Answers to Mom's Questions...

Mom asked:  How is Torreón?!  I figured you would go back there, but I really thought you would be in Durango as a STL for another transfer or two as well....

Dear Mom, 

Torreón is great! It´s super different than Durango. Durango is a really small city and there are only four wards where there are sister missionaries, but here in Torreón and Gómez Palacio and Lerdo (two smaller cities that are close by) there are more areas for sister missionaries. But like I mentioned last week, they´re actually closing a lot of areas now because we´re fewer and fewer missionaries. Right now there are only about eight American sisters in the entire mission. Two of them finish and return home in September, one in October, and two other American sisters and I finish in November. I heard that about two more will arrive when we leave, but there are so few of us!! Crazy, huh?

I think that the heat in St. George is pretty comparable to the heat here in Torreón. I have never drinken so much water in my entire life. Or sweat so much. But don´t worry about me, I´m fine as far as my health goes. And I´m using a ton of sun screen, long-sleeved button up shirts, tights, and an umbrella so that I don´t get sun burned. But I´m already super burned. Ha ha!

I also got to see my trainer on her last day here. She went home on Thursday. I saw her on Monday, my first day here, and it was such a huge blessing. I was still emotional about the transfer from Durango to Torreón and when I saw her I just cried a little bit. Being able to cry and talk to her helped me feel so much better. She really was like a big sister to me and I look up to her a lot. She said she´s probably going to go to Utah for Conference in October, so I´m going to give her our address so she can meet you all. You´ll love her.

Speaking of conference, can you please send me a Conference Ensign from this past conference in the package?? We normally get them in both English and Spanish but this time they only arrived in Spanish. Thanks!! 

I love you! 

Hermana Southard

When in Rome.....

Hola Familia!

Surprise!! I was transferred today and I´m back in Torreón. The truth is, this change was a lot harder that the other times I´ve been transferred. I absolutely LOVED my old ward and area, and a very special investigator named Maryam is being baptized on the 20th. I wanted so, so badly to be in her baptism. And it´s hard for me to leave Durango after being there for 9 months out of the 11 months I´ve been here in México.  I definitely was not expecting to be transferred so soon, which was also hard. I was hoping to stay in the area another transfer, but I hope I´ll be able to at least return to Durango one more time before the end of my mission. Funny story, when I went to write my mission president today I saw that he responded to my letter on Wednesday and told me to prepare myself to leave the area. There was no way I was going to see that before today, but thanks anyway for letting me know :)  Please pray for me as I adjust to this new change. 

The ward that I´m in is called Roma, and my companion´s name is Hermana Luna. We´re the Sister Training Leaders here in this part of Torreón, so I´ll get to keep working with the other sister missionaries here. I´m grateful that I´ll get to keep serving as an STL because I have learned so much these past three months. It´ll be a time of a lot of personal growth here. 

It´s also kind of funny because I was actually just in Torreón last Friday for the monthly Leadership Council. Towards the beginning of the Council we always review the mission goals and what was accomplished in during the month, and wow. Between April and May there was a huge change. In general everyone is contacting more, having more lessons, and there are a lot more baptisms. And it´s amazing because there are fewer and fewer missionaries arriving in the mission and they´re closing areas, but we´re accomplishing more with fewer missionaries. It was such a testimony to me that the Lord is truely hastening His work, and that the harder we work the more He blesses us. Apart from all of that, the training that Presidente and the assistants gave us was great. Presidente talked about obedience and the assistants about how asking inspired questions helps us to find our investigator´s needs. We laughed a lot at times and the Spirit was strong, and we also ate carne asada afterwards, so that was great too ;) I love going to Leadership Council and learning from Presidente and the Assistants. Tomorrow we have Zone Conference, where we´ll teach everything that we learned in Council. I think we´ll have a lot more time for our area than my companion and I had in Durango, because here we only attend one Zone Conference instead of two, and we only have four companionships under our care instead of seven in Durango. This is going to be a completely different experience, but I have faith that we´ll be able to do what the Lord wants us to here. 

