The Lord always makes it possible!

Hi everybody!!!!

How is everyone doing?!

I about died when I got the e-mail about Giselle's call!!!!!! New York Rochester mission!!!!! That is just SO amazing!!! Me and my comp have talked about how amazing it is going to be to be able to teach about the Restoration being at the actual sites where a lot of it took place. Giselle is going to be so amazing!!!! 

As for this week in Bell, things have been wonderful!!! Miguel "Angel" investigator got baptized yesterday!!! Prepping him that week was a bit stressful but as always the Lord provides a way and he was able to be baptized!!! The baptismal service turned out perfectly and Miguel loved it. Although none of his family could be at the service he told us his favorite part about the baptism was the love and support he felt from the ward. I love the Bell Gardens ward!

This week we also had exchanges with two companionships of our sisters and I was with Sister Shupe and then later in the week I was with Sister Duncan they were fun and I learned a lot from them :) 

The heat has been pretty bad but that hasn't stopped any work from moving forward! Its funny as we were preparing for Miguel's baptism this past Sunday we had scheduled his baptismal interview on Thursday night and so we went to meet him at his apartment with a member ride to take him to the interview. When we got there Miguel was in the parking lot helping his friend fix his car and we were telling him it was already time to go but he kept telling us "5 minutos mas" "5 minutos mas" until it had hit 45 minutes late that we had to be at his interview. We kept rushing him but then he told us the story of when he was back in Mexico he used to work with driving trucks and sometimes they would have group deliveries and how if one of the trucks broke down that they would always stop and help him. They never left anyone behind and so once he said that, Sister Vincent and I sat and waited patiently haha because we felt bad for rushing him hahaha. He finally finished, fixed his friend's car and he made it to his interview and passed!!!! The Lord always makes it possible!!!! 

Welp the highlight of this week was Miguel's baptism! We're working with a few other people and we're excited to continue seeing them progress in the gospel!!!! Love you all so much!!!! Don't forget to count your tender mercies!!!!

Love, 

Hermana Abreu 

Patiently waiting on Miguel to fix his friend's car before his baptismal interview! 

Baptism pictures!

The ward at Miguel's baptism

 

 

 

Miguel!!!

Picture with Reymundo family

Ice cream on a hot hot day (btw this is my new comp Sis. Vincent!)

Paletas @ Ruiz's with Miguel

My birthday and much more!!!

Hola Familia!!!!!

AHHH! Giselle got her mission call!!! I can't even believe it, I can't wait to hear where she's is going, I am almost as anxious as when I got mine! SO proud of Selle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I am staying en mi casa en la ciudad de Bell y el barrio de Bell Gardens another transfer and my awesome new comp is Hermana Vincent! We know eachother from when she was my STL back in the day and we have served in MLC togetha :) She is awesome and we are both on the same page with how we want this transfer to go! She is an awesome teacher, very bold and powerful we've seen so many miracles already!!!

My birthday was really good! I got to do plenty of missionary work that day, when we went contacting with the new missionaries in Santa Monica for about 3 hours, I forgot what it was like to contact mean people, hahaha being in spanish areas, you almost forget what its like to be rejected pretty harshly but it was way fun! I was able to go contact with Sister Davies who was fresh from the Mexico MTC, nice hair, nice clothes, nice everything yup she indeed was a brand new missionary ahaha but it was really great. Sister Davies had a really cool first experience where I told her that her main job that day was to give away the Book of Mormon to someone who she felt would read it and she gladly accepted the challenge! At about halfway through contacting she had tried placing the BOM about 3 or 4 times but no one was interested. She asked me if she was doing it wrong, when really she was the most skilled new missionary I had worked with! And I told her that we would find someone. As we continued the next hour, we faced more rejection and it was almost time to head back. All we had left to hand out was the BOM, we had already given away all the pamphlets and pass along cards. So we decided to say a prayer and asked God to help us find someone to find who really would have interest in reading the Book of Mormon and in learning more. So we walked and after a couple more convos we ran into a woman named Sonia who looked like she was taking a break from her work. We started to talk to her and at first she didn't seem at all interested but as we continued to talk about the restoration and especially the BOM her expression started to change. She refused to take it at first but we asked her how she would feel to know that she could receive answers from God to the questions that she has through reading the BOM and she said it would be something great, we then opened up and read Moroni 10:3-5 with her and said a prayer and she gladly accepted the BOM!!! It was the coolest experience, because I know that as Sister Davies and I continued with faith, seeking the Lord's help to give that BOM to someone who really desired it that it would happen! :) #newmissionarymiracles

