Pictures!

 hey fam! Here's some pics from the week:) I didn't have time to write haha but this week was awesome! Hope everyone has a great week and gets to watch general conference this weekend!!! You won't regret watching it!! 

Love you guys! 

-hna stone

 

VIVAA MEXICOOO

 Hola amigos, ¿que tal como están? 

This week was a MIX of emotions. Really high highs, and you know how that goes sometimes... some low lows too. The highs were awesome though so it's all good! 

This week we celebrated independence day here in Mexico and it was awesome! Everyoneee and everywhere was decked out in red white and green (no, not for Christmas;) and it was so fun. I ate SO much good Mexican food this week and spent a lot of time with some good members and investigators! It was great! We spent the 15th and part of the 16th with the family of our bishop (because we had a super early curfew unless w were w members) so with them we got to eat good food, play games, and do the Mexican shout w the president on tv and watch fireworks! It was fun! I also figure out this week that I can eat spicier food than my Mexican comp which made me pretty proud!

Bad of this week- We were tested in our patience and love a lot this week with some people that were super mean to us lol... be careful what you pray for because I've been praying for more love and patience and God is definitely helping me learn it haha. I was also super emotional because the day that everything happened w people shutting us down (including some members sadly) we got news that Ernesto  (our investigator in the hospital) his health is really declining and things aren't looking good. He's on oxygen and basically unconscious all the time and it's really hard on his family, and it was/is pretty hard on me too. It brought back a lot of memories of losing my grandpa and grandma because of some similar situations and it just made me really sad but grateful for the plan of salvation and my opportunity to share this message with their family and share my personal experiences to help them! I talked to my "mom on the Mish" hermana Stapley (my mission presidents wife) because I just needed a mom in that moment haha and she really comforted me and also invited us over for dinner at her house the next day w president! I felt like a VIP eating in the nicest house I've see on my mission a nice steak dinner w potatoes, salad, asparagus, fresh lemonade with PEBBLED ICE,  then strawberry shortcake and just got to chill and talk w the presidents. It was super rad and I love them so much!

The week ended up being really good overall, even with some hiccups, and I feel so grateful to be a missionary! I got the opportunity to give a last minute talk in church and at first I was kind of bugged with everything already going on that I had to give a talk, but I'm actually really grateful for the chance I got to ponder and share a message. It ended up being exactly what I needed to take a few minutes and re set. 

Guys God loves you so much! This week I was thinking a lot about that and thinking about what I can do to show my love for him better. I was listening to a talk called "¿que más me falta?" Or "what lack I yet" and elder Lawrence invites us to really reflect and ask in humble oración the things we are lacking as a disciple of Jesus christ and how the holy ghost can help us know, if we ask with humility, what we need to change. But not only do we need to ask and recieve an answer, but we need to have the faith to really act and change the things that the spirit indicates. I want to invite you all to take a minute tonight to reflect and ask God in humble prayer what you can change or do a little better. Maybe reading this right now something already comes to mind, but I invite you all to council with the lord and make a goal to do a little better with something! 

I love you all so much and I hope you have the best week!! 

Lazy this week

 I'm lazy and don't want to write an email this week but I'm doing really good!! We got our transfers today and my whole zone is changing besides my comp and I so I'm excited to see how this transfer goes! Love you all have the best week! 

Ps it's also Mexicos independence day this week so go eat some good Mexican food and CELEBRATE WAHOO 

God Loves You

 Hey everyone, let me just start by saying this was one of the BEST weeks of my mission, so this email might be a little long. I feel so extremely blessed to be here doing the lords work and seeing his hands in my life every day. I had so many prayers answered this week, and I know the lord is moving his work along!! This week I hit my 1 year of actually being in Mexico/the mission field and looking back on this year my heart is filled with joy from the people I've met and all the things I've learned. God really does love us and hear our prayers! 

I'd like to share w you guys a little bit about some of the miracles I've seen this week. My companion and I have been praying really hard for a couple things: to find people who are prepared to recieve the gospel (without problems with the commandments), for help with investigators overcoming problems, for people to come to church, and to find a family to teach, etc. and let me just say that EVERY prayer has been heard and answered in these last weeks- especially this week:') PS thanks for all the extra needed prayers for our investigators! 

I'm not going to share all the details with how the lord answered all of these things, but I do want to share about a family we found who lives in "el cañada" a little beautiful Pueblo in our area. A couple weeks ago we were going through some old Grey dots or old investigators in our carpeta and found a guy named Arturo who seemed pretty interested. So we started teaching him over the phone and getting to know him bc he lives way far and he was like, I want you guys to come and teach my parents too this week! So we scheduled a time and everything and when we were on our way to their house after a long day (keep in mind they live way far and we didnt want to get home late) I almost wanted to say, you know what we can go by another time or just share something super small and head back, but after praying both my comp and I felt really strong about going to this house and teaching plan of salvation! So we went and when we showed up, not only arturo and his parents were there, but several siblings and sobrinos were there and all wanted to hear us out. Well flash forward and this week we put 6 people in this family on date for baptism, and more from this family want to hear us. In this little Pueblo SO many people are family and people that have been neighbors for life and I can see lord preparing people and touching their hearts for this gospel! 

