Companions *December 2015

Hermanas: Morales, Stringham, Bishop, Porter

Hermana Stringham, Nicol, Hermana Morales

Week #74 *December 28, 2015

Merry Christmas!

Hey everyone,

It was so good talking to the whole family on Christmas and seeing just how much everyone has grown up. 

This week has been an amazing week as the Christmas spirit has just been so strong, although I must admit it is just not Christmas really when it is burning hot outside.   

Christmas was a blast. In the morning of Christmas eve we went Christmas caroling with the primary which was so special.  We felt prompted to go to several houses of members, who are passing for a hard time and they just loved hearing the primary kids sing. So that was just so special.

After that we had such a tender mercy because we had been invited over with a family in the ward, but when they found out how early we had to be home it didn’t work for them and so we were a little disappointed and worried as we weren’t going to have anywhere to go on Christmas and no one was going to want to receive us. But our sweet Bishop overheard us talking on the phone and immediately asked what happened and without hesitating told us to come over to his house.  We had a great time and it was so sweet of them to allow us over and she just how hard they worked to make it a special night for us even last minute.

On Christmas we spend the majority of the day at Marcelo and Jeanyras house, where we did skype. It was a lot of fun as we were able to just talk with them and get to know them better and play with their cute little kids.   It was a really special Christmas. One that I will never forget.

This week we also had a lesson with Jeanyra and Marcelo, which went awesome. We taught them about the plan of salvation and Marcelo had a ton of questions.  He asks a lot of really good questions and just has such a strong desire to know these things for himself.  He still doesn’t want to commit to baptism or marriage as he says that he wants to make sure that he gets his answer first, because if he gets baptized he doesn’t want to just go inactive.  Please pray for him as he keeps praying for his answer.

So I think  I told you about Jazmin last week. We were able to go back this week and teach their whole family. They have 2 kids. One who is 10 and the other 4 and they are so awesome. They both broke down as we taught about the restoration and shared a lot with us.  Erick her husband is awesome.  He has been less active for like 14 years, since he was really young. But recently feels like he needs to return to the church, but is just embarrassed, as he needs to change a lot of things. Jamin loved it and said that she really wants to learn more and feels so good and feels like this is what she needs in her life right now.  We invited her and her daughter Coni to baptism and they both accepted, but Jazmin didn’t want a date yet, but her daughter coni said yes and Jazmin said that she would support her in that. So we are really excited to work with them.

This Sunday  Macarena, one of the hermanas less actives came to church. I think I told you about her right.  Anyways we had worked with her so much and she never came, but she finally came this Sunday and so I was so excited.  It is so awesome being in the same ward still, as I see the fruits of our hard work paying off and I can still see all of these people I love.

Oh, also we had a huge miracle this week on Saturday. We had a day full of really really important appointments and every single one of them canceled which was frustrating, but we decided to just take a moment and pray because their had to be a reason why the appointments fell.  Well I kept getting the impression that we needed to contact and so even though it was blazing hot we went contacting and we got to the first house and it was obvious that they were home but no one came out and so we started to leave when we both felt like we needed to stay so we stayed and waited a long time and finally a 19 year old girl came out and immediately brought out two chairs and started chatting with us as they had company over inside.  Her name is Gabriela and she is from Venezuela.  We just chatted with her and she opened up so much to us and in the end asked us to come by another day because she felt something different, that felt good to her.  We are so excited she is so awesome.  She thanked us because she said it was the first time that she was able to talk to someone about Religion and her feelings without feeling attacked and she felt like we really cared for her.  She is so special and we are so stoked to start teaching her.

I hope you all have a great new years. We are so excited for this week as with Christmas coming to an end we will be able to work more. I cant wait to see what this week has to bring.

I love ya, all!

Hermana Stringham

*December 2015

Cynthia, Hermana Stringham, Hermana Bishop

Gospel Principles Class

Christmas Morning with Companions!

