My last email....

I am so in denial that I'm dying!!! You know mission wise. But that's okay. I think it's better that I sometimes forget that. I love sharing the gospel with people here in Washington! Even though I am in my last week of my mission I am still learning and growing. My mission is shaping the rest of my life. I'm so glad that I decided to serve for these short 18 months. Everything was totally worth it! I am so excited too because I know that we are going to be busy right up until my last day! We have at least one set appointment for every day and I am so grateful for that because I just want to teach!

A miracle we had this week happened when we were knocking on some trailers where potentials lived. At one trailer a man named E answered the door. He was super nice and was going to let us in so we could teach him but only him and his brother were home. So he came outside and let us teach him the restoration on his doorstep! He was super open to it and we set up a return appointment! He also told us that his sister might be interested in learning more as well! 

Also on one of the days we were in Puyallup we met this man named W.  We were knocking some doors in the neighborhood and all of a sudden there was this man in his garage that was trying to tell us something. We couldn't understand him at all because we were right by the highway so the noise of the traffic was super loud!! As we got closer though, Hermana Lewis

heard the man say, "Do either of you want to go out with me?" I still wasn't able to hear that part but Hermana Lewis responded by saying "No, but we can share a message about Jesus Christ with you." Haha! It was so funny! The man said no to our offer about hearing about Jesus Christ but that's when W came rushing out of the garage and told us that he was interested in learning!

In Preach My Gospel it talks about how there are people all around that are being prepared to hear and accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. It also says that these prepared people will recognize the missionaries as representatives of Jesus Christ. 

In the short time that we were able to talk to W I knew that he recognized us as representatives of Jesus Christ. He was so sincere and his desire to learn more is so strong! Everything from how he rushed up to us saying he wanted to learn to how he talked about how he wanted his wife to learn too showed that he was serious. It was such a cool experience! 

On Sunday the C family gave talks on how we can be firm and steadfast in Christ. They talked about a lot of things that help us endure to the end and I thought it was funny because I am going home.  They were really great talks and very heartfelt. Hermano C talked about how we always need to be prepared because Satan never stops trying to make us lose our way. Satan is always going to try to make us fall because he doesn't want us to have eternal life. Hermano C also talked about the importance of helping the missionaries.

While I was preparing to come on my mission I went out to teach people with missionaries but I didn't understand the importance of helping with the missionary work. Now that I've been a missionary and I've seen the difference between investigators who have member fellowship and those that don't I know that it is vital. I am so sad that I will not be a full-time missionary for much longer but I am so ready to help the missionaries and to still do all that I can to help people accept the gospel and be baptized! 

We had a worldwide training just for the full-time missionaries this week and the theme of the whole training was "teach repentance and baptize converts." We heard from Elder Neil L. Andersen, David A. Bednar, Dallin H. Oaks and other leaders. It was the first time the church has had a broadcast like this in over ten years. It was really nice and the whole focus was centered on Jesus Christ. I loved it because really the gospel is so simple. Love God and follow Jesus Christ. 

Also one thing that helps us stay on the path that God wants us to follow is the ability to act on the revelation we receive so here is the link to a great video I love about revelation! 

http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/patterns-of-light-spirit-of-revelation-1 

Love y'all!

Hermana Soliz

 

Our District

Eating outside is nice.

 

My Auburn family I love!

Week 76 and trip to the temple!

Hi everyone!!!! :)

I am so happy!!!!!!!! We just got back from the temple and it was so GREAT!!!!! I loved it! It was so great to be able to go as a group of missionaries! I love the sense of peace and comfort in the temple. I am so looking forward to being able to go more often when I'm home! 

The Seattle temple is pretty big and it so beautiful. I walked by the sealing room and I got super happy and thought, "That's were Juan and Rosa are going to get sealed!!!" Which brings me to the big and happy news!!!! J and R officially announced that they will be getting sealed on March 19th!!! :) :) :) I'm so happy for them! It's going to be such a special day for them and their family!  

After our session the kind sister that drove us to the temple, Sister D, treated us to lunch. :) Then after that we got to go browse around in the Deseret Bookstore. :) 

The temple was definitely the highlight of my week! It took all day but was so worth it! 

