Basically in a Trio

 Hi everyone! I hope you've had a good week! This week has taught me a lot about relying on the Lord. It's had ups and downs but I'm so grateful for the progress we've seen in missionary work!

I titled my email this because I was in a trio two different times this week with all different people haha. But I'm not actually in a trio, it's still just Hermana Buhrley and I!

We had the best exchanges this week! On Wednesday I was with Sister Lomu, and she's sooo sweet!!! She's from Tonga and learned English on her mission, and she speaks really well. She told me the funniest, craziest stories from back home and we had the best day.

On Thursday, we had Zone Conference, which was amazing as usual! We focused on the importance of the Book of Mormon and studying the scriptures. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and I know that it was written and translated through the power of God. We each were given our own personal Book of Mormons from President and Hermana Rodriguez, and the mission has a goal to finish it twice by Christmas. We're going to highlight any references to Christ the first time we read it, and then highlight any references to His gospel (faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end) the second time we read it. So basically we have to read at least 7 chapters a day to hit that goal. It's going to take some time but I know it'll be worth it!

On Friday, I was in a trio with Hermana Buhrley and Hermana Lasa, who joined us for the day because her companion (my old compie Hermana Van Brocklin!!) was on exchanges with some other sisters that day. We had a TON of fun! Hermana Lasa is from Mexico City but moved to Utah during high school. She has the most beautiful spanish ever and taught us so much!

On Saturday, I had an exchange with Sister Anderson! Aaahh she's awesome! She genuinely laughed at all my jokes which I appreciated haha. We had a day full of miracles, and we were also in a trio for most of the day because Hermana Mackay joined us. We had an amazing lesson with some of our new members, Cornelia, Pascual, and their kids. They have been dealing with a lot of trials and it truly breaks my heart to see what they're going through. But they have the strongest faith ever! They've had some difficulties being able to make it to church lately, so we prayed so hard they could make it. And they did! It was a miracle and I felt SO happy seeing them there!

ALSO on Saturday JULIAN WAS BAPTIZED!!!!! Julian is the friend Hermana Van Brocklin and I were teaching last transfer, before I got moved to this area! He had been progressing toward baptism and I was so grateful to be able to see him achieve his goal! It's a little sad not being able to teach him anymore since I'm not serving in the same area, but I'm just so so happy for him and that he chose to be baptized! AND our new member Raul baptized him! Raul was so nervous and excited to do it, and afterward, he talked about how it was the "best feeling in his life."

On Sunday, we saw so many blessings! We had a lot of friends come to church, and President Rodriguez had asked us all to pray in faith the day before to prepare our friends for church. I'm so grateful for all I'm learning about faith on my mission!

Hermana Buhrley is still just the best ever. We've had so much fun together and I love her! One day I was getting sad about something and wanted to be distracted, and she just yelled, "WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE DONUT FLAVOR?!" to try to distract me. It made us laugh so hard haha so I highly recommend using that question as a coping mechanism.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

Today, I want to talk about the word "consecration." This word is so important for disciples of Jesus Christ. As we choose to follow Him, we choose to be consecrated members of the Church.

To be honest, I didn't really understand what the difference between sacrifice and consecration was. I read a quote this week that put it into perspective for me.

"Sacrifice is putting ourselves in the place of Abraham. Consecration is putting ourselves in the place of Isaac." -Brad Wilcox

In the Bible, we read about how Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son, Isaac. It was a test to show how obedient he was to the Lord. Abraham was asked to sacrifice his precious son, and he showed so much faith, even though he didn't have to do it in the end.

But Isaac also was asked to sacrifice something. He was asked to sacrifice himself. And this is where consecration comes in.

When we consecrate ourselves to the Lord, we are literally handing OURSELVES over to the Lord. We give Him our very beings. We are willing to do what He wants us to do and go where He wants us to go. We give him everything we are.

I'm still working on better consecrating myself, and my invitation for you all is to do it with me! I know God's given us all gifts and abilities that He wants us to share. This week, I invite you all to share one of your talents with someone else!

I love you all!

-Hermana DeMordaunt

30 Seconds of Courage

 Heyyy everyone! Okay first off, thank you all so much for the birthday wishes this last week!!!!

My birthday was superrr fun and my sweet companion Hermana Buhrley took good care of me. She decorated all cute and made sure it was the best day ever!! I also got to teach English Class that day and hear our Spanish-speaking friends sing happy birthday to me in English. Such a proud teacher moment

This week, some people who aren't from our church used our church building to put on an event for Mixteco-speakers who need to learn more about the medical, legal, and educational resources here in California. It was a super cool event and it was an AWESOME missionary opportunity! President and Hermana Rodriguez came and had a few sets of Mixteco missionaries come too. We got to help out and give away a LOT of English Class invites and pass-along cards!

