Sister De La Vega

Hey everyone!!!
so i made it safe to Kentucky!! haha well actually Indianna! haha so i got into Louisville yesterday and it is beautiful!!! so green, i am in love, and everything is so pretty. Especially the colonial houses!! but man is it humid! other than that the weather is nice, it feels amazing in the mornings and night. so we got to louisville and the mission president and his wife picked us up and they live like 15 min away from the airport. their house is beautiful, and we spent the night there. There was 24 missionaries and i was the only spanish sister! I love it though! i feel so cool lol even though im not LOL. and elder plumb which came with me from the mexico mtc was the only spanish elder. There are like 40 missionaries total that speak spanish. so there isnt a ton, and we get really big areas. it was super weird speaking english! hahah i forgot soem words lol and at the aiport i kept talking to people in spanish forgetting i was in america hahah. and every single time i saw thr word ramp i thought of rama which is branch in spanish lol. but it was fun! we had bomb food, and everyone was so nice, and we had a testimony meeting and then this morning we had a transer meeting where we got our companions! My trainer is Hermana Marsden! She is from Mountain Green Utah! she is really cool i love her! We get along super well and i am so excited to be working with her! And I actually assigned somewhere that isnt even in kentucky! hahah we are serving right now in Evansville Indianna! They have a big spanish population here so im excited! It took us about two hours to get here! and i have already met some wonderful people! We actually have a dinner appointment at 6 and a lesson at 8 so im sooo excited to get to do the real thing now! So this morning we had our meeting, and then we had to have a trainers meeting on saftey, and then we had lunch and took lots of pictures. Then we drove all the way to evansville with 10 other missionaries, and me and my trainer did some shopping and stuff. I like our apartment, its really small but its homey! ahhh i just love it here already! I am so excited to teach and serve! i still cant believe that i am here! I love you guys so much and i hope you have a great week!
Love, Hermana De La Vega

and here are some pictures!!! some are from my last day at the Mexico MTC! yeah its sooo pretty! and there is a bug b in the backgrounf from the high school it used to be! So thats me and Hermana Winters, and the Elders from my district! they're awesome! and then me and my trainer Hermana Marsden and the Mission president and his wife! love you all!

Well this is my last week here!!!!!!! ahhh i cant even believe it! I am really leaving the Garden of Eden, this nice place that everything is prepared for me and going off to somewhere where i have no idea whats going to happen! i will know exactly when i am leaving Thursday or Friday so i will let you know. I just am really excited and really nervous! i worry that my Spanish wont be good enough, or that i don't know everything that i need to know, or i wont be able to answer questions people have, but i worked really hard here. <i tried my very best to study the most that i can, to be obedient, and be happy, and i know the Lord will bless if i just continue trying to do the best that i can. Our teacher told us to treat this last week like the last week your in Field and that means HARD WORK. me and my companion started to doing personal language study before 6:30 am so we can get better in Spanish, because i know i can only qualify for the gift of tongues if i am trying my very hardest to understand. There is not enough hours in the day to study everything that i want to! i have gotten really good at reading on the elliptical so that is very impressive haha. so i try to study everywhere i go. but here is a little bit about my week! Well today we went to the temple again! We left at 7 am and it was awesome as usual! Im really happy i got to go one more time before i left! I love it!!! But this week has been awesome as usual! I feel like i have had the best MTC experience. I had to say bye to my really good friends yesterday because they are all leaving on their missions! It was really sad, because you see these people everyday for 6 weeks and share spiritual experiences and you ust get so close with them. But i know they will all do amazing. I loved the Friends i have made here, and the mu teachers are amazing. They inspire me so much to be better each day. We are still teaching investigators here, and they are getting more complicated! i like it because it gives me the chance to know what to do in a real situation, and learn how to be a better teacher. Its funny me and companion whenever we extend a baptismal invitation and they except we get so happy that we forget to extend other invitations like going to church and stuff ( which is a necessity lol) and its just funny because we need to learn how to calm down hahah. but everything is still great, i haven't gotten sick here at all, and it rains pretty much everyday and it really fun to play in. We have earthquake centers here at the mtc outside the building where you in need to stand in that spot when there is an earthquake and we have had 3 earthquakes! you cant feel them from where we are, and there not big, just an alarm rings and everyone has to go outside. Its always at inconvenient times too hahah like one time it was during a lesson, and then at breakfast, and then in the morning, hahah people were like in towels and stuff it was hilarious. but yeah dotn worry we are all safe. I have learned alot more about commandment God has given us in this life and why we have them. Some times it easy to think that we have commandments just to restrict us on doing things, but Heavenly Father is so loving that he wants to give each of us the best shot possible to be able to return to live with him. Thats why we have commandments, because if you follow them, no matter what situation you are in, your are promised certain blessings with each commandment, and they lead you back to heavenly father. There is a reason for every single commandment, and if we obey with exactness, the blessings of heaven cannot be stopped. Why would you want to say no to being abundantly blessed? That has made me want to obey all my mission rules with exactness, and all the other commandments have given us. I love looking at them with a different perceptive, and i feel like i am more effective teaching them. It was raining really hard here yesterday and i had forgotten my umbrella but i was glad because the rains here feels awesome and me and comp just played in the rain, and while i was walking right outside of our classroom building seriously i step out my comp and another friend were sing ¨stand by me¨ and all of i suddenly i completely biff it hahah it was the funniest thing everrrr, hahah and very ironic because i was no longer standing. hah awkward, but people saw and i don't think anyone has laughed so hard, so i though you guys would like to know that i am still clumsy and loving it hahah. We had a devotional where we saw another one of Elder Hollands devotional at the MTC in Provo and i saw Elder Jarman! it was so cool! Ha he gave an answer and the mic when Elder Holland was asking for volunteers, and i was so happy to see him! it was cool. After the devotional was over Presidente Pratt asked me to give the closing prayer ( were best buds) and asked me where im going to announce it, and when i told him Louisville, he told he had family there that were not members! so he is giving me their info before i leave so that was way cool! Oh and i also got a bunch of compliments on my prayer! Everyone thinks i am a native now! hahah no where close though but it made me happy. Life is good here, and i am still so grateful that i get to be a missionary. I came here wanting to making people happy with the gospel, and change someones life for the better, but being here has just made me want to tell everyone out there about our gospels unique message. That God is our Loving Heavenly Father. He knows you personally inside and out, and that he wants you to return to live with him someday. He is so loving that he has sent us help and way that we are able to accomplish this plan. That is though his son, Jesus Christ, that died for not only the sin or the world but for each of our sins, and knows are pains, and sorrows because he has been there too. That through him we can be clean from sin, that there is life after this one, and that we can be with our families, and the ones we love forever. I love this gospel so much, i have a testimony of it with all my heart. I have learned so much, and i know everyone can be strengthened with this message and find a happiness they have never felt before. I love you all so much and I am so excited to work even harder in Louisville Kentucky, and i cant believe that i get to be the one to spread this message! I hope you are all happy, and safe, and know that Heavenly Father loves you completely, even though we may be incomplete. I love you all as well. Adios!


