28 July 2014

**(Don't have time? skip to the story after the BOLD... LEGIT)

Oh my goodness, this week feels like it was 6 weeks in one. It was SO long but SOOOO good!

New companion, new area. Both of which are AMAZING. It's funny how Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us, and it always works out--despite what we might think to begin with. 

This week was INSANE. Before the transfer President Curtis mentioned that he had "an assignment" for me and my new companion... Turns out he was taking us with his wife and his Assistants to a youth conference for the Declo Stake! So at 7am Friday morning we were headed out to the conference. Oh heavens. I served in the Declo stake almost a year ago exactly--so many youth recognized me and there were about 200 people in the small cabin. They had questions for us and wanted us to share experiences. I just about died. No way did I feel like i was one of those "experienced missionaries" as they kept calling us. it was insane! At the end the youth sang the medley of As sisters in Zion and the Army of Helaman--cried like a child. SOOO good. 

We had spent HOURS the day before during weekly planning organizing the area book and cleaning it out.... We set some good goals, planned for the current investigators and just got to work. We were able to see the blessings of diligence and planning because we had come home from district meeting when someone from the library in Kimberly calls telling us that she's got a spanish friend for us to meet. BOOM. Booked it to the library, found one new investigator. Oh good ol' Maggie from Puerto Rico. OH the blessings. Seriously. A willing heart and a little dedication goes a long way. 

We had a Branch activity Friday night--the branch people are LEGIT. met the Venezuelan ladies that Hna Rex had talked so much about.. oh man, I felt like I was home. These people are SOO good, so dedicated. Turns out it was a "water activity" so they had a kiddie pool and water balloons... yeah, turns out "I"m a missionary" isn't enough of an excuse for these people cause they attacked us with water balloons.. oh man. 

Saturday we had a stake breakfast, and a pioneer day activity that we helped serve at... BUSY BUSY.

But the word "busy" doesn't even begin to cover our Sundays here. We had a stake meeting at 7:30 am, followed by church at 9 and a meeting at 12, then another meeting with the branch WML at 1:30 and church from 2:30-5:50, dinner, time for one appointment and home... I AM DRAINED.

**So highlight of the week: SUNDAY NIGHT DINNER. 

this Hna from the branch is from Chile, had a rough life. married at 19, two kids, and divorced...alll by the time she's 34. but that's another story because she is so full of faith and dedication for the gospel--it's ridiculous. Anywho, Her brother is in town from Chile for the month to visit... He's a RM--served in Ecuador, came home AAANDDD.... turned Muslim... WHAAAAATTTTT?!?!?!?! We had dinner at their house so naturally we had to find out how that all worked out. Turns out he was on his mission with what he explained to be "a weak testimony". He never felt strongly about certain things in the gospel and he let his doubts become stronger than his faith. He saw an article in the Liahona about the middle east and what they believed and all that sort of good stuff--he remembered that his ancestors were from the Holy Land and got really interested in it, so when he came home from his mission he decided that LDS wasn't really for him, he took another route. As we sat during the dinner and for like an hour he told us about AAAAALLLL the things that they believe and how similar it is to what he believes in his new religion--similar, but with one GIANT difference: Jesus Christ was a prophet and an important person in history... but NOT THE SAVIOR OF MANKIND..... can you imagine?!?! So here we were wondering what in the world drives him to even keep going. He has a new religion but he made mention that he's not "a radical", he's not in it 100% because there's some things that he doesn't agree with either. He kept saying the word "practico" or practical when it came to his religion. that everything was set in stone. the law was written directly from revelation and that they even knew the proper way to wash their hands...-->CONVENIENT. I thought about that talk in conference that talked about Comfortable Gods. Of course his new religion is practical, it requires no faith. It requires no sacrifice, it requires no need to do hard things... you just do more good than bad and hope that they outweigh each other in the end and you are saved by your good deeds... WHAAAAATTTT?!?!?!?! 

