Week Twelve - Filipinos!

Bom Dias!

I hope everyone was able to watch Conference this past weekend! Can we all agree that Conference is so uplifting? 

The last few days that led up to Conference and the weekend of conference was insane. We were emailing about calling everyone in our online area book and reminded them that conference was that weekend. We challenged all of our investigators to watch conference and majority of them did! As a zone we were able to attend the Saturday morning session on conference. We got the the square and started to contact all of the members that were standing in the standby line at 7:30 am but got to the square at about 7. Talking with the members before the session started was great! I met so many members that where willing to do missionary work back at their homes. It was really easy to commit them to do missionary work but they all were so prepared to share the gospel! I love members that are like that. :) We weren't allowed to watch conference because there were so many people on the square and so many people to uplift. The only talks that I was able to watch were the ones that were speaking on Saturday and two others during personal study on Monday. I unfortunately have no time to really sit down and read them. 

We had a lot of miracles this past weekend. 

Sister Fisher and I made a goal to receive 38 quality member referrals this weekend. It was actually a huge struggle for the mission to get referrals from members because they were already talking/teaching with the people that weren't members of the church. So a lot of the members said "Oh we are working with this one family and are already meeting with the missionaries." Which is great because the members are doing missionary work, but not so great for us because we set this goal and  it was a really small goal to reach compared to other sisters. At the end of every meal we counted all of our referrals and by the end of the weekend we were able to receive 41 member referrals. The number of the member referrals the whole mission received was over 3,000! 3,000 precious souls that need to be saved! It just gives me goosebumps of all the teaching that we will be able to do in the next several months! Ah I'm so excited! 

So remember Amber Sellers? The girl that stayed with us when I was in middle school? Im sure you remember because you were all there too...Ha Anyways I thought about her the other day. It was actually a really random thought. I was in one of the theaters in the mission and all of a sudden I thought "Man, I wonder how Amber is doing. Where is she is even at? I really want to share the gospel with her but I don't even know how I could, or even how the family could even get her number." So after that random thought it just left me. Okay so on Sunday I went on exchanges with Sister Asuncion (she is from the Philippines), the reason why we were on exchanges was because we were going to the Filipino fireside later that evening to get more member referrals. All the Filipino sisters went so that was really cool. So while we were walking to the North Visitor center we ran into GOBS of Filipinos. I knew they were Filipino because they kept on saying "HOY!" and I could understand what they were saying. Sister Asuncion and I stopped to say hi. While we were introducing ourselves, all of the Filipinos said "Hoy! Do you know a Roel Opeda?" Then I said "Yeah that is my Dad." They all started to freak out because apparently the whole group of Filipinos knows Tatay and Nanay! They would say "I know your Dad, we went to school together.", "Or your Grandpa gave me my Patriarchal Blessing."," You're dad and I were missionary companions.", "You're mom and I were best friends when we were kids." Anyways it was cool to see all of these connections. The coolest part was when this lady came up to me and said "Do you remember me? I'm Amber Sellers mom. The girl that lived with you for a couple of months?" I was floored. I started to talk to her about Amber and I asked how she was doing and then her mom gave me her number so I can call her! Crazy right? I thought about calling her but had no way in doing so, then all of a sudden Heavenly Father says "Here you go Sister Opeda! Time to share the gospel with Amber!" Heavenly Father puts people in your life for a reason! The hardest part is to really know the reason why he did. I'm lucky because all of the people I met are meant to hear the gospel. 

