Happy Easter

Well folks the pressure is on, because rumor has it there are a few of you who still read these things. 

bless you. 

If I was good with words this e-mail would keep you at the edge of your seat and on your toes at the same time while reading because literally that's how I was alllll week long. 

For good reason too...

Sister Kelly had to go to the dentist...and that was really painful for her. Sister Frazier's eye all of a sudden was a crazy mess and couldn't see for a few days. Basically companionship study on Wednesday was me staring at one companion with an ice pack on her mouth and another companion holding her weeping eye. We were waiting for my hearing to go out all week. HA. 

I'm real thankful for companions who work through the pain though....I was literally Sister Frazier's seeing eye missionary for a few days this week. Don't worry everyone's eyes, ears, mouths, and noses are all in tact now. As for the knees....Sister Kelly's have been messed up since before she got here. 

It seems that there was some miscommunication between us and the Elders in the ward. Basically we planned an entire baptism in three hours, which proves to be hard....especially when it's spring break and everyone and their dog is out of town. Long story short after we called about every active member in the ward to participate in the baptism, we eventually found some less active folks to join us. Then we got a call realllllllllllllllll late on Friday night explaining that Shy wouldn't be baptized the following day. Turns out her mom...who didn't have an opinion the whole time we were teaching her...now has an opinion. All is well because I am convinced that this is just giving us an opportunity to teach her family with her. 

Despite the hope that I have that Shy will be baptized reallll soon, I was in need of a miracle.....and I made that very clear to Heavenly Father in my prayers that day. Good news though...missionary work is the Lord's work and so of course we witnessed a miracle. We went to go teach a referral from church headquarters.....and wow. Wow. WOW. We taught him about the restoration and while I was sharing a scripture and working on getting to the baptismal invitation when Enrique stopped me, apologized for interrupting me, and proceeded to ask if he could be baptized into the church. MIRACLES. WOW. When I told him that literally that question was going to be the next words out of my mouth, he reallllyyyyy recognized that the spirit was there. Anyway, we set a date with him for the 21st of may...it has to be a little further out then he wants it because is going to Utah for the next few weeks. But hey, hey, eighteen hour train ride and a Book of Mormon sounds like a good combination to me. 

Easter was incredible. 

The resurrection is incredible. The message of the Risen Lord is the most powerful message and I'm so blessed to have an opportunity to share it. It changes lives. Jesus Christ truly truly is the Savior of the world. I love Him and I know that He loves all of you. 

THANKS FOR STAYING TUNED IN.

LOVE YA'LL. 

Sister Rendon

 

-I would tell you all not to make any snap judgments about Fresno based on this e-mail..because I LOVE this cute little place.....but to be honest any judgments you are about to make are probably going to be pretty accurate.  

hahahahahahaha...........It was a great week. 

Monday: We passed off our cute little investigator to the Elders in another ward. Literally it was a miracle for them! They met Charlene on Monday and she was baptized on Saturday!!!!!!

Tuesday: We worked like maniacs at a service project and smashed this members cement pad...apparently Sister Frazier worked too hard and she got supppper sick. Also.....this is a good story. 

WE WERE DRIVING.....and this fiesta auto insurance sign flipper on the corner...who is in a crow mascot uniform started doing his little jig and trying to get attention. Well of course I find the nearest picture of Christ and put it up in the window. Well, the crow's arm flapping and sign flipping get a little bit more frantic and all of a sudden he is making a u-turn signal with his little crow arms....so after we face a few rejections we turned back around to go talk to the crow and it actually turned out that he was super interested and genuinely has been looking for a church. THIS IS WHY WE TALK TO EVERYONE THAT BREATHS. Anyway, he doesn't live in our area...but still MIRACLES. 

Wednesday: We had zone conference...literally I love zone conference. It was amazing. There is fire in my bones. Gosh I love it. Well after Sister Frazier barely survived zone conference....because she was sick...we couldn't really proselyte. So instead.....we went and toured the assistants house because this crazy lady had broken in who was high on meth and there was blood all over the apartment....they had to send an actual police dog in there to bite her so she would stop being crazy. Wild. 

Thursday: Sister Frazier was sick again....and what I can only assume was an effort to make her laugh the Elders decided to prank us. I definitely walked up to our door with a member after we had gone on team-ups and there was a dead squirrel in a panda express box......

Friday: We went on exchanges and I was with Sister Murray. My goodness I'm not kidding literally if you have any questions about what happened the first six months of my mission just get Sister Murray and I together and we will literally quote the first six months of my mission. *This is not an exaggeration. 

