T'was a VERY Merry Christmas!

Oh boy, this week was incredible. Talk about miracles and family and the sweet Spirit of the Savior. It was great. 

Christmas time to me is the best time of the year. Yes, it's the most special season because of family and the hustle and bustle of the holiday, but mostly because of the spirit it brings. It's a spirit of giving and of remembering the reason we're all here, The Son. We can't forget it. We must not forget it. That belief needs to radiate from our hearts every day of every year. I invite you all to make Christmas a daily thing to continue to give and to love because that's how it should be.

We loved this week. Hermana Davis and I just cherished every minute of it. We saw some pretty amazing miracles that have just given us more love for the work, which we didn't think was possible, and an increased desire to continue to do His will and not our own. 

Christmas was incredible. We had a mission wide conference on the 22nd and the whole mission was in one building celebrating the birth of our dear Savior. President Crane and his wife (temple president and matron) were there and they gave us some really good instruction on reading and applying the scriptures to ourselves. President Hall and his wife also spoke and it was so good. The mission choir sang and we had various musical numbers that really brought the Spirit. It was the best. Christmas on the mission is the BEST. There's nothing like it. We also got to watch a movie! President Hall let us watch the new Disney movie, Inside Out! It was so cute and all the missionaries were laughing so hard. It was the first movie we have seen out on the mission in about 15 months! It was great! We then had a feast from the members around the Sugar Land area. We had cheesy potatoes, salad, tri-tip, chicken, sausage, brownies, rolls, bacon-wrapped asparagus. It was the best feast ever. I was SO FULL! We also had a talent show, a gift exchange and a mission slideshow! It was so awesome! We had a lot of fun and got the gifts from our parents! Such a joyful day!

Christmas was the best. We got to talk to our families. I missed hearing their voice and seeing their faces so much! My brother's voice has completely changed and that was the biggest shock of the year. Ha, ha. He's so different! My sister's belly is basically ready and we're excited to welcome baby Graham into the family! Mom is looking so good. I love my queen. Dad is still my sweet humble Father and I love him so much! Greg, the bro-in-law is super excited to be a dad! Grandma is letting her hair get white. That was different to see, but she's good. I miss her sweet soul. Can't wait to hug these folks. I'm so grateful to be a part of an eternal family sealed by our Heavenly Father. What a great blessing that is! We laughed, we cried and we said see you later. I love them and I love their support. Couldn't do it without them. They're every piece of my heart. 

We also went caroling on Christmas Day. That was so fun. We visited a lot of families and gave them some gifts. They appreciated the generosity so much. For some, it was their fist time being caroled to! I couldn't believe that and I was so glad that we went. (:

We also taught our sweet investigator, Russhine, this week and her 13-year-old niece, Dulce! They loved our lesson on faith and invited us back and asked us to prepare a lesson on baptism. I've actually never had an investigator ask me to prepare for a specific lesson, but it was so cool. We went back and it was powerful. Russhine started crying and they felt the Spirit so strong! Hermana Davis felt the Spirit and invited them to be baptized and they both said yes! It was really amazing. They both came to church yesterday and loved it. We also invited them to come watch a baptism after church. Our elders were having one and they came and loved it, too! We were laughing, feeling the Spirit and having a good time. I love those two! Russhine seems to be progressing really well. She's made so many friends in the ward and after the classes she stands up and says, "Okay, next class!" ... yesterday was her second time at church! She's already a member! We want this so bad for her because we know the happiness that it can bring her in her life! Pray for her! 

We also met someone else on the street the other day and we talked to him. He told us he was atheist ... and we still taught him. He said he was looking for his headphones and we offered to pray for him to find them. He said, "I don't believe in God" ... and we said, "That's okay. We can still pray because we know He will listen." So we prayed a simple prayer that he would find his headphones and we left. The next day we saw him with his headphones in and Hermana Davis says "HEY! Looks like you found your headphones!" He said "Yeah, actually just after you left, I found them." And we both smiled and said "God's there. He loves you." He didn't say anything but we know that it touched him, even if it was in a really small way. 

SUCH A GREAT WEEK!

I was studying about the Atonement this week and I have something I wanted to share. If someone approached you on the street and asked you what is the Atonement of Jesus Christ, what would you tell them?

