4 Months Down!

What the heck!  I'm done with 4 months!!

But where has the time gone!! I'm done with my training now and it feels wild!! Transfers are today but everyone, including myself, (besides 2 people i guess so not actually everyone haha) are staying the same in my zone so I'll have another 6 weeks here! I'm honestly stoked because I love my district, comp, leaders, house, investigators, ward, and honestly my life rn so i'm happy to stay here. Lifes so good right now!!

   This week we had some good things happen! We had a really good lesson w Diego before he went out of town and he bought us super DELICIOUS (y carrrooo) tacos and we ate with his beautiful view on his comfy couch and had a great lesson... Can you ask for better than that?  Diego is very "fancy" as my comp and I call it, especially because he spent 700 pesos on our dinner which is a lottt not just for mexico! Anyways, We also had 2 great lessons w Mario this week and ate some of the best french fries i've had in my life at his burger place. I don't mess around with my love of fries so that's saying something haha. I told him about fry sauce in Utah and he made a sauce for our fries and wow lets just say it was a taste of heaven that i needed lol.  Basically the food and lessons were top tier this week! 

   This week we also worked a lot with recent converts and inactive members! This guy named Daniel is super chill (he's a rc) and it's been fun to teach him! We taught him all about patriarchal blessings because he was telling us he wants guidance for his life and it was super cool testifying about patriarchal blessings!! When I testify about stuff in the gospel to people that have never heard about it, it makes me realize over and over again how cool the gospel is! Also how cool patriarchal blessings are! Also, It surprises me how much recent converts don't know about the basics of the gospel so it's so important to teach them and help them form a testimony! It's been cool seeing people's testimony grow, including my own!

   This week we had a "noche de hogar" (fhe) that we missionaries were in charge of and we had a really good turn out! We made a "tree of life" and an "iron rod" leading to it through the church and it was awesome. Everyone was blindfolded and had to hold to the rod going through distractions and obstacles to make it to the tree and get the "fruit." A lot of members came and some investigators too and everyone really liked it! I was able to talk about the activity and bear my testimony which was cool and it made me feel more confident with my Spanish in front of so many people! 

   I'm grateful to be a missionary and I'm grateful for so many great people I get to work with! I'm also so grateful for pdays because they are my sanity every week and I love getting to play spikeball, soccer, and occasionally basketball for hours and hours haha and for the opportunity to talk w my fam! One elder asked me if my energy ever runs out on pdays and i don't think it does

Spiritual thought- i invite you all this week to do a self evaluation and see if you're holding onto the iron rod (word of god) and on the "straight and narrow path" After the noche de hogar this week i realized how its so easy to stray just a little bit off the path from distractions or other things that aren't necessarily bad, but prevent us from progressing! If you realize you aren't taking the time every day to pray or read your scriptures or something is preventing you from progressing, take those important small steps in your life to readjust with God's help! Walking starts one step at a time, so maybe just look at one thing you can improve by one percent today! God will help you and be SO happy you want to come closer to him! 

Hope you all are fantastic and know that I love you!! 

-hna stone 

Am I having a seizure?

 Whattupp fam (y amigos) 

   Now that I have your attention, I'll tell you all I'm doing great! This week was honestly so good! I guess I changed my mindset this week because not much changed in what we've been doing (our numbers have not been great because people don't like to answer us haha), BUT my happiness has improved SO much by finding the good little moments throughout every day! 

   This week I had divisions w hermana Chico and honestly it gave me the confidence I needed. She helped me realize so many things I'm doing great at and gave me some really good advice too! I was scared to be leading my area and also start learning how to street contact (because our mission opened up more now - blessings), but our divisions went really great! She helped me see I'm not a failure for being imperfect (not that I'm everrrr hard on myself or anything for those of you who know me ;) but it went great and I'm SO grateful! 

The food here is so good so I feel blessed, BUT this week a member brought us minudo... and lets just say I will never ever eat that haha. Its "sooo" good you all need to try it! ;)

 Another great thing this week was I got to hangout w my president and his wife for a bit because they came to our ward and surprised us Sunday! I felt their love so strong for me, which made me feel Gods love too!! 