I also went on exchange with Hermana Singer and it was so good! We saw so many blessings and tender mercies from God when we were together! And things like that happen all of the time! We just need to open our eyes to recognize them! 

For example we both felt like we needed to go try to visit this one person but they didn't answer the door. So we thought, "Well there must be a reason why God wants us to be here..." So we knocked all of the doors on that floor! And guess what?! No one answered. We were walking away from the last door we knocked when all of a sudden a woman answered it and said "Oh, it's the Mormons!" 

She let us in and it turns out that she is a member of the church but hasn't been in a year. She is a caretaker and since she works on Sundays she goes to her patient's church. We were able to share a message on the Sabbath day and the importance of the Sacrament. She is such a sweetheart and she said missionaries could go back and visit her! 

The same thing happened later on our exchange several times! God knew exactly where he wanted us to be and at what time. We didn't have set plans but as we prayed to be led by the Spirit and then acted on the revelation we received, even though it was just a simple thought, we saw miracles!

We went to check up on a potential and ended up talking to a guy named K and he has been searching for truth for a long time and hasn't found real truth yet. Talk about being prepared to learn about the restored gospel! :) He's understandably a little turned off by religion right now but I know that God is preparing him to accept the gospel and be baptized by the proper authority. 

We went to an appointment we had set that flaked but while we were still knocking on the door their neighbor was leaving and we started talking to her! It turns out that she just moved here and she's learned from missionaries in the past. She said her kids love the missionaries! Her son is also going through a surgery today and so when we offered her any kind of service she said that she could use help while he was recuperating. Again, God's timing is perfect! :) 

And last but not least we were able to visit Hermano H!!! He is doing great and we'll be seeing him again one last time before I leave.

Here's a couple of scriptures that I would like to share! 

Ephesians 6:13 

"Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."

D&C 25:13

"Wherefore, lift up thy heart and rejoice, and cleave unto the covenants which thou hast made."

Both of these scriptures help me understand what must be done in order to endure joyfully to the end. I know that when we keep God's commandments and the promises that we have made with Him we will receive help, guidance, and  we will be able to experience pure joy. We make covenants with God when we are baptized and we need to always remember and honor that. We also need to honor and keep other covenants that we make with God. Our covenants are what help us get back to Him! 

Les quiero muchisimo! 

Hermana Soliz

Hermanas Singer, Lewis, Mickelson, and Soliz

At the Seattle Temple

 

Week 75!

S.R. was baptized!!! :)

S is O and J  R's nine year old daughter. Hermana Lewis and I were teaching S before but then the R family moved from the Spanish branch to an English ward that is closer to their home. And last night S was baptized but her dad! :) It was so special! I remember when I first got to the area we were visiting Hermano R because we were trying to get him to return to activity in the church and now he was able to baptize S! And pretty soon their other daughter D will be turning 8 and she wants to be baptized as well! :) 

D was also at the baptism. She's married to O. R's brother. We haven't been teaching her for a while but she's come to church recently and she was at the baptism! I love her so much! 

The baptism was a perfect ending to the week!

We also went on exchanges this past week and I got to stay here in Auburn this time. Hermana Lewis went to Enumclaw with Hermana Singer and Hermana Mickelson came to Auburn with me. It was a really great exchange! Hermana Mickelson and I found out that we are a lot alike. :) We both like/dislike a lot of the same things and like the same activities. She is from Oklahoma and is going on 4 weeks being in the mission field. 

While we were together on exchange we were able to teach two lessons with a member present and another lesson with a new family! :) We found the new family while knocking doors and the mom's name is M and the daughter's name is E. We were walking and all of a sudden I stopped and asked Hermana Mickelson to either pick the orange or white trailer. She chose the white one and after knocking the door M answered and let us right in! She was even sick but still let us in to hear a message. We didn't get to teach everything but we had a nice visit and we set up a return appointment with her. :) 

We also found some members in that same trailer park who moved here about two months ago. Right now they are still going to their old Spanish branch but they want to start attending our branch soon because it is closer. It was funny because we saw the dad, A, outside and we were planning on talking to him about the Restoration when he told us that he was already a member. They are super nice and I hope they start coming to the branch soon! They also have a teenage daughter and a teenage son so they will help our youth group grow! :) 

We also had a super good breakfast with Hermana S :) I love that woman so much! 

