New mission President!!

Holaaaa!

Friends and fam, I hope you are all doing great!! This week we had intrevistas con Presidente! My new mission presidente is AMAZING!!!!

Entonces...this past change we lost 18 people (returned home)... and my comp. Hermana Rodriguez is leaving next change for sure because she has been here in Miraflores for almost 7 months! So that means that in the proximo change I am going to be leading my area, meaning I will be the missionary that knows the area.

Then Presidente told me...he already has the proximo changes....he then continued to say that he needs the newer people to progress fast because we need leaders... then he looked at me and asked if I understood his last comment... yes...(In my head, oh dang oh dang..) #freakinout! So yeah, I have that to look forward to... and I have a month to prepare in my spanish and knowing my area better! The pressure is on LOL!

For hope: My panch (person who makes my food) said to me that he can understand my spanish a lot more now and that in a month he says that I will be speaking fluidly.. but the gift of tongues doesn't come without practice and effort on my side!

A lot of people have been complimenting me on how much my Espanol is improving everyday so that really gives me hope! Haha

Wow! So some cool things feom this week:

Our last p-day hermana Rodriguez and I went to get her hair trimmed. In the hair salon there was this lady named Dora that we met. She started talking to us first and asked if we were from our church. We said yeah and she said that she really wanted to go to the church with her daughter and asked if she could.... uhhh #dumbfoundedmuch? Yeah.. that doesn't happen all the time... people asking us... but yeah we told her of course and then marked a cita to visit her this week.. but we forgot for some reason to get her direccion and number before she left. This is where God's hand comes in. I truly know that He prepares people to recieve His word and He will always make a way for them to receive it. So the next day when we were waiting for a taxi, we saw Dora and she called us over and gave us her number and direccion..  Wow.. God has prepared her and made a way!

Then the other night was Independence Day of Peru so all of our citas fell through and we were walking to one of our investigadores houses and found them at a tienda! Long story short, we finished talking about the plan of salvation and invited them to be baptized on the 25 of August! We didn't have that invitaion planned, but God made a way!

Have a Great Week! Bendiciones!

Hermana Roe

Scriptures of the week: DC 10:4 , DC 24:8, DC 105:6

Saying goodbye to Mama Hermana Higginson ❤

Sunset....the pic makes it look really weird but ehh...

Chimbote

Oscar.. the dog that lives in our doorstep.. stray and follows us EVERYWHERE for the past MONTH! This is when he came to Danielas baptism...

Taxi life with Hermana Rodriguez❤

Trujillo!

Trips to Trujillo mean I get to see this amazing Hermana! Hermana Jones ❤

Me and mama G!

Where art thou?

Hola!

Updates:

-We have a new presidente. He is amazing! I actually met him my first day in the CCM and he remembered me when we had our first conferencia de zona con él! It was so awesome!

- For a zone Pday, we went to Cerro de la Paz.... it was fun, but unfortunately we couldn't see anything, like the ocean, or Chimbote, below to take a cool pic because it was soooo cloudy and foggy... #sadface

- For a district Pday, we made tacos and watched 17 milagros! It was great! Gosh I miss cheese.. Cheese and milk don't exist here haha... but we have a never ending supply of bread, rolls, rice, potatoes, and chicken!

- I have found that latinos are the most honest/blunt people you will ever meet. If you want the truth, ask a latino! haha

- Saturday the 7th, our investigator Maria, 18 years old, got baptized!! She is sooo amazing, and sweet and she loves the gospel and is so excited to grow in the church!!

 

Things I have learned:

-SPANISH DOESN´T TEACH THE GOSPEL ---- THE SPIRIT DOES. Someone once said this, and they said: if spanish taught the gospel, or any language for that matter, than we wouldn´t have to send americans on missions to areas with a different language. I have truly learned this because I DO NOT speak perfect spanish, not even close, but I can feel the spirit testify, and with the little words I do know, I can help my investigators to feel that same spirit and the spirit does the work. I am only a hand in the work of the Lord. 

-Also, I know now what they mean when people say that the first goodbye is only the beginning of goodbyes, or that the first goodbye to come here isn't the hardest. I experienced that this week when my compañera Hermana Higginson finished her mission and went home. Wow they do not tell you that you heart is going to break over and over when you have changes and lose your companion or have to leave your area where you have met such amazing people. They don't tell you that when you leave on a mission. And I know this is only the beginning, but all is well. I have learned so much from her and now she gets to start her new mission in life!

