Querida Familia y Amigos,
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| Suri & Pablito Emigdio - My Christmas Day Friends! |
Week 25 Challenge:
Week 26 Challenge:
Con Amor,
Hermana StoddardChristmas 2014 Pictures:
Monday, December 29, 2014
Week 25 & 26: A Christmas to Remember
Christmas 2014 Pictures:
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Week 24: Tis the Season to be a Missionary
Querida Familia y Amigos,
Yes, I will be here the Seahurst for at least another 6 weeks with Hna. Wrubell which I am actually excited about because I didn't want to be somewhere new for Christmas where I didn't know anyone. At least I can "fiesta" with my adopted family here. That means by the end of this transfer I will have lived in SeaTac for 6 months! That's almost as long as I lived in Provo! Anyway, I guess my work here isn't finished. There are people I am suppose to talk to, teach and baptize. I really do love the Branch!
A few weeks ago we found la Familia Aguilar. Our leaders have been placing a greater emphasis on finding families, not just people. We feel like this family has been especially prepared to receive the gospel. The first time we just taught the mom and she had a lot of questions about the nature of God. She was amazed at the fact that we believe that He is made of flesh and bone. She invited us to come back a few days later, so we did and we brought a couple from our branch with us. The whole family gathered, including all 4 kids, without hesitation. They had so many questions and all of them were so into it. We ended up being there for almost 3 hours! We left them with Books of Mormon to read and it was just a powerful lesson.
A few days later we came back to teach just the kids. They didn't understand a lot of the lesson because they don't have that kind of vocabulary in Spanish. They also have no religious background because their parents haven't taught them. We taught them a second time in English and we had to go into detail about the Bible and the life of Christ because they really didn't know about it. It was one of the most spiritual lessons for me so far. Most people we teach already know about Christ so we place more emphasis on the Restoration. But with these kids, we were able to explain our Savior to them. The 10 year old had tears in his eyes when we told them that the Jews killed Christ. It was truly a beautiful moment.
Last night I got to go to down town Seattle for the first time! We went to the Ensign Choir concert with Virgilio, so we didn't do any touristy stuff. It made me all giddy and stuff just being in the city and being able to do something semi-normal...I mean something that I would be doing around this time of year if I were home. It was good fun!
We also had a mission Christmas party this past week. All the zones (there are 8) made Christmas videos and we watched all of them at the party! Some of them were spiritual, but most of them were so funny! For my zone, the Seattle Zone, we did my idea of the 12 days of Christmas song and we said "my mother gave to me" instead of "my true love." Hna. Wrubell and I were crying we were laughing so hard!
We also met a really mean lady on the streets yesterday. You will have to remind me to tell you about her when we Skype on Christmas! So stoked! Until then, have a very beautiful Christmas season! Dios les bendiga (God bless you).
Week 24 Challenge:
Week 24 Challenge:
Con Amor,
Hermana Stoddard
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Week 23: The World is Better in White
Hello from Washington! Seattle to be correct. It's been a glorious week with many beautiful experiences. A little over a week ago, we woke up to snow. Didn't think I would see that this year, but yes, there was an inch or two all over. I don't love driving in it, but it was a gorgeous welcomer to the Christmas season. The city looked cleaner and somehow when the weather gets colder, the people become warmer. Hermana Wrubell and I have been jamming out to Silent Night and Joy to the World in our car all week. I love Christmas!!! It already feels like December is flying by.
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| Our Ghetto Fabulous Christmas Tree |
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| Hermana Wrubell and Hermana Stoddard Feeling festive in their Christmas hats! |
I have had the opportunity to go to the Seattle Temple twice recently. Last week we went with a recent convert and two members from the Branch. It was so cool to see them do baptisms for their fathers who have passed on. It was also "da best" doing baptisms and confirmations in Spanish. It's so much fun hearing Spanish not only at church, but on the streets and in restaurants and finally knowing what they are saying. It's hilarious when they think it's 'going over this white girl's head' until I respond back in Spanish! Love it! Today we went as a mission to do an endowment session in the temple. I love the strength and peace that a receive from going to the House of the Lord.