Yes, that was a tough question for me, too, but I studied and was taught about It and I figured out It's four things. 

SAVE-REDEEM-GRACE-HEAL

SAVE- Because of the Resurrection, Christ can save us from death meaning we'll ALL return to God, but where we go once we're there depends on our actions in this life.

REDEEM- Through the Atonement and the Sacrament, we can be redeemed of our sins only on condition of faith, repentance, baptism and the Holy Ghost. 

GRACE- Christ can give us His grace, which is a divine means of help so we can overcome trial and come even closer unto him.

HEAL- Through his Atonement, and the fact that he suffered for EVERYTHING, He knows how to heal us, if we will let him.

I invite you all to come unto Christ more this new year. Set goals and write them upon your heart so that they don't just become a three-week goal and then fade away. Make goals that will allow you to become better disciples of our Savior. 

I love you all!

 

Sister Sanchez

Houston Texas LDS Temple President Brad L. Crane, his wife and Sis. Davis and Sis. Sanchez

Texas Houston South Mission conference on Dec. 22, 2015.

Texas Houston South Mission Christmas conference, Dec. 22, 2015.

Merry Christmas!

I'm so excited for this week! It's Christmas and it's even better when you're on a mission serving the Lord! How much better can it get? 

This week was wonderful. We have great miracles that happened and the Lord blessed us to bear with patience our afflictions and to continue to push on. I'm so grateful for how aware I have become that the Lord is in my life and in the lives of others. It's pretty cool when you realize how perfect God's plan is and how special we are to our Heavenly Father. 

This week we saw Russhine! She had left for Guatemala in November and she came back! So we invited her to the ward Christmas party on Saturday and she came! We asked the member who picked us up if we could pick her up, too, and she said yes. Well, turns out that the member is from the same tiny pueblo in Guatemala that Russhine is from! So incredible! Perfect plan, so perfect. Russhine LOVED the party and we gave her a church tour while we were there and she wants to keep coming! She came to church on Sunday and stayed all 3 hours with us and loved that, too. She's so cool. She said that the Lord really told her that she shouldn't just lean on Him when she needs something and she's really happy to be able to keep coming! We're excited to keep teaching her and are praying so hard that she'll be baptized when the time is right. 

We have also been working with a less-active for a while now. His name is Melvin and towards the beginning he really wasn't interested in coming back to church or even changing for that matter. As we have kept working with him and with a lot of prayer and fasting, he's changed so much! He didn't feel like coming back because he's felt like he was already too far off the path and it reminded me of that last conference that said "it's never too late and it's never too early." Well, on Sunday, he received the Melchizedek Priesthood and he has a calling in the bishopric! SO COOL. He kept saying "gracias, gracias, gracias." None of it was us. It was all Heavenly Father!

We met our new investigator, Alicia, this week. SHE'S AMAZING! Doesn't know too much about the church, but she knows it's good and she wants more. Pray for her!

Bishop told us an awesome story in Sacrament Meeting yesterday that I thought I would share. He said he interviewed someone from Equatorial Guinea and he said that the Gospel isn't allowed in that country. He said that she gets to travel the United States 2 times a year because of her job and that's the only time she gets to take the Sacrament. Bishop asked her, "How do you stay so strong without the Sacrament?" And she said that she has all the church books so she keeps herself studying and on the right path. What a testimony. She only gets the sacrament 2 times a year ... do we realize HOW blessed we are to take it every week? Yesterday, as I took it, I walked with the Savior to Gethsemane. I'm so grateful for Him and I hope that we realize the gift we have of taking the Sacrament every week. Never lose sight of that. 

I hope y'all have a MERRY CHRISTMAS. 

Lots of love from Texas :(

--

Sister Sanchez

 Service with Lily!

H1 District!

Melvin!

Hermano Garcia and Hermana Vivas

Russhine!

What Am I Grateful For?

Hermana Davis and I had an amazing week. We always have good weeks as missionaries! It's the best calling in the world! I love my mission.

