"Eva Was Venezuelan"

I am currently writing this from the National Gallery of Art and I feel
so fancy haha. But this week has just flown by! I was so surprised
when I realized yesterday was Sunday. It seems like I just wrote you
all. But thankfully this week has been a great one. We saw so many
blessings which has reminded me of a scripture in the Book of Mormon
in Ether 12:12 "For if there be no faith among the children of men God
can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until
after their faith." I have definitely learned that as we stay firm in
our faith throughout our challenges and setbacks, we will always see
the blessings in the end. There are always good things to come!
Some of those miracles have been going to the Visitors Center with
Oneyda and Alex who have been some pretty difficult people to teach.
But both of them felt the spirit so strongly there as we talked about
the blessings of the temple. Oneyda kept thanking us profusely after
for inviting them there. Still not on a baptismal date, but they are
slowly preparing their way there. We also got to see Ingrid and George
even if it was just for a moment in the doorway, but we have been
praying to make contact, and we did!
We also had some awesome lessons this week. And through those lessons,
we managed to meet almost all of our goals! We picked up a new family
that hasn't really been to church since coming to the States, and have
another señora who committed to be baptized! Overall my testimony of
the fact that Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers, even about
the littlest things, has grown significantly. Sometimes it is easy for
us to pray and pray, but never look for the answers, or forget to
recognize them when they come, but I know that as we look for the
answers to our prayers, we will always find them. I love being a
missionary and feel so privileged to be doing this great work. Sister
Case, my roommate, just hit her year mark and we were talking about
how incredibly fast it all goes by. The time really just flies! I'm
not sure how it happens! That's about all I can think of for this
week. It's been a fantastic one. Les quiero mucho y ojalá que tengan
una buena semana!

Oh! To explain the title, we were checking up on this less active lady
and some random guy was outside her house lifting weights, which we
kept telling him we couldn't do in skirts despite him telling us
exercise is good for you (haha). But then Hna Rivas said her family
was from Venezuela and he starts going off about how beautiful the
women from Venezuela are (slightly weird) and tells us that Eve was
Venezuelan. I was dying and Hna Rivas felt really uncomfortable. Gotta
love days like that.

Hna Yonson

All the Spanish Missionaries in the zone

 Us at the VC with Oneyda and her boys.

I need one

Atheists, Opposition and Goodbyes

It's weird to think transfers were just this past Wednesday since not
much has changed on our front. We have a new roommate, since Sister
Maire went home and Sis. Cooper came in. Our new apartment is still
treating us well.

Our week itself has been pretty rough. We decided to finally talk to
Oneyda and Alex about baptism again, hoping to get Alex excited about
something since they are now coming to church every Sunday. And Alex
said he's never once thought about baptism before (not true) and it's
not something he wants to do. Stab wound number one to the heart.
Number two and three occurred on Saturday when we hadn't heard from
Ingrid and George for a few days, which was getting us kind of worried
since they are preparing for their baptism in July. So we stop by and
Ingrid answers the door and says she cannot see us today tells us
everything is fine and closes the door. She also told our member she
couldn't come to church. Needless to say we are racking our brains
trying to figure out how to help her which is difficult when you don't
know what's going on. And number three happened just a few hours later
when Erik, who we were planning on inviting to be baptized on July 23
texted us out of the blue saying that he doesn't want to keep learning
more because he really feels like atheism just makes more sense.
Despite our best efforts to convince him to just come to church, he
said he wasn't interested anymore. Needless to say, it has been a bit
of a difficult week but amidst all of it we still have been able to
see little miracles such as sharing a message of eternal families with
an elderly man who's wife recently passed away, receiving a giant bag
of chocolate covered mangoes from the nicest atheist man I've ever
met, and having 4 investigators at church. It's an amazing testimony
to me that even in the middle of opposition, the Lord still shows us
that He is at the head of this work. We will be praying for the people
we have been working with, and to find some new people this next week.
We have some appointments set up for this next week that I am pretty
excited about.

We also got to hear President and Sister Cooke speak last night and it
was great. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity I've had to
serve under their guidance and direction. I am both sad to see them
leave and excited for President and Sister Johnson to come in. It will
be a very interesting transition. Well that's all for this week. I
hope you all have wonderful weeks and see the blessings of your own
missionary efforts. Les quiero mucho!

Hna Yonson

I Speak Hispanic and Happy Fathers Day!

