Buena Semana!! June 24, 2013

Buenos Dias familia!!!

I hope you are all doing wonderfully. Unfortunately, I do not have too much news to update you on. This past monday, we went as a zone to a cave in the middle of nowhere! Haha it was quite the adventure--especially climbing the mountain in skirts. :) Also, this week we were visited by President Douglas! Our mission president! He came to give us a training and oh man was it the best! Something that I have learned in my mission is humility, learning to see my debilities, and how I can turn them into strengths. That being said, I absolutely LOVE training conferences! President Douglas helped us to realize how we can be better missionaries, how we can work better with members and how we can be able to develop Christlike attributes even more fully. It was powerful and I really learned a lot.

Also! Last night, we had a training broadcast from the Prophet and a few of his apostles on how we can be and work more effectively to help bring more souls unto Christ. It was amazing!!! And I really gained another excitement for this work of which I am part :) This work is rolling foward super fast and I love it! It is really a testimony builder for me that it is the Lord´s work, and His church that we represent and teach. In July, there will be more that 80,000 missionary´s in the world. Crazy!

Speaking of changes as well, this next weekend we have transfers!! I am positive that I will be getting at least a new companion and probably moving areas. BUT I will inform you of all the happenings next wednesday!

I love you all and I hope your week is amazing!

Con mucho amor siempre,

 

Hermana Elisheva Ali :)

 

 

Happy Father's Day!! June 17, 2013

First of all, Happy Fathers Day all the wonderful Fathers and Grandfathers in my life! :) Whether blood related or not. I love each and every one of you and look up to each one for the wonderful people that you are. I have learned so much from each one of you and am so grateful that you are in my life :) I have really gained a testimony here in my mission of the importance of Fathers and how much of an influence for good you all can be. Thank you for everything! I hope your day was marvelous and well deserved. :)

This past monday we went to the zoo!! Haha it was super small but had some really wierd animals. One of these animals (pictures attached) was almost exactlyt like the Rodents of Unusual Size in the Princess Bride!! So I took a picture and thought of my family. Hahaha :) Also, I baked chocolate chip cookies! I forgot the taste of the US. It was a good treat :) Haha

This week in the mission, not too much happened concerning events, but my testimony was strengthened big time of the strength of prayer! Also of the reality that this work in the mission really is the work of the Lord. We have been focusing a lot on working with members of the church in our wards to be able to strengthen them personally and also obtain references of  their friends/family that need the Gospel in the moment. Yesterday, we had lunch with our Bishop and his family and we decided to pray with them to be able to obtain anwers about who they should share the Gospel with.

Elder Andersen from the quorum of the 12 Apostles this General Conference that just passed gave an excellent talk with a promise. He said that if we pray for an opportunity to share the Gospel, faces of people we know, or names will come to our minds. So we did that with this family. The spirit was super strong and each member of the family had a specific name come to their minds. We also did the same with another family (the Perez family....a photo is attached of them :) and both the mom and dad of the family had the same person come to mind. It was incredible. Some can say that it is coincidence, but I know that the Lord heard our prayers and that he answered. There are so many people prepared to know the truth of the Gospel, they just have not had the chance to know it yet. 

I love you all! I hope your week is wonderful! Pray, Heavenly Father listens and answers :)

Con mucho amor siempre :)

Hermana Elisheva Ali

PS...I dont know why...but my photos didnt attach. I will try next week :)

Lima!!!! June 10, 2013

So this week we had a training conference for leaders in Lima!!!! It was a fantastic experience!! I learned a lot about how I personally can be a better missionary, and how, as a leader I can help others to reach their full potential as missionaries. Also, my companion and I were able to have divisions with other sisters for training purposes! It was good stuff. We travelled in Bus on monday night and got to Lima in the morning. We went straight to the conference, had divisions and then were able to stay in a super nice bed and breakfast. The following morning, we had the chance to go to the temple!!!! I love the temple SO much. The spirit was so strong and I was able to receive personal revelation on how to help our investigators. In the afternoon, we had to go to immigrations for my companion, and there I was able to talk with two other sisters from the US who are serving in Misión Trujillo, Peru. It was very difficult to talk in English :)

The following morning, we had a flight at 4:45am, but we ended up missing it so we flew in the afternoon instead. I have always wanted to fly in a super small plane like this one (pictures are attached) It was the best. Then the rest of the week, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we worked hard finding and teaching.

