Daily Nourishment

:) This week has been crazy but fun!!!!

As all of you know, my compy Hermana Despain finished her mission!!!! :) She is home now and I am sooooooooo happy and excited for her. I miss her tons, but she is with her family and completed her mission here in the Utah Provo Mission :)

Librado y Hermana Despain y Yo :)

So on Wednesday! I got an amazing new companion!!! Her name is Hermana Abellan :) She is from Barcelona, Spain! She has been out about a year, just a transfer more than me :) She is so funny, she is learning English, but she is already perfect at it! I think we are going to have a really fun time and work really hard. She is also going to help me with my Spanish!!! lol it is really funny because I only want to talk in Spanish and she only wants to talk in English so that she can learn more English haha so we talk in Spanglish a lot :D
 

The Saturday before last, I was able to go with Hermana Despain to a sealing (in Spanish!) of one of her recent converts in Mount Timpanogos. Then Hermana Abellan had a couple of recent converts receive their endowments and were sealed in the Provo temple this past Saturday! It was so so amazing! It was the first sealing I have ever been to and the first Spanish endowment session :) It was so so neat!

Hermana Abellan's first S'more!!!

 

Las hermanas de nuestro barrio :)

So on Wednesday evening, at the final testimony of all the missionaries going home, we were able to go because Hna Abellan was playing the piano and a lot of sisters including me were able to sing :) It was a really neat night hearing the testimonies of 17 missionaries coming home and including the testimonies of our President and his wife :)

The Davis Clark Family :)

Something that I liked about what one sister said, was that if you are losing your way or if you are struggling in your testimony, remember back to what helped you gain it or want a testimony in the first place. We all struggle sometimes, but we just need to hold on to what we believe and move forward from there. Heavenly Father knows that we struggle and we will fall sometimes, but He has given us many tools and resources; such as the scriptures, our leaders, our family and friends, prayer, and so much more- to help us get back up again and again. The most important tool that we have is the Atonement of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ :) We need to trust in Him and rely solely on Him. Hold true to the faith that you have and nurture and cultivate it. We need to be doing this everyday. Just like drinking or eating, we need to do it several times a day in order to be energized. It is the same with our spirits. Daily scripture study and prayer and service are the key :) let us feel us our spiritual tank so that our spirits will not be malnourished :) I know by doing the simply doing the basics, we will be blessed in so so so many ways :) I know that this is true and you can to if you try it for a while. You will see a difference and won't want to turn back :)

 Alma y Yo :)

I love this gospel and my mission. I am learning a lot and I am most importantly coming closer to my Savior by helping others to do so :)

I love you all :) Have a fantastic week and keep your spiritual tank filled!! :)
 

Gretchen ;)

Love, Hermana Derges :)

You Cannot Fall With Christ!

So this just happened two minutes ago lol A little girl just said to her mom, "I just saw missionary!!" The whole library heard lol so cute! :)
 

Swinging Around :)

It started out at the Human Curiosity Museum at Thanksgiving Point :) It was so much fun! I have a couple pics from it attached on the message :) it was really fun :)

Little door!

Bear!

So sad note!!!! Hermana Despain, my AMAZING compy is going home this week!!!! noooooooooo! lol I love her so so much! She should just extend her mission so we can be comps for forever! lol :) I am going to miss her but I am SO excited for the next chapter in her life :)

Librado, our investigator is getting so close and ready for his baptism coming up! :) I am so pumped for him :) He is just SO willing to accept the gospel into his life. He is amazing!

