Week 57 - Video this week!

Hello Everyone!

So I didn't want to write a group email this week, so I'm making a video.  This week was really good!  We were able to do a lot of finding, we were able to teach a lot of people and its really cool because I get to testify of Jesus Christ every single day.  And I love it!  Like with anyone on the street, I get to bear my testimony.  It's sooo cool!  And it really makes my testimony grow, I love it so much.  We were able to set someone with a baptismal date!  Her name is Jackie, she is so sweet, she is so nice so she's hopefully getting baptized on the 8th of April. 

The biggest adventure of the week probably happened today!  Because we decided to go to sunset cliffs, that is why my hair is the way it is.  And we found this really cool swing .   I loved it, it was the coolest thing.  Because you could get pushed, and you could sit up there, and you'd be able to see the whole ocean.  Well not the whole ocean, but a big part of it.  And I was just like in my happy place,  I was just like  "I never want to leave here, this is amazing!"  And so after I finished swinging, a couple other people went and swung on it and I was like " I want to do it one more time before we leave."  But we decided to swing, and I came back and something happened and the swing was twisting and the swing like completely broke!  And I fell probably like a ten foot drop.  And I fell... and I like was so embarrassed, and I got up and I was like.. "I'm fine, I'm fine"  and one of the Elders was like "Look at your finger!"  and it was like covered in blood.  I was like "Its fine, its just bleeding a little bit"  and then one of our members was like "Uh.. its a little more than bleeding".  And it was like HUGE.  And I was like "Well, its broken".  But its not actually, and I can still move it.    But this is the damage (She shows us her finger).  Hermana Estrada did a really good job of fixing it.  She did just make me a quesadilla, so she's the best.  I mean... and there's Sister Garcia...  she helped fix me up too.  She actually just told me I was being a baby, but...  yeah.. she was gonna flik it... ok that's enough. 

But my companions are taking care of me.  I'm gonna be good...  I'm gonna be ok.  (Sister Estrada starts singing "I'll be home for Christmas"  in the background.) 
Well, I love you everyone.  I hope you have an amazing week.  I know that the work is true.  I know that I'm here doing the Lord's work.  And I love you all... BYE! 

PS.  We had a zone conference at this cool place called camp wildwood, which is pretty much just a girls camp.  But we went there, and had a few hours of training then went on a hike to this giant cross!  And we all carried a rock up the hike, which was supposed to be like a burden we had been carrying.  Then we got up to the cross and put it at the foot of the cross.  Super spiritual, super cool. 

Week 56 - Toilet paper miracle!

Hey everyone!
I'm so sorry that I've been doing such a bad job at writing group emails. I will sum up:

Last Saturday we had a baptism! The cutest little kids ever were able to be baptized. Their names are Fabian, Rocky, Roxy, and Edwin. The three oldest got baptized. I love them so much! Their dad got baptized just under a year ago.

We had stake conference on Sunday which was just the greatest! I received so much revelation and my testimony as gotten so much stronger.

One funny thing that happened this week is that on Friday we realized that we were on our last roll of toilet paper. We didn't calculate it correctly with there being 3 of us....so we were wondering what we were going to do because P day isn't until Tuesday. When just as we were walking we saw a family selling things and wouldn't you know it, they were selling toilet paper! So we bought some and got their information and will be going back to teach them. 😊

We also were able to find another family to teach! Their last name is Ramos. When we first taught them they had just been baptized that very day in another church. But they accepted a Book of Mormon and hopefully they will have a baptismal date soon.

I know the Church and the gospel that we learn in it is the way back to our Heavenly Father. And I know that Jesus isn't just a person we read about in a book, but is real and has the power to take away our sorrows if we let him.

I love you all so much!
Hermana Fowlks

 

PS - Sister Fowlks Mom here - Sister Fowlks has had a lot of responsibility placed on her shoulders in her mission  She has been asked to help so many and she wants to fix all of the problems of the people she is serving.  So as a result she has been struggling herself with knowing how to help.  This is part of her personal email to me which goes into detail without sharing too much.  There might be someone out there who needs this...

