Week Six - Miracles

Family!

It feels like I just emailed you yesterday. The days are long, but the weeks go by so fast. Its the weirdest thing I tell you! It is so great to hear from all of you! Your emails are so inspiring and I'm

 really feeling the love guys. (I hope you can hear my sarcasm). On the realies no emails?! Its okay cause I know that you all love me. But I want to know what is going on with the family too! I teach families all day and I have no idea what is going on with mine. :P

So you know how I was telling you that we are the missionaries that people chat with when they go on mormon.org? Well to be perfectly honest I really don't like chatting. For one, I'm a slow typer compared to my companion, and most of the chats that I have received are trolls. Trolls are people who go on chat and like to mess with the missionaries and ask stupid questions like "How do magnets work" I hate it, because I feel like that I'm wasting my time talking to people like that. Anyways Sister Fisher keeps on telling me that there are so many chat miracles and that they will come. So earlier this week we were blessed with a chat miracle. Aimee is a student in Missiouri. She came on chat and the first thing that she said was "I really want to go to a Mormon church, but would it be weird if I attended if I wasn't a member?" We continued to tell her that everyone is welcomed to come to church, and we asked if she would be willing to meet with the missionaries in her local area. She said that she would love to! She also agreed for us to call her and teach her more about the church! The cool thing is that she is so prepared! She said that she has always been drawn to the Mormon faith and she wants to have the same truth and knowledge that her member friends have! I know that God is preparing people for me to teach. He is preparing all of his children to come unto him.

We are also teaching a Southern baptist from Tennessee who is getting baptized in two weeks! Alex is also an investigator that I met my second day here. And we have been teaching him over the phone and last night he agreed to meet with missionaries and to receive a Book of Mormon. I love teaching the gospel and it makes me so happy! I hope you all can understand if I don't want to come back home! :P

Cool thing that our mission is doing, is we are having a production called "Music from around the World" Where all the Temple Square sisters are preforming a song/dance from their country. I'm actually participating in the Polynesians number. We are singing a song from Hawaii and I'm in a Samoan dance thingy! I'm also in the Choir which is cool! They say that the Prophet is invited, so this is the only reason why I'm actually doing it. Haha how cool would it be if I were to sing Aloha Oi to Thomas S. Monson?! SO COOL! It is on March 15th and it is free and open to the public. It is going to be in the Assembly Hall at 7...7:30? It is open to the public so if you so happen to be in SLC that day you should come and watch! 

Conference is around the corner and we are all preparing for it. I heard that conference is crazy but so much fun. Everyone says that people are so prepared when they come to watch conference. Also all the members are so willing to give us referrals so we can call their friends and share with them the gospel. Plus we get to go watch a session of conference too. There are a lot of perks to being a missionary in Temple Square. Like how we get General Authorities speak to us during Relief Society and Sacrament. On Sunday Elder Richard G. Hinckley and Sister Jane Hinckely came and spoke to us sisters. When Elder Hinkley was speaking I would close my eyes and he sounded just like his father! For Relief Society we were able to hear from Carol Ann Stevens a counselor for the General Relief Society Presidency. The spirit that they bring in and the uplifting they give is amazing. Some told me that Temple Square missionaries are spoiled. They're right.

I love you family and I hope you email me soon!

Love,

Sister Opeda

P.S. Here are more pictures of my first day here.
P.S.S. Kuya may you please send me the pictures of when the family dropped me off at the MTC? I have no pictures of anyone and I would like some of my pretty, pretty family! :) 

Week Five - Temple Square

Dear Family,

I HAVE ARRIVED! I am finally at Temple Square and I absolutely love it here! I have had the best days of my life so far. I love teaching about families, temples, Jesus Christ and meeting the needs of everyone that I meet. When I teach the investigators, I feel the Gods love for all of his children and I get the opportunity to feel how God feels about that individual. Goodness, it is too wonderful to even describe. But know that I am so unbelievably happy here! I pretty much dread thinking about leaving and I just got here.

