Follow the Spirit

Hola!

How are you all!? Are you all excited for Halloween? I am too! We are on lock down again and are going to be watching Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as a district :)

So there is not a lot to tell you but this week was crazy fun and busy! Mostly busy but I did have fun amongst the craziness. Haha.

A Bleached Tee I made for Hna Baker's Bday :)

So we went on exchanges this past week! :D I went to Payson for the 5th time for exchanges lol I went with Hermana Magana! She is so sweet and nice! We had a lot of fun! They are teaching a TON over there! We taught 7 lessons that day! wow! On exchanges I got to see the Mullens :) Leslie and Eduardo and also Jaynann from Santaquin! Yay! I didn't get to say goodbye to her! :) 

Then we had President Interviews on Friday :) amazing as usual!

Yesterday was the craziest busy day of them all....wowsie..lol We had a 7am stake coordination, 9am sacrament mtng talks (we found out Friday evening lol), 11am our ward, helping with Primary, teaching the Laurels, then teaching 3rd hour in another ward lol It was SO crazy! go, go, go! haha :) But it was pretty fun!!!

Russian tomatos dolls made by Hna G y Yo :)

I am loving it here :) My companion is super funny and amazing! I am learning a lot from her :)

I saw the Reyes family and Lily!!!! :) We get to go and read to her twice a week! I love her and this family so much! :)

I would ask that you all pray for the son of President McCune. He got into a very serious long boarding accident and needs all our prayers. 

I am loving this work! Yesterday I talked on the impact we have by the little decisions we make each day to act on the promptings we receive from the Spirit. I know that we can really make a difference in the lives of others. So keep followings those good feelings you receive! You can see something spectacular happen :) Or you can trust in the Lord to know that your good actions made a large or small impact in the lives of others even if you didn't hear about it or see it yourself :) 

I love you all! have a great week!

Love, Hermana Derges :)

The Little Things Really Make a Difference!

This week was crazy fun and full of awesome amazing things that have happened! 

This past week was the Dia de Hispanidad, aka a HUGE party for 3 stakes celebrating all the Latino countries of the world :) It was awesome! There were so many amazing dances from each country and then delicious food from all of them as well :) YUMMY! 

GUESS who I saw there! :) The REYES FAMILY from Payson! One of my most favorite families ever! :) It was so amazing!

We got to help with the decorations! I made the "Questions of the Soul" hanging thing with cute fiesta triangles.. i don't know what it is called or else I would tell you! lol but it is in the picture!

I have been feeling so much love these past couple weeks from my amazing sisters, Jaime and Brandi! :) They both sent me Halloween packages :) I loved it! I love you two!!

So on Saturday I saw the best thing in the world!!! See picture below... :D It is a stinkin mermaid! You can wear it and become a mermaid. My childhood dreams have come true lol 

ALSO on saturday, we went to the temple with Rosario from Santaquin!! :) I love her! It was so neat because she was able to go and do the work for her mom!! :) It was so amazing :)

NO name tag!!! What??

Davis Family :)

I also saw so many amazing people that I love with all my heart :) I saw Hermana Despain, the Rades, the Davis'. They all came for an elder and sister that served here in the UPM! Haha :) It was so cool to see so many people! :)

Hna Johansen! :)

Rades!

There are so many blessing happening all of the time here in the UPM. I had a miracle happen just this morning. I found an old note from a Spanish speaking sister who served in Stillwater and who I went out with once before the mission. She told me that she was impressed to give me the info for her mom who is not a member who lived in Utah. I haven't have the chance to see her mom yet because I haven't been in her area. Until now. So randomly this morning I wanted to clean out my suitcase this morning and found my wallet that I am not using right now and found the note from the sister. I looked and the address said 'Spanish Fork'. There are a lot of Spanish missionaries here so I needed to check where she lived. I looked and she lives in. our. area. 4 blocks from our house. My jaw just dropped and I am so very excited! I felt the Spirit and knew that I was called here to see her mom. I don't know what is in store for her mom, but I am very excited to find out :) I know that everything happens for a reason and that more importantly Heavenly Father is in control :) I love that and I know that it is so true. Always follow the simple small promptings that you get from the Spirit, even it is to look through an old wallet, because it could lead you to a miracle. I know that this is true :) because this is not the first time something like this has happened. Keep looking for those miracles :)

I love you all!