And we were able to finally see Hermano L which was such a blessing! We were at Fred Meyer getting something to eat and Hermano L was there too! He said that he saw my long curly hair and thought it was me and then he saw Hermana Lewis walk around the corner and then knew for sure that it was us! It was such a blessing because we had plans to see him that night but we weren't exactly sure how we were going to be able to contact him. We really needed to visit him and God made it happen. :) At the end of our visit he was reminding me that I didn't have much time left on my mission so he told Hermana Lewis to put butter on my feet while I was sleeping that way I would be slipping everywhere and wouldn't be able to leave. Hahaha! He's funny! 

Something I was really grateful for this past week was all of the members here in Auburn. They do so much to support us. :)  I was also grateful for the opportunity that I had to translate part of sacrament meeting. It's been a while since I've done that. I am also grateful for Hermana Lewis! She is such a great companion and I'm excited to see how the rest of her mission will go! 

Les amo mucho y que Dios les bendigas! 

Hermana Soliz

On exchanges with Hermana Mikelson

Week 74.....

Just so you know if you haven't made goals for this year you still have time! :) I'm in the process of setting some goals of my own and I encourage you all to do the same! I know that goals really help us push ourselves and help us grow! Some goals that I have are to read the Book of Mormon every day, make family home evening a priority and to keep learning Spanish. I have so many things that I want to do and a lot of them have to do with building my personal testimony of Jesus Christ and His teachings. So yeah, think about where you want to be a year from now and then make plans to make it happen! :)

Okay so I am so excited to tell you all about this wonderful family that Hermana Lewis and I started teaching! When we went by there home to meet them, G told us that we were the third set of missionaries to stop by. Then when we went back for our appointment he told us that the next day the Spanish Elders stopped by too. I told him that we were all coming because our message is just that important and everyone needs to be invited to be baptized by the proper authority! They are so cute! They are from Bolivia and the parents have been here for 15 years. I think A has been here for a little longer for school. He said that when he was in college he had quite a few Mormon friends and that he was almost baptized. So he knows quite a bit about the church although all the details are fuzzy. They also have a couple family friends that are LDS. They are Catholic but they listen to anyone who talks about God. It was so funny because G was saying that learning from us is really a learning experience for him because he knows nothing about the Mormons and he was pleasantly surprised when he found out that we could eat pizza! Haha :) They are so sincere and they all have so many questions! It's good though! Really good! :) They are all so busy though so it looks like we'll only be able to visit them once a week. 

Also D came to church for the second time in a long time! I love her so much and have missed her! I know she's going to be baptized one day! I'll be seeing here again this Saturday at S's baptism. S is D's niece and when S's family was still in the Spanish branch I got to teach her. :) So I am so excited that she is finally getting baptized!!! :) 

Yesterday was fast Sunday and since our branch is now the last ones to use the building we are going to have dinner together every fast Sunday after church, We get out of church at 4:45 so right in time for dinner! I love being together with the branch! The H family and D were also there. 

Also a member named M was there! :) She was surprised to see that I was still in Auburn. She recently moved to Seattle and I haven't seen her in forever so it was really nice to be able to talk with her and to meet her newborn baby girl! :)

Hermana Lewis and I love Auburn so much and we are going to keep working to find and baptize! Love you all!!! 

Hermana Soliz

One of my favorite Places!

Go to church!

What every missionary wants to do at the end of a long day...

See ya in 4 weeks!!

 

Week 73! 35 days left, but I'm not counting....

Are you all excited for the New Year??! I know I am! :) This new year is going to be full of good and exciting experiences! I just know it!  

I started this 6-week training called My Plan and it's really made me think of the goals that I want to have when I go home. The whole purpose of My Plan is to help missionaries keep progressing in the gospel after they go home so it's been interesting to think about.

