#21 - Saturday Saints....

Hello!!!

This guy we met this week gave us chicken and said he wanted to be a Saturday Saint (Latter Day saint). He's pretty cool! But he prefers english, so we had to pass him over to the English elders. 

Luis #2 who gave us BBQ chicken! (Saturday Saint)

This guy is the best member ever, he's the one who baptized Luis, and 20 years ago he was in a wheelchair and paralyzed, and now he can do hand stands.. I don't know how!

Most of what we did this week is in my recording! But the highlight was definitely Manuel's baptism!!!!! (I'll send pictures next week) It was so sweet, and so many people from the ward came, and President Mackay came too! He's going to come teaching with us so we're really excited.

Met a lady who was 93 the other day, and she stood up to say a prayer!

I wanted to share a scripture in John 4 that talks about member missionary work that the English bishop shared with us yesterday

 35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.

36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.

37 And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.

The missionaries are the reapers, and the members are the sowers. I realized that before my mission I didn't do a lot of sowing. I definitely could have done a lot more to share the light of Jesus Christ with others. So I'd like to invite you all this week to find some way to reach out to someone that needs that light and to share it. 

Some guy gave us flowers, and then we gave them to Luis #2 

Love you all!

#20 - Exchanges, An Apostle, Temple Trip, Miracles!

Hello!!

Exchages with other sister missionaries

Fresno West 'Best Zone' at the temple

This week was so much fun! So much packed into one week.

First off, we had exchanges with Hermana Malpica and Hermana Whitney, who are serving in Los Banos. We got a picture with a whole bunch of sisters too :)

Then we had a temple trip on Friday. We only get to go once a quarter, so it's a really special experience. I love just going to the temple and feeling so much peace. Afterwords, we went to Chick-fil-a, and this person offered to pay for our lunch, and the assistant manager is a member and gave us coupons for free milkshakes, everyone was just so sweet and we felt really blessed. On the way back, we stopped by and visited our Bishop's wife, since they live all the way in Fresno near the temple, and we're not over there very often. She said she almost never gets visitors, and we had a really sweet experience with her singing "I believe in Christ" and sharing Mosiah 4:9, which says to believe in God, and believe that He is, and we can't comprehend everything that He can do. Faith may seem so simple, but it's what begins all of our actions and character.

Then Sunday was Stake Conference, and Elder Quentin L. Cook came! He's one of the 12 apostles, like with Elder Renlund came to the MTC. The interesting thing is though, I don't really know what Elder Cook said exactly, and that ended up not being the highlight of the day. I know you're probably all thinking, what can top an apostle coming to speak? But our investigator Chuy did! He's never been to church, although we've been teaching him for two months, because he feels like he can't change what he's done in the past. He drove all the way to Fresno, then called us when he got to the church and said there were too many people and he couldn't do it. We ran out the building and down the street after him, and after 30 minutes outside, singing hymns, praying, and telling him he could do it, he FINALLY CAME!!! We were going to stay in the main congregation and listen, but because he was there, we went to the Spanish translation room, and so I wasn't completely sure what was said. But afterwords he said he wanted to meet the Mackays (our mission president) who had spoken. When we introduced them, President Mackay just gave him a huge hug and we were all crying. He finally got the strength to overcome his fear, and we know he felt the Spirit so strong. Afterwords we walked around the temple, and explained how he could go there someday, and it really touched him. Such a miracle!!!

From what I gathered, Elder Cook and Elder Pingree of the Seventy talked about the importance of the little things. They both talked about reading our scriptures, praying. One quote we learned from the Valentine sisters later was, "If you don't read your scriptures or pray, you've made your choice". It's pretty direct, but it's true. They explained how important the temple is, how we need to go. We can experience grand miracles in life, but it's the daily things that strengthen us and are really going to help us on our way.

Also, this week we switched to the early (Normal) missionary schedule, being in at 9, or 9:30 if you're in a lesson. It's been kind of weird. I've actually had a moment to breathe at night. I realized this week that I can't be trying to do everything at once, we accomplish things by doing one thing at once.

I hope you all have a fantastic week, I love you all!!

#19 - And then there were 3!

Hello!!!

 Biggest news of the week - we're in a trio now! On Wednesday we had interviews with President Mackay and most of our interview was discussing whether or not our apartment could fit 3 missionaries. One of the other sisters in the mission was having some health problems, so her companion, Hermana Balls, is going to be with us the rest of the transfer! It's super fun being in a tri-panionship. President called us during dinner Thursday to ask if we could spend the night in the mission home with her. I feel really lucky because you usually only spend two nights in the mission home: You're first night in the mission and you're last. It was really fun though. Because it was so last minute, we had permission to finish up our appointments and just drive over to Fresno when we were done. We got there at 10:30, which is lights out on the early schedule. Driving down California 99  at 10 o'clock at night is pretty fun! The next morning President and Sister Mackay had taken the other sister to the airport so we just went exploring during our morning run, got ready, and headed out after 7:55 prayer.

