Week 56....

Jaime Gomez was baptized!!! :) After two years of learning and coming to church it hit him that he knew this church is true and that baptism by the proper authority is essential! It was such a happy day for everyone, especially Jaime! 

Hermana Baird and I shared a little message about the restoration at the baptism and I recited the experience that Joseph Smith had after he prayed. I love being able to do that! Each time I do, the spirit reconfirms to me that it's true! I love this gospel and I know that the fullness of Christ's teachings were brought back to the earth. I know that the priesthood authority to act in God's name was restored. I know that this knowledge blesses our lives! Because of the restoration we can fulfill God's commandments and receive eternal blessings. Because of the restoration Jaime was able to be baptized by someone holding the priesthood!  :)

I am so grateful for the priesthood! Some of the times when I have felt the closest to God have been when I have received blessings from someone who is worthy and holds the priesthood. 

Also Hermano Rosalio Lopez came to church! :) It was so good to see him! Also last week both Reyes families came to church! :)

I love the people here so much!!! Being able to serve them makes me so happy! :) Serving a mission has really helped me get closer to my brothers and sisters! 

On a side note, last night we had dinner with the Rivera family and Hermano Rivera was teasing me that I didn't have very much time on my mission left. Then he held up his little baby girl and said that pretty soon I would have one too. It was hilarious! 

Oh, also I talked in my sleep this past week...in Spanish. Haha! I'm trying really hard to relearn what I've forgotten and to keep getting better at speaking. I've been translating sacrament meeting almost every week and that's really helping me. It's hard to listen to what they are saying and then to say it in English and not get lost but God helps me do it!  

I also love the Bible videos on the church website. Here are a couple of my favorites. 

Jesus Raises the Daughter of Jairus

https://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/jesus-raises-the-daughter-of-jairus?lang=eng

The Baptism of Jesus

https://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/the-baptism-of-jesus?lang=eng

Con amor,

Hermana Soliz

Week 55!

Hey everyone!!! :)

Guess what! We had a Spanish Devotional last night and I shared a little message about how we can know the truth of all things through the Holy Spirit. It made me think of the scripture in the Book of Mormon, Moroni 10:5 that says, 

"And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."

That is the promise that we all have as long as we put in the effort to know and have a sincere desire! The Holy Ghost testifies of Jesus Christ and of truth. Through the Holy Ghost we can feel more peace, joy, and comfort in our lives. Who wouldn't want more of that in their lives!

I love the devotionals because they always bring so much peace and happiness! I was able to see quite a few people I knew as well so that was nice! :) 

I really do love Spanish!! It's such a beautiful language! 

I haven't been with the Spanish branch in Auburn full time for three months so there are a lot of new people that we are teaching that I don't know. We tried to visit some of them this past week but we didn't have much luck. So I still haven't met them but I'm excited to teach them and help them progress!

One of the families we are teaching are the Guzman family! I taught them a couple of times before but we had lost contact for a while so I am so excited that they have a desire to learn!

Even though I am not with the White River Ward anymore I was able to go to their activity this past Saturday for dinner. Sister Walker and I had invited a lot of people and a lot of them actually came! :) Algretta Sorenson, James, Zach, Ritchey, and Freedom all went! Also when we got to the church I recognized a guy on the street who I had talked to before. His name is David and I invited him to come eat and he did! It was pretty successful! :) 

My new companion is Hermana Baird and she's really sweet and a hard worker! We've been seeing blessings as we find new people to talk to for an hour each day. We had 17 potential new investigators this past week! I'm excited to see miracles this transfer as we continue to work hard! We have some really good goals that are going to stretch us! :) 

Les amo mucho! 

Hermana Soliz

This is my 5th transfer in Auburn!

Yes it's true! I'm staying in Auburn! I am going back to teaching the gospel in Spanish full time so I will be moving back down the street to be companions with Hermana Baird! :) I am so excited about it! This will be Hermana Baird's third transfer in the field. Hermana Hill just finished training her so I know she will be a hard worker!

