Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Another Great Week of Working Hard and Miracles


I honestly don't know what happened this week. Haha. My mind is blank!
I remember one day it snowed, and the next it was 60 degrees!
We've been blessed with finding a few more people to teach, and our
lessons have been really great! I have been trying really hard to
study as much as I can, and rely on the spirit, I am so grateful for
my Heavenly Father and His help :):)

Fun facts of the week:
I went to Illinois on Wednesday! Holla.
Tracting this week consisted of knocking Into 3 naked people. I don't
understand.
Our investigator Rogelio asked me if my mom is from Mexico, cause I
have a Mexican accent...YES. :D made my life.

We went to Red Lobster last night so Hermana LaPine could teach her
brother! It was really cool, and delicious ;) also I sinned cause he
hugged me...haha lol oops!

I Really strengthened my testimony of GODS TIMING AND D&C 84:85 = we
were at this AWESOME LESSON with this girl named Alicia, apparently
the Hermanas have taught her before, but it's always been super
awkward or something. We taught her the restoration, and the spirit
was so strong, it was so amazing to see Gods hand helping me. She had
so many questions, and with His help, I was able to pull out
scriptures and answer her questions and testify! It's amazing, to see
how I have worked so hard to strengthen my testimony, and God was able
to fill my mouth with the answers she needed. She's totally prepared,
and so are we. I've been studying so hard and asking for Gods help,
and I can see His hand. Times like this I feel so blessed to be a part
of his work :)
Here's to another great week of working hard and miracles!:)




Monday, January 12, 2015

January 12, 2015

we had Zone meeting on my birthday!!, so good. i learned so much and felt so pumped and ready to work!! i am so grateful to be here.
I felt so loved this week! Thank you for all the letters and packages, and LOVE. I'm so grateful to be here on my mission, and to have made it to age 20! I'm so old!!
The members are so sweet, we had an awesome dinner, and lots of cake and goodies:)
Paige eating Kentucky Fried Chicken in Kentucky!
We've been visiting a girl named Jenna, she's about 30 something and she's in the hosptial, she's an alcoholic and it's killing her.. She's been there for about a week, and she now has developed pneumonia, and the flu. We visit her quite often, and we sing hymns for her and share our favorite scriptures. it is a miracle, and it was such a happy day because we asked her if the next day we visit her, we could bring her anything she needed? and she said, a Book of Mormon.

JAWS DROPPED>
it was amazing. we brought it over to her, and she was so excited! she wanted to know all about it, and prophets and how god hears our prayers and how we can receive answers! it was amazing. i feel so blessed to have a testimony of my Heavenly Father and that i know he hears me, and that he answers me. 

i have noticed, He answers us through others. when we meet the needs of others, we learn something, and its always what we need. 
i am so grateful to be serving! 
i am learning so much, and i know we don't have to feel inadequate. i know he has a plan for every single one of us, and he is helping us every step of the way. we are never alone :)

it was kind of a hard week, with a bunch of meetings and car troubles, we had just a little time to actually work. 

"I have often said one of the greatest secrets of missionary work is work!"-Ezra Taft Benson.
^RT i testify of that :)

so sunday, all our plans changed and it was a craazy day, so we decided to visit this potential, jose.
OH.
MY.
GOSH.
he wasnt home-but his three roomates, ernesto andres and diego were.
we taught them the restoration, and the spirit was so strong! i dont thinkive ever felt the spirit that strong, and ive ever noticed His Help that much. i know if we study and ask god for help, he will bless us, and he WILL help us. 
i am so grateful to be here, learning so much and to be able to truthfully testify, and to WANT to help others come unto Christ. 
those men accepted our invitation to be baptized.
this day made this hard week so much better! 

when we include god and the spirit in our lives, we become so much happier:))

i love you all have a happy weeeek!!!!(:
hermana eastwood

oh wait i forgot! best part!!
fun fact of the week:
i may or may not have told a man that once he gets baptized he can marry two women..
we had a good laugh..#myspanishprobs.

ok bye!!

Monday, January 5, 2015

Welcome To Kentucky!

I love being here! It's been weird and hard to adjust, but this area
is really good. The ward is soooo nice and sweet. it's an English
ward, so we translate with cool headphone things! The members are so nice, and welcoming, and I feel so loved and welcome. One man gave us eggs from his farm :) #holla? We ate dinner with this family on Thursday, I think, and they signed up to feed us this Friday! MYBIRTHDAY!!!!! I love them already :)
We've been visiting a lot of less active people and families, and
they're all so sweet. It's really cool to be able to get to know so
many people! I'm really grateful to be a missionary, and to have the help of Heavenly Father. So many times this week I've seen his hand and his help. All these new people I've met and don't know at all, we would teach them, and I'd feel prompted to share a personal experience or
talk, and it was exactly what they needed to hear! I know that he is
with us, and when we act on the spiritual promptings we receive, he blesses us with the courage and strength we need to act and with more
promptings and help:) On my first night I was starving! (It took four hours to drive here
from nashville) so I was like Hermana can we get Taco Bell? Soo yes so
good haha and it was fun cause we met a guy named Victor and his kids!
And we invited them to church, and he was pumped cause the Pamphlet
that  we gave him was in Spanish, and we're like well of course we're
the hermanas :) I love Hispanics!:) and contacting people wherever I
find them! Hna LaPine was like what I would never talk to some one at
Taco Bell! Haha it was a good way to start our transfer together :)

She's from Florida, and was baptized in 2012, she's really sweet and
fun, and so good at Spanish! Also pretty cool cause we have the same
birthday! Only she's a year older.

