Baptism!

     This past week=WOW! I seriously have never been this exhausted before. Let me just say that Satan works his hardest to make your life miserable right before something amazing is about to happen. ON Monday night we got a phone call from our district leader telling us the carpets in our church were going to be cleaned and we had to move the baptism-after we had announced it to everyone in church. We were in a mad dash to call everyone in the ward, reserve the other building, get permission from the branch President to move it...thankfully, we managed to pull off everything by Saturday. Last Tuesday I had an exchange with Hna Fullerton. She is from Arizona and she is also in her first transfer. Thankfully, she is very adept at Spanish and we were able to make it through the day. However, it was a super rough day day for me. Some of our plans fell through (like 2 hours worth) and I was just scrambling to find things to do. It was just rough. I don't think I have ever been so happy to see Hna Toro walk through the front door! On Thursday I had my last exchange with Hna Clonts. That one was crazy. She is in her second transfer in the field so when people talked to us I think they thought that we were a bit crazy due to the fact that we had to really strain to know what was going on and then when we spoke it was pretty ugly. There is a reason that 2 greenies shouldn't be companions! 

     Oh! And funny story about Thursday. Hna Clonts had to come with me to our correlation with the ward mission leader. Obviously, the whole thing is done in Spanish. Well, Hno Ku-the mission leader-really likes to tease me because I don't always understand him. He really had a go at poor Hna Clonts. I don't think she liked that :) We finished planning our baptismal program there and then Hno Ku asked us about our musical number. I told him our plans to sing with the elders. He then proceeded to change the song we had been practicing and made me sing a solo in front of everyone in correlation. Yup...I just said solo...thankfully, no windows were shattered and no eardrums started to bleed. Later, he made me make a phone call in front of everyone. You don't think that is a big deal, but I hadn't made any calls in Spanish up to that point. It is hard enough foe me to understand when they speak right in front of me, let alone over the phone. Let's just say that there are no such things are "personal boundaries" on a mission.

     On Friday we went to talk to Alejandro about what would be taking place. We asked him how he felt and he kept telling us that he didn't know how to describe it. It was a calm, peaceful feeling. I just wanted to scream, "THAT'S THE SPIRIT!!!" But I contained myself. He also talked about how, when missionaries would come over before, he would just walk into the backroom or he would never understand what they were saying. But, when we came over, he felt like he needed to stay in the room and that we brought something different with us. He said he could just feel that spirit that we brought. I seriously almost started crying in their living room. Then they both mentioned that they are so grateful that we are willing to learn their language and then teach them. They just went on about how much they appreciate the fact that we are trying so hard to talk to them. Once again, I almost started crying. But it also gave me a lot of confidence in myself to continue to learn the language. I really needed that.

     I'll get to the thing you all want to know about: the baptism. It was fantastic! Seriously, words really can't do it justice. If you've served a mission, you get it. If not, I'm sorry-I don't know how to put it into words! We had to turn off the lights in the font because they were too bright for his eyes, but other than that it was all fine. During the two talks about baptism and the Holy Ghost I started thinking about one year from now when, I hope, they are able to go through the temple and be sealed for eternity! Man! This gospel is so amazing! After the baptism I gave a little "missionary moment." It was basically a mini-talk in Spanish. I just bore my testimony on the restoration and it all worked out. It was really funny though because Hno Ku was conducting and he can't really pronounce my last name so he always calls me Hna "Piedra." And I don't really care because I think it's funny, but he actually announced me as Hna Piedra! Now he's got a bunch of the people in the ward calling me that :) After I spoke Elders Gaskill, Sempf, Hna Toro, and I sang acapella to "Conmigo Quedate Senor." Same one we did in the MTC. It was good...I think! We were able to talk to Alejandro after and he isn't much of a talker, but he was really happy and he was feeling the Spirit! By the end of the day Hna Toro and I were barely able to walk up the steps to our apartment. No joke, we were exhausted in every way, shape, and form. However, I was happy because I knew that we had just accomplished something truly amazing!

     Yesterday he was confirmed in Sacrament meeting. I had to reach over and give Hna Toro a hug! Honestly, we just talked to him. He is one of those people that God was preparing all of his life to hear the message. He is so humble and so willing to do what the Lord wants. He knows that the Lord will bless him. Everyone keeps congratulating us on the baptism but it doesn't really make sense to me because really, all we did was teach him. Everything else was him. I'm just grateful that the Lord allowed us to work with him. 

     So what did you think of the Work of Salvation? Pretty neat, huh? I about died when I saw all of the missionaries in the choir. The MTC is probably just bursting at the seams right now. Isn't it so amazing-missionary work? Over 70,200 missionaries are serving right now! I am so blessed and thankful that I can be a part of it!

