COME UNTO ME - September 16, 2013

Something cool that I found out this week is that my companion and I are the first hermanas that have been in this area in over 20 years. Right Now we are the only hermanas in this entire zone of the country. The zone or area of La Mancha has been hermanaless for years and years until now. Who knows why now is the time that hermanas have been sent back to this part of the country but I guess we´re just going to find out what the Lord has planned for us.

 Well, this week was a little slower than most.Well, we just spent the majority of our week trying to talk to people in the street but no one wants anything to do with us. We mostly just get yelled at by people all day but that´s ok because I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. We still haven´t found anyone who wants to listen to a message about Jesus Christ but we´re not giving up. I know that there is someone here who is looking for happiness, peace, answers, and truth in their life right now but they just don´t know where to look. The Lord will guide them to us and us to them. I know it. We´ll find them eventually and I cannot wait for that day. Right now we´re just putting on smiles and going out every day to try to find someone who´s ready to come to Christ.

 One thing I’m learning right now is patience in the Lord´s timing. Yes, I’m being obedient and trying my very best but sometimes the Lord has to hold off on giving us immediate success because His timing is so much better than ours. I know that I need to show the Lord that I will continue to open my mouth and work even though we´re not seeing any success at all right now. It´s a trial of my faith to see if I will continue to have faith in the Lord and give him my all. I know that in time the lord will reward me for my labors. He will reward me in the timing that is best for me though. I won´t ever give up looking for people who need the gospel though because I know just how much it has blessed my life and I can´t bear knowing that someone doesn´t have that as well. I know without a doubt that the Lord will provide miracles as long as we remain faithful and continue moving forward in faith. We walk by faith, not by sight. That´s what I’m doing right now.

Sometimes I wonder if I’m even making a difference out here and then I look at the change that has occurred in me. My mission has made a change in me. Like it talks about in Alma 5 I have had a mighty change of heart. I will never ever regret the decision I made to go on a mission because it has brought me to Christ and has solidified my testimony in such a way that I will never ever deny that this is the true church of god upon the earth. There are so many people out here who are struggling and who need happiness and I just want to fix all of their problems for them but I can´t. One thing I have learned is that sometimes the only thing we can do to help others is bring them unto Christ and let him do the rest. It is only Christ who can heal all wounds. It´s only Him who can heal every broken heart, console every heart ache, and carry us in our times of need.

The invitation of our Savior is: Come unto me all ye heaven laden and I will give ye rest.

Well, I’m off to face another week and to bring God´s children to Christ. Wish me luck! Love you all! Thanks for all of the love and support!

Have a great week and remember to “Come What May and Love It.

Hermana Israelsen

DOUBT NOT FEAR NOT - September 9, 2013

Alright, so here´s the news. I´m training Hermana Heaton!  She´s 19 from Ogden, Utah. Holy cow did I ever hit the jack-pot with this girl! I absolutely adore her and we get along so incredibly well. I can already tell that these next 3 months are going to be great! I think the Lord blessed me with such a good companion because the area of Valdepeñas is extremely difficult. We have literally had to start from nothing.

 We´ve just spent the last few days wandering the streets trying to find people who are interested. No one here really wants anything to do with us. I do know, however, that the Lord has at least one person prepared for the gospel here in Valdepeñas.  We won´t stop working until we find them. There is someone in this pueblo who is looking for happiness and answers but doesn´t know where to look. The Lord will lead them to us and us to them. He´s done it before and he´ll do it again.

We just have to keep looking. The branch here is quite small. Smallest I´ve ever seen actually. On Sunday there were 12 people at church and that includes the missionaries and the babies. My companion and I literally doubled the Relief Society. haha. It´s so different from Elche but I know I´m going to come to love this place just as much as Elche. The members are all so kind and they were so RIDICULOUSLY excited to have hermanas. We were quite surprised by their reactions.  They´ve been so kind to us but they all live pretty far away. There is one family who is about a 30 minute walk from us and then the rest of the members are about a 30 minutes car ride away. The problem is that they don´t have public transportation here so we´re trying to figure out how we´re going to be able to visit the other members. I´m sure we´ll figure something out.

