luchando hasta la lucha eficaz (fight the good fight)

Hola mi familia,


This week I read a scripture that gave me another perspective to enduring to the end. In the story, Ammon and his brothers find king Limhi and his people. They are held under a heavy law by the Lamanites and they want to escape from bondage. The words of king Limhi to his people after Ammon and his brothers came to help go like this:


O ye, my people, lift up your heads and be comforted; for behold, the time is at hand, or is not far distant, when we shall no longer be in subjection to our enemies, notwithstanding our many strugglings, which have been in vain; yet I trust there remaineth an effectual struggle to be made. (Mosiah 7:18)


I realized that many times we see that our struggles have been in vain and we have accomplished nothing or better put, we didn't accomplish what we thought we would. At times we begin to question God why couldn't we do it if we were doing everything we could to be obedient and we were doing everything that should have guaranteed the results that we wanted. I love what king Limhi teaches his people: there remaineth an effectual struggle to be made, or in other words NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO GIVE UP.


This week I saw that the effecutal struggle had finally came to pass with one of our on and off investigators here in Pinos. Maybe you remember me mentioning the name Irene. Whelp, here's the news: Irene has two weeks attending church and basically invited herself to be baptized.

Seven months of vain struggles and one effectual struggle that has results of a changed woman who has willingly accepted the gospel to bless her life never crossed my mind as an experience that I would have in the mission.


If you don't believe that God's timing is better than our idea of timing let me tell you that God's time is infinitely better than our own. If you think about it, He was the one who created time and we as humans with a wristwatch think we can control God's creations. God doesn't ask us to control time, He simply asks us to keep on struggling until we have discovered and accomplished the effectual struggle.


Thanks to all who shared their favorite talks. I hope you enjoy something from the conference every day this week.


luchando,
Hermana Beardall

ENJOY IT.

Dear Family,

Greetings to all.

This week we had divisions with our sister training leaders and guess what? I got to work with Hermana Noh! She only has one change (6 weeks) left and she goes home (ahhh how weird). I enjoyed every experience she shared with me and it made me realize that the mission is SHORT. Time is limited and you have to use ever bit of it working hard trying to bring the salvation unto all you possibly can. To be honest, 18 months is short but I am not going to let that keep me from finishing strong and enjoying every minute of it. To be hones, I am sincerely enjoying every minute of my mission. 

We visited Familia Villafuerte this week, well actually only Renata. We talked about general conference and she told us how her desire to be baptized, to be member of God's church had grown. We decided to talk with her to see if there was a way that she could receive permission from her parents to be baptized. In the end, we decided that we were going to fast and that they were going to ask for a signed letter from her parents, giving her permission as well as Mauricio her brother to be baptized. We are hoping and praying that they will be able to be baptized this weekend!

Today with Maria Dolores we learned how to make Pan de Naranja or Orange Bread. Maybe it sounds weird but it is absolutely delicious! It is basically a cake- maybe the picture shows better that my word how delicious it tasted. We have more confidence with Hna Dolores and we see that she enjoys our visits cooking or learning the gospel- both of them equally enjoyed.

Two short things to finish:

1. My favorite general conference talk this week was Jeffery R Holland's talk. I invite you to read it.

2. I want to hear which talks were your favorite and a favorite quote from the talk. 

Whelp. Gotta go. I hope you know I love you all!

Hermana Beardall

Easter Sunday

Beautiful spring flowers in the trees here in Celaya

G I R A S O L E S. (sunflowers)

Dear Family,

Before I say anything, I just want to let you know that I am extremely grateful that because of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, I AM TRULY HAPPY. 

This week has been a beautiful week full of skin-burning sunshine and beautiful "Diosidencias" as Hna Womack says ( or Godly coincidences in English).

NUMERO UNO: This week we finally visited M D. She let us enter her house and we taught her in preparation for the General Conference. At the end of the lesson, she invited us to do an Family Home Afternoon with her niece A S who is currently less active along with her three sons. We readily accepted the invitation, surprised and more than happy to participate. 

I loved it. I watched as M D took control of the event, assigning the opening and closing prayer, choosing the hymn, and participating immensely in the lesson. I watched how her excitement made her less-active family members begin to participate, the rebelious teenage sons listening closely to what was being said (even if it was a few minutes here and there :) and A willingly accepting our invitation that they could join us in the conference. The way everything unfolded couldn't have any more perfect and it was clear that the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ really is a guide and blessing to unite the family. 

NUMERO DOS: La Conferencia General de La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días. Once again, I watched the conference in Pinos Ward (and for those who were asking, I watched it in Spanish). I can't believe it has been 6 months since I started here in Pinos. The members ask me if I want transfers but with a firm NO I enjoy every moment I can be here in Pinos.

Anywho... General Conference. R came to the conference with her sister E but because M was embarassed because he forgot his sunday shirt, he didn't come (He is 11 yrs old and the most animated person I know to come to church... but only when he has his Sunday Shirt :) D came to the conference too! I was so happy to see everyone that came but even more to see our investigadors there. I was praying so hard that there would be atleast one talk that caught their attention and gave them the answers they needed. And you know what? I think God heard my infinite prayers :) 

I honestly can't think of ONE talk to share with y'all but I will share snippets of a few talks that I like- Things I learned from one of the speakers. One thing that really struck my mind was the talk by Quentin L. Cook. Crazy enough, I had been thinking about sunflowers all week long and to hear Elder Cook talk about sunflowers caught my attention. I am not exactly sure if these are his exact words because it could be personal revelation or errores in the translation from spanish to english, but I liked this idea: "That which will protect us and guide us is our righteousness." Being obedient and righteous have the blessings of protection and direction. Like the Girasoles (sunflowers) having our mirada (sorry I can't remember how to say this word in english) set on Christ, our spiritual growth and strength is clear. As sure as the sun will rise every day, Christ is always there. His light is bright and possible to find and follow.

I hope General Conference was just as wonderful or more for you as it was for me. 

Thank you to everyone who has been my teacher and example in learning and living the gospel. Because of the gospel I AM TRULY HAPPY.

HAPPY HERE IN PINOS,

Hermana Beardall

And we keep on rollin'.

Dear Family,

This week has been crazy and I am excited for a normal (ha) week again. (Can you have a normal week in the mission?) I got sick (went to the doctor and now I am fine) and had to go to Queretaro to renew my Visa. Practically we haven't worked in our area at all this past week but here we are- still on rollin'

We have been working with Dolores this week. Dolores is Hna Lara's sister and the only one in the family that isn't member of the church. She told us that she doesn't want a "i told you so" conversion but a real and personal conversion to the gospel. She told us that she knows that it is true and we think she just needs to know the way she can recieve a confirmation not from her sister but from God, an answer JUST FOR HER. Stay tuned to see what happens.

Renata and Mauricio? Whelp, we are still waiting for their parents to return. Here we are- and we keep on rollin'. They are pretty active in the church and you could almost say they are members but the are missing one important step- baptism. :)

If you can, read this talk called Living with a Purpose: The importance of real intent 

https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/worldwide-devotionals/2015/01/living-with-purpose-the-importance-of-real-intent?lang=eng

And think on something he says: "I got stars because that is what I was reading for."

Feel free to share any thoughts ideas scriptures, etc that come to mind. 

Sorry I can't write much but know that I love and think about you every day.

Love,

Hermana Beardall