The Lord Wants to Forgive

So, we met a lady this week named Antonia. She is a really old lady and her daughter is a member in the El Dorado English ward here. I guess that the elders used to visit her a lot but that was a long time ago because this has been a sister's area for several years with one quick 6-week exception last year. So, we went to visit her the first night and we were both struggling to stay focused. She had the tv on-volume off-but with subtitles (yeah...it's still a huge distraction), she was talking in circles, and it was really warm, and we had just eaten a nice Mexican dinner :) However, we were able to share the message of the Restoration at the end and she really liked it. She lives with her son who is super Catholic and says that going to another church would make her two-faced. Grrrrr...I love family :) It turned out to be really powerful! Yay! Then, on Saturday night we were able to visit her again. And this time we brought her daughter. Unfortunately, her daughter was running on Hispanic time and showed up 45 minutes late and we had to leave. So, we shared a super quick, but powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon and committed her to read it-well, the first chapter :) She said that she was going to read it. Then, much to our wonderful surprise, she came to church yesterday for sacrament meeting! We were floored because she said that she wasn't going to be able to  come this week but she wanted to come next week. We never had a chance to talk to her after because she took off like a bandit on the run. But we are going over tonight so we'll see!

     We are still working with Erik, of course. He is a champ. We are working with him to get the Priesthood. We have a ways to go, but he really wants to change so we are starting step-by-step. He keeps telling us that he is going to quit coming to church when we leave, but we are really working to involve the leaders. I knew before my mission that leaders were important (I can think of a few YW leaders/teachers/coaches that saved me growing up) but I really like seeing how they affect a person from the outside looking in. Brother Potter has really taken him under his wing and it's been a huge help. We are working on getting the bishop more involved as well. Last week Erik and I were just friends, and now I have graduated to best friend :) Hermana Dando is his best-best friend, but I will graduate again once she leaves. Ha! He is like the rock in his family right now. His mom had to work yesterday, but his dad and his younger brother and sister came to church as well. AND, his little brother got up and bore his testimony. Erik was so cute, he went up and helped him. :) Porfa! Keep the Acosta Family in your prayers! I love them so much! Hermana is super sassy and likes to tease me so I tease her right back. She told me the other day that she is going to miss arguing with me when I leave...good thing I'm here until July! Ha! 

     Also, really cool thing: with Erik we caught a snag this week so we decided to try a new tactic. We made him sit down and write down ten things that he wants to do with his life. Among other things he wrote down serving a mission, get married, and become an architect. WE then went over what he has to do do get all of those things. It opened his eyes a little bit. We also shared a Mormon Message with him. It's called The Lord Wants To Forgive. You should check it out because it's super legit. It really hit him.

     We had to drop Teresa...I was so sad! She was so gold! However, some people just need their space. The Lord has plans for everyone. Maybe we were just supposed to be the missionaries that planted the seed and then the other Hermanas in the future will be able to reap the harvest?

     I have had lots of ups and downs on my mission, but I wouldn't trade theses experiences for the world. I have learned a lot and I can't even imagine my life without having served a mission! 

Love, Hermana Freestone

In preparation for Cinco de Mayo...it's gunna be big!

Erik with a "K" :)

 This week has been really great! So, you remember Erik from last week? Erik with a "K". I've been chastised for messing that up...Well, he came to church again yesterday and he also went on a Scout campout and went to a Seminary devotional last night. Then, he texted us and asked us when early morning seminary started. Let'sbehonest, I didn't even have the ambition to do early morning Seminary. Tried it for a whopping 3 weeks and packed it in. I have so much respect for the youth here! And this kid wants to try it! He also asked us for a hard cover copy of the Book of Mormon to start reading. He has threatened that when we leave he will stop going to church and being involved, but then last night he told us that he is hoping that he will get involved enough that he will want to stay on his own. I sure hope so! He asked us last night when he could start passing the Priesthood and we told him that he would have to ask the bishop about that so he is going to go in on Sunday! Holy cow! I am a huge fan of underdogs and I really think that this kid will beat the odds. He's got a lot working against him right now so just pray for him that he will be able to overcome his situation. He is such a great kid. He's punk, but we love him so much!

     We also had a fantastic lesson with Teresa this week. We asked her why she didn't come with us to church. Well, last time we went over to teach her she had her aunt in town with her. Her aunt-along with the rest of her family (and every other Hispanic for that matter) is dyed-in-the-wool Catholic. Teresa is Catholic, but doesn't ever go. Well, her aunt did not like the fact that we were there teaching her and she really didn't like the fact that we had invited her to church and she said that she would go. So, said aunt was supposed to leave on Saturday, but decided to prolong her stay until Sunday-making it impossible for Teresa to come to church. BLAH! These people...

