February 27, 2017

My goodness I love the California Fresno Mission. 

SERIOUSLY. 

I can NOT imagine my life without it....nor would I want. 

President Clark always promises us that when we lose ourselves, that we will find ourselves, and that we will quite like who we find. 

IT'S TRUE. IT'S TRUE. IT'S TRUE. 

THE WHOLE ENTIRE GOSPEL IS TRUE. 

Seriously I get so excited about the gospel that I just want to throw things....but then I just place copies of the Book of Mormon instead...because that is sooooooo much more effective....and enjoyable....and all around just better than throwing things. 

This week we had zone conference...and I imagine that it's equivalent is the pep-talk that must happen in the locker room before the super bowl game.  Except better. (which doesn't really make it it's equivalent because zone conference is so good but hopefully that you get the point)

I can not even express the desire that I had when I left the church building to truly just forsake the world and surround myself utterly, entirely, completely into the work. Here's the thing...just to get to the point were you can put that cool black name tag on as a missionary you have already made some sacrifices....but WHAT IS THE POINT....of sacrificing some when you can truly SACRIFICE ALL. I wish I could just explain to you my hatred for the natural man....and my love for Jesus Christ. 

The words will truly never come but I can promise you that the same feelings will come to you as you lose yourself...all of yourselves....and somehow you'll find a person in the end who you will quite like. 

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK:

-obviously zone conference.

-the call from President when he told Sister Kelly and I that we were going to be teaching an english class to the spanish speakers in the area. 

-I WENT BACK TO THE FRESNO NORTH ZONE ON EXCHANGES....i love that place. 

-A CHURCH TOUR WITH THE MOST PREPARED FAMILY OF YOUR LIFE...AND GUESS WHAT...WE DIDN'T ACTUALLY KNOW THERE WAS GOING TO BE A BAPTISM FOR THE SPANISH SISTERS WHEN WE SCHEDULED THE CHURCH TOUR AND THEY WATCHED THE BAPTISM IN SPANISH EVEN THOUGH THEY DON'T KNOW SPANISH AND THEY FELT THE SPIRIT AND HOPEFULLY WE CAN SET A BAPTISMAL DATE WITH THEM TONIGHT.

-our car only almost got broken into......

-THE FACT THAT I GET TO BE A MISSIONARY FOR THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS AND INVITE OTHERS TO COME UNTO CHRIST BY HELPING THEM RECEIVE THE RESTORED GOSPEL THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST AND HIS ATONEMENT, REPENTANCE, BAPTISM, RECEIVING THE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST, AND ENDURING TO THE END. AND IN THE CALIFORNIA FRESNO MISSION WE FIND CONSTANTLY, TEACH REPENTANCE, AND BAPTIZE CONVERTS. 

CONGRATULATIONS YOU ENDURED TO THE END OF THIS E-MAIL. 

GO FIND, TEACH, AND BAPTIZE. because literally that is the best work ever. 

LOVE YOU ALL.

Sister Rendon

                       February 20, 2017

If your wondering how I'm doing here in the CFM...check out the attached photo.....

seriously pumped about being a missionary. 

fun fact: once I watched a talk by Elder Holland in the MTC called missions are forever....and he says something along the lines of....."for two years and eighteen months you are completely united with God the Eternal Father in bringing to pass His work and His glory. For eighteen months His work becomes your work. CAN YOU GET PUMPED UP ABOUT THAT?"

and then I replied to Elder Holland by internally shouting...and it was only internal because I was trying not to interrupt the Holy Ghost speaking to other missionaries: "YES ELDER HOLLAND I CAN GET PUMPED UP ABOUT THAT" 

and I did get pumped up about that because the day that I watched that talk was the day that I decided missions are too short to not sleep in your name-tag.

literally missions are so fantastic...I love them. 

So here's the point where I share real-life stories and assure my mother that no missionaries were harmed in the making of them....

We've been trying to visit some less-actives and last night we were trying to visit this 'member' who actually answered the door and it turns out we actually knocked on the door of this very Indian family dressed in very traditional Indian clothes...when we explained who we are and who we were looking for...instead of being lame and sending us away they invited us into their birthday party....and obviously I see this as a great opportunity to invite a whole family to come unto Christ so I got real excited and of course accept this woman's invitation...all was well in the world until we sit down among all these women in their birthday-party best (which included lot's of bright colors and lots of tassels and lots of sparkles) and realized they only really spoke enough English to invite us into the party and offer us something to drink. but my goodness I can not imagine anyone but a missionary having a chance like that again....so crazy. So we stayed long enough to sit down and testify of Christ and then we laughed about for the rest of the night. However you should know that this was actually quite refreshing because last time we got invited to a surprise birthday party it was at a senior center with lot's of residences witnessing a recent-convert telling us she was prepared to be a less-active member....so shout-out to birthday parties for bringing us the high's and the low's.....

Also the Elder's in our ward had a baptism this weekend and that was actually a great experience and that story actually begins last week....

So last week Sister Kelly and I were on the computers at the church building and then all of a sudden there are a lot of Elders at the church bringing a lot of energy....due to the fact that one of their investigators was going to be baptized and he definitely was 100% missing 20 minutes before his baptism....(we found out later he was being held hostage by his family.....but all is well now) well Elder Flores....also serving in the King's Canyon Ward..is very passionate to say the least and HATED to see a baptismal font filled up in vain...and therefore was determined to find someone to baptize. So we watched this Elder call just about all the part-member families in the ward and when that didn't work out he figured he'd just speed up an investigators baptism....so all of a sudden last minute every missionary in the district was prepared to have a baptism on the fly, the investigator was prepared too....however his grandma wasn't...so for her benefit we went ahead and waited another week for the baptism and Sister Kelly and I were able to help out there with sharing a message..

