La Expiacion

HOLA!!!!! Well this week has been amazing!!!!  First off we had a Missionary Activity where we had a bunch of members go tracting in our streets and contact people in the street to give them a little taste of the missionary life. They came back to us with 35 appointments for next week! Whoow! This week is going to be fun! =D I love the members here!  I found an Investigator that sounds Like Yoda!!!! =D I found out that Avengers 2 came out!!! Family and friends, I trusted you!! Why did no one tell me about an Avengers 2? I had to find out by reading about it on a bag of Doritos in Spanish!! Que Passo!!! We also had a seventy come visit us this week! Before we listened to him I prayed to God to help me receive revelation for what I can improve in our area. He definitely gave it to me! Listening to Elder VillaLobos, I felt like the spirit was slapping me in the face with awesome ideas! Haha it was amazing, just listening to him you knew he was called from God through our Prophet.  During his Presentation, Elder VillaLobos pulled out his IPhone and pulled up Siri (haha you have no idea how weird it was to see him do that =P) and told her to search "La expiacion" (The atonement) and a bunch of searches came up and he read them off to us, then asked "with this information on the internet can we know what the atonement really is and how to apply it to our lives?" the answer was No. Unless it was an LDS site, there is no way people could know what the atonement is. This is why our message is so important, we bring a message of the atonement and how to apply it to our lives. With the atonement we become stronger, we can become clean of sin, and we are changed for the better. I know that when we apply the atonement everyday to our lives, we will feel more peace and our relationship with God with be strengthened. I cannot quite comprehend how amazing this Atonement is, and how lucky we are to have it in our lives!  I love this message we have, so share it with the world people!!! =D I went to a park!  The mission made me a little stronger.

Another One Rides The Bus

Hola Everyone!!  This week was full of some first time experiences.

         I had the opportunity to go on divisions with a member. The member I went with is about 65yrs old, and was a blast to work with. She is like a crazy, awesome Grandma to me, and we taught really well together =)

     Then I got to go on exchanges the next day with my Sister Training leader and help teach some of her investigators.

      I also had the fun experience of Contact a bus this week, haha nothing like standing at the front of the bus and preaching the gospel to everyone in a language you don't know, haha quite the adrenaline rush, cant wait to do it again =D

The scripture for this week that I really love is: 

Romans 8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

          I love this scripture because it is a reminder to me that no matter what situation or who you are, you are still a child of God and He loves you. Period. He is always reaching out His hand to help you reach your full potential. Even when you feel like no one can help you, He is there walking every step with you.  

I love you all and hope you all have an amazing week! 

Love ,

Hermana Orison

Photo:

 Exchanges!! =D

 

 

Mexico Is Never Boring

Whoow! It has been a long roller coaster ride this week. We had a lot of ups and downs, but its all good =) Some things that happened this week:

• I learned how to make tortillas last P-day! And they tasted amazing! (didn't look the best, but tasted awesome!) I can now make tortillas for a living if School doesn't work out! (haha jk Mom)

• Our District Leader is sick! And called us at 2 o'clock in the morning. (which freaked us out because we thought something happened to him and his companion) and when we answered the phone he said 

"Hermanas! do you know what happened!?"
"No Elder what!?"

"I just woke up with a Cockcroach in my Mouth!!" 

"That's just gross..." Why he called us at 2 in the morning to tell us this, I will never know. Elders are Elders.

• I cant pray in English! One of our Less actives asked me if I would say a prayer for him in English. So I started it out "Dear, pad-I mean heavenly father...Estamos...Thank thee..." yeah my brain was having the hardest time translating my Spanish prayers back to English haha, whoow! Success! I am probably going to have to join the Spanish Ward when I get home haha =P

• We had an Investigator come to church this week! WHOOT!!! This area was opened about 6 months ago, and has not had one investigator go to church. When I came into this area I had the goal having at least 1 go to church, we finally accomplished it! and I am pretty sure there will be a lot more investigators to come =) Whoow!!

• Really good news, we moved houses today! I am sooooooooo excited! Our other house was...well not the best...yeah. I am actually excited to live in this house =) Its pretty =) I got to wear jeans for the first time in my mission to move all our stuff out of the house. I have to say after wearing only skirts for about 6 months, it feels really weird but good to wear jeans! Yep, I miss them =) 

Well that is the summary of my week, I hope you are all doing well! And loving the snow (haha its like 70 degrees here right now =P). Have a good one everyone! 