As I studied this morning (because obviously it was driving me NUTS) my testimony was strengthened... like X a BILLION. I read in Alma 37--all about scriptures. and I came to realize that the scriptures are here to testify of Jesus Christ. They are here to show us what it is that we need to do to strengthen the faith we have. It's easy to give up, it's easy to say "my faith isn't strong enough" or "I don't belive" so I'm going to choose something else. Alma 37:16 teaches us that we are to be obedient, but obedient through prayer... when we pray about what we are asked to do/live/say/whatever, we can know if it comes from God or from some other source... We can truly know the truthfulness of all things through prayer. When we receive an answer that it's from HF we will know that it's worth it. We will keep striving to be obedient, even if we do not understand WHY.

Now, don't get me wrong. This guy is one of the best men I have ever met. I have never seen a bigger respect for Heavenly Father and a bigger desire to do what's right. I'm not judging him on his decision, I'm thanking him for helping me realize that I NEED A SAVIOR, because I can't do it on my own. I know without a doubt that this is the true church. I know without a doubt that if we obey we will receive the blessings that have been promised to us. I know without a doubt that the gospel is not always easy to live, but it's always worth it. I'm thankful for this brother and the testimony that we were able to share because I KNOW he felt the spirit. It was amazing how after an hour and some of him telling us about all the good and bad of religion (and he was SUPER kind about it, he knows TONS about religion), all it took was one short scripture and two testimonies to bring in the spirit into the room. Not once did I feel something while he was talking, but when we both testified of the love Heavenly Father has for ALL OF US, the spirit came in stronger than anything I have ever felt before. What a blessing. 

I hope that you can look for ways to strengthen your faith. If you don't believe or have doubts about a certain area of the gospel, I hope you don't look for the easy way out. I hope you pray, study and ponder. Heavenly Father did not put us on this earth to do it alone, He sent His son. 

I'm so excited for these next few months. my testimony grows in leaps and bounds every day. I'm excited to work hard and to continue to bring this gospel to those who have never had it, or to those who have forgotten along the way. 

Have a wonderful week!

xoxox

Hermana Calero

21July 2014

woot, woot Transfer time! I will be leaving Burley Sp and head to Kimberly Sp 4 where we will cover Murtaugh, Hansen, and Kimberly--we will be doing Spanish AND English work so it'll be fun! I hear great things about the Spanish Branch in Twin where we will attend, I'm looking forward to it! My companion will be Hermana Rodriguez, she's from Southern California.

Oh man, this week. So many things. 

The week started off great! on Tuesday we had the opportunity to go with the Branch and help out in one of the Bishop Storehouse Fields! It was so cool to see a whole stake gathered together to help weed the bean field. We were each in charge of 3 rows up (1 mile) and 3 rows back... a total of 2 miles and 6 rows just bent over pulling the weeds! I've been sore for the majority of the week but it was a lot of fun. 

We had exchanges (my last one!), I went with Hermana Rodriguez to Kimberly (how inspired of us) and had the opportunity to do more service. Every month the Twin Falls South Zone (my new zone) gets to do service at the local Salvation Army serving evening meals  to the homless. wow, what humbling experience--honestly. It was really good to see Hermana Rex one last time before transfers, she's headed home on Thursday!! 

It's been a really good week. We had an amazing lesson with bro. Contreras yesterday, I'm not quite sure who needed it more, us or him! As we planned for him this week we felt like the best way for him to know his savior is to do a quick re-cap of what it was that He did for us. We brought the Finding Faith in Christ video, we had no idea how big of an impact it was going to have. When the video ended my companion and I bore testimony of the reality of our Savior's life and mission, his eyes filled with tears and he knew it was true. He told us that Saturday night he had a dream with his brother who had passed away several years ago--Bro. Contreras now had hope that he could see him again. It was such a tender mercy to be able to bear witness that this message is true, he is making such progress, we are excited to continue working with him. 

We have a baptismal interview tonight with hna Maria, she is going to be baptized on Saturday! We are really excited for her, her son was baptized this past Saturday (his wife was baptized like 4 months ago) so the family is really coming together in the gospel! I'm so bummed I'm going to miss it!!!!!! 

