Hermana Inman's Letter November 29, 2012

HOLA!!

Hello Everybody!!!

Thanksgiving was so great and they treated us so good! Jeffrey R. Holland came, we did a humanitarian project for the people in Mali (Africa), we had a fun evening program that had skits and funny songs and then the MTC presidency gave everybody popcorn and let us watch 17 Miracles. It was a great day! I hope your Thanksgiving was just as wonderful.


Somebody told me this week that in Babylonia (that's what we call the outside world) that Puerto Rico became a part of the United States... is that true?

Our district found some funny yet wise scriptures the other day in Proverbs 25:14 & 21:19, check them out. You'll get a good laugh.


This week we learned about how important it is to serve others before you can try to preach to them. Sometimes service is the best way to preach anyways. We were reading in Alma 17 about Ammon, and how he dedicated 14 years to serve King Lamoni before he even tried to preach to him, which in turn, opened King Lamoni's heart. I also learned that each day before we go to bed we should think to ourselves (and write in our journal) "what message has God given me today?" and "how have I seen God's hand in my life today?". It's amazing how much the Lord is a part of our lives each day. Every little miracle or tender mercy, and subtle messages here and there. Sometimes they're bigger ones. Also, when we recognize them by writing them down, the Lord blesses us with more as we show more gratitude. Another quote I liked this week, "I've found that with this church you're either all the way in or you're all the way out. There is no in between. So, I must ask you, are you all the way in, or are you out?"

I will hopefully be getting my travel plans tomorrow! Woop Woop! I am SO stinkin EXCITED to get to California!! You will know next Thursday about my flight and when I can call home. If it goes according to plan, I should be scheduled to fly out on the 11th of December (which is in just over a week!). CRAZY! Today we (Hna. McBride and I) met a couple who just got informed that they will be mission presidents in July to a Spanish speaking mission. They don't know which mission they will be over, but they received a list of a couple of options and Carlsbad, CA is one of them! So they could very well be my next mission presidents! So that was fun :). They were awesome.

How exciting that Torie got her Patriarchal Blessing! I'm sure it was such an amazing experience and blessing. Torie, tell me how it went/ how you felt! Yes, Jen can use my prom dresses for that night as long as none of the girls take them home and are very careful and don't stretch them out :) haha. I haven't seen Spencer Barrett yet, but I've been looking out for him. Chances are I'll see him sometime this next week. The MTC is such a small place. I got to be a host yesterday for all of the new missionaries! That was pretty fun I guess. I just had to help a new sister take her bags and find her room and her books and her class. It seems like I was just barely the new missionary who needed help- now I'm una vieja aqui en el CCM (an old lady here at the MTC).

That was awesome to hear about Dom doing baptisms for his dad and grandparents!! That is SO cool! Tell him I said congratulations. Congratulations to Mikayla Flemming on her mission call! She will be a great missionary.  That was such a cute story about Jake and Jesse on the way home from the airport :) that made me laugh and smile. Too stinkin cute.

Jorge (one of my investigators) got baptized this past Saturday :) it is such a good feeling, and I'm not even doing the real thing yet. We also got a new investigator this week named Librado. Librado has taken the missionary discussions many times before, so I know he likes the church and he even said he feels that the Book of Mormon is true, but something is holding him back, so hopefully the Lord will help us to help him come unto Christ.

I keep learning more and more each week and at the same times things get harder and harder each week. If you could keep me in your prayers that would be grand. I can definitely feel all of your prayers already and am so grateful for them. I pray for each of you every day and think about you often. Thank you so much for your letters of support and encouragement and love. They mean so much to me and help me more than you know.

Yo se que Dios es muy amoroso y escuche y conteste nuestros oraciones. Tenia muchas experiencias con eso esta semana. Yo se que el Libro De Mormon es la palabra de Dios y entonces es verdadera. Yo se que Dios tiene una plan por cada persona y El ama todo. Yo se que este Evangelio puede ayudar todas las personas quien existen, con cualquier problema tiene.

Me amo ustedes y estoy muy agradecida por ustedes. Espera que tienen un buen "holiday season!" :) Feliz Navidad! No olviden la razon por la Navidad. Es la celebracion de la nacio de Jesucristo, y esa es la mejor don podemos recebir. (I don't know if I said that right, but you get the idea!).

Love you all! Have a great week!

Love,
Hermana Inman

Hermana Inman's Thanksgiving Letter Part 2 - Guess Who Came!!!

IT WAS JEFFREY R. HOLLAND!! WOOHOOO!! Elder Jeffrey R. Holland was our speaker this morning! How AWESOME is that?! He and his family did a special program for us (with his wife and grandchildren). It was beautiful. Some of my favorite quotes from the program were "today and everyday should be a wonderful day". THIS (the mission) is as REAL as your life is ever going to get. So don't you ever say, at the end of your mission, I'm off to the real world." "Buck up, hang in there ...." and there were so many more great quotes and of course my words don't do Elder Holland's words justice. He talked about how fortunate we were to live the the last dispensation. I wish there was a way that you could all look up this talk. I don't know if they record these ones or not, but if they do, find it and listent to it. The spirit was so strong here. I also liked his wife's (Patricia Holland) talk. She talked about how important the Book of Mormon is. We need to cherish it and read it day and night. It will make you so cheerful and happy. Just try it!!  Anyway, I learned so many great things and the spirit was so strong. I am so blessed to be visited by Jeffery R. Holland! My favorite speaker EVER! Have a great Thanksgiving! I am so grateful for you!

