Rachael: "it's fun to find - all the time!"

The title of this post is from a song we liked to listen to in the car about trying to find people and invite them to learn more about Christ all the time!

This story is one of my favorites (I might be saying that a lot as I write these each week)! This story is somewhat like the last one I wrote in that it's about how explosions of faith cause miracles.

I was with Sis. Todd for this one (we were together for 6 months!) out in the good ol' La Jolla Single's Branch. We had been having a difficult time finding new people to teach (seems to be a common theme for many missionaries) and were feeling a bit discouraged. We prayed about what we should do and had the inspiration that we should talk to at least a certain amount of people a day. I don't remember how many people it was, but I remember that it was a whole lot! So many, that if we didn't talk to almost everyone we saw, we wouldn't reach our goal. We did really well with it for a few days and then P-day rolled around. On P-day we usually spent a lot of time writing letters, cleaning things, and getting ready for the rest of the week... and not a ton of time around other people. So, we decided that we would reach our goal of contacting that huge amount of people while we were out doing our grocery shopping.... and let me tell you, it's a bit awkward to talk to people in the middle of grocery stores in Southern California. They just don't know what to think! We had never actually shopped at Albertsons before because it was more expensive, but something told us we should just go. If I remember right, we actually got lost going to the store we usually go to and saw the Albertsons and decided we'd rather go there than keep searching for the other store. So, we went shopping and contacted a ton of people.

Unfortunately not a single person we talked to was interested in learning more and we were feeling a bit discouraged. Here is the key - never give up! There were just a few more people we could talk to... so we talked with our cashier and then with the sweet girl who bagged our groceries. Golden. Melinda, as we came to know her, was not only willing to meet with us, but seemed eager as well. We were thrilled that we got a phone number!

Well, we felt pretty good about what we had done.

Sadly, we couldn't get ahold of her for weeks and weeks. It seemed like the number she gave us wasn't even hers (it was an old lady on the answering machine). We went back to Albertsons and didn't see her there. We had about given up on her :(

Then one day we were perusing through our contact lists and saw her name and felt like we should call it again... she answered!! And she was upset at us for not having called before (we did, I guess she didn't get the messages!). We set up an appointment and the rest is history. I'll tell more of her story later... but for today just know that miracles do happen when we show our faith... even if the miracles do not manifest themselves right away. It took months to finally see the results of really putting forth our faith and contacting a ridiculous amount of people. But, God did show His power and that He was working with us. Word of advice to missionaries - contact everyone, even on P-day because you never know who you'll run into! They could be ready for the saving powers of the gospel of Jesus Christ :). I think that really goes for all of us... we should be continually inviting others to be part of this wonderful Gospel and have the blessings that we so often selfishly keep to ourselves!

Rachael: No hablo Español... yet

One of the best parts about being a missionary is being able to see how God helps you out when you exercise some faith!

As I mentioned before, I was originally assigned to be an English-speaking missionary. During my entrance interview with my mission president, we had a really spiritual experience and he told me that he felt impressed that I should start learning Spanish so I could eventually work in Spanish areas. Well, I was eventually switched to working in Spanish areas and I spent my first two transfers learning with amazing companions from the Dominican Republic and Argentina! Love! After two transfers, however, I was certainly not feeling fluent in the language yet. I could communicate, but it wasn't too pretty!

Hna Thomas and me - our first week together!

So, I thought I'd be staying in Chula Vista with Hermana Zaldivar, but instead my mission president (and the Lord) surprised me with a new assignment to a little place called Santee. Little did I know I'd be spending over four months there! All I could remember about Santee was that I had heard that there just weren't any baptisms happening there and that it was a difficult area. Much to my surprise, I was not assigned with fluent Spanish speaker, either. Hermana Thomas had been speaking Spanish just about as long as I had. We were really going to have to exercise some faith, to say the least.

She and I have maaany stories and I'm sure I'll write about more than one of them in the future. The short one I wanted to talk about today, however, is about a little man named Miguel Angel and how I believe that he was a direct answer to prayer and acts of faith.

It was our first full day together and Hermana Thomas and I were a bit nervous to go out and start talking to people on the street. We, unfortunately, did not have a very big "investigator pool" and really needed to go find some more people who wanted to hear about the Gospel of Jesus Christ! So, we got up, studied really hard that morning, spoke to each other only in Spanish so we could feel warmed up, and headed out to the street. We decided that we would demonstrate our faith in God and His ability to help out His two Spanish-challenged missionaries. Our goal? To talk to and extend an invitation to learn more about the Gospel to every person we came into contact with. No small task. After praying realllllly hard, we started the adventure. I remember that we got a phone call right before we went out to start working and it was someone speaking Spanish and we could barely understand what they were trying to say. Not very encouraging to say the least :/ Anyway, we knew God would help us and so we worked.

