"Sarah and Mable!" - July 28, 2014

Howdy howdy family and friends!

So, this was one very, very exciting week of life here in the TLM!

Funny stories of the week:

1st: Our fine friends at Jack Jordan's (the BBQ place in Odessa) loved the thank-you picture/card we gave them to put on their wall, and some of the employees were guessing our first names! They decided that Sister Hoover was Sarah, and I'm Mable! haha, so now whenever we are role-playing random situations, and need to use different names, we're Sarah and Mable! haha

2nd: We've been doing a lot of finding lately, and we thought it'd be a good idea to just drop by some member's houses when we were in the neighborhood to remind them how awesome missionary work, and their missionaries are, and we found the greatest doormat ever! (it also explains the general consensus of how people feel when we knock on their doors, but the Lord's work still continues forward!)

Also, Bryan, who I talked a little about last week! He got baptized yesterday, and it was so good! We found some awesome jumpsuits with collars, so we had to take a popped collar pic :P I've never before met someone so prepared to receive the gospel, or with SO much support, and encouragement! This kid is truly amazing! He's already been such a positive influence on so many people, I can't wait to see the awesome things that he's going to do!

And sadly, I didn't take too many pictures this week, but hey, life is good :)

Another miracle that we had this week, was we taught a lesson with Daan at Tanya's apartment! It turns out they are neighbors, in the same building, and Tanya was just so excited to have the lesson, and it went really great! Something I realized at the beginning of the lesson, when we were talking about how he liked church, is that Mormons are pretty friendly, and I guess in most other churches you go in, and leave, and no one really notices? ...I don't know much, but Daan said: "I'm used to just slipping in and sitting in the back, there's not really any discussion at all, and getting out. Everyone was involved there, it was interesting, I didn't know how I felt about it. But as I thought about it more through the week, I thought... maybe that's how church should be!"

It was really amazing, and we had a great lesson about faith and repentance, as it helps us to prepare to be baptized. :)

And the closing thought for this week comes from our gospel principles class in 1st ward this week: WORK! I got really excited, because I was thinking about how increased faith in Jesus Christ leads to increased good works, because of the changes we are able to go through with the Atonement... but then, we read together in Exodus 20:9, and I thought to myself, how does it talk about work in the ten commandments???

​It never stood out to me before that when the Lord commanded us to keep the Sabbath Day Holy, He specifically said that we much LABOUR six days, before our rest on the 7th! Interesting thought huh? Don't you just love the gospel?

I sure do!

Well, I hope that your next 6 days of labour are wonderful! And, next week there will be more adventures of missionary work in the TLM! The church is true! That's why I get up at 6:30 and wear a skirt every day! :P

I love you all, keep looking for the Lord's hand in your life!

With all my heart,

Sister Heather Ann Lagrosa

p.s. My old testament reading is in Psalms now, so I think the poet inside of me came out a little the past week, here's a little something (kind of rough, but all from the heart):

​O Lord, my God I come to Thee

In mighty prayer on weary knee.

In search of answers, Lord hear my plea,

I ask not why Thou hast forsaken me.

I know that Thou art,

That the veil keeps us apart,

That Thou wilst hear each prayer I start,

And that Thou wouldst heal this broken heart.

I find in gratitude I pray.

On Thy side I'd like to stay,

But I feel forgotten, I've lost my way,

My Father God, would you help me today?

I know Thou hast in past grief,

I know I have gained relief,

I feel my faith taken by a thief,

And ask Thee, Father to help mine unbelief.

I've come to battle in coat of skin,

Protected from a world of sin,

I ask Thee now to be shod

With the full armor of my God

Be Thou my vision Lord I ask,

Where can I begin with Thy task?

Wilt Thou help me to understand

How I may obey Thy command?

Lead and guide me please my Lord,

I seek Thy Spirit as my sword.

Help me for Heavenly treasure seek,

I know in Thy strength, I'm not weak.

Lord, Please hear my humble cry,

Help me in Thy strength to try,

And help me with this life I live,

And learn my everything to give.

