The Countdown Begins...

Hola todos!!!

This week was a fun one!! We spent the 24th, 25th, and 26th going from appointment to appointment singing and spreading Christmas joy, and getting wayyyy too much food in return. And, as a result, we got very sick and were not able to leave the house the 27th! But all is well, by the 28th at midday we finally were able to get out and start working again!

Hermanas (Misioneras de Nogales) with Hermana Xilo

Jessie is very excited for his baptism this Saturday! His birthday is actually Dec 31st and he happily told us that his baptism was going to be his birthday present! He has such a strong testimony already, and is willing to make whatever sacrifice is asked of him to be able to follow Christ and keep the commandments. 

The other day when we had an appointment with Jessie and his mom, his mom asked us why we wanted him to get baptized so quickly, and as I began to answer he stopped me and told his mom (more or less, I don't remember the exact words), "No Mom, they haven't rushed me. I am getting baptized because I want to, because I feel it, I know it's true. It is changing my life. I´m not getting baptized for them or for Ana (his fiancee who was baptized in June) or for anyone else. Even if things don't work out between me and Ana, I will never leave it. This is mine, and no one's going to take it away from me." The spirit was so strong. Everyone in the room had tears in their eyes.

Hermana Maru in church!

These moments are the greatest in the mission. When someone you have taught and come to love gains their own testimony. When you see the light in their eyes that comes from truth and understanding. When you see renewed hope, love and excitement for life. The moments when the spirit touches hearts and changes lives. It is what makes it all worth it. 

Love you all and hope you have a great week!!!

Hermana Naatjes

French toast (a Christmas Eve morning tradition of the Thurston family)

I am officially starting my final transfer here in the mission, which means that in 6 weeks I will be home, so I thought I'd do something kinda fun (and super cheesy) for my countdown! 

This is to be sung to the tune of the 12 days of Christmas!

In my time here in Juarez my Father gave to me....

                                                         (to be continued...)

what remains of my boot (yes the same one from the video, 100% still using it--who needs a zipper?)

Christmas cookies  (Elder and Hermana cookies and dirty snowmen?)

¡¡¡¡¡¡¡FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!!!

Hola todos!! 

This week was awesome!!! I don't have a ton of time (they`re closing early because of Christmas) but news of the week is that Jessie is going to get baptized the 4th of January!!

I hope you guys are doing awesome and enjoying your white Christmas out there in the USA, and remember as you do, I am here in Juarez eating tamales and singing Mi Burrito Sabanero (look it up...it's great).  *link to the song below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5wnRmXw1_4

I hope you all can take the time this Christmas to sit down and remember the true meaning and purpose of it all. I hope you can use it to remember your Savior and all He has done for you. 

Love you all! Have a fantastic week and a very merry CHRISTmas!

Hermana Naatjes

*Bailey didn't send captions for her pics, but she sent a lot of them! 

(I think it was a Christmas Zone Conference).  

Broken Boots and Donuts

"Get closer to God today!"

Hola Todos!!!

Sorry the email this week is going to be super short again, but I love you all and hope you have a great week and have a fun time preparing for Christmas!!!

Enjoy the pics and video!  

Hermana Naatjes

(Click on the link below to see a video of Bailey's companion trying unsuccessfully to help get her out of a broken boot--it was too long to attach normally).  

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p2Ryab4QtHx0qR2aUOUDqpIUrXfiI0Za/view

exchanges with Hermana Wagoner

16 months! (pancakes made by my comp)

Krispy Kreme donuts from an awesome member (brought from El Paso)

Light the World

Homemade "snow"men

  Hola Todos!!

This week was good! We have two new people we're teaching who have a lot of potential to progress! They have a lot of church friends already (they were references) and are progressing well toward their baptism! One is going to get baptized this Saturday (Diego) and with the other we are planning on setting his baptismal date this week! (Jessie)

Me and my comp on the "Ruta" in the rain

Sad story of the week:

While in interviews with my Mission President:

Him: "Hey, you're going home in March right?"

Me: "No, I'm going in February."

Him: "Oh man, you're almost done!!"

Me (crying): "I know..."

