Another Great Week!! Like Usual!

Hola familia! How are y'all? So this week was pretty great :) Like usual. I am loving the mission and am doing great and eating lots of food and teaching lots of people! The weather here is crazy by the way. It gets up to like 70 one day and then back down to 30. And guess who is on bike week this week? Yep. Hermana Goudie! 

My companion was sick this last part of the week with a really bad cold so we took it a little easy these last few days. We did get a chance to go see Oscar (a 14 year old boy whose mom is a member) and we set a baptismal date with him! He is awesome and he came to church this week. I also sang at church this week with the South Hermanas. 

We did service at the Old Folks home this week and we helped out with a Tea Party. The Elders came as well and when we got there we went around to different rooms to get them out of bed and wheel them in and when Hermana Howton and I got in the party room the Elders were pouring hot water in these cute old ladies teacups and it was a pretty funny sight. The Elders then came up to us and said "Dont worry. We arent causing them to sin. It is just Herbal Tea" It was pretty fun. 

We had a few dinner appointments as well this week. Always my favorite! Especially Hermana Lopez. She is from Colombia and cooks the best food!

We had specialized training this week and it was awesome! We watched a talk by Brother Wilcox called His Grace is Sufficient. You all should look it up and read the talk! It is awesome. We learned about grace and how most people think that His grace is only sufficient after everything that we can do. But really grace is our constant energy source. Grace is sufficient to strengthen us in our weakest time. Grace changes us. It is the presence of Gods power. Also I just really liked this quote. He said, "Jesus doesnt make up the difference, Jesus makes all the difference." He compares this life to playing piano. Just like learning how to play piano no one expects you to be perfect and if you make a mistake its all right. That is the only way you are going to learn. From our mistakes. And the grace of God will be with us always. We also talked a lot about the Atonement and how it is such an amazing gift! On a mission I know that repenting daily is one of the best things. I make a lot of mistakes, yes, even as a missionary ;) And I need the Atonement every day. I know that Christ lives and that He died for us all and even if he came just to die for one person, me, you, whoever is reading this, He still wouldve done it. 

Well that is about it for this week. Love you all! The spanish is coming along slowly. Very slowly. But I just keep praying really hard and trying my best. Adios! 

Hermana Goudie

My 100 Day Package!!!

The Herreras! I love them SO much! Less active family.

Cutest little girl ever! Tiffany! :)

Una Semana Mas!

Hola familia! Como estan? So this week went by really fast. I feel like I just had P-day. It is probably because we had a car this week. ya ni modo, after writing last week we went to the park with the Elders and played on this crazy tire swing! I will send pics of it. Other fun events: We had dinner with the Fosters twice which is always hilarious because her kids are so crazy and fun! The Bowens took us to P.F. Changs, we went to Loves Fish Market and the owner really likes the missionaries that come there so he gave us free shrimp, we went to a Guadalajara taco place with Hermana Foster and some less active man that has schitsophrenia (I dont think that is how you spell that),  went to dinner with a different member and she asked one of the Elders who is African American to say the closing prayer and referred to him as "Elder Black", and now I just realize that all of these fun events involve food. I am sorry everyone, I just really enjoy food ;) 

But more funny stories about food. So this week was Stake Conference. Last Sunday our branch found out that we were in charge of the food for about 500 people. So then all these Spanish ladies start discussing it and talking over everyone and we were all stressing out. Anyways, the food turned out great! We had arroz, frijoles, pollo, horchata, tamarindo, y tres leches :) Also because we are the only Spanish branch in the whole stake we had to sit in a different room and Elder Dalton, Elder Gonzales, and Hermana Foster had to translate. It was really interesting but it turned out just fine and we were able to understand and feel the Spirit :) The next day we still had a lot of leftover beans so they served it to our branch but they had left it sitting out all night but we alll ate them anyways!  few hours later we all got a little sick... but we are all better now! 

We did service this week at an Old Folks home. We helped pass out blankets. Those people were SO funny! They just kept saying what a good looking bunch we were and they kept telling us they didnt have any money but appreciated us stopping by. I love old people! They are so nice and a little crazy! 

Besides that, this week has been awesome! We were able to reach our goals and find 10 more people to teach! I know that God answers prayers and we could not have done it without His help! It is really hard to find Hispanic people to teach but with Gods help we can do all things! 

Last night we went to go visit Luis (who just got baptized-I love that man!) And on our way out the Angel family (who are super Catholic) were outside and told  us to come in and that they were having a birthday party for Santiago. So we went in and there was a TON of Hispanics and lots of food and they fed us even though we  had just eaten dinner with the Fosters and they were treating us like princesses. They are awesome! We shared a scripture with them and tried to get them to come to church and got a new investigator there. I am learning that you need to take advantage of every situation and talk to everyone possible! 