Happy day! I had my first baptism this week!!! Let me just try to explain to you how much I love this family. So the Giles family is ginormous...they are all members, but inactive. We have been having Family Home Evenings with one of the daughters, Monica. She has three kids: Arleth (9), Alondra(5) y Mateo(3). Sometimes they drive me crazy, but basically I love them with all my heart. Our branch mission leader, Temo Chavez, comes to those lessons with us. He is basically the adopted father of the kids. Through him, we have been able to reactivate Monica and her kids. We were able to teach Arleth all the lessons and she was baptized and confirmed this weekend.
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| The Sisters with Arleth on her Baptism |
The gospel has changed this family so much. Hermana Wrubell and I were talking about it last night after FHE. Their home feels drastically different. There is so much more peace, love and joy. Also, we just love laughing with them. The other night Monica was laughing so hard that she literally fell on the floor. Then Alondra spilled her drink in Temo's lap so it looked like he wet himself. And then Monica was asking about polygamy while I wasn't fully paying attention. I just said, "Si." Everyone started laughing and then I realized that I agreed that Mormons can have more than one boyfriend/ girlfriend. Haha oops! Note to self: Know what you are agreeing to BEFORE you say "si." We have made some fun memories, including decorating their Christmas tree.
Less active work is so frustrating, but never give up on anyone. You never know at what moment they are going to change.
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| Decorating the Tree |
We had a funny experience with a very drunk Samoan man. He prayed for us "Holy people" because he was scared that we were going to get snatched. So many great experiences from knocking doors. Yesterday we talked to this 17 year old girl that said she was Atheist. I just don't think she knew what to believe. Basically she told us that she is used to the way she is living and doesn't want to improve it. We bore her pure testimony, but she didn't care. She said she has never felt true joy and that she doesn't care to feel it. My heart literally broke in two. Why wouldn't you want to be happy? Why wouldn't you want to partake of blessings? Why wouldn't you want to feel loved? The mind set of some people...they hold themselves back from their own happiness.
But there is something you can do to help others. Even those that don't think they need to be helped. In this month's issue of the Ensign, there are pass along cards for He is the Gift. If you haven't seen the video, watch it. If you have watched it, share it. It's only 2 minutes long, but so powerful. Help the world, especially loved ones, friends and neighbors remember the true meaning of Christmas. Peace and blessings, peace and blessings.
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| At 5'6" in flats, I am a virtual GIANT!! |
Con Amor,
Hermana Stoddard
Week 23 Challenge:
Week 23 Challenge:
See Week 22 for additional pics!
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Week 22: Beautiful Moments
Dear Family and Friends,
As of today, I have been on my mission for 5 months. How do you feel about that? Is it flying by or has it felt like an eternity? I just think it's weird.
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| We stumbled upon a teeter-totter and.... we might have played on it! |
This week, not only have I been physically fed, but spiritually fed as well. Last Tuesday we had Elder Falabella, a member of the Seventies come and speak to us. He gave us a lot of amazing insights and I received lots of personal revelation. One thing that stuck out to me was choosing the best path, not just a good path. The good path is normally easier than the best. It's all that good, better, best thing. Why don't we chose the best for ourselves? Because it's hard. The Lord gives us those hard things because they will be better for us. Another thing that he pushed is teaching families, not just individuals. It's so much harder to find a family that is interested and to coordinate with their schedules, but it's much easier for them to be strong, faithful members if they convert as a family. It's just hard here where most of the people are immigrants and aren't living with their families right now. That's why I hope we get iPads soon so that we can Skype with their families.
Exciting news: we are going to have a baptism this Friday!!! We have been teaching the 9 year old daughter of a less active family in our branch. They are coming back to activity and I absolutely love all of them! So pray for Arleth Giles and that everything will go well with her baptism. We have Family Home Evenings with them every week and they have just opened up so much to us. The thought of ever leaving them is hard.
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I love Family Home Evenings! Noche de Hogar!