My time here on the mission is rapidly coming to a close, much more quickly than I want to believe. I love Juarez and the people here, and as excited as I am to see you all I am going to be so incredibly sad to leave this place. Just two months left! 

I hope this Christmas you can all join in with our Church's initiative, "Light the World 2019", whether you are members of the church or not. This initiative invites us to do something small each day that helps us light the world and helps us remember the true meaning of Christmas! (Mom please put the link here and the video!)

Here is the link to the light the world initiative:

https://www.comeuntochrist.org/light-the-world

Here is the link for a beautiful short film about the Nativity story:

https://www.comeuntochrist.org/light-the-world/the-christ-child

We're ready for Christmas

Have a great week!

Hermana Naatjes

Thanksgiving (a little late)

It's December...wait, what?!

Only in Juarez do they have to lock their plants so they aren't stolen.

rough translation:  It is raining a lot.  We are climbing a wall so we don't have to cross a lake...Welcome to Juarez.

Hola todos!

So yeah, it's already December. In my head I feel like it's only September or MAYBE October, especially with the cold finally coming (I now often put on a sweater and have worn a jacket once), and the incredible lack of snow. But sooner than you know it I´m going to be coming home (which someone reminds me of pretty much on a daily basis). But I´m doing my best to sprint to the finish!!

An Hermana from Peru, who isn't used to the "cold".  Bailey gave her a hat.

Just to tell you guys a bit more about Chester, our friend who was baptized last week.  He showed up at church about a month and a half ago partly because he was being taught by the Elders about a year and a half ago in a different area. He had never gone to church before, but after going through a lot of hard things, including having to find a new home, he saw the church, and decided to go. When he was being taught by the elders they invited him to be baptized various times but he never ended up accepting. But shortly after arriving here he told us he felt like his time had arrived and that it was time for him to get baptized. 

my favorite color is to see you...but not bluish

Love you all like crazy and hope you have a fantastic week!

Hermana Naatjes

Thanksgiving with Hermana Patricia

Baptism!

Happy reunion with Hermana Cruz

 
 Hola Todos! 

Sorry, This letter is going to be a short one again but all is well!

This week was good! Chester got baptized! Some of the other missionaries who taught him over a year ago came so that was fun! Planning and getting ready was stressful as always, but it was awesome!

Chester's baptism

To make up for the lack of email, here are a bunch of pictures!!

Chester's baptism 

Another happy reunion

Hermanas at home (notice the tan lines on Bailey's feet!)

the Beatles

Love you all and hope you have an awesome Thanksgiving! Look for at least one thing every day to be thankful for this week!

Hermana Naatjes

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

an 89 year old who has climbed over her own 10 ft fence 4 times in the last couple of years because she's been locked out 

Hola Todos!!

Sorry my last emails have been short, but I have found that the one thing there is never enough of is time. This week I decided to actually take the time to write a good email. 

Hermanas y amigas

News: 

This Saturday Chester is going to get baptized! 

They called last night with our transfers and I am staying here with Hermana Gonzalez. 

I got called to be a sister training leader.

la familia Evans

Miracle of the week: 

On Friday, me and my companion had exchanges (which means we change companions for a day) and so I was with Hermana Fernandez from Ecuador. She is a missionary who is super outgoing. 

As we walked from appointment to fallen appointment we contacted one of the security guards of a fraccionamiento (a gated neighborhood, I don't know what the word in English is) and started teaching him. We talked about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the spirit was super strong. The moment we started talking, I felt like he looked familiar, but assumed I had just seen him when walking past his fraccionamiento. As we started listening to his life story, however, I realized that wasn't it. 

As we ended the discussion he told us he had something to admit, but I beat him to the end. "You're a member of the church," I said. He looked at me and nodded his head. He explained how he came to know the church and how it was that he stopped going. It was a story I had heard before. 

When I was in Frontera (my very first area) there was a man who lived at the end of our street who we talked to a couple of times. He was a member of the church who had left many years before. We invited him to church and tried to set an appointment to visit him but he declined. I realized it was the same man we were talking to in that moment. 

