"When you listen to your heart you listen to the Spirit"

      In the YSA ward that I am serving there is someone from Rhode Island!!! He's actually in my home stake too!! I didn't know him from back home because he was baptized about 2 years ago but his name is Paul Lavasseur, does that ring a bell to anyone? He is currently in the navy so that is why he is out here. Very nice kid, but he said something that I just want to share with you. He said, "when you listen to your heart you listen to the Spirit". Throughout the whole week I've been noticing that because I am doing that I can differentiate between what the Spirit is telling me. For example, every night we send out "reminder texts" and we have a group already set, so we send it to the usual people, but last night I was impressed to send it to someone else. His name is Chris Lemin, he was baptized in January and has recently been having a rough time. All the text said was to "read and pray, enduring to the end isn't easy but we must exercise our faith", about a minute after we get a call from him. He asked us why did we send him the text. We told him the we thought he would need it. He expressed his gratitude because it was something that he did need and that at that precise moment he was thinking about leaving the church because he no longer found a "point to it". I know that we followed the spirit when we sent the text, I know that God answered his prayers through our text and I know that the small simple act of kindness helped him. Each one of us can have those simple, yet powerful experiences, if we follow our heart, do what is right, and try to live worthy of the spirit. 
      This week was a little stressful for us. We had to plan for Teresa's Baptism and had to basically teach her all that she needed to know in 3 days. We really learned how to teach simply and clearly during those lessons. As we made arrangements for her Baptism we kept running into problems. Once we would resolve one, another would show up, so it was a crazy week. But once she was baptized, I forgot about all the problems we had to go through and realized how blessed I was to be able to help her come closer to God and Jesus Christ. Every Stressful thing was worth it because you could just see her happiness. It was a great day, and she shared her testimony at her service, and she mentioned how happy she was. The Gospel is Happiness. It is the only thing that Brings us joy and everlasting happiness.

-Hermana Recinos

Pic- Teresa's Baptism! 

"Is there anything too hard for me?"

      We had a really good week! Yuset was baptized on the 14th! Her family came and supported her and we had some members come as well. Sister Seo, a member Matthew Schwendinger, and I did a musical number. Sister Seo played the violin and we sang Be Still My Soul, they said it sounded good so I am glad for that. 
      When Yuset was baptized we were scared that we wouldn't have anymore people to teach, but like always God provides a way! We were able to find 3 new people to teach and one of them has a date to be baptized for next Saturday!  Her name is Teresa and has been taught before, about 10 months ago, but her parents wouldn't let her be baptized, but now she really wants to! So she came to church on Sunday and we met her. Now we have a week to review everything she learned and prepare her for her baptism! We are excited but also a little nervous. I know that everything will turn out the way God wants it to. 
      Sister Seo and I have been trying to find more people to teach, so we've been doing more walking and talking to people. We've had some success, and some failures, but nothing is too hard for us!
We met this guy Tim, very nice guy who makes wands and canes as hobbies, they are really cool! 
       We had brother Diazi speak to us at church (high priest in the stake)who is from Boston and he has an accent. He said "Life is hard, and without trust in the Lord it is harder". I started to think about that more as the day went by and I thought about what trust is. It's hope and faith, and motivation. If we don't have any of that in our life we are literally just wandering. I am grateful for this Gospel that gives me motivation to be become more like the Savior. 

-Sister Recinos

Jose's Baptism.

