Monday, November 20, 2017

Una semana de fiestas y servicio ๐ŸŽ‰

Hola hola!

This week we went to a lot of fiestas and did a lot of service!

Hermana Morales and I were sorting the Christmas toys at the shelter and we found Barbies that are friends and look like us!

We volunteer at a women’s shelter for a couple of hours a week. We normally sort the donations. But, this week we spent more time there because they needed our help sorting Christmas toys for the kids! So fun! On Saturday we participated in a big service project with other missionaries and with a YSA ward. We did some deep cleaning at the shelter, and then we took apart a bunch of beds and set up new ones. It was really tiring, but they were so grateful for all of our help!


The other weekly service we do is teach English class. We have been putting up a lot of posters and inviting everyone we talk to. We had ten new students come, so that was awesome! This week two of our (nonmember) English class students invited us over for their sister’s baby shower. I was super excited because they were inviting us over to their house of nonmember, hispanic friends, and because I had never been to a hispanic baby shower before. It was super fun! It was basically a normal, hispanic party. (So a lot of food and loud music!) The pregnant lady wore a really fancy dress, and I decided I want to wear a fancy dress to my baby shower ๐Ÿ˜‚

We also had our ward Thanksgiving party! SO MANY people came and brought their friends! It ended up being really fun! There was some interesting food, one hermana make mole turkey. (Mole is not my favorite!) But, there was some really good stuff too! One of the white hermanas brought funeral potatoes that were SO GOOD! I hadn’t had them my entire mission.

Other than that, we basically just visited people! I went to my last zone conference ๐Ÿ˜ข President talked to us about the importance of teaching with the Spirit, #LIGHTtheWORLD, and using Facebook more.

As I am getting to the end of my mission (16 days left) I have been thinking a lot about going home. I am excited to see everyone, go to back to school, and move forward in life but I can also get sad thinking about not being a full time missionary anymore. It’s something I have been praying about a lot recently. But, yesterday Heavenly Father helped me see that everything is going to be okay!

These four cute primary girls that just got baptized come to church alone every week. (There dad drops them off and leaves, we are working on that.) They love sitting with us misioneras and coloring during sacrament meeting. This other primary girl came to sit with us and showed me her talk. It was called “Puedo elegir ser una misionera ahora.” (I can choose to be a missionary now.) It was all about the little things she does everyday to share the gospel. I thought, “Wow! If this 10 year old can be a missionary so can I!”๐Ÿ˜‚

We (all the missionaries here) also watched the Face to Face event last night with Elder Oaks and Elder Ballard. They talked about a lot of really great things I had questions about! One of the things they talked about was adjusting to “normal” life after the mission. They told us to keep doing the things we do as missionaries! It’s all about using agency correctly. In the mission we are told what time to wake up, when to study, where to work etc. At home we still wake up and go out to get stuff done, but we choose what time. At home I will still study the scriptures, but I decide when and for how long etc.

This week I also remembered way back when I was at the end of my time in the MTC. Our teacher shared an experience he had with us. He was getting close to the end of his mission when he had to go home suddenly for health problems. His mission President shared Doctrine and Covenants 138:57 with him, which reads:

I beheld that the faithful elders of this dispensation, when they depart from mortal life, continue their labors in the preaching of the gospel of repentance and redemption, through the sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son of God, among those who are in darkness and under the bondage of sin in the great world of the spirits of the dead.

Nothing, not even death, will stop me from sharing the gospel! The gospel of Jesus Christ has changed my life. The things I have learned in my mission have forever changed me. I can look forward to this next chapter in my life because I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for me!

I hope everyone has an amazing week! Eat a lot of turkey, and don’t forget to go on mormon.org this Friday and check out the Church’s Christmas video and service initiative! ๐Ÿ˜Š


Love,


Hermana Bettridge

Fotos:

 
Hermana Jones (my sister and STL companion) and I at Zone Conference! (I kind of have crying eyes because I had just given my dying(last) testimony ๐Ÿ˜ข)
 

The cute primary kids doing a presentation about the first Thanksgiving at our ward party ๐Ÿ
Cleaning at the women’s shelter
 
Us at another fiesta! A member was having a party and asked us to come serve food. (That’s a mechanical bull behind us!)
The biggest tender mercy of the week, I got to see mi hermanita y mejor amiga at the YSA broadcast! ๐Ÿ’• (She was sad because we were leaving each other again, but I will see her this week!)

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