     We are also teaching a lady named Ester. She has been taught for a while now, but will never come to church and won't commit to being baptized. We have been going over and reading the Book of Mormon with her and she really enjoys it. She says it's a lot more clear than the Bible. She's really starting to develop a testimony. We invited her to be baptized and she said yes! She's never said yes to any other missionary before! We are making progress there :) We extended a date to her, but she didn't like the idea of doing it really soon so we are going to try and give her a date a little bit farther out. The problem is that her son plays soccer on Sundays and she is the chauffeur. :( However, we are going to see if we can get her to come to Sacrament meeting at least :)

    That is pretty much how things are going here. Cinco de mayo is coming up and we are super excited because it is on a P-day. God bless Mondays! Some of you may have seen just how excited we are for this holiday :) Well, I love you all and hope that everything is going well with you. God bless you all and I love you tons!

Love always,

Hermana Freestone

Cinco de mayo

#GraciasaEl

Hoppy Easter! Did you all love Easter? Because I sure did! I hope you all got a chance to watch the church's video that they put out for Easter. If not, watch it and then you can hashtag it #BecauseofHim or if you are really cool you can do it in Spanish #GraciasaEl. We have been sharing it with people all week long. It was fun because we don't have i-pads so we were asking random strangers to share a video and then we would have to ask them to pull out their mobile device or i-pad. It was great! I absolutely LOVED IT!

     This week was fantastic! Honestly, there's nothing too crazy to report, but being on a mission is the best so why wouldn't it be a fantastic week? Something really cool though: we have a less-active family in our ward (who am I kidding? they're completely inactive). They used to be super gung-ho, but then the mom had to take a job where she worked on Sunday and then the family stopped going because the dad works nights and it is too much of a hassle to get all 7 of their kids to church. I have a huge testimony of the gospel because I see their kids' lives and it makes me sad. They have so much potential! One of their sons is 15. We got talking to him and found out that he has an addiction to Marijuana. We were floored. That isn't uncommon here, but it makes me SO SAD! We tried to talk to him about his future and what he wants for his life. He tried to argue with us, but both Hermana Dando and I have been teenagers at one point and we tried to use all of those same arguments not too many years ago. I felt like my parents-and she did too. We had to giggle about it. However, we finally got him to commit to come to church with us. He was freaking out that we were pulling him away from his friends for 4/20, but he agreed in the end (4/20 is like the national smoke pot day...the things you learn on a mission). We went over to his house yesterday morning with Sister Potter and he was all ready, looking very nice, and sober. We were so proud of him! We sat by him in church and I know he was feeling the Spirit. The Potters spoke and they were super powerful! The boy wouldn't sing with us, but he kept looking very intently at the hymns and he was thinking about it. He met a lot of the boys in YM and Brother Potter-the YM president-took him home. Brother Potter told us later that the boy said that he wanted to come to the activities and maybe to church again. Also, they are having a Boy Scout hike this weekend that he wants to go on. Good leaders are so key in these kids' lives. This isn't Morgan where you can spit and hit 10 Mormon families. This is Stockton where you are lucky if your kid can make it through high school without trying 3 or 4 kinds of drugs. We are really working hard with him! Keep him in your prayers!

     We also had another less-active boy in our ward come to an activity. His family was baptized in Utah, moved our here and went completely inactive. They have 4 boys: 18, 17, 15 and 12. We went over for dinner at their house and the 12 year-old asked us about activities for the youth. He wanted to come and check it out. As it turns out, they were having a combined activity and were having a cook-off. We were able to get Gustavo there and he absolutely loved it! Hermana Dando and I were the taste-testers. We really sacrificed on that one...;) Gustavo said that he really had fun and that he wanted to go to church on Sunday. Sadly, we weren't able to get ahold of him. However, he really wants to go on the camp out. He made lots of friends and already knew a couple of them. We think that he can be the one that will help his family come back.

     Our investigator Teresa is doing well. We just need to get her to church. That is the common problem here...we're still working on combating that.

     Easter was fabulous! Church was great and then the Potters invited us to come over for dinner. They invited an investigator family-who in turn invited some friends. It was so great! A lot of the people there only spoke Spanish so I had to translate all dinner, but it was such a privilege. The Potters are an amazing family. We were able to share the Easter video and bear our testimonies to them about the Savior and his Atonement. It was very touching. I love being able to share the gospel. It is such a great blessing. I can't think of anything else that would make me more happy right now! After our message the kids broke eggs filled with confetti all over our heads...it was EVERYWHERE! 

