Week 46 - Caroling with Cholos

Hello all!

I hope you had a good Christmas! Mine was awesome. Good to see the fam, good to eat like a billion tamales. All good stuff.

This week was SO AWESOME!  Drum roll please.....JAMES IS GETTING BAPTIZED! So we had a stellar lesson with him. I will sum up: So he's been struggling a little with accepting a date because he wasn't ready to give up some stuff from his old life. But on Wednesday we were on exchanges (I stayed here with Sis Echeverría) and he was like "I feel like I don't have to wait a long time to get baptized." So I was so excited! And I said "well, then should we set a date?" And I suggested the 7 or 14 of January. And so he said he had to pray about it and he would tell us the next day when we came back. So we go back the next day and he said he still hadn't received an answer. So we felt prompted to kneel down right there with him and have him ask Heavenly Father if he should be baptized on the 7. So we did! And what's funny is that we can't go inside his apartment because no women live there, so we kneel down in the doorway of his apartment. But it was still powerful! And so he says his prayer in Haitian, and obviously I can't understand Haitian very well but it was a very heartfelt prayer. And after he finished he sat there for awhile and said "okay I want to do it on the 7." And it was so exciting! And he's just amazing and is progressing so much. And I love him!  So that was just too good. And that was the definite highlight of the week!

I love you all so much and I know that Heavenly Father answers our prayers. Maybe not in our time, but definitely in His. I know this is true and I know that the Lord works miracles in our lives every day, we just have to find them!

Love,
Hermana Fowlks

 

Sister Klopfer and I with Sister Schmitt (Pres. Schmitt's wife)

at the Christmas devotional in our matching polka dots!

 

Giant missionary selfie!

Me on Christmas morning.

Christmas dinner with some food from El Salvador!

"Caroling with Cholos"  Cholos are Mexican gangsters. 

These guys like to call themselves cholos but they are all just sweeties.

Left to right: Me, Hna Klopfer, Balta, Armando, Elias, Sergio,

Bottom: Eduardo, Darren, and a small child I'm not sure his name.



One  of our cute members gave us presents!

Week 45 - Feliz Navidad!

Hello all!

This week was just as busy as the last.

Tuesday night our investigator took us out to sushi which was interesting. I do not like sushi.

Sounds like everything is good at home! I love hearing about all the fun stuff that's going on. It's weird, I don't really miss Christmas at home or anything. I know that sounds bad, but I just love it here on the mission so much that I don't even have time to think about what I'm missing! I'm so lucky to be here during this Christmas time.

Anyways, we had a super good week! We got to give another training on Wednesday which was fun, James is progressing well he just won't accept a date so we're hoping he will do that this week. Also we had another branch activity where we did Olympics. It was really fun! And we have a new ward mission leader that we already get along with super well. And that was about it! Sorry not too much to report! But I'll attach a bunch of pictures. :)

Have a happy Christmas everyone!
Love,
Hermana Fowlks

 Merry Christmas!

 Sis Kloper and I with James, Balta, Elias & Eddie at the temple.

 Sister Klopfer and I with Manny, Julian, Elder Pritchard & Elder Hampton

 Car Selfie with my companion Sister Klopfer

 Exchanges in Poway with Sister Romero

 Squad pic

 Our cute member gave us coats for Christmas!

Week 44 - Fear Has No Place With Me

---

Hola Everyone!

This week was sooooo good!
 

I have never been so busy in my whole life. First of all, our training went well on Wednesday. So that was nice. 
 

I think one of my favorite things that happened this week was on Friday, during our lesson with one of our investigators. He's from Haiti. We were with our AMAZING member Manny, and Manny was talking about how he was kind of afraid to get baptized at first, but then he wasn't afraid when he started trusting in the Lord more. Then our investigator got real serious and said: "No piensan que tengo miedo. Miedo no tiene lugar en mi." ("Don't think that I'm afraid. Fear has no place with me." Thus the subject.) And it was so great. So that has become my moto. 

Sunday we got to go to the Mormon battalion! It was fun to go, and it was also cool do to the tour in Spanish.
 

Then Monday night we had noche de Hogar in the casa de la Familia Arellano. They're so awesome. This family is just 2 brothers and their dad, and they all got baptized like less than 2 years ago. Their dad is inactive, but these two guys, Manny and Julian, have some of the strongest desires I've ever seen to bring people the gospel. And they're just amazing.
 

