A little shortie

So this week was great! We definitely have some challenges but I am confident that the Lord will help our investigators! In all honesty, this week flew by so fast! I can't even remember what happened! We've started teaching an amazing family, and the mom and daughter have a baptism date! It's crazy though, because every person in that family is so different! The mom is so sweet and cute! She already has a love for the Book of Mormon, because she met missionaries ten years ago and has kept her book since then! The daughter is super quiet but great! The oldest son is super interested and wants to study everything out before committing to anything, the youngest sons are hooligans and don't really listen to the lessons. And the dad is almost anti-Mormon! But he's very nice to us so that's good.

We had a fiesta this week in the ward, to celebrateall the different countries people come from. And it was also kinda like a farewell party for two young men that are going on their missions this week! They're brothers, one's serving in Colorado Springs and the other NYC! It was SO MUCH FUN!!!! And one of our investigators here came too! I made tres leches cake and everyone said it was super good! Whoohoo! It was gone too fast though, and i didnt get to try it :/ oh well! Then some people did performances, and this adorable 3 year old from one of the other hermana's investigators  sang I am a Child of God and bore her testimony! She is SO CUTE! Oh man. It was so great. The pictures are of the Henderson family, they're from Mexico. The oldest daughter is the organist in our ward! She's like ten! It's crazy! And then the other pictures are of my district. There's 8 of us, and we're all in this one ward! It's so much fun though we have seriously gotten so close as we work together through the good times and the bad! I love it!

Hope you all have an amazing week! Love you all! But even better, the Lord loves you! 

A Dios!

Hermana Albright

"I mustache you a question, do you believe in Jesus?"

Heidi still loves mustaches!! 

Their FIesta outfits

Hopeful in Hopewell

Hola!!!!

Answers to questions: My district is HUGE. We have eight missionaries and cover our ward boundaries, which is also HUGE. Seriously. It's so fun! We can't knock doors once the sun goes down , (they might turn into pumpkins) so we can only visit people that we know from about 7 30 on. The sisters do meet sometimes, we just had a sisters meeting this week that was amazing! OH! I almost forgot! President said that we're going to have 50% sisters in this mission! How exciting is that? We meet as a zone for thirty minutes before district meeting every week, and then have a full zone conference every month. And you can look up maps of missions on lds.org if you ever want to check it out. The Spanish is coming along slowly but surely! It's kinda funny, my companion and I get the gist of everything, but we often miss out on important little details. Like if they said yo creo (I believe) or no creo (I don't believe) (just minor details really...) and other things like that. We've gotten some great stories out of it! But we just keep swimming pressing on! :D

We had an AMAZING week! Holy hannah I wish I had the time and ability to express everything that I have felt. We found 12 new investigators, 3 of which came to church yesterday! And lots more potentials that we're going to try to meet with this week too! It has seriously been amazing getting to know the people here. 

We had an awesome experience working a booth at a flea market this weekend! We weren't allowed to give away free lemonade, but it turns out we didn't need to! So many people wanted to come and learn of Christ.  We ran out of supplies pretty quickly, so we're super excited to go again with more things next week!! It was super interesting, we met all the ranges of people there! From the very lows of people condemning us to the very highs of people blessing us and receiving our message joyfully, and everything in between! 

Last week I talked about being an example. The youth here are incredible examples to me and to their families and friends. I have loved getting to know them. Many of them have parents that struggle in the faith, and they are the ones that help keep their family together. They know without a doubt of the truth of this gospel, and are willing to sacrifice anything and everything for it. And they find ways to share truths of happiness to everyone around them everyday! I am so blessed to be able to learn from them and serve with them in this area.    How have you been an example to those around you this week and felt the love of Christ as you stood for what's right? (We would love to have you leave comments to answer this question and send to Heidi in a letter!!)

The Lord has prepared the people hear to receive this message. It's so interesting that we are working in a place called Hopewell, because we have met so many that have lost almost all hope.  I am so excited and privileged to be able to help them come to the well of living waters, the well of hope--Jesus Christ.  I know that my Redeemer lives. What comfort that sweet sentence gives!  He is ready and waiting to take away all our sorrows and pains, if we but come to Him. I hope you all know that you really can be forgiven, and that you can be strengthened by Him. I know that He is the Savior of the world, but more than that, He is your Savior. He personally suffered for you. I hope you know that you are loved.

I hope you all have a great week! A Dios!

Hermana Albright

"missionaries are far from normal"

Hello Everyone!

 This week President offered a challenge on who can find the most new investigators! CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!! He thinks he can do it, but he doesn't know what he's up against! Pretty much all of this past week we spent finding potentials, so we are so ready to take him down! Haha but the "prizes" (Missionary prizes are much different) for the top three companionships are 1-three hours with President coming out to work with you 2- two hours of working with him and his wife and 3- two hours of comp study with him and his wife. It's exciting. But things are really picking up! We finally found this area's Little Mexico! And it is GREAT! Except for the ginormous spiders, (shiver)  it's my favorite place to be in. We are going to set up a free lemonade stand (hopefully she's practiced her lemonade recipe) outside a flea market where there are tons of Hispanics on Saturday, and find even more potentials! And after a bit, we are going to start up English class down here!

