Called to Serve

Called to Serve

Monday, June 27, 2016

Incredible Week, New Mission President! June 27, 2016

   Hello everyone! I hope your week has been so amazing. Today for the
very first time I wrote to our new Mission President, President
Polley!  President Polley has asked us to think about some ways that
our previous Mission President and his wife, President and Sister
Slaughter, have impacted and inspired our missions and our lives. I've
deceived to share my thought about this with you all in my mass email
this week!

    I have known President and Sister Slaughter for about two months now,
and they have changed my mission and my life forever. I absolutely
love them with all of my heart. The Slaughters are so inspiring
because they have been the greatest example to me of being 110%
consecrated in the work; knowing that this time, is the Lord's time.
This is something I know the Lord knew that I needed to learn from
them.

    Before my mission, I did not understand the value of time. In fact to
be honest, I wasted so much time! I spent most of my time watching
hours and hours of Netflix, or surfing Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram,
etc. on my phone. Putting my the time into a priority category was
something I utterly failed at.  On my mission I have grown and changed
SO MUCH. The Slaughters have taught me that this time is the Lord's
time; and it should be spent accordingly! In all reality, the time we
have here is so short- so we need to spend every second of it as
consecrated servants of Jesus Christ. I've come to learn that all
things I do on my mission relate to how I spend my time. I know that
being exactly obedient means that I need to be doing exactly what the
Lord has asked of me, and not wasting my time by doing other things
that would delay the work. I know that as I spend my time working as
hard as I absolutely can, and being as obedient as I possibly can- the
Lord will bless the mission work even more. Now that I know that this
time is not mine, but it is the Lord's- and I will spend it
accordingly.  Just like the Slaughters.

    This principle of "The Lord's Time" that I've learned from the
Slaughters will not only affect the rest of my mission, but the rest
of my life. When I return home, 18 months later, I will forever
consider my time as the Lord's time. There are so many things we can
do to further the work of the Lord even when we are not set apart
missionaries. We are given this time on earth from our Heavenly Father
as a probationary state.  I love my Heavenly Father so much and want
to please Him to the best of my fallen, human ability. I will always
spend my time according to the knowledge that it's actually not mine,
but it's His.

    Of course this is not the only thing that the Slaughters have taught
me on my mission, but it is one that sticks out very much to me
because it's something I personally needed to learn. The Slaughters
were always so inspiring and in tune with the spirit; they always said
things that I felt were answers to my prayers and my questions. I am
so grateful for them, and for all of their 110% consecrated and
devoted time and service to the Texas San Antonio Mission. They've
truly taught me the importance of being "All In"!

    I've been so blessed to have President Slaughter as my Mission
President thus far.  I know that I am also so blessed to serve with my
new Mission President, President Polley! The Lord qualifies who He
calls, and He calls people to a certain calling for a reason. I am so
excited to see the miracles that will come from this change in the
mission!!

    I love you all! Please remember how much of a gift time is. Choose
how you spend your time wisely, because is it really YOUR time? The
Lord loves us so much! He wants us to succeed, and HE WILL help us!
Have the best week ever!! I pray for you all each and every day.

    The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true. I love my
Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ so much. I owe them
everything, for they have given me everything. In the name of Jesus
Christ, Amen.


Thursday, June 23, 2016

Transfer 2, Pday 7 in Texas! - June 20, 2016

Hello everyone!

    Literally dying because I can't believe I'm already on my 2nd
transfer and 7th Pday. And that's only in Texas! If you count my time
in the CCM this is my 3rd transfer and 13th Pday! The time is flying!
I can't believe I've been out for almost 3 months. I love this work so
much! Deciding to serve a mission is the best decision I've made for
my life thus far. My testimony has grown immensely, and I've learned
so much!
    
    This week has been great! We had the opportunity to teach a lot of
lessons. Some were with potential investigators, and some were with
less actives! I love watching the Light of Christ change the lives of
these incredible people! We have this new potential investigator named
Tiara! She's absolutely fantastic, and super prepared! A few transfers
ago, my companion and her old companion found her at her apartment
complex. At the time, she didn't seem to be too interested, but gave
them her apartment number anyway. Well last week we were proselyting
in this particular apartment complex, and my companion had a feeling
that we should knock on Tiara's door. As soon as Tiara opened the
door, she invited us in! She was having a little party with some
friends, and she literally said to them, "Can you guys go wait in the
other room? I really need to hear what these ladies have to say." How
cool is that?! She put her life on hold to listen to our message,
she's so elect! We taught her The Restoration, and she LOVED IT. She
asked when she could start reading The Book of Mormon, and we said
now! We gave her one, and invited her to start as soon as she could.
We asked her to attend church, and she literally said, "Of course I'll
come to y'alls church! Can I bring a friend?" All you returned
missionaries out there know the beauty of getting a referral and not
even having to ask for it ;) We love Tiara! Unfortunately her and her
friend weren't able to make it to church yesterday, but we have a
lesson scheduled tonight with them. So we will find out what's going
on, we know Tiara works A LOT. We are so excited for her though! We
are hoping to set a baptismal date very soon.
    
