"IT'S BETTER TO LOOK UP!" - July 29, 2013

Things are going incredibly well here in Elche. We have been finding a lot of new investigators lately and guess what OUR INVESTIGATOR IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!! He is our investigator we found 3 months ago who didn´t want anything to do with us or the gospel.  Little by little we worked with him and this man is absolutely INCREDIBLE! I’ll have to tell you more about it next week! He´s getting baptized. We´re so excited! I can´t deny that we had the help of angels the night he chose to be baptized. Miracle miracle miracle.

Well I just want to say how incredibly much I love this work!  

Next week my email will be so much better! I’m so sorry! Just know that I’m doing great and we´re seeing miracles! The work is hard but you have to go through hard things in order to appreciate the good! My motto this week is “It´s better to look up!”

Well sorry this was so short!

Love you all! I’ll write a better email next week!  Remember "It's better to look up!"  Come what may and love it.

Love,

Hermana Israelsen

"Finding the Joy in the Journey" - July 22, 2012

“FINDING THE JOY IN THE JOURNEY”

Transfer week. We didn´t get a call from President this week so that means it´s still my hija and I here in Elche. I´m really happy about that! I’m not quite ready to leave Elche yet. I LOVE ELCHE! We got some other news though that made me scream.....dum dum dum......ELCHE IS GETTING MORE HERMANAS!!!! Another companionship of hermanas are coming to serve in the other ward here. AH! That was such a tender mercy for me! After 3 months of isolation I’m finally going to have more hermanas!!!! They´ll come on Wednesday and even better news. Guess who´s coming? One of my MTC hermanas,  I love love love this hermana! She´s rock solid and we were tight in the MTC. She´s one of the 3 other sisters who had to train after 6 weeks in the field. We have actually talked about how awesome it´d be to be companions and now look! We may not be companions but now we live within 15 minutes of each other! So that made my week! 

A few cool things. I´m learning Spanish sign language! There are a few deaf people here in Elche that we want to communicate with so a member in Alicante is teaching us Spanish sign language! It´s pretty simple next to learning Spanish so we´re picking it up very quickly! I can teach a mini lesson in sign language now! It´s so tight! I think sign language is so smooth! 

Another thing. In the past 3 months I’ve been trying to figure out why I can´t understand some people out here in Elche and then I figured it out this week. It´s because they´re speaking Valenciano not Castillano (what I’m speaking).Hhaha! I feel so much better knowing that the only reason I can´t completely understand them is because it´s a different dialect! Valenciano is hard and doesn´t really make any sense to me. Maybe after another 6 weeks here in Elche I’ll be able to pick it up a little. Who knows? 

Well, this week was pretty crazy. My companion had to go to Malaga to get her residency card so I went on exchanges with a hermana in Alicante for the weekend. My companion missed her train back so she had to wait another day to come back to Elche which meant that I had to stay another day in Alicante. That means that we didn´t get to teach a single lesson in Elche for 4 entire days!!! Wow, it´s good to be back and teaching again! 

I really do love Elche. Elche has truly become my home! I absolutely love love love Elche. I love the people, the area, the palm trees, the missionaries, the members, and about every other thing about Elche but none of those are the reasons why Elche will always have a special place in my heart. Elche will always hold my heart because it was here that I truly found God. Elche has truly been my refiner´s fire. The past 3 months have been the hardest three months in my life but I wouldn´t trade them for anything in the entire world. It was here that I learned to completely and fully rely on the Lord and let him carry me. It was here that I learned for myself that I could do hard things. It was here that I learned to truly love people from all different backgrounds. Most importantly, it was here that I started to become the person that the Lord has always wanted me to be. 

I have never before felt so close to my Savior nor understood the magnitude of the Atonement. I have an unwavering testimony of 1 Nephi 3:7. "I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."   

The Lord WILL always provide a way if we but let him guide us. The Lord has provided a way for me to do something that to me seemed absolutely impossible. Sometimes we have to walk in the dark for a time but I promise you that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. I have experienced that for myself. I am so incredibly grateful for everything the Lord has put me through these past 4 1/2 months. I can now look back and see how important each and every one of those trials were for my development and testimony.

