Family and Friends!!!

Another GREAT week in the blazing hot and beautiful Azua! Really this week was one for the books!

I´ve learned this week the role I have as a Representative of Jesus Christ. It really hit me this week when I heard it and realized what it entails more profoundly and personally. We, as missionaries all over the world, have been called and set apart to do what Jesus Christ would do if he were in our shoes...I really understood this when we were in the middle of a lesson (k keep in mind that this lesson took place in a colmado, in a mini store nothing like it back home..closest is like a 7 eleven but really not the same) In the middle of the lesson a guy came in and started saying things to us, but instead of turning away and ignoring him, I felt the need to redirect him. I told him that he had more potencial then he realized...that even though people had neglected him that he was still a son of God. He stopped bugging us and actually listened. I know that Jesus Christ came to LIGHT UP the way back to our Heavenly Father and we ALL have that opportunity...no matter where we come from or what we did. He paid the prize for ALL of US and we can be free as we accept Him and His Atonement in our lives!

I LOVE this GOSPEL with all my might, mind and strength and I never get tired of testifying of its truthfulness...I am beyond happy because I couldn't be doing anything better at this time in my life!

"For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it—" Scripture of the Week

I also learned a lot about GRATITUDE this week! The importance of being grateful for all the Lord has given me this week made this week one of greatest...as we are grateful in every moment, we realize that the Lord loves us IMMENSELY!

That is all for now...

Love,

Hermana Fernandez

New Year...New Place...

I'm in AZUA! (which is south of the country) it's way more campo (country) here...It's definitely a different change/feeling since it's the first time since I started the mission that I change areas..San Cristobal was home and family, but it's time to move along EVON....

I am loving it here though! The people here are just as loving and accepting!

We had two baptisms this week...Pamela, who is a super joven, she was super doubtful when I got here, but she took a huge step this last and read all the scripture chapters we left her and made it to the water! Daniel...who is a well known teacher here in Azua got baptized and the sister missionaries did a great job finding him, because god prepared him precisely for this very moment...his was a GOLDEN investigator! They contacted his son who became very uninterested and they started talking to him and he had never really accepted the missionary before Hermana Sanchez (my new companion) found him! He testimony strengthened my testimony so much this week. He knows exactly why he got baptized and he is so excited to learn more....last Sunday, he told me "Hermana Fernandez, este sabado van a tener un nuevo miembro de la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias porque yo me bautizo!"....I LOVED THAT...translation: "Sister Fernandez, this Saturday they're gonna have a new member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because I'm getting baptized!!!"

I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to be here for that very reason...finding people that are absolutely ready to accept the Lord in their lives!

Til Next Monday!

Love,

Hermana Fernandez

Understanding to LOVE more PERFECTLY

My heart is FULL! I don´t really know where to begin...

What does the pure love of Christ mean to you? (I'd really like responds to this question...)

This week was full of miracles. I'll like to share one...

Iluminada is one of our new investigadores, whom I have grown to love so deeply in two weeks. She is so special. She has longed her entire life to find the Way where she can find hope and be free from her burdens. She opened up to us about her life and afflictions after sharing a powerful lesson on the First Vision, when Joseph Smith say God, the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. That night was when I realized I had reached a new stage in my life. I hadn't felt what the Lord feels for each and everyone of us so abundantly and powerfully like I did that night with Iluminada.

The Lord knows us so perfectly and personally....He crys with us, I know he does because He did that night with her...I felt Him.

He knows our sorrow and afflictions like He knows our happiness and triumphs. He cried with us that night and He used us as instruments in His Hands, so that she could know that she is a daughter of God, that she has great value in the eyes of God. He loves her so personally. This is true for everyone who is here on earth at this very moment, who has been and who has to come. I KNOW THIS IS TRUE WITH ALL MY HEART and BEING! 

God's love is so immense that there are days that my body can't handle it's grandness and I feel weak, yet strong all at the same time...

I can't feel anything but love for the people here...the Lord loves His children so much and has given me the opportunity to feel, even a small part of that love for the people, whose lives the Lord has had me be a part of. 

I challenge you all to get to comprehend the pure love of Christ and apply it to your neighbor, who is your brother or sister.

I ask for your prayers for our investigadores in San Cristobal, because now more than ever Satan is hastening his work as We hasten the Lord's Work.

Our investigadores...

 - Iluminada, for strength and comfortness

 - Angel, for strength because he has been prepared perfectly to recieve us, missionaries

 - Ray, whose getting baptized this week

 - Marcelino, who has been tried with patience as he anxiously waits for his papers to get married

...and recent converts:

 - Sencio

 - Melissa and Yulissa

BIG NEWS: The call for TRANSFER was last night...I leave!  I leave my first area after almost 7 months, I've shed tears enough...because I grew to be part of a family here, but now I'm off to where the Lord shall send me, which is AZUA, which is in the south and SUPER HOT...good thing I'll be there during the coldest months of the year! I'll go where You want me to go...

I'll send pictures soon...I've been kinda awful at taking pictures, but no worries they are coming real soon!

Thank you so much for you love and support.

Love,

Hermana Fernandez