So I got to Temple Square last Wednesday. We woke up at 4:15 packed last minute things and waited for the bus to drive us up to Salt Lake. It was obviously a short trip, but it was nice to take a nap right before I met President. So as soon as we got there we went to the mission home, which is actually the basement of the South Visitors Center. As soon as we got there we were able to meet President and Sister Gillette as well as my Trainer, Sister Fisher! Sister Fisher is from Dallas, Texas and is amazing! If I express any sort of concern she always says "It's alright.." in the most Texan accent ever. At first it was slightly annoying, but its grown on me. She definitely helps me understand that I wont become the best missionary overnight. But just as long as we are working hard everyday is all that matters. Before I came Sister Fisher had some investigators that she was already teaching. Tanja from Croatia, Harold from Malawi, and a few others here in the States. Ill tell you about that a little later. I've learned a lot from her. She is really good at  teaching things simply and powerfully. That is something that I need to work on. I found out that I tend to ramble...and it makes guests really confused. But don't you fret familia, I'm working on it. I thought that I would have a problem going up to strangers and talking to them, but it is so much fun. You really don't know who you are going to meet at all on the Square so it is such an adventure. I met this one guy from Sweden and he was telling me how he thinks that Jesus Christ was a great guy and all, but he doesn't understand how it was at all divine. I really wanted to say "UHMMMM is it divine because he DIED for your sins so you can make it back to your Father in Heaven who loves you! DUH!" But I didn't say that cause that would have been rude. I just bore him my testimony of Christ and he walked away. I do know that he felt the spirit because I could see it in his eyes but he denied it anyways. That's okay because he will remember the time he was in Temple Square and this little Asian girl talked about Jesus Christ. I planted the seed. :)

We get so many teaching opportunities here at Temple Square. We teach so many people everyday, on the Square and over the phone and on chat. So half the time on the the Square, the other half I'm either in the Beehive house give tours, or I'm on chat talking to people all over the world. You know on mormon.org it says "Chat with us today!" It is actually a several sister missionaries in all Visitor Centers and Elders too. So that is where we do a lot of teaching, is in the Teaching Center. That is why we are teaching people all over the world. There is a Filipino sister in my district and she is teaching people the lessons over the phone. I'm not sure if they are getting baptized, but Sister Macaldo is trying her best! We actually have a guy named Stephen in Arkansas and he has committed to be baptized! YAY! He is definitely prepared! He loves reading the Book of Mormon and he prays to God all the TIME! Last time we talked to him he was praying and he said "Well God, thank you for sending me these sister missionaries to teach me more about you and your son. I'm so glad that I can prepare to see you again...well actually to prepare to live with you again..." At that moment we knew that he understood about his purpose here. He understood that we can live with our Heavenly Father again wasn't just a nice idea! He knew it was the truth! Sister Fisher and I about died of happiness.

As a missionary "Our purpose is to help others come unto Jesus Christ by helping them..." helping them, not forcing them to follow the commandments, we are simply just guides to help them understand that they are loved and that they can be happy. Sometimes I want to force it in their life, but I know that it wont do them any good. They have to accept it for themselves in order for it to really something to them. We helped Stephen understand that there happiness that he can receive here in this life. He doesn't have to settle in this life! He can have all the blessings that God is WILLING to give us. We just need to show him that we want it.

Family, I love you so much. Family is really where we can have the purest form of love and joy. That is why God gave us families is so we can feel loved. Know, that I have so much love for all of you! You are all the BESTEST EVER!



-Sister Opeda


P.S. Tatay may I have all the names, addresses, phone numbers of all the family in the Philippines. I have filipino sister missionary friends that would LOVE to make new friends. :)
P.S.S. May I also have the birthdays and the names of everyone in our family.....extended family included? I only want the dead ones...I want to do my genealogy.
P.S.S. Ill send more pictures later. :)

Week Four - Visitor Center Training

FAMILY!