Hermana De La Vega

so i cant belive i am half way done with my stay here!!!! its crazy! I love it here! well to give quick little overview of my week, we have been getting a lot of raina nd it hails here!! hahah and it hurts! haha its kinda funny though watching us all freak out hahaha. I have made some great friends here, the other Hermanas here are so sweet. I could see myslef being friends with them forever! and i liek i said our ditrist is all bestfriends, and thats awesome. e get to go to the temple today to and im so excited!!!!!! ahhh! its will be our first time, and i think we get to go one mor time and its only like 10 min. away but i am so happy! I will let you all know how it went! This week was amazing though, i felt like i have learned alot more about this gospel, my slef and My Savior Jesus Christ. We were learning about the Plan of Slavation, and you know i understand and I know but we were asked to really really think about it. And our teacher asked us to write whatver question you have about it on the board. So i started thinking really deeply and i came up withth e question that i had of ¨ Why did an all knowing God have to send someone to be my advocate when shouldnt he know how im feeling and such if He is all powerful?¨ something along those lines, and reading over that question now seems so simple, but at that point i couldnt concentrate on anything else. I want studying the next day and such and i was still having problems fully understanding this concept of a Savior. I talked to my ditrict Leader about and i was upset in class and my teacher Hermana Sherwood pulled me aside outside to ask what was wrong and i just poured out my heart to her. I told her everything that was bothering me, and what was confusing me, and such. She and I studying togetherin the scriptures, and I had asked her that same question why things had to happen a certain way. I had prayed to God to send me help so that i could knwo for myself and boy did He send me help. Both my teachers helped me understand this concept more with the parable of The Debtor, and The stroy goes witha man needing money and asking for a loan and thinking he can pay it back. He signed a contract so that it would be fair. Well time came and he could not pay off his debt. He sentenced to jail, but wanted mercy. But the law of justice could not be statsified if the man forgave his debt, but mercy could not be extended either. There needed to be a bridge, because even though God loves us, and Knows us pefectly, no unclean can dwell with god, and since we all sin we are all unclean. So there must need ne a way where Justice is served and Mercy. So this is why Jesus Christ dies for us. we must pay the consequences of our sins but that makes it so that no one can live with God again, So Jesus suffered for ALL of our sins, so that we are forgiven, and justice is brought, and we can live with God again. and thinking about it now it is so simple, but i have such a more deep understanding. I have alwats known that Jesus is my Savior and Redeemer, and my eldest brother, but i think i undetand more of what He actually did for me. And i know if it wasnt for him than we would have seriously nothhing. I was also sturggling with the thought that my job is to invite people to come unto Christ, but i think ¨wait we pray to God though, dont we want them to come to God?¨ Then why is our Church names Church of Jesus Chrsis, shouldnt it be names Heavenly Fathers church? but i also came to know that Jesus Showed us the way to come unto God, and They are one in purpose, and that while we may worship God, we are eternally grateful for Jesus and his sacrafice, and for showing us the way. And we are indebted to Christ, and all he asks of us is to follow him, and keep his commandment. He has given us eternal salvation! and for that i am grateful. Because without Him, we wouldnt be able to live with God. It was just really awesome to really find out for myself. I love being here where the spirit is so strong, and i can learn how to better spread this wonderful message! I know that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the Living God, and know that by His merits, i can be clean, and live with my Heavenly Father Agian, and I know Jesus is the only one that could have done what he did because he was ¨ Like God¨ (Abraham 3) i just love being a missionary, and helping others come unto Chirst, just like I have come unto Chirst. Ilove you so much, and I hoep all is well.

Love, hermana De La Vega