Mar Vista: Transfer 10: Week 2 / 2/28/2011

Hey family!

It has been an eventful week. Wednesday we had zone conference. It was in the stake center where the Marquez family and the Reyna family were baptized, so it brought back a lot of good memories. We focused a lot on fulfilling our purpose and having the faith to ask for referrals and extend the invitation to be baptized in the first lesson to be clear with why we are there, and it was really good for me because I realized that a big part of why we haven't been successful in our area is because we were thinking of all of those things as if they were just nice suggestions, and now my companion and I are trying to think of them more as commandments, and we are starting to see really great results. It is definitely a trial of our faith because it can be scary inviting someone to be baptized, especially when we are in an area where we are lucky if someone will actually talk to us, and so when someone does you don't want to freak them out or scare them away, but I realized that people were getting more freaked out not really knowing what we were doing there when we weren't clear with our purpose.

For example, yesterday night we went to visit a family where the dad isn't a member, and we have gone by before and tried to be friendly and get to know them and maybe share a spiritual thought and pray with the family, which is nice, but last night we actually invited him to be baptized and asked what was keeping him from being baptized, and he said that basically he just doesn't know if it is true or not, so we told him that he needs to pray and read the Book of Mormon and really ask Heavenly Father if it is true. We could tell that he was a little taken back by us being direct, but he sincerely thought about what we were saying and he thanked us for coming over. The spirit was really strong, and I know that it was because we testified boldly and helped him clearly understand what Heavenly Father expects of him. Heavenly Father wants all of his children to be baptized, and someday everyone is going to know that this is the truth, and they are going to be able to look at us and ask why weren't we more direct in telling them that this is true! Anyways, I've been thinking about this a lot because we've been working on getting our ward involved in missionary work. We had ward conference and we had to get up in front of the whole ward in the chapel for Sunday school to give part of the lesson. We think it went well. Hopefully we will start seeing some results.

We got really excited this week to get a referral text with the information for someone in our area named Carlos that wanted to be baptized, but he turned out to be spanish speaking. It was still great to be a small part in his conversion process. We got to talk to his son about the gospel and Carlos was so grateful. Oh, and I found out that someone from my old area is getting baptized on March 15th! It really is so amazing to see someone change their life in such a physical way and to know that they are going to be happier because they have the Holy Ghost to help them out.

Saturday we participated in a mini-mission where two young women came with us in our area for a couple of hours. Heavenly Father really loves us and loves them because we had some amazing miracles when they were with us. We went to Subway for lunch and met a man named Ernie that was there at Subway studying the Bible and taking notes and everything, so we went up to him and started talking to him and he was really interested in learning more. He wanted to buy the Book of Mormon from us. When we told him that Christ came to ancient America he said "No way!" he was so excited about it. He lives in a different area of Los Angeles, but it was still really great to talk with him, and he wanted the missionaries to teach him and said that he would be baptized if he knew that it was true.

Well, I'm doing my best to stay as focused as possible, if you can't tell, ha ha. :D Things are going great with my companion. She is always asking me "Can I help you?" She is really sweet.

I love you all!

Sister Dansie

Mar Vista: Transfer 10: Week 1 I'm Training?!‏ Feb. 21, 2011

Hey Family!

So guess what? We had transfers and I am still in Mar Vista, but I'm training a new companion. Well, I feel more like she is training me. Her name is Sister Olsen and she is from Rigby Idaho, and she was called to the LA Visitors' Center, English speaking, which means she was in the MTC for four weeks and now she is here in LA. She is really sweet and humble and is already jumping into the work without me hardly having to show her anything. She arrived Wednesday afternoon, and right off the plane we take them out tracting. She was a little nervous, but she even knocked the first door without me showing her first. She is courageous and just trusts in the Lord. She is a natural at talking with people and being friendly. She has a great attitude about everything and looks around for ways to help without me even asking her. I feel incredibly blessed.

I was kind of freaking out at first about training and just worrying that I wasn't good enough or I was going to mess everything up somehow, but I just really prayed and was reading in the Book of Mormon in Mosiah chapters 2-4 and it was the perfect advice for a trainer. It talks about trusting in Jesus Christ, about teaching your children (which in the mission they joke that your trainee is your baby) and it also talks about being diligent, serving with your whole heart, but not running faster than you have strength. I feel like Sister Olsen has been really patient with me as I learn the ropes as well and get used to being a senior companion for the first time, running the area, and driving for the first time in LA. :P It has definitely been a challenge, but Heavenly Father is helping me and is pushing me to grow so that I can rise to meet and overcome it and become a stronger person in the process. Its like lifting weights, as soon as you become comfortable lifting a certain amount it is time to step it up, add more weight and push yourself to grow stronger. I still remember when we would all go to lift weights as a family at Gold's Gym, early in the morning over the summer. Do you remember that? Those are some great memories for me, ha ha. :D Anyways, I just started thinking about that as I made that analogy and it always makes me laugh thinking about us all decked out with our weight lifting gear and everything. We should do that again this summer so that I can get in shape.

