3 Zubeldias serving the Lord

Dear Family!!!!

One thing I love about emailing you on Mondays is reading Elder Zubeldia's letters. This amazing Elder that I get to call brother truly is being an instrument in the Lords hands. Whenever I read his letters it reminds me of Ammon when he is talking about his mission experience (Alma 26:11-12) (read the whole chapter!!!!).  I love being able to serve along side him and now alongside my little sister Sarah aka Hermana Zubeldia.   I am so excited that Sarah is now a missionary too!!!! It truly is a blessing to be apart of this Church and to share this wonderful gospel. Elder Zubeldia has been an example to me and I hope that I may be the same type of missionary as him. 

  

Just like Elder Zubeldia, I want to say that the time is going by way too fast. This next month will be my year mark on the mission!!!! I can't believe it! I love being a missionary. I love sharing the gospel and I love seeing people change as they understand what the Savior did for them. I love sharing my testimony, I love studying each day and I love walking alongside my companion as we talk to people on the street. Each moment is special to me. The days are hard but the work we do is amazing.  

   

This week we have been seeing miracles right and left. Three of our investigators came to church! Gabriella, our referral friend, loves going to church. She loves what she learns and feels and is reading the Book of Mormon. She truly sees the change the Gospel is having in her life. She may not understand why the change is happening but she feels it! 

   

Our other friend, Rocío, is also a miracle. She feels the need of something spiritual in her life. She has found friends and family members in the Branch that she didn't know where Mormons. Little by little these two amazing people are being converted.  

  

My companion was a little sick this week but she is doing a lot better!  

This week I have been thinking a lot about our Purpose here on earth. I was reading in "Jesus the Christ" about the Pre-earth life and everything seemed so much clearer to me. As I read and studied I felt something inside me say, "hey...this is ACTUALLY TRUE!" I mean, I knew it was, I knew that we lived with our Heavenly Father before but I didn't see how TRUE it really is. And if its all true, then that means that we literally are children of a Heavenly Father. If people UNDERSTOOD this, really Understood it, then the world would be so different. I am so grateful for the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. As we understand the Plan of Salvation we will soon come to understand our Purpose here on earth and the purpose as to why we go through certain trials. We will see that our time here on earth is just a brief moment and that we NEED to do all we can to develop ourselves and keep going with FAITH until the end. 

I love you all so much and I hope you have a great and fantastic week!!!!

LES QUIERO!!!

Hermana Zubeldia

 

Hermana Williams with Rocío at a ward party.

Happy 25 de Mayo!! Hermana Williams by the Argentinian flag!!

Happy 25 de Mayo!!

 

Transfer #8 Tandil!

Dear Family,

I love you all so very much!!! This has been a fantastic week. I probably don't write as good as Pablo, and my letters aren't like his but I will try to write better letters to you all! Really, I want to tell you more so you know kinda (like 10%) of what I do! haha!

NEWS:

1. TRANSFERS!!! I am staying here in Tandil with Hermana Williams! Three transfers together! We are going to see so many Miracles this transfer. We want to put in our 100% every day of this next transfer!  I am so excited and happy to be with Hermana Williams again. She is a fantastic missionary. I have learned a lot from her. She helps me try to reach my goals and try to do better everyday. I love her and I am so grateful to get to serve with her again. Just like Pablo, I  have been blessed with phenomenal companions!

***(6 months in Villa Mitre with Hermana Pinnock, Hermana Silva, and Hermana Asencios -- and 4 months here in Tandil with Hermana Williams!)

2. After 70 years, Tandil and Olavarría are going to join together and become a Stake (its a preliminary union)! I am so excited to be here for this wonderful historical event in the history of the Church of Tandil! It gives me so much hope that Tandil is soon going to grow with new members. I want to help build the Church here and make it stronger for generations to come! 

3. 5 investigadores came to church yesterday!

