October 22, 2013 - Gilroy

Margarita is back!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know if you remember telling you about a lady named Margarita. The one who was reading Alma 29 when we came over and called us her angels? Well she went to Mexico last month because her husbands mother was really sick and we didn't think we'd ever see her again. Her kids weren't sure if she'd be able to come back but she did!! We had been stopping by her house about once a week just to see if she was there and then on Friday we decided to call her son and he told us that she was home! We went to see her the next day and she was so happy to see us! Her mother-in-law passed away so she was really sad. She was also really sad about the way her kids were living their lives and she asked us what she could do to help them. We testified of how the gospel blesses families and asked if she'd like to go to the Oakland temple after church on Sunday. She said yes! It was the most short notice temple trip we've ever planned but it was amazing!

 

We watched the testaments at the temple as well as the presentation that they have about families. Margarita just cried and cried the whole time we were there. All 3 of us were fasting that she would receive an answer about what to do for her children. She said it was her fast time ever fasting and on our way home from the temple she told us that she knew what she needed to do. She said she wants to keep coming to church with us and she wants to see the baptism for one of the elders investigators this Sunday. Hopefully I'll be making a trip back to Gilroy pretty soon for her baptism!

 

Other than our exciting news about Margarita nothing else has changed. Our district went to a pumpkin patch that some members in our ward own to pick out some pumpkins to carve next pday.

 

When we talk to people on the street about our missionary service they always seem so surprised at our sacrifice but I'm learning that my sacrifice is only a humble reminder of His "great and last sacrifice" on my behalf. I really am so thankful to be a missionary! I hope all of you are praying for missionary opportunities.

 

Since this week's email is short, I'll include some pictures!

 

Hope everyone has a good week! You may not be hearing from me for 2 weeks if I get transferred. Love you all!

 

Love, Sister Billings

October 16, 2013 - Gilroy

Hi family! How is everyone doing? How's the weather? Is it snowing in Utah yet? It's still pretty warm here in Gilroy. There have been a few cold days but for the most part it still feels like summer.

 

This week we had an awesome lesson with Amber! Remember how I was sad because we weren't going to be able to teach Amber anymore? Well there is a less active 13 year old (ivory) that we have been teaching and we realized that she is going through exactly what Amber went through when she was that age. We decided to invite Amber to our lesson on Sunday and it was a huge success. Amber really bore a powerful testimony about the gospel and how she wished so badly that someone would have shared the gospel with her when she was 13. It was so neat to see an investigator be the teacher to a member. I was so proud of Amber! She's progressing so quickly and has even been talking to the bishop about going to a singles ward. No matter where I am when she decides to get baptized, I'll be there. Long story short, I can't believe what some 13 year olds experience and go through at such a young age. It makes me so so so grateful to have been raised on such a strong gospel foundation. Thank you mom and dad!

 

Another neat experience this week was with Fatima. She's the one who has a little boy with cancer who wants to see the Oakland temple. At our lesson last week we asked her if she had been reading the Book of Mormon and she said that she had so we asked her to go get it so that we could use it for our lesson. She looked so sad and said that she didn't have it anymore. I asked her what happened and she said that she had been reading it at her friends house and they got to talking about it and her friend asked if she could read it. So Fatima gave her friend her Book of Mormon. She felt bad that she had given away the book but we were thrilled! We ran out to our car to get another copy and she was so grateful that we had another one for her. I love when investigators do missionary work!

 

We also had a pretty special contact last week. We were about to go into the hospital where we sing to a sister in our ward every week. We stopped a lady on the street and asked her if she'd like to learn more about Christ. She took our Mormon.org but didn't seem too interested. We went inside to sing for the sister in our ward and about 10 minutes later the same lady who we had stopped on the street walked in the room! She said, "excuse me but could you two come and sing about God to my mother as well?" She was so polite and seemed almost embarrassed to ask us. Maybe because she hadn't been very receptive on the street but it turned out that her mother was in the room right next door to where we were. We sang her some songs and even went back on another day to sing to her too. God really works in small and simple means.

 

I don't have much else to report for this week. The best part of the week was our lesson with Amber and Ivory. While we were in that lesson all I could think about was how incredible God's plan is. It's like a puzzle and sometimes you really can just see all of the pieces fit together. I know we were supposed to meet Amber and teach her for a period of time so that we could get to know her and part of her story. I also know that we were supposed to stop Ivory on the street that one day on our bikes so that we could hear her story as well. And I also know that those two were supposed to meet. Now Amber is going to be giving Ivory a ride to church every Sunday. Again, it's the investigator doing the missionary work. The gospel really does change people!

 

A funny-ish story for the week was this last Sunday during sacrament meeting. They asked Elder Olsen and I to translate when usually they just ask one of us. (If there are two of us we can switch off during speakers and help each other find scriptures) but anyway I felt really awkward sitting next to an elder even though my companion was close by. Some part during the meeting I looked at my companion and she was laughing so hard. Afterwards I asked her why she was laughing so hard and she said I looked so ridiculous because I was sitting as far away from Elder Olsen as I could. I was completely on the edge of my seat and if there wasn't a wall on the other side of me I probably would have been sitting even farther away! Hopefully I didn't make Elder Olsen self conscious that he has bad breath or anything!

 

Well that's it for this week. I hope everyone is doing well! And I HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU SOOOOOON!!!!!! :) I love you all!

 

Love, Sister Billings

October 8, 2013 - Gilroy

I made it a year!!!! One year on the mission has come and gone and I can't believe how quickly the time is passing by. It's been a great year and I hope to make these last 6 months even better than the first two.

 

For my year mark Sister Burch and I (who came out the same day) burned a shirt. Don't ask me why. Stupid tradition if you ask me. But it was still fun to celebrate one year with all of the missionaries. We also got some Fro-Yo but that was it....not much else we can do to celebrate as missionaries. Oh but that night was pretty exciting. We were getting ready for bed and all of the power went out. Of course we got scared so we called the elders and they were scared too....which made us even more scared! One of the elders, with complete panic in his voice, kept telling us not to panic. Then he told us to turn off our flashlights and stay low. That really made us panic! Even the security lights from our apartment complex to as far as we could see were out. It was pretty eerie.  About an hour later all the lights came back on but Sister Champlin and I were still scared so we put both of our mattresses on the floor next to each other to sleep.