So President Gillette really likes to give surprises to mission and on Monday night he surprised us big time! I guess as a reward for all the hard work that we did over the weekend and because President love all of us, he got Jon Schmidt to come and play for us! If you don't know who is he is the piano player that is in the piano guys. Youtube him. He is an incredible piano player. So we had a mini concert with him and we were able to do a questions and answers session with him. Someone asked him "What made you decided to do this as a career?" And he told us of this quote from President Benson that said "Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that he can make a lot more out of our lives than they can."  He told us of some stories on how he gave his whole life to the Lord and never thought that he would be doing something that he loved so much. It made me think about how sometimes when we plan out our lives or sometimes when we need to make decisions. All of the decisions that we make, rarely are counseled with Heavenly Father. Sometimes I think we get so catch up of doing things our way than to really asking Heavenly Father what he thinks about them. He wants to be involved with the details of our life. When we have confidence and faith in knowing that Heavenly Father has a plan for us, a lot of the worry and struggle that we have are then relieved. Heavenly Father wants us to be happy and he knows how we can be happy. I hope you all turn your lives to God because it is true, He can make a lot more out of our lives than we can. 

I love you all.

Sister Opeda 

Alma 5:26 

Here are some photos that people with Sister Opeda during the conference weekend. If anyone happened to see here please send us your pictures! Mahalo -Kariza

Sister Opeda and Sister Asuncion with Tita Nedy, Tito Joey, and Tita Geny

Tito Lamber and Tita Geny
These are Kariza's (Sister Opeda little sister) roommate, Gee's parents!

Sister Opeda with ,Kariza's workmate in Hawaii, Amanda Vela!

Week Eleven - Conference Week!

Conference is just around the river bend and I cannot wait!

These last couple of weeks the snow has been melting and the flowers have been blooming. Well actually the gardeners have been working around the clock to make sure everything looks wonderful for this weekend. It is starting to look like spring around here! Since the sun has been shining people are ready to go outside and enjoy the weather with their families. This last week we have seen and taught so many people. Just yesterday, we met families from Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, and Ghana! It was so great to talk with the members and help uplift them in their struggles. Sometimes I'm surprised at the amount of information people tell me about their life. I sometimes feel overwhelmed and I have no idea on how I can help them, but then I remember the promise in D&C 30:11 "And your whole labor shall be in Zion, with all your soul, from henceforth; yea, you shall ever open your mouth in my cause, not fearing what man can do, for I am with you. Amen." That is exactly what happens, I feel the presence of the spirit when Sister Fisher and I teach doctrine. You can see right in that moment that they also feel it. It is the most wonderful feeling to know that you aided that person on their next step of conversion. Sometimes I still can't believe that I get to do this all day for 18 months! :) We have met so many wonderfully prepared people on the square. We took a tour with this these two men Tom and Jon. They both in Salt Lake waiting for their next plane to leave so they were killing time at Temple Square. We showed them around the Tabernacle and the Assembly Hall and we bridged the history to prophets. They were both so interested in the gospel and were asking the right questions. At the end the both referred for local missionaries to come to their house and have them teach them more! It was great because we taught them about the restoration and about the Book of Mormon and they both said "Where can I get a copy?" Wonderful right?! Ahhhh so so so so great!

Since there is an opposition in all things--Tis the season of Anit's. These last couple of days there have been many people coming to the square talking to the sisters and "trying" to tell us that we are wrong and we have been brainwashed. I've had some anti's come on to chat and some on the phone, but I haven't had any on a tour until yesterday. There was a whole group of them on the Square and I talked to a lot of sisters that said they are all on spring break on a trip of some sort. I was in the Beehive House all day and I didn't think that they were going to ask for a tour of an old house, but they did and I learned a lot! Obviously you never know who is an anti or not but we took a group of 7 of them as well as two guest from New York. At first it started out okay and they were all friendly but then all the crazy questions about sealings, Temples, polygamy, and the Book of Mormon started to come up. My stomach started to go into knots because I could feel my mind blanking. The only thing that came into my mind was "Just testify." So that is what I did and the spirit started to come back and the guest stop with the questions. Then the whole climate changed at the tour because I started to feel so much love for those people. I was sad for them because they looked so lost and confused. Sister Fisher and I just had a desire for them to understand who their Savior is and what he did for us. Some of them still asked questions and we answered them lovingly and prayed that they would be able to feel the spirit.