Saturday: CHARLENE WAS BAPTIZED. IT WAS AMAZING. She was super nervous about going under the water....and she was such a sport...she had to go down three times. SHE WAS SO HAPPY.  She also shared this really cool story...So Charlene's husband actually was hit by a car in November and passed away and when she went to the cemetery to go ask him if she should be baptized it was a pretty over-casty day...but as soon as she asked a ray of sunshine fell on her face. THERE IS SUNSHINE IN MY SOUL. 

Sunday: We had an investigator at both our wards....cute little nine-year old Shy should be getting baptized this Saturday!!!!!!! Also...we definitely taught a lesson with a new investigator....and we were only a little bit distracted by her less active husband who was giving his friend a tattoo of his "hoodsign." All I can say is at the end of the lesson I'm pretty sure that the less-active at-home tattoo artist was a little distracted by the spirit in the room. what what. 

I LOVE YOU ALL. 

I LOVE FRESNO. 

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. 

HAVE A NICE WEEK. 

GO TO MORMON.ORG

Love,
Sister Rendon.

April 3, 2017


        Since Sister Rendon didn't send pictures here's a few from CA fresnomission.blogspot.com

                          President's Interviews March,2017

                                  Front to Back, Left to Right: Sister Kelly, Sister Frazier, Sister Rendon,                                               
                                                      Elder Larson, Elder Davis, Elder Smith
                                
                                                   Elder LaMay, Elder Ikimau, Elder Lillywhite

Standing, left to right:  Elder Johnson, Elder Rose, Elder K. Flores, 

Elder Tapia, Elder McGraw, Elder Morales

Sitting, left to right:  Sister Gough, Sister Maxwell, Sister Clark, Sister Rendon, Sister Kelly

FIRST OF ALL....

have you visited mormon.org yet this month....because you NEED TO.

really it's a need. 

I literally spend all day, every day trying to get people to visit that website......so my own kin better be taking a look there. 

It's the coolest website on the entire internet....even cooler than this e-mail your reading right now.....so go. 

*****************************************************

Did you go?

Seriously I don't even want you to finish this e-mail until you've seen the prince of peace video. 

OKAY. 

This week was wild. We went to go by an investigators house Monday night that we haven't seen in awhile and when we pulled up there were two policemen outside. After we said a prayer as a tripanionship and I said about twelve in my heart we decided to go talk to the family. The parents actually weren't home but the uncle was waiting for an ambulance with the policemen....we really aren't sure what was happening still and the kids were super calm....anyway turns out having policeman in your home is not a big deal at all in Fresno......and it's really not a deal at all in the part of Fresno...we were in.....

 Tuesday....... we biked all the day long...and we've got the awkward foot tan lines to prove it. 

We had a great week, with an amazing investigators......

Sister Murray came to the area for awhile and literally the second we get together we just quote our lives. Literally we should be a movie.......I do not know how we made it out alive without being chosen to be "The District 3".....we would've been great. 

THEN CONFERENCE.....

YOU ALL WATCHED CONFERENCE RIGHT? 

if not......

be grateful for repentance....

and lds.org 

because you can still watch it. 

We watched with some investigators and some less actives. 

We are passing off our most progressing investigator to some Elders.....we didn't know what area she lived in for the longest time because we'd been teaching her in a members home.....literally when were waiting to find out where she lived it was like waiting at the most intense beauty pageant of your life to see who the winner was. 

turns out she didn't live in our area but hey....we are all winners because no matter what ward.....it's still the kingdom of God.                       

Love you all. 

Go watch prince of peace again. 

Then tell your friends to watch it. 

Then make sure they watch it again. 

Sister Rendon

CAN'T HELP BUT FALL IN LOVE WITH THE CFM.

THINGS I LOVE:

-Interviews with President Clark
-the temple
-setting baptismal dates
-general conference
-being a missionary
-being a missionary
-being a missionary
-being a missionary

-Romans 8:32

THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK:
-Interviews with President Clark
-going to the temple
-set baptismal dates
-kick off to general conference
-being a missionary
-being a missionary
-being a missionary
-being a missionary

-Romans 8:32

LIFE IS SO GOOD.

So we set a baptismal date for April 8th with THE cutest little lady. She is so prepared and lovessss the gospel. It's a funny thing.... you work your tail off as a missionary to be the prepared servant of the Lord and then you meet the elect and things just happen. They learn the gospel, they understand the gospel, they act on the gospel and as prepared as you are as a missionary your biggest desire is to simply GET OUT OF THE WAY of the spirit. So the Holy Ghost can testify to them, teach them, and invite them. ******Please don't take this to understand that preparation isn't necessary. I'm all about using every hour of daylight to become more prepared....but then it's all about getting out of the way and literally just being a vessel of what the Spirit needs to teach a beloved child of God.