AND we got to go do service with them on Monday to help them get their house ready for Noche de Hogar and what job do I get stuck with? GIVING THEIR GREAT DANE A BATH. Yeah, I wish I had a video or something because I'm sure it was hilarious. I will never ever complain about giving my little tiny dog Max a bath ever again.

Anyways, that was my week! I love everything about the mission. I never want it to end! And I love you all! 

Love,
 

Hermana Fowlks 

 Branch Christmas Party with the Elders

 Many of our Investigators came to the Christmas Party!

 Me wearing the cool vest of our member friend Manny

 Sister Klopfer and Me

Week 43 - Crazy

Hola! 

Ok this has literally been the craziest week of my life. So I will sum up: 

So Thursday was the kickoff of the #LIGHTtheWORLD initiative! It was so cool. We decided as a companionship to do something for some Haitian refugees that we have been teaching. So we started contacting our members to see if they had any clothes to bring, or anything. And tons of members showed up! It was awesome! So we get there, we drop off the clothes, and we're getting ready to leave when all of a  sudden we see the elders coming down the stairs basically carrying this woman who was obviously in pain. And we asked what was going on and they weren't sure because she actually didn't speak Spanish or English, she spoke French. But after a minute we figured out SHE WAS HAVING HER BABY. Yeah. So we helped her get into a member's car and he drove her to the hospital with another member and another random guy that spoke French. It was so crazy! But a miracle because if we weren't there she would have had no car and they would have had to call and wait for an ambulance and everything. 

Nice welcome to the area right?  

So then on Saturday, we were walking out from a lesson with one of our members, and my companion started talking to this man and he explained to her that he was having a horrible day. So obviously we knew what could make his day better and continued to talk to him. Turns out he had pretty much lost everything over the last year and was angry at God and had been living on the streets for the last 10 days. We wanted to help him, but we weren't really sure what to do and our member had to go but he didn't want to leave us alone with this man so we called the elders. As we continued to talk to him, we asked what we could do to help. Because he didn't want to talk about God. So he said if he could just find somewhere to sleep until Monday and somewhere to shower he would be very grateful.

So the elders show up, and we explain to them what is going on, and we ask if they know anyone that would be willing to let this man (his name is Jim) stay with them. So they start making some calls, and all of a sudden Julian, the member that was with them, offered his house! I was so grateful I could have cried!! So the elders took Jim to Julian's house, and then the other elders, the English speaking ones, took him to church the next day. And then we sent his info to the missionaries in National City because that's where he was going to work. But it was so cool and I felt so grateful to have helped him. ️ 

Then Sunday was a crazy day, because we had 9 people that wanted to come to church! But none of them can drive. So we got to their apartments, and had our members just coming and going picking them up and everything. It was crazy. And once we got all of them a ride to church, wouldn't you know it, our car battery had died. So we asked a nice man we met named Troy to help us and it all worked out except for the fact that we were an hour late to church. 

And other crazy things happened, but I'm pretty sure I covered the main points. I love this new area! And I love all the people here! I'm so grateful to be a missionary. ️️

I love you all, have a good week! 

PS we have to give a training in zone conference tomorrow and neither of us have ever done that before. Pray for us! 

Hermana Fowlks 

Sister Klopfer and I after we almost delivered a baby!

 Our Light the World kick off was collecting clothes for these refugees from Haiti.

 Our cute friend Maria.

 Us, the Elders and our friend Jim.

 Family Home Evening last night.

 

Week 42 - Diligent December

Hey everyone! 

This week was great!

 

Tuesday was fun, all the missionaries at P day were telling me happy birthday all day and they even let me win at chair soccer. (Which I'm really bad at.) then we had dinner with Elsy, but it was actually like a surprise party and 2 other families from the branch came and it was crazy! Like it was good, but you know how I feel about being the center of attention.....and with Spanish parties it's like..woah. Crazy. So anyways, that was good. And that literally took up the whole night.

 

Wednesday we had district meeting, which was good. We talked about the Christmas initiative and how we can apply it. Our district leader is SO AWESOME. He's just such a good example to me about how we can completely dedicate ourselves to the work and put everything we have into it. But he also has a good balance, and teaches out of love for the Lord and other people. He's just really a good missionary. Hooray for awesome leaders!