I dropped Nathan this week. We have been trying to get him to go to church and to have faith in the gospel but he didn't want to change any part of this life. There was no desire at all to come closer to Christ. Every time that we talked to him on the phone it was always really hard because he didn't/want to see how this gospel can bless his life. He has been through a really hard time so he is kinda bitter at life. I told him that there was only so much that I can do for him if he wasn't willing to act. It was hard because I know this can help him through all of his struggle. He has all the tools to succeed in this life but he wasn't willing to use them at all. I have hope that one day he will come back to church, but I just hope that one day is sooner than later.

We have been able to talk to Stephen again. He was the one who was suppose to get baptized two weeks ago but didn't. We talked to him last night and had a great lesson. He said that he would look into another baptismal date that he feels comfortable with. He is moving to SLC for grad school in two months and he wants to wait till he gets here to get baptized. We told him to pray about it first. It would be cool if he did get baptized here, cause then I could go to his baptism. But I think that it would be best if he had it in Tennessee so his family could have a chance to attend.

I hope you are all doing well! Conference is this weekend so I hope you are preparing to be uplifted!!!!

I love you all and pray for you everyday!

Love,

Sister Opeda

Alma 19:6 "...he knew that the dark ^aveil of ^bunbelief was being cast away from his mind, and the ^clight which did light up his mind, which was the light of the glory of God, which was a marvelous light of his goodness—yea, this light had infused such joy into his soul, the cloud of darkness having been dispelled, and that the light of everlasting life was lit up in his soul, yea, he knew that this had ^dovercome his natural frame, and he was carried away in God—"

PICTURES!

Here are some pictures that she recently sent!!

 

 This is what I we do during companionship study

 

    My CRAZY district

 

Better picture

 

 We went to Thanksgiving Point/Dinosaur Museum for Zone Activity

 

Transfer Two: Week Two

Hey Family,

So I freaked when I heard where Kariza was going. I'm slightly jealous that she is going back home, but I know that I was called here for a reason! So it is all alright!

So this week has been insane! There have been so many miracles and new people to teach! Its been wonderful!

So first I want to tell you about this Indian family that we met. So we got a text saying that there was  family that wanted a tour and so Sis fisher and I went to take them around. When we first met them in the SVC they were so nice, the parents where visiting their son Solomon from India for a month and they wanted to see Temple Square. So I was really exited to teach them because we planned to talk about the Restoration at that hour. So we first took them to the Temple model because they wanted to see what the Temple looked like if they were inside. So when we were there I was talking to the Dad and somehow prophets came up and I pointed to a picture of Thomas S. Monson and said "This our prophet here today and his name is Thomas S. Monson." Then he cut me off and said "OOOHH is that not Jospeh Smith?" Then I said "No that is not Joesph Smith." Then he said "Is that Brigham Young?" Haha then I said "No it is not Brigham Young, but I can actually tell you more about our prophets, especially about Joseph Smith because he is actually what I wanted to share with you about." Then he said in his broken English "OHHH no no I already know about him. He was the man the God called to restore Christ church again on the earth. He saw God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ and told him that none of the churches in his day are true." Okay so at that point I didn't know he that is what he believed or if he just knew it. It definitely is a big difference.I'm literally shocked at this point. So then I said "Do you believe that Joseph Smith RESTORED Christ church again on this earth?" Then the Dad said "Yes, yes I believe he did! I also believe that he translated the Book of Mormon!" I could not believe what I was hearing. This man who is from India, visiting his son for a month and researched all about the LDS faith before he even got here and wanted to see Temple Square. So Sis Fisher and I could take them to see the Temple Model and tell us that he believe that this was the true church again on the earth. The spirit and love I felt at that moment and for that family was amazing. I couldn't help but smile and I remember looking in to the Dads eyes and I could tell that he truly believe that it was true! So then I lead everyone back to the front of the visitor center and I gave him an English version of he  Book of Mormon. He said "Wait I can have this? You are giving this to me? Thank you thank you thank you!" He was holding the Book of Mormon to his chest and kept on saying Thank you. Then his wife was just as happy and wanted to take a picture with me handing him the Book of Mormon and he told me to sign the book as well. Ahh I love that family so much. But wait it doesn't end there!

