The Purpose of Sacrament Meeting

 Hey everyone! Miss you all lots!

We had zone conference on Wednesday and it was SO GOOD! I literally love zone conference so much because I feel like it gives me the spiritual boosts I need right when I need them. I got to lead a part of the discussion for our zone on baptism and the importance of covenants. And I have felt so strongly how VITAL covenants are! They are truly such a blessing and I know that as we continue to stay close to our promises with the Lord, He will pour His Spirit down upon us.

Even with all the spiritual upliftment, there have been a few days this week it's been a little harder to keep my head up. Being a missionary can be super hard and I definitely don't want to sugar-coat it. But I am eternally grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and that I have felt His love each time I turn to Him, time and time again. He has also helped me better understand His love for others, and I know that as each of us pray for that gift we will receive it.

I did exchanges with Hermana Andrews on Friday which was SO fun! She is one of the happiest, sweetest missionaries and shows so much love to everyone! We found some awesome people and taught good lessons. We went to a cute Mexican sit-down restaurant for dinner and Hermana Andrews ordered something she thought was $9 but ended up being $22 so that was depressing haha.

We had good church attendance this week and saw lots of miracles! Our friends Nichoke and Fernanda, who speak English and Spanish, went to Young Women's for the first time and really liked it! I'm so excited for them. I feel like the young women are so important and love whenever I get to be involved with them.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

Yesterday, we met with some church leaders to help figure out how we can bless our new members and the branch in general. Nearing the end of the meeting, one of our leaders, Brother Murray, shared some thoughts about the Sacrament that I really liked.

He talked about how sometimes it's easy to get caught-up in the church culture of visiting in the chapel and saying our hellos and goodbyes. He shared how sometimes that can take away from the reverence of the meeting.

Brother Murray brought up that he had recently heard from an Area 70 (Church Leadership) that Sacrament Meeting should be treated with a solemn reverence, even the kind of reverence we might see at a funeral.

Not because we're attending a funeral -- but in a way, aren't we? As we walk into the chapel, there's a cloth laid over the emblems of the sacrament, reminding us of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and his resurrection. His Atonement truly gives us forgiveness, comfort, and purpose. I cannot even put into words how grateful I am for Jesus Christ and for His sacrifice. He means everything to me.

Yesterday was just a good reminder that I never want to take a Sunday Sacrament Meeting for granted, and I want to always treat it with the deep respect and reverence it deserves. I think it's so important we remember to think of Jesus Christ and all He's done and stay off our phones or out of conversations when we're preparing for our hour of worship.

My invitation for you all is to pay special attention to the sacrament emblems laid on the table when you walk into the chapel this Sunday for Sacrament Meeting! I know Jesus Christ loves us all so purely and so individually!

I love you all!

-Hermana DeMordaunt

Hermana Andrews and I with Nichole and Fernanda!

zone conference hermanas

Mexican restaurant with Hermana Andrews!

the yummiest quesabirrias I've had in my whole life (also the only ones but I'm pretty sure these are the best)

I saw Hermana Van Brocklin again at zone conference

district picture!

Sick & On the News 🤧🎤

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

The weather this week has been a DREAM! It's so beautiful outside and I feel like I'm on vacation hahaha. One of our new converts invited us to a little barbecue at the park yesterday and he made us tacos and corn! It felt so much like summer so I was loving it!

We put 3 of our friends on date today! Esmeralda, Fidel, and Henry! They're all from different households and super cool, but they've recently been struggling a little bit with keeping commitments so pray for them and that they can continue to progress! I am extremely grateful for Francisca, one of our more recent baptisms, because she is so strong in the faith and has helped us a ton in lessons with Esmeralda and Fidel. Especially because they both speak almost pure Mixteco and the communication barrier can be a little rough when they ask us questions (understanding the language can be so hard). Francisca has so much faith and I'm so glad I get to know her!

Our friend Luis, who was baptized last week, shared with us how much joy and peace he's felt since his baptism! We had a lesson recently with him and followed-up on his baptism experience, and the excitement and joy he expressed is something I never want to forget! He is amazing and he makes every day of missionary work worth it!

Sadly I have been sick for most this week. Not anything huge just a little cold but I'm excited to feel better again haha!

