Loveland Missionaries

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Sept 22 Letter and Photos

Buenas tardes!
I love you! I hope all is well. :) I don't have much time today, but
I'll try to cover everything quickly.

Our investigators are doing well. A came to church again finally!
We actually went ourselves to her house in the morning, and she gave
US a ride to church. She had slept in a little and said that if we
hadn't come, she would have decided to stay home and try again next
week. I'm so glad we came! She is doing well and excited for her
baptism on October 4th. :)

C is also doing very well, and came to church. She is preparing to
be baptized on October 11th. One thing is, she drinks coffee. But we
talked about the Word of Wisdom and she is willing to obey it. She's
great.

S & J came to church as well. They are such a sweet couple.
I loved seeing them there, and they seemed to enjoy it as well, and
feel the spirit. They are preparing to be baptized on October 18th.

Sometimes it's hard being a missionary and things don't the way we
plan. Sometimes we have struggles and challenges, but I know it's an
important part of God's plan and this life. Recently I read a scrpture
in the Book of Mormon, about the stripling warriors who said, "Our God
is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall;" Alma 56:46. I
love that and I know that it is so true. Life is full of challenges,
but this plan of happiness was made so that we can live with God and
Jesus Christ again, and I know we have meet that goal if we just trust
in God and remember that He is with us.

I love you lots! Thanks for all your love and support. I wish I had
more time to respond to everyone personally, but I don't. :( Please
remember that I love you and I pray for you!

I'll try to send pictures. :)
Come what may and love it!

Love, Hermana Loveland

Clouds - it didn't rain, it was just cloudy for a couple days.

My companion and I bought stuffed animals

Noche Mexicana - Huge stake activity that had lots of non-members and
less-actives attend. It was fun and fairly successful :)

With our bikes

Last week we dressed in the colors of the Mexican flag

and went"downtown" for a little bit. (Above) With my companion.

Viva México!

With Hermana Rodriguez

Feliz 15 de Septiembre!

Feliz 15 de septiembre! Well actually tomorrow is Mexico's
independence day, but the fiestas all start today, and we actually
have to be home early tonight to avoid the crazies. We'll have to see
what we can do to celebrate today. :) I'll send pictures next week.

One of the best parts of the week was Wednesday. We went to Mexicali
to have a multizone conference with Elder Arnulfo Valenzuela, of the
quorom of the seventy and also in the Mexico Area Presidency. It was a
great conference and we learned a lot from him. The coolest part was,
afterwards our zone leaders came up to us and said that Hermana
C and I were going to have interviews with Elder Valenzuela.
Apparently he wanted to interview a few people, a district leader,
someone who was training, and I don't remember who else, and we were
the lucky ones. It was pretty cool having a personal conversation with
him. He is great person. At one point he asked me if I had any
questions for him. In that moment I didn't, but I thought, "I'm
sitting in front of general authority and he asks me if I have a
question, I have to take advantage of this!" and I thought of a
question for him. I learned a lot that day, from the conference and
from the interview. It was also fun traveling with the zone to and
from the conference. Being a missionary is great. :)

K and M are still doing well, but went out of town this
weekend and couldn't come to church. :( I hope they can come this
week!

A couple new investigators we have are S & J, 60 and 62
years old and are very sweet. We contacted S on Saturday and
invited him to church. We passed by for him with a member yesterday
and he was all ready to come to church. :) He only has one leg, and
came in his wheelchair. In the afternoon we visited him and his wife
and they are excited about learning more and they both said they'll be
at church next week. They are preparing to be baptized on October
18th. :)

Another investigator is C. She is 77 years old. She is sooo sweet.
We met her a couple weeks ago. She is neighbor and long time family
friend of P (the less active member I told you about a few weeks
ago). She came to church with P and family yesterday. She loves
learning and is also preparing to baptized on October 11th.
I love you all! Thanks for everything! Have a marvelous week!
Come what may and love it!