Oh Lord, my God I feel preserved

I may find answer in Thy Word,

Please help me to feel my heart stirred

And through Thy Spirit rest assured.

I'm grateful, Father for Thy Son,

My Savior, Thine Only Begotten,

In His help I've many changes won,

And in His strength, Thy work I've done.

I know Thy plan in divine

A great debt of gratitude is mine,

With my Savior and some growing time,

With Thy Glory I can hope to again shine.

Father I ask Thee as I did then,

To help me learn and be a friend

When off my knees I begin again,

In the name of Thy Son, my Savior, Amen.

Elderettes​! - July 21, 2014

Howdy howdy family and friends!

So, this week has been rather wonderful! Sister Hoover and I had the brilliant idea of printing off a picture of us eating Jack Jordan's (it's a bbq place in Odessa that we eat at when we're away from Midland because we don't have anywhere to go for dinner haha, but they feed missionaries for free, which is a plus!) and, well, we wrote "thank you!" on it, and they put it on their wall! The manager always greets us with a big "HEY! ELDERETTES!" and we love it! Haha, upside to being a missionary, you're really noticed by people, and the ones that love you, really love you! haha, it makes up for some of the not-so-loving-ones out there. :P

Anyway, that but a little spring in our step as we went to work this week, and also, we had a fantastic district meeting, and our district leader, Elder Benbrook was pumping us up a little to help us all remember our positive traits, and he said: "Sister Lagrosa, you're just really diligent, and headstrong..." *que chuckles in the room* "... I mean, that's not what I meant, you work hard, and you go and get things done!" haha, oh man, I replied "Yep, I'll own it, haha" But that was really funny, I am a go getter, but I had that song "Headstrong" stuck in my head all WEEK after that!!! And I haven't even heard it in years! But, life is good, I've got goals this week to memorize some hymns, so that'll be helpful haha!

And the two highlights of the week come in the form of a talk by Elder Holland: "Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence" and member missionary work!

We'll start with the latter, because it's way more exciting!

So, we have two investigators (1 in first ward, Daan; and 1 in YSA, Bryan), who have committed to praying to know for themselves if the Book of Mormon is true, and if Joseph Smith restored the same exact church Jesus Christ established when He was on the earth, under the direction and power of God. They are both searching for truth! And, the reason we met both of them was through the members working hard, being examples, and opening their mouths to share the gospel! Daan received a copy of the Book of Mormon on an 18 hour plane ride, and is now good friends with the nice stranger that he was sitting next to, and was introduced to us by a member who saw him reading that Book when she was walking in their apartment complex! And Bryan is selling Vivant with some LDS guys, and he's had some really amazing examples all around him to show him just how much the restored gospel can bless someone's life! It really does fill my heart with joy (probably from the Spirit :P) to talk to those how are earnestly seeking truth, because I know that is the only way to find Christ... seeking Him is the only way! And He is the way the truth and the life, and that's a pretty big deal!

And lastly, "Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence" this talk has really changed my life, really and truly, I'm not exactly sure how to say it in words, but I'd like to invite each of you to read it, and think about the good decisions you have made in your life. :)

Here's a couple of my favorite quotes from the talk:

"It is the plain and very sobering truth that before great moments, certainly before great spiritual moments, there can come adversity, opposition, and darkness. Life has some of those moments for us, and occasionally they come just as we are approaching an important decision or a significan step in our lives."

"Don't give up when the pressure mounts. Certainly don't give in to that being who is bent on the destruction of your happiness. Face your doubts. Master your fears. 'Cast not away therefore your confidence.' Stay the course and see the beauty of life unfold for you."

"...along with the illuminating revelation that points us toward a righteous purpose or duty, God will also provide the means and power to achieve that purpose. Trust in that eternal truth."

It's pretty amazing that there is eternal truth in this world, in the world, but not of the world.

I love you!

