Happy Tears

To my boy :D 

The ONLY RIGHT WAY to plan.

My area: Mission Trails Ward, Horizon Stake, El Paso Texas.

Picture of my little scattered town :)

The next several pictures are of Miguel's baptism! It was so so wonderful!

What an honor it's been being able to teach this kid. You should have
seen him during our lessons. We would teach him SO much and he
absorbed it all right up and said yes to every commitment. He reminds
me so much of one of the stripling warriors. Way to go Miguel!

The next several pictures are of Miguel's baptism! It was so so wonderful!

Miguel Angel Alvarez with the Garibay family with Sister B and I! Such
a happy day! Look at that kid's smile! :D

And of course...Hot sauce and cupcakes are perfect for refreshments
afterwards. Only here.

Who's this cute family?

Well, quite the week. Homework for all of you if you haven't already

done it...watch the Work of Salvation broadcast online at

lds.org...and then accept President Monson's challenge...invite

non-members over for a Family Home Evening. During the FHE, read the

scriptures, sing a hymn or two and EACH of you bare your testimonies. You will see incredible blessings in the lives of you and your family. This week was filled with happy tears for me. Miguel Angel Alvarez was

baptized!!!! That kid is amazing. I was so blessed to come into this

area where the sisters had already found him but I was still able to

teach him several of the lessons and help prepare him for baptism. I

remember my first day meeting him he looked at me and Sister B and

said with that smile I love, "So this is my new team huh?" We sure are.

Miguel was baptized Saturday by Hno. Garibay and confirmed on Sunday.

It was sure a special weekend. Miguel came out of the water with the

biggest smile on his face I've ever seen 

(and that's saying something because his smile is always turned on)

and then just couldn't stop smiling afterwards. I was up leading the music

and he kept looking up at me and smiling like we were two little kids

who just got caught with our hands in the cookie jar. We were all just

so happy! The spirit was incredible. I got to church Sunday and am

really starting to feel a part of this barrio and area. I was going

around meeting and greeting people and apparently this was planned or

something but I had NO clue. I looked up and there were the two most

beautiful people in the world. Needless to say, Grandma and Grandpa

were able to attend church with me (all 3 hours) and were there for

Miguel's confirmation. When I say tender mercy, I mean it. 

Have a great week everyone! Love you, Hermana Silva

WATCH HASTENING THE WORK OF SALVATION :)

True to You

Alli here...I just wanted to do a quick post on missionary work and the importance of being a member missionary. Recently in conference we heard from Elder Neil A. Anderson, 
"If you're not a full-time missionary with a missionary badge pinned on your coat, now is the time to paint one on your heart."

We don't have to be a full-time missionary to serve the Lord with all our hearts. Now is the time to be an instrument in his hands and do all we can to share happiness with His children. I also wanted to post a video that Sister Silva and I made from our junior year in high school. She had just returned from a trip in Spain and was able to have some missionary experiences.

This video makes me bawl every time I watch it! I'm so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the knowledge I have. 

To anyone who is struggling right now, know that He is there. You are never alone...

Matthew 11:28-30
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

PS- Pay no attention to the wink at the end haha ;) 

Loving El Paso:)

 I'm so happy to be a missionary!  

Now...this place is just a 'tad' different than Albuquerque.

I'm in a huge ward down here and the people

here are wonderful. Some are even relatives of some of the branch

members back from Alvarado Park (who I miss dearly). We have our first

exchange tomorrow in El Paso with the 8th ward sisters!  Anyways, things here are

good...extremely hot, but good:)

 Driving into El Paso, right on the other side is Juarez. We literally

live like 4 blocks away from Juarez.

 Super awesome but guess who lives right across from me?? Elder Beck!

Small world, small world. Burley high school grads. Who knew that this

kid who was in the same 8th grade math class as me would eventually be

serving in the same area??

 Here's another one of just Sister B and I

 There are 4 sisters, an elderly couple, plus 2 Elders here, all in the same ward. I love

these two sisters who serve with us, Hermana Pipkin and Hermana Adams.

And then there's my loveeellyy MTC companion Sister Biancardi. Can you

believe we're back together again? We used to talk about the 'what

ifs' from the MTC. And now it's true! We are serving together once

again. So excited for this new transfer!

 Yep...HOW GORGEOUS. Right? This is where I live. :)

This isn't "New Mexico" anymore Toto. 

We are definitely in the Lone Star State now.