I am so happy I get to stay here in Auburn! I am sad to leave the White River ward but I will still be able to see many of the members in the halls on Sunday! :) I am so happy and grateful that God is allowing me more time to be here with the Spanish branch! I love them all so much! Also because I will be staying in Auburn I will still be able to see Sister Walker every once in awhile! :) 

I am so happy that I get to go back to speaking Spanish all of the time! It is definitely easier to learn and remember a language if you are constantly speaking it! I haven't been doing that for three months so hopefully it won't take to long to get back into the swing of things. I want to go at this full force! There are so many miracles that God can bless us with as long as we keep pushing forward! 

As for baptisms coming up, Duda is still committed to be baptized on August 22nd, right after the ward party. Jaime has to work on the 22nd so his baptism has been moved to August 29th. They are both so excited for their baptisms and they are ready! :) There is also a new family that is committed to be baptized in September!

I love, love, love serving as a missionary!!! :) We just had Zone Conference and we talked a lot about how to help the people we're teaching progress and really understand that the doctrine of Christ. Our purpose as missionaries is to invite others to come unto Christ through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. This isn't just our purpose when we are full time missionaries and have the name tag. This will be our  purpose for life! How amazing is that! At Zone Conference we also talked a lot about how each one of us, individually, can endure to the end. 

I learned a lot and I felt the Spirit so strongly at Zone Conference! I know that things that we can do to endure to the end are simple. It could be so easy if only we set the natural man inside us aside and really trusted in God. 

I know that constant, not just daily but constant and sincere prayer will help us build our relationship with our Heavenly Father. I know that daily scripture study will help build our testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ. I know that as we go to church on Sundays and really give the Sabbath day back to God we will become stronger disciples of Jesus Christ! 

It will not always be easy but the people of God will always be persecuted. There are countless examples of that in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. But we can't give up. We have to keep trying and keep making progress. 

I know God lives. I know God knows me personally. Because I know that I know that He knows each of you personally as well. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer. Only through Him will I be able to return to my Heavenly Father. I know that I have weaknesses and short comings but that God can make them my strengths. He just needs a willing servant. We need to be willing to change like King Lamoni when he said,

 "O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day."- Alma 22:18

I invite you all to ponder in your hearts and choose just one thing that God wants you to do better. Then pray for help and guidance as you try to make that weakness a strength. I know God will bless you as you do so! He is eagerly waiting to help us. All we have to do is ask and have faith enough to act. :) 

I love you all and hope you're all safe! 

Hermana Soliz

I'm going to miss Sister Walker! She is the best!

Selfie with Algreta Sorenson, she is the cute lady we do service for.

Sister Duffield, she is a sweetheart!

With Nick at Pep Boys, he taught us how to change a tire.

