Week 47 - San Rafael

Hola hola! 

This week the Christmas initiative for the church was launched! If you haven't yet, I encourage you all to go watch it. It brings the spirit every time I see it and I love love love the 25 days of service the church is implementing with it this year. As missionaries here we are really trying to find ways that we can go in harmony with that. So I encourage you all to joy us and grab the calendar with the 25 days on mormon.org. It's such an awesome website actually! My goal is to do an act of service each and every day! I have the things I would like to do each day written down. Imagine if all members and missionaries were to do one act of service according to the chart each day miracle upon miracles could happen! Christmas is the best!

This week I got the opportunity to go on exchanges with Hermana Rivera!! We were able to catch up on so much and I got to go to Rhona park again. Ahh I love Hermana Rivera so much and thankfully she is doing so so much better. She is on a diet that is helping her a lot and is now beginning to slowly go back to other foods so prays all can continue well. She's an amazing missionary that inspires me to be better and just go go go. I was so happy I got to do exchanges with her. We laughed so much and she taught me more about having charity for everyone and about trying as many people as we can with the time allotted to us. We visited with one of their recent converts who went back and forth between English and Spanish, while telling us stories and telling her grandkids what to do. It was the best. I told her I have seven months left on my mission and she lost it saying that wasn't enough time and it shocked me to think I only have that much time left!

We did also meet with our part member family the Paniaguas! Please pray that we can know how to best teach their family as we need to approach the teaching gently. We had the greatest lesson with them on Saturday. We showed the initiative and then just talked and were able to establish the greatest relationship. The daughter Katie is so excited about the church and it's very exciting to see! The lesson we had with them made the week. It's such an experience to be able to feel a part of God’s love for his children here. It always amazes me how I can feel so much love for people I've only visited with twice. 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I hope you all had an awesome one, we were able to have an awesome dinner with the Escamilla family. I didn't even try to list what I am thankful for because there isn't even a place to start, I really have way too many things to be thankful for. But when asked my response was mi familia, I'm grateful they are mine and that they are mine forever. Also there were mashed potatoes at dinner so everything was just grand.

President Wright also called us, I'm not sure if he called every companionship but he called us to tell us over the phone he loved us and was thankful for us and it was the cutest thing ever.

We visited with Jaro again as well who actually turns out to be Jairo! But we read the introduction with him and he asked questions and had comments and even found his way to asking about tithing in our church. So we explained it and he totally understood and shared a story about tithing in his life. He is so awesome and he again told us we could come twice a week so prayers things can continue and that he can feel of the spirit. It's the best to teach people really, my favorite thing so it was awesome to talk with him. And speaking Spanish also my favorite I love it.

Today my best friend Brooke got married. I saw some pictures on Facebook and they looked really good and she looks happy. It was kinda sad not being able to be there but it's all okay! What do you do when your best friend get married?  You wear the pearl necklace she gave me and I made our district wear Brooke's wedding colors because I can.  We lined up as if we are the wedding line we just need Brooke and Nathan in the middle of us :-)

Pearl Necklace Brook gave me!

Brooke's wedding line in California 

Well I love you all!! Welcome to Christmas month, I hope everything is awesome!! Remember to emulate Christ's example and love always. Thanks for all your prayers and love!! 

Les quiero muchísimo 

Hermana Foster 

Don't ask, I don't know!

The Christmas Tree my mom sent me that I am in love with!!!

The Umana Family that is moving to Utah.

Week 46 - San Rafael

Hola todos!! Este semana fue ocupado, cansado, y un poco divertido. :) 

Monday was a super fun pday for us! We actually did something and we went to this little part of the beach. We had to hike a ways to it but it was probably the greatest decision ever. It was cool outside and we ran around for a while and took some nice pictures. It was a SO fun and nice to be outside for a bit.