So many adventures this week ... where do I begin? Well, first, Monday was awesome. We have this less-active we've been trying to visit and her parents aren't members. It's been really hard to see her, but the crazy thing is that as soon as we invite a member, the Lord allows it to happen! We invited Hermana Dávila from our ward and Itzel, who's the same age as our less-active and they were home! We all sat down around the Christmas tree and we shared a message about Christmas. It was really spiritual. TURNS OUT that Itzel, the member we brought was EFY companions with our less-active! So they knew each other! Inspiration. It was so nice. I felt the Spirit so strongly in their home, by the tree, feeling the Spirit of Christmas. I love this time of year and I love these people! Gaby really felt the need to come back to church and she said she's going to put forth the effort to start coming! Her mom even said that she's going to come, too! WOW! The Lord really guided us on that one!

On Wednesday we had some extra time so we went around an apartment complex before our next appointment and we were sharing the Christmas cards from the church with everyone! We shared one with this guy named Cristian. He's 18 and he was awesome! He believes in God. We didn't feel like he had too much knowledge about Him. We asked if we could share a message with him and he said yes, so we got to talking about the Gospel and how the Savior loves us and was born this time of year so that we can be free. He liked the message and said we could come back! He's from Honduras! So we planned to see him Saturday night, but he ended up canceling. We called him anyways and invited him to church on Sunday and he said sure! HE CAME! Our ward mission leader picked him up and brought him and he loved church! He knows who his teachers in his classes are and he kept asking so many questions about the Book of Mormon! It was really cool. He's never been baptized, but said that he would like to! So we're working with him now to get him on that path! It was an awesome miracle! We also taught a family of 6 after seeing him! Her name is Rosie and we taught her and her kids the Restoration! She was super intrigued! We went back to see her on Saturday and she had been reading! She said that the Book of Mormon was really interesting to her! So cool. Huge miracles!!

On Thursday we had a visit from Elder Donaldson and Elder Hill from the missionary department. They taught us so much. It was one of my favorite meetings I have had on the mission. They came to make sure our new mission president was doing well and guiding the mission and they said he's doing a FANTASTIC job and I completely agree. President Hall said ,"They also provided some feedback that can help improve our VISION and, in turn, move our focus and energies in the right direction. Their visit and an unexpected letter I received from Elder Corbridge confirmed the revelation I had received; do our missionaries have a VISION to BAPTIZE and do they understand why this is our purpose?" I have often felt over these last many months that we want to invite others to come unto Christ, help them understand the most important thing and see them at the waters of baptism, but is this truly the desire of our hearts? It was a really good meeting that changed my vision of missionary work and I wish I had that meeting in the beginning of my mission!

Thursday night was eventful. EVERYONE CANCELED. We got a little discouraged, but made some plans and went out to execute when ... MY TIRE POPPED. I was so frustrated! I was thinking "What else could go wrong?" AHH, it was so hard. But as we were walking our bikes to Target to buy a new tire, we thought of 5 things each that we're grateful for. It changed our attitude and we kept going. As we were walking to target, there was a lady putting stuff into her car, and I thought to myself "I'm going to share a Christmas card with her, despite my popped tire because there's a lot to be grateful for." So we did, AND IT WAS THE MOST INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE OF MY MISSION! Her name is Virgina. She's a recently converted Seventh-Day Adventist, but I could tell she was interested in our message. We talked about Christ and she then opened up and said that when she was converting, she was choosing between 3 churches, the Seventh-Day Adventist, the Jehovah's Witnesses and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She said that she had gone to our church once and LOVED the spirit she felt. We shared a Book of Mormon with her and she grabbed it out of my hands so fast because she was so excited. Before we left she said "I know God put you in my path and I know there is a reason you were here." I AM SO GLAD MY TIRE POPPED! Whatever the outcome, we planted a seed and she needed the message we had to share about our Savior. It was really cool. I learned a lot about changing my attitude in a tough situation. What am I grateful for? That was my lesson this week. 

Saturday was the Pulga. We got permission from President Hall to set up a booth and play the Christmas video. Our ward mission leader, Relief Society and bishopric put it all together because we wanted it to be more the members rather than the missionaries. We had a sofa and a flat screen TV where the people that wanted to watch the video could sit and have free cookies! Many gave us their information and took copies of the Book of Mormon and pamphlets. We handed out over 600 Christmas cards! It was so awesome! Definitely a success. We have about 15 members show up and all of them were proselyting with us. THIS WARD IS AWESOME, I love it soooo much! Get the members involved, increase their desire to share the Gospel and the work will progress! Great idea, lots of success.

