February 22, 2016

Hi all :)

It has been a rollercoastery week!

We have been seeing miracles here in this little corner of the Lord's vineyard, and I am OH so happy to be going about my Father's work.

This week we were able to work with some of the members in the branch here and take some food to a less active. She had asked us 2 weeks ago for food.. her husband lost her job and they were living off of potatoes that they plant in their backyard. So we were able to get some food together and went over with some youth and other members. It was a cool experience for everyone. She looked so grateful and I think the members were especially uplifted. 

TO ALL WHO HAVE BEEN ON MISSION...do you have any good and creative ideas about how to work with members and get them more excited about doing missionary work? All suggestions are welcome. Hermana Fox and I are working on working with members more. 

Also.. a few weeks ago Yael.. our amazing investigator... asked us if we had any clothes for her little boys because they will be starting school soon. We were again able to talk to our members and we got a big backpack full of clothes to take to them. It was so special. And even her husband... the one that is really against the church came out and thanked us. We are still praying that his heart will be softened so that Yael will be allowed to come to church.

We did divisions this week and I was able to visit Yael again. She is doing amazing.. but is becoming more and more worried that her reading the book of mormon is upsetting her husband. We tried to help her know that when we do what the Lord wants, he truly blesses us.. and that sometimes we don't understand everything.. but truly loves us and when we do what he asks, we will be happiest. 

I have seen this over and over again on my mission. How GRATEFUL I feel to have the gospel in my life. I know that we truly can be happiest when we follow the Lord's plan for us. 

So we did divisions.. I was with a brand new hermana from California. Her parents are from Mexico.. so she came to the mission speaking spanish. She has about 3 weeks here.. and she definitely has Cali Swag. haha.. she is super fun. We had a great time together. :)

So Saturday after the divisions ended.. my poor comp got a super high fever again.. so we went back to the hospital to get her checked out and they did more tests on her.. she is doing fine now.. and they told her that all of her results came back normal.. but I'm not totally convinced... like our bodies don't just get really high fevers when nothing is wrong. Right?? Anyways. She is resting a little more and hopefully we will be able to get out and working by the end of this week.

ALSO.. tomorrow Elder Bednar comes to south america!! He isn't coming to our mission.. but we are recieving and satellite transmission to watch him. So that should be amazing. 

I learned something cool this week.. we had reading assignments to study and prepare us for Elder Bednar.. and one of the talks we had to read talked about how the Isrealites.. when they were crossing the Red Sea.. had to first get their feet wet before the water parted. Like.. she could have gotten to the shore and stood and waited and been like "What the?? It was supposed to have parted by now!!" But they carried on with faith.. doubting nothing.. and even had to enter into the water before the miracle happened. I loved that story. It helped me a lot. 

I am working and studying about how I can increase my faith. I am ever impressed by the brother of Jared.. who had such exceeding faith that the veil could not be kept from him. I was that kind of faith. 

I know this is the church of Jesus Christ. I love him. He is my Savior. 

And I am so grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who sent him to die for me. 

I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me. 

xoxo

Hasta la proxima :)

Hermana Ehlert

when we went to the ruins in a place called San Ignacio last Pday! It was SO fun and cool to see. They are the people called Jesuitas? I think? It was SO hot.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

Hello LOVELY PEOPLE! 

I hope you all had the happiest valentines day!!! I LOVE this holiday... because there is just so many things I LOVE in this world. I was grateful to be here on the mission.. doing something I truly LOVE.. and serving people I love as well. 

Anyways. 

THIS WEEK

It was such a happy one! We worked all week without problems!! YAY. update on my sicky comp. She is doing MUCH better. Sometimes she just gets tired quickly.. so sometimes we take breaks walking around.. but it was SO good to get out and walk around and visit people again.. and feel the incredible spirit of doing missionary work again. 

Update on a few people... so Shayel... we actually found out its spelt Yael... but it´s pronounced how I wrote it before. haha... she is just simply amazing. 

