Doing well!!

Hola(:

Time is FLYING! First off I am finally more than halfway through my training! yay! and I cant believe it is monday again! This week was pretty good! Honestly nothing too crazy or exciting happened but i will tell you guys all about it anyway! On Tuesday we had our district class, and we got new mattresses and a book shelf so that was exciting! But the Hermano delivered it, his daughter is in the mission here!!! It was the saddest thing he had stuff for her and she had stuff for her family so he had to wait outside the church while we went into the church and got the stuff from her and it was so sad that her dad was here and she couldnt say hi to him. My companion and I both cried because we felt so sad for them. But she goes home in 4 months and was perfectly fine!  But on Wednesday we had a lot of lessons with members which was really good! The member that was with us is Hermana Sonia and she is a returned missionary and she is so funny!! haha She was so helpful because she literally talks to everyone, and cant start conversations in the most random ways! But she was so helpful and has such a strong testimony and knows all the lessons so it was great! But it was also one of the funniest days... First we were looking for a reference we recieved from the Elders and while looking we asked some people if they knew where they lived and we still dont know if the person was a guy, or a girl, and Hermana Sonia thought it was the funniest thing! And then after our last lesson we had like 30 minutes before we had to be in our house so she decided that i needed to eat tacos so we go buy tacos and this guy comes to the place and starts rapping, and rapped about everyone in the place and rapped about my eyes being the color of heavan and Hermana Sonia also thought this was soooo funny haha it is something that you kinda had to be there for it to be funny, but yeah wednesday was a good day! Thursday was good too! We are looking for a new house because ours is just interesting to say the least and we thought we found the perfect one, but other people that live here told us not to rent it because when it rains the house floods.. haha so we have to keep looking! But yesterday we had 2 new investigators in church and they are the daughters of some less active members and they were so happy that they got to go to church! So I think they will progress really well, right now their baptism date is set for the 30th of this month! So hopefully all goes as planned! It sounds like you guys had a great weekend! I am so glad all is well back home! I love you guys so much! Have a great week! (: 

love always,

Hermana Searle 

Pics :)

 

Baptism of Rosario and Marina

 

Another pic from Baptism :)

 

Hermana Searle and Hermana Santana

 

They found a random mirror on someones front door so of course they stopped to take a picture.  They wanted another one because this is so blurry but as soon as they went to take it someone walked out of the door.  I guess it was pretty funny!!!!

 

They still don't love early mornings!!

She's doing great!

Hola! 

Well this week was so fast, and so good! On Tuesday we had our district classes and then I was in a trio Tuesday from like 2pm- Wednesday at like 10am! It was so great. The best thing about Hermana Fragoso being the training leader for the Hermanas in our Zone is I get to go with other Hermanas 3 times each transfer and it is always cool to learn from them and meet their investigators! On Wednesday after we were all back with our companions we just had our normal lessons.On thursday we had weekly planning in the morning and after had lessons with Rosario and Marina who were getting ready for their baptism! The lessons with them are always really good! On Friday we decided we would try and teach one of our investigators who we havent been able to find for the past couple weeks. The first two times we had taught her we just thought she was going to progress so quickly but then after that anytime we went to teach her no one answered the door so we figured she didnt want more lessons. But during weekly planning we just felt like we needed to plan for her this week. So on Friday morning we went to her house and the door was open and she was happy to see us! She is 8 months pregnant and had been in the hospital because they were afraid her baby was going to be born early, but all is well and she should have the baby in about a month! She told us she really liked what she had read in the Book of Mormon and was glad we came back. She is super catholic so we figured it would be really hard to teach her but she just takes everything we say and really thinks about it! She has so much Faith in God and wants to know all she can about the Book of Mormon and how she can be closer to her Heavenly Father! So she accepted a baptismal date and when she said the closing prayer the spirit was so strong! Her neighbor was there as well and she accepted a baptism date and asked for a Book of Mormon(: On Saturday we had the baptism of Rosario and Marina(: It was soooo great! They were so happy and just it is indescribable! After they were baptized they had time to share their testimonies with those that were there and Marina is 11, and she has such a strong testimony of how much the gospel changed her life and her family. It was just so great! Yesterday they were confirmed and said they just have so much peace and happiness in their lives! We had a really interesting lesson yesterday...haha. After church we decided to go and teach The Alcaraz family. The parents are less active members and the two daughters want to be baptized.. Well they sell pirated movies, in front of a Catholic Church, and yesterday just so happened to be a big ceremony for the church and they had a parade where all the people were dancing. And the dance is like a cultural dance for Mexico that goes wayyyyy back in time and they do this dance to give thanks to The Virgin Mary when they recieve blessing, and they set off fireworks all day and it is just quite interesting to say the least. So just picture 2 LDS missionaries trying to teach investigators with illegal movies and the parade of another religion... It was something else!! My companion and I couldnt help but laugh after because of how not ideal of an enviroment it was. But the dad has a really strong testimony and knows he needs the gospel for him and his daughters, so that was good! This week we really want to find some new investigators and work on getting them to church! So hopefully all works out well! I am so glad you guys are doing so great I love and miss you guys so much!! I hope you have a great week (: 

Love Always,

Hermana Searle 

More pics:)

Creepy spider that was in their apartment 

Their zone!

Yay! Pictures:)

This girls name is Marina and she is one of their investigators

Picture of Elders that taught Marina before Hermana Fragoso and Hermana Searle did 

Awesome tan line :)

Favorite picture ever!!!!  Hermana Searle and Hermana Newbold reunited !!!!

