President's Interviews 6-2017- Photo credit Sister Clark

BAPTIZING IN THE WATERS OF THE CFM.

Photo Janessa parker

If what you were looking for today was a bunch of quotes from Jack and Laura's baptism this week. 

WELL YOU GOT IT. 

I woke up on Saturday feeling like it was Christmas Sunday. When we got to the stake center and I saw them down the hall in their white jumpsuits....the sight made me giddier than any Christmas tree...with any amount of gifts. My goodness it was so sweet. 

QUICK BIO ON JACK AND LAURA: In my very first area the Elders had been teaching Jack. When Sister Murray and I got there he was LITERALLY (I genuinely mean that literally) was the most prepared soul of my life. He desired with all his heart to be baptized but at nine years old His mom thought he was just too young. I spent every Saturday for the first six months of my mission teaching Jack and trying anything to get his mom to see the desires of his heart. One Saturday we taught about missionary work and committed Jack to place a Book of Mormon. The next Saturday we followed up and He had given it to his mom. A few more months worth of Saturdays later and Jack and Laura were baptized. My heart is so happy. 

When Jack introduced Sister Murray and I to his uncle that was baptizing him He said...."These are my first sister missionaries." Then my heart melted. Which is pretty intense because anything that hadn't already melted as a result of the central valley heat requires something special to melt it. 

We took a Polaroid picture and when I showed Jack he said..."I look like an angel!" Which is a classic Jack move to just have sincere truth always pouring out of his mouth. He most certainly looked like an angel. 

THEN....we went to the baptismal font and were listening to the prelude music..things are quite...things are reverent and then Laura's other little boy..who is sitting on her lap says..."Mom, you STINK! You need a bath." Sweet little Laura said......"oh don't worry, I'm about to get a bath." 

Talk about a bath. 

Receiving a cleansing of your sins, well that's a bath we all need. 

Because we're humans...and we are all sinners. And yet we have a chance to be called saints? 

YES. 

Because even though we all have our blemishes, and we all have our imperfections-we can be bound to the infinitely perfect. The Savior of the world. That only happens one way. BAPTISM IS THE GATE. Baptism is THE bath. 

*study saint in the Bible Dictionary, I did, I loved it. 

Well, that was Saturday...and it was a very, very good Saturday. 

Then came Sunday. 

Which meant Junior's baptism. 

He is also a nine year old that Sister Burnside and I have been teaching since coming to the area. (His family is all members.) He had a baptismal date, but there were a lot of trials the family was facing that was making the date seem quite unlikely. However, there was a miracle, and then another, and then another, and then another...and Sister Burnside and I were blessed to see him be baptized on Sunday. 

What a weekend. 

Other temporal things that are pictured: 

1. Tulare, California is the hottest place in the universe. I'm sure of it. Which is why I now choose to eat my lunch in the freezer. There are some Elders who are sleeping with frozen water bottles because their air conditioning doesn't work. I am drinking the recommended amount of water for the first time in my life and I'm also sweating 20x the recommended amount for the first time in my life. But hey maybe it's the fact that it's so hot that people were more willing to get into the water this weekend....so no complaints. 

2. Sister Burnside and I have found quite a fun local donut shop, right near the local laundromat...it's a good time. 

I love you all dearly. I'm so grateful for the work of the Lord. I'm grateful to be a part of it. 

Love, Sister Rendon

Saturday, June 24, 2017

President's Interviews 6-2017- Photo credit Sister Clark

President's Interviews --- Last week we finished up the President's last interviews of each missionary. While the President was interviewing, I played a Jeopardy game (consisting of questions/answers from Preach My Gospel, the Scriptures, the Missionary Handbook, 12 Weeks, Adjusting to Missionary Life, Christlike Attributes and a few random questions.  We had a lot of fun reviewing all the "things" that make up a COMPLETE MISSIONARY!  Love those missionaries!!!