Also, Araceli and her family will be attending the temple on Wednesday for the first time! Hna Maese and her new companion will get to go with them, how exciting! I'm so happy for Araceli and her family.

OH. how could I forget?? There was a combined branch activity/celebration with the Rupert/Burley branch. We got to go! oh heavens, it was so fun. So good to see the branch members from Rupert and to be able to celebrate the 31 years that small branch has been working. So cool! they had some dances choreographed and stuff, it was so fun! 

Anyway, that's about all for the week! I'm sure I'll have more next week! I love you all! have a wonderful week. 

Love,

Hermana Calero

30 June 2014

Oh man, where does time go. This week was INSANE.

I spent most of the week pretty sick... Had some bad food and got food poisoning but I was able to receive a blessing and I feel tons better. Who knew Mexicans had a solution for EVERYTHING. and who knew they could fix your stomach with a simple magical drink! Blessings. Seriously.

Anywho. We had Zone Conference this week and I'm not sure if it was because we talked about the importance of families or what but ALL WEEK we taught/had experiences that had everything to do with families.

One of these experiences hit me pretty hard. Part of our area covers some pretty sketchy trailers, we visit often in hopes of finding one family that had been taught previously. They have had a pretty rough life, their trailer is BARE, its really sad. Anyway, we visited and only found the kids there, James (7) and his little brother Jerry (4). They were walking around barefoot and hungry, it was so sad. As we talked to them from the door I asked James if he had ever heard about God, he said "yeah, he's the one who takes care of us--gives us the things we need. He helps", so I asked him "who taught you there's a God?" and he replied with "YOU Did" and a big grin on his face. I had no Idea that the one time we were able to catch his mom and her sister home he had been listening. Tears flooded my eyes and I had no idea what to say. I felt SO many emotions, I was mad that no one was taking care of them, mad they didn't have food, mad they had an Iphone in their hands yet their clothes were tattered and worn--it broke my heart. We walked to the car and all we could do was pray, pray that they would be okay. We were reminded of the story in Alma 14 where Alma and Amulek are witnessing all the women and children be burned alive and they can't do anything about it. Amulek wants nothing more than to reach out and help them with the power he KNOWS he has because of his calling... and they don't. Alma replies with:

 " But Alma said unto him: The Spirit constraineth me that I must not stretch forth mine hand; for behold the Lord receiveth them up unto himself, in glory; and he doth suffer that they may do this thing, or that the people may do this thing unto them, according to the hardness of their hearts, that the judgments which he shall exercise upon them in his wrath may be just; and the blood of the innocent shall stand as a witness against them, yea, and cry mightily against them at the last day.

I'm so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that is just as just as He is merciful.

As we've been focusing on the importance of helping families become Eternal Families we have seen a lot of opposition. it seems like the pattern is always SIN, REPENT, REPEAT. Whether we commit the same sin or a different one the process is always the same. But as we truly repent the sins that we commit are no longer of the same magnitude, if we want we can change and slowly strive to be perfected through the Atonement. Our Branch president gave the 5th Sunday combined lesson and it was all about our fight for perfection ( Becoming Perfect in Christ By Elder Gerrit W. Gong). Part of the purification process is sin, but it must be coupled with repentance to be able to achieve perfection.

Speaking of Eternal Families. Juan was able to receive the priesthood on Sunday! It was perfect because I had to speak ABOUT the priesthood and he received it! Next sunday he will help with passing the sacrament, he's so excited! It's so cool to see this family progress, they will be going to the temple to do baptisms on the 23rd so that's way exciting!

I love that the more I study the more I learn about the importance of families. I'm so grateful for mine!

I love you all! have a wonderful day!

xoxox

Hermana Calero

Picture:

HUGE LEAF!!

7 July 2014

**The computers here in our local library are having some major issues, so I hope this email goes through. they have been crazy slow lately!!]

Hello!

Wooooo 4th of July! Happy birthday America! Holidays are weird on the mission, we never know what to do. It seems like the whole Hispanic population of Burley was out and about all day, it was kind of slow. Araceli (our RC) took us out to eat with her girls but other than that we didn't do much!

