My first birthday out on the mission!

Hey mom! So I just opened my birthday package and it is awesome!  I loved the cardigans and the card! The birthday package was perfect! Can you believe I'm 21?? Gosh, I'm getting old ;)

I love and miss you so much!

Ok, so we just left the apartment and realized that our house key and the car keys are locked inside...woops! 

Now we can't use the car to get around! 

Anyways, we called our manager and he didn't answer so we decided to just walk around town trying to find people to teach. We did some tracting in some apartments nearby and found Jessica who speaks English. Jessica is 20 and she has a 7 month old baby girl named Avery. She also has a boyfriend named Dakota but he was at work. 

Anyways, she was really nice and let us into her home to share our message. She was also really honest with us about her feelings and her past experiences with church. Then at the end of the lesson she asked us both a really good question. She asked us how the gospel has changed us and how it felt to be so devoted to the gospel. It was a really good question that I wasn't expecting but it showed that she had a genuine interest in our message.

So then Hermana Mitchell and I bore our testimonies and it was so great! The spirit was definitely there! Jessica also said that she would pray to know if our message was true and you could tell she really meant it. She also said she would be willing to hear more from the missionaries! 

The only sad thing is that since she only speaks English we have to pass her on to the English Sisters. 

We also found another Hispanic woman named Ruby that said we could teach her at another time. 

We walked all the way downtown so we were able to talk to a lot of people. It was pretty cool because we would have never talked to any of those people or found Jessica if we hadn't locked ourselves out of our apartment without the car keys. 

Luckily we were able to get into our apartment around 5:30pm or so which was great because we had an appointment with Adan at 6:00pm. The lesson went really well.

Also we had a lesson with Juan, Rosa and their son Bryan tonight. 

The lesson was more for Bryan but it was still really good! One of the things we talked about was the word of wisdom which we have taught his parents before. Juan and Rosa have been living the word of wisdom and stopped drinking coffee but they weren't aware that there was still some in the house that Bryan had been drinking. Bryan said he only drinks coffee on Saturday mornings. I guess it's just become part of a routine or habit for him. 

Anyways, we asked him if he would like to receive a priesthood blessing to help him not have the desire to drink coffee and he said yes. He really wants to follow the word of wisdom so he can be baptized but he was nervous about being tempted and drinking coffee. He was especially nervous because the next day was a Saturday. 

So Brother Sugihara and Brother Corbit came over and gave Bryan a blessing. Rosa also found the last of the coffee and threw it away so now there's no temptation. 

It was really neat that Bryan knew that Heavenly Father would help him keep this commandment and that he wasn't afraid to ask for help.

Then after the lesson guess what?!

Juan, Rosa, and Bryan had bought me a cake for my birthday! How sweet is that!

So then they sang me happy birthday, I blew out the candles, and we all had cake. It was great!

Also Hermana Mitchell made me breakfast for my birthday and had all of these birthday notes around the apartment for me to find. She also wrote me a very sweet note and gave me a card with her favorite quote on it.

It says, 

"Tabernacles and temples are built with more than stone and mortar, wood and glass...They are built with service and sacrifice. They are built with trials and testimonies. If any...within the sound of my voice feel unprepared, even incapable of responding to a call to serve, to sacrifice, to bless the lives of others, remember the truth: 'Whom God calls, God qualifies.' He who notes the sparrow's fall will not abandon the servant's need." - President Thomas S. Monson, Ensign, May 1987 

Isn't that such a GOOD quote! I love it! And I know I have heard this and many quotes like it before but things are tough sometimes so it's a great reminder that with God we can do amazing and sometimes hard things.  

So even though we were locked out of our apartment for most of the day it was still an amazing day and a great birthday full of miracles and opportunities for me to grow!

I've only been on my mission for two months and I am already learning so much about myself and how I can improve. I'm learning more about my strengths and weakness. I'm learning a lot more about faith! 

