A time to give thanks

I have a whole bunch of things to be grateful for this week. After five transfers in the Oakland 6th Spanish ward, I'm finally feeling like my efforts are making a difference. We've got a solid group of investigators taking steps towards baptism and I've been able to see the changes in their lives, even if they haven't seen them quite yet. 

At church, the theme of every sacrament meeting this month has been gratitude. The last couple of months have been pretty rough but sometimes we just have to stick it out and find the little blessings everyday that God gives us. My gratitude journal has been my saving grace, and it's helped me see how all the little things that God gives us adds up to the big things. Like Alma taught, "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise." I've been extremely humbled as I've watched the hand of the Lord in my life and in the lives of my investigators.

Hugo and Lizeth are AWESOME. They came to church this week for the second time, and Lizeth came to the Visitors' Center this past week! The members are fellow-shipping them without us asking. They aren't super solid but at least they feel comfortable at church and with the members. We're going to watch the Joseph Smith movie with them at the Visitors' Center tonight for FHE and we're going to invite them to be baptized! Yay! We'll get a picture during the day with both of their kids next week - Hugo Jr. didn't come and Andrea went home with her church friend Scarlet. 

The Ramirez family is super awesome. They told us they were coming to church.......and then they didn't. There's something not clicking with them but we're going by tonight to resolve those concerns. Also, their mom might not be a member.....she can't remember if she got baptized but she's got a solid testimony and remembers EVERYTHING even though her husband was baptized over ten years ago and they went inactive soon afterwards. Bishop Torres' family went with us to one of the lessons and it was awesome. Katherine already knows Suzy, Bishop's daughter, from school and they're pretty much best friends. Also, we started teaching Cynthia again! They all have a baptism date for the 15th of December and we're just waiting for that one more miracle. Their mom doesn't have work next week so they should be at church!

We have a new investigator, Angelica! We taught her last Saturday but we gave her to the elders since she didn't live in our area, but they gave her back because she's a single woman and they can't find a member to come with them to her lessons. She has a baptism date too! And even though she's on the brink of depression, she wants it so bad. I wasn't able to help Jackie last Christmas season in Castro Valley, but I think the Lord has taught me what I need to know to help Angelica right now. And after my mission, I can go back and help Jackie :)
Our other depressed investigator, Olga, is doing really well. She didn't come to church because she was in San Francisco, but she wants to change and find hope through Christ too. I know it's possible because that's where all my hope comes from: my faith in Christ and the knowledge that I have that God loves me.

We also have a couple of spirit world referrals that we found, Rosa and Desiderio. We tried teaching them twice, but he is so old that he just wasn't getting it. They're former investigators, and Rosa totally understood the need for authority and another baptism and everything but her husband holds her back. I love this little old couple so much, and we gave them all the chances we could. I know God loves them, and He'll give them another chance to accept it :) and they will once their minds are young again.

Everything is playing out just like God wants it to. He's the one in charge of this work, not me or my companion or my mission president or the bishop or the members. He's got it all planned out and we just have to jump in and play the game! I am so grateful for the opportunity to represent Jesus Christ and offer everyone the hope of change through His love. Not everyone will accept, but as we are His hands, His representatives with His pure love for others, people will always feel it and we'll never know the impact we've made. 

Last night was Porque Yo Creo, the testimony meeting of all the Spanish recent converts in the area and I saw a less active woman that I met at the Visitors' Center months and months ago. I couldn't remember her name but I remembered the situation and I can't describe how happy I was to see her there. She recognized me instantly and called me and my companion at the time, Hermana Ivey who was there also, her "angels". 

I'm grateful for the opportunity to be an angel in the lives of others.

Happy Thanksgiving :)

Hermana Hunsaker

I don't have much time - we're going hiking today.

I don't have much time - we're going hiking today. Here's the sum-up of the week:

Monday - We spray-painted with a member in our ward. It was AWESOME. Mine didn't turn out all that great, but it was easier than I thought it would be. Once I get a camera card, I'll send a picture of what they look like. Then we were in the VC for the night and since it was Veteran's Day, lots of people came. We got five referrals! And some of them were people who only came in to use the bathroom but they accepted to learn! It was awesome.

Tuesday - We had a lesson with Lizeth and Hugo. They're awesome. They didn't come to church this week, but we're going to talk to them and help them commit to baptism by the end of the year! We also had a lesson with Antonio and Catherine - it was kind of a mess because we were talking to them in Spanish but they answered questions in English and our member only spoke Spanish.......it was strange. But we're seeing the parents tonight since they're not working!

Wednesday - We were just looking for people to teach ALL DAY. And we found some potentials, and a former investigator who wants to learn, Olga! She is awesome but suffers from depression and needs to understand how the gospel can bless her life. We're so excited to teach her, especially since we have some great fellowshippers for her who have been through similar situations.

Thursday - We went home sick from the VC. Sister Ayala just slept it off all day and I cleaned the apartment and organized the area book and watched some of the church's Christmas movie. Favorite one? Nora's Christmas Gift. It's the best - I watched it three times in a row.

Friday - We had an awesome zone meeting where President Meredith and Elder Packer, the Area 70 over missionary work, both came. We talked about finding hope and how to improve our prayers. It was definitely inspired.

