i hit 6 months.... yikes!

 This week has been, well, interesting. Our new Relief Society president Hermana Vasquez (fantastic) gave us referral of a lady that she works with named Araceli. I guess Hermana Vasquez was praying to know who she should share the gospel with and Araceli's name came to her. We went over to teach her and she is so fantastic! She is Christian and says that she is very open to learning about what other people believe. After we had a short, but powerful lesson about the Restoration she was like, "Oh, that makes so much sense!" We are going back this week to see her. She is so great! I am excited to teach her :)

     We also taught Daniel and he is still praying and reading, we just have to get him to come to church! His mom is super nice to us and she loves that her son is getting more into praying and church. He is so great! His faith is increasing more and more each time we go over and I can tell that he is happier. His countenance has changed since the first time that we went over. Isn't it so amazing how the gospel can help people?

     On Thursday morning Hermana Carlson got a call from President and she has her visa! She leaves on the 22nd. That is next week! I am excited for her, but sad at the same time that she is leaving. It will be just me and Hermana White...weird that there will only be 2 people again. Especially for Hermana White because she was in a trio the transfer before I even got here. Hermana Washburn also received hers :)

     We did two exchanges this week...sort of. Hermana White was given an English companionship so she just decided to leave us in our area while she went to English work for a day. I was so shocked when we drove into their area to drop off Hna White. I am so used to my Spanish culture and living in the city. They live in this nice little tucked back area with a bunch of very nice houses and they live in a palace! I don't think I can convey to you in words how weird it felt being in a house like that. The only thing that Hna White could say at the end of the transfer was, "I'm glad to be back in Spanish." On Saturday I went to Elk Grove to work with Hna Griffith. She is in her third transfer and she is fantastic! Her and her compaion Hna Cosby live with Hna Naatjes (still in English work) and Hna Sharp (who recently returned from a quick surgery). It was nice to be with all Hermanas :) Hna Griffith and I were able to teach quite a few lessons and we had a lot of fun. She is a fantastic missionary and will do great things!

     We are doing pretty well in our area. We have some new investigators that are great! I feel so blessed to be able to help them come closer to their Heavenly Father. Sometimes I wonder why the work is as hard as it is, but then I remember what Elder Holland said about how we can't expect it to be easy for us because it was never easy for Jesus Christ. This is His work, not ours. :)

     On a lighter note: I hit 6 months this past week...yikes! That was slightly weird. It is just astonishing to me how fast the time really flies by. You cannot take one second of a mission for granted because you don't get do-overs. I want to work even harder and keep coming closer to my Heavenly Father. I am building a relationship with Him out here that I don't know if I ever would have found it had I not served. I am truly blessed! I love this work so much!

Love always, 

Hermana Freestone

 

1 of 80,333.... how lucky am I?

  Wow...you all have been super busy by the sounds of things. I LOVED the pictures! Oh my goodness! I am glad that I was not there in person to see my brother look like that for Powder Buff...quite frankly, the pictures were scarring enough. Ha! But it looked like Homecoming was a blast! You went to Mechams Meadows? Best place ever! Good times there...good times. Also, congrats on the shutout to the entire soccer team. Special props to my baby sis! Holla! I expect lots of pictures and all sorts of stuff from the first round of play-offs. Also, if you have an extra copy of the newspaper clip will you send it to me? I want to put it on my cork board :)

