One Year Mark!

January 20, 2014

Dear Family, 

This Week’s Happenings! 

So this week was good, but a little rough - but hey look who is still standing hahah but ya here are some highlights -

I hit my year mark this week and of course I have to be a traditional missionary and I burnt a skirt cause you just do that when you reach your year mark.  It was quite an adventure and what better place to burn stuff than Pirque in the middle of nowhere!  I enclosed a sweet video for ya’ll don’t worry nothing caught on fire but made for some good fun!  We needed some cheering up cause one of the other missionaries that lives with us went to the hospital for a week and now has to go back home so Hermana Huber and I are living alone.  It is weird and I love her to death. It was sad not to come home to someone but something neat we get to have one of the sisters in our ward be the comp of Hermana Portillo and she is 20 and is way awesome.  It’s fun to have her be a missionary with us for the week but we sure miss Hermana Sommer. 

We are starting to work well with the ward leaders so that is fun, but we still could see some more progress.  That’s like cool motivation to get up every morning to try to do a little bit better, right?

So funny story - sometimes things so don’t go as planned. This week we were going to visit a sister in our ward who is less active and to get to her house you have to walk about a mile and half in a road that pretty much is a river so we hauled our rain boots there so we would not get wet.  Of course that day was the only day that there was not any water!  haha Yes sometimes you carry heavy rain boots in really hot weather and then get attacked by mosquitos haha! It’s always an adventure here in Pirque, but ya I love my country experiences. 

This week we got to visit a ton of great people.  There is this family of Renato, Andres and Paula that I just love. They are like family and we can just show up any time.  They want to progress in the gospel so pray for them that they can come to church and get ready to be baptized.  I sure love the people here; they have so little but they have the biggest hearts and have taught me so much about life and love and about enduring to the end and about doing what’s right even when others are so in the wrong. 

Something that I have learned is that we need to remember that everyone is doing the best they can with what they have.  You know cause so many people get offended and freak out because something happened.  We need to stop and calm down and forgive.  Forgiving can be a really hard thing to do but also we need to stand up for what is right, even when we might lose a lot for doing it so. Stand for right and emulate our Savior and have mercy on those around you. Well sure do love you guys have a great week and remember that I love ya’ll and ya’ll are in my prayers

Hermana Jennings

Stomach Ache and Relying on the Lord

January 13, 2014

Dear Family, 

So this week was an adventure with tons of highs and lows, but it’s all good we got a new start coming our way. So something I learned this week. 

This week my stomach has hurt every night for 4 days which was been interesting but I’m doing great don’t worry.  The first night it was really bad I could barely walk. This is what went down.

We were at a lesson and in the lesson I felt it start to hurt and by the time we ended I was in immense pain and we had to walk 2 miles to get to the bus stop. It was the longest walk of my life but my comp was right beside me and she had linked arms with me and was my strength to go on. The pain would come so hard sometimes my knees would buckle out from under me but my comp caught me and helped me go forward cause there was no choice to stop and rest I had to go forward.

Later that night I sat in my bed writing in my journal and started thinking a ton about the Atonement.   This is what i learned: Our journey through life is a long one at times (we have to walk 2 miles in the dark with shooting pain) and we have trials that seem too hard to bear and that is when the Atonement comes in. I guess I always thought the Atonement takes all the pain away but I think it actually gives us the strength to keep pushing through and Christ is there with us the whole way (just like my comp was there when I literally couldn’t go on by myself she caught me and pulled me forward) that is like Christ. We get these trials and we must go forward but we aren’t alone because I know that through the Atonement we can feel the love of Christ helping us go on either through others or a feeling but we know He is there just like i knew my comp was there to catch me if I fell. Sometimes we fall and we can’t do it by ourselves and we have to rely on the Lord. Just like when my knees buckled my comp steadied me and literally carried/dragged me till I could walk again.

I think sometimes we try to do things by ourselves and if we do that we will fall but if we lean on the Jesus during our trials through reading our scriptures, fervent prayer and going to church we allow Him to catch us and He can carry us through our trials.  The pain might not leave for a while but we will receive comfort and we will learn the lesson that is there for us to learn. I know that everything that happens to us is to make us stronger and to learn and grow. I know that if we turn to the Savior during these times we will make it and the trial will be for our good, but I also know that if we let them the trials can break us.  So my plead with all of ya’ll is to turn to the Savior. Maybe the pain won’t be gone with a snap of a finger it may take a long time but the tender mercies of the Lord will be found and you will receive the strength to go on - to put one foot in front of the other and Christ will lead you through the storm.

I testify that our Savior lives and that we are here on this earth to change and to become more like Christ and develop his attributes. I love being a missionary it’s the hardest thing I have ever done and I have felt Christ carrying me a lot but I have learned so much and have changed. I definitely feel like a different person and I will thank the Lord every day for this experience that I had to serve a mission. There is always something to learn and there is always our Savior to help us through it all.  That my friends is what I learned this week. 

