Happy New Year!!!🎊🎊

 Hey everyone! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! It was a really good week!

We had Christmas dinner at the stake president's house last week and it turns out he went to the same high school as me in Rancho Cucamonga, CA which is pretty crazy! And we both played water polo so we bonded over that haha.

This week was a week full of blessings from spiritual promptings. I'm sooo grateful for the lessons we had this week and the people we found. I've been trying to strengthen my faith in the finding and teaching process, because I feel like sometimes I tend to emotionally give up on the idea that people we find will actually show up to the lessons we planned, or that our friends will actually follow through with their commitments, especially since so many haven't in the past. One thing that's been powerful for me to remember is that EVERY person I talk to is new, and every person is different!! I remember speaker in the MTC once saying to us that we should never forget that even though we may have taught the same lesson dozens and dozens of times, the person we're teaching has never heard the incredible news we're bringing. We're literally helping people find their PURPOSE as a daughter or son of God! I don't to ever want to let that message sound old or repetitive!

At church, Hermana Van Brocklin had to do the translation for one of the talks from spanish to english, so we had to be in a different room with earbuds and a microphone and it was actually so fun. We felt so cool haha

We found a good amount of new friends this week through Facebook! It's amazing how much technology can bless us in missionary work. The work is progressing so much faster thanks to technology! It's not always the most exciting way to find people, but it can get awesome results! As I remember the bigger picture, and as we meet people in person who we found online, I realize how miraculous it really can be!

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

With the New Year I know everyone's probably heard lots about goals and resolutions lately haha, but I want to share a few thoughts I've had this week!

Elder Uchtdorf said, "Do you want to change the shape of your life? Change the shape of your day.

Do you want to change your day? Change this hour.

Change what you think, feel, and do at this very moment."

I know we aren't going to achieve great things if we don't start with the small and simple. Sometimes it's hard when we don't see the bigger picture right away, but Heavenly Father sees it and knows that each small bit of effort can be powerful!

My invitation for you all this week is to make goals not just for this coming year, but small goals for this week that will help you take steps in achieving your goals for 2024! Allow Heavenly Father to be a part of these goals, and share your thoughts and concerns with Him!

I love you all!

Hermana DeMordaunt

The Secret to Miracles

Hey everybody! Hope you've had the best week!

This week has been pretty busy with my new comp, Hermana Van Brocklin! I'm leading out area, and it's been an adjustment to take over for sure, but we've been adjusting well together! I feel like I've had to have a lot more to think about this week since I have to plan for all our friends that Hermana Van Brocklin doesn't know yet.

Quick shoutout to Hermana Van Brocklin! She's an amazing comp and her Spanish is awesome!! Super fun to talk to and has a positive attitude with biking and lessons and everything! It's kind of funny that we both have pretty tough last names for everyone to remember, but we just go by shortened last names when we're contacting people in the streets. She says she's Hermana Van, and then usually I'll say I'm Hermana DeMordaunt, but tell them they can call me Hermana D because my last name is difficult. They usually laugh so it's a good ice breaker I guess haha. Sometimes I just shorten my last name to DeMor to make it easier for them to say too haha.

On Saturday we had our ward Christmas party! Super good tamales and Mexican food overall! Then we had a dance party after which was fun! We had a good amount of friends come to that, which was relieving and perfect because Hermana Van Brocklin was able to get to know quite a few of the members and the friends we're teaching!

Sunday we had some struggles getting our friends we've recently taught to commit to coming to church, which was disappointing, but a huge blessing was that two new friends from Facebook came to the Mixteco ward! Ninfo and Carlos. We had a lesson with Carlos yesterday and he's awesome. After the Mixteco ward, there was a stake music performance and a choir sang a bunch of gorgeous Christmas songs. It was in English but some of our spanish-speaking friends stayed for it and it was SO BEAUTIFUL. I'm so grateful that music can bring the Spirit no matter what language we speak.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

This week, I read a verse I really loved. Mormon 8:24 talks about miracles that God has performed through His children.

It talks about moving mountains, causing the earth to shake, and goes on to name other incredible miracles.

But the first sentence is what stood out to me the most this time.

"And He knoweth their prayers, that they were in behalf of their bretheren."

So these people, who performed miracles under the power of Heavenly Father, weren't praying for themselves. The miracles weren't meant to benefit their own needs or desires. Their focus was on others. And God allowed these miracles to take place because they weren't for selfish reasons, but because they were for the sake of others.

My invitation for you all this week is to pray for others more than you normally would. Pray for specific people that maybe normally you wouldn't think to pray for. I know that you'll see miracles in their lives and your own!

I love you all!

Hermana DeMordaunt

p.s. my pictures aren't working on emails lately! sorry everyone i'll figure it out asap!:) 

Love Letters & Broken Glass Doors

 Hola everyone!! Hope you've had a great week!

