The country club of the mission

President Wirthlin (the mission president here before President Rogers) apparently called Manchester the "country club of the mission" haha it's a little true. The area is so rich, it's ridiculous!

Well, I don't have much time today because we're always rushing off somewhere! But alas, it was an alright week! Okay, so this week was one of the hardest weeks of the mission so far. I've really struggled with inadequacies and stress. Taking over the area has been something that's really hard for me. I still feel like I have no idea who half of these people are! The shoes that Sister Folkman left behind seem too big to fill. All of the sisters that have served here are INCREDIBLE and I just feel so stressed trying to keep up all the hard work they've put in. I just really want to keep the area thriving and do my best! It's been harder than I thought, but I look back on the days and just see how truly blessed we are. The Lord is taking care of us! 

This week I read "the Fourth Missionary" A talk that I've been meaning to read for forever. I finally printed a copy and read it. It has changed my whole view on missionary work and the type of missionary/person I want to be! It's all about how I can better myself and rely on the Lord and His Atonement. How because of Christ, I can change. The whole Plan of Salvation is designed in my favor. To become all that Christ wants me to become. 

A few of my favorite quotes:
"life is hard, not the gospel"

"The whole plan of salvation is designed in favor of your success"
"He will create of you a masterpiece. You will create of you only a smudge. You will create an ordinary man. He will create a God." I have the strongest testimony that that is true! If we give everything we have to the Lord, He will make so much more out of us! 

I forgot my funny quotes book at home, but my favorite funny thing that happened is Sister Folkman bought a Justin Bieber book for $2 at the Bookstore. I'm still laughing. I LOVE HER AND MISS HER SO MUCH. 

Have a great week, thanks for all the love/support/letters/emails. God loves you and so do I!

Pictures: 

1. My adopted grandma for the selfie Sister Hoyt

2. JB

3. Last pic w Sister Folkman!

Sunny and 49*

Hello, hello!

Well it looks like all of your prayers paid off because the past few days the weather has been beautiful!!! (and by that I mean 49* so that's literally amazing)

Well on Thursday, President Rogers gave us a heart attack and called us. We never get calls from President so we were really worried something at home was wrong. We hurried and called him back and luckily it was just transfer calls! He was like 3 days early but that's alright. We found out Sister Folkman will be going to Carthage to open and train!! Holy cow I'm so happy for her, she's going to be amazing. And I will be staying in Manchester and get Sister Ferrin as my new companion! She was my STL my last two transfers in the Utica Zone so I already kinda know her! And she's from Taylorsville! 

This week we've been doing a lot of tracting and OYMing (shocking!!) It's awesome though. Because every single night as we go out in faith and really get over ourselves, the Lord shows us a miracle. On Saturday night I just was not feeling it. I was being selfish and really didn't want to be out OYMing. I've been sick the last few days and had a major headache and really just wanted to go home for the night. I said a little prayer and told Heavenly Father how I felt. I told him I didn't want to be out that night, I wasn't feeling well, and I wanted to go home. I asked Him to forgive me for feeling this way and to help me get over myself and get to work. I asked Him to show us the blessings that come from being obedient and working hard. Sister Folkman said we should go try and see if Wendy was working at Subway so we head over that way. We saw some people walk out of a pizza place and so we start to talk to them and asked them if they had a belief in Christ and they said yes but they were from out of town and they had their own religion and just weren't really talking to us. They walked away and we could hear them laughing about those "Mormon Girls". We walk into Subway and saw Wendy helping some customers so we waited and then we were able to share a little message with her! She told us how the first time we walked into Subway to talk to her, she told us that her life was falling apart and she wasn't lying. Then she told us that as soon as we came in to talk to her, things in her life started getting better. Little by little she can see the Lord blessing her and helping her put her life together. She told us some really personal things and I'm crying even thinking about it now. The things she shared really taught me that the Lord has a plan for everyone and told us to talk to her for a reason. Her and her family are now ready to receive the gospel! It's incredible. We left the shop and only had a little bit more time for OYMing and didn't meet anyone else so we were able to go home at 9. It was such a tender mercy to see the Lord truly blesses us when we are obedient. Getting over myself and fully submitting my will to Gods has by far been the most challenging thing on the mission. But everytime I do, I see His hand, His love, His mercy. etc. I am soooo thankful for my Heavenly Father and His Son. They truly live and absolutely love us. I am SO thankful to be apart of this work and bringing His children home. I'm super nervous about taking over the area, but if I've learned anything, it's that this is the Lords work. And nothing will stop it from progressing. Something my trainer said has been in my mind this week. "The Lord calls imperfect people to help with His perfect work" The Lord knows my inadequacies and yet still called me here. He can and will help me through anything! I am just so lucky to have this knowledge. I want to quickly give my testimony that the Lord is mindful of us. We are God's children and He loves us so much more than we can comprehend. He truly has a plan for each and every one of us and as we live righteously and are obedient. As we truly submit our will to His, He will make us into someone we never thought we could be. I've absolutely seen that. I love my Heavenly Father and know that as I put my trust in Him, I can do all things! 

