"The Only Unconditional Surrender Which is Also a Total Victory"

Howdy folks! 

Shout out to my girl Tara for giving birth to a bouncing baby girl! I love you guys and I have been praying for your welfare. I'm super excited to one day get to meet little Josie :) Also, I was just gonna write a paragraph about how tired I am, but I didn't give birth or anything, so I have NO ROOM to complain... haha. Perspective. Gotta love that.

This week has been so rewarding! We picked up some new investigators, and I feel like my perspective on life has seriously broadened. Right now on the digital mission we are skyping with a guy in Venezuela and he is hardcore Catholic! It has caused me to really think deeply about the basic doctrines that I teach, know, and love. How grateful I am for the restored truths of the gospel and the guidance from prophets called of God! Also, Sister Barney and I are on a quest for consecration and that has changed my perspective on a lot of things. It's a fun quest! Let me tell ya :) You're all invited!

It's been cooling down lately around here, which is much appreciated, and it's been misty like everyday. #there'snoplacelikehome Thus, there's been all sorts of cool sunsets with the clouds, and lots of frizzy hair. Let me tell ya, folks. It's the lucha getting ready in the morning. Like should I try to look like a beautiful, beaming representative of Jesus Christ, or should I just leave my hair wet and get on with my life? Usually I do the latter, but yeah. Good stuff. That's probably why God wanted me to train, so that I could get a little greenie fire going when I get ready in the mornings...

Haha, anyways, that's just a sneak-peak into my life. In other news... I love you all! I love this gospel! I'm gonna leave you with an excerpt from one of my favorite talks: "In conclusion, the submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. The many other things we “give,” brothers and sisters, are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us. However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him! It is the only possession which is truly ours to give! Consecration thus constitutes the only unconditional surrender which is also a total victory! May we deeply desire that victory, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen." (Maxwell "Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father)

Once again, I love you all! Have a great week!

Con amor,

Erminuh Frei

Sup

Hey, 

So I don't really have a lot of time to clown around considering we are gonna go play KICKBALL with the zone, but it has been a crazy week! We've laughed, we cried, I've gone from a Mexican comp to my good friend Sister Barney and she is awesome! She's from St. George UT and we are very similar. One of my favorite things about her is that she's a runner as well!!! Haha! FINALLY. My lanta. So we go running and explore Worcester together in the mornings. It's pretty rad. Her Spanish is like mine was in the beginning: not fabulous. But it's not bad either! So I've had to do most of the talking which isn't my favorite thing in the whole wide world. But hey, I'm growing like crazy. 

Yesterday was insane and Alicia dropped her baptismal date, so please pray for her. We're kinda back to square one with no progressing investigators right now, so pray for us as well :) The good news is our members still love us, and yesterday at lunch with the Sanchez family we had a huge brainstorming session about who they knew who would be prepared to hear the gospel. And we got a pretty lengthy list. So we're excited. I love that. 

Anyways, Sister Barney is awesome and I love her with all my little baby heart. The church is super true! Like SUPER true. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that we are led by a true prophet of God RIGHT NOW. 

Love you all!

Hermana Frei

Tis the season

Well, in honor of my 2 sisters who will be giving birth in the next month, I have a little announcement of my own... I'M TRAINING!!! Not quite as drastic and painful as giving birth, but hey! It's still pretty exciting. I have the opportunity to pass on my year's worth of wisdom and experience to a new little baby missionary... How tender :) I'm super stoked! 

So, as you have all probably gathered, this means that my good friend, Sister Martinez, is leaving me... How do I feel about that? Ugh. But we both knew it was coming. We've been together for about 4.5 months. That's a healthy amount of time, my friends. Good heavens! But yeah, this week has been crazy! We've been saying goodbye to everyone and their mom and we've taken a million pictures and my chin is breaking out... Mom?? 

On Friday we had interviews with our good friend and priesthood leader, President Miller. Man, that guy is great. We had a good little chat about everyday repentance, meaningful prayers, the sacrament, and the digital mission! If you want more details just ask :) Also, we went on exchanges and guess who came to Worcester with me??? My good friend Sister Thompsie! Man, we did WORK. So we had like 0 appointments set and I was a little nervous about it, but God delivered. We went tracting and LITERALLY everyone let us in. Haha, it was crazy! Also, I love Worcester because there are certain neighborhoods that are entirely Hispanic. Good stuff. 

Anyways, tender mercies my friends. I love being a missionary, and in all seriousness I am super excited to train a new missionary! Stay tuned! The gospel is true!

Love,

Hermana Frei

Come 2 Zion

Well, folks, it's been a crazy week.

So crazy that I'm just struck speechless. And thoughtless. What happened this week? Good heavens to Betsy. 