Despite the lack of interest in the gospel here, I am really coming to like it here. It´s more of the old fashioned Spain that I imagined when I first got my mission call. It´s actually pretty cool! There´s so much wine here. We actually arrived just as they were having a wine festival. Every night they would all lean out there windows and throw glasses of wine onto the passerbys below. Lucky us. It was so hard to get home spotless each night.

It looks like we have got a big challenge in front of us but we´re confident that we´re going to see miracles as we work as hard as we can. We´re going to face this challenge together with the help of the Lord. I´m actually really excited for the coming two transfers. They are going to be very hard and even discouraging at times but they are going to increase my faith and reliance on the Lord. The Lord is going to mold me into the person he needs me to be. I have complete faith that we´re going to see miracles here. No matter what challenges lay ahead the Lord will provide a way for you to overcome them. He always does. It all starts with faith.

D&C 6:36 ¨Look unto me in every thought. Doubt not, fear not.¨

Love you all! Thanks for all of the love and support!

Hermana Israelsen

Ok one last thing, I don´t know where on earth the rumor started but I have definitely NOT lost 20 pounds.hahahahaha!!!! Maybe 10 pounds but no more. My companion and I were laughing so hard when we saw that! I got a lot of concerned emails about that. hahahahaha! Just thought I’d set that straight. Don´t worry, I’m not dying out here. :)

MOUNTAINS TO CLIMB - August 26, 2013

Mountains to Climb

Alright well it´s transfer week and I have some news. Drum roll lease.....................I´m training again and I’m opening an area!  It´s a very small pueblo and there´s a branch there of about 20 or so members.  I couldn´t be any more excited to go! The Lord has prepared me for this over the last 4 months. He had me open Elche with my trainer and then he had me train. Now I’m just doing both at the same time. I know exactly what I’m getting myself into so that´s nice. I already know that it´s going to be incredibly hard but I´m so so so excited! Time to get to work!

I had such a tender mercy this week. I got a call from an unknown number a few days ago so I picked it up and guess who it was. Two of my favorite sisters from the MTC!!!!!! They got permission to call me and talk for a few minutes because of all of the transfer changes. That was seriously the BIGGEST tender mercy for me. It was absolutely incredibly to talk to those two for those few short minutes. I honestly can´t describe how much it meant to me to be able to hear their voices because I haven´t seen any of them for a few months now. Man, I miss all of my MTC hermanas so much and getting to talk to two of them was the greatest blessing to me. AH!

Alright well, this next transfer is going to be an adventure.

If you feel like the mountain you´re about to climb in your life is impossible don´t forget that you´re not alone. The lord will always provide a way. I know that because he´s done it for me. A little less than 3 months ago a 20 year old girl was dumped in a foreign country where she barely barely barely communicate with anyone and was not only expected to take care of herself but another girl. Not only was she expected to teach and train another girl but she was expected to take care of an entire city. What the Lord asked me to do was literally an impossible task. I had one HUGE mountain to climb and it started out as a sheer cliff wall.

Looking back I know one thing for sure, the Lord never ever abandoned me. He was there EVERY second of the way. In those moments where I put forth every effort I could, when I did everything that I possibly could and more but it still wasn´t good enough, those were the moments that the Savior carried me. When giving it everything that I possibly had still wasn´t good enough the savior stepped in and made up for the rest. The lord provided a way for me to do an impossible task. I can stand here and testify that the Lord will always provide a way for you to climb that mountain because he did it for me. The lord will never ever abandon you and he will always provide you a way to do what he has asked. When looking at that steep mountain that you have to climb remember this: Fear not, only believe. I love you all! Wish me luck as I start a new adventure.

Come What May and Love It!

Love, Hermana Israelsen

I NEED THEE EVERY HOUR - August 26, 2013

I Need Thee Every Hour

One thing, I’m most likely leaving Elche next week so any letters sent after today most likely won´t make it to me but I’ll send you my address as soon as I get it!

By the way, when people talk about how they ¨killed off their companion¨ it means that their companion finished their mission and went home. There´s a lot of funny vocab in the mission. When you enter the field you are ¨born¨ so I was born four months ago here in Elche. When you go home from your mission you ¨die¨. So if you are the companion of someone who is going home you are ¨killing them off¨. Hahaha. Really strange but it´s what it is. Ha-ha.