On Saturday night we were visiting a less active family, and their
neighbor was super barracho and was outside and was like hola
señoritas and so were like NOPE and walked to the car, (not even a
fast walk!) so we were sitting there for like ten seconds looking at
out plans, and the guy comes and knocked on the window and he like ran
and followed us! Haha so we got scared, and drove away, and we don't
know if we ran over his toe haha but we were safe!;)

Hmmm what else happened. New Year's Eve we partied it up with 17
miracles and Oreos!! And New Years we spent the day as a zone, only
the sisters, we watched frozen(so CUTE!!), how to train your dragon,
(I fell asleep) and the Lego movie! (I was sleeping still...ahha) but
I woke up and watched the last half! Gr8 times.

IT IS SO COLD HERE.

I heard it's gonna get in the negatives this week! Not worth it cause
there's no snow. Haha but I'm all ready to bundle up!
I don't know what more to say, sooo
Peace!
Con amor,
Hermana Eastwood

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

A donde me mandares iré

Sooooo Funny story.. I had this email all written out, and then
WHOOOPS I DELETED IT. sorry. Haha la vida.
So I'll start over and write it for five minutes haha
This week was great! Merry christmas! Skype was so fun I LOVE MY FAMILY.:):):):)
We had exchanges on Monday, and I went to buena vista with Hermana
smith! It was fun to be back with my trainer again :) haha it was also
cool to be in a different area. Which leads me to this next point:
I'm getting transferred to KENTUCKY!!!!! What! I leave tomorrow, and
I'm really excited. I'm really sad to leave the BORO!!!! I've LOVED my
time here, I am so grateful. The members are awesome, and such good
examples to me. And I've loved being able to serve with the
missionaries here. I love my mission. :) one member told me I will
always have a family here. AWWW my little heart couldn't take that! I
am happy I can confidently say I've done all I could here, and I
worked my hardest, #borochildforlife
Weeelllllpppp, I don't know what to say. Haha awkward I forgot what I
said in my other email I deleted. Sad! It's fine though.
I know this is the Lords work, and He leads it. I know I've done all I
could here in Murfreesboro, and now I know I have purpose to be in
Kentucky. I know He will help me, and I am so grateful to be a part of
His work!
I hope you all have a wonderful New Years!:) I remember one year after
EFY or something I made a goal to read the scriptures every day....5
years later, I'm doing it! Haha just goes to show we can always
improve, and never give up!:)
Love,
Hermana Eastwood

Monday, December 22, 2014

Merry Christmas Everyone!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!:)
k this week was SUPER GOOD!!
on monday night, we had a family home evening that the missionaries were in charge of. we watched joy to the world and ate cake and nachos-which we got all the leftovers soooo, party at our apartment;) it was really good though, we had a lot of less active families come! and some investigators! holla for christmas! hermano Kaelberer and i were leading everyone to sing christmas carols, but no one would sing, so basically we sang duets in front of everyone for 30 minutes, he's such a bro. :)
this week was full of miracles! 
for one, i was really sick all week. but we kept working! and boyyy did we work! we got things DONE! we had so many successful days, and hours of knocking!! two days, tuesday and saturday, every single door we knocked, (except one, both days...but sshh) was hispanic! this does not happen people! it was amazing! we were able to share messages about the restoration, and He Is the Gift. and the cool thing was, people have started to hear about the video and watch it!! :) 
this is a shorty email but it was a really good week-and i am so happy to be a missionary! and to be an hermana :) i am so grateful to be a member of this church, and to know i am a daughter of a loving Heavenl Father. i know he helps us in every aspect of our lives, and i know he listens to our prayers and answers us:)
fun facts: -sometimes in tennessee you see crazy ladies standing in the middle of the road, looking at the sky and talking to spirits...its fine.
-sometimes you go over to a members house from spain and you expect fish, but her roommate makes you curry and then you smell like curry for the rest of the night.:) but then you get to teach him the restoration and its really good:)

i wish you guys a very merry christmas!!!!!!(: mi familiaaa i can hardly wait to talk to you guys:)
love, 
hermana eastwood:)