This week was full of miracles!!! I  learned so much this week. My mission president in our Zone conference last week said something that I am going to put as my motto for this transfer. He said, "I am realistic, I expect miracles!"  Miracles happen because this is the Lords work. "Have miracles ceased my beloved brethren? I say unto you, no, they have not ceased, neither has ceased the ministering of Angels unto men." (Moroni 7:29) 

  

We have been privileged to have many people to teach. Many say, that Tandil is a hard place to find people to teach. Its true. We have fantastic members who help us and accompany us and give us references but its hard to find people who are truly interested. However, Tandil is a place of Miracles. I am learning that I need to have faith and just work.  I am having to learn to have patience and faith  in the promises of the Lord.  Just like Nephi, I need to keep going and walk int he darkness a bit. The Lord doesn't just lead by light, but he lets us take the step in the darkness with faith. Once we do, he will help us find the light and guide us. This is necessary for us to grow. If he always just gave us the answers and success at the first try we wouldn't need to have faith.  (1 Nephi 4:6 and 7 "...E iba guiado por el Espíritu, sin saber de antemano lo que tendría que hacer. No obstante, seguí adelante...")

Les quiero!! I am glad to hear you are all doing well! Good job Daniel on your AP test and on singing at the farewell! Sarah, I'm glad it all turned out! have a great last week at home! mami and papi, I am glad the farewell turned out... now that its over... take a break and relax by spending quality time with Sarah and the family!!!

Hermana Zubeldia

Zona Tandil

The Hermanas in Tandil. Celebrating 11 months on my mission!

The hat a member in my Rama (Branch) made for me!

Look at my hair! It's grown a lot!

The hat a member made for me! She knited it in like an hour! She is so talented!!

My companion (Hermana Williams) and our new boots! Yes... we match!

Hermana Labriola! She invites us to lunch every week!

Right after Mother's Day (Hermana Williams)

Buen Día a todos!

Today I am filled so much with the spirit. We just finished our zone conference and literally it was SO AMAZING. Just to sum it up for lack of time, the President talked to us for a while and then the assistants talked about inviting people to have baptismal dates. This part of missionary work is so important because without it there is no goal for the people to work towards, there is no motivation! So as missionaries we need to remember our covenants with God and invite these people to ACT. So that they, too, can have the sacred opportunity to make covenants with our Father in Heaven.

 

Hermanas Parreño, Cruz y Zubeldia, after Zone Conference

Then we 4 sisters sang "I know that my Redeemer Lives" in Spanish and it was so beautiful to sing that. It just left a lingering spirit in our hearts which lead perfectly in to the Presidents final message. He shared with us a video that touched my heart entirely. I told my family already but I invite all who can and others to wait until after the mission to watch it. It  is about a man named Nico Cabralia (I'm pretty sure) How his life is an inspiration to us to never give up and always have faith in the Lord. That there is no reason to not have hope. We are SONS and DAUGHTERS of the Almighty God and have the divine potential to be perfect like Him and return to live with Him. 

  

Tings that happened in the week:

  

On Skype with my family for Mother's Day.

1. I talked to my amazing family and I want them to know that I love them dearly and bear testimony of my love and gratitude for them all the time to the people of Argentina.

  

2. We found so many new investigators this week as a zone and our energy and attitude is just spectacular. How we all help build eachother up as a team, as a family, is just such a testimony builder. One of the people we ended up teaching acepted a baptimsal date! The 7th of June!! Her name is Sol and she is my age! We are so excited to work with her and realize that the message we bring, of the restored gospel, is TRUE! We have so many more new people to teach and I can't write all aobut them at this time but I will keep everyopne up to date with who we keep in contact with. :) 

  

3. The last thing I have time to write is that we had a fireside Sunday night that me and my companion had to introduce (10-15 min) and we did a short practice beforehand to see what we wanted to say. We felt the spirit working so strong in us because we took the time to prepare even for 5 minutes and we finished with a prayer. When we talked to everyone. It all came out so easy because we practiced and I haven't had so many people come up to me before and thank me. Thank me for my dilligence and tell me that my ablility to speak has improved so much. That I have no reason to fear becasue they all can understand me and I just felt so blessed by the Lord. 

I just want to share that I really do have a testimony of the work. This week has been so full of miracles that I never want to forget. I want to testify of the power of missionary work. Not just in us missionaries but in every member of this Church. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. IT IS TRUE. And when missionaries and members can really come together and share the gospel WITH their testimonies, there will be such a wave of true conversions that our Heavenly Father will have nothing to do but give us blessings. For when we do our part, He will do His, and bless and help His children. This is His work and we CAN do ALL things with faith, obedience, and ACTING to do our best everyday. I LOVE being a missionary. 