We were able to visit her twice this week actually. It had been more than a week since we were able to visit her.. so I was kind of expecting to have to restart and repass on a few things. But we got there.. and she immediately told us to come in and we sat down.. and she said ¨well.. I´ve been reading the book of mormon...¨and then continued to summarize everything happens in the entire first book of nephi. I almost died. She was in 2 nefi chapter 9!!!! I was literally so cool. We ended up talking about Lehi´s dream.. and we talked about how its not always easy to keep going.. and people are going to laugh and make fun of us for our faith in God and doing something that truly brings us real happiness. I felt I needed to talk about the power of prayer in my life.. and the help it has been to me. I told her when she feels alone.. and that when the world is against her she can always pray.. and know that she really is never alone. at this point.. we both had tears in our eyes. The spirit was SO strong. She ended up opening up to us after that and just telling us that a week before she talked to us on the street.. her husband and he were at the point of splitting up. She told us that 4 days before she met us.. she kneeled down and tried talking to God for the first time she could remember since she was a little girl. She didnt want her family to be destroyed.. and she didnt have any other option. Then a few days later.. she found us on the street.. and she felt we could have been an answer to her prayer. She told me that she felt very close to me from the beginning and that I was sister to her. Since the first time that we passed to visit her.. she knows that this is the path that God wanted to show her. But the thing is... her husband and all of her family and friends and his family.. are making a joke out of her faith. and asking her about what she is doing. She said it´s really hard.. and that she only reads the book of mormon and only wants us to come by when he isnt there. It was really sad. My heart broke for her. She is so amazing. She accepted the date to be baptized the 19 of March... but is very hesitant that she wont be ready or accepted by anyone in her family... and apparently things have just started to get a little better with her husband and so she doesn´t want to go and ruin and make things bad again.. but she feels in her heart that it´s true. WOW. Isn´t she just amazing?! Her 3 little boys are the light of her life.. and she just lvoes them so much. We were also able to visit her one other time after that and truly teach her about the gospel of jesus christ.. about faith, repentence, and baptism, and enduring to the end. she is amazing. Definitely some of the top most spiritual experiences that I have had on my mission. 

Lorena and Cristian... they are amazing as well. WE FINALLY commited Cristian to come to church.. and we truly thought he would come.. and then we get up sunday morning and it was POURING RAIN. Dangit. so they didnt end up coming. It´s hard for people to leave their houses when it rains so hard. 

BUT.. we did have one investigator come to church.. named Ivan. We met him this week.. single.. older guy. Lived in Barcelona and Buenos Aires for most of his life. he is very interesting... like he started crying when he told us that his dream was to be able to go to the states to watch NASCAR. I was too shocked to laugh in the moment... I´m totally smiling about it now. hahha. it was funny. But he is very passionate and kind hearted.. and we think he could be a great strength to the branch here. So we will see what happens with him. 

This is just so long.. 

Working with Hna Fox is a delight. We are really similar. She works hard.. and we have the goal to make this the best part of both of our missions so far. 

MAN.. I am just feeling SO grateful to be a missionary. I really felt the weight and the importance of the calling and the message that I am bringing to people this week. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father to be able to be a representative of His son Jesus christ to help minister to his children.

Umm.. we killed lots of cockroaches this week. LIKE LOTS. I saw a real live turantula.. wow dont know how to spell that... this week walking on the road. it was so impressive. 

Because I have been given much, I too must give. 

xoxox

Hermana Ehlert

February 9, 2016

HOLA :)

so it has been a pretty uneventful week. 

My companion had dengue.. so she literally slept about 20 hours a day for 5 days straight. seriously. she would get up to pee and drink a little water as she took her pill every 6 hours.. and then she would be back in bed. 

which left me to do a lot of walking around the pension and singing hymns to myself.. drawing.. reading.. thinking and thinking and thinking. to be honest.. it was kind of a hard week.  when I am constantly absorbed in the work and having spiritual experiences and visiting people.. its very easy to get lost in the work and not think so much about home... but when I was just in the pension and had the ENTIRE week to just sit and think and be by myself.. it was hard.  and then it also made me really anxious because we werent visiting our investigators.. and that is really hard. when you stop having contact with investigators for even a few days.. things start slowing down in their progression. I was worrying about that as well. so yeah.. it was kind of hard.. and I was SO anxious to start visiting people again. 

So saturday night.. we were able to go out for one hour and visit lorena and invite her to church... it about took everything out of my poor companion. she was a trooper though.. and had a great attitude. she doesnt have a fever anymore.. she is just super super tired still. 

then sunday came around.. and we got up and went to church. I was so happy to see the members. I havent realized until this sunday how much I truly love these members here.. I love them so much.. and am truly so grateful for them. They are like my family here. especially the branch presidents wife andrea. I LOVE her. she is the GREATEST. 

