Be the Fourth Missionary!

Post from November 25, 2013

:) So this week has been fun, I have been learning a lot and we are working hard in our area!

Can you all believe that Thanksgiving is this week???? Oh my goodness, wasn't it Halloween, like yesterday and 4th of the July last week??? Time flies on the mish, but that is why I need to soak every moment in!

Here are the highlights

>So earlier this week Sister Echols, a really sweet member who we love, had a TON of cookies left over from a party and so we wrapped them up and we got to give them away to our investigators and less active! It was so fun :)

 Snow!

>It really snowed for the first time this past week. Thank goodness it is gone by now...I am so happy I am only here for one winter hehe :) But it was a blast!!! :) We had a lot of fun and took some pics :)

Snow.... :( haha 

>We got to go to the temple this past week :) It was the last time for the year because the Provo temple is closing for the rest of the year for cleaning....sad...but it was, like always, such a lovely experience, it was funny because a TON of Provo Utah missionaries went there at the same time :) So it was cool to see a lot of people I knew :) Also, we make it a game to see how many people ask us where we are going on our mission. It is really fun to say, Here!! And I have been out for 5 months lol. :)

 Hermana Lutz y Yo at the Temple :)


>So yesterday, we had the primary program for our Spanish ward and it was so cute and hilarious!! :) One of my favorite parts was when they sang "Follow the Prophet" --"Sigue al profeta"..and during the chorus there was this little sunbeam who when the sang the song. Right after they sing "sigue al profeta" this little boy would yell out "sigue al profeta" as loud as he could! haha :) everyone was dying laughing because he did it throughout the whole song :)

The Sistas in our District!

>Last thing! This past week I have been reading this talk entitled the Fourth missionary. I think it was given at the MTC and that is why I can't find it on LDS library and it is amazing!! It talks about how we need to be the 4th missionary. Meaning we are being obedient, following the Spirit and doing what is right and most importantly: WANTING to do what is right. If we are simply following the commandments and following the spirit without submitting our will and desires. we are not getting anything out of doing so. We may do some good for others because we are serving or we may do well in a calling by doing what the Lords wants us to do. BUT if we are not submitting our will to the Lord with a willing mind and heart, we cannot be benefited or changed by our experiences. BUT if we desire to do what is right, if we desire fully to follow the Spirit and the Lord. We are putting ourselves into His hands and letting Him shape us into who we are supposed to be :) There are so many more things from this talk that I could share but not enough time :) If we do not have the desire and we are simply going through the motions, try to start with your mind to change your attitude and your heart will follow :)

:)

Anywhoo :) I hope you all have a grand week :) Rely on the Lord and submit your whole heart, might, mind and strength to Him and that is when the real miracles start to appear in your life!

Love you all!

Love, Hermana Derges :)

Be the Answer to Another Person's Prayer

Post from November 18, 2013

This week has been pretty great for me. We got a lot of work done and we are working diligently to build up Payson! :) My Spanish is coming along pretty well, I just need to practice more and more! I just talked to someone who served a Spanish speaking mission in Minnesota and she learned Spanish! So this gives me hope! lol :) Haha, I know that the Lord will help me :) Thank goodness! haha

Sooooo here are some of the highlights of this past week!

>First off, this is going to sound silly, BUT on Tuesday.. I went on exchanges with our sister training leader and I got to drive! For the first time in 4 and a half months I got to drive a car :) haha I thought this was so fun :)....I bet it might have been scary for my comp for a bit, but we lived! just kidding :)

>Ok ok, because this goes out to my family, you already know this...but my cute little niece Reece got baptized this past week! She is so darn cute!! :) I am SO excited for her and she looks pretty happy from the pics :) Love her!

>This past week I got to go to the temple with my comp, Hna Lutz :) I love the temple! I learn something new each time. And it is such a blessing to feel the Spirit of the Lord so strongly there! :)

>We had an activity in our Spanish ward: Dia de Gracias. It was a HUGE dinner and just a night to mingle. We had a couple of our investigators come and we were able to get to know the whole ward a little better. :) At the end, I used up ALL the spanish that I knew...lol Man, it was tough! haha :)

>Our amazing investigator, Erin, came to church yesterday for all three hours! :) She is the best! She was asking about the sacrament and what it meant. We got on the subject of baptism and she really wants to learn more about it. :) We are so excited for her and what direction she is moving in! :) It is so great :)