 

So this week started out pretty slow and we were starting to get discouraged with some of our goals. On Wednesday night we decided to fast together and sure enough we saw some miracles! They were all small ones...but we know the Lord works by small and simple means. One of the miracles was our encounter with a young woman named Alexis. We met her outside the apartment complex of a lesson that fell through. We had already met her at the park once before and she recognized us. We talked to her about how the gospel blesses families and she just started crying. We also taught her a shortened version of the restoration, focusing on prophets, and invited her to general conference. She downloaded the general conference app on her phone right then and there! She was so excited to learn what she could do as a single mom to help her 2 year old daughter. I love being able to provided the answers to those type of questions! The gospel is always the answer and I take for granted how many people don't know about it.

 

Violet and Rosa are still progressing quickly. We invited them to be baptized and they said they want to pray about it first. Then they asked for some scriptures about baptism so that they could study it. Those are the kind of answers I like when we invite people to be baptized. When people say yes right away it makes me nervous because I don't know if they're taking it seriously. But I know violet and Rosa are taking it seriously. Which means they'll get an answer (verdadera intencion!)

 

How did everyone like General Conference? I LOVED it! I can't wait to study the articles in the Ensign when it comes out. My favorites were D. Todd Christofferson, Holland, Uchtdorf and Nelson. All of the missionaries watched conference together at the church. We had a few investigators show up for a couple of the sessions and our less active,(Ivory 13 years old) came to two of them. She reminds me so much of Amber from the stories she tells us about when she was 13. I hope she doesn't go down the same path that Amber went down. But at least she came to Conference! I even saw her taking notes :)

 

For pday yesterday we went on a beautiful hike with some members who just got back from a couple mission in France. I think it was Leon, France. They showed us all of their pictures and I think I would love to go to France one day! Dad, do you want to go visit your mission when I get home?? :) But the hike was really fun even though my legs are sore today....I'm definitely not in shape anymore.  I'll send some pictures!

 

Well I hope everyone enjoyed conference and I hope everyone is doing great! Hope to hear from you all soon. You're in my prayers and I love you all!

 

Love, Hermana Billings

October 1, 2013 - Gilroy

The first day of October started out GREAT with a trip to the temple! Which is why I'm not getting an email out until tonight. I loved the new presentation but I especially loved being in the temple again! Really, the spirit is just so peaceful and it's so easy to sit back and think. Only 6 more months and I'll be able to go again! Speaking of the temple, the members that took us tried to send a picture to dad's phone but I couldn't remember his number. Let me know if you got it...if not, I'll look up your number and have them send it again. Who knew I would forget everything I knew before my mission?

 

Well this week was really good....not great because we didn't have any investigators at church. But we had sisters retreat and it was so much fun. My mission president said that we have the highest number of sister missionaries besides temple square. We currently have 110 sister missionaries. I don't know about the other visitor centers but that's what he says...so I think it's true. We had a few guest speakers and the Sister Training Leaders put on a skit. There are now 7 STL's and I requested to have the smallest part in the skit so OF COURSE I got the biggest part. It was fun though and people laughed. Maybe out of pity but still, at least it was fun! The whole day was honestly like a mini girls camp. So think of what goes on in girls camp and mash it together in one day and you get sisters retreat!

 

The funniest thing that happened this week was when I was on exchanges with another sister. We stayed in Gilroy and went to visit an older lady from the Spanish branch who is suffering from alzheimers. She is usually sleeping when we go there but this time she was awake so we decided to sing some songs for her. Towards the end when we were about to leave I noticed that she was starring at my name tag so I took it off and handed it to her. She stared at it for a long time and I told her that we were representatives of Jesus Christ. She looked up at me and then brought my name tag to her mouth. I thought she was going to kiss it but then she started sucking on it! My mouth literally dropped open and from what my companion told me I had the most disgusted look on my face. I wasn't really sure what to do so I just sat there frozen watching this lady try to eat my name tag and meanwhile my companion was dying of laughter. I finally gently tugged my name tag out of the lady's mouth and told her that it wasn't food. She looked confused but didn't get upset. I never quite imagined missionary work to involve such bizarre experiences.

 

The saddest thing that happened this week is that we had to give Amber to the other missionaries. The change has brought me close to tears just about every single day this week. She's always lived in the other ward boundaries but she had requested sister missionaries and at the time we were the only ones in the area so she had been coming to our ward. Well the other ward has sisters now too (our roommates) and Amber went to her "correct" ward (as far as boundaries go) and loved it because her and her kids recognized so many more people that live close by. I guess they have ward boundaries for a reason right? Anyway, she decided to go to the ward where she would know more people. Which is what she should be doing because she lives in those boundaries. But it also meant that we won't be teaching her anymore. I know she's in good hands though. And her testimony is so strong that I'm really not worried about it. It's all selfless reasons why I want to be able to teach her because my testimony grows a hundredfold every time we visit her. What she's been through compared to how she's living her life is the biggest inspiration to me. So keep her in your prayers even though I probably won't mention her very often anymore.

 

I hope everyone has a great week this week and enjoy General Conference! I've been looking forward to conference for quite a while. Something we've been telling everyone to do in order to prepare for conference is to think of a question or specific concern. I know we've all heard it but just another reminder that the Lord will answer your specific question! Try it :)

 

I love you all and I hope to hear from you soon!

 

Love, Sister Billings

September 24, 2013 - Gilroy

We had another great week full of miracles! Once again I don't even know where to start, The Lord truly is hastening His work.

 

I'll start off with our district meeting that we had this week. Every Wednesday all 10 of the missionaries in Gilroy meet together to discuss the work that is going on in our respective areas. The previous week our district leader had asked us to set 3 extremely high key indicator goals as a companionship. Sister Champlin and I chose to focus on investigators at Sacrament, progressing investigators and baptismal dates. All of the companionships came to district meetings with their 3 goals so we had a total of 15 goals.

 

Then our district leader told us the story of the brother of jared and how he brought 16 stones to the lord for Him to touch to make light. Obviously this required a miracle that would only be possible through the faith of the brother of jared. He talked about how our goals are similar to these stones and in order to achieve our goals we were going to need to exercise a lot of faith. Then he told us that we were missing the "16th stone" and so as a district we set our 16th goal to be 16 baptisms as a district this transfer. The spirit was SO strong and even though I was wondering how on EARTH it would be possible I know that if each companionship exercises faith then the lord will do the rest. 

