Week 44

Back to Kentucky!

We got transfer calls! I will be heading over to Hopkinsville Kentucky tomorrow to serve with Hermana Hoferitza:) funny fact so Hermana Capener and Hermana Warner were MTC companions in Mexico and roomed with Hermana Eastwood and Hermana Hoferitza who were companions. So these four gals were a little sister friend group and I have now forced myself upon them:) I have served with each of them in a row! Fun fun! We will all be friends forever. 

So I honestly thought I would be serving with hermana Warner for another transfer so when the news came in i was really surprised. I wasn't prepared to leave and so on Sunday i cried... a lot. Its fine! Erick called me a cry baby but mostly everyone else hugged me and told me they loved me.

Adiel prayed!! last night we passed by and we played the "Hna O is leaving... could you pray for her and her new companion?" and he was like, "ahhh... fine" and He did and it was the most beautiful thing and I wanted to cry but I didn't want him to freak out so I just acted like i was cool... but I was really really happy and completely NOT cool:D I had been working with him to pray almost the whole time i was here. It was a tender mercy to see the work I had been doing here pay off. That one moment made my 4 1/2 months here in Murfreesboro completely worth it, priceless, unforgettable....

Now i will spam you all with my photos:) and Ill try to explain some. 

I learned how to play the Uke this week! here is a video of the finished work:)

first batch of pics: 

-My district: (top left to right) E. Plant, E. Peterson, E. Harris, E. Casey, E. Zabriskie, E. Eisert, Hermana Orellana, Sister Tebbs, sister Bybee, Hermana Warner

-our crazy district meetings

-La familia Rico. I love them soooooo much yall dont even know

second batch:

-hermana Culson

-random YSA

-My friend Jason 

-Hermana Calva and her nietas

- hermana Kali (former Tennessee missionary)

third batch

- YSA sistas:D

- My WML Hermano Kaelberer:') I love this man

- Also Jose Don!:D

Enjoy!

   Hermana Orellana

Week 43

Mi Vida!

This we a typical crazy bike week:) we had some pretty good lessons and some cool miracles happen but nothing much out of the ordinary.

So we have this less active member who's name is Hermana Lupita:) she is the sweetest lady and reminds me a lot of my mom. Well she had this boyfriend she lives with whose name is Saul. And I have heard so much about Saul, "y que Saul hizo esto. Y que Saul hizo lo otro". Y Bueno! I hadn't heard many good things, but anyways Hna Lupita had signed up to feed the elders on Monday, but because they lived so far from them she changed it to feed us. Well we had forgotten and so at 6 we call Hna and tell her we have bikes and if it would be okay to reschedule but then she said she could pick us up so she heads over to where we are with Saul and his pick up truck and we are lockin up out bikes the the dumb lock wouldn't work! So Saul ends up helping us and putting out bikes in his pick up and just taking them with us. Well we have dinner, and because Hna Warner had never heard of all of Saul's deeds she is including him and we find out Saul is just a lost soul who needs the gospel:) we have a wonderful dinner and we are all getting along and Saul invites us to come back. So we did on Saturday:D AND we just show up and they feed us again! And Saul tells us his sad life story and now we really really want to teach him. And all of this would have not happened if our lock would have worked, or if we had ridden our bikes over (because that gave him an opportunity to serve

us), or if I had told Hna Warner all of Saul's deeds. Anyone can change with the gospel; even the foulest of sinners. Even Saul, who is just someone who needs a reason to do good and to see where happiness is really found. So now instead of getting Hna Lupita to leave her boyfriend we will be working on Saul's testimony:)

Other miracles: Rene takes notes on our lessons and marks his Book of Mormon!:D I was able to answer his question about the spirit world and now he has a testimony of the plan of salvation! We got lost in Shelbyville and someone rescued us from flesh eating dogs... Not really:) but they were quite scary looking.

-Hermanita Orellana:)

Week 42

Spiritually Growing

We had interviews this week! It was literally a life changing experience. I came out of that interview a better person:) 

Other than that there really wasn't much else to say. 

Rene came to church this week!:D the night before we had gone over and invited him and it just so happened that I was giving a talk so that encouraged him a little more. He came for only the third hour (which is sacrament) and Hermana Warner claims to have seen him shed a tear or two but I didn't see anything. What I did see was that he was really happy and wanted us to come over that same day and teach him about the Plan of Salvation:) We really want Rene to be baptized! Please pray for Rene:)

This week we also had some cool experiences with prayer:) On Thursday we went over to contact a referral from the elders in another area. Her name was Jasmine and had never actually been able to find her. Well Hermana Warner got supper exited because she saw Washington licence plates so we knock on the door and we can see thought his little window that Jasmine is outside in the backyard and she can hear us knocking. So we probably spent like 5 min trying to get her attention and nothin! So finally we are about to give up but instead we decide to pray. We pray,... for her to come to "the door"... She goes to the BACK door! And we still cant get her attention! We pray... for her to come to the "front" door. (And while this is happening I think, "this would be sooo crazy if she actually came to the door after we prayed) And all of a sudden... She comes to the FRONT door....:)

The gospel is true. Jesus Christ is our savior. There is nothing we can do that cant be forgiven. God loves us unconditionally and perfectly:)

-Hermana Orellana

ps no pictures today:( We literally work sooo much I haven't been able to talk much pictures. Ill try harder this week!:)

Week 41

The days blend together

Yooo!

