Lacey's Coming Home!!! - Hermana Inman's Letter April 21, 2014

the last one.

I can't believe it. I don't want to believe it. There is still so much more that I have to do here, there are so many more people to find and teach and baptize and love!  

Tuesday was a great day!  We taught 5 lessons in four hours and we hit almost every single goal we had set that day.  We taught la familia Palacios, Maricruz, then  Maricruz's boys, then Priscila, and then a less active lady in our ward.  But even more important than teaching lots of lessons, every single one of those lessons was filled with the spirit, there were some points when you could cut it with a knife.  The spirit led us to ask just the right questions, and helped each of these people to understand the concepts that were being taught and apply them to their lives.  They opened up in the lessons and we were all able to strengthen our testimonies together. It was beautiful and was yet another experience that reminded me what this work is all about.

There were actually a lot of really neat things that happened this week but I don't have the time to write them down right now, and my mind is kind of all over the place... I'll tell you about them on Wednesday. 

Our conference with Elders Sabin, Maines, and Ballard was fantastic!  They all spoke of missionary work, of course, but they shared some of their personal missionary experiences from when they were missionaries, and told us how we can be more focused and successful.  Elder Sabin's talk was about The Book of Mormon and how it is the cure to sadness, and the gospel is the source of all happiness.  If we want to be effective missionaries we need to be humble and pure.  It was a great talk!  Elder Maines shared a really neat analogy with us.  If you are familiar with the painting of Joseph Smith's first prayer you'll remember him kneeling in a grove of trees taken aback as he looks up at The Father and The Son.  Joseph was the ultimate investigator- he had all the right questions about the nature of god and which church to join, and he was willing to do something in order to find answers.  As he prayed in search for an answer, he was visited by 2 messengers... Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ were the very first companionship of this dispensation, and their investigator was Joseph Smith.  They are the ultimate companionship... and he asked us "how are we following in their footsteps in our own companionships?"  Pretty powerful, huh? He then talked to us about how to know if the people we are teaching are really searching for truth and if they're ready for it or not yet- and you can tell by if they are keeping their commitments or not.  If they are reading, praying, attending church, and keeping the commandments, then they are ready and they are true investigators.  It was a neat talk and gave Hermana Woodruff and I some revelation for our area.  Elder Ballard's talk was focused around 3 things that will help us to be better missionaries:  1. "if you want to baptized more people you need to talk to more people."  He then proceeded to talk to us about speaking with as many people as possible in a day, and going out of our way to do it.  If we would double the people we talk to then we would double our baptisms.  2. We need to be taking more time to make sure our investigators truly understand what we are teaching them- so we need to simplify our teaching and ask questions to see what they understood.  3. if we internalize the doctrine of the scriptures then we will be better teachers, be able to answer questions, and will have the spirit more strongly.  GREAT CONFERENCE.  AND WE GOT TO SHAKE THEIR HANDS AND THEY EVEN LOOKED AT EACH OF US IN THE EYEBALLS! Elder Ballard's hands are soft and plump haha. 

I want you to know that my mission is the best thing that has ever happened to me, and there has not been one time that I have ever regretted my decision to come.  I know the Lord put me here for a very specific reason, and that there are people here that I was supposed to meet, not just to help them, but they have helped me and shaped me to who I am now.  I love these people.  I consider them my family and would do anything for them.  I am so grateful for the blessing that it has been to work so hard, and also to grow closer to my Savior Jesus Christ through the trials and hardships that came (and will still come!).  I see miracles every day, some bigger than others, but miracles nonetheless.  This is the Lord's work and He knows every single one of His children and is there to help and uplift us, always.  I know that this gospel, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true.  I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.  We still have a prophet on the earth today and we are so so blessed to know this.  I love my Savior and I am so grateful to Him for his sacrifice and allowing me to feel even a small portion of what he might have felt that night in Gethsemane.  I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

-Hermana Inman

See you on Wednesday.  

Hermana Inman Letter April 14, 2014

HERE IT GOES!


I'm a roller coaster of emotions right now!  But, I can promise you that I am giving it my ALL this week- I know I am because I have to constantly be trying new methods to keep me awake during the day and when we're planning at night, etc.  I am seriously giving it all my strength and efforts, this is probably the most important week of my entire mission.  Leave it all in the field, without any regrets.  I had my exit interview with President Kendrick this week and the last thing that he asked me was, "has your mission changed you for 18 months, or will it change your entire life?" and I know without a doubt, that my mission has changed my entire life.  I've changed, a lot.  My mission means everything to me.

