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!!