Crazy Week :)

Hola Familia!! 

well this week was quite the week! So tuesday and wednesday were pretty normal. On Tuesday we had our zone class and it was really good! on Wednesday we had our normal lessons and what not and we were with the Olvera Family who the daughters baptism date was the 12th. We did like a pre-interview thing and we just felt like they were so ready. We also had our interviews with President Wagner on Wednesday and it was really good. Hermana Fragoso prepped me and told me that every single new missionary that is from the United States cries in them. So i was all ready to be sad and start crying and I didnt cry at all! I was so proud of myself!  Then on Thursday we found out we had to go to Guadalajara on Friday for a training thing for me and all the other new missionaries. So Hermana Smith and Hermana Cruz slept at our house and we had to wake up at 4 Friday morning to be to the bus at 6! I was so tired!! haha but Guadalajara was really good! I got to see Hermana Newbold again and the elders from my district in the CCM(: Everyone is doing so good and it is so awesome! We didnt teach at all Friday because we got back at like 8:45 pm. but as we were coming back to Santiago the Elder that interviewed Rosario and Marina for their baptism called us and told us that Rosario didnt pass the interview and needs at least another week before baptism. This was so hard and sad to hear. They have been investigators for 4 months and we really didnt understand how she wasnt ready. I felt so bad that we hadnt taught her well enough for her to be ready, and her and her sister were both really sad about it. And then literally everyone in the ward was mad at the Elder that interviewed her. And it has been really hard. Hermana Fragoso and I have to defend like everyone all at the same time and its difficult. But it is getting better today we went to Marinas Graduation from Elementary school and the family feels a lot better about things and are less mad and are okay with the baptism being next week. So hopefully it works out. We plan to teach them every night this week and make sure she is ready. Sometimes i wish i could go back to not understanding anything so i wouldnt know when people are upset! It is a lot different in the mission field then it is at home. The people here have so many difficulties in their life and I am so glad we have the Gospel to help them!! The members here are so great and yesterday in church the little kids gave me and Hermana Fragoso a bunch of those braceltes that Brex and them always make with rubber bands! Their aunt said they were making them for hours just for us (: haha. We have a lot of new investigators this week and had 6 of our investigators in Church! We were so happy about that! This time is hard but it is also the most amazing experience ever. I am starting to feel more comfortable talking and the Spanish is getting easier! I love it so much here and this work is amazing! I am glad everyone had such a great week! I love you guys so much!(:

Love always,

Hermana Searle 

Sick tummy, earthquake, disappointment and Dear Elder letters :)

Hola!

So this week has been such an emotional rollercoaster!! But first, i am glad everyone had a safe holiday! It was so weird not being in America on the 4th of July!! But dont worry, i proudly wore my red white and blue, and we got a new phone cause ours broke and our Zone leader is from idaho so he set a time for noon on the fourth to let us know it was the fourth. haha. However, he also set an alarm for 4 AM just to be a brat!! haha luckily i didnt even hear it but Hermana Fragoso was so mad haha. But anyway, this week was something else. I felt sick most of the week but it was just like a cold so i was fine. but then on wednesday night i had to sleep at other Hermanas house because Hermana Fragoso is the sister training leader and had a training in Guadalajara so that night I was with Hermana Santana and Hermana Rodriguez. i seriously love them and we pretty much talked in English all day which was nice. But on Thursday when we woke up i still wasnt feeling too great but after luch just felt sick to my stomach and sorry this is gross but i threw up and was miserable! So when Hermana Fragoso got back we just went home And i had like 10 dear elders that got brought here so thank you guys soooo much for writing those! I got some from Mom, dad, Sharon, Tina, Gandpa, Brittany Johansen, and i cant remember who else but they made my day so i read those and then I  went to bed at like 8! Then Friday morning i felt better than ever and now just am as healthy as can be! It was so weird! But this week we had some really good lessons and we were sure that so many of our investigators would be in church. We were so excited for it and just couldnt wait. We had 12 say they would be there and we get to church and only 4 came. it was so sad!! It is really hard when investigators dont keep their commitments. It just breaks your heart because we cant help them if they wont accept the gospel and come to church. Hopefully this week we will have more luck with our investigators! So, this week i finally felt an earthquake!! I was asleep and got woken up by it and it was super weird cause i was half asleep and didnt really know what was going on but it was cool! When we woke up the next day i asked Hermana Fragoso if she felt it and she didnt but she figured there was one because our beds were closer to the wall and a couple of things had fallen. haha. Also, there is a little girl in our ward and she is one of the little kids in the family that reminds me of our family, and she is 7 and her name is Aurora. Well the other day her grandma was who we were eating with and she was there and she was talking to us and said she wants to be  teacher when she is older so we decided she can practice on me and teach me spanish! haha so she agreed that this is a good idea and she said something like, " I dont know English, but anytime you are here or in the church, or if you are at my house, we can teach you spanish. It will be so easy!" And then she had a pen and a pencil in her hand and she was all "repeat after me." and holds up her pencil and says "lápiz" so i repeat it and she was so proud!! haha it was the cutest thing! i will get a picture with her one of these days and send it to you guys! another cool thing this week we have a zone class on tuesday so for preperation for it Elder Krambule gave me and Hermana Fragoso a talk to read, it is called "The Fourth Missionary" It is By Lawrence E. Corbridge and i read it and it is sooo good! It definitley helped me a lot, and i think it will continue to help me for the rest of my mission! It is such a big blessing in my life to be out here serving right now and I am so thankful for this opprotunity! I miss you guys like crazy, but i know that we have an eternity as a family and i want my family here to have that as well! I hope you guys have a great week and I hope summer is going well! I love you guys so much! 

Love always,

Hermana Searle