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

A Cute Little Miracle, Dec. 15, 2014

Hey YALL!!
Here's to another week!
Here's a cute little miracle, we actually knocked into a Hispanic! Super rare my friends. It was great, we were knocking down a street, and I felt like we should turn right, so we did and no luck..then I just felt like we should knock this one house! And turns out it was the only Hispanic on the entire street!
Miracle number two: Our investigator read!! He studied ether 12 in the Book of Mormon! It was amazing. He asked if we could read it with him, so he could understand more. We know he feels the spirit, he just has a hard time talking and telling us what he's thinking, but he's on the right track! :)
Funny story of the week: We had a fun time this week as our car was broken Into! Haha no big deal! They stole our gas card, soo awkwardly we had no gas for our car haha but it was all good, it was just funny we had to file a police report and everything. Who would've thought as a missionary I'd have to do that!?;) 
We had zone conference on Friday, and had awesome trainings by president and sister Anderson, and elder Renlund from the quorum of the seventy! I learned so much, and received so many answers. Our areas are never dead! Keep working, praying and trusting He is helping us, guiding us and preparing people for us to meet and share His gospel. 
We are all as successful as we are committed to do His will. D&C4:2 with all our heart:) 
It amazes me how if we pray to have our eyes opened, we can see Him working miracles each and everyday. We can have our prayers answered and feel his love and light. I am so grateful for this gospel! I know God has a plan for us all, and I know he loves each and everyone of us:) I know he watches over us. and is eager to help us and bless us, as we obey and turn our will over to Him :) 
I hope you all have a happy week! 
Con amoooorr, 
Hermana eastwood :) 

Monday, December 8, 2014

"This Gospel Is Beautiful"

this week has been really good.(with a lot of blonde moments..its fine. good stories right?) 
we were able to teach and meet a lot of people, and share the He is the gift video. its amazing, how much that video can soften hearts. FELIZ NAVIDAD!

I LOVE FAST SUNDAYS! i've been praying for help to be more bold and confident, and ive noticed the Lord helping me. i was able to bear my testimony yesterday.
on monday night, we knocked into some..interesting people. they were Jews, and trying to literally murder us with their words and Bible. welcome to the bible belt;)  the spirit was telling me the whole lesson that we needed to leave, so after almost an hour of bashing on Joseph Smith and every single thing we believe in, and Obama, what? i stood up, testified, and left. Hermana Orellana said she didnt even know who i was! she said it was a moment like when Joseph Smith was in the jail and stood up and said 'either you or i die this instant'. its fine. haha it was just a craazy moment.

somehow i have a year left of my mission! i dont know how that just happened. but its been such a good experience so far, and i am excited to have a year left to Serve my Lord. 
i burned tights with my hna, for her 9 month mark and my 6 months. but the video doesnt work soo sorrryyyy. 
but, ive realized how grateful i am to be here. to be able to give all my time and energy focusing on spreading the good word of the Lord:) i am so happy to be able to study each morning, and grow closer to him, and try harder every day to be better and better. He is amazing, and i am so grateful for all Hes done for me, and everybody. i know he helps us so much, and he knows us all perfectly.
THIS GOSPEL IS BEAUTIFUL. i am so grateful for the example of my friends serving, or who have already served. i am so grateful to you, dad, for your service, and your encouragement to me. you always know what to say, and you help me know i can do this. i am grateful for you spencer, for your having served a mission, and for your friendship. youre the best. and parker, well youre just the bomb. im grateful that in every email, you tell me how much of an example i am to you, bro youre an example to ME. you help me keep going, and you give me motivation to keep working, i love you so much. and my dear mama, youre my home girl and i worship you. thank you for all you do for me, YOU ALL JUST MEAN SO MUCH TO ME OKAY?!:))

on friday night we had one of our members come out with us, and we were on bikes. so we had about 4 solid appointments and some awesome back ups. so one by one, then all fell through. we were riding our bikes back and forth all over town. in the pouring rain. one might get discouraged and hate their life, but it was the best. we both knew we were doing all we could, and trying our hardest. i know GOd sees all our efforts:) we were singing christmas carols in the rain:)

so can i close with my blonde moment one thatll go in the books? k LISTOS?!
our phone has been freaking out for like 2 weeks now, with the clock changing times and what not. so sunday morning, the alarm went off at 6:30 so i got up and showerd, and then so did hermana. afterwards, i was gonna go study early cause i was like YEAAHHH KILLER im gonna study the book of mormon so hard right now. so, yeah i was studying. and i was like this is so weird, my ipad and my watch both say 1:30, weird i better change it back to 7:30. so i did and kept studying. and i looked outside, and it was so dark! "it must be a sign for the second coming!" i thought.
then its almost 8, and hermana orellana says, hermana why do all the clocks say its almost 2 am? and i said, i dont know hermana all the clocks stopped! its so weird! also look i think Jesus is coming because its so dark outside! 
....
so. we went back to sleep until it was really 6:30 and...well yeah that was my night.
it was the the kinda thing that happens that you think youre gonna laugh about it later...
ehh i laughed right then. haha it was 1 am okay?! i get weird at night...

ps i bought a roll of cookie dough this week so that just makes everything better. S/O to spencer for christmas last year;)