, 

LOVE, HERMANA FREESTONE

It doesn't matter who is doing the work with you, the /lord will bless you

     Wow, this week was super busy! I'm pretty sure I mentioned that Hermana Toro is the sister training leader and has to go on exchanges a lot so I have had 3 other companions this week. On Tuesday I was with Hna Hanson, on Wednesday I was with Hna Naatjes, and on Saturday I was with Hna Pitcher. It's a little crazy because I basically have to plan everything that we are going to do the next day because they don't know anything about our area. Then, the next day I have to bring them up to speed on any investigators we have. Thankfully, they have all been great and have really risen to the occasion. Hna Hanson is pretty crazy, and she's a go-getter. We spent a lot of the day tracting, but she made it super fun for me! Hna Naatjes is a little shy at first. But, by the end of the day she had me laughing so hard I was crying. Ok so there is a sign on the road here for a palm reader that says, "Past, present, future: We can help." I told her that I already knew my past and present, I just wanted to know the future. She got all mysterious and turned to me and said, "That's not the way the palm works, dearie." I was laughing so hard! Hna Pitcher is from Park City and we got along like we'd been friends our entire life. I seriously love meeting all of these amazing missionaries! We found 6 new investigators this week (a new high for the area) and 5 of them were found during exchanges. It doesn't matter who is doing the work with you, the Lord will bless you. I love working with them all-however crazy it can be-but, at the end of the day, I am just really happy to be back with Hna Toro. She's seriously the best!

     So, our guy Alejandro is going to be baptized on Saturday!!! Who's got two thumbs and is super excited...? THIS GIRL! He is pretty much the living, breathing example of someone that the Lord has prepared. On Tuesday Hna Hanson and I taught the rest of the Plan of Salvation and the law of chastity. Then on Thursday Hna Toro and I taught him the entire 3rd lesson, law of tithing, word of wisdom, keeping the Sabbath day holy, and went over the baptismal interview questions with him. If you are not familiar with missionary work...that is a TON!!! Especially because he didn't really have much of a religious background. After his interview yesterday before church our zone leader (the one that conducted the interview) was telling us how it went. I guess Elder Gaskill (zone leader) asked Alejandro how he met us. He explained that we just knocked on their door and he didn't know why he decided to stay in the room. Usually when missionaries would come over to his house to talk with his wife he would leave. That time, however, he just had this feeling like he needed to stay in the room and listen to what we had to say. He said that he felt the spirit so strong. He also said that he know that the Lord led us to him. UH-MAZING!!! Hna Toro and I were almost in tears. So yeah, now we are planning a baptism! Funny- this is the first time either of us have planned one because Hna Toro has never taught someone and baptized them in one transfer. So we are both a littler nervous to see how it turns out.

     While I was on exchanges with Hna Pticher we decided to go and see a less active girl in our branch. We got into the apartment and started talking with them and I was so glad that we did. Daisy is 20 and lives with her boyfriend. They have a cute little boy. Also living with them is her boyfriend's daughter (who Daisy basically adopted), her boyfriend's sister, brother, and niece. Apparently, his parents were deported and so he is taking care of his younger siblings. He is 22. He works a ton to try and give his siblings the best chance that they can have and Daisy is basically the mom to all of them. I cannot even imagine having that kind of responsibility. If anyone needs the gospel in their lives, it is that little family. So, keep Daisy and her family in your prayers :)

     We have met a couple of other families in our area that we are really excited to teach. I will definitely keep you posted about what happens with them! Right now we are trying to find people as well as trying to keep members active. It's kind of a big problem here. But, we keep praying and working hard and we know that the Lord will bless us in our efforts! I seriously love it here and I LOVE the branch. They are all pretty much my family. That is one thing that I love about the culture here. Everyone is treated like a family member. I am so grateful for that!

Until next week! 

Love, Hermana Freestone

I Dont have the Energy to be Negative

     Ok, so this has been a pretty great week! I don't know if I told you that the man's name that we are teaching right now is Alejandro. He has committed to be baptized on June 22, so keep praying! I am so excited! Ah! This church is true...the book is blue :) Anyway, Hna Toro did an exchange this week so on Tuesday I spent the day with Hna Maroquin. She is super funny! Sh'es been out for over a year now so I was glad that I had her with me. We tracted into a lady named Lupe and she was studying with the JW's but she took a break to have her baby. We have taught her twice and have another appointment this week. Woo! Funny story about our exchange, since our car (Carmen) is assigned to our area, I had to get permission to drive it. President Lewis has a policy that missionaries shouldn't drive unless they have been out 6 weeks or more. Well, I am getting special permission to drive during all of our exchanges and I didn't want to pull an Elder Johansen and wreck it ;) so I was being super careful. We decided to tract to save on miles and realized after 45 minutes of walking around in 101 degree heat that we couldn't remember where we had parked it. We did eventually find it, but I unofficially lost Carmen while I was in charge of her...figures :)

     On Monday we decided to tract a little and we had a man and his wife pull us into their house. They were super nice at first (so we were a little nervous) and then they went into this huge Bible bash! Like, we were getting slammed. We didn't want to argue so all we could really do was sit there and listen. I couldn't understand everything, but Hna Toro said that it didn't make sense even in Spanish. I felt so bad I couldn't back her up. All we could do was testify to them that the church is true and yeah...so I survived my first Bible bash...not fun.