 

Thanksgiving was pretty much a normal day but we ate dinner at 3 instead of 5 and we ate way much more than we should have haha.  We ate with the Hayne family.  So we went there, and wouldn't you know it, the only two open seats were at a table filled with teenage boys! It actually reminded me a lot of when all of the teenage boys in our family sit together. They were very sweet to us though and took good care of us.

 

Then after district meeting we went and visited a new Familia. They're awesome, super nice, they just need to come to church! Then we went and visited our friend in the hospital,  and he was with one of our old investigators! So we taught them both! And he bore a powerful testimony. Hooray for surprise member presence!  And then we had a good lesson with another one of  our investigators. She's cool, we had to  kind of force our way into her house, but after we taught her and got to know her a little bit, she became more open. 

 

Then we had dinner with the family Varela, but wouldn't you know it, they were just having Thanksgiving leftovers at Elsy's with the Martinez family! And so we hung out with all of them, again! It's okay because they're cool. And we planned with Hno Varela about how we were going to present the Christmas initiative in Sunday school. Then later that night we had a lesson with our sweet recent convert Eva, who is just so cute. We taught her about the Plan of Salvation,  and the spirit was so strong, it was so cool!

 

Saturday we had a lesson with a less active sister, who just had a baby on Tuesday! My same birthday! And we got to see her.....it was so special. Just this cute little newborn baby who came right from Heavenly Father! Then later that night we went and visited (and said goodbye to ) the Familia Bravo. I seriously love those guys so much. And I was so sad to say goodbye to them, I started crying during the closing prayer! It was so sad. But I will come back to visit them! 

 

Sunday was literally one of the most stressful days of my life. We had to go to the church early so I could practice the hymns, because Sis Valdez was out of town and asked me to play the piano. But we couldn't find one that wasn't being used. So we went to find Hno Varela, to help Plan because we had to give the lesson during relief society/Priesthood with him so we planned for that. Then we realized we forgot my Bluetooth speaker so we had to rush back home, and got back just in time to teach the Sunday school class. Then we had to teach the relief society Priesthood class, then, wait for it, I had to speak in sacrament. And play the piano. But it's all good! I survived! 

 

Then Monday we got a call from President in the morning telling me I was being moved to Santee to be a sister training leader! I was so nervous (still am) and I was like shaking because it made me so nervous! But I feel better about it now. Then we went to Mira Mesa and found this super cool guy! And we taught him the restoration and he totally accepted the restoration, didn't accept the baptismal invitation but hey it's all good. And we referred him to the Tagalog elders because he's from the Philippines. And then we had dinner with the Valdez family and it was super sad to say goodbye to them. 

 

Also as a mission we're focusing on diligence. The Savior was the perfect example of diligence, and we can all continue to strive to become like Him by being diligent in our church duties and love for those around us. ️

I love you all, I hope you're having a wonderful week! Also, go check out the Christmas initiative and do everything you can to do it! Here's the link: 

https://www.mormon.org/

Loves, 

Hermana Fowlks 

mckell.fowlks@myldsmail.net

 

Mailing address:

Sister McKell Fowlks

California San Diego Mission

7404 Armstrong Place

San Diego, CA 92111-4912

 

Birthday Celebration with La Familia Martinez

 Birthday with La Familia Varela

 Birthday selfie with Elsy

 Birthday with la Familia Mahecha

 Last District Meeting in Poway

 Chicken selfie!

 My new Companion Sister Kopfler

 

Week 41 - La Mesa

I LOVE THE MISSION.

Anyways, I hope you all had such a good week! My week was super. The  highlight of the week was MTE's! It's like a big giant exchange and we receive a bunch of training President and Sister Schmitt and the AP's. And I got to go on an exchange with a Battalion sister! It was awesome! I didn't get to actually work in the Battalion, which was a shame, but we went to an area named La Mesa and it was awesome! It was cool to experience that area because that's only a visitors center area so I would have never been able to work there if it wasn't for exchanges. My companions name was Sister Brosio and she's just the sweetest thing! She's from Argentina, but she lives in Orem, UT.  Also my Spanish improved a lot because I was talking puro español all day. But but the end of the exchange I was starting to talk like someone from Argentina because that's where my companion was from haha. But yeah exchanges were really cool. And since I was with a battalion sister we got to run around old town the next morning! It was fun to see all the shops and smelling them making tortillas at that really yummy restaurant we went to before the mission.  We  had so much fun and saw so many miracles. I also got to see my old companion Sis Garcia and also another Sister named Sis Castañino and say goodbye to them before they go home next week. It was sad, but I'll just have to go visit them after the mission. :)

