Week 49- Roswell, GA, Spanish Speaking

These are all the Spanish Speaking Missionaries in our mission.

This week has been good. A lot happened, as normally a Lot happens...
There are tons of Hispanics here and sometimes it just feels like
you're walking through Mexico... Because you won't see an English
speaker for a long time. Also our area is huge. We have one
investigator on date, but she lives 45 minutes away. Her family are
recent converts, and she's so cute. She's their grandma and she just
loves the scriptures and if she could drive to the font tomorrow, I
think she would.
We're teaching this one family. Let's just
start with the fact that walking up to the home we found a stray cat
with a purple cardboard cast limping around. (I'll include a picture).

Then we go in, and when we asked why they let the missionaries in they
sang us this song about when Jesus Christ knocks on your door, you let
him in. (I don't know who the writer is, but THANK YOU. It even said
they would be in twos and have black tags....)
We've been seeing a lot of miracles here. Less active families coming
back to church, and apparently the grandma was against the church in
the first place. It's funny because this area is known for its
success, but also a lot of problems. So I've just resolved to take
everything with the best attitude I can put forth and the Lord is
working wonders.
We had Zone conference this week and it was with 2 other zones. So
that was fun. One thing we've talked about particularly is the Book of
Mormon. At Christmas out Mission president gave us each a hard cover
Book of Mormon with certain instructions for how to mark it. I didn't
really get it at first, but after the conference, I did. So there are
phases, and phase one is marking all of he references to Jesus Christ.
I have been doing this and right now I'm in 3 Nephi. This morning I
read 3 Nephi 17 and it was just the sweetest chapter ever. I love how
the Savior changes his whole agenda when he sees the Longing in the
people's eyes (tears) and he stays just a little longer. He blesses
and heals the people and they all come and kiss his feet. He then
gives them a blessing so amazing, it can't be recorded.
"16 And after this manner do they bear record: The eye hath never
seen, neither hath the ear heard, before, so great and marvelous
things as we saw and heard Jesus speak unto the Father;

17 And no tongue can speak, neither can there be written by any man,
neither can the hearts of men conceive so great and marvelous things
as we both saw and heard Jesus speak; and no one can conceive of the
joy which filled our souls at the time we heard him pray for us unto
the Father."
Which reminded me of 1 Corinthians 2:9
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for
them that love him."

You can just tell the people loved the Lord so much. Christ talks
about how much faith these people have, and it appears to me that
these people must have been very obedient because in John 14:15 it
says "If ye love me, keep my commandments.".
These people's faith was apparent because of their obedience. And it
moves the Savior so much that it says "he wept". Twice.
The Lord loves us so much. We have been testifying a lot of His love
to the people here. Who better to put our trust in than He, who is our
loving father and is all knowing and all powerful?

I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He lives. He loves the
Lord's children perfectly. It is a marvelous work to witness others
experience his love.
I love and miss you!
Love,
Hermana Wallis

Week 48, Roswell, GA- Spanish Speaking "I think I prefer skirts!"

Wow. There was just so much in the letter you sent.
Congrats to William! That is so exciting that he earned the congressional bronze medal! And Happy Birthday to Grandpa!
Bishop Robinson will be great. That's a great Bishopric.
Dad was a great bishop. It felt really cool to know that he was
working in the Lord's work, just like me as a missionary. He also
opened my eyes to so many miracles. We see miracles in the mission,
but before I had never really noticed all the miracles that are
constantly taking place with HIS children. We sometimes just overlook
them as normal members, but this really is the best thing we can be
doing. (Ministering and loving others)

I've decided I prefer skirts. At least the ones I wear here.
We went to visit an investigator and she was vacuuming in a skirt. We
told her we like her skirt and she said that its just her way of
releasing tension and being free.
I would have to agree with her. They are more comfortable. I have no
desire to return to pants anytime soon.

This week was fun. We did a lot.
On Saturday we did this Blitz thing. Well, basically we helped the
fire department install fire alarms all over the community. Wow. There
are so many People that don't have fire alarms! Made me really
grateful.

We had dinner with this less active family, and as we were walking up
to the house, there was a policeman outside pulling all the kids
together. Apparently one of them ran into this other ladies car, so
she called he police on them. We then watched with the mom from the
apartment as all of the kids had to line up and apologize to this
lady.  Even the little four year old! (Which is the cutest chunkiest
kid I've ever seen) No damage was done at all. It was pretty funny.
Then it turned out to be one of the kid's birthdays. So everything is decorated.
I don't really know what movies are big or anything, but apparently
there must be a new superhero thing? Idk. But the table cloth was
covered with all of these gross movie stars (like the Rock and idk)
all in speedos.... Lol I wanted to die inside. (I'll send another
picture. We took a picture of our food and you can see one of their
eyes peeking from behind the plate...)