On Thursday we had a Thanksgiving activity as missionaries. Basically anyone who had a musical ability shared their talent. The meeting concluded with Costco muffins and packages from home so I would consider it a rather successful meeting! After that we went about that day just like any other day, but then we ended by having a fiesta at la Familia Velasquez' home. We had an assortment of shrimp, salsas, meats, you know anything Hispanic related. |
We are teaching a 18 year old girl right now named Lesli. I feel like I connect with her so well. She is honestly seeking for truth, something better in her life. It's just so hard to get people to read the Book of Mormon, pray and come to church. Satan knows it's those little daily things that bring conversion. So make sure y'all are doing those things. I promise that they will build your testimonies.
What I decided that I was thankful for this Thanksgiving are those beautiful moments in our lives. They are the small, sometimes insignificant, times in our lives that we really have to pay attention to in order to notice. I have had the blessing of noticing quite a few of these moments on my mission. Holding the hand of a 4 year old while walking through a very poor, very dark, very dreary trailer park; laughing about nothing in particular with a family at the dinner table; random stranger hugs; a 2 year old kissing me on the cheek; and having a woman cry on my shoulder. All these things happened on ordinary days. But they are moments that I will never forget because of the gentle, warm, but powerful presence of the spirit in my heart.
I am so excited for this Christmas season! The Church is excited as well. They are starting this Christmas Initiative. I hope you have heard about it. It's called "He is the Gift". you can find it at christmas.mormon.org. Every missionary is passing out cards for the website and we are suppose to talk about it with everyone. The Church bought the advertisements on youtube for December 7 and it is being advertised in Times square, New York. They want the world to know about it. That means we need you! Share the video with friends and family on the internet, tell them about it. Don't be shy to talk about it. It such a beautiful video. That's my challenge for the month. Share the video He is the Gift and set a goal to do it before Christmas. What are you going to give our Savior, our Redeemer for Christmas this year?
Week 22 Challenge:
I love you all and have a glorious week!
Con Amor,
Hermana Stoddard
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| Celebrating my 5 month Click Day |
Monday, November 24, 2014
Semanas 20 y 21: Hispanic wannabe Thanksgiving fiestas and inspiring graffiti!
Dearest Family and Friends,
Tis the season to be jolly! I think that the holidays were put at this time of year just so that we can keep our spirits up during dark, cold weather. If you think about it, Christmas should really be in the spring because that's when Jesus was born, but God knew that Christmas in December would help many people not struggle so hard core in the winter.
So I didn't get to write about last week. It was very sunny, but very cold last week. This week was cloudy and rainy, but didn't have that extra bite like it did last week. All the Hispanics love the rain and the cold weather. That's why they came here instead of Texas, Florida, Arizona and California like all of their relatives. That's a little fun fact that I discovered!
Basically I love the branch here! Now that I can hold conversations and even argue in Spanish, it's my favorite just talking with members. Members really make all the difference. We had a Thanksgiving fiesta. There were tons of non-members there. Only two of our investigators were there even though we invited so many people! Everyone else there were friends of members. It was so awesome!
Members are so essential to missionary work. Actually they are way more effective that missionaries, it's just hard for them to find the time and resources. A lot of our members are starting to catch the fever of missionary work. Probably because they just sent off their first missionary from the branch. And the best way to do missionary work with Hispanics is to throw a party, which our members are excellent at doing! If they could, they would party and sing karaoke everyday!
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| Sister Stoddard and Sister Wrubell |
This week was very successful for Hermana Wrubell and me. We blew all of our goals out of the water! We are so proud of ourselves, but we are going to be careful not to fall into the pride cycle:)
Funny story for the week:
Hna. Wrubell wants to go ice skating. Everyone who knows me knows...ice skating and Rachel don't mix! She thought I was kidding about not having any coordination. That very same day, we were running to go talk to this lady in a parking lot and I fell straight over. No, I am not hurt at all. Just my pride. I am sure I made that lady feel even more awkward than it needed to be. Yup, I tripped on nothing. Just my own clumsiness. I literally had dirt all over me... good thing it was raining! So hilarious!
