One of the greatest weeks on my mission!

Hey Mom and Pops and Ringa and Giselle (I decided to send it to you all!)

Looks like this last week, NC decided to snow on ya. Haha, that is awesome! So typical of NC. It looked like it was a hoot! I loved all the pictures, thanks for sending them. 

This week has been truly amazing!!! My new area is wonderful! We live right in Hollywood. Our street is right off of Hollywood and Sunset Blvd. I love it so much! There literally are people everywhere. Every single day is an adventure, haha

Me and my new companion Sister Moli!!!

 

My companion, Sister Moli is the best!!!! She is Tongan and she is from West Valley, Utah! We have so much fun together and we are seeing so many amazing miracles. When I got here, they had just had a baptism on Sunday and the Sunday before that, and now our recent converts have referrals for us, they are inviting their friends and family to learn about the gospel! Its so wonderful! Literally everyone wants us to teach their brother, mother or wife etc. It is honestly so amazing. I am getting to know our new area, it is huge! We do tend to stay around the same areas though, because they get to be pretty far. 

We just started teaching one of our recent converts granddaughters who are 11 and 10, and they are the sweetest. They went to their grandpa's baptism and loved it and they love church so now they want to be baptized! We also are teaching some other cool people and we have found a lot of new investigators. 

 Something really amazing that happened this week we were able to watch the special missionary broadcast that was shown to alllllllll the missionaries all over the world, about 75,000 of them. It was such an uplifting conference. We were able to hear from Neil L. Andersen, Dallin H. Oaks and other members of the seventy, they taught about how us as missionaries need to teach repentance and baptize converts. I learned so much!!! 

We are in the LA Cuarto ward, I love it!!!! I have only been here a week and they are so welcoming! They are so kind and friendly. Its funny because surprisingly they all remember my name because almost everyone I talk to say " Hna. Abreu???Hay un futbolista que se llama Abreu jajaja!!!!" ABREUUUUUU haha. My first Sunday Hno. Garcia, our ward mission leader and another Hno. started shuffling down the hallway at church as we were walking and chanted "Abreuuu, Abreuuu Abre- Abreuuu" Apparently this futbolista is the talk of the town in the LA 4th ward lol!!!

**Funny little chisme: the English ward that meets in the same building is the Hollywood ward and apparently a while back David Archuleta came to sing in that ward about a year ago....who knows.....hahahaha

IN OTHER NEWS, 

Truly I am so excited for another week full of miracles. We have a missionary leadership training this week and Sister Moli and I are giving a mini training and we are so stoked! Something I wanted to share with you this week is something I heard in the broadcast from Elder Neil L. Andersen that I really loved, he spoke about how we must always keep the Savior's name on our lips, as missionaries we should always testify of Jesus Christ. When in doubt, testify. I was thinking about how we as members should always keep the Savior's name on our lips and no matter what or when we should always be prepared to testify and to defend Him. With all that's happening in the world today and being a missionary in the midst of it all, sometimes its a little tough but I know that our testimonies and our conviction of the Savior is contagious and as we share it, many will look to us a source of light, our friends, family etc. I love the Savior, as I have been studying in the New Testament last transfer and this transfer, my testimony of Him and His power has grown immensely. I love you so much! And I hope that your week is filled with light and soooo much JOY! LOVE YOUUUUU family SO MUCH talk to you soon :)

p.s sorry that this email was all over the place just so much that happened and more pics to come next week!

Love always, 

Hermana Abreu 

Happy MLK Day!!!!

Happy MLK Day!!!

This week has been a great last week of the transfer!

Jennifer's Baptism!!!

Yesterday, Jennifer was baptized!!! It was so wonderful. Her husband Matthew, was able to baptize her and the baptismal service was so great!!! As always, there was a bit of opposition. There was a bit of a miscommunication with the font filler and filling the font but the Lord worked it out to where it was all filled perfectly in time for the baptism! The room was filled with all her loved ones and she was glowing. It was so awesome to see the smile on her face, and I knew that her Father in Heaven was smiling right there with her. Soon after the baptism, Sunday night, we got transfer calls....