This week we also had the privilege of going to the Visitors Center twice this week with our investigators, Juan and the other Miguel Angel! So first, we found this ahmazing new investigator named Miguel Angel, he is 23 and his story is so crazy! He basically left Mexico about 2 months ago because he had some trauma happen to him, where some bad people mistaked him for another guy and basically attacked him and tortured him for 2 days for information that he didn't have and was like left in the street, the paramedics and police were too afraid of the gang that attacked him so they didn't take him to the hospital of anything he was just taken back to his home to "heal" for like a month or so. While he was at home a lot of his family left him because they were afraid that they were going to come after them too, so his wife with his two kids also left him alone. The miracle is that the missionaries found him some how in Mexico and taught him like everyday and it was his saving grace...until he decided it'd be better to start a new life here in the US and Sister Lucas and I got him as a referral! We felt prompted to call his number late Saturday night  a couple weeks back and invited him to church, he came and loved it and we have been teaching him ever since, he is gonna get baptized this Sunday!!! HE IS SOOO COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MILAGROS ARE OCCURRING in the CLAM mission and its just the best! I am really looking forward to this transfer and to see what the Lord has in store for us these next 6 weeks! Yippeeee!!!

I love you guys so much! Have a fantabulous week!!!

Con demasiado amor,

Hermana Abreu

Last Sunday dinner with Hna. Lucas @ Hna. Cruz's 

Hey! 7/11 was giving away free slurpees because it was my bday......;) hehehe

Bday @ Ruiz's

Picture with awesome investigatior Miguel!

VC pic with Juan!

Happy 4th!!!

Feliz cuatro de Julio! Happy 4th of July!!!!
Sorry there is no time today because we have had a fun day at the
fair, riding rides, talking to so many cool people and families and
got some return appointments with them! I just wanted to let you all
know that I love you and I'm thinking about all of you in North
Carolina and those of you not in NC. I love you all and I hope you
spend your 4th well! God bless America :) :) :)
Love,
Hermana Abreu
2 Nephi 1: 5 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

July Madness!

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!!! :)

Good week, good week!!! Filled with meetings and trainings!

On Tuesday we had an awesome first MLC with President and Sister Haynie! They have a lot of great things that they want to bring to the mission :) They talked a lot about helping our investigators understand the basics of prayer, scripture study and church and we looked in detail at the importance of keeping those commitments. President Weidman always said that if after your mission, you continue to keep those commitments, you will never fall away from the church and I know that's true for anyone. 

 Our investigator Cristian who is preparing to be baptized on July 17th is doing so well!!! He came to church and liked it a lot, and he is keeping all his commitments! YAY We also had a cool guy named Juan, come to church with a member in the ward (welp we actually found out that the "member" who brought him isn't actually baptized but has been coming to church for years) and he is wayyy cool! He is very intelligent and has the most sincere desire to receive answers from God that this is the true church. He comes to us with the most interesting questions but Sister Lucas and I have so much fun teaching him!!!

     These past couple of weeks, Sister Lucas and I have been working on having more effective exercises in the morning and our ward mission leader and his wife are like professional trainers basically haha and so one day this week we got up at 5am to work out and we've been feeling it ever since hahaha. Transfers aRE this coming week and we don't have a clue what's happening, I'm hoping I am staying but only God knows and that's okay with me :) Sister Lucas and I have had some pretty crazy experiences together, especially this past week we were chased by a homeless man and then two girls in a car chased us while we were in the car and threw a water bottle at our car but nothing new in LA. ;)

     This week I have gained a stronger testimony of how divine and inspired counsels are. Sister Lucas and I have had to help some of our investigators and missionaries to communicate with one another, with some problems they have had. To help them we read one of the talks by Elder  M. Russell Ballard about family counsels in the last general conference and he talks about how its vital to have counsels in order to have a happy home (happy companionship, roommate, spouse etc. Something he says really stood out to me, "No matter what our particular family situation is, it is critical that we understand the unique circumstances of each family member (roommate, comp etc)" I know if we're grounded on the gospel principles of charity, service, compassion, understanding etc. we are able to live happier lives and in our case happier and more fulfilling missions. That's something I have struggled with throughout my mission at times,  maybe not communicating as openly as I should with my comp but I know that when we humble ourselves the Lord is able to resolve our conflicts and concerns and change them into joyful times. I love you so much! I hope this helped at least one of you reading this. Have a miracle filled week!!

Love, 

Hermana Abreu 

P.S. These are pictures from all our fun last P-day JULY 4th fun!!!! We went to a community fair and had great time!!!