August 10, 2015

Well, still here in Libres! 

But! I have a new companion, Hermana Guzmán! 

She is pretty cool and we are finding lots of new work and new people to teach! We found this 20 year old, Andrea, who is from Veracruz and she is super nice and we are excited to start teaching her! She is really open and willing to listen to us. She also a little lonely so we are happy to give her some company too. :)

  We have been finding new people every week and it has been great seeing people with interest! A lot of the people here don't really want to listen to us, but we keep trying and we are persistent, so yeah, even when it feels awkward, keep trucking because if you give all to the Lord and leave up to Him, He will deliver!!! Learning that lesson and it is kinda fun. And seriously, in the mission, you feel awkward a couple times a day, but it is great because if you feel awkward as a missionary just remember you are working in the Lord's work, so it is worth it. 

Today for Pday we went to Oriental to climb 1227 stairs and it was super great and super fun and the view was super pretty!!!!! The only sad thing is is that the computer won't let me upload pics, so you might have to wait until next week to see them, sorry! But seriously the view was so great and beautiful! I took like 4 panoramic photos to capture the whole view from the top of the hill, and it was a pretty big hill!! Then we went to eat some tasty ice cream afterwards, pretty good Pday activity if you ask me. 

So I have been learning a lot in the mission about how to recognize the Holy Ghost and how to understand what he tells me, and it is pretty hard, but I am trying hard because it is so important! It really is super important to understand what the Holy Ghost tells you because what he tells you is what Heavenly Father is telling you, and when Heavenly Father tells you something, well, you should do it!!!!!!! 

Chapter 4 of PMG is super great and super helpful and I have been learning a lot from that chapter. The work of the Lord is dependent on the Spirit and how we react to the impressions we receve from him. If you don't know how to recognize the Spirit, then you can't effectively help other people understand the word of God. The gospel is great and the Church is a great place to be to feel the Spirit, and the temple even more!

 Man I miss the temple!!!
Anyways, I hope you are all doing well, and I hope you can all have a spiritual learning or missionary experience in this week!!!!!!!! Let me know about the miracles you guys are seeing!!
Love you all!!!!!!

July 27, 2015

The kids are already back to school! This summer went by so fast! GUESS WHAT!!!! Yesterday marks 8 months since I entered into the MTC! Time has gone by so fast!!!!!!!!!!! 8 Months!!!!!!!!!! It makes me so happy to hear about the temple and all the work you guys are doing!! I am super excited about Cindy too, that is super awesome and so great!!!!!! 

So this is the last week of this transfer period! That went by so fast! My companion, Hermana Pérez most likely has transfers, because she has been here for 6 months!!! Imagine being in an area for 6 months! I can't. But that is how the mission goes sometimes. Hermana Ganchozo, one of the Hermanas who we share a ward with, she was in her past two areas for 6 months. That's a whole year in two areas! But she is really great, really diligent and super strong spiritually. There are a lot of great missionaries around me and it is great to learn from their example! 

We had a zone activity today and it was super fun! We started off by playing scripture charades and it was great. My team had the story of Abinadi and I was King Noah, I even had a throne. The best one though was a group of Elders doing the story of when the priests of King Noah abducted the daughters of the Lamanites. Two elders were dancing, and the other two were creeping up behind chairs and abducted them, it was ridiculously hilarious, hahahahaha. It was seriously the best!! Later we ate cake because it was Elder Nielson's birthday and then afterward we played volleyball and it was super fun! 

We had some great lessons this past week, we started teaching somebody who had listened to missionaries before but lost contact with them because of her husband, but now we are teaching her and her two daughters whom are super cute. And yesterday we stopped by to visit one of our investigators who we haven't seen in a while and she was super open, the last time we taught her, she didn't understand that well and she talked a lot. But yesterday it was really interesting because this lesson was way different and I felt the Spirit, it was a great lesson and a turn around to perspective we had of her.

 It is so great when you get to teach people who understand the gospel, it just feels good when you are a tool of the Spirit, and through us, other people can learn to identify and understand the Spirit. 

