From the Missionary Resort

Hola!!! So here I am in the Missionary Resort, LOVING IT!!! So it snowed this past Tuesday, yikes! It's starting to get cold! And pops I can't believe you have pneumonia!!! I'm praying for you! And I love getting your letters so keep them coming :) Ok there's so much to talk about and no time! First, on Monday's we go to the RC (referral center) and call people that have called for church dvd's, or bibles, or BOM's...well I had such an AMAZING EXPERIENCE!! First off, I just love black people :) ha and you can totally tell your talking to one by the sound of their voice :) Well I was calling a Mr. Roberts to make sure he received his free Bible and he actually hadn't, but then I started telling him about the BOM and the truths that it holds, and he was like super interested and he was telling me he had been interested in all kinds of religions since he was little and he had all these different religion books. Anyways, I was like yeah have you ever wondered why there are so many religions in the world?! There's like a different church on every corner, but there's only one God, so shouldn't there only be one true church of God...and ha he actually disagreed with me but then I was like can I tell you a story? He said yes of course, and so I began to tell him about Joseph Smith and how he was really interested in religion too and he wanted to be where God wanted him to be and as he was searching for answers he came across James 1:5..so I read him that and then said, and if you were JS and you were looking for the true church and you had just read that vs. what would you do? And he said pray and ask my God..and I said exactly and that's what he did. And he recorded his experience (ha and then I was freaking out because I could only remember it in Spanish!!!) but then I found it and about my 5th word in to reciting the first vision I just felt the Spirit SO STRONG bearing testimony to me once again that Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God and of course I started crying and I was like oh no! He's not even going to be able to understand me! But he did and after I asked how he felt and he said he felt moved and good, and I said Mr. Roberts, that is the Spirit testifying truth to you. And he said yeah that sounds right. And he said he was really touched and he could tell how much it meant to me. And he's meeting with the missionaries in a couple weeks to learn more and I'm gonna try to call him back after and see how he's doing. Ahh it was sooo AMAZING! The Book of Mormon is just AMAZING. We had a huge discussion about it last night (and when ELDER PERRY CAME ON TUESDAY NIGHT..AMAZING, I KNOW)! but Hno. Dickerson went around the room and asked each of us, "If the Book of Mormon is true..." and we answered! If the BOM is true, then Joseph Smith had a vision and had the priestood conferred upon him, and the gospel of Christ was truly restored on the earth, and there really is a God who loves and cares about us individually, and I truly was called of God, and there is a prophet on the earth today, even Thomas S. Monson, and ON AND ON AND ON! The BOM is either true or it isn't, there is no middle ground. And I testify that it is the most correct of any book on earth, the keystone of our religion, and a man can get closer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book; like Joseph Smith said. Ah pray for a confirmation yourself and ask yourself, "if the BOM is true then..." The list can go on and on! A couple other things that were inspiring. Hno Stone reminded us of something that I think we forget sometimes as missionaries. He said, "who signed that paper and who wrote their acceptance letter to be a missionary? Was it your mom, your dad, your Bishop? No, it was you. You are the one who said that you wanted to be here. Nobody else made that decision for you." It's so true! So I just want to suggest that Ty and Nick (and whoever else) make a copy of the letter of acceptance to be a missionary and bring it with them on their mission, so when the going gets rough they can turn to that and remember why they decided to come on a mission. And even write down right now why they want to come on a mission. You get that question all the time. Go because you want to go, because you want to serve your Savior and bring others unto Christ. If you're just going because it's expected of you, change that right now. Find that desire to serve! Because it's the best! But oh my goodness, it is SO HARD! A couple quotes... "The future is as bright as your faith" I love that! Tenga fe!!! "The Lord doesn't care what your abilities are, he just wants your heart, and when you give him your heart, he will make weak things become strong unto you. Sister Masumori (in the Primary Pres.) came to RS and spoke to us on Sunday and told us a story about how her and her husband were actually able to see their son on his mission because her husband went to NY a lot on business. Her son served in the Bronx and she said right before they were about to meet their son for lunch they almost got like shot because these gang members were about to do a drug exchange and they thought that her and husband were like from the gvt. or something..anyways she was like yeah that made me real comfortable as a mom having my son in an area like that, but when I saw him and his comp. turn the corner I literally saw a bubble surrounding them. "The Lord protects those who do his work." Future missionaries: You will be a great missionary if you 1. Have an eye single to the glory of God 2. Love your companion 3. Love the people and 4. Are obedient. Remember, "missionary work is a privilege, not a right". "Success breeds success" Elder L Tom Perry said "the first step to becoming a great teacher, is to first become a great student". Hno Stone said "the reason we find ourselves when we lose ourselves in because there's more of us to find..the more you give yourself, the more you find out about yourself..you become recharged and enlarged! LOVE IT!!! LOVE YALL!! LOVE THE WORK!!! I'll be sending out a letter tomorrow too with more info!!! Thanks for being amazing and such good examples! Stay close to the Lord! Alena and Ty..I'm expecting letters :) Love yall! Have a great week!! Oh and we taught in Spanish this week for the first time, more details later :)