tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42948512383222454892024-03-05T00:19:03.274-08:00Hermana Lau's LDS Mission in Bakersfield, CaliforniaUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294851238322245489.post-50543490950593093362013-12-09T17:00:00.000-08:002014-04-04T07:31:28.634-07:00Christmas Festivities<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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December 9, 2013</div>
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Mis amigos,</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So some interesting things have been happening here in
Bakersfield. First off, with transfers! Drum roll..... I'm staying here in
Bakersfield! Hermana O will be here also. But we're moving into an elders
apartment! Talk about gross. We'll be doing a lot of cleaning tomorrow. We're
excited to start off this transfer strong. We have good goals for this
transfer, and we're hoping to see miracles!</div>
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<br /></div>
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We had a baptism this week! Her name is M. She is amazing.
She grew up going to primary. She found the church through her teacher and
wanted to be baptized. We were there to teach her. We got her ready for her
baptism in 4 weeks. The service was amazing! The Spirit was so strong and there
were so many people that came to support her. The room was full. Which is never
heard of. She was so excited and happy to be baptized. I wish you all could
meet her. Her testimony is so strong!</div>
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<br /></div>
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Along with the baptism, she invited a bunch of the girls
that live in her group home. We're teaching two of them and one of them has a
baptismal date for the end of the month! We'll be really busy with that, but
I'm super excited to teach her!</div>
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<br /></div>
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We also had our ward Christmas dinner this weekend. It was
great, but overwhelming! We had 4 investigators, 2 recent converts, and lots of
less actives we are working with who showed up. It was great to be so busy! One
of M's friends asked us how to be baptized. So we set up a date with her.</div>
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<br /></div>
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As transfers are coming up, we decided to give gifts to our
district. We picked up a lot of random stuff from service projects, so we
thought out which gifts would be best for who, and gave them gifts. One got a
unicorn snowglobe (just so you have an idea of the type of gifts we gave). They
all loved them and thought it was hilarious. </div>
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<br /></div>
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We were able to go watch the Christmas devotional last
night! We watched it with a family that acts a lot like ours, so it was great
to be there. We got to do part of their Christmas tradition with them, so it
felt like I was home for a little bit.</div>
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<br /></div>
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But I wanted to talk about Christmas! Particularly the talk
from Elder Nelson. Christ is truly the Prince of Peace. Through this Christmas
season, when times our hard, we can remember that Christ is always there to
provide us peace. We just need to turn to Him. He can give us the hope we need
if we just turn to him. And it's not just the Christmas season. It's all during
the year. He loves us, and that's why He died--for us. Don't be afraid to use that
wonderful gift of the Spirit. Isaiah 9:6.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I love you all! Have a wonderful day. You're in my thoughts
and prayers constantly!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Con amor, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hermana Lau</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294851238322245489.post-5609898912249014162013-12-02T17:27:00.000-08:002014-04-04T07:05:34.554-07:00Donde esta el bano?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">December
2, 2013</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I love the Christmas season. It makes talking to
people so much easier! You just say Merry Christmas to random people, and they
are blown away! Breaks the ice so much faster than usual. And then you can talk
about how Christ isn't in Christmas anymore, seg-way into the Gospel, and have
a street contact! I like to teach the Gospel as mischievously as I can (without
them knowing I'm teaching them). It's like I'm a spy! I guess I am on a
mission.... :)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">So
let me tell you about my week! It's been a great week. Especially Sunday! Ah,
let me start with some of my favorite people....</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“M”!
She's the 15 year old investigator we have that's getting baptized this week!
She's super sweet, and everything is inline for her baptism. Small miracle: she
was sick this weekend, but she needed to go to church one more time to get
baptized on Friday. So when she told us she didn't feel very well to go to
church, I promised her if she went to church, she would feel better. I put
faith in the power and authority of my calling. When she was at church, she
bore her testimony, and said that as soon as she walked out the door to come to
church, her cold went away. I was super excited! The Lord is definitely a God
of miracles.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">And
let me tell you about “A”! She's a ton of fun. She's as much of a friend as an
investigator. We had a great lesson with her where we watched the Joseph Smith
movie (the hour long one). The Spirit was extremely strong during the lesson.
We were able to testify about how Joseph Smith is a prophet. She's still struggling
with the concept, but it helped her understand a lot better. I don't blame
anyone for struggling with the concept. It took me a while to gain a testimony
of it, but with lots of prayer, I was able to know for myself that Joseph Smith
is a prophet.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">One
of our less actives we've been working with. She works in the prison system,
and due to her job, she hasn't been able to come to church for months/years.
We've been visiting her and while we have, her job changed, and she isn't
working on Sundays! She has such a strong testimony and she came to church
yesterday. She bore her testimony and it was great! She also told us she would
buy us mace and teach us how to use it. She got us a mini real Christmas tree,
so the tradition is still going strong! </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">For
Thanksgiving, we went to 3 people's homes for dinner. They were all delicious!
To answer Mom's question, it was a little combo of them all. The first one was
all members, the 2nd one was members, less actives, and nonmembers and the last
one was members, less actives, and an investigator! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were stuffed, to say the least. I baked
probably a hundred pumpkin chocolate chip cookies to take to less actives. It
went well and we got into a lot of doors! And they were delicious also.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">On
the Spanish front: another funny story! You know how I talk in my sleep? Well,
Hna. Ostler told me that I've been talking in Spanish recently. She says it's
pretty good. Last night, for example, I guess I asked "donde esta el
bano?" Then I got up to go use the bathroom. I didn't know I said that
before I woke up. Haha. I'm trying to change my thought process to Spanish.
It's been good and it's helped me keep up on my Spanish. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I'm
so grateful for all of you! Thanks for all of your support. I'm so glad that
I'm a missionary. I love the opportunity to change and help myself become a
better person, but almost to help others feel joy from coming closer to God and
Christ.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Also,
one thing I've learned this week. Attitude and perspective is everything! If we
are optimistic and positive, then it's easier to go through life and it's much
more enjoyable. And you're much more happier.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Con
amor, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Hermana
Lau</span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294851238322245489.post-39893055049237288642013-11-25T17:13:00.000-08:002014-04-04T07:07:41.623-07:00It's a Christmas Miracle!!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">November
25, 2013</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">Mi
familia y amigos!!!! Como estas? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">This
week has been amazing! Are you ready for a great letter? I need to make up for
last week. Fasten your seatbelts... and here we go! </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">I'm
going to go by day as much as possible. Sorry if it's a little bit bumpy!
That's why you're wearing a seatbelt, right?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">Let me
tell you about our investigator, “D”. “D” is in his late 30's and goes to
seminary. Yep, that's right. He goes to seminary. So we've been going there a
few times during the week to teach him. I extended my first baptismal
commitment to him... and he excepted! </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">We
we're able to help one of our recent converts (my only baptism) this week with
some service. She and her husband feed hundreds of needy people during the
holidays, so we wrapped silverware one day and then helped serve food. It was
rewarding and hopefully helped her family warm up to us a little bit more (they
aren't members... yet). She's 81, and reminds me a lot of Grandma. I love
being around her!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">On the
front of missionary work, this week has been full of miracles! We got 3 new
investigators in ONE day! Our area has changed entirely in one week. How? Well,
mostly due to a newly returned missionary. He's setting us up with
tons of people to teach and is helping us with some of our other investigators.
We've seen him about everyday this week. He's a heaven sent! But look for him
next year on the BYU football field; he's a linebacker for the team. But let me
tell you about one of his friends that we are teaching: “B”!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">“B” is
a student. He's been feeling a need to become baptized and we had a great
lesson with him talking about the Atonement. The Spirit was so strong, and he
agreed to be baptized if he comes to know that the church is true. And he wants
his close friends to join us on his journey! Talk about a great
investigator. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">Also,
we got another new investigator this week: “M”! She was a referral and is a
teenager. She wants to be a member of the church SO badly! She grew up
attending, but was never baptized. So she has a baptismal date for the 7th of
December! We're stoked to have her. And her friend that we taught also! We're
meeting with them on Tuesday. Miracles!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">And
another huge miracle. “A”! I found her (through a member referral, her best
friend left for a mission the week I got here) and have been with her this
entire time. We we're hitting the point where we knew we needed to ask her
about baptism. And we were terrified. Not only is she our investigator,
but our friend also. We didn't know what to expect. But when we extended the
invitation to be baptized, she accepted! It was one of the most beautiful
lessons I have ever been in. The Spirit was SO strong, and I could feel God's
love for her so strongly. She's afraid that her parents won't support her in
her decision, so we fasted for her. Yesterday, she talked to her Mom and her
Mom agreed for her to be baptized! We were so happy!!! She now has to talk to
her Dad, but otherwise she is super excited for this change in her life!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">Some
cool things about the Spanish culture: since it's holiday season, that also
means it's tamale season!!! I'm super stoked. I love tamales. SO much. And when
Hispanic women talk to you, they rub your hands. It's different, but I like it
a lot. Also, there's this cute little Hispanic lady in our ward that speaks
English really well, and she calls me her hija! She brings food for us each
week and adores me. I love it! </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">One
thing that I'm really thankful for this week is repentance. I'm so grateful for
the opportunity we have to be forgiven for the mistakes we make. It helps us
become better people, and I love it. What an amazing thing that we have a
Heavenly Father who loved us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ here to
bear all of our sin and heartache. Jesus Christ <u>always</u> understands
how we feel. My favorite scripture of this is Alma 7:11-13. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">Speaking
of being thankful, I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! I'm going to 3
dinners that day: a Hispanic one, and 2 English ones. I'm stoked. We'll be
eating all day! So don't worry, I'm taken well care of here in 2nd ward. Pray
that I'll be here for one more transfer!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">I love
you all! I hope everyone is enjoying the cold weather and the holidays. I'm
still wearing t-shirts, so it still feels like September to me. It's the
strangest weather I've ever seen.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">Well,
I must go. Enjoy this week! I really love you all. Enjoy Thanksgiving! Remember
all that the Lord has blessed you with, because He gives us SO much in our
lives. I can see how He has blessed my life everyday, especially with friends
and family like you!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">Con
amor, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">Hermana
Lau</span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294851238322245489.post-89507080612236708202013-11-18T16:00:00.000-08:002014-04-04T07:09:07.749-07:00You gotta keep your head up<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">November 18, 2013</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Oh, also, I forgot
to tell you some cool cultural things! I had tongue one night. It was good,
until I say the taste buds, then I lost all my appetite. And something that is
interesting. When Spanish sisters talk to you, they'll hold and massage your
hand. So I'm overcoming my "don't touch me" phase. Also, one of the
sisters in the ward called me her "hija" (daughter). They like me!
