8/11/14 Week 22

GO TIME!

Last week and this week are serious GO TIME!  Hermana Black only has this week left, and we want to see some baptisms!! We had 7 pretty solid dates for the 16th of August, but then we had to move the 3 sisters because Instagram and boys are more important than church right now....but I remember being in that boat not too long ago, so I still have high hopes for them!  There are 2 kids with less active parents that are for sure getting baptized this Saturday.  Oh btw mom, Jenny won't stop bugging us about getting her a cat, so I told her maybe you could help her out with that.   Hint hint...I'm still holding out hope that ours will be in the "PURRestrail Kingdom" by the time I get home. (Major LOL) 

Anyways, organizing a baptism is super stressful!  We have to get all the talks, reserve the building, make programs, make sure they have clothes, get them interviewed, etc…I sleep REALLY good at night!   Other than that we still have the Martinez family...love them soooo much!  They came to all 3 hours of church and are loving it.  But alas...they still don't want to get baptized without their padre, and he is still not ready.  But their day will come! Keep prayers coming.

Love 'em - most awesome family ever

Sunday was the most awesome day ever at church!  The Martinez came for all 3 hours and we had a GOLDEN investigator family come and love it!  We've only taught the mom twice, and apparently she and her boyfriend want to get married, but they want to find a church together first.  Talk about perfect!  "Well did you know in our church you can be married for time and all eternity?"  Then even more perfect was the topic in priesthood and relief society; it was on eternal marriage.  They said they loved it and are for sure coming back next week!   

FINALLY found self serve yogurt.  Go TCU!

Also a less active family that we've been working with ever since I got here came to church for the first time in a year!  They are one of my favorite families ever! My heart literally almost jumped out of my throat when I nearly ran over Hna Hernandez on their way in!  It was probably one of the best days at church so far on my mission.  This ward really is starting to feel like home:)

 As always - the church is true!  I look back on how we met some of our most golden people, and it never is a coincidence!  The Lord has prepared so many of these people, and then leads us to them.  And it is awesome to see what can happen when you act on a prompting, no matter how silly or unimportant it might seem at the time.  I love how this gospel is a gospel of miracles, both big and small.

Love Hna bonny

8/4/14 Week 21

I have an announcement everybody! As of August 1st I am officially not biting my nails anymore!  So now y'all need to call me a lame sack if I get home and they still are all chewed up, ok?   So you might be wondering what inspired this change, well I shall tell you.

Julia, Maria and Ceria are 3 girls who are all 14, 15 yrs old and they are awesome! Juanita and Maria are especially interested in the church.  Ceria is apparently like a "model in training" or something, so we have been a little scared to teach the word of wisdom, because every time we go over they are always talking about how much she loves Starbucks and her tea. Gulp.  But also every time we go over they always tease me about how ugly my finger nails are!  One time Juanita even attacked me with this nasty garlic nail polish concoction and painted it all over my fingers.  Ya, it smelled awful!  So anyways we now have a deal-  I won't chew my fingers if they don't drink and coffee or tea:) and we are gonna check up on each other.  Haha - so far it has worked!  Who would've thought that all those years of chewing my fingers would lead to helping people keep the word of wisdom?!   I say this all the time, but God really works in mysterious ways.  Although I'm going craazzzy because I can't STAND having these long nails, their salvation is worth it right?? 

 

Now you know why I don't look overly excited to go out on my bike.

Also Thursday night was probably the closest I've been to watching a chick flick in a while..haha.  We took Arleta up to the Sosas (my favorite newlywed couple) and had dinner (mmm I've really missed spaghetti).  Then we had a lesson about eternal marriage and the temple.  They are so cute and in love!  Then we went to the Young Women's activity where they were making wedding jars.....sigh....and all the young women leaders are these cute newlyweds and so they were all talking about their husbands and being in love.   Man…why are they doing this to us!?  Too much romance all at once for us missionaries! I felt like I was drooling butterflies and hearts for the rest of the night!

In other news, my companion said "it smells like butt in here" for the first time:) and I am officially a piano teacher! yippee!

LOVE TEXAS! LOVE THE GOSPEL!