Spiritual:

This week we focused a lot on Daniela because we needed to teach her all the lessons in order to be baptized this past Saturday! Wow, what a spiritually filled week! Seriously, this girl is such an example and inspiration to me! Her faith is incredible and her desire is so strong. She was baptized this last saturday. It was so beautiful and the best part was her testimony at the end. She had us all tearing up as she began to tear up as she told us her experience of how she came to know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ and how she knew she wanted to be baptized. THIS. THIS is my favorite part of this work. The opportunity to see the light glow in someones eyes when they truly become converted and know that what we are teaching is true. To see someone become truly converted to the gospel is the most amazing experience ever. It has strengthened my testimony so much this week. Wow. I love this work!

Something to think about:

 I made a bookmark in my scriptures and on it I wrote the words,

 WHERE ART THOU? - at first I meant it as a neat quote because it is in the sciptures a lot and it would be used to (find where I was)... but each time I read it it provokes a deeper question.. Where are thou? - where are you in your life? Are you on the path your Heavenly Father would want you to be on in order to become the person that he sees your potential to be? Are you truly happy? Do you feel true joy in your life? This could be your Father in Heaven asking you, Where are thou my child? I want to hear from you, the good, the bad, the ugly. I AM YOUR FATHER. He is our FATHER and he wants to hear from his children and help you feel the peace, joy and love of his spirit.

So think about that this week, WHERE ART THOU? Are you where you want to be? Are you continually progressing and becoming better? Maybe you feel stuck? Stuck in the motions of the world? How ever you feel, you always have Him ready to hear you and help you along the way. Where are you in this journey of life? There is never a busy signal when you talk to your Father in Heaven. He is ALWAYS there, ready to listen, ready to help, and ready if necessary, to carry you through your struggles or hold you in his arms. 

If you don't already, read the ENSIGN/Liahona! It contains the words of the profetas and they are the words of God. This is one of my favorite things to do in my studies! The stories are real and so good, and help us in our lives today!

I love you all and hope you have a miraculous week! You are in my prayers always! Heavenly Father loves you, and I do too!

Scripture of the week: Read Alma 34:16-32

(Clamad a él) cry unto him. This is the time to prepare to meet God.

Love,

Hermana Roe

This gospel is miraculous!

This is what Alyssa sent this week.....short and sweet! So I decided to copy and paste part of a journal entry from one of her roommates blogs, Hermana Higginson, because it was such a tender mercy for me to be able to read about my sweet Alyssa from her training companion's perspective. Sister Higginson's mom gave me permission to share this with all of you. I hope it touches all of you like it did me ❤

From Alyssa:

Please tell peeps I am sorry I couldn't write a group letter this week! This week was milagroso! This work is Amazing! I love you all!

Hermana Roe


From Hermana Higginson's blog:

First I want to start out with a really tender experience. So as you all know, here I am training Hermana Roe. Did I mention my companions are basically thee coolest people ever? I am super duper blessed. Well, I think God has blessed me immensly with sending me my american missionary to train. Because she reminds me so much of me, little hermana higginson 17 months ago.

Spanish is hard. Us americans that come in knowing nothing… it truly does become a matter of faith and trusting the Lord that he will bless us with the hability to speak & understand such a different language. You learn what it means to “long suffer.” At the beginning of the mission as you enter into the mission field with little to none spanish, everyone always tells you, “what a special spirit we feel to hear you testify of the truth of the gospel” I always just looked at them a little weird and thought that they were just trying to be nice and make me feel good about my spansih. I always thought they were in a way lying to me HA! I thought to myself, “but if I cannot even express how I feel or if I can only say that I know this church is true & that jesus christ lives, how can they feel the spirit so powerfully?” I was confused. I was lost. I was sad. I was discouraged at the beginning of my mission to say the least with my lack of communicating… when everyone in peru spoke spanish. I felt so useless.

well, something major happened on Tuesday night. We once again visited the Segura family and we were teaching Patrick about the restoration of the Gospel. We got to the first vision and it was now Hermana Roe´s turn to speak & share the experience that Joseph Smith had. She looked at me with fear in her eyes but I just looked at her with eyes and smile telling her that she could do it. Oh my word…. people. What a spirit that entered the room. She was hardcore stumbling over her words, her spanish was not perfect whatsoever… but the spirit that testified of her words was heart changing. Hermana David then says. “thank you hermana for being here. I know it is hard for you… but the spirit is strong and you are a great example to us of being persistent and enduring through our trials.”

