CAMBIOS

Querida Familia!

Well, I found out last night that I´m going to have changes. I don´t yet know anything about my new area or my new companion. On Wednesday we make the long bus ride to Cardenas where each of the missionaries who have changes meet and await their fate :) After a short meeting they will tell us where we are going and who our companions are. I know that changes are inspired directly from our Heavenly Father. I recently re-read the talk ´´Come What May and Love It´´ by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin. It is such a wonderful talk!! It has really helped me to develop my trust in my Father in Heaven and in His will. I love this talk because as we learn to accept the will of the Lord, we will eventually come to love it. We will understand that God truly has a plan for us and we can trust that it will always be the best for us. In this talk Elder Wirthlin mentions four steps to accepting and loving the will of the Lord. 1)LEARN TO LAUGH Laugther truly changes our perspective. A smile is one of the most powerful tools that we have. As we enter each situation with a smile and a positive attitude our eyes will be opened to the countless blessings that the Lord has for us 2)SEEK FOR THE ETERNAL God´s perspective is much grander than our own. As we widen our view we will gain a greater understanding of the trials and blessings that we are given. God has so much happiness planned for us--not only in this life, but in the eternities as well. 3)UNDERSTAND THE PRINCIPLE OF COMPENSATION The Lord compensates the faithful. If our eyes are single to the glory of God and we make living this gospel a priority, we will never lack. We will have all that we need....and more. The plan of God promises much more than mere contentment and comfort, we are promised eternal JOY! We will be compensated for any sacrifice that we make to follow the will of the Lord. 4)PUT OUR TRUST IN OUR HEAVENLY FATHER AND JESUS CHRIST If all else fails - TRUST. Trust in our loving Heavenly Father and patiently wait for Him to enlighten our understanding. As we accept the will of the Lord we are demonstrating our love for Him and telling Him that we trust Him. We are imperfect, but the Lord is without fault. We can trust that His will and His plan for us are flawless as well. Trusting can be easier said than done, but I know that all will be well as we exercise our trust in our Beloved Savior.

Well my dear family, I love you all so much. You are each some of the grandest blessings that my Heavenly Father has granted me. Thank you for the support and the examples that you all are. Much love :)

Go Forward With Faith,

Hna Falslev :)

Oh....and HAPPY HALLOWEEN :)

The Work Is Moving Forward

Dear Family!

This has been a great week, and I´ve been blessed yet again to see miracles from my Heavenly Father. The highlight of my week was on Friday, when I was able to accompany Leandro and Maxima, two recent converts that I´ve mentioned before, to the temple as they entered for the first time to do baptisms. I was asked to help in the baptistry as a worker, so I was able to watch as they both entered the baptismal font. Tears of joy streamed down my cheeks as I was blessed to watch them take part in temple work and see the joy on their faces. This gospel has truly changed them. Maxima is a different person completely, always smiling. Afterwards, we were able to talk to them about the rest of the work that is done in the temple, the sacred work that seals families together forever. They still are working faithfully towards the goal of being sealed in the temple next August. I hope that I´ll be in an area close enough to the temple that I can attend.

Also, I was so excited that they asked me to help out as a temple worker. I loved it! And it really made me want to work as a temple worker, especially in the baptistry when I get home. I love the temple!!

This Sunday my heart almost burst with joy as I watched two inactive members walk into sacrament meeting. One is a mother of 3 who hasn´t attended church for years. We´ve been visiting her for so long, and she finally came to church and brought two of her children with her :) The other is a 17 year old named Victor who hasn´t been to church for about a year. He used to always leave when we came to visit his house (we have lunch there with his mother every Friday), but he slowly started to talk to us. And now he makes sure that he´s there every time. He has really started to trust us. He suddenly started coming to the ward activities and we were shocked when we saw him walk into sacrament meeting on Sunday.

I could physically see the change in these members faces. As they are beginning to once again live the gospel and accept it fully into their lives, I can see the light and the happiness illuminating their lives. It brings me so much joy! I have developed a deep love for both of them as I´ve visited their houses and beared my testimony to them.

I know that this is the work of the Lord and that He is very heavily involved in all of it. He is moving His work forward and blessing the lives of His beloved children more and more each day. My heart is full of gratitude that he´s given me the opportunity to be even a small part of it. I love this gospel and I love my Heavenly Father.

Love and miss you all lots!
Go Forward With Faith,

Hna Falslev :)

(no subject)

Well, it´s been yet another week full of many miracles and many blessings. This week many of the less-actives, recent converts, and investigators that we´ve been working with attending church on Sunday. One in particular that I was excited about is named Ramon Carrillo. He´s a recent convert and he´s been having a lot of difficulties lately. We haven´t been able to talk to him for quite a while now for various reasons. Finally we were able to find him and talk to him on Friday and invite him to a group activity that night. AND HE CAME! He later told me that the spiritual message in the activity was a very direct and clear answer to his prayer. He was so happy :) Then he came to church on Sunday too!! He´s such a wonderful person who has one of the most contagious smiles I´ve ever seen; he simply needs to make some changes in his life. It´s truly been miraculous to see the Atonement of Jesus Christ at work in this man´s life. I´ve learned so much about the beauty of the Atonement as I´ve seen this man apply it. This gospel is incredible!

