Week...I Don't Know...I Lost Count‏

This week was fun!! I got to shave sheep!! Haha! Brother Johnson is a recent convert and hurt his arm. He breeds sheeps and needed help shaving them! So, Sister McArthur and I went to help him shave his sheep! It was fun! I really enjoyed it!

What else happened this week? We went on exchanges for the second time.. I had to run the area and it was bad...Just kidding kind of...All the appointments we had fell through AND all of our backup plans fell through. I tried going to every other investigator's house and they weren't home. I called less active to see if we could stop by and they weren't home either. I started to think that I could have gotten really frustrated with myself or with the situation, but I wasn't. I knew that I was doing all I could possibly do and that there really was nothing else I could do...We ended up saying a prayer with Hermana De La Cruz (she's from Peru, I'm surrounded by Peruvians always), and then I thought of someone we could go visit. The Garcias! The Garcia's are amazing! They are members and one of their daughters is on a mission and the other one is 19 and getting ready to start her papers! She's the best! Her name is Jackie. But ya I stopped by their house and they gave me 2 referrals!! Yay! And then yesterday, Jackie was with us ALL through church and it was the best! She is such an amazing girl! It was really nice to be able to have another person with us, especially for the translation :P I don't know if I mentioned this before but every Sunday, we translate for the Spanish group in the ward. So it was really nice to have another bilingual with us cuz we were all able to split up the talks for sacrament and the third hour.

Investigator Update:

Tony didn't come to church this week. He was going through some stuff with his family I think...We haven't been able to contact him but we're going to stop by tonight. He still wants to get baptized, it's just a matter of when.

Izzy prayed about getting baptized and got her answer! And she said YES! She will be getting baptized also, but she doesn't feel ready yet, so the date isn't set, but hopefully within July. We were also able to meet her dad! It was amazing! Izzy was really scared that her family wouldn't like the idea of her getting baptized, but now that we met her dad, we're hoping that he'll be more open and accepting of the church. He really enjoyed talking to us, we spent like 20 minutes just talking to him about water because he's a plumber, so that was fun.

While we were on exchanges I also found some other people that are interested in the church! I stopped by Izzy's house to pick up my movie ("Forever Strong"!! I got it signed By President Gelwix) 'cuz we watched it with them on Thursday, President Gelwix lets us watch it with an investigator. But anyways, Friday night, I stopped by their house to pick up my movie and just schedule another appointment with them, when I was walking to the door I heard, "I think they're Mormon." I didn't do much of it because it was late and we're not supposed to contact after dark. But when I was walking out they asked us if we were Mormons and I answered, "Yes, we're missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints." You know, the big speal! But they were like, "Oh ya, I knew you were Mormon because I used to go to your church with a friend." *hallelujah choirs started singing* Turns out she moved down from San Jose, and when she was in San Jose she used to go to our church. But since she moved down, she didn't have a car to go and didn't know where it was! So I told her we could get someone to pick them up and take them and she said that she would like that! We stopped by last night and asked if she would want to listen to the messages we share and she said she would!! It was amazing!! Her name is Kimberly and she has 2 kids!! I'm so excited to see what happens with her! We have an appointment with her next Wednesday 'cuz she was going outta town for a week!

Ooh! Funny story! Our ward had a party just for fun, and at first it was really boring and I was like, "Wow...This is not a party...My barrio Windsor 8 throw WAY better parties!" Anyways, we were getting ready to leave and we were saying bye to everyone! And then guess what!! "La Bomba" starts playing!! When I first heard it, I completely froze!! I didn't know what to do!! My companion at the time, since she's Hispanic too, completely froze also! We were both just standing there like, ".... uh...... ok..." Haha, it was funny! I miss my music...BUT I've gotten a lot of hymns almost memorized! :P  Those are my stories for this week! :) I love you all!

Biking and Yosemite Week!‏

Sorry I couldn't write an e-mail for everyone last week, it was really kind of crazy last week and I felt like not a lot happened.. We were in meetings for it seemed like most of the week. But I have a few stories to tell for this week :)

Update on Investigators:
Tony came to church for the second time!! And all on his own! We were so happy to see him walk in through the doors! He mentioned that he notices a big difference when we go visit him often and when we don't. So we're trying to get him to do things that would invite the spirit on his own. He is still planning on getting baptized on the 5th of July! So we're just going to keep working towards that!
 