     We also had a bit of fun at dinner because it was Sister Abbott's birthday. Sister Potter made a cake and we all sang to her. Also this: we broke into their apartment and stole Sister Abbott's dad's e-mail address and he was able to write her a very cute Happy Birthday note. She started to cry a little bit :) After we cleaned up dinner the Potters insisted that we stick around to sing Easter hymns. It was so nice to be able to spend Easter in their home. I am so blessed!

    I'm sure you are all just dying to know what happened with transfers...well....WE'RE STAYING TOGETHER AGAIN!!! BOO-YAH! I can't wait! 

Love always, 

Hermana Freestone

1. egg mess!

2. Cinco de Mayo preview :)

3. happy year mark to me

It Was The Best of Weeks... Its Was The Worst of Weeks

It was the best of weeks...it was the worst of weeks. I absolutely ADORED the pictures from when Ty and Jen came :) I hope Gabe had a great birthday. The pictures of Macie are absolutely gorgeous! I showed Hermana Dando and we were both just dying. Can't wait to hold her :)

So, we had the most amazing thing happen this week! We decided to go and see Myraim this week to see how she was doing. We rolled up to her house and she was actually there. I guess she quit her job because they were taking advantage of her and weren't paying her. She told us that she wanted to come to church with us on Sunday and that she really wanted to be baptized still. We told her that we would have to move her date and she picked next Sunday! Easter Sunday! It was so perfect! However, she had started smoking to help her get over previous addictions. We told her that she would have to stop smoking and she asked us when she should start. Her daughter looked at her and said, "Today." She agrees but asked us if she could just smoke one more cigarette. We said ok and she pulled out one more and gave the rest of her pack to her brother. We had her brother and her daughter sign little papers that said, "I will not let Myriam smoke." She was bound and determined to do it! We had to leave but not before we said a prayer. I helped her daughter say a prayer and we said Amen, got up and Myriam was crying. She said, "Here is my last cigarette," and handed Hermana Dando the remains of her crumpled up cigarette. We were all crying. Her little daughter gave her a hug and said, "Mommy, I don't want you to be like those people on tv that have to smoke through a hole and have no legs." It was SO powerful and the Spirit was definitely there! That was one of those miracles that you only hear people talk about when they come home.  :)

However, miracle was a little short-lived. We called Myriam on Sunday to make sure that she was going to be ready for her ride. She sent us a text saying that she wasn't going to be able to make it due to her father. Apparently, she was at a family party the night before and told her parents that she was going to be baptized and her father said he would disown her if she did it. Um, we were distraught! We booked it over to her house before church to try and see how we could help her. Basically, she knows that the church is true and she wants to be baptized but she loves her family and is scared...naturally. She was crying and we were crying. And then her brother, bless his heart, told her that if she were baptized then she would regret it for the rest of her life. Needless to say, she didn't come to church. Sister Potter came over to give her a ride and talked to her about it, and that helped a little. A ver que pasa con esto...I'm not sure if it was just the straw that broke the camel's back, or we were just so emotionally invested in the situation, but Hermana Dando and I just bawled...all the way to the church (which we were 20 minutes late for), all during sacrament, Sunday school, relief society, and most of the afternoon. On top of that, we were fasting so you can imagine how physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually drained we were. We crashed hard after church. So...that was basically what happened this week.

And now for the comic relief. It wouldn't be a true mission if you didn't do something stupid and ditzy once in a while. So, we bought a Mexican flag this week and I decided to hang it above our fireplace. We have no pictures in our new apartment and were in dire need of some wall decorum. Anywho, Hermana Dando and I were pinning it up and I was going to step off of the chair to make sure it was centered. Missionary Tip #93: when standing on chairs, make sure that they don't have wheels and spin in every direction. Yeah, I lost my balance and started to fall off of the chair. It tipped over, and I still managed to stay on my feet..but I was back-peddling to keep my balance. Conveniently enough, the exercise ball was right behind me. I bounced on top of that-folding myself in half-and rolled a couple of times to the side and finally came to a graceful halt on the wall. I'm not sure who was laughing harder...me or my comp. My only battle wounds included a nasty case of whiplash and some seriously injured pride. However, it proved to be the thing that kept us on our feet Sunday so it was well worth it. Oh the joys of a mission... :)

Love, Hermana Freestone

Fun Fact Week

15 Fun Facts From Week 52:

1. 2 mattress CAN fit in the back of a 2012 Toyota Corolla

2. 4 sisters moving an apartment is much more efficient than 4 elders

3. dying my milk green will make me sick to my stomach (and REALLY annoy my comp)

4. women do NOT need the Priesthood (thank you Elder Oaks)

5. No hay Santo como El Senor :)

6. The church is true

7. Hermana Freestone can learn to speak Spanish

8. Hispanics like to shove your face in cake when you celebrate your birthday

9. children need supportive parents in their lives

10. serving others brings more happiness than living life for yourself

11. drinking 64 oz. of a nasty health drink WILL throw off your bowel schedule...hardcore!