>Last thing :) At church yesterday, I learned something that is neat that I would like to share with all of you :) I learned that we can be the angels for others. The Lord will send help to us and others on the other side and this side of the veil. We are able to be the Lord's hands on this earth if we are following the Spirit of the Lord. ---The speaker shared his experience of one time he was scared for his life on his mission in Russia. He said that there was one time that he and his companion ran out of this house because the man living there was chasing them with a knife..he said he felt so so scared, then all of the sudden he and his comp both stop and feel a peaceful feeling. Both of them, at the same time. Then they looked and there was another man just standing over there in the distance. The man with the knife, saw this other man and stopped and turned around and walked away. When he said he got off his mission, he told his mom about this particular day. She went and got her journal and looked up that exact day and she wrote in her journal that in the middle of the night(bc of the time distance) she felt the biggest impression from the spirit that her son was in danger and she knelt and prayed for him--- We can be angels for others in our lives. This was a miracle and it happened because his mom and the man across the way, followed the promptings of the spirit. Miracles, large and small, happen EVERYDAY! We can be a part of them if we simply follow the Spirit :) I know we can be guided in our lives, not only for ourselves, but more importantly to help and bless the lives of others :)

I know these things to be true. :) I love this gospel and I know that our Savior lives and loves us :) The Spirit is real and we can have Him with us when we are doing what is right! :)

I hope you all have a wonderful wonderful week :) Try to follow the Spirit more throughout your week and I can promise you that you can be the Lord's hands in helping Him to bring others to His glorious light.

Love you all!

love, Hermana Derges :)

Teach the Why!

Post from November 11, 2013

Have any of you had an experience this past week where you saw a miracle happen? If you did, tell me about it! I would love to know :)

This past week was a lot of fun! We are still constantly trying to find more and more people to teach and who are prepared to receive the gospel. We have been going through our previous investigators and we have been finding a lot of potentials from this :)

So here are the highlights from the past week! :)

>Yesterday, The elders and us got to sing in the Primary program! We sang the third verse to "We'll bring the world His Truth" :) Then the whole congregation and primary joined in for the chorus. It was super fun :) Man, primary programs are the best! I love all the kiddos

>So about two days ago, we were studying up in our apartment and I randomly look down and I see a horse just chilling in the back yard. (their backyard has a fence and it usually never has animals in it because they are usually out in the fields) So I simply thought, well thats funny..I guess they let them in...So about 30 minutes later, we hear one of the Morley boys shouting outside..So we look down from the windows and now we see about 3 horses and now a cow! All chomping away at the bright green grass. Oh no! So lol we go down to try to help him get all the animals out of the backyard lol. So funny! We had to lour them out with oats lol But they magically came back in! Apparently as we soon found out that there were two gates open, so the second we get a horse out, it would come back in through the other gate. Haha :) Eventually we got all of them out. I wish I had taken a pic of it :) It was the highlight of my day :)

>So here in Utah, I have found that if you are not LDS you make it known to the people...So when we have someone to contact who is not a member and they are catholic, they usually have a "we are catholic" sign and it says to not proselyte here...lol So we knock them anyway and last night we were at a house for our appointment and they actually have this sign on their window..We knock a couple times- and we see them turn off ALL the lights in the house lol...again and again we knock..no response. So when we were walking away, we see on the window this sign and the blinds are somewhat open, so we could see the whole family just chilling on the couch...it was pretty funny to see lol...Sadly we went on to the next house..haha :)

> We ate with a fam from Portugal and for some odd reason..maybe because I was a little tired, I ALMOST asked them if they "habla espanol?" Lol I am SO GLAD I didn't...because of course they do not haha.. Also there, we met a foreign exchange student from brazil! She was so cute because she said that when she first got here, she had thought Mormons were Amish. So of course the family she is with are LDS and they broke the news to her that they were Mormon, and she said " Wait, you are mormon? Then why do you have electricity?" :) She was so funny :)

>So we went over to the fam I told you about last week, that all agreed to be baptized? We had another lesson with them and the mom said that she is no longer interested in getting baptized...sad day!!! We are going to still go over there and continue to teach the whole fam, because the kids seem more interested at times than she is. So hopefully as we keep on teaching her, she will come around :) Because we know she and her fam felt the Spirit and that is why she keeps letting us come back :)

> We had lesson with the Reyes family last night and simply the highlight was Lily, the lady who is super sick with lou gehrig's disease...was laughing :) I know it is so simple, but I just love seeing her loving life, even when this time is a sad time for her. She knows that this is not the end, and I can add my testimony of this as well :) We will be with our loved ones again after death and most importantly we will be able to return to our Heavenly Father's presence if we do our best here on earth :)

>Lastly, we had stake conference yesterday and since we were getting a new presidency, two of the 70 were there, Elder Munday and Snow. It was so so amazing! I learned so much :)

---here are some highlights that I got from it :)

Elder Munday

"Family home evening: the only war that starts with a prayer" Haha :)

