Ready, set, goal!

Hola familia y amigos!

This week was one based on goals. Which now after this week, I have realized every week, and every day should be based on. We always set goals, but for some reason this week we were absolutely determined to set a higher goal and accomplish it. Because we set such a high goal this week, we literally talked to EVERYONE. People getting in their cars, people on their bikes, we stopped anyone and everyone. And we were able to hear so many cool stories, make so many days, and feel the spirit and love of God for even more of His children! I know that as we set goals we are able to realize our full potential and be better instruments in the Lord's hands. He helps us accomplish the things we set out to do, and never leaves us alone. 

I challenge you all to see a goal and then work hard to accomplish it. Start with small things, and depend on the Lord and I know He will help. 

Anyways so yeah this week was great. It was hard because we didn't have a ton of lessons so we were outside a lot, and it was super hot and humid this week. And will only get worse haha. But as I said, it was a successful week and we saw a lot of blessings from setting goals and trying our best to accomplish them! 

We also were able to see Macaria and Carmen confirmed this week. :) It was so amazing. I absolutely love them both so much and am so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary and see how much joy the gospel brings to so many people. 

We met two amazing new investigators this week, and are so excited to keep teaching them! They both have a lot of questions and are super eager and willing to learn. Please pray for Diana and Erik! 

Thank you all again for your love and support, and happy late fathers day! Haha

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Hermana Frank

Allison will be getting a new mission president and I saw this picture they posted on  the mission Facebook page.

Let go, and let God

Hello family and friends!

This week was so great! I will start off with the exciting news of two baptisms! We had both Macaria and Carmen get baptized this week! It was such a miracle and so exciting. Macaria had called us two days before her baptism saying she had to go to the hospital in an ambulance and was still feeling pretty awful. She was so prepared to be baptized though, and really wanted to have that opportunity. So Hermana Ramirez and I fasted and prayed and that morning Macaria came to church! She immediately got a priesthood blessing and then right after church she was baptized with Carmen. It was such a miracle. 

Honestly this week was a lot of crazy planning for the baptism and stressful moments, but seeing two people who I love so much being baptized made me so indescribably happy. Truly my joy was so full, and I was and am so grateful to be a missionary and help people feel of the happiness that this gospel brings me. 

This week we also had zone conference, which is always so uplifting and inspiring. We had a question and answer session with President Bennion, and one missionary asked what the hardest thing about the mission was, and President said that he had to learn to "let go, and let God." I thought about that a lot throughout the week and when things got stressful I had to realize that this is God's work. His work and His glory, His entire purpose, is for us to have joy. And sometimes we need to let Him guide us and carry us through the hard things so we can grow and develop and get better and find real happiness!

I am so grateful for this gospel, and for all of you and your support. Have a great week!

Hermana Frank 

Get the sunglasses

Hello family and friends!

I hope that you all had a great week this week!

Contrary to what the subject may say, this week was super rainy. We did a lot of walking through puddles, and getting drenched in the rain. But we did see the spirit a lot this week.

We had 3 investigators at church, Macaria, and Carmen and her daughter Diana. Macaria had her baptism interview to get baptized next week and man you should have seen her face when she walked out. She was glowing. You almost needed sunglasses to even look at her. It was so great! She was so so happy and you could tell.

Another cool experience was this week when we were tracting. We met some guy and then introduced him to the thought of having a modern day prophet. You should have seen his face light up. "That makes so much sense!" He said. 

I love being a missionary and sharing my testimony about things like that and seeing it change the lives of people. 

This weekend was a little rough, as I got some tough family news. But through a lot of fasting and prayer, I know that the Lord listens to us. He loves us and is waiting to answer our prayers we just need to ask. 

I hope you all have a great week, I am praying for you all so much!

Con amor,

Hermana Frank 

Cold McDonalds

  
Macaria's birthday


Macaria's baby bunnies


Hello!

This week was so full of amazing experiences, including cold McDonalds. Which was an awesome experience, regardless of how it may sound. It didn't necessarily taste the best, but was given with lots of love. Our investigator Macaria lives with two daughters, and while they are not interested in our message, they are so kind to us. They treat us like family, and the other day we were visiting Macaria and then we had to leave, but she called us back about 30 minutes later. Her daughter had brought home sandwiches and fries for us and wanted us to come eat because she loves eating with us and having a family dinner. I think she can feel of the spirit, and hopefully she will be interested one day. :) 

And great news with Macaria, she is on date to be baptized again! Last week, a family was baptized and after she said she wasn't scared anymore, and this week she told us she felt like she could do anything! She knows this church is true and loves reading in the bom, and is so prepared! Please continue to pray for her!

A truly spiritual experience this week was while visiting a less active member. She is going through a lot right now, and we basically just testified of God's love for her and how He is waiting for us, we just need to rely on Him. I could feel the spirit very strongly as I testified, and I could feel of God's love for her and for me. I know that He loves each one of us and wants us to be happy! We just need to turn to Him for peace and happiness and He is more than willing to give it to us.

At the end of the lesson, she prayed and the spirit filled the room. She asked if God loves her, and we all could feel that YES yes He did. And does. He loves each of us so much. I know that.

I hope that you all have a great week, and always remember how much God loves and cares for you. 

Thank you for all of your support and emails. You guys are the greatest!

Con amor,

Hermana Frank

Temple Trip!!

We were lucky enough to be in the same session with Elder Alba, who is a member of the 70! He hopped in a picture with us and greeted us all personally. He's so awesome!

Hola familia y amigos!!