So then Sister Fisher and I took them to the NVC and to the section called Scriptures and revelation. We continued to tell them about the church but the parents knew EVERYTHING! They were so prepared! So we were next to the globe where they have the Book of Mormon in all these different languages. So while we were there and the family continued to take pictures I saw that the Hindi version of the Book of Mormon was right there. So I picked it up and gave it to the wife to see. I said "Hey look they have it in Hindi too!" Then the wife almost about cried. She looked at Sister Fisher and and jumped up and down saying "OHHHH LOOOK! ITS IN MY LANGUAGE!" She was gleaming! Their english wasn't all that great but she was so touched to see that it was in her native language. She held it to her chest like her husband and kept on saying thank you! She thought that we were giving it to her, but we were just showing her the book. I honestly was just going to give it to her because how can you take something from an old lady that was jumping up and down! After the tour I was just going to go down the street and buy a replacement copy so we didn't have to tell her that she couldn't take it. But Sis Fisher is more obedient than I am and told her that she couldn't take it. But she told them that she can get one in her language at Deseret Book. She was all like "OHHH no problem! We go get one now! It okay it okay!" Then after we told them to go to Deseret Book they wanted to end the tour so they could buy one. Then they all said their fast goodbyes and Thanked us again for the hundredth time and left.

Oh, Sister Fisher and I tried to get their information so we could send the missionaries to their house, but I don't think that they understood us.They said they will find them themselves and they know where they are at. I was worried that I wouldn't get their information and that maybe I didn't understand them enough and maybe I was misunderstanding what they were saying the whole time during the tour--but then I felt a overwhelming sense of peace and I knew that God had them in mind and that our job was to give them the Book of Mormon and one day they will be baptized.

The reaction that they had when I gave them the Book of Mormon is one that I will never forget. They both were so excited and joy filled their hearts. They looked like they were holding precious gold. They came so far to get their hand on a Book of Mormon and I have a copy sitting in my locker and two more in my apartment. It made me think "Do I react that same way when I read out of the Book of Mormon?" "Do I hold it to my chest making sure that no one will take it away from me?" "Do I try and strengthen my testimony about the Book of Mormon everyday?" "And if I don't....what do I need to do so I can react the same way like my Indian friends did?"

There are many more miracles that happened this week--but this was one I wanted to share with you. I'm teaching a lady in Georgia and she accepted to become baptized on April 13th. I'm not sure if that is going to happen, because she is moving around that time so we will see!! I let you know that happens

I love you all and I have such a strong testimony about the Book of Mormon along with prayer. I know that when we read the Book of Mormon we will be able to get answers to all of our questions! Spiritually and temporally! I pray for you everyday and I love you all so much!

Love,
Sister Opeda

Week Nine - Hi!

ALOHA!

So the other day I wore a flower in my hair, a shell necklace thing that I borrowed from another sister missionary, and my tag that has an America flag (because I'm Filipino and can only speak English...) So I pretty much looked like I was from Hawaii and so whenever I greeted guest I said "Aloha!' But I would end up laughing and thoroughly embarrassing myself that Sister Fisher pretty much said "Sister... I think you are freaking out the guest." So I had to stop...mah bad.

Another funny story....

