week 44 (2/8/2016)

Hi everyone!! I hope you all had a great week.

 This week was pretty good :) Ovidio was baptized! :) it was a great experience and I am so happy to have had the opportunity to participate in this moment with him. Attached is a photo of him after leaving the water :) he walked out and was so happy! 

Today, I wanted to send a talk that has helped me out this week from President Uchtdorf. I know that it isn't always easy, sometimes things are harder than we thought possible and we don't understand why. But I know that the Lord has a plan for everything, and I know that these trials... are just for a moment, trust in Him, have faith in Him, in His plan and in His love. Stand firm and true and you will see at the end of it all, there is a grand purpose in our struggle in this life. 

¨Not long ago my wife, Harriet, and I were at an airport watching magnificent airplanes land. It was a windy day, and fierce gusts of wind whipped against the approaching aircraft, causing each one to swerve and shudder during the approach.

As we observed this struggle between nature and machine, my mind went back to my own flight training and the principles I learned there—and later taught to other pilots in training.

“Don’t fight the controls during turbulence,” I used to tell them.“Stay cool; don’t over re-act. Keep your eyes focused on the center line of the runway. If you deviate from your desired approach path, make prompt but measured corrections. Trust the potential of your airplane. Ride the turbulence out.”

Experienced pilots understand that they can’t always control the things that happen around them. They can’t just turn off the turbulence. They can’t make the rain or snow vanish. They can’t cause the wind to stop blowing or change its direction.

But they also understand that it’s a mistake to fear turbulence or strong winds—and especially to be paralyzed by them. The way to land safely when conditions are less than ideal is to stay on the correct track and glide path as perfectly as possible.

As I watched one airplane after another make its final approach and recalled the principles learned from my years as a pilot, I wondered if there wasn’t a lesson in this for our daily lives.

We can’t always control the storms that life puts in our path. Sometimes things simply don’t go our way. We may feel shaken and blown about by the turbulence of disappointment, doubt, fear, sadness, or stress.

During those times, it is easy to get caught up in everything that is going wrong and to make our troubles the center of our thoughts. The temptation is to focus on the trials we are facing instead of on the Savior and our testimony of truth.

But that is not the best way to navigate through our challenges in life.

Just as an experienced pilot keeps his focus not on the storm but on the center of the runway and the correct touch down point, so too should we keep our focus on the center of our faith—our Savior, His gospel, and the plan of our Heavenly Father—and on our ultimate goal—to return safely to our heavenly destination. We should trust God and make staying on the track of discipleship the focus of our efforts. We should keep our eyes, heart, and mind focused on living the way we know we should.

Showing our faith and trust in Heavenly Father by joyfully keeping His commandments will bring us happiness and glory. And if we stay on the path, we will get through any turbulence—no matter how strong it may appear—and return safely to our heavenly home.

Whether the skies around us are clear or filled with threatening clouds, as disciples of Jesus Christ, we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, knowing that if we do so, everything else we need will eventually be provided (seeMatthew 6:33).

What an important life lesson!

The more we obsess about our difficulties, our struggles, our doubts, and our fears, the more difficult things can become. But the more we focus on our final heavenly destination and on the joys of following the disciple’s path—loving God, serving our neighbor—the more likely we are to successfully navigate through times of trouble and turbulence.

Dear friends, no matter how violently the winds of our mortal existence howl around us, the gospel of Jesus Christ will always offer the best path to a safe landing in our Heavenly Father’s kingdom.¨

love you all!! have a great week. 

love Hermana Speakman 

This is the gentleman that I wrote about a few weeks ago.  Before being baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, he belong to the Jehovah witness church.  

week 43 (2/1/2016)

Hey Everyone! 

Well, this week we had changes. Hermana Martinez went to a new area and I am now with Hermana Morgan from Peru! Im going to be "killing her" (mission slang for she's going to finish her mission as my companion). She's great! I love being with her, haha there is never a dull moment!

This week has been very draining, lacking lots of sleep from changes, but the promise of the Lord held true through this week. As I gave all my effort to be obedient and do the things the way the Lord commanded, I had the strength to make it through, to keep walking, keep talking, keep teaching and keep smiling. Haha, this really has been my miracle of the week and a testimony to me that if we put the Lord first, no matter how tired we are we will be able to accomplish all the things the Lord wants and needs us to do.

Also, this week as we were out teaching, we ran into an older lady with Alzheimers.. She was lost but didn't know she was lost. I had some clues that she was a member and so we started calling all the missionaries asking if they knew her. Nobody had any idea who she was. The family that she was with said that the police were on their way to get her and help her find her family, so we left things how they were... 

However, the next day we had lunch in the same area and we started contacting and ran into her again. She ended up sleeping on the street that night because the police had never showed up. So we started our search again for her family, the night before we had mentioned her to our Mission Leader of the ward and he said he knew the name and thought that he might know her. So we called him and he ran over to where we were. As we were waiting for him we started calling everyone again.. still nothing. Pablo our mission leader showed up and had the idea to call a brother from the ward. We called him, and he got in instant contact with her family that was desperately searching for her. 

We walked her to the church to meet her family and as we were walking, she began to speak more and more with us. It stuck out to me that she didn't remember who she was, she didn't remember where she was from and barely remembered her name. But, what she never forgot was what she believed. She taught us not to rob, not to lie, not to cheat. She taught us that our Father in Heaven loves us, and she taught us that every one of us is a child of Him so we have to treat everyone with love. Haha I learned many things that day from her, as well as the people in Paraguay, even though she was a stranger they took her in to protect her and to give her food. They let her sit with them and treated her like a queen. 

The littlest moments like these.... change lives. 

I love this gospel and I am thankful for it. Thank you all for your love, support and for all that you do for me and for others. 

Don't forget that the things you do and teach, change lives.

 I miss you all!! 

With love, 

Hermana Speakman 

Returned to visit old ward and members, Yenni (one holding baby) was baptized!

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..