First person we met? Miguel Angel. Did he understand what we were saying to him? Probably some of it (we were very good at testifying of Jesus Christ and inviting people to learn more), but our conversational Spanish needed some work. Miraculously, he said that he did want to learn more (we were pretty sure that's what he said anyway). We got his number and made plans to meet the next day at the park. We worked so hard for the rest of the day talking to people, practicing our Spanish, and sharing our testimonies the best way we could. As far as I can remember, Miguel was the only new investigator we got that day. I remember feeling rather frustrated... little did we know that it would turn out to be a huge blessing!

We studied the lessons we wanted to teach him extensively and were so relieved to find him at the park (we weren't sure we understood which park he was referring to). We sat down at a picnic table and had a beautiful, simple lesson about God's love and where Miguel fit into the Plan of Happiness. He was so eager to learn and so patient with our Spanish!

Miguel's baptism (he's the one on the left)

It took about a year, but eventually Miguel Angel was baptized into the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Teaching him over that year was both a challenge and a blessing (again, many more stories to come concerning Miguel!). We later asked him if he could understand what we were saying that first day on the street and he said he couldn't understand much except that we had a message about Jesus Christ and it could help him be more happy. That is really what it's all about.

Moral of the story? When we have surges of faith, miracles happen. God makes us able and makes up for our inadequacies. This was not the only instance on my mission that this happened. I believe that when we have surges of faith in our lives, we will see miracles. God is a god of miracles... and I am so grateful for that!

Rach: "Why don't you just get married?"

People always ask sister missionaries why they chose to go on a mission when it is not required by the church. Here is my story.

I was under some interesting perceptions as a young girl growing up in LDS culture. While I loved missionaries, I never got really acquainted with them. They would come over for dinner and eat a lot of lasagna, and our conversations unfortunately never led to my family actually sharing the gospel. We usually had elders in the ward and the occasional sister missionary companionship to come through. Unfortunately, I saw the sister missionaries through a certain stereotype. Why were these girls on missions and not getting married? In my mind there were just a few possible explanations:

WARNING - honest (though incorrect) thoughts coming up:

1. They were frumpy (online definition: A female with lack of concern for appearance. Often characterized by sweatpants, frizzy hair, grandma panties, and a pasty complexion).
2. They were socially awkward and therefore unable to find a guy to marry.
3. They had absolutely nothing better to do
4. Their families were "super mormon" and made them come.

Well guess what... I WAS WRONG! I admit it! To think, I had all of those years to prepare for my own mission but I was too busy judging the poor, sweet sister missionaries that cycled through our ward. I should've taken some time to get to know them and learn from their amazing experiences and huge hearts. Seriously. One of my new quests in life is to help girls go on missions. Why? because it changed my life and I know it will change every girl who goes for the better. Who wouldn't want that?

You may be wondering how I ended up on a mission when the last thing I wanted to be was frumpy, socially awkward, have nothing to do, and be a super goody goody mormon. I had, what our dear King Benjamin calls, a change of heart.

It happened my sophomore year of college. First of all, I was not looking to get married and I think that helped quite a bit. Commitment was not my thing you know. Boys were awkward and I had dated one too many "premie" guys. So, my wonderful best friend Megan and I moved into a new ward. We were warned before that it was an "older" ward and had a lot of sister returned missionaries. Oh great. Welcome to frumpland, right? Wrong. The girls I met in that ward changed me.

I was surrounded by girls who

1. were actually very classy. None of that yucky hair and sweat pants crap
2. had incredible testimonies of the Book of Mormon, the Restauration of the church, Jesus Christ, and lots of other important things!
3. knew how to teach.... and boy did they! I had never enjoyed Relief Society so much!
4. stuck to their morals
5. were beautiful (not just their sparkling spirits inside, but outside too!)

Needless to say, I was blown away. There they were, return sister missionaries, and they were the picture of what I wanted to be! Their common denominator... the had all served worthy missions for the church. It didn't matter where they had gone, they all had the same fire. I wanted it.

And thus began the journey of prayer, fasting, and pleading with the Lord to tell me if it was the right thing for me. As is typical in my relationship with Heavenly Father, He did not give me a direct answer but gently guided me through different people and thoughts. I remember it finally coming to a rather frustrating point where I just told God that I was going to prepare myself like I was going on a mission, and if it wasn't the right thing then please let me know. Well, as you can guess, God didn't intervene and I got to go :). Preparing was great, the mission was even better. It was the absolute best decision I had ever made.

My parents were skeptical at first and I know more than one person asked me why I didn't just get married instead, but I felt it was right and I was so excited to go and share the gospel. After getting used to the idea, my parents were fully onboard and my biggest supporters. Thanks mom and dad!

I got called to the California San Diego Mission to the Mormon Battalion Visitor's Center.  I was admittedly a bit disappointed that it wasn't a foreign land, foreign language, and that it was a visitor's center... but I acted with faith, accepted the call, and went to go conquer San Diego! 

My mission did not, however, turn into a visitor's center mission. The Visitor's Center closed a week before I arrived for renovations and reopened a week after I left. My call was changed from English to Spanish speaking after 8 months. It was the best 18 months I could've asked for.

there it is! my mission call!