We go to this specific park for our companion study almost every day and something weird and funny happens there pretty much every day. This area has a good amount of tourists and it's known for it's wine (so most the friends we teach are field-workers for the grapes), and a lot of the tourists and other people can be really interesting characters. The other day, we were sitting on the park bench and a lady came up to us and asked us if she could interview us real quick about some parking ticket refunding for the News that night so we said sure. At the time it was broadcasting we literally just happened to be eating dinner with some members and they turned on the channel so we could see ourselves on the News! It was kind of funny and embarrassing haha. But moral of the story, let me know if you want my autograph;)

For thise of you who were wanting to hear a little bit more of what Mixteco sounds like, I just posted a missionary introduction video on my Facebook so you can go hear a little bit there!

SPIRITUAL:

Today I want to talk about "fearing God more than man." To me I think this means caring more about what our Heavenly Father thinks than any one else's opinion!

Sometimes this can be hard, especially in today's world with so much social media and an outpouring of information. As a missionary, it can feel funny to walk around and feel like everyone looks at you a little different.

But in moments where we all get a little caught up in what other people think of us, we can remind ourselves that we havr a loving Heavenly Father and Older Brother, Jesus Christ, who love us unconditionally and understand us perfectly!

1 Nephi 21:23 in the Book of Mormon quotes Isaiah from the Bible and say, "they shall not be ashamed that wait for me [the Lord]." I love this reminder! It's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day, but in the end, a lot of the things we're worrying about won't really matter! When our eyesight is set on the Lord, the picture opens up to be a lot bigger. When someday we look back on our lives, we'll want to show the Lord we loved Him with all our hearts each day.

Elder Neil L. Anderson said, "We care more about being His followers than being 'liked' by our own followers."

I want to invite you all to spend a little less time on social media, or if not social media, something that takes maybe unnecessary time, and use that extra time to pray and connect with God. I know He has so much He's waiting to tell us each!

I love all of you so much!

Hermana DeMordaunt  

Sacrament Meeting in a Restaurant😮 & Baptism & 1 comp for 1/3 of my mission

 

Sacrament Meeting in a Restaurant

Hola a todos!! I hope you're doing well! This week had so many miracles. And no my email title was NOT clickbait haha so keep reading:)

I want to first just remind you all that I seriously love you so much. I think about you all often and you're in my prayers! I know that contact is limited on my mission and I don't have a crazy amount of extra emailing time, but I really do think of you and miss you like crazy so even if I can't respond to your emails right away just know that it means SO MUCH to hear from you!

Hermana Silva and I had another MLC this week, so we drove down to Oxnard for that on Thursday. It's a 3 and a half hour drive one-way and I'm the assigned driver so I drove a lottt that day. But MLC was SO good! We talked a lot about leadership and one quote that I loved is that "leadership is not about taking charge or being in charge but blessing those who are IN your charge." It was a really good reminder to me that leading others doesn't necessarily equal power or standing above them. Instead, it means we walk with them.

Sunday was a huge highlight because at our first sacrament service for the Spanish branch at 11am, two of our friends who we have been teaching for a while now and have never come to church finally came! Their names are Nichole and Fernanda and their mom is an inactive member who's really busy with work right now but is okay with her daughters learning. They speak both English and Spanish and are really sweet young women so pray for them both!

This Sunday we also had our first Mixteco service in San Miguel, which was a huge step for us! We don't currently have a church building there, but a lot of our Mixteco-speaking friends live there and don't have cars to drive to Paso Robles for the services, so we were hoping we would see more success if we just had the service in San Miguel. Our Stake President told us that he rented out a party room in a restaurant (Taco Mafia if you wanna know the name haha) and he'd rent out chairs so we could try having the service there. One day during the week he told us he'd rented out 30 chairs and that kind of stressed Hermana Silva and I out because we didn't know if we'd be able to fill more than a few of those chairs, so we just looked at each other and laughed nervously haha. We were really prayerful leading up to Sunday, but we were both pretty stressed out because it felt like a lot of pressure knowing that the Stake President would be there to see how the service went and he was counting on us to get friends there.

Sunday afternoon, we walked around San Miguel inviting our friends who had committed to come to church. But they tend to be a little flaky and it seemed like all of a sudden nobody was going to be able to come. It was pretty discouraging and honestly stressful at first. But as we did our best to stick to the task, we were able to see miracles as some of our friends said they would walk over to the service with us at Taco Mafia. I prayed so hard that day that we could get people there. We ended up getting some friends there, and we're specifically excited about a cute Mixteco mom named Esmeralda and her daughters who came! Hermana Silva and I felt like momma ducks gathering their ducklings as we walked everyone over to Taco Mafia haha and I was feeling so many emotions at that point I was just trying not to laugh.