The Espinoza Family is amazing!! I love them soo much! They are always so loving and welcoming to us! Izzy was the one that asked us when she could get baptized. We gave her the date of June 28 to get baptized.. I just realized that's in like 4 days...so ya I don't think that's going to happen.. but at the time, she said that she was going to pray about it. When we went back, she said that she didn't feel like she got an answer, she just heard a lot of "mumbling." So we talked about the spirit and praying and getting answers. I told them about my experience, when the sister missionaries asked me to get baptized and I just testified about the spirit. The spirit was soo strong in the lesson! When we finished with a prayer, I looked at Izzy and she was teary eyed/crying. I went up to her and I just said, "You're crying." And she said, "I just kept hearing a 'You may, you may.'" :) I'm really excited for her. We haven't been able to talk about it since then because the one time we stopped by after that her whole family was there and they were busy, so it just wasn't the right timing. But we're going to stop by today and see what happens!

Guess what!! Saturday was the first time I rode my bike!! AHH! Haha! It was so much fun!! My skirt was flying up but i'll figure something out, a lot of the sister's have given me ideas, so I'll try them out! :) But ya, so we were on our bikes! We were running late getting out of our dinner appointment...We ended up being a whole hour late to our next appointment. We were going over to Tony's house and we had to book it over there!! It was the funniest thing ever! Sister McArthur and I were pumping our legs SOO HARD!! And guess what! OF COURSE the wind was going against us the whole time!! So we're biking against the wind and my skirt keeps flying up! It was really rough! Finally Sister McArthur got tired and she was like, "You go in front!! I'm tired!!" Haha! So I started leading and holy cow it was rough!! When we were about a block away from Tony's house, a dog comes out of nowhere and starts barking at us and starts chasing us!! Haha! Oh mygoodness! It was the funniest thing! It was a fun bike ride! :) We decided that if we bike we can eat whatever we want...I shouldn't tell myself that...I'm sure I've already gained weight :/  That was the funny story highlight of my week :)

Yesterday I went to Yosemite! It was really cool! Let me tell you, those trees are HUGE!! It was soo pretty! I felt like I was asleep half the time though...it took us like 2 hours to get there and then you have to drive around Yosemite...and the wind was blowing in my face because we didn't have AC, so the wind was blowing in my face and my eye was bothering me, so then I would close my eyes and then next thing you know I was asleep...Oh well.. :P  But ya, Yosemite was really pretty! We went with the Horan's and they have a little boy named Jimmy, he's like 3-4 and he wanted to "race" down a hike.. so Sister McArthur and I ran the whole way back down...Man that little boy can run!!

I was also able to lead the area last Tuesday for exchanges and I'll be leading again this Friday. At first I was really nervous because I felt like I didn't know the area but I ended up knowing it more than I thought. We also had Zone Conference on Thursday and it was AMAZING! President Gelwix is just amazing! He really honestly is! There's a documentary about him named "Larry Gelwix: No Regret" made in 2011, I would recommend it to everyone! We were able to watch it and it was just amazing! Something that really stuck to me out of our whole zone conference was when President Gelwix was talking about rugby and football. He says that the whole game depends on 3,4,5 plays...That's it!! And he would tell his team, you always have to ask yourself, "Is this the play? Is this it??" We need to ask ourselves that also..."Is this the play that will make an impact in my life?? Is this the decision that will make all the difference?"  Another thing I really liked, "The greatest gift you get from God is opportunities. The best you can do for Him, is what you do with those opportunities." Think about that. I really have the best Mission President I could ever ask for! I'm bummed he's leaving soo soon! But I'm ready for President Clark to come in! I'm excited to meet him!
 