Not a whole lot happened this week aside from that, only that it was a very unique week and I learned a whole lot. Something that my companion and I have been focusing on is working with members of the church who are less active. I absolutely love working with them because they realize why they were baptized in the first place and how they felt. They remember the covenants that they made with our Father in Heaven and they end up coming back to church because they feel the spirit that they had forgotten. 

Working with these wonderful people has really built my testimony that this work really is the work of God, and not of man. They remember their covenants, feel the spirit, and we have seen a huge increase in our ward of less actives who have come back. I love the scripture in the Book of Mormon in Jacob 6:5 that talks about the fact that Jesus Christ always has his arms wide open to welcome us back into His fold and give us the incredible blessing of eternal life.

Have an amazing week!

Con mucho amor siempre,

Hermana Elisheva Ali :)

 

 

Lmaynalla mammitas y pappitos! June 3, 2013

Hola familia!!!!!!

As you can see from the title of this email...my quechua is improving!!! Haha My companion and I even contact in quechua sometimes! But then when they start asking questions...we have to switch to spanish. :) I hope your week was a good one! Stay strong, stay healthy and trust in the Lord. I pray for you all daily. :)

This week for us was way good! I absolutely love missionary work SO much! We taught a whole lot of lessons this week and we have just been working really hard to be able to find the people that the Lord has prepared for us to find and teach. My testimony of this work grows every single day seeing the change in people, seeing them accept the Savior in their lives. Also, my love for Peru, especially Ayacucho grows every day as well. I just love it. I have literally never been so happy in my life. :)

This week we had a super special experience! We had Elder Torres, a member of the quorum of the 70, his wife and also our mission president and his wife come and have a training conference with us. Being the zone farthest away from Lima, it was only us 24 missionaries and they four. It was SUCH a special experience and what I learned the most is that the barriers that we put up personally is what can get in the way of our faith. Elder Torres talked about that we put up our own barriers of maybe fear, or stubborness, this permits that the spirit is not able to testify to us as clearly as he can. It is incredibly important that we humble ourselves, let go of all our fear, or whatever might be impeding us to follow Jesus Christ and trust Him completely.

It was a way cool experience. AND in the afternoon, our mission President also came proselyting with us! It was a wonderful week. I hope this coming up week will be amazing for you all!

I am off to Lima for a conference for four days! Talk to you in a week! 

Con mucho amor siempre,

Hermana Elisheva Ali :)

 

A beautiful weekend! May 27, 2013

Hola familia!!!!

This past weekend was BEAUTIFUL!!! :) We had the baptism of Susi Falcón! She is the mom of another recent convert Alicóv who was baptized on April 7th. He received the Priesthood after his baptism and was able to baptize his mom!!! It was SO special and SUCH a beautiful experience. One of the most beautiful baptismal services that I have had on my mission so far. :D Susi was super excited for her baptism and when she left the water, she said that she felt the most free and the most happy that she had ever felt in her entire life. BUT the most beautiful part was when Alicov bore his testimony about how he had felt baptizing his mom. He said that he was able to experience, again how he felt in his own baptism and that he knows that together, they (he and his mom) will be able to share the gospel with all their family and that they will be able to be sealed in the temple as an eternal family!!! :) It was SO beautiful. I wish I could describe the feelings that were felt, but it is impossible. The spirit was ridiculously strong and everyone was on the verge of tears of happiness. I love this work SO much. Bringing people to knowledge of the truth is the biggest joy that I know I will ever experience. :)

Other than that, not a whole lot has happened in these past couple of days. I was sick for a wee bit, but I received a Priesthood blessing and was better the next morning. The Lord protects and watches over us as we do what we need to. :)

I know this work is true. I know that the greatest joy that one can have is to live the Gospel in it´s fullness. I love you all and hope your week is amazing! Happy Memorial day!

Con mucho amor siempre,

 

Hermana Elisheva Ali :)