Hola! Soy la Hermana Tardiff!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Hey everyone,

So this week was exciting for a couple of reasons.

Christine got baptized!!! Woohooooooooo! Elder Clay was the person who baptized her and she came out of the water and she kept saying "it’s a new beginning." It was the happiest moment on my mission. The next day was so good too because she got confirmed and was able to have the Spirit with her for the rest of her life. I truly understand what it means in Alma when it says consider the joy of saving just one soul. I know it wasn't me at all either. It was all Heavenly Father and putting people who were prepared in my path.

Sister Macias is getting baptized!!!! Just as a preface Sister Burden and I were not the people teaching her but she is in our ward and we have had some interactions with her and we are teaching her husband and her daughter the recent convert lessons. =) It’s been a long haul for her and she is so sweet, so prepared. Their family reminds me of our family. Three kids, two daughters, the youngest is a son. She's been investigating for about a year and on Sunday she told us the Spirit was so strong when the Elders were teaching that when they asked if she would get baptized she knew the answer was yes. I'm smiling even telling you this story right now. It’s funny because I've been praying for a family to teach... and it has been right in front of me. I am teaching a family! I'm teaching them the recent convert lessons though, not the investigator lessons. It’s funny how things become clear in hindsight. =) I'm really excited to go to her baptism! The Spirit at their house is always so strong; when the last three of their family gets baptized I know the Spirit will be incredible.

These two experiences were the most exciting things that happened this week.

Life is way good. I have faith and it just keeps growing! I'm happy and I'm healthy and I'm excited to work!

Well! I'm trying to think of funny stories and they're all evading me... but lots of funny things have happened....

OH! Like we went to Golden Spoon for our free ice cream and we met this worker named Jack whose girlfriend wanted to get baptized, but her parents wouldn't let her. Then at the Temple grounds we saw him drive by and usually we wave to everyone, but this time we recognized him and was like "HEYYYY!! JACK!" Then we saw him at the Battalion. It was like it was destiny that we went to Golden Spoon that day. =)

Also! Adel came to the Battalion and brought his wife, Amy, and his son Eric! It was really good! Amy said she would accept a copy of the Book of Mormon and I just love them! They are the sweetest family! They invited us to their daughter’s graduation. =) The Spirit was strong too.

Anyway! That’s about it! I'm pretty close to out of time.

Love,

~ Sister Tardiff

Ole Ole Ole Ole!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

HEYO!

Anyway! So these past two days have been MTE which means Missionary training exchange... which pretty much means for Battalion Sisters that we get to listen to our mission president talk. It blows my mind every single time. My mission president is SO knowledgeable. He can connect things that I haven't even wondered about. Anyway the basic theme of MTE was the Atonement and how to get the Atonement to his children in San Diego. It doesn't matter that the Church is true - nothing matters except that we give them access to the Atonement. The only way to do that is through saving ordinances like baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost and the Temple. It was in a two day segment and yesterday people got 7 people with a baptismal date. 0_0  The Gospel is true. =D He also prepped us for the change that's happening when we gain a new mission president next transfer. It’s going to be crazy, but it’s also going to be awesome! My mission life is about loving change apparently. =)

We got to talk to a less active named Jody and she agreed that we can teach her children. I'm pretty stoked about that. =)

I had an incredible day at the Battalion. I met someone who came in, looked at me, and said I looked exactly like her sister. Whose name is Theresa! What the?!? hahaha. It was cool. But I convinced her that the tour was worthwhile and she absolutely loved it. In the middle of all this a Spanish family came in and we had no Spanish speakers on shift. One of the senior couples was really stressing out about it and so I had to leave Brenda behind with Sister Smith, and take a tour... in Spanish! Alright... so it’s not as cool as it seems because I took the tour in English with the audio in Spanish and someone translating for me. But I did the transitions in Spanish! =D AND! I kept feeling prompted to check on Brenda and talked to the sister taking her tour.. and she referred! She gave me a hug and said she'd bring all her friends back. =D I was quite excited. Also, the Spanish family referred some of their friends which was bueno.

Also I took a tour with this super cute family from Utah and we were out panning for gold and I gave this HUGE chunk of gold to the little 7 year old, Ava, and she handed me back a shell and told me she found it at the ocean that morning and wanted me to keep it. Awww.  =)

We had some good lessons this week! We got to meet with Anna and also Christine. Christine got a blessing, which was truly incredible. She really is going to quit smoking I can feel it.

This week was super fun with proselyting and weekly planning and being able to keep up with people and the work. The downer was that Bradley decided to stop investigating the church. That was heartbreaking. =( I could see him as missionary, but I know that he still has time, and I have faith he'll be a missionary yet. Also our mission president today told us that we should be eating with the ward council members approximately once a month so we can gain a relationship with them and progress the work forward. That is a change. I guess we'll be getting fed more now. =)

I just love this work so much. =)

I LOVE YOU!!

