week 42 (1/25/2016)

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great week!! 

This week has been a pretty great week! We were able to have a fireside, where we received guidance and teachings from the leaders of the Church. It was really a great opportunity to learn from them! 

 

This week has not been any different as far as heat goes, but I think my body is getting a little more used to the suffocating heat haha. Changes are tomorrow, time really is flying in the mission! 

 

As far as everything else goes, there is always something new to learn every week haha, One of the greatest moments of this week was to be able to talk with the grandmother of a recent convert who is investigating the church. As we were talking with her, we had the opportunity to talk about temples and about why we have temples and why they are so important and special. As we were teaching, we could feel the spirit testifying to her that what we were teaching was true. 

Before coming on the mission, I felt... hm, well I didn't really understand the need for missionaries, I felt like we should just leave people alone and let them decide what they want to do, and that if they are good people that's enough right? 

Well, at the beginning of my mission, my feelings continued the same, until I started studying and reading the scriptures. I finally understood why, why it is so important that we share the gospel with the world. Its not to have more members of the church, its not just to baptize a ton of people, because the baptism will not save them if they don't continue until the end, striving to always keep the commandments. But we need to share the gospel with the world, because God Loves the world!  He wants to live with all of us again, but He is just, and He is pure and true.  He taught the way, the only way. He taught the way of salvation and He taught the way of Joy, of Happiness and of Peace. 

Sure sometimes it looks like others are happy doing the things of the world, but the lasting joy they do not know, because it is only found in keeping the commandments. That doesn't mean that as members of the church we are never going to have problems and everything is always going to be perfect, but as we keep the commandments we have the lasting peace and hope that everything will end well and the knowledge that this life is so much shorter than we understand, and that great things will come afterwards. 

 

As we were teaching the grandma, she began to understand as well the importance, that it really isn't just another religion, another church, but it is a way of living. A way of living that can be hard. A way of living that can require a change, but a way of living that is the best, the happiest, and the most peaceful, because it is the way of the Lord. 

 

I know that this church is the church of God, that He is at the head, he guides us and teaches us.  I know, that it is always possible to change, and He is always here to help us do so. 

 

I love you all!! Thank you for your love and support, I hope you have a great week. Share the gospel, live the gospel, love the gospel :) 

 

with all my love, 

Hermana Speakman 

                                            Played in a game of Volleyball

week 41 (1/18/2016)

Hey everyone!!! 

I hope you all are doing well this week! :) 

Its still hot here, everyday.. it honestly is a miracle that we make it through each day. 

This week we had the opportunity to meet a man named Ovideo, he is a member of the Jehovahs Witness church, but his neighbor a sister in our ward, invited him to come to church with us because he was depressed and wanted to feel better. He came to the ward this Sunday and loved it. The thing that stood out the most to him, was the welcoming love that he felt from the members, that they asked his name, how he was and wanted to get to know him. When he left there was a completely different spirit with him and a big smile on his face.

Just saying hello really makes all the difference in the world! I challenge you all to say hi, and look for ways to help everyone feel welcome, how you would like to be treated. It makes all the difference and changes the days of the people. 

Thank you for all your love and support for your examples to me! 

I hope you have a great week!! 

With love, 

Hermana Speakman 

week 40 (1/11/2016)

Hi everyone! I hope everyone had a great week this week! :) With less sun and heat than us. Wow this week I got a free sauna and tanning pass.

Well, this week was a pretty good week! There is always something new to learn and this week was not an exception! 

I had the opportunity to give a talk in sacrament meeting yesterday, I say opportunity now but at the moment it didn't feel like an opportunity haha. But as I prayed for help and guidance, I was able to learn something new and hopefully others as well. I focused on the commandments, especially on the first commandment and fourth. To not have other Gods in front of Him, and to keep the sabbath day holy.

As we have been visiting members, less active members and investigators, almost all of them have told us how all they want is to be happy. They want to be happy, and they want blessings from the Lord. I feel that the following quote from President Monson answers this plea: 

"My message to you tonight is straightforward. It is this: keep the commandments.