     The highlight of this week was definitely General Conference! The talks were so amazing and I learned a LOT! Oh, I watched it all in English. Anywho, I am officially part of the army! 1 of 80,333! How lucky am I? Can't wait for one year from now when they announce those numbers and me and my brother will both be a part of it at the same time. Freestone Power up in here! Ha!Though we can't watch the news I would imagine that the group of women "petitioning God" or whatever for the priesthood were in full swing again? What a waste...that's like the glorified Girl's Night Out in Utah. Mormons everywhere just give you free SWAG if you know where to go looking! But on a more serious note. I feel bad that they are doing that because it makes everyone looking in think that the church looks down on women because we don't have the Priesthood. SO NOT TURE!!! OBVIOUSLY, they missed that part of conference. If they wouldn't let their pride get in the way they would realize that we, as women, have a sacred role. It honestly makes me very sad to see that they are (knowingly or unknowingly), by petitioning, going against the laws of the very Being that they are "petitioning" to...Satan is working and he is working hard. I loved it how Sister Oscarson told the youth-though it could apply to anyone-that they need to develop a testimony NOW. Things aren't like they used to be. You used to be able to lean on your parents' and leaders' testimonies until  young-adulthood...not any more. We have to be strong. Ugh! I wish I could write you all about everything that I learned from Conference...if you missed it...REPENT! Watch it!

     We taught Daniel this week and he was so cute. He didn't do his reading and he didn't pray very much. It's because he has been playing a video game...whoever invented those is going to get an earful when we meet in the Spirit world...I can't stand the stinking things! Anywho, Daniel said the opening prayer to our lesson and he was like, "I'm sorry I didn't do the reading that the sisters left me...I feel kinda bad." We were all just so amazed! We had an amazing lesson and Luis was able to come with us again. The Spirit was so strong! He has so much faith...we just have to get him to act on it. That is a huge problem. There are so many people that just expect God to do everything for them and they aren't willing to act on it. And then, when things go bad, they blame God. I just don't understand that mentality. If you want something, you have to work for it. Tangent...sorry. Pray for Daniel, though. He needs it :)

     I'm not sure what we are going to do with Lili...It's super sad because she has a desire to learn, but not really to change. The lessons we have with her are so great and she gets it! She just is 16 and isn't willing to work for it. Action...people...faith is an action word!

     Nothing else too crazy to report. We've had a bajillion meetings this week so I was able to see Hna Toro again. She's still doing well. She only has one transfer left after this...sad day! Hna White and Hna Carlson are still hilarious. We have so many adventures and I still think we laugh more than we talk at nights. I have really been blessed with some fantastic companions! Don't get me wrong...we are all extremely imperfect and have our moments. However, I took Mama Sandey's advice about loving all of your companions to heart. When you're not dwelling on the negative things it is really easy to just love them for who they are :)

     Well, I love you all family and amigos! Keep staying classy! MWAH!

so...i got baptized...no really!

     So, some of you may be wondering about my heading for this week. I want you to know that I am very much worthy and still in full-missionary mode. But yes, some guy off of the street shook my hand and baptized me. I was a bit star-struck to be completely honest. We were just chillin' in church and this guy walks in. It was very obvious to us that he didn't speak Spanish so we were a bit confused. We went and shook his hand after sacrament (that's when he baptized me) and found out that he is a guy that we actually see a lot. He usually stands on the corner of Florin and Franklin and is waving around a sign that says, "Jesus Saves, I Repent, Amen!" We always honk at him and wave so we felt pretty privileged to have him in our church. He only stayed for a little bit of sacrament meeting and then he left, but not before he spent a good 20 minutes telling us all about how the Spirit of God was inside of us and how we need to embrace that spirit. He was very into it. He even started crying a couple of times! It was so fantastic! Hermana White turned to us and said, "Just think, if you wouldn't have come on your mission you never would have met him." SO true! The Elders were joking around that night when they called and congratulated me on my baptism HA! 

     Also at church, Presidente Beus taught a lesson on Family History in our combined RS/Priesthood and he was so excited to tell the whole branch how we found out that we were related. He even passed around a picture where his great-grandpa and my great-great-grandpa-who are brothers-are having a family picture. Nifty, eh? Their family is going to Logan this Thursday to visit their oldest son. I think Hermana Beus is going to try and get ahold of Mollie or Jake through FB. I also gave her Grammy Freestone's name so she could send a picture-so be ready for it :)

     Last Tuesday we went to the temple and it was SO fantastic! I learned a TON! Seriously, me and the Hermanas walked out and were like, "WOW!" So, I'm going to try and go back next transfer Tuesday. It was so nice to be in the temple again. It's been way too long. That is the one downside of the mission...we only get to go 4 times per year. Sad day :( I was able to see Hermana Marroquin, though. She left last Thursday to go home. She is the first Hermana to leave since I have been here. I got to hug her goodbye in the temple. It's amazing the friendships that you make here!