Our goals may seem small unto the understanding of man but the Lord will show forth great power (Ether 3:5)

 

This goal and the motivation that it has brought to our district has already produced miracles. As a district we set 8 new baptismal dates this week! Sister Champlin and I focused on getting our investigators to church. Our goal is to have 4 investigators each Sunday for this transfer. We "knew" that Amber would come because she's rarely missed a week but she didn't show up!!! My heart dropped when she texted us saying that she wasn't going to be able to make it. I didn't want to admit it but I was worried that we weren't going to reach our goal. None of our English ward investigators came so we were praying that they would show up to the Spanish service.

 

We went with a member to pick up our one and only baptismal date named Yamilet. We sat next to her as the meeting was getting started and about 10 minutes into the service Violet and her mom Rosa walked in! I was so happy to see them. I about sprinted across the chapel to sit by them. Although we didn't reach our goal of 4 investigators at church I accepted 3 as a good effort on our part. We really did do everything in our power to get at least 4 there (We had a prospect of 11 so the fact that 3 came was a pretty good number). But then the elder in the other English ward texted us and said that Amber had shown up to the later service time with her family. I was so happy!!!! Not because her going meant that we had reached our goal of 4 inv @ church but because Amber realizes the importance of going to church. Especially the impact that it has on her children.

 

Speaking of Amber, she has decided to move out which means she can get baptized! She seemed so at peace with the decision when she told us. Her plan is to get baptized here and then move away and start her life completely over. She even mentioned going to BYU to finish her degree. I don't know how much I've mentioned about Amber but the changes that she's made are honestly so miraculous. She was homeless at the age of 13 and started using drugs at about the same time. She overdosed several times and was put in jail several times as well. Knowing her now you would NEVER guess that she used to live that sort of lifestyle. The gospel has completely changed her. She won't even drink soda with caffeine in it because she feels that it is against the word of wisdom. I know that the Atonement is real. Amber is living proof of that. During our lesson on Sunday she started crying and told us that what she wants more than anything is for her 3 year old daughter to grow up and be sister missionaries like us.

 

We had another great experience this week with Fatima. She was a referral from a ward member and her son has cancer. We hadn't been able to meet with her for awhile so we decided to drop in and see her one day. We weren't expecting to stay but she invited us right in and looked thrilled to see us again. She told us that her son has been telling his school teacher about us and calls us his friends but he told his teacher that his mom calls us her sisters. Fatima told us that she has been telling her friends about what we taught her last time and wants us to go visit them too. Somehow we started talking about temples and she looked like she was about to cry. I asked her if she would like to go with us to see the Oakland temple one day and she said that her son has been asking to go to a temple in Oakland. I asked her how her 10 yr old son knew about the temple and she said that a friend from school had told him about it. She doesn't know the friends name because  he's "American" as she said it and can't communicate with his parents. She told us that she knows she needs to take her son to see the temple and I just thought WOW. This boy's friend is doing missionary work at 10 years of age and has no idea what kind of impact he will have on this family. I said a little prayer to thank this boy for his missionary service and also his family for what they've taught this boy at home. No one is too young to do missionary work!

 

Last thing I'll mention from this week is someone we met at the car wash. We contact people on the street every single day but there are some people that I feel like I have more  of a special connection with than others. The guy that washed our car was one of them. I felt the strongest desire to do something for him. He was washing our car so my mind kept jumping to giving him money but obviously I didn't have any. He spoke Spanish so I asked him if he liked to read. He said that he loved reading so I gave him a copy of the Liahona. We then started talking about Jesus Christ and he said that he could tell we were really good people and how he wanted to change his life. I told him that I had something that would change his life and I opened up our trunk and gave him a copy of the book of Mormon. He was so grateful and said that he would start reading it right away. Sure enough, as we were pulling out of the car wash I looked in my rear view mirror and saw him reading the book of Mormon. He lives in San Jose so I don't know if I'll ever hear from him again but something tells me that we were supposed to meet him.

 

I wish I could write about more of the miraculous experiences we had this week! We've been working hard but we also have a lot of fun too. Yesterday we played soccer with our zone on a turf field. I WAS IN HEAVEN! I forget how much I love and miss sports until I get the opportunity to play them. We've also been playing indoor soccer 3/week at 6am with just our district but for some reason playing outside on the turf brought back a flood of memories from back when I was athletic. haha

 

Well I hope everyone is doing well and I hope God continues to bless each and every one of you!!! Have a good week!

 

Love, Sister Billings

September 17, 2013 - Gilroy

This week was FANTASTIC! There is so much that I want to write about but I know I'm not going to be able to cover it all. First of all, I'M STAYING IN GILROY!! It was honestly the biggest surprise for everyone in my district. The chance of me staying in Gilroy for another transfer was seriously 1%. Saturday night (when they do the transfer calls) I was on the phone with one of the elders arranging our car schedule and I heard one of the zone leaders in the background yelling my name. I asked them what was going on and they told me that I wasn't going to be transferred!! I didn't believe them at first but they sounded pretty serious so I yelled to Sister Champlin in the other room that I wasn't leaving and she sprinted out of our room and tackled me! Needless to say we were all shocked. 5 transfers in Gilroy!!! :)

 

And dad, the reason why I said my next area will be my last (even with 7 months left) is because my mission president has it set up so that sisters have a total of 3 areas and elders have a total of 4. We're supposed to serve 4 transfers in each area but I was only 3 transfers in my first area. Which is why I'll have 5 here. It all balances out :)

 

Anyway, besides the surprising news of transfers we really had a great week full of miracles. For some reason we came into contact with so many receptive people this week. One of them was someone we met in the Wal-Mart parking lot. We walked up to her to share a Mormon.org card and she got tears in her eyes and asked us how we knew that her name was Violet. We told her that we didn't know that that was her name. She looked confused and said , "Oh. Really? Because when you first started talking to me I swear I heard you say my name." I felt such a strong impression that that was God's way of reaching out to her so I testified to her that we were messengers of God and that He does know her name and that He loves her. She teared up some more and thanked us for stopping to talk to her. She doesn't live in our area so we gave her the contact information that she needed to meet with the missionaries in her area. Such a simple thing as a name can make all the difference!