ROMANS 8:32
"He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?"

Our Father in Heaven gave ALL that he had to give when He gave his Son. I promise you that all that you ever need is the power that comes from the atonement of Christ.

There is nothing that you need that can't be found in the restored gospel. There is no righteous desire that is not made possible by Him that gave all of Himself.

I love being a missionary.

I love all of you.

Now say your prayers, get ready for general conference, feed your local missionaries (but not too much), and write me letters please.

TO ALL A MERRY CONFERENCE WEEKEND, TO ALL A GOOD WEEK.

                            

If they ever hire me to name roller coasters at Lagoon....I'm naming the most intense one.......THE MISSION. 

(I hope that line was worth at least some sort of smirk and I haven't completely lost all of my humor)

For real though...

it would definitely have to live up to it's name......I mean you'd have to laugh, cry, bleed, sweat, call 911, scream, smell marijuana, request a priesthood blessing, and after it was all said and done you would have roller coaster hair and you would HAVE TO SAY IT'S THE BEST RIDE YOU HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED and you would have to love it so much. 

Anyway. 

MISSIONARY WORK. 

THE UPS ARE REAL. 

THE DOWNS ARE REAL. 

I LOVE IT SO MUCH. 

Downs: 

(that are barely worth mentioning because the ups are so good they really are no biggie but hey I like to keep things real)

*also remember that we picked up cute Sister Frazier so there are three missionaries in all these stories

-We definitely called 911 Tuesday night after we were at a gas station and we saw this crazy truck who I guess had a problem with Mcdonalds...run through a red light, drive over a median, knock down about fifteen trees, hit a fence, and then turned around and speed off. (wow that should make Mcdonalds employees want to get an order right) haha. Well obviously whatever damage this driver was trying to cause..it was intentional and he was still on the road. So we decided to call 911 so the operator does their thing...I answer all the questions.....they were a breeze until they asked what my name was. Well for eighteen months my name is Sister Rendon...and that's what I told the operator. So we had about a two minute conversation describing the reckless driving and about a ten minute conversation that went like this....

Operator: What's your name?

Me: Sister Rendon

Operator: One more time....

Me: Sister Rendon....

Operator: I can't hear you....

Me: Sister RENDON 

Operator: I can't catch the first name

Me: SISTER RENDON

Operator:.............

Me: my name is lindsey. 

-We had to drop Eliseo...the investigator we were teaching on the tree stumps...we had been praying about what to do because we knew that he had a learning disability and weren't sure how much of our message he was comprehending. It was tough..but for the best. 

-We have an investigator who is nine and there are Elders teaching her Aunt anyway we found out some D.R.A.M.A. about that and I guess our investigators mom is dating her Sister's ex-husband. So...were just praying that everyone get's on board for baptism...because getting on board for baptism is getting on board for the Celestial kingdom...and literally everyone wants that. 

anywho 

the UP's: 

-Target has these baby shaped mannequins that make it real convenient  to feel like you are holding babies all the while...not holding babies. Also Bishop Haroldsen has this dog that likes to be held in a baby like way. (Please don't call me trunky....it's just that I finally realized that my sister is having a baby and holy cow that is a huge deal)

-I DROVE A TRUCK. literally this has been a burning desire within my heart since day 2 of being in the CFM and hey, hey, hey, blessings do come. 

-We were able to take the cute new missionaries out on their first day....they are literally SO PREPARED. I took out cute little Sister Eastman and WHAT A MISSIONARY. She invited fifteen people to be baptized on her first day. 

-Sister Kelly has a cute young woman leader who I guess was a big fan of the bachelor....and she sent us single stem roses.....that was also a fun phone call.....it came from Elder Bradshaw who is the vehicle coordinator in the mission....

Elder Bradshaw: (in a very serious voice) Sisters....I'm looking at something for you in the mission office......I don't like what it looks like....

Me: (being very nervous and thinking about all the driving mistakes I have made in the past six weeks)....what could that be Elder Bradshaw.....

Elder Bradshaw: Well there are two long stemmed roses....and I'm a little nervous the two of you have been dating....the delivery man said it had something to do with that bachelor show....

anywho Sister Kelly and I were racking our brains and the thought that we had been chosen to be on next season's episode of the bachelor only briefly crossed my mind before we discovered that Sister Kelly's young womens leader was the one who sent them....haha. 