     Um...investigators...Lili. We're really struggling with her right now. She's having some doubts and we may have to drop her. I will cry...no question. I love her so much and I know that this gospel can bless her, but if she doesn't put in her part then we can only help her so much. Daniel, however, is so GOLD! No chiste! We stopped by on Thursday and gave him a Book of Mormon. He was really excited about it. We explained to him how it can help us learn alongside with the Bible and how it also clarifies some things that were lost in all of the translations of the Bible and he was like, "How come everybody doesn't read it?" Yeah. We just laughed a little and said, "We don't know. But that's why we're here-to help you and as many others who will listen come closer to Christ." It was a super powerful lesson. He was also praying every day and he said that he could notice a difference in his life! Score! However, he didn't come to church yesterday :( We went over after dinner and took Luis-a member who is leaving on his mission on October 9-and had another super great lesson. Luis bore a very touching testimony about his conversion and how the Lord gave him strength to become a better person. The Spirit was so strong in there. We even talked about baptism and he is now praying about whether or not he should be baptized on October 26. Keep him in your prayers!

     Oh! So here is a classic joy of being a missionary. I guess there has been a story going around that there are some European women who go door to door selling "baby stuff" and they walk through your house to get a layout for their "supplies" and then they come around a few days later, steal the little girls, and sell them into sex-trafficking. Sick, right? Well, a lady in our branch gave us a referral and we have been trying to contact them for a few days. We would just knock on their door and no one would answer. We thought that they were just ignoring us. Well, we ran into the member and told her that would could never get ahold of her neighbors. As it turns out, the neighbor was home, but she thought that we were these creepy European women and that we wanted to steal her daughters! She called our member and was like, "The women are at my house! Do you see them? I'm going to call the police right now!" Our member saw us and told her, "No! Those are sisters from my church! Don't call the cops!" And that, my friends, is the story of how we almost got arrested :)

     I absolutely love it here! I seriously would not trade this for anything. Every day-no matter how tiring it is-I fall more and more in love with my mission. I have also never been closer to the Savior in my life. I was watching the Relief Society Session and I just had this calm, peaceful feeling the entire time and I realized just how truly blessed I am to be here. I love this gospel with all of my heart and I know that it's true. There is no way in heaven or earth that I would be here if I didn't.

     I love you all more than I can express in words! I look forward to hearing from you :) The mail has been super backed up so I'm not ignoring anyone...promise! Well, work hard, have fun, git 'r done! MWAH!

Love, Hermana Freestone

its crazy how the lord prepares people

     This week a lot of crazy stuff has happened. A LOT! For starters, Hna White, Carlson, and I are all staying in Sacramento. This pretty much guarantees me another two transfers here because Hna White will have been here for 3 transfers and Hna Carlson is waiting on her visa so I will be here for a little bit :) Which is a good thing because I absolutely LOVE this area!

     Last Monday we did some thrift store shopping. Not gonna lie, that was fun :) After P-day was over we went to say goodbye to a family that Hna White baptized last transfer: the Suarez Family. They are the cutest family ever and I am going to miss them so so much! Especially Hermana Litzy :) On Tuesday we did an English fast. It was so much fun and it really helped me to learn some more Spanish :) On Wednesday we went to go and teach Maira and Gabby again but they weren't home so we talked to Gabby's mom (the witch doctor lady) again. Well, she made them same "prophecy" for all three of us again about our future. It was kinda crazy! She also fed us dinner. She was so nice! We tried to teach her and her husband, but they really aren't interested. We did sing "Soy un Hijo de Dios" with them though!