Haha, she brings us fruit every week and she is so sweet. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">This week we had a
baptism! It was super spiritual meeting. The Spirit was super strong. She's really cool! It was a great
experience.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">I spoke this week
in sacrament meeting! I found out the night before and I got to choose. I
talked about being grateful for the blessings we have and how we need to be
humble to realize them in hard times. I talked about how once people realize
the blessings of the gospel, they'll want to share the gospel with others. </span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">We had a church
tour this week too! It was successful. There weren't too many people who came,
but it helped people who came to understand the functions of the church more.
We thought it was success and learned a lot from it. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">A young man from
our ward came home this week from his mission in Argentina and he's on fire!
He's a God send. Two of our investigators are living with them, and we have had
the hardest time scheduling times with them. So now we have an inside person
helping us! We're hoping they'll be baptized on the 7th of December. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Keep strong and
know that I love you! Pray always, that you may come off conquer. </span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Con amor, Hermana
Lau</span><br />
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With Companion<br />
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With New Convert<br />
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Sister Missionaries Rock!<br />
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At Members House for Dinner<br />
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</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294851238322245489.post-21004805713686227202013-11-11T19:00:00.000-08:002014-04-04T07:11:20.832-07:00Summer never ends in California<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
November 11, 2013<br />
<br />
This week has been good. The man we're teaching
that came to seminary said he wanted to quit smoking and drinking, and we
hadn't even talked to him about it! The 18 year old girl likes the church a lot
and believes everything except Joseph Smith. We're going to watch the hour long
video with her. That's how I started to gain my testimony of Joseph Smith!<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
We've been doing a lot of service still. Because of all this
service, the ward is really coming to love missionaries. Boo-yah!</div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
We sticky noted all the elders in our district, the
zone leaders, and the Assistants to the president's doors. We didn't go out of
our area either! We said nice things about them. It really uplifted them. We
can definitely see a change in our district. Hoorah!</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Oh! Something neat. We got a referral from Elder
Christofferson this week. When he was staying here in a Residence Inn, he
talked to the front desk about the church, so we were the follow-up people this
week. The lady wasn't interested right now, but we might try again later. It
was pretty cool to have a referral from an apostle! </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
We went to a Spanish family yesterday for a party. The
Spanish elders were with us, and one of them is a native. So he made fun of me
to some of the other members. It was funny, but I want to know this language so
badly! I understand what they say, but I can't speak back. Any tips on how to
learn Spanish in the states would be helpful.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I want to talk about how much I love the scriptures. I love
the Bible. I haven't read much of the Old Testament, but I love the beauty of
Psalms and Proverbs and Isaiah is so powerful! The way he talks about Christ is
beautiful. I love the New Testament even more. I love the teaching of Christ
and his apostles. The parables have so much symbolism and depth. I love the
ability I have to learn from it in so many different situations of life. The
Bible brings me closer to Christ, helps me understand his life and his
teachings more. I'm currently reading it in my personal study and I love it so
much. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I also love the Book of Mormon. It testifies of Christ also.
It's another testament of him, and is the other branch talked about in Ezekiel
37:15-17. Every page talks about Christs and testifies of him. Reading this
gives me the power to resist the evils of today. We all face
"darkness" or gloom of today's evils, but the Book of Mormon provides
a "rod" for us to follow. It helps us stay where we need to be to be
happy. It's symbolic of our day. The stories are like parables. They are deep
in meaning and I learn so much from it each time. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I know both of these books are true. They bring me happiness
and joy each day, even when I have difficult trials in my life. The Book of
Mormon was translated by the power of God. As Elder Holland says, "No
wicked man could write such a book as this; and no good man would write it,
unless it were true and he were commanded of God to do so." Millions have
given up so much in their lives because they know it is true. I've given up 2
years of my life because I know it's true. And you know me, I'm smart and don't
just believe anything. I've grown up with this, yes. But I've wondered for
myself, questioned it, and prayed about it. And I've felt in my heart that it
is true. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I invite all to read from its pages and pray for themselves,
whether you are a member or a non-member. Just like it says in 2 Nephi
33:10-11, believe in Christ.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I love you all! Keep trucking along and I know God will help
you with whatever you are going through.</div>
<br />
Con amor,<br />
Hermana Lau</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294851238322245489.post-43242761345662810702013-11-04T23:29:00.000-08:002014-04-04T07:12:13.621-07:00You can't really see the mountains today. But I swear, they are there!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
November 4, 2013<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I love my mission! It's the best experience ever. Come on a
ride with me of this past week!</div>
<br />
<br />
I decided to do this with all my companions: I write a good
thing about them each day on a card and a good thing about me each day. It's really
helpful! It helps you get over the things that annoy you about people really
quickly.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
On Halloween, we had to be in by 7. So we went upstairs to
the senior couple (the Jensens) and had pie with them and talked to them. It
was super cool!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Miracles this week! We had one of the girls we were working
with tell us over a text she wants to become a member of the church! We've seen
hearts soften in our other investigators, and we started teaching a man who has
been taking the initiative to go to seminary! So we went to seminary twice this
past week. Props to the high schoolers that go every day. It's SO hard. But blessings
come from it!!!</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
And one more thing. The power of prayer is amazing!!! I'm
learning that more and more about its power as I am out here. Trust God and
have faith! What else can we do?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I love you all! Keep up the good work. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Love, </div>
Hermana Lau<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294851238322245489.post-56695802894358820072013-10-28T23:12:00.000-07:002014-04-04T07:15:35.772-07:00If that doesn't make you feel good, I don't know what will!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
October 28, 2013<br />
<br />
Mi familia y amigos!!!<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
So this week has been full of warm fuzzies! I've felt the impact that I'm having on people this week
and the love of the Lord. Let me tell you about it!</div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
We've done a lot of service this week! We helped out the
senior couple (who are our neighbors!) move 2 new apartments in this week. We
also did service for a LA family that has a 9 year old boy that is unbaptized.
We hope it softened her heart so we can go back to teach them. They are the
cutest boys (she has older ones that are already baptized--14, 12, 9; just like
our boys!). I hope it goes well.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
But transfers! Drum roll please........ I'm staying in
Bakersfield! I'm still in my ward. But Hermana T is leaving! :( I should
still see her around, since she is a sister training leader (they help
missionaries be better and switch companions with you periodically, to help
you). </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
But oh my goodness! This week has been amazing! We had 2
members of the 70 and 2 apostles come to our mission! (For those who don't
know, our church leadership goes like this: we have Christ at the head of the
church, and he governs it through inspiration and revelation that the president
[or prophet] receives. The prophet has 2 men that help him (First Presidency).
Then there are 12 apostles, and that's what they are, apostles! Just like in
the Bible. Then we have quorums of the 70 (just like the Bible) that help out
in running the church too, which Christ is at the head, and he guides it
through revelation and inspiration). Elder Cook (apostle) came to Lancaster
last week and talked to the missionaries down there (I didn't go). </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Then this week Elder Golden of the 70 came and did a mission
tour. Our mission is broke into two areas, so we have 2 sets of APs and
everything. It's Bakersfield and Lancaster. He went to Lancaster on Wednesday
and was here in Bakersfield on Thursday. He taught about some really great
things. Like how your attitude is everything. And other great stuff that I
don't have time to write about. After the conference, we had a lunch. While I
was eating, the APs came over to me, and told me Elder Golden would like to
have an interview with me. Me meeting with a 70? One on one? Made my legs shake
a little. I was the only sister he interviewed (he met with one other elder and
the APs). It was a great interview! Oh, I felt so special. He asked me how my
mission was going, how my family was doing. He asked me if I had any questions,
so I asked him about the sermon on the mount and about the higher law. Then he
asked me my favorite scripture, so I told him Alma 26:12. We read it and he
told me how it was a great scripture. Then he told me I needed to write home my
family and tell them this: "For such a young missionary, you are extremely
exceptional." I
was on cloud 9. Someone who is so high up in the church leadership telling me I
was an exceptional missionary. Wow. One of the highlights of my mission.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Elder Christofferson was amazing too. I wish I had time to
talk about what he said, but I was mesmerized by how much the Spirit poured from
his face. It was amazing! Maybe I'll talk about it more next week.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I love you all so much! I miss you a ton, but I want you to
know that I know this church is true. Christ is our Redeemer and I am so
grateful for all that He has done for me. Alma 7:11-13. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Have a great week! Remember, God and Christ love you! You
can do <i>anything</i> through them.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Con amor, </div>
Hermana Lau</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294851238322245489.post-56324563671320245072013-10-21T22:58:00.000-07:002014-04-04T07:16:51.105-07:00"I didn't even know we had mountains here!"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">October
21, 2013<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">My
dear family and friends,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">Wow!
This has been quite the week. First off, thank you all for your prayers for me
and for the family of Elder Page. Even though it's still hard, I've received a
lot of comfort through your prayers. The power of prayer is amazing. I doubted
it in the past, but now I know that it's one of the best things we can do for
others. It's been interesting to read emails from other members of my district
in the CCM. One of my other good friends, Elder Haws (the one from North
Platte) was actually in his district in the field. He told me they got to go to
the temple the day before and he had an interview with the mission president
the morning of the accident. I wrote a letter to his family and printed all the
pictures I had of him. I felt that it was something I should do. I have the
address of the mission office in Arcadia, so I asked them to forward it to his
home. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">I
guess one of the most important things I've learned from this experience is how
fast life goes. I know this may sound cheesy (it's the first time that I ever
lost anyone I've known and loved), but life goes by so fast. We don't have time
to focus on the unimportant things in life. As I've had this, and other
experiences from my mission occur, I've realized what is important and what
isn't in life. Having good grades or success in work is great, but if you are
missing out on the opportunity to get to know and spend time with the people
you love, then it's not worth it in the end.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">Let
me tell you about this week! It's been full of miracles and awkwardness. The
miracles have been amazing! It's been good to see success, especially since
Hermana T said we basically opened our new area. All the work was done in
the other area by both sets, so there was very little work done in our area.
We've been working really hard on working through members. I don't want to go
knocking. But I know I need to get over that, because it does bring success,
like the two people from our ward and Elder Page's father. Hearing those
stories helps me change my attitude about knocking.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">First
off, I've learned a lot of lessons this week. I've realized how much I love my
companion! She is awesome. She helps me a ton learning how to do this work and
we work well together. I also learned that perfection can rob joy. It's good
to want to be better, but if you only focus on the your weaknesses and how you
keep failing at overcoming them, you begin to digress and are much more
unhappy. I've noticed that with goals on my mission, particularly with Spanish.