Hermana Inman's Thanksgiving Letter 2012

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

 

Things are so crazy at the MTC right now.  Today is supposed to be our Pday, but since it's Thanksgiving and there is a special program, we don't get to have a p-day... except for 2 hours this morning for everybody to do their laundry in the same laundry room... SO, everybody in the MTC who has a Thursday p-day was doing laundry at the same time in the same laundry room this morning.  It was nuts.  Also, since a general authority is speaking to us in a couple hours, people have been lined up outside since 6:30am this morning waiting to get a good seat.  It doesn't even start til 10!! So crazy!  Half the MTC is already in line...

 

Anyway, this week we learned about gifts of the Holy Ghost (spiritual gifts).  We can find what those gifts are in D&C 42.  It's interesting to recognize which gifts are yours and to think about how you are using them to benefit others.  I encourage you to read through D&C 42 and think of which spiritual gifts you have been given and how you are using them to benefit others, because after all, we're only given them to benefit God's children! 

 

I saw Elder Jacob Moss yesterday!  He has to be here for 12 weeks, I can't even imagine how awful that would be.  I'm here for 9 weeks and I'm already anxious to get out of here!  I love the MTC but it's time that I get out of here and go teach the people in California.  I've got cabin fever!

Did Alicia Campbell ever get those cards I left for her and her mother?  I left it by the fabric we used for my skirts?

 

I'm excited to see the bonus room when I get back!  It sounds like you're doing some fun things to it!  :)

 

Thank you for sending me Tim's address!  I've put his letter in the mail.  Has Julio gotten back to you? Is Jake home for Thanksgiving?  It brought a huge smile to my face to see what he posted about me on FB, thank you :).  I love getting mail from my family and friends!

 

Are you going black friday shopping tomorrow?  What are Torie and Jesse asking for for Christmas this year?  haha

 

Last night our zone had a "pre-thanksgiving kickoff party"  with all of the food packages our zone received.  There was SO MUCH FOOD!  After class we all just went outside in the courtyard and ate tons of food and sang goofy songs and just had an awesome time until it was time for bed.  Our zone really is the best!  We're all united and have a great time together.  

 

Thank you so much for all of your encouraging and loving words!  It's so nice to hear words of encouragement that keep me going throughout the day or help me end my day on a good note. 

On this Thanksgiving day (and everyday), I am so thankful for my family, friends, the Gospel, our doggies, missionary work, scriptures, food, shelter, warmth, health, clothes, shoes, to live in this country, my companion, my district, my zone, my teachers, letters, email, internet, toothpaste, beds, pillows, blankets, hairbrushes, soap, medicine, music, and so so many other blessings in my life that I could go on for hours!!  I have been blessed with so much in my life and I am grateful for this day that we have to reflect on all of them.  However, it is important to make everyday a thanksgiving, and always remember and give thanks for all of the blessings we have been given, and we must remember from whom all great things come, which is our Heavenly Father.  One of the speakers the other day mentioned that thanksgiving is equivelent to worshipping.  When you give thanks to the Lord, you are worshipping Him.  Don't you just feel so much happier when you're grateful?  I do.

 

Gracias por tu pensimientos and oraciones.  Estoy muy agradecida por todo el ayuda y amor de mis amigos y mi familia. Estoy muy agradecia por la oportunidad servir un mision y ser misionara por Dios.  Oro cada dia para ustedes y siempre pienso sobre ustedes.  Espera que ustedes tendran un buen tiempo a la casa de abuelo y abuela!  Por favor diga ellos "hola y te amo"  por yo! Que tenga un buen dia y dia de gracias! Te amo mucho.

 

con amor,

 

Hermana Inman

 

p.s. lo siento por mi pobre espanol, estoy tratando a hablar mejor, pero, yo soy gringa.

Hermana Inman Letter November 15, 2012

yo soy una misionera por la iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias!

 

Hola!

 

This week has been pretty good. The Spanish is getting harder, though. The language has come pretty easy to me these last 5 weeks, but this week was more challenging. I'm not worried though :) I can do all things with the Lord!

 

It's FREEZING here! The snow is beautiful though and I love winter clothes, so it's fine. It was so funny to hear about Callie and Chloe wearing those t-shirts! haha! I'm surprised they let Torie put the shirts on them! Did they keep them on? It sounds like Mom and Torie are having fun with personal progress! I'd like to do it again when I get home. Let me know how youth conference goes! It sounds awesome!! Yay for Torie's solo!! I wish I was there to hear it! I'm sure she did a fantastic job, she always does. It's even more impressive that she came up with it herself! She has so much talent! I got Jesse's letter; it melted my heart haha I almost started crying when I saw the envelope covered in stickers and his cute little handwriting. I'll be writing him back today. Speaking of letters, I have a few letters that I'd like to send to my friends but I don't have their addresses... would you mind finding them on my facebook friends or something or if you see them and ask them for their address? or have them send it to me on dear elder? or you send it via dear elder? Tim Murphy, Julio Donoso... actually that's it for now. I ran into somebody who served in AZ Spanish speaking and he used to take Julio with him, and Julio's dad was the bishop there, so I wanted to write to him and tell him about it. And I need to send a letter to Tim. I've been thinking about him a lot lately.

