The Secret Restaurant

 Hey everybody! Miss you all! I hope it's been a great week!

This week we had soo many good lessons with friends, but one of my favorites was with Eva. We knocked on her door last week because we thought someone else lived there, but ended up finding her! She's from Guadalajara and moved here a little over a year ago. She invited us back to have a lesson, and in the lesson we talked about the purpose of this life and how Christ can give us peace even when the world is so busy. We taught her how to pray, and she gave the most beautiful prayer at the end of the lesson! The Spirit was so strong in that lesson. I wish so bad I could describe the feelings in lessons better over email, but you'll all just have to take my word for it.

On Thursday, I had an exchange with Hermana McAllister! She's so much fun and tells the best stories ever! She can also name basically every plant and flower you see so that's crazy impressive. We were in my area and we had some awesome lessons that day. Also had a Bible study with the new members. And let me tell you, understanding the Old Testament is already hard... by the time I understand it all in Spanish I'll probably have gray hair and a cane.

On Friday, I was on exchanges with Sister Hatch! She's from Texas and she wants to be switched from a Sister to an Hermana, so we're just crossing our fingers we'll be companions before the end of my mission. We had an amazing day and found sooo many people! There's this parking lot we recently found is so good for finding Spanish-speakers, so that helped us find a lot of success! Everyone was so nice to us that day, so I told Sister Hatch she must be the lucky charm. 

We had a fun Halloween party on Saturday night! It was combined with the English and Spanish ward. I dressed up as a missionary. ;)

We had the best member meals ever this week! The new members here are INCREDIBLE! They have the strongest faith ever and I genuinely feel so lucky to know them. Lupillo and Fernando took got us tacos this week. On my exchange with Sister Hatch, we went with Marcos, Daniel, and Rey to this cool restaurant in a lady's backyard where she makes really good authentic Mexican food. I called it the "Secret Restaurant" and they all thought it was funny so now that's its official title.

On Sunday, Hermano and Hermana Hernandez fed us something super yummy but I can't remember what it's called. It was really cool to hear their conversion story. Hermana Hernandez talked about how she had believed in the Bible all her life, but learning about the Book of Mormon felt powerful. It felt like home to her. She said that it all just clicked in her mind, and that it made sense to her that the resurrected Jesus Christ would visit the people in the ancient americas. It helped her feel identified as she learned how aware Christ was of the people on this side of the world.

Hermana Crawford and I just got assigned to be Tech Reps for our zone this transfer. So now we're in charge of encouraging our zone to do social media work and we're supposed to message people who like the mission page's Facebook posts. I've never been that good with social media work so wish me luck. It'll be fun though.

Fun fact: Some of the missionaries here claim that the Rock has a house here in Simi Valley. It's this really big house up on a hill. Probably not true but it's still cool.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

This week, I read some verses in the Bible that I absolutely loved!

Ephesians 3:17-19

17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

18. May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

19. And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

I know that we will never fully comprehend the "breadth, and length, and depth, and height" of Jesus Christ's love. It "passeth knowledge."

When I think back on experiences in my life and even current experiences, I recognize that I have felt the most strength and desire to change when I understand Christ's LOVE. We will never be able to completely change if the motive is fear, or obligation, or pride. We have to acknowledge His love. When we feel how much He loves us, we will automatically feel love for Him.

I know Jesus Christ loves you so much. He loves you individually and perfectly. He loves you exactly the way you are, and He also loves you enough to help you change.

My invitation for you all is to pray and ask God to help you feel Jesus Christ's love. When you feel this love, I promise it will give you the strength to change, grow, and overcome anything.

I love all of you!

-Hermana DeMordaunt