Week 29 - Sonoma Valley

¡Hola hola!

What a week. Tuesday was a really good day. It was filled with many lessons. I realized more about how the spirit testifies of things that are true to us. The spirit also led my companion and I to the exact video that our investigator Leo needed. We had a lesson with Javier and Leo and it was so awesome. Lessons with them are always crazy, we always start talking about one thing and they start asking questions about other things so there are always many topic discussed. Anyway we watched the Mormon message "the hope of gods light" if you haven't seen it I encourage you all to watch it, it is super powerful! But we watched that and we were really able to talk about how important faith. At the end of the lesson Javier committed to be baptized on August 2 and Leo said that he would think about it this week. We tried to get Javier to say a closing prayer because he never prayers for us. There was a blessing in disguise when we couldn't get him to, Leo ended up saying the closing prayer. It was a very powerful prayer, the spirit was very much there. He thanked Heavenly Father for bringing him the missionaries and asked for his help in forgiving himself. We all felt the spirit and he happiness that Hermana Garcia and I felt after the lesson was so amazing. It was so so happy to see our investigators feeling the spirit!

This week our district also did a fast for all our investigators and we were encouraged to check on our Mormon.org accounts!! We did visit Thelma Saturday night to try and see if

Thelma

she wanted to come to church. The spirit was very much with us and led us to the things that we should say. We talked about how we want her to come to church but that Christ does even more. It was a good lesson and we got her thinking, we think she really wants to come to church but she has some inner conflict about it. Basically Satan is working really hard on her, so we pray pray pray that she will find her way! The lords time is perfect so it will all work out!! She wasn't able to come to church but called us Sunday morning and talked to us about why she couldn't. We visited her that night and she had been very upset that some things at home kept her from coming. She was thankful that we came and asked for a new baptismal date so we set one for her on August 2nd as well! We love her so much, prayers this week their she will come to church! We also started reading the bible as a companionship. We figured so many of our investigators know it so well so we really should get more acquainted with it, but reading about Christ is the best!! I absolutely love it, he really does give us the perfect example in everything.

There are times as a missionary that you feel down and you feel you aren't accomplishing much. Someone made a comment about praying for revelation about how to pick back up if you are feeling down and I had been praying for that during some of my prayers. While I was saying my nightly prayer I started to pray for this again and for other things I ask for help with and just stopped. All I thought was this isn't about me and so I prayed for every investigator and potential and less active that I could remember and felt that the way to not be down is to care more about them. Focus on them and love them. I then think I had an impression and a Mormon message came to my mind it's called "The Hope of Gods Light" you should go watch it it's incredibly good. I found it after I laid down and started watching it.

I thought oh maybe I'm supposed to remember this for a lesson or something and I about turned it off but something kept me watching even though I had already seen it. I watched and it got near the end and I just got the feeling that I am here to help people I am the person that some people somewhere need and I am here doing that. It wasn't anything big in fact I didn't notice it until after I thought

about it all, but it was just a small little answer and blessing Heavenly Father gave me today so I thought I'd share. :)

During my studies this week I read a lot about Christ! I can't fully comprehend the love he has for us but it hit me this week that he must have so so much love for us. He suffered for every single one of us and he didn't ever judge. He has eternal hope that we will come to him. Before his suffering in Gethsemane and on the cross he didn't look at individuals and gauge whether he thought they would change or not he just felt immense love for each of us and suffered everything that we ever will. I think that is just amazing. I also read about how if we come unto him he will forever be our advocate and protector, this is so powerful, we have the creator of the world on our side so we really have no need to fear the things of man as long as we are keeping the commandments!! I testify that He is our Savior and that he died for us, but that He lives today! How powerful is that?? :) This week I challenge you all to study a little bit about Christ and his characteristics and teachings!! Take something that he taught and try to work on it!! This is something I try to do everyday. I just love this gospel!

I love you all so much and hope you know how grateful I am for you and your prayers!

Have another amazing week!