Sometimes we know the what and how to a gospel principle....but sometimes we don't know the why. We need to teach the WHY to help others understand the deeper meaning. When others ask WHY I have to follow this rule or not to do this or have to do that- they are simply seeking to understand the truth. He explained it like this - God taught Adam and Eve the plan of redemption, the why, before He gave them the commandments

I loved what I learned from this. When we understand the why, we will more likely to understand and therefore choose to obey. Although, this doesn't happen ALL the time, because sometimes we have to simply walk by faith to follow the commandments, but even then, we know the WHY to it, the why is simply that if we love God, we will follow Him and His Son Jesus Christ :) John 14:15

So anywhoo! This was my week :) I hope you all have a lovely Veteran's Day :)

I love you all and I want to thank you for all of your love and support and prayers :) It truly means a lot to me :)

Don't forget to send me the miracles that you have seen!!

Love, Hermana Derges :)

The Lords Works by Miracles :)

 

Hanging out with my friend Billy Bob Joe :)

I hope you all had an awesome week! :) I sure did and I saw and heard of a LOT of miracles that occurred :)

Here are the highlights from the week! :)

>First off, I completely missed this one a couple of weeks ago..but I got to milk a cow! Some of you won't recognize this city girl when I get home. haha. :) It was so much fun! Also! I got to do some service in my skirt, haha. I was mowing the lawn! And if I am correct, It was my first time ever mowing....haha. It was pretty fun! :) And it was awesome too because I got to do service for the sweetest recent convert ever :)

>I got a new comp! :) It was sad to say goodbye to Hermana Baker but Hna Lutz and Hna Baker are practically the same person haha. It has been fun these past couple of days. She is from California and she is fun and we have been working hard in Payson! We are ready to build up this part of the Lord's vineyard :)

 

 Mowing a lawn in a skirt :) haha

>So this past week was of course Halloween! Wow, time is flying..but we had to be on lockdown on Halloween night, so we went to a nearby church..which was just SO FAR...haha :) And we got to play games and watch Ephraim's rescue, which is an awesome movie by the way! It was sort of like 17 miracles, but just told from a different point of view on the Mormon Trek out west. :) It was cool because even though it was a movie, you can still feel the spirit. :)

>We taught an AMAZINGLY spiritual lesson to Erin. She is so so so amazing! I love her so much! :) We shared the mormon message "Mountains to Climb" and she felt the spirit so strongly! We testified to her that she is loved by our Heavenly Father and that she is His daughter. In her prayer, she said that she knows that when the sisters come she can feel the difference. After the prayer she said that she knows it is the Spirit. She said that! She knows the feeling! :) It was so so great to hear that! I know that the Spirit works miracles and touches everyone's heart. I know I am simply the guide to allow them to feel the Spirit more in their life and to lead them to true happiness that comes from the Gospel :)

Elsa :) I love her!!!

>Lili, the mom of a less member family, said that her son, who just turned 12 had a brain tumor and that by this age, his brain would have stopped working...she knows that he is healthy, happy and strong all because they are going to church and doing what is right. Mikey received the priesthood yesterday and he is a living example of a miracle!! :) Love it!

>So.. we have been struggling with finding more people to teach.. we felt impressed to go through our former inv. and we went to a house and we testified to her on the doorstep that our message blesses families. She said "Pasen pasen!" yay! She let us in! She got all of her kids (4) and they all listened and participated and were fully engaged!!! We taught la Restauracion and they ALL commited to be baptized!!! It was so amazing! The mom says that she knows that this message will strengthen her family and bring them closer together :) Man...We were jumping up and down, outside of course lol, after the lesson :) we were so happy that we found this amazing family to teach :) :)

So there ya have it. I hope you all can see miracles happen in your life :) I am telling ya they are EVERYWHERE! :)

hehe I LOVE you all and I wish you all to have a wonderful week!

love, hermana derges :) :)

Come unto the Savior!

Post from October 28, 2013

Maybe this guy will be interested? :)

I hope all of you are doing swell :) Payson is great! And I just found out today that I will be staying here and Hermana Baker is leaving! We aren't exactly sure where yet, because another Hermana, Hna Lutz, called us to see if we have gotten our transfer call yet and she said that she is coming to Payson to be companions with me! lol... So we are still waiting for our call to find out where Hermana Baker is heading off to...the call is taking forever! haha

Watching the District :) while eating some oreos with milk :)

I am excited to stay here though! I don't know what I am going to do without Hermana Baker...but I am excited to start working with Hermana Lutz! We were in the same zone in Provo and she is super awesome and funny! :)

So...highlights from the week :)

 