He continued his story and said that two missionaries a year before had invited him to church but he never went, but felt like the fact that he had found missionaries again was a sign and that he felt like God was calling him. I stopped him and told him "I was the one who invited you." We all stopped for a second and looked at each other realizing what had happened. He looked at us and said, "I think it's time for me to go back to church."

our district

Spiritual thought: 

The Lord works in mysterious ways. He will always open the way for us to come unto Him, or return to Him. In the scriptures He tells us multiple times that his arms are stretched out still. Wherever you are in your life, however far you may feel from Him, I invite you to come unto Him, learn of Him, trust in His infinite love, and He shall give thee rest. (Matthew 11:28-30) 

I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!

Hermana Naatjes

cupcakes for our last district council

15 Months!!

Caldo de Pollo   (Mexican chicken soup)

Reeses :)

Hola Todos!!

This week was good and passed super fast! 

We're still working with Chester, his baptismal date is set for the 23rd! Pablo told us that he felt bad because he hadn't read much of the Book of Mormon, and on further questioning we found that he is in Mosiah reading about King Benjamin, so that was exciting!! He is still not sure he's ready to come to church, but we're doing what we can to help him!

Sorry don't have a ton of time this week, but I love you all and want you to know that all is well, and He is protecting us. 

Love, 

Hermana Naatjes

Happy Halloween

Hola Todos!!

This week was good! We have a few people who have baptismal dates, but they're still not completely sure so we're going to be working a lot with them (Chester and Jose Javier). 

We have been working with a lot of less active members, but very few open the door (some of them even look at us out their window and we make eye contact and they walk away). It's been interesting, but we keep working and hoping. haha.

Sorry its a bit short this week, but hope you have a great one!

Hermana Naatjes

Living on a prayer

Bailey and Hermana Gonzalez

¡Hola Todos!

Funny thing of the week:

This week we were talking to a woman and she asked how it was that we are able to live while we are here. She asked if we worked, or how we had money. I tried to say that we saved money before the mission so that we could come and not have to worry about it. But the word for save in Spanish is ahorrar and the word for pray is orar, so when I tried to say we saved money (next to a big, busy road) she heard that we had just prayed before coming to have enough to survive the year and a half.

Reminder: Prayers are powerful, but we must also do our part!

Hope you have a great week!

Hermana Naatjes

Hna Gonzalez's first piece of broccoli ever!  (She was unsure what part was edible...) 

Birthday celebration featuring Bailey's homemade Oreos (see, she makes more than just crepes).

FALL!!!!

Bailey, Hna Wagoner, Hna Gonzalez and crepes.

Hola Todos!!

The good news of the week is that I actually put on a sweater today!!! I took it off after like an hour, but I mean that´s progress!! 

Miracle of the week:

About two weeks ago me and my companion had contacted and taught a man in the street. The lesson was great and super powerful and he was super interested in learning more about the gospel and reading the Book of Mormon. But afterwards, we weren´t able to find him at home, he didn´t answer the phone, and didn´t come to church like he said he could, so we figured he didn´t want anything. 

Yesterday as we were sitting in church, one of the members came up to us and said that someone named Francisco was outside looking for us, and it was him! He had gone out of town and so hadn't been able to come but has been reading his Book of Mormon and came all alone to church! We were super excited!

Love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Hermana Naatjes

14 months!

Bailey and Hermana Gonzalez

Hermana Gonzalez is tall!

Hola Todos!!!

This week was fantastic!! I got my new companion! Her name is Hermana Gonzalez and she is from Montevideo, Uruguay! She is super excited to be here, a little nervous, but very ready to learn! She is super sweet, is a convert (she got baptized 5 years ago), and likes and wants to work.

Bailey introduces all her companions to her beloved crepes with Nutella.

Spiritual thought of the week: Language of the Spirit.

This week I was thinking a lot about the way we can learn to listen to and recognize the spirit. Often we think or assume that it will be easy, that if we just pray we should get the answer, and if we don't recognize it right away we get frustrated. As I was thinking about it and all of the people I have taught and those who have been able to get answers from God and those who claim that they don't and I came to the conclusion that learning to recognize the spirit and understand His answers is like learning a language. It takes 3 key steps: Study, Listen, and Practice. I don't have a ton of time to expound on that but I want to invite you to read, to pray, to take time to listen, and to act when God gives you direction!

Zone Conference

Love you all! Have a great week!

Hermana Naatjes