I know that God loves each of us and that through the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ we can be healed and strengthened.

Have a great week and choose the right!

Love

Hermana Lance

                                

                                            Cool Texas sign for ya'all

2-23-2015 Going with the flow

Well,

Transfers are tomorrow! 
And we definitely still don't know anything. so I have no clue if I'm staying or leaving, so that's the best... haha most likely I'm staying in Laredo. But nothing's for sure. Crazier things have happened. One thing the mission has taught me is to go with the flowwww. Because if you don't it's pretty stressful and stuff. 

As for this week, it was super uneventful. lots of hard work and not a lot of success. but still super great! weird, right?  anyway. we dropped most of our investigators and are having trouble finding. Tis the life. but we're still positive there are miracles happening everyday in our area and we're holding onto them. because that's all you can do, really. 

I'm still loving Laredo and life and my mission and everything. We're working with a lot of less-active families right now, so that's cool. This week we started working with 2 different less-active Martinez families. My only question is: why are there so many Martinez families?? it's pretty confusing but really not that big of a deal. haha. 

Last week we found one new investigator. His name is Humberto and he's pretty cool. He has a ton of potential as soon as he receives his answer. He's a pretty religious guy and has lots of questions. He's attached to his Christian church but wants to know the truth for sure. Hopefully he comes to church next week so he can feel the difference and find his answer :) 

Well I love you all a ton and hope everything's great. this week I've been learning a lot about prayer and faith and miracles. So I just want to invite you all to try to pray with all your heart. don't hold back because God wants to hear about everything going on in your life and in your heart. I promise you'll feel your heart open up a little while you do that. It's powerful and the best, so do it. :) 

Lots of love!

Hermana Lance

ps... Saturday it got really hot (see the pic) and then today a storm came in and it's like 40 degrees. just keeping life interesting!

2-17-15 I'm a Champion, and miracle mail

Hello all!

This past week was pretty eventful.

Not yesterday, but the Monday before that I became a legend among missionaries. Here's what happened. We went to a meal appointment that night with a lovely member. Some of the elders came too and we all pressured each other to eat a ton because you have to eat a lot when Mexicans feed you. Then right after that we went to CiCi's pizza because there's an awesome member that takes our whole zone out to eat once a transfer. As we went into Cici's (already stuffed full), I somehow got challenged to a pizza-eating contest with one of the elders that had been at the first dinner appointment. So naturally I took him up on the challenge and next thing I knew, bets were being placed and I was stuffing pizza into my very-full abdomen. It got really intense really fast. Everyone (including the member) was betting on ME. NO PRESSURE. but don't worry. My competitive side kicked in and with some coaching from the other elder's comp, I WONNNN!! And yes. I did eat 20 pieces of pizza to do it. And no, I did not sleep well that night. 

BUT I'M A CHAMPION! WOO! It was a great moment. 

This week we had an insane 2-zone, 3-day long exchange. I worked with a sister serving in North Laredo, Hermana Crawford. We had tons of fun. One of the coolest things that happened involved the package my lovely parents sent. The package had to be signed for, and I was worried because we're never home when the mail comes. So naturally I prayed and asked God to help me get my package. The next day (Wednesday) we were out riding our bikes. We were unlocking them from a sign when the UPS man drove up and said "is one of you sister lance?" Then he pulled over, I signed one of those things, and BAM. I had my package. Right there in the middle of my area which is a couple miles away from our apartment. It was pretty stellar. :D  Ask and ye shall ye receive, everyone. Because God literally delivers. 

(Thanks for the package and miracle Mom and Dad!)

We had a great Valentines day as well. a member took us to wing-stop so we feasted on wings to celebrate. #purelove

Bummer from this past week was that Jair didn't go to Churchhhh. BOOOO. Aka now we have to drop him and he can't get baptized this month. Superrr bummer.. but it's all good. God's got a plan for him. Jair has amazing desires but really just needs to wake up and go to church so he can actually act and all that. 