Love, Hermana Derges :)

Building the Kingdom of God

How is everyone doing? :) I hope super well!

So Spanish Fork is amazing! I have an amazing companion :) We are trying to build the area. So it has been slow but we are going to put our efforts into full force this week to find new investigators!!

Hermana Gonzalez!

This past week we had the chance to watch "Meet the Mormons". Seriously it is amazing! And that is not because I am biased because I am Mormon or because it has been one of the few movies I have watched in a long while lol It is REALLY really good! Please take the time to go see it!! :) And tell me what you liked!

So we have been teaching the familia Lopez :) They are a less active/rc family :) The lessons have been amazing! We are helping one of the boys to gain his own testimony. and it has been really fun to help him with that!

Turtles! With Hna Willis :)

We have had some really fun times with creepy halloween things lol Creepy guys with masks staring at us across the street and Santa Muertes as well. It has been really interesting! haha :) We have been really safe though, no worries!!

So this past week we had ZTM (zone training meeting) and we talked a lot about BUILDING THE KINGDOM OF GOD instead of baptizing the world. There is a big difference. One is just numbers and seeing baptism as the ultimate goal. However, that is NOT the case! We are building God's kingdom! We are here to help others make it to the temple and stay there! :) It is strengthening the whole ward to do missionary work and reach out to their brothers and sisters. It is helping them show love and care for others. and so much more. I really love this focus. I know that as I have focused on the bigger goal of the temple that I have seen miracles in people's lives. I know as you all help your missionaries in your area to help build the kingdom, that is the greatest thing you can help them with and the greatest thing you can do in your own life in hastening the work of salvation :)

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

Love, Hermana Derges :)

Spanish Fork East!!!

Hey everyone!

Jeyma!

So guess what! False alarm from last week! I am NOT in a biking area. Wahooooo! :) Haha. Apparently everyone gets a call about a bike! What a scare! I have been transferred to Spanish Fork!!! :) It is so fun here because I have an awesome comp Hermana Gonzalez!!! She is from Veracruz, Mexico but she grew up in San Antonio! She is so so sweet and chill and funny! :) Sadly she has been sick these past several days. The same thing I had back in February...so we will take pictures soon because every time we remember she hasn't been feeling too good. But! With my tender care she will be back to normal in a jiffy! :) 

Elvia!

:) But it was a sad moment leaving Santaquin! So many families I have come to love!!! :) I have a ton a pics with them! :) I AM GOING TO MISS YOU!!! Hopefully I will be coming back soon for some baptisms :) :) 

-Brooke y Erick and Rex y Pinky!

On Wednesday night, Hermana Abellan and I were able to go to Provo and play our flute/piano duet of "I feel my Savior's love" for the final testimonies of all the missionaries going home and for all their families, friends, people taught, and members from where they served. It was so fun! I saw a bunch of returned missionaries that I served with! 

At transfers, I also got to meet Hermana Kimber Johansen! She just got into the mission. She is actually getting trained by Hermana Santos in Santaquin! She is so so sweet! She is Christen's childhood best friend and she is also dating one of my friends from out at OSU! :) It was really fun to catch up on everyone we know in common!! We have been to a lot of the same activities for a while and we didn't even know it :) I am so happy to have her here! 

Leslie and the Kiddos :)

We as a mission (in different zones) get to watch Meet the Mormons this week!!! :) We are watching it on Thursday! I am SO pumped! You all go out and watch it too! :)

Sisters John and Horne!

Sister and Brother Sharp! My awesome landlords!

And last but not least! General Conference weekend! Okay, who else thought that it went by SO FAST?? Well I did, it was crazy! And no I didn't get to go this time. Some people are just lucky to go 2 times in the mish, but not me! But that was fine :) It is still amazing! But something that I would have loved to have heard were the speakers who spoke in their native language! That was so cool!