 

Another contact we met was a referral that we got from a member in our English ward. I didn't make the best first impression though because we were on bikes that day so we rode our bikes to house. I was wearing a headband and when I took my helmet off it pulled my headband down around my forehead (like how hippies wear them) and I didn't even notice! So I talked to her for about 15 minutes without even realizing how strange I probably looked! But I guess that didn't matter to her because she was the most receptive contact I've ever had. She was so impressed with the fact that we would serve a mission to teach people about God and she wouldn't stop asking questions about the church's activities and programs. It was great! She told us that her door is always open to us and to please stop by whenever we get a chance. And her mom speaks Spanish! So we're really excited to start teaching them. Her name is Violet Duran and her mom's name is Rosa so hopefully more good stories will be coming from them.

 

We've also been progressing a lot with Margarita Zavala. She came to church on Sunday! And we met with her just about everyday this week. One of the days that we stopped by she was SO excited to read us a chapter that she had found in the book of Mormon. We had barely sat down when she started reading it to us. She said that she just opened up the book and the chapter she opened up to was Alma 29. After she read the whole chapter to us she started crying and began thanking us for everything we've done for her. She said that when she read that chapter she thought of us and she knows that God sent us to her. She called us her angels :) I don't know if I every told anyone this but my main goal for my mission was to be an angel for at least one person so hearing her say that made me feel like I'm actually finding those people that God has prepared for me to find.

 

This week we also went to the temple with Amber and Anthony. Amber had already been but she said she learned a lot of new things about Joseph Smith and she felt the spirit which is what she had been yearning for. Our ward mission leader held an FHE with another young single mom in the ward and Amber. We roasted s'mores in their backyard campfire and Amber's kids made some new friends. It was really nice of them to reach out to her. The ward has also assigned home and visiting teachers to her even though she's not yet a member. I love that they're so involved with her because there is only so much the missionaries can and should do.

 

Another tender moment was with Ivory. She's the less active member we found contacting back in June. She's had a really rough life and has been through more than any 13 year old should ever have to experience. She was talking to us about serving a mission and how she wants to but keeps changing her mind. I told her that it's okay to change her mind because I changed my mind a million times even AFTER I had received my call. But here I am!! We asked her to say the closing prayer and in her prayer she said that she was really glad that God helped Sister Billings serve a mission so that she could meet the sister missionaries. Once again it was a testimony to me that we are finding those people that God has put into our path to find. I can't explain how we come in to contact with some of these people. They are honestly just put into our path. It's our job to talk to them but I know God is the one directing all of these contacts. If He wasn't the one in charge I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't have a single person to teach!

 

I know this is long so I'll finish with Gerado. He is a very devote member of the Baptist church and he doesn't disagree with ANY of what we teach. But for some reason he cannot except the fact that we have a living day prophet. His excuse is that we're the only church that claims that we have a prophet. I don't understand how that makes him not believe it....to me that's the evidence that this is the true church. God called prophets in the past and has called them again. No other church is founded upon prophets and apostles as was the church that Jesus Christ himself established. We testified that this church is true so he in turn testified that his church is true. But then he said "However, I'm not going to promise you that it's the way to get back to God because only God knows which church that is" So I said that we could promise him that. I told him that without a doubt I know that this church is the only church with ALL of the truth. I really have realized that other churches have so much good and so much truth but there really is only one church with ALL of the truth. Why would anyone want to settle for part of the truth? After I said that he looked stunned. He took a deep breath and sat back in his chair and said "wow. How can I know if there really is a prophet then?" We gave him some "homework" but  it would be really really awesome if everyone could pray for him to gain a testimony of prophets. Please???? And THANK YOU in advance!

 

I don't know why we had such a busy week but this isn't even half of everything that happened! Things just finally seemed to fall into place. It felt like we had about 2 or 3 weeks with not much going on but it all hit us at once last week. It seemed like everyone we came into contact with was coming up to us instead of us reaching out to them. We went to the post office last week and as we were leaving the lady told us that all missionaries are extremely nice and she wished more people were nice like us. Then the next day we were at the library and I returned an extra 10 cents that the printer had given me and they told us them same thing. They looked shocked that we would return such a small amount of money. But I learned in the MTC to ask myself if something like that is worth my salvation. Is 10 cents worth not being able to say I'm a completely honest person? Definitely not!

 

Hopefully this email finds everyone healthy and happy! I love you all and I appreciate all the prayers and letters that I receive :) Have a good week!

 

Love, Hermana Billings

September 10, 2013 - Gilroy

To be honest, this week was actually really slow. We don't have a whole lot going on with investigators but we've been working hard with a lot of the less actives. We have plenty to do! But we don't have very many promising investigators...yet.

 

This will most likely be my last week in Gilroy :( I don't want to leave but I've been here for 4 transfers so I think it's about time. Plus, I was talking to my mission president this morning and he hinted that I'll be leaving. He also hinted that I might be going to Salinas so please please please everyone pray that I DON"T go to Salinas. I have had nightmares of that place ever since they opened it up to the sisters.

 

I sent a package home yesterday and it should get to the house on Wednesday. Let me know when you get it! There's a letter for mom and dad and you can read the journals if you want too. There's probably a lot of stuff in them that never made it to the emails.

 

Sister Champlin has been really sick the past few weeks with a bad cold so we finally called the mission nurse. We were in the church bathroom when she called us back and she was trying to find a doctor for us to go see so she asked "where are you?" So I said, "In the bathroom" I didn't know that she was asking which area we were serving in! Not the most embarrassing thing I've said on my mission though.

 

On branch has 3 missionaries leaving on Wednesday and one just returned a couple weeks ago so the branch is really excited about missionary work. They've been a lot more involved in the work so it's been really helpful. We helped the 2 girls that are leaving pack on Sunday and I couldn't stop thinking how helpful that would have been to have some sister missionaries help me pack. As a thank you, they took us to Santa Cruz yesterday for our preparation day. We didn't have time to do much but it was still a lot of fun.

 

Sister Champlin and I have kind of known that I'll probably be getting transferred so we wanted to make a trip up to the Oakland temple trip before I go. We didn't think it'd be possible but then Amber asked, out of the blue, if we would go up with her and her son. So we'll be going up this weekend!! I love going to the temple. Obviously going inside is a lot better, but the visitor's center is always so spiritual for the investigators. Amber is having a pretty hard time right now and she's worried that she'll never get baptized. I'm worried about that too to be honest. But we're doing everything we can to help her progress.