Weird that you bring up service, everyone has been talking about that lately! And it's Service September (so much better than 'No shave November that my husband says is coming up) in our mission. Is that like a world-wide thing? I'm so confused! Maybe it's just the Lord's way of letting me know that I (we all) need to focus on serving more. We haven't really been able to do a lot of service yet here, because we have no idea where to go to volunteer! But we have great plans now so I'm excited! 

We finally got furniture!  We got the last shipment of great stuff! They're cutting things down now since they have so many new missionaries, so we were real blessed to be able to get all the things we have! Now we have beds, a ginormous study table, a little kitchen table, dressers, a toaster, pots and pans, and A MICROWAVE! I love the microwave! (I know where Heidi's priorities are) I really hope they have them in Argentina because they are seriously the best.

Learning a language is tons of fun. (said nobody, but positive Heidi ever) I finally found a movie quote to describe it! Sometimes I feel like Marlin from Finding Nemo when Squirt is talking to him--"It's like he's trying to tell me something, I know it!" and then-WHEEEEEEE-into the Swirling Vortex of Doom.  But somehow, I always survive. Seriously, it's only through the help of God and my blessed companion that lessons go well and people are able to feel the Spirit.

Ok so if you hadn't figured it out already, last week was just a wig. Don't worry! Haha my companion is a hoot and bought a wig for her sister's birthday, so we've been having some fun with it. But we don't leave the house with it on, once outside we are normal missionaries! But not normal people, because missionaries are far from normal. Especially when in a new area and looking specifically for Hispanics. Sometimes when it's late we go to Walmart and look for people there, because we can't knock after dark.  It's really fun though! We have not perfected the art of starting a semi-casual conversation with someone that looks Hispanic in order to find out if they actually are Spanish and would be interested in learning more about God. We were trying this on Saturday, and someone passed by us speaking Spanish! Before they could get away, I turned and said Hey! I'm learning Spanish, can I practice with you? She said "i'm shopping!" and gave me the weirdest look...  We get weird looks all the time. But it's so worth it because we are blessed with people that are interested!
 In church this week we talked about being examples and standing up for your standards. I've been thinking about it a lot, and how it's so awkward sometimes to leave a bad movie, or tell your friends not to cuss around you, or to refuse a drink that someone's offering you, but how it's so worth it in the end! You may get weird looks like I do every time you stick to your standards, but I promise that you will be greatly blessed for it. A lot of times too, we don't realize the effect that we are having on others.  They might not tell you, and you might not see it, but there is always someone that is impressed by your actions and may even decide to change themselves. "Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." Good luck this week as you stand for what's right! I hope you find the joy that this brings :D

A Dios!

Hermana Albright

A surprise!!

Hola everyone!

So transfers have come and gone, with lots of changes all around! I'm opening a new area, with a new companion.

 President split up all the trios! So I probably won't be getting my visa super soon. The church office just sent an email this week saying that they're still working on it. But a sister that had been here for seven months just got hers and is now in Argentina! Whoohoo!  Anyway, my new area is in Hopewell :D It's just a well of hope right now! We go to a Spanish ward (SO FUN!) about thirty or twenty minutes away (not so fun). We cover a ton of area so we've got a lot of work to do! My companion is amazing!!!! She's hilarious and super chill but at the same time way dedicated to the work. (sounds like Heidi, except the super chill part haha) So it's the best! Our apartment was completely empty, so right now we're borrowing air mattresses and trying to find things like a microwave and vacuum and such household pluses.

 In other news...I dyed my hair! What do you think? 

(If you were wondering what my mom thought... she about had a heart attack.  I don't think she was able to sleep the next 3 nights....)

It's definitely weird opening a new area here, where nobody knows where Hispanics live. It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack! But as we were trying to get referrals one day, and everyone we were talking to was super pessimistic about this area, my companion turned to me and said We are just like Nephi when he was told to build a boat! He had no idea what he was doing, and nobody thought he could do it, but he just turned to the Lord and found success in what he was asked to do.  So here's my chance to be like Nephi! It's very exciting.  It also strengthens my testimony about the worth of souls.  For if we should labor all our days here, and bring but one soul unto God, how great will be our joy in the kingdom of heaven! I know there's someone ready and waiting to hear the Gospel here and I'm so touched that I have this opportunity to find them! I hope you all know how much you are loved by the Lord.  Have a great week!

A Dios!

Hermana Albright

P.s Mom got a hand written letter from Heidi this week and she had a few things she wanted to add:

Heidi loves her new companion and her new area, although she was sad to leave behind all the investigators she was working with. she loves the new ward, it is all Spanish, and has all the regular meetings, primary, relief society ym and yw. And this week  one of the investigators they were working with came to the Spanish ward, and she was very happy to see him, and thought that it was a tender mercy from the Lord.  They have 3 potential investigators they are working with.  AND on the hair note, she and her companion went wig shopping for the companion's sister's birthday, and Heidi had much fun trying on wigs.  She said that she learned never to dye her hair black as it does not look good on her. Her companion did buy a wig for her sister, which is what I think Heidi had on. What a relief to me!  They got a couch from the AP's and had some air mattress's and were supposed to get more stuff on Friday for their apartment.