Maricruz is going to be baptized on May 17!!!!  WOO HOO!!!! We promised her the other week that she would receive a spiritual witness at general conference and would know when she needed to be baptized.  So we followed up with her this week to ask her what her experience was, and she said, "I really enjoyed conference... they kept talking about baptism over and over again, and I was thinking.... I think I will get baptized in May."  And that's exactly what Hermana Woodruff and I had been thinking.  So we said, "how about May 17th?"  and she said, "yeah, that sounds good.  I feel good about that"  and she just smiled to herself :).  She' so great.  She's already halfway through 2 Nephi and she absolutely loves the Book of Mormon.  We had a good talk with her boys, too, and they want to be baptized after their mom so that they can get the Priesthood and pass the sacrament like their friends :), we'll be teaching them tomorrow!  We started teaching a new investigator this week named Carlos.  He's an older man who we've been trying to teach for awhile now, and we finally found him at home and had a lesson with him, and set a baptismal date!!!  He'll be getting baptized on May 24th!  AND THEN, Chris, the husband of Lupita Palacios, sat in 2 of our lessons at their house this week, and he participated!  He's never stayed for any of our lessons and never wanted to talk to us before, but for whatever reason this week he wanted to stay and listen, and he asked really good questions, and he came to church all on his own.  We taught them about family history this week and helped them to get started- the spirit of Elijah is powerful!!!  They're all excited to get started and learn more about their family.  

GUESS WHAT?!  ELDER BALLARD IS COMING TO OUR MISSION THIS SATURDAY!!!  How neat is that?!  A private conference with Elder Ballard and the CA Carlsbad mission!!  Should be SWEET!  We just found out about it last Saturday.  A member of the 70 is coming as well, but I forgot which one.... 

We went to the Carlsbad Flower Fields as a district last week, it was so awesome!

Zone Training Meeting went really well this week, and each of our trainings went smoothly.  We trained on how to effectively delegate within the mission and to the members, as well as a training of Pride, and what are some of the ways missionaries show pride and how we can rid ourselves of it.  President Kendrick says "there is no room for pride in a consecrated mission."  and that's right!  The elders trained on activity versus accomplishment, and how we can determine if what we are doing is really accomplishing important things or just filling time.  It was good!  

There were 2 baptisms in our ward this past weekend, and we had the opportunity to attend and help out.  The spirit was so strong there, and it was such a testimony builder for everyone there-  the two ladies who got baptized have very bad health.  One is an older lady who has back problems and has to walk with a walker, and the other lady is huge and has trouble walking as well, so she uses a cane and struggles walking down stairs.  These two ladies, Vicenta and Sofia, faced their fears of walking without their walkers and canes and their fear of slipping in the water, and walked down the steps into the baptismal font without a second thought.  They were confident in their decision to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized, and they came out of the water sobbing with joy.  It was beautiful.  Sofia even sewed her own baptismal dress.  That is what this is all about- it is moments like that that I am reminded of why it is all worth it.  I wish you could all experience what it feels like to help someone enter into the waters of baptism.  It is the best feeling in the world.  I guess you do probably know how that feels from Dominic's baptism, and hopefully soon Tawnya's baptism, with Quinn and Lauren.  I loved the story you shared with me about Quinn's prayer and the progress their family is making.  What a blessing it is to be a part of that.  I hope you're writing those things in your journals! 

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend.  Let's not forget the real reason why we celebrate Easter Sunday.  I know our Savior lives.  He suffered for our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane and died for us on the cross, but He is risen!  "I know that my Redeemer lives, what comfort this sweet sentence gives."  I love my Savior Jesus Christ and can feel Him with me every day.  He's right here, all we have to do is let Him in, and He can heal us, strengthen us, and give us comfort in our times of need.  

I love you,  have a great day!

Love,

Hermana Inman

Hermana Inman Letter April 7, 2014

I. Love. Missionary. Work.


I got to see Dominic on exchanges this week!  Remember him?  He's from Vista, and Hermana Eskeets and I got to teach him.  I went on my last exchange this past week to Vista and we walked by and he was outside!  It was good to see him and give him some encouragement.  The elders that work with him now are the assistants to the president and I know they're taking good care of him.  The hermanas there are going to try to start teaching his family again.  Hopefully the hearts will be open to the message this time.  The exchange was a bittersweet flashback to the beginning of my mission.  It was in the very same area where I began my mission, so the streets, smells, people, and apartment were all familiar and brought back some of my favorite memories.  I got to see some old friends, plan lessons for people I used to teach, and we even ran the same running route that I ran those first few months of my mission every morning.  It was a tender mercy, really.  I absolutely love my mission, and this last exchange was a blessing to me.