   

This week I also gained a testimony that God cares about our righteous goals and wants to help us reach them. Planning this month of September, and this week, we prayed specifically about our goals (number wise) more than normal. After a conference I had this week for the leaders our President talked about finding the escogidos (or chosens) who God is really preparing for us and setting a goal with God to find that number of his children. After that, we felt impressed to put a goal of 7 baptisms this month of September and for weekly goals, 7 asistencias at church. I felt like, "these numbers are a little high, and idk if we can reach that" but then I had the immediate thought or impression that legit said "SADIE, I have all the power, do you really doubt that I, GOD, can make this happen? Im preparing 7+ children for you, find my lost sheep" and man oh man, after that experience I expressed w my comp that I really think, I really know that God is preparing his children and we can do it if we have the faith that it can happen! Well this week we had 8 people in church, (our goal was 7) and right now we have 8 people on date for this month of September (setting 6 of these dates after this goal) and my heart is completely FULL. God really cares about our righteous desires and I know he is preparing his escogidos for us! 

Another small tender mercy that probably sounds a little dumb, but it was special to me, is that one night this week I was thinking about my family a lot and kinda missing them! I prayed for Heavenly Father to help my family and to help me dream about them haha (ever since my mission started I have pretty vivid dreams) and anyways that night I had a superrr real dream that my family came and surprised me here in Mexico for independence day (16 de sept) and I got to give them the biggest hugs and just hang w my besties. When I woke up I literally couldn't tell if it was a dream or a memory because it felt so real and it was an answer to prayer that even the little tiny prayers about dreaming about my family are answered and important to God. 

Guys, GOD LOVES YOU. He is soo aware of you, and he wants us to come to him and his son Jesus Christ and really let them into our lives. I was reading a message this week from a Liahona magazine and it talked about this painting I'm going to attach. It's a picture of Jesus knocking and it talked about how the artist of the painting was talking to a friend and the friend said that they liked the painting, but the door in the picture was missing a handle. The artist then explained that that wasn't a mistake, but a symbol that Jesus christ wants each of us to let him in. He can't be the one to put himself into our lives but he's there patiently waiting for us to open the door. OPEN THE DOOR and invite the Savior in for some lemonade or something;) 

Anyways love you all and I hope you know that! 

-hna Piedra 

Good, Better, Best

 hey everyone! Time is flying by and it's made me do a lot of reflecting in these last few days. We had a lot of stuff going on this week that made us kinda slow with the work but it was some stuff I definitely needed! 

This week we had our zone conference and interviews with our  President and all of the speakers were very inspired! I felt like i received a lot of guidance from the holy ghost and my testimony of revelation grew! In the conferences they talked about not just being a good missionary or disciple of Jesus Christ, but letting go the small bad habit or sin that we aren't quite ready to give up sometimes, and doing the extra little things to become the better and the best version of ourselves. It really hit me because this mission I only get to have once and this life,  not only the mission, is the time that God has given us to gain experience and become like his son Jesus Christ. Maybe we're a good person, but couldn't we all become a little better? Do a little more to become our best selves? Follow Jesus a little more exactly? I don't know what you're hanging on to in your life that maybe you should let go of, but I invite you to do some reflection this week and make a new commitment w God. What's your favorite sin? Is it a favorite swear word? A "good show" with "bad parts"? Bad music? A Sunday activity that maybe shouldn't be on a Sunday? An activity that maybe shouldn't be in your life at all? Wasting a little too much time on your phone? Spending too much time thinking of yourself and forgetting about your neighbors? Spending too much time on other things and forgetting about God?

 Idk what it is, but I invite you all to do some digging and this week and promise God that you'll do just a little better. God doesn't expect you to be perfect, but he does expect you, all of us, to try and not give up! Satan wants us to give up and forget all about that we can repent, change, become better and better every day. If we focus on improving the 1% every day and rely on the lord to help us, one day people will start to know Jesus just by knowing us because we're like him. 

I love you all and I hope you know no matter whats going on in your life that God loves you more than you can imagine! Every situation you are going through is because God knows and loves you and wants you to learn something. If you ever forget how awesome you, or get discouraged because there's "too many things" to improve to be perfect, be patient and trust that through christ nothing is impossible! 

Have the best week :) love you! If you want to keep some people in your prayers this week I'd appreciate it if you prayed for Brayan, Arturo y fam, Roberto, and Daniel! Thanks <3