Elders messing with our apartment, turning stuff upside down and crazy.

When we got back to the apartment the elders had just dropped off a third mattress, we went inside to find everything upside down, and the soap in the freezer...thanks elders! 

Other news, we got a new bishop yesterday in Madera! Obispo Pereyra. He's really awesome and we're really excited to work with him! He shared a sweet testimony about how after he went to go talk to the Stake President, he just felt really overwhelmed, and all the doors were locked so he couldn't go back into the church to take a breather. But that church building is right next to the temple, and he went in and told us about how much peace he felt. Temples are incredible, and I'm so grateful we have the opportunity to go this week!

Last week a friend asked me about how we can feel God's love when it seems like there's a lot of destruction and bad in the world. I want to share with you all a verse I read this week in Doctrine and Covenants (Which is another book of scripture that contains the writings of modern prophets)

1 Verily I say unto you my friends, fear not, let your hearts be comforted; yea, rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks; 2 Waiting patiently on the Lord, for your prayers have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and are recorded with this seal and testament—the Lord hath sworn and decreed that they shall be granted. 3 Therefore, he giveth this promise unto you, with an immutable covenant that they shall be fulfilled; and all things wherewith you have been afflicted shall work together for your good, and to my name’s glory, saith the Lord.

I really like this scripture, because it explains just how much God, our Heavenly Father, treasures every single one of our prayers. It can be really easy to lose hope when there's destruction all around. But we can always pray, and He always hears us. Trials often come to make us stronger, all of our afflictions "work together for our good". First there was the hurricane and then this week we heard about the Earthquake in Mexico. Madera is little Oaxaca, and all of the members here, and all the people we're teaching have family right there where it happened. But they are such good examples of hope to me. Luis told us yesterday that is daughter's house fell apart, but he was so grateful to God for keeping his family safe. Even when there's hard times, there's still miracles, and God is still looking out for us. This week I'd like to invite you all to look for ways that God is there and loves you. He hears and answers every single one of our prayers, in any situation, experience, or language. Love you all!

Sorry one of the pictures is really fuzzy - but meet Hermana Balls! She's holding one of Chuy's chickens in one of the pictures. 

Hermana Marin Fisher

California Fresno Mission

1814 N Echo

Fresno, CA 93704

#18 - More Adventures!

Hello everybody! Sorry for forgetting pictures last week.

This week was crazy! On Wednesday we did the Pisca de Uvas, or grape harvesting to turn them into raisins! The church has a huge vineyard here in Madera, and every year during the harvest, all of the 8 stakes here help out to harvest the grapes. I've heard about this my whole life from my dad and was so excited to get to do it! Things I learned:
1) It's very messy, I was completely covered in dust

2) It takes a lot of skill. All of our recent converts and two of our investigators came and they did probably 20 tablas (sheets of raisins) in the time I did 3.

3) SO MUCH FUN!

I am amazed at how humble and sweet everyone here is. They all wake up at 3 in the morning to work in the fields every day, and then they came back at 4 in the afternoon to work for another 3-4 hours just to serve and help people who don't have food all around the world. 

On Saturday Hermana Feldman was sick, so I called a whole bunch of people in the ward so we could go on splits, so she could stay and rest and I could go out and teach. She ended up staying with our friend Maria, and I went out and taught with Hna Sierra, who hasn't been to church in a while, but we've been teaching her grandkids. She had never gone out with missionaries before and it was such a sweet experience for her! We also took one of the young women out with us, and she's preparing to go on a mission. She doesn't speak a lot of spanish, but I translated for her and I could just feel how strong her testimony was as I repeated what she said. We had a miracle too. The key to our car is a bit finicky at times, and usually when it doesn't work, we know we have to talk to one more person. This happened saturday, and we kept knocking on other  doors but the car still wouldn't open. Finally I said we should pray and the four of us all prayed together and then immediately when I pushed the button the door opened!! Prayer works, I'm telling you all! And it was so sweet for those two to have the experience of seeing miracles of missionary work.

Also, this month is going to be crazy. They counted up each companionship goal in our zone for baptisms, and our goal as a zone is 33. And last month we had 4. Our leaders said that this is going to be the month that changes the rest of our missions. We all fasted together yesterday and every night every companionship is praying for every single one of those 33 people by name. We're going to be exactly obedient, sacrifice, pray, and work with members to accomplish this goal. We're so excited!