We had a really great branch barbecue on Saturday. Fun New England Trivia: New Englanders call barbecue's "cookouts" and they refer to a barbecue as a "grill". For some reason the word "barbecue" doesn't exist in their vocabulary. Like they know what you're talking about when you refer to barbecue madness, but they look at you like you're totally from the West... Which I am. And proud of it!

Also on Saturday we brought Oscar out teaching with us! It was great. He teaches the Plan of Salvation better than any missionary I know. We're grooming him to be our branch mission leader. No big deal. He's so great! Sorry guys, but I'll probably be raving about how awesome he is until I leave this area... sooooooooooo... yeah. Also, more on Oscar, we printed out his dad's name to take to the temple on Saturday. He's so tickled. It's great. lol. 

Well, it's been fly folks. I know the gospel is true! God loves us! You know what's super important? The sacrament. Don't let that sacred time pass you by. If you let it, it can be the most spiritual experience of your week. Just a thought: Ezekiel 20:20. How are you making the Sabbath Day a sign to God? What kind of a sign do you want to send to Him?

Anyways, besitos!

Con amor,

Hermana Frei

It's Like I Don't Even Have to Shower Anymore!

Guys. Holy Humidity.

It's like I step outside and moisture. Sweet moisture. 

But anyways! We set a date yesterday with our good friend Alicia! She's the lady that we left sticky notes and our card at her door and she called us back and came to church the next Sunday! She's super rad, super humble, and super Mexican. Sister Martinez and I are super stoked. More updates: Oscar was ordained a priest on Sunday as well. I don't think anyone has been so excited about the priesthood since Joseph Smith, probably. He was so tickled. 

So Sister Martinez and I are WICKED tight with our members. That's what happens when you stay in an area together for 3 transfers I guess. The other day we had a member lesson with the Irula family and we were talking about the millennium and Sister Irula told us about when her and her husband were studying together about the millennium she was reading a scripture out loud and took a few creative liberties... She "read" that in the millennium women would turn into men, and men would turn into women hahah. And the best part is that Brother Irula believed her! So we had a good laugh about that. Mostly we were just excited that we were able to help them 

escudriñar their escrituras, you know what I'm saying? 

Yesterday we didn't have an appointment so we went less-active hunting! So we were looking for 9 Enid Street aaaaaand we got to Enid Street and we found number 7 AND THEN IT SKIPPED TO NUMBER 11. Good heavens to Betsy. So the running joke is this: Why was 6 afraid of 7? BECAUSE 7 ATE 9! 

Or 7, 8, 9.

O sea 7 Enid Street ate 9 Enid Street...

Rude.

Haha, so anyways, this week has been a week full of laughter and joy! Like my boy Nephi put it, I'm living after the manner of happiness. (2 Nephi 5:27) I hope you all have a great week! Remember to scatter sunshine everywhere you go! Seek for ways to make everyday count! 

Love you all!

Erminuh Frei

Questioning Life

Felicidades to our good friend Oscar!!

That's right, my friends! He got baptized! The drought in Worcester has passed! Haha! He was beautifully confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Sacrament yesterday, so it's official! It has been a pleasure to work with him and guide him to the truth. Sometimes people are just prepared to hear and accept the gospel, and Oscar was one of those people. First Peruvian prophet? eh? :) But really though, guys, he is that amazing. 

Also! Update on my girl Janise: she gave up coffee! We hadn't had an appointment with her for like a week and a half and her baptism is in less than a month and I was worried that the Word of Wisdom would trip her up. But during our appointment we followed up with her about how the coffee thing has been going and she asked, "What coffee? I gave that up a few weeks ago after you guys told me I needed to." And we were just like WHAAAAAAAAAT? 

BRILLIANT!

We were so shocked and excited for her! This is going to happen folks! She is experiencing repentance and the atonement of Christ working firsthand in her life. It is amazing to see the change in her. 

And now, for the part of the show where I question life:

So the other day we were taking a few pictures and we left Sister Martinez' camera case on top of the car. Note: her temple recommend was inside the camera case. We drive off, go to a few appointments, and then it hits Sister Martinez: "MY TEMPLE REC!!!" We freak out. Lol, ok so we drive off calmly to where we were taking pictures. We re-trace our steps! Nada! Ok, so at this point it is approximately 9 pm and gettin close to curfew. It's pretty dark. So we start driving home, a little sad, but hey, it's not the end of the world. I was pretty sure Sister Martinez could still pass a temple rec interview, so all wasn't lost. BUT THEN!! All of the sudden the police car equivalent of the Spanish Armada goes racing by so we have to pull over. Who knows what kind of shady business was going on up in here...

And right ahead of us like 15 feet away is a small little black object in the middle of the road. 

