Exchanges With an Old Friend:)

 Hey everyone! Hope you had the best week!!

I had exchanges with Hermana Buhrley this week!!! Which was sooo fun because we actually were friends before the mission and came into the mission at the same time! We were in her area and part of it includes houses really close to the beach so we had a really pretty view a lot of the day! She's amazing and it was such a good day. :)

It was Hermana Silva's BIRTHDAY on Saturday! We got chipotle & ice cream to celebrate!! She's the best and it was so fun to celebrate her!

So we currently don't teach online English classes anymore but we're teaching an in-person one at the church and it's SO FUN to teach! It's also super good for finding people and helping them feel comfortable in the church building. We taught a class at the beginning of the week and a lot of new friends came!

Some of our friends who were progressing really well haven't been lately which can be pretty discouraging, but we've also met some amazing people and I'm really grateful that no matter how far my friends progress within the time-span of my mission, I helped make an impact on them and the spark can build even if it's later on in their lives.

One of the friends we recently found named Fidel came to church on Sunday! He is so sweet and he speaks pretty much all Mixteco. Our service had some confusion which ended up meaning I had to bear my testimony in Mixteco last-second, but it went well and I'm grateful for the gift of tongues!

MIXTECO FUN FACT:

In Mixteco, the word "kuvi" means "to be able to," or "to die," depending on the context and the way it's said haha

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

This week I want to share a quick quote by President Holland.

“We are witnessing an ever greater movement toward polarity. The middle-ground options will be removed from us as Latter-day Saints. The middle of the road will be withdrawn.

If you are treading water in the current of a river, you will go somewhere. You simply will go wherever the current takes you. Going with the stream, following the tide, drifting in the current will not do.

Choices have to be made. Not making a choice is a choice. Learn to choose now.”

I love this quote because it shows the urgency in choosing the gospel TODAY. There isn't time to set things aside and promise ourselves we'll become better disciples of Christ tomorrow.

Christ needs us today. We can't stand still and not expect to be moved in one direction or another. My invitation for you all is to start doing something that will help you fight against Satan's current. Improve your prayers or scripture study, set up a boundary, etc. You will see so many blessings come out of it.

I love you all!

-Hermana DeMordaunt

hike with the district!

comp selfie of course

bday ice cream

role play with the hermanas in the zone:)

exchanges w hermana buhrley!

"ella" street!!

picture with the hermanas at interviews:)

Member Dinner in a TREEHOUSE?

 Hey everyone! This week flew by! Time in the mission is so crazy.

This week Hermana Silva and I got asked to go to seminary one morning to teach part of the class to the Freshman and Sophomores. It was so much fun and I literally feel like I was just in high school going to early-morning seminary like them! It's crazy how fast time passes.

Our amazing friends Luis and Araceli are still on date for baptism! Luis is seriously one of my favorite people to teach because the Spirit just feels so so powerful in every one of his lessons. He is so aware and able to grasp each concept we teach! Araceli is amazing too, but she's 16 and we've been having struggles getting her to church lately because of some family issues so pray for her! Also she said she might be moving to another part of California in March which makes us sad and we might have to pass her off to other missionaries there :(

Hermana Robinson and I found a friend named Genaro last week during exchanges at a Lavendaría. He is SO cool! He started coming to the in-person English classes we teach at the church and we've taught him a few lessons now. He has a ton of faith and really understands the scriptures! He came to church this Sunday and it made me so so happy to see him participating in Sunday School! Apparently he was going to English classes taught by the missionaries in Connecticut before he moved here to California and he still remembers them, even though he said he never had time to go to church while he was there because of work. He's proof that lots of missionaries go into the conversion of a person. Those missionaries in Connecticut probably have no idea that Genaro's progressing the way he is now here in California!