 

 

I have not run out of meds yet, but thank you Dad :). How come stake conference was a broadcast from Salt Lake? Did you receive big news? There have been many speakers at our devotionals lately who share pioneer stories of their ancestors. Do you know any pioneer stories of our ancestors? Can you send some to me? Their stories give me so much strength and courage to keep moving forward. When I think I have it hard I just think of them and everything they went through, then this all seems like a piece of cake. I have a new favorite song; it's an arrangement of "Savior, Reedemer of My Soul." It's not the regular hymn, but I bet you could find the version I'm talking about if you looked it up on youtube or lds.org or something. Everybody is singing it here at the MTC and it's been sung at a couple of firesides. It's absolutely beautiful. Speaking of hymns, Dad, you were right when you told me I should take my "hymns made easy book." As soon as I got here (actually it was a week later), Hermana McBride and I were called to be the music chairmen in our branch, and guess what? Nobody played the piano. One of our newer elders plays now, but before he came I was playing the top notes of the right hand for Sacrament meeting haha. So, when you get a chance, maybe could you please send that hymns made easy book to me? Thanks.

 

 

I hope you guys have a wonderful Thanksgiving!! I'm so glad that Jake gets to come home for that :). We get to have a general authority come speak to us on Thanksgiving, which really isn't any different from any other fireside, unless this means like a quorum of the12 apostles or something!! We usually get to hear from members of the 70. It's great! We never know who it is until they walk in. Have you ever heard of John Tanner? If you haven't, look up his story. There is a video called "Treasure in Heaven" and it's the John Tanner story. He is the MAN and everybody needs to know about him and be more like him. He lived in Joseph Smith's time and helped the church so much. Ironically, his story is what confirmed my testimony of Joseph Smith a few years ago when I was at school at BYU-Idaho and I learned about him in my Doctrine & Covenants class.

 

 

Fun story: The other day our whole district dressed up like Harry Potter characters! It was AWESOME! I was Hermoine, of course, Hermana McBride was Bellatrix Lestrange, Hermana Crandall was Luna Lovegood, Elder Bear was Ron, Elder Mecham was Harry, Elder Vest was Cedric Digory, and Elder Duclos was Draco Malfoy. It was better than a birthday. It was seriously one of the best days ever. I took some pictures, so I'll try to email them to you. If I can't, youll see them when I send my SD card home next.

 

 

I received the biggest compliment of my life the other day from my ZRT Hermano Toone. He said to Hermana McBride and I that we are the best hermanas that he has ever worked with, and he is amazed at the progreses that we have made in the last month. He said it scares him to think about what we will be like in 17 months at the end of our missions, because if we have already improved this much in a month, imagine how far we will have come in 17 more months. He said that if all missionaries were like us that the world would change, and missionary work would never be the same. WOW, right? We were so shocked to hear that, and it's still hard for me to take it in. I don't feel extraordinary or any different from any other missionary. I'm still me and I have so much that I need to improve on, it's overwhelming to think about sometimes. It brought a great sense of comfort to hear him say that though; it's nice to know that hard work does not go unnoticed. I hope that doesn't sound like I'm trying to brag, because that's the last thing I could be doing right now. It was just a nice surprise to hear that :). He is my favorite teacher ever, but he got reassigned to the 4th floor (Im on the 5th) to a new district because our zone has the most experienced and awesome teachers, so they had to distribute the wealth. Hermano Toone told us that they kept trying to transfer him but he kept telling them no, because he wanted to keep working with us. They finally just moved him anyways, but he said that whenever he is not with his district then he will come upstairs and work with us. Anyways, now that you know more about my teacher than you needed to, let me tell you about my investigators! Ellos son escojidos! Carla is going to be getting married to Damien to that they can live the law of chastity and be baptized :), and Jorge is golden. His baptism is next week on Saturday :). I got two more investigators this week as well, their names are Miguel and Andrew. Miguel is just taking the discussions as a favor for his friend, and Andrew is curious to know more about the church. He was taught a few things by one of his friends who is now serving a mission.

 

 

There is so much power in the Book of Mormon, never miss a day of reading it.

 

 

Yo se que esta iglesia es verdadera. Yo se que el Libro de Mormon es verdadero tambien, y yo se que Jose Smith fue un proteta verdadero. Estoy muy agradecida por la oportunidad a servir un mision, y estoy muy agradecido por todos mis bendiciones en mi vida. Se amo mucho :)
Que tenga un buen dia y semana!

 

 

con amor,

Hermana Inman

Hermanas Inman and McBride at Provo Temple

Hermanas Inman and McBride, Provo Temple