#9 - Hola!

Hello! And Happy 4th of July!

I am so grateful to live in a free country, and for all the men and women who give their lives to help us have that freedom.

Side note- we didn't end up going to Yosemite last week, but instead went bowling which was super fun!

Marin is Pescadora

This week was awesome! So first, we had zone conference on Wednesday, and because President Clark left Thursday, this zone conference included 5 of the 8 zones in the mission- so many missionaries!! We had some really incredible trainings. The assistants talked about why miracles cease, and recommitted us to being exactly obedient and not being afraid to correct or be corrected. It can be really hard to accept correction from others, but I really liked how one missionary described it. You correct others because you love them and you don't want them to be held back from what they can become. 

Then Sister Clark talked about motivation, why we do what we do. There's many reasons to go on a mission, or really anything in life, some are forced to go, some go out of duty, some because there's a reward at the end. But the best level is out of charity and love. Whatever you're doing, it's important to understand your own motivation, and when you do something out of love for someone else that's when you can really grow and can leave with no regrets.

President Clark talked about being TDUCAB missionaries: True Doctrine Understood Changes Attitudes and Behaviors. Understanding the why behind what we do is more important than just teaching the application of how to do it. He also talked a lot about family history, and he feels like it's going to be a big push of the new president. Sister Maxwell and I really want to work with doing family history with the ward here in Madera. And today at the dentist we mentioned we were missionaries and the dentist said he goes over to our building all the time because he loves finding out about his ancestors! I would invite you all to spend some time looking into your ancestors and family history!

Also at zone conference they have all the departing missionaries bear their testimonies, and at the end my companion got up!!! This is literally her last transfer and she purposefully didn't let me know until that moment that she's going home. But she's such a great example because this whole time she keeps saying how hard she wants to work this transfer, and I never would have guessed. The time we have to serve God full time is very limited, and it's important to spend every minute focused on missionary work.

This week we were teaching a guy and his four year old kept talking to us (he was so cute!) He said he got these plushies from Santa Claus...And then his Dad told him it was Santa Cruz, not Santa Claus. That made me laugh!

We went on exchanges again this week in Kerman and it was incredible! Somehow we ended up teaching a lot of the same people I met last time I was in Kerman, and even one lady we just ran into on the street a few weeks ago who is now getting baptized! 

This week I just saw so many tender mercies from God. One day we were teaching a lady and she kept saying this word that my companion and I didn't understand. But then it suddenly clicked that I had heard that word so many times before when I took spanish in high school. I thought when my spanish teacher kept talking about the history of Spain I would never use it in my life, but because she had, I knew that "musolmanes" was Muslim, and I could actually understand this lady! She was talking about different religions and how we need to respect everyone. God knows exactly what we need, not only now, but in the future!

Have an incredible week! Love you all!

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Hermana Marin Fisher

California Fresno Mission