I got to have exchanges with SISTER JOHNSON this week!!! She just barely came into the mission like a week ago, and it's fun to be with someone fresh out of the MTC because I feel like you leave it extra spiritually nourished haha. She is so sweet and we had a great day together! Also, she's from Lehi, UT and lives super close to me!

I've really seen God's hand in my life on exchange days. He puts people into our paths who we need to meet. We usually don't have tons of people come up and talk to us before we even talk to them, but the last two exchanges I've had that's happened! It was really cool, because Sister Johnson and I were sitting at a table studying, and a man named Juan came up to us and told us he had talked with missionaries before. He ended up sitting down at the table with us and we had a full lesson answering some of his questions. We invited him to church and he said he didn't know that there were services in Spanish, he thought they were only in English before.

I also really wanted Sister Johnson and I to be able to find an English-speaking friend to teach that day, but talking to the English speakers can be intimidating and there is a lot more rejection generally haha. We still tried hard to contact English-speakers though! After we'd faced a lot of rejection and were walking to the car at the end of the day, we saw a girl walking down the road. We almost walked past her, feeling a little dejected. But we didn't, and I'm so grateful we didn't! We asked her if she wanted a card and started talking about Jesus Christ, and she ended up saying yes and said, "I love Jesus Christ. I have a picture of him in my phone case that I always keep with me." She pulled out the picture and it was one of our church's pass-along cards! It was such a cool moment and I could feel how much she loved Christ. We set up a lesson with her and I hope the sisters get to keep teaching her! I felt Heavenly Father bless us so much that day.

Some days throughout this transfer I'm going to be in a trio! Hermana Mackay just came home from her mission in Chile a little early and she's serving a service mission for now! She switches off between the other Hermanas and us and spends the day with us. She spent one day this last week with us and it was way fun!

On Sunday, I gave a talk in church on charity. It went well, but at the 6pm service I was asked to give it again and President and Hermana Rodriguez surprise-visited our ward. I don't if it's the fact that they're my mission presidents or that they're native Spanish-speakers, but their presence definitely made me nervous to give my talk haha. Anyways it went good!

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

A few months ago, President Rodriguez talked with the missionaries about having "30 seconds of courage."

Being a missionary can be scary sometimes, and talking to everyone and sharing beliefs isn't always easy! But one thing I've noticed is that the scariest part is getting the courage to start. Once we're talking to people, whether they respond the way we want them to or not, I can feel the Lord helping me through it!

Satan works hard to get us to do the wrong thing, but he ALSO works hard to get us to never START doing the right thing.

Sometimes, we just need a little starting push in the right direction, and with the momentum, we can keep moving.

Hence, the "30 seconds of courage."

President invited us to pray for help to have 30 seconds of courage when we see someone walking down the street and when we know we should talk to them, or when don't feel motivated to do the right thing.

I've seen this mentality strengthen me so much when I need help doing missionary work. I know that if I can give my little part, and take just 30 seconds to start doing what I know God wants me to do, He can help make up for the rest.

My invitation for you all is to have just 30 seconds of courage this week. Compliment a stranger when it feels out of your comfort zone. Stand up for your beliefs when you don't know how people will react. God WILL make up the difference, and the joyful result WILL come!

I love you all!

-Hermana DeMordaunt

Same District, New Area?!

 Hey friends and family!! Love you all so much and hope you've had a great week! This week we had TRANSFERS sooo..

I'm not with Hermana Van Brocklin anymore and I'll miss being her comp SO much. But I'm with Hermana Buhrley!!! Which is CRAZY exciting! We were friends before our mission and we came into the mission together! So it was like a dream come true to become comps! And we're going to hit our year-mark as missionaries together, so that's is adorable:) We've laughed about the most random things this week and it's just been a great week overall.

Hermana Buhrley was in an area right by where Hermana Van Brocklin and I were, so now I still see Hermana Van Brocklin and her new companion (Hermana Lasa) a ton. I'm also still in the same ward as I was before and I see all our friends from my old area. It's nice to see them and know how they're doing. It's also a little hard to see them progressing because I miss teaching them, and they're so close yet so far! It's okay though, because I'm super excited for this new area and all the new people I get to meet!

We have some amazing friends in this area and I truly already love all of them. We're teaching one couple named Iselda and Gabriel who are SO cute!!! We think they'll be ready for baptism really soon so please pray for them!

Our friend Antonio accepted a baptismal date! He is super smart and kind and sooo ready for baptism! He's been taught for a while now, so keep him in your prayers too as he moves toward his baptism! We had a super awesome member in our ward, Hermano Aparicio, in the visit and he helped Antonio so much. I'm really grateful for the members who go to lessons with missionaries. If you're living somewhere where you have opportunities to join lessons with missionaries, DO IT! I dare you. It's so worth it.