Love,
Hermana Serena Loveland

Grandma L- Happy birthday! I hope you have a great day! You deserve it!
Dad- Thanks for the updates as always and for all your support! Thanks
for reminding that we succeed when we invite! I was actually thinking
about that the other day. It's very true! People don't always accept,
but if we do our part to invite, we can feel that success and know
that we are doing what the Lord wants us to do.
Ross- Thanks so much for the email! Sounds like life is super crazy.
Thanks for your great example of faith and trust in the Lord. And
you're right, Christmas is coming up, and it's the best holiday ever.
I love it! I hope all is well! Give everyone a hug and a kiss for me!
Grandma J- Thanks for the email and the updates on life! I know you
haven't forgotten about me, after all, I'm your favorite oldest
granddaughter. :) And of course I remember the scripture in Amos 3:7.
I use it all the time to teach about the importance of having a
prophet. What a great blessing it is to have a prophet on the earth
today!

At the bus station before leaving for Mexicali.

On the bus station on the way back.

With K and M and their adorable kittens.

Sept 14, 2014 Letter and Photos

Hola mi familia
This week has been pretty great. I feel like we've been working harder
and harder and we've been able to meet some of our goals. And we've
had a fun time at it as well. We had more help from the members this
week and they were able to join us in quite a few of our lessons.

Actually on Saturday we didn't use our bicycles all day. One family in
the ward, the G family picked us up from our house and joined us
for a few visits, and then dropped us off at another member's house
where we ate. Then J, one of the young single adults in our
ward, picked us up and joined us most of the rest of the day. Almost
always the investigators we had planned to visit weren't home or were
busy, but we were able to go and visit others and things turned out
okay. :)

A is progressing well, and he came to church yesterday. He
started working this week and things are improving in his life. He is
very excited to be baptized on September 27.

We were only able to see A once this week, on Saturday, because she
wasn't home all the other times we went. She said she was looking
forward to coming to church, but then she didn't come. :( We're going
to visit her soon and see what happened, and help make sure she can
come next week. :)

K and M are doing well, but didn't make it to church again.
The famliy who passed by for them said they knocked and no one
answered, but K and M said they were ready and waiting the
whole time. Who knows what happened, but we're going to do everything
so that they can come to church this week. And we're also hoping that
everything will work out with their plans to get married very soon and
keep preparing to be an eternal family. :)

I love being a missionary! I also love my companion and the things I
learn from her every day. I love this gospel and sharing it with
others. I know God lives and loves me. And I know He loves each one of
you.

Well, that's about all for this week. I hope all is well and that you
have a wonderful week! Les quiero mucho!

Con amor,
Hermana Loveland

Pretending I know how to play K's sweet pink guitar

These things like to hang out by our house.

Sept 1 Letter - Missionary on Fire?

Buenas tardes!
First of all - Happy birthday Wesley! You are getting old, punk! I
hope you have a great day. I never sent you a package, but I'll see
what I can do. Eat lots of cake for me. :)

This week went pretty good. :) By the way, we finished the transfer
yesterday, but I'm staying here with Hermana C, and nothing
changed. :) I'm looking forward to the next six weeks and the miracles
they will bring!

This week we had interviews with Presidente García. It was pretty
short, and mostly about getting to know us. But I enjoyed talking with
him. He expressed the love he and his wife have for me. I am grateful
to have such a wonderful mission president.

About F, yeah, we found him. He's been super busy working and
hasn't been home much. But he said he's come to church and we set
appointment to visit him, and he said he still wanted to be baptized
soon. But then he didn't come to church. We visited in yesterday
afternoon, and he said he does want to make changes in his life, and
follow Christ, but he seems to have other priorities right now. He
wants to work and earn money for a car and stuff like that. And it's
hard because he has a lot of not-so-great influences in his life.
We're hoping that the youth in our ward can help him out, so he can
have better friendships that help him make better choices.

But we've found a few new investigators this week! One of them is
A. She is 17 years old and awesome. She's already come to church 2
times because she came with her boyfriend who was the elders'
investigator in another ward. She loves learning about the gospel and
is preparing to baptized on September 20.

