Meet The Mormons

FAMILIA!

 

     So, this is probably the last e-mail that you will get. Well, things are going great here in Tracy. We just got back from Stockton where we got together with the North and South Stockton zones to pre-screen Meet the Mormons. It was so great! Honestly, even if you aren't a member. It's super great! That is all I'm going to talk about. I'm just going to attach a bunch of pictures! 

   Women's conference was amazing!

   

1. EXCHANGES!

2. Happy death day to me :)

3. It was Hurley and Moffett's year mark so we had a burning party :)

Love always, ME!

I Just Can't Keep It All In.....

 So, you would think by my title that I am so excited to come home...and you'd be wrong :) I am excited to come home, but I am still working as hard as I can here in Tracy. There is still work to be done and I know that the Lord has a reason for me to be here :) I don't believe in "end-of-mission" surges...I am just going to keep working as hard as I have been my whole mission.

     Last night I did something that I have never done (but have come dangerously close to doing) before...I ate so much that I legit threw up. I just couldn't keep it all in...we had to call it a night early because I was out of commission...if the missionaries ever say no thank you to food, believe them.

     This week was a lot of tracting. We have knocked on a TON of doors. You meet the most interesting people that way :) We found this lady named Karina and she is super cool. We started to teach her the Restoration and her friend randomly walked in and we were able to teach them both. They both really want to read the Book of Mormon! She is super Catholic, but she really liked the message, so we will see what happens.

     We are also teaching this lady named Maria.She let us in her house right off of the bat. She is 23 and was super receptive. She kept saying the entire time that it just made so much sense about the prophet and why there are so many churches. We told her about the Book of Mormon and she was so excited to read it! She asked for an English copy, but also asked us to leave her the Spanish one so that she can read it with her parents. We have a lesson with her tomorrow, but we may not be able to keep it. We were visiting her neighbor last night and we went to leave and then a cop car, ambulance, and fire truck showed up. Well, we weren't about to just leave the place. We sat there for a minute and then Maria walked out of the house behind a stretcher with a little boy on it. It freaked us both out a little bit. Please pray for her and her son. 

     Well, I love you all so much and I look forward to seeing your beautiful faces in a couple of weeks! Keep the faith! 

Love always, Hermana Freestone

1. Service cleaning up a house! Yes, we actually cleaned

2. Brown, Webb, Abbott, me, Enggas (they came down for ASL work so we went to lunch!)

Remember Lot's Wife

     So, this week was actually really good! We did a ton a tracting this week-not a fan-and it was pretty productive. We found a TON of new people and taught a ton of lessons. We added quite a few new investigators. Actually, they added a few people while I was on exchanges so I don't know a lot of them. We are going to meet them this week. I'm really excited!

    We went over to see Kenia again and she was really excited to see us. We have been thinking about going back and seeing her. We have also been seeing her in our English classes and in church. We had an amazing lesson about recognizing the Spirit. Also, her aunt came in a bore testimony and it was so great. Seriously, I think that she is ready becasue she came to us this time.

     So, there has been a movie that we have been sharing with a lot of people and I really like it. It is called The Hope of God's Light. Here's the link. You should all watch it. It has been so powerful in our lessons. I'm not sure if I've attached it before?

     Also, this week I received my official trunky papers and I have had to be thinking a lot about what I want to do with my life. HIJOLE! However, it's been a really great experience for me and, oddly, it's helped me to realize my purpose even more. I was telling Hermana Webb the other day that I have no idea how people raise families without the gospel in their lives. I think that it would be virtually impossible.

     Another fun thing that I found this week to give me some animo was the talk by Elder Holland called Remember Lot's Wife.

     Well, I love you all a ton and I miss you more. Keep on keeping on!

Love always, 

Hermana Freestone

P.S. JJ finally got the Priesthood and passed the sacrament yesterday with his dad. Tears!

1. Cool. I held a corn snake

2. Kenia and Hermana Renderos

Forever Strong KIA KAHA!