We got a call on Sunday about this investigator who lives in our area but went to the wrong church and she wants to learn more! So awesome! Be obedient, work hard and the Lord will provide. 

Did I mention I LOVE THIS WORK?

Have an amazing week!

Sister Sanchez

Cleaning the church bathroom!

Thomas, my favorite man at service on Wednesdays!

A dream for a biking missionary!

Popped tire!

Lunch with Hno. Carreón!

PULGA!

Hermana Davis!

SOOOO ...

Amazing week. It was one of the best yet! Wednesday we had transfer meeting and I picked up my new companion fresh from the CCM! She arrived here from Mexico on Tuesday and I met her on Wednesday. And we basically have the SAME life. She's the middle child and has an older sister and a younger brother ... Her mom's name is SHEILA, crazy ... and we love sports. She's the best. Her name is Hermana Davis from Park City, Utah and I love her soooo much! 

We have worked so hard these past couple of days and have been so exhausted, but it's been so fun! She's learning Spanish, so we speak it as often as we can. It's just been a blessed week and we already know we're going to have so much fun and see some amazing miracles in our area. I have been so blessed to have her. She's teaching me a lot. I'm so thankful. I just can't say it enough! I can see and feel the enthusiasm she has for the mission and her desire to work and love the people. She's also such a good sport with the language. Even though she has no idea what a lot of people are saying, she still loves them and does her best to reply! 

We had some amazing miracles this week. First, Norma and her husband came to church! It was incredible. She hasn't come in a while, but we went to teach her on Thursday and we stressed the importance of keeping the Sabbath Day holy and the things we need to do. We asked her, "Norma, what are some blessings you need in your life right now?" She listed a few off and then we asked her, "How and when does God bless us?" She replied, "When we do what's right and keep the commandments." Then we continued to teach her that if she keeps the commandments and comes to church and reads her scriptures, the Lord will bless her with the things that He already knows she needs. And she came! She really wants to get baptized, but her husband told her that "you don't get baptized twice" ... so we're working on trying to find a time to teach him about the Priesthood so she can be baptized. I know it's going to make her so happy, and we want that for her, but there's an obstacle. With faith it'll happen, I know it. However the Lord does it, Norma will be baptized. She wants to go to the temple to do baptisms for her daughter who passed away, so that's our goal! We're excited! Please pray for her! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!

We also saw our recently returned member, Hermano Reyna, this week and he's now worthy! He was so excited to tell us! It was a process, but he finally can take the Sacrament and teach! He went up to bear his testimony in Sacrament and it was really special. He also got a calling to be the Young Men's first counselor! He's so excited. He's on fire! We're now teaching his kids hoping they'll take the step and be baptized!

The 2015 First Presidency's Christmas Devotional was amazing last night, don't you think? We went with a group of our members and it was really fun. We loved it and I especially loved how Elder Bednar told the Christmas story from the American continent! How special and blessed we are to have 2 Christmas stories that testify of Christ and who He is! I love reading Luke, chapter 2 with 3 Nephi, chapter 1 and putting myself in the shoes of the people in the America's who saw the star but didn't see the Savior. What faith they must have had! We're so blessed. 

Have y'all checked out the church Christmas website? You should!

https://www.mormon.org/christmas

Share it on FB, Twitter, Insta, everything! Get the word out you member missionaries! You're a huge part of this work! 

I love this time of year. I love the spirit and the happiness. It's so great. It's my favorite time of year!

 

Sister Sanchez

I Get a New Baby!

This week was sooooo great. The holidays as a missionary are the best. A lot of people get homesick and I do miss being with my family. However, I just love the spirit that one feels when they're in the service of the Lord around this time of year. More people seemed focused on the reason we're here on this Earth. It's great. 