(

Alma 26:36

"I say, blessed be the name of my God, who has been mindful of us, wanderers in a strange land

Sister Kelly, Sister Rendon, Sister Murray

Sister Burnside

Wanderers in a strange land.........

missionaries in Tulare, California. 

EXACT SAME THING. 

Tulare is full of a bunch of weirdo's, but I love them. 

SO. 

If we are being completely honest, or even half-way honest then of course we can all admit that any reason is a lame one for not coming closer to Jesus Christ...but wait till you hear JEFFS. 

So we showed up to do some service and help a woman move and while she was on her way we decided to talk to someone outside who was currently smoking weed, handwashing clothes in water that was all the way black, and feeding his venus fly trap maggots that were for some reason just hanging out on his front porch. So things were already weird, but then He told us that the only reason he is not a Mormon is because he is 100% convinced that the Earth we live on is flat. He knowwwws it and he also apparently knows that the leaders of the church know it as well. He is also trying to get to Antarctica so that he can prove to the world that the world is flat....the missionary handbook councils us to not ask family or friends to donate to local causes.....so ya'll are safe and ya'll can rest assured that I won't ask you to donate to his causes. 

Other things about my week as a missionary...

-I discovered that I had fooled myself real well into thinking that I could fake speaking spanish. 

BAD SPANISH INCIDENTS. 

imagine me running in the blazing california sun because it gets hot at six in the morning and stays hot until 9 o"clock at night. 

Then I see a person who breathes...so of course I try to go share the gospel. This person only speaks spanish....but I keep trying to share the gospel...

I think in my head that he asks if I want to pray (oracion) I say yes twelve times. In real life he asked if I wanted a donation (donacion) so then I ran away from the one dollar bill he tried to give me. 

BAD SPANISH INCIDENTS 2.0

-So in the California Fresno mission before you get off the phone with other missionaries you remind them that you love them. Once upon a time Sister Burnside and I were talking to the Spanish Elders working in the area and they said 'bye' without any love mentioned.....so in my head I think I say..."Wow, where is the Love?" What I say in real life to these Elders is..."Where are you my love?"

and that is the story of why I stopped thinking I was good at faking spanish. 

real quotes from Sister Burnside....

"I've been here for two weeks and I've never been proposed to this much ever."

This is true. This man from India who spoke barely more English than my just over a month old niece accepted a picture of Christ and in turn offered us marriage. He assured us that He had absolutely no money problems at all. 

Speaking of Sister Burnside...I love her lots. We have a lot of heart to heart conversations. 

I love ya'll. 

I know that the Lord is leading my life right now. I know I'm where I am supposed to be with who I am supposed to be with and I am so grateful for it

Sister Rendon

Tulare, California is a good place to be. 

Getting off the freeway I accidentally (on purpose) slammed on my brake's and stuck my head out the window just to make sure I really was smelling cows.

The week began with the end of my time in King's Canyon/Dakota. wow. What an area. It was such a weird place but I loved it with my whole soul. I don't think Sister Kelly and I ever came home without a story to tell and a new person we loved. 

The TULARE ward is sooooo missionary minded. This is the ward that every missionary dreams of....and also the zone that the mission president writes about in his letters to the mission. So it truly is a privilege to serve here. Literally the ward is already ready to go to have us go out on team-ups everyday. WHAT. so cool.

Also if anyone ever asks me to write a book about being doubled in to an area it would probably go something like this....

-Go meet your ward mission leader right away. Show him how willing you are to work and then immediately ask for toilet paper because your apartment probably doesn't have it. 

-In fact your apartment probably doesn't have anything so make sure your game to be willing to eat anything that was left in the apartment 12 weeks ago. So if that means trying out powdered milk and stale frosted mini wheats...well that's what it means. 

Sister Burnside are super excited for the transfer in Tulare. She is awesome and literally already doing real life incredible super fantastic missionary work. I'm convinced that the hand of the Lord was in this companionship...and I'm sure that I'm going to be learning a lot of lessons from teaching them to Sister Burnside. 