Love,

Hermana Orison

Trial By Spanish

3 months! Ive been in the mission for 3 months! Ah! I cant believe it, time is flying by waaaay too fast! 

This week was a really trialing week for my Spanish. 2 weeks ago we had transfers and I new My mission President was going to do something with this transfer, that would really challenge me, but the transfer came and no one was transferred. The only change was that my Companion became Sister training leader (which is weird because the sister training leaders are supposed to be companions...). But I found out this week that her becoming a sister training leader was the challenge. As a leader she has to have one companion exchange a week, meaning so do I. And this week me and Hermana Jackson were put as companions for a day in my area.

Imagine, two girls from Utah with only 7 weeks in the mission (both of us still have trainers, haha I feel like a Pokemon! =P) and very little Spanish. Yeah, sounds a little scary. But we did it! In fact we did more work then we usually do with our normal companions! And it really surprised us how much Spanish we actually knew! We were able to teach all the lessons clearly, and contact 16 people in the street, And they all understood us, haha Gringa Power!!

And this Sunday I had the opportunity to speak in Sacrament meeting (yay...noooooooo) Definitely a nervous experience, I always thought Talks in English were scary haha wow was I wrong, giving talks in a different language is definitely scarier. But I used my humiliation to my advantage and told all our investigators and some less active members that they could come and laugh at me at church this Sunday. And it worked! we got 4 investigators and 4 less active to come to church, totally worth the humiliation! okay, so it was not too bad, people said they could understand it and they really felt the spirit, so all in all not too bad of a experience. I'm really happy to say, I only needed to use my dictionary twice to translate words while writing my talk =) whoot!

Best part of this week, we have a new District leader and he was asking what I like to do and I Mentioned that I liked running and that I really missed it and couldn't run here because my companion does not like to exercise (as in she got rid of her tennis shoes, because she hates exercising that much). So my district leader turned and told the whole District to make it a goal to run every morning. Whoot! My companion hates me, but I am happier then ever! Running again feels awesome! haha I run around a park now every morning while my companion sits on a swing starring at me (i'm trying to convince her to get some running shoes =P).

Entonces,

I hope everyone is doing amazing! Have a good week everyone!! =)

​

3 month mark for all of us!

And A Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

              So this past week has been awesome!! For one I had the chance to talk to my wonderful family (Nice to hear from you all!) and then a Christmas Miracle for me, we had three investigators come to Church!! WHoot! it has been quite a struggle to get just one to church so when three came, it was a miracle! 

              And since the New Years is coming I set some goals, one of them is to hand out at least one Book of Mormon a day and God definitely helped me with that goal this week because everyday He blessed me with someone new to give it too. Haha my District leader is definitely going to have to get more Book of Mormons ;P

              Our zone leaders gave us a goal on Saturday to contact a certain amount of people in the street. It was the end of the day and we were talking to one of our investigators at her store. I was four people off from completing my goal and I felt there was no way I could complete it because we were heading home right after we got done talking to our investigator. But once again God heard me because at that moment four girls came and sat down at a table in front of the store. Haha! And my companion was busy talking to the investigator so I went and contacted them by myself! (okay, it sounds really easy but contacting people in another language that you hardly know, is harder then you think haha) and then I came back to my companion who was like

 "Did you just..."

and I was like "Si" and then "Whoooooooooow!"

Yep. Just like that. It was an amazing moment.

            On another note, I am sad to say I actually got cold this week =( We were out tracking some streets the other night and I am pretty sure it was around 40 degrees with a really cold breeze. I was trying to ignore it, but then one of the Members of the ward we work with saw me and said "your turning blue" (I was not!) and made me take one of her jackets because I am "so smart" and didn't pack any because I'm in Mexico haha needless to say, I bought two today. Yay!! =)

          Entonces, everybody I hope you had an amazing Christmas! Have an Awesome New Year! Perfect time to set some new goals (maybe some goals for missionary work hint. hint.) Have a good one!!

Love,

Hermana Orison

 

 

 

 

 ​I told you I would Find them!! Yep, my life in Mexico is complete now =)

FELIZ NAVIDAD!

