NOVEMBER 2015

NOVEMBER 2ND 

Well... if you couldn't tell by the pictures we had a super great week! We've been helping one of our members a lot because she is trying to move. We went over almost everyday and helped her pack up some things. She's really awesome and her name is Martha! She's helped fellowship many of our recent  converts and is just the sweetest person you could ever know. So, we were happy to help her! She's also David Archuleta's aunt so that makes it super fun too, ha ha.

Among all of the great moments of the week there were 2 that really stuck out to me. One of them is a lesson that we had Saturday morning! We met with our investigators Leticia and Rosa. They are a mother/daughter and so interested in the gospel. We planned on teaching them the gospel of Jesus Christ but when they didn't keep their commitment we decided instead to read Moroni 8 with them. As we read it talked a lot about baptism and so they asked us, "how do you get baptised in your church?" We were able to show them the video of Christ's baptism and it answered there question. Then we went into authority and showed them the video of Christ calling and ordaining the 12 apostles. It was so neat to see that we were completely directed by the spirit in knowing what experiences to share and videos that would help them. To other people it may sound like we were doing so many random things. However for my comp. and I could definitely see the spirit directing everything we did.

I loved how when we would answer there questions they just had a look on their faces like " yeah, we understand this." Then at the end of the lesson we were able to invite them to pray about being baptized and they committed to do it. After this lesson I learned a lesson myself that is truly valuable. As missionaries we need to prepare daily, personally and companionship wise in order to know how to meet their needs. Not only that though we have to pay heed to the spirit. This process is only half of it though because the people we are teaching also need to be receptive and willing. If they aren't either of the two then the lesson will not touch their hearts and they won't have the desire to change. This lesson is very valuable to me because it means that it's not only our job but it's also their job as well. I felt so grateful that I was able to experience that kind of lesson where the spirit was literally touching all of our hearts and helping us to learn and understand. I hope that this can not just be one experience but that we can begin to have lessons like these all of the time!

The last thing I really liked about this past week was the family home evening we had yesterday with our branch. We were able to have a message, food, and lots of time getting to know the members. We said goodbye to one of our members because she was returning back to Mexico. During this time that we were all there everyone was talking to each other and uplifting one another. The feeling of love was so strong and also the feeling of sadness that one of us had to go. It is mine and my companions hope that we can not just have these activities once in a while. However that we can always take time to help one another as a branch and really try to know everybody. I imagine that feeling of love is something that we should always have toward one another and it's something that our Heavenly Father hopes for us! He wants us to know everyone in our wards! So my invitation this week is that you take time to get to know someone new whatever ward or branch you are in. Then the next week find someone else or even a family! You never know how much of a difference that will make in their lives and also in the ward you are in ;) I love you all!!

Thank you for your support,

LES AMO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hermana Buys

 NOVEMBER 9TH

As always it was quite the week! This week was quite fun because we were able to go on exchanges with the STLs and then the next day we were in a three some. Since it was so crazy we did a lot of service! I really enjoyed that because we were having a hard time finding service when I first got here to Livermore. I also realized that I like doing service that involves people I know and I can see the direct results rather than for a different cause. Both of which are good but one is just easier to see!

Our investigators are doing pretty well and we are finding a lot of the potentials that we've been looking for so we are pretty happy! Our investigator Paloma is coming so close to baptism and we even had the Branch President ask her parents! They haven't given us a response yet, but we will hopefully be finding out tonight what they say! We are also trying to invite all of our investigators to be baptized because that is a HUGE part of our purpose :) We are hoping to have a date for Eva, Leticia, Rosa, and Stephanie this week. So please pray for them!

I know I say this every week, but I honestly can't remember that much from this past week ha. So today it might be a bit shorter because I just kind of wanted to share some things that I've been thinking about the past few days. Its actually kind of funny because even though I still have a little over 3 months left It really hit me this past week that time truly is super short. As my companion was sick and I was sick I spent a lot of time thinking about my mission. Throughout my mission I've heard people talk about how they had changed and how cool that was. Well, I always tried to think about those things and I couldn't really see them in myself. I tried really hard but I just couldn't.

When I went to church on Sunday they were talking about putting the armor of God on. As I was pondering this it just really hit me that the mission has really helped me put the armor on. I thought I had the full set of armor before the mission but I really only had a few pieces. The mission has really blessed my life and helped me begin that process of conversion. I can't say that I'm completely converted because that is far beyond this life. But, I can say that the process has truly started. We will never be truly perfect at everything but as long as we understand why the gospel matters and how it is blessing us then we will be okay. I think the problem that many encounter is that they are only trying a little part of the gospel. They aren't eating the whole fruit or making the gospel part of who they are. And that is really sad! Because as children of God, as his spirit children we need the gospel! We need it more than anything else!

