exercise daily, walk with God. (and if you're feeling extra motivated TRItulare)

                                                             Photo credit- Manuel

Hey there dearest family and friends.

I hope all is going well at home but from the tidbits of information I get about the world, it sounds like things are pretty crazy outside the bubble of full-time missionary work.

an example tidbit of information.

Us: Hey Don can we meet with you Tuesday at three?

Don: Ya. Hopefully a nuclear war hasn't started by then.

also a less active member informed us that we were supposed to find a cellar and stay there all day on Thursday due to the planet that was going to collide with the earth.

Really makes a missionary wonder what is happening in the outside world, but also makes a missionary really grateful that they don't know. (and a little bit makes a missionary think their investigators are wild but what's new.)

SO. Last week I told you Ruben got baptized and THIS week I tell you that He is legitimately considering serving a mission. Seriously every time we go over there we spend the next ten years talking about how amazing he is. I want to tell you all his conversion story, but I also want to do it justice. but basically he has changed EVERYTHING about his life.

Being with Cindy was this week was incredible too. We taught her on Thursday and then said, "Hey you should come to the ward party tomorrow, and then the women's broadcast the next day, and then church the next day." and then she did all those things...so we basically spent all weekend with her.

The ward party was a fun time. The Spanish group in Tulare put it on. They certainly know how to throw a party. I'm considering majoring in latino dancing now. We had five non-members at the ward party and Ruben laughed at us for not knowing the names of all the different Spanish foods.

There was also zone conference. I laughed. I cried. (mostly due to the fact that it was Sister Murray's last zone conference and I've only experienced one zone conference without her.) I felt the spirit.

Our service hours this week were used at the big-deal scout fundraiser the ward put on. Which happens to be an entire triathlon called the tritulare triathlon. (hence the subject line.) 

BE AN ORGAN DONOR, GIVE YOUR HEART TO JESUS



                               


                              

                       





After quite some time in the field, I finally decided how to creatively caption my emails. 

There is no shortage of religious puns on all the local church billboards in these parts. 

I decided I'd take advantage of them... 

Well let's talk about Ruben giving his heart to Jesus this week. 

HIS BAPTISM WAS SOOOOO SPECIAL. 

Doesn't he look so happy?? 😊

Well, I'll just go ahead and tell you about how he felt he looked. 

These #realquotesfromRuben all feature his baptismal attire...

Us: You'll be dressed in white from head to toe. 

Ruben: IMMA LOOK LIKE A Q-TIP

*Ruben looking through the rack of baptismal jumpsuits. 

Ruben: It's looks like I'm about to be married....except I'M GOING TO BE THE BRIDE. 

*Ruben coming out of the restroom after changing

Ruben: I LOOK LIKE A GHOST. 

Well as far as I know whatever else he may look like.....a q-tip, a bride, a ghost. He looks happy and he looks pure. Even more than that he IS happy and he IS PURE. 

During the talk on baptism we looked over and saw a couple of tears fall from his face. He told us that it was just hitting him that he really was going to be cleansed. It was such a sweet week. He had his mom and step-dad come to the baptism and they came to all three hours of church yesterday too with his brother! We are super hoping that we can start teaching them too. 

some more quotes from Ruben for some more fun. 

*explaining what a mission president is

Me: He just helps us out and teaches us how to be good missionaries. 

Ruben: You are good missionaries. You don't need to be teached to be good missionaries. 

*on the phone

Ruben: I'm a fan now. I'm a BYU fan now. You sisters have got me hooked. 

Which is funny because neither of us ever mentioned BYU to him and now he loves BYU. He calls at lets us know how the football team is doing. 

One of the recent converts in the ward baptized him. It was SO GOOD. 

Well Ruben's conversion was a miracle. (every conversion is a miracle)

but we also saw some other miracles this week too. 

We had an incredible experience last night. 

