Filled to the brim

Well my friends,

This week was AWESOME! Did you expect any less? Something cool that I've always wanted to do on my mission is get rid of people's Word of Wisdom problems. We're talking pouring alcohol down the drain, throwing out coffee, cigarettes; you know, the works. and I finally got to do it on Monday night! We went on exchanges with the Central Falls English Sisters and I went there with my good friend, Sister Watts, and we helped their investigator get clean! Also, the lady lived in Bremerton once upon a time! Hahaha. What a small little world! We flushed her cigarettes down the toilet and we took a trip to her friends house to give them her coffee stuff. It was so fun! #BucketList #Check

Also, Thanksgiving was awesome! We ate, and we ate, and we ate! Good times! So my first thanksgiving on the mission was the only day when I was really "homesick" but luckily this year wasn't a repeat :) We weekly planned in the morning, then we dropped off some thank you notes, and then the feasting began! We had a Honduran thanksgiving, then a Dominican/American thanksgiving, and then a Bolivian thanksgiving. And we were literally filled to the brim. Wow! And also just filled to the brim with thanks and joy and charity. I love these people! And they just so freely spend a part of their holiday/family time with us missionaries! It was the best. 

This week was so fun because we had a bunch of members out with us! Even when we didn't have an appointment set we exercised our faith, got a member out with us, and things just started to happen. We picked up a new investigator named Adriano, and he's just an elderly Dominican dude. We had a member out with us, and as soon as Adriano opened the door, Hermano knew that they guy was alcoholic. All he did was observe him for like 10 seconds! It was crazy! The lesson was a little slow, and it's obvious that this dude has some problems, but our member has been working with alcoholics and addicts for many years, so he is committed to help us help this man to change his life. We will see where our good friend Adriano goes! Maybe we will get to do more Word of Wisdom clean up? Eh? eh? :)

I love the simplicity of the gospel! This morning I was reading in Alma 37 and Alma was talking to his son Helaman about the Liahona and how it is a type of Christ (see verse 45). By following the course of the words of Christ we will be led to the promised land. And you know what I love? He is referring to the promised land of the celestial kingdom, but also we can arrive at the promised land here on earth as well. And the way to do that is to follow Christ's teachings and example as laid out in the scriptures and words of the living prophets. 

I don't know about you, but I'm tryna get to that land of milk and honey. But can I make that almond milk, please? 

Love you all!

Have a great week!

Con amor,

Hermana Frei

#thankfulweek

All I want for thanksgiving is to make #thankfulweek a trend. You can take the girl off of social media but you can't take the social media out of the girl. Am I right? Maybe I need to be more focused and consecrated? Probably. 

BUT GUYS!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

And there is so much to be thankful for! Namely that we found 3 AWESOME new investigators again this week. I am thankful for Gerardo, Maria, and Omar. They are some really cool children of God. Also, I am thankful that I got to try and "Awful Awful" this week! What is an Awful Awful you might ask? Think frosty bust like 20 more flavors. And it's a RI unique creation. I love that. I had the ChocONutter flavor and Mm Mmm Mm! So good! Also, I am grateful that our member who usually serves us mountains of rice let us serve ourselves last night. It's the little things, my friends. My goal before I leave this area is to let that lady know that missionaries don't want or need that much rice. This is a crusade. This is real. 

More grateful moments: Felipe received the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday! Woot woot! Also, we set up our Christmas tree this morning! Weeeeeeee! Guys, I just love the holidays. I love decorations and the happy holiday spirit. I am grateful for the Book of Mormon and miracles and the restored gospel. I am grateful for socks and boots, and sewing new buttons on clothing. I'm grateful for tostones (double fried plantains), member-present lessons, and happy missionaries. I am grateful fro good health, the missionary schedule that allows me to get 8 hours of sleep every night, and running in the morning. I am grateful to be serving in the Massachusetts Boston Mission in Providence, RI. I am grateful for my family and friends that write me and make me feel loved and appreciated. I am grateful for all the faith-building experiences I've had this week. I'm grateful for sticky notes and pass along cards. I'm grateful for the knowledge that God is my loving Heavenly Father and that He knows and loves me. I am grateful for my companion, twinkling lights, and cinnamon. I'm grateful for life.

I love you all!

Love,

Hermana Frei

Moving mountains

Well folks, to start out, I want to share with you a scripture:

"But behold, I, [Becca], will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith..." 1 Nephi 1:20

This week has truly been so amazing! Many of you have asked, and no, we didn't have to go eat mountains of rice yesterday! THE LORD IN HIS INFINITE MERCY!! :) Hahaha.

But really though, we were just running around like crazy all week. Wednesday we had MLC and Stake reporting for the Providence Stake, then Thursday we had to plan zone meeting, then Friday we had said zone meeting... And it was all SO AWESOME! I learned so much and I just feel so grateful to be here, in Providence, in this sacred place in this sacred time. THE FIELD IS WHITE! 

So after training the zone all about faith and getting them pumped, we needed to exercise a little faith of our own because 0 new investigators for that week. So we worked our little hearts out the rest of Friday and Saturday and nothin. The field wasn't looking very white... Let's just leave it at that. And Sunday we had a ton of important appointments with investigators and recent converts, and a baptism! So it's not like we had time to go knock doors or whatever. So we prayed for the Lord to put the 3 people in our path. And He did! Of course He did. Not only that, but in EVERY appointment we had we met a new potential. And then other missionaries were calling and texting us off the hook to give us referrals! It was crazy. I know that when God gives you a commandment He ALWAYS prepares a way for you to fulfill it. "He didn't send us here to fail, but to succeed gloriously." -Richard G. Scott

High-five, Elder Scott!