With all my heart,

Sister Heather Ann Lagrosa

...and of course, pictures! :D

So the YSA's had a kayaking trip this weekend, and since we couldn't go, Sister Hoover and I decided to make our own canoeing fun out of our bathtub. :P

​So we found this fishing pole behind a trash can the other day haha, and since we have been called to be "fishers of men" we decided to keep it and hang it on our wall... and then do some fishing off the balcony! (haha don't worry, the reel was trashed, so it doesn't actually work :P)

Oh hey, and Sister Dawes turned 20 yesterday, which makes me feel old now, haha but I made us some roast and potatoes, and ​we had a nice Sister's dinner, it was a good time. :D

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"Becoming Perfect In Christ" - July 14, 2014

Howdy howdy family and friends!

So it's been such an exciting week!!

 

So, in reference to the title of this e-mail, there is an AMAZING article in the July Ensign entitled "Becoming Perfect in Christ" and even though it was written just for me, I'm completely confident that it will benefit you too. :D We all go through different trials of faith, and I feel like the last few weeks, mine have kind of all come together this week, and my brain didn't know how to process all of it. Ether 12:27 is truth, we're given weaknesses so we can be humble and so that we can be made strong! This article really helped me put things into perspective and when I read it Tuesday evening I knew I'd found the answer I was in need of.

 

So to help me understand that answer, Heavenly Father blessed me with a few more experiences to humble me, and whew, I wish I had the words to explain them all, but I used all the resources I knew I had Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and by Saturday evening, shortly after starting a fast to know what it was I needed to learn, I received a great deal of help.

 

Luckily I have an amazing companion, who understands my particular brand of crazy because she's been with me for 5 months, and she took me right to where I needed to be. We caught up with some other sisters in town on their dinner break, one of which has had some similar trials lately and she read Psalm 71 with me, which was more than helpful, we talked and went through some scriptures and it was only after we got back to Ether 12:27, that I realized all the answers are in the scriptures! They can relate to everything in my life... not perfectly, but they relate. And the spirit that was in that room we were talking in was strong, and we were both learning from it.

 

I finally gained the courage to call the mission president, and in a few minutes he somehow understood what I was trying to explain to him, helped me to feel uplifted and encouraged, and got Old Testament on me and gave me a chapter to study, so I could find some solutions to my problems. He told me specifically to pray for "What I needed to learn from the chapter".

 

In case you missed it before, that's totally what I had started my fast about: what I need to learn! And, I indeed found the answers I needed, followed by the best sleep I've ever had as a missionary, and the best 5 hours of church I've ever attended. We talked a lot about fasting, repentance, relying on the Atonement, obedience, and the importance of scripture study! We actually read a lot in Isaiah55 about the Lord's understanding, Isaiah 58 about fasting, and then I read in 3Ne23 about the Savior telling us to study the words of the prophets, especially of Isaiah. :)

 

My testimony of fasting, prayer and learning by the Spirit has increased incredibly, words cannot begin to express the joy I feel.

 

Now, don't get me wrong, I 've still got those problems I need to learn from, but I've really understood better that I am strong, only in Jesus Christ, because He is where all of my strength comes from. And I know more and more every day, that the fullness of Christ's gospel has been restored to the earth, because my God is a God of miracles!

 

I love you! And I hope that if anyone is out there struggling with something, don't feel bad about taking a step back and taking it to the Lord, because His perspective is much greater than ours! :)

 

Just so you know that the week wasn't ONLY hardship, here are some awesome missionary things that happened:

Free Slurpees at 7-11 on Friday the 11th of July!

I got a surprise package from New Mexico on Wednesday, and opened it during our only 20-min break of the day while I iced my tailbone :P

(yes, that is a Hobbs keychain! I<3HOBBS!!)

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We made the greatest lemon bars of your life!!!!!:D

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So this week was filled with a lot of amazing work as well! We were able to help DJ (grandson of Tanya who was baptized 2 months ago), finish his preparations for baptism, and he was baptized on Thursday!