Man, we have been BURNING all week. What is up with this weather, it's been so hot! I thought I was dark before.. I'm a walking piece of charcoal.

Anyway. We've had a pretty slow week. We had exchanges, MLC and ended up going up to Twin like 5 times for one reason or another so there's not much to talk about. But we did have a few really awesome experiences.

We were knocking some doors this week trying to contact some referrals that have been backed up in our pool... We stop and knock on a house, no one was inside but someone was mowing the lawn. The guy comes and talks to us and tells us we were lucky we caught him outside because he usually slams the door on people like us..... nice. Turns out (actually it was the very next thing that he told us) he suffers from depression and is suicidal and he doesn't believe in God....so we tried to diffuse the awkward tension. We asked him several questions, trying to find out about his relationship with Heavenly Father--Atheist. We began to testify of the reality of Heavenly Father and how He truly knows us, how life is not just full of negative but there is also a lot of good. It was so amazing to me how easy it is for us as humans to forget that Heavenly Father loves us in the midst of trials. Sometimes these trials come in order to teach us to be humble and to rely on the Lord, other times it simply because it's what is going to make us stronger and we just need to trust.

As I was studying this week I thought a lot about this young man that we met. I came across this scripture in 2 Cor 12:7-10:

7 And lest I should be exalted‍ above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn‍ in the flesh, the messenger of Satanto buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

 8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

 9 And he said unto me, My grace‍ is sufficient for thee: for my strength‍ is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in myinfirmities, that the power of Christ may rest‍ upon me.

 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am Istrong.

Paul teaches us that The lord gives us weaknesses just so we CAN overcome them. so that He can manifest Himself through them and prove to us that He really is there. When we are weak, we CAN BE STRONG, through Him. I have seen so much of that this week...

Sunday I was able to put my studies into action. We are teaching Bro. Contreras (he is the one with the son on the mission and his wife got baptized in March), we have seen such a big change in him just within the past couple weeks. it has truly been humbling to see how each trial that I have had on my mission has prepared me for that single moment. He had a lot of hard questions, many of which where directed right at me. I had no idea how to answer yet the spirit filled the room as I testified of things I DID KNOW. I am so weak and so imperfect, but I know I can be strong and face anything if I ask for help. I know that regardless what we are going through it's for a good reason, we just need to trust....

OH. also. We found a really cool thing in the library that missionaries used to use. One day it was really hot so we took a break and went to make some copies.. yeah it turned into 45 minutes of watching slides and listening to the tapes that went along with them. hahahahaha. oh technology has come so far. ( we keep hearing about the iPads.. who knows if they'll ever get here...)

I Love you all. I hope you have a fantastic week!

Hermana Calero

16 June 2014

whew, another P-day.. Man, these weeks just FLY.

This week was CRAZY. We had transfers on Wednesday and I thought I was safe from not going anywhere.. but we moved! We no longer live with the Shaw's, we have our own apartment just a few blocks down. It's like in the middle of town so it makes it super easy to get everywhere--not that Burley is that big anyway..

SO this move proved to be inspired. Friday was a really rough day for me. Just had a lot of things fall through.. We had a branch activity though and TONS of people came. We had over 200 people there. there were some of the Spanish branch members from Raft River so it was really neat to get to see them again. Anyway, we got home and I wasn't feeling all that great. As we were planning for the next day we noticed that the people that live above us had been making like a TON of noise--turns out they were moving. so here we go, quickly got our service clothes on and helped them out. Basically they were put above us for two reasons: 1) for me because I was having an emotional melt down and it fixed everything and 2) we got their address for the missionaries in Twin. LEGIT. Heavenly Father really knows what he's doing, doesn't he?

Anywho. Great news! Araceli's husband has a baptismal date for next weekend! We are so stoked. This man went to not wanting anything to do with us to 2 lessons+baptismal date. This family is SO prepared, we are so excited for them. Juan has really seen a change in Araceli and wants it for his family. On sunday Juan couldn't come because their little girl was sick and so he traded Araceli so she could come to church. When he came to pick her up we asked him if he wanted someone to give his little girl a blessing, he a greed. Later he said he couldn't wait until he was worthy of the priesthood so that he could bless his girls. my heart almost exploded with excitement. This family is SO GOOD.

