Milagros

Hola!

How is everyone? Did you all have a good Pioneer Day? That doesn't mean anything in Virginia, so it was just a normal day for us. We did celebrate Christmas this week though! We decided that it was going to be Christmas on the 25th and so we listened to Christmas music all day. :) Why? I have absolutely no idea. It was fun though.

This week my miracle, funny story and something that I learned are all the same story. Yesterday was just a day full of miracles.

First Miracle: Our mission has been focusing a lot on how we as missionaries can keep the Sabbath holy and so this week we set some goals for that. Yesterday we were 26 IOs (invite others) off from 100 (which is the standard of excellence in our mission). Normally we would just go to a shopping center parking lot and talk to people there, but we made a goal not to do that on Sundays so people wouldn't think that we had just been shopping on the Sabbath. We tracted for a while to get the IOs, but we weren't having a lot of success. Heavenly Father knew that we were trying hard to keep the Sabbath holy though and he put so many people in out path throughout the day. We were able to get 26 without having to go to a shopping center parking lot!

Second Miracle: Last night at about 7:30 Hermana Bills realized that we were one lesson and one investigator away from the standard of excellence (15 lessons and 2 new investigators). We had planned on going home for dinner at 8:00, but we were definitely not going back to our apartment without reaching that goal. We started trying every potential that we had around that we could teach. We said lots of prayers, but no one would let us in. It was after 8 and we still hadn't found anyone to teach. Then we remembered a potential investigator named P. On the way to his trailer we saw a woman standing on her porch. We decided that if P. wasn't home, we would go talk to her. Well, P. wasn't home so we ran over and introduced ourselves to the woman. And guess what happened? She let us in! I couldn't even believe it! She told us that she was grateful that we had come because she was really sad. She didn't tell us a whole lot, but we were able to teach a very short Restoration lesson and we have a return appointment for next week! She's so humble and prepared to hear the gospel! Then miraculously, we were able to get home on time! Probably the best part of this entire story is when we got home, counted up our numbers, and realized that we hadn't actually met the standard of excellence. We only got 14 lessons. I am not even disappointed at all though because I'm positive that there is a reason that Hermana Bills miscounted our lessons the first time. If she hadn't, we would have just gone home for dinner and we never would have found M. It's really amazing how Heavenly Father works. 

I hope everyone has a marvelous week!

Hermana Fields

Yes, I'm Alive!

Hola everyone!

     Sorry! It's been about five years since I wrote anything! I'm back now though.

     Well, just a quick update because I actually don't know when the last time was that I wrote a blog email. I am currently serving in Newport News/Williamsburg, Virginia. I am in a trio right now. My companions are Hermana Bills, she's from Provo, and Hermana Nyre, and she's from Syracuse:) They are both wonderful missionaries and I love them a lot! We have a grand old time, walking around, speaking Spanish, most of the time in the rain! It rains a lot here... We have fun though:)

     So I'm really bad at writing letters (hence the 0 blog letters lately) so this is how I'm going to split my letters up: Funny thing/s that happened, a miracle and something I learned. Or something like that anyway.

     Our mission has a key indicator called Invite Others. Which means inviting someone that isn't an investigator to do something outside of a lesson, like look at Mormon.org or learn more about the gospel. President Baker wants the whole mission to get 100 every week. We've done it.  But it takes a lot of work, and you have to talk to EVERYONE, so unfortunately we don't always get 100. Well, last week some of the elders in our district got 101 and one of them very kindly told us to "beat it." That was probably the best motivation that anyone has ever given me! and usually our motivation is frozen yogurt on preparation day! Guess how many we got this week? We got 112! Yes, Elder, we beat it. Okay, so that isn't that funny, but I thought it was, haha!

     This week we had an amazing miracle! We have a less-active sister that we meet with and last week when we went over to teach her, she had a friend over and the friend wanted to learn more! So this week we were able to teach her and she just loves it! She's the cutest! For all of you out there, I just want you to know that the best/most interested investigators come from members. SO INVITE YOUR FRIENDS!

     Something that I learned this week is that God catches you when you walk out onto the water. This has been my favorite scripture story throughout my entire mission and this week I really had to put it into practice.

 "25. And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.

 26. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.

 27. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.

 28. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.

 29. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.

 30. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.

 31. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" Matthew 31

    This week we had exchanges and the sister that came didn't speak any Spanish. Hermana Bills (AKA my Spanish mouth piece) was the one that left. So it was just Hermana Nyre and I. Hermana Nyre speaks Spanish well but neither of us can speak as well as Hermana Bills. Lately I have really not ended up teaching very much because now there are two other people teaching that can speak  way better than I can and so I fade back a lot of the time. So, needless to say, I was super nervous to teach with just Hermana Nyre and I. But it was just fine! I opened my mouth and words came out! It definitely wasn't perfect, but I was able to communicate my point! The last couple weeks I have definitely, like Peter, let the winds and waves around me waver my faith and I started to sink. The Lord knew what I needed to push me back above that all and He caught me. 

I hope you all have a beautiful week!

Hermana Fields 

Independence Day in Photos

Editor's note:

If a picture is worth a thousand words, than this is one long post! Hermana Fields didn't send a blog to post, but it's great seeing her beautiful smiling face. ~Angela

Hermanas Fields, Bills and Camps (I don't know when this photo was taken. )

Las Compañeras: Hermanas Fields, Bills y Nyre