We also had a miracle this week. We were in the middle of district meeting when some missionaries walked in with a crying Hispanic woman. We ran and gave her hugs. She sat and told us her life story for about 30 mins. She said she was crying because she felt this special warmth in her heart while she was talking to us. That would be the Spirit. We gave her a church tour and we have a new investigator! Not what I was expecting to get at district meeting!
The best part of missionary work is when you know that you are not only changing someone's day but someone's life. We have had a few situations were a complete stranger has opened up to us. We are able to help them through all their troubles and tears. It's beautiful to see how the gospel makes a difference. I have even gotten comfortable with hugs from strangers.
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| Check this out....Inspirational Graffiti! |
All of us are so blessed to have the gospel in our lives. Use that blessing and go and make a difference in someone else's life!
Have a beautiful, blessed and grateful Thanksgiving!
Week 21 Challenge:
Con Amor,
Hermana Stoddard
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| The Goodbye Selfie |
Monday, November 10, 2014
Week 19: No Longer Green
Querida Familia y Amigos,
Good news: Virgilio is back on date!!!!! He is more active than a lot of our members. We fasted with him yesterday and he feels like he is getting answers to his prayers. I can feel a baptism coming on....
I really like Hermana Wrubell, it's just always hard adjusting to the different ways people operate, how they do their routine, how they teach, how they live. It's always been a harder adjustment for me, but so far we are seeing a lot more success. I think it's because she is a lot bolder than Hna. Boley was.
Something fun that we did this week was go to a diner for dinner.  |
| Missing Utah |
Con Amor,
Hermana Stoddard
PS: Pictures have been added to weeks 16, 17 and 18.
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Week 18: Halloween...in the Ghetto!
Dear Friends and Family,
My little letter of love is going to be a bit shorter today. It was transfers today. I am in the same area, but I have a new companion. Hermana Wrubel, who actually was in the same YSA ward as me at BYU! So we knew each other a little bit beforehand. I am just super stressed right now because I am in charge of the area since she doesn't know anything about it. Also, we are both in the 'not fluent' stage of Spanish so it's going to be rough for a few weeks, but I know that I needed a big push like this in order to really get me learning faster. Scared to death, but I know the Lord will not let me fail!
Last P-day we had an adventurous day. We went to Target and got fleeced lined tights, leggings and socks. I refuse to freeze! Then, we ate Teriyaki Chicken at a Vietnamese restaurant where one of our members works. He speaks Spanish and Vietnamese, but not a lick of English! Anyway, on our way out of the restaurant, we went up to the register to pay and they told us that one of the ladies that was sitting in the corner paid for our meal. I will never find out who that was, but thank you random citizen for your kindness! Then we bought pumpkins and carved them!
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| Hermana Boley |
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| Creepy Hermana Stoddard |
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| Non Creepy Hermana Stoddard |
Some of the best parts of the week were doing a scripture study with a lady in our branch and her 8 year old daughter. They are just returning to activity, but their goal is to go to the temple soon. They study their scriptures and pray together everyday for 20 mins. We were then invited to a family home evening with them and with another less active family that are starting to come back to church. This week there was a big emphasis of Family Home Evening. The Lord said, "Whether it is said by my voice or the voice of my servants', it is the same." Our prophets and apostles have been telling us for years that we need to hold family home evening on Monday nights. I am gaining a testimony of the importance of this time and the blessings of being exactly obedient to our leaders. So this is my challenge for the month-to have a family home evening every Monday night. I promise there are blessings in store!
For Halloween we were able to help the wife of our branch president make 8 batches of corn bread for a tri-ward party. We could only be at the fiesta for 30 mins because we had to be inside by 6pm. It's a good thing too. It is getting dark here around 5pm. There has been a lot of stuff going on around here lately including a dead body found near where I live and lots of schools having lock downs because of rumors of shootings. What a crazy world we live in!
