Week 5. Next stop NJ!

Hi friends!!! So many awesome things this week!! Lots of good things happening down here in Mexíco! First of all I got to shake an apostles hand!!! Elder Neil L Anderson of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles shook my hand! What a guy! He´s definitely my new favorite! Also, he is all about French and I respect that. La langue de francais es trés belle. Sadly french is getting so hard to remember as I am trying to think in Spanish all the time. Also, I got to talk to Elder Anderson. I said "2 Nephi 31 and 32" It was great. Spiritual gold star for being brave enough to answer a question in front of lots of missionaries who know a lot more about las escrituras than me.

Another great thing about the devotional with Elder Anderson was that Hermana Dearden and I got to sing the most beautiful arrangement of Asombro me Da. The Spirit was so strong. The message of I Stand all Amazed is so personal and meaningful. I love the Atonement, which turned out to be the topic of His message. Los meritós, la misericordia, y la gracia de Jesucristo: The merits, the mercy, and the grace of Jesus Christ.

Music has always been a huge part of my life and I am realizing it more than ever! Today I am listening to the Pride and Prejudice soundtrack as I email and nothing will be able to bring me down for the next 17 months because of it! Also, Mama today I am super especially grateful to have been raised by someone who just gets it and on top of that is a WORLD TRAVELING VIOLINIST! Wow. Just wanted to brag about that for a second cuz I think you´re awesome. Missin those late nights just listening to you practice and snapchatting it with Ahnyka :) Also, shoutout to Kymboslice for also being so good at music that people in Jerusalem want you to come teach them how it´s done.

As this is our last week in el CCM, my district will be doing a special musical number in sacrament meeting. I am working with an elder to arrange Asombro me Da y Un pobre Forastero. It´s pretty simple but super powerful. I love my district so much and it has been an absolute pleasure to learn and grow with them. 

Last thing, a few of these elders got stuck in a sketchy elevator yesterday when we were doing service for 45 minutes while doing service haha. They´re champions.

This time next week I´ll be in NEW JERSEY! There is work to do and I couldn´t be more excited to do it!

I wish you all the best week ever!

Con amor,
Hermana Stone

Hermana Dearden and I with our cool new Mexican Scripture cases! we <3 Mexíco

Week 4

Hola!

Not too much time to write this week, but I sure learned a lot! First of all I´m grateful to be learning Spanish here in Mexíco. Our teachers are natives and the most kindhearted people ever! I don´t know the situation of all los maestros, but one commutes 3 hours to come teach missionaries every day! Another teacher who is dear to me is currently studying to become a surgeon! Wow, any kind of education requires so much study and time, yet she still sacrifices so much to work her at the CCM and help us in all our endeavors. Also, for anyone who is interested in Church history, I recommend looking up John Tanner. He sacrificed so much for the restored church and was also an incredible example of faith and an incredible miracle. 

Mi compañera and I have started reading el Libro de Mormon in Español. It takes a lot of work but it will be worth it. There is a promise that if you read the BOM in your language you´ll be fluent in the language by the end. I have complete faith in this and I´m gonna put it to the test. 

I hope you all have a great week with midterms, work and all your endeavors!

Luke 17:33

Hermana Stone

Cute friends at the Mexíco City temple

Week 3

Hola amigos!!

Not much time for this week, so all I´m going to say is Conferencia General. It changed my life for the better. 2 things: If I were a philosopher I would want to talk with D. Todd Christofferson all day long. Also, I am incredibly grateful for not only 1 but 15 prophets that relay our loving Heavenly Father´s words that are meant exactly for us and this time!!! "Decisions Determine Destiny" and "Nothing else, no other choice we make can make us what He can" ~Thomas S. Monson. I love and sustain all the leaders of the church.

The other thing that has been on my mind all week is how thankful I am for the ability to think thoughts, form questions, take them to the Lord, and receive answers through revelation! How awesome that we all have this capability! I love learning!!! In all forms! Turns out I study Spanish 10 hours a day and I wish I had 24! Life is so good.

Super sad to hear about Taysom Hill. Still so much love for BYU, always.

Hope you all have a week and find the answers to your questions!

