02/22/16 Group Email

This week was great! The weather has been super super warm, which has been fun! I already miss the snow though and hopefully we'll get another storm or two before Spring stays. 

This week we had interviews with President, which was really good. He is just the greatest man! He and Hermana Miles came to our ward on Sunday, which was super fun! They loved the Spanish people and even though they told me they didn't understand a word they could feel the spirit very strongly.  We had a meeting afterward with the six missinoaries, he and his wife, the stake president, and Obispo, which was really cool! We talked about how everything's going and Obispo Gonzalez shed a couple tears while he was telling personal missinoary stories, the spirit was very powerful.  Right before President Miles closed he promised us missionaries that we will never have another Bishop during our missions that is as Missionary Minded as Obispo Gonzalez is, which was pretty cool to hear. I love love love the ward I'm serving in, the people are all so amazing and I'm so lucky to call them all my family.

All six of us missionaries ate dinner en la casa de la family Fernando and as always was so much fun.  The elders brought their investigator who's getting baptized in Marzo and we all watched the Jose Smith pelicula which was really cool. I was crying like a baby by the end... it is just the saddest movie ever! Joseph Smith is THE MAN- definitely the rock of my testimony

We had a lesson with our two investigators, Lucy and Cindy who are from Colombia.  They live in the East, which we cover if they are women.  So we taught them two lessons and the last lesson the husband was there.  So it's time to pass them off to the East Spanish Elders, which will be sad, but they will do a great job.  The Husband was taught all the lessons in Ecuador and was super good friends with the Elders.  He told us he had a baptism date but it never happened.  He basically knows everything about the church and he's pretty golden! So hopefully when we pass them off to the Elders on Wednesday we can talk about a for sure baptism date!! 

Everything is going so good! Bryan, our recent convert, is doing awesome.  Last night for class of english we played Basta! which is kind of like scattegories.  It was suuuuuper super fun - i definitley miss playing games! He's doing great though and we have had some amazing lessons in the past couple weeks.  

I love love love being a missionary. It's the greatest thing I've ever done.  A decision I will never regret! The things I have learned out here... indescribable.  I love you and pray for you ALL every night (which makes my nightly prayers very long.... but I do it because I love you) have an amazing week!

Abrazitos - 

Hermana Dean 

02/22/16 Pictures

 Jennie and Jamil got married!!! They are so cute 

Familia Perez 

 

02/16/16 Group Email

Suuuuuuuuch a good week oh my 

Well for starters.... I was standing in the foyer of our chapel talking with our mission leader and all of a sudden I hear someone talking to my comp. I turn around KYRA JOHNSON!!!!!! ahhhh it was crazy! Sooooo much fun to talk to a best friend from home and to have her see the cute latinos and the pretty city.  So S/O to kyr for being a bestie and sacrificing her sacrament meeting to be in Spanish! (Even though I translated it :) 

Yesterday was Family Day up here in Canada, i really don't know why the US doesn't have that as a Holiday. Everyone was with their families and seemed so happy! We were buying a few groceries in the store and the Elder's Quroum President saw us and had us come stand in line with him and bought us our groceries... SO nice.  So so so nice.  We then headed downtown, walked the pretty streets of Calgary, contacting people on the way, and made our way up to the top of the Calgary Tower and ate lunch.  It is amazing up there - one of my favorite places I've ever been.  The restuaraunt slowly cirlces around 360 while you eat, so you get to see every side of the view.  While we were sitting there, we had just finished ordering, and the family behind us got up to go leave.  They had like four kids (all of which had adorable names, I had noticed) and were super cute.  All of the sudden the dad asks "Hermanas de donde son ustedes?" and started talking to us in Spanish! He had served in Argentina and started telling us about his ward and where they lived.  He said goodbye and started walking away.  As he was about to turn the corner, he said "Oh yeah, I payed for your lunch by the way, get some dessert!" and left! HOLY WHAT THE HECK!! that restaraunt is NOT cheap... my mouth dropped! I wanted to cry.  He was so nice! Ahhh I love being a missionary so so so much.  Both him and our Elder's Quorum President made my day! Two people in one day... we are so blessed! 

Last week, we needed to contact ten people and it was 9:15... I was not happy haha.  All the doors we were knocking on, no one was home! I kept praying and praying and praying that we could find these people, but I felt like we couldn't find them anywhere! I kinda gave my comp the sour attitude because I was so mad that my prayer wasn't being answered, which I have already repented for don't worry.  We were driving home and I was holding back tears because I was so frustrated in myself and I really felt like He wasn't hearing my prayers.  When all of  a sudden my comp says "pull over, let's knock that door." I was like,, ooookay whatever.  So we get out, walk up the street and knock the door... THEY WERE HAVING A PARTY.  We contacted SIX people in the doorway.  Then as we were walking back down to our car, we knocked another house, THEY WERE ALSO HAVING A PARTY and we contacted four people in the doorway.  As we were walking back to the car I just started laughing.  Hahah I felt so dumb! Of course the Lord was hearing my prayers! It was crazy... I really was so frustrated, but I can testify that the Lord does hear and answer our prayers - you just have to be patient (which I'm still working on haha) ! 