    My companion/trainer Sister Martin and I get along great! She is
hilarious, I just love her. She absolutely just LOVES the work, and I
admire it so much. She's a very good example of exact obedience- all
in all, I am so lucky to have the opportunity to be trained by her!
    
    This week I finally tried "Whataburger". I guess it's this burger
place in Texas that everyone raves over, and the members would like
die when I said I hadn't been yet. It turned out to be pretty good!
Another Texas thing is HEB. It's a store that's like Walmart, but
better! We shop there every Pday. I found a drink called Vernors, (and
for those of you Michiganders reading this email, this one's for you!)
and I was so excited! It reminded me of my incredible Michigan family,
so I just had to buy it! I love all the unique Texas places here, it's
so great! I am already excited for the trip my family and I have
planned to come back to Texas! I am starting to have some serious
Texas pride ;)
    
    I just wanted to take a second and say Happy Father's Day yesterday
to all the Dads out there! And to my dad in particular, Happy Father's
Day, I love you! My dad has been such an incredible example to me-
he's one of the big influences in my decision to serve a mission. And
he is this influence merely by example! My dad is incredible, he is so
selfless. I want to thank him for being a worthy priesthood holder,
and for always being so great in all his callings. My dad has a love
for everyone that is true and sincere. I truly strive to be the kind
of missionary and person, that he was and IS! So thank you for
everything dad, I love you.
    
    Our mission president, President Slaughter and his sweet wife and
family leave a week from today!! It is so crazy! I'm a little sad,
because I have grown to love them SOOOO much! But I know that I will
love our new mission president and his wife, President and Sister
Polley just as much. I am excited to meet them next week! Next Tuesday
we have a mission-wide conference where all the missionaries in the
TSAM get together, and we will meet President and Sister Polley. I am
so excited for that, I know it will be incredible!

    I'd like to close with leaving you my testimony. I know without even
a sliver of a doubt that this church is true. I know that we have a
Prophet on the earth today- President Thomas S. Monson. I follow him,
and I sustain him and all of the other Brethren. I have such a rock
solid testimony of Joseph Smith; I know that he really did see God The
Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. I know that Joseph Smith was
unimaginably faithful, and because of him we have The Book of Mormon
today. I love reading The Book of Mormon because when I do, I feel the
spirit so strongly. I know that it is true. I testify my witness that
The Book of Mormon is indeed the word of God. And I want to help
others on my mission understand the importance of reading it. I know
that Jesus Christ is our Savior, and that because of Him- I can live
again with my Heavenly Father. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is perfect.
I know that I am no where near perfect, but I know that by living the
gospel I can strive to be more like my Savior Jesus Christ.  I am so
blessed, and I am so grateful!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Freeman

P.S. Lol to describe that last Froyo pic... Every Tuesday night my
companion takes us to Menchie's because it's 5 dollar Froyo. And she
wanted to take a pic of our Froyos with our name tags;)





Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Transfers, Food Poisoning, Wedding Bells- What a week! - June 13, 2016


Hello everyone!!
Here are the Transfer news: NO NEWS! Lol me and Sister Martin will be
staying together in Palo Alto again for this next transfer.  So I have
the same address!
I am actually really excited that she gets to finish my last transfer
of training, and I really like the people here so it's good that I get
another one. I'm hoping to move to a Spanish area within the next
couple of transfers, but we will just have to see.

The Alamo and Mercado were amazing!  I'll be sure to send lots of
pics! It was fun to have an adventurous Pday!

So here's some interesting news for you, are you ready?:
1-  This week we got a call from the district leader saying there is
information from the Mission President's wife that the Zika Virus has
been found in Texas, so we all had to go buy a specific bug spray with
40% DEET that day! Crazy, right?!
2-  I got food poisoning from a Chinese Buffet. Ew.  luckily
it only lasted one night, so it wasn't too long! But it was utterly terrible!
3-  I got a Sty in my eye this past week, so I had to throw away all
of my mascara, wear glasses for a week with no eye makeup. It was
horrid! But it's all better now! So it's been quite the eventful week
for me;)

My cousin Jeffrey and his stunning bride Kristen got married this
week, so quick congratulations to them! Kristen looked absolutely
STUNNING! Mod beautiful bride I've ever seen! I loved all the
pictures, it looked like it was an amazing day! So glad Hollie was
able to attend via cardboard cut out😉

This week we found 3 new potential investigators so I'm super excited
about that!! I'll keep y'all in the update as to what happens.

This week has been great and very eventful, and I have unfortunately
run out of time to email. But I love you all! And want to thank you
for all the support and prayers.

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Freeman






Monday, June 6, 2016

No Time for Mass Email - June 06, 2016

Hermana Freeman ran out of time to write a mass email.  Here's an excerpt of the one she wrote me:


I don't have much time because we're about to get ready

to head out to the Alamo and the Mercado! I'm so excited to do
something fun and adventurous on Pday! This transfer has flown by, I find out a week from
today if I'm leaving or staying in my area! How crazy? 

No time for a mass, so sorry.

Love,


Hermana Freeman


P.S. I tried Sushi and it absolutely sucked! Also the Cupa de Frutas were HUGE!