  >On Monday, we had a sister's zone activity at our house. We all carved pumpkins and had an awesome time :) It was super fun to just relax and enjoy the day with the sisters. I carved a heart made from the treble and bass clef :) It looked cool and so did Hermana Bakers! She carved an american flag! She loves 'merica! Haha. She is so so funny! :)

After pumpkin carving, Lee and Annika both came to have a mini birthday party with Hermana Baker and I. They made an ice cream cake that looks like the worms and dirt dessert...but with ice cream! Yum! The funny part was that we did the Mexican tradition of saying "mordida, mordida mordida!" and the one with the birthday has to quickly take a bite without the others pushing her face into the cake....We got hermana baker good :) hehe I like this tradition. haha :)

Love these girls! :)

>Exchanges with Hermana Garces! We were together in the MTC! :) So....we were both greenies to the MAX..haha...it was so hard at times to understand people...but We survived :) And it was really fun too! It helped my Spanish a lot. It also helped me rely more on the Spirit rather than focus on what I was going to say :)

Brianne y Pablo :)


>On Thursday we had the opportunity to go to a Relief Society activity with a less active that we are working with. It was a presentation by a member who designs the stain glass for the temples! :) His name is Tom..something..I forget his last name...haha But It was really neat what planning goes into it and how unique and special the designs and pictures in the temple are. It was fascinating! We each got a piece of stain glass that he carved in the same design that will go into the Payson temple! :) We loved it! Elsa, our less active, loved it too! The Spirit was there in that meeting and I can imagine that from that presentation that anyone would want to be in the House of the Lord :)

>We are teaching a family, who the wife is a less active and the husband isn't a member. Before I came to Payson, He didn't want to do anything with the church. But now after several visits he is slowly but surely opening up :) We are really seeing progress! I love the transformation that comes with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I honestly see miracles almost everyday with this wonderful message that I have the chance to share with others :)

>Lots of Service on Saturday. We are really working with a less active/part member family. We helped set up her kid's birthday/costume party (which BTW was a Despicable me 2 Party!!) and we got talking to the mom and she says that the church is true, but she doesn't like the people. We hope to help build her faith in Jesus Christ and to help her come back to church. The same with Karla, a less active, and her husband who isn't a member, but we can see the interest building little by little. :) yay!

 John Bytheway! :)

>Also...with another less active family we were able to go with them to a devotional given by John Bytheway...it was amazing! I learned so many great things! He is such an amazing speaker and you can just feel the spirit from what he teaches. His presentation was entitled, Come Unto Christ. One thing I really loved was when he expounded upon the parable of the Prodigal son. The son had committed so so many sins and felt unworthy to be his father's son. When the son finally came back to the father, his father RAN and went to him and kissed his neck. When the father had kissed his sons neck, he was signifying that his son was worthy or of higher status than him. The Father had compassion on his son and forgave him. He gave him a robe (symbol of the Atonement) and a ring which symbolized his status with the family. He was STILL his son. An heir to all. "He was lost, but now, he is FOUND." When we make mistakes, "the minute we TURN to the Father, and He will RUN to us." You are never to far to come back. "It is not about distance, it is about DIRECTION". :) Amazing stuff right?? :) I loved it! Come unto the Savior! Come to be perfected in Him. Don't try to become perfect before you come to Him. That is why He is there for us :) He loves us! He loved us enough to have died for us. I know that this is true with all my heart :)

I hope you all have a wonderful wonderful week!

I love you all! :)

love, Hermana Derges :)

Rely on the Lord in ALL you do!

Post from October 21, 2013

 Wanna Learn about the Gospel??

Everything is all fine and dandy here in Payson :) I love it here! The trees are all changing and it is beautiful! It is getting a bit chilly here and there, but overall, the snow has not come yet, so I am a happy camper! Haha. :)

My Spanish is coming along great :) I love language study! Haha, I feel like a nerd...but I just love it! I am slowly understanding more and more. It is nice when we talk to native speakers who know English as well so we can ask questions :) This is super nice! And they are so happy to help because they can ask us questions in return about English :)

So here are some of the highlights from this past week :)

>On Monday, after emailing, part of our zone planned a surprise birthday party for Hermana Garces and my companion Hermana Baker! ....Let me tell you though, haha, it is SUPER hard to plan a SURPRISE party for someone who is with you 24/7!....hehe BUT we did it! It was so fun! And they loved it! :)

>So...on Wednesday, there was a trainer's meeting up in Provo. And since I am being follow up trained, we planned to go to the meeting. We carpooled with another set of sisters. We got there and finally realized that the training was only for the first 6 weekers...This..always...happens..to me....haha...So of course the others sisters had to stay so we were stuck in Provo! Haha....We got picked up by another set of sisters and went to the Provo Center Temple booth for their shift. It was fun! I met someone from Finland and Brazil! I miss working there when I was in Provo! There is SO much work being down on the temple! I am excited for when it gets completed! I also, luckily, got to see one of the Less active families we worked with when I was in Provo too! It was so great to see her :)