12. life really IS learning how to dance in the rain-even if the rain is hail and you and your companion are soaked to the bone

13. you never know how much you love someone until you have to leave them

14. eventually, you have to start thinking about going home (Hna Dando got her first set of trunky papers-which means mine come next transfer)

15. Seeing recent converts thriving in the church is the proudest moment you can have as a missionary

So, some of these will go without explanation, but it was a LONG week! We had exchanges and I was able to go back to Lodi with Hermana Thomas. She is an AMAZING missionary! We were able to see Alejandro and Susana and I just wanted to cry the whole time because I was so happy to see them! They are doing so well! I didn't want to leave. They asked who they had to call to get me sent back there. Sweethearts! :)

We moved. It was rough. We were depressed (as in couldn't get out of bed for a while, moped around the house, and cried all day) for a couple of days, but it's starting to wear off. We had a good second half of the week and we still visit because we are in the same complex.

We went to another Christian church on Saturday night. It was, as a lady in Lodi best explained it, Rock and Roll for Jesus. We lost a little bit of our hearing, but we're coming around. It was very interesting. I felt bad, because I didn't feel the spirit at all. Not that it was bad or anything, it just was very loud the entire time and I couldn't feel the peace that I feel when the Spirit is around. 

General Conference was UH-MAZING! I wish I could write about everything that I loved, but there's too little time. My two favorite talks were Elder Holland's and Sister Reeves'. I listened to the Sunday morning session in Spanish because the people that we went to church with came to that session of conference. I liked what I understood. You just don't get the full effect in another language. Also, it's a different voice-it takes away some of the magic for me.

Well, sorry I didn't get to write a lot. It's been a great week though and we are working with some amazing people! This church is true and I love it with all of my heart! 

Hope you all have a good week!

Love, Hermana Freestone

1. dancing in the rain

2. alex and susana

3. thomas, cardullo, yo, dando

4. us at church (blurry :(...)

5. coolest cake EVER!

6. "que muerda la torta!" (the elders really enjoyed this)

7. package from home!

8. sushi lunch

9. 22!~

I Don't Know About You, But I'm Feeling 22!

Can I just say that I stinking LOVE my companion! I am going to cry like a baby when transfers come...we try not to talk about it.

     So, this week has been so great! Last P-Day we went with the Potters all day to visit sites around Stockton. There is a Buddhist  temple here and it was the neatest thing ever! They are getting ready for the Cambodian New- Year and they are beefing it up with lots of color and decoration. We walked around and got to see a lot of neat statues and monuments. I wish we could have known what it all meant, but it was a very neat thing. We also went to see this really cool place where the very first Mormon pioneers landed in the port of Stockton on a ship called "The Comet." We saw the memorial and walked around in the little dock thing they have there. While we were in front of the memorial we sang the first verse of "Come, Come Ye Saints." It was pretty neat :)

     So, Myriam...we love her very much...bless her heart. She got a job last week and started last Monday. I'm just worried because she is working 12 hour days-at least- and she has kids at home. I am learning more and more on my mission about the importance of having at least one parent home with your kids. Before my mission I didn't really get that. Going into other people's homes I see the importance of a mother's influence and I can also see the effect that it has on children when they are alone. It's not pretty. So, back to Myriam-we are really hoping to be able to get ahold of her sometime soon. Pray for us!

     We also had our Spanish conference this past week. I was beside myself because I got to say hi to all of the Hermanas :) Hermana Crane and Kennard go home at the end of this transfer and I am super sad! I will miss them both-especially Hermana Crane. We learned a lot of good things about "embracing the culture" which we do a great job of because any Spanish event we've been to never starts on time. President Lewis usually has 1 or 2 heart attacks because we're not exactly on schedule :) Presidente Martinez spoke about things that we can to "find when we teach and teach when we find." It is actually a fun little activity that I am excited to do with the members.

