Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without!

So, my mom always taught us to make stuff work.. or to get rid of it. And this past Monday my companion had a pile of skirts that either didn't fit, or she didn't like.... I asked her if I could see what I can do to help them so she can keep them, she said  yes, and WALA! My comp has 5 "new" skirts!! :) It was so fun to sit and try and figure out how I could better the skirts, how I can make them work so she can still use them!! I got all sorts of creative, and this week we are gonna try putting pockets in two of them!!:) We sisters here in Bolivia are making everything work!! :)

I had to give a talk yesterday in church... and guess what? NO microphone! So guess who got to speak loudly in a church for the first and probably last time?? This hermana!! Although, we still were told that the people in the back couldn't hear very well... But that´s okay!! :)

So two weeks ago, we rescued a woman named Daniela. She is soooo great! Then she told us she was starting school, so she wouldn't be able to go to church again for the semester. Our hearts broke.. Here we thought we had seen this grand change, and what? We were so confused. So we did a lot of praying... and the next Sunday, she didn't come to church. Our hearts broke... again... However, I kept praying for her. I knew she had changed. I knew she didn't want to go to school, I knew she wanted her kids to go to church, and her husband wont take them! Then, as I was giving my talk yesterday, I caught her eye. It was the most special experience ever. I asked her if she didn't have classes and she just looked at me, and said  "Some things are more important." I bawled like a baby! I am so glad she chose to keep the Gospel a priority in her life! This is such a wonderful blessing we have!!!

I love you all, And I hope you have a great week!

Love, Alex

Satan is patient.

So, I read once that we can tell when the Holy Ghost takes control of a lesson when we learn things from what we are saying. And we had so many experiences like this this week! It was so special! We didnt get to teach a whole lot of people, and we dropped a bunch of people who arent progessing, but we found some people who are interested, and we were able to do a bunch of helping in the ward this week!! So all in all, it was good!

We were teaching the niece of hermana Miriam (who asked us to pause our fast.. rememger her?) and we shared a lot on the value that we have as children of our Heavenly Father. We talked a lot about how satan tries to keep us from gaining this knowledge, and my companion said "Satan is very patient. He wont throw a blindfold on us all at once, but one thread at a time, and if we take off 9 out of those 10 threads he has on us, he is okay with that, he starts up again." HOLY POWERFUL. I have never thought of it like that, I have never thought that satan was patient... but really, I guess he is! if he can get us down, he will! but it´s no rush for him. if we allow him one thread every once in a while, THAT IS OKAY WITH HIM. cause it is one more thread than we had before! Beware of satan´s trap, cause he is patient. Dont let him get you even in the smallest thing. cause eventually, we will start to lose our vision, the blindfold will grow thicker. Be careful People!:)

One of the sweetest old ladies in our ward, lost her son this week to an act of violence. It was sooo cool to see the ward reach out immediately and help her, but what was even more special, was something she shared in church yesterday. the bishop asked for the testimonies of a few people, and she was one of them. Number one, SHE WAS AT CHURCH. Her son died this week, just a few days ago, and she walked the half an hour to go to church. In her testimony, she quietly said "I am greatful for the trial God has given me. It has helped me see his love more in my life." Oh my gosh i BAWLED. She is thanking God for this trial. She is so strong. Then we went to visit her with the Relief Society. We showed up, and there was a preacher from another church there, teaching her family. My first thought was "NOT THIS AGAIN, PLEASE NO!!!!!!" But her son and daughter in law invited them over, dont fret! She is strong! They were just finishing thier message when we showed up. It wasnt all crap and lies, which struck me. They really had a lot of truths. But then I started to feel very much like maybe we shouldn't share something. My excuse was that I didnt want the family to feel like we were bashing them or their other church.
"Maybe it is better if we just offer our condolenses, say a prayer, and leave."
No sooner had I thought this, then another thought popped into my head.
"If the church only taught the members, there would be no church. It wouldnt grow, it wouldnt spread."

How true this is! We shared a scripture, and in the middle of this, my mind took a step back. It was almost like I could see the spirit working on them, see them recognize the difference in the spirit present. It reminded me of the times my dad has brought us different places, both at home and on our mini church history tour, and asked us to try and recognize the difference in spirit. How many of times he has done this, and I hadnt realized how each one of them has helped me in my testimony in some way, and I´m just now recognizing it. How many times does Satan try to get us to close our mouth when we need most to open it? This short lesson taught with the spirit to this grieving family, gave us the knowledge that one of the sons is an inactive member, and he has missed the spirit that these messages bring. And... He wants to come back.

I love you all. I hope you all see the hand of God in your life this week and that you recognize it when it comes. Dont forget to say your prayers!! :)

Love, Hermana Alex Arave

Trying my Testimony

This week, was heartbreaking to say the least. Really, I think I cried more this week than I did in the whole CCM. And that is saying A LOT.