  And it turns out I'm leaving to be a Sister Training Leader with Sister Moli in the city of LA!!!!!! (Not quite sure yet, but in the city for sure) They just opened up the area about a transfer ago! I'm so excited!!! but of course, a bit sad to leave my home of Bell Gardens, filled with laughs and cries, moments of frustration and joy. Biking every street in the hot sun or hearing the non-stop ice cream truck going around its usual route, the hugs and kisses from lovable, welcoming members. Bittersweet but mostly sweet because I look forward to meeting new people and experiencing new things! 

 

It turns out they are combining the two areas of Bell Gardens, so there will now be only one companionship of sisters in BG. So Sister Morrison will finish her training in a trio with Sister Vincent and Sister Christiansen in Bell Gardens!! They're shutting down our apartment so we have today to get all of it cleaned out and packed up, oh so FUN! Hehe so we have been busy with that. I can't even believe we're nearing the end of January!! Time goes by so quickly!!! On Wednesday, there is going to be a special missionary broadcast that will be shown to every single missionary serving, all over the world, I'm so stoked! I'm looking forward to what miracles the Lord has in store in this new area and this next transfer, especially as we hear the counsel of Elder Oaks and other apostles. 

 

I was thinking a little bit about it this week and I feel like sometimes as missionaries we work so hard and focus all our energy for an investigator to be baptized and we pray harder than we ever have in our entire lives and we fast more earnestly for our investigators to be able to make it to the waters of baptism.....and they get baptized!!!! And we then think.... What's next?? What's to be done next???? And it makes me think of a scripture in D&C 18--

 

15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father! 

16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!

 

The joy that I felt, seeing one of God's children get baptized was inexplicable but to think how many more are seeking this same joy, and how much joy we feel when many are found and brought to the knowledge of the truth! There is so much work to be done, if we are to bring MANY souls unto Christ! 

I know God loves His children. I've felt that love so strongly this week. I love being a missionary!

I hope you all remember how much your Heavenly Father loves you this week!!!  

Love you!!!! Have a wonderful week!!!!! 

Talk to you pronto! 

Con mucho amor, 

Hermana Abreu 

p.s--more pics of the baptism to come 

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope it was wonderful! Derek sent me a few pictures of the festivities! :)

Ours was wonderful, we were in our apartment by 6pm to stay safe from any crazy borrachos ;) However I probably didn't actually go to sleep until 12pm because of the partying that went on, I heard laughing and singing and fireworks all night, here in Bell Gardens, the parties never end.

This week we had exchanges and the wondeful and fantabulous SISTER VINCENT came to our area and it was a grand ol' time. Because we were out of miles for a car, we spent the day biking and oh I have missed it! It was so much fun! Sister Vincent absolutely loved it and the weather was so beautiful so it was so enjoyable. Exchanges are my favorite because you learn so much from other missionaries, different approaches to teaching, planning and contacting. Truly an exchange that I shall never forget. 

It has also been a rollercoaster of emotions kind of week, due to our investigator Norma. We had a miraculous event, with Norma deciding to be baptized early this week for January the 3rd, this past Sunday. We were so excited and ready for her to take this step to baptism. However due to some WoW issues, she wasn't able to be baptized, so it was hard, especially because we were just so excited. But I have come to understand the Lord's timing and have truly come to trust Him, whenever things don't go exactly as planned. As I was studying, the scripture in Alma 36:3, came to mind. "...for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions." 

So many wonderful things are happening in Bell Gardens! As we trust in God, and trust His timing, we will be comforted to know that all will work out. I hope that your week, and especially your year is filled with tender mercies of the Lord. I am excited to make this year of 2016 on my mission, the best. Keep on trusting in the Lord and His timing, and it will always be well. 

