EPIC HALF POINT...

Family & Friends

This week was jammed packed with greatness!

Flashback:

-          On Tuesday, we went to the Temple!! It was so great =) I got to reflect a lot on my life up to this point & all I´ve gone through during the last 6 months since It´s been 6 months since I´ve gotten to be in the Lord´s temple.

The LORD loves us...just look around you & up...what else could you ask for? He made it ALL...FOR YOU!

¨But Alma said unto him: Thou hast had signs enough; will ye tempt your God? Will ye say, Show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony of all these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.¨ - Alma 30:44

He made all of it for us.. How does that make you feel? How does it make you feel to know that you are literally a child of an Almighty Being, the King of Kings, the Eternal Father, your Heavenly Father?...Think about it for a sec.

-          On Wednesday, I HIT 9 MONTHS...and I was like WHAT?!?!?! Because time doesn´t exist here in the mission, so when we stop and think about it...it feels as if days do not exist, only months or every six week (a transfer). So to realize I´m halfway kinda was crazy...but I did get to reflect on how much I´ve grown and who I´ve become in the past 9 months of my life! I´m so grateful to be here! So much has happen in such little time...

-          On Thursday – Sunday, we are working with tons of families which is such a huge blessing here! And it´s amazing to see how the Lord is preparing amazing families here in Azua. Everyone is so ready to come unto the Lord, we just have to open our mouths and declare what we know to be TRUE. SHARE what makes us unbelievably happy in this life and what gives us greater hope for the future.

General Conference is coming up sooooo so soon! I can´t believe it...I´m so excited! And to prepare I´ve been focusing on reading all of the General Conference talks from last October...Key to Spiritual Protection = SCRIPTURES...I´d like to share a talk I read this week from President Boyd K. Packer. HE´S AMAZING.

I want to highlight some parts of this talk...

¨The scriptures hold the keys to spiritual protection. They contain the doctrine and laws and ordinances that will bring each child of God to a testimony of Jesus Christ as the Savior and Redeemer.¨

That is fact. The scriptures WILL bring you a testimony of Jesus Christ and show you the path way back to our Heavenly Father.

¨Years ago, Elder S. Dilworth Young of the Seventy taught me a lesson about reading the scriptures. A stake was struggling with tensions and difficulties among the members, and counsel needed to be given.

I asked President Young, “What should I say?”

He answered simply, “Tell them to read the scriptures.”

I asked, “Which scriptures?”

He said, “It really doesn’t matter. Tell them to open up the Book of Mormon, for instance, and begin to read. Soon the feeling of peace and inspiration will come, and a solution will present itself.”

Make scripture reading a part of your regular routine, and the blessings will follow. There is in the scriptures a voice of warning, but there is also great nourishment.

If the language of the scriptures at first seems strange to you, keep reading. Soon you will come to recognize the beauty and power found on those pages.¨

This kinda explains it in itself…READ the BOOK of MORMON even if you don´t understand it…GREAT PROMISES await you.

¨We live in perilous times; nevertheless, we can find hope and peace for ourselves and for our families. Those living in sorrow, despairing at the possibility of children being rescued from where the world has taken them, must never give up. “Be not afraid, only believe.” Righteousness is more powerful than wickedness.¨

I know that Prophets and Apostles are called of God, just like I know that Christ and I live. I know that we are privileged to be part of His Church in these last days. LET US TAKE THE GOSPEL TO THOSE THAT HAVEN´T FOUND IT YET! I know that Heavenly Father loves you and me more than we can possibly imagine. Hold on to the IRON ROD and help others come unto it…(if you don´t know what the IRON ROD is…READ THE BOOK OF MORMON=))

Thank you so much for everything! LOVE. SUPPORT. And STRENGTH.

Love

Hermana Fernandez

...on the Lord´s Errand

happy birthday Daddy! I hope you had the BeSt BiRtHdAy EvEr! I was thinking about you yesterday and thinking about how time flys because I remember coming home last year and surprising you for your birthday! How time flys huh?!

Oh boy. Where to begin...

Well this week was so great..I feel like I say that every week, but truly each week is better than the last one, which is probably why the time is creeping up on me! Can you believe I´m half way!! WHAT?!? Unbelievable I know...

Someone shared this with me this last week and I truly think that my time here serving the Lord and my brothers and sisters is really summed up in Alma 26:16...

¨Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel.¨

We had a zone conference this week and it was one of the most uplifting experience I´ve had! We learned a lot about faith, the power of the BOOK OF MORMON, and our evermost motivation to do the Lord´s Errand!

FAITH. This is the beginning of all things. Trusting in something or someone that you don´t see but know that it is TRUE or EXISTS. It´s a power that we can hold, a power that we sometimes don´t realize we can have. This has been the main focus of my week...understanding the real meaning of faith and how to increase my faith in the Lord..

There was an awesome baptism and birthday surprise this week for a awesome young man. Kelvin is the greatest kid! His testimony rocks my world...the world has rocked his life and he´s a 17 year old that has been through more than a kid his age should go through. As we show the Lord through our acts and desires to do what he asks us to do and choose to be faithful to Him, we truly come to realize how FAITH and HOPE in Christ brings to past Eternal happiness and we can have a taste of that happiness in this life.