We had a lesson with Eva this past week and she said she had a lovely time going to the Jordan River Temple with hermana Wheeler :) I love it! She is so enriched in the gospel! She even told us that earlier that day at work she had a strong impression to come home and read the book of mormon! :) So awesome! She is so in-tune with the spirit and she followings the promptings she receives :) I just love her! :) What a great example she is to me and to the rest of us. Each time she bears her testimony the spirit is so strong. She always mentions that she used to feel an emptiness but now she feels filled and happy now. :) How great is that? :)

Skylee and me :)

 

On church on Sunday, we had the stake high councilmen come and speak to us in our ward. One of the speakers was speaking about Machu Picchu and how in the ruins they are built so perfectly to withstand the earthquakes and the heavy rainstorms there. The rocks were shaped and cut so perfectly and stacked so tightly that not even a blade of grass could fit between them. The pillars were built in this manner to withstand the climate that they knew was going to be a potential danger. They planned and built accordingly and because they did so, the ruins are still intact today. This draws a perfect parallel to our day. We need to built strongly in the gospel so that we will be able to withstand the storms and whirlwinds that satan throws at us in our day. The way we do this is relying more on Jesus Christ and following his gospel. We need to have faith, to repent, to be baptized and partake of the sacrament every week, and keep doing those things again and again. That way we are building that strong foundation in Christ and building up from there in a manner that we will not fall. I love the scripture Helaman 5:12:

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

It is one of my favorites. I know that it is true. With Christ as our foundation we cannot fall. I know that He is my Savior and that He loves me and all of you. Trust in Him! and build your foundation in Him and you cannot fail. We will be strong like unto the ruins of Maccu Picchu- woven tight that nothing can make us fall. I know that this is true with all my heart! :)
 

I love you all! have a lovely week! :)

love, hermana derges :)

Serve with Your Mind, Feet, and HEART!

Hola!

So an AMAZING thing that happened was that Eva, our new convert who was baptized last month, came with us to the Provo temple to do baptisms for the dead!! The neatest part was that before we helped her put in the information for her parents and someone got baptized and confirmed for her dad and she got to be baptized and confirmed for her mom!!!! She said she felt so so special there in the temple and that when she was being confirmed for her mom she said she could feel her right there!!! She was so so so happy!!! And so was I! :) I love Eva! She is so so neat and special. She is going back this week with one of her friends from the ward to do baptisms again! Yay!! :) it was such a special and spiritual experience :) 

Eva! :)

Now, I don't believe I can top a story like that but :) another neat thing that happened this past week was that we had a missionary conference for all the Spanish missionaries in the mission. We had the treat of having Elder Don R. Clark, from the first quorum of the 70, to come and teach us. It was really neat. I learned a lot of things that are going to help me work better with the lovely Latinos that I get to work with everyday!!! (lucky me!!!) Seriously I want to be Latina jaja :) Which, btw, Hermana Gutierrez said that I was Mexican!! Haha :) 

All of the comps Hermana Despain has had who are still on their missions!

But anyways lol, One thing I really liked, was that he said that we need 3 things to really serve with all our strength. We need our mind, our feet, and most importantly our heart. I really like that. He said that we can do a lot of wasting time with just serving with our feet. Or we can do well with serving with our mind and our feet. But the element of serving with all three is where the magic and pure service comes from; our heart being the biggest part. I know that serving in this manner really does help me to be a better servant of my Savior Jesus Christ. I am here to serve Him, so why not give all I got?? :) It is the same for us in our day to day actions, even if you don't have a badge on your chest. Serve with your mind, feet and most importantly with your heart and you will feel the spirit and feel that you are making a difference in someone else's life for the better :)

I love you all. I am doing great, just serving hard and LOVING Saratoga Springs and my awesome comp! :) 

Have a lovely day and go out and serve!!!

Love, Hermana Derges :)

This Isn't My Mission

 Hola :)

I hope you all had a LOVELY mother's day :) especially for all the mothers out there :) Mine was FANTASTIC! :) I got to talk to my mom, dad, my sisters, Jaime and Brandi, my brother Justin, my cute nieces and nephews, and to be the sweetest person ever...David came to my parents house to surprise me on skype!!! It was such a fun skype call!!!!! :) It made my day! :) I love all of them so so much! :)

The rest of my week was great as well :)

Tuesday we had a meeting on how to share the gospel online! it was awesome! It was done by the MoreGood Foundation- great non profit organization that is working hand and hand with the church to make our appearance on the internet more positive and more vocal. This is really the beginning to some very exciting things on the internet! You all can help!!! Just go to lds.net/share to watch some videos and hear all about it!!! :) And you can also ask me questions too!! :)
 