Another cool story, we had gotten mad revelation to go knock this one street.  We started out and knocked on the door of a man from Mexico who had come to our English class, we told him we were in his area and that we were sharing a message... got in and taught him! It was so sweet!!! THEN as we were walking out.... WE CONTACTED THREE PEOPLE IN A ROW WHO SPOKE SPANISH. All in like 5 minutes, and they were all walking on the street.  THAT IS FOUR SPANISH PEOPLE ON ONE STREET -  THAT DOESN"T HAPPEN.  It was sooooo cool! Finding the spanish speakers up here is like searching for the needle in the haystack.. well kind of, you have lots of clues based on the outside of the house, their accents, and their facial features, but they don't just walk up to us wanting to know the gospel. We have to find them! So it was definitely a tender mercy from the Lord.  Four Spanish Speakers all in 5 minutes... the coolest thing ever. I LOVE SPEAKING SPANISH 

So last sunday Hermana y yo were in Consejo de barrio with all the men of the ward and for some reason, they assigned us to decorate for the Valentine's day party they were having.  Luckily Hermana likes to decorate cuz I don't know a thing about making stuff look cute, but they gave us some money, we went and bought a TON of stuff, and then us and the Elders spent alllll day on Friday decorating.  There was so.much.to.do. it was crazy! Soooo much service.  It was fun though! Everything turned out really great and the ward had a crazy dance party, that we were not allowed to go to, but we heard it as we were having our Missionary Correlation hahah.  

Well it was an amazing week, as always and I'm so blessed to have this time in my life to give everything up to serve the Lord.  Doing nothing but serving for 24-7 is rough sometimes, but oh man the blessings are indescribable.  I love it here! 

Love you all!

Hermana Dean 

02/16/16 Pictures

 Top of the tower 

 

 

Exploring my favorite city in the world

 

 

 

 

 

Preachin the good word 

 CUTEST little girl oh my gosh

A member gave us these teddy bears for Valentines... we are so loved! So many presents all the time!

KYRA JOHNSON IN REAL LIFE HOLY BEST MOMENT EVER SO FUN  

 

 Setting up for the Valentine's party with the Elders 

 

 Obispo Gonzalez.. He's the greatest man I've ever met! 

2/8/16 Group Email

A SWEET week up here in (warm) Canada 

Hermana Morgan and I .... have KILLED it this week. Probably one of the hardest working weeks so far.  Our zone created the goal of testifying to 10 people every day.  10 people doesn't sound like alot... but it is! Especially as Spanish missionaries, because we are alwasy in our car driving from appointment to appointment.  But this past week, as we've taken the time each day to knock doors, or street contact, the Lord has blessed us incredibly: with lessons, HAPPINESS - so much happiness, and little miracles every single day.  

Hermana Morgan has already served 6 transfers up in this area, so she knows tons of people.  One of the first nights we were together, she brought up a name and an address that she had been wanting to visit.  So we drove clear out in the East side of our area, knocked on this door, and sure enough Adriana Romero from Mexico still lived there.  We had an amazing lesson with her.  We shared Gracias a que El vive, the video, and then 3 nefi 9:14.  She began reading the scripture, but couldn't even finish it because she started crying so hard.  The spirit.... so amazing.  Definitely a lesson that she needed to hear.

So last week in my group email, I told the story of how the spirit told me to ask this couple from our ward for who we should visit.  Well, fast forward a couple days, and we decided we were going to go find this "Marta Cornjeo".  All we had of her information, was her phone number (which she had never ever answered) and the street... not the house number, only the street.  At first, as we started driving over, I asked my companion if she thought it would be worth.  We only had the street, how were we supposed to find her house? But the spirit told us to keep going.  We got to the street, used our skills of picking out which builidng looked most "Latino" went inside, looked through the directory and sure enough.... boom... we found "Cornjeo".  We buzzed the room.. it rang for what felt like forever... nothing.  But man, the spirit was telling us to get inside. So we tired calling her.  No answer.  I am telling you, I was DETERMINED to visit Mart Cornjeo.  It had been such a process to find her scattered information! I called the number one last time.... and she answered! Once I said who we were, she was thrilled! She came running out, opened the door, we went inside and visited with her.  It was amazing.  She said that we were the angels the lord sent her.  She was so so so so so very grateful for our visit.  Nobody has visited her for so long! Even though it took a long time to find out the street she lived on and to get her phone number, we finally made it! The Lord knows who He wants us to visit

Yesterday.. in walks Bryan (with is less active dad, heck yeah!) in a white shirt and tie!! Whaaaaat we have never seen him dress like that for church.  All of December and January he wore a hoodie and jeans... but wow he walked in and it was the coolest moment ever - because, he was about to bless the sacrament! Ay!!!!! He blessed it and was GLOWING.  It was a sacrament meeting I will never ever forget.  Also, because I was sitting next to Hermano Perez, who hasn't been to church in years - but he was felt healthy enough to come yesterday :) 

I love being a missionary... I love it more and more with everyday! I am so happy here.  I know that as we work the hardest we've ever worked, the Lord will give us miracles! 