I'm learning that I do, indeed, have some pride that I need to just get rid of. I'm learning that I need to have more confidence, especially when I try to speak the language. 

I just have so much to learn and do out here! I hope that through helping others learn about the gospel that I too can grow closer to my Heavenly Father and return home a different and a better disciple of Christ. 

The message we share as missionaries is extremely important and life changing. As missionaries we really should invite every person we see to listen to our message. Everyone needs the knowledge of the gospel in their lives. 

Some people we talk to are not interested at all. Some people don't like organized religion. Some people don't believe in God. Some people say they believe in God and that they're "good" so we should go try to help other people doing worse than they are. Some people don't even say anything, they just look at you like you have some sort of disease. 

However, some people do listen. Some people have been looking for absolute truth and peace in their lives. With some people you can just tell that God has been preparing them to hear the gospel and then he leads us to them. 

How awesome and amazing is that?!

Missionary work is just the best thing ever!

Sending you all my love!

Hermana Soliz 

Finally got out group pic from when we arrived on Sept 18th!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! THANKS JUAN, ROSA, AND BRYAN!

Sending my love from Enumclaw!

I love missionary work! It's hard but I love it!

So I realized I haven't told you much about my companion besides the fact that she is amazing and wonderful! Haha! Anyways Hermana Mitchell and I are one month apart. She turned 21 the week I arrived in the field. She loves sports and she is obsessed with cereal. Seriously, she loves cereal and is always trying different kinds. She is from Oregon but her family moved to St. George, UT. She also went to BYU for a year before coming on a mission. She will be finishing her mission and going home on December 8th, so she's almost done. She's an awesome trainer!

This past week flew by! Some of the days were long but now that it's another Monday I feel like it went by so fast!

Every other Monday the Spanish Group has Family Home Evening all together at the church. We had one this past Monday and it was awesome! Five of our investigators ended up going which made me and Hermana Mitchell very happy!! The investigators that went were Juan and Rosa and their son Bryan who is 14 years old. Also David and Yesmin went.

We ended up watching the video they showed at the General Relief Society Broadcast about temples. They also talked about an upcoming temple trip for the Spanish Group to go to. Rosa really liked it and said she wants to go to the temple!!! That's so great! We need her to get baptized first but that is awesome that she has the desire!

After that we all played volleyball which was fun! Sister Ramos also made chicken enchiladas and dessert for everyone to eat. She loves cooking, especially for the members!

Also this pasty Tuesday we had a special training with President Eaton where we discussed Effective Scripture Study Skills. We also had the opportunity to watch the movie coming out called Meet the Mormons. It was really great and guess what?! It comes out October 10th!! That's my birthday in case you forgot! LOL! So for my birthday present you should all go watch the movie! It really is great and it would be good for all of you to see!

Also I saw Elder Brown there! I walked in and out of the corner of my eye I saw an Elder waving and I looked and it was him. I was surprised because I wasn't expecting to see him but it was good to see a familiar face when I'm so far from home. He told me he has been out for 10 months and is doing good.

And of course, General Conference! Wasn't that just amazing!! I loved every second of it! And it went by way too fast! They should make them longer ;) I loved all of the talks and Eduardo Gavarrett actually spoke to us in the Mexico MTC so it was cool to hear from him again. I'm trying to think of a couple of my favorite talks but they were all just so good!

Also, I received my birthday package mom! Thanks so much! I haven't opened it yet because I'm practicing my patience and waiting until my actual birthday. Can you believe I'm turning 21? Gosh...I'm getting old. Haha!

Te amo much! Hasta luego!

Hermana Soliz

Week 2 in Enumclaw

Hello everyone!!!

So I am loving my time here in Enumclaw! There is a good chance I'll be here for at least 3 transfers but I am hoping for more!

My Spanish is very simple and I can't say much but out investigators are nice about it. We were teaching a lesson to a part-member family the other day and the father was really nice to me. He's an inactive member and he told me that their home was my home and I could feel comfortable to practice my Spanish there.