The Beach

We were able to do more exchanges this week and I was able to go with sister James to Rhona Park! Sister James is just incredible and so so fun, we had a blast together and she is just the most loving person ever. It's a blessing to be able to go on all these exchanges with different sisters they all are so great and teach me so much about being a missionary. I got to meet some of the people they are teaching and we had such an awesome family home evening about Christ.  I think Christ has become my favorite thing to talk about out here, it's just such a cool opportunity to share with others the things they can access through Christ.

We also played a game with the family and if you were wondering adult headbands is super hard, I don't recommend you play it unless you have a significant portion of time laid out. Sister James and her companion actually share an apartment with Hermana Rivera and her companion and that night we actually had to take Hermana Rivera to the ER for stomach pains. They aren't sure what is going on still so they have her on a diet but please keep her in your prayers if you could. If the diet doesn't work she might have to go home to get more tests done and she so doesn't want that. So our night was spent in the ER.

But Sister James and I got to hang out for a while and got to know each other she's so excited to be a missionary and hearing the goals she was holding herself to was inspiring. It reminded me how much goals can motivate us. And the elders so lovingly came to the ER to give Hermana Rivera a blessing during that time. The Priesthood power is real and made the pain she was feeling lessen a lot. So that was the real adventure for the week and I was glad to be there to help Hermana Rivera as much as I could she's the greatest. 

We did get to visit with a part member family this week and the non member husband set a return appointment with us and said that they would see us at church on Sunday. It was our first time meeting with them and he was taught about a year ago so seeing how the Lord has touched his heart was very exciting we hope to continue meeting with them. They have two cute little boys that were playing with us while we tried to teach. 

We visited with Jaro our investigator as well!! We had a super awesome lesson with him where we taught the restoration. Jaro was super involved and made a lot of comments. He also had read in the Book of Mormon and had tried coming to church the past week but hadn't been able to find the church and he had also brought a friend with him. He is a missionary without knowing it after our first lesson he told his friend that he needed to meet with us because he was confused about some beliefs. So cool!! But we visited with him and he accepted the invitation to be baptized once he learned more and found it was true for himself! He also invited us back and told us we should coke twice a week which never happens. So it was very exciting!! Prayers that all can continue well with him. He is so awesome.

We did go and visit Alma Jara for a little bit and she has been having some bad back problems so she hasn't been to church in a while so it was good to see her. She asked us if we wanted a chicken, I’m talking a living chicken.  She said we could kill it and that the meat was super good fresh, we loving declined. 

We also meet with the Escamilla family who are my favorite. Their little boy Cali is our investigator and he has a complicated situation but we talked a lot about baptism this week and why it's important. The three kids really get the gospel and it's the cutest seeing them all trying to answer every question. He said that he was nervous and we were able to talk about how sometimes in life we can be nervous about things and that things can be hard but if we are following what god wants he will always bless us with so much more happiness.

And we found another part member family! The spirit lead us to be there at the exact right time when they were coming home so they let us in. We had a lesson with the whole family about giving thanks and the wife really opened up about the doubts she has with the church. My amazing companion bore such strong testimony. We talked a lot about our purpose as missionaries and how we weren't sent out to be professors of the Mormon religion but we are here because we know the joy we find from the gospel and if we can help someone to feel the joy of God’s love then we are fulfilling what we are trying to do in inviting people to come unto Christ.

So it's been a busy week with many ups and downs. The church's Christmas initiative will come out this week! #LIGHTTHEWORLD I encourage you all to share it with as many people as you can the gospel is so great and I love it with all my heart! Have a super fantastic thanksgiving!!!!! Remember all that we have to be grateful for, there are way too many blessings to count always. Hug your families and love them!!! Love you all!!

Con agradecimiento y amor, 

Hermana Foster

San Rafael District

A mini violin one of her best friends sent

Week 45 - San Rafael

Querido mis amados hermanos,

Another week down and what a week it was!

Tuesday was a day of miracles for us. The Lord really worked his magic this day. We were able to contact a referral (Jaro) at the exact right time. Many things happened including our dinner being moved to an unusual later time for us to be in the right place at the right time. We also got the referral for Jaro from our zone leaders on Monday and then on Tuesday the Spanish Elders called us with the same exact one so we figured we might as well try it. And man did the spirit guide us to find his house.