We had transfers Tuesday. We got a new elder in Madera 3 - Elder Nelson who's from Virginia. So every night at dinner it's two missionaries from Chicago (I don't know if I ever mentioned this but Elder Mederos went to Naperville Central, but we never met before), and two from Virginia. YSA also got a new sister, Sister Buchanan, who's from Utah and is super sweet! We really enjoy having them next door now. 

Wednesday we cleaned a member's yard and afterwords they fed us lunch, but the elders couldn't go in because there wasn't a guy there, so we had a picnic outside. Super fun!

Pictures: bertoldo's baptism, Marinelo cookies, our picnic, the American missionary cars (red, white, and blue), and Grape harvesting!

Love you all!

--

Hermana Marin Fisher

California Fresno Mission

1814 N Echo

Fresno, CA 93704

#17 - Ihop, Bertoldo's Baptism, Transfers!

Good Morning everybody!!

This week was awesome! I'm sending a recording of  most of our week, but the highlight was definitely Bertoldo's baptism! He was a referral from a member who met him once at soup kitchen, they don't even really know each other. He's 62 and super sweet. He told us that he thought that being confirmed and getting the Holy Ghost would be like having a dove on his head, and his testimony was all about the Book of Mormon. He's read half of it in a month! And Joanna finished the Book of Mormon this week! I attached his testimony too.

Friday we had lunch at the Buffet with Luis Vasquez and Hermano Chavez. They're so sweet too. Last week we got two referrals from Luis's, and one of them is the little brother of a guy in YSA. He came to church on Sunday and he's so prepared and has the strongest testimony already of God and Jesus Christ.

On Tuesday we joked that the Valentine YSA sisters should move into the empty apartment next to us that used to have elders, and then a few days later they moved in! They were creeped out by one of their neighbors on the other side of Madera so the Zone leaders told them to move. It's so much fun to have them right next door.

Transfer Calls were on Saturday!! The Valentine sisters came over and we ate watermelon while waiting for the call. Sister Rhodus is leaving and going to the ward where the mission president lives! She's training a new missionary, Sister Dixon is staying and training a new missionary, and  Sister Feldman and I are staying! We're the only companionship in the zone that wasn't affected by this transfer call, kind of crazy! We're so excited to just keep working hard here in Madera.

This week I found a new favorite scripture: Romans 8:38-39 (last two verses of the chapter). Absolutely nothing can separate us from the love God has for us. He has an infinite love for us and no matter what He's always there, and Jesus Christ knows everything we're going through. There are so many incredible ways God and Jesus Christ have shown their love for us, and I would invite you all this week to look for those ways and the little things in your life this week!

Quotes of the week:
"I be trippin with Alma!!" (A member we're teaching )

-"Saturnino, you're the best!"

- "Yo se que si" (Yeah, I know), really nonchalantly

Palabras en espanol:

calcomanias - stickers

Aumento, mico, armazon (all parts of glasses, frames, lenses, and the little frame on bifocals)

Love you all!

--

Hermana Marin Fisher

California Fresno Mission

1814 N Echo

Fresno, CA 93704

#16 - LUIS GOT BAPTIZED!!

 
This week was fantastic!!!!

On Saturday Luis (Viz) got baptized!!! It was probably the sweetest baptism I had ever attended. So many people from the ward came to support him. The brother in the ward who baptized him has literally become his best friend, he drove him to Fresno for work, brought him dinner, and they're just the cutest friendship I've ever seen. And four of our other investigators came to the baptism! Chuy walked in late and announced, "Buenos Tardes!" to everyone, and they all said that they felt really special. Bertoldo has now been to two baptisms, and he'll be going to his own this next Saturday! And the Elders told us just a few days ago that the goal for the ward this year was 20 baptisms, and Luis was #20! And Petra and Jose went and they said they remembered the Spirit and peace they felt when they were baptized. I literally could not smiling the whole day. And Luis bore his testimony and I'm sending a recording of it! (It's in Spanish, but  he's saying that he's really grateful for the scriptures and how great he feels to be baptized and how he's changed). He's my favorite person!!

Also, yesterday at church Bertoldo brought a friend! And Frank (who got baptized in the Spring) came back from Oregon! He found out yesterday that he was moving, arrived Sunday morning, and went straight to church, because he hasn't been able to go in two months. I've been hoping he would come back because he would be such a good friend to all of our investigators right now, and God totally answered my prayer and now he's back!