Also one of the Sisters in the English 3rd Ward made me a necklace and matching earrings. It was really nice of her to do!

There was some rough spots this past week but a lot of miracles also happened. My favorite miracle of the week was that SEVEN of our investigators went to church this past Sunday. Not one or a couple but SEVEN!!! Hermana Mitchell and I were just so ecstatic! I'm a new missionary but according to Hermana Mitchell that never happens!

Everyone in the Spanish Group was so happy that we all took a picture together! Oh, and Mom, I keep calling it the Spanish Group because we are technically not a Branch yet. So yeah, they call it a group so that's what I call it.

This past week I also went on my first exchange to Renton. I had the opportunity to teach with Hermana Webb and also Hermana Clark, who is one of the Sister Training Leaders.

I keep learning more about the gospel everyday and I am loving every second of it!

We had some great lessons about the tree of life this past week and I learned some new things I hadn't thought of before!

Also all of the members in the group are so strong!! They are always  so willing to help out and the do a lot to try to help the investigators.

One of the families in the group is the Garcia family. Their son Javier just came home from his mission. He came home a couple months early because he has cancer and he needed to come home for treatment. He gave a talk last Sunday and this past Sunday he bore his testimony. His faith is literally unwavering! It is admirable how much faith he has. I don't know very many people who would refer to cancer as "this little sickness," but that is exactly what he called it. He is so humble and trusts in God so much. He knows everything is going to work out and it's great to see someone be so strong during such a difficult time. So I know they say not to ask people back home to pray but if you could include Javier and his family in your prayers that would be awesome!

Also I read something this past week that I really liked. I don't remember what it was called or who said it but the main thing it said was, "You don't know what you have."

 It was a convert saying that she didn't really think members, who have grown up in the gospel, really knew what they had. In other words. many of us take it for granted.
Please try to think of a way that you can strengthen your testimony and then do whatever that is. Whether it be to pray or to read the scriptures more or to go to church. Do something and really ponder on and use the atonement in your lives.

I love you all and always pray for you! I hope you're being blessed!

Love, Hermana Soliz

On exchanges with Hermana Clark

Loving it in Enumclaw!

Finally in the WA!!

My mission President and Sister Eaton!

Hey guys!!!

Sorry but this email might be on the short side. There is just so much to do. 

Anyways my companion and trainer is Hermana Mitchell and she is great! She is also really good at Spanish so that should be helpful for me. She has only two transfers left until she goes back home and she will most likely be my trainer for both of those transfers which is great! 

We are serving in a town called Enumclaw and it's really pretty here. The town also seems pretty cute from what I've seen. There are three English wards in Enumclaw and and one Spanish Branch. So we're serving in the Spanish Branch but we are the only Spanish missionaries for the whole Zone so we cover all of Maple Valley. 

On Sunday they had me bear my testimony and I did it in Spanish but then I added some stuff at the end in English. The second counselor for the Spanish Group is Brother Blad and he doesn't know Spanish so we're learning together! He's a cute old man and everybody calls him Grandpa. He's really nice and he gave me my "Mission Wings" which is this little gold pin of the Seattle Temple.

The Spanish Branch is really small. On Sunday I counted and in total there was 29 people there. There is so much work to be done though and the group has a lot of potential so I'm excited!!

We have dinner with members on Sundays and Mondays so last night was my first dinner at a members home. It was at the Ramos's house and Brother Ramos is the President of the Spanish Branch. It was so much food and so good! It's a good thing members just feed us twice a week though because I don't want to get fat! Sister Ramos also gave us homemade bread when we left so it's true that people always give the missionaries food. 

Also I wore the navy striped skirt yesterday! I was surprised to see that not only did it fit but it was a little lose. I thought that maybe you had let it out a little. Haha! But since you didn't I guess I did lose some weight. Also I loved the new outfit you and grandma sent me! I already wore it and it's really cute! Thank you! 