And I realized that I've done that frequently throughout my life: focus to much
on my weaknesses and trying to overcome them that I forget to have joy and
recognize my strengths. It's been a hard lesson to learn, but I'm glad I'm
beginning to realize it and that it's something I can try to begin to overcome
during my mission. So don't let perfectionism rob you of joy! Here's a quote I
love from General Conference by President Uchtdorf: "Our destiny is not
determined by the number of times we stumble but by the number of times we
stand up, dust ourselves off, and stride forward." I loved what Steven
said about how it's hard to see our success all at once. I can't wait to read
through my journal or letters home after my mission to see myself grow. How
cool an experience that will be!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">Ah! I
don't have much time left. Well, here are the miracles. We had an investigator
come to church that I didn't think would come! She had a great experience and
is coming back next week for the primary program. Then we had the member we
were eating dinner with that night invite her over also. It was a great
experience. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">But
the big miracle! We've been trying to get the chance to meet with some solid
investigators that the elders gave us for the longest time. She's been super
busy, but her and her son (who is 9) come to church almost every Sunday. Well,
the primary president (bless her 1000x!) gave the son an assignment to write a
talk for the program about the 1st vision. She wanted us to help him with it,
so we called the Mom, and we scheduled not one, but TWO appointments for next
week! We were jumping for joy!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">We've
been doing a lot of service these past few weeks in order to find people to
teach. We even taught our district about using service as a finding tool. It's
been a really neat experience. It softens hearts and helps people recognize
that we are good people and servants of God.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">The
awkwardness! Well... sometimes missionary work is just awkward. Like when you
and your companion have to break into your own apartment because it was locked
by the other sisters, or knowing the people are home whose door you are
knocking on. You don't have to pretend you're not home..... Oh the stories I
will tell after the mission! I laugh a lot here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">But
let me quickly tell you about the weather! It's gorgeous. It's in the 80s or
high 70s. It feels like one extended summer. You can tell it's fall from the
leaves changing color and that crops are being harvested. Grape season is
almost over, but pomegranates and citrus are coming up next! Oh! And the
pollution here is awful. You can barely see the mountains. For the first few
days, I didn't even know there were mountains close by, until Hermana T
told me you could see the mountains that day. Thus, the subject line.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">Well,
I must go. I love you all! I hope all is going well and you are staying strong
in your relationship with God and Christ. A friend told me that we always need
to be working on that relationship everyday. It's true! The mission is flying
by fast. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">Con
amor,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">Hermana
Lau<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294851238322245489.post-30033436840600579622013-10-14T09:54:00.000-07:002014-04-04T07:17:51.454-07:00Elder Andrew Page<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
October 14, 2013<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Buenos dias family and friends! Let me tell
you the good news first! </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
We've going through the ward list working on visiting the Less
Actives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We've also been using Family
History as a way to find people and do missionary work. Really cool thing I
found out this week: I have Mexican cousins! How, might you ask? When Edward
Bunker came out west, he moved down to Mexico with part of his family. I assume
over time they inter-married with the Mexicans, so I have Latino family! That
was pretty exciting.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
But the reason this week has been hard. Elder Andrew Page,
one of my closest friends from the MTC in Mexico, was hit by a car while biking
on Thursday in Arcadia, California. He didn't survive through the night.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
For all those of you who didn't get the opportunity to know
Elder Page personally, let me tell you about how great of a missionary and
friend he was. He deserves a little more recognition than he was given in the
paper.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Elder Page was one of the most loving people I know. He went
through a lot during his short life. His Dad died 4 years ago while he was a
freshman. He was the only man left in his family. He was the youngest of 4,
having 3 sisters older than him. Because of this, he had such a love for others,
especially girls. He treated us hermanas with such respect. I admired his love
for others. It made me think about the way I love other people and how I can
better improve.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Elder Page was one of the funniest people I know. I had the
great opportunity of sitting right next to him for 3 weeks of my time in the
MTC. During the struggles of MTC life, Elder Page would
always make me laugh. Thankfully, I wrote down a lot of the things he would
say, because I thought they were priceless. I was always in a good mood with
Elder Page.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Elder Page was my friend. Hermana Stott and I were really
close to Elder Page and his companion, Elder Nielsen. We would play sports
together a lot (usually soccer or ultimate frisbee). We would always sit next to
these two during devotionals. He played the alto sax too, so we had fun talking
about that, our future plans at BYU, and how excited we were to get to
California and start working. Elder Page, Elder Nielsen, and I were all going
to attend BYU after the mission, and we were excited to get together after the
mission and speak Spanish to each other. There were a lot of nights after our
classes where our companionships would walk toward are houses together and
talk.</div>
<br />
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Elder Page had such a strong testimony. He was an 18 year
old elder from Charlotte, NC. He struggled a lot at the beginning of the MTC
with confidence in his abilities, particularly about learning Spanish. But
after a few weeks, something changed in him, and he grew more than I believe
some people do on their entire mission. He was extremely dedicated to the
gospel and had an immense love for Christ. I know he had a relationship with
our Savior because it showed with the way he would bless the sacrament and give
priesthood blessings. He respected his priesthood and used it worthily.</div>
<br />
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I found out about his death during district meeting on
Friday. We were able to do service after that, so I was able to do some
physical work and try to process that one of my best friends, from such a
recent, hard, yet rewarding part of my life was gone. Even though it's been
hard, I know he's in a better place.</div>
<br />
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I'm so grateful for the Plan of Salvation. I'm so grateful
that God loved us enough that He has given us the opportunity to live with Him
again and with our loved ones. I know that Elder Page is teaching those who
have died that haven't had the chance to hear about Christ. I know that he is
working with his Dad and is continuing his mission. D&C 138:57 fits him
perfectly. I'm so excited to meet him again when my mission in this life is
over.</div>
<br />
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I know that God lives. I know that he sent His son, Jesus
Christ on this earth to perform the Atonement. This Atonement not only gives us
the ability to be forgiven of our sins and relieved of guilt and shame, but
there is a healing aspect of it also. Christ knows how each of us feel during
the hard times we face. I'm so grateful for this, and even though I'm
struggling in the loss of such a good friend, I'm learning a lot about my
relationship with God and about myself. </div>
<br />
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I know that people who are on the other side are not far
from us at all. I know they come in times when we need us and protect us until
our time on this earth is up. </div>
<br />
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I'm so incredibly grateful for the wonderful opportunity I
had to know Elder Page for such a short amount of time. He is a great
missionary, friend, and man. I feel so blessed to be apart of the training he
received before he left this world. I love Elder Page as much as I love all my
close friends. But I know that there is life after this mortal duration on
earth, and I will be able to see him again.</div>
<br />
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I love this gospel. I love my Savior and my God. And never
forget, I love you SO much. I can't wait to be with you all again!</div>
<br />
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Love, </div>
Hermana Sami Lau<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Picture: This was my district at the MTC. Elder Page is the
one on the bottom row at the left. He has glasses. And that tie he is wearing,
it's his Perry the Platypus tie.</div>
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I would send the pictures I had of just me and him and our
companionships, but I don't have my cord, so I'll send more pictures in the
future.</div>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglMZrbgh0Yea1pkNN5oGXOs9Z05cSy97xq0gGh2e9SnJD8zeV7B7nWBbM2EeF5zVzmoTQjDpnuoZ4rZNJf2uOFdkCjQCDFHucjqOiEzk4AV_aM-4cYkR3ouMSHAvRAPLjOdiKlfyeIlZOu/s1600/IMG_4522%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglMZrbgh0Yea1pkNN5oGXOs9Z05cSy97xq0gGh2e9SnJD8zeV7B7nWBbM2EeF5zVzmoTQjDpnuoZ4rZNJf2uOFdkCjQCDFHucjqOiEzk4AV_aM-4cYkR3ouMSHAvRAPLjOdiKlfyeIlZOu/s640/IMG_4522%5B1%5D.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294851238322245489.post-8083767372926688622013-10-07T19:00:00.000-07:002014-04-02T07:54:42.854-07:00Did your red light turn off?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">October 7, 2013</span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Hey family! Hello
friends! I hope this letter finds you all in the best of moods. Even though
life is busy and chaotic, it is great, so smile! </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Now about me! To
answer your questions: It's been a balmy 89 degrees here the past few days. And
people think it's cold. The elders I serve with are both wearing sweaters
today. I... just laugh at them. One of them is from Iowa and goes home in 3
weeks. He is going to die. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Investigator "G" is doing
great! She reads from the BOM everyday and prays. She comes to church. She is
golden. Her baptism is a week from Friday. I'll send pictures of that too! We
also have a new investigator named "A". We taught her once, but she was
super cute, and wants to keep meeting with us! Her best friend just left on a
mission. We meet with her tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes! </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">This week we went
through the ward list; trying to figure out who lives in our area and who is
less active. Our ward list is 27 pages long, with lots of Less actives (english
speaking). So there's plenty of work to do there! We are going to try to visit
a bunch of them this week. Our ward is the "inner city ward." I'm
living the ghetto life in Bakersfield! Haha, we don't live in our ward
boundaries, and it's really not that bad. And our area is the nicer area of the
ward (like Millard), so Mom and Dad, don't worry.</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Ah! So much to
say, so little time. Let me tell you about a cool experience I had, then
conference!</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">We had Zone
Meeting this week too! We did this really cool activity where someone pretends
to be the investigator and they choose the topic and who speaks. They can
switch between the missionaries midsentence. It's suppose to work on
companionship unity. I taught with an elder, and I was nervous! First off, it's
an elder, so I haven't had much opportunity to practice with them. We taught
the restoration, and we were on fire! I prayed for the Spirit when I was
teaching, to help me know what to say. When we would switch midsentence, I
would begin to talk right after the switch, not really thinking beforehand.
People, the Spirit really does give you what you need to say when you need to
say it! They called me Sis. Power afterwards since it went so well. Haha.</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">I LOVED
conference. If you haven't had a chance to see it, it's where the leaders of
the church talk about things they feel that God wants us as a church to know.
Go to this website (<a href="http://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2013/10?cid=HPFR100413105&lang=eng"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2013/10?cid=HPFR100413105&lang=eng</span></a>)
and choose a random talk. I <i>promise</i> you will hear something that
applies to your life. </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Conference was
amazing this year. All the talks were fantastic! Especially all the ones about
members and missionary work! Oh ya. I'm super stoked to have the prophet
calling members to get more involved in the work. All of our investigators were
member referrals. All of them. We watched it at the stake center. I really like
Holland's talk. I haven't suffered depression, but when he talked about
watching and helping others who are started on that path, it really touched me.
