Because I'm Happy :)

Dear family,

Where do I even begin? Really, this week was a week to remember. The Lord showered us with tender mercies and I reminded me again that I will always be in His debt.

On Tuesday, a young woman, Selma, walked into the church after our district meeting and asked us about the church. We gave her a tour and she asked us to teach her, saying that she wanted to better her relationship with God. We went to her house on Wednesday and she was so receptive! We were able to set a date for her to prepare to be baptized and she has tons of potential! Wow! 

On Wednesday, we discovered three new members in our English class: Esperanza, Kitzia, and Yabel. We contacted Kitzia last week and invited her to our English classes, and she brought her family! They loved the church instantly and found faces they knew.

On Friday, we were able to help our dear friend, Rosario, enter the waters of baptism. It was such an amazing service! He invited Kitzia, Esperanza, and Yabel and they were able to witness his baptism. Afterward, Esperanza was without words as she tried to describe to me the "fire" she had felt in witnessing the baptism of one of her friends. She said that she didn't now if she wanted to laugh or to cry because she could't describe her feelings. After helping her understand that this was the Holy Ghost, we scheduled an appointment the next day. They were all very so happy! The Spirit touched their hearts in such a way that they accepted to be baptized in September. 

Sunday was a day of even more miracles! All our friends who came to church were just glowing!!! The members were amazing and helped us help our friends go to Primary, Young Women, Single Adults, Priesthood, and Relief Society. The Spirit was so strong and testified to our friends that this church is true. This church is so true!!! I know it is!! The gospel we know is the true gospel of Christ and it is changing lives!

Looking back on the week, I am still stunned to see that the Lord loves us so much! This isn't my work, this isn't my companion's work. Everything that happened this week was done through the tender hands of He who loves all of us. I can't believe my Heavenly Father as allowed us to witness so many miracles! It makes me want to strengthen my relationship with Him much much much to be able to thank Him for all that He has done.

I love you all! I invite you guys to visit with the missionaries this week! It will help make the day of the missionaries, of the investigators, and yours as well!

Hermana Zubeldia

This is how we have fun in Navojoa

Ándele!

Dear Family,

This week was super great! We went to Obregón on Monday night and got back on Tuesday, where we were finally able to get to work and help Hna. Ortiz get to know the area. Hna. Ortiz is such a sweetheart! She's a bit shy, but she works really well with investigators and is an amazing teacher! She's also a fantastic listener. We're going to have a lot of good times this transfer, I just know it.

Throughout the week, we focused much of our efforts on our friends who have made the decision to make commitments with our Heavenly Father. We went with young women and young adults and helped our friends, Osmara and Kenia, make more friends and get more excited about coming to church. They are both loving church! Really, I love seeing Kenia's face as she meets new people and I love helping Osmara see that she can change her life, little by little. I also love involving the other sisters in the ward! My goal is to have all the young women and YSA sisters excited about missionary work! Please pray for Osmara and Kenia (especially Osmara so she can get over some bad habits). Also, please pray for Rosario, un viejito, that now has many more "viejito" friends.

We had our zone conference on Thursday and I got the package the family sent! Thank you so much! I now have good socks! Hooray :)

I want to share my testimony on the amazingness of this gospel and missionary work! In PMG, it says, "our main task is to declare the gospel and do it effectively. We are not obligated to answer every objection. Every man eventually is backed up to the wall of faith, and there he must make his stand.... The Book of Mormon is a springboard to testimony and personaly revelation... investigators must resolve for themselves their concerns and objections... the first question for an investigator to answer is whether Joseph Smith was a prophet, and he or she can answer this by reading and praying about the Book of Mormon." These words are so true! The Book of Mormon is the perfect way to know if the church is true. I know that my testimony started when I began to read the Book of Mormon, and I know that the Lord WILL help us if we want to know the truth of this gospel. I love this work and I am so excited to keep on working this week!

Hermana Zubeldia

Week of Miracles!