Transfers are this week!! Hermana Silva is leaving which makes me so sad!! My new comp is named Hermana Van Brocklin and she was actually Hermana Silva's first trainee, so now her two trainees are comps haha!

I forgot to share this last week, but I shared my testimony in fast and testimony meeting in the Spanish/Mixteco branch. I've mentioned this before but there are generally two people at the pulpit at a time because someone speaks in Spanish and someone translates each sentence into Mixteco. So I shared a sentence in Spanish, and Alex, one of the members, stood next to me and translated everything into Mixteco. It was a little confusing to try to say everything in Spanish and hear his translations right after haha, but it was a cool experience! Maybe sometime soon I'll share my testimony in Mixteco at church, but switching off between translations with the two languages felt a little extra tough to try my first time.

We've been working with a few awesome families lately, but pray for them because we need to help get them motivated to come to church on Sundays!

On Monday, all the missionaries got to the church for district council and 3 different glass doors were completely shattered. There was a big hole in the glass door that led to the YSA ward building and a vase was shattered inside, but other than that I don't think anything else inside was damaged. The main church building had shattered doors, but only the first layer of glass was broken so it doesn't look like the person who did it was trying to get in, just do damage which is sad.

Also funny kinda weird story! One of the newer members in our ward knew that Hermana Silva was probably about to leave because of transfers, and he gave her a letter. When she opened it, it basically confessed his love for her and he sprayed his cologne all over it haha. It was funny but at the same time pretty disappointing because it feels like he might have been more focused on his crush on Hermana Silva than the spirit he felt at church. When she opened it before transfers she said this was her sign that she needed to leave to a new area hahaha, so I guess it's good she's out if the Santa Maria ward for that reason.

Hermana Silva and I were doing calls at the church one night and the English ward was having a Christmas party. One of the members walked into the room we were in and invited us to go grab some food and it literally made my whole week haha. The food was sooo good and it was such a nice party. I think it's just because of the difference in size and circumstances with the English wards vs Spanish wards, but I've realized one of the perks for all the English-speaking missionaries is how much and how well they get fed by the members.

I'm definitely not complaining about getting fed this week though, because we had some awesome member dinners thanks to everyone wanting to say goodbye before transfers! We got taken to a buffet by a new member and friend of the Elders who's planning to be baptized and it was super fun!

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

This week I want to share something my Mission President shared with me a few weeks ago. I was updating him on some of my thoughts and feelings about how missionary work has been for me. I told him that sometimes I feel like I'm not contributing as much as I could be because it feels like my companion's Spanish is so much better than mine and she explains things so well anyway. I felt like my contributions to the lessons weren't always making a huge dent in the overall discussion.

He followed up right away with a question. "Who was a better teacher, Alma or Amulek?"

 (Context: Alma and Amulek were both prophets in the Book of Mormon who preached to the people. They taught together, and Alma has a lot more teachings written in the Book of Mormon than Amulek.)

I wasn't really sure how to respond, but I told him I figured they both were. He went on by explaining that I was right, that both were valuable and powerful prophets of God. It didn't matter which one spoke more. They were both necessary and changed countless lives. And now their teachings live on through the scriptures, so they continue to change lives today!

I felt the Spirit speak to me. The Lord needs my missionary efforts just as much as he needs my companion's. Just as much as He needs any other missionary's efforts.

He needs the contributions of every member of the church. Every voice is important to Him. And no matter how insignificant or small our contributions might feel, He'll take what we have and change lives with it.

My invitations for you all this week is to reach out to someone and serve! Trust that whatever you have to offer is enough, and Heavenly Father recognizes your efforts!

I love you all!

Hermana DeMordaunt

*Pictures haven't been working hopefully I can send some next week!

Best Zone Conference!!!🔥🔥

 Heyy everyone! I know it's been a little while! My email from last week didn't send for some reason! So hope you didn't miss me too much ;)

On Tuesday, I had an exchange with Sister Fuller! She's english-speaking and we were in my area so that meant I did all the talking again. I prayed a lot that I could have the gift of tongues and understand the natives, because listening and understanding everything is one of my biggest struggles. I really felt Heavenly Father's help and it was the least stressed I've ever been on exchanges haha!

Wednesday-Friday we had zone conference and it was SO good!!! Two members who were recently called to the Chorum of the 70, Elder Dushku and Elder McKay, came with their wives to do a mission tour and speak to us those three days. Thursday was in-person for our zone and a couple others and the other two days were over zoom. I felt like it was such a needed experience for me and so spiritually-nourishing. It makes me realize that I can be teaching all I want, but the true Spirit comes when I've spiritually prepared myself to teach.