Feliz Día del Cariño! 

Hermana Dean 

02/08/16 Pictures

We ate dinner in Newport (Canada though....) 

 

Down by the river that goes through Calgary

 

 Cute less active.. Hermana Cornjeo 

 

Bryan blessed the sacrament! 

  Overlooking the city 

Our less active gave us something to represent su pais, Nicaragua 

 

 

We had a lesson with a less active family and the elders... they just had this baby TWO WEEKS ago. It was the cutest baby i've probably ever seen

   Hermana Meji y Hermana Dardon

02/01/16 Group Email

Another week has gone by out here in the best mission in the world!

Transfers were last week, I have Hermana Morgan up here now.  She will have served up here in this area for 8 trasnfers! Crazy! It's cool though because all the members already know and love her, so it's already been a fun past couple of days.  

We had the best dinner ever! We ate with the family Fernando and the food was amazing, but afterward we had the coolest lesson ever! Hermano brought his neighbors over who are from Costa Rica and Mexico AND we had our recent convert.  Hermana and I taught the Restoration and it was incredible.  The spirit was SO strong.  The couple was totally loving it, and it was super super cool to have Bryan there.  It was just like a big discussion, we would ask certain members to comment on certain questions, and we had Bryan comment just like we did the other members... because he's a member now! It was really neat - once they are baptized, they are just like any other member! The lesson was sweet, and we tried to set up a return appointment with the couple BUT #Spanishpeopleprobs they are going to Costa Rica today for three months hahahaha this problem happens a lot up here in Canada, epsically during the Winter, but hopefully when they come back, they'll be interested!

So on Friday night we went and visited a cute little old couple from our ward.  They aren't less active, but the Bishop asked us to give them a visit.  We shared a message with them and ate bean soup for our night time snack haha.  I kept getting the feeling to ask them for someone in the ward that we could visit.  So I asked la Hermana, because Hermano was out of the room, and long story short, she gave us this huuuuge list of all the elderly women in the ward! It was such a miracle! So many of them we have not been able to get in contact with, because they have moved and changed their phone number! But now we have their #'s! So we got all those phone numbers, but I still felt like I should ask Hermano.  So I did, and he ended up giving us some of the addresses of the women... soooo cool! ALWAYS LISTEN TO THE SPIRIT.  ALWAYS.  

Another cool "follow the spirit story".  We had about 30 mintues before dinner and had just parked our car and were out street contacting.  The Spirit kept telling me to go walk down this dark, sketchy street (haha I normally wouldn't go down a street like that..... buuuuut the spirit was telling me too!) so we started walking, and I first, I wanted to turn around! It was so dark.  But I kept getting the feeling from the spirit that we needed to walk the street.  As we were walking, we saw this man, he had his hood up, was smoking.  At first I felt kind of uneasy, but the spirit resassured me! We walked up and stopped him and started talking.... AND HE WAS SO NICE. So so so so nice. He took our card and said he'd watch the video.  It was sweet! Afterward, I felt so much peace and felt so content.  Who knows what will happen with him, but he definitely needed to hear our testimonies that night! 

We had stake conference and something that really stood out to me was when they were talking about keeping the sabbath day holy.  A member of the 70 was there talking to us, and he said that President Nelson told him the following story:

"I was a heart surgeon, and would sometimes get called in on Sundays.  Whenever the nurse would call and tell me that I needed to operate on a patient, I would ask "will they live until Monday?" If they would say yes, then I would tell them I would come in on Monday.  If they would say no, I would tell them I'd come and do the operation on Sunday. Sundays are for saving souls.  To know if you can do something on Sunday just ask yourself "will this save me, or will I live until Monday?" 

I loved when he said that! Think about it... Sundays ARE for saving souls, espeically ours..  Taking the sacrament, studying the scriptures, spending time with family, serving someone, etc. etc.  The list goes on and on.  If you ever don't know what you should or shouldn't do on Sunday, just ask yourself if it will help yours or someone's soul! 

Have a good week! I love you all!

"Keep your eyes on your dreams, however distant and far away." - Elder Holland, "Remember Lot's Wife"

Hermana Dean 

02/01/16 Pictures

We all ate dinner at the house of the familia fernando.  Our recent convert Bryan, Esermalada y Hna Fernando, one of the other sets of elders serving in our ward, Hno Narro, Hno Fernando, and two potentials! We had the coolest lesson ever with all those people!

 

Hermana saying goodbye a la familia fernando 

 

 

 Esmeralda y Ruby Fernando

La familia Monroy

 La familia Perez