My sweet friend who we've been teaching WAS BAPTIZED LAST NIGHT!!!! Wow! My first baptism here in Spain!!! It was really hard to plan for because I had never planned a baptism before. The Lord made up for all of my weaknesses though and everything worked out. 

I will never forget his face as he came up out of the water! I will never forget it as long as I live!!! It was as if he were seeing the light for the first time. He was the happiest that I’ve ever seen him. I could literally see the change that baptism brought to his life. He was a completely new and happier man. WOW! He brought his entire family to come see his baptism (none of them are members). Apparently he´s told his family all about us so when we met them they treated us like family! It was such a sweet experience!!! They have watched the change that the gospel has brought to his life and they told us that they´d like to meet and receive some of the lessons. WHAT?!?!?!?!?! Miracle. Nothing short of a miracle.  I can honestly say that this man has become like one of my very best friends out here. It´s going to KILLLLLLLLLL ME to leave him next week. I never thought I’d get this close to anyone on my mission. He´s absolutely incredible! He´s like my uncle or something. I love this man with all of my heart!

This last week was FULL of miracles. The Lord truly did put people who were prepared for the gospel in our path. One example was that we showed up at the door of one of our citas but she cancelled on us. We remembered the promise that the Lord had given us about how someone in the area was prepared so we started our search for this person in faith and prayer. We literally talked to every single person on the street around the piso but no one was even slightly interested. We tried tocing the doors near-by but no one was interested. We were about to give up and move onto our next cita when we both felt that there was in fact someone who was ready near-by.

We were walking down the street when a door literally opened on its own for us so we took that as a sign and walked right in. We went to the top of the building and the first door we tried was a girl who thought that all faiths were the same. After a little bit of testifying to her she finally let us in. We then talked about the Book of Mormon and she was extremely receptive. It was absolutely amazing!!!! That was such a humbling moment for me to know that this is the Lord´s work and not mine. He is truly preparing people for the amazing gift of the gospel. WOW!!!!

This week I learned a lot about humility. I literally cannot do ANYTHING without the Lord. I made so many mistakes this week like leaving our phone at the church, forgetting to assign prayers for the baptism, taking the wrong bus and missing an appointment, and the list goes on and on. I learned so much about the atonement this week and it became so much more personal to me. With every single mistake I made the Savior was there to pick up the pieces. He was there to pick me up, dust me off, and get me back on track. I put forth my VERY BEST effort this week but it literally wasn´t enough. I did everything I possibly could to serve the Lord but it wasn´t enough. That´s where my Savior stepped in.  He made it enough. He made up the difference and made everything I did enough. HE made it enough. He did. The atonement is not only for our sins and pains but also for making up the difference when we do all we can do and it´s still not enough. It´s through him, and only him, that it is enough. In fact, through him it is more than enough. I have a deeper and more personal love and understanding of the atonement than ever before.  I was made very aware of all of my faults and weaknesses this week but through the savior he helped me fulfill the things I needed to do. 

I love the Savior and I will never ever go through another day without begging him for his help. Remember that you need the lord every day. Don´t ever think that you can do it alone. Why do it alone when you don´t have to? He´s there, just waiting. Open the door and let him in. Love you all!!

Come what may and love it!

Hermana Israelsen

The Miracle of Prayer - August 19, 2013

Below is a short email Jess sent me this morning that I wanted to share with all of you.  Thank you again for your prayers for our sweet Jess.  We all witnessed a sweet miracle. 

Thank you sooooo much mom!!! You´re the best! Seriously! There is no doubt that all of those prayers were the cause of the miracle I saw this last week. I’ll talk more about that miracle in the big email. Thanks so much! I’m doing great again! I’m not sick anymore thanks to all of those prayers. Yay!! Thank you" love you!

Now for Jess’ email this week

THE MIRACLE OF PRAYER

I had real milk for the first time this week since leaving the U.S... I repeat real milk! It was the greatest tasting thing ever. I felt like I was drinking a cloud! They have this milk here that is made to have a very long shelf life without refrigeration so that´s kind of sketchy. We try to avoid the milk here if we have the choice but we finally found cheap real milk. I was so excited because I have missed milk so much! Yay! Tender mercy!