The Spanish is still really hard for me but I'm trying. A lot of our investigators keep asking me why I'm Mexican and don't know Spanish. LOL.

I already love the area here and I hope I pick up the Spanish quickly because the members and investigators speak really fast!

I love you and my next email will be longer!

Make sure you read the Book of Mormon every single day!!

It's amazing and we need to be reading it and applying it's teachings!

Love, 

Hermana Soliz :)

My "Greenie" package that was waiting when I arrived.

My apartment

Quiet little town

Our zone covers the most area.

I'M HEADED OUT....

 I leave tonight!!!! Well at 2AM!! Crazy! Last night when I said goodbye to Hermana Bown, Hermana MacLellan, and Hermana Daines I didn't get much sleep. I probably only got three hours of sleep and surprisingly I'm not passed out.

And tonight I'm not going to get any sleep because 1) I leave at 2AM and 2) It's Mexican Night for us to celebrate Mexico's Independance Day and Mexico City will be partying all night!

So five people from my district will be on my same flight and I'll be sitting by Elder Dahl so it'll be tons of fun!

This past Friday everyone who was leaving this week had a day full of back to back meetings and they showed us how we could approach someone in the airport with a pass along card. So I have a few of those...we'll see what happens. We all fly to Dallas and then from there we split off in different directions.

I can't believe it's already time to go. 

This past Sunday we were lucky and had Presidente Pratt and Hermana Pratt in our sacrament meeting. He said some really nice things just for us missionaries that were leaving. 

Elder Dahl also sang a musical number where he sang a combination of 3 different hymns. It was beautiful and I started to tear up.

When I said goodbye to Hermana Bown and my roommates it was sad and I teared up a little bit. I have a feeling that when I say goodbye to all of the guys I'm gonna ball.

I'm a little anxious about the airport but I'm all packed and I think I have enough pesos. Cross your fingers!

Also this week we had a devotional given by Hermano Shawn Cates. He is the one that takes care of all the physical stuff within the CCM. His devotional was amazing! I learned soooo much! Everything he was saying was just great!

One of the many great things he shared was a poem that goes like this:

"Come to the edge."

"No we'll fall."

''Come to the edge.''

''No we'll fall.''

''Come to the edge.''

So we came to the edge and He pushed us,

And we flew.

Many times we just need to have faith and follow the promptings of the Spirit. Many of us have faith and have felt the Spirit before but we do not have strong enough faith to just act. FAITH TAKES ACTION. 

Many of us do not realize our full potential. If only we could have faith in what we could accomplish with God on our side. 

We can't be like Lot's wife who did not have faith and longed for the past. We need to point ourselves toward the future. Having faith leads to amazing things. We just need to step out of the way and let God lead. 

Also one thing I liked that was said in Relief Society was, ''When you are discouraged you are listening to the Devil.'' 

No bad thing comes from God and no good thing comes from Satan. 

When you are discouraged pray for more faith, strength, and peace in your life. But that is not all. You have to act! You cannot just pray for more faith and expect it to magically appear. Pray for faith and then study the scriptures, go to church, do everything you can to work towards that and then that is when you receive blessings and answers to your prayers. 

I am so grateful for this gospel it's surreal. It is my anchor in my life and it means everything to me. I know that the mission will be difficult at times and that maybe sometimes I'll wonder what in the world I am doing. But I know this church is true and I know that this is exactly where Heavenly Father wants me to be at this point of my life. 

I want to share the happiness this gospel gives me with others and help them to receive the blessings of the gospel as well. 

I know that serving a mission will bring me and others many blessings. I know that I am changing on my mission. Even within the short time I've been here in the CCM I have seen changes in me. I know that my mission is a part of my lifelong conversion process.

I want everyone to have the  knowledge that I have and I want to keep growing and learning more! 