Well, back to how the week went. This week has been the rainiest week I have ever experienced here in Los Angeles. It has been pouring. It finally cleared up yesterday. It was really uncharacteristic and led me to wonder how missionaries serve in bad weather, because it makes everything so much harder.

Wednesday we picked up the trainees, took them out tracting, and then they had to have an interview with the president and then go through a lot of orientation things while he decided who would be their companions. There was one other sister that came into the Visitors' Center, named Sister Franks. Her family is really good friends with the Sharettes. It was really weird because when I saw her I thought that she looked so familiar, and so I'm thinking that I probably saw her when she was visiting them or something. We found out who our companion was and then went over to work in the Visitors' Center. It was a long and overwhelming day for the trainees, I think as the first day always is. We got some training about how to be trainers which was good. Mostly they emphasized how being their trainer is going to affect the rest of their entire mission and life and how you better be a good, obedient trainer. Hence the aforementioned freaking out. But I've gotten over it and realized that the Lord is there helping me, so it'll be fine.

Friday night we had great experiences teaching a couple of powerful lessons where the spirit was there so strong. Sister Olsen has such faith and love and a great testimony of the gospel. She is always worried because she didn't read a lot before her mission and feels like she doesn't know enough about all of the facts and the doctrine, but I keep telling her that what matters the most is her testimony and how well she follows the promptings of the spirit, which are both super strong points for her. You can feel her genuine love for the gospel and the pureness of her motivations. I love it. Heavenly Father knows me really well and knows exactly what I needed. I don't think I could have handled a sassy know-it-all kind of companion, and Sister Olsen is so completely the opposite.

Saturday was one of the worst days of my mission so far. It was pouring rain and we were out in our area that afternoon. We decided to go out and visit Janee and her family. They are the group of Christians that came to church a couple of weeks to check it out, which was a miracle because it has been really hard to get people to come to church. We went by and tried to teach them again about Joseph Smith, which was their biggest concern, and they basically told us that they can't accept that he is a prophet and won't even open their hearts to the possibility because it adds on and therefore somehow takes away from their belief in the Savior. They said that even they they didn't know much about the church, that they knew there was something extra that goes above and beyond, like the Pharisees at the times of Christ that added on to the law of Moses. So even without reading the Book of Mormon or knowing anything, or praying with even the slight thought that it might be true, they completely rejected the possibility and wouldn't let the spirit testify that it was true. We were there for a little over an hour, because they kept asking "questions" that logically disproved our beliefs because they want to save us and keep us from being mislead by a false prophet. I felt terrible because the spirit was completely gone. We left and it hurt so much because they are incredible people and we love them, but they just aren't ready. We walked out to our car in the pouring rain and then sat in there for a minute and just prayed so hard to try to get the spirit back, and I was also praying in my heart trying to think of someone, anyone that actually wanted us to be there and would need us and would be willing to accept the gospel.

We drove away and I felt like we should stop on the next street and visit a potential investigator. By this point it was a little after eight, we were in a weird neighborhood in Venice, it was dark and still pouring rain, but i felt like we needed to stop by this house, almost in an effort to prove to myself that I did know how to follow the spirit and that I had faith enough to find someone who actually cared to listen. We got up to the door and I knocked with all of the hope and faith that my heart could muster after being so sad about that horrible lesson, and we knocked and all of the sudden a gruff looking man opened the door restraining his German shepherd that is big enough that it could eat me and says "What is the world are you doing out here? What do you want?" We weakly said something like we were inviting people to church. And then he said "at this time? This is not a good place or time for this. This is not a good neighborhood. Are you lost?" At that point I uncharacteristically broke down and started bawling and through tears said "We are just trying to help people." He softened and let us come in, but then I realized he was the only one home and we needed to leave, and he told us that he wanted nothing to do with what we were teaching, so we left. It was kind of a bummer. I cried in the car and we prayed again. i have realized since that I was being really dramatic, but I'm blaming it on the pouring rain which makes everything more depressing.

Things are actually going pretty good in the area. Well, they are improving and I just need to be patient. Well, i'm out of time, but i love you and hope you have a good week and a great president's day!

- Sister Dansie

Pics:
I can't remember which ones I put, but the last one is me and my new comp. The other ones are of our district.

Mar Vista: Transfer 9: Week 7 Transfer Week!‏

Hello family!
 
Happy Valentines Day!
 
Thank you for all your e-mails this week, it really made my day. :D
 
Well, this week has been an interesting one. I felt myself getting sick last Monday, but it didn't really hit me until Friday night when it laid me flat and I was in bed for two and a half days. I didn't hardly leave the apartment. I haven't been that sick in awhile. I don't even really know what it was. I think it was just a really bad sinus infection. Well, that plus a couple of other things that just built up on me. So, I know that some great things happened this week, but I can't really remember in the blur of being sick. :P I'm feeling better now though.
 
I'm kind of nervous because I have an interview with president in half an hour, which probably means that I'm training next transfer. I don't know how to feel about it yet. I haven't even been senior companion yet, let alone a trainer. So pray for me lots and I'll let you know what happened next week.
 