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DJ's program was amazing and so filled with the Spirit! Kids from the ward did everything! All ages 7-16, prayers, talks, and even the baptismal ordinance was done by the youth! It really re-testified to me that we truly do have a great increase in our family when we are baptized into the Lord's Church!

We had another amazing experience with the Spirit when we went to see an older couple in the hospital (Brother and Sister G), and Brother G wasn't doing very good. When we walked into their room another Brother and Sister from the church were visiting, and it just felt really good in there, even though it was really sad that we knew Brother G was dying... We ended up talking about Mosiah 2:17 after the home hospice owner commented on how "close" our "church family" is, because the brethren in the church have been taking turns spending the night with Brother G, so Sister G can get some rest. This reminded me of Brother Smith bearing his testimony last Sunday, and when he said that the nurse, noticing that he was there past visiting hours, asked if he was family, Brother Smith teared up a little when he responded: "Yes, he's my brother!"

After Sister Hoover and I had walked out into the hall, I realized a huge change in how it felt, leaned over and said, "woah, there is a lot of love in that room." There really was, and sadly Brother G passed away that evening, but it is really comforting to me to still be able to hear and feel Sister G's testimony she shared with us about how, even though it's going to be hard, she knows it will be okay, because she will see him again, and she knows with surety that their marriage was indeed for time and all eternity, and not until death parted them.

And I know that having an eternal family is what God wants for all of His children :)

I love you all! Have an amazing week!

Open mic Sunday! Woot-woot! - July 7, 2014

Howdy howdy family and friends!!

So this week was most excellent!

We had a fun p-day last Monday, and had the other Midland Sisters over to write letters and we made them lunch, and we decided we should take some awesome pictures! :)

As you can see I got some big glasses on! I really missed Sister Kramer when we passed a lot of candy at Wal-Mart, and so I decided to get some big hipster glasses... little did I know it'd be the best 5 bucks I've spent in a long time! (see below)

We got to meet the new Mission President and his wife! This is me with Sister Heap, and we TOTALLY have matching glasses! :D haha

The Zone conference we had was amazing, really and truly, we all learned a lot, and even though it was sad to say goodbye to the Augustins, welcoming in President and Sister Heap was really amazing, and we are all going to learn a lot from each other this next little bit. :)

A huge blessing this week came in the form of a new investigator named Jackie, who is a YSA (young single adult) that the 3rd Sisters found and said that I would be perfect for! (not Jacy-- as far as I know but, this was exciting news indeed :P) We had a surprise bike-sprint all the way across Midland to her lesson, but it was so worth it, and her journey to meeting us is an amazing story! But, what stood out to me in our lesson as we spoke with her, is that she is totally searching for TRUTH! And she's talking to us, because she really does want to strengthen her relationship with God. She thought it was interesting that while we believe the scriptures (Bible and Book of Mormon, etc.) to be the word of God, we know that they were written by imperfect men, so there are imperfections in there that are mistakes of men and not of God. The Spirit was so strong in her lesson, especially when we were testifying to her that we as missionaries don't do the converting at all, but it's the Holy Spirit that testifies of truth to us. We read in 1 Corinthians 2, and as we discussed the Book of Mormon, we referenced Mormon 8, while we were talking about how the authors (prophets) in there did not claim to be perfect men either. This lesson was so amazing, and the joy that was there with the Spirit was undeniable, and unforgettable.

This leads me to the title, and close of my e-mail today, I had the opportunity to bear my testimony yesterday during testimony meeting (and I gave a small shout-out to Rickey, who was baptized when I was in 3rd ward last year), because he always says "The church is true woot-woot!" And it's true, the fullness of Jesus Christ's gospel is on the earth today! There is SO much to be excited and joyful about!

 

Mosiah 2:41

I love you all! Keep searching for truth and joy, it's out there... more than you can imagine. I experience that fact every day.

With all my heart,

Sister Heather Ann Lagrosa

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p.s. classic bike-day pump-jack picture. :D Go team!

"I'm here to change the world!" - June 30, 2014

Hello there my dearest family and friends!