I love the temple! As I share the gospel I want to help as many people as possible to get to the temple because that is where we make eternal covenants. That is where we can be sealed as families for eternity. The temples give us an eternal perspective that everyone should be able to see. 

Wow, I can go on and on...but I won't.

I should be able to call you from the Dallas airport but if not I'll call or email you when I'm in Washington. 

I love you all!

Hermana Soliz

P.S.Sorry if my thoughts are a little frazzled lol

My District with our Branch Presidency

Out farewell District picture

Our last casual District Picture

My awesome instructors Hermano Monroy and Hermana Arno

The night my companion and roommates left me.

It's my turn!....Goodbye CCM...

Last week in the CCM!

First of all, OH MY GOODNESS!!! Our little branch is a ward now! Woohooo!!! I totally knew it would happen soon! That's awesome! I'm very happy to hear that!

Tell Brooklynn I said good luck at school and I hope she really enjoys the experience! I'm glad to hear that you are all doing good and I love you!

Today was my last P-Day here in the CCM and we spent the morning at the Mexico City Visiting Center at the temple. The temple is being remodeled so we couldn't do a session but the Visiting Center was still amazing and great! I also got some cases from the store for my Spanish scriptures and a pretty Mexican shirt. Lol

I feel like there is so much I could tell you all! Goodness...where to start?

Well yesterday Hermana Bown and I taught our investigator Jacobo, which is really Elder Dahl. Anyways, in this lesson I really felt like I was teaching Jacobo instead of Elder Dahl which was really cool. Also Hermana Bown and I didn't really have a set lesson for this appointment with Jacobo so we were just going to ask him if he had any questions about The Restoration pamphlet we had him read and see where that led. Well boy was I in for a surprise! 

So we start teaching and everything is going great! And I am speaking the most Spanish (Spanglish) that I ever have in a lesson. We answered his questions and all of a sudden I was prompted to talk about baptism and invite him to be baptized. I was a little hesitant for like a split second if I should really lead the conversation to that or not since it wasn't part of the plan but then I just went for it. Then as I was teaching him about baptism I just started choking up and I had to pause before continuing. Tears were literally streaming down my face! I don't really know how to describe it but it was an amazing feeling! The spirit just hit me so hard! I had all of these feelings of love for my future investigators and I knew that inviting others to be baptized was part of the reason I'm on a mission. Which I knew before of course, but it just hit me in a different way this time. I also had a feeling of reassurance that I can, indeed, do this. Even if my Spanish is really, really bad...I can still do this. So just remember, as long as you have the spirit with you, you can do amazing things! 

Also my companion and I went to meet the new district this past week and they are awesome! We especially wanted to meet the Hermanas since we're the Sister Training Leaders and guess what? One of the Hermanas was Hermana Capps. Which is Kiara's boyfriend, Zach's, sister. Ya. Such a small world. 

We also had some amazing devotionals on Sunday that were just really spiritual! One of the videos we watched was called Only a Stone Cutter and I just love that video! His faith and perseverance is admirable and inspiring! 

Also my roommate was playing this song the other day and it's called Emma from the album Joseph: A Nashville Tribute to the Prophet. Basically it's my new favorite song. It's really beautiful! 

This past Sunday was also Fast Sunday and it was really cool to know that everyone in the CCM was fasting. I also counted how many times "Yo sé" was said in testimony meeting and it was 106 times. 

A district we all really loved left from our Zone this past week so we all miss them. It's sad to think I only have six days left with my zone and especially with my district. I just love them all so much and they are going to be awesome missionaries!

I love you all and keep praying and striving to be more like Christ! Next time you hear from me I'll be in Washington!

Love, 

Hermana Soliz

On the bus, going to the temple!

I'm so excited, at the temple's visitors center

I love the Christus!

Our transportation

The temple is so beautiful!

Our Zone

Hermana Bown and me!

My District - will miss them very much.

Hello Everybody!!

