Holy Guacamole

Did proselyting in the motor home with Hermana Laurie. We shared a scripture with some abuelitas chilenas we found and started teaching English to Rubi. Elder Nelson spoke at the Tuesday night devotional. He promised us as the Lord's witness that "there is life beyond the veil with certainty" and hopes that our souls may be engraved like the temples with "Holiness to the Lord" when we pass through it. As temples are places set apart for sacred purposes and we ourselves are temples for the Holy Ghost and our own spirit, he invited us to be holy, a person set apart for sacred purposes.

"The more we serve the more substance there is to our soul... Indeed, it's much easier to find ourselves because there's so much more to find." D. Todd Christofferson

Love, Hermana Jerman

                         Cat that lives on the MTC grounds

"Smile! Jesus is coming" {Sis. Prolo}

I think the MTC branch I go to feels so much like what heaven could be because there are lots of good people from different countries in one place and purpose. Met missionaries coming from Samoa, Fiji, the Marshall Islands, Pohnpei +. Did TRC to help missionaries learning Spanish teach an investigator. Sang "Nearer My God to Thee" with the MTC choir and our director told us the context of the lyrics (Genesis 28:11-19). 

When Jacob hears Esau wants to kill him, he wanders into the desert and sleeps on a rock.

"Though like the wanderer the sun gone down, darkness be over me, my rest a stone." 

Hard things, or the crosses in our lives, can become good and bring us closer to God.

 "Nearer, my God, e'en though it be a cross that raiseth me... There let the way appear, steps unto heav'n... Angels to beckon me, nearer, my God to thee... Bethel I'll raise." 

Bethel, meaning House of God, is the name Jacob gave to the location where angels appeared, he received his endowments (steps to higher covenants), and the veil parted to God. 

During the devotional, Elder Richard G. Scott's story was told of 2 sister missionaries who entered a house where men grabbed them and locked them in a room. Kneeling, they prayed for God to save them. When they opened their eyes, they were in a alley on the other side of the wall. We have the power of angels to minister to us. Also got to teach Paola and a Chilean family with the hermanas.

Oh, and when you don't understand an aspect of the gospel or a commandment, just know it's from a Being far greater and superior in wisdom. Don't go complicating it. Live it, love it, try new things, and make every second point to Jesus. 

Keep it simple, mate :)

Love, Hermana Jerman

That'll Do

Our desire to become like the Savior is what matters. 

Months ago, we met Juan Carlos outside his apartment when we were looking for a neighbor and this past week he was able to be baptized :) At the MTC, I interpreted meetings, listened to devotionals, and helped the missionaries learning how to contact. 

Elder Richard Holztafel of the Seventy spoke to us and announced that the Preach My Gospel subtitle will be changed from "A Guide to Missionary Service" to something like "A Life-long Guide to Missionary Work." It's not only to be studied by those set apart. Our purpose as missionaries and members is to invite others to come unto Christ. When we act and think as true disciples of Christ, everyone we meet will come closer to Him even if they don't accept Him just then. 

Love, Hermana Jerman

Juan Carlos' Baptism

Happy Spirit

I got assigned! Because the time until my release date is too short, the missionary department won't allow me to return to the field so I will be set apart to serve full-time as a missionary at the MTC. My biggest wish was to proselyte again, but I'm so grateful for all the people who helped me get this spot. I will be an interpreter for hispanic missionaries and help in the store there. It was fun to pass out language materials to the incoming missionaries and listen to sacrament and mission conference interpreted to Spanish. 

Gave a missionary district a ride to go on a hike for pday. We met 87 year old Norman on the trail with a great shirt and a great testimony. He shares copies of a conference talk with his testimony written on the back with those he meets. He was converted after serving in war and said he wouldn't be alive if he hadn't read the Book of Mormon due to heavy drinking and smoking. The hermanas and I taught a teenager named Maya who is very bright and loves learning about God, and two young girls who told us many excited stories before we could get them to read and pray with us :) Juan Carlos had nothing to change for the Word of Wisdom or Law of Chastity when we taught him Friday and is set for baptism this week.

"Those who move forward with a happy spirit will find that things always work out." G.B. Hinckley


Love, Hermana Jerman

Norman

Juan Carlos

MTC