I hope you all had a great week, and noticed the tender mercies from the Lord! This week, we had the wonderful opportunity to go to the temple, which is a privilege given only every 6 months. So we were so so excited to go, and really enjoyed it. I love the temple because it is a temporary retreat from the world, where we can feel the spirit so strongly. I know that the Lord loves us so much, he loves me, the people I am teaching, all of you, and all His other children around the world. It was such a blessing to be able to go and feel of His love.

We also had a really spiritual experience this week with a couple named Ricardo and Dora. We tracted into them on Easter and they said they were looking for a church, so we invited them to ours but they didn't come. Then this week they showed up! We sat by them, explained everything, members fellowshipped them, and they loved church! We had a return appointment, in which we were planning on teaching the Restoration. However, when we got there and started, we both felt prompted to teach the Plan of Salvation. They loved it, and said it answered so many of their questions no one else could answer. At the end of the lesson, Dora said the most heartfelt prayer, and was brought to tears. The spirit was so strong and testified to their hearts that what we are sharing is true. They are so prepared and I cannot wait to keep teaching them!

The Plan of Salvation is such a powerful lesson, and it was such a testimony to me that truly it is God's plan. He loves us so much, and has given us a way to be with our families forever!! I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of the Plan of Salvation and the opportunity to be a missionary and share it! 

I love you all tons, and am so grateful for you all!

Have a great week!

Hermana Frank

Staying here in Cumorah!

Hello everyone!!

This week was so great, and we didn't get any transfer calls so Hermana Ramirez and I will be staying here in Cumorah!! We are super excited, especially because we have a lot of progressing investigators and we get to continue working with them together! 

Yesterday was great, and speaking to my family was such a blessing! I love them so much and am so grateful for all their support and love. It was fun to see that nothing has changed and it brought back lots of great memories. :)

This week we had both Elsy and Carmen at church! They both loved it, and loved the priesthood giving us food during relief society haha. And it was so cute because I have Elsys son a ctr ring, hlj in spanish, and he loved it! Shout out to my mom for sending them to me, all the kids love them! He ran out to the car when his dad came to pick then up, and said look dad! Haz lo justo!! It was so cute. :)

I also truly saw the gift of tongues this week on exchanges. An English sister, Sister Hansen, came here to Cumorah, and my trainer went with the other sister to an English area. Sister Hansen didn't know any spanish, and so I was left translating lessons, calling people, and tracting, everything in spanish was up to me. I was so so nervous, and prayed and fasted for the gift of tongues, and I saw miracles! I was able to teach lessons with power, and understand what people were saying! I know that everything is possible with the Lord, and He is waiting to bless us, we just need to reach out to Him. 

Overall this week was amazing, we met lots of cool people and saw miracles. I love being a missionary!

Thank you all again for everything, I hope you have a great week!!

Con amor,

Hermana Frank 

Chicken Agua

Hola familia y amigos!!

This week was so absolutely amazing I don't even know where to start....

First I guess I will start by addressing the title. We have an investigator, named Macaria, whom I have talked about before. She is so sweet and humble, and doesn't have much, but loves to share. She invited us over for lunch, and she made what her niñetos call, chicken agua. Haha it is caldo de pollo really, which is chicken broth, and it was delicious! She was so happy to have us over! She is so much happier than when we first started visiting her, even though she is going through hard things. When we got to talking, we found out why! She told us she has been reading and she had questions about the BoM for us! She finished 1 Nephi and is now in 2nd Nephi. Even though her reading glasses were broken, she still took time to study every day and loves it so much. And we truly have seen a difference in her countenance! It is so amazing! 

Missionary work is such a blessing because we get to see the changes that come into people's lives as they live the principles of the gospel and commandments. This week we visited a man named Jose, and when we taught him the Restoration and gave him the BoM, he was so grateful. He said, "wow, this is the greatest treasure anyone could ever give me. This is my future!" And we were both like, yes Jose! It is! He is so cute, and loves talking and visiting with us. Whenever we call him, he talks forever about the Book of Mormon and then asks us what we ate for breakfast. He is so random, and we love him!

We also have another investigator who is seeing the blessings of the BoM as well. Her name is Elsy, and she is one of the best people I know. She loves listening to the BoM all the time at work, at home, in the car on her phone. Because she listens to it at work, we were knocking on doors this week, and came across one of the ladies she works with! Her name is Mireya. Even crazier connection, we were also teaching Mireyas daughter! She said that she has been curious about what we were teaching her daughter (we had never met her, her daughter just told her about us) and also was curious about what Elsy was listening to! She said while she had it on at work, she listened to it to and really loved it! Elsy isn't even a member yet, and is already being a missionary! She told us that she loves spending time with us, and wishes she didn't have so many responsibilities so she could come knock doors with us. And her cute son (he is 6 years old), when they came to church this week, told me, "I want to do this one day" and pointed to my tag. I said, "You want to be a missionary?" And he said emphatically, "yeah!" I told him that he could, and his eyes got big and he said, "how?!"

I could go on and on about the miracles we saw this week and the people I have met and continue to meet, but I won't bore y'all too badly. 

I just really want to bear my testimony to anyone who has made it this far in my email, that I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It changes lives, and brings peace and happiness. I have seen countless lives change because of the relief it brings, and I encourage everyone to read it and study it daily. Even if it's listening to it at work, reading one verse before bed, whatever you can do. The Lord blesses those who are striving to learn and draw nearer to Him.

I am so grateful for this gospel and for all of you and your support. And to the mothers out there, happy mothers day!!!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Frank