I love the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Isn't it just incredible? Everyday as I study more and more the work of the Lord I am in complete awe at what He has done and continues to do for me. The world is growing ever so cold and confused, but we have something to get us through it. There is literally a light that comes with the knowledge of hope and potential that awaits as we accept His will and His Gospel. 

As a missionary I've been able to have a front row seat to witness God's love. There is a lot of rejection, tears, heartache, sadness and feelings of defeat, but with it come peace, comfort, joy, hope and love. Not going to lie, there have been days in the which I have asked myself, "Is it worth it?" Is it worth it to go out every single day full of hope and desires to work, only to be disappointed with canceled appointments and the mockery of side way glances? Is it worth it to build a relationship, to put your entire heart, life and soul in the well being of another only to watch them take what you have offered and throw it over their shoulder as if it were a useless invention of yesterday's waste? Is it worth the pain? As I have pondered time and time again on this soul searching question the spirit places in my heart an increase of strength, hope and love. He helps me to see these people the way He sees them, and helps me to more fully understand the way He looks at me. 

24 ​He doeth not ​​​anything​ save it be for the benefit of the world; for he ​​​loveth​ the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw ​​​all​ men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation. (2Nephi26:24)

        

24 He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation.  (2Nephi26:24)

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.         30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Mat11)

Sometimes life is hard but the difficulty we go through is nothing in comparison to what Christ has gone through for each of us individually. I'm so grateful for the opportunity and the privilege that God has given me and each of us to taste and partake of His matchless love as we recieve with gladness the reality of His restored Gospel. I hope that we all may be a little bolder, stand a little taller, and have a little more confidence as we open our mouths, use our hands and offer sincere love to share this gospel with others. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week full of miracles and happy peaceful moments!

Con Cariño 

Hermana Warner

 Chalk art! It was really cute, little kids would come up and draw with us, their parents loved it and we were able to talk to them about what we were drawing.

18 months in the mission!! Whoot whoot!

Some funny things happened this week even though it was kind of a bummer...

My comp picked up a lizard after I told her, "Don't worry, it wont bite you, I promise" then it bit her and she threw it at me.

They have weird vending machines here that you can buy waffles, hamburgers, chicken burgers etc so I bought a crappy waffle covered in chocolate haha it was interesting. Better than a Twinkie.

There is this old sad drunk man who is so drugged up he is legit not even there any more. He just dances with his cigaret in the street and looks a little bit like Bob Dylan. Anyway he came up to us the other day to give a nice "Hello how you doing" We shook his hand and talked to him for a while. He didn't really make any sense but he seemed pretty happy to have human interactions. As he left he pinched my arm then continued to pinch attack Hermana Willden like a grandma pinches a chunk your baby. It was pretty funny. After he left she turned to me and asked, "Is this normal?" Yes my dear, yes it is.

We wanted to try a new tracting technique. We decided to take the picture of Christ off our wall and walk around the streets with it to talk to people about Christ. It was interesting and pretty sad. I feel like it really weeded out the people who aren't interested because they seemed to repel at the sight of the portrait. It was an interesting experience. As I held the portrait in my arms I was able to feel the literal significance of my calling as a representative of Christ. I didn't just wear the name tag and go out and talk to people. I literally carried Him in my arms and tried to share Him with others. I stood taller. Smile wider. It was probably most courageous thing I had ever done as a missionary I stood up and stood out in my trust and faith in Jesus Christ. And with it came the rejection, laugh and scorn.

The experience brought the words of the New Testament to life. John 15

18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me. 

Being a Latter Day Saint in a world full of confusion and devilish popularities is brutal and hard. But I wouldn't trade the picture of Christ in my arms for any of the things the world had and has to offer me. I'm grateful to be a member of His church. I"m grateful for the blessing that I had to be raised in the gospel and the incredible parents God blessed me with. I'm so grateful for you and Dad every day. Thank. You . Thank you.

I love you mom. Keep being strong and keep working hard. 

Have a wonderful week!

- Hija Jacquelyn

We went on a hike today

I guess I have to figure out technology.

Hey fam and friends! So we got some pretty exciting news! 

"This  past week, I  received two  exciting announcements from  the missionary department.  The first  announcement is  that our  mission has  been approved  to begin online proselyting.  This  means  that  after  being  properly  trained, we  will all be able to  use  social media  applications  such  as Facebook,  Instagram, Google Hangouts,  WhatsApp  and possibly others  to  proselyte.   This  is  a miraculous  blessing  that  will allow  us  to  find people  that we  otherwise might  not encounter.   The  second  announcement is that our mission  is  one  of the  first missions  worldwide approved  to  use smartphones.  In  the coming  weeks,  each  companionship  will  be issued  a smartphone with  a data  plan  to assist in  their  proselyting efforts.  We  expect to  begin  online proselyting and  roll-out the smartphone  usage during  the  month  of September. "

      Crazy! I'm so so so so soooo excited! Especially for WhatsApp EVERYONE uses it and they almost don't use anything else. The Lord is truly hastening his work.

     Another exciting announcement, VIRGILIO HAS A FECHA!! And he's so excited! On Sunday he went up to all the members telling them about how much he was looking forward to entering the waters of baptism and is basically planning out his own service making sure it's all ready. The Lord truly is preparing people to receive His gospel.

     Alma 13:24 ​For behold, ​​​angels​ are declaring it unto many at this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of men to receive his word at the time of his coming in his glory.

     Our mission has been seeing many miracles. I'm grateful to be a part of this work in Spain. I'm grateful for goal setting and planning in order to reach these goals. Here's a quote I love from Elder Ballard.

“I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life.”

I'm so grateful for this gospel! I'm so grateful for prophets! I'm so excited for Conference! I hope you all have a great week and that you are all prepping to have a fantastic General Conference experience as well! 

     Awkward besos,

Hermana Warner