           FElIZ NAVIDAD everyone!!! I hope everything is going good for you all.  We had the opportunity to play "Santa" this morning to a few of the kids here. These kids pretty much have nothing. They don't go to school, no toys, few pairs of clothes and both of their parents walked out on them. It is really sad and heartbreaking. The other set of sisters collected some toys and clothes from the members and we delivered them today, saying "Santa" sent them to the wrong address and we were delivering them to the right place. Their faces lit up so much when they saw the packages. They had never received one before. I almost started crying, it was a really emotional moment.

           This has been the second family I have been able to help out this Christmas. Another family has about five kids and they live in a shack of wood and metal. The kids only had a few pairs of clothes, no parents (they live with their grandma) and that's it. We were able to take all the kids to a Christmas party (first party they had ever been to), get some clothes, and treats for them. When we went to drop them off the little four year old ran up to me and gave me a huge hug and ran into the shack with his candy bar happier then ever. Yeah, I may have teared up a little bit on that one...

           I am very grateful to be on this mission, because It shows me of all the things I have in my life to be grateful for. I have so much, where as these people have nothing and are happiest with the simplest things. For many people the church is all they have. I am so happy that I have the opportunity to spread it to more of the people here and put a few more smiles on their faces. I love giving them the hope and faith they need, to show them that they have a Heavenly Father that loves them. Best job ever!!

I love you all, and I hope you are all having an amazing Christmas!

Love,

Hermana. Orison

 

My Christmas Morning breakfast.  :)

Whow! It has been a long day and I don't have too much time to write today. I had to go into the city to get some Visa stuff done with all the other Gringos in our area. It was great!! I got to see all the Elders from my MTC district!! I didn't know I missed them so much haha we all ate at a Burger King (haha okay I lied about the no more burgers thing, I love them too much! And Burger King is definitely better, one day I will find a the Carl's Jr here though)

But Life has been great here. We had the opportunity to sing Christmas carols outside of the Hospital this week, which was really fun it helped light up the mood of a lot of the people there. And our ward also had a Christmas party this week! So much fun! I never knew how funny The Christmas Story could be until I saw in reenacted by our ward haha it is so funny to hear it in Spanish! Oh and they fed us Pig Head in our tacos, which actually tasted really good. I wont complain haha.

We have at least sung every Christmas song in the hymn book about 50 times! I pray that they will get more espanol Christmas hymns, because singing the same five can get a little annoying but watcha yah going to do =)

Well I feel like I am getting fatter everyday, one habit I have not broken from the MTC yet is being a fast eater, and I am so paying for it. Every time a member sees that my plate is empty, they put a ton more on it because they think I'm starving, haha! I'm totally not.

Well love yah all! Have a good week! Enjoy the Holidays!!

                  We are God's elves :)                        

Familiar things!! I still love my Video Games and my MTC District!

Love,

Hermana Orison

NO MORE BURGERS!

Whoow time is going by fast, I cant believe another week has gone by so fast. Well, for starters we did get our water back on!! Yay!! (Happy Dance) so I don't stink anymore (at least I don't think so...) we have been doing a lot of activating for our ward (there are a ton of less actives) so Ive been meeting lots of the members around here, they are all really nice and happy people =) 

'Im still learning the dos and don'ts in Mexico. for one, don't ever eat a burger from any of the little shops here, they are not very good (I would honestly pick McDonald over them, yep that bad) and you will be up at 3 in the morning throwing it back up haha (all part of the Mexican Experience) 

One thing I have noticed here is that Coca-cola pretty much sponsors this place haha at least it looks like it. they sell coke everywhere, every person offers it to us to drink and the label is pretty much on every street haha its so weird.

We watched the Christmas devo last night at the stake center, and it was so nice because all of us American missionary went into one of the back rooms of the church and watched it in English, it WAS SO NICE!! AH! I MISS MY ENGLISH SO BAD!!! haha as Elder. Yoo said while we were watching it "it feels like I'm in America again!" it was so true haha I definitely needed it and the words that were spoken in the devo felt like they were just for me. If you missed it go watch it! Like right now! It was great =) oh and if you haven't watched the Christmas video "he is the gift" put out by the lds church, go watch that too. it is so amazing! I love it! (christmas.mormon.org)

I hope all is going well for everyone! I miss yah! I love yah! Keep being awesome!!

Love,

Hermana Orison

 

 Oh My companion cooked my Spaghetti for breakfast haha (and I just hit the guy beside me with my memory card just barely oops haha what can I say, I was excited to upload my pictures!) Our lovely wash and rinse cycle, yeah this is the life!!