Reach your potential and be the missionary God wants you to be!

Les Quiero!

 

Hermana Williams

 

Hermana Zubeldia talking with her family.

My amazing Williams family.

 

Another week in Tandil! next week is Mothers' Day!!

Dear family,

Sorry I'm not going to email much this week. I tried to send a lot of pictures so that you can see what I am doing and that I am doing great!!! 

Happy birthday Daniel and Carlos!!!!! I hope you had a great week!!! Did you read my letter Carlos? :)

All the Tandil missionaries at El Castillo

 

I am having a great week. All week we were doing "refuerzos" in other areas. We went to other areas in Tandil and worked in the different areas for the other missionaries. We are trying to help each other in the work because we are a team here in Tandil! we started off the refuerzos during P-day when we went on a hike to the castle. We talked about how we are here in Tandil for a reason. There are people here who are waiting to hear the Gospel and we are here to share it with them. One day we were in Rama 2, another in Rama 1, another in Rama 3 and another in Rama 4. On Tuesday we are going to Rauch, a small town close to Tandil to work! I am really excited. 

Well, I love you all so very much! I want to remind you to keep reading the Book of Mormon. It truly is the best book in the world. If we read it and apply the teachings to our life we will know that we are on the path to return with our heavenly father. It will help us know what to do, and help us find peace when times are hard. if you have time, please read chapter 5 of Preach My Gospel for more information and guidance as to what to study!

I can't wait to see you all next Sunday!! Happy Mothers Day!!

Te quiero!!!!

Hermana Zubeldia

Tandil, as seen from El Castillo

Another mensaje from Hermana Lauren Williams

Good morning :D

This week my sister turned 8 year old!!! AH She is going to be baptized :') That's one thing that happened this week, and now im gonna talk about P-day...

Monday we went to the castle with all of our zone and all the Elders were ridiculous haha. First of all we have to climb a hill to get to the castle and they told us we were going to play games to get to the top! So they chose all four of us Hermanas to go first so we did the 3 legged race and guess what happened... they made us go ALL the way! haha It was so far but at the end we had a devotional and they talked to us about our trial. I will talk about that at the end:P

Real quick the other things that happened this week are: 1. we have had "refuerzos" in all the other areas of Tandil. Where all 14 of us missionaries work in one of the areas. There are 5 here and it was a lot of work... a lot of walking and just tiresome but wow we found so many people doing this. We also worked with a different companion each day. For us Hermanas there are only 3 others to choose from so we just switched around everyday haha but we found one person one day.

I was with Hermana Zubeldia, my actual companion. But this man we found with his family was one of the sweetest, nicest people I have ever met. He hadn't met us before but he was so respectful and offered us his time, and to come into his house. We coudn't because his wife was gone but he had really interesting questions for us. One of them was somethings like "so you two have said that you have had to go through your own problems and find out for yourself if what you teach is true... so if I can ask, what is one of the hardest things you have gone though in your life?" Wow, right!? But if you know me I love questions like that where I can just tell my story and testify! So I told him an answer after my companion, and he told me he loved my answer. That he can tell that we really do have a testimony of these things and he respected that. Now this man isn't in our area:/ and I don't know what has happened with him since but I felt the spirit so strong and the love that God has for him. I have such a desire to help him and these people gain testimonies for their own. People prepared like him are out there... we just need to search and find them!

Now the devotional for our P-day:

They talked about how at times it was sure to have felt like we were working solo. Sometimes your feet aren't connected and you step separately throwing off your balance. And sometimes you aren't paying attention to the person who you are tied to. The goal is to work together and learn from each other so you can reach the top with as much success as possible. This ties to companionships on the mission and also married couples. We need to always work with our companion. Not always are we on the same page and we have selfish thoughts but our purpose is to put those thoughts aside and make decisions together. Also we are not alone in our trials. We have a companion to help us up the mountain but we also have the voice of the Holy Ghost and help from God and our savior Jesus Christ. With these things we can get through any trial. Just have the faith!

This work is tough but what a BLESSING. 

Listen to the spirit and recognize your blessings!

Thank you all for being the amazing, steadfast people you are,

Hermana Lauren Williams

Tandil from the castle