>On Saturday, we had a Dia de Deportes (can't you see we are playing hard??) hehe, for the youth/young adults in our ward for a missionary activity. We played volleyball and soccer and I scored 3 goals! Woot woot! It was a ton of fun...none of the investigators we invited came unfortunately.. but recent converts came and also an inv. from the other sisters came too! :)

 The Wonderful Reyes Family :) I ADORE them :)

>So anywhoo. Yesterday was a GREAT day :) We were invited to come to a Primary sharing time to talk about missionary work! They told the kids that we were the Spanish missionaries so they said the "hello song" with "hola" instead. haha :) When we got up there, we started speaking in spanish haha they all thought it was super funny :) We had them actually practice giving a mormon.org card to their neighbor. We had to make sure they understood that when they give the card away that they give it to a friend who DOESN'T come to church or who hasn't been in a while lol. Only in Utah :) hehe. They did so great! They all gave us a huge afterwards too :) I love kids!!!! :)

Do you notice anything wrong in this picture?? :) (look at her feet...hehe...and we are in a lesson!!)

>Also, TWO of our investigators came to church!!! YAY!!! :) We were SO excited! Erin, came with her mother-in-law, who is a member. Her husband was at work.. Erin's husband is less active and wishwashy about coming back...but we are teaching Erin, who is doing great! We came over after church and taught her an awesome lesson on the Sacrament :) The Spirit was SO strong :) She really knows that God loves her! :) She is so so sweet and wonderful! I hope and pray that she keeps wanting to learn more!

 

>Also yesterday was Sister Baker's birthday! So a lot of members did very very sweet things for her :) We went over to an appt with a less active lady's, who actually is really really sick :/ She is so so sweet. We absolutely love her and her family. They are from Argentina! They were so sweet that they made a bday cake for Hna Baker! :) I am glad that she had a great bday on the mish :)

>One awesome thing that I learned from the Lord this week...which sounds pretty silly.. is that I need Him for EVERYTHING. I need to pray everyday for His help, because I cannot do it alone. I learned that the more that I ask and pray for His help along with me trying the best I can, that my days go by so smoothly and I can feel the Spirit more and more during my day. I learned, from one of the talks at church, that we need to let the Lord take the lead in our lives. We need to submit our will to Him and let him guide us. He knows how to help us and knows what we need to do in our lives to be truly happy.

I know that my Savior lives and that He loves us :) He is ALWAYS there waiting for us to beckon to Him and to follow in His footsteps :)

I love you all! Thank you for all of your love and kindness towards me! :) I hope you all have a wonderful wonderful week!

love, Hermana Derges :)

Long time no talk!

Hola everyone!

I am so sorry that I have not posted in fooooooorrrrrrrrreeeeeeevvvvvvveeeeeerrrr! eek!
Just being a busy bee :)

Well HEADS UP I have been in Payson for a bit now, four weeks and a day to be exact! Wow!

 These past several weeks have been roller coasters, BUT they have been fun! :) Mission life is great!

Last pic with the two of us at transfers!

I was super sad to leave Provo and Hermana Cordova and ALL the amazing people I met there! I LOVED serving there!!! ...but I was super excited, as well, to start fresh in a different area :)

Soooo this is my amazing companion is Hermana Cassidy Baker! (on the left) She is from New Mexico and she is SO funny :) and so stinkin cute! :) Also I was 'panions with Hermana Bangerter (middle) as well but just for a week! She is from Sandy, Utah. Who, now, is in Argentina! She was here in the Utah Provo Mission for 7 months waiting for her visa! Wow! I am so excited that she finally got to go! She is a super awesome missionary and a sweetheart!! :) 

and yes! we are holding cute little puppies! So fun :)

My Spanish is coming along just great. I can't always understand everyone but I can usually say what I need to say to teach or to talk to someone. It is really hard to understand some accents! Argentinians are fun to listen to lol but Dominican Republicans are SUPER hard to understand for me lol. I am trying my best to not sound like a gringo...but I am coming to the conclusion that this is impossible! Haha :) But I will keep practicing! :) I can keep up a conversation pretty well though :) Yay for that! haha.

We live in the COOLEST place ever! We actually live in a barn! haha no I don't sleep with the cows.... but there are cows! and chickens! and horses! It is the neatest place ever! :) We live right above there in the pic, it is above a garage/workshop.

