Hermana Perez's Last Mission Post

The comments and or translations in bold, blue, italics are made by Lauren's mom.

Well! I think this will be the last email I write y’all. CRAZY how fast time flies. We have been SO blessed that the Lord has helped us stay so busy this transfer! We've seen so many great things happen, everyday is full of miracles. How cool is that?

This week we had a branch activity about the Arbol de la Vida (translation: The Tree of Life). We got a lot of help from Cynthia, who is just amazing!  We had a good turn out, not many investigators though. :(

We met and taught a family last week who seem awesome. Like most they have the, oh I’m catholic, but I love hearing about God so come on in attitude. We felt a really good spirit there and we have another appointment with them this Wednesday.

Monica (our investigator that moved out of state) is still reading the Book of Mormon a lot and is already in Jacob! She said it has brought her so much comfort throughout her move. She's amazing!

Sister Rios and I have grown to be such good friends!!! It’s fun to see how much you can grow as a person through the time and service you give as a companionship.

I would like to, in this my last email, bare my testimony to everyone.

I know that our Father in Heaven loves each and every one of us very much! He has sent us here to this earth to experience trials, cry, laugh, smile, love, grow and learn. I know that Joseph Smith was called by God as a prophet to restore Jesus Christ’s church on the earth so that we would be given all the truths that we need to best progress here in this life. I know that as we learn about the restored gospel and make and keep sacred covenants in Jesus Christ's church we receive spiritual power through the gift of the Holy Ghost that protects and guides us throughout this mortal life. Each day, as we base our lives on faith in our Savior Jesus Christ we enable ourselves to learn through the spirit in a way that will be most effective to our progression. I testify that we honor the covenants that we have made with our Heavenly Father by enduring until the end of our life in continuously seeking to become more like our Savior Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I'll have much to tell you when I get home. Have an awesome week everyone! I will see you next week.

Hermana Perez

ADONIS, CECELY, AND NICOLE WERE BAPTISED SATURDAY!

The comments and or translations in bold blue italics are from Lauren's mom.

This week has been crazy! VERY GOOD, lots of blessings...a few challenges...but lots of blessings.Adonis, Cecely, and Nicole were baptized Saturday! There was a great turnout at their baptism and a beautiful spirit was felt. The branch president from Farmington came to baptize Adonis. Many members and missionaries have spent several years working with this family and the fact that so many came to celebrate their choice to get baptized made the day all the more wonderful. We helped their family move. Their mother is amazing! She is a mother of 6 and works very, very hard to provide for her family. They are good, good people.

Cynthia and Noe are doing great. They had a friend over for Family Home Evening. They are great missionaries! We used an object lesson to teach them about the blessings that are given to those who receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Caleb, their youngest child finally decided to get baptized! Before we started our lesson Caleb explained why he wouldn't get baptized with his family. It was because a super cool movie was coming out that day. After the lesson he changed his mind and said, "OK, I’ll get baptized!" On Sunday, their family had an Easter get-together at their home with some members. They had a lot of food. It's great to see how many friendships they're making.

We went to the temple yesterday. It was a wonderful spiritually recharging experience. I saw some former companions which was awesome.We are madly trying to put together the branch missionary activity which is....wow...meh... very last minute and thrown together, but we think it will end up going well. We have a long todo (translation: everything) list on a daily basis. I feel like just when we have checked 3 things off our list, we have 10 more things we have to add to our list....that’s life right? :)

THANK YOU SO, SO, SO MUCH FOR THE EASTER PACKAGE!!!!! The candy is very yummy. My companion and I have been snacking on it since it came. Sister Rios was happy to receive that note from you and the candy too. Thanks again! I love you all a lot. You are in my prayers frequently! If you haven't seen it already, there is a beautiful Easter movie on lds.org or mormon.org that shows clips from the bible movies. It's super short and very beautiful. I KNOW that Jesus Christ lives and that he is our Savior. He broke the bands of death, he is our advocate, he is very aware of us and like our Father in Heaven loves us very much.

I Love you family,

Hermana Perez

Monica moved to Pennsylvania yesterday. :( She promised us that she will be baptized. Remind me to tell you her story, it's cool.