So after church on Sunday we had to walk through a monster of a rainstorm.....like there aren´t words to describe this torment. The six missionaries in our ward arrived at our lunch appointment completely drenched. In situations like that you really can´t do anything other than go with it and laugh about it afterward.
We spent a lot of our time this week working on a service project. A member asked if we could help him to clean a house. We thought that would be a simple enough project and happily accepted the invitation to help. We arrived to find out that he is actually completely renovating a house that should probably just be destroyed. It turned into a week-long project. The house has already come a long way, but not without many hours of hard manual labor. After the first day, after 9 straight hours of scrubbing and scraping we returned to our house. I walked in, dropped my bag, and layed down on the floor. I physically couldn´t move. We were all so exhausted! I can honestly say that I´ve never been so exhausted in my entire life. I do enjoy the service projects however, and they truly are one of the best ways to share the gospel :)
 One last thing . . . I read a talk this week that really changed the way that I look at the gospel. I´m going to include the link and suggest that you all read it if you can.
 http://www.lds.org/new-era/2012/08/his-grace-is-sufficient?lang=eng Much love to you all!
Go forward with faith!
Hna Falslev :)

Buenas!

Well, first things first, we had changes last Wednesday. I'm still serving in my dear Santa Librada, but I have a new companion. Her name is Hna Salguero and is from Guatemala as well. She only has 3 months in the mission, so we're learning together :) She told me that she was really nervous when she found out that she was going to have a North American companion, but then everybody told her that Hna Falslev is the Norte that already knows Spanish so it was okay haha :) One elder actually told me that he thought that I was Latina when he first met me, but that may in part be because I'm no longer very white.

On Tuesday a sister in our ward from El Salvador taught us how to make pupusas. We had a lot of fun making them, AND they were delicious. It's like a taco . . . but better :) This week I also tried chiceme--a yummy drink made out of corn. I also tried pepinillo--a little green fruit that is without a doubt the most sour thing that I've ever put in my mouth. Yup, that won't happen again any time soon.

I believe I've already told you guys a little bit about Leandro and Maxima. To put it simply, they're my miracles :) The change that I've seen in them is difficult to describe and incredible. My heart starts to swell just thinking of it :) They're so special. Well, we went to visit them last Tuesday because Hna Rodas was leaving for changes. They began to express their gratitude to us for bringing them this gospel. Maxima said, You've given us everything. You gave me a bible, a Book of Mormom, and a hymnbook. Then Leandro said, No, they gave us knowledge, they gave us happiness and hope. What more could they possibly give us?! I wish that you could hear it in his voice. Moments like that make every single trial that I've had here worthwhile. The gospel of Jesus Christ has changed their lives and I've been very blessed to witness it. The amount of love that I have for them is overwhelming. I'm convinced that it's simply the love of God being transmitted through me to His children here in Panama. I'm very grateful to take part in this blessed work. It's awe-inspiring to see what can happen when someone decided to fully accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. IT'S MIRACULOUS!

Go Foward with Faith,

Hna Falslev :)

Small and Simple

Buenas Tardes Familia! I hope you are all doing fantastically well :) It´s hard to believe that yet another week has passed, this week seemed to have gone by especially fast.

On Wednesday morning we went to the temple as a zone. Oh how I love the temple!! There really is no better way to brighten a day. The few hours that I got to spend in the temple made my whole week better. It truly is the house of the Lord and He blesses us with so much peace when we take the time to go.

I think I´ve officially learned Panamanian. Actually, I know that I still have a lot to learn, but I feel very comfortable with the language now. One of our investigators actually asked me if I have Latino ancestry the other day. And one of our contacts didn´t believe me when I told him that I was from the United States. It took about 5 minutes for my compa and I to convince him that I was telling the truth. Then he kept asking me to say stuff in Spanish because he was baffled at the fact that I didn´t have an American accent. That made me happy because my goal was to learn to speak Spanish like a native. Mission accomplished :)

I´m learning that the Lord communicates with us through such simple means. Yesterday Hermana Rodas and I found a family that seems SO prepared to receive this gospel simply because we decided to take a different route home. They seem really positive, and we´re both really excited about teaching them. The Lord is constantly speaking to us, but more often than not it is through something small and seemingly insignificant, so sometimes we don´t count it as much. The Lord´s hand in the small things is such a great testimony to me that He truly loves each of us and is aware of us. He frequently brightens my day through the tiniest of tender mercies. I love the scripture Alma 37:6-7 (I think) that explains that the Lord works through small and simple means to bring to pass great things, miracles. It´s so true and I´m learning it more and more every day. I know that the Lord loves me and is aware of me. He´s constantly speaking to me, I just need to take some time to listen :)

I love and miss you all. Thank you all for being so wonderful and supportive. I know that I´m extremely blessed to have each of you! Much love!

Go forward with faith!

Love,

Hermana Falslev :)

Mi Querida Familia!

