Experiencias espirituales

 Hey y'all!! 

This week was crazy!! A ton happened so no worries if you want to just skip to the pics at the bottom haha :) 


We had a 2 day zoom mission conference this week that was altogether about 8 hours. Haha kinda long to sit through, but it was actually really really motivating and helped me learn and see a lot of ways that I can improve and be a better disciple of Jesus Christ! We hosted a "virtual mission tour" for our area president Kevin Pearson so he gave the majority of the trainings! It was really cool because he said a lot of things that I needed to hear and I received a lot of ideas and inspiration for our investigators and how we can help them progress!! Then after 20 missionaries were chosen to be interviewed by him one on one over zoom and I was chosen! Even though I was nervous at first to be interviewed by a General Authority, he was very nice and encouraging! Turns out he knows my Grandpa in Samoa very well as he had many church assignments to Samoa so it was very neat to make that connection! 

One of the promises President Pearson gave us on the first day of the conferences was that as we applied the things he taught, we would be able to find at least one new friend to teach that day. Hna Rawlings and I badly wanted that promise to come true so we worked extremely hard after and tried calling formers and members to ask for referrals. Sadly no one was answering! I started to get a little discouraged but Hna Rawlings and I kept calling people with faith someone would be interested. I had a prompting to call one of our neighbors that had hung up on our calls previously as soon as we said we were the missionaries. Even though I wasn't sure if she would hang up again, we called anyways and she answered! Turns out she moved and thought we wouldn't be able to teach her anymore or come over! We explained that we could and taught her a lesson right there on the phone. Even though it was a small miracle, it was a testimony builder to me that God really does hear and answer prayers. 

Another thing President Pearson focused on in the conference was the importance of spiritual experiences in conversion. That is something we must actively seek for as disciples of Jesus Christ and especially as missionaries, something we must help our investigators experience. These spiritual experiences happen when we feel and understand the Holy Ghost. After the conference, we were inspired to try to help our investigators FEEL something different rather than just LEARN something different during our lessons. It was incredible because the next day we had 2 powerful lessons with 2 different investigators where they felt and recognized the spirit during our lesson! With one of our friends Marta, we were teaching about God's plan of Happiness and then we asked her if she knew what the Holy Ghost was. Her eyes welled with tears as she put her hand to her heart and said I think it is what I am feeling right now! The spirit was so strong in that moment as we testified to her that it was and that God loves her and is mindful of her!! We also began teaching a man named Andres who is going through many family struggles right now so we just testified to him of the love God has for him. He said he got chills during the lesson and was feeling something he had never felt before. We explained that it was the Holy Ghost testifying of the truth of our message!! One of the greatest privileges we have as missionaries is seeing people feel and recognize the Holy Ghost! 

We also FINALLY got approved to go street contacting this week!! (with masks of course)  Unfortunately all my previous experience in Argentina for finding new people to teach on the streets is worthless here because Americans and Argentines are actually quite different to approach. But I'm excited to learn and to have a new way to find people to teach!! 

In other news the smoke from the fires has gotten better here so we have actually been able to see the sun this week! But we did have an earthquake in the mission which was kinda crazy! It was in the middle of the night and we were about 20 miles away so I didn't feel it, but I have now survived my first earthquake! 

Anyways I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be God's servant in this time! Even though at times because of Covid it has been hard, I know that the Lord's work will move forward! May we all put more trust in God and His perfect plan of happiness for us!! Love this gospel and love you all!!

Con cariño,
Hna Tate

Flower walls are everywhere here :))



Some pics from Hna Rawlings first days in the field!! I can't believe she's almost done with her training!


Our sweet friend Marta!!

Someone (Hna Aguilar) FINALLY caught us in the middle of heart attacking lol.. oops 



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