This week has got to be the coldest I have ever been in my entire life. I was sure my toes and my fingers were going to fall off. And then, I was introduced to hand warmers! They are the biggest miracle and blessing this week. 

The days just keep blending together. This week we met some cool friends though. On Saturday we met this man named Cody. He was convicted of murder and sent to jail for four months until someone figured out that he hadn't actually killed a man. Anyways, Cody is cool:) we contacted him on the street. I'm not sure if I would ever be able to describe him but pretty much he is a total G but white:) We shared with him the gospel and he loved it. Then we said goodbye and maybe an hour later as we are walking he finds us again and comes running up to us and telling us that he wanted to come out knocking with us. We are like, "sure!". So we go up to his neighbors house and he goes, "hi we are missionaries for the Later Day Saints and we have a message that will bless your life, ya know what im sayin". Then he turns to us and whispers, "can I have a card to give to this guy" and so we hand him a card and he goes, "Here man, will you check out this message, man, it is a good one about Jesus, ya know what im sayin" hahaha! it was epic! Well then later he tells us he loved it and that he felt supper good and we tell him its the spirit and he says that after the first time we met him he felt the same way but then he ended up at the store and the feeling had gone away so he went out looking for us so that he could feel "good" again.  He said "It feels way better than a drug!" and we are like "YEAH! Let us tell you how you can feel "good" all the time!"...;)

Well thats that! The Gospel really does bring happiness:)

Los quiero, 

      Hermana Orellana

Week 40

No siempre me gustan los cambios!

We had exchanges this week. Hermana Eastwood has left me... but Hermana Warder has come!:) Hermana Warner is from Seattle, Washington. She came out with Hermana Eastwood and Hermana Capener so she has been out for seven months. She was in West Nashville the first 6 months of her mission so this is just her second area. She has brown hair that has been bleached by the sun so now its more like yellow:) She taught herself how to yodel from youtube. She was home schooled but will be going to BYU Provo after her mission. She has three brothers. She likes to watch old movies and likes old lady stuff:) She is supper obedient and loves to talk to people and can relate pretty much any situation to the gospel. She was pretty much born to be a missionary. 

Well it was an odd little last week of the year. Hermana Warner doesn't have her bike yet, just what I feared, so we were walking a lot. On the 31st we went in early and went over to the YSA sistas to watch The Work and the Glory, the second one. Well we didn't know it was the second one and we didn't have the first one or the third one so on the 1tst we texted our neighbor sister York and of course she had all three of them so Hermana Warner and I spent all day watching them:) Oh also we love sister York. on the night of the 31st she took us out to Carabas! it was the yummiest thing ever! Definitely my new favorite place to eat. So for new years we got to have Supper P-Day! We got together with the STLs and the Christiana sister at Sister Prices' house and watched Frozen.. "awwww cute!". Fun stuff!

We started out the year in sickness. Turns out on Friday night I sat down to eat some yummy strawberry oatmeal and started feeling sick. So we go about our day and I get worse then during dinner Hermana goes have a glass of milk and realizes that the milk is bad. Not even just a little bad but really really bad. So i drank expired milk that morning. Well I thought I could tough it up so we walk over to our next appointment and right as we get there I start throwing up... I have no recollection of how I got back to the apartment but it was a miracle that we did. Anywho I was all better by Lunch the next day. Oh and then we walk in the rain the rest of the day!:)

We finally got to our normal schedule on Sunday. This Sunday we were hoping to have had Adiel at church but he didnt show up. It was kind of a bummer but we went over later in the day and he was up to coming next week for sure. We have been praying non stop for him to be baptized this transfer. So far Hermana Warner loves all the people we are working with. Last night we also got to teach Maria and Gabriel (a family) for the first time! We taught the restoration and it didn't go as well as we thought it would go but non the less I have no doubt that they will be baptized:) 

I am so grateful to have a car this week. They say this week the temperature will go down to the single digits. Lets hope its not that bad but if it does at least we have our car:) We are seeing a lot of miracles around these parts. We are finding families, I know we can get a baptism, I can feel it in my bones!:D

Last Sunday during our Christmas party we had four Orellanas in the same building and I have the pictures to prove it:)