Pictures!

Aaron's Baptism

A Mexican birthday party and a Cactus farm

Random Pics

October 15, 2011‏

Hello hello!

So mom we watched conference in the stake center, they have it broadcast in spanish and english. got the halloween package, thanks!!!!! What other questions? 

It was such a good week in Cali!!! Aaron got baptized yesterday!  We found out that Hermana Marquez and I will be staying together this transfer! And it was my favorite Sunday so far in the mish....the primary program! I wish I could describe how cute it is when the little ninos speak spanish but it is so cute!  

I am so humbled every single week. Right now our ward is really struggling. There are only 2 or 3 members who are fulfilling their callings and the attendance at church is very low. On top of that the few transfers before I got here there were quite a few baptisms, but now none of them are still active. We had a ward council meeting yesterday and only us missionaries and the Bishop showed up haha! But it was good because we got to make some plans to try to help the ward! It was very insightful because we have 3 new solid investigators lately but the struggle is always getting them to church. The  Bishop was basically talking to us about how the Lord is probably not going trust our ward with baptisms if they are not ready and going to talk care of them, and asked for our help to strengthen the ward right now. We have been visiting so many ward members and less actives and recent converts and I am just so humbled every time. They all have soo much going on and such serious problems, like I can see and feel why they are slacking from church...but it is also so interesting to see how not being active during the hard times is the exact opposite of what they truly need! I don't know exactly what the solution is for our ward....I just feel the need to pray and fast a lot! 

At the same time there are little miracles all over the place! Aaron's baptism was so amazing! Although there wasn't a whole lot of ward support his whole family came! And only he and his mom are members, so it was basically a roomful of non members and the spirit was so strong! The elders pretty much taught the first lesson through their testimonies while Aaron was changing and, aw you can't explain the spirit, but it was just really amazing. On the night of Aaron's baptismal interview we ended up having to park kind of far away. After wards we came out and it had been raining like crazy! One side of the street was flooded where all the water was draining. The problem was we had parked across the street haha. We ended up walking up the entire street to find a shallow spot to cross...then when we were five feet away from our car I stepped in a puddle so it was all pointless anyways haha. But it was cool because as we were walking back down the street, we felt like we should knock a door, we knocked and an old guy answered the door and said oh my goodness come in! Haha he felt bad for us because we were soaking wet! We got to share the first the lesson with him and his wife and talk about the Book of Mormon. We could not have planned that to happen that way! But I don't think if we were super wet we would have gotten into that house...Heavenly Father has the coolest plans for us that we don't even know about!

Being a missionary is soo cool! There is soo much hype right now from conference about missionary work! It is so awesome! Do you know any fun halloween games? We are having a misionary halloween activity...

Love,

Hermana Mulliner

week and a half later...

So Monday all the libraries were closed and none of us missionaries realized that until that day so we couldn't all email at the church in time! Yesterday we had a zone conference with all the missionaries serving in the valley, in was sooo good! And in english...maybe that's why I thought it was soo good because I understood it! haha. so we couldn't email yesterday either, so today is the day.

 

I don't know what to write about today! haha so here is a random selection of what has happened in North Hollywood lately...enjoy:

 

Everyone is taking that "Ask the Missionaries" thing to heart! Right after that session a member offered to take us to lunch. He was talking about that talk and said he wanted to ask us something. He is from Guatemala, and proceeded to tell us the situation he is in and asked us if he should marry this american girl so he can be legal here..haha! I was thinking, um I don't think this is the kind of thing Elder Nielson was talking about!

 

A member told me I was gaining weight, haha I have come to appreciate the bluntness of the latino culture :) So I was freaking out all the way to our next appointment and Hernana Marquez was giving me her mission wisdom and I was trying to think what jillian michaels would do! We show up at our next appointment, which is at 8 p.m. after we have already had dinner and we are just supposed to teach a short lesson to this family, they tell us to come in and sit down. She has made fried tortillas and fried eggs with cheese and served us each a massive plate. Then she grabs my plate before I am even finished and puts more on. Then for dessert we have pan dulce and hot chocolate...ya I was thinking heavenly father you are so funny!