    We were able to teach Lili this week again. We had a really great lesson about Keeping the Sabbath day holy. It was super powerful and the Spirit was so strong. Unfortunately, she still never made it to church :( Sad day! We're hoping that her mom will let her get baptized and that will give her some more motivation to come. Mostly she doesn't come because she's 16 and stays up until 3 or 4 in the morning and then sleeps until 1 or 2. I don't understand how you can physically do that...but I'm getting old...

     Saturday was the best day this week! It actually rained! We were out and about with our paraguas and just loving life. I'm not gonna lie, it was 60's and I was pretty cold. I'm not excited for the winter here! On the plus side, when it stopped it warmed back up to 70. Well, we were trying to contact a referral from the elders and we met a boy named Daniel. He is 18 (we think) and he is so golden! Like, we taught the first 3 lessons in one visit! He grew up Catholic, but he doesn't go to church. His mom wants him to have religion in his life. He had some fantastic questions about Jesus Christ and the Plan of Salvation. The spirit was just so strong! He told us at the beginning  that he really doesn't believe in God. After some questions, we found out that he just doesn't feel like God has answered any of his prayers. We told him about the Plan of Salvation and he said, "Maybe He does exist." I was really to cry! He said the absolute sweetest prayer at the end of the lesson (only the 2nd in his life). We are all feeling so good about him and blessed that we are able to teach him! He even said yes to be baptized :) It's crazy how the Lord prepares people. He got sick on Sunday so he couldn't come to church, but he's coming to soccer on Friday :)

     Unfortunately, our temple tour with Gleidy fell through :( She went out of town. Also, her mom still has to go in for some appointments about her throat cancer, so we are praying that they will be able to come with us to church soon. We had a really great lesson with them last night! Gleidy is still reading and her mom has started to read the Libro de Mormon! They were really excited to learn about General Conference though. Who wouldn't? I CAN'T WAIT!!! I am so excited for my first conference in the mission :) That also means 6 months for me...gross. 

     On Sunday I had to bear my testimony in sacrament meeting. SCARY! I think it went well. It all made sense what I was saying in my mind, but I'm not entirely sure it made sense to anyone else. Oh well, the spirit was there so hopefully, if nothing else, they got a good feeling :) Ha!

     Well, lots of great things happening at home! I love reading about all of Mollie and Jake's activities. I think my companions are sick of hearing how fantastic my siblings are...no me importa ;) I love to brag about them! Keep up the good work! I love you all so so so so much! I love the work here and I know that I am definitely where I am supposed to be. I wouldn't trade it for anything :) MWAH!

Love, Hermana Freestone

our investigators are golden!

     So, I hit 5 months this last week...sick! That day (Tuesday) we had a new missionary meeting. I got to go in with the trainers this time. Imma just say, I hope I don't have to do that anytime soon. Training would be terrifying! I like being middle man. But since when has a mission ever let me feel comfortable? Ha! We did another exchange on Tuesday-the last one!- with Hermana Skidmore. She is just so fantastic. She is one transfer younger than me. Talk about a prepared missionary. I hope that I will be able to work with her one day!

     We had two lessons with Lili this week. The first one we were going to teach her about the Word of Wisdom, but it just went off in an entirely different direction. We talked about recognizing the Spirit. Lili also mentioned that she really wants to talk to her mom about being baptized but she is scared so we helped her to overcome a few things and gave her some advice about how to approach it. Lili started to cry a little. She told us that she always feels good when we come over :) It was very powerful! We also went over on Saturday and we were able to teach her and her sister Lesli "the Big 3" aka The Law of Chastity, Tithing, and Word of Wisdom. They both agreed to live them too! Even more fantastic: they both drink coffee sometimes but decided that they weren't going to do it anymore. Just like that! Ah! I love the mission! The Lord truly prepares his people :)

     We also are teaching another lady named Gleidy and her mother Antonia. They are from Guatemala. Gleidy has been taught before, but she was dropped because her mom had throat cancer and she was also going to radiation and didn't have time. However, her mother is now in remission! Gleidy has 4 kids and is actually married (a miracle in and of itself) AND says that she knows that The Book of Mormon is true! We taught her the Plan of Salvation and the Spirit was SO strong! She and her mother both loved it. She even expressed her desire to be baptized. She just wants to make sure that she is qualified. We are going to have a temple tour on Saturday. Pray for her! Our investigators are golden!