     Quick update on the Spanish. Hermana Dando and I have taken SYL (speak your language) to a while new level. The other morning she asked me in Spanish if I was going to get in the shower. It was a little slow and patchy for her so I asked her about it when I got out of the shower...she was definitely asleep and had no recollection whatsoever of asking me that. I had to giggle. However, that same night, I did the same thing. She asked me the next morning what I was yelling about in Spanish the night before. I told her that I definitely slept through the whole night-which is unusual for both of us. She told me I was going on about something in Spanish. So there you go. I can sleep talk in two languages now :)

     Thursday was UH-MAZING! Yes, I am old. Yes, my eggs are dying. Yes, feel older. But no, I wouldn't trade the mission for anything! This was probably one of the my most favorite birthdays of all time. My amazingly wonderful companion made me breakfast and sang to me. Sister Abbott and Sister Repman sang to me too. I opened a wonderful package from home-along with about 10 other letters (thank you all for your love and birthday wishes). Also, my fantastic companion made a cake for district meeting and the elders all sang and I had to blow out 22 candles (I'm not sure what I'll do next year...it took all I had to get them all out). Then we went for sushi-please be jealous-which was so yummy. And, what made it so great was that Hermana Dando doesn't even really like sushi, but she went because she wanted to make my day special. I LOVE HER! We also ate diner with the bishop and his family, ate more cake, and they sang to me in Danish because his wife is from Denmark. President and Sister Lewis also called to sing at the end of the day. It was just a fabulous birthday.

     It has been raining a lot here, but that has made things interesting. It's hard to contact, but people are a lot more willing to let us into their homes-especially when genius Hermana Freestone leaves her umbrella in the car. We were looking pretty ratchet, but it was fun!

     The work is going here. We are doing everything that we can to find some more people. I LOVE my mission and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world-because an eternity for someone else is worth so much MORE than that! I hope you all have a fantastic week and I look forward to hearing about from you. 

Love always,

Hermana Freestone :) 

Just Trust The Spirit

    This week has been a roller coaster, but to all of you that served a mission you know that pretty much every week is like that. But, for the most part, it has been really great! We added a new lady on Monday named Myriam. She was an old investigator of Hermana Dando's. I don't remember if I told you about her or not...? Anywho, we had couple of really great lesson with her this week. We took Hermana Ausban over on Tuesday and taught the Restoration. Sister Ausban bore the swwetest testimony and started to cry and the spirit was so intense that we all had chills everywhere! Myriam said that she wanted to get baptized. I was thinking about the date April 12, but I hesitated for a second to make sure that it was on a Saturday. No worries y'all, my companion decided to just pick it up and run with it and asked her if she would prepare to be baptized on April 12th. So, lesson learned: don't worry about logistics, just trust the Spirit. There were a lot of little kids running around so it was really hard for her to concentrate so we decided to have our next lesson at the church. Sister Potter (who is FANTASTIC!) picked up Myriam and her 2 daughters-that was unexpected. We went to the church and took her on a mini church tour and ended up in the nursery so that her girls-7 and2- could play and we taught her a super powerful Plan of Salvation lesson! Like, I thought the doors were going to burst open because the Spirit couldn't fit in there status. We gave her a picture of her favorite temple (one in Idaho) and she was so excited and happy that she started to cry. She came to church on Sunday and it was fantastic. I was dying inside for 3 hours because her little 2 year-old was running all over the place-like we're talking I had to go up on the stand and retrieve her so that she would stop playing the piano with Hna Dando during the special musical number-but it all worked out. Her daughter that is 7 doesn't really speak Spanish and she didn't understand much but she LOVED primary and wants to come back next week. We were worried that she would have to go to an English ward, but she liked how well the people in our ward welcomed her and how she felt the Spirit. She also told the entire Relief Society that she was going to be baptized. I was so excited! I was happy when it was over. Sundays are so great, but so stressful!

     We had a fantastic training this week from our mission President. At first I was just like, "Eh, we're just going to get chastised for not baptizing again." HoweverI was crying by the end of it. We had some super spiritual moments and then President Lewis pulls out that clip from the movie Facing Giants. The one where the coach expects one of his players to do his very best in the "death crawl." I have seen it before but it took on an entirely new meaning for me as a missionary. You should all get on YouTube and watch it. It will make you want to give the Lord your very best. It also made me realize that the only people that set limitations for you is YOU! LOVED it!

     So, you could say that it has been a very uplifting week! Just a small request, could you all throw some prayers in the way of my amazing companion Hermana Dando and her family? It would be much appreciated. Also, keep up praying for Sister Abbott and her family-the Lord is blessing them in ways that I can't even describe to you. Isn't the power of prayer amazing!

Love always, 

Hermana Freestone

P.S. Also this: Hna Dando is a collector of magnificent talks. Here's the link to one I read this week by Elder Holland. It's EPIC!

1. us as pioneers

2. RS with the cake :)

3. my fantastic comp :)