I thought back to Fall Semester last year, and at the beginning/middle of the
semester, I was definitely on that path. Just barely starting it. But I was SO
blessed to have girls on my floor who consistently insisted that I do stuff
with them, other fantastic friends (particularly in Budge) that helped remind
me to be happy, and of course, a wonderful family that loved me from a few
thousand miles away. I am so grateful for you all, you have changed my life for
the better.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">One last thing:
kinda funny, explains the subject line. After Sunday morning session of
conference, I began to feel itchy. We were going to eat with the Latinos (they
brought a delicious lunch and invited us to partake) and we were waiting to say
a prayer. All of the sudden, my skin turns super red (as red as the boys were
in California), super hot, and pretty itchy. I don't know why I broke out in
hives, but one of the Hispanic ladies asked if I ate something spicy. And then
my district leader asked me later that day if my red light turned off yet. The
hives weren't splotchy, my whole body was just red, hot and itchy. Is that
still hives??? But I thought it was pretty funny. I guess I'm just allergic to
stress or something, and I don't even know what I'm stressed over!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Well, I love you
all SO much. I miss you, especially my family. But I know this is where I'm supposed
to be! Read your scriptures and pray every day. This is the only way you'll
gain protection against all the evil in the world. I have seen how they have
strengthened my life, and I know they will strengthen yours.</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">I love you all!</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Hermana Sami Lau</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Alma 26:12</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294851238322245489.post-19812724155663169242013-09-30T16:00:00.000-07:002014-04-04T07:29:29.275-07:00What's for dessert? More humble pie!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">9-30-13</span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">My dearest familia y amigos, </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Hola! I hope everything is going well with you. Wow! What a week. Week 8
as a missionary. Let me tell you all about it!</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I
had a baptism this week! Her name is "I" and she's is 81 years old
and converted from Judaism. She's from Peru but speaks great English. We
didn't
teach her much because another ward was teaching her, but then they
realized
she lived in our ward, so we got her two weeks before her baptism. She
was SO excited to be baptized. She reminds me a lot of Grandma, so it's really easy to love her. The service was great--the
Spirit was
really strong. We're teaching another great girl, "G", who is in her
early
20s. She is golden! She's going to be baptized on the 18th of this
month. I'm
really excited for her!</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">This week I've been really striving to work with exact obedience. It's
been hard, especially with the times to be in/out of bed and studying. But I
was working hard to be obedient, and let me tell you about the blessings I saw
from it! We went to contact a lot of our referrals that we've been trying to
get a hold of but have failed. I had faith that we were going to be able to
talk to them. Out of the 5 or 6 we visited, we talked to all of them except 1!
What a miracle! I am now determined to be 100% obedient. </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Let me tell you about an experience that I had this week. I had my first
drop/bible basher (people who try to disprove everything we teach with specific
verses in the bible, even though we share bible verses with them that support
what we say). He was a really nice man and I could tell that he was concerned
for our souls. He basically told us that we should reconsider our faith so we
weren't following some wrong ideas. He shared Galatians 1:8 with us (you should
look at it. It made my jaw drop). We aren't visiting him anymore, but it wasn't
a bad feeling meeting. It just made me have a greater desire to find the people
that are ready to hear the gospel. I want to work hard and diligently!</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Guess where I ate this week with a member?
In N Out! I would send a picture, but I don't have my camera cord... And guess
what! There are Jamba Juices in my area. Mmmmm. Oh ya.</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So we've been working mostly with LA (less actives) these past few
weeks. An idea! When having the missionaries over for
dinner, you should always try to have a nonmember there. Let the missionaries
know so they can plan for it, but I would love it if people did that for us. Our
ward (to answer Mom's questions) is interesting. I don't know if they have
separate Sunday schools, but they have separate gospel essential classes. The
RS meet together for announcements and then they split. We usually are with the
English because of our investigators (all of them are English speaking). I
didn't know our ward in Maryland had a French branch dissolved into it!</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So Bakersfield has nothing in it. I can't believe that I'm in the
biggest city in my mission. This is SUPER rural. I'm already missing the green
and moisture. But I am loving the low 80 high 70 weather we have. It's great.
Doesn't feel like October, but it's really nice. Oh! Funny story. We have
mountains around us, but the pollution is so bad, you can't see them very well.
I didn't know they were there until my companion said something. I was so
surprised! Good ol pollution.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So two more things on my list (I plan out everything I want to say so I
don't waste my time). I want to talk about how my boundaries changed yesterday.
Us and the Spanish elders went through our areas and set up boundaries for how
to split it. Unfortunately the area they took (because they live in it) has
basically all the people we have been working with, including most of the
single Spanish sisters. I LOVE the single Spanish sisters. It broke my heart
that we wouldn't be able to see them anymore. But.. this is sort of an answer
to a prayer. So I've been praying for charity and it was good to see that I was blessed with
charity. Also, I have a concern. All the Spanish people we have been working
with live in that area, so I'm afraid that I won't be able to improve much on
my Spanish while I'm here. But I'm supposed to be here, so I have faith that it
will be okay!</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Speaking of learning, real quick! I've been thinking a lot about
repentance this week. Growing up, it seemed that repentance was viewed as such
a bad thing, but in reality, it's a joyous thing! How great is it that we have
the opportunity to be forgiven of the mistakes we make in our lives, no matter
how big or small. </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I love you all! I hope I can hear from you soon! I love you guys a ton!
Hope you got my letters!</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Love, </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Hermana Sami Lau</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294851238322245489.post-47342645052881253632013-09-23T17:00:00.000-07:002014-04-04T07:30:43.353-07:00Is she Chinese or Something?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
September 23, 2013<br />
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OH MY GOODNESS. I have so much to write! So little time.
Here it goes!</div>
<br />
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I'M IN BAKERSFIELD!!!! What is this nonsense???? But first,
my story begins in Mexico. I got a blessing the night before I left, and it was
amazing to hear things that were specifically for me. It's brought me a lot of
comfort this week, especially when I was leaving into an unknown world. The
Priesthood is awesome, and all worthy men are incredibly blessed to have it, it
such a great way to serve people.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
But we left for the bus at 2:30 in the morning on Monday.
After I called you guys in Phoenix, I had just started walking back when two
elders ran to me, grabbed my bags and we ran to the plane. It was... an
adventure. But I got on the plane with 26 other new missionaries who were headed
here, and we headed to Bakersfield!</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
When we walked out to baggage claim, I was met with a flash
of a camera and my mission president! President Wilson is AWESOME. I love him.
All worries and concerns I had about having one I didn't get along with melted.
He's so great. When we were standing around the one baggage claim in
Bakersfield, he came up to me and asked me if I was majoring in Civil
Engineering. I was shocked he knew! He kept telling me that he knew I must be a
hard worker from that major. I thought it was pretty funny. In my interview
with him, he told me Spanish will come. Which is good. He also told me that I
won't probably be ever on a bike. He has 5 daughters and he's very protective
over the sisters (we text the Zone Leaders every night telling we are home).
But we have a car. Even though I won't get a bike, I have an awesome ward, so I
was pretty happy about that!</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
But when we got off the plane, there was nothing here. I mean
nothing. But a love just overwhelmed me. I know this is where I'm supposed to
be, and I'm SO excited to be here. We have sisters and elders in the ward. And
guess what? I serve Spanish and English! I do both! It's really interesting,
this stake doesn't have a Spanish branch, so it was dissolved into this ward.
The Elders do the Spanish through the entire stake, and we do it just in our
ward boundaries. We teach mainly in English, which is nice, I just hope I can
learn Spanish sometime soon! It's the 2nd best ward ever, right behind the
Millard Ward. The members and ward leadership are great. They help us a ton and
feed us SO much. I'm going to gain SO much weight here. I'm so scared! We eat
with English and Spanish families. They're both great, but the Spanish give you
SO much food. I always waddle out of their homes. It's crazy. So maybe I won't
eat lunch ever so I can balance out this intake of food? Good idea? I thought
so ;)</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Oh! But thank you for everyone who send me letters! That was
one of the first thing I heard off the plane: "Oh, <i>you're</i> Sis.Lau?
You have SO much mail!" It was great. And THANK YOU so much for all the
prayers I received this week! I can tell how much they blessed me this week. I
was thinking that this week hasn't been too bad, and I realized that it was
because I have a ton of people praying for me. So thank you for your prayers.
Prayers do miracles. I need to learn how to have better prayers, because there
are so many blessing HF wants to bless us with, we just need to be open with
him and ask him.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
My companion is pretty cool. She's pretty quiet and goes home the transfer before Steven. I had
to laugh with Steven's email about the greenies having so much energy: she
asked me to "follow her example" because I was going to fast. She's
really nice. I figured I will be with her this next transfer and then be here
for a little while after. Unless I get transferred in 5 weeks. Who knows!</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
But it's amazing how much people look for blessings when
they interact with us. I can see it when they feed us. And invite us in their
home. It's awesome to see the power and authority of my calling and how it
helps people's life. Life is sad and hard. But it's amazing to see how the
gospel blesses lives and really makes us happy! </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
We have a baptism this week. I'll write more about it next
week. But it's been cool to see how the Spirit teaches. Me and my companion
have the same ideas about scriptures or talks to share. It's pretty cool!</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Well, I need to write my mission president. I love you all,
and I can't wait to write you more next week!! </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Love you!</div>
Hermana Sami Lau<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
PS: everyone asks me where my name is from. It's really
funny.</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294851238322245489.post-48315976618421905302013-09-15T15:00:00.000-07:002014-04-02T01:40:27.820-07:00One More Day<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
September 15, 2013<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Hey family!!! Wow. Does time fly! My 40+ days here in Mexico
are finished. It´s been great, I´m going to miss the CCM so much, but I´m
excited to get into the field! I can´t believe there are 24 missionaries from
our stake and 9 from our ward!!! Wow. How cool is that! The church is true.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
So I´ll let you know what happened these last few days.
Quite more than I thought would have happened! On Friday, we had in field
orientation. It helped me get excited for going to CA, but it also made me
nervous. I began to be really stressed, but I did some push-ups, said a prayer
and now I´m getting excited. I have more of a vision of what the field will be
like. Transfers are on Tuesdays in my mission (I made friends with an elder who
lives in my mission and he worked closely with the missionaries before he
left). So I´ll be there less than a day before I´m sent out to an area. CRAZY.
I worked out some more statistics and according to my calculations, each
transfer is 7.7% of my mission (a transfer is every 6 weeks). I do the time I
have been in the CCM 11 more times. It makes it sound like a lot less time and
makes me want to treasure every moment rather than thinking "I don´t end till
Feb. 2015." So I´m ready to work hard, I think. I know my Spanish is
horrible, so that scares me. But I have trust that the Lord will help me!</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
On Friday the coolest thing happened this week. During in
field orientation, they challenged us to ask God again about the truths of the
gospel, and we could go into the field with that renewed testimony. Well, I did
it, and I felt nothing. I asked for an answer soon. When I was teaching my last
lesson on Saturday afternoon, I felt prompted to share a scripture. I looked in
the index for it, found the one I thought I was looking for, and when I went to
the page, 2 verses jumped out at me. It was Moroni 7:16-17. It was about how
all good things come from God and it was an answer to my prayers. I was so
excited! Super cool moment: it´s what I needed to hear and what the investigator
needed to hear. The Spirit is amazing!</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Tomorrow is Mexico´s Independence Day. On Saturday we went
to a celebration for it. What a great way to leave the CCM!!! I haven´t laughed
and screamed that much in SUCH a long time. I made recordings of it for you,
and I´ll send it to you once I get to the states. But we sang their national
anthem, watched an awesome video about Mexico and how it gained independence,
and watched Mexican dancers. They were alumni of the high school here, and they
were all still in high school. It was a fiesta. I´ll send pictures once I get
my cords. But I´ve decided to become more Mexican. IT´s a fiesta every day, and
they´re always happy. Mission goal throw down. But the attack began really
early in the morning on the 16th, so the party starts tonight and I´ll get to
drive through it this morning. We´re going to the gym at 10:30 and 11 we're
going to yell. I´m not sure if that´s tradition, but I´m excited!</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Let me tell you about something I learned in Relief Society.