 

Well sorry that this email is so short but we really didn't have a whole lot going on this week. I hope everyone is doing great and I hope to hear from you soon!! Oh...don't send letters after this weekend in case I do get transferred. I'll get my new address to you as soon as I know.

 

Love you all!!

Love, Hermana Billings

September 3, 2013 - Gilroy

Ahhhhhh it's already been 11 months??? That means in just one month I'll have been a missionary for an entire year! I remember when I felt like my mission would NEVER end. But now I can't believe how fast it's flying by. Transfers are in two weeks and I'm guessing I'll be transferred to my last and final area :( I wish I could stay in Gilroy forever but I don't think that's possible. I also wish I could train again but there aren't any Spanish speaking sisters coming in this next transfer.

 

So this week was one of the harder weeks but also very successful. We received over 60 referrals from the members and about 50 of them were from ONE member. He's really excited about missionary work! Our efforts combined with the efforts of the members produced 8 new investigators this week! Just to put it in perspective we usually only get 1-2 new investigators each week so we were thrilled! As far as baptismal dates we don't have any scheduled right now. However, Savannah is a 15 yr old girl who's been meeting with us for awhile and she's getting really close.

 

Something that I learned this week is that we really need the elders. I hate to admit it because I like to try doing things myself but I think the Lord wanted me to learn how to rely on other people. So many things happened this week that we should have called the elders for but I insisted on doing it myself. But then our car got a flat tire and I barely know how to pop the hood let alone change a tire so......we finally called the elders. They were more than willing to help us and were really nice about it. The same week our bike got a flat tire and one of the chains fell off so they ended up having to help us both of those times too. So much for being independent!

 

I was feeling really bad for making the elders help out so much and I almost felt indebt. So I was thinking about how we could repay them but nothing was coming to mind. I felt SO useless and realized that I had nothing to offer. BUT the elders bike got a flat tire Saturday night which gave us the perfect opportunity to serve THEM. They asked if they could ride our bikes. (Remember, our bikes are pink) So we ended up letting them use our car on Sunday and we took our bikes. It felt good to finally be able to serve them.

 

 Long story short....I'm really grateful for the opportunity to serve others when I can and I'm also really grateful to those who serve me when I need it.

 

Something really interesting this week happened and it taught me a great lesson. There's a companionship of sisters that my president had asked me to talk to about a problem that was being reported by the members. He told me that I had to be bold and direct and firm. So basically the opposite of everything that I am! I was really nervous to confront them about it but at the end of our exchange I mustered the strength to say what President had asked.

 

The companionship is a trio right now and only 2 of them are causing the problems. After I was finished speaking the 2 who are causing the problems both looked at me as innocently as they could and denied that there was a problem. But, the sister who hasn't caused ANY problems looked at me completely heart broken and took ALL of the blame and promised that she would change and be better. I was literally speechless. But it showed a lot of their characters. I learned what true humility really looks like. It's when we take the blame for failure and give credit to others for success. After all, all of the success we experience should be credited to the Lord and all of our failures come because of our own weaknesses.

 

Last thing, Dad do you know a Perney family in Dijon france? Their first names are Veronique, Gean and Irene. I know it's a long shot but it never hurts to ask! Their daughter/granddaughter is serving in the san jose mission and I went on an exchange with her. She's still learning English but she's picked it up really quick! A lot quicker than my Spanish!

 

Well I hope everyone is doing well and I can't wait to hear from you again. Have a good week I love you all!

 

Love, Hermana Billings

August 27, 2013 - Gilroy

We just had one of the best weeks of my mission. I had so much fun this week that I almost forgot I was a missionary! Although we had a lot of fun we still worked really hard and were blessed with the opportunity to see Jocelyn be baptized!

 

We met with her on Monday and she seemed very committed to baptism but then we went to visit her on Friday and she wasn't there. We talked to her mom and she told us that Joeclyn was having a lot of doubts about her baptism. Her mom was really nervous that she wasn't going to go through with it so we decided to fast together. The 3 of us knelt in prayer to start a fast on behalf of Jocelyn and the spirit was really strong.

 

We went back to visit them the next day (Saturday) one hour before Jocelyn's baptismal interview. We talked to Jocelyn and she bore testimony of the things that we've taught her since April. We asked her how she felt about baptism and she said that she wanted to do it because she knew it was a step in the right direction. We asked her if she had any doubts that she wanted to discuss and she said that she did. We asked her to share them with us and she said she was really nervous that she wouldn't go all the way under the water the first time and would have to be "re-baptized" until she finally went all the way under. I tried not to make my sigh of relief too loud!

 

Sunday came and the baptismal program went perfectly smooth and, most importantly, she only had to go under the water once! She prayed with so much faith that she wouldn't have to do it more than once and God answered her prayers :) She invited her non-member boyfriend and bothers to come to her baptism which was really great. However, her non-member dad didn't show up so she was kind of disappointed. If I have time I'll send some pictures from her special day.

 

On Saturday, the three wards in Gilroy had an awesome Luau. Over 600 people came and about 100 of them were non-members. It was such a great missionary opportunity! They cooked two pigs, had Hawaiian dancers (including a fire dancer) and a church tour. At the end of the night they invited all of the missionaries up on the stage and invited anyone who had any questions to come up and talk to us. We were able to find a lot of people to teach just because of that activity. AND it was a lot of fun!! The best part of the night was watching the elders try and do the Haka!

 

And just to add to our awesome week.....President took our district to the Santa Cruz beach yesterday! The weather couldn't have been more perfect and the ocean was so pretty!! Of course I didn't wear sunscreen and of course I got sunburned but it was totally worth it. We played soccer (which is REALLY hard in the sand) and had a picnic and just relaxed. Right before we left President made me race two of the elders but they both beat me :( I tried to tell him that I was retired but he said he had complete confidence in me and said we weren't leaving until I raced them. It was a close race though so I told him I'll train to beat both of them before I go home! 

 

Overall it was a really great week. We ended on Sunday with 0 progressing investigators so we were a little discouraged but we've already found some great people to teach this week so hopefully some of them show interest! We know God will bless us if we just do our best. I hope you all have a good week and thanks for everything. I love you all!

