Jesus es mi Luz y mi Guia

Dear friends and family,

I love you so much! Thanks for all you do!

At MLC this week, an Elder shared this important piece of wisdom: What you learn on your mission definitely applies to your life after the mission. Take it seriously. I loved that. Sometimes we wonder why we do weekly planning or have to work with paper planners and phones that don't always get the job done. We don't see how learning to teach with a pamphlet or extend a baptismal date will benefit us post mission. But it always does. That goes for high school essays, sports, and sunday school too. Sometimes we can't see why we are required to learn a skill, but God is always preparing us for something better.

It's been a week of miraculous finding. With faith, all things are possible. YSA is sometimes tricky because theoretically we can't find our own investigators. But when we let the Holy Spirit guide, we are led to those in our stewardship.

Last Sunday we found Cynthia who turned out not to be interested, but on our way back to the car from her house, we opened our mouths and our new investigator Eric accepted a baptism date and a return appointment. How wondrous and great... He even kept the return appointment!

Patrick is a referral from our friends in Canoga Park, which it always takes forever to get there, so I don't like going. Then when we got there for our scheduled appointments, no one was home. So, we went to Patrick our back up, and now he has a baptism date too! God is great.

Jessica is going to be baptized this Saturday! Watch for the pictures next week! Love you all! Have a great one!

Love,

Hermana Sleight

Quiero a Jessica

Dear friends and family,

Thanks for your support! I love you so! The Idaho Falls Temple was dedicated yesterday, and I'm so happy about that! I am very excited to see it when I get home.

This week I learned a lot. I've really been pondering the idea of being a consecrated missionary. What does that mean? Is it more about obedience, or is it more about sacrifice? What's the difference? What I've come to realize is that a consecrated missionary can't see herself. She sees only the people she serves. As I've worked to consecrate my service to the Lord by serving others with all my heart, might, mind, and strength, I've been happy, and I've changed a lot. I'm not the same person I was when I reported to the MTC. I've grown and my heart has been changed. And I love it! I love being a missionary!

This week we took Jessica to the temple visitor's center. Folks: You don't have to teach families and temples when you go to the visitor's center! This is huge. We focused instead on Jessica's testimony, especially receiving her answer. When we were driving away, I asked her what she had learned, and she said that she had learned that her answer will come though the Holy Ghost. I am so happy she finally figured that out! Baptism, here we come! 

Knock out on fast sunday in California is hard. I had to drink some water. But God saw our sacrifice and blessed us with a miracle. We found Cynthia. She is 18 and about to graduate high school PLUS she speaks Spanish. Its a YSA miracle! (I'm in YSA if I haven't said that yet). She set a baptism date in the same visit we knocked on her door. We had to go, so I literally handed her a calendar with a 4 in the top left and a 15 in the bottom right. It has nothing else on it, but it's a baptism calendar of sorts:) 

Love you! Thanks for everything! Take care of yourself! Take care of each other!

Love,

Hermana Sleight

Los Adults Solteros Jovenes

Dear Friends and Family,

Thanks for all of your love and support! Even reading this is a big support.

Yesterday, Elder Bourda shared a really powerful message from Tad R. Laurence about being a concecrated missionary. I have said it before, but I'll review this principle: sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven. No matter how much God asks of you, I promise that if you give it, especially with a willing heart, he will bless your beyond measure.  Consecrated people are happy. I know it because I'm doing all I can to be one, and I'm happy as can be.

I love being in YSA! I can't remember if I told you all about Jessica. Hna H and I found her a few weeks ago and passed her off to YSA, and now I'm her missionary again! I love her so much. Baptism on the 17th. Get pumped.

Also, Frank is so real it's awesome. He let us give him a lesson while his friends came for a carne asada and moved his fridge for him. He loves the Book of Mormon.

Look forward to next week's letter, because it's going to be awesome! Love you!

Nerviosa

Dear Friends and Family,

Thanks for all of your help! I love you so much! I really appreciate your prayers. This work is for everyone. 

This week I've realized a scripture that has always seemed pretty scatterbrained can summarize a few of the most important lessons of my mission. Alma 38:12 starts, "Use boldness, but not overbearance." Boldness means "holding up the Lord's standard clearly and without apology"(I stole that from Pres. Eyring). It doesn't mean that we're loud or harsh. On the contrary, the gospel is taught with love, often in a whisper. But we don't beat around the bush either. I promise that your missionary efforts will be more effective as you strive to speak the truth simply. We have nothing to hide. We have everything to offer. Be bold! 

Yesterday we knocked on our new investigator's door for our return appointment. He wasn't home, but his daughter was. Her name is Elizabeth. She had a towel in her hair, and she was plainly exhausted. I didn't think she was fit for a lesson, but then she invited us in just so we could write a note to her Dad. As Hna H was writing the note, I started talking to her about God. She's spiritual but not religious. As I listened to her doubts about the churches that are on the earth today, I was able to testify of the Living Christ as He truly is, and share with her the Book of Mormon. She loves to read! I love investigators like that! I am confident that she will feel of the truth of it as she follows Moroni's instructions to read and pray.

Our wonderful investigator, Luis, is on date for the 24th. He asked us this week if it's okay to change religions again. His wife won't even consider baptism because she's catholic and she's staying catholic. He's already switched to Evangelical Christian, and he's afraid that he's not committed, and that that's a problem. I am so excited! This is a huge sign that he has real intent! He came to church yesterday. I'm going to miss teaching him and Roberto. 

Please remember to pray with faith. Look for opportunities to serve. Follow the Spirit. I love you so! Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Sleight

She gave me a lot of pics about her apt because she's being transferred but I thought this one showed their personality and hard work! 

Bowling on P-day

Ensenamos el arrepentimiento

Dear Friends and Family,

I love you so much! Thanks for the prayers and the love. It is felt.

The conference Ensign finally came! I am so happy about that. Finally, I can review the words of the prophets and apostles.

Elder Albertson is awesome. He likes plants. He presented a training on pruning and grafting that was both informative and inspiring. He taught us about the 30% rule, which is that a tree can't survive losing more than 30% of itself. Whenever we try to cut things out of our lives, we need to remember that too drastic of a change usually reverses itself. Effective life pruning means making changes that help us be better, but aren't overkill. Then he talked about filling those holes with fruitful branches. I've found it's always best to replace bad habits with good ones. 

This week we found Jessica! It was so awesome! I had a goal to find a new investigator each day, and on the first day of said goal, we knocked on Jessica's door. We taught the Restoration, our unique message to the world, and she accepted a baptismal date. She came to church yesterday on the bus. That's commitment, folks.

I love you so much! Have a great week! 

Sincerely,

Hermana Sleight

Car Selfie 

Me and a tree

Elder Johnson, Elder Albertson, Hermana Hopkin, Hermana Sleight, Elder Olivas, Elder Horrocks
This is her district, she says they are a wonderful and very random group. 

The Ten Commandments of Questions by Elder Long 

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.