On Sunday we went to a fireside that was just for Spanish speakers. All the Hermanas and I sang "Lord, I would Follow Thee" in Spanish. I just love working with the Hispanic people. It's such a blessing. Well, this week is going to be hard for me so keep me in your prayers. I know that everything will work out the way it's suppose to in the end. I love you all to pieces!
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| My District before the transfers: Me, Hna Boley, Elder King, Elder Childs, Elder Vaise, Elder Nickel, Elder Savage and Elder Robinson |
Con Amor,
Hermana Stoddard
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| Celebrating my 4th Click Day with Pumpkin Pie |
Monday, October 27, 2014
Week 17: Soggy Waffles
Querido Familia y Amigos,
If you are wondering what the soggy waffles are I am referring to, it is not a reference to food...it is a representation of what my companion and I looked like this week. Hermana Boley disagrees and thinks that we look more like drowned rats....fabulously dressed drowned rats. The weather has turned into the Seattle that I have been hearing about. Grey skies. Very, very grey....like there is no sun grey. And rain. Loads of it! There even was a nice hail storm while we were tracting some trailer parks. Luckily there was a nice Hispanic family that let us come in so we wouldn't be pelted to death. We tried teaching them and singing to them, but the hail was so loud on their trailer that they couldn't hear us. So it was just an awkward moment of smiling at them. If you want to be a missionary, you just gotta learn to love those beautifully awkward moments. And to whoever let me believe that it's not in cold in Seattle, it's all lies!!! I'm freezing ALL THE TIME!!! But don't worry, I sleep with 2 pairs of socks and every blanket in the apartment. I wear tights, legging, socks and boots. I don't think I thought it through fully when I got my mission call. I guess rain+winter= a frigged cold sister missionary. But it's all good. So grateful to have a car!!!
Something rather funny that happened this week was Hermana Boley breaking and entering. These two girls were locked out of their apartment and they were trying to get to a window that was about 8 or 9 feet off the ground. Hermana Boley is always so willing to help other people, so she just scaled up the side of the wall in her boots and climbed through the window to unlock their door. The girls were laughing so hard! They didn't think a 'nun' could do that. They were all like, "Where did this chick come from?" I said, "I don't know what they teach kids in Wyoming!" hahaha!
The most fulfilling thing this week was having one of our less active members, Monica, come to a lesson with us. She made the lesson. We seriously couldn't have done it without her. At first we were worried that she didn't have a testimony and would be uncomfortable sharing it, but she jumped right in and bore a beautiful testimony about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. Members are so important during lessons. They are so hard to arrange and it causes major stress, but if it all works out, it is so worth it!
The most exciting thing that happened this week was that all the Spanish missionaries in our mission got permission to go to a part of the annual Spanish Conference. It is a cultural and spiritual all day conference that the Seattle, Everett and Federal Way Missions do for all the Hispanics in the area every year. We went to a Fireside, a dinner and a cultural talent show and had so much fun! About half of the Hispanics in Washington are Mexican and the other half are from all over Central and South America. It was so cool to see all of them in traditional clothing and dancing in the styles indicative of their country. So beautiful. You know that I was in 7th heaven! Pretty much the whole Relief Society of our branch did a dance performance together. Those chicas can move! It was such an amazing experience and I am so grateful that we got to be a part of it. I am looking forward to traveling after my mission to Central/South America to speak to those people in Spanish. Let me know if you want to come with me!
The thing that touched me the most spiritually this week was something I learned from the fireside. "What we do out of habit creates who we are. Excellence is not an act, it's a habit." We aren't perfect, but we were sent to this Earth to practice being perfect. We need to receive personal revelation often and strive to better ourselves daily through the Atonement in order to achieve our divine potential. It's a rocky road. That's what it was designed to be. This Earth life is the refiner's fire. We all were just rocks or lumps of coal in the pre-earth life. We had to come to Earth to be put under extreme pressure and heat. But we still have our agency to chose whether we want to be squashed to become shards of black dust or to change and become something beautiful and pure. We all chose this course because we knew that it would be worth it to become a diamond.
