2/23/2015 Last Week in the Mission Field

And what a wonderful week it has been! There is not enough time to do everything that I need to.  Neither is there enough time to see everyone. We had the most incredible trainings this week.  I learned that obedience measures our faith.  President Malunda has been hinting a training on pre-ordination for the past few months, and everyone has been dying to hear it, and it finally happened and it was incredible.  I can't wait to show you notes.  We learned about the councils in heaven and learned about the intelligences, and light.  Oh, I just have to share later because it is super awesome and I can't explain it over email. 

The Zone leaders asked if we could do our musical number at 3 day training, so even though I felt super nervous, we did it! And wow, what a wonderful experience.  I think my voice had vibrato mainly because I was nervous.  It was a really great feeling though.  I was able to bear my testimony with the song and forget my fears, and it ended up sounding okay I think?

Then when we got back to our area, we worked with all our hearts. there were so many people to see and so little time.  I feel like each lesson we had was so important, and there were so many we needed to get to. I'm so grateful we get to see them again soon.

I had a most wonderful interview and blessing from President yesterday. They changed my interview to yesterday instead of today, so I had to miss the stake music fireside that I was going to sing in, but that is okay, and was a blessing in disguise that I got to sing it in 3-day training. The interview was really great.  We talked about my plans for the future, and then he gave me a blessing.  I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have had to serve my mission.  I feel like I have learned so much, still have a great deal to learn.  But I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for letting me come here to serve Him.  My understanding and love for the Savior's sacrifice has grown.  I have learned how to love more, trust and have more faith in the Lord, and how obedience brings miracles. 

#missionary4life!

Love,

Sister Campbell

P.S. See you soon! :)

2/14/2015 Happy Valentines Day!

So next week is 3 day training in McAllen, and the library is closed on Monday, so they told us to do our emailing for next week today!

   Mom and Dad, thank you so much for sending the flowers and chocolate! They turned out beautiful and were a wonderful surprise!

    This week has gone by so fast!  Even though we didn't have meetings this week, I feel like we still didn't have very much time to work in our area.  But with the time that we did have, the Lord blessed us so much!

     We decided to visit a less active/recent convert family that we have never been to before, and they live in an area that we also have never been to. As soon as we got out of the car, some kids told us to go visit their parents, and we met Dalia, whose family is looking for the gospel.  We had a wonderful lesson with them, and they helped us find the less active family.  We walked all the way down the dirt road and found 3 vicious Rotwylers (idk how to spell) in our path.  The little girl from the house saved us and invited us to come visit her family.  She played with the dogs while we snuck next to the fence. When we walked through the door, the 5 daughters in the family gathered, looking so excited to see us.  We instantly felt a connection with them, and even though we didn't know each other we hugged, and excited started talking and introducing ourselves. The oldest daughter wasn't baptized before and wants to be, and the others all love the gospel and want to come back to church.  They are such a wonderful family! I'm so excited to go visit them again.  That was a highlight of the week and were visiting with 2 other less active/recent convert families.

     Oh yeah, next Sunday the missionaries in the Harlingen zone are putting together a music fireside and they asked me to sing a solo; I am a child of God while an elder plays the piano and another plays the flute. This will be quite a new experience for me, and I was shocked when they asked me, but am excited for the experience.

Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Campbell

Valentines day flowers from mom and dad

This is our gorgeous area!!

We convinced the Elders to do facial masks on P-Day! 

2/9/2015 Hearts for February!

Our zone has a new motto: The Pure in HeARtLINGEN for the month of February. It is so important in life that we do things because they come from the Heart.  It is a scary trap that is easy to fall into-to do things for the purpose of recognition or fear, or in other words pride and fear, which are both things that come from Satan.  Even though we can be doing good things, like helping people get baptized, if it does not come from the heart, then it has little converting power, not a lot of real change takes place. We are focusing in the mission and in the zone equally on reactivating and baptisms, also on focusing on conversion.  I feel like this is a good theme for what I learned this week personally and in meetings I attended.  This kind of attitude needs to be reflected towards everyone around us.  I learned that just as much as I need to think of what is really best for investigators, I need to think about was is really best for my companion.  It is wonderful.