Saturday - Our ward had a Thanksgiving dinner and the members invited tons of non-members! It was great - our bishop even bore his testimony in front of everyone to express gratitude for some of his blessings. It was the best. We haven't seen the fruits of it yet, but this ward is slowly starting to do missionary work! We also went over to teach our recent convert, Raquel, and her friend Angelica was there. Raquel had been telling us about her for forever, talking about how much she needs the gospel, and Angelica showed up unexpected right before we got to Raquel's house. Such a miracle - the Lord's hand is in everything. She is a widow and one of her sons was murdered here in Oakland so she's looking for peace and healing, things that only the Savior can bring us. We're so excited to start teaching her! 

Sunday - Another long day of church meetings, church and the VC. But a great day to remember all the blessings that God has promised us as members of HIS church. The topic in sacrament meeting was gratitude, and as we left the meeting, I was reminded of my patriarchal blessing as we saw the most beautiful sunset over San Fran that I have ever seen.

There are so many things to be grateful for - look up and see them :)

Hermana Hunsaker

Investigators at church!!!!!!

After 3 months of teaching them - and even taking a small break - Dunia (well, now Lizeth) and Hugo came to church with their two kids! The kids even participated in the Primary program! It was the biggest miracle ever! The class topics were kind of strange - the gathering of Israel and missionary work - but the program at the end made up for it I think.

The other miracle with this family: we taught them the Word of Wisdom this week, just to find out that they already live it! In fact, Hugo stopped drinking coffee three months ago, just a couple of weeks before we met them. The Lord is preparing people. Now we just have to get them married and they'll practically be in the font!!!

We added Marilu as a new investigator! She's so golden. She just wants to learn about God and follow him! She's the best - and her little baby Diana is the cutest.

We went to the doctor's office in Concord this week and had lunch at In N Out. I didn't realize how much I missed going to In N Out every week in Provo until I consumed my double-double in five minutes. And I instantly wanted another one, but I also forgot how long the lines are in that place. It would've been worth it for the burger, but our lunch time was up so it wasn't worth being disobedient. But now I'm constantly on the lookout for another In N Out closer to my area.

We went to a baby shower this week for about ten minutes - we counted it as our lunchtime because there was food. There's always food in this ward. The members brought dinner after church last night too and I learned how to make homemade tortillas! It was fun - I failed a few times but maybe I'll be able to cook like the latinos after my mission! I need to keep working on this skill. Maybe that should be my new p-day activity.....cook with members......

So.....that's that. And it was a great week. Hope this next week is even better for all of you!!!

Hermana Hunsaker

No subject because I can't think of one at the moment

I've been bit by the family history bug. My main plan is to squeeze in some time for some research right now!

We found a few new investigators this week! Last Monday, we went to see a less active and they weren't home but their neighbor downstairs just happened to be getting home from work and just happened to speak Spanish and his wife just happened to be home and they just happened to want to learn and just happened to love to read and just happened to want to read the Book of Mormon and just happened to want to be baptized when they receive an answer that these things are true. Their schedule is super crazy so we only saw them the one time but we're seeing them again this week! Biggest lesson: the less actives have told me on numerous occasions that no one in the area speaks Spanish. They just didn't think about their downstairs neighbors. If you think you have no opportunities to share the gospel, you're wrong. There are people all around you that you can help. Also, another lesson learned: there are so many prepared people. Even if you think your neighbors aren't interested, you never know until you try talking to them and inviting them to learn. Just try it - miracles will happen.

We also found another investigator, Roque, who was SUPER excited to learn and wanted to come to church but his wife was super Catholic and didn't let us come back. She'll be ready someday. We have a lesson tonight with a lady named Marilu that we found on our potential investigators list from a couple of years ago. The missionaries taught her husband and her brother-in-law once and she wasn't home but they didn't have another appointment with them. But her name had just kept popping out at me for the past four transfers that I've been here, and we finally called her. She said she has faith in God and Jesus Christ but she really doesn't know anything about them. We told her that our purpose as missionaries is to help people learn more about them and she said, "When can you come over?" We're super stoked.

We had an FHE with the Rojas family and our old investigators Dunia and Hugo and their family came! And we have another one tonight to watch the Joseph Smith movie at the Visitors' Center! After weeks of trying to get them to the VC and church, and finally dropping them, they're coming! And they came to the ward Halloween party on Thursday!

Speaking of Halloween: we cleaned all night. I thought it would be great stress relief, but I got real sick of it real fast. But it's nice to have a clean apartment, and it made today's cleaning MUCH easier.

Another miracle: we've been trying to find perfect fellowshippers for the Ramirez family - contact with them has been really hard but we've stopped by multiple times. The oldest daughter is going to church with her aunt so that's throwing everything off. But the miracle is that we brought a member family just to meet them the other day. Only the two youngest kids were home but turns out that these two families already know each other from school! And Cathryn's best friend is Suzy, our bishop's daughter! So we're getting them out with us this week too. Prayer works miracles - the Lord knows these people so much better than we do because they are HIS children. He's taking care of them and lining everything up for their success. Even though we haven't had a lesson with them this week and we don't know how much more we can do to help them, the Lord is making up the difference. And He's using the members to do it :)

So.....that's the scoop. The Lord is always taking care of all of us: missionaries, members, investigators, all of His children. I've been learning about charity. The greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind. And the second is to love thy neighbor as thyself. If we love God first and put His will before everything else, and in turn we learn to love ourselves, that's the only way to learn how to love others. And according to President Uchtdorf, that's the point. That's the purpose of our time here: to learn to use the universal language of Christ's love. http://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/general-young-women-meeting/2013/03/your-wonderful-journey-home?lang=eng

Have a great week! I love you all!

Hermana Hunsaker