You da best!

Love!

Sister Tardifffffffff

PS- The president yesterday "Newsflash to the Catholics- Peter was a Mormon!"

Busy Bees

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Heyo Everyone!

So I'm e-mailing a little bit later today because I got to go to the Temple this morning! That was definitely a blessing. In a small way it felt like it was one of the first times I'd been to the Temple because I learned so much and noticed so much because it had been "so" long since the last time I went. I've grown to realize just how necessary it is to go to the Temple regularly, and how much of a spiritual boost it is. There are so many blessings from going to the Temple, not only for us but also those who have passed on and those around us.  We also got to hear from a Temple presidency/old mission president. There were about 14 of us missionaries and he took us into a ceiling room and blew our minds a bit and then let us depart =) Let us just say Temple marriage is pretty much the most exciting thing in the world. I tried to get a song book of EFY songs from 2004-2007 (any of them) but the oldest piano songbook they have is from 2008. Only one year off! Dangit! =)

How is everyone coping with life? It seems like life is just moseying a long.

Honestly I'm in kind of... slow motion? Recently I feel like I’m slowly falling apart! I've been sleeping on a heating pad, cuz the muscles in my back are not very happy with me, and I’m tired a lot. It’s like I'm in a lull where I can't show excitement even though there are super exciting things happening in my life every single day! It’s like I’m waterworks all the time. Good thing my companion has a lot of patience ha-ha. She's really one of the best people I know. Together we work hard, we work long, and we try to have as much excitement and enthusiasm as we can. That's one of the reasons why it’s so good that I went to the Temple today. It sounds ridiculous but I needed some spiritual nourishment even though I study and pray and teach with the Spirit every day. It is weird, huh? BUT seriously, I’m way excited about my area and my companion is a doll! =)

This last week was AWESOME in terms of the work. We got to teach lots of lessons and catch up with people that have been off the radar for a while like Teresa! Hurray! She's been going through a rough time but she let us in her doors. It was really cute actually. She said "I like you Mormons. I've had friends who were Mormon. There are some religions I don't like... like... well... let me just say that if you were of another religion I wouldn't have let you in the door." =) It was so awesome. She also asked if she could donate to our church or anything. So I took the opportunity at that time to tell her she could contribute to the Church by reading the Book of Mormon. She said she would and she's really excited about it. =) I'm glad Sister Burden got to meet her.

We also got a hold of Vincent again because I got to go on splits for the first time in my entire mission! We went with Charmaine and Miranda. OH! Charmaine got her mission call; Texas Lubbock Mission English speaking! She's leaving in August which I am psyched about! We're trying to get her to as many appointments as we can so she can get some good practice in. But because of the splits we got to do twice as much work in one time period! Huzzah! It was so weird driving off without my companion though and not having to back the car! That was awesome. I ended up going with Charmaine and we tried to contact a bunch of people, and then taught Chris. It was good.

Chris is such an angel. We taught her a lesson about gratitude because she's been taught all the missionary lessons and at the end she was like. “I like to read that talk (by Pres. Monson.) Actually every night before I go to sleep I write down the things I'm grateful for." We were shocked. The Lord certainly prepares people. =)

It’s been fun getting to know the members and helping them with their missionary work. It’s definitely a way that we've been unfortunately neglecting (out of ignorance really, but now we have knowledge so we won't neglect it anymore!) and now that we're starting with it we can already see the fruits! It’s so fun to get people excited about missionary work and help them help their friends. I'm hoping and praying that we'll get better and better at it. But of course prayer brings power and blessings, and it’s a worthy desire so... We just got to keep working hard! A lesson with one of the members was a really special experience. It was with the Stake President and his family and the Spirit was really strong the entire lesson.

Our Site President told us that there is a Hispanic Initiative happening and he wants all the Spanish speakers to memorize the script in Spanish and gave the option to all us English speakers to do the same so that we can be better equipped to help people feel the Spirit of the Battalion who only speak Spanish. I think Sister Burden and I might use the time driving back from our area every day to study the script in Spanish instead of zoning out and listening to music. So perhaps that will happen. Maybe not - we'll see. But it’s possible that I might be able to give the tour in Spanish some day as long as I don't have to say/understand anything in real Spanish, ha-ha.