Looky who I saw!!!! Bishop Hurst was in Payson!!! He came out to help his daughter sell/buy a car and He thought he would swing by to say hello :) It was so fun to see him!!! :) 

Angel Moroni was put up on the Payson temple last Thursday! I didn't get to see it go up bc we were in a zone training meeting. But we went afterwards to see it and it looks BEAUTIFUL! :) It will be so neat to see it finished. Unfortunately the Payson and the Provo Center Temple won't be completed until after my mission is over....So I will just have to come back hehe :)

So....In the past couple weeks we have been teaching an AMAZING investigator (he is the one in the hat), his name is Uriel....I mean, he is practically golden, lol He said that he has been praying and reading the Book of Mormon, he said he knows it is TRUE!! And also that he wants to change his life, and he attended a baptismal service......but bc of problems at his work, I mean abusive problems from his manager, he left for California this past Saturday to find a job out there by his family....NOOOO!! :( It was super super sad to say goodbye to him! But we told him that the church is everywhere and he can be taught and learn more in Cali. So I wish the very best to him!!!

At the baptismal service, I was asked the night before to play the flute lol. It all went well, except during the performance, of course i was terrified!!! Like any performance really lol. Plus my flute was acting all funky!!! No joke haha But in the end, they said that the felt the spirit as I played so I was super happy for this :)

We went to the temple with a couple sisters last week in Provo :) Of course it was amazing :D I love the temple and I know that it is the House of the Lord! Try try try to go as much as possible everyone!! :) I really want to go to a Spanish session sometime :) I think that would be awesome!!! I am very blessed to have the opportunity to go twice a month out here. I am so grateful for this opportunity to go so much :) We are very spoiled out here........but that is ok with me...hehe :)

So we have a sweet lady investigator named, Mireya and she has had tons and tons of problems with health in her family, her kids are sick, her daughter has a broken leg, she is so stressed out that her face started to twitch a ton. So she asked for a priesthood blessing for her. She said yesterday (about a week after the blessing) that right after the blessing happened EVERYTHING stopped hurting/twitching! Her husband, who before was never before interested in the Gospel, said he was even amazed!!! :) We even said a prayer with them and he stayed!! :) Baby steps but we are slowly trucking along with this family!!! :) AWESOME because I love this family! :)

This week, try to look for the miracles that happen because they happen EVERYWHERE!!! :)
I know that as we look for miracles our testimonies of God's and Jesus Christ's love will be strengthened.
I have a strong testimony that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live! :) I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true and that it helps EVERYONE!!! :) No matter the circumstance.  Anyone who turns their hearts to Christ, will in turn receive blessings for it.  He loves us and wants all of his children to turn to Him and have FAITH in Him. We will NEVER fail while doing this.  It might be hard, but it is WORTH it.  Plus, He is right there helping us EVERY step of the way.  I know that this is true with ALL of my heart.  And you can know it is true as well through praying and asking to know for yourself.

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." -Matthew 7:7&8

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

Love, Hermana Derges

Know Who You Are!

Hey everyone :)  I hope you all are doing splendidly :)

I'm having a blast on the mission! :) Provo is AWESOME!

Here are some of my highlights/funny moments from the past week:

>BLESSINGS: A wonderful, sweet, caring fellow citizen of Provo, came out of his way on a hot summer day (rhyming it up!) to bring my companion and I.........drum roll please.........FROSTY's! :) HAPPY DAY! :D

 

>SEAFOOD:  Ok ok ok...So just a tip for all of you!  I told a lovely, sweet sister in our ward who was making us dinner in a few days that I love love love seafood!!! Which I really really do.  I mean, I love scrimp and crab and fish, ya know all the seafood you could get at Red Lobster...pero...to her this actually means that I LOVE LOVE LOVE....octopus and squid and muscles and clams and oysters...you name it! Hahaha. So yeah...you can guess what I had a HUGE plateful for dinner... :) I had a fun time lol.  So take this from me...DO NOT tell a Hispanic that you love seafood.. it turns out a little fishy! Haha :)

>THE STRENGTH OF THE SPIRIT: We had a wonderful lesson with one of our investigators about the first part of the Restoration lesson.  My companion and I were able to testify about the power of the Atonement.  It was so perfect! Exactly what she needed that night.  She has been going through so many things in her life and the Spirit touched her heart SO MUCH when she learned that she can let go of ALL of her guilt and sins because Christ atoned for all of us.  She felt Heavenly Father's love and she felt how special she was to Him.  :) LOVED THIS! Then at our next lesson, she said that she had received a priesthood blessing from the bishop.  We were able to testify to her that the priesthood is restored on the earth again and that God knows her personally as His daughter :) She said that she feels and knows that this is true! :) Yay!
 

