Monday, September 29, 2014

The Start of Something New!

Womens Conference
Mi familia!
 
I run out of things to say so I am sorry if my emails get repetitive. But first I would like to say that the Womens meeting for Conference was AWESOME! President Uchtdorf said the most perfect/wonderful things! It was amazing! We brought one of our investigators and she was almost in tears at his words. She needed to hear all that he said. I am so excited for Conference this upcoming week. It was a real testimony builder for her! Life has been great here in Texas this past week.
My amazing district!
 
We had transfer calls, and I am staying here in Carrollton for one more. I am super excited to finish up Hermana Waltons training. We are excited to stay together because we are actualy working with some cool people. One of these people is Ereano. He is amazing and one of the most humble people that I have ever met. He is about 25 years old and he loves the Book of Mormon. He knows it all to be true and he understands the importance of being baptized by someone with the authority from God. It is amazing. We had a lesson with him on Tuesday and we took him to the church to give him a church tour. He still hasn't been able to come to church because of work but we wanted him to at least see what the church building is like. We invited some members and we had a combined lesson as we walked around talking about all the pictures on the walls and explaining the importance of the sacrament room and the baptismal font. It was great! You could feel the spirit so strongly as we all shared our testimonies with him.
Texas Love for Life!
 
Last night there was a baptism in our ward, and our Zone Leaders did a musical number. It was so good! They sang the song, "Come Unto Christ" I have been thinking about that lately and how I can become more humble and come closer unto Christ. There is a Mormon Message that caught my eye and it made me really think if I am becoming the person taht Christ wants me to be, because the mission is the best time to develop the attributes of Christ and to really put all trust and confidence in Him and His plan. I am excited for the 6 months that I have left, because i am changing my focus a little bit and hopfully will continue to see personal growth. I love being a missionary! The video is called "The Will of God" and it is on Mormon Messages!
 
Have a great week!
Love,
Crazy Elders!
 
Hermana Cattich
 
COME WHAT MAY AND LOVE IT

 

Monday, September 22, 2014

Oh the places you'll go!

This week has been a hard one but that is okay, "Come what may and love it right?!" This past week I hit my year mark in the mission. I cannot believe that I have already been out here for a year and I only have 6 months left. Realizing this made me reflect on what has happened in the past year and all that I have learned. The person I was a year ago is not the same and I am so thankful for the growth I have had since I have been out here. One thing that I know for sure is that I am a child of God and this is his work. This is the most important work that we could do while we are living here on the earth. Life honestly can't get better than right now. This may now be the best 18 months of my life, but it is for sure the best 18 months for my life.
 
We are teaching 2 really solid men. They both love the Book of Mormon and we text them everyday to remember to read and to pray. They are progressing really well, the only thing they won't do is come to church. I have always wondered why coming to church is the biggest obstacle for people and why as missionaries we can't force people to come to church. I guess one of the hardest and most frustrating lessons that I have learned is that everyone has their agency and we can't do anything about it. They could know that everything is true and have a testimony of prayer, Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and still not decide to come to church. This has been really frustrating for me, but I have learned that it is all in the Lord's time.
An example of the Lord's timing is about 4 months ago, I was knocking in an apartment complex with Hermana Enriquez. We knocked on this door and the lady that answered told us that she already knew 2 of the elders that used to stop by about 8 months ago. She went on to tell us that she didn't have time at the moment, but we could come by again in a few weeks. I wrote down in my planner so I wouldnt forget, but of course what did I do?? I forgot. Anyways fast forward to about a month ago. It was the first day with my trainne and we were knocking in apartment complex. We knocked on a door and the lady that answered said that her daughter used to take the discussions and lives just a few doors down. The thought suddenly came to my mind that this was the lady that I had met. I started running and told Hermana Walton just to follow me because we needed to talk to her. We found her home that day, her name is Lily. She made it very clear that she would listen to us but would never convert. After a week or 2 of working with her, we got discouraged and started saying that the gospel would never change her life. So we decided to give her as a referral to the english elders because she also speaks english and they decided to try and work with her. Well low and behold, this Lily has been reading the Book of Mormon, praying, coming to church and has a baptismal date. Sometimes it is not the right timing or the right people but if we pray about it and if we do the will of our Heavenly Father, everybody wins. The gospel changes lives.
 
I read a talk this week called "The Atonement and Missionary Work" by Elder Holland, and it is amazing. Espcecially the last part, it made me start to cry. I have also been studying in Alma 26, and have been able to relate it to my life and missionary work, it is actually quite funny. I love the scriptures, and I have grown to love them even more on my mission. This week we had a combined meeting for the missionaries and once again we sang "God Be With You till We Meet Again," that song seriously gets me everytime. I said goodbye to an old companion, Hermana Munyer, and some other old friends. Life is good and I am happy! Have a great week everyone!
 
Hermana Cattich
 
"COME WHAT MAY AND LOVE IT"

 

Monday, September 15, 2014

The Show Must Go On...

