Short and Sweet

Sorry everyone!  It has been a chaotic day today!  The other sisters in our district got in a car accident a couple weeks ago and we've had to drive them around so we've been extra pressed on time. Normally we are okay, but this week is transfers.  I'm actually staying another six weeks so nothing new there, but we are getting two new people in our district and a few in our zone!  We had a rougher week this week...seeing that two people dropped us, but we had two miracles that made up for them.  All I can say is that God is good and is always mindful of us all.  My companion and I are on cloud 67...not 9, but 67.  Ha ha ha!  I'll have a better letter next week and guess what?  Mother's Day is almost here!!!!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Arevalo (:

Miracles in Scotch Plains

Hello lovelies!

How is everyone doing? It's springtime, the sun is shining and the bees and spiders are back to torment me. ;) haahahaa! But you know what? It's all worth it! 

Monday:

We went to the Perth Amboy Beach! SOOOOO COOL! We played volleyball of course! I seriously love my zone! We have loads of fun together! It was especially funny because a man named Santiago(Dominican) came to the fence to watch us. The other team was struggling to get it together and every time the ball went in another direction or it smacked somebody in the face he was just roaring with laughter! It's the kind where they are uncontrollably laughing which then makes you laugh uncontrollably too! So awesome! 

Tuesday:

So today Sister Taggart, Mission President's Wife, went to our lessons with us! She helped us teach and just got to know us better. She is a powerhouse! I love that woman! We had two pretty neat experiences. The first with a recent convert named Dayvon who is 17 years old. We were talking about favorite scriptures and I started to share one of mine and he quoted it for me! He hasn't really been to church in awhile and isn't really reading the BOM so we were both shocked that he even knew that scripture! The second experience we had was with our sweet Dayana. She has been struggling lately with family stuff and so to be able to just sit and listen to her pray and pour out her feelings and gratitude to God was incredible. The spirit was so strong to the point of all of us just bawling together. Great comfort was there that night.

Wednesday:

So we were in Edison and decided that we were gonna do some contacting at the Menlo Mall. We met two awesome people and gave them both a BOM and they are allowing us to follow up with them this coming week.

Thursday:

Something that my companion and I have made a goal for the both of us this week is Humility. I think it finally hit the both of us today. We both just need to have a better understanding of each other. It was a real eye opener. We are just fine now, but if I could give any advice it would be this:

Don't pray for humility! Hahaha just kidding! But seriously, If you are going to pray for humility, you better be willing to work on it! Don't just throw your hands up in the air when it seems unfair...hello....YOU ASKED FOR IT! I love my companion. She is a real strength to me. Yes we are both different, but it's through those differences that together we can get this work done! 

Friday:

So today was a day of insane miracles! The first...was running into Sister Peck, Relief Society Pres, and her nonmember friend on the street as we were about to go contacting. She took us out to lunch, which allowed us to be able to not only visit with her...but also visit with her friend Craig! He has accepted to read the BOM and gave us his number so that we can follow up! Ah! Next we met a woman named Donka...I think...we couldn't really understand her...who we showed three pass along cards that had three different questions and asked her to pick a card any card. She chose the one that had this question: "What brings you the most joy in life?" She started bawling and said Christianity and bore her testimony. She also took a BOM. Jose Maria was our next person. We were crossing the street and my comp said, "Oh! I know that Asian guy!" So we walked up to him and she asked, "Do you remember us?" and he said, "No English." So then she asked, "Spanish?" I remember looking at her like,"Are you kidding me? This man is clearly Asian! Why on earth would his language be Spanish?" And the he nodded his head yes. WHAT?! I was so shocked and excited at the same time! I had my one Spanish BOM with me and I was so ready to get to know him and  testify of this incredible book! He accepted to read it and said he would meet with the Elders who I had to turn him over to. LOVE HIM! 

Saturday:

So we had a movie night tonight with members and investigators who we didn't even know were coming! We watched 17 Miracles. Bawled like a baby, but what's new? Hahaha anyway, the coolest thing about this though is that the investigator who we had no idea was coming is a friend of one of our members who is in our area. His name is Abraham. He was crying too and absolutely felt the spirit because afterwards asked my comp and I what time church started! YES! 