Les quiero,

Hermana Foster

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Week 28 - Sonoma Valley

Querido todos!

This week was good! It started off with a fun pday of bowling and basketball. Tuesday I needed up going on surprise exchanges with Hermana Lewis! It was so great. We went to the vets home and saw some people and they are the sweetest and greatest. One of them was named lance and he was a very sassy fellow that had us take him to the store. He had to buy his hot dogs and Honey buns, he wants one for breakfast every morning. After that we had some a&w for dinner and found out that there had been a shooting early in the morning where our apartment was. So we had some phone calls with zone leaders and president about counsel on what to do, so we stayed away for a bit and did some work and the police ended up finding the guy so all was well! We celebrated by buying cherry cokes... Possibly my new addiction... But I didn't say that out loud. Anyway it was a super fun exchange and I love Hermana Lewis she has been my leader since I came to California and is going home this transfer. I'm very sad to see her go she has taught me so so so much about being a missionary and a person and I'm so grateful the lord placed me with her these past couple months! She's the best and is such a great example I strive to be a missionary like her!

Unfortunately we had a lesson with Thelma and she made more excuses about not being able to come to church. It was super sad to hear we explained we couldn't keep visiting if she didn't come and she said she would call us Sunday morning if she felt better. We really thought she was going to be baptized but I guess it isn't her time, but that's ok because the lords timing is perfect! We did get to eat a delicious dinner with the morenos though and that was the best. They are just my favorite and they promised to come to church again, it's cool to see a change happening especially in Hermana Moreno right now!! They both have such powerful testimonies and know the church is true so we just keep working on getting them to feel the spirit and it's whisperings because it will tell them what they need to do. They are my favorite, annnnd it was Bambi's birthday this week!! Oh how I love her, we got the elders and some brownies and ice cream and party hats and we went and had a little party with her. She was so so happy and it made me so so happy as well. It's always always one of my favorite times when we go visit with her!

We were sad to hear about the attack in France from mama Newman this week also. I had shared my favorite scripture D&C: 122:9 in a lesson before we found out and I love how it applies. A sentence says "fear not what man can do for God shall with you forever and ever" and this is so true. He has a plan for each of us and he is going to make sure that everything he has set goes as planned, so we truly don't need to have fear of the wickedness here or what man can do because we have the most powerful on our side. How amazing is the gospel??? Just the best!!! :) And the plan of salvation is another great blessing that I pray those effected in France can come to find!!

I love you all so very much thank you for your prayers and emails! I hope you are all doing great!! Have a great week!! Remember who you are!

Con muchisimo amor

Hermana Foster

Week 27 - Sonoma Valley

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!!! What a great day! It was pday so we hung out and partied with our zone, had a super strange dinner, and then partied with the Evans family for a while. It was the greatest the Evans are so hilarious and are the best, we actually talked a lot about parents!! Because today their son KJ broke his wrist, sprained the other one, and totally scratched his face. Becaaaauuusssee we had a Fourth of July breakfast and his mom left early and told him NOT to ride his bike home alone and then his dad let him ride his bike home alone and he ended up falling and breaking himself. Therefore!!!!! Moms are right.... Hahaa just kidding but no parents know best. They were done with teenagers so we told them it's ok your teenagers will get over thinking they are better than you one day! Oh parents are so important and amazing, shoutout to Mis padres for being the best and helping me to be where I am!! They are my bestest friends and I love them so much and all you parents out there are awesomely amazing!! :)

Here are some of my favorite quotes and ideas that I heard this week:

·      If you look for the bad things in a person you will find them.

·      Period. Everyone has bad thing, but if you look for the good you will find that

·      Changing yourself to be better is the most intelligent thing you can do

·      "There is a reason we are closer to our church friends, the spirit has a way of binding two people together"

·      "Don't have a mission of striving but a mission of thriving"

·      There is no aspect of the gospel of Christ that is beyond your capacity, not nearly! There is nothing about what Christ has taught that you cannot do.