Opening Christmas Stockings Hermana Morales
and Hermana Diaz

Christmas - Zone

Hermana Morales, Hermana Bishop, Mission Nurse Hermana Sebring,
Hermana Stringham, Hermana Diaz

Christmas at the Bishops house

Christmas Service: Elder Barbosa and Elder Judd

Hermana Stringham, Rafaela, Hermana Bishop

Hermanas: Stringham, Bishop, Diaz, Morales

Christmas Dinner

Bishop Villarroel and Family

Christmas Caroling with the Primary

Week #73 *December 21, 2015

Hey Everyone,

I hope that you all have a great Christmas this week.  We are getting really excited as we have had a lot of members invite us over and we have a lot of plans so that is going to be fun.  The members are just so awesome here.  I still don’t really feel like it is Christmas though, as it is blazing hot here right now.  

So this week has been awesome.  I have just loved working in my new sector as we have a lot of great people we are working with some of which I had already met on split with Hermana Bishop and honestly it has just been a blast with Hermana Bishop. She is from Arizona and is just a lot of fun. We basically pass the whole day laughing and it has just made the work so fun.

What is awesome about being in the same ward is that I am still able to see the people that I was working with in my whole sector on Sundays.  Sonia is doing really good with the Hermanas. She came to church on Sunday again and she was just all smiles and the Hermanas set a baptism date with her for 10 of January, so I am just so excited for her and that I am going to get to be there even if I can’t keep teaching her.  This week we had a lesson with one of our investigators, Camila, she is just so awesome and knows that this gospel has the power to change her life. She is just scared because she will have to get married first and make a lot of changes.  The hermanas had been working with her for a long time and she had never came to church because they go out of town on the weekends but she finally came this Sunday. It was so awesome and we were so excited for her.

We are working with a Family that have been coming for a while, so I already new them.  The wife Jeanyra is less active and returning to the church and her husband Marcelo is investigating.  They have 2 little kids and they are just so awesome.  Seriously that are doing so great.  The just have one challenge which is that they aren’t married yet, but we are helping them with that.  Marcelo told us this week that he loves the church and he knows that he is going to get baptized but he just wants to make sure that he is sure first because it is a big decision. He had a job interview this week and the guy asked if he was mormon and he said yes. It was so funny to hear that.  He just is loving learning more about the gospel and has been studying a lot and watching a lot of church movies it is amazing the change that has happened in him, because I remember when I first got here the sisters had told me that they were teaching Jeanyra and having a hard time because the husband didn’t like them passing by, but now he loves it and is participating.  I am just so happy for them.

We are working with another family as well. The parents David and Ingrid have been investigating the church for a long time but aren’t married so they never could get baptized, but now they are a lot closer to their goal of getting married.  We had a great lesson with them and the elders the other day, as the elders came to give ingrid a blessing.  David told us that he actually had a dream that he was baptized and they both want that, but they first need to get married but for some legal matters have to wait about a month more so please pray for them.

Oh ya we had a awesome experience this week.  We decided to pass by a less active reference that wasn’t even in our plans nor was it the hour that we were told to go by, but we felt that we should so we went and we met the references wife Jazmin. She isn’t a member and so we asked if we could share a Christmas video with her and we entered and just started to talk with her and she was way nice and opened up a ton and started to cry.  She just kept saying that she didn’t know why she was crying but she just felt something and so we explained that it was the spirit that she was feeling.  She feels like she has distanced herself from God and she wants to draw closer to him and she recognized that He sent us. We have an appointment with her and her husband this week and we are just so excited because she is just so opened and prepared for this message.

This week we also had our ward Christmas activity which was a blast. We did a Chrismtas desert cook off and it turned out pretty great.

 Well that is pretty much it for this week I will see you all on Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!