I hope you all had a very happy Christmas full of love! We had our Christmas activity on the 23rd and it was so much fun and very spiritual! First we went with our own Zones to go caroling at different assisted living places. We didn't exactly know at first that it was supposed to be by zone though so Hermana Yost and Hermana Huhem ended up joing us too. :) 

It was really nice to sing a few songs for the people and the Marshallese missionaries even sang silent night with a ukulele in their language and it was really pretty. 

There was one woman there that was really funny! Her name is C and she was very cute and spunky! She was dancing to the songs and she even walked right up to us and sang with us. After every song she was like, "Okay, you're done." Haha! She was also making the moves on a few of the elders. Haha! While singing she kept talking to one of the zone leaders and then while some sisters where singing in a quartet she gestured at one of the sisters and asked, "What do you think of her?" Haha! All of us started laughing! It was hilarious! Then when we were leaving C was trying to hold another Elders' hand. After that she saw me and came up to me and asked me if I wanted her to get me a man. I responded, "No, that's okay, I'm fine." haha! She definitley made all of us missionaries laugh! All of the people were so sweet and thanked us for coming to sing to them.

After caroling we all met at the Kent Stake Center for the rest of the activity. Our group was one of the first to make it back and when we got there Sister E was at a table ready to serve ice cream sundaes with brownies! :) Let's just say Hermana L and I didn't waste any time getting our sundaes. We were the first to get them and as we sat down and ate them we realized that no one else was eating yet. They were all talking or checking for packages. Hermana L and I were so confused. We were like "There is a free ice cream bar what are you people doing?!" After eating, Hermana L made the comment that we were probably embarrassingly enthusiastic for the brownies. Haha!

I also got to meet the two new Hermanas. They are sweet! I also got to see a lot of other missionaries that I know like Sister B, Sister L, and Sister C so that was nice! I also got to see Elder B. He's the one who thinks we could be cousins. I told him that this is my last transfer so I could just try to find out when I'm home. 

After the dessert we all made our way to the chapel where we got to listen to a few special musical numbers that really brought the Spirit. We also watched a video with some pictures of baptisms that the mission has had this past year. It was so beautiful! Seeing one of your brothers or sisters dressed in white for their baptism really is one of the most beautiful things in the world! I love it! I know that I only have a few more weeks left to serve as a full-time missionary but even after the mission I am going to continue to help my brothers and sisters make the covenant of baptism! :) And in these last few weeks Hermana L are going work so hard to help the Hernandez family be baptized and to find prepared people! 

On Christmas Eve we were able to visit a member who hasn't gone to church in a while. I had never met him before but he and his family were so nice! He kept offering us food and even gave us some tamales to take home.  We got to know him a little bit and then we read some verses from Luke 2 and shared the Christmas video with them. We talked about the Savior and also a little bit about the plan of salvation because he mentioned that he was sad because around this time 2 years ago his mom passed away. I was able to share my testimony with him that I knew that he would see his mom again and that there was more to come after this life. You could feel the Spirit fill the room! It was so great! I hope that we get to continue working with this family in order to help him return to church and to help his wife be baptized. Sometimes we get so busy with other things that we need to do that we don't always recognize the Spirit in our lives. Or sometimes we don't appreciate it. I know though, that if we try a little harder to pay attention we will recognize the promptings of the Spirit and  see God's hand in our lives guiding our every decision. We will also strengthen our relationship with our Heavenly Father as we give thanks for the times when we do feel the Spirit. 

On that same night we were allowed 2 hours for dinner at whatever time we wanted but Hermana Lewis and I didn't have anywhere to go. So we had a plan to go to Safeway to buy a cake and to spend our dinner time in our own apartment from 7-9.

We didn't really think it through before but we found out that it is extremely hard to find a store open on Christmas Eve! We tried a few places and found that they were all closed so finally we went to Walmart. When we got there we only had 20 minutes before the store was going to close so we grabbed our goodies and headed for the checkout lines which were of course over flowing. Then we got a call from Hermana Z and she asked us when we were going to go to Hermano L house for dinner and to get our presents. Hermana L and I were so surprised! We had no idea that they were planning for us to go over. So then we headed over there and Hermano L, Hermana P, Hermana Z, Hermano B, and the Elders were all there. They were waiting on the Hernandez family (the same family that Hermana L and I are teaching!) to get there with the turkey. Hermana Z was so nice! She served us some pasta because she knew we hadn't eaten yet. The Hernandez family was running a little late so basically when they got there we had to leave but it was really nice to be able to spend a few minutes with the members on Christmas Eve. Our presents were scarfs from Hermano L and they are super cute! :)     