Thank you for all of the pictures and emails. Thank you for your love and prayers and everything that you do for me even while I´m here. I love you all so much and please continue praying for me. I´ll be praying for you!

Love,

Hermana Southard

Ashley's Letter to her Mom today...

Ashely's Mom:
Ashley wrote me a letter with some replies to a few questions I had asked her last week...here are some excerpts:  I asked Ashley about her best moment during the week, her hardest, recipes, whether or not they got permission to go running (she told us she was trying to get permission) and I asked her to tell us about somewhere they went during the week...just some random questions :) a mom wants to know. (details ;)  She did a good job answering!   She also forwarded me an email that went out to all the missionaries in her mission that spotlighted her and her companion for the work they are doing...I will attach it at the end of this email.  (FYI--Ruby is someone we met during conference when some of Ashley's ward members traveled here.  They stayed with her.  She lives in BYU married housing and was really nice!  She is from Durango.)   

Excerpts from Ashley's letter:

...Ruby, is down here visiting her family and I´m going to give her letters to take to you guys. She lives in Wyview and said she has your phone number already. She also took a picture of me to show you when she gets back, but she´s not going to be back until the middle of June. 

The best moment this week.....There were a lot of good moments this week. On Tuesday we had a really good day. I was on a comp exchange in our area with another sister and we taught a lot of lessons and contacted a lot of people and found a lot of new investigators. We have to send a text message to the assistants every night with the number of lessons we taught, new investigators we found, and people we contacted. When I sent them the numbers they sent a reply that said, ¨Wow.¨ It made me laugh. Also, on Friday we had a conference with Presidente and we asked Hermana Ramos if she could accompany us later that day. She is awesome and so willing to work with us whenever she´s in Durango so we try to take advante of that :) We had already asked another sister in the ward to accompany us so we ended up doing impromptu splits- my companion went with Hermana Ramos and I went with a 21 year old returned missionary named Maritza Flores. It was awesome and such a wonderful surprise blessing, being able to do splits. 

The hardest moment this week was when only one investigator went to Church yesterday. It is such a struggle getting people to Church and I feel like we´ve tried so many things and they still don´t come to Church. The people here are really kind and open, so it´s easy to contact people and teach them, but when it comes to making a commitment and attending Church, they don´t follow through. They may have a lot of faith in God but they have a hard time putting that faith into action, and they don´t fully comprehend the blessings that we promise that they will receive for going to Church, so they don´t go because it´s more comfortable that way. 

Yes, we run about three mornings every week. It´s super hard to get up and get going, but it feels so good to be getting exercise. 

I do have a few Mexican recipes. A few different burritos, arroz con leche, plátanos con crema, and a few others that I´m going to try when I get home.

Somewhere we went....on Saturday we went to a tianguis (like a swap meet) in the area of Industrial 2 to contact people. There are always a ton of people so it was a great opportunity to contact and teach people there. 

Some photos:

Celebrating 1 yr with Ben & Jerry

Hermana Tuitupou and I are from the same generation- 12 fingers for 12 months

with Hermana Ramos

life moves fast

Hey family!

Wow, can you believe it´s already been a year since I entered the MTC?? This past year has been so wonderful. So hard at times but so, so wonderful. I´m so grateful for every day and every experience that I have. It´s been a year of a lot of blessings and growth, just like the next six months will be. 

The familia Ramirez Perez was baptized on Saturday! It was kind of a crazy day, because two investigators who the other sisters in the ward are teaching got married so they can get baptized and the ward threw them a party on Saturday night, so all of the members went straight from the baptism to the fiesta. But on Sunday they were confirmed in Sacrament Meeting and the Spirit was so strong. After they had all been confirmed the bishop had them stand in front of the congregation for the welcoming vote into the ward and they were just glowing. I thought about how beautiful it will be when they go to the temple a year from now to be sealed. And in the future they´ll have three missionaries of their own.