WE HAD THE MOST AMAZING LESSON WITH JENNY AHHHHHH. 

literally the most amazing lesson ever. She loves the gospel and literally is probably doing more missionary work as an investigator than you members who are reading this. She was asking us to show her where it was in the pamphlet that she really loved last time we had come over and immediately I knew that she was talking about the pre-earth life. I took her copy of the plan of salvation pamphlet and flipped open to the page and I saw some of the notes that she had made.....she had circled the doctrine that we lived with, knew, and loved our Heavenly Father before we were on the Earth and had written in the corner....'The Holy Spirit spoke to me here.'  WOW. In that moment I felt joy that can only be felt by sharing the gospel with others. Every hard day and every hard moment were so worth it to because of this moment. I LOVE THE GOSPEL. 

We also had this miracle where this investigator literally found us. WHAT. We got a call from a number we didn't have saved...turned out to be someone who had met missionaries....months ago and was having a hard day..when he went to call his sister...he actually called...the SISTERS.....MIRACLE. Sister Frazier was originally on the phone and literally became speechless...Sister Kelly was driving....and she was directionless.....I was in the passenger seat trying to both give directions and talk Sister Frazier into regaining her composure to set up an appointment. Then to solve all those problems...I took the phone set up an appointment and tried to get some How to begin Teaching points in while trying not to laugh at the fact that Sister Kelly did about 900 u-turns. Long story short he said last time he met with the missionaries he wasn't ready to be baptized....and now he feels like he is ready. 

what MIRACLES. 

I'M OBSESSED WITH THIS ROLLER COASTER AND I LOVE IT SO MUCH. 

LOVE YA'LL. 

Sister Rendon

                                                                                March 13, 2017

two is a companionship....three is a party.

While I can promise I am growing spiritually I think my memory is decreasing at an incredibly rapid rate because I can't remember anything. 

TRANSFERS CAME. 

Which we totally thought nothing was going to happen because Sister Kelly is in training and then when the transfer call came at three in the morning we found out that SISTER FRAZIER will be joining our companionship and we are also adding another ward to our stewardship. 

I'm confident this is a direct result of the time that Sister Murray and I were in a trio for a few days and I said after that being in a trio was too overwhelming to last anymore than a week. haha Heavenly Father IS really there though because I also mentioned in my mission vision statement that I wanted to be able to do hard things. 

It's okay this week definetely prepared me. The mission preparation class in the Fresno North(celestial kingdom)Stake sent out high school seniors as set-apart church service missionaries to join the full time missionaries this weekend. Most companionships worked in a trio but Sister Kelly and I were EXTRA blessed and got the privilege of working with two young missionaries. It was crazy to show up to lessons with four missionaries but I'm confident that with twice as many missionaries we brought TWICE AS MUCH SPIRIT. 

We had an incredible lesson with this man named David...soooo good! We met David a couple of weeks ago...the day that he had just gotten out of rehab he wanted to learn more but because of the fact that at that time he was pretty homeless and the most accurate address he could give us was..."I think I'll be outside of McDonalds a lot...you know....the free wifi." we weren't sure if we'd be able to meet with him again.....but we TOTALLY found him. We started teaching the restoration but the guidance of the spirit lead us to teaching the atonement. If you have not read and sought to understand the promises in Alma 7:11-13 in the last week. DO IT NOW. I found myself looking into the eyes of a man who had a lifetime of guilt and sorrow kept inside of himself and no hope that he could find relief. I don't think I have ever realized that people live that way. I found myself more fully realizing what the Savior of the world saves us from. I can not even express the profound feelings of joy that I felt as I pointed David to the hand of the Son of God that is forever 'stretched out still.'  I found myself leaving that lesson positive that I had been taking the blessings of the atonement for granted for my whole life. wow. I AM BLESSED. 

Anyway we saw a ton of miracles with all of these special opps missionaries. SO MANY. Sister Kelly and I were sad to see them go..and we were very concerned about how lonely missionary work was in just a companionship. then we got the news that there would be three of us next transfer!!! YAY. 

We also had a ton of opportunities to laugh for example...

-In an effort to build a friendship with this man whose door we knocked I complimented him on his cute son who actually turned out to be a daughter. whhhhat. Pray that he still has a desire to visit mormon.org

-literally I woke up at three in the morning... shot up in bed and the question screaming in my head...WHAT IS MY PURPOSE? I actually had a nightmare that I was spending time doing absolutely nothing and I had to spend a significant amount of time convincing myself that the eight hours designated for sleeping are actually necessary and that I could actually get sleep and be a successful missionary. 

I'm looking forward to another great week in the CFM. 

life is good. 

I'm happy. 

The gospel is real. 

                                                                                                         March 6, 2017

If your wondering how I'm doing here in the CFM...

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.