Well family, life is crazy. It always is, but this week I had some unexpected events happen to me and it has been a very humbling week. Concepcion was baptized and the week you have a baptism you want to hit mission "standards" which are just like high goals you can hit the week you have a baptism. Hermana Walton and I were super excited and confident because we knew we would be able to reach them. The week started off great, but then it began to crash and burn....oh how I love being a missionary.

On Wednesday we had exchanges, so Hermana Hadlock came here for the day. On Thursday morning, I woke up in the middle of the night with a dream that bugs were crawling on me, it didn't really phase me but when I woke up in the morning, I went to the bathroom and then the thought crossed my mind....BEDBUGS. I decided I would go check and if they were there I would need to stay completely calm. Of course, to my unpleasnt suprise, when I lifted up my sheets, all I saw were little bugs crawling all over the place. OH GOODNESS! This is the second time on my mission that I have had bed bugs. We quickly lifted and took my bed outside, and started to tear apart everything. The members that we live with weren't too excited either. Elder Midgley, who is in charge of the housing for the mission, came and heated up our room to about 150 degrees because heat kills the bed bugs. We had to remove everything, and we had to wash every single article of clothing and bedding and we went and used to elders laundry and did laundry practically all day long. It was a nightmare. Our room was destroyed and now we don't know where anything is. Hermana Walton was so calm, it has been great, but Thursday was a rough day.

On Friday we went back to our missionary duties and were trying so hard to reach the Zone Standards goals, and we were right on tract. We had planned everything and everything was going through. We were so excited because not even bed bugs could stop us. B,ut Saturday night, as we stopped by some investigators to invite them to church our car was towed. AWFUL! We had been gone for about 10 minutes and when we went back to our car, it was gone. Some teenagers came up to us and told us that they had just taken the car away about 3 minutes earlier. GOODNESS. We ended up calling some people and they came and picked us up but this morning we had to go to the mission office to drive with Elder Larsen and his wife to pick up our car in Dallas.

My my my what a week it has been, but I just don't think I can say enough that IT IS ALL WORTH IT. We didn't end up meeting standards which was hard but, I know that these little trials have all taught Hermana Walton and I something. She is so positive and I am so grateful for her because without her this week I probably would have just given up. I love being a missionary. I have never been more tired in my entire life, but everyday is just amazing! I love this work, and I love being a missionary, I love Jesus Christ. I hope everyone had a wonderful week!

Hermana Cattich

COME WHAT MAY AND LOVE IT

Monday, September 8, 2014

This is my life!

Well family, after a long "battle" of 4 months, Concepcion was finally baptized yesterday after church. She is amazing and has the strongest testimony I have ever heard. She went up and bore her testimony during sacrament meeting and I was crying. I can't believe that I was blessed to know her and to help her, it could have been any other missionary, but Heavenly Father knew that I needed her in my life. The baptism was beautiful and she was with all of her family and closest friends. Her husband threatened to divorce her because of her decision but when we went and talked to her on Saturday about it, she said that nothing was going to change her mind. Hermana Enriquez came back and gave a talk about the Holy Ghost and then we did a musical number. The ward was awesome and so supportive of her. She is one of the people that I know that I was supposed to meet in Texas! I am so grateful for the opportunity that I had to find her, meet her, teach her and be an instrument in the Lord's hands to help bring her to the true church. It has been a hard 4 months but I have grown so much because of her and her testimony. Ahhh, I love this work!
Hermana Walton, Concepcion and Hermana Enriquez
 
This week has been hard but has also had its little miracles! A few weeks ago we were filling up our car with gas and a random man just came up to my companion and started talking to her in Spanish, and she had no idea what to do. She was trying to get my attention to come over and talk to him, it was really funny! After I was talking to him for awhile, I found out that he was the brother of one of the YSA ward members and that he knows that the church is true and wants to be reactivated in the church. The YSA members name is Daniella and she is amazing! She will come out with us to appointments (her native language is Spanish!) and so last night we went over to her appartment and her brother was there and we taught him the first lesson. It is Daniella's biggest wish right now to help her brother come back to the church so we taught him about the Restoration, but we just wanted to have her bare her testimony the whole time. In the middle of the lesson, I turned to her and asked her to share her testimony and she shared the most heartfelt testimonies that I have ever heard. By the end of it, all of us where crying. It was amazing!! The spirit was so strong, and her brother, all he could say was that he knows this church is true!
 
We also found this amazing couple from El Salvador (the make the papusas....my FAVORITE!!) and they are amazing! The wife loved the Book of Mormon and started reading it right when we gave it to her! It was so amazing. It is so cool to see people get so excited over the gospel because it reminds me that I can't take the little things for granted. The gospel changes lives! I know it, I live it, I love it!!
 
All I can say is that right now, I have the best life in the whole entire world. I don't want to be anywhere else but here! I hope that everyone else has a wonderful week, and know that the missionaries are working hard, and they are willing to help! Get to know them!
My District! My favorite so far on my mission!
Love you all!
 
Hermana Cattich
 
COME WHAT MAY AND LOVE IT!