Happy Summer!

Happy Summer!!!!

Wow how the weeks of this transfer are flying by! It's been a great and HOT week :) Heat makes the people of Los Angeles a little crazier haha. Sister Lucas and I have begun naming the craziest/most unique people we talk to every day. Yesterday we met an escaped hospital patient, who said he looked like Freddy Kreuger. lololol The sights and adventures in LA, just get better and better! 

 Esta semana era maravillosa! We continue to meet the coolest people, we set two baptismal dates this week with a man named Cristian and a woman named Abolonia. It was awesome :) 

Jennifer finally had her baby!!!!!!!!!! And we got to see her and her new baby boy Aaron :) We didn't get to hold him but by just seeing him it made our life! We're not sure if we're gonna continue to teach her because of the question of where she is going to end up living, but we know wherever she goes she is going to be baptized! And we'll definitely stay in touch with her. On Sunday, Marta and Juan were confirmed official members of the church and now we're working on helping them get to the temple go do baptisms for the dead!!! They are just the cutest family. I love em a lot. We also had exchanges and I was able to see and be with my sweetest trainee, Sister Hibbard!!!! It was good to be with my wonderful comp again for a day, she's grown so much and she is doing so good in Hollywood with Sister Risenmay. Being companions with someone, you truly develop so much love for them because of the great and really hard experiences you have together! 

This week, we have our "meet the president" and President Weidman is going home. :( I'll admit, it'll be a little new but I'm excited to get to know our new mission president. I know there will be so many miracles as the summer continues!!!!!! 

I can't believe Giselle put in her mission papers. Ahhhhh I am so excited for her! I can't believe she is gonna be a missionary. It's the best thing in the world. Wherever she serves is where she needs to be. You come to know that's true the longer you're out and the more people you meet. I know mission calls are truly calls from the Lord! 

Well that's pretty much everything this week, the weather is getting hotter, the people are getting crazier but the work is moving forward :) Love you all so much!!!! Have a wondrous week!!!

Love, 

Hermana Abreu 

Us with sisters Hibbard and Risenmay on exchanges

Us with our CUTE old man neighbor, Ali :) ​

Bowling fun! (We got to go bowling today for P-day!)

Jennifer's baby!!!

Us with baby Aaron!

What a week!!!

Wow what a week what a week!!!

Sounds like it was so so fun! Today we've been running around so we have like no time, but this week has been so good. Packed with exchanges and awesome things, especially zone conference!! I felt so uplifted by the trainings and the things I learned. One of things we focused on was consecration. To be a consecrated missionary means to give everything for the Lord. Give all our time and attention to serving the Lord!! It's not hard but it's definitely worth it. When we're consecrated the Lord is able to make us the missionaries, and not just the missionaries but the people he wants us to be. I think this can apply to everyone. The question we should ask ourselves is what else could I be doing to serve the Lord? What step can I take to come closer to him? Especially because we've been focusing on charity, I know that if we have charity for Christ we will truly make the changes necessary. We found 17 new investigators this week and we're excited to work with these really cool people and to continue in the work of the Lord in this area. I love you all and I hope you spent your Fathers Day with your fathers. I wouldn't be here where I am without my Papi. Te quiero Papi!

I love you all and I hope you stay cool because here it is getting HOT! 

-Hermana Abreu

Us with Hermana Reyna, SO HOT!

Hermano Reyna in the ward enjoying his new grill that was given to him
for Fathers Day!

"Charity Transfer Man!"

Wow! I don't really know where to start but this week has been one of the greatest weeks of my mission. 

   Like I mentioned last week, our mission has started something called "Charity Transfer" where we are focusing on increasing our key indicators with the motivation being charity. This last week we had a special focus on inviting boldly and with charity everyone to be baptized. All of our trainings, studies, etc. have been about how we can do this. The miracles are countless and as for Hermana Lucas and I and our area, we were able to witness the most amazing miracles. Marta, Juan and Jose had plans to be baptized on June 19th and we were working towards that day, but on Thursday we went over and taught them and they told us that the 19th wasn't going to work out because Marta had plans to go to Mexico, so then they suggested we push it up and to get ready for them to be baptized that Sunday. We couldn't believe it!!!!! We taught everything, got the baptism ready and on Sunday they entered the waters of baptism. It was the best thing to be able to see how God had prepared their hearts for the gospel and as we talked about the promised blessings of baptism and showed charity there was no need to wait. Sister Lucas and I were also able to be witnesso a wedding!!!!! With Jennifer and Fernando, the couple we were teaching, we had been making daily contact with them and on we ended up teaching Jennifer the law of chastity. That next day at night, we actually received a call from Jennifer that she wanted to know how her and Fernando could get married!!!! So we figured it out and that next day we went with an hermana in the ward, Hermana Osorio, and went to get their marriage license. They were married on Saturday and Jennifer is preparing to be baptized in the next couple of weeks. I know that Charity has everything to do with the miracles that are occurring in our area. I have felt the Savior's love more abundantly in my life as I've tried to develop that love for everyone we come in contact with. Its amazing what love for the Savior will lead people to do, whether its get married to live God's commandment or to get baptized earlier to follow his way sooner. I know with all my heart that this work is true and the Lord is watching over us at all times and is encouraging us always to follow his way as soon as possible. 

"Charity never faileth"

I love you all so much. Have a charity filled week!!!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Abreu 

Exchanges with Sister Morrison

Jennifer and Fernando's wedding

Pictures of Marta and Juan's baptism

Picture reunited with my mini me 

My 1-year mark deco

One year mark this week!!!