Cynthia And Noe Played An April Fool's Joke On Us

This week has been full of good things, we started teaching an investigator from the English ward who wanted sisters to teach her. She is great, such a loving mom and really trying to do whats best for her family. She went to the Mormon battalion visitors center in San Diego and just loved it. She is preparing to baptized on the 5th of May. While we were teaching her out the plan of salvation she talked about her great grandfather, who was an incredible example, and how she only recently found out that he was baptized LDS later on in his life.

Adonis, Cecely, and Nichole attended general conference this weekend, but none of our other investigators went which is a bummer. This conference really was so great! Being a single mother herself, the talk that was addressed to single mothers, really touched their mom's heart. The kids are excited for their baptism. They are such a good family and have been through so much together. They are SUCH well behaved kids, s-o-o-o good to each other. Adonis, who is 16, is SO good with his baby sister and so good to Kevin his 4 year old brother. Watching them interact is such a testimony builder to me of the importance of families.

Cynthia and Noe's family is doing well. We had a fun lesson with them. We reenacted a battle in the Book of Mormon which they had read about. The boys seemed to really love it. They want to make every Friday lesson, fighting Friday...... not sure if we'll be able to make that dream come true. Cynthia.... so funny, pulled this prank on us, when we were about to leave the other day (April 1st to be exact) she said, "Sisters we feel like we're going to have to wait to get baptized until July or August."...What!?..."APRIL FOOLS... ha, ha, ha." Cynthia said that Hermana Rios looked like she was on the verge of tears and that I looked super disappointed. SO funny! They're a great family. I told then I'll come back next year when they get sealed. I LOVE these families!!!

Until next week family, much love!!!

Hermana Perez

I'm Still Working Super Hard!

Sorry, we haven't made much time to email today. Two homecoming talks... yikes... I can't believe I have to give those so soon.... YIKES! Ha! I'm not so sure how I’ll be able to ease into a social life. I could be a huge weirdo for a long time, and just to warn you I might have a few anxiety attacks my first few weeks home. :)

GREAT JOB!!! Bren and Krys, you are rock stars for memorizing scriptures like that. YOU ARE BOTH AMAZING AND I LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK!!!

Brenden good job on being a missionary with Amanda. I love ya bud.

Mommy, daddy, and Lex thank you so much for your loving and supporting letters. THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

I love, love, love you! I'm happy all is well. I'm still working super hard!

MUCH LOVE!!!

Two Families Were At Church On Sunday!

The comments and or translations in bold blue italics are from Lauren's mom.

This week has been busy as usual! Sujey's family and Cynthia and Noe's family were at church on Sunday! Cynthia has decided to get baptized this week for sure now and called her brother, who is LDS to ask him to baptize her. He was very surprised and happy and has been a huge support to her.

We have some other sister missionaries staying with us. It’s been a lot of fun. The place they were staying at in their area didn't work out so while the office missionaries are trying to find a new place for them to stay they're with us! It’s been cozy. They're sleeping in the living room on mattresses and with the bugs coming back it’s been exciting. Thankfully they haven't woken up with any bugs on them… yet… but with the weather heating up it'll probably ha-a-appen. Yep, we stayed this transfer. I’m totally thrilled about it. I haven't ever wanted to leave an area. I’m really enjoying my time here. (When transfers came and Lauren was to stay in her area, which she has been serving in for nine months, we worried that it may be hard for her to serve in one area for so long. As you can see she has faith that the Lord puts her where she needs to be and because of this she happily serves there.)

We are going to learn how to make flour tortillas today and are running late (It's her P-Day). Sorry my e-mail is short again this week! I love you all and I am excited to see you in a few months.

Hermana Perez

BRIANDA WAS BAPTIZED!

(The comments and or translations in bold blue italics are made by Lauren's mom)

Happy March! It’s been a great week. Brianda was baptised on Wednesday. We attended her confirmation in the UNM branch on Sunday and then saw Maricela confirmation in our branch. Both of them said they felt so happy. We are so excited for them and how this has been and will change their life.

We taught a lot of lessons last week and the Lord has blessed us to be able to stay busy. We have the baptisms of Sujey's children and the family of Noe and Cynthia to look forward to in April and May. We've also found a few new people we're teaching. It’s great to see people with a hunger to learn more about the gospel being drawn to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I feel so honored to be able to share it with people.