     The weather is pretty fantastic here. Though, we decided we need to add more investigators so when it is 109 degrees we don't have to be out tracting :) It was 70 degrees yesterday and I needed a jacket! Hna Toro and I were out on Saturday night and we were talking to a lady that pointed to me and asked Hna Toro, "Ella esta su hija?" My first thought was, "Really? Does Hna Toro look that old or do I really look that young?" I just laughed because some people really don't think before they open their mouths. She thought I was 17ish and Hna Toro was 24-25. Obviously that math doesn't really work :)

     So yesterday after church I was delightfully surprised to see Nana and Papa in the hallway! It was way nice to see them, though I was only able to talk to them for 10-15 minutes. I also got to meet more cousins that I've never met before-but with a family like ours I should be used to it :) I was really excited to see them again!

     So I found this really good quote while I was reading in the January 2012 Ensign. It says, 

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than … the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing that we can do it play on the one string that we have, and that is our attitude...I am convinced that life is 10 percent of what happens to me and 90 percent of how I react to it. And so it is with you...we are in charge of our attitudes." Charles Swindoll

     I love this quote because a mission is just like this. We have to choose every morning to wake up and have a positive attitude about missionary work. I told Hna Toro that we are working so hard every day and that I don't have the energy to be negative. So we both work super hard and just sometimes have to laugh when things don't work out. It is better than being negative all of the time. Well, I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love always, Hermana Freestone

Walking Shoulder to Shoulder With the Savior

     Ok, so this had been a super good week! Both of the appointments last week fell through, but there is good news yet to come. We went tracting, which is about all we do here, and we found two others who agreed to an appointment. We went to go and visit one of them. I saw their little daughter in the window and heard her say through the screen, "It's the missionaries." I heard her dad call her back and then when we knocked (3 times) no one came to the door. REJECTION! I'm used to it. Well, some good came out of it. Since our next appointment wan't for another hour we decided to knock around in that complex. We knocked on one door and the lady who answered it immediately let us in and brought in some chairs. We sat down and, after talking, found out that she is a member, but hasn't been to church because she had really bad anxiety and has panic attacks around people. Rough. Her husband has always worked on Sundays and has never really been to church before or even really knew who Jesus Christ is. Well, a few weeks ago he was in a bad accident at work and got some hardcore chemicals splashed into his eyes so he can't work anymore. Well, he agreed to let us teach him. We went back and taught him the first lesson. I was able to start it, recite the first vision, and then bear my testimony about it. The Spirit was SO  strong! He told us that, even though his accident was super bad, maybe it was meant to happen so that he could finally learn about out God and Jesus Christ. We were super excited! And when we asked if there was anything that we could do for him he told us that we can just come back and keep teaching him. :) We left him and his wife a copy of the Book of Mormon to read together-he can't read because of his ojos- and they both came to church yesterday. We are SOOO excited!!!

     On Wednesday we had a Spanish mission conference that was super awesome! I've been struggling a bit lately because of all of the overwhelming-ness of being on a mission. We watched a movie in the conference (I believe I have the video posted on my missionary blog under the talks tab if anyone wants to watch it-I recommend it) called "The Atonement." It was so moving and there was one part that really stuck out to me. It was when Jeffery R. Holland was talking and he said that we should never think that it is going to be easy for us as disciples of Christ because it was NEVER easy for Him. We have to work hard for everything that we do (as missionaries and members) because "Salvation was NOT a cheap experience!" It made me fell really lame for complaining about my small trials. He also told us that when we are struggling through something we are walking shoulder to shoulder with the Savior. NEVER forget that! It has helped me so much to just keep striving to do my best and realy on the Lord through all of my trials.

     On Saturday we had a charla fogonera in Elk Grove with Elder Basset. He is the area Seventy here. The whole talk was in Spanish and I am excited to tell you that I understood it all! Only because it was a Gringo that was speaking, but I was really excited! Since there were a lot of investigators there he spoke about how the Spirit will testify on our minds and in our hearts. We can see the scriptures and we can feel the scriptures, and we can listen to the words of the prophets, but if we don't have faith and don't allow the Spirit to work in our hearts then the rest of it is totally meaningless. It was such a great talk and super great for the members as well as the investigators!

     So my companion, Hermana Toro, is the sister training leader here so she will have to go on splits with 3 other companionships in the next 3 weeks so I will be the one in charge. She will go spend the day working with a sister in Stockton and Tracy and the other companion will be with me. Wish me luck! I am excited, but super nervous! Yikes! Oh, and I had to share a scripture and thought in Relief Society yesterday. There are only 15ish women, but I was so nervous I literally started shaking. I thought I was going to fall over. I prayed and managed to read Doctrine and Covenants 18:15-16 without totally butchering the language and bear a simple testimony...so it CAN be done :)

    Well, that is it for now. I love you all so much! Hope Utah is treating you well. It got up to 100 on Saturday. I can't wait for July and August when it actually gets hot :) LOVE YOU!!!

Love, Hermana Freestone