We've had some awesome member dinners this week. One where their dog would literally not stop licking my legs from under the table hahah I had to keep shoving it away with my feet the entire dinner. But the craziest was with some members who literally live in a TREEHOUSE. (Side-note: the members from the English ward feed us here in this area so most our member dinners actually aren't with Hispanic families.) So yeah basically they have a really pretty home but it's built around a tree growing through the CENTER. There's this cool bridge to get to the front door and then inside there's branches coming through the walls and it's a living tree that sheds its leaves and everything. CRAZY. So pretty but so much work to maintain haha. They have a bunch of other treehouses that are gorgeous and they rent them out as Air bnbs. They own a super pretty one in Tenessee and they said they'll give us missionaries discounts so I mean I'm not complaining...

We had interviews with President Rodriguez on Saturday! I so grateful for President and Sister Rodriguez. I feel like each time we get to hear from them I get to have a spiritual reset, and I leave feeling like I'm on fire. It's crazy everything that mission presidents are called to do as they take care of a bunch of teenagers trying to serve the Lord. I have so much gratitude for them.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

We had a lesson last week with one of our new members, Alberto. He is a great member and does his best to stay spiritually nourished by reading the scriptures daily and praying. (Actually fun fact.. he's only been baptized for a few months and he's already read the Book of Mormon 5 times!!) At the beginning of the lesson, he was talking about some struggles and specifically about prayer.

I shared my testimony about prayer and how important it is. I talked about the ways that it's helped me and how even though it seems simple, it's such a powerful habit to have.

I started moving on with the lesson when my companion looked at me kind of funny and asked if we were gonna start with a prayer. And I realized I'd forgotten to get us started with an opening prayer even though I'd JUST been teaching about prayer haha:)

This was a learning experience for me because it reminded me how it can get easy for us to forget the things that are most important. As a missionary, I teach the same things to lots of different people. But I know it's so important that I remember that there's a brand new face behind each lesson. There's a whole life-story. Even though I may have heard the messages I share over and over, these people haven't.

I think we can all apply this, especially when we hear the same things at church and our daily actions start becoming muscle-memory. My invitation is for you all to remember your WHY! Write down a short sentence and put it somewhere you'll see it. Why are you developing your testimony of Jesus Christ?

I love you all so much! And the Savior does more than anyone else!

-Hermana DeMordaunt

picture with the hermanas at interviews:)

comp pic

Valentine's comp study with the hermanas in our zone!

comp pic

we love the paso robles members!!

treehouse pictures!!

Bible Basher & Tightrope Walker

 Hi friends and family! Hope you're doing great!!

Francisca received the Gift of the Holy Ghost and was confirmed a member of the church yesterday!!!!! We didn't have very high attendance and at first I was a little sad about that, but in that meeting I felt so much peace and joy. It really goes to show that our Father in Heaven can speak to us no matter what a church service looks like or where we are. I am so happy for Francis and I could feel how proud God is of her!

We had zone conference this week and it was so good!! It's always spiritually uplifting to meet with President and other missionaries and I feel like it's a good re-set! It got me motivated to go out and find people for sure haha!

One day this week Hermana Silva and I were walking out of the library and this man stopped us and asked us what our tags were for. We told him that we were missionaries for the church and he started talking to us about Joseph Smith and getting pretty worked up. It was the first time on my mission getting bashed and honestly I can't be complaining at all because I know so many missionaries, especially English-speaking, get a lot of that. I have so so much respect for all you English-speaking missionaries! The man was really set in his opinion and didn't really give us any chance to speak, so when I got barely enough time to leave him with my thoughts, I shared a short testimony of the Book of Mormon and we walked away. I'm grateful we were able to leave him with that testimony, but also that experience taught me just how fast the Holy Ghost can leave when someone is contentious and not ready to learn. It really strengthened my testimony in the truth that Heavenly Father does not teach us through contentious debates, but through sincerely open minds and hearts.

I had exchanges with Hermana Robinson this week!!! She's so much fun and we had a lot of fun finding new people to teach!

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

This week in zone conference we led a little discussuon on faith in the finding process. It can get easy to feel stuck in a rut and wonder if there really are people out there ready to hear the gospel. I shared a quick story that I want to summarize real quick right here!