     There is another less-active family in our branch that has a ton of drama, but I love them SO much! So, the dad Carlos is married and has two kids: Daniella and Nuno. His wife is Blanca. Blanca has been in jail for the last bit because of drugs and being around the wrong crowd. She just got out of jail like 4 days ago and she loves us! Blanca's sister Caroline is 19 and moved in to the apartment to help Carlos with the kids a while ago. We visit with Caroline a lot. It's a bit crazy with her sister back, but they are more than willing to let us come over for dinner, to share scriptures, and they told us that they are going to start coming back to church this week. We'll see, but it's definitely a start. Caroline is very special to me so I hope so!

     Hna White has been sick this week and Hna Carlson isn't feeling so hot at the moment. Um, yeah, I am living off of Vitamin C right now. That's the only downside to being with someone 24-7. It's rough. However, I love my Hermanas so much! We have had several moments where we have been laughing so hard that I started to cry! I am so blessed that we get along so well. I can't believe that next week is transfer week. That means Man-up Monday. You know, cuz our P-days are usually Monday, but on transfer week they are on Tuesdays. Bonus: we are going to the temple next week! I CAN'T WAIT!

     Well, I love you all! MWAH!

Love always, Hermana Freestone

And then a bum took our picture

     Oh my, this week has seemed so long because of our severe lack of P-day time. There is a reason we have them people. Sundays are the busiest day of the week, therefore Monday is our day of rest. Hna Toro and I had a joke. The Spanish version of "Welcome, Welcome Sabbath Morning" starts, "Bienvenidos, dia santo. Ya podemos descansar." LIES!!! So we changed the words to "Bienvenidos dia santo. Ya debemos trabajar." Ha! We're so clever :) We had to make a bajillion phonecalls, face-to-face people, find rides, study, train, and a ton of other stuff that seems simple, but we were completely drained!

     On Tuesday I did an exchange with Hnas Washburn and Clonts in North Sac. We did a LOT of tracting! My door approaches are getting pretty fantastic. We all had to stretch ourselves a little bit because we're all still learning :) I love Spanish!!! I have a sneaking suspicion that Spanish is the language that we all spoke in Heaven...just sayin. I can definitely testify that the Lord is helping me because I took 2 years of Spanish and just learned the bare essentials. I've been on a mission for 5 months and I can, at least, have a halfway decent conversation with someone. The gift of tongues is real! :) Really though. On a serious note. I know that he is helping me every step of the way :) We did another exchange on Saturday. Hna Carlson and I were with Hna Hanson. It was great! We taught some really great brothers Jose and Eusavio. They are from Mexico :) They are very deep searchers and are going to get baptized...they just don't know it yet. We taught a fantastic Plan of Salvation lesson with a member and they were both like, "It makes so much sense!" One of them even said he felt like he'd heard it before. The gospel is so great!!!

     On Thursday President and Sister Lewis took us to breakfast at IHOP because our zone broke the high water mark for baptisms in South Sac. it was 10 in one month and we hit 11 :) We were all eating or fluffy pancakes and President had us go around in a circle and talk about our baptisms. Well, after we went around we only counted 10 people. Everyone was looking around and the zone leaders were frantically counting numbers in their planner and President was like, "Did you really not break the mark?" We were all freaking out! Then, some blessed child of God Elder realized that he was counting for the wrong month and we really did have 11. Mini heart attack right there! We all went out to take a picture after and President asked some homeless guy to take our picture. His name was Gabriel. Talk about an eventful morning....