...

Had my last week in Albuquerque :( I sure do miss my second, "brown" city!
This picture is of Debany Corral and I...we LOVE the Corral family.
Had my last dinner with them right before transfers.

SURPRISE SURPRISE SURPRISE

A little bit of an update for the day here! Here's a few clues...its

super hot here, umm...really hot, and did I mention just how hot it is

here?

 I'm in El Paso. 

Can you believe it? I NEVER thought they would

send me here. I made sure during the last interviews with President

that he knew about all the family I have down here and thought for

certain they wouldn't send me to where they are all at. Well SURPRISE!

Not only did they send me to El Paso, Texas but I am in my

grandparent's and Aunt Heidi's stake! When I got here one sister said,

"Oh we just had dinner with your grandparents on Friday." Another

Elder asked if I was related to Manuel Bojorquez who's the Branch

President where he's serving. Apparently they've been praying me here

haha. If I'm right, Manuel is dad's uncle so my second uncle? Which

makes Josh and Manny my second cousins. I recently heard Josh just got

his mission call to Monterey, Mexico too! So proud of him. Anyways,

I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it all yet. Number 1...I miss

Albuquerque and our investigators. I miss the people. I feel like I

left my heart in Idaho...then left a piece in the MTC...then left a

good chunk in Albuquerque..but I know the Lord will help my heart to

grow with the people here too through time. As an STL we will be doing

exchanges with the sisters sometimes up to 2 times a week or more and I will

be exchanging with the Sisters in 8th ward where grandma and grandpa

are. Wouldn't it be funny to call them and ask them for member

presence at our lessons? What if they're scheduled for dinner that

night? Que medio raro. Again...still not sure how I feel about it.

Coming here to El Paso over the years, it never once crossed my mind

that I would be here serving my mission. Ok, now for the next

surprise. All week the Assistants have been smiling and whispering and

driving me crazy since they knew who my companion would be and where I

was going. They wouldn't tell me a thing of course and now I

understand why they were acting the way they were. I am back once

again with my lovely MTC companion Sister Biancardi! Sister B and I

were reunited once again. I drove one of the new cars down to Las

Lunes on Tuesday with a new sister and then exchanged cars down to El

Paso and the moment I parked the car, Sister B came running and we

were told we were companions again! We may have jumped up and down

like silly little girls...just maybe. Our new area is 'Horizon' which

is actually just southeast of El Paso but still within the boundaries

of the El Paso stake (including 8th ward). It was sure sad to say

goodbye to Sister Rivas who's become a good friend but it's really fun

coming into a new area and a new transfer already knowing your

companion. We have been all smiles that last couple of days. We are

working hard here in the hot hot sun and trying not to get dehydrated.

I'll admit, it's not my favorite thing proselyting in 105+ degree

weather but any sacrifice for the Lord is so worth it! Excited to learn

to love the people and area here. Anyways just a quick update for you

so you know all is well and I'm safe and sound and settling in.

Love you all and have a wonderful week! 

Hermanita Silva

Changes and goodbyes!

So President Miller #1 is leaving us. :( But President Miller #2 is coming and we are SO excited to meet him! President Miller, since it is his last MLC decided to treat us out and surprised us by taking the ZL's and STL's toTucanos Brazilian Grill for dinner...yummmmm.

 You can tell a lot about a person by their shoes...look at these hardworking missionary shoes! MLC!

 REUNITED...my lovely MTC companion Sister Biancardi:)

 Goodbyes to Sister Allen! Such an awesome trainer. Goin' home!

 At the mission home with Sister Rivas, Sister McFarland, Sister McCurdy and President and Sister Miller

 Love this wonderful family who makes awesome Peruvian dinners for us!

 And then there's Anna Hernandez (between Sister Rivas and I)...who we have been teaching for the last several weeks. Isabel Hernandez (blue shirt) is her older sister and an awesome, awesome member! She called us asking to come by and teach her sister. We had some of the best lessons with these two sisters.
(*Sidenote...Anna got baptized a few weeks after leaving the area!*) 

 Awesome future sister missionary who's been coming out with us :) So sweet!

...


Fast food much?....yah time to take the trash out! ...don't judge us haha

 You saw it here first folks...pepperoni and GREEN CHILE pizza. We're not in Idaho anymore:)

Sister Pizza Party for lunch! Sometimes you just need "SISTER TIME" ya know what I mean?