GENERAL CONFERENCE WAS AMAZING! All of the talks were so inspired, and inspiring! I especially loved the talk by Linda Reeves, along with many others.  Did you notice that many of the speakers addressed their talks to the youth and the family?  Also, did you all make plans to obtain your own copies of Preach My Gospel?  Go Elder Ballard!! He's great!  Tell me what you're learning about in Preach My Gospel!  Today I was studying in Chapter 10 under the section called "how to begin teaching," which is the basics/introduction that we share with people when we begin to teach them.  It explains that no matter what you are going through right now, the gospel can help you to overcome it. And it's so true!  The entire Palacios family came to general conference, and so did Maricruz, and several of the less active members we are working with!!! Yay!!  We're still trying to figure out the right day for Maricruz to get baptized.  She says she knows that she needs to, but she wants to also feel it in her heart- she wants to have a spiritual witness in her heart that this is what she needs to do, even though she knows it mentally.  We agree, that she should have the spirit testify to her heart before she commits to do it (although she feels the spirit every time she comes to church and reads in the book of mormon and takes lessons with us.  she describes it as a peace that comes over her).   She's close :) and she's wonderful! Updates to come!  We know that she really loved all four sessions of conference this weekend, and her favorite talks were those that mentioned baptism. 

We got 7 new investigators this week!  2 families! Woo hoo!  We're teaching one of the families tonight, and they are really searching for truth.  We're so excited to teach them.  Then tonight we're teaching someone named George.  We contacted George outside of his house last week and told him who we were and how our message of the gospel can change his life.  He told us that if we could find him at home that he'd be willing to listen to our message sometime.  Then, a few days later, when we were on exchanges, he saw Hermana Woodruff and Hermana Johnson and waved them down and said "hey!  I've been thinking about what you said to me the other day.  It keeps coming back to me and I really want a change in my life.  Can you please come over on Monday to teach me?"  Isn't that neat?!! People are prepared and ready to receive the gospel :). 

 

I'm so glad that Tawnya came over for conference and that she enjoyed it so much! I bet the elders there are so grateful for you guys for being her friend and being willing to help in her conversion process.  That's so neat that Jake has the opportunity to do missionary work through Facebook and help answer some of Tawnya's questions, "ask the missionaries!  They can help!"  

I'm so excited for Jesse's Camp Geronimo job!  He is going to love that!  

To answer the questions for when I come home, there's not any specific food that I miss or anything in particular that I'd like to eat haha whatever we're having that night will be just fine, JUST NOT MEXICAN FOOD! The weird thing is, is that I eat it every day here, but it's soooo good and I don't get tired of it.  But I get grossed out by american-ized mexican food.  Believe me it is not the same.. 

THE GOSPEL IS SO TRUE! TELL EVERYONE!

Love,

Hermana Inman

Hermana Inman Letter April 1, 2014

greetings from Cali

We got to feel an earthquake this week!  There was a large one up in L.A. and we felt it all the way down here in Oceanside.  We were just sitting at our desks and all the sudden we felt like we were spinning in circles or on a boat or something- just an earthquake!  How cool is that?

 

We invited Maricruz to be baptized on Saturday, and she accepted a baptismal date for the 19th of April, but she is kind of uneasy about it, so we're fasting and praying with her to know on which day she should be baptized. More news to come!  She came to church again, and she even came to the Women's Conference that Saturday night!!  I thought that conference was so great!  I was thinking about you the whole time Mom.  The spirit was definitely strong in that meeting!  AND, Leti, Mariela, Lupita, Vanessa, and Alondra Palacios all came :).  I love them.  One of my favorite quotes from that meeting was: "together we're strong, with God we are unstoppable." - Rosemary Wixom. 

 

I'm so excited for general conference this weekend! I bet they'll be focusing a lot on families this conference, Satan is working hard on them that's for sure.  The messages at General Conference are always so inspired and inspiring. I often feel like the talks were given just for me.

Remember to spiritually prepare yourselves for the new messages!  Say prayers and remind yourselves of what they talked about last conference.  You can even come to conference with a question in mind and ask Heavenly Father to address it in conference, and you'll get your answer!

 

We had 2 exchanges this week, one of them was really good!  I only have one more this week- they were a lot less stressful this transfer :). 

 

I'm glad to hear about all the successes you are having down there with missionary work, band, and jobs, and everything else you are doing! Congratulations again to Jesse on his job!

 

I don't have much to report this week, I'm pretty healthy, still loving my mission, still working hard.  I'm kind of a stress ball right now with so many changes happening so quickly so soon, but everything is fine.  I love you all!  Thanks for all of your support! Have a great week!

 

Love,

Hermana Inman

 

Don't forget to play some tricks today on April Fools!