Sunday:

So a few weeks ago my comp and I were contacting and we met this kid named Alex who flagged us down. He asked my comp if she spoke Spanish and she said no and then pointed to me. Seriously word vomit just poured out of this kid's mouth he was so excited! I could've cried which I believe I did afterwards. Haha! He is from Guatemala and is 17 years old. He said that he was baptized there and when he moved to New Jersey 7 months ago he hasn't been able to find a church building close enough to his home. I was ecstatic! I asked him if I could get his number and have the Elders call him and arrange a ride with a member and such and he gave it to me. He then asked if I had a BOM that I could give him because he said that he's not allowed to have his phone out at work and just wants to be able to read the book while he's there. So I had my one book and gave it to him. I called the Elders immediately after I spoke to him and just prayed and hoped something would happen. I asked the Elders later on if they got in contact with Alex and they said he didn't answer. I was so sad because the spirit that I felt while this kid was talking to me was soooo strong! Anyway, I was talking to someone today at church and got a tap on the shoulder. I turned around and there was ALEX! What in the world? I asked him how he got here and he said he used his GPS. I don't know if he walked or got a ride from his sister...but...WOWOWOOWOWOWOWOWOW! I called the Elders immediately and told them they had to get to the church ASAP! Haha luckily they were already on their way when I called so that they could take Alex under their wings and get him comfortable with the Spanish ward.

There can be miracles when you believe. I love you all! This week I invite you to pray and ask Heavenly Father for help on something you feel like you need to work on and then take it on with determination in bettering your life!  

Con Mucho Amor,

Hermana Arevalo (:

 Perth Amboy Beach

 Lunch with Sister Peck

 Uprooted tree at Watchung Reservoir and Sister Hale 

THE HOLY GHOST IS KEY!

Hello lovelies!

This is definitely going to be a short email, but I love you all and your constant support!

The highlights of this week are:

Monday:

Started Dee Dee on her 7-Day Stop Smoking Program!

Tuesday:

Had an unexpected dinner at our part-family's house! It was Guatemalan and Argentinian food!

Wednesday:

Finally got my Tiwi card which means Hermana Arevalo can now drive the streets of New Jersey also we had an exchange that day and I got to stay in my area which meant I lead my area for a little bit without my comp! Super scary, but a very humbling experience! Also during our Zone Conference Sister Hale and I were awarded our favorite cereal for getting 3rd place out of all the missionaries in New Jersey based off of our role play video. SWEET! 

Thursday:

Read a talk by Elder Bednar called The Powers of Heaven. READ IT!

Friday:

Went to the church while Jovany had his baptismal interview! QUE LOCURA!!

Saturday:

JOVANY GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!

Sunday:

I was asked to give a talk during sacrament meeting! My topic was How the Atonement applies to missionary work. BEST TOPIC EVER!  The Atonement applies to missionary work because missionary work is God's work. "To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." And the only way to do that is through Jesus Christ and His Atonement.

I'm so sorry that this is a very brief email, but I just want you to know to never lose faith....EVER! I invite you all to read Ether 12 and pray to know if what you read is true. I promise that as you do this, you will have a better understanding of how God works and why He does some of the things he does.

Con Mucho Amor,

Hermana Arevalo (:

Picture: Sister Hale, Alie, Jovany, Marchello, and yours truly.

April 4, 2016

I've never loved beans so much!

I am so sorry for the crazy short email last week! I literally had no time! Anyway, thank you all so much for all the love! I have an address for you all:

419 Park Ave.
Scotch Plains, NJ 07076

Monday:

So I played four square for the first time in like two weeks! I was in heaven! And you better believe I bought a rubber ball! Hahaha! Two miracles for the day: Jenny, a sweet little baptist lady was told by her her pastor to never speak to us again and to give us back the Book of Mormon. After that we decided to let things cool down for like a week and then we recalled her and she said that she had talked to her brother her and he told her not to give us back the book and so she allowed us to go and visit her after her surgery! Miracle number 2: This recent convert named Dayvon actually likes me! When I first met him he was having a bad day and just seemed uninterested and I felt like we were not connecting. When we were visiting with his grandma we were telling them that I wasn't going to be there the next day because of exchanges and he was like, "What?! We were just starting to get to know each other!" But we reassured him that it was just for a day! YES!

Tuesday:

Soooo exchanges happened which meant....SPANISH!!!! I had an incredible lesson with a less active! She says she is a wholehearted member, but refuses to go to church because she feels uncomfortable with the ward and says that they are hypocrites. I asked her, "So do you go to church for the members or for God?" BOLD! She tried to beat around the bush with me...wasn't going to happen though! Don't worry, the lesson ended on good terms! After that another less active member took us out to dinner. His name is Jose and he is PERUVIAN!! And you better believe he took us to a Peruvian restaurant! And then after that I got to meet a woman called Maria! She knows my mom's side of the family! And she's Dominican and she gave us DOMINICAN FOOD!!!! I didn't eat it then...but you better believe I was going to have it for breakfast!