This mission isn't easy either. I just tell you guys all the good parts. This whole experience, especially the part about exact obedience, has been really hard for me, but I am already experiencing many changes for the better and so many blessings.
Dios les bendigas.
Week 17 Challenge:
Con Amor,
Hermana Stoddard
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Week 16: Miracles, Maria's and Muslims
Querido Familia y Amigos,
This week....what can I say about this week....it was different. Definitely learning about many cultures even though I am here in the U.S. Normally our Seattle Saturdays are filled with hectic running around craziness. This week we found ourselves actually having some tracting time. Tracting= the most interesting of stories. We went to this apartment complex that we thought would be chuck full of Hispanics. Wrong. It was full Muslims. We actually had a really good conversation with a Muslim family. We talked about the similarities about our beliefs. To be honest, I don't know a lot about their beliefs so we asked them a lot of questions, especially about baptism. We invited them to be baptized, but of course, they weren't interested. But we left with mutual feelings of respect. "Kill 'em with kindness" is pretty much my new motto. Now Hermana Boley and I are determined to convert all the Muslims that live in our apartment complex. Haha. Too bad we aren't English speaking or else we really would!
We also have had the cravings to do more service and ended up starting an English class. So far we have one student that we haven't had time to teach yet. She is from Iraq and doesn't speak one lick of English. Hermana Boley has taught an English class in one of her areas before, but I don't think we really know what we are getting into. Oh well. It's an adventure. It's service. I thinking it's radical and exciting!
I think I am becoming more Hispanic by the minute. We were laughing because so many people have asked me this week if I am Hispanic. "Nope, soy Americana." Then they are like, "No, I meant which country are your parents from?" Then I start the list: Germany, Switzerland, England, France, Scotland... They all seem so confused. Just wish that they could see my sister, Isabelle! Then they really wouldn't believe our European heritage. Hehehe. I just think it's funny when they expect me to be the expert in Spanish, but then my blonde haired, blue eyed companion starts speaking and they are like, "Oooo interesante." Si, Senor!
Also while tracting this week, we met a Satanist. That was probably one of the more sketchy experiences of my life. She didn't want to talk to us, but we kept asking questions about what she believes. Basically she thinks everything is bad. God's bad, life's bad. Everything. She looked really uncomfortable talking to us so she slammed the door. Just comes to show that evil can not with stand light. It's people like that that make me so sad. I don't even understand. Anyway, we sang "Teach Me to Walk in the Light" as we were walking away, hopefully loud enough so she could hear.
Other exciting news --- I saw so many miracles this week, particularly two. Not to dish on my comp and her driving or anything, but we were in two fender benders this week. The first one was her fault. I was even backing her, but she hit a parked car. Luckily there was little damage done and the people were super nice about it. The second time wasn't her fault. I was backing her out and then this other car decided to back out right into her. The first miracle is that I wasn't sandwiched between the two cars. But both of the cars were smashed together. They both pulled back into their parking spots so we could assess the damage. We were trying to keep calm and not panic. Both of the cars were clearly smashed. I turned to look at their car and it had a small dent and a scrap. I looked at our car and the dent had popped right out. I looked back at their car and their dent had popped out. All of us were inspecting the cars and miraculously their was no damage done to either of them. And no one was hurt. Heavenly Father is seriously the best! No worries everyone, we are taking 'backing up' a lot more seriously now!
In our actual missionary work, things are going well. We finally got a branch mission leader who is 'the bomb' so hopefully things will get better. We always have more than enough people to teach, the problem is is that we want members to be present at as many lessons as possible. This is the challenge: member participation. A lot is asked of members when they join this church, but it's because we are blessed to be doing the work of God.
Virgilio is our progressing investigator. We have finished teaching him all the lessons and he has been to church more than 5 times. He is all set and ready to be baptized. The thing is that he hasn't committed to a date. We asked him to pray about this Thursday so we will see if he has gotten an answer yet. I am just praying he will be baptized soon.