So please go back and figure out why the gospel matters to you. Recognize how it has blessed you and changed you. And then go and share it with someone else. Yes it can be scary, but it is so worth it! Just do your best! Share a quote, picture, video, or some experience of how the gospel has blessed your life. Not only will that person be happy but it will make you happy too! I love this gospel soooo much!!! And I know all of you do too, so please, go out and share it!

I love you all and I hope you have a week full of many miracles!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Con MUCHO Amor,

Hermana Buys 

NOVEMBER 16TH

Well this week has been another week of interesting events! haha. We began getting sick last Sunday and it continued through today. In the past our heater had problems and so they had turned it off. Since the weather was getting colder we wanted to have it turned back on but we found out there was a gas leak. So they kept it off and had someone change one of the parts to fix it. They finally turned our heater back on Saturday night. Well! When we woke up Sunday morning it was a little chilly and so I turned the heater up higher. That set off the fire alarms and the carbon monoxide alarm. It was so chaotic in the house haha. We called a bunch of people and the other sisters stayed to try and get it figured out with the PG&E people. While they were doing that I had to take my companion to the Urgent Care because she's been throwing up on top of other sickness.

When we came back the sisters told us that we had a carbon monoxide leak and that they had to turn the heater off again. However they didn't say anything about our apartment being unsafe so we returned and my companion rested for a few hours. Around 5pm our mission president found out and talked with the mission doctor and gave us a call. THey told us to leave the apartment because they didnt want us sleeping in it and that we would be sleeping in our Stake Presidents house. So! We got all packed up and left our apartment and went over to his home. So all of the videos I sent are a little bit of this story and what's been going on. Of course I couldn't tell all of the story on email or video ha. But basically we've been fighting for our lives this week ha.

With all of the sickness, gas leak, and carbon monoxide leak. Pres. Mella told us that we are very blessed. That we have so many angels watching over us because our life was in danger many times. For now we are still staying at the Stake Presidents home we are just not sure for how long. We will most likely be getting a new apartment to move into though since it's not been safe for us. I didn't want to share this story to scare you all haha. I just wanted to share with you my week and also remind you all that God is always watching over us. When we are doing what is right and our living the best we can we don't need to worry!

Even though we've had all of these crazy experiences this week we've been able to remain calm and happy! haha. My companion and I have learned a lot more about each other and have grown in testimony and faith. It defintely wasn't easy to be sick for so long and to not be able to work as much as we wanted. We knew though that if we weren't good then we couldn't help other people. The good news as well is that we were able to have a lesson with Joel again and we haven't been able to do that for several weeks. He wants to really learn from us again and we are continuing to pray for him that he will want to be baptized!

If you can please pray for the work here in Livermore and more specifically in the Mocho Branch! We really want to help the members get more motivated to do the work! And understand that it's a team effort, not just something full time missionaries do. We need EVERYONE because this is the Lords work and it's not just ours! I love my mission and I love this gospel so much!! Thank you for all of your prayers and your love!!

LES AMO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hermana Buys :) :)

NOVEMBER 23RD

Hello everyone!! I hope that all of your weeks went super well! Mine was super great even though it was definitely not what I expected would happen ha ha.We actually found out some crazy news this morning that we will be receiving another companion!! ha ha So we will be in a TRIO :O ha ha I'm not sure if it's a new missionary or not but we will be a three-some. We were so shocked since they hadn't mentioned anything before! And so the housing coordinator came to our apartment and we had to re-arrange everything again ha. He brought a mattress and another desk.  I'm kind of scared, but  I know that Heavenly Father just wants to help me continue to grow and to have many unique experiences. Even though it'll be rough I know it's going to be GREAT :D Also we are back in our apartment and they replaced the heater and things like that so we are Safe now, yeah!!!

 Well, last week we were pretty sure that my companion Sis. Guevara would get better however, she actually got worse. We went to Urgent Care 2 times for her and 1 time for me. I was able to get prescription medicine for my sinus infection, finally! ha ha So that was fantastic! My comp. ended up getting a new prescription and I think that it's working a LOT better for her so it's great!

 My companion is continuing to get better so it's making me a lot more calm and assured! We received some crazy news last week that I am called to be an STL AGAIN!!! I was so surprised and shocked, but I am so happy :D Because I was called as an STL I went to a special meeting with Elder Hamula!! He is one of the Apostles in the 1st Quorum of the 70!!!!