Hna Baker and Cordova!

-Hna Cordova and Wuit!

-Elder Hodges! He was in my district in the MTC! 

So some of the amazing talks I absolutely loved was the one about which way do we face? To God or to man? I loved that! We will have some very trying times to want to face towards man and turn away from God, but we cannot! Another thing I loved was the talks about the sacrament. Especially the one that talked about how when we are offered the sacrament from a priesthood holder it is like the Savior himself is reaching out to us offering us access to His atonement. I loved that. I know that is so so true. The Savior is always reaching out to us and offering us His cleansing power. Now I know that the sacrament will have a brand new meaning to me each time I partake of it :) I hope you all loved Gen Conference as much as I did :) Tell me about your favorite parts! 

-Rosario y Johanna y Jasmin y Chavita

I love you all! :)

love, Hermana Derges

and the Verdict is............

I am getting transferred to a biking area!!!!! EEK! We got a call from President McCune this morning and found out that I will going to a new area and my lovely companion is training! I am SO excited for her even if she is not the mooooost excited about it lol :) But she will love it! :)

So yes...I need to pack up my 15 months of things and stuff them into three little suitcases and wait until Wednesday to find out who my new companion is....fun! :) haha And sadly say goodbye to so many people I have come to love so dearly here :) Santaquin has been a lot of fun :)

This past week was pretty great, nothing too exciting or special. Just a good week :) 

We had great lessons with Angelica this past week, but sadly she didn't come to church and neither did Juan! :( Sad day!!! But what was really neat was that she believes that the Book of Mormon is true! I just don't know what is really keeping her from moving forward...But I love her and she will keep reading progressing and one day she will get baptized! I am sure of it :)

Then the Women's meeting was fantastic! :) Sadly though, my mind resorted back to the Midwest and I thought that the meeting started at 7pm....which is does for most of you. BUT here in Utah it starts at 6....so needless to say we showed up a little late lol But I did get to see the amazing talk given by President Utchdorf! :) EXACTLY what I needed to hear. I know that what was said was true! I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and is raining down blessings upon our heads, just like the weather here the past few days, and we just need to make sure our umbrellas are closed shut so that those blessings can reach us! :)

Our Investigator Erick!

I love you all! I hope you have a lovely week and enjoy watching conference! My mission president said something neat that I want to share with all of you. He said in our zone conference that every General Conference he takes just 2 things and works on them for the next 6 months. We all thought, wow just TWO things??? Aren't there so many things we could improve? Especially after hearing the prophets speak? But he said something that makes a whole lot of sense. Think about it. If you live to 80 years old. You have about 144 general conferences if you start listening at 8 years old. If you just apply 2 principles and work on them really really hard, over a lifetime, you will have developed and grown 288 times. That is pretty amazing. So let's go into this conference and take 2 things that we will work on and develop really really well over the next 6 months. I promise that we will change and become better! :) 

I love you all! :)

Have a great week :)

Love, Hermana Derges

Lay it Down for Him

Hey! :) How are you all? I bet you all had a fantastic week! 

This week was really fun! On Tuesday we were able to go up to Mt Timpanogos temple for one of Hermana Santos recent converts :) There were a lot of sisters there! :) It was so nice to see so many familiar faces! It was a gorgeous day too :)

Yesterday was the rededication of the Ogden temple! We were able to watch it from our stake center here in Santaquin :) It was so amazing! That temple is gorgeous! The Spirit was so strong! :)

So on Friday we fold a puncture wound in our tire....it was a bolt!!?!?!? what lol? Anywhoo I just have bad luck with cars...lol

We have an amazing investigator named Juan :) He really is interested! We had a really good lesson with him on Saturday :) We are going to teach him all he can before he goes back to Mexico for a couple months. 