This last week in Elche was something called Nit de Alba (it´s Valenciano and means Night of Alba). I don´t have time to explain what it is but feel free to google it. Basically the entire city shuts down for the week to celebrate. I´m not kidding you when I say that everything shuts down for the week. The only stores that were open this week were a few grocery stores. This last week was like the 4th of July, Pioneer day, and the Disneyland firework show on steroids. It was incredible! On the 13th of August they have this MASSIVE firework show across the entire city. We got to go up on top of one of the member´s roofs and watched a little bit of it. I can honestly say that I have never ever seen anything even remotely close to how cool this firework show was. Almost every building in the city was shooting fireworks into the sky. Absolutely incredible! Another thing that they do is they have firework wars...as in they actually shoot fireworks at each other for entertainment. You heard me. They SHOOT fireworks at each other. Haha. Let´s just say that we had a lot of protecting angels with us this week.

Speaking of everything shutting down. So for those of you who may not have known I was pretty sick last week. We´re still not sure what exactly happened but I got some kind of infection that just took down my immune system. I was so sick last week that I couldn´t even stand up without passing out and my fevers were so high that they literally burned the inside of my mouth and throat. I still can´t really taste anything hahaha. Our mission nurse came up to Elche to help out and we tried going to a doctor but just my luck, EVERYTHING was closed....including every doctor in the city. Yup. haha. Just my luck. Luckily the Lord knew that and he blessed me with a complete miracle. There is no other way to describe it than divine intervention because the infection left on its own and my foot is almost completely better.  They said I’m going to have a nice scar but other than that it´ll be good. The mission nurse told me to thank all of you, especially my family, for your prayers because I should NOT have been able to get better on my own without a doctor and medication. Yay!! Thank you sooooo much for your prayers. I have no doubt that it was because of all of the prayers from home that I saw a miracle this week. I’m doing fantastic again and I’m back to work :)

Cool experience of the week. I was reminded this week of the power of going to church. They´re not kidding when they say going to church is a great way to receive personal revelation. Sometimes we fall into the groove of just going to church and attempting to stay awake for all three hours. Let´s be honest, we´ve all had those Sundays. 

 

As missionaries we teach others that they can receive revelation through church attendance. This week I was really having a difficult time with....well, I won´t say who or what but I was praying to the Lord for help on what to do and how I can become a better instrument in his hands. Boy, did I ever receive an answer. I got to church and Relief Society was on charity. Sunday school was on charity. In sacrament meeting, every single talk was about charity and loving those around you. I actually started laughing a little as soon as the last speaker in sacrament meeting started talking about charity because it was SO obvious that the Lord was trying to tell me something. In my head I though ¨alright heavenly father! Message received. Loud and clear.¨ hahahaha. It was actually such an incredible experience for me. It is amazing to me how many prayers are answered just in those three hours of church. The lord truly inspires the people who teach or talk on Sunday to answer people´s prayers. The thing is that if you don´t go to church how are you going to receive those answers. How many times has someone else said something in church that is THE EXACT answer to your prayer. It´s no coincidence. The church is a dedicated building and for that the Lord inspires the people inside. Go to church next Sunday with a question in mind or a problem that you´re trying to overcome. Pray about this question or problem before you go to church and while you are there and I promise you that you will hear something or feel something that is a direct answer to prayer. Try it. I promise you that if you do it prayerfully and with faith that the lord will answer you.

Well I hope this email makes up for some of the shorter ones I’ve been sending off lately. I love you all! Thank you so much for the miracle you gave me thanks to all of your prayers. I love this work and I love my Savior.

Come what may and love it!

Hermana Israelsen

The Gospel Blesses Every Aspect of Our Lives - August 12, 2013

The Gospel Blesses Every Aspect of our Lives

This week was full of more miracles. We were led to a family who has been prepared to receive the blessings of the gospel. We found them while knocking doors. At first they were not interested and slammed the door in our face. As we began to walk away, I got a distinct impression that we shouldn´t give up. We turned right back around and rang their doorbell again. They opened the door again and tried to slam it in our face but somehow, through the help of the Lord, we were able to talk to them and they even invited us inside. We got to teach them a lesson and it went incredibly well. They are very very interested and invited us back this week. We´re super excited to teach them! 