We haven't been finding new investigators very well these last few weeks and last night I was getting a little bit flustered and wee bit restless because I just wanted to find. We had just stopped by a potential investigators house but he wasn't home. So Sister Burnside and I decided to pray about where we should go to open our mouths. Almost right after I had prayed and we opened the map a specific neighborhood came to mind. It was literally on the complete opposite side of Tulare but we both felt that we should go there. Once we got there and prayed some more we went to the very first house. It was Amelia...she has been missing church, wanting to go back, and she has been looking for peace. It was super cool and we have a return appointment with her next week! We also found another sweet potential, he and his wife have been looking for a church. ISN'T IT SO COOL. Jesus Christ has a church, and missionaries. Long story short. Prayer works. 

P.s. on exchanges this week we had a family treat us to a Chinese buffet. I was on exchanges and Sister Matua and I feasted. We were literally walking out at 6:00 and still finishing up our last bites. 

so many blessings this week. 

love you all!!!

#realquotesfromRUBEN

Let's skip right to the good stuff. 

#realquotesfromRUBEN

Ruben last week: *praying* I know that I'm going to ace my baptismal interview questions. 

Ruben this week: *aced baptismal interview questions*

Ruben next week: *get's baptized*

Ruben Saturday night at the ward luau: "I feel like I'm married to the church." "I was here this morning. I'm here right now. I'll be here tomorrow." 

He's literally so incredible. He went and worked at the vineyard at 5:30 in the morning on saturday, went to the ward party early to help. and he's no bump on a log investigator at church. 

Side note: Sister Burnside and I have been pretty present in the tulare ward lately. Last week we prayed in sacrament meeting, Sister Burnside conducted the music, and then we taught relief society, this week we prayed in gospel principles and then taught gospel principles, and apparently next week we are doing a musical number in sacrament meeting with the relief society president and two young women. Which is going to be a new experience considering the only musical numbers I've done on my mission are the times where basically everyone sings because it's President and Sister Clark's last zone conference and how can you not participate in the choir that sings God be with you till' we meet again. and at that point there isn't a ton of singing and just a lot of crying that happens to match the tune of the song. And that other time where Sister Murray and I and a couple of Elder's rapped about how cool missionary work is in front of a bunch of youth. 

Anyway the whole reason I brought that up was to emphasis the point that Ruben is no bump on a log investigator at church. 

We taught in gospel principles about missionary work. 

At one point we asked the class how they had benefited from missionary work in their own lives. 

Ruben raised his hand.....

he talked about the first day he met us and where he was in life. It wasn't a good place. He talked about meeting us, hearing our message, meeting the Hernandez family and He simply said...."You saved me." 

The truth is of course it was Jesus Christ. 

He is our only hope. 

Our only savior. 

BUT 

He is not the only servant in the work of salvation. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again. 

Salvation requires not only a Savior, but also a willing heart. 

Ruben had a willing heart. He wanted to change. He wanted to put his life in God's hands. 

There was a quote I heard in sacrament meeting that went something like this...."God cannot translate good intentions and good desires into good works, only you can do that."

I mention that because not only did Ruben DESIRE to place his life in God's hands, but Ruben DID place his life in God's hands and he continues to do so. 

Ruben's salvation, and mine, and yours. Does not simply require Jesus Christ, although it does and has to....

but Ruben's salvation, and mine, and yours also requires Ruben, and me, and you. 

I AM SO EXCITED FOR RUBEN'S BAPTISM. 

Sister Burnside and also exchanged with some Sisters and Sister Frazier and I got to be companions for the day again, so that was a fun time. 

AND WE WENT TO THE TEMPLE. 

Which let me tell you

Porterville zone strengths: baptizing

Porterville zone weaknesses: taking a zone picture

Mission Leadership Council - 9.1.2017

                                                                                        

                     Photo credit - Californiafresnomissionblogspot.com                                            

Mission Leadership Council - 9.1.2017

Wisdom, energy, consecration and spiritual power describe

these amazing disciples of the Savior

 

We love and will be forever grateful for Elder and Sister Amsbary

who work so hard on our behalf.

