It was honestly one of the greatest weeks of my mission thus far ~ Lexington Week 4 ~ Mission Week 29

Hello everyone!

It has been a fantastic week this week! It was my first week with just Hermana Arnoldsen. It was honestly one of the greatest weeks of my mission thus far! It has been awesome to have a companion that is close to my same age in the mission. I was really scared at first, because I was afraid that our Spanish wasn't going to cut it, but it has actually been great and we both know a lot more than we thought we did! In addition, our lessons truly are guided by the spirit because we don't know perfect Spanish. It is literally the Lord and us. Because of it we have had the some of the most incredible lessons. I have never had this much fun or enjoyed teaching lessons as much as a I do now. We teach really well together because the spirit has to constantly be with us so we can understand and speak Spanish the best we can. It also doesn't hurt that my Spanish is finally getting to a point where I can say what I want to say while still being guided by the spirit. It's just starting to take off! I still have days of frustration with it, but definitely not as much as I used to!

We have some solid investigators right now!

We are teaching Felipe, who is our ward mission leader's brother. We always have a good time teaching him and he has been to church these past four weeks.

In addition, we are still teaching Renee! I could go on and on about her! I just love her. She is literally one of the most prepared and intelligent people I have ever met. She fascinates me. I love talking to her. She makes me a better person. We had the most amazing lesson about the plan of salvation... she basically taught us the entire thing:) She has so much knowledge of the gospel and understands exactly what we need to do para que regrese a nuestro padre celestial. it truly is awesome! It is so fun to teach someone with so much religious knowledge but also with so much secular intelligence. I learn something from her every time I teach her. although she has her reservations, she is willing to entertain new ideas.

In addition, we are also teaching Rey who is the cousin of a recent convert in my area, Solomon. He is also awesome! He has no religious background whatsoever. It has been really interesting teaching him because he is very willing to listen and take in what we tell him. It is like teaching a child. It has helped us as teachers to simplify everything we teach him so that he understands and gets to know our savior. He wants to learn and it has been awesome to see the little light bulbs in his head go off when we explain a principle to him. He had never prayed before until we started teaching him and in our second lesson he volunteered to say the opening prayer! He is a solid man!

that's it for this week!

Hermana Failner

Buenas Tardes from Lexington ~ Lexington Week 3 ~ Mission Week 28

Buenas Tardes from Lexington!

It has been a good week, pero hoy la Hermana De La Vega se fue :( Today, Hmna De le vega left to go home from her mission! We had the greatest little trio ever! But, I am so happy and excited that I still get to work with Hermana Arnoldsen! We have a blast together!

We are still teaching Cesar and he has been doing well. We have had some really great lessons with him and should be seeing him at church this week.

A new person that we found this week that has really stuck out to me is a woman named Renee. She is literally the most Christ-like person I have ever met. We have had some absolutely amazing lessons with her. She has been through so much but never uses her trials as an excuse to be sad or to not try. She is also extremely non-judgmental and probably the most objective investigator I have ever had.  She has gone into this whole process with the intentions of becoming to closer to Christ and the way for doing that is to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it to know if this is the path she should take. She is extremely prepared and I am so excited to get to know her better. I have learned so much from her. She makes me want to be a better person every day.

I don't have a lot of time this week, but that's it for now! Remember, the church is true!

Hermana Failner

First week in Lexington ~ Lexington Week 2 ~ Mission Week 27

Hello everyone!

It has been quite the week this week in my new area of Lexington! I have to admit, having a car has been absolutely amazing. I'm not really sure how I survived biking for as long as a did. It's a milagro that I am still alive!

I absolutely love it here in Lexington! It is the promised land. Our area is huge compared to my last one! There are SO many apartment complexes... and they are all filled with Hispanics! I couldn't believe how many we find and see every day! In fact, I think I contact more Hispanics than English people. I never thought in a thousand years that would happen! It's been beyond awesome! In addition, I love the branch. It has been so fun working in a Spanish Branch. The members are so solid here. It has been a pleasure working with them thus far. They also help me with my Spanish, which never hurts! I'm going to need it.... Hermana De La Vega goes home in a week and Hermana Arnoldsen is younger than me in the mission. This means that the Spanish I know, plus the Spanish she knows is what we are going to be working with. It's a tad bit scary. But I know we can do it! It's going to be challenging, but I know that God will help us.