On Wednesday, we went to go visit our family of investigators, not planned, but something we felt we needed to do. They finally had a date for a baptism, after months and months of teaching. All five of them had a date! The same date! And we go to visit them, and there are two new people sitting in their house! We greet everyone, talk for a bit, then ask if we can share something small with them. Just then the older guy visiting piped up. He is a pastor from the church right next door, that apparently the family has been attending throughout the week... He commanded us to leave, telling us that we need to find other sheep. These sheep already have a pastor, and they have been saved by the good word of the Bible. Long story short, he put into question every belief we have. And he used our own scripture against us, telling us that the field was white somewhere else, and that our job was to preach repentance unto the people who don’t know Jesus. After a half hour of listening to him, It began to turn into a battle of beliefs between him and my companion. Luckily, she looked at me just before she lost it, and I signaled to her to just listen, to not say anything. Then, once Pastor Lucas had finished his rant, We shared a quick testimony, (CHRIST LIVES) and thanked the family for always inviting us in, and listening to us. We left, and cried. For a good long while. It is funny how Satan works. How he tries to use the horrid accusations of others to tear down our testimony. But the ironic part is that it doesn’t tear down our testimony, it strengthens it. Throughout the whole rest of the week, we were able to testify with power and authority, and the people could feel this power. I KNOW this message is true!

We had a lesson with a Recent convert (the same one who asked if we could pause our fast!! Her name is Miriam), and we felt like we needed to change our plans. We had no idea what to change it to, but during the opening prayer, i remembered something my dad always taught us growing up. The story of King Benjamin! When all the people gather themselves to hear the words of the prophet, they turn the doors of their tents towards the temple. My dad always taught us growing up that THAT was the most important! When we have our doors towards the temple, or our sights set on the temple, we will never be lost. I can’t even describe the power that came into that lesson as we talked about the temple. As we talked about the importance of making the temple our goal, and how our lives can be blessed because of the temple. It was such a powerful lesson. One night, me and my cousin were trying to get to the temple in Bountiful. Neither of us knew the route very well, and my cousin was driving. Somehow we ended up lost in the neighborhoods surrounding the temple. In this moment, I remembered the lesson of my dad, and i knew that all we had to do was get to a place where we could see the lights from the temple, and we would make it safely there. We made it safely to the temple.

Make the temple your goal! If there is one single reason to stay on the straight and narrow path, THIS IS THE REASON. The temple blesses your life so much, and it brings experiences that can never be duplicated!

I love you all, and I hope you all have a wonderful week! Thank you for all your love and support! I love this work!

Love, Hermana Arave

Silver Linings... For reals!

One of these is Alex's zone missionaries, the other is her ward council. My guess is that the one above is missionaries in her zone and the one below if the ward council.

So this past week was a blast! WE DIDN'T HAVE TRANSFERS! I get to stay with my companion!!!!! I love this hermana! She is more than just a companion to me, she is such a good friend! We have so much fun!

So, there is a silver lining to every dark cloud, right? and This morning, I finally realized the meaning of this. Really, I could see the silver lining in the clouds looming over our apartment. It was breathtaking. I wish pictures could do it justice, but I didn't want to miss it, so I didn't even bother taking a picture. It was definitely a tender mercy! God Gives us tender mercies all the time, We just have to look for them!

Guess who is getting baptized this weekend?? HELEN. Miracles will never cease! She is really scared to get baptized, cause she is pregnant, and when her mom got baptized, her brother (who baptized her) dropped her... So Helen is super nervous. But she said she wants more than anything to be baptized, and she chose the strongest guy in the ward to baptize her, so as of right now, she is feeling a whole lot  better! We had a lesson with her in the home of an inactive member, and it was a miracle. It not only changed Helen, it also changed Daniela, who is the inactive. IT changed them both, and we were so happy, and just rejoicing all day long!!!:) Having a member have a responsibility gives them so much more desire to jump in feet first in this work. and Daniela is loving it! Daniela  is done having kids, and asked us if we knew anyone who was pregnant or who has a baby who could use the stuff she has. We immediately thought of Helen! And Daniela gave Helen everything she had for babies! Helen doesn't have anything. And she doesn't have any clothes for pregnancy. So she can hardly leave the house. Her belly is growing really fast, and she cant fit into anything anymore. But with the help of Daniela, Helen has things for her pregnancy now and her baby!! it was so great! This is Christlike love, this is service, this is sooo special. And now Helen and Daniela are friends, and they both have someone they can lean on. This was definitely a friendship divinely inspired!! I love this work!

Also, I ate what i am pretty sure was bladder... but it might have been liver. I dont want to look of the Spanish word in my dictionary to find out, so we will just leave it at that. My companion tried to describe where it was in your body, so I´m pretty sure it was bladder, but yeah, I´m not gonna find out. It was pretty gross, and I was pretty sick the next day, but the rice she gave us was good!:)

We went to visit a recent convert on Saturday after we started our fasts, and she offered us some pop! Which we politely declined with the explanation of "We are fasting" and she said "Cant you pause it for a minute????" Needless to say, we then continued to teach more about fasting so she could understand.  hahah I love the work here, I love the people, I love my ward, I love my area, I just love it!!! I am loving Spanish, and loving having another language that is feeling now like a second nature. I tried thinking about before my mission when I didn't know anything, and I cant. It is like trying to remember a time when I didn't know English. I cant do it. I love it! The gift of tongues is real, and it is a process as well! Like all good gifts, we have to work for them! :)
I love you all. Thank you all for your support and love! I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love, Hermana Arave