Also, as aforementioned, we had a baptism yesterday! Our good friend Felipe was looking soooo good in a white jumpsuit! And his fiance was just so giddy with joy. I love that. They will be married in 2 weeks :) Hna Grecia is so awesome. She wouldn't set a firm date to be married until he was baptized, and now they are all set. 

Anyways, I love being a missionary. I don't know how often I say that, but probably not often enough. This is the best occupation in the world. Ok, maybe motherhood beats it... But it's pretty great! I love just being happy and smiling at people and making them happy. I love just being a little glowing light, just running around scattering sunshine! There are way too many people in this world who have so many burdens on their shoulders. If I can do something, no matter how small, to lift that burden then my day has been a success. Keep on keeping on! I can't believe that Thanksgiving is next week. 

IS THIS REAL LIFE??

Con amor,

Hermana Frei

Mountains of rice

Wow. Guys, Providence is rad. This past week has been a blast! So I started my mission in a well-established Spanish Ward, and now I'm finishing my mission in a well-established Spanish Ward. So cool! It's weird going from our little Rama in Worcester where I knew EVERYBODY and everyone needed our help, to come here where I know nobody and a lot of people are all set. But it's good. I love it here. And pretty soon I will know everybody, so it's cool :) 

The reason for the title of this email is because of the dinner we had yesterday. Apparently Providence is known for being the most fattening Spanish area in the mission -__-  And I learned why yesterday! There is this sweet, wonderful Dominican lady who feeds the missionaries every Sunday. The Elders and Sister Lira tried to warn me about it, but I've eaten a lot of food before. No big deal, right? WRONG. When we got there there was a HUGE plate of rice sitting on the table, with chicken, fried plantains (shudder), and a huge salad. I was all, "Holy moly cow." But we sat down and I was all, "Hey, I can do this." But then-- plot twist, the woman pulls out ANOTHER giant plate of rice and sets it in front of me. Like what? 

THERE WAS A PLATE FOR EACH OF US

Immediately I started looking for escape routes. And God, in His infinite mercy, allowed the woman to go shower while we ate, and I used the Ziploc bag that held my plan of salvation cutouts to dump 4/5 of the rice into it and stored it in my purse. It almost didn't all fit... Ai ai ai! But wow, dodged that bullet... Next Sunday could be interesting... Stay tuned, lol. 

Also, yesterday was just a crazy day. Sweet mercy! We got a call from the Elders during our appointment when we were planning the baptismal service of our investigator... And the greenie elder got into a bike crash and split his upper lip in two, and lost a tooth. So after our appointment we rushed over to the hospital to see how he was doing... poor kid! Just 18 years old and is on his 2nd transfer in the mission. I think he'll be fine though. He just needs a lot of dental work and stitches. Please keep our good friend, Elder Ruben, in your prayers!

Also, the saga of 3 new gators per week continues! It's rough to come to an area mid-week and not know ANYTHING or anyone and find 3 newbies, but we did it! Again, the Lord in His infinite mercy provided a way! And we didn't just find 3, we found 4! A whole cute little Dominican family! We were already teaching the dad, and we invited the whole family in and taught the Plan of Salvation. It was one of the best Plan of Salvation lessons I have ever taught in my mission. Plus, Sister Lira is great! I have so much to learn from her!

Guys, life is so great. It's weird to come to this area and telling everyone how long I've been on the mission... Yes, I know. It's been a while... But I'm not done! The work is not finished and I will continue running. I am so ready to get to know everyone here and just love them. I'm excited to find new people to teach every week and jump-start this area. The field is white! By faith we can move mountains and do other incredible things. I love this gospel and my Savior Jesus Christ. Something cool this weekend was Stake Conference here... We took the sacrament as a stake! It was wicked awesome! I'm grateful for that sacred ordinance. 

I love you all! Keep the faith!

Con amor,

Hermana Frei

P-p-p-p-providence!

Hola hola!

So transfer texts came, and to no one's surprise, I am getting transferred! My reign has ended here in Worcester. It has been a good, solid 7 months, and I only cried like 5 times yesterday saying goodbye to everyone... It's cool. But yeah, I'm going to Providence! As a sister training leader! I'm so excited! And I get to stay in the Spanish program. Awww yeah! My new companion is from Nicaragua, so it's gonna be rad. I'm gonna miss Sister Barney though. We've had too much fun, and have seen soooooo many miracles. But change is good.

In other news! Halloween was cool! We had a baptism!! Woot woot. Our good friend Jimmy Galdamez entered the aguas and it was beautiful. Most of the branch came to support him and his family. Also, I've never eaten better food in my life. That's what happens when Salvadorians throw a party. Love those guys.

Also, President Miller challenged all of us to read the Book of Mormon in the next 2 transfers... Little did he know that I had already started a challenge of my own... So I decided to read the Book of Mormon twice in the next 2 transfers! I'm so stoked. I love me some good Libros de Mormones. :) 

Anyways, life is good. The gospel is true! I love being a little, baby missionary. We just share the gospel everyday, you know? And sometimes you just love people so much. Actually, all the time you just love people so much. Life is a struggle, but a glorious struggle.

Anyways, I'm gonna stop being sappy. 

Love you all!

Y'all are awesome!

Con amor,

Hermana Frei