Dear Family,

This week was so busy, but so much fun! It was the last week of the transfer and we made sure that it was the best week ever for Hna. Carvajal's last moments in Mexico. Also, I feel like this letter is going to be full of grammatical errors, so hang in there.

Monday: We celebrated P-day by eating salads! (crazy right...no?!) The salad we ate was 100x better than Zupa's and it was the most amazing thing ever! Afterwards, a sister invited us to Dairy Queen. 

Tuesday: Worked super hard, super hard! Hna. Carvajal worked as hard as her little body could all week and we helped prepare the wonderful people of Navojoa.

Wednesday: We prepared for our "act" in the ward talent show. Us missionaries did a sketch about Nephi retrieving the plates from Laban. Since there aren't many "girl" parts, I was Sam. Oh my goodness, I had so much fun with that part! Sam doesn't say much in the Book of Mormon, so the elders decided to "ignore" everything I said doing the sketch and it was pretty hilarious.

Thursday: The sisters in the ward and I prepared a surprise farewell dinner for Hna. Carvajal and the Elder that left. They were so surprised! They thought it was a "service project" and were surprised with a room full of members, dinner, and cake!

Friday: Hna. Herlinda (bless her heart!) took us to Hna. Carvajal's favorite pizza place for lunch and we had more cake :). We also had the ward talent show and a wonderful youth, Kenia, came. She made friends fast with the members and had a wonderful time.

Saturday: We ate lunch with Hna. Herlinda and had the famous meal of Sonora: tacos de carne asada. Then, an ice cream cake. 

Monica, the sweetest girl in the world.
What a special day for her!
She's so happy!
(even though people don't smile in pictures here)

Also, on Saturday, we helped Monica, a fantastic 17 year old, get baptized. Monica was so excited for her baptism!!! She didn't get baptized with her mom and brother a month ago because she got sick, and Saturday night was specially done to help her feel the spirit. The hug she gave me before entering the font was something that I will never forget! It's moments like that that make every moment in the mission field totally worth it. After the baptismal service, we had Hna. Carvajal's "last supper" with Monica and her family. More tacos de carne asada and more cake!

Sunday: Hna. Carvajal left and I stayed with Hna. Herlinda in the morning. She gave me left over cake for breakfast! We went to pick up Kenia to go to church and she loved her first Sunday :) It was so great! Miracles also were provided because many others made it to church, including Rosario (a 70 year old) and Osmara (15 years old). After church, I worked with a recent RM, Nicol, from Chihuahua (she knows Elder Womack!). She and I worked all afternoon until it started to rain really hard and the lights went out in our area, making teaching impossible because it was so dark in the homes. We got permission from Pres. Munive and she stayed the night with me. She loved being back in the mission life for a day!

Today, I picked up my new companion, Hna. Ortiz. She is from El Salvador and has around the same time in the field as me. She's super sweet and I'm super excited! It was pouring cats and dogs when she arrived and we were soaking wet to the bone in seconds. All the clothes I washed this morning are now soaking wet outside :)

And that was my week of miracles! I almost cried when the week was over because I loved this week so much! I'm super excited for the month of August and I know that more miracles are about to come. 

Also, I am so tired of eating so much cake this past week! 

Love you all,

Hermana Zubeldia

Shattering Glass

Dear family,

Happy birthday to my two adorable sisters tomorrow! I love you guys!

This week was full of tons of work!! Hna. Carvajal is on fire! She's making every second count and we've been working a ton on helping others come unto Christ. We changed the way we teach our first lesson and focus on the Book of Mormon and how it can change lives. We have seen so much more improvement in our investigators!! It's amazing that we are given the opportunity to share the truth with others. We found new people to teach all over the place! Hooray! We found 2 new potentials who worked for a mormon family in Chihuahua! They would feed the missionaries all the time in the home they worked in, but they never formally spoke with them in a lesson. I'm so excited to continue teaching them! They didn't come to church yesterday because the husband got sick from dehydration, poor thing. We must all drink more water!