    The Padilla family didn't come to church this week. :( And Omar is headed to Alaska, so maybe he will get baptized up there. We will have to make sure to get in contact with the missionaries up there.  We didn't have a ton of time to work in our area this week, but when we did, it was great, and the Lord blessed us a lot.  We went with a young woman to visit the Padilla family, who weren't there, but we ended up contacting and teaching someone on the street.  We focused on her needs and what would catch her attention to learn more about the gospel.  There were some times during the lesson that the spirit was very strong that I didn't want to say anything for fear of messing it up!  The testimony of the young woman that we brought was incredible.  The feeling of the spirit in helping someone see the light of Christ is the greatest joy I have had in my mission. these simple experiences happen all the time, and they are so sweet.  Never let the opportunity go by to share the joy that you feel with someone.  There are more people than we realize who need someone to notice them and care about them. 

    Love,

Sister Campbell

2/2/2015 Pink Washing Riverbend

So here is some exciting news: Sister Stradling and Sister Acosta are pink washing Riverbend, Brownsville today!  That means that they are taking over the area from Elders. And now we get to do exchanges with them! I am so excited!  There is so much to do!  This pastSaturday I went on an exchange with a sister from Breeze Lake and the goal for the day was to work on member work.  So we brainstormed ideas and learned and talked about member work all day, and I realized that there is so much that needs done in my area! It was awesome. We need a new ward list, and descriptions of the members.  I feel like I'm finally getting to the point where it is easier to discern whether people are prepared to hear the gospel or not. 

    The Padillas are doing great, it was just disappointing when they didn't come to church on Sunday.  The girls are progressing, but the father just has other priorities and it is so sad!  We have built a great relationship with them, to where they really really wanted to come to church.  We will see.  We are working with a lot of investigators right now, but not a lot of them are progressing. Omar came back from Japan and is ready to get baptized next Sunday, but he might leave again, so it is all up in the air.  Rosalinda is really suffering from nerve pain in her leg, please keep her in your prayers.  

   We were walking on a street we've never been on in Rio Hondo, and we saw 5 kids all playing together jumping on the trampoline.  So we waved and walked over, and they asked us who we were.  The parents came out, and the kids asked us if we could play with them.  We of course said yes, and that we would after we shared a lesson with them.  So all five of them gathered together and we sat down on the grass, and then the mom and grandpa came too, and it was so much fun.  There is something so special about teaching kids.  We helped them to understand that they can pray and receive answers through good feelings, and that Joseph Smith was given power. Hopefully this week we can help this family progress.

     

love,

Sister Campbell

1/26/2015 Very Important Lessons Week

We were incredibly blessed this week to get visited by Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles, Elder Robbins and Elder Wright of the 70 and area authorities. We all shook their hands then President and Sister Maluenda spoke and the authorities. It truly was incredible. Elder Oaks talked about not assuming that our investigators know when we are teaching them.  Then we had a discussion about personal revelation.  I learned to improve my morning prayers and that personal revelation comes so often! and we need to ask for it and pay attention to it. 

     I have great news!  We are teaching the Padilla family again! I don't remember if I told you that or not, but thinks are going so good right now.  I think most everything happens for a reason.  Yesterday I was feeling really bad over stupid things, like spilling a smoothie, when we went over to their home to make Sopipeas (sope eye pee uhs) For the first time Litzie smiled when she saw us and opened up and talked to us.  While we were making sopipeas I noticed that Brenda had a hard time rolling the dough, and was frustrated because her sister was clearly better.  She left and I knew just how she felt. I told her how I wasn't a very good cook either and about how that very day I had spilt a smoothie all over the counter, and then she agreed to join us and try again. We are building a lot of trust, and for the first time Litzie agreed to say the closing prayer!  Every time we go over and the girls aren't home and Elias the dad is working outside, he always asks us to stay and sing and pray with him.  He cries every time. I love that family! Keep them in your prayers! 

