The Book of Mormon, the best life guide on the planet

Hello all!

This week we had the coolest experience with the Book of Mormon. On Monday night, Hermana Galicia and I were talking to our district leader about how we could find more people to teach this week. He invited us to preach with the BOM in every lesson. To literally carry the BOM in our hand every second of the day so that's what we did! We talked to everyone with this book in our hand: at every door, street contact and home visit. By the end of the week, we found 6 new people that are really interested to learn more! 

As I reflected on the lessons we taught, I realized that we taught with more authority and I felt the Spirit a lot stronger. I love the Book of Mormon because it's basically the best life guide on the earth. It's full of of people with different levels of faith and what they do with their faith. It states clearly the consequences and blessings we receive when we exercise our faith in Christ. It is also a strong witness that Heavenly Father remembers and keeps His promises. So being filled to the brim with inspiring words from Women´s conference and stories from the BOM what do we need to do next?

I find it too often that the attitude of our investigators after our lessons is, ¨Wow that was great. I felt really good¨ and just kind of accept it was a good experience and move on. NO. This is no bueno. The invitation to ask your Father in Heaven if these things are true is vital for our spiritual learning. It is only when we feel that these things are true through the Spirit than we can move on and continue to learn. We must pray to receive this answer with an attitude of what are we going to do when we receive an answer. 

I love the scripture in 2 Nefi 32:8-9. It's kind of long to write but please look for it! I love the part that says "That ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul.¨ So, there it is. My invitation is this, that when we hear the words of our prophet and apostles this week and when we attend sacrament meeting and listen to the words of the members that we don't forget to pray to ask if their words are true.  And after that, what are you going to do about it? I testify that when we make this a habit, we will be setting a foundation on Christ, we will not doubt when trials come and we will always be guided to know what to do. 

I love you all and know that this is true!

Hermana Herrera

"The tree of life" a stone found in Chiapas, Mexico hundreds of years ago. Interesting...

President couldn't get enough of us together, SAME DISTRICT!

Exchanges=family potrait

Spiritual Eyes

Hola! 

This week was filled with tiny miracles that my heart might explode with gratitude. Sadly, time is short and I'll just share one of my favorites. OK, so my first week here in Nanacamilpa, the bishop said he had someone  very special that he wanted us to meet. It turned out to be his nephew Alberto. I have heard about a mid-life crisis before but I have never really seen one. Alberto was right in the middle of it. I have never seen a man so low on his life before.  We could see that his past actions have had severe consequences. One in particular was his addictions. Alberto was someone that needed to feel the love that his Father in Heaven has for him. 

We have been teaching him these past few weeks, and it's been a very trying and growing experience to everyone that is involved. His progression has been a miracle. He hasn´t drank any alcohol for 2 weeks. He looks and is a new person. Now how is this possible? 

This Sunday, we had a meeting with our president with all the people that are going to be baptized in April. He asked a specific question to the investigators in the room. How have the missionaries helped you develop your faith? All of the sudden Alberto stood up and said: ¨The hermanas and my family first had faith in me. That helped me develop my confidence and knowledge that I am a child of God. They loved me with a love that I think that Christ has for me and it is through these things that I'm standing here and being prepared to be baptized.¨  In other words, the answer is what the bishop told us when he said ¨I want you to meet a very special person.¨ 

I love that and I have witnessed this throughout my mission. When we have testimonies of Jesus Christ and what He did for us, we want to be more like Him. We do this by loving and supporting one another. 

Another cool experience this week was when we did a huge demonstration of the plan of salvation. Hermana Galicia and I had the celestial kingdom. We were in a small room, that had lots of images of Christ. As people walked in, we explained about the requirements and the blessings to reach this kingdom of glory. As Alberto walked in, I could feel that this is where he belonged; that the Lord loved him and wanted him to be here. It's amazing to see that the Lord sees our potential, what we as humans can't see with our physical eyes. But when we desire to come closer to Him and serve the people around us we can receive spiritual eyes that will guide us to do our small part in His great plan.

Love you all and have a great week! 

Hermana Herrera 

My reality!

CELESTIAL KINGDOM!

Alberto in the middle, Bishop (his uncle) on the left and President Nelson

Our tryout for the sister missionary catalog

Feel the rain on your skin NANNA

It's cold... like really cold. The rainy season is starting and since we are at high altitude the wind is nuts. I'm doing well and love working here in this small town of Nanacamilpa, Tlaxcala. 

Something that's very hard but very worthwhile on the mission is developing Christlike attributes. This week my compa and I received blessings from our district leader. Mine talked a lot about how important charity is and if I am charitable I will be able to see a lot of miracles in my area. Reflecting on the drive home (our area is about an hour away) I was thinking about what aspect I needed to focus on. I think Heavenly Father wanted to make it clear by sending me an impression with a great flash of lightning at the same time... that I needed to work on forgiving others and forgetting. Lemme tell you guys, forgiving and forgetting are not my forte. I usually just push forward and try to take whatever I can learn from the experience. This is not the Lord´s way and He made that really clear. 

On the mission, there are many people that can do some hurtful things like negative comments and not being supportive, but that's ok because that is why we are here, to represent Christ and to experience a little bit of what He did. But it doesn't have to be painful all the time because we choose happiness and forgiving is a way of feeling that happiness. 

I think one of the greatest miracles I get to see every day is confirmation of the truth or doctrine of the church. I love when my investigators or people we teach know for themselves that Christ is their Savior and Redeemer. I know that I need to have these experiences also because sometimes we need trials to receive greater testimonies of doctrine. Right now, it's my turn to learn and gain a stronger testimony of forgiveness. I invite you all not to avoid hard things but to embrace them with open arms and maybe clenched teeth and let the Lord teach you.

Love you all

Hermana Herrera

p.s. I love this quote about forgiveness by Elder Kevin R. Duncan

"Forgiveness is the very reason God sent His Son, so let us rejoice in His offering to heal us all. The Savior’s Atonement is not just for those who need to repent; it is also for those who need to forgive. If you are having trouble forgiving another person or even yourself, ask God to help you. Forgiveness is a glorious, healing principle. We do not need to be a victim twice. We can forgive"

8 months and new adventures

Hola familia and amigos!

So first things first, I'm in Nanacamilpa, Tlaxcala. It's a new change but I really like it. My new compa is Hermana Galicia from Queretaro, Mexico. I love her and her love for the people here. I've never realized how much I missed trees and greenery until I got here, like I got teary eyed and everything.. well that's the usual on the mission. It renewed my dream of living in North Carolina one day. 

Something that really stuck out to me are the members here. The bishop has a huge family of 12 brothers and sisters! It reminds me of my big families back home. Our investigators are references of their family members. There is nothing more joyful than helping people have eternal families. It brings me the most joy and it makes the hard things worth it. 

We have the challenge that our church building is about 45 minutes away, so we are trying to get creative with the members to have English classes and family home evenings here in Nanacamilpa. One thing that I have learned on the mission is that FHE is a big deal and works miracles.. It doesn't matter who you are, everyone needs to feel loved. When we have this special time together every week we can be strengthened by the spirit and the teachings of Jesus  Christ. We have stronger relationships with one another and gain a greater vision of what's important in this life. The best part is it doesn't just have to be family! It can be your friends, neighbors or anyone! I will say that the conversions we have had on our mission were all possible because we had FHE with members. It's a great key of conversion, that's how important it is.

I love you all!

Hermana Herrera

New Horizons

The dream team is back again!  Herman Cervantes is my Sister Leader!

The district.  My cute compa, Hermana Galicia, is on my left.