1/30/17

The girl who cried transfers. (this is actually a good e-mail.)

WHAT A WEEK IN THE CALIFORNIA FRESNO MISSION.

Seriously so much has happened.....

but let's move past the helping a Nigerian woman with a bloody nose and low key killing ourselves with a sad attempt at sprints and get to the important stuff.

So this is a ginormous deal....

President Nelson like the President Nelson came to the CFM this week. A man whom God has called to declare His word to all nations as a special witness came to talk with us. Wow. It was so incredible. The entire mission came together and President Nelson and Elder Cook and Elder Dorius  and their wives and President and Sister Clark shook everyone's hand. His exact words to me were, 'Good morning, Sister Rendon.' Wow, what a pleasure that was.

Then they addressed us as a mission.... a lot of the discussion was on agency and unity in companionships...mission companionships and the eternal type. 😲 Sister Murray and I have been together for six months so we almost qualify for both.

Then President Nelson allowed us to have a question and answer session. An Elder asked about the best way to introduce the gospel to someone and President Nelson drew on his experience as an actual physician to help us as spiritual physicians. As a doctor the first person that you ask a patient is where their pain is. As a missionary the first thing you need to know about an investigator to teach to their needs is... where their pain is. Medicine is a miracle, but is imperfect. The restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ is a miracle, and it is a perfect one. Their will always be a gospel solution to heal pain...no matter where it is. It may not be the an answer that you want and it may not be an answer that is easy and a lot of times the answer won't be immediate. However, there will always be an answer and it will always heal a person's pain.

Also in regards to the title of this e-mail.

(my mother has been begging me to do that for months)

I AM BEING TRANSFERED.

Which in case you need a re-cap I was already transferred once from the Shepherd/Dry Creek wards and then went back three weeks later...along with the Mountain View/Orchard View wards. So I've already cried transfers once. lol. So the members are either taking it really seriously...for example Bishop Callister...who actually announced the transfer from the pulpit and added a surprise opportunity for me to give a little mini farewell testimony to the ward...and Sister Relitz who came to me with a wave of emotion admitting her desire for me to marry her son......Or the members are taking it really not seriously.....like the Walkers...whom if you remember threw me a little party complete with a human tunnel to run through last time I was transferred...and this time simply shrugged and said..."You'll be back." No in-betweens around here.

Sister Murray and I did not take the news well. Seriously who in the history of ever has been with the same person like literally without leaving sight for six months.....what. After we received the call we quite literally spent fifteen minutes being anything but patient, kind, praise-worthy, submissive, meek, humble....and then we spent the next fifteen minutes in a companionship prayer apologizing for all of those things and attempting to repent.

but HEY HEY

I am being doubled into the King's Canyon ward.....with a new missionary from the MTC.

Super intimidating. If you need a visual of how I feel on the inside picture this little tiny human who has received this assignment to eat a meatball the size of a house. Also all missionaries every where just received a new schedule that changes a whole lot of things about key indicators and planning.

                                                                                    January 23, 2017

GOOD MORNING AMERICA. 

This week was filled to the brim with great stuff....and oranges which are also great. 

On the real...I have probably consumed more oranges in the last week than I have in my whole entire life.
They are delicious and just make me love California even more. 

Fun fact......about 70% of America's produce comes from the Central Valley so every time you bite into a big juicy pear....think of me. I chose a pear because ya'll probably don't bite into those often and I really don't want to be a distraction in anyone's life. (Also that statistic about America's produce could be super wrong)

More fun facts....

1. Sister Murray and I have been together so much that I'm starting to speak the way that she does and (this is shocking) she is starting to write the way I write. That is insane. 

2. Elder Vawdrey says hello and that he rules. 

3. The computers are super weird..so we can't send pictures..but we are still making that video. 

4. Sister Murray and I discovered this week that we are awful at moving people. 

5. We also were the beneficiaries of the worst break-up line of all time......"we had a long talk as a family and discovered that the LDS church is not for us at this time"

NEWS FLASH: the gospel of Jesus Christ is literally for everyone at literally all times in your life. I beg you to prove me wrong...because you can't. Anyway...this family has had seeds planted, and nourished, and I pray that one day they will prepare themselves to be harvested.  

We taught so much this week it was great. When I say so much I mean we taught six lessons this week.....which is a ton for this area. We found this woman named Xiaoli (shou lee) she is from China. Which is really cool....she definitely has recognized the spirit and says that she feels 'comfortable' when we pray with her.....she's great. These last few days have brought a ton of potential investigators. 

Also President interviews were this week and there is nothing I love more than President interviews...we received a training on teaching hard doctrine.....which was incredible..because it always is incredible to be trained by president. 

We've also been teaching a mission prep class to all the youth in the stake with the assistants. It's been super fun and it really makes me reflect on using my time wisely here. 

I love ya'll and hope that you are having a great week! 

Love, 

Sister Rendon

   Oh what a week. 