Tell Zack Hulsey and Kyrstin Millet and Andrew Davis congrats!! I feel like every time I open my email someone else is getting married. But I guess life continues after the mission. :) And Jenna, congrats again. I am so excited for everything that´s waiting for you at BYU! So much has happened in the two years since I graduated from high school, and I am so grateful for it all. I feel like I just keep repeating the same things, but I really am so content right now. I´m grateful for everything that has happened over the past year and everything that will unfold over the next six months. I´m grateful that everything is well at home and that you guys are happy. I love you all so much!! I know that the Church is true, and it´s the restored gospel that has brought me so much happiness. The Plan of Salvation is perfect. 

Love, 

Hermana Southard

La familia Ramirez Perez

Misioneras del Barrio Industrial: Hermana Mireles (green shirt) was transferred to Torreón today

They just put up this ¨Durango¨ sign last week!

It´s in front of the Central Camionera, which is where we always leave from when we are transferred

Another Week

Hola mis queridos!

First of all, congrats Jenna for graduating from Seminary and Lindsey for surviving the AP test! You guys are stellar. I still can´t really believe that Lindsey is going to be dating, driving, and in high school when I get back or that Jenna will be at BYU. But I guess if I´m growing up that means that you guys are too. 

So like I told you during the Skype call, a family of investigators is going to be baptized this week! We´re so excited. It´s a family of four: the two parents and two sons who are 10 and 9 years old. They also have a little baby who is 3 months old. We received their referral back in March; the mother and brother of the mom of the family was baptized about 9 months ago in another ward and the elders met her in her mom´s house and took her address so we could visit them. We contacted them my first day here in the area and we´ve been teaching them ever since. They are a golden family. It took a couple of weeks to get them to go to Church but since then they´ve been super active in the ward and the ward members have been so awesome in reaching out to them and fellowshipping them. It´s the first time in my mission that an entire family is going to be baptized, and I am so excited for the change they´re making together. And I´m especially excited for their three sons to become missionaries a few years down the road :)

To answer your question about street contacting Jenna: the people here are really approachable and pretty easy to contact. We usually just greet them by saying ¨¡Buenas tardes!¨ (or half-yelling it as we run to them from across the street) and begin talking to them. The most effective contact is when we can pull out the scriptures and teach them right there in the street, because they´re more likely to feel the Spirit and accept another visit. But we´re always trying to be creative in the way we contact. I´ve heard a couple of success stories of missionaries who contacted simply by asking the question, ¨Do you know anyone who wants to be baptized?¨ and the person responding that they do, and turning into an investigator. It was super hard for me to contact at the beginning of my mission but I´ve gotten over that fear. Our area is huge and there are always a ton of people in the street, so we can easily contact about 200 people each week.

Two weeks ago something really special actually happened: an investigator contacted us! We were walking down the street when a teenage kid walked out of a store and told us that the guy working inside wanted to talk to us. We went in and introduced ourselves and he asked us when and where the church meetings were. He said he had been praying a lot and wanted to know the truth. Last week we taught him all of lesson 1, the Restoration, and he accepted it all and went to church. The catch? He doesn´t live in our area, so we can´t keep teaching him. On Sunday we introduced him to the elders in Barrio Aeropuerto so they could set up an appointment with him. When we told them how we found him and that we had already taught him the Restoration and he already had a testimony one of them said to us, ¨Hermanas, don´t spoil us so much!¨ Ha ha we kind of just handed them a baptism on a silver platter. Hopefully he continues to progress with the elders.

Also, another miracle happened this week. About three weeks ago I lost my hymnal. I thought I had left it in an investigator´s house but when we went back the next day she said she hadn´t seen it. I was kind of bummed because Grandma had given it to me for my birthday last year and it´s kind of inconvenient, but on Wednesday during the ward activity the bishop told me that my hymnal had shown up in the back of his truck and that he had it there for me. I was shocked because there´s no way I could have left it in the bishop´s truck, but all I know is that Heavenly Father answers even the smallest prayers. 

