The Missionary Life of: Week 27

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