He came and spoke to the leaders of the missionary and he taught us some things that have changed my life! It has also made me realize the purpose of my mission and why God wants me here at this specific time :) He taught us about our eternal Identity! Our mission is really focusing on "Setting the Mission on Fire!" He said that in order to catch this fire we need to first understand who we REALLY Are! Because without that we can't reach our potential here in the field or in this life! We read many scriptures in the New Testament, specifically in Revelations 12 and Hebrews 12! It is truly astonishing when you read these chapters and realize that we are Warriors! We are fighting on the Saviors side and even though the adversity is really strong we are stronger.

We are blessed with amazing qualities and talents that we had in the pre-mortal life and it's our job to use them and magnify them here! We are so blessed with so many things that helps us to remain strong during this experience! I think I will have to email you my notes and you can read over them in order to really understand what I'm sharing,haha :) The point of it is though that I realized that one of the biggest reasons I needed to serve the mission was because I needed to learn who I really am! I had known a little before the mission but it was just touching the surface :) I'm just so grateful to have a Heavenly Father who gives me experiences like the mission, so that I may help others and also help myself understand my eternal identity! God truly is our LOVING Heavenly Father :)

Well I must say that I truly am blessed with the greatest family ever!! I am thankful for each of you! You are so special to me and you make me so happy! It's so great because everyone I have ever lived with in the mission has always told me that it looks like my family is super important to me! And when they ask me that I tell them YES!! I wouldn't trade you guys for anything! I hope you have a fantastic Thanksgiving and I'm excited to hear back from you next week :) Be careful and have a great week!!!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana BUYS :D :D
 
NOVEMBER 30TH

Hello!! I hope that everyone's Thanksgiving was good! Mine was so awesome! We were able to eat dinner with the English Ward and also have dinner at our Branch Thanksgiving party so that was awesome! We also got permission to take 2 hours out of our day to do something fun. And so...we slept! It was glorious!! ha ha It didn't feel like Thanksgiving though to me.

Also! Our new companion is Hermana Yepez! She is on her last transfer of the mission so it's kind of crazy because after this I only have 1 more. She is from Florida and will be going back to BYU after the mission so you'll be able to see her around :) She is one of the sweetest people I've ever met and just loves talking to EVERYONE ha literally. Even when I'm already in the car, and I'm just like,"what's going on?" ha ha I realized though that even if your new comp. is fantastic it still takes a LOT to get used to.

As a trio we get along really well but it's been a really hard adjustment for me. I'm not going to lie that it was a really really hard week for me. As soon as something new and amazing happens I can just see Satan start to creep in. We saw so many miracles this past week and along with that a lot of hard things. I've been feeling that she was sent in because I was doing a bad job. I know that sounds super silly, ha but that's how I've been feeling. I've been trying to fight that off but it is a constant daily process still.

Of the miracles that we've seen there are 2 that REALLY stick out to me! One of them is with our investigator Rosa! Shed been planning on going to Mexico for a period of time and wasn't sure how long she'd be there. We were able to visit with her 2 times before the day she was supposed to leave. At both of these lessons she kept telling us that she felt so at peace and that we just brought something that she couldn't feel anywhere else! We told her about how that is the Holy Ghost and she said, "I know." It was so amazing to see the spirit testify to her again and again that what we were teaching is true.

At our last lesson with her we were talking about the commandments namely scriptures,prayer, and obedience! She agreed to read everyday and do all of those things. For some reason though we felt like we needed to ask her to be baptized again. She told us that as she was on her adventure she would prepare herself for baptism!! That was one of the sweetest moments ever! Because when she said that I know that she would be getting baptized! That she already had a testimony of the church and of the Book of Mormon.

Before the lesson I was afraid that she'd never return back to CA but the Holy Ghost helped me feel comforted to know that she'll come back and no matter what be baptized! It's so amazing to come to understand the way that the Holy Ghost works through not only us but also through the investigators. And as I've said before and I'll say it again that if Investigators are not willing to open their hearts and desire what we are sharing them, it will not work! It is the work of both sides and the Holy Ghost! Isn't that amazing?!

The other miracle I've been thinking about is with Yahir! We had dropped him 2 months ago and recently he started coming to the lessons again! Last week we had a hard time helping him to pray because he wouldn't do it. We really emphasized on prayer on Monday and tried to help him understand. Well, we came back on Saturday and we asked him to say the closing prayer and he did! It was a huge miracle! Because he hardly ever talks or participates and now he is praying!!! Not only that but he also has come to church 2 weeks in a row :) Right now is definitely his time :)

I'm so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that is always there to lead me and help me. I know that he just desires for us to be happy and to learn and grow from all of our experiences. I know that God knows us personally and that with his help we can do anything! I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Con MUCHO AMOR!!!!!!!!!

Hermana Hollie Buys :)