Missionary work is so great.
I am glad everything is going well at home! 

Good luck in this next school year kids!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love you all!!!!!!!!

July 20, 2015

I am so excited to hear about Celeste's friend Cindy!!!!!!!!!! That is so great that you guys are having the discussions in our house, it really is so great when we as missionaries have the support of the members in every situation possible! 

I was thinking about the fact that we always invited friends to church activities, and that was such an inspiration you had, because now we get to see a miracle with someone that we know and love, which makes the missionary experience even more special and precious for us. 

So, we had interviews with our new Mission President, Presidente Nelson!! He is great!! I really felt the Spirit when we were talking. The leaders that we have in the Church really are inspired men of God! 

So this past week was full of cancelled appointments and a lot of walking. We contacted over 100 people in the street this week and we have some appointments set up with some of them, so hopefully we see some blessings and miracles in this upcoming week!!! 

So I am learning a lot about humility still, man, pride is so stubborn!! Hermana Perez and I talk really openly in our companionship and that is helping us out a lot to build unity between us. Speaking of unity, gave a talk in church about unity yesterday, I think it went pretty well. I am really enjoying our companionship and I am learning a lot from her. We also have some really fun times together, man I love her! 

Teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ every day really gives you an opportunity to learn new things and to understand the will and plan of Heavenly Father!! Daily scripture study and prayer really help out too, those things, even though they are so simple and are Sunday school answers, are really the answers to everything!!!!! 

I encourage you guys to always have daily scripture study and prayer, and I promise you guys as a representative of Jesus Christ, that you will see a positive change in your lives. You will feel the redeeming love of the Savior in your lives more strongly, and you will have a stronger desire to align your will more closely with that of the Lord's.
I love you guys so much!!! Stay strong and stay excellent!!!

Brenae

July 13, 2015

Hey Mom! I love you!! How are you doing? I am still alive! Nothing happened that would make it otherwise so don't you worry, haha. How was your guy's anniversary????????????? Hope it was special!!!!!!!! 

We found two new investigators this past week from a referral from a member and they are pretty great!!!!! We have only had one lesson with them, but we have high hopes anyways!!!! It is so exciting to find new investigators guys!! And it is even better when they show some excitement to learn! (sigh) 

Missionary work is great guys.

This week I made barbeque sauce for a family and it actually turned out pretty great! It tasted even better when it was put on the chicken. They put some chipotle in it too to give it more kick. It was pretty delicious. They want me to give them more recipes too. The people are great here. 

So Hermana Pérez and I have been given the assignment along with Hermana Swan and Hermana Castillo to assign a huge number of references to areas. The page for references has over 1,000 references that need to be assigned to an area, so we have our work cut out for us. But I am actually pretty excited to work with this because it is really going to help the mission have some progress. Just think about it, over 1,000 names waiting to be assigned to an area so missionaries can go to them and share the message of the restored gospel!!! Just another way to move the work forward!

Love you guys bunches!!! 

Also, you guys should pray for missionary experiences, trust me, it will be worth it! I promise you guys that it will strengthen your testimony and make even stronger in the gospel! 

Stay excellent!!!!

Hermana Newhard aka Brenae :)

July 6, 2015

 Hey Mom!!!!!! Could you send me your computer file of recipes please??????????????????? 

Put that in bold to show my need for them, haha.

Sounds like your summer is off to a great start!! Congrats boys on your grades!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

So!!! New area and new companion and new Mission President!!!! So much newness!!!!!!!!!!! My new area is Libres in the stake of Amalucan. It reminds me of home because there are lots of cornfields, the only difference is is that we have hills and mountains in the background.

 My new companion is Hermana Pérez and she is from the D.F. which is basically the Washington D.C. of México. My new Mission President is Presidente Nelson and his wife Hermana Nelson and they are from California. So basically everything is shiny new for me here in the Mexico Puebla North Mission! My area is super big and consists of a couple of towns that are spread out! HUGE!!

 We found 4 new people to teach this past week and we are super excited to start teaching them!! We have appointments with them later this week and a couple of members are going to come with us too! Perfect!! 