Also, two angels have been sent into our lives lately. Ironically, both of them are named Maria. The first Maria is only 13 years old, but she looks at us like we are heavenly beings. We love talking with her, but we haven't gotten her parent's permission to teach her yet. But she is amazing! She doesn't just read the Book of Mormon, she studies it like I have never seen before. She actually uses the index. She highlights, researches, ponders. It's incredible. We were reading some Isaiah chapters with her in 2 Nephi. Hermana Boley and I were reading the summaries and scrambling to try to come up with ways to explain what Isaiah is explaining. When we started talking about it, we realized that she understood it better than us. She makes missionaries look bad! But she is so sweet and so humble. Can I adapt? hehe! The other Maria is probably in her 40s. She has cancer, and she is not only trying to take care of her kids, and also her nephew's kids because their mom abuses them. Every time we talk with her my heart breaks. I would do anything to help her. She calls us her angels. She loves when we pray and sing to her.
Sometimes we do things, little, mundane, ordinary things everyday. We get bored of them. We hate doing them. We don't see the point of doing them. But it's those little things that we do everyday that make a huge impact in other's lives. It's the mold of our own lives. To be honest, most days as a missionary are routine. We live by the same schedule everyday. People avoid you. Appointments fall through. But then there is that one person who sees us as representatives of Christ and their whole world changes. There is a really great video called "You Never Know" under Mormon messages at lds.org. I encourage all of you to watch it...Family Home Evening activity! Much love, hugs and kisses from the great city of Seattle!
Week 16 Challenge:
Week 16 Challenge:
Con Amor,
Hermana Stoddard
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| Spider Crusade |
Monday, October 13, 2014
Week 15: "Jelly Arms of Stress"
Dear Friends and Family,
If you are wondering about the title, it's a quote from my dearest companion, Hermana Boley. When she gets overwhelmed she does this little arm action and I call them her 'jelly arms of stress.' What a funny person. Anyway, this week there were a lot of 'jelly arms of stress.' For example, on Saturday night we had a child of record baptism in our Branch. Pretty much baptisms are the most stressful things to plan and prepare. We didn't realize until the day before that the family hadn't reserved the font, but miracle upon miracle, we were able to use the Stake Center. Then the night of, I had to be the pianist. I was overly confident in my abilities to play the piano. I was very humbly reminded that I am NOT Elton John, and I can't just bust out hymns on the spot. Yep, there was a lot of me just picking out the melody at that baptism. But I think it's okay because I was the only one there who had any idea of how to play the piano. If there is something I regret not doing before my mission, it's getting better at the piano. Anyway, they all think I am a superstar......I hope! haha
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| The lovely fog in the mornings It's da best!! |
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| My view of Seattle during the day. So close yet so far away! |
The weather is starting to get colder and starting to be more like what I expected Seattle to be like. That includes rain, fog and more rain. It's still not as bad as I was thinking it would be though. There are a lot of people getting sick right now so all the missionaries were required to get a flu shot. Fun, fun!
In other news, we have only ever found 2 spiders in our apartment, but Washington is just crawling with spiders. I have learned to constantly be looking up before I touch something because they are everywhere! They add a fun little haunted house affect to knocking doors.
My favorite member family this week is the Velasquez family. I love them! The fed us twice this week. They also have two of their sons that just finished their mission papers. Exciting things are happening around here. One night they fed us succotash. I thought that was only something that Sylvester from the Looney Tunes said! Anyway, it's super delicious! Yesterday when we were at their apartment half the branch was there because it was one of their daughter's birthdays. I guess it was technically my first "real" fiesta. Kind of crazy for a Sunday and for a missionary...when they busted out the karaoke, it was time to go! I have never been so strongly tempted in my life! They were even singing "Imagine" and "Yesterday" from the Beatles. I just wanted to sing with them so bad, but we had to go.
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| Our ginormous Mexican sandwiches some members made for us. Yummy! But I thought I was going to die of a HEART ATTACK! |
I also love this family because they are so willing to help us. Hermano Velasquez and his son Abinadi came with us to a lesson to give one of our investigators a blessing. It was such a powerful experience.