 

Love, Hermana Billings

August 13, 2013 - Gilroy

Hola! This week was really fast but really awesome! The San Jose Mission had 17 baptisms last week which was a new record. The average is usually 7-8 and 12-14 was the former "high". All of the missionaries and members are working so hard and it's great! Two of those baptisms were in our branch and it was a really spiritual baptismal service. It was for a newlywed (legally) couple named Maria and Salvador. Their 10 yr old daughter was baptized about a month ago but they weren't able to join her because of an "impossible" divorce that they were waiting for in Mexico. I thought that it was interesting that the divorce was able to go through after their daughter was baptized. I'm praying that a similar miracle will occur after Amber's son, Anthony, gets baptized this Saturday.

 

We are now on full bikes twice a week and I love it! I wish we could be on bikes every day but there are a lot of places and people that we need to visit that we can only get to with a car. We share 2 cars between 3 companionships. The elders have bikes 3 days a week and us and our roommates have bikes twice a week. Not a bad set up!

 

Our first full day on bikes started out with an amazing first lesson from a referral that a sister in our ward gave us. Her name is Jill and it was really one of the best first lessons I've every had on my mission. She wasn't able to schedule another apt until the end of August but pray for her! She seems very prepared.

 

On our way home from the apt we got chased by the scariest pitbull!!! We turned a corner and this dog started running AT us so I slammed on my breaks (don't ask me why) and I screamed the highest pitch scream that's ever come out of my mouth. It kept running at me so I decided to try and out run it on my bike and I pedaled right towards it (I also don't know why). I think it got scared though because it didn't try and do anything to me so I pedaled away as fast as I could and when I turned around to see where the dog was it was chasing Sister Champlin. She had the biggest look of terror and her face that it made me laugh. It didn't take long for the dog to get tired but Sister Champlin got mad at me for leaving her....you know what they say about just needing to be faster than your friend when getting chased by a bear? It applies to pitbulls too.

 

On Thursday one of our less actives got married to someone that she met online....they officially met each other TWO days before the wedding. It was the most awkward wedding that I've ever seen. Good news is he's taking the lesson from the missionaries.

 

Apparently I don't have much to update as far as investigators go but I feel like I have a lot of stories to tell....We had lobster for dinner at a members house and it was the most horrific experience ever. The lobster actually tasted pretty good...but getting the meat out was honestly traumatizing. I don't know if anyone has ever had lobster before but we had to pull the legs off and then cut into this animal. After I almost started crying from pulling the legs off the member told me to "just cut it's belly. It's just like dissecting a frog in science class" as if that would make me feel more comfortable. I never ended up being able to cut into the belly so she had to do it for me. Worst. Dinner. Experience. EVER. But again, the lobster actually didn't taste that bad. I just never ever ever want to do that again.

 

Okay real quick...we got 5 new investigators this week! And it was about time. We have definitely been praying for new people to teach and find. It helps that our ward and branch are really trying to be involved. Anthony will be baptized on Saturday and Jocelyn set a new date for the 25th. Amber has been coming to church and has been a lot more involved with some members of the ward. Will hasn't wanted to meet with us lately but we'll keep trying. Once we learn more about our 5 new investigators I'll update you!

 

Thanks for everything...especially the birthday wishes! I love you all!!

 

Love, Sister Billings

August 6, 2013 - Gilroy

We just got back from Transfer meeting at the mission office and our trio is now just a duo :( Sister Garcia-Gomez went to a new home. She'll be serving in Saratoga where they just opened up a new Spanish branch on Sunday. She'll do amazing there! Sister Champlin and I will still be together so I'll be in Gilroy for at least 6 more weeks. That's all I was praying for! I just wanted at least one more transfer in Gilroy. God answers prayers!! I always knew that...but I like when His answers are the same as mine :) September 15th is the end of this transfer so I have until then to enjoy this area.

 

This week I got to go to Watsonville on exchanges with one of my old companions, Sister Wallace. We had so much fun catching up on what's happened since we've been apart. She had a lot of stories about Livermore so it was really good to hear how the people are doing up there. I didn't realize how much I missed Livermore until we got talking! She's coming to the close of her mission and it just reminds me that one day that will be happening to me!! I'm not ready to think about that yet....

 

As far as investigators for this week it was pretty slow. We did pick up a new investigator that seems really promising and a few other potentials that are also promising but we'll just have to wait and see if they progress. Anthony will be baptized next Saturday but we still haven't heard from Jocelyn. Her mom said she's too embarrassed to come to church because she thinks everyone will judge her for not being baptized on her scheduled day.

 

Ines bore her testimony during fast and testimony meeting and it was so beautiful! She really is amazing. I was sitting next to her in Sunday school and I noticed she had a really pretty ring on. I told her that I loved it and she told me to try it on. It fit perfectly but when I tried to give it back to her she said she wanted me to keep it. I tried to refuse but she insisted and said that I had given her something really special and she wanted to return the favor. Isn't that adorable?? It was the best gift I've ever received!

 

We had a leadership training on Friday with the zone leaders and other STL's and the guest speaker talked about "heck" week in sports and how one week of intense training and conditioning makes the difference of performance during the season. She said that our missions are our "heck" week for life. I couldn't agree with her more! I feel like each and every day is intense training for the rest of my life. It's exhausting...but more than worth it!

 

She also talked about how laying down our lives for the lord doesn't mean that we have to die for what we believe in. We can lay down our lives to the lord each and everyday. I've heard that phrase so many times....but I only ever thought of martyrdom. It was a really neat new perspective for me.

 

That's really neat that you did family names in the temple. I heard there was a new presentation as well. Can't wait to see it in October! I don't remember what I requested for my track ring but whatever it looks like I'm sure is fine. Probably not much I could do about it now if it wasn't what I wanted. But I am excited to see it!

 

I haven't sent my picture CD yet. We didn't have time to do much this pday because Sister GG had to pack. I might wait until the end of this transfer so that I can put together a big box of things I've accumulated that I don't want to take with me to my next area.

 

 

Thank you so much for the emails and letters this week! They always make me feel loved! I love hearing what's going on in your lives and our neighborhood. I'm probably not the best at writing letters in return but I do my best!! I love you all and I hope you have a good week! You're in my prayers! Dios les bendiga

 

Love, Sister Billings

July 30, 2013, #2 - Gilroy

I forgot to mention another mini-miracle that we had this week! We were sitting in sacrament and I realized that we had ZERO investigators at church with us. Ines was there....but as a recent convert. Obviously I was glad that she was there but I was a little sad that we didn't have any investigators. Every single week that I've been in Gilroy we've had at LEAST one.

