July 22nd 2013

Hey family!

It's weird how the week after transfers is "shorter" but it always feels like such a long week! With the picture of all 4 of us I don't know if you can see it, but the Hollywood sign is behind us. It stills throws me every now and then that i'm in Hollywood, but it's great:) Sis. Howell and I went hiking with Johanna and Cynthia(baptized June 8).

Tonight we have a family night with a member and her family. (she's the other member). It's kind of scary to think that the members are trusting you with their family, but it also makes me feel like I'm doing something right because they haven't suggested it till this transfer. Also, coming up with FHE ideas is a lot harder than we thought.

Wednesday was a little rough because we ended the day teaching the restoration to a single mom who we just love, and the first day we met her she invited us to her sons b-day party later that weekend. You think teaching the restoration would be awesome, but for some reason it just wasn't right and we didn't feel super good about it and was worrying the whole night if we had hurt our relationship with her. Anyway, lessons like those just taught us how much we can always be working on the way we teach. You think it would be a lot easier to teach something you've grown up in, but it was good for us because sometimes you need to have experiences like that to help show you how you can improve. The hardest thing about experiences like that is I would hate to have other people suffer because of what I have to learn in order to grow, but I just have to have faith and remind myself that Heavenly Father is somehow going to take care of them.

We did service this weekend cleaning out a closest for a member. so much stuff but it was fun:) I wore my jeans for the first time since the mtc, that was a little scary....

Yesterday in RS Hermana Garcia was teaching and she was looking around for someone to hand a quote to read. She turned to me and smiled and gave it to me, and told me I could practice, and then the bishop's wife said, yes you learn by practicing or something like that. It was so funny because I knew the minute she looked at me and smiled. I just love them so much, because they are all so patient and loving with me.

I hope you are all enjoying Utah and the heat! At the end of the summer I'll send you a pictures of my tan line from me shoes:)

Love,

Hermana Ford

July 9th 2013

Dear Fam,

I slack-lined for the first time last p-day(i'm terrible at it) and then this p-day we're hiking up to the observatory to with some members. For the 4th of July we had to be back in our apartments by 7. Fireworks are against the law here, but everyone does them so it's kind of impossible to stop them. They were going off all night in the alley of our apartment. Car alarms were going off and our apartment shook sometimes, but it was fun:) When we got up to go running the next morning they were still going off haha.

Guess what mom!? Will you believe me if I said we got the good house keeping award? Ya, me neither, but our little award was we got to go out to lunch with our President Weidman. President Weidman's son served in Spokane, so that was a fun little connection. That same day we had 4 meals(huge meals within 7 hours)...i felt like crying and throwing up, but i just kept forcing the food down. I feel like I'm still recovering.

Transfers are this week. Sister Howell are staying together in Silverlake which is great because we really feel like some of our investigators need us right now and we need them. Our ward is doing the 40 day fast thing right now as well! The sunday after the missionary broadcast we presented the idea, and the bishop jumped right on board.

Last night during dinner I understood pretty much the whole story a member told us! Well, I can't "understand" everything they say, but sometimes after dinner it throws me for a loop when I can talk about what they had told us.

We had a very powerful lesson with a woman that has flaked out on her baptismal interview 3 times(only once with me), I was so incredibly grateful for the spirit, and it's amazing to think that that morning I had put up my "emotional" wall and right before the lesson Sis. Howell and I stood on the sidewalk crying and figuring everything out. If we had not talked like I wanted to the lesson would not have gone the way it did. After the lesson I was so grateful to have a companion that forced me to talk because we both want the best for our investigators, and sometimes you need a little reminder that how you are feeling can really impact the presence of the spirit.

I love you all, and I loved hearing about everything you are doing!

Love,

Hermana Ford

July 1st 2013

A few exciting things that happened this week:

-Prop 8 passed(well not really exciting but they told us to stay away from west hollywood and any parties...mostly just because the rainbow district is in our zone)

-I trained for the first time in district meeting

-We met our new mission president!

-It was missionary week at church

-We found an awesome Armanian grocery store in our area!

President Weidman is great. I talked to him for a little bit in the parking lot and he said that his son served in Spokane. It seems so crazy that it is already July. I remember thinking that President Baker leaving seemed forever away, and now it's already old news in the mission!