So yesterday was transfer conference. We had to be at the Tabernacle at 6:50am to get our new companions, zones, assignments, and whether we are moving or not. I'm staying with Sister Fisher again this transfer and we are still in the Beehive House but our p-days changed to Tuesdays to Wednesdays. So guess what... I'm emailing you tomorrow too! :) So since we had to be on the square so early in the morning we didn't have time to eat breakfast so after transfer Conference Sister Fisher and I were going to get something to eat at City Creek (the mall next to the Square). So as we were waiting to cross the street, I saw a gentlemen with his wife, and another man that could be their 20+ year old son. When I saw the family walking I turned to Sister Fisher and said "Hahah Sister Fisher look! Doesn't that guy look like Mitt Romney?" And she glances over and said " Uhmm Sister Opeda, that is Mitt Romney" Then I said " WHATTT!?! asufuiebhjasduiwebh OH MAH GOODNESS YOU'RE RIGHT, THAT IS MITT ROMNEY!" Ha we both couldn't believe that saw him. He was going to the Deseret Book Company. I bet he is writing a book. We also both acknowledged that his son is pretty attractive. I'm actually not sure if he is, but from far away we could tell that he dresses really nice. HA

So later that day we went to Kneaders for lunch. We actually ran out of food, but no worries--we are going shopping today. Nanay and Tatay, I have a Filipino sister who doesn't know how to make adobo...guess who is going to teach her... I AM! I know, you're so proud. So anyways while we are waiting for our food to be done a black man walks into Kneaders, he looks to be about 24, and he looks so familiar! I couldn't remember where I recognized him from. I knew that it wasn't from school and it wasn't from Las Vegas either. Then finally I remembered watching a "I'm a Mormon" video the other day of a black kid who was homeless, and met missionaries then got baptized. So then I turned to Sister Fisher and said "Hahah Hey look Sister Fisher, that kid looks like Paris from the I'm a Mormon videos." then she said "Uhmmm Sister Opeda, that is Paris from I'm a Mormon." So I was obviously staring and looking like a complete idiot and I really wanted to know if it was him. So I went up to him and I asked. Turns out homeboy is Paris from I'm a Mormon! We ended up chatting and asking him how he got on to I'm a Mormon and how he does firesides for the youth in some peoples ward. It was cool. Two celebrities in one day!
Here is his I'm a Mormon video if you haven't seen it yet: http://mormon.org/paris/

So this week has been insane. We are trying to prepare for General Conference so we are constantly calling our member referrals and updating our online areabook so no one gets lost when Conference comes. Since transfer conference was yesterday there are a lot of sisters that are going outbound so they have to transfer all of their investigators to all the sisters that are going to be staying. So that added to the pile of people that we need to call and teach. Its the best when you are so tired and you keep on working as hard as you can and people ask a question about the gospel and all of a sudden something comes out of your mouth and you had no idea what was just said. That is when you know that the spirit is with you helping you teaching to your investigators.

So Sister Fisher and I have this investigator named Stephen and he is from Tennessee. Sister Fisher met him the week before we became companions. Stephen is so great! He was in SLC to audition for a grad program at the U and decided to stop at Temple Square for a tour. So anyways this whole transfer we have been calling him twice a week and teaching him the lessons over the phone. He met with the missionaries in his local area, was reading the Book of Mormon, even bought himself a quad with his name engraved on it. And he was on date to get baptized on Saturday. Stephen is so golden! He would tell us "I don't know why it says the Book of Mormon is ANOTHER testament of Christ. It should say IT IS the testament of Christ, because it teaches more about Jesus than the Bible does!" He got into the grad program at the U and he was getting ready to be baptized. A couple of days before his baptism he got a call from his parents saying that they wouldn't come to his baptism and that he is a grown man and he can make his own choices. His parents aren't at all supportive to his decision and when we talked to him, you could tell that he was heart broken, because he really wanted to have his family support him on this. When we talked to him we tried to encourage him that he was making the right decision and we told him that he should pray for comfort and strength. Anyways its been almost a week since the last time we talked to him...and we think that he backed out. Sister Fisher and I were in the slumps these last couple of days because we are so worried about him. We don't know what happened and he won't return our calls. It is just heart breaking because we know that he is making the right decision and he is a great guy, but Satan is just ridiculous and doesn't want him to be happy. We just hope and pray that he is still continuing reading and praying everyday.