I absolutely love what I´m doing right now. It´s ridiculously difficult but I love it none the less. Not a day goes by that I don´t feel overwhelmed with gratitude for all the Lord has done for me. I´m stronger than ever thanks to the Lord and I´m looking forward to the next 6 weeks here in Elche. I can already feel that we´re going to see miracles! Thanks for all of the love, prayers, and support!

Sometimes life is about finding joy in the journey. Go out and look for it. It´s there
I LOVE THIS WORK!!!

Love,
Hermana Israelsen

"Not My Will But Thine Be Done" -July 15, 2013

"NOT MY WILL BUT THINE BE DONE" 

Well, this week was interesting to say the least. Some complete miracles and some huge obstacles.

We miraculously found some old investigators that had disappeared off of the face of the earth and began teaching them again. The Lord truly placed them in our path. So cool! Sad news. Our two sweet investigators both had to have their baptismal dates pushed back a few weeks because of some trials.

It has taken me a little while but after hours of prayer, study, pondering, and a few cool experiences I can honestly kneel down in prayer and say ¨Not my will but thine be done.¨ It took me quite a while to get to this point though. When I first heard I was training I tried to put on the brakes. I begged my heavenly father for any possible way to get out of this situation. I was really putting on the brakes and having a hard time moving forward. It has taken a lot of prayer and dozens of humbling moments to get me to the point where I have finally accepted my situation and the will of the lord for me. The Lord has called me to go through this trial and if he were to give me a way out of it I would never learn the things he needs me to learn.

I have been thinking a lot about the story that Elder Christofferson gave in a general conference talk about the current bush. There was a farmer who found this current bush which had been growing for a few years but it wasn´t growing in a way that a current bush was supposed to grow. For that the farmer pruned the current bush down to a stump so that it could start again and he could help it grow into what he needed it to be. The current bush began to cry and ask why the farmer cut him down but then the farmer explained why. at the end the current bush said, ¨thank you for loving me enough to cut me down.¨ I don´t have enough time to tell the rest of the story but I encourage you to go read it for yourself on lds.org,

Go to link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDrhvm9EnJ4 and www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/​as-many-as-i-love-i-rebuke

because it´s awesome! Anyways, I´ve been thinking about that story again and again this week.

As I kneeled in prayer last night I poured my soul out to the Lord. At the end of my prayer I had this incredible feeling of gratitude and a greater perspective on the trials I am facing at the moment. I sincerely said,  “Father, thank you for loving me enough to cut me down.¨  The Lord doesn´t enjoy watching us suffer and he doesn´t just say, I know it hurts right now but I promise you that it will get better." He hurts when we suffer. He takes no joy in seeing us in pain but he understands how necessary it is. That´s why we have the atonement. The atonement makes it so that Christ can know exactly what to do to succor or help us in our trials. Prayer has been my saving grace this week. I have truly come to understand prayer a lot more. Prayer is the action by which the will of the father and the child are brought into correspondence. As we come to change our prayers from asking for things that we think that we need to ask for things that the Lord wants then we will find greater power. Prayer is truly a supernal gift from our heavenly father. I love this gospel and I will never be the same again.

Thank you all for the love and support! You´re all keeping me going! I love this work, no matter how difficult it may be. Not my will but the Lord´s will be done.

Love,

Hermana Israelsen

"Sometimes you have to take it a day at a time"- July 8, 2013

"SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO TAKE IT A DAY AT A TIME"

So, where to begin this week. This week was pretty tough.

One of our investigators baptisimal date was pushed back to the 20th. She´s still getting baptized but just a little later. Our other baptism, was pushed back to the 27th. She is absolutely sure that she wants to be baptized and she loves meeting with us.  We´re working hard though and have quite a few members involved.

Well, as I said this week was pretty tough. Every single missionary in the world goes through this though so that gives me a lot of comfort. I know that this won´t last forever and I’m taking every opportunity I can to laugh and find the wonderfully moments of the day. I started keeping a tender mercy journal that I write in every night when I go to bed. It really helps me put everything into perspective and remember that the lord´s hand is in my life every day. I´m learning a little more every day and this experience has really helped my Spanish out. Thank goodness for that. haha.