I hope this finds you well today, and that you were all able to find time to enjoy that excellent song last week! :D

This past week was pretty excellent! President and Sister Augustin departed, and now we have President and Sister Heap here in the mission, and we are hoping we will be able to meet them this week! There is really a lot to look forward to, and I can't believe the time has passed so quickly! July 4th is coming again, and Sister Hoover and I will be together again! She's something else! :P

This week, while we were working in the YSA branch, we were talking to a lees-active member about how important reading the scriptures is. And everyone has wicked crazy oil-field schedules down here, so he said "I don't even have time to read the back of a cereal box!" So we put a chapter from Alma, and pictures of Christ all over a cereal box for him to read during breakfast. :)

Sadly, that's the only picture I have from the week haha. But all is well!

So, if you were wondering where the quote titling my e-mail comes from today, it's from Tanya (who was baptized almost 2 months ago). :D She's gotten a calling to be a visiting teacher (where women from the church go visit other women, to make sure they are doing okay, and provide some spiritual upliftment regularly), and she was really excited! She said: "I'm here to change the world you know!" with the greatest I'm-new-here-and-it's-going-to-be-awesome! attitude!! That woman inspires me on the daily.

With all of the excitement that was happening this week, I'm not sure how to organize all of the fun things I want to share, so I'll be resorting to a list this week ;)

1- Flash Floods! --> the ground doesn't know what to do with the water when it rains here, and I forgot to write about this last week, but we had a HUGE downpour, and a lot of overcast clouds lately, and it's been really cool, but driving on the road-rivers is crazy!

2- Packages --> So I we thought my Easter package got lost in the mail, but it turns out that I got it, but it was in our apartment building's office! So, even thought it was late... it came at the perfect time, because Sister Hoover really needed the ENTIRE jar of nutella that was in it. hahaha.

3- Prayer, Love and the Spirit! --> I know I've sent this line home before but, it stood out to me again this week: "There are only two kinds of people in the world, those you love, and those you don't know yet!"

With the simultaneous change and consistency that's been happening lately, I've been learning a lot more about prayer, and how to make it more meaningful to building my personal relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I've also been thinking a lot more about love, especially charity, the pure love of Christ, and how that plays the ultimate role in the work I do as a missionary. And with all of this, I've been really pondering and searching deeper for myself on how I can listen to the Spirit, testify of truth, give me guidance, and comfort/build me when I need it most. It's really amazing how these things work together to help me grow, and give me things to personally work on as I try to help others take steps forward as well... The Lord's work never ceases to amaze me, and the converting power to the Holy Ghost is truly incredible!

I'm really, really happy to be here, and I think it's so crazy that we hit our 13-months this week! It feels like yesterday I was walking around BYU campus in a cap and gown for graduation... feeling like it was forever until I could get out here! It's amazing how time flies!!! I've got some great goals though, and a LOT more to accomplish in the next few months that I have... I don't know if anything, or any time will ever feel as important or urgent in my life here on earth. I hope it does, but it's humbling and amazing how we can be consumed in the Lord's work, and the effect His hand has in the lives of everyone I see!

My scripture of awesomeness for the day: (this takes place when there are missionaries (Alma and the sons of Mosiah) that meet up after their missions, and they are best friends that haven't seen each other in a very long time)
Alma 17:2 "Now these sons of Mosiah were with Alma at the time [of his conversion]; therefore Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding, and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God."

This hit me like a freight-train this week, because, we really are building eternal relationships while we are here on this earth, and I know that everyone I'm blessed to meet, and even more blessed to become friends with... I'll rejoice exceedingly when I get to see them again, it's a given. But the even greater joy comes when we see the progress each of us has made. I know I've had a lot of amazing individuals and families help me through different parts of my conversion, and I'm really glad that we are all able to continue to grow, and learn, especially from studying the word of God! :D

I love you all, and I hope find joy in this coming week!

With all my heart,

Sister Heather Ann Lagrosa :D

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