Another new investigator is K. She is a young mom. Her sister is
less active, and when we went to visit her, we found K and
contacted her. She is also very interested and preparing to be
baptized at the beginning of October.

About what we do on p-days...not much. haha We are in the desert here
and San Luis doesn't have much excitement to offer. But we usually
spend time with the other hermanas in our ward and eat together, clean
our house, buy groceries, write emails...exciting stuff! haha

Have a marvelous week!
Come what may and love it!

Love,
Hermana Loveland

P.S. Did you know that a few weeks ago San Luis broke some kind of
record as the hottest city in the world and we hit about 138 F? Fun
times. :)

Letter - August 25, 2014

First of all, some sad news, F didn't get baptized this week.
We actually haven't even seem him since last Monday. He kinda
disappeared for a little bit. We've tried several times to find him.
We go to his house and no one is home, or his mom says she hasn't seen
him, and he doesn't have a cell phone. But we're not giving up hope.
:) We keep praying and trusting in the Lord. I know we're trying our
best to do our part and if it's the Lord's will, He'll make it happen.
I'll let you guys know.

On Sunday, zero investigators came to church, which was kinda sad. But
there is this less active family that we are working with, and they
came for the 3rd week in a row! It's so great to see them there. It is
a young mom, P, and her three kids. They are excited about coming
back to church. Before, when we visited them, and asked the kids if
they were going to come to church, they all said no, and that they
didn't want to. But now they enjoy coming to church and going to
Primary. I love it.

With S and G, they didn't make it to church either.
We're going to see if we can help them progress a little more, and if
not, we'll keep looking for the people the Lord has prepared to
receive the gospel at this time. :)
K and M and doing good, though they didn't make it to church,
because this time M was feeling sick.
One new investigator we have this week is A. He seems pretty
excited about drawing closer to God and is planning to baptized on
September 27. But one thing is that he seems to be more interested in
how the Church can help financially (finding a job, etc). Our plan is
to teach him the gospel of Jesus Christ and help him make changes in
his life and focus on putting God first in his life. I know that the
gospel and atonement of Jesus Christ works miracles in people's lives
and we are hoping it will do the same for him.
I love being a missionary! This is the greatest work on earth. I know
that Heavenly Father loves me, and that He loves each and every one of
you as well. The church is true!
Have an amazing week! Read the Book of Mormon!

Love,
Hermana Loveland

Brasil Street for all who love Brasil including Dad, Jake and Helida

Exchanges with Hermana Beaumont

With my companion

Monday, August 18, 2014

August 18, 2014 Photos

At our zone conference.

Hanging out on p-day and eating in our room (because there is air conditioning).

And we had cake because Hermana Tree hit 8 months in the mission,

and Hermana Martinez 11 months.

Some seafood we ate this week. There was shrimp, crab, octopus, not sure what else.

[This is amusing because Hermana Serena was not a seafood-lover pre-mission!]

August 18, 2014 Letter

Hey family!

It's been a pretty good week. One of the highlights was our conference with Presidente Garcia on Wednesday. We have such a wonderful mission president and I learned a lot. I also love the love and concern he has for us. He is awesome. Hermana Garcia is also wonderful. :)

F is doing well. He came to church yesterday and is excited about his baptism. He said he's not going to smoke anymore, and we are praying for him so he can be ready to be baptized on Saturday. :)

K and M are doing well, though they didn't make it to church yesterday, because K wasn't feeling well. They don't have any kids yet, but K is about 6 months pregnant and they are very excited for their future family, and know that living the gospel will their family a lot. :)

S and G didn't make it to church either, we're going to visit them tonight and see how there are doing.

Life is going well here in San Luis, and time is flying super fast. I'm doing my best to enjoy every day and see the miracles in our lives, amidst the challenges of missionary life. Because life really is wonderful, and Heavenly Father loves us. This is the work of the Lord and there is nothing else I'd rather be doing!

Thanks for everything! Sorry for the short letter. Remember that I love you! And the church is true! Keep smiling! And share the gospel!

Love,

Hermana Loveland