I have pondered a lot on that expereince. It dawned on me that at the beginning of my mission, people were not lying to me haha. They were actually being sincere. For 17 months I had just thought I did not really do that much good at the beginning of my mission with my humgous lack of spanish. But wow…. that is so not the case. God uses his simple & weak to preach His everlasting gospel. I am witness of it. Hermana Roe has been such a testimony to me that the gift of tongues is real. What a blessing to see how far I have come.

Now that leads me into saturday! ELDER STEVENSON visited the missions, Trujillo south & trujillo north. OKAY. It was SO beautiful. As he walked in his smile was so big and the spirit just hit us all and his eyes were so full of light. I looked at him and thought, “wow. this is an apostol of the lord right before my eyes.” Things on the mission have become so real concering the gospel. This all truly did happen.

I just want to share a few quick points about my experience:

– to start, Elder Godoy of the seventy also came… he shared a beautiful experience about his conversion. That he had long hair down his back and he just did not look like the “perfect missionary reference” but he said that we should never judge by appearances… because
inside of their bodies are spirits screaming, “help me. I am lost and I need the truth.” With tears in his eyes he testified to us that we need spiritual eyes to seen deeper than what we can only see on the outside of people. Every child of God deserves to hear the truth.

also, he is from brazil and so he shared the first vision in Portugese. He told us, “i know that you did not understand… but did you feel it?” that reminded me of that special night when the family segura did not really understand what Hermana Roe said… but they felt it.

God answers prayers!!

Hey All!

This week was good! Wow, I love this work. The spirit is so strong, it is truly incredible! I want to share a story of an experience with an investigator.

On Friday, we had our second lesson with our investigator, Daniela. She is 20 years old, her aunt is an active member and her mom is a menos activo. In our first lesson we taught La Restauración and ended with the compromiso to pray to know that this church is true, that José Smith was a profeta and our message is true. The next day, we received a txt message from Daniela that said she had prayed and was waiting for an answer. - wow! This is the first time we had gotten a text from someone confirming that they had done their compromiso without having to ask them. This truly showed her faith in our message and her DESIRE to know of its truth. So in the lesson on Friday, we taught about the Book of Mormon. We went over parts of the introduccion and Moroni´s promise in Moroni 10:3-5, pausing to talk about the significance of each step. The spirit was so strong and we explained how if and when she knows and finds these things to be true, for herself, on her own, that when we have faith, we need to put it into action because without works, faith is dead. (Santiago...I mean James 2: 17+26) And the action that she can show is through baptism,... Now, I am going to take you back just a little, Daniela had received the missionaries a couple years back and she had said that is had been a little too much for her and that she felt that they had just pushed baptism on her... so, on Friday, we all felt that today we should invite her, but ease into it and with care because of her previous experience... so at this time, we invited her, that if she found that these things were true for herself, if she would be baptized and prepare for the 18 de Agosto. She said YES! Then unexpectedly, she said she wanted to share something with us. She told us that she had prayed to know if it was true and then she turned to the Scriptures (bible). She showed us 2 scriptures in the bible that were the answers to her prayer. Mark 1:1-2 and Isaiah 43:1. She said she knew it was true. I truly believe that as she read those scriptures she realized that we were messengers bringing her the true Gospel of Jesucristo and that she truly is a daughter of God, he loves her, he knows her by name and this is His gospel.

I testify that I know God answers prayers. I know that God guides and prepares His children to receive His word. I know that there is a time for everyone when they are ready to receive the gospel and God prepares them and guides us as missionaries to find them. I know that Daniela may not have been ready a couple years ago when she was first introduced, but I know that now, God has prepared her and her heart is ready. My faith in this work,in the power of God, in the power of scriptures, and prayer have all been strengthened beyond measure. Daniela's faith is so strong and the spirit testified in that lesson of her faith. It brought tears to my eyes. I know this is the Lord's work. This is His true church, and I am beyond grateful to be a part of it as a representative of our Lord, Jesus Christ. And I share these things with you with much love in my heart, in His name even my Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.

Scriptures of the week:

Hebrews 11

Santiago (James) 2:17-26

You have faith? that is great. Now show the Lord by your works.

You know this is the true church? How can you show that? 

What attributes of Christ can you personally work on this week?

I love you all! Have a wonderful, spiritually filled week!!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Roe