Brianda's mission call! I love this girl to death! She will be the best missionary in Salt Lake City, Utah! Congrats beautiful girl! I love you!

And then there's my good friend Duby :) How I love this sweet girl who helps us out so much.

I'll miss her!

 Cutest. Kids. Ever. holding the "futuro misionero" (future missionary) nametags Alli sent to me. We got to teach their class about how to be a missionary someday. So fun for us!

Saying goodbye to Mateo and Gabby Cordoba and little Allison! Loved teaching these two.

...
Not. Even. Kidding...I did not expect to have more than one roommate living with me on my mission...but these guys find their way in...unwanted visitors!

And thanks Elder Montgomery...haha :)

Transferring this week!

Big News. I'm being transferred. Almost all packed and I leave at
7 am bright and early at transfer site tomorrow morning.

Thanks for being an awesome Zone! :D

WINDEX is my new miracle product

Yet another week. Busy busy busy. I love being busy though. When your

planner is filled as a...you are a very happy missionary.

This week we have been working with our most progressing investigators

the most which is Ana Hernandez, her mom Martina, Magdalena and her

nieto Loren. We are loving them so much and I pray for them like

they're my own children. I would do just about anything for them. We

had a really good lesson with Ana and Martina just last night and left

them with the commitments of praying, reading and asking Heavenly

Father if baptism is what they need to do right now in their lives and

to know that this is all true. 

We also had a funny experience the other night. We had Hermano Escobar

(nicest man on the planet) who was a member at a lesson we had.

Afterwards he insisted on treating us out to McDonald's. 
He had just lost his job and was really struggling but insisted on treating us out joking around saying that he knew he would receive blessings if he did. Little did we know...While we were

there we had 2 people...TWO...who both spoke Spanish...who came up to US

and asked to be taught the gospel. No joke. They said they were

interested and wanted to know more and asked when we could come by and

teach them. I was in "eshock." Get this though...one of the people we

met there was named Jim and Jim is a real estate agent. He needed

someone to help with repairing tile in a few houses he was working on

and Hermano Escobar...does that for a living. Right there on the

spot...he offered Hermano Escobar a job! Do you see what happens when

you help the missionaries? Blessings. Sometimes those blessings come real quick too!
In fact we just had a guy come

up to us a minute ago and ask if he could take us out to eat for lunch

because his wife is in the hospital and they need the blessings. He

just left to visit her and we are meeting him at 1 for lunch at a

restaurant. I promise, when you help the Lord's servants, He helps

you. Blessings, blessings, blessings.

Anyways, got to get going. Busy day. P- Day is never seems to be a relaxing day as

a missionary...sometimes I feel like it's the busiest day of the week!

So much to do and so little time. :) 

Interesting Fact about missionary work...did you know naps don't exist

as a missionary? Just thought you'd like to know.

 Sister Rivas and I have made a miracle discovery. Who needs Raid or other insect killing sprays that cost way too much when you can use WINDEX. We figured this out the other night when we were planning and this cockroach practically jumped at us and starting running for us. I was scared out of my mind. The first thing we could find was Windex so we just started spraying. Best defense weapon (It also works on Spiders...big ones...in the shower).

It's super wierd. They just curl up and die. In like a minute. Or less. Windex is my miracle product. 

 Little balls of cockroaches. All over the place. :p iccckkk.

 I'm telling you...we are EXTREMELY happy about this. Coackroach count for just the last day...5.

 Look at our beautiful board of NEW INVESTIGATORS! We are so happy! The 
Lord has blessed us so abundantly in finding these people. I am so

honored to be a tool in His marvelous hands. The field really is white

and ready to harvest...we still plant seeds but so many seeds have already

been planted and have now grown. Time to reap it in!

 Last Haines district meeting and last pictures of our Haines district...Transfer 2! 
Transfer 3 here we come...

A little bit nervous. I love my district. Love my Zone Leaders. Love

my companion. Love this area. Love our branch. And definitely Love our

investigators...it can't be time for transfers yet!??

 And missionaries...have their silly sides. Trust me.

 :)

 So one of our investigators Magdalena who is progressing wonderfully

and is such a good friend to us now, had these lovely tamales waiting

for us when we came to our appointment the other night. How sweet is

she?? Full of pollo y chile verde...with a touch of Jalapeno. Aren't

we blessed? Thank you Magdalena.

Here's a better picture of my 'pink' mountains this week.