I hope y'all have a good week! Don't forget to follow the promptings of the Spirit. Put the Lord first and everything else will work out. LOVE YOU GUYS.

Also omg literally the funniest tracting experience ever happened this week. We knocked and this little kid comes to the door and it took like 30 seconds for her to open the door. So when she does I was like "Hi! Is your mom home?" and she just nods. I was like "Can we talk to her?" and she just nods. So then her 5 year old sister comes over and was like "My mom's at work" so Sister Folkman was like "Is your dad home?" And she goes "He's pooping" HAHAHAH WE LITERALLY LAUGHED SO HARD AND WE WERE LIKE "okay we'll try back another time" and then just walked away laughing our heads off. Oh man I love little kids.

Also we met this girl named Lillian and she was soooo funny. We knocked on her door and she let us in and she was crackin me up, here's a few things she said:
"Not gonna lie I didn't know people did this.. I thought that was like a fake thing only in the movies and yet here you are, at my door talking about the Book of Mormon!" 

"One time I had a dream that I emailed the Virgin Mary asking her if she liked cows"

*in her prayer* "Back to you Lord! .... hey. My prayers are like a news report. Thank you Holy Spirit for the weather report over Jerusalem, now back to you Lord!" Oh my. We were dyin. 

Pics: 

1. eye LOVErmont (see what I did there?)

2. Happy Valentines day!

3. "Take the Book of Mormon. Just do it." I"M GONNA MISS FOLKMAN

YOSO

Y ou

O nly

S erve

O nce

Something I learned at Zone Training Meeting this week. Whenever I'm nervous to do something or when we have a potentially awkward situation, I just think "YOSO" and get the courage to do it!

A week of blessings! The Lord truly does bless us when we're patient and keep the faith, even through trails.

I used to think that trials or testing periods would come and go. If you just hold on and endure, then the miracles will come and the trials will be over. I have learned, however, that that is not the case! Even though we've been tested and kept the faith and continued to work hard, and the blessings and miracles have come, that doesn't mean that our trying days are over! The work has picked up and increased here sooo much but we still have so many struggles. It's the little miracles everyday that keep me going!

 

This last week was incredible because we picked up ELEVEN new investigators! A lot of them are families, which is so incredible. They have so much potential but of course, nothing is solid or progressing super well.

 

Remember last Sunday how our plans were changed because of the Super Bowl so we walked around for hours just OYMing and we met that cool girl Wendy? We went over to her house this week for our return appointment and she wasn't there, but her kids were! We were able to teach her 15 year old daughter and another guy in the house. We went over there again on Thursday and watched the Restoration video with them and picked up Sana (15 year old daughter), Rashawn (17 year old son), and William (one of her daughters boyfriends who's a christian). They wanted to come to church this week but it was snowing super bad so they weren't able to. Sana prayed in our lesson, and Wendy and Rashawn committed to baptism dates in April!! It was awesome!! I'm super excited for the potential there.