So this past week I had a tiny, little breakdown. Ya I guess you could call it that. Haha! I was just getting really frustrated with myself because I feel like I learn new things about the language, and then the next day I forget. My district was really helpful though and reassured me that I'm doing great and need to just have more confidence in my ability. It really is like I have eight more brothers and a sister here! My teacher was also really helpful and I love her!

My district is amazing and we are continually growing closer together! There is one particular district in our zone that is a little rambunctious and everyone in my district is grateful that we're all not like that. It's great to have people here that you can talk to about anything whether it's silly or spiritual. 

This week a district from our zone left and they gave us a bottle with notes they wrote to us inside of it. Apparently it's something that the old district 5D started (before us). The note said that at the end of our stay here we pass the bottle on to our favorite district and it will just continue to be passed throughout our zone. 

This past Sunday Hermana Pratt gave another beautiful Relief Society lesson on the process of conversion. Remember, "faith without works is dead." 

For one of our devotionals we watched a talk by Elder Richard G. Scott that I've heard before. I loved it and what happened at the end of his talk was something I really needed to hear. So Elder Scott had already finished his talk and sat down but after the closing song and right before the closing prayer was said he got back up and said this,

"Remember, the Lord has called you to succeed, not to fail. Sometimes it may seem terribly hard, but He wants you to grow. He will not abandon you. He inspired your call. He knows who you are. He knows what you need. He knows what He wants you to become, and this mission experience is an opportunity He has given you to discover things about yourself you never knew; capacities you never knew you had, strength beyond what you felt you had, and the capacity to love and serve which will sustain you throughout the rest of your life. Remember, you have been called and He will fit the task to your capabilities. I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

I really love this quote and even though it is aimed towards missionaries you can apply it to everyone in their own lives. Elder Scott had already talked about this in his talk but he felt the need to say it again. It was awesome to see an apostle receive revelation and follow the promptings of the spirit right in front of me. 

In class with President Pratt we also watched a video on the priesthood and I learned some very interesting things! I loved though that in the video Elder L. Tom Perry said that he did not feel worthy of his calling as an apostle. I was shocked! This is an apostle who helps lead and guide the church and he doesn't feel worthy. That was very humbling to me. 

Another video we watched was called The Story of John Tanner. I encourage you all to watch it! John Tanner's amount of faith was incredible and he truly endured to the end! John Taylor couldn't walk because he had some kind of infection in his leg and he wanted to be baptized but knew it would be impossible to do so with his leg. So the very faithful missionaries who were worthy of their priesthood power blessed John that he would be able to walk. It was amazing and John had the faith to be healed! Then that same exact night he insisted on being baptized and walked...I think 3 miles, on a leg he hadn't been able to walk on for years to a lake to be baptized! I was amazed!

The last video we watched was about Christ, His crucifixion, and the atonement. Many thoughts and feelings came to my mind as I watched but one of them was, "How could Judas betray Christ?" How could one of Christ's apostles, who witnessed the miracles Christ performed and who witnessed the blessings Christ gave others do this?! Judas was an apostle! He must have had a testimony! 

That just made me think that even the best can fall. We need to seriously start thinking with an eternal perspective and get our act together. We need to constantly take advantage of the precious gift of the atonement because we all make mistakes. We need to continually strive to cultivate Christ-like attributes and live as He did. We need to be examples to others and share our testimonies. 

I love you all very much! I especially missed Dad this week! 

Love, 

Hermana Soliz :)

Hola mi familia y amigos!

My face when I'm told no English the whole day

Studious and all...

Feeling good this morning

Sunday Selfie

Miss and love you all!

Made a key for my scriptures!! The colors are for marking my scriptures.

The tabs are color coded to chapters of Preach my Gospel.

I write in these all the time!  Love them!

Just Spanish

My amazing volleyball team!

I'm taking the picture.

Our guys (I mean Elders) hang their coats on this rack in our classroom and it's so cute to see them all put their jackets on when we leave.

Mexico has been good to me...14 more days.

District 5 D!! Love them!