One of our investigators told us a story that really hit me hard. She told us how her life has been really really heard. Her dad died when she was young and her family fell apart because of it. They don´t even keep in contact now.  She said that she´s been looking for happiness for a long time. She wasn´t exactly sure what she was looking for but she knew she was looking for something. One day she found a Book of Mormon in her apartment. She had never heard of the church before so she did some research on the computer. She found out that there was a chapel near where she lived so she passed by quite a few times but it was always closed. One time she passed by she saw that it was open and went in to find some members of the church cleaning it. They invited her to church the next day and she came. The second my companion and I saw her we knew that she had been prepared by the Lord. We talked with her and shortly after began to teach her. Last week she told us that she had finally found what she had been looking for. She said that she finally felt full, that there was nothing missing. She said that she finally found the truth and happiness that she had always been looking for. That was absolutely incredible to me! My heart was so full! 

The Lord is truly preparing the hearts of people to receive his gospel. To receive all of the happiness, blessings, and joy that comes with the gospel. It has been such an incredible experience to watch people´s lives change because of the gospel. We´ll meet someone who has become bitter because of what has happened in their life but we´ll see them open up their hearts because of the gospel. We get to watch a light and joy come into their eyes and see how the gospel truly does bring us more happiness than anything else in this world can possibly hope to provide. I bear solemn testimony that this church is true, that this gospel truly does bring a happiness and peace that we cannot hope to find anywhere else in the world. The gospel blesses families. The gospel blesses every aspect of our lives. 

I absolutely love what I’m doing. It´s hard. So so hard but I wouldn´t change a single second of it. The joy of watching someone truly come to Christ is greater than any reward I could possible ask for. Thanks for all of the love and support! You´re all amazing! The storms will come but come what may and love it.

Love, Hermana Israelsen

"LOOK FOR THE MIRACLES" - August 5, 2013

LOOK FOR THE MIRACLES

Wow. First of all, I am so sorry that my email last week was so lame! I´ll try to make up for it today!

There is a man that I met my very first week in Elche. He didn´t want anything to do with the missionaries or the church.  Little by little we got him to get to know us and listen to parts of our message and eventually he became an investigator. I have had the incredible opportunity of watching this man change every aspect of his life to come to Christ. I have truly witnessed with my own eyes the change that the atonement can make in our lives and the light and happiness that it can bring.

 

The work is really progressing! We´ve picked up quite a few new investigators in the past few weeks and one of them, wants to get baptized so we invited her to a fecha in September because she still has a few things to sort out before her baptism. She´s praying about it right now.  MIRACLES!!!

I can truly say that the Lord is preparing people for the gospel. Every day of the past 2 weeks we have had experiences where the Lord has placed someone who is ready for the gospel into our path.  It has been amazing to see.  As a result we´ve had a lot of work to do and a lot of people to visit. This last week we were literally running from appointment to appointment. Haha. I loved it!

I absolutely LOVE this work. I LOVE being a missionary! I completely LOVE what i do every day and I wouldn´t trade it for anything in the world. It´s so hard but I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I love it because I have the opportunity to watch the atonement of Christ in action. I get to be a mere instrument in the hands of the Lord as he works wonders. I honestly cannot take any credit for the success that we have had in the last two weeks because it has all been from the Lord. There is no doubt about that. Everything that we have seen lately has been a miracle. I am incredibly happy despite the refiner´s fire that burns in my life right now. The struggles haven´t left but neither has my joy. I wake up smiling knowing that I´m going to be able to bear witness of the Savior that day. The work of the Lord is incredible and he truly works in mysterious ways. He has worked with me in very mysterious ways but I have truly seen a change in myself since coming out here on the mission. That has been the most surprising change that I have seen out here: the change that this work has made in me. Keep working each day to be a little more like Christ. Try a little harder to be a little better. I love this gospel and the purpose and joy that it brings into my life! Thank you all for the prayers, the love, and the support. I can definitely see it out here. Thank you!

“It’s better to look up!”  Look for the miracles!

Love,

Hermana Israelsen