   For people we are teaching- we have Diego (again) and Mario! Diego didnt talk to us for a long time and i was scared haha but he told us this week he's just been traveling all over for work and wants to be baptized the second week of December! To say i was happy is an understatement and i'm so happy to be working w him and his girlfriend again! Hopefully I stay in this area bc he's honestly become our good friend! I feel God's love for him so strongly and I want him to have the blessings of the gospel!! Mario is our other friend we're teaching! I met him at a burger restaurant and right away he knew i'm not from here lol (idk what gives it away the bad spanish or the white skin?) So he started practicing his English with me. Next thing I know I've taught him a little lesson and gave him a book of mormon (in spanish and english to "practice his english haha) and we showed him the gospel library app and he told us he started listening to talks! 

   Mario this week has made me feel so much love for God's children and he grew my testimony of God's timing! He started out talking to us saying he wasn't super religious and his life was just too busy for God right now. I got to testify to him about God and his love for him and teach him how to pray. Hearing people pray for the first time is honestly so special! In our other visits this week he told us that he felt peaceful when he prayed and like he had more business. He told me he wants to feel this peace all the time. I was able to promise him that if he moved things around this week and made it to church, and kept praying, God would bless him with peace and more success. I think it's so cool as missionaries we can make promises to people from the spirit bc we are representatives of Jesus Christ. I know I'll never have the priesthood like all worthy men, but it's so cool to have power and authority to work in the name of Jesus Christ as a missionary!! I hope he comes to church this week!!

   This week (and the last couple weeks) I've gotten to help 2 kids learn english, get inactive members to church, do some service, help with ward activities, and work a lot w recent converts and it has been so cool to be feeling like a missionary- not just from baptisms (bc we dont have many) but true christlike service! It was also great this week bc there was a ward activity w the greatest showman, and we got to watch! All the songs were in english so i got to just sit back, sing, and enjoy the music! It was awesome! 

   Bc theres always opposition lol I'll share. This week I thought was perfect. I was looking back at the week and was like wow a good week... Yes it was still a good week don't get me wrong, but I woke up this morning (at 1) with a 104 fever and was shaking like a chihuahua... I literally thought "am i having a seizure?" Lol, no i wasn't but i ended up being miserable all night and it made me wish my dad was there to give me a priesthood blessing and that my mom was there to comfort me. I sat there shaking w my head pounding for a solid 3 hrs and i said a little prayer to have the pain go away. After my prayer I half expected to just stop shaking and be able to sleep, but I surprised myself bc the first thing i thought was "Jesus Christ felt this pain for me, because he loves me. I don't have to feel alone in this moment. He shook in pain for ME, felt exactly what I'm feeling right now so I don't have to go through it alone." It was a powerful moment! He really knows how to succor our pains perfectly. It really changed my mindset on the atonement and instead of being mad to start my pday off so bad, I felt so blessed that Jesus Christ died for me and I dont ever have to feel alone. Also im feeling so great now thanks to meds and a full 3 hrs of sleep wahoo!

Everyone, I don't know what your little chihuahua shakes are in your life right now, but I promise you that Jesus Christ has felt exactly what you're feeling and knows exactly how to help you. You just need to turn to him! You can get through this!! Please go read Alma 5 (in the Book of Mormon) verses 11-13! It's the scripture I thought of in this time of chihuahua shaking, and it's always one of my favs!!

Love you all so much and I hope this week is fantastic!!

-your fav hna piedra 

Dia de los muertos and HOLLANDDD

 Hello rad fam and friends! 

If youre still reading these emails your a real one  I hope you are all doing great and Id love to hear from you this week! Sorry this is another long email!

About the week :D

Monday- DAY OF THE DEAD!! Ok guys pdays are normally my favorite for many reasons, but this week pday was extra SICK! It was dia day los muertos and we went into the "center" which is where all the touristy historical buildings are and it was seriously awesome! I felt like i was in a giant mexico Disneyland or something but actually in Mexico. I kept thinking what the heck I feel like Im in a movie but this is real life haha. There were giant crowds of people in costumes with all the streets blocked off, cool lights, tribal dancers, ofrendas everywhere and SO many things it was awesome!! The culture here is way cool and it was fun to be in the city with so many people at night! I miss doing cool stuff at night! 