We had a great dinner with a few families in our branch that Noe and Cynthia came to. All the children got along really, really, well which was so fun to see! The branch is very warm and accepting. They are very good at making people feel comfortable. Abner, the oldest son of Noe and Cynthia has changed a lot since they've been starting to learn more about the gospel. He has been reading the Book of Mormon and been more respectful to his teachers. They both are such fun kids!

That's so fun to hear about Charlene!!!! Ha, everyone is getting engaged :)

FAMILY & FRIENDS, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!! I am excited to see you all as well and am working hard to stay focused. There is still got a good chunk of time to do a lot of good!

Cuidense (translation: Take Care),

Hermana Perez

MARICELA WAS BAPTISED SUNDAY!

The comments and or translations in bold blue italics are from Lauren's mom.

Happy, Happy Birthday BRENDEN!!! I hope your day was great!

This has been a busy but a great week! We have been working to serve the members a lot and trying to help them see what missionary work is about, this week no one we've been teaching showed up for church BUT! We have two family home evenings set up for tonight with both of the families that were there last week with different members. We're excited!

Noe and Cynthia are doing well, they have had a few doubts we've been helping them work through, they are so strong!!! They have already seen many blessing from learning more and applying the gospel to their lives, they have become so much more united and there is more peace in their home, I love, love, love seeing changes like that take place!

Maricela got baptized! She is an investigator we were teaching for a long time that we turned over to the Elders because she speaks English well. Right after she was baptized she said that she was so, so, so happy. With tears running down her face she beamed at us. Estoy muy contenta, muy, muy, contenta por ella (translation: I am very happy, very, very happy for her!). She is such a wonderful woman with such a strong testimony.

BRIANDA is going to be baptized this Wednesday. She is also an investigator we were teaching for a long time and turned over to the Elders when she started attending the singles ward. The peace we've seen come into her life is just wonderful! I'll let you know next week how it went.

We went to a funeral this morning of a man in our stake that passed away. So many great things were said about him, he really seemed to be someone who had the spirit with him and loved all he worked with. He was an owner of a restaurant chain here, seems like such a good person. Please keep his family in your prayers, the Moss family.

What a blessing it is to serve the Lord in these days. I find SUCH joy from sharing the gospel with my brothers and sisters and such satisfaction from seeing the change that takes place in their lives as they accept the gospel and learn more about the plan God has for them.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is SIMPLE. We have been sent here to overcome the challenges that accompany mortal life. Tempering our desires, conquering our trials, making mistakes, accomplishing good goals etc. There are so many ways we LEARN... all of this learning is part of this mortal experience God has prepared for us. How great it is to be alive! There is so much progress to be made, so much joy to have, SO many learning experiences available to us.

I love you all. Thank you for your love and support. I’ll let y’all know next week where I’m headed. We find out about transfers Saturday!

Have an awesome week!!!

Hermana Perez

We Had Eight Investigators at Church on Sunday!

The comments and or translations in bold, blue, italics are from Lauren's mom.

We've loved giving Valentines things away, thank so much for the thoughtful package! My sweet Lauren usually gives away a lot of the candy in the care packages we send her because she loves sharing.

We had eight investigators at church Sunday which was a complete miracle! (They actually had thirteen individuals from two families attend. Eight of them are baptismal age and are considered investigators.) Hermana Rios and I gave talks on Sunday. It was great that so many of our investigators were able to hear our talks :) The two families we've been teaching both came. We were ecstatic to see them especially because none of our investigators had come for the last few weeks. One of the BIGGEST blessings of being a missionary is seeing the gospel change lives, seeing the blessings of people righteously choosing to follow Christ.

The changes in Cynthia and Noe are some of the ones we've been blessed enough to see. She told us yesterday that they prayed on the phone together the other day, something they have never done before. Abner and Caleb, her two sons also seem to be getting closer. They are such a great family, all of them were at church Sunday (so was little Camilla their two year old daughter).

The other investigators at church were Sujey’s family. Sujey is a member who moved here from Farmington awhile back. She was baptized at eighteen, but wasn't active for a very long time. She has six children who are all so, so, so well behaved and so sweet. She has started reading the Book of Mormon and says it has made a lot of changes in her life, we are so happy for her!