Wednesday:

So had the Dominican food today...I almost cried! Mi comida!! We also did a role play video...took us about 30 tries but we finally got a somewhat decent one!

Thursday:

So today we went to this place called Ellis Island. It's basically like a Family History center, which explains part of my huge desire to do family history work! Check it out! I also had the opportunity to teach a lesson with two members in our ward. One is from Peru and the other is from El Salvador. We have this investigator named Luis who has been taught in English, but wanted a few questions answered in Spanish because he is really taking this seriously which I highly respect him for! This was such a spiritual lesson and I can't even explain it! We all knew that he knew this church is true...but his doubts and billions of questions and holding him back! He's sooooo close!!

Friday:

APRIL FOOLS!!

So today we got to meet a Dominican man named Brother Brito...He's really weird...he was trying to set up Sister Hale and I up with his sons....nope. Something else we did was visited Jenny and we shared a video with her called The Power of Hope. I absolutely love it and invite you all to watch it! We also tried to pull an April Fool's joke on the Elders but it ended up turning into missionary work! Backfire, but not...

Saturday:

CONFERENCE!!!

My favorite talk from the Saturday morning session was Elder Stevenson's talk! Beautiful way to explain the importance of the priesthood! My favorite Saturday afternoon talk was definitely Elder Bednar's. I love how he calls the Holy Ghost the 3rd member of the Godhead. I feel like a lot of the time we forget just how important he really is. Also we were finding and as we approached a house we heard screaming...I told my companion that I wasn't feeling quite right and she said that we should just knock on the door. Two minutes later these people started running down the street. We asked why they were running and they told us to turn around because the house behind us was on fire! We turned around and the house was spitting out smoke everywhere!!! Two seconds after that there were like 3 firetrucks trucking down the street! INSANEEEEE!

Sunday:

Conference once again was a killer! My favorite talk from the Sunday morning session was definitely D. Todd Christofferson's. My favorite talk from the sunday afternoon one was definitely Elder Holland's! "The first great truth is that God loves us."

I love you all so very much! I hope you all enjoyed conference and I hope you all are having so much fun! I invite you all to choose one of these talks from conference and see how you can apply it in your lives. New Jersey is a crazzzyy place, but it's my crazy place!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Arevalo (:

NEEEEEWWWWW JEEEEEERRRRSSSSSEEEEEYYYY!

March 28, 2016

HELLO LOVELIES!

I made it...barely! Oh my word!

Sunday:

I got to attend the Provo City Center temple dedication which was awesome!! My song during sacrament meeting went really well! Today was such a bittersweet day. I asked my elders to give me a blessing to see me off, which was the BEST! I'm so proud of them and all they've been able to accomplish and I feel so blessed to have been surrounded by such worthy men. 

Monday:

TRAVEL TIME! Woke up at 4am. That was pretty dreadful! We got on the bus and then we were taken to the front runner. Yes ladies and gents, we had to carry 3 luggages through and off the train and then we had to also get on the tracks all the way down to the airport. It was insane. We had to form a gravy train...and be very fast...there were 20 people in our group. You can do the math. We got on the plane and boy was that a bumpy ride...it was so bumpy that  as we were landing in New Jersey I threw up. The throw up came out my mouth and nose...that was horrible! We got to Newark, New Jersey and met up with some of the missionaries. We sang called to serve and were given Book of Mormons and once we hit the chorus everyone started running and screaming. This is called Fear Buster we had to give away these books, which means talking to people. One of the people that I talked with that stood out to me was a man named Quinton. I saw him sitting by himself and told the companion who was with me that we should go talk to him. We asked him what he was doing in the cold and he said that he was thinking. That gave us the perfect set up. I can't remember what I said because the Holy Ghost took over at that point, but it made him cry. He said he would take the Book of Mormon and read it. If I had known the missionary ways, I would have asked for his number.  SO COOL! We got to stay at the mission president's home which was packed! Which reminds me, President told me that we didn't have enough Sisters to train all the new Spanish sisters and because I am the most fluent out of all the sisters he asked if for my first 12 weeks I could go English. I told him that would be alright...So as of right now I'm a Spanglish speaking missionary!

Tuesday:

My new companion is named Sister Hale. She is from Oakley, Idaho and is 7 out of 9 kids. She is seriously the greatest and sweetest lady! LOve her! Also today was my first day doing street contacting in my area which is called Scotch Plains, city of the drugs! Also my companion tried to kill me. I had no water and no food until about 9pm.

Wednesday:

We had to awesome door approaches that were totally led by the spirit! 

Thursday:

I also got to teach some spanish speakers english today which was awesome! The lady I was helping is from the D.R.

Friday:

It's our District leaders birthday tomorrow so we got him cake and ice cream, which was way fun!