Tuesday- I got a blessing from my DL to help me with the language bc I've felt really overwhelmed w the language and Im SO grateful for the priesthood and worthy priesthood holders!! I seriosly started feeling so much better about speaking thattt day! God is so good!!

Wednesday- BEST DAY EVERRRRR because ELDER HOLLAND CAME (In zoom haha) but STILL soooo cool wow! Let me just start by saying Holland was my favorite before, but NOW wowowow. I have never felt so much love from someone (or the spirit so strong) over a screen! It was so cool to hear from him in such a small setting with the whole world not watching or hearing him- he was speaking to ME and my mission! I dont know it just made the guidance feel especially personal and ah it was so good!

 He started his talk in spanish which, lets just say made me feel good about my spanish  and then he said "you would all leave the room screaming covering your ears if I continued in spanish so Im going to switch to English now" (Lucky for me and the other english speakers- we got to listen to his whole talk in English:))

I dont even know where to start with things I liked because he said so many amazing things, but here were my fav quotes from Holland!

-"I have thought about my mission EVERY DAY for the last 6 DECADES. You cant make up these experiences to tell your future children and grandchildren. Will you be able to tell them, honestly, it was the turning point in your life, something you will think about every day for the rest of your life? My mission was the RICHEST experience I could have possibly had" 

-"Youre 'little a' apostles. As an apostle I run around the world giving the same lessons as you. Were the same. Were in this together."

- "We have a battle to pay something of the price the savior payed for the salvation of these people. We know what they dont know. Without you, the Saviors atonement will not mean anything to them if they dont access its power. You are agents of the atonement. A central part of the plan of salvation."

-"The thing that undoes me is when I see missionaries that walk away from their missions in the end. The mission should be a part of you for the rest of your life. If i see you guys in the streets after your missions (or in your missions) not living what youve been teaching, youll see a news article 'Elder holland put in jail for beating up on a missionary' "

-"Youre God's investigator. He wants YOU to progress"

-" tell me how the first 3 hrs of your day go and I'll tell you how your day, mission, and maybe even life will go."

-talking about Helaman 5 in the BoM, "they did teach with 'power and authority' and spoke to peoples 'great astonishment.' You guys need to be more astonishing. I dont know how to say it in spanish, but GO ASOMBRO SOMEBODY"

-this is the last time, the last hours, laboring in his vinyard, wrapping up the work. It wont be easy, and sometimes what God asks seems like a lot, but he also sees and knows how hes going to bless you and who youre going to become.

-" when we give you this advice, remeber weve been your age but you havent been ours."

These are just a couple quotes I really liked! But it was so good to hear from him!! The rest of this week was still pretty rough for finding people to teach- it seems like no one wants the gospel the last couple weeks which is dicpuraging, but I know soon we'll find success! Id appreciate prayers to help us find people! This week when I was feeling down about the work I read in my scriptures in Mormon chapter 5 and God slapped me in the face a little lol. I really liked 21-24, but 23 was my fav! It says 

    "Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God? Know ye not that he hath ALL power, and at his great command the earth should be rolled together as a scroll? Therefore, repent ye, and humble yourselved before him"

I just loved that! I know that God has all power and we are in his hands. He has a plan for EACH one of us, and we need to trust him and his timing. Try a little harder to trust God this week, and show your love and trust in him by following him! 

Hope you had a great week, and know I love you all!!

-hna Stone (or as they say here hna eston-ay:)

"Mi amor... error?"

Whattuppp fam (y amigos:)

This week was good? Sorry this email is a little long but here ya go! 

 Mon- we had 6 lessons back to back to back and it was awesome!! Our first lesson they sent us the address and we took 3 busses and walked over an hour and found out that we had definitely left our area on accident and crossed the boundaries of 2 other areas hahaha butttt it it was worth it because our lesson went SO good and the spirit was so strong! We taught the restoration and right away they told us through tears they know our message is true and they want to read the book of mormon and share it with their other family!! Ah the spirit was so strong! Sadly we had to pass the golden family off to the elders in the other area (bc they were definitely not in our area) but I'm SO glad we helped them find the gospel :') On our way back we stopped for another lesson and had 4 more video calls when we got back! We didn't end until 10pm and we were exhausted but it felt so good to work hard! Probably the most successful Ive felt on the mish!