ATTENTION: SISTER MURRAY AND I ARE GOING TO MAKE A QUESTION AND ANSWER VIDEO (we know it's cheesy) WE MOST LIKELY HAVE LIMITED PREPARATION DAYS TOGETHER. SO IF YOU'VE EVER HAD A QUESTION ABOUT MY MISSION EXPERIENCE ASK IT NOW....SEND IT IN THE NEXT SEVEN DAYS. Also this will only be fun if you participate...so please send questions....funny...spiritual....cultural...send em' all. 

It's rained so much here.....literally Jack (cutest 9 year old investigator) showed us a video of his neighbors kayaking in the middle of his COLD A SACK (this is me trying to hid my lack of spelling with some bad humor.) .......Anyway speaking of Jack...... Sister Murray and I love him. He has been being taught for over a year now but his mom isn't ready to allow him to be baptized....but good news Jack is amazing and last week we committed him to place a Book of Mormon...and he gave it to his mom...so hopefully she will start reading. Seriously Jack never ceases to amaze us...once we went over with a plan to teach him about fasting and before we even begin the lesson his mom tells us how he wanted to fast the night before..but he is underweight and so she didn't let him......anyway......what nine year old who is the only investigating member of the family has the faith to fast?!?!?! JACK KINNNISON...THAT'S WHO. He has an amazing testimony and I'm pretty sure he teaches us more than we teach him.  Also Jack told us about a dream he had of God running on a treadmill and all this rain was his sweat. goodness....I hope that is not how rain works. 

Also....BIG NEWS...we have an actual, real life, flesh and blood, PROGRESSING INVESTIGATOR. This literally hasn't happened since I've been here. Her name is Melissa and she has a sweet little baby. She's talked about how she finally feels like she knows who she is praying to.....which is huge. We are teaching her lesson three this week and it will go well. 

We also changed our oil at pep boys and pretended not to be sick all week...so that was great. 

I love being a missionary....I love the blessings that come from being a missionary...and there are oh so many!

*Pray for me to send better e-mails because I will admit this one is sort of lacking

                                                                                          


Hello. Hello. Hello.  

Dear everyone, 

Being a missionary is the greatest thing. 

Great things that happened this week. 

-So much rain. Also for a place that has been in a drought for the last decade they really don't have a clue how to handle rain and so the streets are mega-flooded.....so that makes for getting in and out of the car an adventure. 

-I laughed when I recognized that ladies and gentleman is the worlds version of Brothers and Sisters.....haha...I still think that's funny. 

We went to the temple. Super great. 

And for a super great highlight of the week...

I finished reading the Book of Mormon. 

Which made for a great personal study. After I finished reading it I was reflecting on how my testimony had grown since I started on July 27th and I wrote something that went like this. 

The last few months have me at a place that I can say from soooooo much personal experience that the Book of Mormon gives people what they need. 

Literally from the first day when I found what I needed to start a mission committed to obedience when I read the testimony of Joseph Smith and read his testimony of obedience....the charges are so strict because the work is so important. (pg. xi)

All the way to this morning when I started my studies with a prayer to recognize what my spiritual gifts were and I opened to Moroni chapter ten and once again found what I needed (pg 530)...and literally every day in between....  some moments that stand out specifically to me................ when I pleaded with my Heavenly Father to give me an increased testimony of the Book of Mormon after I had walked out of a lesson with a woman who had spent the whole time seeking to destroy the testimony I had....and I opened the Book of Mormon and found what I needed in 2nd Nephi (pg 109) the rejection of the Book of Mormon from the 'learned' had been foretold. To the day's of frustration when I had spent weeks being told by the world that I was in an area with people who were not 'compelled to be humble' and when I turned to the Book of Mormon and found what I needed in Alma (pg 289)...I found what God had to say about people who are not 'compelled to be humble.' and even the time I found what I needed in Ether (pg 510) when I recognized that I wasn't the only disciple of Christ who had a hard time putting pen to paper or 'finger to keyboards' when I needed to write words about my missionary experience. 

I guess what I'm really trying to say people in a short,simple, powerful statement of truth is.....

THE BOOK OF MORMON GIVES PEOPLE WHAT THEY NEED. 

So if you're looking for something.....I know where to find it....it's somewhere right in between the blue cover of the Book of Mormon...who knows today it might be found right in the introduction. 

I love you all!!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              cs

                                                                                                                                                                                                        

                                                                                                     January 2, 2017










Happy New Year's. 

It's been another great week in the California Fresno Mission. 

There were multiple times that Sister Murray and I wished we could be at approximately fifteen places at once but hey that is much better than the alternative. 

There are SO many things to get done and I'm confident that each day is shorter than the last...but all is well in Zio(Shepherd/Dry Creek/Orchard View/Mountain View)n.

Thanks for all of the support in 2016 and here is to looking forward to a whole entire year of being a set-apart servant of the Lord. How blessed am I? 

so So SO blessed. 

I love you all and I hope that your setting goals and making plans is going well. If you need some help Preach my Gospel has a chapter about that. 

Preach My Gospel has a chapter about everything that's important.