When we got to the rented-out-room, we saw that a good number of members from our morning Spanish Branch had come to support the service. We made the most of the tiny room, the foldable chairs, and the little piano keyboard we had for the hymns. Hermana Silva and I each gave a talk in Mixteco, and then our Branch President gave a talk in Spanish and our AMAZING new member Francisca translated to Mixteco.

Sacrament Meeting in that little restaurant room really re-emphasized an important lesson I've been learning here on my mission. The Spirit can be powerful in any place and at any time if we are prepared. We can feel a powerful confirmation of the truth whether we're partaking of the Sacrament in a huge congregation full of church leaders or in a tiny little taco restaurant. God works in mysterious ways, and sometimes in mysterious places too.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

Today I want to share a quick thought about how sometimes we receive answers in the places we're least expecting it.

Hermana Rodriguez (Mission President Rodriguez's wife) recently shared a thought with us that I really liked.

She said she was struggling with trying to find an answer to a question and was just feeling really overwhelmed. She needed peace and comfort. 

She said she felt prompted to listen to a certain general conference session, and as she began to listen, the speakers didn't seem to answer her question. She wondered why she'd had the prompting. At the very end, a woman got up to say the closing prayer, and as Hermana Rodriguez listened to that prayer, she realized that that's where her answer was. The prayer at the end brought her the peace and answer she needed.

First off, her story teaches me to pay better attention to not only the speakers in church or general conference, but to the songs and prayers too. We don't want to miss the blessings that come from them. Second, I was reminded that God really will send us answers, but not always in the ways we traditionally expect.

My invitation for you all is to look for God's answers at all times and in all places. If we're aware and we're searching, I promise we'll find them.

I love you all!

-Hermana DeMordaunt

BAPTISM & 1 comp for 1/3 of my mission

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

This week we had transfers! And SURPRISE! I'm with Hermana Silva again hahaha. This is our 4th transfer together now, which is pretty unheard of in our mission, especially because she trained me for two transfers, we had a transfer break in-between, and now we're together for another two transfers. I'm so happy though because we have lots of fun together and she's literally amazing. I got pretty dang lucky:) ALSO this is her last transfer before she goes home which is crazyyy!

Luis was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday!!! I am SO happy for him! I'm so proud of him too because he talks about how he wants to be an example to his family and how he gets emotional each time he prays. He truly is such an example to his family, I'm sure, and so many others. It was so sweet because before his baptism, we asked him how he felt, and he smiled so big and said how excited he was. He was almost jumping up and down in excitement. I can't even explain the kind if joy and love that comes for my friends when I get to see them make these kinds of decisions. It makes me so happy and it also strengthens my testimony as I get to see theirs be strengthened.

We had some super good lessons this week. One of my favorites was with a friend named Santiago, who we just recently met. We talked about the importance of having a Prophet in this day, and we also testified of the importance of the Book of Mormon and how it's a testimony that God truly speaks with His children today, just like He did in ancient times. I am so grateful for the strong Spirit in that lesson.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

I just want to share a quick story that I read in a talk this week about the Book of Mormon. I HIGHLY recommend listening to the entire talk because it is so powerful! It's called "The Book of Mormon - A Book from God" by Tad R. Callister. I also highly recommend "Safety for the Soul" by President Jeffery R. Holland.

"Some years ago I attended one of our worship services in Toronto, Canada. A 14-year-old girl was the speaker. She said that she had been discussing religion with one of her friends at school.

Her friend said to her, 'What religion do you belong to?'

She replied, 'The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons.'

Her friend replied, 'I know that church, and I know it’s not true.'

 'How do you know?' came the reply.

'Because,' said her friend, 'I have researched it.'

'Have you read the Book of Mormon?'

'No,' came the answer. 'I haven’t.'

Then this sweet young girl responded, 'Then you haven’t researched my church, because I have read every page of the Book of Mormon and I know it’s true.'"

I am so grateful for the peace and comfort I feel each time I read the Book of Mormon. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has blessed us with more of His teachings. And I am so grateful for this quote, because it reminds me that if I want an answer, I need to go to the source. I need to turn to my Heavenly Father and the Holy Ghost.

My invitation for you all is to write down something you want to strengthen your testimony on and focus hard on it this week! Turn to Heavenly Father in prayer and He will send answers.

Love you all!

Hermana DeMordaunt