 >I LOVE TO SEE THE TEMPLE: I had the amazing opportunity of going to the Provo temple with President and Sister McCune :)  It was such a wonderful experience to go to the temple -like always :) I felt the Spirit and I know with all my being that the temple is a house of the Lord.  I am so grateful for the knowledge that I will be with my family forever! :)

>KNOW WHO YOU ARE: This past Tuesday we had Zone conference (A meeting/training for all the missionaries in an area, with our wonderful mission president) and it was pretty much amazing!  We had a scripture study in the morning.  And I want to share something that I learned from it... :)
Our call as missionaries is to say nothing but repentance to the people.  And this really means: it's our call to say nothing but CHANGE to the people.  Change for the better, change to increase faith in Jesus Christ, change to become closer to our Heavenly Father.
Now, in order to change oneself, one must KNOW ONESELF.  We have to know who we are in order to know how to change ourselves in a positive direction. We all are children of our Heavenly Father.  We are all special and unique in His eyes.  We know are not perfect; we all make mistakes, BUT our mistakes do not define us. They should not change our identity.  Our actions are simply the things we do, NOT the makeup of who we are.  With this knowledge of who we are to our Heavenly Father, we now can know how we can change our lives to be better aligned with His will.  We are now able to see and recognize what things in our lives are not in accordance or agreement with our divine nature.  This acknowledgement of our divine nature opens the way for us to utilize the Savior's Atonement in our lives and allow Him to change our hearts and our souls.  Through using the Atonement every single day, we are changing, we are repenting, and we are progressing closer and closer to our Heavenly Father :)
Through Christ ALL things are possible, including us becoming clean and pure, despite the mistakes we have made and the ones we make everyday.  He knows we aren't perfect, He knows our thoughts, desires, EVERYTHING...and still, He never stops reaching out to us and inviting us to feel of His love.  He does all of this because He loves us, He knows who we are, what our divine nature is and who we can become.  He will never ever give up on us.  We now have to do our part and REACH out to Him.  We must TRUST IN HIM and RELY ON HIM because He is the one who will stick with us through it ALL and GUIDE us through anything that comes in our path.  Jesus Christ is the one who can truly CHANGE us and turn us into the person our Heavenly Father wants us to be :) 
>Isn't this so great? I love this! :)

Anywhoo... :) This was an AMAZING week! And because I am a VERY slow writer lol This "week" was actually last week...BUT the miracles are just piling on top on one another! And it is so hard to get all of them into writing! hehe :) I love it!

I know you all can find amazing experiences and blessings and miracles in your life EVERYDAY, if you simply look for them :) So start TODAY and look for blessings and miracles in your life and I can promise you, you will find so so so many!

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is so so so true! It has blessed my life many many times over and over again.  I am so grateful to my Savior and I know that He lives and that He loves me.  I know that if we rely on Him, He will never ever lead us astray, but lead us to everlasting happiness.
And I say all of this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen :)

Have a blessed week everyone! :)

Love, Hermana Derges

Out in Provo!

Hey everyone! I has officially been one week and a day in the field!! :)

Woot Woot!

I hope everyone is doing well and having a great week! 

Last Monday/Tuesday Morning my district said our goodbyes to our awesome MTC teachers, Hno. Roden and Hna. Taggart! I am going to miss them a bunch because they taught me SO MANY amazing things that I will make an impact on how I serve my mission. Thanks you two!



After our last class at the MTC on Tuesday, we packed up our bags and traveled the long hours and plane flights and bus rides and camel rides...ALL the way...to the Mission home in Provo!!! (hehehe) and met President and Sister McCune! They are so wonderful and so nice! We had an dinner and then an orientation and a devotional. I learned some really neat things! That we are now "facebook" and "blog" and "mormon.org" missionaries (as some of you have seen already!)  It's really neat how fast the work is moving forward! Eek! We are teaching someone this Saturday via FB and I am super pumped!

After our time at the Mission home, Hermana Sablan and I spent our last night as a companionship...sad day...But we had a fun last night!  We stayed with some members from the area :) They were super nice!

The next morning we all had breakfast at the stake center, where we had orientation and then a devotional from our President :) I learned that we need to leave our nets and follow the Savior and feed His sheep. (John 21:1-17)  The Lord needs all of us to go serve and teach our brothers and sisters and help them come unto the Lord.  We have to forget ourselves and go to work! :) 

After this, we met our TRAINERS!! :) Yay! My companion/trainer is Hermana Cordova! :) She is from California, really close to Disney Land. She is super nice and sweet! And SHE KNOWS ESPANOL! Haha :) So I can learn how to talk and understand the people we teach! We are in the Provo Slate Canyon area! Right at the bottom of the mountains! So pretty :)

My first week has been fun but hard...because I can BARELY understand anything my investigators and less actives are saying....jaja Which is, ya know, kind of difficult to teach....lol  But ALL IS WELL! :) I am learning slowly, but SURELY! :)

We have AMAZING people who we are teaching! I love it! They are all so sweet and we have a few who are really progressing really well.