Kelvin helped me realize to that as we grab hold of the Lord, we overcome anything the world throws at us. (1 Nephi 15:24) I can testify of that truth. I´m so grateful for the love I constantly feel from the Lord. He knows us so perfectly and individual and it´s truly been a priviledge to constantly see that LOVE he has for ALL his children, even those who push Him away.

I know that this gospel is true. I know it with every fiber of my being that this is the Lord´s Work and that as we submit to His Will, His pathway becomes more and more clear and we can almost see what the Lord sees in us and who we can become! I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that through Him the Lord reestablished His kingdom on earth. Joseph Smith is one of the greatest examples of that power of Faith and sacrifice and being on the Lord´s Errand no matter what opposition presented itself.

I know these things are true. and if you don´t know this for yourself yet. I invite you to ask God, He loves you and you are his son or daughter and if you ask Him with real intent and sincerity, He WILL answer you!

Thank you for all your support and love! Hope to hear from you all real soon!

Love

Hermana Fernandez

P.R.A.Y.E.R. is essential!

Dear FAMILY and FRIENDS,

Just another BEAUTIFUL week in the Incredibly Gorgeous Hot Dominican Republic Island!

News Report from AZUA: I love this place and the PEOPLE are amazing and the LORD´s work is HASTENING on like NEVER before!

The Church is fairly new in the DR, so it´s so great to be part of this wonder time in the Lord´s Work! Azua...the city I´m in now is soon going to be a stake, so we´ve been praying lots for families and it´s amazing TRULY how the LORD has prepared families here in AZUA. We sure do need more families. This week we found 2 new families and we´re baptizing 1 in 3 weeks!!

AN ENTIRE FAMILY!!!!

They are so wonderful and it´s so great to see the beginning til their baptism because you truly see the change they make in their lives and the faith and willingness that grows immensely and rapidly as they come to know the truth of this GOSPEL! This church is true because no matter where you go in the world it´s the exact same, the only thing that changes is the language!!!

I focused a lot on PRAYER this week...

¨Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father in my name;

And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you.¨ 

(3 Nephi 18:19-20)

This scripture was probably the most used this week! Prayer is such an amazing priviledge that is looked over much more often than I thought! and it is so important in our constant daily conversion!

Nadie puede saber las verdades espirituales sin la ORACION! - Preah My Gospel

(translation: ¨No one can know of spiritual truths without prayer¨...that´s a pretty powerful statement...I´ll let you ponder on that!)

That´s this week in a nutshell...

Love,

Hermana Fernandez

P.S. Here are some...

FUNNY MOMENTS and GREAT ones:

- I drank coconut milk until I about blew up..see photo.

- I got smacked on the bum...twice by a 2 year old..SO UNEXPECTED!

- A catholic lady witnessed her son-in-law getting a blessing and ASKED FOR ONE TOO!!!

- played baseball with a bunch of kids on the street....with a baby doll head

AZUA is SOOOO......HOT!!

FAMILY y AMIGOS!!!

I hope your week was full of so much LOVE...

This week was full of miracles and greatness! It also went by super fast! I love this gospel, IT is SOOOO TRUE! We have 3 FAMILIES progressing...FAMILIES, which is so rare here. We are teaching both husband and wife...and they are progressing!!

Oscar and Valencia are one of those miracles that we have recieved. They were so ready to recieve the gospel in their lives, we were contacting one day on a SUPER HOT day and we weren't really excited to be walking out in the sun after being stood up at our last couple of appointments that day and Oscar and Valencia were outside their house when we passed by, which was the first time I had seen them after a month of passing that street and my companion Hermana Sanchez told me that there was never people there and that was the first time she had seen them too after being in Azua for 4 months. SO WE WENT FOR IT and contacted them! They were so friendly and Oscar asked us about baptizing babies and that if we believed in that and invited us in...SCORE! That was about a week and a half ago. Now they are progressing so much! Then on Friday we came over to share a message and discuss and invite them to baptism and right after I finished asking them...THE LIGHTS WENT OUT!! I was like...of course...then they brought a candle and asked what they thought about putting a date and Oscar said I'm kinda scared because right when you asked the lights went out....so...we explained how there's opposition in all things...we shared 2 Nephi 2:11 y 13.

"For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.

"And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness there be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not there is no God. And if there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away."

And they were so happy and at peace at the end...so we booked it out of there and invited them to church!

THEY CAME TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY! and they want a BOOK OF MORMON!

This gospel is SO TRUE...truer (not sure thats a word) than true! I have no doubt about it and even through the many oppositions that hit our course daily...I have the gospel to HOLD ON TO..it's the only sure thing this world has to offer! The gospel gives us that hope and security the world doesn't offer.

"Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God."

This has grown to be my favorite scripture over the last few weeks!

Thank you so much for the love, support and prayers! Really they are much needed and greatly appreciated! Because Heavenly Father is listening to you!

Love,

Hermana Fernandez