Oh love all y'all too:)

Love Hna bonny

7/28/14 Week 20

Im MMMEEELLLLTING!!!!! Seriously, its been above 100 EVERY day this week!! And guess what?  It's the end of the month so we have 0 miles left on our car ....yep I'm turning into a very fried oompaloompa. Normally I'd be totally down with walking so much, because its fun to talk to people, but nobody is outside!   Even in their houses they won't do anything because "its too stinking hot".   We were walking through this park the other day to get to one of our citas and we finally saw someone coming our way! Hooray! So I got my card ready and everything, and went up to her and said "hi how are…"   She doesn't even stop she just says "it hawt!" and kept walking.  Yep. That's how contacting goes in July from 12-5 in Texas.

Zone Conference - I'm the one slumped over on the right

Other than the heat it was actually a very splendid week.  We had Zone Conference which is always fun, and Pres Ames talked about using our "3 light sabers", which are family history, 21 tips for better grades (it's a service were doing), and these 5 minute lessons we've developed.
When he first started talking about family history I thought "ok..doodle time." But actually (and I can't believe I'm saying this) family history is soooo cool!  The next day we went to the center with one of our less-active sisters and I was looking at my family tree.  Who knew I was Danish?!  I didn't.  And I saw like a billion pictures of all these ancient people I'm related too!  It was pretty awesome! And Lourdes was able to find her grandpa and great grandpa which was a big deal.  Moral of the story: family history isn't just for old people:)

Honing my SKILZ at Zone Conference

Sis Black leaves to go home next week:(   She is pretty much the best comp ever!  But I also am excited to have a change.  We've been comps for almost 6 months. That's a looooong time! As much as I'm gonna miss her, I think that a change will be great!

Also last week on Monday we were able to rescue the other sisters! We were coming back from the stockyards for the millionth time, and we saw their car sitting on the railroads tracks with a bunch of police cars around it.  At first I thought "oh no! Sis Tate got hit by a train!", but then I saw her get out of the car.  Apparently this guy didn't see them and he rammed them onto the tracks, and now their car is totaled!  We rescued them and they needed to go shopping at this very Mexican grocery store.  It was fun, but this is the important part...we saw this less active family there who pretty much avoids missionaries at all costs.  But a few weeks ago the mom asked me to teach her daughter piano lessons.  However, after that we could never got a hold of them, but we were able to talk to them at the store and set up a time so I could teach her piano!  Fun!  So maybe the sisters needed to crash their car, so that we would save them and take them shopping, so that we could see the Bartos family, so that we can teach her piano, so that we can save their souls!!  God works in mysterious ways:)  The church is true!

love Hermana Bonny

7/22/14 Week 19

This week was a very average week in the life of Hermana Bonny, but we did teach some pretty awesome lessons.  We have a SUPER solid baptism date (knock on wood) for august 16th! Her name is Jenny and she's only 10.  Her family has been inactive forever, but all of a sudden they showed up at church and said, "Gods been good to us I think it's times we come back".  And they would like their two kids to have the chance to be baptized!  They are awesome...except I'm pretty sure the missionaries before us were trying to buy their love, because every time we come over the first thing the kids ask is "where's our candy??"   I give them a mint or a pencil and they are usually happy:) .

We now have 4 young women investigators that we are working with.  Love it!  The Martinez family went and saw a baptism with us on Saturday and they had to baptize the kid 4 times because he was scared.  Then afterwards the dad kept making jokes about how he's is going to be just like that WHEN he gets baptized:)  "When"…yay! Their new and hopefully final date is for august 16th.  Pray that Jose is ready!

Why is everyone pointing at me???

Also, I was eating dinner with my favorite family (the Condes) and I saw a picture on their wall that looked familiar.  Afterwards I recognized it.   It was the nativity scene that my neighbor Bro McNaughton painted!  So I was able to show everyone my neighbors and my family's home teacher, who are the subjects in the painting! It was so cool!

