I am living a Miracle

Things that happened this week. What didn´t? First off my comp and I got the award of companionship of the mission! What! It was super exciting! But also we put a target on our heads from the other missionaries...... It´ll get a little awkward soon.

 

I learned this week that I don't just want to see miracles but live them. I feel like all this time I have spent in EL Monte I have been living a miracle. I definitely had a ton of revelation and felt the change in my heart and seen it in others. All of these little things have led up to me believing that I am living a miracle. Makes me want to stay out here and not go home because what miracles will I be searching for back home? None. So that will be lame. I have to enjoy every promise that is given as a missionary and put in my part so God will bless me with the part He says. Just start thinking smart and doing things of your own will and God will bless you. President told me that God told Adam and Eve to take care of the garden so what did they do? Came up with other stuff right? That's what we can do! Just  be creative and step outside the box.

 

Also there is this lady named B. in my branch who could never take the sacrament because she lived with her boyfriend but on Sunday (after a ton of time) she told me she finally left him so that she could take the sacrament. God hit me with another humble stick of his power. I cried so much.

 

Love you all so much!

Hermana Farner

Use Your Talents

This week we worked really really hard and met some great people; difficult to believe that there are so many people ready for the Gospel and ready to return to the Gospel that it just blows my mind. We really noticed that there is no way that we can do this work alone and that is when we really understood the importance of the members in missionary work. It is so much easier to sit in the house and only think about yourself and only think about your family. But when you realize that actually there are so many people more that are your brothers and sisters it is a lot easier to go and get things done en la obra del Señor. 

 

I made myself a promise. When I come home in a year the first thing I am going to do before I unpack my suitcases or see my friends, is to bake some cookies, and go meet our neighbors. Invite them to dinner with the missionaries and let them get to know the Gospel in a non confrontational way. Then I am going to the temple and going to do some missionary work for the dead. I  have received a ton of revelation about doing all we can in this life. 

 

There is a General conference talk called '4 minutes' in the Ensign. If you really think about it, SHOOT. Our life is so short. Are we wasting it with pastimes and hobbies? Are we really using our talents to help others come unto Christ?

 

Mental Tenacity says, "Having a talent serves as nothing if you don't use it." USE YOUR TALENTS. but not just for your own benefit. Use them for the bettering of others. If you haven't, repent and do it better.

 

Thank you for the wonderful letters that I received! I LOVE GETTING LETTERS! And you are all so kind to send me them.

Love you all and hope all is well at home!

 

Love,

Hermana Farner

Barefoot in the Chapel

This week was crazy. We had changes and me and the Mitty are together for one more. The week started out really slow after having all kinds of miracles the week before. Man was I impatient. But there is something I definitely learned right there, God always blesses you in his own time. We got blessed on Sunday. We had a baptism on Saturday! J. our bestie got baptized finally. He is the strongest convert I have ever met. But funny story, we were filling the baptismal font and thought it took 4 hours, but we went and checked on it after 2 hours and the whole entire chapel was filled with water. The elders some members and one of our investigators Ma.n swept all the water out onto the street. I was barefoot in the chapel and the water was up to my ankles. Wasn't the finest moment of my life. But regardless Juan got baptized and it was so great. Then the next day all sorts of people came to church that we hadn't seen in forever. God always completes His promises. I got a big palo about being patient this week. I have a lot of changing to do.

 

Life is good in Chile. Cold. I am sick. But with the amount of medicine I am taking it should end soon :) Obedience with exactness brings baptisms. That is the theme for this exchange. Time is flying... Dont know what to do!

 

Anyway one last thing. The Book of Mormon. Always had a testimony of it, but me and the Mitty were talking about it the other day and I remembered someone told me that if I didn't see the tearstains on the plates when I read the book of Mormon I wasn't reading it right. And it finally happened the other day. I am finally reading it right. I can see every tear that was shed by Mormon and Moroni as they wrote and gathered the books together as everyone is dying around them. I finally get it.

 

Love always,

Hermana Farner

Another change

We had transfers. I have another change with Hermana M. and El Monte. We are gonna rock this place. Have a baptism on Saturday. J.is super dope. Never seen someone so humbled by the Atonement and the Gospel. He is legit. This is the promised land of Chile. Seriously SO MANY PEOPLE READY FOR THE GOSPEL!  Hermana M. and I received companerismo de la semana last week and this week. I think our Zone Leader is biased but hey I won't complain. I'm working my butt off.

 

Learning a lot but can't put it into words. I know I am here for a lot of different reason and as my testimony grows so does my humility. I can see so clearly how God lays up the day to teach me, investigadores, menos activos, mi compañera, and inactivos something completely different. And at the end of the day, WOW. Can´t even explain it. Its like I am getting hit with a stick of humility and all I can do is sit there and let the tears of gratitude come and wonder why God has blessed someone so insignificant like me with so many miracles.

I would like to challenge you all to do the same.

 

I get why you have that "ta dah" list mom. It really works. Listen to God and your local leaders and you will be blessed.

 

Miss and love you all!

Hermana Farner

"Success is Not a Matter of Luck"

I think I hit the biggest change of my life in the mission this past weekend, but let me start from the beginning,

Last week I hit rock bottom, never been so desanimado and sad in my life; waking up was hard, thinking was hard, all I wanted to do was cry.