So this past sunday they had 4 of the sister missionaries speak, luckly not me and then all the missionaries sang La Oracion del Profeta to the tune of Come thou Fount. Oh man, I was so nervous. With just 10 of us I was extremely worried because we all had to sing loud, and we all know how good of a voice I have;)

Not much happened this week aside from teaching people, and talking to crazy people:) Next monday night I'll find out if I'm being transferred. Hopefully not, my ward is starting to feel like home. Tonight we are going over to a part-member families house to have FHE and their 10yr old, Sabrina always reminds me of Cate because of her face and mannerisms.

Lately I haven't been sleeping well which has been a little annoying because then I'm tired during lesson which is never a good thing. A hot house plus a tired head/eyes is a bad combination:) It's getting hot which is to be expected, but everytime I walk out the door I still make a comment about it:) I hope it is hot at home so you can enjoy the lake!

Here's a little story about a man named Fernando.

Fernando is a valett parker at a restaurant named Cha Cha Cha that we see everyweek when we go to the Arellano's house for dinner on Sunday's. Last transfer we would just smile and say hi. This transfer we have started to talk to him for a few minutes after dinner. Turns out his nephew or brother(I forget) is on a mission in Australia! This past week we gave him a Book of Mormon and he told us that if it changed our lives it was probably going to change his. Then we told him even if we get transfered he should yell out to the missionaries and tell them that his "favorite people" gave him a book of mormon. He said he really hoped that we didn't get transferred. He is the sweetest guy. Whenever he sees us he just hops off is seat and has the biggest smile on his face! Definitely one of the highlights of my sundays:)

Sorry, there wasn't much to the letter this week...Happy 4th of July!

Love,

Hermana Ford

Happy Birthday Hermana Ford!!

 We raced some of the other elder's in our ward in a 3-legged race...we won(but just barely:)

Cynthia and Johanna threw a little party for me at Griffith park. Pinatas and little baby Alegria.

This has been the longest, craziest week. Seriously, it's hard to explain. A week can feel like a month just because soooo many things happen. This week we were working on patience, and boy did things happen that tried our patience and endurance. Rough lessons, struggling with spanish and just trying to be a good missionary, but even after all those hard things we just had to keep praying for patience and being able to have faith that if we worked hard that we knew we were doing what we could and everything would be ok. As we did this we just had so many tender mercies and miracles that as we were looking back over our week last night I had totally forgotten that that hard lesson or day of spanish had happen this week!

I was reading an ensign last weekend and I came across this: "As you emphasize your faith and not your doubts, your faith will grow"-Quentin L. Cook. This helped me so much this week because I had started to realize that I was disqualifiing? my spanish and saying things like "oh, I haven't learned anything" or "It's really not that good" and I realized that it was kinda showing my lack of faith and I wasn't going to progress if I kept saying that to myself. Well, turns out that as I just kept having faith and confidence in myself I found myself talking more in lessons whether I knew how to say something or not and while I can't really see my progress I have felt a little bit more comfortable.(funny how faith works huh?:) You think I would have realized that earlier) I also taught/said the first vision for the first time! Took a while for me to finally have the courage to offer to do it, but I made a goal, and the Lord certaintly helped me to be able to explain it, and for them to understand.

Anyways, I guess I will tell you about my birthday. It was awesome! This is a little what I wrote in my journal because I was super tired then I will expound:)

"woke up. ran. studies. district meetin(ate cake)...did service at a less active's house(ate pupusas and a cupcake)...Had 2 pinatas at Griffith park with Johanna and Cynthia(ate cake). Went to the ward's fathers day activity(ate carne asada)."

Seriously, so much food, but it was so nice to feel and know how much the people I have been serving not just appreciate what I'm doing but actually love me! It may not seem like a big deal, but it really meant a lot to me because being the less out-going one and being in a ward with 9 other missionaries it is easy to feel lost in the crowd, but that is certainly not the case!

Yesterday was the world-wide broadcast for missionaries...which was awesome! Do you have access to that? I forgot to bring my notes with me, but I guess the biggest things I got out of it was working with the members to do missionary work. It's the best way to find people, and I have learned already that if you want people to be converted to the gospel/church and not just the missionaries the ward and members play such a vital role. 