It was taught by Hermana Pratt (her and President Pratt say hello Michelle and
Matt. In fact, I gave the closing prayer, and she announced me as "Hermana
Lau, the niece of my visiting teaching companion in Hong Kong." Everyone
was oohing and aahing. I laughed. So they say hello!). She talked about
patterns in the gospel. She talked about the pattern of the Garden of Eden,
where we enter a new place/situation, and it´s the lone and dreary world at
first. Then we become comfortable with it, it becomes a garden of eden, and
then we're given a new challenge and thrown out again. We talked about Nephi
and Laman, but the really cool one was in John 15. It talked about the parable
for the vineyard. How we´re like the branches, and the Lord will trim us back
to have us grow better fruit and become more spiritual and better. I don´t have
time to go into it, but I loved it and we went more into detail.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Well, I must go. I love you all! Now that I´m in the states,
you should send me letters. Especially this week, since I know it´s going to be
extremely hard for me. But I´m looking forward with faith, praying for a great
trainer, and praying for a biking area. I want to ride my bicycle, I want to
ride my bike...</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Best of luck this week! You´ll hear from me on the 23rd.
I´ll call you tomorrow from Mexico or Phoenix!</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Love you all. God bless!!!!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Hermana Sami Lau</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294851238322245489.post-74325317519799389622013-09-12T18:00:00.000-07:002014-04-02T01:36:26.018-07:00What do you want.... Bacon, beans, or freedom?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
September 12, 2013<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Hello from Mexico! So let me quickly explain the subject
line. We were talking about the difference between Canada, Mexico, and the US
and how some Mexicans consider us North Americans and some consider themselves
North Americans too. Well, one of the elders said this and I thought it was
funny. So there you go!</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
But let me answer a few questions first: I get to go to the
temple every other week. The sessions are totally in Spanish, so it´s
interesting to see how much I understand. My understanding of what is being
said improves each time! Today was my last time going. It´s a gorgeous place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thanks for the letters! </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I´m leaving on Monday!!!! 3 more days. AHHHH! It´s exciting,
but frightening at the same time. Even though I know a lot of Spanish, I still
have a hard time understanding things. I´m really glad I´m going to the US. I
can´t imagine going to Russia or anything like that. Props to Steven. And I´m
so excited to be going back to the states! The USA is the best. I love Mexico,
but I´m ready for Californian sun! Speaking of the US, I can't believe 9/11 was
12 years ago! I still remember it vividly. Especially since we lived in DC at
the time. Thanks to all the men and women who serve, served, or will serve our
country!</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Mexico´s independence day celebration starts Sunday night.
We´re having a big celebration on Saturday night. I´ll let you know about it on
Sunday! I´ll send an email on Sunday, since I won´t have Pday next week. So
write me! </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I keep forgetting to tell you this, but I gave a talk on my
3rd Sunday here! It was about repentance, and I did the whole thing basically
entirely in Spanish. My grammar was AWFUL, but the Spirit was there, especially
after a Holland quote I shared. And bam! The Spirit was super strong. I love
Holland--he brings the fire.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
So for studying this week, I mostly study the Book of Mormon
(bom) or Preach My Gospel (pmg). Can I just tell you how much I LOVE PMG? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I encourage everyone to read it. I read it
when I was in HS and I´m so glad I did. Even though not everything applied to
me at that point, I still got a lot out of reading it. Especially young men and
women who want to serve missions. Maybe you can challenge the Priests to read
it Dad? I´m glad I have such a strong love for the book when I came here, and I
don´t have to waste time figuring out what´s inside and how to use it. My
favorite section is Christlike attributes--especially with my challenges with
my companion. It´s great. And the BoM! So we study for an hour every morning,
and sometimes I read conference talks instead of the BoM. I decided that no matter
what, I´m reading the BoM every day, cause I can tell the days I don´t read it
(even though I´m still having scripture study). It totally applies to our day.
Cool insight from this week: the Gadianton robbers. Most people don´t have to
worry about having problems with that right? WRONG. For most of us, the
Gadianton robbers are like worldly temptations that distract us from following
the example of Christ. Our army against them? Doing the Standard Mormon Answers
(prayer, scripture study, attending church) with desire. Act, don´t be acted
upon. And cool insight from the BoM this week: Helaman 10:4-5. It´s my goal to
feel like that by the end of my mission. Maybe it´ll give you some motitivation!</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
So we had the district ahead of us leave this week. They
were good friends. They helped me a ton at the beginning remember that I choose
to be happy. I´m so glad I began to learn that lesson during school. Thank you
to all my BYU friends that helped me realize how to work hard, but still enjoy
life at the same time. You guys influenced my life SO much for the better. And
I "am eternally grateful." I still have a ways to go, but I had a
great start at school.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
It´s been a great experience to grow so much during my time
here. I´m glad I´ve already had the opportunity to help people come unto
Christ. Me and her talked about how we can both rely on the Lord more, so we
set goals and made plans (just as PMG says). And to all who ever made fun of my
list making skills: they work miracles on the mission! So there. You guys were
just jealous at my skills! Haha, no. But seriously, I´m grateful that I know
how to plan. It´s helped a ton on my mission with goals. SMART goals have some
merit to them (sorry all MPS students who have to suffer those goal making
sessions. It actually works).</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
So I only have a few minutes left, but here´s some stats
that I figured out this week. Each month is 5.5% of my mission. Each week is
1.3%. Each day is .2%. With those numbers in mind, in makes it seem like the
work is going a lot faster. I´m almost 7% done with my mission. And that´s a
crazy thought. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
But I love you all! I hope you all write me. I love hearing
from my immediate family, but I would love to hear from other people in the
outside world. I can promise you a handwritten response!!!! :)</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I love you! I know this gospel is true, and that the Savior
can help us through anything. He´s helped me through the craziest, hardest 6
weeks of my life, and I´ve never been happier. Remember to smile! Life is a
great adventure we have, let´s not waste too much time being upset with things
we can´t control!</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Peace out. Word (or in Spanish, palabra).</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Hermana Sami Lau</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294851238322245489.post-5291079197239986832013-09-05T23:00:00.000-07:002014-04-02T01:29:52.734-07:00It´s been a hard day´s night, and I´ve been working like a dog!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<![endif]--><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">September 5, 2013</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Hello my dear
family and friends! I hope life is great in the fantastic Estados Unidos. Speaking
of letters, don´t send me any more in Mexico. Send them to California! </span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Something crazy
this week. We watched an old devotional from Novemeber 2011 on Sunday with
Elder Christofferson. Guess who I saw in the audience? Blake Dallon! He was
sitting in the 3rd row of the choir. I laughed. I hope he´s enjoying the end of
his mission too!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Espanol. It´s
great. I love it. I don´t know it very well or speak it very well, but I´m
beginning to love it as a language. I love the different way you express
things. It implies different things and brings such a different meaning to what
you are reading. It´s fantastic! I made a new goal for my language study these
next 10 days: treat my Spanish study like it was Chem 105 or Math 113 (all my
BYU friends will know waht that means). But I´m going to study it constantly,
speak Spanglish as much as I can, and jsut enjoy every minute of being immersed
in it. I´m so glad I know how to study (people in my district are struggling to
focus on just studying). Huge blessing in my life to know how to hit the books
hard! Oh! And I figured by the time I leave here, I´ll have the grammar
understanding of Spanish 3, but a ton more vocab. (in case you were wondering
how much I can learn in 6 weeks).</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">So a few other
things. I caught a bug earlier this week (its gone, thank goodness) and we had
to miss a lot of class becuase of it. My companion was so sweet and loving when
I was sick. One thing I´m learning a lot from this experience is having charity
and patience. I thought I had a good amount of both, but I´m realizing I
didn´t. So I continually am studying and working on those two! Check out 1 Cor.
13 and Moroni 7. They´re fantastic about charity. Oh! Another goal I have. Be
positive! I guess my district has been one of the most depressed/stressed
districts my teachers have ever seen, so we had a "Come to Jesus"
talk on Sunday, and we all have been so much happier since then! Hooray for
communication!</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Another cool thing
I learned this week was about the Holy Ghost. My teacher, Hna. Olsen, told us
to pause for about 10 seconds while were teaching to listen to the Spirit
instead of saying the first thing that comes to our heads. Boy, is it hard. But
I´ve been trying to do that, and my lessons are SO much better. The Spirit
directs what I need to hear in order to bring the person closer to Christ. It´s
crazy what 10 seconds of pausing can do! It feels awkward at times, but I´m
trying to ,listen more to the Spirit as I teach instead of relying on my
awesome teaching skills I inheritied form swim lessons. Cause swim lessons and
the gospel go hand in hand. Going along with
this, I want to be the kind of missionary who can work great with ward members.
Can people email me what makes you trust a missionary with teaching the gospel
to your friends? I really want to know and your advice would be <i><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">invaluable</span></i>!!! Please, and thank
you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Oh my goodness! I
need to tell you all about one of the main ideas I learned this week. It´s
about M&M´s: members and missionaries. Members are SO important in
missionary work. I can´t stress that enough! I´m still only in training,
but we talked a lot about it this week. It started when we had a
"member" (a missionary pretending to be a member) come with us on one
of our visits. It helps the investigator understand things so much more with
someone who has a normal life there to bear testimony of truths you are
teaching. The Spirit is there a lot more, the investigator feels so
much more comfortable, and it just makes the whole lessons about 1000X better.
En serio! But I encourage ALL of you: go out with the missionaries!