 

Anyway, I was thinking this during the sacrament when I saw the door that's in the front of the chapel, right by where the elders were standing to bless the bread, open. In came two men that we had contacted on the street and invited to church. I was so surprised and happy that they came!! I couldn't help but laugh either because they honestly walked right through all of the men who were about to pass the sacrament. They looked annoyed that these men would walk right through their perfect formation but I was just happy they came to church! They stayed all 3 hours and absolutely loved it! We saw them on the street yesterday and they couldn't stop telling us how their hearts felt during church and how they can't wait to go back next week!

 

Tender mercies like those are what get me through the days!

July 30, 2013 - Gilroy

Hi family!!! This last week was such an amazing one!!! Definitely an emotional roller coaster...but still an amazing week. The highlight of the week was Ines was baptized!! (I'll send pictures). Unfortunately Jocelyn did not go through with her baptism. I still can't believe how quickly Ines chose to be baptized. 11 days! And I've never seen anyone so happy. She couldn't stop smiling/crying during the whole baptismal program.

 

We went to the church with PLENTY of time to set everything up for the baptism but of course...everything went wrong. The keys that we've ALWAYS been able to use to get into the font and the baptismal clothes closet would not work. We called our branch president and everyone else that we could think of to help us but no one was available. It takes about 45 minutes for the font to fill up so with about one hour to go before the baptism all three of us started to panic. After about 10 minutes of panic aka getting nothing done, we decided to say a prayer. We kneeled down in the church, right in front of the baptismal font and said a prayer. Right as we were saying amen, we got a phone call saying that a bishop from one of the other wards was brining us the correct keys. Coincidence? Maybe. But I believe it was an answer to our prayer.

 

Our ward mission leader was late so the baptismal service started 20 minutes late....but other than that it was perfect! Ines had asked us to sing at her baptism and I was so happy that she was choosing to be baptized that I said yes before realizing that I don't sing! 

 

 But we asked President and Sister Watkins to join us and one of the elders so that our voices would be drowned out a little. :) We sang How Great Thou Art (in Spanish....Grande eres tu) and it was SO spiritual. I don't know how we sounded but the spirit was amazingly strong. Everyone was crying. And I forgot that I was even singing in front of our whole branch. I just kept looking at Ines and she had the BIGGEST smile on her face with tears rolling down her cheeks the entire time.

 

It was a very happy day (Saturday) even though we only had one baptism instead of the planned two. Jocelyn chose not to be baptized because she wanted her brothers to be able to attend and one of them was out of town. We don't have a new date set for her but hopefully it'll be sometime soon.

 

This week was also the 35th annual Gilroy garlic festival. Apparently it's a big deal! We volunteered for the whole day on Friday and our job was to fry the calamari. I know....we got lucky. The festival was really neat though....pretty much everything was made drenched in garlic. I tried garlic ice cream (DISGUSTING), garlic fries, garlic bread, garlic calamari and garlic pesto pasta. The garlic fries and bread were really the only thing that I liked. I'll send some pictures from the garlic festival too.

 

As far as our other investigators....Will is still meeting with us twice a week. We don't teach him the usual lessons, we are going through an addiction recovery program with him. He's progressing really well though. His next step will be to go to the addiction recovery classes with a ward member. He keeps saying that he will...but then he chickens out. He needs to take small steps but he's already turned his life around so much.

 

Amber's son, Anthony, is still planning on being baptized the 17th of August. It's coming up quick! When we first set that goal I thought it would never get here. I PRAY that I'm still in Gilroy next transfer (Transfers are next week). If not, I can always come back for his baptism. But I really want at least one more transfer here in Gilroy. Amber is still struggling with her smoking and coffee addictions but she's definitely made a lot of improvement as well. As far as wedding plans....they seem pretty distant. But next June is her goal so hopefully she sticks to it. We haven't had any interaction with her husband...he knows how to keep his distance. But I still have hope that one day he'll come around!

 

Thanks so much for the pictures!!!! I opened all of them and they were fine. I think Ethan looks so cute with his glasses!!! And all of the miller sisters look so alike. Looks like everyone had a good time!

 

By the way....you're going to Texas in January? Can't you wait 3 more months?!?!?! I guess we can just all go back once I'm home....RIGHT? :)

 

Can you email me a picture of my weber ring? I'm really happy that it came!

 

I have a bunch of things that I'll send home...soon (hopefully) including my SD card. I haven't made a disc of all the pictures yet but I did make a disc with all the pictures from sis gg's camera. Maybe I'll send that home too.

 

Well that's it for this week!! I hope everyone else is doing great. I pray for everyone daily!! Jessica....feel free to write sometime soon! It's sure been awhile :)

 

I love you all!! Thanks for the support!

 

Love, Sister Billings

July 23, 2013 - Gilroy

This week really was a week of miracles! We met a lady named Ines who is visiting her brother, who is an active member of the branch, for the summer. She's visiting from South Carolina. We met her last Sunday at church and she asked if we could come over and explain some of the things that she learned in Church.

 

We had our first lesson with her on Tuesday and she loved it. She said that she's been looking for something for so long and she's been to so many churches but none of them filled her heart until she went to our church on Sunday. We invited her to be baptized and she said she'd read the Book of Mormon and we set up an appointment for the following Sunday after church.

 

On Sunday the branch president asked all 5 of us missionaries to speak on the 5 missionary lessons in Preach My Gospel. During one of the talks I leaned over to Elder Olsen and joked that Ines would be able to get baptized right after church because she would have received all of the missionary lessons. After church we taught her the second lesson and at the end she said that she had a gift for us. She told us that she wanted to be baptized August 3 and she had already looked up the church buildings in South Carolina. We were so excited....but it gets better.

 

We went to our branch presidents house last night for Family Home Evening and Ines came with her Brother's family. We shared a spiritual thought about the Book of Mormon being the keystone to our religion and then the president talked about how Heavenly Father has a gift for her and He's just waiting for her to accept it. She said "lo quiero ahorita!" (I want it now!). We discussed a few more things with her and set up this Saturday at 7 to be her baptism. We're going to teach her every day this week to prepare her for a baptism in less than a week! She'll be baptized 11 days after our first lesson with her. CRAZY!! But she has been very prepared by the Lord. She's even been thinking about staying in California with her brother's family so that she can have their support.