On Tuesday we went to Clovis for a doctor's appointment, and we asked Sister Mackay if we could join her for brunch. We got to go to the new mission home and eat omelettes with her. She is so sweet! And we got to talk to the workers outside in Spanish. It was really awesome to just get to know her better.

We also got a picture from Manuel, which was really random but really fun!

Also, what happened with the solar eclipse? I just heard about it a few days ago, and Joanna was telling us that the electricity was going to be out and it was going to be pitch black, but we didn't really notice anything this morning, except it being a bit more shady. 

I decided to do the Book of Mormon challenge myself! I shared 2 Nephi 4:19, which talks about who we can trust in. I would encourage you all this week to read it and think about how you can put more of your trust in God and in His son Jesus Christ.

Spanish Words:

bags for our scriptures that Adilene's brother gave us

quitanieves- Snow Plow (I will probably never use this word, I heard it snowed once in Fresno like 20 years ago)

Libras- Pounds

Chipilon - Daddy's girl, Momma's boy

Trono- crack (Like cracking your knuckles)

Tongue Twister- Trabalenguas, por ejemplo:

Trest tristes tigres tragaban trigo estres tristes trastes en un trigal, en un trigal, tres tristes tigres, tragaban trigo en tres tristes trasto

Have a great week! Love ya!

--

Hermana Marin Fisher

California Fresno Mission

1814 N Echo

Fresno, CA 93704

#15 - Hola (again)!

Our plants!

 We got two plants this week in the same day. This guy literally just came out of his house with a plant and told us that it was a gift. Then at another lesson a different guy gave us a cactus. So random, but now we have two plants. They're named Itaa and Quinoa.



Wednesday was exchanges with Hermana Whitney and Hermana Malpica who are serving in Los Banos! (Yes there's a city here named Bathroom ). I learned SO MUCH. I was with Hermana Whitney and she was just so confident, and I'm really wanting to work on being bolder. They're so sweet! Also, Hermana Whitney told me that in the middle of the night she woke up and I was speaking spanish....I have no idea what I said but that's kind of cool! And we baked Banana Bread!

Zone Conference! We talked a lot about working with members. He had everyone write down as many ward leaders as we could remember, and not just Brother____ and Sister___ But first names, children, and information about them. I realized that I really do not know the ward very well. It's hard because a lot of times I don't completely understand what people are saying, but I'm going to work on it! Missionaries are awesome, but the members stay in the area, and really help support people. Also, we sang the song "When someone cares", and I realized that I recognized the tune, but not the words. It finally clicked that I listened to the spanish version of the song in high school on one of our girl's camp CD's. My favorite line is, "With God nothing is impossible", o "Con Dios, nada imposible es". So true. We see miracles every single day!

Exchanges with Sister Whitney (blonde) and Sister Malpica

Update on Joanna: We are teaching 6 people in her house, and they are all at different points! Two are recent converts (Petra and Jose) But one prefers spanish, one prefers English. Then we just started teaching her cousin. Their family is so awesome! They're always so sweet, and we sort of do split lessons where Hermana Feldman teaches someone and I teach the other, in Spanish and English. This week Joanna recorded herself doing the Book of Mormon challenge I mentioned last week and it was so sweet! She picked 1 Nephi 3:7.

We had this crazy dinner this week when we showed up and 10 minutes in another family showed up that lives there. They seemed to recognize us, but we didn't recognize them, but they were really sweet, and they all wanted to talk to us. The son wanted to show us his graduation video he made, the mom was speaking the most fluent Spanglish I'd ever heard, the lady we were actually there to visit was trying to listen, and all at the same time we were sort of teaching the story of Joseph Smith and the song "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" was playing in the background. I'm still not really sure what happened or if we really taught, but everyone was happy!

Baptism with Maylin, she was so happy that we came!

Church was awesome!! Bertoldo and Luis came, so they can both get baptized in the upcoming week!! Luis has a date for this saturday, and Bertoldo for next Wednesday. They both love reading in the Book of Mormon and are the sweetest people ever. And yesterday one of the 8 year olds in the ward got baptized, and Bertoldo got to go and said it was beautiful and he's so excited!

This week I learned where the term "gringo" comes from. We were driving this member named Martha to a lesson, and we were teaching her a bit of English. We got to a stop light and she said, "green- go!" and then explained to us that because for Americans green means go it just kind of got mixed together. Fun fact of the day!

We learned a lot about following where the Spirit leads us this week. We ran into so many people who just really needed our message. I'd encourage all of you to pray for someone you can reach out to this week, and you will be led to someone you needs you!

--

Hermana Marin Fisher

California Fresno Mission

1814 N Echo

Fresno, CA 93704