So, yeah! Lots of changes and lots of hope and faith!!!

So the mission is such a great experience to do some self searching and self discovery! Well, life in general is a great experience to that, haha. But I have been doing a lot of thinking in the things I lack and I have come to the conclusion that the gospel can fix that. Also, I thought about doing the Personal Progress program here in the mission, and I think it is a brilliant idea! I am really excited to do that right now and I hope to learn some new things!

 Also, something new that I am learning to do right now is eat spicey food, like really Mexican spice. So that is fun but I feel like I am already adjusting, haha. Woohoo! It hurts a little but you know what, no pain no gain, haha. 

Also, Happy 22nd Anniversary Mom and Dad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love you two bunches!!!! You have been great parents, and I would never want anyone else to have that role in my life. Thank you for all that you have taught me and for teaching me who I am supposed to be. I love you guys and I always will. 

Love you all, and keep strong in the faith. Never falter. Never doubt. Endure to the end!!!!!!

Hermana Newhard

June 22, 2015

Love you guys too!!!

Change of scene and people!!!!!!!!!! I have transfers!!!! Again!!!!!!!!! 

I have only been here in Esmeralda for one transfer, 6 weeks, and the time has flown!!!!!!!!! 

I can't remember if I have told you guys, but I have been boxing and it has been so much fun and I am really sad that it is over!! But I am optimistic for the things that are ahead!! 

This area has been hard but it has been really instructive and I feel like that experiences that I have had here are going to help me for the rest of my mission. The ward here is really great, and there is a couple here who are from south eastern Indiana!! Go figure!! But unfortunately they are IU Hoosier people, but hey, it's all good, I can tolerate it, haha.

 What I told Bro. Meister is that they are Hoosier Hoosiers, and I am a Boilermaker Hoosier, because we are state folk, and Indiana people are Hoosiers, so it's all good, we left on a good note, haha. 

This ward has a lot of really good members who do a lot for the missionaries! 

Well, time is about to cut short so I gotta go, but I will do a better job next week and let you guys know what's up in my new area!!!!!

Love you all and I hope this summer turns out splendidly!!!!!!

I also finished the Book of Mormon!!!!!!!! And in 4 months too!!!!!!!!! Everybody should read it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brenae aka Hermana Newhard

June 15, 2015

It sounds like this summer is starting off with some great success!! Keep me updated with pictures too!!

This past week we found three new investigators!!!! We found a reference from a member and he seems really promising!! We taught him about the apostasy and the restoration and you could see that he felt the spirit. I asked him how he felt and he said good but different, so I took the opportunity to testify to him that what he was feeling was the Holy Ghost. It was such a great lesson and it felt so good to teach like that again!!! 

His main question was what is the difference between the Catholic Church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and when we taught him about the organization of the church that Christ organized and about the authority that the church had, and how it had been lost, but later restored once more, he understood really well. 

The thing I love about the church is that it just makes plain sense! You should read this talk by Tad R. Callister, it is super good and explains a lot about why this church is Christ's church. https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/ces-devotionals/2014/01/what-is-the-blueprint-of-christs-church?lang=eng&query=the+blueprint+of+christs+church 

So anyways, the work is moving along here!!!! Little by little, but it is moving along! Lots of faith and hope was put into my prayers this past week!! Missionary work is hard, but there are definitely fruits that are so sweet that they council out the bitter parts that you might have the occasion to taste.

 I was talking with Hermana Garcia the other day about why we are here on missions, and I said something pretty cool. "Everybody has reasons why they came to the mission, and now we are all finding reasons to stay in the mission." We all have reasons why we join the church or why we begin to be faithful to gospel, but as we continue a life in the gospel we have to continually find or recognize the original reason to continue, to endure to the end.

I hope you are all doing splendidly and I love to hear what's happening back at home! Make sure you enjoy the summer and make memories!!!!!!!!
Love,
Hermana Newhard

ps, here are some pics of Cholula, this painting represents a legend that a white god came down and taught the people of Cholula, kind of has some similarities with Christ's coming to the ancient americas right? wink wink