Hello Mommy! I love you so much! I got my box and I LOVED everything!!! My Easter/Valentines one year stuff! Thank you so much!!! 

I got a box from home celebrating my ONE YEAR mark on my mission!

Well it was my first week back in Bell and wow we've been busy!! My companions name is Hermana Lucas and she is the best. We knew each other before and just being comps in our first week has been a blast. Our area covers the other half of the Bell Gardens ward which is Bell, Cudahy, and Maywood! It's so different from my last area, in LA it's so much quieter.. Kind of nice! Getting back to the STL life has been an adventure, we've had some wild experiences and we've been moving nonstop but it's the best. We have a family that we are teaching who we have been focusing our efforts on, Marta, Juan and Jose. We had the wonderful opportunity take them to the Visitors Center on Saturday and had a powerful lesson and committed he whole family to be baptized on June 19th!!!! It was so cool.

At the LA Temple Visitor's Center with our investigators!

Another cool miracle started when I wasn't here, last Sunday a couple came to the ward and they were both from Spain, looking for the church. It turns out the couples names were Jennifer and Fernando and they are here in LA staying for a while and Fernando is a less active, his fiancée, Jennifer is really interested in the gospel so we have been seeing and teaching her like everyday! She's amazing. We had the idea to bring my recent convert, Jennifer Lopez and her husband Matthew to a lesson with Jennifer, because it turns out that both Jennifer's are named Jennifer, are pregnant AND are both around 19 years old. It was so cool seeing Jennifer testify of the truthfulness of these things with our investigator, Jennifer, my heart was SO full!!!! 

ALSO Hermana Lucas' 20th bday was on Sunday so it was really exciting and all the members showed their love by filling us with food and cake. Our investigators, Juan, Marta and Jose surprised her when we showed up for our lesson with food, cake, a present and the Mexican "mañanitas song" it was so funny! We ended the fiesta with a powerful lesson on the Book of Mormon and they are all excited to read it. Sunday was the best!!!!  Seeing all my peeps in the Bell Gardens ward made my heart so full! This ward has a special piece of my heart and seeing their joyous faces happy to see me again and me happy to see them made me so excited! I feel like it really was a teeny piece of how it's gonna be in the Celestial kingdom, seeing all the people that you served with, loved, helped etc. The sisters here in the ward have been working really hard in the ward and there have been several baptisms in the last 6 months!

 

Yea!! I get to see Hna. Castillo (my previous companion) who is still in our old area of Bell Gardens!!!

My new companion Hna. Lucas!  It was her birthday this week!

Another really cool thing has been working closely with President Weidman again! Hermana Lucas and I, had the privilege of being a part of a small counsel with him and the AP's about something miraculous that we're going to be doing this transfer, called "Charity Transfer". This whole transfer we're going to focus on the Christlike attribute of Charity and focus every week on a key indicator and how we can make our areas improve and exceed the goals we have, to really make the focus of the transfer not on the changes that are happening in the misdion(new mission president etc) but on Charity and to make this transfer the best we've ever had! I hit my 1-year mark this coming week and it's kind of unreal. 1 year of being a missionary!!! I'm gonna celebrate it by working hard. There are so many more things I want to write but the time is so short, but know that God is aware of you and loves you and he knows where you need to be and what you need to be doing! I've learned that with all the change during a mission can be hard but in the end, if you love the people and have a desire to serve them, then it's all the same!!!!! Love you all!!!! Xoxoxoxo

Ah so many changes!!

Hello family!!!!

   Ah so many changes! We got our transfer calls and both Sister Hibbard and I are leaving our area :( :( I will be going back to Bell Gardens!!!!!! I will be a Sister Training Leader with my new comp Hermana Lucas! I am so stoked! It will be the same ward but a different area. Sister Hibbard will be going to Hollywood with Sister Risenmay, and Sister Risenmay will finish her training. She is also so excited!!! Our area will actually be handed over to a companionship of visitors center sisters. Its going to be a hard change for our investigators, two in two out but we know that the VC sisters have got it covered! I am going to miss this area a ton <3

    This week has been super good! We are still working with the Cardona fam and Selena, the daughter is doing so good she is super ready to be baptized on June 12th! On Sunday it was the 5th Sunday and so it was missionary work Sunday. Sister Hibbard and I, along with a couple of the Elders in the ward were able to speak in sacrament meeting and it was awesome! Sister Hibbard gave such a great talk TODO EN ESPANOL! I think the ward was really surprised at how amazing her Spanish was and the spirit was felt very powerfully throughout the meeting :) I don't have too much time just because we have got a lot of moving around to do, we've got to completely clean out our apartment, but I will update you all next week about my new area.

I love you all!!!  Have a great week!!!!

Love, 

Hermana Abreu

LA Ama Tu Ciudad!!!

p.s-- a member gave us these Mexican dresses so we decided to wear them out :) 

Korean BBQ!

Erika, a RC took us to eat Korean BBQ 

Sister Hibbard and our mango banana smoothie!

Picture with a part-member family, Ronald and Irina

Pretty picture by the flowers!

Us with Hno. Juan Zaya and Hno. Alfonso Magana, two recent converts in the ward! The one with the suit, Juan Zaya has an amazing story! He actually was in a coma for 5 years and came back from it he has a trache/tube that he breaths out of. He is so converted, he is the coolest!