We did a lot this week and there are so many miracles I want to share, so I will start out with Thanksgiving. It was such a good day! We started off seeing our two investigators and their mom, who is less active, in the morning. We're teaching her two daughters, ages 8 and 10, to prepare them to be baptized in the coming month! We taught them about gratitude. That was actually the first time we were able to sit down with them and share a message, so that was a miracle. Then we saw our member, Hna. Yolanda, and we had Thanksgiving lunch with her. She's one of the best member missionaries I know! We also visited our ward mission leader and helped them put up their tree with the family. When we got there, Hno, García was the only one in the living room, so they decorated ME, really fast, with lights and ornaments. That was so fun. Everyone just came out and started laughing. It was really fun. We love them so much. The rest of the night was spent with the second counselor in the bishopric and his family. We had turkey and CEVICHE (the bomb) with them and it was so fun. I love our members in this area so much. They mean so much to me and to the work!

We taught Dulce and her two daughters again this week on Saturday night and it was a really powerful Restoration lesson! They love learning and they understood what we taught. We extended a date and they accepted and their mom was excited, too! Milagros turned to her mom and asked, "Mom, can I please get baptized?" And her mom said, "Yes!" That was really cool. I love them so much. We're going to be working with them more often to get them on track to be baptized!

We met a family from Egypt this week. That was cool! We talked to them outside of their apartment and they just let us in so easily! We talked to them about Christ and they were sooooo nice! They have only been in the states for two months! They even gave us some Egyptian currency to keep. That was really cool! 

President called and informed me that I'll be training again and that I'll also be the new SSTL. It's the sister training leader that trains the other sister training leaders so they know what they need to be doing. It'll definitely be a new experience for me, but I'm excited for what's to come! I'm also excited for the new sister that is coming into the mission to be my companion! This area has so much potential, so we'll do good things with the help of the Lord!

Hna. Widdison will be transferred. I'm so sad to see her go. Really, I have loved her since the beginning and I just cannot wait to see her after the mission. She's taught me so much in these three short months. I really have come to learn what it means to work with all your heart and might. She's one of my best friends and I appreciate her enthusiasm and willingness to trust in the Lord in every circumstance. I just love her and we have had SO much fun!

Great week and great things to come. I love this WORK!

Sister Sanchez

Happy Turkey Weekend!

This week we had a whole load of experiences that have just made the week fly by! But, it was an amazing week as a servant of the Lord.

We did so much service. On Wednesday, every week, we participate in the food bank at St. John's Church in downtown Houston. We hand out food and it's probably my favorite service I've ever done. I love the people so much. There are some regulars that come and I have gotten to know them so well. There is one older Vietnamese man named Thomas. Although we can't communicate that well, he's my best friend! I just love him so much. He always gives me a thumbs up and this week he invited us over for dinner! I don't know if we can go, but we'll definitely send the Vietnamese missionaries over there so they can meet him. It's amazing how, regardless of language barriers, charity can still be shown! They are the sweetest people that just need so much help and I love being able to help them. We also did that service on Monday, hence our emails today on Tuesday. We handed out turkeys yesterday and some people were so happy because they have big families. It was a huge help that the Houston food bank provided food for their holiday meals. It's so great!

We had a really cool experience this week. We had finished the day and had about an hour left before it was time to go inside. We decided to visit a referral of some less actives that we got from one of our members. We've been meaning to visit them for a long time, but this last week was the first time we actually had some time since we have been so busy! I had been praying all day long that the Lord would put us in the path of someone that really needed us and that we could help someone new in some way. I had no idea how it would happen, but I just prayed that it would. Well, we said our prayer and knocked on the door and this man, Carlos comes out and we start talking to him. He knew who we were because he knows the missionaries. We didn't know what to say, so we just asked him if there was anything that we could do for him and he said, "Yes, do you have my number?" So we checked our phone and didn't so we put his number in and he said, "I don't have time tonight, but if you call me, we can set up a time for a visit. I have actually really been wanting to go back to church and I just needed that extra push and you both showed up at the perfect time." GOD IS SO GOOD. I'm often so shocked at how PERFECT His sweet plan is. It's incredible. We were so happy that we were able to be the Lord's instrument and help Him. It was a sweet experience. 

I also got really sick this week. It started on Tuesday and just escalated from there. I also got a flu shot not knowing I was getting sick so that could have added to it, too. We were on an exchange with some sisters on Friday and when I woke up, I had to end the exchange because I was just so sick. I stayed in for about 2 days, but I feel better now. Took a lot of medicine and slept a ton, that helped a lot. It's NOT fun being sick on a mission ... staying inside drives us CRAZY! Glad I'm all better now!