  Our lovely wash and rinse cycle, yeah this is the life!!

MEXICO!!!

                           I am in Mexico, after traveling for over 20 hours (I don't even know what sleep is anymore) and I just got done with a crazy taxi ride (as in, broken windshield, hatch totally opened with suit cases in the back, and doesn't obey any of the street laws haha fun stuff!!) and my first companion speaks only Spanish, yay! so we have been carrying around our Spanish and English dictionaries and pointing at a lot of stuff to converse with each other, planning lessons will be really exciting haha.

I would have to say Mexico is very different from the US but It is pretty cool. There is a preschool in front of our house and they do a ton of Zumba there in the night so I guess you hear music from there all the time. I walked in on Gangdam style, have not heard that for a loooooong time haha. It will take a little while to get used to everything, but I am excited for it. 

                  Well I do not have to much time today I will try to write you all next week, I get to go meet all the members in my area now it will be interesting...I still don't understand that much Spanish...but it will get there! Love you all! Have a great week!!

Love,

Hermana Orison

Spanish Spanish Everywhere!!

             Only seven days left!! Whoow!! Time is counting down haha it really doesn't feel like I've been out for a month.

 So this past week I had to go pick up an international missionary for our new district, but when I went to pick her up there were two other international sisters that had no one to show them around (their sister training leaders didn't come for them) So I adopted them for the day. One was from Porta Rico, another from Spain and the other from an island I have no idea how to pronounce or spell (same with he language) so we had three languages going on at once it was pretty fun haha.

 Oh it was cool we got to teach through Skype this week, it is so weird! And a little hard to figure out what they were saying, but it went really well :)

            It is getting a lot colder here! Which sucks because I packed mainly for Mexico and not too much for Salt Lake haha but I only have one more week here. I'll probably be complaining about heat stroke next week, haha stay tuned!

               Funny Story: we were teaching are teacher (pretending she was an investigator) about baptism, and I showed her a picture of my baptism and she asked who I was baptized with.

"Mi Hombre!" I said and realized that I meant hermano and not hombre. My companions busted up laughing as well as my teacher.

Yes, apparently I was baptized with MY MAN instead of MY BROTHER haha sorry Luke ;)

              

                             Herma Day was about to depart to we had a S'more party in our PJs :)

              Verse: 2 Nephi 10:20- When life is just not going your way and it seems that you keep hitting more and more road blocks just remember that God is leading you to something better, it may not look like it at the time but when you have faith in Him it will all turn out for the best.

                I love you all!! I'll write you from Mexico new week! Whoot!!!!

Time Flys By With Spanish

Hola!

Whoot! Week 4! It feels like time is flying by fast! My favorite district (okay besides mine ;) ) just left to Mexico this morning, I', a little sad because I'm going to miss them a ton! But I'm also excited for them because they will do amazing work! :) So now we are the oldest district in our branch, it is so weird, I don't feel like I've been here that long.

But awesome news! We have been teaching our investigator Hely, for a little while now and she accepted our Baptism invitation this week!! Such an exciting moment! It was honestly the best lesson I have had the opportunity to teach, even though our Spanish was not that great, the spirit was so strong!! I've never felt it that strong before, it was truly amazing :)

Yesterday, our leadership roles changed, I am still the sister training leader but now two of the elders in my district have become Zone leaders and another is a district leader. So on Sunday's pretty much my whole district is attending meetings (SO MANY MEETINGS!! GAH!!) but I am really proud of my district, they are the best!! :)

Haha funny story, we made a goal to not  say the word hate in our district, instead we should replace it with love, I guess we took it a little seriously because everyone is now screaming I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH RIGHT NOW!! throughout the halls and classes haha all the other districts look at us like we are crazy (okay so we are a little crazy...) haha the best is when I yell it at the Elders when they are being realllly annoying!! (many times in the day haha) Fun stuff :)

Quote of the week:

We started singing in choir when-

Sister missionary: "Shouldn't we say a prayer before starting?"

Choir Instructor: "I like to warm us all up before praying, because then I know how much I need to pray." haha 

Scripture of Week: 2 Nephi 8:12- (read it!) when the lord is on our side, we have no reason to be afraid. He is there to guide and comfort you through all of your trials, have faith in Him and you can accomplish all things!

Love you all! I'm praying for all of you!