This whole experience has been a push from the Lord. The Lord´s push isn´t one that ends up in a face plant though. It results in acceleration. The Lord will never push us more than we can handle and I have to keep reminding myself of that. The Lord is there every step of the way. In fact, he´s carrying me every step of the way. He´s carrying me until I can start running on my own. During church yesterday, I was thinking about what a heavy load I have had to carry this transfer and then it hit me. Who´s really carrying the load? Boy, was that ever a humbling moment for me. The Savior is carrying my burden for me. I barely have to carry anything at all. Because of the atonement he can carry that load for me and lighten my burden. I have truly been able to see how the Lord can lighten our burdens if we just come to him and let him carry us. He will gladly do it but we have to come to him first. 

This is tough but I wouldn´t trade it for anything in the world because it has brought me closer to my Savior than ever before. I have developed a deeper relationship with the Savior than I thought possible. I love this work. It may bring me to my knees every single day but I´ll gladly get back up to bear witness of the savior. I truly do love my mission. I´m still smiling and laughing because I can see the result of all of this. I can look forward and see the joy that is going to come because of the moments like this. I bear testimony of the incredible power of the atonement. That it truly does cover everything. Everything. There is no place in existence that the light of the atonement can´t shine. 

Thank you all for the love and support! It really does mean the world to me! Spain says hello! also.....IT¨S SO STINKING HOT HERE! Ash! So there´s that. Love you all! Have an incredible week and keep talking to your Father in Heaven through prayer. 

If you want to talk to your Father in Heaven, pray. If you want your Father in Heaven to talk to you, read your scriptures.

Love,
Hermana Israelsen

"Look Unto Me In Every Thought, Doubt Not, Fear Not" - July 1, 2013

"LOOK UNTO ME IN EVERY THOUGHT, DOUBT NOT, FEAR NOT"

Alright folks. More changes.  I’m now training and it is TERRIFYING! It all happened so fast that I feel like I just had the rug yanked out from under me. I´m going to be completely honest and say that this last week has been the hardest week of my entire life. I have had fear, anxiety, stress, and discouragement that I have never experienced before. BUT I´m hanging in here. I still have a smile on my face and a desire to do as the Lord has asked so I’m still here in Elche attempting to train this sweet sister who has to rely completely on me until she gets the hang of missionary life and the language.

I have come to learn what it means to rely fully and completely on the Lord. He is carrying me right now. You know that poem ¨footsteps in the sand¨? Ok dumb question cause about every Mormon in the world knows that poem. haha. Anyways, I´m definitely in a time of my life where there are only one set of footprints in the sand and they are His. I´m so gratefully for my Savior and his mercy towards me. He will not let me fall and more importantly He doesn´t want me to do this alone. Everything that I do now is a step of faith: knocking on a door, picking up the phone, going to a lesson, contacting someone in the street, leaving our apartment, and even just getting out of bed in the morning. I´m trying as hard as I possibly can to look to my Father in Heaven and understand that there is a purpose in this. There are things that I need to learn right now that will help me later in my mission and throughout the rest of my life. I´m putting into practice what I always say “Come what may and love it.” I’m trying to find the tender mercies in every day and every hour. 

I know that in a few weeks I’ll be able to look back at these moments and realize how well I learned to walk with my Savior. I´ll look back with a smile and know that I did all that I could to do what the lord had asked of me. I´m trying so hard to continue doing the best missionary work I can. We have 2 baptisms coming up so we´re going to see how to plan for those. Haha. I’m still not quite sure what I’m supposed to do so looks like my bishop is going to be receiving a lot of calls. Whoops!

Well, I´ll end this with my testimony. I know that God lives. The atonement is real. It greatly pains our Savior to see us go through difficult times. He does not take any joy in watching us suffer. It pains him greatly, much more than it pains us. He has experienced every heart ache, pain, fear, stress, anxiety, anger, frustration, joy, peace, and trial that we will ever have. He knows it all because he has felt it all. He knows every one of YOUR experiences. Turn to him and let HIM heal you. He is the way, the life, the light, and the Savior. I love you all and can´t wait to see you again! Spain says hello. Also, THE 4TH OF JULY!!! AMERICA!!! Celebrate it well for me. 

I never said that it would be easy. I only said that it would be worth it. 

Love,

Hermana Israelsen