      Jose was baptized on Saturday the 7th! That was just amazing he was ready and he finally realized it! It was a great service, lots of people went and Jose was so happy you could see it in his countenance! He's had a change of heart that comes through faith in Christ! I can't wait until they go to the temple and are sealed for all time and eternity!!! 
      Yuset is still working to being baptized the 14th! She has a problem with coffee, so we decided to help her out. We decided to sacrifice something that we liked as well. If you know me you know I love chocolate so I decided that I wouldn't eat chocolate if she wouldn't drink coffee. It's been a week and I haven't had any chocolate but let me tell you , it's felt like I haven't eaten chocolate in a month!!!!!!!!!!!! Now we didn't really specify if this is for life or just until she baptized, idk. My dad will be proud when he knows that I am not eating chocolate, he's been trying to stop me from eating it my whole life!
      This week we also had tamales! Guatemalan tamales!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sooo good!, Sister Seo didn't really like them, but I did!!! 
      I also went on exchanges this week! I went to a different area with another missionary, Sister Stockland. We taught a recent convert who's been struggling a lot and wanted us to to teach him about adversity. It was on the spot too but the spirit really lead that lesson. We shared experiences and scriptures. Specifically we shared about Joseph Smith, how much he had to face, and his struggles. We read how we are given struggles so that we can be made strong. When we trust in the Lord, and act in faith we can overcome all adversity because God is on our side. Then we testified about the Savior. He faced it all, and he was perfect We can't expect to have a perfect life, if even he, who was perfect had to go through pain and temptation.  I know that all we go through is for our benefit and growth. 

-Sister Recinos

Poc- Jose getting baptized!!

Tijuana!

      So if you've been reading my emails, you might have heard about a man named Jose. He was an investigator in my last area (Logan Heights). If you haven't here's a sum up. Jose is a man who has had 6 strokes, his wife and son were recently baptized in October, and before his last major stroke he wanted nothing to do with the church or missionaries. Well, he is now a changed person, he's accepted the Gospel and will be baptized this Saturday and because I taught him I can attend his baptism!!!!! I am beyond happy and excited to see him be baptized. After I was transferred I was worried that he wouldn't be baptized, he had a date for Feb 14th, but he's moved up his date! The Lord really does know what he is doing and he knows better than us!
      Everything is going well here in Chula Vista YSA. Ysa is pretty fun, lots of activities! We had an actvity, Karaoke night. We went because our investigator was going, and she's really shy. Well that night it was really hard for me to focus on my missionary purpose with all the singing and it was really hard for me not to sing along to some of the songs. I have to admit, I failed, I didn't go up and sing a song, but I might have sang along to some songs. My companion and I participated and went up to sing Amazing Grace. 
      We are working hard trying to find people to teach and we are trying to work with Less Active Members, so we will see how that goes! 
      I wanted to share a story, that someone gave in their testimony on Sunday:
 A Teacher had an empty jar and filled it with rocks and asked the class if it was full, they said yes
then he got pebbles and put them in the same jar, and asked the students if it was full now, and of course they said yes. 
Then he got sand, and put it in the jar and asked if it was full, and they said that for sure it was full!
Then he got water and put it in the jar and asked them if it was full, and of course they said yes, now it was completely full. 
Our life represents the jar, we've got work, and school and family, and other responsibilities and sometimes it feels like we don't have time for all the things we have to do, but if we prioritize then we will. 
We can't fill the jar with water first, because we wouldn't have room to fit anything else. 
So in our lives we have to prioritize. We must put the Gospel First. Putting God first will help us accomplish all that we have to and when we do that we are happier! I know it!! 
Hope you all have a great week! 

-Sister Recinos

1st Picture- Tijuana!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so close! TACOS! :)

"Full-Pros"