The next day on Christmas Hermana L surprised me with a gift! We had been at the drugstore one day and we were buying chocolate (by the way I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to chocolate) when I saw this cute elephant figurine. Well I don't know how Hermana L did it so sneakily but she ended up getting it for me. It was so sweet of her! :) I also got from my family a really pretty Texas necklace and a t-shirt with the mission name on it! So I had a great Christmas! Thanks mom and dad! :)

Christmas morning we had a brunch at the S's home. The B's, the C's, the L's, and Hermana Z were all there. Hermana S is like Wonder Woman. I literally don't know how she pulls off the projects that she does. Thanksgiving dinner was awesome and then for this Christmas brunch there was so much food! There was biscuits and gravy, regular and gluten free pancakes, crepes, waffles, eggs, sausage, bacon, peppers and onions, toppings for everything and fruit. It was all so delicious and then we got to do the best part which was Skype with our families! It was so great to be able to see and talk with my family! I miss and love them so much!  It was the best! It was also kind of funny just because I'll be seeing you all in person real soon! 

On Christmas night Hermana L and I decided to go to the assisted living home to visit some of the people there. It made me so happy to be able to visit some of them and brighten their day! It was also a little sad because  a few of them were saying that they just wanted to die. A man named P just kept asking me if I could take him somewhere else and let him loose. I helped him get out into the hallway where there was light but we didn't get very far so then we took him back to his bed, tucked him in, and sang a Christmas song for him. Another man was very nice and his name was K. We talked to him about his dog Penny and how he likes cops and robbers. There was another lady that was so sweet! She talked to us as if we were her own grandchildren and told us how much she loved us. She was so thankful for our visit and when we left she told us to remember to be careful and to look both ways when crossing the street, :) The last man we visited was named Peter and he was also very appreciative of our visit. He was recovering from a stroke and hoping to return to his home soon. Even though it was a small thing it made me so happy that we could do a kind act of service for these people! :) 

Another cool experience we had happened just last night! So when I first got to Auburn I remember visiting a young man named J and his family. After that one lesson we never went back but I had thought of him from time to time. I have tried finding him since then but I couldn't find anything in the area book for him. I've even gone back to those apartments and knocked doors that I thought would be his apartment but never found him. That was a long time ago. So then he came to my mind again recently so we decided that we would go to those apartments and knock doors again. Well when the time came to go to those apartments I couldn't remember exactly where they were so we decided to go visit someone that the Elders referred to us instead. The referral lived on the second floor so after getting to the top I looked across the street and it was the apartments where I knew Jose lived! And guess what it gets even cooler! I couldn't remember his apartment number but I knew that in one of the buildings it was the apartment on the top right. So after trying the referral we walked exactly across the street to try the top right apartment of that first building. And guessed what happened? Jose answered!! It was such a miracle! God totally led us there! J told us that missionaries had come in the past and that they were Catholic but that he still listened to anyone who talked about religion. He couldn't have a lesson then but set up an appointment with us for later. I don't know what is going to happen with J but I know that God helped us find him that night and that there is a reason for it! If nothing else it helped me learn that God is always aware of us and our righteous desires. He will always help us get to where we need to go as long as we trust in Him! :) 

Love you all! 

Hermana Soliz

Feliz Navidad a Todos!

I can't believe that Christmas is already going to be this Friday! I hope you all have a great time with family and friends and that you eat lots of yummy food! Just not too much! And that you are all safe while traveling to where you are going!

Hermana Lewis and I will be having Christmas breakfast with the Sandoval family at 10 am Christmas morning and we will be Skyping soon after that. I'm so excited to see and talk to you guys! It'll be great! :) 

We had a lesson with the Hernandez family and we set up lessons with them for every Saturday until January 30th! January 30th is their perspective baptismal date. They really don't want to commit to a date right now but they are willing to work towards January 30th! They know that that is the plan we have for them and they know that they can be ready at that time! It's such a blessing that we were able to set up lessons for each Saturday because that is the only day that we can teach the whole family together! 