Tuesday we played some flicker ball which was super cool because it's pretty much ultimate Frisbee but with a football.  I did get clobbered by one of the Elders, but hey, it happens.  I also scored 2 of our 3 points though when we played to win.  Tuesday all of our appointments fell through except for Francisco.  But Francisco is just so awesome.  Like I love that guy.  It breaks my heart to be leaving him.  But ah well.  Such is the mission.

Then on Wednesday we did weekly planning and we had dinner with the family Reyes. They're really cool, we helped her move in to her new apartment a few weeks back so we were able to get to know her then. So that was cool. Then we taught a less active named Angel. We were actually looking for his dad who is also named Angel, but his 14 year old son answered the door and we talked with him for awhile and he said he wants to come to church! So we set up a return appointment and told him we would find him a ride. Then we had a lesson with Elsy, where we pretty much just talked about the Relief Society Christmas dinner that she's like super stressed and excited about because she's the new activities coordinator. It's actually really cool to see her grow in this calling. And then we were going to have a cita with the Familia Bravo, but we got there and we could find no parking. And it's a gated community so like it's so impossible, and it was so frustrating and we ended up wasting a ton of time and not even seeing them. 

Sunday we had ward council, which was good. We've been seeing a lot more support from the members lately so that's been cool! And we had to do stake packets with Presidente but it was all good because even though it's like long and boring we were able to set some good goals for the end of the year for the branch with mission goals. Then we had church! Which is always good. And then we had a mission presidents devotional! Which is pretty much a bunch of missionary musical numbers and recent convert testimonies then President speaks at the end so like it's just a recipe for a very spiritual night. I sang in the choir. :) oh and it's all in Spanish (well at least this one was) so it's even better! So yeah that was awesome.

I know that God is directing this work! And that we are all His laborers in the vineyard. Or in other words, we are all needing to help our brothers and sisters return back to Him. And I'm so grateful that I am here giving 100% to this great cause.

Please have a wonderful week everyone and make sure to tell everyone how grateful you are for them! Eat an extra piece of pie for me! 😉
I love you all!

Hermana Fowlks
PS thanks for all the birthday wishes!

Birthday selfie in my new shirt!

 

 Birthday dinner with the Morales family.

Exchanges with Sister Brosio!

Week 40 - So Sorry!

Hi everyone,

So sorry about not sending an email last week. I was playing an intense game of chair soccer and totally forgot. So please forgive me for that....but this week you'll get to read what happened for the last two weeks. :) 
 

Two weeks ago, Tuesday night we went and visited Arturo, our less active. He's a cool guy, but he's pretty much just waiting for like a sign from God that he should go back to church. But, the whole lesson with him I just kept getting the prompting DONT FORGET TO ASK HIM "WHO DO YOU KNOW THAT NEEDS A MESSAGE ABOUT JESUS CHRST?" So finally, the time came, and I asked. And he goes, "I don't know anyone in specific, but I can give you all the numbers of apartments of people that speak Spanish." WHAT. So yeah we got like 20 referrals that day and it was awesome.

Friday was district meeting, and we talked about how we are apostles with a little "a", and we watched a cool video by Elder Bednar where he explains what Apostles do.  And we literally pretty much do the same thing, but they're in charge of the whole world and we're just in charge of a little tiny area.  But it was cool.  The only bad thing was that the other sisters straight up forgot about district meeting so it was just me and Sister Speigner and Elder Byington and Elder Wilson.  Kind of awkward.  Then we finished weekly planning for the day, and went and saw Bonifacio.  We're focusing on preparing him for the temple, so we talked about temples and how important they are and what goes on in there.  He's so cool.  He told us that his dream is to do an endowment session in the Salt lake Temple.  And  I really, really want to make that happen for him.  So when I finish the mission I'm going to see what I can do to get him over there to the temple.  He's just got to, you know, actually get endowed first.  But all in good time!