Friday I had exchanges again because Hermana Silva had to leave for an STL meeting, so I was with Hermana Nelson! It's her first transfer here so she's still getting the hang of Spanish like me, but the day went really well!

SAD NEWS! Tons of our friends are moving!!! The strawberry-fields (where most of them work) are closing down for the next few months until they're ready for picking again, so lots of people are moving to find new work. Some might be moving back in a few months but for now they need work so they're outta here.

One of our amazing new members, Maximino, is moving and we're so sad! He took us out to in-n-out on Saturday before he left though! We also went to a little Christmas parade and relief-society dinner that day!

We start teaching a cute family of Mixteco-speakers this week and I actually understood their Mixteco!!! It's nice to see a little more progress in the language!

Carlomanuel is still on date for baptism, but keep praying for him and his strength to keep the word of wisdom!

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

Our zone conference was AMAZING I wish I could share it all haha but I'll share something quick I took away!

Elder McKay said that when his son was on a mission, he sent an email back home the week before he came back. He said, "My mission has not changed who I am, it has simply gotten rid of the things I am not."

That really spoke to me! The thought came to me, I'm not changing, I'm BECOMING. God is showing me who I can be by blessing me with this incredible year and a half dedicated to Him. I feel so lucky to get to be an instrument in God's hands.

The Lord doesn't want to change our spirits and the beautiful, unique personalities we each have. Instead, He wants to build on those personal qualities if we allow Him to have a place in our lives.

My challenge for you all this week is to think of a gift or trait Heavenly Father has given you (ex: the gift of listening, the gift of patience, the gift of teaching, the gift of charity). Write it down somewhere where you'll see it! Then focus on using that gift this week, or strengthening a spiritual gift you want to have.

I love you all! Have a great week!!

Hermana DeMordaunt

PICTURES:

-sand dunes!! 

-biking + pretttty sunset 

-Our newer member Maximino (who's moving) 

-In-n-out with Maximino! 

-Zone conference 

-Exchanges with Sister Fuller! 

Our Shephard!

to me, Paul, Sharon, Barbara, Peter Hey everyone! I know it hasn't been too long since you heard from me but my P-day came early this week! We have a 3-day zone conference this week, 2 days on zoom 1 day in person, so we have to have P-day on Monday.

Our Thanksgiving evening was kind of random. Hermana Silva and I just made some food and ate together at our apartment! After, we went to the other Hermanas' apartment and painted together and then went to bed.

We had a service project on Saturday where we dug a bunch of holes in a lady's front yard so she could plant a line of trees. So that was pretty fun!

We went to a birthday party for our friend Julian's son on Saturday! His son is 3 and didn't seem to even realize the party was for him haha but a ton of people were there. I didn't realize being invited to a birthday party meant getting fed an entire dinner but apparently it does haha! Julian and his girlfriend Felicita set up a bunch of tables inside their little apartment. She set a massive bowl of chicken soup in front of us and it was actually really good but super spicy so Hermana Silva and I were trying to eat it without dying! We were the only non-Mixtecans there and nobody really talked but the kids so it was slightly awkward haha but also really fun!

Our new member Liz (the 15-year-old) keeps saying she wants to be a sister missionary someday and she said the cutest prayer in sacrament on Sunday where she thanked Heavenly Father for the missionaries and that she can become one. It made my heart so happy! She also got to go to a good Sunday School class for the youth where she really bonded with Bishop! It makes us happy to see connections between members because it helps them feel more integrated in the ward without the pressure for the missionaries to be doing everything. Liz is so amazing and it's really fun to see her and her siblings progress in the church!

Our friend Roberta from facebook came to church again this Sunday which made me so happy! She had been sick all week but was able to come to church and I really want to see her progress!

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

A few days ago, Hermana Rhees sent me a bunch of pictures of Christ she had on her phone. There was one she sent that I really really loved. It wouldn't attach in my photos below but you can visualize or look it up haha!

In the picture, there's a little lamb all muddy and lost. In the background, you see Jesus Christ running toward the lamb. There are a few different things that stood out to me right away.

First off, this lamb just looks so precious and sweet. It looks so lost and even with all the mud, I just feel like I want to pick it up and help.

We all have felt like or will feel like this lamb at some point. Lost and confused. Maybe not feeling like we have a place, maybe feeling like we're covered in mud, in sin, and in shame. We might not feel like we look as precious as the little lamb in this picture. But Jesus Christ ALWAYS sees the precious little lamb inside of us. He wants to pick us up and help, no matter how muddy we are. He doesn't see the ugly or the dirty like we might when we've gone astray. He sees what's underneath.

Second, Jesus is running. He isn't walking, or even jogging, he's running. As I look at this picture, I can almost feel the joy on His face as He reaches each one of us and picks us up. Our Shepherd is so ready to help us, we just need to be ready to let Him.