We had zone conference that same and it was awesome! I got to play the piano for it...eek! haha just kidding. I practiced a LOT haha :) I learned a lot at our conference. I really understood the WHY to why I am preaching the gospel. The why is that other families can be with their families for FOREVER. The why is that the people will know that Heavenly Father loves them that they will know where to turn for an everlasting love in this world. -This isn't my mission, it is the Lord's. I need to be my best so that I can help others more and help bring them closer to Christ. I LOVE my mission. It has been hard, but I love the challenge it gives me to become better everyday and become a better servant of my Savior Jesus Christ.
 

 

I know that this gospel is true :) no hay dudas en mi mente ni corazon.

I love you all!!!! :)

Love, Hermana Derges :)

Miracles All Around

Hey everyone I hope you had an amazing week like I did! I saw so many neat things happen this week!!! :) I don't know where to start! 

So! Amazing item number 1! A lovely family in our ward talked to their neighbor who lives in their basement about the gospel to see if he would like to learn more! So we got to teach him! His name is Emilio and he is super ready to accept the gospel! He also came to church yesterday! :) And he really liked it! :)

#2 Hermano Gutierrez, who was baptized in March, got to bless the sacrament yesterday! It was so cool! I love seeing people come into the church and just grow and thrive in the gospel! :) Miracles! 

#3 We got to go to the temple on Tuesday :) So fun! I LOVE the temple-such a special and spiritual place :)

#4 We had four amazing investigators come to church yesterday! So neat :) The ward just welcomes them in!

Amazing item number five! Librado our investigator wants to get baptized this month!! He told us yesterday at church that he understands why it is so important to get baptized so he wants to do it! :) So amazing right??? We are SO pumped for him!! :) We have a lesson with him tonight and it is going to be great! :)

Plus we had 10 lessons this past week and 9 of those lessons we had a member/fellowshipper with us!!! :) I love our ward!!! They are amazing!

And some fun things on the side :) On Monday we did crafts with a recent convert, Amber, and her family :) see pic below :) Also, we got taken out to Texas Roadhouse!!! It was Hna Despains first time! :) Yum!! :) And I got to hug a minion haha. 

Best week ever! :)

I just want to share my testimony that I know that the church and the gospel are true. If they weren't I wouldn't be seeing all these amazing miracles happen around me. I know that Christ lives and that He leads and guides me :) I know that Heavenly Father prepares His children to hear of the gospel and to accept it. I know that He also prepares us as we go out and teach. He helps prepare the missionaries and He definitely prepares the members when they come out with us! I saw this time and time again this week when a member came out with us and they somehow in someway had a connection with the person we went to go teach. It was wonderful to see! It really strengthened my testimony to know that this is the Lord's work and that if we just try our best to do our part we can see miracles all around us. I know that if you all make an effort to either go out with the missionaries, talk to your friends around you or online, or serve someone you may not know that you WILL see the Lord work through you. He will help you in missionary work, it wouldn't make sense if He didn't ;) lol 

You all are amazing and I love you so much!

Have a great week!!! :) Don't forget to serve!! :)

Love, Hermana Derges :)

It is True!

It was my birthday was last pday so it was super fun! :) I had 3 birthday cakes lol and the Rades family (our old landlords) paid for us to get a mani pedi. How sweet and nice was that??! It was so much fun :) Birthdays on the mish are the bomb :) Thank you all for the birthday wishes! :) 

So we have started teaching Librado and some of his roommates this past week and he is amazing! He is so humble and willing to learn and believe. It is so amazing! :) He lives on the mink farms and he is living with 8 other guys who sometimes listen in on the lesson. He came to church yesterday and it was fantastic! :) I am so excited for the upcoming weeks!