     We have really been trying to strengthen the ward here. The retention isn't all that fantastic so we visit a lot of less-actives. Honestly, I love it! I love listening to their conversion stories and reminding them that they truly do have testimonies! It also builds mine. One thing I am learning every day is that everyone has their story. People are so complex and yet we are so quick to put them in boxes and criticize them for their faults. The Lord loves us all individually. Once we learn to love people the way Heavenly Father loves us, we will be so much better!

     I just love my companions. We laugh SO much! We are all different from each other and I think that is what makes it interesting. Last night we were laughing so hard that we were crying. My stomach hurt so much! I was laying in bed laughing uncontrollably. The Lord truly knows what He is doing when he puts people together :)

Love, Hermana Freestone

on the move missionaries

 This week has been so crazy busy and there are no signs of slowing right now. I did another exchange in North Sac with Hna Clonts and Hna Kennard and it was so much fun! I just love working with the other sisters. Funny story: we went to dinner and the member made some super spicy food. I'm not talking spicy like, "Oh, I need some water." I'm talking like so spicy my lips were turning red and it burned both ends if you catch my drift....On Saturday we had another exchange and I finally got to stay in my area. Hna Hanson came to party with Hna White and I. We did some service that morning. There is a lady in our branch that cleans houses and one of the houses that she cleans had a gigantic orange tree in their backyard and they wanted us to come and pick them. I thought it was just to help them gather them all up, but they let us take home all 10ish bags that we picked. Hna Hanson was climbing all over the tree, I was on a ladder, and Hna White has a nifty little picker. It was great and we were able to share a scripture with the people that lived there :) We also taught quite a few other lessons that day. We were definitely "On the Move" missionaries. 

     Thursday was Zone Conference. It was my first one. Apparently, you have to get your cars inspected and if you don't pass you could lose your driving privileges. Well, the sisters hadn't cleaned that car for almost 3 transfers and it was a disaster. You probably could have filmed an episode of "Hoarders" in there with all of the junk and nastiness. I don't know how we drove it to be completely honest. After one run through the car wash, 6 rounds of quarters at the gas station vacuum, and an hour of spot-cleaning, dusting, and window washing our car was sparkling! You could definitely feel the difference. Anywho, training was fantastic! We talked about being "on the move, on point, and on purpose" missionaries. They actually changed the dress code for the elders. It's pretty nifty. I learned a ton from it. I love our meetings as missionaries! You just have so many spiritual experiences!

     We were able to teach Lili again this week and  it was fantastic! She is so ready and I just keep praying that she will receive an answer and that her family will support her. I have never heard someone pray so genuinely. She almost made me cry again! We were also able to teach her older sister Lesli. She got framed for something a while ago and got out of Juvie around the same time I arrived here and is on house arrest. She is 17 and told us that she has been praying for her sister to get baptized because she knows that Lili really wants to and she also told us that she wants to come to church because of how much Lili loved it! Ah! I am so excited for them! Other than that, it has been really hard to get ahold of people this week. La semana que viene will be better though :)

     So, fun story. Our branch president is President Beus. After much digging yes, we are related. His great-grandpa and my great-great grandpa are brothers. He has a book of the original Beus family and all of the following generation up until the 80's. Yeah...dad's name is in the book. I took some pictures of what it looked like. I was kind of awe-struck in their living room for a few minutes :)

     Today we had a huge activity "El Campo Esta Listo." It was for all of the Spanish population in the mission. We have been planning it for a couple of months now. We had it at the temple grounds. We had carne asada, brincolines, zumba classes, un torneo de futbol, and a ton of other stuff. We were so excited for it and were expecting a lot of people. Well, you know how it hasn't rained since I've been here? Yeah, the heavens opened and the rains came down and the floods came up! We were drenched. However, "no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing" and we still had a huge turnout! Like, over 800 people. I love this work! I was also really excited to see the other Spanish missionaries again. I got to see all of my Hermanas today :) It was a big success and I know that we were blessed because of it :)

     Well family, I love you all and am so proud of you! Congrats to Kris and Lori! So excited! Keep staying great! Happy Birthday today Ali. MWAH!

Love, Hermana Freestone