feliz navidad/ año nuevo ✨️

 Whattup fam! I absolutely connot believe we're in 2023 now!! It's blowing my mind! Reflecting on 2022, my blackout year being a missionary, I can honestly say it was the happiest year of my life and I feel so blessed for all the blessings from my Heavenly Father and all the people he put in my path this last year! I can't wait for this year:') 

Christmas and new years were awesome and full of LOTS and I mean LOTS of food and laughter! These weeks flew by for me which is good and bad haha because i I love celebrating this time of year! 

I only have 2 WEEKS left of being a full time missionary and I have so many mixed feelings! I thought when I got to this point I would be so ready and excited, but ahhh I'm also so sad and a little nervous haha. How am I going to live in a place that's freezing cold that doesn't even have hot elotes to warm you up?? Haha It also sucks when you get to this point because everyone and their dog asks you how you feel and about your plans and it still hasn't even hit me yet that I'm leaving so soon 

Anyways I'm excited for these last 2 weeks in the field and want to thank you all for your love and support always! My homecoming will be the 22 of Jan and I hope I can see some of you there! 

merry christmas you filthy animal

 WHAT. A. WEEK. 

these last two weeks have been absolutely amazing! I really love being a missionary and seeing the lords hands in my life so personally! A lot happened these last 2 weeks but imma keep this short! 

We went to the temple in the city of Mexico and it was SO AMAZING! Not going to the temple for 17 months makes you realize how special the temple is, guys DONT take the temple for granted! Go as much as you can!! :') It was a very spiritual and memorable experience, and even more memorable when we felt 3 earthquakes sitting in the Celestial room! #mexicomagico 

This week our friend Adolfo also got baptized and it was so special! He is one of the most prepared people I've met in my whole entire mission, and I'm so excited for him to keep progressing on the covenant path! Every time I get to see the light of Jesus christ go into someone's eyes I'm reminded why I'm here! The spirit was so strong in Adolfos baptism, and then after he bore his testimony to us all and filled the room w the spirit even stronger! i literally can see him being a future obispo or something! Ah man its such a blessing to be a part of this amazing work!! 

In my mission I haven't got to do too much service projects but this week I actually got to 1, help make chairs for a lady in the ward (literally sanding down wood and cutting the pieces w my own hands dad you should be proud haha), 2, help an hermano move, and 3, put together food packages for people that are struggling to even give food to their kids in the ward. Being able to serve every day as a missionary and serve a little extra with the ward members really touched my heart, and made me think especially of all my blessings! I hope you'll all have the chance to do a little extra service this Christmas! 

Having now my second Christmas here in the mission I've really realized the magic of Christmas isn't in the material things. The lights on the tree, the presents, the carols, the food and time in family are all great, but should all remind us more of Jesus christ and his atonement- the true gift! Man I love this time of year! 

What are you willing to give Jesus this year as your gift? What are you willing to sacrifice? Remember the best gifts you can't buy in the store, but come from a broken heart and contrite spirit! Instead of being stressed out trying to have the perfect gift, party, or decorations, take a minute to really let the peace of christ into your life and reflect on how you can let christ into your life more! Christmas really means christ-más (más in Spanish means more) so this time of the year should really be thinking of christ más:)

Love you all and I hope you have a VERY merry Christmas for me:)) 

Last 6 weeks... *Mario kart last lap music*

 Hey guys! Kinda crazyy because I start my last transfer today but I'm stoked for all that we're going to do these next weeks! This week we found one of the most prepared people that I've taught my whole mission which is so so cool to see! He actually went to our baptism the last weekend and had interest in learning more, then we "randomly" (theres not coincidencias con Dios) saw him in a park a few days later on a way to a lesson that had fallen through and taught him the restauration there in the park and we gave him a book of mormon! He started reading it and praying about it, and told us that he feels like God has been preparing him to find the truth with us. At the end of the week Saturday we had another amazing lesson (literally one of the best lessons I've had my whole mission) and the spirit was so strong you could cut it with a knife! He said that baptism and the holy ghost was the thing missing from his life and that he wants to be baptized asap! He was in tears. We were in tears. One of those moments of power ya know? We explained we wanted to help him prepare for his baptism and that a part of that is go to church with us and praying about these things. he was like ah I don't think I can come this week bc I work, but the spirit was SO strong and I testified of the blessings he would receive not working this Sunday to help him prepare for his baptism and finding these answers he's looking for. He said he would be at church the next day and in his prayer to finish the lesson he said the sweetest prayer really asking God if this was the right church and then asked for help to be able to come to church! The next day he showed up early for church with a smile on his face ready to learn and he said he knew going to church would be more important for him than selling a couple more things. He is so amazing and I love seeing God preparing people and putting them in our path! I love being a missionary! 