So Hermana Huebsch, who made me one of my cakes AND my favorite, platanos tentaciones :) had her son's lego party that we helped her with. She is so creative and fun! :) There are pics below of the party lol :) She had signed up for dinner for us the day of the party so we got to see the festivities. The big lego box is a pinata that we helped her make :) so fun! ;) 

Our district was chosen with 2 others in our mission to be trained on how to train members how to use social media :) It is awesome! So we are going to teaching them during the afternoons when we don't have appts :) I am super pumped!!! :) It is put on by the More Good Foundation :)

Something funny that happened on Friday, we were driving by this kool aid stand and we had a second and we were thirsty so we got a drink lol There was a kid walking up and Hna Despain had an extra 50 cents so she paid for him. He was like, "no no thank you, but you don't need to pay for me, I won't get any" but we said that we had already paid for him but he insisted on not letting us pay lol he said "I know Jesus would want you to but no thanks" But FINALLY he accepted lol but as we were driving away, his mom stopped us and said "I am not letting the missionaries pay for my son" and gave us 50 cents lol. man. we tried. haha

I hope you all have a lovely week :) I just want you to know that this gospel is true. I know that Christ's true church in on the earth today. I know because I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I know that Joseph Smith saw our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I know it every time I say the first vision. :) It is so powerful! I know it also because I have prayed and I just know that it is true because the Spirit witnessed it to me :)

I love you all, keep being member missionaries! :) Just open your mouth and it will be filled! :) 

Love, Hermana Derges :)

Easter!

I am so excited that today is my birthday!! Happy day! ;) Thank you for all of your love :) it really means a lot out here!

This week was pretty fun :) I hope you all saw the #BecauseofHim campaign on social media :) I hope you all got to take part in it or at least see the amazing video about the possibilities that come because of the life, death and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ :) It was really fun to see the message spread everywhere! :)

Last night at dinner Hermana Despain and I met the actor off of the RM, Singles Ward, and Home Teachers lol it was Michael Birkeland! He is married to the sister of one of the members in our Spanish ward. It was so neat!

They had to put the cat in the laundry room or it would have sat in the basket lol

So yesterday was amazing because it was Easter! I love Easter!! :) The Easter bunny came lol :) I remember that 14 years ago on Easter weekend I was baptized :) My birthday was on Good Friday and I was baptized the next day and then on Easter I was welcomed in as the newest member of the church. It was such a special weekend for me :) I hope you all can remember how special your baptisms were to you! :)

The last pieces of the platanos fritos that I made :) Yum!

But the Easter holiday was really fun. The night before Eva and her husband Juan and us went to the musical production "The Lamb of God" It was so so amazing! It was a beautiful rendition of the life of our Savior! :) It was put on by a mixture of the churches in the valley. I felt so lucky to be able to be there with Eva and to feel the Spirit so so strongly! :) It really helped me turn my thoughts on the holiday of Easter more towards Christ and His life.

I just want to let you all know that I know that this gospel is true :) I know that the Spirit really does guide us if we let it. I know that our Savior Jesus Christ really did die for us and that He lives again :)

I love you all! Have a great week! :)

Love, Hermana Derges :)

Because of Him!

It is almost Easter and it is a time to remember, in particular, the resurrection of Jesus Christ! :)  I want to share a video portraying what possibilities are unleashed once we truly embrace the true reason for this season.

I also want to share my testimony that I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior. I know that He suffered and paid the price for my sins and for yours. I know that He died on the cross and I know that that wasn't the end for Him. I know that He rose from the dead and that He lives! He lives to show us that we will live again too. That death has no sting; that there is hope beyond the boundaries of this earthly life we are living. Because of Him and His Atoning sacrifice, we are free from the burdens of our sins and pains in this life. Because of Him EVERYTHING is possible, everything. I hope and pray that you all embrace Him and the true meaning behind the Easter holiday. The true meaning being our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ's life, death, and resurrection. I know this to be true and that He did all of this because of His love for us. And I say all of this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. :)

Hastening the Work of Salvation!

Hey! Happy Happy Week this past week!!

 

Transfer info came today and I am staying!!! :) That means because Hermana Despain is going home this transfer I am for sure staying for another 3 months!! :) Yay!! I love Saratoga Springs and I love my awesome comp!!!! :)

We got another car today to trade in for our truck, just until ours gets fixed. They found out that the axle got bent when it got hit! So it will take just a little longer... lol I liked driving the truck but I am happy we are back in a car!