Some  Funny Stories

1.      During sacrament meeting Sebastian,  the son of Nicole, (a less active that came to church for the first time this Sunday!!! love her so much) was hungry and i was giving him some crackers I had in my backpack. After church I was sitting with his family when little 3 year old Sebastian walks up to us and is holding my tampon.... i guess in its colorful bright orange wrapping it looked like candy.... ya I was  - no that is so not candy - and grabbed it and put it back in my backpack hahah So embarrassing!  Ya got to love kids they do the funniest things. 

2.      Sometimes when I talk in front of  people I get nervous and mix up words.... like I did in zone class this Tuesday.   We were talking about some ideas we could do to help more people come unto Christ. I meant to say we should be more bold and let people know why we are here – it is to prepare them for baptism right... but instead I said we should have more barbeques  - yes  so I said in front of the whole zone to get more baptisms we need to have more barbeques haha  Ya, but that might actually work!  .. Gotta love embarrassing moments they are the bes.t   Hope ya’ll got a smile from these haha

 

Crazy stuff - One of the sisters I live with went to the hospital last night and stayed the night and will be there for tonight too! The poor thing had an asthma attack so it’s been hectic around here. 

Pierre got baptized after a ton of bumps in the road but we figured it out with the help of the Lord and President Wright. 

Well love ya’ll have a great week and keep on working hard at whatever you do!!!

Love ya,

Hermana Jennings

New Years Goals

January 6, 2014

Hey there ya’ll ( I miss the south haha)

So this week was full of all sorts of adventures so here they are:

1.  Directions Pirque Style

So earlier this week we were looking for someone we have in our area book and we were lost because my comp and I really don’t know the area that well yet because we both are new, so we just asked someone. The lady then gave us these set of directions- ok so you’ll wanna go straight and then take a right at the cow, cross 2 bridges and its on the other side.... I was like say what?  “right at a cow”. . .  Well we followed the directions to the best of our abilities and of course we got lost, but Pirque is the prettiest place to get lost in.  We ended up in a field with a mom horse and her baby with the mountains as their background. Definitely took some pictures. I sure love the country folk here!

2. Temple with Patricio y Pierre

So this week we got to do a tour of the temple with a recent convert Patricio and his son Pierre, who will be getting baptized this Sunday.   It was such a neat experience because they are so awesome and they both have such a desire to learn and to stay strong in the gospel. I am really lucky to have been able to meet them and help them come unto Christ . It’s weird cause I went to a 15 min trip to get to the temple to a 1 and a half hour trip to get to the temple, but it so worth it

3. Met my first really, really drunk guy on my mission - it was really sad cause all he does is drink every day.   It hurts his family cause we talked to his mom for a bit and she is so sad and doesn’t know what to do cause she is like 80 and her 40 year old son is still drinking every day for 20 years now.  It’s so sad and we tried to go see him but I think the drinking has done something to him. So moral of the story - don’t drink your life away. 

4. New Year’s goals

Ok so we all need to make goals they are way important and my challenge for ya’ll is to write down some goals for this year 2014. Here are mine. I did it a little different this year - I did a “quote goal thing”  Here they are:

1. The longer I live the more I realize the impact of attitude on life, attitude to me is more important than facts. it’s more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success,  than what other people think or say or do. It’s more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill, it will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is that we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act a certain way we cannot change the inevitable. the only thing we can do is play on the one string we have and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it and so it is with you, we are in charge of our own attitudes.

2. Observing the Sabbath is not a restriction but a protection and a source of strength.

3. God has a purpose and plan for us we need to put our will in line with Gods will then we will understand the plan He has for us.

4. It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.

5. When we serve others our own burdens become lighter.

6. To love is to risk not being loved in return, to hope is to risk pain, to try is to risk failure, but risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. 

7. If life gets too hard to stand. Kneel.

8. It may not always be easy, convenient, or politically correct to stand for truth and right, but it is the right thing to do – always.

9. A minute of self-control leads to a lifetime of discipline.

10. Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain and feel the wind.

11. Don’t cry because it’s over smile because it happened 

12. Let us realize that the privilege to work is a gift that the power of work is a blessing that the love of work is success.

13. May your efforts to develop Christ-like attributes be successful so that His image may be engraved in your countenance and His attributes manifest in your behavior.

14. Who you are in the hereafter depends on who you are after here.

15. A true friend makes it easy to life the gospel.

16. The day obedience becomes a desire and not a burden is the day you gain power.

5. The crazy huge spider

So last night we had quite a fright cause this spider decided to join us who was the size of a half dollar... ya we screamed like girls and somehow Hermana Huber killed it!  hahah

6. Saved the Best for Last

So Pierre is getting baptized this Sunday and I am so very excited.  He really studies the stuff and wants to follow his Savior. I love teaching him and his dad who is a recent convert.

Well I hope all is well with ya’ll and that you are excited for this new year. Make the most of it cause it’s going to be a great one for sure! Well love ya’ll and see ya’ll in 6 months.

Hermana Jennings