 

Last Wednesday we were able to teach José with Hno Ahlstrom. Hno Ahlstrom is a really good fellowshipper for him, and it's been cool to see the Spirit work through him to help José progress. Sadly, he has not come to church for a long while so we might be dropping him soon. I really hope not, but we will see. Then we had a lesson with our less active Bonifacio. He's such a cool dude. He's going to try to ask for permission to leave the hospital to take us to the restaurant where he used to work and buy us tacos which is very sweet of him. And he wants to go before I leave at the end of the month.

Thursday we did some good weekly planning, and then we had dinner with Hna Wagner and her son Samuel. They're so cool. Then we went and visited Eva, she's a recent convert and she's so sweet! She has a really strong testimony, and we're trying to help her understand the scriptures more. She just wants all of her family to get baptized so bad but only one son has gotten baptized. And all of her kids are not interested right now, so it's hard, but eventually I think they will all come around. Then we went and visited Elsy, and she made us some salad to eat and we also talked with her about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a really good lesson and the spirit was there super strong. And then she gave us all of Leah's halloween candy haha.

 

Then Friday morning we did power hour with Jordan again and we were able to teach a woman named Minerva and I don't know if she is too interested but she accepted a pamphlet and said we could come back on Monday so that was good. And then we talked to another cool guy named Dave who told us about all of his adventures in the marines and it was crazy. He wasn't very interested, but we gave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet anyways. Then after that we had district meeting, which is always good. We talked about being one with the spirit because that's pretty darn important as missionaries.

 

So a really great thing that happened was we were able to meet a man named Raheem. He's actually from Iraq, and we've talked to him a few times before, and we've prayed with him, but never really taught him because he doesn't speak very much English. And I don't speak any Arabic. So we were talking to him, and I just said "Here's a picture of Jesus. And we have a friend that speaks Arabic, can we bring him with us next time and teach you more about Jesus?" And he started to cry and said yes! It was so special. So we prayed with him, and I shook his hand before we went, and as I was getting ready to walk away he grabs Sister Speigner, gives her a hug, and kisses her on the cheek! Yeah I about died laughing afterwards. But that's just how that culture is, they just love everyone.  But yeah it was pretty funny. :) 

 

And the week before this week was sooo good. We weren't able to add any new investigators, but I feel as though we had a successful week. We worked really hard and we showed people that we and Heavenly Father love them. 

Speaking of love....so I had an epiphany last Saturday morning while we were exercising, and I realized that I had not been loving people as much as I should be. I don't know what changed or what made me realize it, but I realized that if I am not doing this out of complete and total Christ-like love then there is literally no point. None at all. So I made a goal, that I would talk to every person out of love, no other reason at all. And I can't even explain the difference. It's not like people were any nicer to us or anything, but I found a joy and peace that I can't explain. And it's just completely changed everything. 

 

Also during Noche de Hogar on Monday we sang a "Jesus es Mi Luz" and these lines really hit home for me: 

"Jesús es mi luz; Él es mi poder, 

y con Su amor podré yo vencer. 

Mis faltas, con gracia Él puede borrar; ⬅️ that part right there. (My shortcomings, with grace, He can erase.)

andando por fe fuerzas he de cobrar." 

I'm so grateful for Jesus Christ and that we can learn from and try to become like Him, and I'm so grateful that I can help others become closer to Him too. I love Him, and I love His teachings. And I love all of you! Have a good week! 

Hermana Fowlks 

Pictures from our FHE Scavenger Hunt with the branch.

 

Week 38 - Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Last week was awesome!  We were able to teach Vanessa and set her with a date for the 26th of November and taught her through skype. And then by chance, we went and knocked the door of this referral we got like ages ago, and I was like okay if she doesn't answer then this is it. We're going to drop her. So we knock, and someone answers!  And she's like hey I know you!  And I was like um, no you don't!  And she was like yeah I do and starts explaining how she went to church and all this stuff.  And then it hit me!  We did meet when she came to church one time with one of our members!  So we went in and taught her the restoration (we taught it backwards which was interesting but hey it works) and we were able to set her with a date for the 3 of diciembre.  Which was cool.  I'll be gone, but hey!  At least she's getting baptized! The only problem is her work.  She works like every single Sunday. I feel like this is a recurring theme with all of our investigators except Vanessa. So if you have room in your prayers, you can pray that we'll find people to go to church! So that was Wednesday. 