 

The week we also had an awesome leadership conference and saw a lot of good little tender mercies! We also had to drop some people w date who were actually crazy lol which is a bummer but  I'm so happy that we're starting the Christmas season!! I absolutely love the Christmas spirit and getting to talk about the real reason for the season, the reason jesus christ came to earth! Dont you all just love Jesus?! What are you going to do to show him your love and appreciation this month?? 

Love you all!!! 

-hna stone 

Pics- my bestie Jane goes home today:')

-an hermana made ornaments w our names haha 

-the best gen ever in the mision Mexico qro

Best. Week. Ever. So grateful :')

 YOU GUYS!! I'm absolutely OVERWHELMED  with love for and from my Heavenly Father this week. It was a week of miracle after miracle and probably one of the best/coolest weeks of my whole mission!! Sooo I would love to share a little bit about a couple of experiences this week!

Mon- pday, always a good time, but I felt very inspired to start a good week. Last week was good but I was feeling still a little sad about working so hard and not seeing fruits of our labors. I had come to terms with a couple things but felt like I just needed a little advice so I talked to our aps who are some of my good friends and they gave me some awesome advice and a blessing! Guys the power of the priesthood is so real and never feel scared to ask for a blessing or advice from your leaders. I felt so much peace from the blessing and literally felt like God was saying "Sadie don't worry, I have a plan" and it was great. One of them also encouraged me to read in the bible dictionary about prayer and I invite each of you to read it!! It talks about prayer in a way I had never thought before, and it really helped me! 

Tuesday- we decided to do a fast and WOWZA, I saw SO many miracles. We were able to find so many new people and help a couple people get on date for baptism for December! 

Wednesday- one of the most memorable days of my mission fr. Wednesday before walking to the comida we prayed that on the way we would be able to find a milagro (or miracle) and that God would put people in our way that he needed us to talk to. Well a couple minutes of walking and a woman flagged us down and asked if we were missionaries, and she said she'd been looking to get in contact w the church again for months, that she was inactive and wanted to come back to church w her family. When we asked her name... she said "milagro"... literally God put a milagro in our path and it was awesome! Then we got to the food and the hermana had bought a pumpkin pie bc she remembered I liked it and wanted that for Thanksgiving! Another miracle haha! 

Then to finish the night we had one of the most spiritual lessons of my mission! We were teaching a guy named Adrian (his whole family that he lives w here are members and he's had the lessons w a few sets of missionaries but hasn't felt ready to be baptized) so anyways we've been teaching him and in the lesson teaching about the gospel of Jesus Christ I just straight up asked what was impeding him from being baptized, that if he knew it was something important and wanted to follow christ, what was holding him back... well he thought for a few moments really thinking then looked up at me and said "nada" that there was nothing holding him back and that he wanted to be baptized! So I was stoked and the spirit was so so strong, and then we were like ok let's set a goal with you, and he was like "is it possible to be baptized this weekend?" And I thought WHATTT hahahah, and he said "I think Friday I'm busy but Saturday me and my whole family could come, and I can be baptized." You guys don't even understand the miracle that this was!! Really the reason I was feeling down this last week not seeing the fruits of my labors was because at the beginning of the year I set a goal to try and bring at least 1 soul to christ every month in this year of 2022 through baptism, and I had completed that goal up until what I thought was November. All of our dates had fallen through and I kinda lost hope. I didn't understand why "God wouldn't help me" with a righteous goal. It took me a lot of prayer and studying the scriptures to realize that I had done all that I could have and I wasn't a failure. People have their agency and if i do my part thats what matters. I recognized that the power was in God's hands and he knew what he was doing. I finallyyy had come to terms with the fact that I wouldn't be able to help someone be baptized in November and then in this lesson when Adrián said he wanted to be baptized this weekend (november) I felt like I got hit with a truck literally. I didn't have words. I felt the spirit so strong and I felt God saying that my work and effort was appreciated and that HE knew what he was doing. Adrian was so sure and prepared that it just completely caught me off guard! So yeah coolest experience

Thurs- normal day but we had an activity in the ward of soccer and we played w everyone and ofc won. I love getting to play soccer here haha

Friday- we had divisions and I got to go on divis with one of my absolute FAV missionaries hna refugio, and we had so much fun, worked hard, and saw SO many little miracles of people being put in our path. Walking that day I commented about liking a lady's dog and they asked who we were and we said representatives of Jesus christ and she started balling and welcomed us in and said she was going to take her life that day and we were angels sent to her to remind her she's a child of God! It was a cool experience and we taught her about the plan of salvation and she said she wants us to try to teach her family! I absolutely loved spending time w hna Refugio, and i love learning from other missionaries no matter how much time i have in the mission! Theres always something you can learn from every person! Ah i loved being w refugio and I'm trying to convince her to move to Utah bc she's the coolest... she's almost convinced;) 

Saturday- the baptismmm! It was a crazyy day getting everyone invited and planned last minute but it all worked out... eventually. There were soo many problems that day haha one being the water not working at the church until the absolute last minute, but we ended up having a great baptism and the spirit was super strong! Our mision pres and his wife also showed up and it was awesome:)

Sunday- I love Sundays! My comp and I talked in church and we had a devotional w the mission and they told us that we get to go to the temple for Christmas in the city of Mexico and to say I'm STOKED is an understatement!! 