Saturday:

We helped someone move and watched the Women's Conference! SOOOO good! The sisters and I also sang Behold the Great Redeemer Die.

Sunday:

I LOVE THE WARD! We also did some Easter Caroling as our door approach!

Sooooo sorry this is such a short message! Next week will be so much better and with loads of pictures!! Love you all! I invite you to take a christlike attribute that you feel like you can work on and do it!

Con Mucho Amor.

Hermana Arevalo (:

March 19, 2016

Hello lovelies!

This week has been so bittersweet. I have grown to love my zone so very much and it's going to be very hard saying goodbye. I'm so excited...but goodbyes are not my forte. 

Any who, Saturday was great as usual! I got to go to the temple and do an endowment session! Also, one of our noobies won the spoon after only playing once before. His name is Elder Cardwell! What a sweetie! He is way skilled! My district and the sister district got to do a scavenger hunt just for fun! We had to do things like recite the first vision to a teacher, say 3 nice things about your teammates, and say a sentence using a certain form or tense. It was loads of fun and my team won!

Sunday:

I finally spoke in sacrament meeting! It was unexpected because they normally choose one sister and one elder, but they chose my companion Hermana Allen and myself. INSANE! She went first and then I went after her. It was funny because I said hijole in my talk...not a word typically used in a talk, but I'm full of surprises! Elder Cardwell and Elder Rosaschi afterwards came up to me and asked me if I spoke Spanish before and I was so tempted to say no to tease them, but I said yes and it was like a sigh of relief for them because they were shocked at how fast I spoke. Stephen B. Allen came and spoke to us again and as usual, he was killer! My favorite thing said during this devotional was the fact that Brother Allen asked Heavenly Father how he felt about his missionaries before coming to speak to us and this is what He said, I can't remember word for word, but along these lines: He is grateful for us and wants us to be careful and bring His children home.

Monday:

Sometimes my district and I have these moments where we speak in a gringa accent and then just laugh hysterically! I love these moments! We have started this thing where we take one of the lessons and then look at the sections and then go to each sub section of the sections in Preach My Gospel and write an inspired questions. It is sooooo much fun! I absolutely love it! We had our Law of Chastity lesson with Hilda and her husband Jorge Miguel, which was intense but hilarious at the same time! It was hilarious because the teacher that played her husband was Hermano Figueroa...we know him way too well to even take him seriously, but we did. It was a neat experience at the same time because we really felt God's love for their family and them as individuals.

Tuesday:

We did lots of contacting today...I feel so much better about it! We performed This is the Christ during the devotional which was killer! My favorite thing from this devotional was this: "Love is the main ingredient of the gospel of Jesus Christ." I wholeheartedly believe this. It was not only obedience, but pure love that allowed Christ to do all that He has done and continues to do for us all. Also, I will be singing a solo this Sunday during sacrament meeting! I'll let you know how it goes! I will be singing Lord, I Would Follow Thee.

Wednesday:

So I'm part of the sandwich club apparently and that means that if there isn't something on top of it like a chip, anyone else in the club is allowed to smash your sandwich. So that happened to me. I forgot to cover it for one second and Elder Cadwell got it! Que Divertido! I also won the spoon a second time! SUPER happy about that! The elders got to teach me as myself if I didn't have the gospel in my life. It was super cool and they know me so well that they opened up the lesson with a hymn. Adorable! 

Thursday:

HAPPY ST. PATTY'S DAY! So we had our last skype trc with a member which was awesome! We wanted to talk about a Christlike attribute and I felt prompted to talk about patience before we even went to the skype call and we asked the member what she wanted to talk about and she said PATIENCE! 

Friday:

We had In-Field Orientation today, which was awesome because we got to see what our first day in the mission field will be like! I am so beyond excited and can't even explain it! 

Here's to DOS DIAS! I also invite you all to see how you can love someone more. That is something I've had to work on. It's hard, but absolutely worth it!

P.S. Elder Diaz found a scripture written in the men's stalls and it was this one: Jeremiah 4:19-21. Please check it out and let me know your thoughts!

 

 Picture 1: Hermana Avila and I! I'm gonna miss her!

Picture 2: Hermano Ostler/Sergio and my trio! We love him!

March 12, 2016

Hello lovelies!

First of all I want to apologize to those of you I didn't get to email last week! It was a crazy week! I love you all so much and appreciate the emails! Keep em' coming! 