Well thats about it for this week. Love you all!!!!!!!!!

Hermana Goudie

Didn't know they were taking a pic. But I don't have much pics so here's this one...

The Cool tire swing at the park by our apartment! It is SO funny and slightly terrifying.

LUIS GOT BAPTIZED!!!

Well, this week was really hard and super awesome at the same time! We were on bike week and it was FREEZING!!!!!!!!! One of the nights it was like 12 degrees and the Elders were super nice and gave us the car to use for the night. One of the days it was raining super hard and my comp. and I were walking and we kept getting sprayed by cars. It was awesome. Another day we were riding and it was sprinkling and then from riding all the water on our jackets turned to ice! But I love this work and even in the rain or ice or snow nothing stops the Lords work from moving forward! The humidity here this week was like 100 percent every day and my hair is crazy curly. Lets just say this week I became a pro biker through puddles. We bike through a park and there are lots of puddles because through the middle of the park there is a river that floods when it rains. One of the nights we couldnt go through the park though because the bridge was completely flooded! It was really exciting. I love bike week so much! But I am so glad to have a car again :)

We did lots of spiritual harvesting this week to find new investigators. Some days it went well, other days we couldnt even get people to open their doors. One guy we tried to pray with and he tried to hold our hands during the prayer and then tried to hug us and then we were just like and then he saw us folding our arms and he did the same. It was a bit awkward. He mightve been a little drunk and then asked us for some money and said that he knew we would give him some because we were religious. Some people are just lovely! We have been working with an investigator named Irma and she is reading in the Book of Mormon and loves it and begged us to come back at the end of the lesson. I LOVE HER!!!!!!!!!!

So I may have splurged this week and bought Red Lobster biscuits from the store. They were SO good! We also ate at the Franklins last night and had linguini. Man the members here make the best food! We have dinner almost every night this week. The members are starting to help us more and this branch is improving! 

We had a primary activity this week that the misisonaries got to help with. We each were in charge of a game and mine and hermana howtons was the cup stacking and unstacking game. I would explain it but I am sure that the few of you that read this email really dont care to know about how to play the game so I will just move on ;) After the activity we had hermana franklins baby shower that was super fun with yummy mexican food! 

So my bike sometimes likes to not work sometimes... My brakes suddenly stopped working completely and I was just starting to go down a hill and had to put my feet down to stop and go on to the grass because my brakes were completely gone. So we called the Elders because we didnt know how to fix them and Elder Ludwig was able to fix them. So they work now :) And I didnt die so thats good :) 

But the best part about this week was the LUIS GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Man I never realized how beautiful baptism really is! We have been teaching Luis for the past 2 months and he finally was able to pick a date and be baptized! It was really stressful because the day of the baptism he didnt have a ride so we were trying to quickly find a ride for him and calling everyone we could and then the Elders said that they were going to go with a member to pick him up but they were just going to be late to church. So we called Luis to tell him and he was like "Oh I got my daughter to drive me and I am already on my way" but it was in spanish of course. So... the gist of the story is that Satan tries really hard to get people to not get baptized but if we try as hard as we can, God will provide the rest and  make it happen! I love Luis so much! The baptism was beautiful and I am just such a happy missionary :) I love being a missionary and I love seeing how the gospel really can bless peoples lives and how baptism is so wonderful! We could not have done it if it werent for all the members that came with us to lessons and the spirit that was able to testify to Luis that the gospel is true. After Luis was baptized he also got confirmed because he next week is stake conference. He just seemed so happy after his baptism!

Well, that is about it for the week. I love you all! Keep praying and reading your scriptures and going to church please! Doing those things brings the Spirit into your lives so much and I can testify to you that I know that is true! LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Hermana Goudie

The rees were all covered in ice! It was so pretty! You cant really see in the picture though...
but here's a pic of me and my comp!

Primary activity and the cup game!

Hermana Franklins baby shower (she has that stuff on her face from a game)

Hermana Foster at the shower. Shes awesome. SHe is RS pres now
and she still tries to help us out always!

LUIS GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Look how cute he is! :)

I LOVE HIM!!

Sorry there are so many of Luis, I just love him so much.

I just wish I could hug him. He tried to hug us after the baptism and it
made me so happy because I really wanted to hug him!