 
Love Sister Rendon

Photo credit see-   fresnomission.blogspot.com

New Missionaries - June 2017

New Missionaries and their Trainers:  This is always such an exciting time.  They come so prepared and excited to serve.  And it is such a revelatory and confirming experience to put them in their companionships and feel the spirit confirming all is as it should be.  The Lord truly does have His hand in this work!

Back Row, Left to Right: Sisters Maxwell, Murray, Kelly, Elders Gray & Quinn, Sisters Rendon, Tompkins, Peterson; Front Row, Left to Right: Sisters Fisher, Gillespie, Va'enuku, President and Sister Clark, Sisters Burnside, Morse, Johnson

HEADING SOUTH FOR SUMMER

Let me tell you something about being a full time missionary. 

1. You have absolutely no problems of your own. Literally zero. There is nothing to worry about when you think of yourself...yourself is just completely taken care of. 

2. Every problem that others have become your problems. You take them upon yourself and all of a sudden you are consumed by problems. 

So an investigator whom we love dearly had a problem this week and of course all of a sudden Sister Kelly and I had a problem this week. 

You know someone's got the faith when they literally do not have the means to get toilet paper but they love the sister's enough to ALWAYS ALWAYS offer them food at every lesson. This week started with a frenzy to find said dearly loved investigator a miracle. The power company gave her about 36 hours to pay a bill before they shut of her gas and electricity.....and the first person that she thought to call was us. Well 'us' is two nineteen year old girls who have little to no experience with paying bills but we do have pretty extensive experience in saying prayers and seeing miracles. 

So after at least 100 prayers on the subject, a long chat with our bishop about a long list of charities to call, a long talk with our investigator in need about how she had already called all of the charities, and only about eight more hours left until the power was to completely shut down...we saw a miracle. The Holy Ghost prompted our friend to call on an ex husband who was the most unlikely of all sources for help and heaven stepped in and things were taken care of. 

When this Sister told us about her problem....we asked her to do two things, pray about what she needed, and then go to work looking for what she needed. She found it. 

folks, I don't know what each of you need....whether it's a utility bill to be paid or a question of the soul to be answered...however, I do know what you need to do to find what you need. 

Two simple steps.....

1. pray about what you need. 

2. go to work looking for what you need. 

If we are doing all we can temporally and spiritually we will be put where God NEEDS US to be. 

So I hope your all doing all you can. 

I'm trying....at times I'm failing....then I learn.....then I discover God's hand is always there...as long as we take the time to stretch our arms out to find it. 

ALSO OTHER BIG BIG NEWS. 

Transfer calls came...which of course is the most real form of torture you find on a mission. However we got real lucky when we ran into President Clark outside the church building on Saturday morning. Which is the same place that he called both Sister Kelly and I to be trainers next transfer......WHAT. YES. Holy smokes I'm happy. 

I'm also leaving the Fresno Zones for the first time ever......I'm going to the actual...SOUTH. 

Which honestly feels like an entirely different mission to me...it's only a place I've ever heard of...never actually been but hey hey TULARE. HERE I COME. 

I'm being  **doubled in to this area again...which I'm pretty sure that I'm setting some type of record for the amount of times I've done that.....

****missionary lingo...

normally when transfers come along you go to a place with a missionary who has already been in the area and has known it for a while....every not so often they put two missionaries in at the exact same time and they know nothing and nobody but they figure it out together. 

Well this is my fourth area...and my fourth time being doubled in. So that's an interesting fact about Sister Rendon's super fantastic mission that she loves. 

So anywho...I'm leaving Fresno. Home of the Lord's elect and the world's most illegitimate ice cream trucks and I'm heading to Tulare...home of the Farm show everybody in Hooper told me about when I got my mission call....and I'm positive more of the Lord's elect. 

LOVE YOU ALL LOTS. 

-that is sincere. 

Sister Rendon