  This week has been great! We are teaching a couple named Miguel and Raquel and they are so great! I have really come to appreciate the value of working with members. If it weren't for the testimonies of the members I don't think that we would have had as much progress with them. They promised to come to church yesterday, but no luck. However, I think it is the fact that our church starts at 9. If you think that waking up 7 for church as a member is hard, imagine doing it if you are an investigator. It's super rough. It takes a lot of faith as well. I just want them to be able to come and see how the Spirit is. I know that it can help them so much! We have an appointment with them tonight and we are bringing the ward mission leader with us. I'm super stoked!

     We've also been trying to work with the members a lot more lately. Whether they are in our ward or in the English ward. We went to the house of the Carreno's this week and taught them about fasting. We shared experiences and bore testimony and them Hermano-who is in the obispado-and he told us some of the most touching experiences about fasting and it really was able to help them both share their testimony and we committed them to share it with other people.

     We also met the Fernandez family in the English ward. Hermano Fernandez served in New Mexico just a few years before Dad did. Cool huh? They are some of the most amazing people that I have ever met. We shared a message with them about recognizing the Spirit and it was super powerful! Seriously, I loved it :) I have really been underestimating the power of using members more...we are making an effort to get to know more of them.

     Well, I love you all tons and I am doing the best that I know how to do. I don't want it to be a "surge" for the end. I just want to keep working as hard as I have my whole mission. As a friend recently put it, Forever Strong Kia Kaha! LOVE YOU!

Love, Hermana Freestone

1. tag 

2. jj and juan

3. Fernandez family

I Love My Mission So Much!

So, this week has been interesting. I have gained a new appreciation for missionaries that bike. I have to bike the last 4 days in a row because we ran out of miles on our car and let me tell you...I had a serious astronomical problem...if you're picking up what I'm putting down...so yeah. Bubba, you are my hero now even more than you used to be.

     Sad story, we found this really great guy this week named Leo and we were so excited to meet him. Well, we went over last night with this really cute couple and were going to teach him the Plan of Salvation but it turned out to be a drop lesson because he didn't want to pray or go to church. He just flat out said that he didn't think that it was important to do those things...sad day. Hermana Webb was super sad about it. However, God always gives us tender mercies and we found Miguel. He is an older man and he mentioned to us that he is waiting for God to give him an answer to which church is right. We are so excited to teach him!

     I'm sorry these e-mails keep getting shorter and shorter. No tengo ganas de escribir mucho. But, I still love you all so much and want you to know that I love my mission so much! It is all so surreal to me. Keep praying and keep the faith. Love you all!

Love always, Hermana Freestone

1. we LOVE biking

2. like my fake glasses?

God Alwys Answers Prayers

     Holy frijoles! This week has been a crazy week. The highlight of my week, by far, was going back to Stockton to see JP get baptized! He was so cute! I got there a little early to help our with things and Hermana Cardullo was running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. The baptism was set to start at 6:30. I showed up at 5:45 and she didn't have keys to the font. For those of you who are familiar with a baptismal font, it usually requires about 1 hour and a half to fill up. We were calling people and Sister Robinson-bless her heart-was thinking of ways to pick the lock. The Stockton ZL's finally showed up with the keys and we booked it from there. The font started to fill up and that was one less stress. That was at 6:15 JP showed up about6:30 (remember, this is a Spanish baptism) and we got him changed. I turned to Hermana Cardullo and Hermana Sellers and said, "We need to say a prayer." I offered the prayer, expressing gratitude and asking for help with the baptism that all would go smoothly. I want you to know that God always answers prayers. That font was full by 6:45. Yeah. Testimony of prayer right there! Poor JP...the water was freezing, but he was so excited! Johnny baptized him and it was the cutest thing ever! So, you all have to hear the story. Hermana Cardullo was telling me that JP walked up to them the day that Ricardo got the Holy Ghost and he said, "Hermanas, I just see how happy Ricardo is and I want that too. I don't know why I'm not baptized yet, but I know that I want to do it." WOW! People can tell that we are different and how much happier the gospel makes people. :)

     We also had zone conference this week. LOVE! President Jardine is AMAZING! We're going to be BFF's. I just know it. Sister Jardine as well. Their daughter just moved to Mountain Green. Sister Jardine is going to send me over :) Anywho, zone conference. It was probably the best one of my entire mission. The lessons were so inspired for me personally and I definitely received answers to some questions there. I also had to give my testimony because it is my last zone conference. I felt really old having to do that. It was crazy because I remember seeing people do that at my first zone conference. I was able to give it with Sister Abbott and Hermana Cardullo. Lucky for me :) The Spirit was so strong and I definitely cried a little bit.