ALSO We had a meeting with all the new missionaries and their trainers this week and when the trainers came together with Sister Clark she asked to share a miracle that had happened with our new missionary...which just made me think about the BAJILLIONS of miracles that have happened since we have been together.

Seriously I knew right away that Sister Kelly had to be one of the most prepared missionaries ever when we went home right after meeting to drop off her stuff....we knelt to say a prayer right before we were ready to plan and this man KNOCKED ON OUR DOOR....at first it was just someone going door to door trying to sell us stuff but of course we used the opportunity to help him become a little bit more familiar with the restored gospel...and all of a sudden his friend that was hanging out in the back is asking us for a Book of Mormon and talking about how he's been looking for something more.....what. Sometimes we find the prepared...and sometimes the prepared find us. So cool....but then he didn't live in our area....

we also had an incredible miracle with this woman named April...we had contacted her husband on the street a couple of weeks ago...and wrote his name and address as a potential investigator...so when we were in his area again we went back to see him and he immediately introduced us to his wife...who actually is just a super less-active member the ward didn't know about....and (buckle in your seat belts)....had said the day before we met her husband...'maybe I should get back to church....I think the kid's should learn what I learned....I wonder if I could find a way to call the missionaries......' 

well good news April OUR GOD IS A GOD OF MIRACLES. So we've taught her family once and we are going back tonight.......which we are of course pumped about. 

We also are teaching a cute lady named Jenny who is seriously the most prepared person ever. After we taught her about pre-earth life and testified that we came from living with our Heavenly Father she stopped us and said..."Where does it say that in the bible?"......and maybe it's because I'm jaded but I definitely thought she was going to freak out and deny this doctrine that was new to her but after we showed a few scriptures she just told us about how she had always felt that was true but had never known why because her church didn't teach that....by the end of the lesson she was hugging the plan of salvation pamphlet and telling us that she literally thought that it had been made for her. I LOVE THE PREPARED. 

                                                                                  February 13, 2017

      

This picture is one from the mission blog that Sister Clark puts together on fresnomissionblog.com.
Sister Rendon with her new companion Sister Kelly

The new mission schedule is really just helping missionaries use their agency and make decisions for themselves. It's kind of tricky though because it provides you with more personal time and yet requires that you use your personal time doing missionary work. 

We get fed almost every night, we are never short on food. 

The new ward I am in takes about six or seven miles to drive across....

I hardly ever ride my bike...but there was an incident when we were moving my bike and I have to pay around 40 dollars for repairs. 

MISSIONS REALLY ARE THE HARDEST THING THAT YOU WILL EVER DO. As a missionary you spend all day asking yourself what more you can do and what more you can say. Every morning you plead with your Heavenly Father in prayer to not what you can do to be more personable, more knowledgeable, more patient, more christ-like. Then every night you go to bed and you discover (if you have given all that you have to the Lord) that despite all your weaknesses the Lord found a way to make you enough. He makes you enough to teach his children, he makes you enough to love his children, and he makes you enough to be successful in sharing the restored gospel.  

The secret to allowing the gospel to bless your life is the fact that you can't withhold anything....you literally have to give everything to the Lord....and by everything all I really mean is the desires of your heart...that is all that the Lord asks for and he in return gives you everything that you need. He gives you enough to be an instrument in his hands. 

I have learned a lot of valuable lessons on my mission including..

-the book of mormon truly does answer the questions of the soul

-the commandments really are there to bless you 

-charity truly can not fail

-but most importantly I've learned that the atonement of Jesus Christ works. It works to redeem you, it works to strengthen you, it works to overcome all that heavenly father asks you to overcome. 

I love my mission. It has changed me and that is what the gospel is about...changing, becoming more like the Savior and every day we have an opportunity to do that...and that is an opportunity that we should take...every day. 

Love you!

                                                                             

                                                                                                   February 6, 2017

                   
• 
  

                                       Wow this week has been quite crazy. 

I'm in my cute new area in Fresno.....and it is crazy diverse. 

We were able to go to the temple and all the trainers were trained on how to be a trainer....which was super incredible basically just a lot of reassurance about the fact that even though I have no idea what is going on in the King's Canyon ward because we were doubled in and even though I really have no clue about the new schedule because that's all new...somehow the Lord still saw it fit for me to help one of his servants start out the mission on the right foot. What....GOD IS GRACIOUS. Seriously. 

Anywho in an effort to help us out....

The Sisters who were in the area before us left us cute notes in the apartment saying nice things like....

'We love you Sister Rendon' and 'This is the best area to be trained in' and 'use this spray when you visit families with bed bugs'

This week was super incredible with transfers and all that jazz. The thing is you feel like you are going to die 

Also......Sister Kelly is the cutest. Literally every missionary who is asked to train ever always talks about how their missionaries came pre-trained and really the trainer is the one who is doing all the learning. Okay well that ACTUALLY IS TRUE. I mean at least with Sister Kelly she is soooo cute and super amazing. Seriously she is light-years ahead of the game and everyday I learn something new from her.

Events that are pictured: 

1. Sister Murray and I mourning together by wearing all black and taking dramatic Polaroid pictures. 

2. Sister Kelly turning into the paparazzi and Sister Rendon turning into a dramatic celebrity who doesn't what her photo taken. 

3. Car selfies...because missionaries are still human