Anyways SUCH a good week and I know God is so aware of me and you and he loves us! Don't forget that! He has a plan for you!! And don't forget to read about prayer in the bible dictionary!! 

:))

 Anotha week in the mmq! I was stuck woutout a phone all day in immigration so I'll keep this short:) but this week was good! Definitely had some ups and downs but that's just life. We had some hard rejections and some good little moments so it balances out, but highlight was zone conference and some good lessons and food:) hope you're all doing great, and that you always remember God loves you so much! 

 <3/hna stone

11/7 and 10/30 What do you call a Mexican with an extra eye?

 I forgot to send last week's message- 

Hey fam! Heres an audio of the week! I didnt want to type out a message haha so enjoy me rambling on about my week! I forgot to mention that Fidel got baptized this week and even though i got transferred I got to go to his baptism and it was so good!! 

I hope you are all doing so good and that you enjoy Halloween and día de los Muertos! Take a few minutes this week to watch coco and do some family history to help your ancestors have eternal blessings! 

Hey fam! This week was superr rad! Honestly last week was tough so when this week went good it made me appreciate the opposition in all things:) also the headline to this email is a joke I taught my comp to practice her English with some of the americans here and she doesn't understand the joke still, but I get a kick out of it hahaha

This week here in Mexico we celebrated DIA DE LOS MUERTOS (day of the dead) which is honestly one of the coolest holidays I'd say. On pday (halloween) we went into el Centro and got to see everything for the day of the dead and can I just say I absolutely LOVE the culture here!! There was music, lights, cultural dancing and the coolest altars ever all around the city and I loved it! Día de los Muertos is definitely a holiday that I want to celebrate in my house (but with the plan of salvation in mind instead of their beliefs jaja), but either way its super sick! I loved getting to see everything and be a right in the middle of so much Mexican culture! Also funny story haha we were walking past one of the million catholic churches here in queretaro and I saw a sign that had OUR Jesus christ picture from our folletos of the restoration, so I taped up a restauration pamphlet that will hopefully help someone find the truth haha. It was a fun day! 

This week was a normal week but everything started just flowing so nicely. I'm in a new area w my comp, but this week everything got put into place. We got to know our area, found new people to teach, made friends w members (the members here are SO cool), and I just enjoyed every minute of being able to share the gospel!! Definitely a good week and I'm so grateful to see the hands of the lord every day in my life! 

This week I was really thinking a lot about prayer and want to share some thoughts. Prayer is the most basic thing we learn when we want to get closer to God because it's our communication with him. Like anyone we want to become friends with, we have to talk to and really get to know God. But do we really understand this divine communication?? Every time we pray we are talking to our heavenly father and its not just a one way thing talking to ourselves, but he is listening, cares about what we say, and will always answer us. This week I hope you will remember to not only pray and say a half effort repeated prayer before you go to bed but have a real conversation with God. Make sure your prayers "PASS" up to heaven. I heard this acronym in a hank Smith talk and want to share:) 

P-planned. Don't just start talking, take a few seconds to really think about what you're going to say. You're about to talk to your heavenly father! I'm bad at this haha, sometimes I just start praying and it ends up being pretty repetitive without thinking much. Every prayer should have a purpose. Take a second to really realize what you're about to do, who you're about to talk to, and what you want to say. 

A- aloud. Don't just always say your prayers in your head that get lost in your thoughts. Talk to God out loud occasionally, and if you have the chance, kneel down and really pray! 

S- sincere. God doesn't just want you to talk, he wants you to really be sincere with your words and express to him your sincere gratitude, desires, needs and more. He'll hear and answer if they're sincere.

S- specific- we can pray in general to bless our families, friends, the world, but we have the power to pray specifically for the needs of us and others! Specific questions are super important if you want a specific answer! 

We can't get a million dollar answer from a 50 cent prayer guys. Keep that in mind this week in your prayers! Really talk to God and as often as we can. I promise it will bless your lives and bring you more peace! Pray always- that's a commandment!!

Love you all and I hope you're doing great:))