·      You not only can be changed to become more like Christ, the whole of the plan of salvation is designed in favor of your success. The plan of salvation is a not a level playing field. It favors you. It favors not only your success but also the success of each and every one of God's children. Everything has been organized to maximize your opportunity to succeed.

HEYYYYY MY 6 MONTH MARK!!!! YAY!!!!

We had a ton of service today, we went to the garden and planted leaks and then thirty min after that we helped a member move.

Then Hermana Garcia and I celebrated my six months and she bought me McDonalds for lunch haha she's the best!!

We went to visit Shari and that's always an adventure. She's a scrap booker and showed us all her glitter today. She literally has shelves just full of things of glitter she's obsessed and poured some in our hands and my head the whole time had moms voice screaming in it. NO GLITTER IT GETS EVERYWHERE. and if you wanted to know it did, it surely did get everywhere and probably won't leave my hand for years.

Hermana Garcia and I are also trying to be healthier so we made smoothies. It's a recipe Hermana Garcia knows haha it has the nopales (cactus) celery and pineapple.  It was super gross nope nope nope. Celery should be eaten not drunk, that's all. So we made a second one. Better!! Lemon lime orange and spinach

Today we had a tech conference in Napa. It was pretty good just about how we are learning ways here about using technology and we talked about improving and how we can use the things we learn here after the mission as well. We are told to have a purpose every time we unlock our iPad so we know what we are doing instead of aimless looking at things and I think that's a great principle to have so we aren't wasting time.

We got to see Thelma and celebrate her birthday with her! It was fun and she was very happy that we got pizza and ate it with her it was very cute. But the best thing was that it really helped her realize that she wants to come to church! Not sure how. The spirit works in mysterious ways, but it worked and it was great!!

The next day we went to see her and our zone leaders were actually in Sonoma and the spirit guided us to remember you need a baptismal interview before a baptism. We went to see her and asked her the baptismal questions to make sure she was ready for an interview and she answered all the questions spot on, so the zone leaders came and she is ready for baptism!! It's been the coolest thing to see, how she was very hesitant about baptism and church and then she was so so excited.

Then on Sunday she didn't come to church... We even got her a skirt to wear because she didn't have one and wow was it sad. She called us Saturday night and said she couldn't come but she did promise many times that she would come next week so we will see what happens. Prayers that she will come and feel the spirit and come more. We love her so much haha isn't it just hard that everyone has their own agency. But the gospel is such a blessing in our lives! We got to see the Morenos again and meet with a guy named Gonzalo who is a super great guy that we hope reads and prays! The work continues!! A lesson we were going to have on Sunday also canceled so we were trying to decide what to do and Hermana Garcia mentioned Javier and Leo. At that point we had stopped because of traffic and lo and behold we were exactly at the street that Javier and Leo live on. So we went and we were able to have a really good lesson about repentance! I also had a one on one conversation with Javier in Spanish and it helped me realize the progress I have made with Spanish it was the longest one on one conversation I've had in Spanish! :) so very good and Javier asked what he needed to do to be baptized which was also awesome and he promised to come to church because that's what he must do! :)

This week I want to bear my testimony of Joseph smith! He truly was the first prophet of the restoration, I know that with all of my heart! The example he set and the things that he did so the church can exist the way it does today are ridiculously incredible. What an example he is, nothing I experience on my mission will be like the things he experienced on his. I strive daily to be more like him to be willing, open, and always kind. I would invite you all if you have time to watch the restoration movie! It is a powerful representation of everything Joseph went through for the gospel and us! I testify that he was called of God, and that he truly did see our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ that day in the sacred grove, and that he translated the most true book on the earth today the Book of Mormon.

Well love you all lots and I'm so thankful for each one of you and for your prayers!!! They help us out more than you know!!

Con amor,

Hermana Foster

CTR = Choose The Right!!!

I love the Book of Mormon

Me and Hermana Garcia