Today we had a training about essentialism with Greg McKeown. Papi he has a book named Essentialism, you should read it. But he talked a lot about listening. How important listening is. There are so many different types of listening...He told us that when we are talking with our investigators, we need to really listen to what they are saying and pray; pray while they are talking to know what to say back.  This is something I know I need to work on and I hope I can improve it because I know it will make such a big difference

I know this church is true. I know that the Holy Ghost will always be there with us as long as we let it! We have to do all we can to let it dwell within us. I know that my Heavenly Father is watching me and is helping me. There is no way I could do this on my own. We all have a unique mission and it is our responsibility to find what mission that is and accomplish it. Heavenly Father didn't send us down here for no reason. We all have one unique mission that we were sent to do. and only we can do it. We need to do it, we need to do it for our Heavenly Father. I love him more than anything! And my savior Jesus Christ! 

 

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen!

 

I love all of you, I really do! Thank you for supporting me! :)

Mami, Papi, Beatriz, Aly, Yeya, Mamcori, Papalito, Nana. I love you! :) <3

-Hermana Ramos-Escobar

P.S. I can't belive I've already been out one whole month!! It's crazy!

Fresno At Last!

Oh my goodness!!! There is soo much I need to say!!!

K, well first of all, I'm in Fresno! I am FINALLY on the mission field!! I am in Los Banos with Sister McArthur! She's from South Jordan Utah and she is the best!! She keeps saying that I was an answer to her prayers because she wanted to stay in the same area but wanted to speak Spanish. So she got a native speaker and is in the same area. We cover two wards, Mercy Springs and Los Banos. They are both English wards...  -_-  Ya... I don't know how I really feel about that. BUT on the bright side there's a Spanish group in the Mercy Springs ward. So every Sunday for sacrament, we do translation! I didn't do it yesterday but this next Sunday I will! Wish me luck! ...Actually no... Pray for me!

So, I flew into Fresno on Wednesday and stayed at the mission home that night. The next day was when we found out who our companions were and which area we would be serving in. Los Banos is like 2 hours away from Fresno and 1 hour away from our Stake Center. It's like in the middle of nowhere! But that's ok!

It's super hot! Today its going to get up to 107! But thankfully we have a car! I don't think I'm going to use my bike very much on the mission :/ BUT I will definitely use it when I get home! I have to! One of the rules we have is that we have to run for 20 minutes everyday and do 2 minute planks! I got the running part down but the 2 minutes plank is killing me! I'm working up to it! K, now let me tell you all about the people here! The investigators!!

So, Sister Horan (a sister from Mercy Springs) was telling us that one of her daughter's friend was interested in learning about the gospel. So Friday we went over and taught her and it was AMAZING! The spirit was soo strong! We're going to teach her again on Tuesday and I'm thinking there is a possibility to get baptized. When I asked her if she would she said yes! So we'll wait and see when it happens! :)

There is also Tony! Tony is like 40 years old-ish. He has some mental problems, he has a fear of people so it's hard for him to go to church. Whenever we go over, he has sunglasses on so we don't see him...but this last time we went he took them off for a while! Which was a HUGE step for him! We asked him if he would prepare himself to get baptized on the first week of July and he said YES! So we are going to try to help him come to church! If you all could pray for him to get more self-esteem and confidence that would be a big help! He really loves the Gospel and is always happy when we go over to visit him!

The next day was Saturday and that was a fun day! I feel like we didn't do much but we kind of did. Haha, we started off our day by making a Kitty Litter Cake!! Haha, it was soo funny! One of the less actives family was throwing a Fear Factor birthday party and asked us to help them out. So ya that was definitely fun! I'll see if I can send the pictures! We then went then got a call from Brother Johnson, He just got baptized I think last month. He told us that he had gotten a stroke. So we went with Sister Horan again and her husband and went to visit him. He was doing so good! He was up and laughing and talking and just doing everything! He has such a beautiful soul! I felt the spirit soo strong when we were at his house! It's those kind of moments that make the mission soo worth it! I was all teary eyed and it's amazing how such a recent convert can have such a strong testimony of  our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ!