I wanted share a funny story, so... I am ashamed to admit that sometimes I am hesitant to talk about the gospel with men that are anywhere close to our age... so silly I know. Sister Rios is not cursed with the same hesitation. In fact every time we've been to the library we've ended up talking to someone of the male gender with that scary age range. And every experience has been great! While some have hit on us (which is the main reason for my hesitation) many have led to great gospel conversations. Today we talked to 'Money Mitch' ... don't ask me…he's from Seattle. When he asked why in the world we were doing this missionary stuff Sister Rios started talking about cake how great it was and how that’s how the gospel was for us WE HAVE TO SHARE IT. Although he scoffed and wasn't receptive, I was so happy to Hermana Rios for opening her mouth. She is a great example to me!

Griselda had her baby!!!! We are going to go visit her in the hospital right now Keep them in your prayers, the pregnancy has been very, very hard for her and we're hoping that now things will be easier and she'll be able to go to church.

Family I know that this church is true. Don't be scared to open your mouth. Remember the joy that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Smile when people scoff, they may not understand now but they will one day :)

Love Hermana Perez!!!

Successes Of The Week

The comments and or translations in bold, blue, italics are from Lauren's mom.

Family, 

Thank you so much for your uplifting thoughts, I REALLY appreciated them. As I’m coming to the last few months of my mission my emotions have been going up and down like a rollercoaster, but I'm having some great experiences and I'm learning a lot. Can I tell you again? My companion Hermana Rios is amazing! She got me to go exercise with her the last several mornings which has been a great blessing. I need to send you a picture of her. People say that we look a little alike and that we sound a lot alike which is really funny.

Successes of the week:

We have met a lot of amazing people who all happen to live outside our area, but we have had such a great time being able to testify of Christ's true church and then invite them to meet with the missionaries assigned to their area and learn more about the gospel. Yesterday we talked to two men who both mentioned struggles they've had from the terrible things they've seen in war. It just so happens that the night before I read something that had to do with war in True to the Faith. Heavenly father is really guiding us.

Cynthia and Noe seem to be doing so well! We are working on getting them to church and to feel comfortable with having members visit them. They read TONS which is awesome! We are hoping to have a great lesson with them about the temples this week.

Branch member & Hermana Perez
sporting their Mexi-mustaches

Hermana Perez's Mustache
seems to be taking a turn for the worst.

Brianda is going to be taught by the Assistants to the President who work with the young single adult branch. She went to institute last week and I think she will do great in the singles ward. We are so happy that she is still progressing well and we are excited to see her baptised!

Overall things are going well. I am working on reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish which has been great. Our investigators have been making a lot of progress both personally and in their lives. It's good to know that we're fulfilling our purpose! Thank you so much for you love and support! Abrazos y besos a todos, (translation: Hugs and Kisses to everyone.)

Hermana Perez

Our Investigator Felt The Spirit When We Sang a Hymn With Her

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY Tomorrow!!!
THAT'S GREAT THAT THE PORTLAND TEMPLE HAS A NEW VISITORS CENTER!!! I'm excited to see it!

Cynthia and Noe, a couple we've started teaching, are great people. Cynthia's brother just got baptized a few weeks ago. She also has another sibling who is a member of the church. The other week we sang a hymn with them to help them feel the spirit. During the hymn Cynthia started crying which lead to a discussion about how the spirit bares testimony to us of truth. It was a neat experience.

Brianda was at church again this week :) She moved her baptismal date up. We all feel that she is ready to take that step. She has gained so much enthusiasm for the gospel and has made so much progress. She says that she has more patience now and is feeling more at peace. It’s wonderful to hear about the blessings that people receive from living the gospel.

My companion Sister Rios is doing great! She is always actively meeting people and engaging them in gospel related conversations. We've grown a lot together in the few weeks we've been companions. I feel honored to serve with her.

Sad news though, Sister Rios's grandfather passed away last Friday. He was in the final stage of congestive heart failure so it was expected. She's got a very strong testimony of the plan of salvation. She studied it in the MTC. She said that that has really helped her deal with his death. Please keep her and her family in your prayers.

Thank you for your words of encouragement and love. You all are great!!! Have a safe week and weekend, I'll talk to you next Monday!!!

I love you! Muah!!!

Hermana Perez
For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son John 3:16