Also, my favorite experience this week was on Thursday. It was a snow day so everyone was out of school and work (literally the whole state shuts down and everything closes when it snows) so we decided it would be a perfect opportunity to try this potential Russ. He's a young dad with two kids that we haven't been able to see lately. We went over and he said we could come back later that day at 4. So we had a lesson outside in the snow with him (because there wasn't another woman home) and he just had ALL of these questions and problems with religions and everything and we had all of these awesome answers for him and he wouldn't even let us say a word! It was super frustrating because we would start to answer his questions and then he would just bring up something else that he had a problem with. But at the end of the lesson he committed to read the Book of Mormon and we were able to testify of how the BOM answers ALL of the questions he had. Towards the end of our lesson, his ex wife and her friend pulled up to the house. We started talking to them and Russ went inside. Well the friend, Kara, was telling us how she's Christian but hasn't been to church in years because she just wasn't sure which church to go to (SOUND LIKE ANOTHER EXPERIENCE SOMEONE HAD IN 1820?) we were able to tell her about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith's experience. While we were reciting the first vision... holy cow. I can't even tell you. Her reaction was PERFECT. Her jaw dropped and her eyes were WIDE OPEN. She was absolutely feeling the Spirit and she was like "Are you serious? How have I not heard about this? Could you imagine?! No one would believe you!" and all this stuff, it was incredible! It really reminded me of the scripture in John 10:27 "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me". She truly recognized that this message is true and it's from the Savior. She gave us her number and address and wants us to come and teach her more and she said she's going to bring her daughter to church next week!

Ahh, God is good. Miracles are so real! Even though we've still been struggling and the work is still slow, God is truly blessing us and helping us every step of the way. 

One more thing! It was super cool this week, we had ZTM and it was all about talking to everyone and OYMing. Afterwards, the elders and us went to McDonalds for a quick lunch before our drive home. We were walking up and saw some people outside. Sister Folkman and I turned to the left and started talking to this guy, I looked up and saw that the Elders were to the right of us talking to someone as well. It truly gave me strength to know that missionaries are doing this same amazing work all over the world. There aren't very many times when we get to see other missionaries working and sometimes it seems like it's just you and your companion against the world. But this experience showed me that there are always missionaries doing this work at the same time even when we don't see them. We don't stand alone in this work. 

I can't even tell you guys how funny Sister Folkman and I are. We laugh ALL the time. Like seriously I don't ever want her to leave. She is the BEST! She's constantly pushing me to be better, she truly leads by example, and is a dear friend to me. We have the hardest time going to bed on time because we could just stay up and talk and laugh for hours! It's the best. A few examples of how funny she is:

"I'm so glad I know the 'i before e except after c' rule, otherwise I'd be so lost in life." 

"They're like 'life is so easy for you, you're always happy!' and I'm like 'It's cause I'm not sinnin girls!'" 

"How do you spell quesadilla?"
me: "q-u-e-"
her: "WHAT"

me: "did i just blow your mind?"
her: "YEAH"

Pictures:
1. "the thug life didn't choose me, I cho- oh wait, no" 

2. I'M SO SO SO LUCKY AND BLESSED TO HAVE SIS CAMP IN MY LIFE WHAT WOULD I DO WITHOUT HER

3. Literally my favorite people in the whole world

4. We went to the most AMAZING Thai restaurant this week and got mango sticky rice  Thank you Folkmans for the treat!

5. This picture was taken outside a Jewish mans house. He talked to us for like 20 minutes and told us to question everything and how The Messiah hasn't come yet and all this stuff. WE said something about Jesus Christ and he was like a three year old and jumped up and down and was like "NO! NO! NO!". He was really cool though and sang us a beautiful prayer in Hebrew so that was sweet! 

Love y'all and hope you have a good week! If you could pray that it stops snowing soon that'd be sweet cause it's been snowing for like 3 days straight 

xoxo

Sister Rodriguez

Ice Ice Baby

The inevitable finally happened... I fell on the ice... twice... in one day ! I've been trying really hard not to complain about the cold, but I just have to. It is literally colder than cold here. I have finally accepted the fact that I will never be warm ever again. I honestly can't remember what it even feels like to be warm. It's so so so icy everywhere, we don't walk, we slide everywhere! The wind is definitely the worst part. It's so cold and pierces our skin! Gah I hate it! I'm soooo over winter!!!! I wear so many layers it's ridiculous but honestly I don't even care. I usually wear 2 pairs of socks, thermals and leggings (or two pairs of leggings) my huge snow boots, thermal shirt, undershirt, regular shirt, sweater, TWO coats, a hat, gloves, hand warmers, etc. That's the typical day in the life of serving in Vermont. 