Anyways.. something really funny that happened during church..during the second hour.. we teach the youth in sunday school.. and we were in the class room.. and all the sudden we hear all of this commotion outside and so we open the door and the whole church was full of this terrible smell and smoke!!! so apparently the new air conditioning unit had caught fire because it was poorly installed. and the roof of the church is totally wood... so president is filling up buckets of water and throwing it on it...and one of the members went to the car to get a fire extuingisher... wow I dont know how to spell that... and everyone is just freaking out. well.. they got the fire out and everything under control... but the members were just so ruffled. i mean.. I love these members with my whole heart.. but to say that they are dramatic is an understatement. so we our branch president decided that we would end church then. it really did smell very bad in the tiny church.. so we said a prayer.. and ended. 

my comp went home and ended up sleeping the entire day. poor thing.  BUT.. this week she is feeling good and has energy and we are READY TO WORK. which is great. I am so excited to get back into the groove and routine of things. 

Something I learned in my studies this week: God exists and we exist and are here to have JOY. that is why god exists. president has said that a few times.. but it really hit me this week as I studied and read about the atonement and about christ and about the plan of salvation... this life is short.. so we might as well have JOY. 

it really hit me this week.. and I am trying to find joy in every day.. even in hard things. 

So I hope you all have the JOY filled week. 

I love my savior. I am so grateful for him. and his sacrifice and love for me. 

Because I have been given much, I too must give. 

xoxoxo 

HERMANA EHLERT :) 

me and my cutie companion.. in front of a recycled bottle christmas tree that they still havent taken down in the plaza. 

PS. IT IS HOT HERE

February 1, 2016

So this week has totally been so eventful! 

So my new companion! She is darling!!! She went to lone peak.. but graduated in 14. She is super cute! She has almost 9 months in the mission.. and is just eager and ready to start working. We are going to baptize the world this transfer!!... but only a few hiccups.. she has gotten really really sick.  It's a sickness called Dengue. and it is caused by mosquitos.. and so yeah. saturday she slept all day.. like literally all day. and that night.. she actually got up.. but then ended up passing out. for liek 15 seconds. I caught her on her way down.. but hit her chin on the corner of a desk. it was pretty scary. I had a member come pick us up and we went to the little hospital in corpus. man..can I just say that I am SO grateful for hospitals in the states? But yeah.. we went there and they were able to get her fever down.. she was at 102! I couldnt believe it!  She slept basically all day sunday as well.. and we couldnt get the fever to stay down.. so this morning some elders from the offices came and picked us up and we went to the hospital this morning. they are doing blood tests to make sure it isnt something else. and yeah. so it has been eventful. we havent had much time to actually work and visit people. I have been keeping myself busy.. drawing. reading. and listening to talks. and cleaning. But.. I am just worried about her. She will be out for atleast another week just resting. Its a bummer.. almost like everyone in the mission has been getting it. Yikes. really hope I dont. I am using so  much repellent. I go through a bottle a month.

But really quick.. one super cool story..

so at the beginning of the week.. we were teaching that girl named Shayel.. i think I had told you all about her. Well we went back.. and she had read all of the introduction the BOM.. and testimonies of the 3 and 8 witnesses and the testimony of Joseph Smith.. and basically taught us that as well. She is so incredible. She is so amazing. I am so happy to see where things go. Then at the end she was like Ï have a question... so I read in the testimony of Joseph Smith that we just need to follow Gods commandments and we will be saved and live with him again.. but what exactly is it that God expects and wants from us?" I almost fell out of my seat. It was so cool. We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ briefly and left her to read in the book of mormon. and invited her to be baptized and she accepted! It was such a spiritual experience. I am praying for the people here like crazy.. and especially during the time we wont be able to work as much because of sickness.

But I know all things are in the Lords hands. I know he has a specific plan for each of us. He loves us. and knows us individually. This is his work. He is in charge. And I am just so grateful that I have the opportunity to be a tool in his hands.

Love you all so much.

The more we serve.. the happier we are. 

Hermana Ehlert

i forgot to send this a while ago.. this was at our branch christmas party! 

the members are so darling.

pretty things in posadas

my area

me and hermana murphy

This is Lorena and her mom and Emanuel her son.. and her nephew! ARENT THEY DARLING?! And her baby too.  

me and a member carolina. she cleans the church every week with her kids. every week. I love her lots.