This week, my invitation is for each of you to find a picture of Christ that helps you feel His love (either this one or another) and put it in a place you'll see it each day. Whether that means it's a physical copy or your screensaver. Remember He loves you!!!

And I love you all! Have a great week!

Hermana DeMordaunt

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! 🦃

 Helloooo friends and family! HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Hope you've all had a great holiday!

We started teaching the CUTEST family!! They all came to church on Sunday. Rosa, Albino, and their 7 kids. They filled up an entire row and were all really engaged in the meeting. We love them so much and hope they continue to progress. We've stopped by their house to teach a few times this last week, but the last couple times they have said they're busy or not everyone's home. So we're crossing our fingers it's true and they're not just saying that because they don't want lessons. Pray for them!

A few of the promising people I mentioned last week have now fallen off the face of the earth and we haven't been able to get in contact with them for a while. See, this is what I'm talking about when I say the mission's giving us trust issues haha. But it's also teaching me patience and that I can do my very best but everyone has their own agency, and I can love them where they're at!

I haven't gotten a good chance to talk much about language-learning in the last few emails. Honestly it's partly because I don't even know where to start! Learning the languages has been a huge part of my focus lately, but it can get overwhelming and hard to explain the process! I'm to a point with Spanish I can generally communicate each of the lessons and have a decent conversation, even if my grammar isn't too perfect. I definitely have a long way to go, but I guess learning Mixteco too has made me feel relief speaking Spanish in comparison haha! Mixteco is just SO foreign to me! Very different than Spanish and every word sounds almost the same to me. It uses a lot of "k" and "x" sounds (the x is pronounced "sh"). We write out the sounds for words to memorize them, and I recently learned that there is technically a written version of the language, but almost no people that speak Mixteco can read or write, so it's more for our sake to memorize. I literally feel like I'm just memorizing sounds half the time, but I can recognize some specific words when natives say them. Here's an example of a phrase in English vs Spanish vs Mixteco:

English: "God is our Heavenly Father and He loves us so much."

Spanish: "Dios es nuestro Padre Celestial y nos quiere mucho."

Mixteco: "Ndioxi ku ra yuva nda'a vio ra kuni ra yo."

So Spanish and Mixteco are super different! Thankfully a lot of Mixteco-speakers speak a little Spanish too! I feel like I have so many words swarming in my head all the time and sometimes I mix up the languages haha but Hermana Silva's literally amazing because her 1st language was Portuguese, so she has 4 languages she has to keep track of!

I had exchanges with an English-speaking sister this week and it was such an amazing experience! They deal with a lot more rejection than we do on a day-to-day basis, but Sister Merrill kept such a positive attitude! And the lessons were SO GOOD! The people we taught have such incredible faith. Also, one thing I love about people who are just coming into the church is their prayers! They haven't yet heard the same things repeated so often in prayers by other people and they are so raw and genuine in their thoughts and feelings. It makes me want to do better at remembering to pray without saying the same things. One thing one of the women we taught said in her prayer that I loved was, "I'm yours, God. I'll do what you need me to do." She was such an example of commitment especially as we taught her the commandments and she chose to give things up in her life to follow the Lord!

We had a service project on a farm this week where we helped a lady take care of her horses and alpaca and goats!! We mostly just scooped poop and cleaned but it was honestly still sooo fun just to have a change of scenery and help out!

This is the most random story ever but it was funny so me so I'm sharing it. One day I was grabbing my bike because we were heading out of the apartment, and a spider had a tiny web it was climbing up to get into the visor of my helmet, so it was just hanging in front of me as I started to put it on. It freaked me out haha but we killed it and then left. And then as I was locking the door to leave, I looked down at my handlebars ANOTHER spider was climbing up a little web hanging off my bike handle to get onto the bike. It scared me so bad but then I remembered that half my friends are literally in foreign countries on missions right now dealing with a lot more than spiders so I can't complain. Haha anyways moral of the story is spiders love me.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

It's Thanksgiving so OF COURSE I need to talk about gratitude! I heard a quote I really loved this week:

"Being grateful isn't about having what you want, it's about wanting what you have."

We choose to be grateful for the circumstances we're in, not just grateful when the situation fits our expectations! I challenge everyone to write down 5 things you're grateful for every night this week!

I love you all! Have an amazing week!!

-Hermana DeMordaunt

PICTURES:

-pismo beach 

-picnic/utimate frisbee at dinosaur caves park!

-service on the farm! 

-district council pic

-free corn!! 

-biking in the rain (we basically broke the mission rules and went swimming with how wet we were) 

-liz, ashley, and irving! our new members! they're amazing and love the gospel