Befriend new converts and investigators! If you feel like you can´t do
missionary work, just start by being an investigator or new convert´s
friend. It makes a whole world of difference and blessings will be poured
out on your head. Reach Ch. 13 of PMG to learn more about how to do
missionary work. It recommends that each family make their own ward
mission plan. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">I HAVE 10 DAYS
LEFT IN THE CCM. I´ve been here for a month. The time has flown by! I
still can´t believe that it´s gone by so fast. It´s really exciting (and also
kinda nervewracking) to think that in 10 days from now, I´ll be back in
the greatest country of them all in the wonderful state of California teaching
people about Jesus Christ in SPANISH! It´s so crazy. I love the CCM and the
Spirit here, but I´m ready to go do some real work with some real people! As
I´m getting ready to head out, I´m trying to decide some new goals based on
what I have learned about missionary work here. Here´s what I´m thinking:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">1) Be 110%
obedient. Perfect obedience, just like the 2000 stripling warriors (or 2000
jovenes). I´m realizing how hard that is. We had a talk from one of our
teachers about obedience and since then, I´ve been thinking about what I can do
better to be more obedient. And wow! Do I have a lot to work on. Like getting
to class for personal study on time! (Being on time? A cinch for me, right?) Or
being in bed at 10:30 (that´s always been easy for me!) or other CCM rules. So I
think that is one thing I´m going to work on while I´m here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">2) Be a PMG
missionary. Where to start? By reading PMG cover to cover. I read it for
Personal Progress and loved it then, but as a missionary, I love it even more.
That book is SO great. I´ve been studying sections and chapters out of it the
entire time I´ve been here, but I´m going to read and study the rest of the
sections and continue to during my mission. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">3) Sacrifice more.
Elder Andersen said "you sacrifice for what you love, and you love what
you sacrifice for." I want to sacrifice everything I can for the Lord
these next 17 months. It´s hard to figure out what else to sacrifice. It´s
going to take some prayer to figure that one out. But I´m excited to give
myself more to the Lord to be even more in tune to His will for me!</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">So before I go,
let me share one spiritual insight from this week. I was deeply studying Enos
this week. I realized that to keep unconverted people righteous, you need to
continually stir them up to remember the Lord through hastening, teaching basic
doctrines, etc. That´s why apostles, bishops, stake presdients, auxillary
leaders, etc. always talk about the importance of being converted to the Lord.
We don´t want to the people who it is easy to fall away if we aren´t constantly
reminded of doing the basics (going to church, reading scriptures, prayer,
etc). </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Well, I love you!
I miss you a ton, and wish I could be there for all the adventures at home, but
I know this is what I´m suppose to do. This is the hardest thing I´ve done, but
I wouldn´t trade it for anything in the world. Anything. Have fun at school,
band, BYU, other universities, and enjoy the end of the summer weather! You are
all in my thoughts and prayers everyday!</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Love you!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"> Hermana
Lau</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhnuYNc0VGJiDsr5vVyDQuTQLcBg5tC1xtowz-VeXGfJbEy0-T4Z-ZJJVmPYXblQAgDyxVGzM6rU6ZkXURSzVL7miFqcEGTXJnzaM6HFYg4ujTPdFFiGLToKVsCpIBid51LRt6rNs12Q/s1600/IMG_4609%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhnuYNc0VGJiDsr5vVyDQuTQLcBg5tC1xtowz-VeXGfJbEy0-T4Z-ZJJVmPYXblQAgDyxVGzM6rU6ZkXURSzVL7miFqcEGTXJnzaM6HFYg4ujTPdFFiGLToKVsCpIBid51LRt6rNs12Q/s400/IMG_4609%5B1%5D.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294851238322245489.post-18006673900967268022013-08-29T21:10:00.000-07:002014-04-02T01:18:57.808-07:003 weeks ago, Hermana Lau was born. But there´s 19 years of backstory called: Sami<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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</xml><![endif]-->August 29, 2013<br />
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Hola mi familia y mis amigos! Como le va? I´m glad Omaha is
as hot as ever! I´m been watching the weather (when we come use the computers
for language study) and it´s hotter than Bakersfield! Out of this world! But
I´m glad that it will be great for Labor Day weekend. Enjoy the pool--I miss it
tons, and its so hard not to be able to go swim a set! To answer your
questions: Mexico es super bien! Me encanta la comida. Yo como muchas tortillas
y dulces. Yo pienso todos chocolate es hace con crack. It´s so good! Tell
Bowker I said hello! He was one of my favorite teachers at West. To all other
people: thanks for the letters, best of luck with college starting this week.
Shout out to my BYU friends-- yo quiero to hear from you! Thanks Emily J. for
writing me :)</div>
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So let me tell you about this week! What a week! It was...
crazy. On Thursday, I was having the hardest time. I was getting really
frustrated. I broke down in prayer on Thursday night. I didn´t know where else
to go. And it was the best thing I have done in a while. Relying on the Lord
with your problems is great. When I was praying, I realized that I´m not
perfect, that I can´t fix it by myself, and that there needs to be a greater hand
involved. I also realized that I need to practice patience, which is well...
hard. But it´s been going well since then! Shout out to Steven--Thanks for the
email. It´s really good to see the other side of the situation. I´m learning a
ton from the whole experience too! The Lord knows what He is doing!</div>
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Espanol. Oy ve! It´s so hard. I´m at 3 weeks, more than half
way, and I feel like I can´t speak very well. I´ve been analyzing how I study,
and I´ve been changing a few things. First of all, I realized I need to speak
Spanish cada dia, todo dia. Our zone leader (hes only a week ahead of me) has
fantastic Spanish. That´s because he talks in it all the time. So I decided to
do that too. Me and a few of the elders tried to make a bet to do it all day
one day (20 pesos were on the line) and I only made it to lunch. We decided to
just make it a daily habit. It´s going to be hard (the day I did it was so
tough! I couldnt express myself like I wanted), but it´ll be good for me and my
district. With the Lord, all things are possible, right? Oh! And I´m going to
try to take to the Latinos more, ask them how to say things, and such. We sat
with a group of them at dinner once, and they made fun of our Spanish. But we
see them all the time, and were now friends! Theyre cool. Also, grammar is
super hard. As we learn it, I swear I don´t speak English correctly, since I
never knew what a gerund or past participle was. So grammar is my next target!
The plan? Practice, practice, practice!</div>
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So studying and missionary work. I´ve had feelings of
overwhelmness this week. We had many devotionals that talked about being
a PMG missionary, which is a 200 page instruction guide on how to be one.
We had lessons that didnt go well, and I turned to the Lord. One thing our teachers have been telling us
daily is that we need to turn to the Lord and the scriptures when we have
questions and concerns. I did just that, and let me <i>testify</i>-- it
works! I felt so much peace as I´ve talked with God more sincerely than I ever
have in my life, and feasted on the scriptures more deeply then ever. One thing
I´m realizing is that when we study for our investigators, we are blessed to
know what they need and we´re blessed too. That´s been really hard to learn
things in Spanish that can help your investigators, but I have grown to love
them even more as I try. It´s so cool what charity can do! I decided to be the
"perfect" missionary everyday, or strive to. I´ve been a lot happier,
relied on the Lord and Spirit more, and feel more successful. </div>
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My district is having similar experiences. We talked a lot
about Holland´s "Lord, I Believe" talk. It´s such a great talk. I
loved that Nicole Sweeney wrote me about that talk, since we´ve been studying
it these past few days. It´s such a great talk. If you ever feel like your
faith is growing thin, read it. If you have a heartbeat, you should read it
too. Just saying.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
We had another live devotional with Provo again! I´ve had 3
devotionals since I´ve been here, and 2 of them have been from apostles! Elder
Andersen spoke this week. It was broadcasted live from Provo. Did you know
Provo has over 4000 missionaries right now? I´m soooooo glad I´m here, where
there´s 600 at most. Our campus is So much bigger too, which is awesome. I love
the CCM! But it was cool to think about how Brody was at that broadcast too.
The one devotional we would both have together at the MTC was with the apostle
that we both got to meet in Carthage! It was a cool bonding moment. And I love
Elder Andersen, especially after he spoke in Hong Kong. He spoke about "Love
first, then sacrifice." You love the things you sacrifice for, and you
sacrifice for the things you love. I decided I need to sacrifice more of my
comforts and past life for the Lord in this great work. It was a great
devotional!</div>
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We got to go the temple today. It was really cool. It was my
second time in Mexico. I understood a lot of the Spanish in the session,
but it still was hard. But it was great to sit in the walls of the House of the
Lord and recieve revelation. Like "what should I focus on these last 3
weeks in the CCM? What would prepare me most for the field?"<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mexico is great. There was a super loud fiesta on Saturday
night outside the CCM and the bass was shaking our beds. I´ll try to send a
video of the music. The sound on my camera is bad, so you´ll have to listen
carefully.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I love you so much! I´m so grateful for your prayers and
support. I can feel angels helping me through the weeks because of your
prayers! I love you all with my entire heart. I miss you a ton, but I´m doing
the right thing. You´re always in my prayers. Keep praying and reading your
scriptures. It brings such great comfort in your life. I can testify of that!</div>
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Love you with all my heart! God bless you.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hermana Lau</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Earthquake Spots<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
When we got Soaked!!!</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294851238322245489.post-48926692764070126222013-08-22T20:37:00.000-07:002014-04-02T01:14:57.061-07:00¡Feliz Navidad!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">August 22, 2013</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">¡Hola! ¿Como esta?
I loved getting all of your letters. Not only from family, but friends too! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To explain my email title: Pday is like
Christmas. Sunday´s are like Thanksgiving, and getting a letter during the week
is like your birthday! I love Christmas and Thanksgiving, but I would like to
have a few "birthdays" while I´m here. You can dear elder me or write
me! It's on <a href="http://dearelder.com/">dearelder.com</a>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I love hearing from all of you! I swear,
email time is the only time I´ve really cried at the CCM! But what can you do?