Well that is pretty much it lol It was an eventful week, but short. Something that I was studying about this week was about obedience. I really wanted to be exactly obedient in all that I do. It is really hard but I know there are blessings even miracles that come from being exactly obedient. Something that I read said that when we are obedient we receive protection from the dangers of the adversary. It is really a safety barrier between us and him. I know that when I am obedient to even the smallest things, I feel a difference and I am happier for sure. I came across this quote by President Benson that says: 

"When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, in that moment God will endow us with power"

I found this quote astonishing because it is so true! I know we become more and more converted to the Gospel when we are being obedient. The commandments turn into blessings and not burdens upon our backs. That is when we truly show our love to Heavenly Father. When we serve faithfully and cheerfully, letting Him guide us and holding nothing back. Last night we were able to attend a musical production and one of the songs said something I am rather fond of. It said 

"He will ask what is the hardest thing to give, He will ask for you to lay it down for Him. Lay it down, lay it down for Him and you will find your life again" 

Those lyrics really hit me and inspire me to want to lay down my wants and my cares and my desires to Him. This is really really hard. But I know, that we will find our true selves when we don't hold anything back from serving with our whole hearts for Him, our Beloved Savior Jesus Christ. And I leave these thoughts with you, until next week, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen :)

I love you all! Stay lovely and sweet :)

Love, Hermana Derges

Search, Ponder and Pray

Hiiiiiiya! :) I am sorry this email is so late, but! My companion and I got the chance to go to the Provo temple this morning and it was fantastic :) I loved it! If you all haven't gone to the temple in a while, I urge you to go! :) 

This week was a really really great one :) It started out on Tuesday- Hna Santos needed to renew her citizenship so we went to Salt Lake! It was really fun! We went with Elder Hamilton, one of the senior couple missionaries- It was just him and us riding in this huge passengar van-When Sister Caldwell told us that we are going just with him I was very confused haha :) so it was pretty funny and kinda weird just being my comp and I with another man. Haha. I am going to be weird when I get home! haha :) But it was a lot of fun! It was POURING and hailing. Very badly. We got there early so we got to go on a tour of the town in the van. We saw the SLC temple and the conference center, the old tabernacle and all the other neat things :) I took some pictures but they look funny because of all the rain. So that was a very fun morning.

Then next Hna Santos and I received our "Sprint to the End" letter from President McCune- otherwise known as "TRUNKY PAPERS"! lol eek! nooooooooooo time has to stop! I do have to tell you- it is very weird to think about how in 3 months I will not be a missionary. How did I ever live life in any other way?? lol So I will stop talking about that! As Hermana Cordova proudly says "Trunkiness never was happiness!!" haha :) So back to work!!

Joseph Smith Memorial Building

Then this lovely weekend, a sweet awesome hermano I taught in Saratoga Springs got baptized on Saturday!!!! Saratoga Springs is reallllly far from Santaquin, so I got to celebrate from afar :) It was the happiest news to hear that he wanted to follow the example of the Savior and be baptized!! Happy happy day!! :) 

Javier!!!

Then yesterday and Saturday were a crazy busy day with all the stake conference meetings we had! On Saturday we had the adult session and then on Sunday we had a 7am priesthood meeting, then regional broadcast at 10am with Elder Nelson and Elder Scott and then 4pm meeting in Span Fork with the Spanish missionaries and our leaders with Elder Leavitt of the 70 and President Farnsworth and a few lessons as well :) I LOVE busy busy days! They are the best. Time flies-but better yet, you are just so focused on serving the Lord and don't have time to think about yourself :)

Something I want to share from the conference yesterday was something from Elder Richard G. Scott's talk on prayer. I realized and learned that when we pray- more times than not we don't receive an answer on our knees but rather on our feet and doing the will of the Lord. Or when we are reading the scriptures or when we are quietly pondering the things of the Lord. I know this to be so so true! I love feeling the Spirit when I am pondering a question or when I am pondering about how I can improve. I just feel the Spirit so strongly and I feel so happy! I invite you to try it. If you are needing an answer, pray, and then later throughout the week ponder and read the scriptures. An answer always comes, but in the Lord's timing. When we think and ponder that same request after our initial prayer with Heavenly Father, He will see how much it really means to us and our dedication to discovering and waiting patiently for the answer :) Then we can see and feel the blessings of the Lord :)

I love you all! Keep being awesome. I hope you all have a great day and a blessed week! 

Love, Hermana Derges :)