So first I want to say thank you for all the packages that you sent me. I've received a lot of letters and packages yesterday for my birthday and it really made that day special for me. Being at the MTC is really hard and when you get letters it really makes your whole day turn around. Tatay thank you for all the chocolates and manon! I pretty much died when I saw it because I was really  craving it the other day! Way to listen to the spirit Tatay! :) Also can you please relay a message to Jacqueline. Tell her thanks for my birthday package as well. We weren't able to open the sparkeling cider, but we are going to open it before we leave for the field. Also I got a cookie cake from the Flores family in the card they mentioned seeing Tatay at the CES convention last month! Thanks Kuya for the cupcakes. I went to get my mail and all the Elders around were all "Whoa Sister you need help eating that?" haha I gave some to my district and my Branch Presidency. Ive seen Sister Wright a couple of times and her and her comp are going to come and grab a cupcake too. I still have a ton left over even after I gave some away. So needless to say my 22nd brithday was great. The only thing is that I got so much sweets I dont know how I will be able to eat them all!

So I just want to let you know the events that has happened in this last week. My district left on monday morning for New Mexico. The night before they left we all had a testimony meeting and all the Elders gave Sister Hillam and I a priesthood blessing. All of the Elders are 18 or 19 and are all great missionaries. When I first met them I was so annoyed because all they did was goof off. Marjoity of them are really immature and just messed around. It was so hard to get the spirit into our class the first week. Eventualy I can see the change in all of the Elders. I'm really not doing justice on how they really changed, but I really grew to love each and everyone of the Elders. That night when they gave us blessings I couldn't stop crying. I have such a hard time saying good bye to people and especially since I know I will probably never see half of them again. Elder Bowman gave me the blessing and I really felt the love that God has for me, but I also felt the love that the Lord has for those men. It was a really great experience and I wish I was eloquent enough to really describe to you how it was. Just know that it was really hard to say goodbye.

Since our elders left it was only sister Hillam and I as a district so the until wednesday we combined with the other girls that are going to Visitor Centers. Then on wednesday we were put in another district full of just sisters. everyone in our district are either going to Temple sqaure, San Diego, Washingon D.C., or the Winter Quarters. There are 13 of us and we get more training as missionaries. On wednesday we actually got the opprotunity to go to temple square and have a tour from one of the sister missionaries there. On saturday we are going to go back there and we are going to go on splits with missionaries there and actually have our tours with real people. At the MTC we do a lot of role playing so all the teaching opprotunites Ive had are ones that were made up. So it will be so awesome to actually go there and get a taste of what Ill be doing for the next 17 months. The visitor center trianing is amazing. We have THE best teachers here in the MTC. I have learned so much in the last two days than I have ever learned in the last three weeks Ive been here. It is so wonderful and challegning. I know a lot about the gospel but I have never thought that it would be this hard teaching it. I think that Im doing pretty well as a missionary and with all the fundamentals that they have taught me, but there is definitely so much room for improvement!

I only have 5 mintues left before my time is up, but I want to let you all know that I love you all so much. I pray every night that you all will be okay. I really worry about you all the time. But in this last devotional that we had, our speaker said "If you worry about some elses (family), then the Lord will have someone worry about yours." That really hit home for me because I just want the best happiness for you all and I know that the best happiness that you can ever have his through this gospel. I know that ALL of you know that! I know you all have a testimony like I do! So please DO NOT PRETEND that Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father arent there for you! CAUSE THEY ARE! Please know will all the bottom of my heart that I have a testimony of this gospel. I love Jesus Christ and for everything that he has done for me.

I love you all,

Sister Opeda

P.S. Kariza can you please do me a favor and get everyones birthdays for me? Also you can post all the letters that I send to you on my blog. I really don't have any time or the talent to write two meaningful letters in 30 mintues. So you can post all of them!

P.S. You do know that the Spanish call was a JOKE right?! Hahah Goodness Ive had so many Dear Elders and letters from so many people congratulating me on going Spanish speaking. I'm speaking English, and if I had to speak another one I would DEMAND Tagalog! 

Week Three - Part Two

Dear Family,

So I don't think that you guys got my joke about serving Spanish speaking. I was kidding. My friend emailed me and said congrats on speaking English and mentioned how excited he was that he could see me here in the MTC before I left. I broke the news to him that I wasn't going Spanish speaking hah If anything I should be called to Tagalog speaking! REPRESENT!