Did I tell you that our ward is doing a forty day fast for missionary work? It has been really cool because we are already seeing a lot of miracles from it. Our Bishop and Relief Society president both had really great missionary experiences on the day they were fasting. (We are having a different family fast for forty consecutive days.) Our Relief Society President is a precision driver, which means she does the driving for car commercials, and she was working the day or her fast and a woman came up to her and asked her about Joseph Smith, so she was able to share with her her beliefs and her testimony, and it was a really great experience. I know that as we look to have experiences to share the gospel we will find them.
 
So we've been teaching a lot of Christians lately and I was feeling kind of down on myself for not knowing the Bible better, but I had a realization the other day that it doesn't really matter how much you know; what matters most is the way you live your life because of what you know. So even though I don't know exactly where every verse is in the bible, I know that I am part of a church that directs me to live my life exactly in accordance with what the Bible is teaching us to do in the first place, which is believe in Jesus Christ and follow his example. Everything in our church is given to us as a resource to live a more Christlike life. Not that it isn't good to learn all about the scriptures, but you can't expect yourself to become a bible scholar overnight, so why worry about it? Just do your best and keep learning and growing. That's what I realized at least.
 
Well, can you tell that I'm kind of tired? I'll be alright though. I think that Heavenly Father was just putting me through the humbler again, because sometimes I can be kind of controlling and think that my way is best, and I really don't want to bring that upon my next companion. So he made me automatically meek and submissive through feeling sick and recognizing how much I need him. There is a talk by Hugh B. Brown that I love that is called "God is the Gardener." Sometimes God cuts us down to help us grow how he envisions we can be, just like a plant that has to be pruned. God is the gardener, which means that he is in control, and if we let him he will mold us into the best versions of ourselves.
 
I love you! Heavenly Father loves you! Thank you for the Christlike love you all show me. Have a great week!
 
- Sister Dansie

Oh, and a side note, everyone here is taking really good care of me, so don't worry, I promise that I am fine. The Macdonalds and all of the senior couples are sooo sweet. Sister Miyagi from the cute little Japanese couple brought me by a whole bag of yogurts, sushi, and juice. They are all so sweet. The Macdonalds keep telling me to go home and rest and take it easy until I feel better. I feel really loved and well taken care of. They are so great! I am really lucky to be here in the Visitors' Center where it is so easy to find ways to stay at home and get better. I've had different sisters babysitting me for the past couple of days. Anyways, so just don't worry! I'm doing great. :D

Mar Vista: Transfer 9: Week 6

Hello family!

I finally figured out how to attach the files from my voice recorder, so this is the duet that I sang with Sister Salazar for the Mission-wide Christmas devotional. She is singing high soprano and I'm singing alto.

Well, another week come and gone. Last Sunday we had a combined priesthood relief society lesson that we taught and introduced this year's ward mission plan. We also started a "40 day fast," where a different family in the ward fasts for forty consecutive days for the specific people in their lives that they want to share the gospel with and also for our ward goal of bringing three eternal families into the Mar Vista ward through baptism, reactivation, or completing a part member family. It went so well! The spirit was incredibly strong, and we helped people understand that our purpose is not just to add more people to the ward, but to help these families come closer to God, be sealed in the temple and to know that they can be together for eternity. We told the ward that as we exercise our faith we will begin to see miracles, and we have! We had three investigators come to church yesterday! It was a huge miracle because it was the first time we've had investigators come to Mar Vista ward since I have been here. I know that Heavenly Father was just preparing the hearts of the ward members and helping them be able to recognize the miracle that it would be to help bring families into the gospel. It has been so great to see things in Mar Vista changing for the better, and recognizing that all of our hard work is finally starting to pay off.

We also have had some really great experiences in the Visitors' Center. I realized that I never really explained what we do here at the Visitors' Center besides giving tours and teaching in the center. Every Visitors' Center is also designed to help generate teaching opportunities that lead to conversion around the entire world through referrals. We ask everyone that comes in if they have someone that we can help share the gospel with, and then we get a chance to call their friends or family members and ask if they would like to meet with the missionaries or receive a free DVD or the Book of Mormon. I have had so many amazing experiences calling people around the country and sharing my testimony with them, helping them come closer to Christ and opening them up to having the missionaries come over to help them know what to do to be happier in their family through following the teachings of Jesus Christ. So that is a huge part of what we do at the Visitors Center. I think that a lot of people get this idea that at the Visitors' Center when no one is there we just sit around and read our scriptures, which is true sometimes, but we also still get to do a lot of missionary work for people around the world. The way our schedule works we serve in the Visitors' Center half day and rotate through mornings or evenings, so usually about four evenings and three mornings every week we are in the Visitors' Center, and then the rest of the time we are out in our areas visiting people, knocking doors, and all of the stereotypical missionary stuff.

Well, I don't have much time left, so I'll just write about the other cool experiences that I had next week. Have a great week!

Sister Dansie