 

Looks like we'll have 2 baptisms this Saturday! One for Jocelyn and one for Ines. Pray for both of them :)

 

Our other miracle was Miguel-Angel. We've been teaching him for awhile and during one of our lessons with him last week he told us that he needs help quiting drinking. He's already been deported back to Mexico 5 times for drinking and driving and he got arrested on Sunday. We asked him why he keeps drinking if he knows it's costing him so much and he said he didn't know why. We asked the elders to come give him a blessing and it was so spiritual. After the blessing everyone was talking but I looked across the room at his 3 year old daughter named Mireya.

 

She was starring at me and our eyes locked for what felt like 5 minutes. I couldn't look away from her. And she didn't look away from me either. She didn't even blink.  I realized that what we were doing for Miguel-Angel was just as much for her. It was as if she was pleading with me to help her dad. At that moment I felt stronger than ever that there is a reason why I'm here on my mission. I knew that she is a daughter of God and if her Dad accepts the gospel, it will change her life forever. I don't think I'll ever be able to forget how I felt as I looked into the eyes of that little girl.

 

The rest of our week was good too. I went to Salinas and spent a day with Sister Green (my trainer) and her new trainee, Sister Thornton. It was really fun to work with Sister Green again. I love doing exchanges because I learn so much from each companionship.

 

The only not-so-good thing about this week was on Friday evening we had dinner with the zone leaders at a members house from the Spanish branch. Her food is always SO good! Buuuuuut all five of us woke up Saturday morning with food poisoning.  We're all better now though.

 

I sent a letter to Mom and Dad this week. Let me know when you get it! And thanks for all your letters this week. They're very much appreciated!

 

I love all of you!!! Have a good week!

Dios les bendiga

 

Love, Hermana Billings

July 16, 2013 - Gilroy

This week was long and busy! AKA it went by REALLY fast! I had the awesome opportunity to spend two days on exchanges in seaside with the sisters serving over there. Their apartment has a beautiful view of the ocean! It was SO pretty and I'm already planning on telling my President that I would love to finish my mission in Seaside. Our first appointment in Seaside didn't exactly start off the way we would have liked. We pulled up to an apartment complex with my pink bike from Gilroy on a bike rack on the trunk. One of the Sisters needed to get her backpack out of the trunk so she lifted up the trunk with the bike rack still connected. When she closed the trunk (which she did so by just letting go of the bike) the back window COMPLETELY shattered into a million pieces of broken glass. We all just stared at the broken window in complete silence for a good minute! (I'll send a picture). We cleaned up all the glass and then drove around the rest of the night without a back window. But we got a new window the next day!

 

I loved seaside because it's an all bike area so we got to be outside ALL day! However, my pink 7 speed beach cruiser didn't do very well with the hills on the first day. You can't go anywhere in seaside without riding up at least 5 hills! We also got up at 6 to go running that morning (also up a million steep hills) so my legs were pretty sore that night. I was also SUPER hungry all day! Mom do you remember how hungry I would be after track practice? That's how I felt after riding up hills on our bikes all day! But it really was great! The second day in seaside I got to use one of the other sisters 21 speed bikes instead of my beach cruiser and it made riding up those hills a lot easier.

 

With the little experience that I have from doing exchanges I love it so far! I didn't sleep very well at night because I was worried about what was going on in Gilroy. When I came back to Gilroy I felt at home again! But I learned a lot from the other sisters that I plan on applying to the rest of my mission. This week I'll be going to Salinas for exchanges with my trainer Sister Green!!! I'm REALLY excited to see and work with her again :)

 

As far as our investigators go I'll just tell a quick story about Rob. His wife is an active member and so are his sons (who both served missions) but he's never agreed with organized religion. He's met with the missionaries several times but has never read the Book of Mormon. He promised us to read one chapter with his wife before we came to visit him again and he ended up reading the first 6 chapters of 1 Nephi and most of Moroni :) His wife was SHOCKED that he actually read and she couldn't stop smiling. But the cool part of the story is how he found a Book of Mormon to read:

 

When we gave him the challenge to read we just assumed he had a Book of Mormon from his wife or sons (our bad!) so we didn't even think to give him his own. He ended up going out of town for work and planned on having his wife read to him over the phone. She ended up not being able to so when his plane landed in Denver he decided to go to the temple (which was 10 minutes away) to ask for a copy. The temple visitor's center was closed so he headed to his hotel. Turns out that he was staying at a Marriott!! When he got to his room he opened the drawer and saw a Book of Mormon waiting for him :)

 

The other exciting thing that's been going on is our former branch president (who's been inactive since he was released as president) came back to church on Sunday! he brought his entire family too. Everyone was SO happy to see him there and just about everyone was crying. He bore his testimony and said that he was back to stay. He's been going out with the Elders to visit all of the less actives and tells them that he's come back so they need to too. We've already had a lot more activation just from his example. 

 

Madison and Ivory went to girls camp and absolutely loved it! Madison is planning on being baptized in August. She's waiting to find out when her brother will be in town so that she can set a date.

 

Mom and Dad I want to hear all about the camping trip! Pictures would be nice too :) I'm glad Cathy and Rita got to go to church....hopefully they enjoyed it! I still think you should invite the missionaries over for dinner while they're there! Then they can see what it is that I'm up to!

 

Sorry about your finger dad. I cut mine while cutting a Mango the other day....not bad enough to get stitches like you though! Thanks for the update about the Zimmerman case. And don't worry, we're staying out of trouble. And thanks for sharing your experiences with working in branches. It definitely helps to see other perspectives and realize that we actually don't have it THAT bad! Especially with the baptismal font setup that you had to do! I guess we are pretty spoiled :)

 

Mom- you should make a Mormon.org profile! And also.....for my birthday could you send me a new white shirt from down east? Maybe a black one too? Or whatever other cute colors they have. They don't have a downeast in Cali and my white shirt is starting to not be white. The shirt is the "Classic Tee" size small. It's the one with the finished edges. Thank you so much!! I'm looking forward to your next letter. have fun camping with your sisters!

 

I hope everyone else is doing well! I haven't heard from Andrea for awhile? You still alive?

 

Have a good week everyone! I love you all!

 

Love, Sister Billings