So this is my last week here with the Elders in my district they leave on monday to New Mexico. Its going to be hard because I have really grown to love each and everyone of them. I have considered them as family and its hard to say goodbye knowing that I probably won't see them ever again. Some of the Elders went to BYUI before their mission so they said we all need to hangout when they get back but I would have been graduated by then. I told them that I hope I get sent to Farmington, New Mexico for my out-bound so we can serve together again. Elder Linds birthday was yesterday, so Sister Hillam and I decorated our classroom and got him a couple of his favorite things as a gift. We also made him a rememberance journal and had our branch presidency, our district, and some other Elders and Sisters in our zone write in it. He loved it. When he started reading some of the things in it, I swear I thought I saw a tear forming.

Sister Hillam and I have one more week here in the MTC. We have to do Vistor Center Training and learn how to give tours by the spirit. Sounds easy enough, but its hard to know what you need to teach your invetigators. We need to discern peoples needs within minutes of talking to them. I'm sure Tatay and Kuya knows what I mean. Its harder than people think. But it is worth every minute of it. I have had THE BEST time here. Everyday I learn something new and I'm always striving to become better. There are days when things get really hard and other days when you are on cloud nine. I have learned to trust more in the Lord and not think too much about hard days. Brother McClain and Brother Combs are my two teachers here in the MTC. Bro McClain served his mission in California and Bro combs served in Uganda. They both teach me so much. Bro McClain really knows how to challenge us so we can be better than the class before. And when Bro Combs talks about his mission, you know that he loved every minute of it. He gets so excited when he talks about talking to investigators or when he tells us that the Lord is preparing people for me to teach already. I can really explain it, but trust me when I say that they were meant to teach me. Its going to be hard to say goodbye to them too. But I told them that they both need to get married in the Salt Lake Temple so we can see them get married!

So I don't know if I told you this but we do A TON of role playing here in the MTC. Bro Combs and McClain pretend that they are someone else and the companionships teach them all the lessons and try to commit them to be baptized. Well I want to tell you about Stephen. Stephen is actually Bro McClain, he is someone that he taught on his mission. But anways Stephen is 22 and really shy. He has a girlfriend that is a member and works at some travel place. He is really logical. He believes in God but he thinks that God is too busy to anser his prayers. So anyways this is our third time teaching Stephen and we have committed him to read the Book of Mormon. At this point he hasn't read it and doesn't see the reason why it is going to benefit his life. So Sister Hillam and I decided that we should all read together so we can help him receive revelation from the Book of Mormon. So we proceeded to read from it, but I knew that Stephen wasn't being receptive to what we were saying. He said something about how his girlfriends dad would read at FHE the times that he went with his girlfriend. I asked him if he felt anything when he went to FHE and he said no. Then he said something about how his girlfriends dad knows a lot about scripture and how he cant receive his own revelation because he is not as knowledgable about the Book of Mormon than others. I asked him why he thought that and he said that he didn't have a father that read scriptures with him. Then I said, "Stephen, dont you know that your Father in Heaven is reading along with you?" Pure silence came and the spirit was so strong. I looked at Stephen and he started to cry. He told us how his dad wasn't the best and he asked me if his dad would ever change. I told him that if he committed to read, pray and get baptized that his father would change through his example. I started to cry when I bore my testimony of Christ. Though the whole lesson was a role play, the spirit was so real. It was the most amazing feeling in the world. When you have the opportunity to change the lives of the people you meet is so rewarding.

I love this gospel so much. I love Jesus Christ and what he did for me. Please don't ever forget that God loves you, and that Jesus Christ loves you. Go to church. Do not deny the blessings that Heavenly Father wants to give to you. I love you all so much. I think and pray for you guys all the time.

Love you,

Sister Opeda

P.S. Sorry for all the typos. I have to type fast cause I'm running out of time to type. Plus Kuya stole all the computer talent from the family.

Week Three - Part One

Hola Familia!

Guess what?! My mission president send me a letter and they told me that I'm going to be speaking Spanish in Temple Square! So I'll be here for another 7 weeks!!!! AHHHH SO CRAZY RIGHT?! JUST KEEDING!

This is not my weekly letter, I just want to send you guys some pictures. I'll send you an email later today!