Funny story:

We were at a recent convert’s house and we were waiting for him to come down and his mom was there making lunch. So she brings us lunch and it was tuna, jalapenos’ and a tostada. Yuck. The tuna was mixed with mayonnaise and you know I hate mayonnaise, and tuna is just icky to me. Have you been in a situation where you feel obligated to eat but the food is just... not to you liking? Sister Burden and I were ingenious at handling it! The mom left the room, Sister Burden took my half, stuffed her face with it and ate it as fast as she could, and then when the mom came back into the room we hurriedly switched back and I continued to eat little bites of it. It was SUPER funny. And Sister Burden loved it! So it was a win, win! =D

I'm praying for all of you. I know this is where I'm meant to be but I really wish I could see your faces.

Keep your chins up and go to the Temple as much as you can!

Love, love, love!

~ Sister Tardiff

Heyo!

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Hello!!!

Well this week was exciting for a couple of reasons. I think the stress is causing my body to go all out of whack, but on the bright side, I no longer feel like I’m hungry ALL the time which is definitely a huge improvement over the first two transfers?

How is everyone doing?? It seems kind of crazy that it is summer in Massachusetts because it’s always summer here. I think that's why it’s so crazy that I’ve been here for 4 months because the time doesn't have anyway of registering. It’s always beautiful here. Lucky me, huh? How lucky am I?

OH! Holy cow! I forgot that you didn't know, transfers seem like forever ago, but I'm staying in Chula Vista 3^rd. YAYY! And Sister Burden is staying my companion. We have some game plans for changes to make this transfer and we're going to get rolling with it ASAP. For instance, on Sunday we gave talks in church. Mine was on introducing the Plan of Salvation to friends and we have a challenge for the ward. We're going to learn all of their names, yep, by the end of the transfer. It is a righteous desire, and so we will accomplish it with the Lord’s help, of course! Sister Burden spoke on introducing the Restoration to friends.

We had a dinner appointment fall through but we didn't find out till we were already in Chula Vista which left us with no food... whoops...  and the Bishop was coming with us to this appointment to teach Christine. I turned to Sister Burden and said "Sister Burden, I secretly hope the Bishop will invite us to dinner" She looked at me and said "That is a righteous desire" Hehehehe. And he did invite us! So that was awesome. Christine also is taking her desire to quit her smoking addiction really seriously! She was so happy when she told us she was joining smokers anonymous. It brightened our entire day. It was way good that the Bishop got to know Christine better. =)

Yesterday I got to go through a tour in Spanish! They speak SOOOO fast. That was way exciting. They were people I flagged down that were walking down the street and I invited them in. Of course I don't speak any Spanish at all. But I went through and said a couple phrases and they referred at the end! Huzzah! As a consequence I dreamed in Spanish. Yeah, I know it is pretty hilarious. Cuz I knew that I was dreaming in Spanish but I couldn't understand my dream. Hehe. Good times in the mission field.

Have you ever dreamed in another language? I thought it was kind of funny, but super cool.

This week was pretty busy. We got to meet with Carlos and the Macia’s family. Andrea is really a miracle. She is going to create miracles wherever she goes. She's so solid. We also met up with Bradley and his family. =) His mom basically said that Bradley can do whatever he wants but she doesn't want any part in it which is good and bad. Hopefully we can end up teaching the entire family, but right now we'll focus on Bradley.

We met some referrals from the Mormon Battalion, Lynn and Daniel. They are interesting people. They are on a spiritual quest. We got to teach them the restoration and introduce the Book of Mormon. Lynn said we could come back eventually after she's read the Book, and had gone to church. Which we thought was weird - but also OK, because we pushed it a little and she didn't want regular visits. We do know that if she reads the Book of Mormon and takes the challenge that we gave her then the Book of Mormon can teach her and she'll gain a testimony for herself.

Taking tours is so much fun especially when people get into the tours. We took one late at night and everyone was so enthusiastic that it was like I wasn't tired anymore. Also Sister Evans put on this peppy voice at the end of one of the rooms and said "let’s go to the desert!" It was way funny. Another sister from Massachusetts is here! Her name is Sister Young. She's from the Hingham stake. Small world huh? Now there are THREE sisters from Massachusetts in the San Diego mission. =) California must need a little bit of the east coast. =D

We had group meeting (kind of like district meeting except at the Battalion) and it was incredible! We talked about body language during the tours and then about Holland’s talk about giving everything so that we can make our mission an incredible experience, giving it our all. I love Sister Adam's. She is an incredible sister.

OH! I almost forgot! We got to meet with Austan yesterday. He's flaked out a BUNCH, but finally he showed up just like he said he would (a small miracle in and of itself, Ha-ha) I just want so much for him to keep commitments because I know the Gospel will help him, if he lets it. I know that he needs the Gospel in his life. I know that it will give him happiness, true happiness.

Anyhow, that's a summary of my week!

I love you all lots!

Have an awesome, awesome week!

Try writing down one thing you are grateful for each day. =) A tender mercy so to speak. Look at 1 NE 1:17 =)

Love you all!

Smile!!

~ Sister Tardiff