So another one of my investigators Nathan is just a whole other story. Nathan is a less active member and he has so many issues!  He knows that there is a God, but he doesn't believe that he cares at all for him. Last time that we talked on the phone it was a really hard time emotionally to talk to him because he was so pessimistic. His heart is so hard and I have no idea how to help him. He needs to build his faith in Jesus Christ and know that the Atonement covers all of his sins. Not even that--but the Atonement can replace all the guilt and shame that he is holding on to, with joy and peace. He can find comfort in his Savior but he doesn't want to do anything about it. Sister Fisher says that I should drop him in the next week if he is not progressing because his heart is so hard. But I don't know if I can, because he is so lost right now and I know this can help him. Sister Fisher always says "We might drop him, but the Lord won't" Which is true, I guess I need the faith to drop. Ahh the hardest part of missionary work.

Family, I love you. I hope and pray that you are all doing okay. I saw Ryan the other day. That is a whole other story, but he told me that everyone is doing great! That was a tender mercy from the Lord And Krista you're going to New Jersey?! Say What?! Send me a shirt? haha jk. I hope you are all trying your best to keep the commandments
  
Mosiah 7:33 But if ye will ^aturn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all ^bdiligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage.
All the love,

Sister Opeda

P.S. Ill send pictures tomorrow!
P.S.S. Send me pictures please!

Week Eight - Herro Famalia

Dear Family,

So before I forget, the First Presidency sent a letter to all the mission presidents saying that missionaries are now allowed to email family, friends and new converts! So if you guys could send my email to Rachel and Tamara and really whoever wants to send me a letter, you can give them my email and I can email them back. Also President Gillette gave us 2 hours on the computer to email family and  friends! WOOT WOOT!

This transfer has been going so fast! We have transfer conference on monday! This transfer is only 5 weeks long because we had to be on the same schedule as the MTC. So next week I might be getting a new companion. Normally Sister Fisher and I would stay together for 2 transfers because she is training me, but she is at the point in her mission where she might get sent outbound. So I might get a new trainer on monday, we will see! Everyday though goes by so fast. I can't believe that my 1st transfer is almost done!

So last night I was thinking about what I wanted to share with you all. I was looking in my journal to see what miracles happened this last week that I can tell you all about. As I was looking in my journal almost everyday this week I wrote "I never want to go back to the person that I was before my mission." Yesterday I went to a meeting with President and his APs. Its called the "Endure it Well" meeting where we talk about what we have learned during this transfer. After we all talked we watched a MTC devotional of Jeffery R Holland talking about how we as missionaries need to be converted to the gospel first before we are to convert others. It was a really powerful talk and in his last few moments he gave the same sermon that he did in this last General Conference about Peter and his sheep. I just remember feeling that I never want to be like the person I was before me mission. I never want to turn my back on Christ. I read in Alma 5 where Alma is talking to his people about Christ. That is a really powerful chapter. I recommend that you all read it.

19 I say unto you, can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands? I say unto you, can you look up, having the ^aimage of God engraven upon your countenances?

 26 And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a ^achange of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the ^bsong of redeeming love, I would ask, ^ccan ye feel so now?

I love these two scriptures because I have felt the change of heart. I am striving to have my image of God engraven into my countenance. I feel it everyday.

Something that was said in sacrament meeting was about Jesus Christ Atonement. The atonement is something that we can apply in our lives daily. We can feel that change of heart if we repent of our sins and we look to Jesus Christ for strength.

We are not meant to live in sorrow and guilt. We are meant to be happy and find joy in our life. Jesus Christ is the only way we can have that joy. He wants us to be happy. So be happy and follow Jesus Christ everyday! Make that commitment that you will find happiness. I want you all to be happy like I am, and I know that God and his son Jesus Christ wants you to be happy too.

I love you all,

Sister Opeda

Week Seven - Waddup!

Hello Family!