With Hermana Zepeda

Week 53.....in Auburn

Hola y buenos dias!
No puedo creer que ya estamos en el ultimo semana de este traslado!
Last preparation day Sister Walker and I went to the Flaming Geyser State Park with the Marshallese Sisters and it was nice to get out and do something different! It was a pretty easy hike into the park and we were able to walk by the river. It was really pretty!
Also, here in Washington black berries grow everywhere! So we got to pick some of those too!
The actual flaming geyser wasn't that impressive. It's pretty small actually. Apparently it used to be a lot bigger and some guy thought he could make it even bigger by blowing it up with dynamite...so because of that it's a lot smaller now.
But the weather was nice and it was good to spend dome time with Sister Peterson and Sister Loeak! :)
Lately in the mission we have been inviting all of our investigators to read all of first Nephi in the Book of Mormon in ten days. We had a lesson this past week with a former investigator named Dana and we gave her the challenge! She was super open to the invitation and accepted the invitation! I'm excited to see what she thought about the reading!
On Thursday I hit my year-mark! Yikes!!! We celebrated it with a princess cake! We also took our neighbors dog, Delis, for a walk. She is so cute and I just love her!
We also had a lesson with Duda and confirmed that her baptism will be August 22nd at 7! :) It was a great day! Also Jaime who attends the Spanish branch will be getting baptized August 22nd too! I am so excited for him! I most likely won't be serving here in Auburn by August 22nd but I'll get to come back for both Jaime's and Duda's baptisms!
We also have a couple new investigators that are really wanting to learn more! Their names are Zach and James. I really loved being able to teach them both! They were just asking very sincere questions and the Spirit really helped them to understand our message! :)
Although this week was a really great week the highlight was definitely Sunday when we heard Austin Tew give his farewell talk in Sacrament! He will be serving his mission in Santiago, Chile and he leaves tomorrow. His talk was so GOOD and everyone could feel the spirit! He talked about the plan of salvation and he quoted scriptures and talks from general authorities and it was just so great! Sister Walker and I were crying it was so good! I love feeling the spirit like that! During one part of his talk he was saying that he was nervous about learning the language not because he didn't think he couldn't learn it but because he was nervous for the amount of time when he wouldn't be able to fully express himself and tell people how he felt about the gospel. Then he talked about how the gift of tongues is real and how knowing that gave him comfort! I can totally relate to that!
There was a lot of people in sacrament to hear him speak and there was even some non-members. So then after church we were able to go the Tew's home and we had the chance to talk to all of their non-member friends! They seemed to be really open and interested so hopefully we can start teaching them! :)
Today at choir practice President Eaton came over to talk to me and he asked me if I was ready to go back to Spanish full time and I said of course! :) He also said he's pretty sure where I'm getting transferred to but he still needs to pray about it.
Well I love you all! Keep reading the Book of Mormon! I am so grateful for the restoration and for the teachings in the Book of Mormon! They are precious!
As I have hit my year mark I have been taking a lot of time to reflect on how much I've grown and what things I can do better. I'm re-evaluating my goals and making plans to get to where I want to be! I invite you all to do the same! If you want to read the Book of Mormon make a plan and do it! If you want to go to church make a plan and do it! If you want to serve a mission make a plan and do it! If you want to prepare to go to the temple make a plan and do it! If you want to learn more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints make a plan and do it! :) You can start by asking the missionaries! :) I know that as we make plans for the future God will bless us! Love you all!

Hermana Soliz

Delis, love him!

Love this girl!

                                                                

Week 52...

Duda in the White River English Ward is getting baptized August 22nd!!!! And Jaime in the Pioneer Spanish Branch is getting baptized August 29th!!!!

That's so exciting!!! Depending on what happens with transfers in two weeks I'll still be here for the baptisms or I'll have to come back for them. Either way I am going to be at both to support them! :) 

This past week we were able to have a family home evening at the mission home with President and Sister Eaton! It was so amazing! 

Originally, we wanted Omar to go but he cancelled last minute on us. :/ We were supposed to be starting at 7:30 and he cancelled on us at 6:30. And it takes 20-30 minutes to get to the mission home. 

So then we were running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to find someone to go to the lesson! It was CRAZY and we didn't want to cancel because this was a chance to have a lesson with President Eaton! That's like a chance of a lifetime as a missionary! 

Literally, I'm pretty sure we tried everyone! We even tried Algreta Swarenson who is this cute old lady we do service for. We also tried our upstairs neighbor who we have been trying to talk to. His name is Noah and he has the cutest Dog named Delis. He couldn't come with us to the lesson that night but he said he'd like to do it another time so that was good!

Anyway, so like I said we tried everyone and finally we were able to have a less active family go to the lesson with us! Their names are John and Ruth Hembree and they've been less/inactive for a long time. The lesson we had with them was all centered on the temples and then we committed them to prepare to be sealed in the temple for eternity! The spirit was so strong and they said yes! Sister Hembree was crying and Brother Hembree said the closing prayer which was a miracle! He's never done that in our lessons before. He also asked in his prayer for help and guidance to prepare to be sealed in the temple! It was so sweet and sincere! I'm excited to follow up with them!