While visiting another less active family and it was just the girls.
One is 17 and the other is 12. They were hilarious. But they were
talking about all of these new social media apps, and politics.
It just made me so grateful to be out here and not back at home. We
showed them the Mormon message for youth "Stay in the Boat" and they
both admitted to getting distracted all the time and the older one
said she was starting to doubt. (She was the first one baptized in the
whole family!) well. It's because she wasn't reading her scriptures or
praying or going to seminary or church! (Her younger sister gave her
the best speech ever!) All of those activities invite the spirit. I
was reading Elder Wirthlin's talk "abundant life" and Heavenly Father
desires for us to have lives filled with light and joy! And that
happens when we fill our lives with the spirit.
We went to go find a man who was referral and when we finally found him, he

started talking about how he invites all missionaries of Jesus Christ
in. He's had all sorts of missionaries talk to him, but he said that
all the Mormon missionaries have been very young. Especially compared
to others who are usually "more experienced". We told him that yes, we
are very humble servants. We don't have much experience, but we know
that we have been called of God and that our message is true. Because it
really isn't our message, it's the Lord's and gratefully,  it's His
spirit who testifies to others of the truth. We then shared Moroni
10:3-5 with him, and testified of the Book of Mormon and he took the
Book of Mormon right out of our hands!
It was really neat because at first it seemed like he was saying, "you
are all so young. You will grow up, gain experience and change one
day. You're wasting your time now." But I know that we are not, and he
will learn that we are not. There is nothing better for us to do than
what we are doing now. Our lives are so filled with the spirit, it
brings so much joy! It is the Holy Ghost that gives us pure joy. It
can only come from our Savior Jesus Christ.
I know that He lives and it is such a privilege to serve Him.
I love and miss you!!!
Love,
Hermana Wallis

PS The girls came to church on Sunday

 I let them do my hair!

 Giving the birthday cake!

Week 47, Roswell, GA- Spanish Speaking

Dear Family,
This week was great! I feel so much better, like I know more of the
members, so we can better work with them.
We have on investigator on date, Elvira. She's planning for April 30.
She's a recent convert's mom! (The members are where it's at. 😉) She
is so sweet and so excited. I just love her so much already.

Sister Solis and I have a lot of fun together. She's such a blessing!
I just adore her so much.
A lot of the members here are from Mexico City and they talk with this
Mexican slang. It's hilarious. They call us all "Mijas". It's
hilarious. (I wish I could just show you how they do it.)
I bore my testimony yesterday. (Thankfully I didn't preach any false
doctrine this time.) I have accumulated such a weird accent, half the
branch was asking me if I was from Brazil. I'm taking it as a
compliment since there's a lot of supermodels from Brazil-haha!
The Spanish is good though. I just have a hard time understanding most
of the time. I think it's just mainly confidence now that I'm
companions with a native speaker. But most of the time when I don't
understand, it turns out I probably didn't want to understand. Thank
you gift of tongues. 🙌🏼
One of my favorite quotes from conference was by Elder Holland: “You
can have what you want, or you can have something better.” (I am a
Child of God by Elder Hallstrom)
This week we got on the subject about Lot's wife. Let's start from the
beginning with Lot. Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom and Gomorah,
which is kind of the equivalent of making your house face the strip in
Las Vegas. (Verses King Benjamin's people who pitched their tents
towards the temple Mosiah 2:6) When skiing, or running, or biking,
where you look is ultimately where you go. So Lot and his family wound
up in Sodom and Gomorah. (We can compare this to what we fill our
minds with every day. What pictures we look at on Instagram, what
music we listen to, what TV shows and movies we watch, all contribute
to where our tents are faced.) Because of the wickedness in the city,
God was going to destroy it, so he commanded Lot and his family to
leave  and NOT LOOK BACK. While leaving, The city was being destroyed
and Lot's wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt. The
sin was not only disobedience, but also that she looked back
longingly. She had left her heart and desires in Sodom and Gomorah.
It's interesting because her desires were in things that weren't even
there anymore. Had she stayed she would have surely been destroyed,
and because she didn't love the Lord with all her "heart might mind
and strength" she was destroyed. In Luke 17:32-33 Jesus tells us, "
32 Remember Lot’s wife.
33 Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever
shall lose his life shall preserve it."
We can lose our lives when we whole heartedly trust the Lord. Like
Elder Holland said, we can get what we want, or we can get something
better. The better things come from the Lord. Lots wife chose what she
wanted. And it destroyed her.
The first commandment is to love. To love the Lord. Mark 12: 30 "And
thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the
first commandment.
31: and the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these."
And to love our neighbor.
1 Corinthians 2:9 says "9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor
ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things
which God hath prepared for them that love him."
When we love the Lord, we love our neighbor.
We can lose ourselves in the service/ love of others, and complete
trust in whatever it is the Lord wants for us. (Remember 3 Nephi
13:31-34: 31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or,
What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all
these things shall be added unto you.
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take
thought for the things of itself. Sufficient is the day unto the evil
thereof.")
The Lord loves us and wants to bless us! I can't think of anyone else
I'd rather give complete and total trust to. It is such a privilege to
be apart of His service and in the perfect environment to "lose
myself" in His work.
I love and miss you!
Love,
Hermana Wallis

Week 46, Roswell, GA- Spanish Speaking

Where do I even begin?
Conference was great.
Of course I can't wait until we can read and listen to them via gospel library.
I loved the theme of service again. It is so true and so needed.

We were able to meet a few of the members this week. We don't have a
dinner calendar, which has its pros and cons. It's super nice because
we can be more efficient with our work, but the only down is getting
to know the members. So we have just been stopping by to share a quick
message, and they always give us food. But as we've talked with some
of the members, their #1 concern has been making Jesus Christ the
center of their lives.

I love this. It has been the theme of my mission, and my life. To be
"Christ Centered". The prophet, Thomas S. Monson, talked about this.
Basing all of our decisions off of Jesus Christ. When we do this,
Jesus Christ becomes a reality in our lives. It opens and changes us.
I know that Jesus Christ lives. He is our Savior and Redeemer. I love
being a part of His work.
I love and miss you!
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