So last night Elder Galvez from the 70 came last night to specifically speak to our Spanish Ward :) It was so so nice! The Spirit was so strong! He taught about the many signs that show if we are converted to the Gospel or not :) It was an amazing talk! :) One of the points was that if we do not invite a family to join the Gospel in a years time, we are not as converted as we thought we were. I thought that was really interesting but it makes sense! We don't have to be accountable if they say yes to baptism or anything like that, we just have to do our part of opening our mouth :) D&C 33:7-10 :) I LOVE this scripture! LIVE IT! :)

 

After Eva's Baptism! :) 

 

Then Saturday was a very very special day for me and Hermana Despain and especially for Eva. She was baptized on Saturday!! :) Seriously it made me the happiest girl ever!!!! :) To have the privilege of meeting her and teaching her has been such an honor. She was so so ready and she is so sensitive to the Spirit of the Lord. She is so special to me :) She just wants to learn more and more!! She wants to go to the temple and do baptisms for her mom!!! And we get to go with her!!! Happy day! I can't wait til she gets to enter into the doors of the temple of the Lord and feel the Spirit so so strongly!!! :) I am so excited for her future!!!!!

That was basically my week :) I love it here and I know that the Gospel is true. :) I am so happy and I love seeing the Gospel being spread. We had 4 new investigators this week, which was a pure miracle from our Heavenly Father. This area is blooming and I love being here to see it :)

I love you all, keep being awesome member missionaries and opening your mouths so that others can know this wonderful knowledge and truth too :)

 

Bye! Love, Hermana Derges :)

For My Yoke is Easy, and My Burden is Light

This week was fantastic! :) 

I hope you all enjoyed conference!! :) It was amazing and so spiritual for me :)

First Time! :)



Eva is still on for her baptism this Saturday! :) We are SO PUMPED for her :) Even her husband and maybe her kids are coming to watch! Yay! She is so so awesome and special to me and Hermana Despain. She is so willing to learn and she is so sensitive to the Spirit :) We are so excited for her to start this amazing journey!

Salt Lake Temple from Afar :)

We have a new temple policy! Which is bitter sweet. We only get to go 1 a quarter instead of 2 times every month lol talk about a cut back! But, if a recent convert is going to do baptisms or if a less active is going to the temple for their endowments then we can go with them! And not just to our temples in the valley, we can go to any temples in the Salt Lake Valley, ours, or Manti. Isn't that neat?? :) It is super fun! :)

So because our car got hit about a month ago, we are driving a TRUCK! This week until this Friday lol :) It is pretty fun! :)

Then of course GENERAL CONFERENCE! :) How could I miss that :) As some of you may have seen, I was able to go to the Saturday morning session of Conference! :) It was my first time ever and it was so so cool! :) we were really close too! I was, if you are looking at the podium, on the very left side in the front! :) We went up with our mission president and rode back on the Frontrunner! :) Hermana Garces, who was with me in the MTC was there with me! :) What did you all like from conference??? :)

 Hermana Garces y Yo :)

The Prophet!! :)

I LOVED so so many! I forgot my notes at home...but I loved Elder Bednar's talk about how it is necessary for us to carry a heavy load so that we won't get stuck in the snow or in life. BUT we don't have to carry that heavy load on our own. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matthew 11:29. :) Rely on Christ and He will make your burdens lighter or make you stronger to bear them. I also really liked the talk on understanding one another and who is right does not matter. We need to communicate love and respect to one another. I also loved President Utchdorf's talk on gratitude! :) I am learning more and more that I need to be grateful for everything in my life and especially now on my mission. What a wonderful blessing we have to be a part of the Lord's church and to be led by Him! :) I am so thankful for my trials and my "heavy load" that I carry that make me so so much stronger everyday!! :) I know that this gospel is true! :) There is no doubt in my mind :)

Pretty View inside the Conference Center!

Sister Tjong-Ayong and I riding the FrontRunner!! :)

I love you all so so much! :) have a great day!
Love, Hermana Derges :)