We also had our ward Thanksgiving party this week! Not going to lie, the Hispanic fiestas make me miss my home fiestas and dancing, but I can wait, ha, ha. The bishop asked us missionaries to sing some hymns in front of the ward, so we sang 4 and I played. My voice was completely gone this week because I was sick, so I just played the piano. And on Sunday we had the Primary program and I played for that, too! It was such a good Primary program. The kids did a good job because we had all been practicing hard for weeks!

I've been studying a lot about faith this week and how important it is to believe and to CHOOSE to believe. It makes the world of a difference and the Lord promises that if we exercise the faith, he'll grant us according to our desires. In Mark 11:23 it says, "For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith."

What a cool promise. I've been trying extra hard to implement that into my proselyting and trying to have the gift of faith that these people can change. Y'all can do the same with work, school, family, etc. 

I hope y'all have a great week, that you remember that all the blessings we have come from the Lord and the people who have been His instruments to give us the freedom that we have today! I love you all!

Sister Sanchez

Prayer circle!

Service at St. Johns!

My homeless companion ... ha, ha, ha

Went to The Zoo, The Book Is Blue, Bounty Hunters ... TWO!

Wow, this week was so great. It went by really fast, too! Time is flying people and it's scaring me how fast it's going. I'm clinging on to keep up! 

Monday we went to the zoo as a district. It was so fun! I was hesitant to spend $15 to see some animals and smell some .... not so good stuff, but I LOVED IT! I'm so happy that I went. Our district got a lot closer and we had so much fun there. Teaching the animals the Gospel, you know, because we're missionaries! It was a blast. Houston has so many fun places, especially because we're in downtown, so we just need to explore!

We saw Russhine this week. Unfortunately, she left to Guatemala for one month on Sunday and we're so sad we won't see her for that long, but she's progressing and she took her Book of Mormon with her to read in her down time. She's so cool. We also had a lesson with her about the Plan of Salvation and she was blown away at the idea of a "Spirit World." She said it all made sense and she was joking around with us saying if she didn't accept it here, she could accept it there ... ha, ha. NO RUSSHINE. She was kidding, but we had a good laugh. She's so full of energy. We love her so much. We also went over the other night to help her decorate her tree and we met a lot of her family who were all so intrigued at what we do and what we teach. That was a good "planting seeds" moment! There was another shooting at her complex, too. We got there one day and there was a CROWD of people near us and we had no idea why they were huddled together until later, one of the apartment mechanics, told us there had been a shooting ... #Houston. We're safe, though!

We also got REALLY Bible bashed this week by someone we went to teach named Rene. It was so crazy. But we bore powerful testimony and invited him to come to Christ. Those lessons are always hard, but we say what the Spirit tells us to and then we head out. No reason to argue, because then the Spirit leaves.

I had the most awesome exchange with Hna. Rivera this week. She's from Peru, so we got along GREAT. We actually ... cooked pescado frito for LUNCH! (sadly missing the yuca frita) I know, so Hispanic, but we loved it and we felt right at home. It was really fun. We talked with EVERYONE when we were on exchanges in my area. She's a new missionary, so that's something she wanted to work on, so we talked with everyone in our path! We found about 8 new potential people we can visit! It boosted her testimony a lot of talking to people on the streets and now she's more confident to do it. I love her so much! We both agreed we were going to ask our parents to send us Peruvian stuff and then we're going to have a feast. So exciting! While we were on our exchange, we had just finished teaching our member and we walked down to unlock our bikes. We started to ride away to our next appointment when two guys stopped us and said "GIRL MORMONS?" Ha, ha, ha, ha, yes. Some people ask us that. We started to talk with them and it was strange because one of the guys kept looking around to see behind me ... We started talking a little about the Gospel and he says "good, this is good for our cover." WHAT? I thought he was selling drugs! But no, they were actually TWO undercover bounty hunters! It was so crazy. They were looking for someone and we just happened to try to talk to them about the Gospel. Hna. Rivera and I rode off laughing so hard that we had met undercover cops. How cool is that!? AND that we tried to teach them the Gospel. Ha, ha, ha. It was so fun. We got a kick out of that one!