So this week was fun, on Tuesday we went to this restaurant called Sushi Boat and got some sushi which was really good! 

On Wednesday we met with Ram again, he's from Napal, he was a former and he's been meeting with us the past two weeks. He has a really strong Catholic background so a lot of the stuff we share with him just confuses him. We were talking about how Christ is the Son of God and he got soooo confused and was like "what? what what what are you saying? Who is God?!?!? what?!" hahah we have a long ways to go with him but he's cool. 

Thursday we got to go see one of my favorite people ever, Brittni! So This was probably the highlight of my week. Because IT FINALLY HAPPENED. I swear every missionary is always talking about an experience they had when they were an answer to someones prayer, well it happened for me this week! Brittni told us the night we first met her, earlier that day she had been talking to her mom and said she just needed help. Her mom kept telling her to go back to church and then later that night we showed up at her door. She said she knew it was an answer to her prayer because she lives in a weird secluded area and there's no way we could have accidentally found her house. I'm not sure if I told the story of meeting her, but I'll share it quickly, we got these lists of Part Member families and we were out trying to meet them. We came across Brittni's name and decided to meet her. Her husband isn't a member (he's pretty anti in fact) and her kids are both baptized but inactive and so is Brittni. We go to the address from the list, and her house isn't there. So we decided to knock on a door and ask. The lady that answered said Brittni lived next door so we go over to that house and it wasn't Brittni, but it was her sister in law! And she was able to give us directions to Brittni's new house! And that night we went over there the same day that she said she needed help. While we were there the first night, she cried twice, and she cried again when we went over on Thursday. She is the sweetest person ever, I just love her already! She said she's going to ask to get work off this Sunday so she can bring her daughter to church! I'm really praying that it happens. 

Friday was also a really cool experience because during our personal studies, Sister Folkman and I just had a little breakdown. We were both just really struggling to stay positive and keep the faith and we were just having a hard time cause the area still isn't doing too well. We decided to ask Brother Vaughn if he would give us a priesthood blessing. He invited us over for dinner and gave us the most incredible blessings I've ever heard. It seriously was straight from Heavenly Father, and it was everything I needed to hear. The power of Priesthood is SO real. We are so lucky to have it on the Earth again. 

Sunday was a struggle because we totally didn't know it was the Super Bowl! We had our whole day planned out and then someone informed us about the game and we realized that would change all of our plans. So we basically OYMd for like two hours, but it was AWESOME because we met this girl Wendy and this guy Mark. They both seemed really interested and said we could come and teach them! 

Wednesday was also really cool because we had our District Meeting and we were all discussing things we needed help with and Sister Folkman and I shared how we're struggling with finding people to teach and getting return appointments and well basically everything. Our amazing Zone Leaders showed us so much love and shared with us how sometimes we can do everything right and do our best and still not see 'success' i guess. But this is a time where we just have to learn patience. Also this morning I was studying PMG and one of the scriptures is D&C 29:7 "And ye, Sister Rodriguez, are called to bring to pass the gathering of mine elect; for mine elect hear my voice and harden not their hearts" It really brought peace and comfort knowing the elect are still out there. They will recognize me as a servant of the Lord and they will be ready to hear the message we share. They're definitely out there, we just have to be patient and find them. :) 

Funny stories: 

Elder Baker: "An active member of the church goes to 6,000 hours of church including activities from 0-18 years of age"

Elder younger: "That's disgusting" 

Sister Folkman randomly: "I'm pleased right now. I just feel so pleased." (that's her new word this week, pleased )

Oh also, we were walking around OYMing and this car pulls up by us and it's a car full of these boys and they said they were from Argentina and like to have fun and wanted our number so Sister Folkman goes "oh yeah! We love giving out our phone number! We love teaching people about Jesus Christ!!" and the boy goes "okay. I text you." and blew us a kiss and then they drove away 

Sushi

We found some swings

After I fell..the second time that day

When I fell, I threw the phone and we are so lucky it landed where it did becuase it was so close to falling in?

Vermont