     Well, I love you all so much! I wish I could describe all of the fun/crazy/insane adventures that we have had this week in the pool house-but there's just not enough time. I seriously love my mission more than anything-no matter how crazy hard it is! Keep smiling and stay classy family/friends :) LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Con amor, Hermana Freestone

1. JP...so distinguished

2. me and JP

3. the crew!

4. you didn't know I was famous, did you? :)

Grateful In Any Circumstances

     Ok, this week has been NUTS! We're talking, Mollie finding out she has an allergic reaction to nuts, Nuts. So, not so punny, but it was worth a shot. I should tell you that the Family History Center smells like a butcher shop because we all just got back from taking a tour of the Costco meat plant here in Tracy. Yeah, it was pretty cool :) It took me back to the days when mom and I used to clean the meat factory there in Morgan. Good times :) Let me just say, meatballs and polish dogs never tasted so good :)

     So, we moved this week. Yeah, I was SUPS sad about it! I love the Robinsons so much and I am sad that our time with them got cut short. Her daughter had to move in with them and she is married with two little boys so that wasn't going to work. We are now living with a family se llama los Williams. They seem really cool. We don't actually live in their house. We are living in their pool house...and the other Hermanas are with us for another week at most. It's really crowded. It's been rough on everyone. I am just trying to stay positive through all of everything. I was on exchanges with Hermana Moffett this week and she is the BEST! She's so adorable! Hermana Cardullo trained her so it was fun to see a little bit of her personality in there. She had to write a talk for church this week and it was from general conference. It's called Grateful In Any Circumstances by President Uchtdorf. I suggest you check it out. It's been helping me :)

     Kenia texted us this week and dropped us. She told us that she really isn't interested in getting baptized or learning more right now. I was pretty bummed. She came to church with her aunt like she always does. It was kinds awkward, but it all worked out. Miriam and Alex were planning to be baptized this Saturday but it's not going to happen. We asked how they felt about it and neither one of them feel very ready. Also, Alex hasn't been to church for 3 weeks in a row. The thing is that their parents work in San Jose every Saturday and Sunday and the only reason that they have been bringing the kids back on the weekends is so they can come to church, but they don't want to leave them alone for the weekend. Can you blame them? Nope...We are trying to push it to September, but Alex was like, can we do it in December? WAHHHHHH????? No worries, all in the timing of the Lord. I'm not sure it's a good idea to baptized them if they can't even come to church consistently. 

     We are really trying hard to find more people to teach. Hermana Moffett and I found a couple of good potential people. Elder Freestone, I know how you feel when people say that they are going to come to church and them never do. It's rough, but just keep on praying for them.

     The highlight of the week, I got another text from the Stockton sisters saying that JP IS GETTING BAPTIZED THIS WEDNESDAY! Oh my goodness!  I am so excited for him it's ridiculous! There is nothing better than watching someone that you love enter the waters of baptism!

     So, my mission has been put greatly into perspective for me this week. There is an Elder in my district named Elder Osorio. Before his mission he joined the Marines. Apparently there is a lot of stuff going on in Israel (remember, I don't get to watch the news) right now and the US wants to send some waves of Marines over seas. He is currently active. He received a call from his recruiter this week saying that he will most-likely get a call and have to report to duty. He told us and I just sat there and cried. I don't think I can fully impress upon any of you how much I love my mission and how much it really means to me to be here: and I don't have to be here. For someone who is serving and holds the Priesthood of God I can only imagine how much more it means to them. The fact that one small e-mail/phonecall could send him home in a moment is nothing short of a tragedy. Also, things aren't pretty over there. Please keep him in your prayers.

Love always, Hermana Freestone

1. Cali SWAG!

2. Grandma Olsen would be proud if me! I learned how to knit!

3. pictures are worth a thousand words...which words to choose....