 

Thursday we had weekly planning, and all of the rest of our appointments fell through. But we worked hard. 

 

Friday we had district meeting, which was so good! Elder Wilson (my district leader) is a pretty cool dude.  He's really inspired and district meetings are always like super uplifting and edifying with him. But that was literally the only good thing that happened on Friday.

Then Sunday we had a devotional which was supposed to be with Elder Rasband but his wife broke her shoulder like the day before so he had to fly home and Elder Hallstrom from the Presidency of the Seventy talked to us instead. It was so good! He's a really cool guy and I felt the spirit really strong. Then we also did a musical number in church on Sunday and sang Love One Another in English and Spanish. Then we had dinner with the family Valdez. 

 

And yesterday we went out to Mira Mesa and tried to teach a few people, but there were some very hard hearts. Then we came back and studied from 6-9 PM since we weren't allowed to be out. It was actually really good and there are a couple things I will be doing differently in my work here and hopefully that will make a difference. Also Sis Hayne brought us dinner to our apartment while we were on lockdown which was super nice. 

 

One of the cool things that happened this week was with a YSA member named Jordan. He came out with us to what we call a power hour, where we walk around for an hour and don't go back to the car until we find someone to teach and the hour is up.  So Jordan was with us, and we found this guy named Jerry. And we had been talking with him for a while, when he asked what the difference was between the Bible and the Book of Mormon. And I was about to explain, when something made me pause and I heard the Spirit say, "Let Jordan do it." So I did! I handed the Book of Mormon to him and he explained it and it was really cool, because Jordan is thinking about a mission.  So, lesson learned this week: Stop talking for long enough to let the Spirit speak.  

I'm so grateful for all of you and I hope you have a wonderful week!

Thank you for all your love!
Hermana Fowlks

 

Selfie with our investigator Vanessa via Skype!  Look close... Sister Speigner and I are in the upper right hand corner!

 

 

Week 37 - We Walk By Faith

Hi everyone! I hope you had a good week! :)

 

This last week was a little hard for me, I was tired of the stresses and hard things of missionary work and I just wanted to run away from all of it! I felt like someone else could be doing a much better job than me. So I took it to Heavenly Father during my personal study on Friday morning. 

I decided to study about faith in Jesus Christ, and I came across something that I had studied and written on the Fourth of July. It was from a talk called "Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ" by Gene R. Cook:

 

"Expect trials of your faith. Life is all upstream-all uphill. You may at times desire to remove yourself from the swift current to rest awhile, but you must go on. If you are on a plateau, you need to be on your way. Challenges and difficulties that many of us resist are the very elements which refine us and make us godly men and women. The Lord will try you in every attribute possessed by man and at all stages of development in your life. He will try you again and again until you know that you are able and will serve Him at all costs."

 

AND THEN I opened up the Ensign from last month, and read an article where callings in the church are compared to private piano lessons. It said: 

"Accepting a calling was more like enrolling in private lessons--with the Lord. Knowing both our strengths and weaknesses, He places us in situations where our unique gifts are needed to bless a ward member, a class, even a Primary. Although the former Primary president [or in my case another missionary] may have just finished performing a concerto, the Lord knows when it’s time for my simple sonata. Through our callings, He gives us the experiences we need to become more like Him."

I know this is the work of the Lord, and that this is His church. I love you all so much and I am grateful for you! Have a good week! 

Hermana Fowlks 

 

Also, we did have one crazy thing where this guy asked me if I was afraid of getting robbed and then he was like "because I'm going to steal your heart" and it was hilarious.  Also, Noah's date for baptism is set for November 5th!  Jose moved his date back to December 10.  Sad that I won't be here for that, but that is what he needed to do.

 

One morning we realized we accidentally left our window open overnight and woke up to a freezing apartment!  So we ended up studying in our bathrobes until it warmed up.  Quite the adventure!

 

San Diego temple (and my little self)  Oct 18, 2016

 

 

The sisters needed a ride somewhere, so naturally we took a selfie.

 

Week 36 - Everyone makes mistakes

Hi everyone!

