Juntos y consejos

Dear Friends and Family,

Thanks for all of your love and support! 

This week felt like a lot of meetings, which affects the work a lot. Wednesday we did almost no proselyting. It felt like a wasted day. 

This week I have been reflecting on goal-setting. As an STL, I set goals all the time. I work hard to achieve those goals, but some get set aside when I have to many. I try to always keep my focus on one goal. Last week it was inviting the Spirit more strongly to lessons. I ended up setting smaller goals to master certain sections of Preach My Gospel, and I feel that I've improved, but I'm not finished. Since I've become an STL, I've made leaps and bounds of improvement as a missionary. The same is true for all people. Elder Ballard has a quote in the goal setting section of preach my gospel that says something like, "We won't reach our full potential if we don't figure out how to set and work toward goals." Something to ponder. 

Roberto and Luis came to church again. My spanish is probably like 95% awesome, but I can't understand Luis very well. I sometimes think he has a strong testimony of the gospel and sometimes I think he is trying to tell us he's comfortable at his church and won't change. Nice one, Hermana Sleight!

Love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Carmen

Eating S'mores from Nana! Thank you! 

Something about this selfie reminds me of Dani! 

Bautismo de Saul

Dear Friends and Family,

Thanks so much for all of your love and support! It means a lot! 

Have you ever read Mosiah 3? I think I have found my new favorite chapter of the Book of Mormon. I also love everything around it. King Benjamin was a great speaker. But I'd like to focus on a commandment and a promised blessing(s) found right after verse 19. The commandment is essentially to always remember the greatness of God and the nothingness of man, which sounds familiar; it's our baptismal covenant. The promised blessings are basically that we'll live perfect lives and never fall into temptation. I am recommitting to live that principle. Like charity, it prevents many sins (Peter 4:6a).

Saul got baptized this week! Hooray! The ward was really supportive and he bore his testimony after and made the bishop cry. The spirit was strong, the attendance was strong, and this family is so strong in their commitment to follow Christ! I love them! They invited us over for cake and it says, "Happy New Life"! How sweet!

I had a lot of good finding experiences this week. I learned that talking with everyone means everyone, and that only the most unexpected people will be interested in the gospel, like the man painting the trees and the woman who says she'll take a card and then walks inside without one.

I expect Veronica will get baptized, so I'll let you know that we had a great lesson with her even though we just called and said, "Hi, we're outside, can we teach you?" and she just stuck her head out and she's having a baby on Wednesday, but we have a return appointment for tomorrow. I love her so much already.

Love you all! Have a missionary-filled week! You can do it! Just open your mouth!

Baptism day for Saul! 

Carmen in her new Mexican dress. She and her companion were really excited to get these. 

No se que decir

Dear Friends and Family,

Thanks for all you do! You're great! I ran out of time again today, so I guess you get the short version.

Last week my district leader helped me set a goal and followed up twice. He's a great district leader, and it's something I looked forward to, so I did a better job. Accountability works.

Saul passed his interview, which is a huge miracle! It's hard to teach kids and parents because the kids don't really engage with Spanish, and the parents don't understand English.

We found a couple of cool investigators, one of which went like this: We came to have a lesson with Luis(a referal), ended up really teaching his wife, but in the end the only person who committed to anything was his brother, so Roberto is our new investigator! 

Anyway, I love you all, and I'm thankful for all that you do! Have a great week!

Jenifer drew a picture of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  

 Elders Albertson, Johnson, Olivias, and Horrocks with Hermana Sleight and Hopkin

Saul passed his baptismal interview, waiting on paperwork! 

No description, Mom just thought it was cute! 

La Familia: Una Proclamacion al Mundo

Dear Friends and Family,

I love you so much! Thanks for all of your support! Happy Easter! I have so enjoyed celebrating the Resurrection of the Savior. I hope you have as well.

I learn so much from the Holy Ghost and the scriptures every week, and as I've been reading the Book of Mormon from Joseph Smith's perspective, I've noticed how much the voyage of Nephi's family is like the experience of the pioneers. So many of the verses seem perfectly written to prepare Joseph Smith to lead the saints as far as he did. It must be the same for us. The Book of Mormon is perfectly written to prepare each one of us for the rest of our lives.

We went to the temple with the Vasquez family, and it was so perfect for helping them with their current needs. The sisters gave Lorenzo and Corina each a copy of "The Family: A Proclamation to the World", and when we visited them last night, one was framed on their wall, and the other was the only thing on their fridge. This family is serious about living according to God's plan for them. I love being a missionary!

Andrew woke up cranky and with a headache, but he didn't let that stop him from getting confirmed. I'm so proud of him. Then we made this Plan of Salvation on the sidewalk! 

Rosa noticed something interesting at Stake Conference. She noticed that we talk a lot about our personal spiritual experiences, and sometimes not so much about the life of Christ. At first I was bothered, like she was, but then I decided that we must share spiritual experiences because they are the record of the Living Christ. His miracles are still happening today, and we don't need to neglect to acknowledge them. I love celebrating His power!

I love you all, and I hope you have a great week!

Love, 

Hermana Sleight

Carmen with the Vasquez family at the visitor's center

Plan of Salvation in sidewalk chalk...that's just her style!

El Bautismo de Andrew

Dear friends and family,

I love you all so much! Thanks for all of your love and support! I really appreciate it.