A man named Charles Blondin was the first person to ever tightrope walk across Niagra Falls from the United States to Canada. A lot of people came to watch him, and he crossed the falls over and over, doing different tricks and stunts. 

Nearing the end, he showed the crowd a wheelbarrow that he was going to cross the tightrope with. He asked the crowd if they believed he could do it and they cheered him on.

Then, Blondin looked at one if the men in the audience and asked him if he believed he could do it with someone inside the wheelbarrow. The man cheered and said "Yes!" Then, Blondin asked, the man to get in the wheelbarrow.

The man in the crowd's perspective suddenly changed, and he shouted, "No!"

I love this story because I know in our lives sometimes we all show this kind of faith with the Lord. When it comes to finding people as missionaries, we tell ourselves that we believe God is preparing people, but when we have to walk around every day and try to find them ourselves, sometimes our faith shifts a little. I know it can be easier for me to have faith in the Lord's overall plan than in the specific role He has for me IN His plan.

In what ways can we each apply this?

Jesus Christ is moving His work forward on the earth today! If we have faith He has souls to save, then He's asking us to show that faith get in the wheelbarrow.

My invitation for everyone this week is to pray for a missionary opportunity, and act on your promptings! Whether you have someone you can invite to a church activity or even if you have a friend who's already a member but needs a Christlike example in his/her life, be that example! We can each be a mouthpiece for the Lord!

I love you all so much!

-Hermana DeMordaunt

Pictures

hermana madrid was in the ward in Santa Maria and she just moved to Paso Robles! we're so happy she's here again with us

francisca's baptism!!!

zone conference!

thai food with Hermana Robinson

in-n-out

pickleball

Francisca's Baptism🥹

 Hey everyone! Miss you all and hope you're doing great!!

FRANCISCA GOT BAPTIZED!! She is so strong and such a good example of faith! Also it's so fun because she's 20 so we're pretty much the same age! She is so teachable and doesn't doubt, she just wants to do what she knows is right. Her life consists of working in the fields pretty much all day, and yet she still does her best to have lessons and come to church even when the rest of her family and peers just want to relax after a long day picking grapes. I am so grateful for her example and she has also taught me that I should have gratitude for my circumstances. Seeing the limited opportunity available in her life currently and the way she moves forward with faith is a huge example for me!

We put our friend Luis on date and he is soooo cool!!! I actually found him and taught him a lesson on a Facebook videocall when I was in Santa Maria, but then he moved to Paso Robles. And now I'm in Paso and he's being taught by us here! He is so smart and the Spirit was really strong during his lesson! We talked about the power of the Book of Mormon and I am so grateful for the truths it teaches us!

We had MLC this week so we drove down to Oxnard! It was like a 3 and a half hour drive one way so we did a lot of driving that day haha. But it was so good to hear counsel from President Rodriguez and I felt the Spirit as he helped us make goals for each of our zones!

It's been really rainy here so it's making me grateful I'm not on bikes right now haha But honestly overall I miss bikes!

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

This week I decided I wanted to memorize the lyrics to a hymn!! And I chose "More Holiness Give Me."

This hymn has SUCH beautiful lyrics!!! Every line is powerful and I decided that I could make a goal to work on making goals in my life based on each line. So for example, one week I could work on gaining "more holiness" and studying what that means for me. The next week, I could work on the next line ("more strivings within"), and then the next ("more patience in suffering"), and so on.

I wanted to challenge you all to do it with me! Read the lyrics to this hymn and decide on a line you want to work on. I know that as we pray for Christlike attributes and strive for Spiritual Gifts, Heavenly Father will gladly give them to us.

I love you all so much!!

-Hermana DeMordaunt

Francisca's Baptism

hermana madrid was in the ward in Santa Maria and she just moved to Paso Robles! we're so happy she's here again with us

francisca the day before her baptism:)

cane's with my two comps from the mission so far

MLC!