There are so many things I want to tell you all, but I guess I will just have to stick with this little story. Last night one of our lessons fell threw(one that is usually a set plan, but I guess we still have to keep learning to always set back up plans) but we were walking down a street to go visit a potential and we saw a street that we have never been down before, but we decided to hit it on the way back because we only had an hour before we had to go home for the night. Well, when we were walking down the street on our way back we ran into a family, and the dad said that he thought his mom or sister might have been baptized back in guatemala, and he asked how long it takes to get baptized and we told him about family history(first time I've ever used that while contacting) and told him there was a way he could find out. Such a cool experience and guy to talk to and we found out that his wife actually has an uncle that is super active. We run into so many people that have a family member back in central america that are members or they use to meet with or remember seeing missionaries when they use to live in their country. There are so many people that are prepared to hear the gospel, and have had a seed planted for many years. We need so many missionaries, and lowering the ages is exactly what the world needs! Last night, I felt like I wanted more missionaries in my area just so I could focus only on the members, or the less actives or just going and finding people!

Out of time...darn.

I love you all thank you for your weekly letters and prayers! They mean the world to me!

Love,

Hermana Ford

June 12th 2013

Hi Family!

P-day is wednesday because we went to the temple today! Oh my goodness, it is gorgeous and huge! It was so wonderful to do a session and be reminded about the covenants I have made, it felt like going home just to have complete peace and comfort:) I guess Pres. Uctchdorf is coming here on saturday and having a meeting with all the temple workers. 

So this past saturday was Cynthia and Issac's baptism! I didn't really teach Cynthia, but I helped teach and prepare Issac to be baptized. The whole time I was just watching Issac and smiling to myself. He has autism, and Cynthia has said he has changed so much with his behavior! For a family that has tried everything and was ready to put him on medication it truly shows that "the study of the gospel improves behavior quicker than the study of behavior." I am so grateful to have been a part of their process and watch them change, and to hear her tell us all of the blessings she has seen just within the past 3-4 months. 

We've been working with a lady, Sonia since I got here but it's slow going and we're still not sure if she is going to put in the effort she needs to gain a testimony for herself and not just rely on her friends. It's sad, but we're trying our best to try and figure out how we can help her.

It's pretty easier to just walk around the street and find people to talk to, but like anything else you have to talk to a lot of people to find a good one:) Silverlake has so much potential, and we're just working on figuring out the best way we can find people to teach in the area. Most of the leaders in the ward live in our area, so every now and then we just focus really hard on establishing good relationships with the members.

The first counselor in the bishopric took us over to their neighbors house who is a less active family and introduced us to them. They are a great family, but went in active because they were offended:( We had dinner with them last night and we were talking about their missionaries, and she started to tear up and told us that she didn't want to fall in love with us because she knows that we all have to leave eventually. It was really sad because we love her already, and we really hope that we can find some people in the ward that will take her and her family under their wing, and they will feel comfortable enough to come back to church.

Spanish is...coming. This past week I have been really working on taking more advantage of the hour I have to study spanish with a textbook. My listening skills are improving, speaking slowly behind that, but my reading and especially writing are lacking a little but I guess those two will just come with time. 

Our new mission president is coming at the end of this month! It is so crazy that they are already switching! Yesterday we had a little bbq with President Baker and his wife with our zone as a little "departing missionary meeting". Time goes by so fast. Sure the days go by really slow sometimes especially when you are counting down the days till sunday or hours till you have a lesson with someone, but it comes and goes and the next thing you know it's weekly planning already! I hope I stay in my area for awhile because I feel like I am still just getting started and I don't want to have to start over, or put a halt on our progress so far.

It's hot every now and then but not too bad. I'm not complaining. They call this month June Gloom because it's so foggy(smog) and then I'm sure it's about to get really hot. I've been wearing my black shoes alot, and the bottom of one of them is getting a hole already! i should probably rotate what shoes I wear more frequently.

Everything else is going good, and I'm just trying to learn what I need to learn and grow as a missionary and a person. I am so grateful to be on a mission. I can truly say that I don't think I would have ever learned the things I need to learn if I hadn't come on a mission, and this is one of the most important things I can be doing right now. 

Love,

Hermana Ford

May 28th 2013

Family!

I love you all so much especially the letters you all sent to me!