This past Sunday was fast and testimony meeting and everyone bore such great testimonies! One recent convert bore his testimony and it was just great to see how much he's grown! In the Spanish branch I translated again. Translating is hard but I do it and I love doing it for testimony meeting! The kids in the branch always get up to bear their testimonies and it's the cutest thing! 

Also in Relief Society Hermana Sandoval gave an amazing lesson on faith! It was so prime time! I loved it and all of the women were crying!

Hermana Sandoval talked a lot about having the faith to not only believe in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ but to have the faith to trust Them. We can't say that we believe in God and then turn around and say that we can't do something that He's asked of us. That's not true faith because we don't believe that He will help us. We can't say that we have faith in Jesus Christ and then turn around and say that we have gone to far off the path and can't be forgiven of our mistakes and shortcomings. That's not true faith because we are denying the power and gift of the atonement to cleanse us from sin. 

She also went on to say that each and everyone of us needs to have the faith that we are a child of God and that we have a purpose in this life. 

I really enjoyed her lesson and I learned a lot from it. I also know that if you feel like you don't have faith or that you need "refill" of faith you should pray. A new member to the church once said that if you want to feel the spirit you need to pray. In her own words she said, "He gives free refills!" So I know that if you pray for more faith God will bless you with it and you will grow stronger! 

Here are a couple of things I love on faith! 

In Alma 32:21 in the Book of Mormon, it says, 

"And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true."

In the Bible Dictionary it says under faith that, "The Lord has revealed Himself and His perfect character, possessing in their fulness all the attributes of love, knowledge, justice, mercy, unchangeableness, power, and every other needful thing, so as to enable the mind of man to place confidence in Him without reservation. Faith is kindled by hearing the testimony of those who have faith (Rom. 10:14–17). Miracles do not produce faith, but strong faith is developed by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ; in other words, faith comes by righteousness, although miracles often confirm one’s faith....

"Although faith is a gift, it must be cultured and sought after until it grows from a tiny seed to a great tree. The effects of true faith in Jesus Christ include (1) an actual knowledge that the course of life one is pursuing is acceptable to the Lord (see Heb. 11:4); (2) a reception of the blessings of the Lord that are available to man in this life; and (3) an assurance of personal salvation in the world to come. These things involve individual and personal testimony, guidance, revelation, and spiritual knowledge. Where there is true faith there are miracles, visions, dreams, healings, and all the gifts of God that He gives to His saints."

I love you all so much! On Thursday I will hit my year mark! Missions are the best! 

Hermana Soliz :) 

Silly in shades

 

Week 51

Just like always so many things happened this past week!
We had another lesson with Danny and he ended up playing his guitar for us...it was a little strange.
We met someone new to teach and his name is Luigi! He has been taught a lot in the past and has  a ton of deep questions!
We did service for Sister Algreta Swarenson who lives across from the church. She isn't a member but she loves having us come over to clean or do yard work. Then in exchange for our service she always gives us some kind of gift card to go eat or homemade jam. We just went to go eat at Applebee's and Red Robbin this past week thanks to her kindness!
We also did service at the community dinner, food bank, and we helped our investigator, Rebecca, move out.
On Wednesday we went over to Hermana Zepeda's house for language study! It was so great! I love her! I would ask her questions about grammar or my accent and as she explained the answer to me she always connected it to the gospel. She's such a great missionary!
On Friday we had interviews with President Eaton! I was so excited! I love those! There are like Christmas! I had a really good interview with President and it just made the whole day better! He told me that I will definitely be going back to Spanish full-time at the end of the transfer. That's great news but I will miss everyone I've come to know and love in the English ward. :(  It's also sad because President Eaton doesn't know yet if I'll stay here in Auburn with the Spanish branch or go somewhere else. So if I get transferred out of Zone I have to leave both the ward and branch! But it will all be okay! I will love it no matter what!
On Saturday morning Sister Walker and I found out that our investigator Duda would be getting married that same night! She's been wanting to get married for so long and finally her fiancé said they could get married that same day! It was so crazy getting everything ready on such short notice but it ended up being really cute for only having a day to plan! Sister Dahle let us use decorations she had from her wedding and we helped Sister Scalesy make the wedding cake! Several members also brought some type of dessert, punch, or veggie tray. It was great thanks to everyone pitching in and helping! Now Duda is married and she can get baptized in the near future! :)
Sunday I had to translate all of Sacrament meeting! There was a lot of English people there to see Mirella and Lesley Valle give their farewell talks so I had to translate from Spanish to English! I felt so much pressure to do good but I think it all went well! They both gave really good and heartfelt talks and testimonies. Then after they spoke their family members shared their testimonies as well. It was such a good sacrament meeting and I was almost crying listening to Mirella and Lesley talk about how excited they were to serve and how grateful they were for the gospel.
I just want to end by sharing something I heard about this past week. A lot of people say that their mission was/is the best experience of their life. Which is mostly true, especially up until that point in your life. But after serving a mission there are still great things to experience like getting sealed in the temple and starting your own family!
So in reality instead of the mission being the best experience of your life it's the best experience for your life. I can definitely understand that! You learn and grow and change so much from the experiences you have while serving a mission that I can clearly see why it would be the best experience for your life! The skills you learn on the mission and the relationships you grow with people around you and with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will shape the rest of your life!
I love you all and will keep y'all in my prayers!