Then came Sunday! (Yesterday) Oh my goodness!! Yesterday was just soo AMAZING! We went to church for like 8 hours...we had ward council went to Los Banos' ward, had ward council for the other ward, and then went to Mercy Springs' ward! At church, Sis. McArthur was telling me that she had not seen the church so full! Let me tell you...it didn't seem full...the chapel wasn't filled...It was like half filled. I just thought to myself, "...ya...We gotta fix this." But we saw a lot of less active people come and we got appointments to go visit them. We also found a potential investigator! Her aunt brought her to church and we are going to start teaching her and hopefully get her baptized :) 

After church we went to go look for an investigator, but she wasn't home, so we went knocking on some doors. We talked to a man named Edward Williams and prayed with him. It was really good. We then went over to the Espinoza's and oh my goodness! THEY ARE AMAZING!!! They are a part member family and there's like 9 of them! The first to get baptized was their daughter Andrea. She's in her 20's and she actually went on a mission to Peru, but had to come back. Then it was her daughter Breanna and just recently the Mom and the other daughter Consuelo got baptized! They have 4 of their cousins living with them and they are not members. Oh btw, we went over to their house because they offered us Posole at church, and we didn't have a dinner appointment...so we just went and ate there and let me tell you! Their Posole was SOO GOOD! It was the first Mexican food I had since I've been here! Since the last time I had some at home! They didn't give me any of that at the MTC but anyways! I asked the mom about her conversion story and it was AMAZING! It's just...wow! The spirit was also soo strong in their home!

We were there talking for ever and I really felt like I could have stayed there for hours! I love their family so much! They're so loving towards us! Ah! I love them!! But we were getting ready to leave and one of the little cousins, Brian, had colored a picture and he says to us, "Can you send this to God please?" It was the cutest thing ever! We asked if they had any questions and then another little cousin, Isabella, asks, "When can I get baptized?" There was literally a party going through my head! I was jumping and screaming and it was just amazing! So she's super interested in getting baptized! We gave her a Book of Mormon and told her to write down any questions she had. We're going back today to do a Family Home Evening at their house and to give Isabella the first lesson. We then went to find Donna Young.

Donna Young was someone my companion had been looking for forever! She's a less active and her son went over to the church to tell people to go visit her, but he gave everyone the wrong address so at ward council we finally got the right address and went and found her. She's like  77 and she also has like a people's phobia and gets anxiety with too many people, so she can't go to church. But we just sat and talked to her and she's soo amazing! She has gone through soo much but she has such a sweet soul! I loved talking to her.

We then went over to another member's house and my companion just walked in! I was like, "Can you do that?" And she's like, "Ya, it's fine. They tell us to do it." I was like, "Ok." I walked in and looked to the left and there's a HUGE fish! I told my companion and she's like, "Oh, it's a piranha!" I almost died and she's like, "Come look at it!" And I was like, "No, I'm ok!" So she goes over, puts her face so close to the tank and then the piranha starts freaking out!! THE THING ALMOST JUMPED OUT OF THE TANK!!! There was water all over! I about DIED!! I thought I was going to have a heart attack!! But it was really funny.

Then last night...UGH! Oh, by the way I live with Hermana Vogel and she has a cat named Monkey. And Hna. Vogels house smells exactly like Nana's house! I love it! But anyways...Last night we got Monkey out of our room and we closed the door and went to sleep. I was laying on my stomach facing the wall, and I turned my head and there was Monkey right on my stinking bed! Right next to my face!!! I about DIED!! That stupid cat scared me half to death and I about had a heart attack!! UGH!! I hate that cat! I  yelled at it and I was like "MONKEY!!" And then it goes under my darn bed!! UGH! So I got the cell phone we had and was like "Monkey! Monkey!! Get out!" I ended up waking up my companion and we had to get a broom to get the darn cat out! AND THEN!!! Today in the morning it attacked my feet!!! I HATE CATS!!!  My companion hates her too :) We share the same passion for Monkey!

Holy cow, my hands hurt from typing so much. But those are my funny stories and my amazing miracle stories. I love this church with all my heart ! I am so happy I am serving the Lord and representing my Savior Jesus Christ! I know this church is true and I know this is the only way we can get back to heaven. I love it!

I love you all! :)
Til next time,

-Hermana Ramos-Escobar

(Papi, I forgot to tell you thank you for sending me your shorts :) I love them! I slept with them at the MTC and there in the wash now :) Thank you soo much! I LOVE YOU!!)

Fresno, CA, Mission president

Hrm. Ramos-Escobar & Hrm. McArthur

Group photo of the newly arrived Fresno, CA, missionaries

Second and Last Week at the MTC

Wow, there's just soo much to say and not enough time!! Haha, and once again I forgot my notebook and journal. But oh well!