My tire popped on Saturday. My first one! It was so sad ... I could hear the air escaping. When you're on bikes and your tire pops, it ruins your whole day, ha, ha. But we luckily used the elders' car to go buy a new tire and got it all fixed up. It was one heck of an adventure!

I have studied a lot about prayer this week and how grateful I am to have the communication we do with the Creator of the Universe. I have been thinking a lot about my prayers and how sincere they are. Do I rush to get the prayer over with? Do I pour my heart out to the Lord? Am I praying for others more than for myself? Am I thanking more than asking? I really feel the Lord wants to talk to us so much. That's why He made prayer a commandment! I'm grateful for the opportunity to talk with my Father and to have the knowledge and belief that He will listen and reply. I invite you all to re-examine your prayers and see how you can make them better. 

I love you all. Have the best week! Teach someone about the Gospel. Heck, you might even meet some bounty hunters. (:

Con amor, 

Hermana Sanchez

Sister Sanchez

35 Questions or Cold Showers!

Hermana Widdison and I have come up with a "finding idea" that we're so excited about. We learned last week from Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge, of the First Quorum of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that we need to be talking to everyone. While doing so, we need to find the "most important thing" from every lesson to share. Hermana Widdison and I have had an increased desire to talk to everyone because we were promised that there are thousands of people in our area that are prepared. We came up with 5 questions, one from every lesson that encompasses the "most important thing" and we have 15 days to ask it 35 times! We thought, what's the worst that could happen ... they could tell us no? Well, great, then we keep moving. Our punishment is cold showers for 5 days ... so we're going strong! Talking to everyone and inviting them to come to Christ. On Sunday we had a weird contact where we asked this man, named David, if he would like to listen to a message about the steps to receiving eternal life through the Gospel and he said yes. So we started teaching him. Keep in mind it was really cold outside and Hermana Widdison was shivering and he, touching her arm, asks, "¿Tienes frío?" Ja, ja, ja, ja. She freaked out. It was a little strange ... It's so much fun to talk to everyone! There are so many amazing people in this world!

Soooo, I have gained the most powerful testimony of trying "antiguos" from the area book. We had the coolest experience this week that just left Hermana Widdison and I completely speechless. I really had no words after the lesson was over and I know, 100%, that it was inspired by the Lord. It was so cool and I'm so blessed to have been a part of the experience. So, we were putting up English class flyers one day in a couple of different apartment complexes and we just had the thought that we should go try a person in that complex who had been taught previously and see if maybe she was home. We knocked ... no one answered ... knocked again ... no reply ... so we CELESTIAL KNOCKED (the third knock that we only do on special occasions) and someone answered! It wasn't the person we were looking for, but this lady was really friendly, so we asked her one of our questions! If she would like to learn about how families can be together forever and she said yes! So she let us in. We were still in shock. We sat down and she started asking us so many questions. We taught her the Restoration lesson and it was probably the best Restoration lesson of my mission. In that lesson we got her on LDS.org and introduced her to President Monson. She was SO INTRIGUED. She told us that she wasn't really looking for a new church, but this sounds so interesting to her, that she wants to check it out. It was incredible. She's a young mom with a beautiful little girl and her husband lives with them, too. He works a lot and she said he's not very religious. We asked her to invite him to church. She was really nervous to, but the next day when we went back, she said he said yes. He would want to go! How cool is that? Our second lesson was focused on the Book of Mormon. We started reading it with her and she got it. She was asking where Moroni is now and where the plates are, etc, etc. It was the coolest thing. We're so excited for her. She also says the temple in the Dominican Republic is right by her home! She's wonderful. The Lord really led us that day to find her. TESTIMONY BUILDER. 

We also had a blitz this week to help the other sisters' area and that was really fun. It's always nice to help other missionaries because we're promised that our area will be blessed, too. 

I have really been studying a lot about how to come close to Christ and finding out the ways we can change. I have seem a huge change in myself on the mission of how I see others. I remember before I used to judge them and think weird things about so many different people, but the mission and the scriptures have really helped me to grasp the understanding that we're all God's children and we have no idea how other people have gotten to be who they are. We don't know what circumstances have transcribed in their lives and how they have been taught. We need to love them all. I'm still working a lot on having charity, but I know without it, we are nothing. We have to love everyone. 