      I got transferred, saying goodbye to the people from my last area was the hardest thing ever! I felt like I cried a river, no lie! But it was okay, I know that Heavenly Father will continue to help them. I am now in Wonderland! (we call it that because anything can happen in our area) I am serving in a YSA ward in Chula Vista, even closer to the Boarder of Mexico! People from here go to Tijuana just to get tacos! Crazy huh! That also means that I am now an English sister! So I dusted off my English scriptures! It is definitely different from Spanish work but I do like serving with the Young Single Adults, I can really relate to them!
      This area is also one of the biggest areas I've served in! We cover the whole stake! We don't have many investigators yet, but we do visit a lot of Less Active members, there are lots. We do have an investigator named Yuset and we invited her to be baptized on Feb 14th! She came to church and liked it! Ysa has lots of activities, FHE, Institute, movie night, dances, etc...We get to go to most of them so it's pretty fun. 
      My new companion is Sister SEO! She is from Korea, and sadly she doesn't know how to make Korean BBQ, but I still love her! She is really funny and her favorite words are Anyways and Holy Cow!!! She's been on her mission for 5 months, and she already knows English really well! She also introduced me to this Korean snack that basically look like Cheetos puffs, but instead they are chocolate flavored! I love them! 
Now I am "Full-Pros", that means for 3 months I will not be serving in the Mormon Battalion Historic Site. It's a little hard because you get used to being around other missionaries and meeting lots of people at the museum but I really like being full pros because that means we get to study a lot more! I am learning a lot, and I get more time to really study for investigators! Recently I've been reading in 2 Nephi 14-20. These Chapters quote Isaiah in the Old Testament. Isaiah is known for being kind of hard to understand but I came across a couple of scriptures that I really liked. Several times throughout a couple of Chapters it says "For all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is still stretched out" I think that this scripture really shows Gods mercy. Sometimes we make the same mistakes, over and over again, but because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can receive that forgiveness and keep moving forward. My favorite part of the scripture is that it says "his hand is still stretched out" and it will always be stretched out. We can always turn to the Lord for strength and he will provide it because he loves us! 
I hope you all have a good week! 

-Sister Recinos! 

White Wash

      We just received our calls to see if we will be transferred from our area. We've been "White Washed." In missionary terms that means we are both leaving the area and they will be putting 2 new missionaries here. It is kind of sad because the people we've been teaching can be lost, or maybe they will progress slower because they don't know and don't yet trust the new missionaries. But I know and have faith that Heavenly Father has a plan, and in the end everything will work out because it always does!!!!!!!! He has a greater plan that maybe is hard for us to see now, but his ways are higher than ours! 
      This week we had an activity at the Mormon Battalion with our branch. We had a bbq, hot dogs, and everyone watched Meet the Mormons. Senovio went and he really liked the movie and he is really close to being baptized! I know I say that all the time, but it is true! 
      I wanted to share some scriptures from one of my studies. I read Galatians 5:16
 "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh."
When the Spirit is with us we can  resist temptation. 
 Gal. 5:22-26

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

 24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

 26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

      Solanchi Fernandez gave me a journal that says "The Spirit is Key" and that is so true! 
Without the Spirit we wouldn't receive our testimonies, I wouldn't be able to teach and we wouldn't be guided. I love the Spirit. I want and need the spirit. 
      Funny story! I accidently drank soap! 
I put some soap in a water bottle because I didnt want to carry the whole container. The next day I wanted water, and I didn't notice that I grabbed the one with soap, so I drank it, but I didnt swallow! It was really really gross! 

-Hermana Recinos

pic- my zone went bowling last week!

The best exercise of all!

      Exercising is great whether it's running, crunches, squats, push-ups, etc. Heavenly Father wants us to have strong bodies, but the best exercise of all is exercising our FAITH! 
PMG says
"Faith in Christ leads to action. It leads to sincere and lasting repentance. Having faith causes us to try as hard as we can to learn about and become more like our Savior. We want to learn what His commandments are and then obey them. Even though we will still make mistakes, we show our love for Him by striving to keep His commandments and avoid sin."
I think Heavenly Father gives us struggles, so that we can exercise faith in him. I've seen that a lot on my mission as I've gone through hard times. I see it a lot in the people that we teach.
       We have an Investigator Senovio! He has changed so much because of his Faith! He has noticed it in himself too. He loves coming to the Mormon Battalion Historic site and watching the movies. He came this week to see the Testaments movie. He loved it and got teary eyed. He is very close to accepting a date to be baptized and although he has a couple of doubts he knows if he is baptized it will be good. We had a lesson with him on Saturday, with a member Hno. Escobedo. After the lesson we went to see a baptism. As the man was being baptized Senovio asked if he could be baptized right then. He did say it in a joking way but I think he does have the intentions of being baptized. Now he has to exercise his faith and take that step. 
      Also, our investigator Jose, has accepted a date to be baptized on February 7th and his son, Angel who was baptized in October passed out the Sacrament for the first time! 

-Hermana Recinos

pic- senovio!