Hermano Arvayo also went to teach that lesson with us so that was super cool! 

Elder Oliva got transferred but Elder Gonzalez stayed. It's funny because we were in the MTC together and now we're serving in the same branch so I started and and will be finishing my mission with him. 

We made Christmas cards for some of the people we are teaching and also for some of the members. They came out cute I think. :) 

We have our Christmas devotional this Wednesday with half of the mission. I'm excited for it! 

I'm very excited for some new investigators that we will be teaching very soon! :) 

I love the teachings of the gospel so much! It is all really simple! I don't know or understand everything but I want to strive to put my trust in God. Here is a quote I want to share, 

“Only faith that He suffered for our sakes will give us the strength to endure to the end.”—Elder Robert D. Hales, “Finding Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ”

I love you all so much! Remember to count your blessings this Christmas and look for ways to build your faith in Christ! 

All my love, 

Hermana Soliz

Another transfer...and last one, gone!......

I have big news!!!!

I'm staying and finishing out my mission here in Auburn! :) This is my 8th transfer here! At the end of my mission I will have served here for about 11 months! :) I'm so glad that I get to stay here! It would've been so sad to leave all of these people that I love right before Christmas! 

Hermana Lewis is also staying here so I get to be her companion for the rest of my mission! 

The Hernandez family that we are teaching are so sweet!! They signed up on our dinner calendar to feed us and the elders so this past week they fed us all dinner! It was so nice of them to do and they aren't even members! Also, this Sunday not only did Rojelio and Lourdes come to church like they've been doing for quite a few weeks but so did Cecilia! Cecilia hadn't liked going to the youth classes because they were in English so she came and just went to the adult classes in Spanish with us and her parents! :) It was such a blessing! 

We had exchanges again so I got to visit my lovely home of Enumclaw, WA! :) It made me so happy!! :) Right when I got there Hermana Singer told me that she wanted to stop by Juan and Rosa's house to follow up with them on their missionary work. I was so excited!!!! Juan opened the door and at first he was just looking at Hermana Singer but then he looked at me and he was so surprised to see me. Haha! He went and got Rosa and then she came out and we hugged like five times! I love that family so much!!! Rosa asked my when I was finishing my mission and then I told her that I was planning on visiting in March. That's when she told me that they might get  sealed in March!!! :) I was so happy!!!!!! I hope I can be there at the temple with them on that special day! 

Then after that Grandpa Blad stopped by our apartment to see me and give me a special gift! It was a Christmas card, some candy canes, a Seattle temple key chain, and some of his smoked salmon that he knows I love! :) It was so sweet! 

I also heard that the Ayala family that was baptized in Renton might be moving to Auburn soon. I hope that it's true because I would love to see them! They will hit their year mark on the 28th of February so they will be getting sealed soon as well! :) I need to write them ans see how they are doing! 

On Saturday Hermana Perez's daughter, Addie, was baptized. We invited Hermano Arvayo to go and he went so that was awesome! It was such a nice baptism and even though I don't remember very much from my baptism it reminded me of my own. After the baptism we all went over to Hermano Lara's house to eat pasole. That was good because all of the members got to spend time together and chat. 

Yesterday we had a miracle as we used the area book. We chose a potential from a few years  back to try to visit and she didn't live there anymore but we knocked the doors of her neighbors and found two Hispanics! It was such a blessing! We have a set appointment with one and the other family said just to stop by when we were in the area. 

We also had a new family move into the branch! They are the Chavez and they are so cute! They have two cute little girls and Hermana Lewis and I are planning on visiting them soon so we can get to know them better! 

Ponderizing scripture for this week, 3 Nephi 27:20 - " Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day."

I know that as we go to church each Sunday and truly repent and partake of the bread and water we can be made clean and be spotless like the scripture says. So I invite you all to go to church this Sunday and to feel of the spirit there. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is on the earth and that as we make an effort to truly live the gospel will receive the greatest gift God has to offer, which is eternal life.

Saludos con amor

Hermana Soliz