I love you so much and hope you have a great week. I´ll be sure to send you pictures next week of the baptism. Keep praying for the investigators that are going to be baptized, the familia Ramirez Perez. I know this work is true; the Lord is working with us and we see great things every day. 

Love,

Hermana Southard

Hey Family!

Hey family!

Well, like you said I feel like I don´t have a ton to say because we just talked yesterday. It was so good to see and be with you! Although our call just reminded me that I am going to be so awkward when I get back. Especially now that I apparently speak with an accent....I believe you, but I seriously heard no difference between the way I was speaking and the way you were all speaking :) 

Thanks for showing the video to Aubrey and Maren. I had 10 emails from Aubrey and 2 from Maren in my inbox today, so I guess it was effective. I´m attaching a picture we took yesterday with the other sisters in our ward.....I actually got ready to talk to you guys, but lots of wind and bad lighting ruined that fantasy. 

If you have any other questions Mom, you can email them to me and I promise I´ll take the time to answer them :) I´ll also take pictures of my house since I know you like to see that and Grandma Rosie, I´m going to take pictures of the roses outside of my house. 

It really was so good to spend time with you yesterday. I love you so much and feel like the Lord has blessed you and protected you so much while I´m gone. It was really hard at the beginning of my mission to be away from you, but I realized I had to put my loved ones in the hands of the Lord and keep moving forward in faith. I feel so blessed to be out here and so grateful that you all are well. Sorry I don´t have much to say, but there will be more to tell next week. I love you all!

Hermana Southard

hola, qué tal?

Hey family!

How are you all? I can´t believe I´m going to get to talk to you this week! From the time I arrived in the mission field until I talked to you at Christmas seemed like it would never arrive, and now I can´t believe we´re going to talk again. How ´bout we wait another month? Just kidding, don´t have a heart attack Mom, I´m very happy I´ll be able to talk to you :) I´ll be calling at 7:00 Utah time now...we had to make a slight change of plans. 

This week we went to Torreón again for Leadership Counsel (the first photo is of the Counsel- the Zone Leaders, Sister Training Leaders, Assistants, and Pdte and Hna Ramos). I love hearing from President Ramos. He spoke about how we can help our investigators attend Church, which is a challenge that we all face as missionaries. I think it´s one of the hardest parts of the work, getting people to go to Church. But here as a missionary I´ve come to appreciate even more the blessing of being able to go to Church every week to learn and to take the sacrament to renew my baptismal covenants. I love Sundays because we get to go to church, and it´s been so interesting attending Church here in México and seeing how the Gospel is the same all around the world. It´s also been so interesting and strengthened my testimony so much because there is such a dramatic difference between the members of the ward who live the Gospel every day and the people that we meet and interact with on the street. Living the Gospel changes our lives in every imaginable way, and the Lord blesses us with a much better quality of life. I am so grateful that we live the Gospel as a family, and I know that all of the blessings we receive are because we have the Gospel in our lives. 

This week is going to be another crazy busy one. We have two zone conferences on Tuesday and Wednesday and comp exchanges thrusday, friday and saturday. And on Saturday there´s a stake Mother´s Day activity, and the stake president´s wife asked me to sing as a part of the program. I am so excited! Even though you won´t be there Mom, I´ll be thinking of you. And I hope you know that the people here have taken such good care of me. In every ward I´ve been in there have been women who I´ve been able to turn to for help with any type of problem, and they have always treated me with such love and charity. ¨Charity never faileth¨. The pure love of Christ can always be found inside a virtuous woman who seeks to serve others and acts as a mother to all who need her care. I´ve been so blessed to be surrounded by mothers here in the mission, and have been blessed with such a wonderful mother of my own. I love you Mom! Everyday I realize more and more that I want to be just like you when I grow up. I love you so, so much, and I can´t wait to tell you that in person on Sunday (:

Love,

Hermana Southard