This week I studied a talk called "The Wind Beneath Your Wings" by Pres. Uchtdorf back in the day to BYU. One thing that I really like about it was that he talked about our need to control ourselves. This stands out to me about virtue and self-control: as we put things out of our minds, we find it's easier not to do them. Don't want to eat desserts? Get them out of your sight! Don't want to think that bad thought? Replace it with something loud and gospel related (like imagine a huge group of children singing Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam really fast). 

Andrew got baptized on Saturday! Everything went well; all of his family came, the talk and musical number went well, and most importantly, what he said about his baptism and how he felt is that he felt complete darkness under the (very cold) water, but total brightness coming out of the water. He said he felt like a new person. How precious! 

Sorry I don't have any pictures. I heard one made it to facebook. Maybe my mom will be nice enough to post that one. I just don't have time, see. It's not that I didn't take any.... ;) 

I love you all and thank you for your support! Have a feliz Holy Week! Don't forget to share #PrinceofPeace with everyone you know and have them do the same! Some people won't know what Easter is about until you share it with them. Trust me. It's happened to me plenty.

Love,

Hermana Sleight

Mirad al Cielo

Dear Friends and Family,

Thanks for all of your love and support! You're truly wonderful to me! 

I loved General Conference, and there were so many direct quotes I wanted to put in this email, but as usual, I have squandered my time, so I'll just slip in one from President Monson on reading the Book of Mormon daily, "Please do so." So there you have it folks! A precious, polite request from the mouthpiece of God to study the Book of Mormon every day. I can testify that it will make you happy. 

Andrew passed his baptismal interview, and he's getting baptized on Saturday! 

Yesterday at 1:15, Rosa called us and asked if someone was coming to pick her up for the afternoon session. We didn't remember making that kind of promise, and indeed no one was coming. We thought all was lost for her to come to church, but after the session, she was waiting for us! She had called a taxi and came in during Elder Stephenson's talk! How cool is she!?

We've run into some road blocks for Lorenzo and Corina's baptism, but we bumped up Saul's by 4 weeks! He is so ready to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. He even came to general conference and despite it being so boring (he's 9), he sat until it was time to leave. Mom, those coloring books you sent finally have some color in them.

We found Joseph because Hermana Hopkin opened her mouth and shared the gospel. It was amazing. He's from Nigeria, and he had a friend that would read the Book of Mormon with him there. He was begging for the way to have a relationship with God and he truly wanted to know if he could be forgiven of his sins. He said that he's heard a lot about God recently, but he knew we knew Him, and he wanted to be like that too. He said we were the first people that made any real sense. What a miracle! I expect that he'll get baptized soon.

What a wonderful week! Apply what you learned from conference fast! You've only got 6 months until the next! I set a goal to memorize the Living Christ. Anyone want to do it with me?

Love you all!
Love,

Hermana Sleight

Aventuras!

Dear Friends and Family,

Thanks for all of the support! Even just reading this means a lot.

I'm sorry I haven't left enough time to do this week justice. As you can see, I went to the temple visitor's center with Andrew. It was really nice because he was 10 and we didn't have anywhere to be, so we got to actually play with and use a lot of the stuff I have never had time for before, like the Book of Mormon all around the world display. It was really cool because we were able to see that he really is converted and his mom understands what God is inviting her to do. 

We've learned a lot this last week! One thing that really stood out to me is the was the first speaker in the women's session picked apart Proverbs 3:5-6. It's 2 invitations, a warning, and a promise. That's how I like to pick apart conference. Find what to do and what is promised for doing it. 

Andrew is 10 and he's getting baptized on the 8th, and we took him to the visitor's center this week. It was really meaningful to us, and we got the okay from the Spirit to let him be baptized even though he's a kid. It's hard for kids to stay in the church without parental support, but Lugina knows what she needs to do, and we know he'll be okay.

Lorenzo's wife and son are investigating with him and we think we can bump their date up to early May! It's so amazing to see a family that keep all their commitments and practically fell out of the sky! They are so great. If only Lorenzo could stay in church meetings easier, but his 3 year old son keeps him outside. Feeling the spirit is the only way to be converted. 

Lupita was sick for 3 weeks, but we finally met with her and she had listened to the Book of Mormon and was very concerned about having to follow church leaders even when they're corrupt. We testified of the priesthood and that only worthy men can administer with God's authority. We testified of the prophet as the man with that authority and she wanted to come to General Conference this weekend! What a miracle!

And here's an adventure from today between emailing sessions. I wrote it in messaging so it's a little crazy.

Here's what happened: We got this great idea to buy Stouffers Lasagna and make it for Hna Cabrera who just had a baby.
But it needed to be in the oven for 1 hour and 40 minutes.
So we put it in and rode our bike to the library.
1 hour into emailing we got off and went to ride our bikes home. BUT GUESS WHAT!
Someone tried to steal our bikes! They failed, but Hna H had a flat tire.
We didn't realize it right off the bat, but when we did, we decided to keep riding because we had a lasagna in the oven
Then the tube came off.
The tire wouldn't even turn anymore. 
So we locked up the bike and I rode mine real slow while Hna H ran along beside me.
We got the lasagna out of the oven
it isn't burned.
But we had to take the car back to get the bike, take the bike home, and now we'll have to deal with all that craziness later.
And now I'm at the only open computer in the whole library. Hermana Hopkin has to wait.

Thanks again for all the love! I love you all!

Love,

Hermana Sleight

Hermana Sleight and Hermana Hopkin! 

Andrew's temple trip 

My beautiful baby on her bike!