 

So we are working with this member...he is hilarious he calls us "sisters" it sounds like "seesters" so he's always saying "oh gracias seesters, o perfecto seesters, oh si seesters" its pretty priceless. He talks a million miles a minute so that is pretty much what I understand of what he says, then I just giggle to myself until I recognize him say it again. Anyways we are helping him share the gospel with his neighbors, and we are also teaching an hermana's mom. This hermano has a crush on this hermana. They went on a few dates and he was telling her about how marriage is a commandment on the second date and she got freaked out ...etc and that little "ask the missionaries" talk has them both asking us what they should do. haha...

 

We are eating lunch with these 2 elderly members from mexico. The bottled water I had was frozen so I couldn't get water out but I usuallybring one like that because it melts throughout the day. It was a topic of discussion, which I didn't completely get that was going on haha, finally hermano stands up comes over gets my water bottle, gets a knife that was being used to cut the chicken tries cutting the water bottle in half, that doesn't work. So he goes to the bushes near by pulls out a little saw...ya we were all amazed, like the mexican male marry poppins, and starts using this rusty saw to cut my water bottle in half, while his wife is chastizing him in spanish, he keeps going. Finially gets it in half, throws the saw back in the bushes, grabs the knife to cute through the ice, and uses his hands to put the ice in a cup and sets it in front of me. Then the whole rest of the meal he kept saying misionera drink! Haha!

 

I got my second parking ticket since being here!! Haha it is hard to keep track of which streets they sweep which days and what hours...haha

 

My favorite talk was Elder Uchtdorf's talk! I loved everything he said! My favorite was "Life is not to be enjoyed only in retrospect...happiness is available all the time!"  I feel like that is so true. And I just want to keep enjoying being a missionary every day!! Hope you all had a good week! I love you!

 

Love,

Hermana Mulliner

Last week of Setiembre!‏

Holy smokes I have no idea where september whhhhent! I honestly cannot believe it is over! Reeses birthday looked so fun! You all look different! Ella is like a little person, and she has hair! :)

 

We had a good week here in happy north hollywood. The highlight again was english class! More people are coming and it is just soo funny! We taught them how to pray in english so now we have them say a pray in english to start...aw man you guys, it is hilarious...I have to bite my shirt so I don't laugh out loud. This must've been how my MTC teachers felt haha.

 

We got to go to the General relief society meeting...all the sisters met at the stake center and the stake president spoke to us a little bit (I honestly didn't understand his talk haha) then we ate dinner then they had it broadcasted in english and in spanish. So I went with another sister who is new and doesn't know whats going on when people speak spanish either to the english side. And I just have to tell you my little miracle this week. Honestly going to the relief society meeting made me miss home a little bit, and I had a conversation with someone in spanish before it started where she did not understand what I was saying at all! And it was really awkward haha. So as we sat down and the meeting started I kind of just had a girl moment and said a prayer saying, "Do you remember me? Im trying really hard to learn spanish and I not making much progress and I am so tired." One of the questions I wrote down to think about during conference was how could have I more confidence with this spanish dealio. The meeting was really good and I felt a lot better afterwards. But what was super cool is that the next day after church an elder in my district came up and said he had something for me. He pulled out a talk that he said he felt like he should give to me.

 

It was a talk called, Look Up by Elder Carl B. Cook and my favorite quote from it is, "I think the challenge for all of us is to try not to look sideways to see how others are viewing our lives but to look up to see how Heavenly Father sees us."

 It was so cool because it was a double wammy! This talk answered my question about how I could have more confidence with spanish, and the fact that the Elder had felt impressed to give it to me, and the timing of when he gave it to me was an answer to my prayer that Heavenly Father does remember me and I matter to Him, and what things I'm struggling with matter to Him. I know Heavenly Father knows each of us personally and if you have a question just ask Him! He wants to help you and will help you. And it is amazing the miracles Heavenly Father will give us.

 

Another thing that I have been learning lately is how we seriously do not need to be perfect. Haha. But really. Its ok to grow and take things one day at a time. There is a power in praying for the specific things of one day. "Even though we may not see the whole plan, we can ask to be receptive to the part of the plan that will come that day." Instead of just praying for courage in general every once in a while, before we knock each door, I say a little prayer for courage in this situation we are about to be in.

 

Have a good week!!!!

 

Love,

Hermana Mulliner

 

P.S. Aaron is doing great!