God’s commandments are not given to frustrate us or to become obstacles to our happiness. Just the opposite is true. He who created us and who loves us perfectly knows just how we need to live our lives in order to obtain the greatest happiness possible. He has provided us with guidelines which, if we follow them, will see us safely through this often treacherous mortal journey. We remember the words of the familiar hymn: “Keep the commandments! In this there is safety; in this there is peace.”^1"

<sup>This week we spoke with a sister in the ward who told us of the blessings she was waiting for, but she wasn't keeping the commandments. We shared with her this message that the Lord, loves every single one of us and its true He wants to bless us, and He wants us to return to live with Him again, but he is a Just God, and cannot change His word. He tells us what we must do and helps us to be able to do so. After talking with her about the commandments and how to receive the blessings she is searching for we invited her to attend church Sunday, to make the sacrifice required to show the Lord her will and her desire. Saturday she told us she had spoken with a brother in the ward and that he was going to pick her up to take her because she is 9 months pregnant and has two little daughters. Then Sunday morning she called and told us that she had cancelled with the brother and told him it wasn't necessary that he pick her up because her daughter is sick and she couldn't go; but that now, 2 hours later, her daughter was better and wanted to know if we could tell him and ask him to go get her. We didn't get back to her for about 20 minutes because we were in class, but afterwards we asked a sister to go with us to pick her up in her car, as we were arriving to her house we saw a woman pregnant due to give birth any day with her two little daughters walking towards the church, showing the Lord she was willing to make the sacrifice. I have to say it was one of the most heart warming things to see, because she was able to understand that with the Lord nothing is impossible and she put Him first, showing her love, and her dedication and her example to all of us. 

I know that the Lord loves us, and I know He saw the sacrifice of this young sister and her daughters and I can only imagine the joy He felt to see her devotion and love, and the joy He feels to see the sacrifice and Love of every single one of us, its the little things that make all the difference.</sup> 

^{I hope you all have a great week! Thank you for your examples to me, for your love and support! Have a great week!!}

^{With lots of love,}

^{Hermana Speakman} 

week 39 (1/4/2016)

Happy New Years everyone! I hope you all had a great New Years, and a safe one. Here, it poured rain, an answer to prayers for all the missionaries haha not sure the rest of the families felt the same way. Rain=no fireworks=sweet uninterrupted dreams!  What better way to start the new year ;) 

This week has been pretty great! Rough, but great. When we were out contacting this week, the people were a lot different than the week before Christmas, my companion and I were discussing why, and she said because Christmas is the holiday for the family, but the New Year is the "eat drink and be merry" party. Everyones hearts are focused on the things of the world. It was a little hard to have the strength and courage to keep talking to the people with the rejection and little mocking that we received. I was getting a little discouraged and frustrated.. then Hermana Martinez and I started talking.. and we asked "can you imagine how Christ must have felt?" He gave not just a year and a half of His life, not just 2 years, but His whole life, he died and he suffered, received beatings and was spat on by the people that he came to save, and he did it just the same. He loved them just the same, he cared for them, and us. 

As I started thinking more about what He did for us, for me, I remember the quote of Elder Holland that goes a little like: imperfect people are all the lord has had to work with, it must be terribly frustrating for him, but he deals with it, and so should we. 

I know that sometimes its hard, its frustrating, we lose our desire to work to help the people who don't give their part, but I also know that it is worth it.  And that, even if they aren't grateful... He is.  He is grateful for all your work, all your love, all your service. He is grateful for the time you dedicate in your callings, in your visits to those in need. So this year, lets keep hanging in there, keep giving our all, if not for them, for Him. Remember his love, and His sacrifice. This life is short, and its nothing more than a time to prepare, to learn and to grow.

Thank you for all your love, for your examples and your support! I love you all and I am grateful to have you in my life. I hope you have a great week!! 

With love, 

Hermana Speakman 

Burger King Girls..