All is well, all is well!

Love you family! 

-Hermana Abreu 

Went to the Visitors Center, twice this week!!! :) 

One of our Visitor Center trips this week!

Me and Sis. Vincent on exchanges!

Visitors Center again!

 

Guess what? It's raining in LA!

Hello wonderful family!!!!

Oh my goodness! You don't know how happy this e-mail makes me!!!! I am so happy that things are looking so good at home! I know that the Lord is so aware of us! I love you!

I know he blesses us for our diligence to His commandments and our service to His children. 

   Sister Morrison and I have been joking that this week, we made a trip to the Seattle Washington mission, due to the ridiculous amount of rain that has been poured (literally) over Bell Gardens and a lot of the mission. I felt so much gratitude for serving in SoCal when we experienced the downpour a few days this week. Proselyting in the rain is a lot harder than the normal sunny and 75 degree weather hehe :) We are grateful as well, because it helped a bit with the drought we've been in over here. But the rain sure didn't stop us! This week we have been praying for new investigators and boy, has the Lord answered our prayers. I can't truly tell you how strong I have felt God's presence this week, in the work. When times were hard during the rainy days, and no one was home and we had no set lessons but we were just talking to everyone, we felt Heavenly Father telling us to try a little harder, go a little further and I will bless you. We  ended up finding 2 really cool investigators, and one of them was a referral that we had tried probably 4 or 5 times and on the last time she was home!!! She is a young mom, (we seem to be teaching a lot of those lately) who is searching to have a relationship with God again. She is so awesome!

   

  This week we had a wonderful Zone Conference and it was so edifying and I learned so much! Something that I really liked that President Weidman  told us is that a lot of times we hear the phrase, to forget yourself and go to work, in the mission. He said that people look at it in a different way, God isn't telling us to leave behind our strengths, talents, skills and everything that makes us unique and who we are but that God is telling us to use those gifts and talents that he has given us to serve Him. Use them, especially on our missions, to give it our all and use the tools that he has given us to hasten the work. I really loved it, because it reminded me that although we're missionaries and a lot has changed, our schedule, what we do in our free time, who we spend our time with etc. God still wants us to be who we are and to not forget that!!!

   

In other news, we're having a baptism this Sunday!!!!! We're so pumped, Jennifer is so ready to be baptized and we are getting it all set up, it is going to be so amazing we're ending the transfer with a SPLASH!!! hahaha

Bell Gardens ward is doing well, we recently have finally gotten a new ward mission leader, we haven't had one for about a month now but he is awesome and ready to work. This week, Sister Vincent and I were asked to speak at the ward Noche de Hogar about missionary work and it was great! Afterwards for refreshments, they gave out a Rosca de Reyes cake, which is a tradition in the mexican culture for Dia de los Reyes, its basically like this bread that they have and inside is hidden the baby Jesus, it represents when the 3 kings visited Christ and he's hidden in the cake to kind of represent when King Herod was trying to find Him. Very interesting.....but cool! All in all, it was a good Noche de Hogar!

Side note: I forgot to mention couple weeks back we got the info of who our new mission president and companion is going to be in July, their names are Brother and Sister Robert Haynie of Shoreline WA! 

How awesome!!!!!

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week and make sure to use those special gifts and talents which God has given you, to serve His children and to help and uplift His church. I pray that all of my NC friends are well and are getting adjusted to life back to school and work after the holidays! Love ya'll! Talk to you soon!

p.s--- I actually have been spreading the word about Cheerwine the famous soda that does not exist over here, but our investigators, Jennifer and Matthew are in love with Dr. Pepper and I told them about Cheerwine so now they are begging for a taste. So if there is anything I would like is a thing of Cheerwine so my peeps over here can taste of its goodness ;) Hahaha LOVE YOUUUU! 

Love,

Hermana Abreu