I can't believe it's Monday again! I swear some weeks just fly and
this was one of them, and so much happened in just one week. The
biggest pressing news is that the Lord heard and answered the many,
many prayers of His servant, and I am staying in Silver Spring! We got
the call on Saturday night, and all day Saturday I was a ball of
nerves. Hermana Rivas had just finished training and I have been in
the zone my whole mission and my area for 3 transfers, which isn't a
ton of time but enough that President will move you. So needless to
say the entire zone was telling me I was out of here, and I was so
nervous that that would be the case. I've felt like there is still
work here for me to do, and apparently the Lord did too!! I am so
excited, and much to our surprise, Hna Rivas and I are staying
together as well! We're both pretty pumped.

In other news, we moved this week, so Tuesday was just a bunch of back
and forth from our old apartment to the new one. But we managed to get
it all done in one day like we had hoped, and the new apartment is in a
really central location, so I can't complain.

And...Ingrid and George officially have a baptismal date! We went to
go teach them on Tuesday and George told us he wanted to get baptized,
which Ingrid said is the first time he's said anything about that. We
ended up teaching about modern day prophets and Thomas S. Monson, our
prophet today. As we were talking Ingrid told us she had listening to
one of His testimonies just earlier that morning without having any
idea of who he was. We started talking a little more about her
baptism, and she started to cry and bore the most sincere testimony
that she knew the Book of Mormon was true because it had given her the
desire to change her life, and she said that she will get baptized in
July 15! Needless to say we are really excited that it's finally set
in stone.

And to explain the I speak Hispanic. I ended up translating for the
adult session of Stake Conference this weekend....I desperately pray
that the spirit somehow adjusted my words because simultaneous
translation is just not my forte haha. But the guy I was translating
with served his mission in "Barthelona" and so he told me that he
spoke Spanish and I spoke Hispanic. Only slightly offended jajaja.

But overall, it has been an awesome week and I continue to feel more
and more blessed every single day by Heavenly Father. There is no
greater joy than losing yourself in the service of others. So serve
those around you, and President Hinckley said, I know no greater cure
for the troubles in life than to help someone in greater distress than
you. Paraphrasing. But it's true. I love the opportunity I have to be
a missionary and serve others and God every day. Les quiero mucho! Y
espero que tengan una buena semana! Hasta luego!

Hermana Yonson

El distrito!

 La zona

 El area

Let Us All Press On

I'm really not sure how this week came and went, but it's Monday
again! I feel like not too much has happened this past week, but it's
been a good one that's for sure! I guess I'll just give a highlight real
for the week...
We are still working a lot with Ingrid and George. They are both
progressing SO MUCH. Ingrid now texts us randomly out of the blue to
thank us for helping her and her family find the gospel. She is still
concerned about her baptism, she was baptized in another church and
wants to make sure it is completely right for her before she makes
that step. So she is still praying for that, and we are as well. This
past week though we had an awesome lesson about temples and how
because of the temple ordinances, those who passed away without a
knowledge of the gospel have the opportunity to accept it later on.
She started crying and then told us about how her dad and brother had
both passed away and this had always been a big question of hers. She
had always heard that those who didn't accept in this life were just
lost souls until now. It made me incredibly grateful for the message
of the Restored Gospel that allows us to have precious truths such as
the Plan of Salvation in our lives.
We also got to go to the temple not once, but twice this past week!!
(man we are so spoiled haha). It was an awesome uplifting experience
just as always, and makes me even more excited for the many members we
have that are preparing to enter the temple with their families to be
sealed for time and all eternity.
Lastly, we had some awesome meal appointments with members this past
week and have been giving them all a challenge. We have been giving
them a Book of Mormon and asking them to prayerfully select someone
with whom they can share that Book of Mormon and then set a date by
which they can be taught by the missionaries. A little confusing, but
it's what President has asked us to do, and we have seen so many
miracles from it! We normally don't get too many member referrals
(people members refer to be taught by the missionaries) and every
single one of the members we have given this challenge has either had
a referral that same day, or a few days later! It is incredible to see
how the work of the Lord progresses when we all work together. I know
that this gospel is true. I wouldn't give up a year and a half of my
life for something that I thought was just beneficial. It is true,
100%. Estoy tan agradecida por la oportunidad que tengo de ser
misionera y compartirlo con mis hermanos y hermanas. Yo sé que
Jesucristo vive. I hope you all have a wonderful week! I look forward
to hearing from you! Les quiero!

Hermana Yonson


A member told us to just show up at the restaurant and they would have food ready.  We weren't hungry the rest of the day haha.

 

"Knock and it shall be opened unto you"

Temple trip #1