Alfredo! He got baptized about 8 months ago and his family is in Mexico and
he hasn't seen them for 2 years and wont see them for 2 more. He has two little
kids and a wife and he says he can't wait to go back to baptize them.
He only talks to his family when he can afford to buy a calling card. Alfredo
always helped us teach Luis and he is such a boss! I love Alfredo! I love being
a missionary!

New Years in Freezing Arkansas!!!

Hola como estan? Just another week has gone by over here in good old freezing cold Arkansas! New years Eve there was a party but we couldnt go to it because we couldnt get an investigator there. Turns out the other missionaries in our district went though and Elder Ludwig I heard did some pretty great ball room dancing! But Hermana Howton and I had a great night! We made fried chicken and almost burned the house down (not my fault), biked because our car was out of miles, went to a less active family and commited them to come to church (I love this family) and cleaned out our shower (it was nasty and wasnt draining-while doing it both hma. howton and I were like gagging and we were using this snake tool thing and it got stuck and hma. howton pulled really hard and broke it! It was so funny!) and had our own Sparkling Cider and popcorn! It was a great day and I didnt even get eaten by a dog! This week is bike week though so at the store today we bought dog treats to keep in our pockets in case some scary dogs think we look like a nice meal. 

We had some pretty awesome dinner appointments this week with some pretty awesome members from the branch. We got a new Elder in our district and his name is E. Gonzales and he speaks spanish fluently! Its awesome :) 

So awkward hilarious story for the week. We went to go visit a investigator (referral from the Elders-shes a little crazy) and when we got there she let us in and we started talking (she is really suspicious of evil spirits and ghosts and stuff) and a few min. after talking there was a knock at the door and she said "Espero que es los testigos" which means I hope that is the Jehovas Witnesses... and guess who it was? A Jehovas Witness lady missionary. She came in and sat down and we all started talking. Lupita (the investigator) was asking why they dont celebrate holidays and birthdays and it was interesting to hear why they dont. Then Lupita started telling us about the testigos religion and Lupita started telling her about our religion (she had just come to our church the past week) Lupita started talking about dia de los muertos and the testigo was reading some scriptures about life after death and pulled out a pamphlet that she had already given to lupita in a past visit so she offered it to us. So then we pulled out a plan de salvacion folletito (pamphlet) and told her that it explained the same type of thing. Lupita then said "Cambia!!!!" which means change. The testigo wouldnt have taken it but after Lupita said this she took it. It was definately an interesting experience. 

The less active families here are awesome! We met with the DeLucas family. They have two little girls 8 and 11. The 11 year old just finished reading the Book of Mormon!!!!!!! Shes so cool! She also stopped drinking soda because she didnt think we were supposed to. They were asking us questions about some mean kids at their school and asked how they could make them be nice. I love them so much! I feel like a big sister to them :) 

We did some service this week. We were doing some spiritual harvesting in an area and had prayed to help us find somewhere to do service and found an older couple and they were trying to carry in a bed from the back of their truck and we offered to help and they said sure and then we were about to teach them a bit about families (they were english speaking though) and the lady has cancer and she definately was very appreciative of us and I know that God answers prayers. We have to pass them off to the English missionaries though... :( We also helped a member pick up some dressers off the side of the road because she likes to refurbish furniture. 

Haha another funny story!!!!! Its super hilarious and if Laureen reads this she will be so disappointed... so... I am kind of the designated piano player for Sacrament and Relief Society because I am the only one that knows how to play and I dont pick the songs and dont have time to practice them and sometimes they are different because they are in Spanish. So I went up this last week and one of the songs was a song I had never ever heard before and it was really interesting. I started playing and by the time I got the the 2nd verse I didnt think that the congregations words were matching up with what I was playing but it was in Spanish and so I was just a little confused. Right before the 3rd verse an American man came up to the piano and said "You are only playing half the song" I looked over and there was a WHOLE OTHER PAGE!!!!!!!!!! I had only been playing one half! It was so embarassing! Luckily the other half was the same length and hermano frankyln came up just in time so that on the 3rd and 4th verse I was able to play the whole song. I hope this makes sense. It was super embarassing. But not that many people realized (only a few because no one knew the song and no one knows how to read music). I feel like I should be excommunicated from playing the piano now... OH I love being a missionary!!!!!

Well I love you all so much!!!!!!!!

Love,

Hermana Goudie

Just a beautiful sunset. They have the best sunsets here!

Why yes that is fried chicken. And yes we did make it! Almost burned
the house down in the process but it was SO good!

Happy New Years Eve to everyone!

I might be getting a little fat...

Mexican soda!

The Foster family! They are awesome and always offer to give us rides
and come help teach lessons. They fed us dinner last night!