We have a great new investigator right now named Cesar. So ironic! I think I am destined to find the Cesars in the world. He is awesome and has been taught by Hermanas before. He came to church last week and is doing well! I'm excited to keep teaching him.

In addition, Gladys is another great person we are working with. We had an amazing lesson with her that was so powerful. Teaching in a trio has been beyond amazing. I don't know how we do it, but the spirit literally is the one that guides us. The lesson we had with her was solely the spirit. And she set her own baptismal date! She's pretty fabulous!

Lastly, I have a crazy moment of the week. I am pretty sure that I am on a first name basis with the Kentucky police department. Whenever a crazy accident happens where witnesses are needed, I always seem to be there. We saw a little boy get hit by a car. It was really alarming. We stayed as witnesses and comforted him before the police came. He was the sweetest. He will be okay, but was pretty hurt. I now use the cross walks with a lot more caution.

Hasta la pasta.

Hermana Failner

I was transferred in the middle of the transfer ~ Lexington Week 1 ~ Mission Week 26

This pictures is off the internet, not sent by Jennica

Hello everyone!

This week was beyond crazy... where to even begin? I have yet to have a normal transfer on my mission thus far. In fact, this transfer I was transferred in the middle of the transfer. Yes, that's right. Allow me to elaborate.

This past Monday night, at around 8 pm I might add, Hmna Barajas and I got a call from our Mission President. He asked if we would like to have our car back. Of course we said yes! He then proceeded to tell us that we would get it back.... but in a bit of a different way. He told us that he was closing our entire area and that we had to be completely moved out of our apartment by Wednesday morning at 7 am. This also included moving out furniture, dishes, EVERYTHING that was in the apartment, cleaning out our area book, and running around trying to say goodbye to our investigators and ward members. We had one day to do it. It was beyond insane. Luckily we did receive some help from our district leaders, ward members, and the housing coordinators! It was a miracle. Sister Roderick, the housing coordinator, told us that no one was planning on coming to help us, and they told her not to, but she decided to come anyway with her husband. It was divine revelation! Had we not had them there Hmna Barajas and I would have been up the ENTIRE night in addition to working the entire day and being up all night the previous night. I am so grateful for the area I served in and the wonderful people there. I am going to miss them so much.

First, the reasons for our area closing were because it was so small and also because of how unsafe our area was. Especially without a car. It was crazy. And our car would never be returned. The complex we lived in was not a kosher place to be living, and they finally realized that. The reason for it happening in the middle of a transfer is because some other sisters went home... and it happened to work out to transfer us right then.

Second, it was really amazing because I finally felt like the English and Spanish members have become more unified. In fact, with two of our investigators that we have had for quite a while, ward members told me that they would make sure that they weren't forgotten and that they would do everything they could for them and to fellowship them. It meant the absolute world to me, to the point of tears. I love these people so much and the fact that the English members could see that and see how important these people are really meant so much. In addition, we had lost contact with Cesar, but he called the night before we left. He said that he is still reading and still doing everything and that he won't stop doing it. It made my year that he called us to say goodbye. The ward members have been so good with him and realize that we can't lose him. I know that he will not be lost. I have realized that God will find a way to have the elect to receive the gospel. He will.

Lastly, it was pretty sad. I didn't want to leave. I didn't want to give another area all of the people we were teaching. I loved my area so much, and now it is completely closed. It was really, really hard. But there are purposes behind it and I know that the people we were teaching will somehow get the chance to receive the gospel again.

So, where am I now? I am in the great city of Lexington!! It was actually Hermana Baraja's old area. Here's the other crazy thing: I am actually serving in a trio right now with Hmnas De La Vega and Arnoldsen. Hermana De La Vega will be going home in two weeks... which is when transfers actually are, so it works out that I will just stay with Hmna Arnoldsen this next transfer. I absolutely love them!! We seriously have a blast together. I'm sad that we only get to be in a trio for two and half weeks because I love them so much. We also have a car. Praise the Lord. Life is good. It was really sad to leave my area and have it get completely shut down, but I am happy to be in Lexington. I really like it here. And we are in a Spanish branch! No more translating!

That's what I have for this week. It was insane.

Hasta luego.

Hermana Failner

This picture is off the internet, not sent by Jennica