All of your letters are just wonderful!<br />
<br />
So let me tell you a little bit more about Mexico! IT´s great. Unlike NE, the
weather here has been in the 60s and 70s. It´s been good, but I´m going to die
when I get to Bakersfield! It´s been in the high 90s there (we have weather
gadgets on the monitors. I always look at Mexico City, Bakersfield, and Omaha
and compare. You guys have had BEAUTIFUL weather!).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><br />
But let me tell you more about the food. It´s great! They take American
favorites sometimes and Mexicanize them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It´s good. They are normal meats, but with sauces and served in dishes
that I have no idea what they are called.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Lunch is the biggest meal of the day here (cultural thing) and they
always have fresh corn tortillas, delicious rice, beans, and the best salsa
ever (besides Dad´s, his is number one). So I´m always happy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><br />
There´s a ton of people here now. They keep bringing them by the bus load! We
don´t have any Latinos with us these next two weeks, so there´s only 8 girls
for a house with 5 bathrooms--heaven! We have 3 washers and one dryer. We mostly
hang our clothing outside to dry on the clothes lines they have. It´s pretty
cool!<br />
<br />
So my district. They´re super bien! We have 7 elders. 4 are going to Arcadia,
CA, 2 to Santa Rosa, CA, and one to NY NY south. They´re a lot of fun. We´ve
become good friends and they´re really sweet and helpful. We play basquetbol,
volleyball and futbol with them. It´s a lot of fun, but I get too competitive
for being a missionary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh well! My
district has 4 hermanas. One is from Alambama going to Provo, and the other is
from Cedar City going to Chicago. They are tons of fun. Super cute too; we have
problems with elders coming up and trying to flirt withthem! Oh dear. But what´s interesting is... I´m the oldest! I just turned
19 in May too! My companion is 2 days younger than me, so I´m not that much
older. But me and her are the only ones (and 1 elder) that have ever lived away
from home before. So sometimes it reminds me of freshmen year, but then at
times they are really mature and handling things really well. They are good
examples to me. I love them!<br />
<br />
So let me tell you, prayers really work! Thank you SOOOO much for all the
prayers. Things are going really well. All the prayers have
done miracles. I´m a million times grateful for them!<br />
<br />
The Spanish is coming along. It´s still hard. I know a lot of vocab, but the
grammar is killing me! I´m struggling with it, just like HS. Haha. Oh well! I´m
practicing the new things I know, and me and Hna. Stott are trying to speak it
more and more. We´re both understanding things more and speaking better. Maybe
next week I can send a video of me speaking some Spanish! But I´m trying to
have faith in the gift of tongues and trying to rely on the Lord to help me
learn the language. I´m working hard, chugging away at it everyday! Getting
better!<br />
<br />
Funny moment. At church on Sunday, the building we go to is right by a street
in the city, so you can hear music and traffic. This girl was giving a talk,
and then "This girl is on fire" comes on the radio and is SO loud. We
all start laughing and they close the windows (not many places here have air
conditioning). It was great.<br />
<br />
So on Friday we got a new teacher, Hno. Whittacker. His sister is in the Omaha,
NE mission! So if you see her, let her know! But he was our first investigator,
Pedro. Talk about confusing! He´s now one of our investigators, Esteban. Our
other teacher is the other one. I´m having a hard time thinking of the
investigators as real people<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>since it´s
just my teachers acting. But I´m praying for that love for them and thinking
the situation is real, so I can get the most out of the experience as I can and
that I can really teach by the Spirit. We´ll see!<br />
<br />
Sunday was fantastic! A feast. Thanksgiving! IN RS, I came to the realization
that the BOM is symbolism for our lives. It contains 1/100th of all the
records, and it symbolizes things that are going on in our lives. 1 Nephi 17 and
18. The building of the ship. It can symbolize our missions, marriages,
callings, and other things in our lives. It was so cool!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><br />
Also, we watched an old MTC devotional from Oct. 2012 with Elder Bednar. Holy
cow, was it awesome! He talked about how he studies conference talks. Needless
to say, I got some really awesome inspiration from it!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><br />
I´m running out of time, but I´m just so glad that I have the chance to be a
part of this work. It is God´s work, and I´m so grateful that He trusted me to
do a little bit of that work. I´m here for 1/2 the time Christ did His<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ministry. That´s a pretty cool thought!<br />
<br />
I love you all! I miss you terribly, but I know that I´m suppose to be here
doing this work! Sometimes when I get overwhelmed, I just remember I need to
work with the Lord, and I can accomplish everything through Him! I´m not perfect,
but He is. Thank goodness!<br />
<br />
Thanks for your prayers, your love, and your support. As they say in Spanish,
"¡Les quiero!"</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><br />
Love, Hermana Lau </span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294851238322245489.post-75417637635481994142013-08-16T20:13:00.000-07:002014-04-02T01:10:38.181-07:00Pictures of Mexico MTC & Temple<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Hermana Lau and her companion Hermana Stott<br />
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Hermana Lau's Mission District<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294851238322245489.post-78860453583573486142013-08-15T18:00:00.000-07:002014-04-02T01:09:26.274-07:00CCM=MTC<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
August 15, 2013<br />
<br />
<br />
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The MTC!!!! It's so crazy here in Mexico. I understand why the
Mexican people loved this campus as a high school. It's gorgeous and there is
such an awesome spirit here! Let me describe it a bit for you. There are palm
trees everywhere! The huge ones that look like fireworks! I love it. And we
stay in casas! There are 4 people per room, and 5 rooms in the house. When I
got here, I was the last week of the first round of Americans. I'm here for 6
weeks, and the first group of Americans just left on Monday. We got a TON of
new missionaries on Wednesday. We have the largest MTC area wise, but right now
there´s about 800 or 900 missionaries here. They sent a bunch of missionaries
who were going to other MTCs here because the other MTCs are full. I saw a kid
from my BYU ward, Eli Tucker! And I saw another kid from my mission prep class,
Kyle Webster! It was cool to see familiar faces. Another thing about the MTC!
It rains a lot here. One day me and Hna Stott (my companion) got caught in the
middle of a HUGE downpour. We had umbrellas, but they weren´t helpful, so we
ran to our class. We were soaked. I wrung out my skirt, poured water out of my
flats, the works. If I get the picture from a girl in my district, I´ll send it
to you. We´re split Americans and Latinos. We eat together, and we share casas
together, but all of our classes are individual. The Latinos are so much fun
and so nice! They help you with your Spanish, and we help them with English.
The food here is good, but it´s different. I always know what I´m eating
(chicken, pork, etc) but they put sauces on it and put it with veggies and then
I guess it´s a typical Mexican dish! One day they had chicken wings. I didn´t
get any, but I guess they weren´t cooked and still had feathers. Hooray for the
never ending cereal!</div>
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So
my district! There are 7 elders and 4 hermanas. The
elders are all 18. One went to a year of school, but the rest are fresh
out of
high school. One of the elders is from North Platte (Elder Haws)! I was
so
excited! He knew of some of the kids at MW, cause he ran cross country.
Adam
Wendel sounded familiar to him. The 18 year old elders are spiritually
ready
for a mission, but they are obviously experiencing their first time away
from
home. It feels a lot like the first semester at college. Our teacher in
fantastic! Her name is Hna. Olsen. She is so nice, and is so focused on
the
work. We are in a branch with 5 other districts, who differ in the weeks
they´ve been here. They are awesome. The district who got here the week
before we did is cool. I´ve played soccer with them. There´s a BYU
football player in that district! Tanner Mangum? I don´t know if he´s a
key
player, but I thought it was cool! They´re nice people.</div>
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So to talk about the work! First off, it´s weird to have
everyone call me Hermana Lau. </div>
<br />
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But the work. It´s so hard. Emotionally, I´m always so
exhausted. The first day I was here was rough. I´ll tell you about my
companion, but I wasn´t even sure if I was suppose to be here. I was studying
about prayer that night, and came across D&C 6:22-23. It was an answer to
my prayers! I felt so relieved and felt HF´s love so much! He really does love
each of us and has a plan for our lives! The Spanish is going well. The gift of
tongues is amazing! I´m remembering a lot from HS, and it´s coming back fast.
I´m so glad I learned so much in Bowcott´s class--Preston, tell him I said
thanks! It´s difficult, but I´m trying to use it as much as I can. We try to
speak in Spanish all day sometimes, but after a few hours, it becomes frustrating
to express ourselves, so we go to Spanglish. We´re learning a ton, and
progressing well!</div>
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something I learned while teaching was how important the Spirit
is when missionaries teach. We taught a teacher who pretended to be Pedro. The
first lesson went really well. The Spirit was strong, and it was good. The 2nd
lesson was a flop. I was really discouraged because the Spirit wasn´t there at
all. On Sunday, someone talked about how enduring to the end needs to have an
attitude of it´s good! So I wrote in Spanish on my wall, and it´s now my motto
for the CCM! The 3rd lesson went well, and so did the 4th lesson. I´m
still trying to figure out how to teach by the Spirit and how to have it instruct
me on how I should work.</div>
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We got to hear a devotional from Elder Scott on Sunday. It
was to all the MTCs in the world, and it was about prayer. I don{t have time to
talk about it now, but it was amazing and you guys should watch it!</div>
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I love you all so much! I wish I could be home, but I know
I´m doing the right thing and I´m loving every minute of it. You´re in my
thoughts and prayers all the time! Keep doing the basics. </div>
<br />
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I love you!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Hermana Lau</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294851238322245489.post-42148461113963230832013-08-06T17:00:00.000-07:002014-04-02T01:00:36.769-07:00Hasta luego, baby!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">August 6, 2013</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">I got to Mexico
safely. Let me tell you about my adventures thus far!!! </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">So goodbyes we´re
hard. But I got onto my plane safely, and everything is going well! Just to let
you know, I might have a lot of misspellings, this keyboard is set up for
Spanish! We got some cool keys like ñ and accents and stuff. </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">My flight to
Houston went well. I´m excited to be here . When I got to Houston, my
connection was tight, so I was one of the last people on the plane. I didn´t
know if there would be any other missionaries on the plane, but when I sat
down, I saw a young man in a suit jacket. Elders are so easy to spot! So I
ended up having 3 elders on my flight. And I got to sit next to 2 nuns from
Mexico! I didn´t talk to them, cause they spoke Spanish, and well, I don´t. At
least not yet!</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">When I got to
Mexico, we made it through customs perfectly fine. I pressed the button and got
green, so I was happy about that! At first I thought I was the only
sister. But then once a huge group from Dallas came, There were quite a few
sisters. That was exciting! Except I don´t know why, but sisters scare me a
little bit more than elders. I stuck with my elder friends from Houston, until
we got to the bus. </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">When we were at
the airport, I realized I packed really heavily. A lot of the sisters are going
to Panama, so they don{t need winter clothing, which is what one of my
suitcases is full of. So I guess I did pack pretty light! But it was SUCH a
pain to get through the airport. I swore my arms were going to fall off. As we
were walking, some guy randomly walked up to me and said ´Hasta luego, baby!´
Haha, I{m already experiencing the crazy people missionaries attract. </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Mexico is INSANE.
The roads are crazy, everything is a little run down, but it{s really cool!