We also found a 22 year old young mom, Jaclin. Jaclin is super catholic and super nice. She told us that she has been married for 2 years and encourages everyone to live the law of chastity, just like she did! It's fantastic! She didn't accept a date to be baptized, but she did agree to learn more. This is going to be awesome :)

Our zone is still progressing! We had some amazing divisions this week with the hardest working companionship I have ever seen! It was such a great experience working with them and learning from them.

I had such a crazy experience this week! We were eating lunch and I poured ice water in a warm glass. I had the glass in my hand when.... it shattered! The bottom of the glass fell off! I guess the "myth" is true: don't put cold water in warm glasses (my childhood makes so much more sense now). haha who would of thought that things like that actually happen!

We have been having a ton of rain this week and the Lord has blessed us with scenes of lightening. It sounds weird, but they sky has been so awe-inspiring seeing everything light up! After the storms, we've all had a good time taking off our shoes to walk through "rivered" streets.

I challenge you guys to read the introduction of the Book of Mormon and ponder on how amazing the Book of Mormon is! It is so true! Reading the Book of Mormon has blessed my life so much and I know that anyone who studies it will see that it is the word of the Lord. Wow! We are so blessed! 2 Nephi 33:10

I love you!

Hermana Zubeldia

We have to think!

Dear family,

Hna Carvajal and I. I love this sister so much!

This week was a crazy one! It was our most productive week of the transfer, but Hna. Carvajal and I feel like there is still so much more that we can do here! We're going to be working extra hard to help prepare the marvelous people in our area.

Where do I start... haha I had so much to say before I started this letter, and I forgot all of it, stinkers!

We helped a wonderful friend, Angel, prepare a his first talk for sacrament meeting. Angel has completely turned his life around and was baptized a month and a half ago. He loves the church and has a strong testimony of this gospel. You should have seen the look on his face when he found out that he had to give a 10 minute talk about repentance and baptism. Haha he was so worried for an eternity of 10 minutes in front of everyone! We went over almost every day of the week to help him find scriptures, sources, and to help him practice. He would say, "hermanas, you guys have some homework to do to help me out," and we would reply, "oh no no, it is you who has to study this one what! you have to think doing your talk." haha he would say, "What!? I have to think! oh no..."  He practiced, practiced, and practiced, and gave a great talk. I love seeing people grow through this gospel. It so amazing being a part of this work!

We had a lesson with an older woman (around 70ish) that totally took me by surprise. We asked her if she was married, and she quickly replied that she wasn't, and that she had no intentions of getting married. She and her "husband" had raised 4 children, and she counseled all of them to never get married because it was a ridiculous thing to do. She was annoyed that one of her sons didn't heed her advice and got married! Oh my goodness gracious! Hna. Carvajal and I just looked at each other in amazement! The woman was convinced of her opinion and nothing we said could change her mind. It's crazy that Satan is so good at destroying the essence of family! I'm so glad that my family is safe and sealed :)

We had many opportunities to share the message of the Restoration this week and explain the importance of prophets, the Book of Mormon, and the gloriousness of this gospel. Every time we share this, I have a deeper appreciation of the love our Heavenly Father has for us in providing us with the gospel. I can't wait to give Him a big hug someday! It's crazy to think that the world was without the gospel for such a long time! In Jesus the Christ, chapter 40, the apostasy is explained is such detail that it just breaks one's heart to see how the church was destroyed and how the doctrine was lost. But, here it is again! It's so amazing!! We are all so blessed to be part of the true church!!! Hurray for Israel!

I love you all!

Hermana Zubeldia

Here are the missionaries in our ward, Barrio Aeropuerto.
Ya... the Elders are kind of crazy, but they're hard workers :)

Another week!

Dear family,

Another week has gone by... and it went by way to fast! I'm trying to remember everything we did, because we worked a ton, but it all went by too quickly to remember specific moments. 