So majority of the pictures are me and my district. There is one of me in the laundry room. One with me, my comp, and my teacher Brother Combs. Some of my roommates at the temple as well. I'll write later today!
Love you all!

Sister Opeda

P.S. Kuya I sent you tie clips.
P.S.S. Kariza my email address is on my FB already.
P.S X 10 send me Dear Elders. So its easier to email you later. I only have half an hour on the computer so my time is limited.

Week Two

Hello Family,

I'm not sure if you guys received my email last week or not, but I just want to tell you all that I'm alive! Saturdays are my p-day and I'm going to be here in the MTC till February 13th!

The MTC is amazing. The spirit is so strong here and I can't believe that I've been here for 10 days already. Someone told me something that relates to my experience here in the MTC. The MTC is like trying to take a drink out of hose that is bursting in your face. The MTC is a tad overwhelming. The reason why I say that is because they really make sure you know what you are talking about. As representatives of Christ we need to make sure that we conduct ourselves in a way Christ would. I always thought that I was really knowledgeable about the gospel. But here in the MTC, they make you think about the gospel in a different way. Our job is invite others to Christ by helping them understand the importance to follow Him in every way. I simply can't just walk up to someone and tell them our church is true if I cant relate it to them. The investigator needs to understand the importance of this gospel in their lives. We as missionaries need to make sure we make the connections that they would need to better understand that importance of following Christ. It sounds easy, but the hard part is making your investigators know how much you care to help them. We have to ask personal questions about their lives so they can see the connection we are trying to make for them. Its hard because some people don't want to open up. How do you make someone know you care in just a matter of minutes? I have felt Gods love for his children as I taught role play lessons in our class. God really wants us to come follow Christ and I know that! I want everyone I meet to understand that. I know I have good intentions, but to the world I'm just another nut case trying to convince them to follow our church. That's not true. This is the true church here on earth. I feel it in the very deepest part of my heart. Its just been a struggle trying to let someone know that!! Anyway, I know this letter is short, but I'll try better this time. I want all of you to know that this is the true church. Goodness, I hope you can feel how strong my conviction is about this. I have been loving every minute here in the MTC. I'm going to be THE BEST MISSIONARY in Temple Square.

I love you all. I miss you too. Write me back. I want to hear from you!

Love,

Sister Opeda

P.S. If you sign up for a Dear Elder account, you can write me a letter online and I will get it the same day that you write it. Then when I get on here I can write you a massive letter and respond to what you have said on Dear Elder. :) Just go on Dearelder.com or google it.

Week One

Hello Family!

Everyone here says that if you make it to sunday then you will be golden. I'm not really sure what that means. I think they are saying that things will get easier. Sundays are the days that you get spiritual upliftment and everything that you learn on that day is really needed for us new missionaries. There are a lot of people here who are new to living away from family. I guess since I've been in college for a a couple of years it's not that bad for me. So saturdays are my P-Days here in the MTC and I'll be here till Feburary 13th. So how are you all? How was the drive back to Las Vegas?

So Im really enjoying my time here in the MTC. The second day was rough. I think the reason why was because I now have someone else that follows me and that I need to mak sure is doing okay. Sister Hilliam is my companion and she is from St. Louis. She is really outspoken and is the person that is always willing to comment. Which is great. Sometimes its hard to get a word in because she is so outspoken. But that is probably the reason why she is going to Temple Square. Needless to say I've learned a lot about patiences with Sister Hilliam. There is ten of us in the district and everyone is 18 or 19. Ha Yeah talk about feeling like an old lady. Everyone assumes that Im 19 as well. Little do they know that I'll be turning 22 in a few weeks! A lot of the Elders in my district are from Idaho which is really cool. Elder Bowman was Kuya's neighbor at Bountiful. Seriously I come to the MTC and SOMEONE knows Kuya.

So I don't have a lot of time. But my Branch President said something that I will never for get "An average missionary is never remembered". That hit me really hard. I've only been here three days. but I have such a strong conviction of this gospel. I want everyone to come to Christ.  I want to live by exact obedience. I want to change the lives of the people I meet. AHHH goodness this church is so true. Sorry I have to cut this short. I just met Elders who are going to Las Vegas!

I love you all!

Sister Opeda