Pray for Norma that she'll be baptized! And that Tiffany and her family will progress.

Keep on doing good things. The Lord loves you so much and I love y'all, too. 

Sister Sanchez

Bullet holes in an apartment complex!

His Saving Grace

This week was amazing, really wet and full of meetings. Being a missionary is the best calling in the world!

So to start off, we had a lesson with our investigator, Norma, on Tuesday and we brought two members with us, a mother and a daughter who were previously Catholic (like Norma) and who lost a loved one like Norma, also. They were PERFECT for the lesson. Hna, Madora bore her testimony about the missionaries finding her in Mexico and her conversion at a young age. After she bore her testimony, Norma bore hers! We did not see that one coming. She said that a long time ago, she had missionaries visit her, but because of work, she never had the time necessary to sit down and pay attention. She said they would teach her sometimes, but she never understood or even tried to understand. Then, 10 months ago, she fell and hurt her back and has been stuck at home ever since and, low and behold, Hna. Widdison and I show up and she has time! She testified that she knows her accident happened so she would have the time to sit down and actually listen to our message. WHO SAYS THAT? We were so blown away that she made that connection and believes it to be true. She's incredible. Then, she said she's received her answer. She said that she has a house in Mexico that she has been praying and trying to get someone to rent and no one has ever wanted to and she really needs it to happen so she'll have the extra money to provide for herself and her husband. Well, she said that right after we left the lesson, she started to pray and ask Heavenly Father if this was the path for her and she said that right after she prayed, she got a call from her mom saying that someone is prepared to rent the home. Norma said this was the answer to her prayer and that she felt like God was telling her "I am here." It was so cool. She wants to be baptized. Please pray for her and her husband who is very Catholic. She hopes that he'll want to be baptized with her. She's also very excited to baptize her daughter in the temple. SHE'S AMAZING!

We carved pumpkins with our members and our less-actives this week! It was SO FUN! Melvin is the less-active and he's slowly, but surely, returning to church. They're so cool. And yes, my pumpkin says "HALA MADRID", best pumpkin ever! We also had the trunk-or-treat on Friday and we were so lucky it didn't rain! It was really fun and there were so many kids and so many cool costumes. Halloween was fun. We had to go in early at 7 p.m., but it was super fun to see all the cute kids! We put candy outside of our door so they could take some. (: 

I had the craziest experience this week, which strengthened my testimony that we're watched so closely by angels. And also strengthened my testimony in patriarchal blessings! Mine promises me that I'll have angels to protect me and this is definitely what happened this week! We did get a lot of rain here and it's hard because we can't bike in the rain ... but this day the rain was really light, so we decided to go biking and there was a puddle that looked pretty shallow, so I rode through it but my companion rode around it because she knows the roads by memory and knows exactly where to bike. Turns out it was a pot hole and my front tire went in pretty deep and the back of my bike flew in the air. I should have fallen on my face and my bike should have flipped over me, but I have no idea how my foot slipped off my bike and I caught myself and I was standing there, with my back tire in the air for what felt like 10 minutes. I know it was an angel or something that stopped my fall. My companion looked back and said that all she saw was my back tire in the air and my face looking down. It was crazy. I have no doubt that we're extra protected as the Lord's missionaries. If I would have fallen, I could have broken my neck, or broken something. That was a miracle. I walked away with wet feet. ¡Qué suerte!

We also taught our new investigator, Russhine. She's awesome. Please pray for her!

Elder Corbridge, a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, visited our mission this week and he taught us so many incredible things. The one thing that I really loved is how real the Atonement of Jesus Christ is and how His grace IS SUFFICIENT. I never really understood that phrase personally until this week. I feel like I hear people use it all the time, but as I studied it this week, that's when it became a part of me. Jesus Christ is there with us the whole way. Not part way, not towards the end, but the whole way and He can give us the strength to continue on and to overcome qualities we need to change or behaviors we need to adopt. I know He loves us. I know He does.

I hope y'all have an amazing week!!!

P.S. Getting yelled at is so fun!

Sister Sanchez

HALA MADRID

Pumpkin carving!

Gifts from Hna. Widdison's mommy!

Elf!

Halloween face masks!