We have been working with a lot of less actives lately. We have about 300 members in our branch, but less than a third are active. One of our less actives called us one day and broke down in pure testimony of the Book of Mormon. We went to see him and he truly does love that book! He will use his whole lunch break at work to read it. He still hasn't been to church though. Inactivity is like an addiction. Once your hooked, it's hard to let go of it.
By the way, I loved Bednar's talk as well! We had two investigators listening to Conference with us while he was giving that talk and it really made a huge impact on them. Once again, I love all of you and wish you the very best! You are always in my prayers.
Week 15 Challenge:
Con Amor,
Hermana Stoddard
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| Celebrating my 'click' day (my monthly bday on the 2nd) at Baskin Robbins Happy 3 Months to ME!! |
Monday, October 6, 2014
Week 14: Spiritual Powerhouse of a Week
Dearest Family and Friends,
Wow isn't life just crazy and busy! Yes, always. Every week there is a new challenge. Like this week I had exchanges which meant I had to be to all of our appointments with an English sister. So basically it was a whole day of me running the show - making all the phone calls, texts, driving, coordinating with members and teaching lessons. You could say I was a little stressed out. Not to mention this was all in Spanish. These are the days when I realize how much I do know...and how much I don't know. But the Lord gives us these experiences so that we have to rely on Him. Because wow. I was praying my heart out all day for the don de lenguas or the gift of tongues and the interpretation of tongues. I think I did alright, but I was very, very happy to have my companion back. During one of our lessons we took out one of our only RM members. Delila is the bomb. She always tells us that we are the best missionaries...after her. She really helped out with the Mencia family and getting them to receive an answer about the gospel for themselves.
Another bomb member that we have is this really "ripen" lady named Esmeralda. She can't hear very well, but she has many other gifts...like being bold. She will pound on that door and look through windows to find people. Hehehe I have learned a lot from her. She is such a sweet heart and she is really the only member that we can take out with us for long periods of time and on short notice. One day we just saw her walking down the road and we pulled over to say hi and she just jumped in the car and was like, "Lets go teach, Hermanas." We were like, "Well, ok then!" Love her.
So exciting news...my mission and I got to watch the whole "Meet the Mormons" movie!!!!! It was this big secret that no one knew about until President Choi said, "Please enjoy the movie." We were all overly excited and it was so dang good. So, as part of my missionary work, I am to promote this movie, here and there. So go watch it! Especially this opening weekend. The more people that see it, the more theaters it will go to. It's so inspirational and I even got a little emotional about the candy bomber and the end of the movie. You will have to watch it to see!
Also, we were able to watch all sessions of conference because they broadcast it at the stake center in English, Spanish, Tongan and Samoan. We watched it in English, though. I'll admit it, I am lazy and I wanted to enjoy Conference. I would have gotten the general ideas in Spanish, but I didn't want to have to think too hard
Anyway, it was AMAZING! I have never loved conference so much in my life. I felt like a sponge, just soaking it all in. My favorite talk was the one by Elder Uchtdorf, "The process of gathering spiritual light is the quest of a life time." We have to receive small portions of light at a time so that we understand. We are all able to receive our own light and knowledge directly from God. We need to:
1. Search the scriptures- modern and ancient
2. Consider, ponder, and sincerely strive to believe that there are prophets and revelation.
3. Ask Heavenly Father to manifest the truth to you through prayer.
4. When we do God's will, we will find truth. Seek with real intent. Test and experiment to apply the gospel to you life.
I bear testimony that if you do these things you will know for yourself that the gospel is true and that you really are a child of our Heavenly Father.
I also loved what Boyd K. Packer said about the spiritual strength of individual members is so very important. That's why there is such a big emphasis in reactivation and strengthening members in missionary work now. We need every person's wisdom and insight. Members serve as a testimony of the life of Christ.
Week 14 Challenge: Go see "Meet the Mormons!"
I love you all so much. Have a wonderful week!
Con Amor,
Hermana Stoddard
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