On Tuesday, we had splits and I got to go with Hna. Weeks, an amazing missionary from California. It was so fantastic! She's a super hard worker and we contacted as much as we could to help out the area. It was one of the most successful splits I've had on the mission because we were able to figure out how to solve a problem that she has been having. Really, the Spirit helped us out so much! The Spirit guided us to the core of the problem doing companionship study and guided us to the solution. It was such an amazing experience!

We've been helping la familia Duarte learn to love to read the Book of Mormon and we gave them a sheet to be able to update their reading every day. They now have a mini competition between all of them to see who can finish the Book of Mormon first. The Spirit has been helping us out a ton with them and I know that the Holy Ghost is helping them gain deeper testimonies of this gospel. 

Something big I learned this week is the importance loving people to death. When we love people unconditionally, they feel it, making them want to change by their own accord. We can never force people to change and change is not easy. But, when we love people as the Savior loves them, they begin to change all by themselves, making the experience all the more meaningful. We are all imperfect and we all need to feel the love of others to overcome our imperfections.  Loving the Lord and loving others is the key to success in missionary work and in life in general. I have gained a better appreciation for this powerful principle and I hope to better apply it here in the field. I am so glad that Christ is the perfect example we all need to follow to learn to love those around us. 

I love you all! And sorry that I have no pictures this week! The week went by so fast that I forgot to take pictures to send home. 

Have a great week!

Hermana Zubeldia

Muddy oja

Dear family,

This week was absolutely amazing!!! The spirit was so strong and I learned so much! I don't even know where to start!!!

Hermana García and me.
I love this girl so much!!!!
Really, she is such a great missionary!

We went to Obregón for a conference on Tuesday and guess who was there... Hna. García Soto! The most amazing sister ever! She's back in Los Mochis, but she was at the conference and we were able to have a wonderful family reunion. She's still as sweet as ever! Before the conference, we got to go bowling again. I'm pleased to announce that my bowling as improved! I'm still not good at bowling, but hey, I've been sent to preach the gospel, not to bowl, so I'm content :). Also, because I'm now closer to Obregón, we left for the conference in the morning instead of the day before. Boy, it's so much fun waking up before 5 in the morning to catch a bus....

On Tuesday, we had our zone conference. We've been trying to implement Elder Bednar's Teaching Model on inviting the spirit more by having prepared for the conferences beforehand, asking inspired questions and letting everyone else do the talking so that the spirit can testify more. It was amazing! We've been applying this model to our investigators as well and we saw miracles with in our lessons. Our dear friends, all by themselves, were able to find the answers to their own questions though the help of the Holy Ghost. Without them realizing, our investigators bore their testimonies to us and discovered their own desires in regards to the gospel. It was amazing helping them discover the light they've been looking for.

After the zone conference, all of us USA missionaries got together to sing the national anthem. Haha I can't believe we all still knew it! Haha also, one could tell that we all need to practice our high notes :)

Also, to finish zone conference, my wonderful companion and 4 other missionaries bore their final testimonies. I can't believe how fast time flies!! In our district of 8 missionaries, 4 of them are going home this transfer... haha our district leader has named it the Panteón (aka cemetery). 

Happy fourth of July! Sister Bunting and I took a picture
with the only American thing we could find :)

We had splits with the sisters in Huatabampo after the conference and I got to go with a lovely sister from Pleasant Grove. We celebrated our fourth of July by eating ice cream while waiting for the bus... it was better than the BYU creamery!

Then... it rained.... and rained... and rained some more! We were caught soaking in the rain on Sunday before heading over to lunch with the members. Haha and we got lost, so we were even more wet! I love this missionary work! Mexico doesn't have the best plumbing in the world, so we had to cross rivered streets with our shoes off :) haha I was worried for my little companion, Hna. Carvajal, because she mentioned that she had once been carried away by the water when she tried crossing a water-flowing street. Good thing the water was only up to our ankles. Now, we're enjoying the mud and the frogs (and Hna. Carvajal screams when she sees a frog) :) I love Navojoa so much! 

I love you all! Have a fantastic week!!

Hermana Zubeldia

I curled my hair for the first time in months for church. And then it rained! Just my luck!