Sunday was the best day ever--as always. I am so thankful for the chance to take the sacrament every week--it truly saves me.

After Church on Sunday we went to go see the Contreras fam. Sister Contreras had missionary discussions for like 8 years. She finally got baptized--she was the sister that got baptized my first weekend here in Burley. Anyhow, so we've been teaching her husband--he also went from running away at the sight of us to actually listening. His heart hasn't been softened and he doesn't see the need for God in his life but he does worry a lot about his son on the mission. He's been out like 4 months and he really misses him. On sunday we were able to talk to him about what his son is doing on his mission and we gave him the first lesson. The spirit was so strong. he didn't even open his beer while we were there! (he usually gets up to get one in the middle of our chats...). If there is one thing that I have absolutely loved is being able to see the change in people. We might want to see them change by accepting the gospel and being baptized but that happens over time. The moment we teach them to pray that communication allows for the spirit to enter and change them little by little--no wonder it often takes several sets of missionaries to have a conversion.

I love this work.

In other news.. my companion surprised me the other morning with Arepas for breakfast... best breakfast of my life. Oh and aguapanela...

I hope you have a wonderful week, thank you for your prayers. I love you all.

Hna Calero

PICTURES

1. I think I wore through my shoes...

2. The Contreras Fam

28 May 2014

.. is a good holiday! but having to wait to do emails until today was kind of a bummer.

 

Sooooo... no me acuerdo que paso esta semana... I'm having a really hard time trying to think what's happened! I still have to email president so I'll make it quick

 

Araceli's husband and the Guzman Family came for an FHE on Monday  (both PM families)! it was awesome! we did a walk-through version of the tree of life (mom I don't know if you remember but didn't we do something cool like that in Colombia?? yeah--I remembered so we did a mini version over here! It was so cool!!!!)

 

Had MLC this week (yesterday actually)--learned all about working with members, super excited to put it to work. our little branch is doing so well and this is only going to make it better. President's wife shared the story of the man pushing the boulder--which I shared with you guys like forever ago--but she connected it to how we just need to be diligent. Life is so hard already and it only gets harder when we get discouraged when we don't see any change or improvement. we need to have faith that we will come out stronger than we ever thought we would.

 

Learned some really awesome things during personal study this week that goes along those lines.. alma 62:41 says "... muchos se habian vuelto insensibles por motivo de la extremadamente larga duracion de la Guerra; y muchos se ablandaron a cause de sus aflicciones, al grado de que se humillaron delante de Dios con la mas profunda humildad". Interesting how when we are in the midst of our own wars the same thing happens--either we harden our hearts and turn from God or we become humble and seek Him to strengthen us during that time. This week has been full of a lot of opportunities to become humble, to plead with the Lord for a change in me. I love my savior, and I love the comfort found in the scriptures.

 

 

in other news... this week was crazy.... I made Arepas, pericos, y aguapanela for breakfast for my companion and I this week! It was seriously the best breakfast I have had my whole mission. My companion tried flushing a clogged toilet and it overflowed so we spent the next 1.5 hours doing service to clean it up... we ate pig head tacos... yeah this week was just interesting.. wish I had more time!

 

I love you all.

 

 Love,

 

Hermana Calero

 

P.s.I'm done with physical therapy--yay! I'm feeling a lot better but they suggested I go to a chiropractor too--so I did. I have my second appointment this week--the guy is a NUT but he is super good. So thankful.

 

​Pictures:

 

Our dinner

12 May 2014

sooooo... I just talked to y'all yesterday so there isn't much to say!

 

so here are the pictures for this sister's meeting that we just had! all the STL's are in the front row (for those who asked who the other sisters were).. I had the privilege of conducting the meeting--I was terrified. but it went really well.

 

I'm excited for this week! It should be a good one! I love you all-- have a great week!

 

Hermana Calero