Love ya,

Hermana Stringham

Ward Christmas Party

Our peanut butter cookies

Week #72 *December 14, 2015

Cambios

Hey Everyone,

Well so I cannot believe that I am in my last change of the mission.  These transfers have been by far the craziest transfers of my whole mission.  So I will be changing over to Alameda C with Hermana Bishop.  That means that I will be in the exact same ward and the same house. I just have to change rooms and will be working in a different part of the ward.  I was just so shocked I honestly thought it was a joke at first.  I am so excited though because I don’t have to leave Alameda. I love this ward so much it is just awesome and I am still going to be able to see all the people that I am working with in church on Sundays.  Also Hermana Bishop is so awesome we are just so excited. I cant believe that we are going to be companions. We are already super close and she is just so awesome.  Also my companion will be companions now with Hermana Diaz. I am so excited I have been praying to be able to see her one last time before I go home and now I am going to live with her my last cambio.  I could not be more excited.  

This week I had the opportunity to do several splits which was awesome. I just love working with the sisters here and I am going to miss it as I am not going to be a coordinator anymore. But I am also just really excited to just be able to work 100 percent of the time in my sector and just work like crazy this last change.

So this week something weird happened with Yaritza and we haven’t been able to contact her.  She is acting really weird and so her baptism date fell.  Please pray for her, but we also had a miracle. We had an awesome lesson with Sonia and she is just loving everything about the gospel she says she just feels so good and has decided that from this Sunday and on she is going to change the day she goes and visits her husband in the cemetery to visit her husband so that she can go to church every Sunday.  I am just so excited for her she is just so happy. After she gave the last prayer she just jumped up and gave both me and my companion a big hug and thanked us for coming into her life.  She just has changed so much and seems so happy.

Yesterday we went over with the familia Escarate. I am going to miss working with, the but I am so glad I will get to see them still. They have grown to be just like family to me.  We helped them put up the Christmas tree and we were able to share with them. It was so great.

Well I am just about out of time so I got to go, but I love you all so much I will try and send pics next week.

Love ya,

Hermana Stringham

Week #71 *December 7, 2015

Hey Everyone,

This week has been just so awesome.  First off this week we had our Christmas devotional of the mission and it was awesome.  I had to give a talk about enjoying the spirit of Christmas as a missionary and honestly I was sooo nervous no matter how many times I have to speak in public I think I will always be nervous, but I think it turned out pretty great and it was a real blessing for me to remember last Christmas and the special spirit that comes around Christmas time.  I feel so blessed to be able to have one more Christmas in the mission, it is seriously so special to be able to be here during this time to be 100 percent dedicated to the Lords work and just enjoy this spirit and share it with others all days.  We got to play a bunch of sports together and it was just a nice day.

So we found a awesome new investigator this week. We were contacting on one side of the street and a blue house on the other side kept calling my attention, so we decided to go contact it and a 19 year old girl named Yaritza came out and immediately let us in.  We had an awesome lesson with her at first she told us that she wasn’t sure if she believed in God or no, but by the end of the lesson she was able to say that she did believe and we invited her to baptism and she accepted a baptismal date for 27th of December, immediately which was awesome.  I am so excited to keep working with her she has truly been prepared.

Also I don’t know if I told you about Sonia, but we are working with her and she is doing so good she says that she has just seen a huge difference in her life since we started teaching her.  She went to church with us yesterday and she just loved it she kept talking about how there was just a different spirit there and she wanted to meet all the members and introduce herself it was so awesome.  She is so sweet.  She lost her husband a several months ago and has been really struggling with that but the gospel has been helping we are just so excited to keep working with her this week.

We are also working with Yazna. I think I told you about her she is a young mom and she is so awesome. Her cousin is serving a mission in Florida.  We taught her this week and she was just so interested about the Restoration and she talked about how she has just felt so different since we started teaching her. The only hard this is that she lives with her boyfriend and they have plans to get married but they are like way out, so please pray for her to be able to receive her answers this week.

Alejandra was confirmed this Sunday and her whole family is doing so good.  The familia Escarate.  They are all just so happy and working towards going to the temple to be sealed in a year. I am just so happy for them.

Well that is about all I have time for this week but I love you all so much thank you for your prayers and support.

Love ya,

Hermana Stringham

New Companion - Hermana Bishop December 2015