Fun fact: Most our friends here work in berry fields so we've been getting a lot of free rasberries lately!!! :)

MIXTECO FUN FACT:

Soooo basically the numbers 1 and 9 are super similar in Mixteco. The tone is the only difference.

1 - íí

9 - ìì

So you're making an "i" sound for both numbers, but you're using a higher tone for 1 and a lower tone for 9. I just think it's funny because to say 9-1-1, you're just squeaking out different "i" sounds hahaha. I wish I could give you a vocal example but I'll spare you, so I'm not attaching a voice memo. Anyways that's all. haha.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

This week, I want to share a quick story that was a good reminder for me!

The story is told that Satan called a council of his agents and asked how they would combat the forces of righteousness.

One said, “I’ll go and tell them it isn’t true.”

Satan said, “No, that wouldn’t do.”

The second said, “I’ll tell them it’s only half true.”

“No,” Satan said, “that’s not enough.”

The third said, “I’ll go and tell them it’s all true, but there is no need to hurry.”

“Go,” Satan said. “That will get them every time.”

My invitation for you all is to stop waiting! Do something you've been procrastinating and do it for the Lord;)

I love all of you!

-Hermana DeMordaunt

Surprise Baptism & Happy 4th!!! 🎇

 Hey everybody! Happy late birthday Americaaa

Let me start with the amazing miracle from this week: our friend Raul Velasco was baptized! I'm going to add a specific section in my email explaining his story!

Other than that, we had MLC on Wednesday and it was great! The Spirit's always so strong in those meetings.

The 4th of July was fun!! Our ward had a barbeque by the beach so we got to go to that with some of the friends we're teaching!

On Saturday, when Hermana Van Brocklin and I were teaching English class, President and Hermana Rodriguez walked in and joined us for a little bit. I was so intimidated haha since their first language is Spanish. But it was so fun to have them and they really helped encourage our Spanish-speaking friends that it's possible to learn English!

RAUL'S STORY:

Raul has been taught by missionaries since the beginning of this year. When I came into this area, Hermana Van Brocklin explained to me that he had been taught everything and had been invited to be baptized so many times by missionaries, but always said he wasn't ready and he didn't know why. At that point, we were kind of leaving the decision to move forward up to him.

Over this past transfer, we've had lessons with him, testified, and felt the Spirit so strong, but he always went back to the same answer when we talked about baptism. He wasn't ready and he didn't know why. This same response every time kind of left Hermana Van Brocklin and me feeling hopeless with his progress.

One day, about 2 weeks ago, Hermana Van Brocklin told me that she wanted us to pray with lots of faith that Raul could be baptized this transfer. We prayed and felt like he could be baptized by July 6. But as July 6 got closer, his mind didn't seem to change. We kept praying with faith, and sometimes when I didn't know if I really had the faith he could be baptized by the 6th, I would just pray to gain that faith.

The week before July 6, we had a lesson with Raul and invited him to be baptized that Saturday. He said he wouldn't be ready. Even with this disappointing answer, we knew we'd done our part, even though he didn't accept. However, later that week, a member in our ward texted us and asked if she could join us in a lesson with him. We said yes, had a powerful lesson, and again invited him to be baptized. And again, he said no.

Two days before July 6 (the 4th of July!!) Raul reached out to us. He said he was scared but he was going to take the leap of faith and be baptized on Saturday! We were SO excited to hear that he was ready to make that choice!

Saturday, he had his baptism! It was amazing to see the joy that it brought him. On Sunday, he shared his testimony during church and explained that he knew he needed to be baptized and he was so glad he'd made the choice!

This experience taught me so many things. It was a testament to me that we ARE making an impact, even when we don't always see the end result. So many missionaries before me had really helped Raul gain his testimony. I just happened to get to be there when he finally decided to be baptized. I also learned that if I don't feel like I can pray with enough faith, I can at LEAST always pray to have more faith! And God will give us the faith we need.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

This thought also goes right along with faith and Raul's baptism! One of the most important lessons I learned from that experience is that we should never give up on our faith, even when we don't feel like our faith is bringing results!

In the case of Raul, he really was ready to be baptized by the 6th, but we had to keep trusting that God would help him make that choice, up until 2 days before the baptism. In other cases, we may pray for something with LOTS of faith, and the result still doesn't fit with what we hoped.

I know that whether or not the miracles that we hope for happen, the real miracle is our faith. Sometimes Heavenly Father really can give us the exact result we're hoping for! And sometimes, He won't give us that result because He has a better one in mind for us.

Either way, He expects us to continually grow our faith in Him.

My invitation for you all is to pray in faith for something, believing that God will answer your prayers in the way you expect OR in a better way. I know He will!

I love you all!

-Hermana DeMordaunt