Con amor,

Hermana Stone

And here is a snippet from her family email this week:

Elder Bednar's talk was sooooo good! I appreciated it so much especially as a missionary cuz I'm hoping it will help someone out that I´ll talk to in the future. I pray for my investigadores futura everyday that the Lord will prepare them to hear THE GOOD NEWS and that I will be prepared to meet their needs and answer their questions. I also loved what the prophet said DECISIONS DETERMINE DESTINY. wow. so powerful and so true.

So the schedule here goes something like this:

6:30 wake up get ready til 7

7~7:30 additional study 7:30 breakfast

8~9 personal study aka prepare for investigators spiritually

9*12 classes including language study, BOM study, coaching and teach our morning investigador

12 additional study

12:30 lunch

1:35 ~2:30 sweat our guts out. I LOVE WORKING OUT!!!

2:30~3 frantically shower 

3~6 same as the morning more language and investigador 

6 dinner

6:45~7:45 TALL Technology Assisted Language learning aka my favorite

7:45~9 language study where I write everything i learned that day on the cool slidey whiteboards and everyone 

9~9:30 daily planning

personal time/get ready for bed/walk home in the rain every day because it rains from 8~10 and i love it :)

then i write in my journal shower blowdry get everything ready for the next day and lights out at 10:30!

Week 2

Wowow another great week here in the CCM! Spanish is coming along well and I love the Latino people so much! Nuestros maestros think it's funny to watch us talk with the natives, especially in the dining hall, but I think it's the greatest thing ever! I LOVE singing los himnos because I feel the spirit so strong doing that and also it really helps with the pronunciation.

Shoutout to Kymboslice for the DearElder letter, you sure know how to show the love :) Our district makes a big deal about "baemail" so I felt pretty good about that! Also, Ahnyka I'm glad the gerbils are doing well and that you got to watch the Young Womens broadcast! The words of our leaders are 100% inspired by our Heavenly Father and I am so grateful for that direct revelation! I am soooooo excited for General Conference this weekend! I am so lucky to listen to devotionals and talks multiple times a week, I don't know how I took conference for granted..and maybe even slept through it in the past :/ It's seriously great stuff!

So my favorite quote of the week was "I'm basically Beyónce" The hermanas in our zone are so friendly and we do everything together! What a privilege it is to work alongside them in the CCM and eventually campo misional (mission field).

Working out is probably one of the best things ever here! I started out as the weird one just doing my thing while everyone plays games, but gradually people have been joining me and filling an entire room haha. I have my notebook full of a bunch of stuff and people having been copying it out into their own lately. Nothing better than feeling united in all different kinds of work :)

It is always a good day to be from Washington, but this week I had some incredible PNW pride! First off, an elder sang for us in Relief Society on Sunday and there was not a dry eye in the room. Hermana Dearden and I thanked him and told him that he was the closest thing to Josh Groban and we just appreciated his talents. The best part is he is from Seattle! He had a contract for 3 years singing with the Seatlle Opera/Symphony. wowow. Represent. Turns out one of my favorite hermanas is from EVERETT and a district leader has a brother engaged to a girl I knew on good old Fidalgo Island! They couldn't believe that I had the privilege of living in paradise for 14 years...but they actually did. It was nice to hear people talk about it in the same loving way I do.

I'm running out of time so I'll just bullet the things that inspired me this week. 

There is so much it would take me until next p*day to say it all so this is probably the best way.

*Dieter F. Ochtdorf¨s YW General Meeting talk in March 2013

*"Becoming a Consecrated Missionary" by Tad R. Callister ~ seriously the best thing I have ever read loaded with stories and scripture references

* Ether 12

*An in house devotional by David F. Evans of the 70/Executive Director of the Missionary Department 

*Johnny Lingo (the movie) ~ building self worth and seeing true beauty

*"people don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care"

*"It's not what we say, it's who we are that can awaken in them that there is a better way to live"

*"Ours is a great calling"

For all my friends, especially the missionaries, this ones for you Doctrine and Covenants 121:9

I love you all so much! When life gets you down, don't just endure, endure it well D&C 121:8

Don't worry, Be Yónce

All my love,

Hermana Stone

Cute southern roomies representin