Love,

Sister Campbel

1/21/2015 Blessings in Disguise

We were doing an exchange with the sisters in Port Isabel and Sister Sarmiento who is in port Isabel, which is 40 miles away calls me and says that the car coordinator called and said they can't use their car for a few days because the registration is expired and they have a meeting in Brownsville in a few hours.  What to do? So we decided to drive down and have a Blitz in Port Isabel! It was a blast! We had about 4 hours and each sister had a goal of being a "Challenging and Testifying missionary" so we were super bold and testified and invited many people to be baptized.  I have no idea what we did, but the Lord put so many people in our path that day. There was literally only one person that didn't accept to learn more, and combining the companionships we found 8 new investigators that day.  It was a huge blessing and boost to their area. So it ended up being a huge blessing in disguise that they couldn't drive their car.

    This week we had interviews with President and also stake conference. They changed the stake presidency so that was exciting. I feel really good about the new stake president, he was serving in the mission presidency, so we know him a little bit. He gave a really inspiring talk.  It was a miracle that we didn't plan an exchange on Saturday like we usually do because Friday night at 10:20ish we found out that we had interviews the next day.  President Maluenda talked to me about the principle of maintaining a good attitude even when circumstances aren't going well.  I know that this is so important.  Even when everything seems like it is going wrong, we have to maintain a good attitude and it will change the circumstances.  We will see more success and be happier.

  I'm super happy and grateful for this time I still have here!

love,

sister Campbell

1/12/15 Transfers came!

We handed Rosalinda her towel and then waited until she was ready to come back out for the closing song of the baptismal program. Before coming out she gave us a big kiss on the cheek and a big warm hug and said, "Thank you so much for everything you have done! I hope I never lose you." I knew that we had made a lasting connection and I told her that we would always be there for her. I sat back down for the closing song and thought, "I have done nothing. The Lord and Rosalinda made this experience possible." It is so true! I feel like we go on a mission, and focusedly wander around inviting everyone to make the decision to come closer to Christ and then they decide to come and they make all of the changes necessary.  And then God blesses us with the opportunity to participate and watch it all happen.  It is beautiful.  Zack's baptism was equally beautiful.  It was a big day for Zack's family because they have a tried a few times before to help him be baptized, and this time it finally happened and the family is returning to church.

     Ashley Prather and Gabriela got confirmed as well.  Slowly, but surely Ashley's family are all coming to Heavenly Father's fold. Keep praying for their family.  It was a great week, and I'm happy to announce that I'm staying here in Rio Hondo with Sister Sarmiento.  Sister Barton is getting transferred to my greenie area! So sad but happy. 

Love,

Sister Campbell

The Lord Knows His Children

We had a rough trial this week, but as with all trials, many blessings come. Robert is really struggling with his testimony right now. He received anti-Mormon information and started fighting against the church.  We visited with him and shared our testimonies, but he has changed and chosen to look for another church-as we found out Sunday morning. This was heartbreaking. 

   Also Sunday morning we decided to make sure Zack (10yrs) and the familia de la Garza were coming. We woke them up, and they decided to come. Yay! They have been sick for the past couple of days.  Rosalinda also came and is preparing to be baptized next Sunday.  She is doing great! Pray that she will be able to quit coffee.

    As we left to go work Sunday, Roberts decision to leave the church weighed on me. I felt like I had failed and a flood of other negative thoughts came, of everything that was going wrong, thoughts that I wasn't doing any good. I knew those thoughts were coming from the devil, but they still hurt. My companion helped me to see the miracles that were happening, and I prayed that if God would just give us the opportunity to bless someone's life, then it would help me to feel like my efforts were worth something and I could find joy in helping someone else. Then the miracles came rushing in.  The next contact the woman said that the gospel will be able to help her in a big way and we will see her this week.  The next appointment we left to Zack and the De la Garza's home to have a lesson.  The Elders came also to give the family blessings of health. To start the lesson, Zack's older sister said that this morning she had been on the fence about whether to come to church or not that day.  She asked God for a sign to help her know if she could go or not, then we showed up at her door inviting her.  Just as that was a sign for her, it was a sign for me too to know that we had blessed her life and acted as an instrument in his hands. Then the Elders offered to give me a blessing too.  In the blessing Heavenly Father told me that he was pleased with the work I was doing, that it was blessing my family, and that I would continue to make a difference and be a blessing in many people's lives. What wonderful miracles! Surely the Lord knows his children and answered my prayer.

Love,

Sister Campbell