We have gone tracking! Which it is quite funny running into members every couple doors that we knock..haha.  One door we knocked, a man answered and we asked him if he had ever met or heard of the missionaries before and he said "oh well...I was one for two years.." Haha. Yep. Members are EVERYWHERE! So great! :)  They help a ton in the work out here!

Another great thing that we do in this area and take shifts at the Provo City Center Temple booth! :) We are there for a couple hours a couple times a week.  We tell people what happened to the tabernacle and what it is being built into right now! We get to share this lovely message about Temples and the importance of them in our lives! :)  I love the Temple! And I love that we are so fortunate to be able to go two times a month! I AM SO EXCITED TO GO! :) I haven't been in a while because the Provo Temple has been closed for cleaning...so as you can tell I am pumped!

I love this gospel and I am so lucky and fortunate to be able to here and teach the great people of Provo, Utah.  I know that Heavenly Father has lifted me up and has prepared me for my mission.  I know that I can do the Lord's work with and ONLY with His help.  I can do nothing with out Him and without the spirit in my life.  As I have been striving to have the spirit with me and rely on Him and FORGET myself, I have seen many special things happen :) I know that my Redeemer lives and that His Atonement is real.  This is why I love Alma 7:11-13!  I know I mentioned this last week, but I just love it so much.  Christ died so that He could Atone for not only our sins, but ALSO for every little sorrow, emotion, pain, sickness, EVERYTHING, so that He would know to how to HELP US with ANYTHING we are going through.  He is there through it all.  TRUST and RELY on Him.  He loves you and wants you to come unto Him.

I have a wonderful testimony of these things because I have seen the work of my Savior in my life every single day.  If you try and look for how the Savior is working in your own lives, I can promise you that you will see in countless ways that He is blessing you.

Count your many blessings...name them one by one...  :)

I hope you all take care and have a wonderful day!

Thank you for all of your love and support!
Love, Hermana Derges :)

And it Ended with a Bang!

Wow! This week was fantastic! My last week en el CCM ended with a bang for sure!! :) Oooh yeah!

One of my last classes with one of my amazing teachers, Hermana Taggart, I learned that i have POWER in my calling! I am a representative of Jesus Christ! In our mission conference I learned that I need to think, act, and DO as the Savior would if he were in my shoes right now in Provo, Utah. This really made me think, I want to be able to see others the way Christ and Heavenly Father see them as well! This is so important, especially as a missionary but also as a member of the church. This is His church and His truth and I have a special calling to spread His word to the world. There was a sweet sister who sang a solo in our departing devotional entitled, "I Will Not Be Still" which a part of the chorus goes like this: "How can I keep this truth to myself, when I could lift somebody else". I LOVE THIS! I want to lift others through teaching them the light and love of the gospel and of Jesus Christ! Why wouldn't I want to share this amazing truth? EVERYONE deserves to know that God loves them and Christ sacrificed Himself to provide a way for us to not only live with Heavenly Father again, but to help us in the here and now! Go and read Alma 7:11-13! :) I love these scriptures! Christ knows how to help us and knows how to lift us up to higher heights! :) Go share this wonderful truth with those around you! Don't keep it to yourself! :) I know that you will be blessed by doing this! The spirit will guide you to know what to say. :) Sunday night, after all of the amazing devotionals throughout the day, we watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration :) I love this movie! After it was over I was just so pumped to go out and teach others about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and about the restored gospel!

The spirit is so so so strong here en el CCM! I am super sad to leave but so EXCITED to go into my field! I can't believe I leave tomorrow afternoon :) My mission president is actually coming to pick us up! hehe :) Our district sang the EFY medley in Spanish at our sacrament meeting :) and I forgot to mention that last week, I got to play my flute with Hermana Garces on the violin and Elder Craven playing the piano; we played "As I have Loved You". So much fun to play and sing such lovely spiritual music! My Spanish, I feel, is pretty good...this feeling might change once I actually go into my field...lol PERO, esta bien! All is well :)

Sale Vale everyone, I hope you all have a WONDERFUL week!
I love you all!!

Love,
Hermana Derges :)

The view from my classroom! It's the "Y"


Hermana Taggart!


Our zone singing "Para Siempre Dios este con vos" (God Be With You Til We Meet Again)


Hermana Sablan and I with MTC President and Sister Nally


Our lovely zone with the amazing Sister and Brother Price


Look who it is! Andrew!!