I turn to Sister Martinez and say, half jokingly, "Hey! Mira! Your camera case!" hahahaha. haha. ha. Then not so jokingly I inch the car forward, put her in park, swiped up the little black thing from off the road, and what do you know? IT WAS HER CAMERA CASE. 

Holy Moley Cow. 

Has the day of miracles ceased? 

God is good my friends and He is ever concerned about us, His precious children. I know without a doubt in my mind that God exists. Many of you might say, hey. That's a cute story, Sister Frei. What a coincidence. But as a representative of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ I give my testimony and witness that that was no coincidence. If you need more evidence, look to the scriptures! In the Book of Mormon there are 20 passages that can help you begin to understand the atonement of Jesus Christ and God's love for us. Here is the list:

Twenty Teachings in the Book of Mormon on the Atonement of Jesus Christ

1. Nephi’s record of the “God of Nature” suffering and the first of Isaiah’s testimonies of the Messiah (1 Nephi 19, 21)

2. Lehi’s patriarchal blessing and discourse (2 Nephi 2)

3. Jacob’s two-day sermon (2 Nephi 6-9)

4. Nephi’s final testimony on the doctrine of Christ (2 Nephi 31-33)

5. Jacob’s “few words” (Jacob 4)

6. King Benjamin’s sermon (Mosiah 2-5)

7. Abinadi’s declaration before King Noah, including Isaiah’s prophetic testimony (Mosiah 14-16)

8. Alma’s testimony to the Church in Gideon (Alma 7)

9. Alma’s and Amulek’s teaching to Zeezrom (Alma 11-12)

10. Amulek’s discourse to the Zoramites (Alma 34)

11. Alma’s counsel to his son Corianton (Alma 39-42)

12. Samuel the Lamanite’s prophecy (Helaman 14)

13. Jesus’s introductory discourse to the Nephites (3 Nephi 11)

14. Jesus’s definition of “My Gospel” (3 Nephi 27)

15. Moroni’s call to believe in Christ (Mormon 9)

16. Jesus’s own pre-mortal testimony (Ether 3-4)

17. Moroni’s message to the world on faith, hope and charity (Ether 12)

18. Moroni’s summary of his father’s teachings on faith, hope and charity (Moroni 7)

19. Mormon’s epistle to Moroni regarding little children (Moroni 8)

20. Moroni’s invitation to come unto Christ (Moroni 10)

I apologize for the novel! Have a great week!

Con amor,

Hna Frei

I'd Like to Bear my Testimony That I Know Sticky Notes Are True

Dawgs, 

This week has been another week chalk full of excitement and miracles! Sometimes I think I use miracle's name in vain because there are so many crazy miracles happening all up in here! Explanation: so like Thursday or whenever we took a YW from the english ward out with us to teach Emy, Oscar's daughter... buuuuuuut she cancelled so we took the YW out with us anyways and we tried to stop by some random people. We tried contacting a Puerto Rican family that just wasn't having it and we tried to stop by a less-active family in the projects. Nada. So as we were walking down the stairs to return to our car there was a door that caught our attention. There was vinyl lettering on the door that said something to the affect of: "Welcome! All who enter leave as friends." So we thought, HEY! That sounds great! So we knocked the door.... AAAAAAAND nothing. But we left sticky notes there complimenting their decor and got outta there. 

Flash forward to Saturday:

We get a call from a random woman! She found our card and sticky notes on her door and she wants to come to church! We set up a ride and BAM. Alisia and her son came to church yesterday and they LOVED it! 

Can I get a "HAS THE DAY OF MIRACLES CEASED???" 

Dat right. 

I say unto you nay.

Also, they're Mexican. Sister Martinez and I are already all over that.

Daggum, so many things happened this week. Like we got a new mission president! That's pretty wicked cool. We met him on Wednesday when we picked up Sister Alexander's greenie and he's pretty rad. Everyone says that we have the same personality. And we do. It's gonna be a good rest of the mission. President Miller and I are gonna be besties. No big deal.

On Friday we had welcome conferences and I had to play prelude while President Miller shook everybody's hands and it took like an hour and a half. So there I was playing the entire hymn book and falling asleep. I never thought I would see the day when I would be able to play the piano while asleep, but it has happened. Yes. Call me Mozart. 

Something that President Miller talked about with us that really caught my attention was being full-purposed missionaries. We don't just help people develop faith, repent, get baptized, and receive the Holy Ghost. We teach people how to endure to the end. We gotta perseverar, you know what I'm saying? It doesn't end at baptism and confirmation. That is only the beginning. 

Food for thought.

Thanks for all the support and love on my birthday! I love you all! I am much bigger and wiser now that I'm 20, just so you all know. It's actually kinda freaky. What is 20? Me. Me is 20. What? Weird. 

Anyways! Love you all! The church is true and God loves His children!

Con amor,

Erminuh Frei