 

"So Saturday night we decided to fast but I also decided that night that I would know what to do. I've never really had a testimony of fasting, but I was desperate. I had been trying to read my scriptures, I had received a blessing from the Elders, I had been praying like crazy. I literally said that morning in my prayers: "I give up Heavenly Father. I will do whatever you want me to do. Just help me to be happy. Please." And wouldn't you know it, that day during stake conference, all of the sudden I just received tons and tons of revelation. First, that I had the choice to do anything. I had been feeling weighed down by all these things that I saw as "limits" as a missionary. That I couldn't help people as I thought I should be able to. But I realized that I needed to be choosing to follow these rules because I loved the Lord. And that helped. Then all the sudden the Savior became real for me. He wasn't just someone we talked about and read about in a Book. I realized that literally I can choose to be happy because He will take it all from me.  And not just from me, but from all of these people. And that when I can turn them to Him, it is showing them my love more than  anything else I could possibly be doing. Just like it says in Alma, that the word of God has more of an effect on the hearts of the people than the sword, or anything else. And right then, when I saw these people or talked with them later that day, I knew what to say and I knew what to do and I was able to go throughout the rest of my day and be happy and not worry. So yeah that was my week! It was really good. And I am doing so much better now."

 

Sister Estrada, Sister Fowlks and Sister Garcia

 

 

 

I love you all so much!
Hermana Fowlks

Week 55 - Sorry!

Hi family and friends. No time for a group email this week but here's
some pictures!
Love you all. ❤
Hermana Fowlks

week 54 - Transfers and Trios

This week McKell didn't send a group email,  but she did send me a video and it was special to me so I typed it up -

Hey Mom,

So I don’t have a lot of time today because we had transfers and then we went hiking and hiking took a long time, so I’m making a video to respond to your email.  Things have been better this week I’ve been able to…  well they have been better today and yesterday.  Things have looked up, your prayers have definitely worked.  And I wanted to ask you how you deal with it when one of us kids is upset or when one of us is going through something that you can’t control, that you can’t change.  How do you deal with that without it tearing you apart?  Because that was what I was doing last week.  That was what was making me have a hard time and it really tore me apart.   Like it really really had me up set.  And I know that I’m not supposed to carry a burden like that, like no one should.  I know that I’m here to help people, I’m here to lift people up, but I’ve got to make sure that I’m doing ok too, because if I’m out then I can’t help anyone anyways.  So I just wanted to ask you for advice on that.  I’ll tell you more about it next week, when I have more time.  But things are going good that way. 

We’re in a trio now with Sister Strada, and Sister Garcia, you already know her.  We had family home evening last night at Manny and Julian’s house.  It was good.  We lost the keys, but then we found them… in my bag.  Everyone was mad because everyone was searching and they were in my bag the whole time but it was fine.  And I’m really excited to still be here in Santee and I’m excited to be in a trio.  It will be really good.  I love you so much, and I’m so grateful for you.  You’re the best mom ever.  I was just telling Sister Garcia about this the other day.  I was thinking about Manny and Julian and how their mom is not there for them a lot and how they just need like motherly love and I said “I just wish that my mom could just come here and just love them.   And just be their mom for them.  Because they deserve that, they’re so special.  They deserve a mom like you, you took really good care of us.   But hopefully they will go stay with you guys over conference.  It’s still over a month away, but if anything they’ll stop by and say hi so you’ll be able to meet them. 

So just keep me in your prayers.  I know you do already.  Ok we love you, I love you.

Bye…

Week 53 - Week of Happy!

Hi everyone!
 
This week I found so many things to be happy about.  First, we went to the temple on Thursday with James to do baptisms for  the dead! It was so good to take James to the temple! Such a spiritual experience. It was the biggest privilege to be baptized in proxy for James's mom. And afterwards, I just felt such a big "thank you" from her. For helping and teaching her son, and then for helping her receive the ordinance as well. I love the gospel.  

Also, Thursday we did weekly planning, which I have come to dislike less after a year of doing it, I understand more of the necessity for it.  We also that day went and taught our family that got baptized. We have a thing where we see our investigator every day for the last 2 weeks before their baptism just to make sure they are ready for their baptism and that Satan doesn't get a hold of them.

Then on Friday we had a ward activity which started out as the most stressful thing ever but then turned out great. And the next day our sweet family from Haiti got baptized. ❤ they are so awesome. We are currently teaching the Carmona kids, they are looking good to get baptized on the 25th.