When all is said and done, disciples of the Savior can be a bit goofy.......

all without offending the Spirit or losing sight of their true purpose.

We will start with the list of do's: 

Do: Buckle up. Because this story about this couple named Tasia and Thomas is ridiculous. Sister Burnside and I had dinner with some members a couple weeks back and committed them to place a copy of The Book of Mormon. (you know the book....the one with the blue cover on the outside....and the words of eternal life on the inside.) Well because Tulare ward members are grade A with a capital A, they totally did it and invited us to go see the man they gave it to. Well we show up to meet Thomas and Tasia. AND THIS IS REAL LIFE STUFF. Thomas and Tasia start telling us their love story and basically it is this. We knew each other for a week, things were going well so we decided......hey. let's get married....but only if we both become Mormons. So they get married that very day. The next week our members give them a copy of the Book of Mormon. Then Sister Burnside and I show up this week and then they are going to both be baptized this month. Teaching them is sooooo fun. 

Here are just a few of my favorite quotes from teaching them......

Thomas: Ya. I read the pamphlet. LIVING PROPHETS AND APOSTLES. WOW. YES. THIS IS EVEN BETTER THAN I THOUGHT. 

Thomas again: There is another pamphlet..... How many more are there??......this is JUST like when I was a kid and I just had to wait for the next edition of my favorite comic book.

Thomas a little bit more: So.....when is the fastest I can be baptized?

Do: Take a second to be amazed some more by Reuben with me. Reuben is incredible. We started off this week with a lesson about the priesthood and he seemed a little off. He called us later in the day and asked if we really thought the church was right for him. We assured him all we could but ultimately we had to leave it to the Lord. We asked Reuben to pray about it and then we met with him again and taught fasting and asked him to fast with the members yesterday. He called us yesterday setting up the time for his baptism sooooo committed to the date. He'll be getting baptized this month too. 

Do: PRAY FOR THE CFM. We are reaching for the stars this month with a mission goal of 127 baptisms. A real quote from an Elder I really appreciated this week. "IF YOU AREN'T REACHING FOR THE STARS. YOU AREN'T REACHING HIGH ENOUGH." true. true. In honor of being committed to this goal Sister Burnside and I are going to be inviting at the very least 127 people to church this week. 

And now a  list of donut's: 

-This glazed donut in my hand

-this donut shaped bun in my hair. 

As always it has been a good week in the CFM. 

I can't help but be grateful for all the Lord has blessed me with. 

INCLUDING YA'LL. 

HAVE A GOOD ONE. 

AND STUDY YOUR SCRIPTURES. 

i love ya'll. 

--Sister Rendon

                                                               

THIS WEEK WAS 'GRAPE'!!!! 

             Sister Mackay, Sister Rendon, Sister Burnside

missionary puns eh. 

specifically to missionaries who serve in the CFM. 

the actual vineyard of the Lord. 

Here are some really important things. 

-Reuben is changing his life. 

Literally. He is investigator shaped gold. We love him. We were going over the baptismal interview questions and we hadn't taught all of the commandments yet-so we just explained them as we go. He was just accepting them all and kept saying 'I just want to hand my life over to God.' 

He had a meeting to get to know our Bishop and then we started making guesses about where he would serve his mission. 

Just in the few weeks we've known him so much has changed. He was telling us about how he was talking to his friend (who we are also teaching) and his friend was saying that his life was boring. AND THESE ARE SOME REAL QUOTES FROM REUBEN. "Well if you're bored, why don't you go to church? or you could read the Book of Mormon?" Which is so true. There is no time to be bored when you're trying to learn about the restored gospel. 

Which brings me to Claudia, who is living proof of that last statement. 