Hermana Soliz

My wonderful Auburn Zone

Relief Society came through with one day notice!

We helped bake the cake

With the happy married couple

Beautiful family

Guess who got the left overs?

Auburn Sisters

Jumping for joy!

Week 50!

Heavenly Father ALWAYS blesses us because He loves us!

Last Monday we were having an alright day but all of our plans had fallen through so we were a little sad about that. Then out of nowhere this Hispanic guy named Danny walks up to us and asks us what do we believe. Sister Walker doesn't know Spanish so I told her what he had said and then she started hitting my arm to tell him what we believed. I started talking about the restoration of the gospel and I promised him that he could know if our message was true through sincere prayer. Then he set up an appointment with us for a lesson! We were so unbelievably excited!! It's not every day that a stranger walks up to us and asks us questions to learn more. It was such a blessing! 

We ended up having a lesson with Danny at the church with a couple of other members. He loves the Bible and has a hard time understanding how the Bible and the Book of Mormon work together. Unfortunately, during the lesson it almost seemed like he wanted to bash or prove us wrong more than genuinely find out if our message is true. He did commit to read the Book of Mormon though so we hope to see some progress in the future! 

We haven't been able to meet with Omar since last Sunday so hopefully we can see him sometime this week! He couldn't come to church either because he had to work. We are praying that we can have a lesson with him this Monday though because we are going to have the chance to have a family home evening with President and Sister Eaton and we want Omar to be there! 

Our investigator Rebecca and her daughters also came to church this Sunday! They only stayed for sacrament but they came! She is the one who speaks Dinka so it's pretty hard to communicate with her. 

Another miracle we had this past week was that our investigator, Ritchey, started to read the Book of Mormon and he LOVED it!! I know that as he keeps reading he will feel the spirit testify to him that it is another testament of Jesus Christ and he will have the desire to be baptized! 

In Galatians 5:22-23, we learn that, "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." 

There is so much power in the Book of Mormon and anyone who reads it with an open heart and with a desire to know if it is true will feel the fruits of the Spirit.

I love reflecting on my day and recognizing the hand of God and the Spirit leading and guiding me throughout the day! These feelings of the spirit make our lives so much better! The best way to live is to have the spirit with you! There's no better way and we need to make sure we do our part to have the spirit with us. Obedience equals having the spirit with you which equals feeling the fruits of the spirit and blessings! 

Sister Walker and I are having fun here in Auburn and we are so excited to see miracles happen! 

By the way we had a fiesta for Mirella and Lesley Valle because they are both leaving on their missions within the next week! Lesley is going to Chile and Mirella is going to Peru! I am so excited for them!!! :) 

Okay, hasta luego! 

Hermana Soliz

Mirella and Lesley are going on a mission!

Farewell celebration!