Who wants to hear an awkward law of chastity lesson story?  Ok, so we were teaching the 10 commandments with the little hand signs to Arleta, her boyfriend, Stef and all of their little cousins.  It was going great until we got to #7 which is don't commit adultery.  Hma Black just tried to skim over that one, but then of course one of the little kids asked "What does adultery mean?"  Umm, how are we supposed to explain this to a bunch of 6 year olds without them going home to their mom and saying "Guess what the missionaries taught us today!"  So Hna black just explained it like "When there's a bunch of people at a party, always stay with your friends.  Don't ever leave and "do bad stuff" with other people".  It made sense to me, but of course all the little kids asked "do what stuff?"  Then Arleta chimed in and we were hoping we were saved, but then she says "so it's like if a boy invites just you to go with him to do something dangerous like bungee jumping, its better just to stay with your friends"   Uh......... then all of the kids "Oooh ok that makes sense" (hand slap to the forehead).  Then we had to spend like 15 minutes trying to explain that it's not against the 10 commandments to go bungee jumping with strangers.  I still don't think they get it.

Anyhow that's my not-too-spiritual story for the week! The church is true!!

Love hna bonny

7/14/14 Week 18

Fort Worth Zone

Well this week was pretty average…as average as missions get.  Actually, there really is no such thing as an average day here!  I'm just going to tell y'all a cool story since I have no time!

So once upon a time Hma Black and I received a referral from the Elders! (gasp!) So we drove to da hood (that's the section of our area where we live) and knocked on the house.  We were supposed to be contacting a Jose, but instead his sister answered the door. She said he wasn't home, but she let us right in! Then we started talking and telling her about what we do as missionaries.  I noticed that her face was looking a little strained, but I thought maybe it was because she was just working so hard to force her smile, because really she just wanted us to leave.  But then as we kept talking I noticed her lip start to shake, and then she just burst into tears.  At  first we didn't really know what to do...but then Hna black asked the perfect question! She said "Is this something you have been waiting for?"  Then Maria nodded.  She started telling about how she knows this isn't a coincidence and she wants to hear our message because she knows it will help her life and all this SUPER amazing stuff!!  I thought stuff like that only happened on The District!  But no! The Lord really does prepare people and then leads you right to them:)

I love the mission!  Sorry I don't have more time! Love you all!

Love Hna Bonny!

7/7/14 Week 17

This week was transfers!  Drum roll..........my new companion is.........still Sister Black!! Woot woot!  yayayay!!  I get to kill my mom! (don't worry it's just missionary language for " I'm the last companion my trainer will have").   So that was the excitement of this morning.  But then nothing changed so it wasn't really that exciting... but that's totally great with me!   Hna Black and I work soooo good together ...and it's a plus that she can handle my weirdness and not-showering...:) 

Anyways,  I can't really remember any of the specifics of this week other than that we found 2 awesome new families!  The moms are both named Suzy and they live in the same apt complex.  The Martinez family didn't get baptized this week, but they now have come to church the past 3 weeks in a row, they have all told us that they know this gospel is true, and they are living the commandment, but for some reason they just are afraid to get baptized.  But don't worry we will get them… more like the Lord will!

The 4th of July for us looked like it would be the most boring and un-special day ever.  But guess what?  We made it fun.  For all of you who are missionaries, you are probably very familiar with the part in the white hand book where it says "weekends and holidays are great times to find people at home. take advantage of this time" or something like that.  LIES!  We knocked on like 7 bazillion doors and everyone was either gone, or about to leave to some fiesta.   Exhausting and awful, and I think I started to melt.  But then that night, after planning, we got some chocolate milk, went out on our balcony (which is conveniently looking over the whole city of Fort Worth),  turned on our favorite country EFY songs and watched all the fireworks from the whole city!  There were like 6 different shows going on!  It was really memorable and I have no idea why because honestly the day was horrible!  I think it just goes to show that even when you literally have nothing but chocolate milk, music, and the spirit you can make anything fun:)

This is such a valuable thing I think I've learned out here so far, and I'm pretty sure all my fellow missionaries will agree with me.  I'm much stronger than I thought I was and I think my attitude has really changed.  No more Ms. Grumpy Pants when things don't go my way.  I know a mission really is the best thing I could be doing in my life because (among other things) I've learned who to rely on and what really matters:)

The church is true! 

Love Hermana bonny