So last week, on Wednesday we had devotional and we got to listen to Elder Russell M. Nelson! It was amazing!! His wife talked about desperation. She said that the one thing that will help us on our mission is desperation. When we are desperate we are willing to give up everything; change all of our ways. All of our pride and excuses go away and we do whatever we can to reach whatever it is we want to reach. I truly know that is true because I have seen it in my life! Her talk was just sooo powerful! It was amazing!

For the past week or so...we had been teaching Jorge Silva an "investigator" (he was our teacher, role playing as an investigator) and he reminded me a lot about my mom! His family had gotten baptized into the church 20 years ago and he had been listening to the missionaries since then and still had not made the decision to get baptized. It was rough trying to find out what it was that HE needed to hear because after listening to the missionaries for 20 years, you clearly know everything. Well, our last few lessons with him my companion Hna. Johnson and I just decided to testify of Christ. This was our second to last lesson. We showed him the video "Because of Him" and we just testified of Christ. and he was really touched by this lesson! We totally felt like we nailed it! Then after a couple of days we had a lesson with him again. We weren't quite sure what to talk about because this was going to be our last lesson and we had to make him commit to baptism! So my companion decided to just have like a testimony meeting and that's what we did. We showed him another Mormon Messages, the one about a guy on a cruise and doesn't know that the food is included (go look it up). It was the PERFECT video to show him! He realized that he is missing out a lot by not being baptized in the church! Both my companion and I gave him our testimonies and invited him to baptism and he said yes!!! Oh my gosh! I was soo happy!! I was about to cry!! We then finished with a prayer and he offered it and I couldn't hold it in anymore and tears just ran down my face!! I was soo happy for him! I thought I was kind of crazy for crying because he was my teacher but I realized that this is what I am going to be doing!!

I am soo excited to share the gospel with everyone in Fresno!! That love and joy and excitement I felt with "Jorge" is what I'm going to feel for the people I go teach in Fresno, California!! I am so excited and I know that this is what the Lord wants me to do! There is nothing that would truly make me more happy! It's only been two weeks and I am scared for the day to come when I have to give up my name tag. I almost cry just at the thought of it. But I have 18 months  minus 2 weeks to give every single minute to my Heavenly Father and really thank him for everything he has blessed me with.

I am soo thankful that I was born into my family. Mami, Papi, Beatriz, Aly, Yeya! I love you all soo much! I always have! I just never expressed it. I love you all so much and nothing, NOTHING, would make me happier than being able to spend eternity with all of you!! I cannot wait for the day where we can all go to church together and we can all be sealed as a family. I know the day will come.

Thank you for all your support. Thank you for all the junk food. Ya I've gotten fat. Thanks to you guys!! The other sisters in my zone are going to stay with all the food 'cuz there was no way my companion and I were going to finish it all.

Oh! Funny story! So in my district it's just my companion and I and two Elders. Elder Lino from Peru and Elder Arroyo from Mexico/Las Vegas. So we were going to sing "Count Your Blessings" and we totally started singing it to the tune of "Somos los soldados que combaten error! Que dicha es! Que dicha es!!" ("We Are All Enlisted") Hahaha! I think Mami and Yeya's singing that hymn got to me! :P I know it's really not that funny but at the time we were dying of laughter!! Hahaha!

BTW Please tell the Hougaard's thank you sooo much for the cupcakes! They were amazing! I love them! :)

LOVE YOU GUYS ALL!! :)
Muah! :)

Love always,

Hermana Ramos-Escobar

First P-day at the temple! (Left to Right) Hna. Capps, me, Johnson, and Fisher

Back Row: Lino, Mitchell, Holmes, Arroyo, Trent, Powlus, Fisher, Johnson, me
Front Row: Welborn, Costello, Rollins, Capps, Gunson, and Mounga!

My district and that's our teacher in the middle! We all got him that shirt!

The bike statue Aly wanted (I asked her to send me a pic because I loved it :3 ).

Hna. Leyva & Hna Alcocer and I. They are amazing, I love them! They're serving in Washington!

Read that poem/book! It's amazing!!

Hermana Ramos-Escobar is leaving for Fresno, CA tomorrow in the morning! Keep her in your prayers and be sure to write to her!