His house was all the way down a dirt road tucked into this corner of trees. When we knocked Jaro answered the door and invited us immediately in. We sat down and started talking, he told us about eight years ago someone had invited him to church and he went but wasn't too interested but said that now he feels more prepared to learn and attend.

He thanked us so much for coming and continued to say that he hoped this wasn't the only time we would come. (Little did he know we were speechless on the inside and quite shocked) So we set a return appointment with him and he agreed to come to the día de la raza party at the church on Saturday and said he would try to be at church that week without us inviting him first. It was amazing and so cool! Nothing like that had ever happened in my mission before and it was a very shocking and happy thing! What a cool experience and how blessed we are that the Lord can micromanage our lives while still allowing us to have agency.

I also got to do exchanges with sister Waite who is so awesome! So I got to be in Petaluma for a bit this week. We were able to visit with the sweetest people and talk a lot about Christ. There's nothing better to talk about!

There was a Book of Mormon class with some members that I just loved.

A member there made the coolest connection as she compared Joseph Smiths experience with the Angel Moroni to Moses experience with God. How exhausted he was and how spiritually uplifted as well. Then she talked about how the witnesses were so excited to touch the plates of gold and compared it to when the people were so excited to touch Christ after his resurrection. She was so cool and just so excited about the gospel and it inspired me.

She talked about how when she converted she felt herself walk into the kingdom of god and that nothing else mattered but that.

Nobody needs to freak out about if a Democrat or Republican is president because those are the kingdoms of the world and we belong to the kingdom of God. What a great blessing we have!

She had such an excitement and love for the gospel and her savior that was inspiring. But it was great to do exchanges and Sister Waite is such an awesome missionary that I was able to learn a lot from, she is always always happy, positive, and laughing and it's infectious.

For a funny story right before we went in for the night we tried to heart attack a family and it dramatically failed when the son opened the garage and walked out to get something... it was an experience.

We also had día de la raza, it was an international party that is held every year where everyone brings food from their country and things. There was food from all kinds of countries. El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, México (of course), Russia, Italy, Tonga, Fiji and some others. It was so fun and there were so many different types of food that were so yummy. There was also a talent show and there were some Tongan dances and many Hispanic dances and little kids did things. The eight missionaries from the branch and ward also did a little performance and whether it was good or not we may never know. But the party was really fun and there were tons and tons of people there. 

The Cultural Hall decorated for the día de la raza

For a little spiritual thought here is a quote I read this week! "Christ and his Atonement are standing in the wings, anxiously waiting to be summoned, the question is not whether the savior paid the purchase price - he did - but whether we are willing to avail ourselves of his sacrifice by repenting." I've probably talked about Christ and his atonement a lot in my emails but it's what I'm studying right now and I LOVE it so much. Some of my favorite points I studied this week are:

•       There was no partial drinking of the cup, no selective discrimination in absorbing certain sins and not others; he would take upon him the sins of the whole world. Nothing would be left on the table.

•       The atonement can open the door to Godhood if we will but turn the key.

•       It also talked about the sons of perdition. I'd always wondered what if there was a spirit that walked out and immediately regretted it. Is it fair that the atonement doesn't extend to them for repentance? But the Book talks about it and really they knew everything, like everything. Every one of that one third knew the ENTIRE plan and knew that no matter what, no matter what fear they had, no matter what happiness they had, no matter what choice they made or what sin they committed. If they only choose to follow Christ everything would be taken care of. Literally everything, the atonement gives us basically an ultimate amount of chances to repent and they knew that and still choose to walk away. Really as long as we choose to accept Christ, the plan of salvation is proof that with Christ we are saved. I also imagine we didn't let them walk out of heaven easy it must have been that we sat and pleaded with them to not leave because we knew the consequences that were ahead, but they used their agency as we are using ours. 

So just always remember Christ is there in literally EVERYTHING and all things he wants to help and heal!

I hope you all had a fantastic week! Love you all!

Les quiero,

Hermana Foster