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

1-26-15 ...and the miracles continue!!

This week has been packed-full of spiritual-ness and miracles and all that amazing stuff. 

We had interviews with President Maluenda on Wednesday, which basically took all day, which was a bummer, but they were awesome. I definitely did mine all in Spanish. NBD. 

Saturday was an amazing day. We woke up, went to a baptism for some missionaries in our zone, and then drove to McAllen for a once-in-a-life-time opportunity to listen to the words of an apostle of God--Elder Dallin H. Oaks! You guys. He's darling. And a little bit of a goof-ball, believe it or not. haha he was making all sorts of corny jokes that made us laugh super hard (probably just because they were coming from an apostle. haha.) To start the meeting we all got to shake his hand (!!) and then he very animatedly put on hand sanitizer and told us that was his trick of staying well. So much love for that man. 

Also there was Elder Lynn G. Robbins of the presidency of the seventy and Elder Jim Wright (an area seventy). It was incredibleee. 

Elder Robbins about "to do" and "to be" and how those verbs are inseparable. "To Do" and not "to be" is hypocrisy. "To be" without "to do" is dead. (faith w/o works). Super interesting! 

Elder Oaks talked about several things. A lot about change, and how essential it is. Also He told us what the most common mistake in teaching is: Assuming too much! Literally such a easy trap to fall into. So be aware of that next time you teach a lesson or something :) Then he discussed with us about revelation and inspiration, which is so huge in missionary work. Because if we don't have the spirit and revelation, we can't do missionary work. One of the main lessons I got from that is that God is constantly giving us revelation, we just don't realize it and/or aren't listening for it. So one of my new goals is to be constantly listening, so that God can constantly speak to me. 

So yesterday we had a crazy awesome day. we knocked doors for most of the day, and found FIVE new investigators. all with baptismal dates. One of them is named Rolando and is a miracle sent from heaven. here's what happened:

Sis. Dupape and I were walking down this street and I saw a guy blatantly staring at us through his window. I thought, "that's kinda creepy." and we kept walking. We walked back the same way to get to our car and talked to a man doing something with his car. then the older man who had been staring at us came us (turns out they're father and son). He started talking to us and literally brought up baptism before we did. He had been taught by missionaries in Nuevo Laredo (just across the border) and had already gone to church TWO TIMES but then moved to Laredo and didn't know where the church was or how to contact missionaries. Nothing God couldn't take care of. (SO COOL!)

Yep, so Laredo is amazing. I love the other missionaries here and the people and am having an amazing time. God is watching over me and helping me so much every day. 

I love this work!!and all of you, too. :)

Hermana Lance

                                                                       bonus picture. 

                              Sunset view from the top of our area. those city lights are in Mexico. :)

1-20-15 First week in Laredo!

HOLA! 

I LOVE LAREDO.

I could end my letter there, but I don't think mom would be very happy. haha. but seriously. I love it here!!!! 

I've eaten Mexican food at least once a day since i got here. and I'm not tired of it. not even close.

My area is called "Cielito Lindo" aka "pretty/cute little heaven." It's awesome. Super ghetto. literally right on the border. tons of spanish. it truly is heaven. :D For a long time South Laredo (there are two laredo zones) was only elders, but now there are two areas, as of 6 transfers ago. It's the best. There are a million huge hills that we have to bike up, but hey, the worth of a soul is great, right?

My new companion's name is Sister Dupape! She's super great. She's been out one less transfer than me and is 22. She's from Washington state and is pumped about the Seahawks and the super bowl. She went to BYU before the mish and GUESS WHAT. We definitely were in the same bio and organic chemistry class! I knew I recognized her from somewhere, and then as we got talking, things clicked. small world, right? 

So the most exciting thing that happened this week was.. that we had a BAPTISM!! WOO!!! A 40ish year old man named Leroy Moreno decided to take a leap of faith and be baptized. It was a serious miracle. At the beginning of the week, his baptismal date was February 8th, and he'd been to church 2 times and had some doubts. We had a sick lesson about how you don't have to know everything to be baptized and we told him he had to go to church 3 times to get baptized, and he said, well, I've been to church twice, right? and we said, yep! so if you come to church this Sunday, you can get baptized! and he said, alright, sounds good. (!!!) Only problem was that we still had to teach him all of the commandments and we knew he had some word of wisdom probs (like everyone.) Good thing God is a god of miracles, right? Friday night we taught him all of the commandments and he committed to live them all--all in 45 minutes. With an incredible member that had a personal experience for every commandment. So I guess you could say that was a huge thing!! it was amazing. 

We also had an investigator, Jair, come to church after we went to his house and banged on his door and window (simultaneously) to wake him up. hahaha. it was a great day. 

Miracles are happening here in Laredo. 

I also had my first raspa this week, which is similar to a snow cone but with more syrup and Mexican. 

We've also started doing cross-fit every morning as  a zone. at 5:45 in the morning. Insane? yes. can we walk? nope. But it's lots of fun! plus our president has been stressing being healthy, so we're taking that to heart. 

Also, this week we have an apostle coming to speak to the whole mission!!! Elder Oaks, to be precise. This Saturday we're going to the baptism of someone in our zone and then spending the rest of the day driving to McAllen, listening to the words of an apostle of God, and driving back. It's going to be amazing. I'm super stoked. 

Everyone the church is true! it changes lives. it is the most amazing thing on this planet. Cling to it. It will save you in every sense of the word. 

Well, Here's to another amazing week! I love you all! Here's my new address. feel free to write. :) 

3319 south Bartlett #4

Laredo, Texas 78046

Love,

Hermana Lance

                                     

                  Also just so you know. It's literally 85 degrees outside right now. That's all I have to say.

Leroy's baptism

And here's a cute pic of Sis Dupape and I eating gourmet raspas.

And also a really funny, candid selfie that we took. Sis. Dupape's ice cream fell and this was our reaction. hahahaha. This was not staged

1-12-15 Voted off the Island...Transfers!

Guys. I got voted off the island.

and I'm going to.....

LAREDOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! (Nice guess, Jenessa!)

I'm freaking out a little. and I'm also super pumped. And nervous. and all of that great stuff. Mainly I just can't wait to see what God has in store for me.

Also I'm going to miss North Padre a ton. and Sister Tait. And all the wonderful people here. But I know God's got a plan for me and that I've been so blessed to be here as long as I have.

So, this past week was AWESOME.

I loved the aquarium! tons of fish and fun.

We had a conference with all the sisters from the mission, which was incredible. lots of screaming and hugging of course. And also lots of amazing trainings and full of the spirit. And I got to drive home from McAllen, always an adventure. haha.

Yesterday we had stake conference as well and Elder Anderson (of the seventy) came down to set apart a new stake president for the Corpus Christi Stake. I loved some of the things he talked about. He talked about Lehi's example of incredible faith when Sariah's complaining and he says "I have obtained the land of promise" (or something like that.) His faith was so strong that his future blessings were his present reality. Which I think is a really neat concept. Elder Anderson talked of the three things we have to do to have that kind of faith: 1-always remember that the faith we talk about is not faith in ourselves. it is faith in God. 2-Conform our will to God's and 3-WORK.

I love this gospel and my faith is growing everyday. I'm so grateful for God's patience with me and His loving guidance He gives me every moment. I know this church is true and that God is real!!

Love,

Hermana Lance

PS our investigator Will didn't go to church cause he needed to "mentally prepare" himself for the Green Bay vs Dallas football game. We told him if he came that the cowboys would win. Look who didn't come and look who didn't win. GO TO CHURCH PEOPLE.