 

Good morning family! I hope all is well and that you are all having a spectacular day! It's another beautiful day here in Santa Librada. We just got finished with lunch at Hermana Oda's house. Her food is delicious, and her chicha is absolutely divine. We actually have our P-Day on Wednesday this week because we're going to the temple, but President Carmack prefers that we still write on Mondays so that he doesn't get calls from concerned mamas and papas, so here I am :) It's been a good week. The Lord truly teaches me more and more every single day, I love it! :)

I want to share a scripture that I came across earlier this week--2 Nephi 25:26. It says, ''And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophecy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.'' I absolutely love this scripture! Nephi is not talking about a passive life here. He's talking about a life that is actively and completely built around our Savior, Jesus Christ. We've been promised in Helaman 5:12 that if we establish ourselves around Christ we will have a sure foundation and we WILL NOT fall. We CANNOT fall when Christ is our foundation, in any and every circumstance.

I want everything I do to be a result of my faith in and love for Christ. I know that by following, learning, believing, and trusting in Christ, I can become like Christ. That's so incredible! And how can I represent Christ if I am not like Him? As missionaries our objective is to ''invite people to COME unto Christ . . . '' The word 'come' implies that I have to already be where Christ is. I have to be with Christ before I can invite others to come unto Him. In other words, I cannot invite people to live this gospel unless I am first living it whole-heartedly myself.

I know that Jesus Christ established the way for us to live, and I know that His way is the only way that leads us to the joy that will come from living with our Heavenbly Father and our families for eternity. We've been promised eternal happiness and we've been shown the path that we need to follow to achieve it. We simply have to do it :)

I have such a love for this gospel and there is no doubt in my mind that it is true. I KNOW that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared before Joseph Smith, and I know that through Joseph Smith the plentitud of the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored. We have this gospel in our lives because God loves us and wants nothing more than for us to return to live with Him. We're so blessed to have this gospel in our lives.

I love you all SO much and hope all is well. I've learned that if all else fails, count your blessings because it's hard to not be happy when we take the time to realize how blessed we truly are. Much love to each and every one of you!

Go Forward With Faith!

Hermana Falslev :)

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

It's Raining, It's Pouring

 

Hope all is well back home! :) So last Monday we spent our P-Day in the city. First we went to Hard Rock.....Oh. My. Heavens. That food was so delicious, and the best part was that it wasn磘 chicken and rice! After lunch we went to see La Cinta Costera--a beautiful stretch of the ocean along the edge of the city. Even though the day started out nice and sunny we ended up getting caught in yet another torment because . . . well, that磗 just what Hna Rodas and I do :) We were already dripping as we were walking back to the bus stop, but we found comfort in the fact that at least our heads were dry. As we were pointing out this silver lining we were walking along a skinny little bridge on the side of the road. It磗 really skinny and long and once you磖e on it there磗 no way to get off until the other end. At that moment we saw one of the big city buses coming our way. Our fate was sealed and we knew it. As usual, there was a river of rain water next to us. When it rains as hard as it does here it literally creates rivers. We磖e talking like 3 feet deep with strong currents. We simply braced ourselves and did our best to cover ourselves with our umbrellas. After it passed we poked our heads out from under our umbrellas....let磗 just say that our heads weren磘 dry anymore. Another car passed shortly after the bus, but once you磖e already dripping it really doesn磘 matter.

So we eventually made it to the bus. We stood on the crowded bus, dripping, for 2 hours. We got home around 7:30 and were still wet and freezing. We changed into warm, dry clothes and started walking to our dinner appointment. As we were walking we were talking and laughing about our day. I began to say something along the lines of, 创If I get splashed by one more car today . . .创 Sure enough, at that exact moment, the only car around for blocks hit the only puddle in the all-but-dry street as I was standing next to it. Luckily it only got my feel wet, but it磗 experiences like that that remind me that Heavenly Father has a sense of humor too :)

On Friday night we got a call from the Hermana Leaders asking if I could come to their area and help them with an inactive couple that only speaks English. It was definitely an interesting experience. It took a while to get used to having a full conversation in English. It was also strange to be the only missionary out of 4 who could take part in the conversation. Hna Rodas could say a little bit, but I had to translate for the other Hermanas. I felt like I had stepped out of Panama for a while.

So there磗 almost always a lightning storm going on here but it磗 usually really far away, like behind the clouds, so you don磘 hear any thunder, you just see the whole sky light up. It磗 REALLY cool to see. However, yesterday the storm was right on top of us. There was a stretch of thunder that was ear-splittingly loud and lasted for a good 15 seconds. It was so loud that every single car alarm in the area started to go off. My comp wasn磘 a fan, but I found it fascinating.

Well, my time is running short. I know that this gospel is true. It磗 perfect. For any lack that we have or for any blessing that we want, there is a commandment and a corresponding blessing that the Lord has promised us. Obedience=Blessings It磗 simple, but the Lord has promised us that it磍l work every single time.

I love you all SO SO MUCH!

Go forward with faith,

Hermana Falslev :)