-We met Claudia right after a dinner one day and she asked us to come back and talk to her daughter about God. Which of course we said yes. So we went back and taught her daughter who is so cute and then set a return appointment. When we went back she wasn't there because she had missed the bus. So we taught Claudia. It was a great lesson on the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and then we pulled out the Book of Mormon and wow her eyes lit up. Then her daughter got home and she said a cute prayer that went like this...."thanks for letting my friends....I mean....my sisters come over and teach me today!" So tender. Then we went over like two days later and the daughter was there but Claudia wasn't. When we asked if she had seen her mom reading the Book of Mormon....it went kind of like this. ''YA. that is all that she has done. She reads it all day and then all night. I think I saw her at five in the morning reading it with the light on her phone. She can't put it down. I think she is almost done with it." We are super pumped to go back tonight. See no time to waste when you are learning about the restored gospel. 

-We also teach this cute man named Ben Lack. Ben lack will be 85 next month. Ben Lack is also 85% blind and 85% deaf. So teaching him reallyyyyy means teaching with short, powerful, statements of truth. He also tells a really great Ben Lack'ified version of Jacob and Esau. Where Jacob is a 'coward and a momma's boy' and Rachel is a 'foxy little thing'. Sister Burnside and I are convinced we could have a hit youtube channel called....SCRIPTURE STORIES AS TOLD BY BEN LACK. 

-WE WENT GRAPE HUNTIN'. 

Which I've probably explained a little bit but also probably not nearly well enough. 

In the California Fresno Mission they have a church owned vineyard. Huge, vast amounts of grapes. And because the Lord is all about service. It requires huge, vasts amounts of latter-day saints spending Saturday hunting for grapes. Which are laid out to turn into raisins. Which are taken all over this place we call Earth to feed the hungry. It literally feels like Zion out in the vineyard. 

-Transfers happened. 

Sister Burnside and I are staying together in Tulare. Which we are super excited about. A genuinely true fact. The Elders in the area are both leaving and that is a wee bit intimidating because we are teaching so many people we feel like we can't give them the attention they deserve and now we are taking on the Elders investigators as well. But hey if you are going to have a problem as a missionary this is a good one to have. 

ONE LAST NOTE. 

Once upon a time quite a long while ago I was reading an email Jace Iverson had sent home about his mission. He said something like..............''My life has become the life of my investigators." I've remembered that and as a full time missionary I've experienced that. 

When my investigators have good days, I have good days. 

When my investigators have hard, I have hard days. 

It's all about them, It's all about Jesus Christ and it's not even a little bit about me. 

71 And the Lord of the vineyard said unto them: Go to, and labor in the vineyard, with your might

This week in the CFM:

-Our tiwi is back

- We crashed a meeting for the district leaders at the mission office and got to have lunch with the Mackay's. We even got to take home some of Sister Mackay's homemade raspberry jam.

-We celebrated Brycen's birthday. He is moving back to North Carolina tomorrow- where his dad is. Brycen is incredible he'll be getting baptized in the next few months by his dad whom Brycen helped reactivate in the church. We spent a lot of time reviewing the eleventh commandment with Brycen this week. "Thou shalt e-mail the Tulare sisters pictures of your baptism."

-Aaron moved to Washington sort of out of nowhere. Good thing the gospel is more universal than this solar eclipse. The Book of Mormon works no matter where you live.

-Rudy had a baptismal interview. Good news- Rudy Perez is going to be baptized one day. Bad news- That day isn't going to be quite as soon as we thought. Good thing the gospel is more eternal than this solar eclipse. Baptism works no matter how far away the baptismal date is.

On that note I hope everyone enjoyed the solar eclipse. 

but I REALLY hope you all take some time to learn about and to live the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

after quite some time struggling over words and trying to find the right sentences to teach with...I've found myself teaching this simple fact: 

I can not say to you how much the gospel means to me, but I can help you to experience it and help it mean that much to you. 

Coming soon: 

-Sister Rendon travels back to Dakota ward for a really cool baptism. 

-GRAPE HUNTING THIS WEEK. (which is serving literally in the Lords vineyard)

- SISTER ryanne saunders gets home from her mission and everyone who see's her gives her a hug and says...''this is from Sister Rendon."