The work is still moving along great here in Laredo. I hope everyone at home is doing great! I love you all lots and lots! 

Love,

Hermana Lance

Ps tomorrow is my 8-month mark…no comment....

Here's a picture of the moment I got my miracle-package in the street and also when I won the pizza eating contest :)

2-9-15 Last minute miracles

Hellooo

What a weeeeeeeek!!

Last Monday Sis. Dupape cut 3 inches of my hair off. So that was fun and traumatic.

Also we had lots of fun contacting all of our investigators and having some amazing member work! The branch here is really small and struggling, so we're all putting a lot of emphasis on member work. As we've been doing that, God has been helping us a ton. We've been getting lots of referrals, finding new investigators, and somehow also finding less actives we didn't know existed. It's super fun.

For example! Last night we had a last-minute-miracle. We were knocking a few doors to end the night and at 8:30 we went to a house. The lady at the door said that her in-laws are Mormons! Then next thing we know Hermano Martinez comes up behind her and tells us to come in! So we do and we sit down with her (Cyndie) and Hermano Martinez's son (Javier). Come to find out that Javier is a less active member we didn't know. Then we were able to share a message and commit them to 1) come to church and 2) for Cyndie to get baptized!! So that was pretty neat. And when I say pretty neat, I mean FLIPPING AWESOME! #miracleseverywhere

It was a real tender mercy too, because Sunday was a bit rough starting out. We had an awesome week of committing like 10 people to come to church, and literally no one came. It's weird, all our investigators want to get baptized, but no one wants to come to church! Dumb. But it's all good. God's in control. :)

This week is going to be crazy cause I think we're doing a inter-zone exchange, so that's gonna be fun! More detalles to come.

Everyone have a great week and never stop praying!

Love,

Hermana Lance

               We found lots of carts chilling in the street. So we took a picture, naturally!

2-2-15 What's for dinner??!!

HOLA.

First off. Does anyone know where the month of January went? Cause I sure don't.

Secondly, I ate something this week called menudo. It's a Mexican soup with cow stomach. NASTY. Luckily the members that fed us it knew that Americans don't really like it and had some delicious spicy shrimp on hand. :) 

This week we had a 2-day, zone wide exchange. We live with the two other sisters in our zone, so we basically just switched study desks. I was with Sis. Hunt and we had tons of fun. At one point one of the tires on our car popped and went completely flat, so that was an adventure! 

I'm also getting good at dodging violent dogs that want to eat me. 

So I guess you could say I'm living it up down here. 

Work wise this week, things have been going well, but a tad bit frustrating. Mostly because we have tons of investigators, but they're all super flojos. (flaky/lazy). So that's kind of annoying but once we get ahold of them we'll jack them for being lazy and help them realize what they're missing. :) 

One thing that Sister Dupape is helping me with is being more bold. Because she's probably the boldest sister I've met. Let's just say we are crying repentance with power and authority. And it's FUN. 

Really besides that not much has happened this week. Sister Dupape is from the Seattle area and was bummed that they lost. But don't worry, we didn't watch it. Even when a cute Mexican woman turned it on right in front of us cause she thought we'd want to but didn't get why we couldn't. All we saw was the score, I promise! 

Also! did anyone realize that I have an accent? Apparently so. So far on my mission I've had at least 6-7 people tell me I have an accent. Some say it sounds like I'm from New England or some say England. Some say I sound like a country girl. I'm currently doing experiments in order to figure out how I sound. Cause apparently it's weird. haha. 

I hope everyone is doing well! I love you all and pray for you everyday. Keep updating me with everything! Keep living the "gospel joyful", as Pres. Utchdorf would say. :) 

Love,

Hermana Lance

This is a picture of me and Sis Dudape with our menudo.  

       Also a picture of menudo. Definitely not delicious, despite what they will tell you. :)

                                     

         Also, a picture of Sister Hunt and I with baby Chihuahuas for your enjoyment