And then the rain came. It rained and rained and rained and rained and nobody let us in, and I was singing and singing and singing with all my heart just so I wouldn't cry and so my comp wouldn't just give up. It was rough.

I can bet everyone has felt like this before. When you are falling and you can feel every sharp jab of cold air in your face and your arms, you see the bottom and there is no way to look up because you are falling down. BUT, when you finally hit rock bottom, you can roll over and look up. And above whatever pit you are in, whatever situation of sadness that you are feeling, God is always there with His arm stretched out ready to pull you up and out. But here is where it will always lie in your power. You choose whether or not to roll over. You choose whether or not to open your eyes, and you choose whether or not to make the effort to grab His hand. It all starts in your head.

 

Elder M. Russell Ballard wrote a small talk for missionaries that our President of the Mission gave us this past week. It is called Mental Tenacity. I felt like Joseph Smith reading James 1:5 when I read this talk, nothing has hit my soul more strongly or changed my life so dramatically. There are tons of good parts of this talk, in fact I am memorizing it, but the part I like the best is "Success is not a matter of luck. It is something produced and obtained every day until converting yourself". And I decided to apply it.

 

Sunday morning we got ready to leave and bring people to church and it was raining and raining hard. There was nothing that we could do about it. And we called our people and they all said no.  Easy to say that there luck wasn´t ours right? But no. I decided I wasn't going to live like that any longer so I went for it. I called them all again, told them what was up in the most direct way possible, went by their houses in the pouring rain and in the end, only one person walked to church with us. BUT it doesn't end there either. Easy to let your mind say, oh well we tried, nothing is going our way. NO. Have the faith. After church started the Familia C, menos activos showed up. La J tambien, and Then our baptismal date Ju showed up too. And I am a witness that it all starts in your head. If you let a little bit of doubt enter, that is where your success ends. I will see miracles, I will move on and I will choose to roll over, open my eyes, look up, STAND UP, and reach out. And God will do the rest.

"Think of baptisms and you will baptize"

 

Be a creator of circumstances, not a creature of circumstances.

 

Love,

Hermana Farner

God is always there

El Monte has so much potential and so much that is good but the adversary is working hard on Hermana M. and me. We cry a lot.  The people don´t understand us, and the men are quite forward and makes it impossible to contact families.

 

But, I will have you know that I have never felt the Spirit guide me so strongly in these weeks of pain and anguish than in my entire life. I have felt pushed to doors that have opened for us to hear the message of God. I have shared scriptures with people that the still small voice told me I should do to see these people start to cry and tell me that I was inspired to share because that is what they needed to hear. I have felt the power of God fill me as I testify of God´s love for His children and I have seen people nod and smile as that knowledge touches their hearts.

 

What do I learn from this? God is always there. He is always beside us, holding our hand, putting his arm aroud our stooped shoulders when we feel like we can´t move on. He will never give you something you can´t handle. He will never leave you to fight alone. If any of you are going through a hard time in your life, remember where you stand. And find joy in the fact that you are the master of your fate and the captain of your soul.

 

As Theodor Roosevelt once said, "Its not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, who strive valiantly, who errs; who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming, but who does actually strive to do the deeds, who knows great enthusiasm, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly so his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

Love,

Hermana Farner 

Thrust in the sickle and move forward

What to say? Well let's see. This week was a rough one as I have told  my family. There are so many things that are thrown in the mix of life that sometimes confusion rules and it's hard to remember that there is order and order is of God and if we are confused that right there is the devil trying to bring us to his side. Never let that HAPPEN! But how can we avoid that?

 

What I like to think about is the life of Alma the Younger. Most of the time when we think of him we end the story after his miraculous vision when his sins were forgiven him. But I think we miss the most important part of his life. What happens afterward. What does he do when he gets forgiven?  He goes and gets to work preaching the Gospel. He throws in his sickle and starts harvesting for the Lord. All those that have been forgiven of their sins should have a natural desire to give the same gift to those around them. But his life doesn't end there either. When he is the chief judge and high priest (double duty), he basically receives a palo from God that says he isn't fulfilling his purpose as high priest because the church in Zarahelma is basically apostasizing. So what does he do? Chooses something better. Quits the chief judge thing and starts working full time thrusting in his sickle and moving forward. And through his example, helps his three sons as well changes their lives. In the end of his life, he totally fulfilled his purpose and leaves the city and gets taken up to God.

 

What am I trying to say with this? Basically anyone who is on the road to eternal life and takes time to look back isn't fit for the kingdom of God. When we are forgiven, we are forgiven. It's that easy. Anyone who tells you differently is the devil and all he needs is a heisman. Hate that guy.

 

Anyway. Not much else has happened here in good ol El Monte. We had some funny experiences. Ran into a house that had a whole bunch of baby doll heads on sticks outside the house.... haha that was fun. Starting Semana 4. Time is flying. Saddddllyyy...

 

Love you and miss you all. Been thinking about my great young women leaders Corinne, Sister Mann, Liz Hardy, Sister Gudmundson, Sister Quist and all those that taught me to do good in this world and be a lady. Thanks so much!

Hermana Farner