Driving was kind of like Hong Kong, but only on more filthy roads. It was like
China! just not as many people. It started to pour as we got to the CCM (MTC in
Spanish). So we sat on the bus for a while, until it lightened up. Then we went
inside, and the sisters got their packets with name tags and house keys and
info while the elders brought in the luggage. Let me tell you what I{ve found
out!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">My companion will
be Hermana Stott. She wasn{t in my group from the airport, so we´ll see what
she´s like! I´m senior companion these next few weeks because my name is
closest to A in the alphabet (both first and last). I don´t think that entails
a lot here at the CCM, but we´ll see! Oh! This is important. My P=days are
Thursday. I{ll get to go to the Temple then! But the downside is I don´t have a
P=day this week, so it´ll be over a week before you get my email. </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">The days are
PACKED. There{s something planned every 15 minutes. They wrote the schedule in
English, but you can tell I´m in Mexico, cause there are quite a few
misspellings. I{m just looking at my packet. I got a cool little preaching card
like Michelle and Matt had! Sweet. And it looks like I will be in casas
(houses). We´ll see though, and I´ll let you know next Thursday! Oh, and on the
card, it says my mission ends February 7th, 2015. We´ll see if that´s accurate
with transfers, but it´s crazy that I already have an end date! </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Tomorrow is my
first offical day. I have my name tag, but that´s about it. I´ll get the rest
of my information and supplies tomorrow. Well, I´m off! Thanks for all the
support, and thanks for all the help in getting me ready. I love you!</span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Hermana
Lau! </span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294851238322245489.post-82150630892068693132013-07-21T13:24:00.002-07:002014-04-02T00:42:01.612-07:00Mission Farewell<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The time has come and gone. I gave my mission farewell! It was on "The Hope of God's Light" by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf from the April 2013 conference. I don't know how many times I listened to that talk when I was preparing, but I worked on it for quite a few hours. It went really well! I had the butterflies the hour before I spoke, but we sang "Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel" and "In Humility, Our Savior" before I gave it. A line from the latter hymn goes "Let me not forget, O Savior, Thou didst bleed and die for me." That line brought me a lot of comfort, as this is what I'll be teaching people about these next 18 months. It made me really excited for my mission, and made the butterflies go away (for the most part).<br />
The harshest critics I know (aka my brothers) told me it was a great talk, except for the 70+ "um's" I said during the 15 minutes I spoke. Whoops! Oh well. I'm grateful for my friends and family who were able to come listen to it! Here's the outline. It's not as good as the real thing, but it will give you an idea of what I spoke about. Enjoy!:<br />
<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Introduction</span></b><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Leave on August 7<sup>th</sup> to
report to the Mexico Missionary Training Center<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Learning Spanish for mission in
Bakersfield, California<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">As a missionary, I’m going to :<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l2 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Provide service <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l2 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> My purpose as a missionary
is: “to invite others to come unto Christ”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Why would I want to do this?:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l2 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">To serve my God and my Savior<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l2 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">§<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">ATONEMENT and have shaped my life
in unexpected ways to make me a better person<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l2 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Because of Them, I have received light
during dark times in life<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Darkness
& Light</span></b><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">President Uchtdorf, April 2013
Conference talk stated: “It is part of our condition as mortal beings to
sometimes feel as though we are surrounded by darkness.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Darkness can come from: losing a
loved one, children or friends straying off the right path, medical diagnosis,
employment problems, DOUBTS and FEARS<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Just like when we flip on a light
switch in a dark room, the darkness disappears<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">What is the light? The LIGHT OF
CHRIST<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The
Light of Christ</span></b><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The power that is an influence of
good in all people, testifies of truth <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Also called the Spirit of the
Lord, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, or the Light of Life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Conscience is an example of Light
of Christ. Moroni 7:16 (For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man,
that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge;
for everything which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ,
is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a
perfect knowledge it is of God…</span> <span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">And now, my
brethren, seeing that ye know the light by which ye may judge, which light is
the light of Christ, see that ye do not judge wrongfully; for with that same judgment
which ye judge ye shall also be judged.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Gut feelings: “bad feeling about
this”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Uchtdorf says: “It is available to
all! It gives life to all things. It has the power to soften the sting of the
deepest wound. It can be a healing balm for the loneliness and sickness of our
souls. In the furrows of despair, it can plant the seeds of a brighter hope. It
can enlighten the deepest valleys of sorrow. It can illuminate the path before us
and lead us through the darkest night into the promise of a new dawn.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">How
do we increase this light in our lives?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Need to work!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Uchtdorf says: “Spiritual light
rarely comes to those who merely sit in darkness waiting for someone to flip a
switch. It takes an act of faith to open our eyes to the Light of Christ… For
“the natural man reciveth not the things of the Spirit of God.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Difference in “quality” of life at
the end of semester (when studying scriptures daily) to when vacationing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">If we want as much light as we
can, need to do some work<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Californian FB"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Californian FB";">1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Start
where you are</span></i><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l4 level2 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Uchtdorf says: “The perfect place
to begin is exactly where you are right now. It doesn’t matter how unqualified
you may think you are or how far behind others you may feel. The very moment
you begin to seek your Heavenly Father, in that moment, the hope of His light
will begin to awaken, enliven, and ennoble your soul.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">§<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Preparation for a mission: seeing
many friends go on missions and reading their letters: am I ready to be a
missionary? “It doesn’t matter where you start, it only matters where you
finish.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 2.0in; mso-list: l4 level4 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Just like trying out for a sport
team or in a race, it doesn’t matter if you’ve been doing the sport for 6 years
or 6 months. The end result is what counts<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The Lord has a similar mindset. He
doesn’t look at how long you’ve had the gospel or have been relying on Him for
months or years. He only cares that you are striving to have His light in your
life and are continuing to improve.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">He also says: “The darkness may
not dissipate all at once, but as surely as night always gives way to dawn, the
light will come.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">§<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Just like training for a marathon.
Can’t just run a marathon without training. Each time you do the things you
need to do to prepare, the farther you can run (just like the more light you
can have)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Californian FB"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Californian FB";">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Turn
your heart toward the Lord</span></i><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Uchtdorf: “Lift up your soul in
prayer and explain to your Heavenly Father what you are feeling. Acknowledge
your shortcomings. Pour out your heart and express your gratitude. Let Him know
of the trials you are facing. Plead with Him in Christ’s name for strength and
support. Ask that your ears may be opened, that you may hear His voice. Ask
that your eyes may be opened, that you may see His light.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">§<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Drawing near to the Lord takes
humility and faith that the Lord loves each of us. We don’t need to do
everything ourselves. As we have faith and rely on the Lord more, we can grow
closer to him<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">§<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">BEAR
TESTIMONY OF ATONEMENT AND CHRIST KNOWING HOW YOU FEEL</span></i><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Californian FB"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Californian FB";">3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Walk
in the light</span></i><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Uchtdorf: “Your Heavenly Father
knows that you will make mistakes. He knows that you will stumble—perhaps many
times. This saddens Him, but He loves you. He does not wish to break your
spirit. On the contrary, He desires that you rise up and become the person you
were designed to be.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">How do we become the person we are
designed to be?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">§<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Like a great teacher, “He sent His
Son to this earth to illuminate the way and show us how to safely cross the
stumbling blocks placed in our path. He has given us the gospel, which teaches
the way of the disciple. It teaches us the things we must know, do, and be to
walk in His light, following in the footsteps of His Beloved Son, our Savior.”
(Uchtdorf)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">§<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Summer job: working with children.
Set up challenges and make them do uncomfortable things to get better. We are
like children on this earth—sent here to learn. We need Heavenly Father’s help
through challenges he gives us, just like children need help from their
parents.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Light
Always Overcomes Darkness<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">As we strive to overcome the
darkness in our lives, we will mistakes (we’re human). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo7; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">We increase our love for God and
strive to love our neighbor (everyone around us), the light of the gospel and
of Christ will lift us up out of the darkness. James 4:8 “Draw nigh to God, and
he will draw nigh to you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Uchtdorf’s invitation: “To rely on
this certain promise spoken by the Savior of mankind: ‘I am the light of the
world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the
light of life.’”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">When we feel we are surrounded by
darkness, we need to focus on the light we have and let it radiate from us<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“You choose to be happy”—fall vs.
winter semester<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">People in the congregation. They
have horrible medical challenges. They have employment problems. But they
serve. They smile. They draw near to God and light radiates from them. Never
guess they have such large problems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Promises
to Come to the Light<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Uchtdorf: “I testify that with
Christ, darkness cannot succeed. Darkness will not gain victory over the light
of Christ…</span> <span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I invite each of you to open your heart
to Him. Seek Him through study and prayer. Come to His Church, even The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Learn of Him and of His gospel,
participate actively, help each other, and joyfully serve our God…</span> <span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">As
you walk toward the hope of God’s light, you will discover the compassion,
love, and goodness of a loving Heavenly Father, “in [whom there] is no darkness
at all.””<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Californian FB","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">TESTIMONY: Light of Christ and
others<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294851238322245489.post-36267892895445944572013-07-07T18:51:00.001-07:002013-07-07T18:51:41.704-07:00A month away...Even though there is still a month until I become a full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I thought I would begin my mission blog now. I want to talk about what I will be doing, why I'm doing it, and how I'm preparing to teach the Gospel to the people in Bakersfield, California.<br />
Let me address the basic questions. What will I be doing? My purpose as a missionary is to invite all to come unto Christ. Through my life, I have felt His love for me. My faith in Him as helped me through challenges and difficulties that I have. I'm so grateful for this knowledge; I want to share it with others. Christ died for each of us so we may be free from our sins. He went through and felt the pain we feel during each of our trials. We are not alone when hard things happen to us. I want to share this message with others.<br />
Another thing missionaries do is help people, which I want to do. There is a great devotional/talk/speech that Elder Russell M. Nelson of the quorum of the twelve apostles gave in October 2012. It talks about how missionaries can help everyone. I encourage you to watch it! Here's the link: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L__HFy7vYh0">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L__HFy7vYh0</a>. It's a fantastic video and really describes what Mormon missionaries are all about.<br />
Why do I want to go on a mission? Besides teaching others about Christ, I want to serve God. When given the opportunity to serve a mission when I turned 19, I prayed to God to know if I should. I pondered the question in my mind, made a list of the reasons why I should and shouldn't go, and then decided that there weren't many reasons why I shouldn't serve an 18 month mission. But I wanted to know if that was God's plan for me. I prayed to Him, asking the question whether I should serve a mission. One day, I was reading the scriptures, and I let them fall randomly open. It opened to Doctrine and Covenants, section 4, which reads "...O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength... Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work." The decision to serve a mission for our Lord has always felt right to me. I made sure that through the entire application process that I was doing the right thing by asking God. Each time I asked, I felt at peace. So I continued to move forward. Here I am now, exactly one month before I become a full time missionary, and I still feel that peace today. I know I am doing the right thing.<br />
From now on, each week I will post things about what I am doing to prepare for my 18 month mission. I hope you enjoy following my travels and do everything you can to help the Mormon missionaries in your area. Invite them into your homes. All they will do is be of good to you. They just want to show you how Christ can help you in your life.<br />
One month left. 31 days. The adventure begins now!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294851238322245489.post-13088106600414024892013-06-01T13:37:00.000-07:002014-04-02T00:43:54.645-07:00Pictures from Mission Call Opening and Super Sisters!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Almost everyone who came to see me open my call. Some snuck out before the picture</div>
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My Omaha friends! </div>
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Guys.. You're just too nice!</div>
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Hinckley Hotties 2200</div>
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Look at us. Attractively in pain</div>
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The people who had their calls at that point. Chris (Norway), Lisa (Nicaragua), me (Bakersfield), Erica (London South), Shelby (Houston East), and Jordan (Japan)</div>
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<b>PHOTO CREDIT TO KIM MORGAN</b></div>
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Erica and I </div>
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Lisa, Erica, me, Kendal, and Shelby</div>
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They are some super sister missionaries </div>
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California Bakersfield Mission. Spanish Speaking. August 2013-February 2015</div>
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