     tues-sat - well I think god was trying to spiritually fill us for the week monday because progressively every day this week people were less and less interested to talk to us which was rough honestly. No one was answering and all of our new referrals were kind of brutally honest that they are very catholic and don't want anything to do with us. On the bright side we got in a lot more visits with ward members because we had extra time, so that was fun! Some members need missionaries and a spiritual message more than an investigator! We met this lady who is inactive and she said how she's inactive because she stopped coming one week and no one ever reached out or noticed she was gone after months, and she got cancer and no ward members knew. Listen I know sometimes we need to reach out for love and support, but it made me realize as members we can do a lot more to look out for people. Just a thought:) but I love talking to ward members and have made some good friends with some of the members. I've also become homies with the kids in the ward (It's probably because I talk at their level lol) but for real its awesome. We have some cool handshakes haha. 

This week, like I said, a lot of people weren't interested and it kind of sucked! I want to teach people and share this great gospel, but it's hard when they dont answer, arent home, and reject you over and over haha. But I think God made up for an unsuccessful week with little happy things this week! So here's some good moments this week!

   Fun things this week-

 -This week we went to dinner with our DLs and ZLs for one of their bdays and it was fun! It was a buffet of the best tacos i've had ahhh i love food:) And also everyone here is so fun and funny, and I love hanging out with other missionaries! 

-I cut my comps hair (and bangs for her) with literally kids scissors at midnight. After her shower she was like can you cut my hair and I was like claro que si, and yeah it was an adventure 

-I bought 3 fish at Tiangues this week: chachi, sushi, and chiwi- they are the best. They were 10 pesos (I know expensive) so hopefully they live!

-My favorite hermanas had a sleepover because their water was broken so we got to hang w them and I talked with hermana Fredrick (my bestie here) all night, well until like 2) and it was a blast! Bedtime here is 10:30 so it was a little late, but I needed it this week! I miss late nights!

-for halloween we "dressed up" as princesses (not obviously but for fun) and it was great! Right when i walked in the church everyone was like wow what a coincidence you look like belle the princess and i was like no way what a coincidence it was fun!

-i miss music and so i just sing around the house a lot when i'm cleaning and washing laundry or cooking etc, and it's kinda funny because every time the baby that lives in the house behind us starts crying, he stops literally 10 seconds after I start singing haha. Our back neighbors are surprisingly members (there aren't a lot here) and sometimes she texts and asks me to sing for her baby bc he's crying at night and when I sing he stops. Anyways it makes me happy having them as neighbors and their little kids talk to us through the windows sometimes and bring us notes! I'm grateful for singing and good members!

   funny moments this week: 

-ok so pdays literally all day I play soccer, spikeball, and occasionally basketball- but I kid you not all day its my FAV for those of you who know me well bc I love sports! Anyways we were playing spikeball and it was pretty intense- the game was close and there were 20 people watching us play surrounding. Also keep in mind I was the only white english speaking person in this moment-important for later haha. Well anyways were playing all out and my partner missed an important pass and looked at me and was like "Ahhh mi amor" and his face went WHITE and he was like "mi error errorrrr" and yeah basically super embarrassing for him and un poquito awkward hahaha. everyone started DYING laughing. Yeah basically it was hilarious and i don't think anyone in my zone will forget it bc they haven't let me or him forget it all week... but I have tough skin when it comes to teasing so hopefully I can learn how to better defend myself and roast them back in spanish. It was funny tho bc mexicans have the funniest laughs in the world and hearing them all die laughing killed me! 

-there is a karaoke bar close to our house and I get to enjoy super "great" singing all the time super late at night and it makes me laugh really hard even though it's annoying because it keeps me up. It makes me want to go to a karaoke place though 

Anyways not too much exciting missionary updates or success this week, sadly, and I'm still struggling pretty bad with speaking spanish too so that's rough BUT I'm trying to focus more on the good things happening in my life and not the bad! And i'm understanding so much more every day so that's a blessing- the speaking will come? :) 

Love you all and I would appreciate a quick email or fb message w an update or pictures! or even a prayer:)) 

Love you all!

-your fav hna