This week was awesome. We're working really really hard and we are definitely seeing the results! (Both in teaching and in how tired we are haha) 

Tuesday was pretty good! Sunset cliffs was awesome. The Elders took us on all these crazy adventures up and down rocks and cliffs just to get us to the best view of the ocean. And they definitely got us there. :) it was awesome. Then we went and found Estela, and she's doing good.  We didn't see her at all last week cuz she was super busy. But I really like her because she's honest with us. If she didn't have time to read or if she did have time but she just didn't read then she just tells us! And I love that. Because a lot of people in this culture just tell you what you want to hear and it drives me a little nuts. But anyways we didn't have a lot of time with her so we just read the Book of Mormon with her.

 

But then Wednesday was so awesome! We went to Mira Mesa and tried to find some people, and we met Bernardita and her 8-year old son Bryan. Who we added as investigators! Hooray! We also met Maria, who we weren't able to add but she seems really interested so when we go see her again we will add her. Then we went and visited the Rincons, who are a less active/recent convert family, and it's frustrating because they're not making like any changes to come to church. But we'll see. Then we went back, and tried to go see Rogelia which fell through, then we did like 15 minutes of work on Facebook and then went and saw Elsy. She's so awesome. Her faith is so strong! And her daughter wants to get baptized but her husband won't let her so they do little things together to keep their faith and it's so cool to see.  Every morning when Elsy goes to wake her up for school, they go and kneel down in the bathroom so her husband won't see and say a whispered prayer and get out before he  notices! Yeah. Crazy. Then we had dinner with the Magadans and they are just the most special little things. We're teaching Noah, who is not necessarily our investigator but he is preparing to be baptized and his family just barely started coming back to church. They're so cute and I love them! 

 

Thursday we did weekly planning, which is most definitely not my favorite thing but it's important. One really cool thing that happened is our less active named Bonifacio who has been in the hospital for some time decided to make the best of his situation and offered to pray for people who were in pain there. And through that we are now teaching 2 more people! It's amazing what the power of prayer can do! :)  They're super cool. One is named Alejandro, and the other is named Zeferino. Zeferino has actually been taught by missionaries before but because of his health condition had to stop. We didn't have a lot of time, because they were waiting for a specialist, so we basically just sang "Mas Cerca Dios de Ti" (Nearer My God To Thee) and prayed with them and left. Bonifacio had already given Zeferino a Book of Mormon so we gave one to Alejandro. It was a good lesson though!

 

Friday was long, we didn't teach that much. But we did have a really good lesson with Jose! Brother Ahlstrom was also able to come with us so that was awesome. Then we had district meeting, which was good then we finished weekly planning and did some finding but it was unsuccessful. 

 

Sunday we had church, Sis Speigner had to speak so that was a little stressful but it turned out okay. We also went and taught Jose after church and talked to him about why it's so important to come to church and read the Book of Mormon (because he is doing neither of those right now) and it was good.

 

Monday we did some good stuff on Facebook, then we went and taught Alejandro. He's super cool! We taught him the restoration and Sister Speigner did her first baptism invitation! Finally! She's been so scared to do it and finally after 6 weeks of practice and coaching she finally did it. And he was like heck yeah I'll be baptized! Then he goes and tells us he lives in Escondido. So we'll be sending him to the missionaries there. But hey! At least he's getting baptized.

 

Then Tuesday we went to the temple! It was so awesome. It was like extra clear today and I think it was because I prepared more. I was able to read my patriarchal blessing in the celestial room as well which was awesome. 

 

Also, one of the little boys in our branch named Owen was showing us something about how he can draw, and he made a mistake. And he just looked at me and said "It's okay, everyone makes mistakes." And it's so true! Sometimes we feel like we have to be perfect, but we really don't.

Heavenly Father loves us as long as we try to be the very best we can be. That's a big thing I've learned on my mission. And I'm very grateful for it! 

 

I love you all, have an awesome week! 

Love always, 

Hermana Fowlks
email - mckell.fowlks@myldsmail.net
Mailing address -
Sister McKell Fowlks
California San Diego Mission
7404 Armstrong Pl
San Diego, CA 92111-4912

A picture of the cute family we are teaching.  We're helping Noah get ready for baptism so we spend a lot of time with them.  (Noah is the one right next to me.)  Then Owen is on the other side of Noah and Eevi is the baby.  They are all so cute!!

 

Sister Speigner and I at Sunset Cliffs last week!