This week was different because transfers are tomorrow, so they give us tuesdays to pack and have p-day if we are transfered, which we found out last night. So my trainer, Sis. Cole is going back to the VC for her last transfer and my other companion, Sis. Rudd is going to Downey I think with someone who came the same time as us. As for me....I'm staying:) Which I feel like I kinda knew it was coming because a few weeks ago I thought I should start learning the streets and what needs the people actually had just incase I was going to be left in charge, and I've been pretty calm. I can definitely see how much anxiety transfers can cause. My companion will be Sister Howell who I have actually met before and did a role play with at zone conference, and she's great. She's also a VC sister and has been out for 3 transfers I think, so I will definitely have way more responsibility with just the 2 of us, and I know the area a little bit. I feel like I have started to understand more spanish which I am very grateful for, but the whole talking side of it is going a lot more slower which is expected but I know a few sisters who are training on their 3rd transfer, and if that happens to me I don't want it to be a terrible experience for my comp. Tommorrow we will go and switch companions and everythings. I'm grateful I don't have to pack.

So we have a baptism for a single mom on the 8th(we didn't teach her) and she has a little 9 year old boy named Issac who is autistic. This past sunday we were talking about a baptism that we were going to go to that afternoon, and he started freaking out a little bit because he had understood that his mom being baptized would change her personality and she would forget things because hearing "you get a new life" or "a second chance" didn't mean the same thing to him as it does to us. Well anyways after the baptism that afternoon and he saw how normal it is the only question he had was what type of what it was. He said it looked like fun, and he wanted to get baptized with his mom! I was so grateful there was a baptism for another 9year old that day, and he was able to understand it a little better. What a tender mercy. We start teaching him tonight.

I got sick this week, so my voice makes it sound like I'm dying. Lessons are fine because the people know me, but street contacting makes it a little interesting:) We get to go to the temple in 2 weeks which I am super stoked for. I

Still not sure exactly where I am on the map, somewhere close to west hollywood. 1552 N. Normandie is the address of the church(Am I allowed to tell you that? oh well) 

Love you!

Love, Hermana Ford

2 Months Down! No one is counting...

April 22nd-

Oh my goodness!!! HELLO!!!:)

 

It's still kind of surreal being here in LA, but I love it. I don't have a lot of time today because you have to reserve computers today, and it's kind of a mess, but I'll try and tell you as much as I can. The first day we had some orientation stuff, and had a quick tour of the visitors center(which is awesome by the way!) Then we went off to meet a recent convert, and I didn't understand anything well I still don't understand much of anything. For the first few days I was really tired, but I think I'll starting to adjust after only getting 4 hours of sleep last tuesday. I love street contacting, well at least more than knocking doors. We're in an area called Silverlake so everyone pretty much talks spanish. I've meet people from Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, and Honduras. We're "white-washing" this area because elders got emergency transfered so no one has been in this area for 3 weeks, but it's fun starting over but I guess I don't know any better. My training is Sister Cole. She used to be a VC sister but she got moved full-field for this transfer, and we're in a trio so she's also training sister Rudd. Everymorning we run 2 miles. The first day we went running, and got lost so we ended up running for an hour. Opps:) Then we do 4 hours of studying, and when we're done with that we hit the streets:) For the most part we have just been trying to meet recent converts, members, and trying to figure out who people are and papers we find in the area book. Everyone in my area has a car, sister cole is an amazing parallel parker. I'm scared for when I have to do that.  This monday was beach p-day which only happens once a year. How lucky am I that my first p-day was beach day:) I was super happy that I got to play volleyball for a few hours.

Talking to people can be really indimidating sometimes. I'll see someone walking towards me and I'll think "I can do this!" Then I go up to them ask how their doing, and then nothing. I forget what little I know, and even in english I have a little heart attack because I don't know what to say next! But that's what I feel like I am constantly working on right now. Just doing it, so I've starting to practice/ role play with my comps and it's even scary then. If you think you have confidence then go on a mission:) Haha, but it's great, and I'm learning lots.

Last night we went to go meet a recent convert named Mabel. She is a single mom who has 2 teenagers who are kinda disrespectful and against the church. We could tell it just broke her heart, and we were able to talk to her for a little bit, and just share our testimonies and love God had for her. That was a really cool experience because she felt like a light of hope in the midst of turmoil.

Love your missionary,

Hermana Ford