So this week has been full of miracles! We have been able to contact so many people and really help them understand where they can find real happiness. Uhm we were able to meet a guy this is from Germany and is studying in Austria. He is a really nice guy and when I first met him I asked him what he was doing here in Salt Lake. He told Sister Fisher and I that he was just touring the States by himself and that he wanted to see Utah. He also told us that we were the first LDS he has ever met! We started to talk to him about the Book of Mormon and how it can benefit him in his life. And I just remember thinking "Oh my goodness, this kid is from Germany, touring the states and he just so happened to stop in Salt Lake, decided that he wanted to go to Temple Square, walk into the North Visitor Center where Sister Fisher and I were at, and we just so happened to be the first missionaries that he has ever met?! GOD SENT HIM TO US!" That was seriously my though process and I was just floored. He wanted to know so much more! We got his number and his email and we will be calling him this next week when he is back in Austria. Crazy!

So I am finally passed off! So here at Temple Square all the sisters have to give our Zone Leaders a tour of Temple Square and we need to be able to include church history, gospel doctrine, bridge any resource to doctrine. So you need to be passed off in order to take investigator lessons and any tours from West Gate (People that walk in and want a tour). Investigator lessons are when Elders from the Salt Lake City Missions take their investigators. So there have been a lot of investigator lessons coming in and Sister Fisher and I couldn't take them because I wasn't passed off yet. So I finally was able to be passed off this week! We planned on getting passed off the first week but our Zone Leaders schedule and our schedule never matched up. If was perfect timing because right when we got done with the pass off, there was a last minute investigator lesson that wasn't scheduled and Sister Fisher and I took it. 

The people we took on tours were actually from Samoa. Faithful and her Auntie are already baptized but they are inactive. So the commitment was to get them to church. It was such a powerful tour. We helped them understand that church is a commandment of Got and when we got to church is when we can show our love for our Savior by partaking of the sacrament. We also get the blessing of being forgiven of our sins and having his spirit to be with us. We were trying to figure out the reason why they haven't been going, they said that work gets in the way and sometimes it's hard to get it off. We told them that if they committed to go to church that God will provide a way so that they can make it, because it is so important that  we do go to church. Anyways after we showed them painting of Church we took them to God's Plan and at the very end Faithful's  Auntie started crying and she said that she wants her whole family to be embraced in God's arms. She said that her family in Samoa haven't accepted the church and that she not understands that she needs to be an example to them so one day they can be sealed in the Temple. She also told us that reason why they haven't been going to church is that they don't feel welcomed in the ward that they are assigned to. Auntie said that she hears people talk about her and that she doesn't feel like she can be around those people. Faithful agreed too because on one has tried to reach out to her. It broke my heart hearing that because the only reason why she hasn't' been going to church was because no one tried to make her feel welcomed which is something that could be easily fixed. Not going to lie, it also reminded me of our family and I couldn't help but tear up a bit as well. The spirit was so strong and Auntie and Faithful went to church the next day! I told the Elders afterwards that he should find someone in the ward who would be their friend. Miracles happen family!

So after the sisters get passed off the sisters get to ear at the Lion House FOR FREE! Best meal ever! We went with Sister Bahr and Sister Lee. Sister Bahr and I came to Temple Square at the same time. I ate the salmon and it was DA BEST! Not as good as the family's but it was much better than the ramen I have been eating lately. No worries Nay (It means 'mom' in tagalog-Kariza), it's p-day so I'm going to buy real food for real people!

I love and miss you all! God loves us, Christ lives, and they can make us happy if we let them. 

Sister Opeda

P.S. Kuya you should come to the "Music Around the World" March 15th 7:30. The seats are first come first serve. Just saying. If you can't no biggie!

We had a tour of all the Organs in Temple Square. Coolest thing ever!

 We were able to attend Music and the Spoken word. AMAZING!

 Look Nay! God sent me to a place where I am able to use phones and I can chat with people! HA

 After I got passed off we ate at the Lion House for dinner. Dinner was on the mission!