Saturday morning we went to the temple with James and another recent convert named José and the elders came and Manny and Julian came as well it was really good also our ward mission leader, Martin, came as well. Then we came home ate lunch and went to the baptism.  It was kind of crazy and it was a little bit last minute but I think it all turned out OK.  Julian was able to baptize our investigators and it was cool to be able to see him do that.

Sunday we had a special stake conference and Elder Hallstrom from the presidency of the 70 came and talked to us. My companion knows how to translate but it was good and I listened to it in Spanish and English. Then we had lunch with Martin.

Monday we had MTE's which is like a giant exchange with other zones in the mission. It was fun,  sister Sego came to Santee with me. We had a good day yesterday but we got lost on our way to dinner and almost ended up at the Imperial Valley! But it turned out really good and it was a good bonding moment.
 
Transfers are next week and I'm pretty sure I'll be getting transferred. I'll be fine, because all of the people here that I love so much I will see again in like 6 months or so, so it will be okay.

Keep praying, keep going. I love you all so much!

Hermana Fowlks

Week 52 - God is so good.

Hi everyone!

Good week this week. We did lots of good stuff! Yesterday was a super good day, full of miracles! We had zone meeting, where we gave a training on retention, or on keeping converts in the church. Which is cool because this last week we went and did family history with James so he can take names to the temple on Thursday! I'm so pumped. Then later on Monday we were on our favorite street, Bradley, with Julian.  We were going to see an investigator when we saw someone walking so we started talking to her and asked her if she knew anyone we could help.  And she said "Well this might sound selfish but you can help me." And we said of course! And she said "God is so good." And just broke down crying. It was amazing to see how the Lord put her right in our path.  We are going to see her tomorrow!

We also went on another hike today. It has become a P day tradition.  But we got super wet. We also had the old lady luncheon last week where we just go and eat lunch with old people and talk with them. It's super fun!

I love you all, have a good week!
Hermana Fowlks

 

 

Hiking in the rain!

 

Chick fil A !

 

 Me and my friend.

 

Zone Meeting February 2017

Week 51 - La gente piensa que vendemos drogas (people think we sell drugs)

 Hi everyone!
 

Tuesday we had an interesting night. We were on our favorite street, Bradley. I say Bradley is our favorite street because we're there literally everyday. The thing about Bradley though is that it's super sketchy at night. So usually we take Manny and Julian with us to walk there at night just in case. But Tuesday night, we felt bad for all the times we had taken them out and thought they might need a break. So we set out on Bradley (don't worry mom I took my pepper spray with me) and we see this guy and we start talking to him. It happened to be in the parking lot of a liquor store. And the guy working at the liquor store comes out and yells "Hey I thought I told you not to sell drugs in the parking lot!" And we were like "Uh were not selling drugs." And he just laughed and went inside. We finished the contact with the other guy (his name was Joshua) and it was like 8:55 so we thought that maybe we should start heading back to the car because it was like a 10 minute walk. (For those of you who don't know missionaries have to be in by 9:30.) but something about the guy who yelled at us caught our eye. So we decided to go and contact him! The thing was, that he was working as the cashier at the liquor store. And we thought, "well we can't buy anything there." But then I looked in and saw a paleta! (Which is like a popsicle thing) and I thought, hey we can buy that! So we did! And it turns out the guy wasn't interested, but he gave us a referral for his friend! So moral of the story is listen to the Spirit. And trust it! 

 

This Saturday a few of our investigators should be getting baptized! Their names are Stheker and Adeline. They are a family from Haiti, and are so awesome! One of the hard things about them is that Adeline doesn't speak any Spanish. Only kreyol. But it's okay! Because her husband and James translates for us. They are so so sweet and we love them. 

I love you all! Have a good week! I want to invite you all to find a way to make the gospel personal to your lives. And apply it. :) 

Hermana Fowlks  

McKell's mom here - as you can see McKell's emails are becoming short as she is very much immersed in her mission and the people she is helping.  She has had some wonderful experiences working with and helping refugees in the area as well as one very special family with two young men preparing for missions, Manny and Julian.   I asked her about giving more detail so we can understand how she is feeling about her mission now that she is one year in and this was her response:

 

"Sorry I don't put so much detail in my emails. It's like tunnel vision. I'm right in the middle of the tunnel, so I don't see much of the front or the back of the tunnel. I only see right where I am at. I'm so into my mission right now. I love everything. Especially our members here."

Hiking Kwaay Paay Summit

 Sunday selfie with Julian and Sister Garcia