Saturday:

This was probably the most chaotic day of the week only because for like 3 weeks, Hermana Virgin has been dealing with a terrible nerve problem in her foot. She was doing alright until Saturday night. She was in excruciating pain! She has really fair skin so that fact that she was paler than pale...I was freaking out! She is a strong cookie and doesn't normally cry...she was bawling her eyes out! Paramedics came rushing in and Elders Ah Sue and Wilson did too to give her a blessing which was incredible. I can't say it enough...I LOVE THE PRIESTHOOD! I feel so incredibly blessed to be surrounded by worthy priesthood holders who always have the power of God with them.

Sunday:

Two words...FAST. SUNDAY. I'm not gonna lie...this has by far been the longest day of my life...but it was worth it! We had loads of devotionals and the bearing of many testimonies! I loved being able to hear my zone share their testimonies about Jesus Christ and the love they have for him and how being in the mtc has blessed their lives. We also went to the temple one last time with DISTRICT A...I was happy yet so sad at the same time!

Monday:

One of the hardest days EVER! Saying goodbyes are seriously the worst, but that's okay! They will be out in the real world! Update on Hermana Peterson: She got called to the Travel Office and said she has a flight to Trinidad and has to be at the airport by 8pm. Soooo I didn't have a new companion after all! That's okay though, I would rather have her in Trinidad than still at the CCM. Something super hilarious that happened in class with Elder Esplin was this: We were working on creating conditional sentences for language and so it was his turn to stand up and says, "Si tuviera un perro como lo comeria?" I of course busted up laughing and asked him to please repeat his sentence. He looked so confused and then asked, "Dije algo malo?" So then I laughed harder and Hermana Avila asked, "What are you trying to say?" And then he says,"If I had a dog, how would I feed it?" And then we all roared with laughter and had to explain that what he actually asked was this: "If I had a dog, how would I eat it?" Seriously love that elder! 

Tuesday:

Today was our last lesson with Sergio...I was devastated. He has taught me so much during my time trying to teach him. Seriously my favorite investigator! This lesson was a little tougher, but it taught me to be bold and to listen more. Knowing that it's Tuesday...we got to perform Where Can I Turn For Peace. Gorgeous arrangement! We had Rafael E. Pino of the Seventy speak with us. He is literally the bomb.com! He is from Venezuela and therefore decided to give his talk in Spanish with a translator! QUE GENIAL! Us Spanish missionaries freaked the freak out! We were all over that business! My favorite quote from him was this, "Never think for one minute that the Lord isn't thinking about you." So so true!

Wednesday:

So I got to host again! LOVED IT! I met a Dominican elder who will be serving in Canada! I helped an Australian sister who is going to be serving in Tahiti. She will be learning French and Tahitian. CRAZY! The other sister I helped is from NEW JERSEY and she is going to Brazil! We also got a new District today! I was suppose to be super gringa with them but because I was so excited to meet them I just went ham with my normal Spanish! Hahaha! 

Thursday:

Today we had a conversation with our new investigator Hilda who has been with her husband for 13 years, but has never been married and wants to be baptized...she came to us today and asked us to help her know what to say to her husband because I invited her to bear her testimony to him to try and soften his heart about the whole situation. I think we were able to explain the how to well enough, but we will see how it went on Monday when we talk with the both of them. 

Friday:

We had our last TRC with Brian today which was somewhat hard because we feel like he's ready to be baptized, but he doesn't think so...we have taught him practically all of the lessons, but now it's up to him to see where he wants to go with this. We did some contacting practice today with Hermano Ah Sue which I'll admit was super hard. I guess I'm not that great at starting conversations...especially on buses...hahaha! So today was the first day that the new missionaries had gym! The sisters(3) and one of the Elders(Elder Cardwell) joined us! Elder Cardwell has some serious potential and I am so excited to see them all grow and progress in this beautiful game! Do you want to know the best part of today? I got my TRAVEL ITINERARY!! I can't believe I leave to New Jersey in 9 DAYS!!

We are literally down to one more full week in the CCM! These last 5 weeks have seriously flown by so quickly! Thank you all so much for your constant support and love! This week I invite you to pick a scripture of the week, memorize it, and share it with someone. I know that if you do so you will be blessed and someone else will be blessed too! 

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Arevalo (:

 

 Picture 1: Elder Wilson, Elder Ah Sue, Hermanita, and yours truly.

 Picture 2: Same peeps just more exciting!

 Picture 3: Hermanita, yours truly, Elder Stiles, and Elder Hammar( Swedish Slasher).

Picture 1: Hermanita, yours truly, Elder Walker, and Elder Christensen.

 

 Picture 3: My Zone.

Picture 2: Hermana Petersen, Hermana Baldwin, yours truly, and Hermanita.

 Picture 1: Hermana Keys and I love matching!

Picture 2: FLIGHT PLANS!!