A Week of Experiencing the Tabernacle of Moses

Hi friends!

So there isn't a lot to tell you this week. We spent a lot of our time this week serving at the Tabernacle of Moses display that was here this last week. We would work shifts that varied from 3-4 hours and usually we wouldn't work more than one shift except a few days we worked some extra shifts. For example, in Saturday we were at the Tabernacle of Moses helping from 9:30am-8:30pm because they really needed a lot of help.It was a really long day, but we helped a lot of people and we got to meet a lot of wonderful people who we got the opportunity to teach a little bit and we also got the opportunity to learn from a lot of them! Overall, this entire experience with the Tabernacle of Moses was such a blessing and I am SO grateful that I got to be a part of it! Also some happy news from the week, a woman that we have been teaching set a firm baptismal date. She is so excited to be baptized and listening to her sweet testimony and watching the amazing changes in her life is such a blessing! She is going on almost a week without smoking and a month without drinking coffee! She feels so much better and attributes everything to Heavenly Father giving her the strength to quit and be better for herself and her family! My companions and I love her and are so grateful for her recognizing the good things happening in her life! 

Not a whole lot happened this week, but everything that did happen was extremely positive! I'm so grateful to be a member of this church and I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to see the light of Christ change people's lives! I love the gospel of Jesus Christ and the opportunity I have to serve Him and all of those around me! I hope you all have a great week and remember to look towards the Savior in all you do!

Love,

Sister Connery

Baptisms and Tabernacles

What a week. I know I just emailed on Wednesday (our P-day got messed up), but I still have a lot to say! Being a missionary means being ultra flexible, and I think I'm finally getting the hang of it!

Thursday and Friday were pretty normal days. We did service for this really sweet lady, but my companions were pretty sure that I was going to die as soon as we left. We were helping her move, so it was really dusty and then mixed with all of the hair of her three cats my eyes got really swollen and I wasn't doing a whole lot of good breathing. However, eventually the swelling went down and now I'm fine, so all that really matters is that I helped someone out rather than the fact that my companions thought I was going to die. Then on Saturday we attended a baptism for a ten year old boy who was really sweet and excited to be baptized! It was a great day! 

 

However, Sunday is where things got really interesting. Our very first baptism was scheduled for Sunday afternoon and we were all really excited! However church is still ultra important, so we went to church like normal where we met up with a couple of people that we are teaching, and all was fine. Then we realized that we forgot some things we needed for the baptism in the afternoon at our apartment so we decided to run home really fast after church to grab them. However, we were turning around the car and we accidentally ran into a curb which blew out our tire and caused it to completely deflate in a matter of seconds. We were already running late and started freaking out! However, the Lord loves His children and a minute after we popped the tire one of our members drove by and helped us change in the tire. In the process the car fell off the jack and we hoped that it would be okay, so we changed the tire and then tried to drive it...we made it to the end of the street before we decided it probably wasn't a good idea to keep going. So the parents of the member who helped us fix the tire took us to the church where the baptism was being held. We got there in just enough time to fill up the baptismal font and cook some food to have as snacks after the baptismal service. The baptism was wonderful!!! Everyone had such a great time and the spirit was so strong! The man who got baptized was named Jon, and he just kept telling us over and over about how he felt so great that he couldn't even explain his feelings adequately! HE IS AMAZING!!!! I feel so lucky that I was able to teach him about the gospel of Jesus Christ and to be able to see him grow in his testimony and make such sacred commitments like baptism with his Heavenly Father. It was an incredible and heart-warming experience to be a part of. After the baptism we got a ride with one of our members (because we broke our car) to the stake center where an amazing event is going on this week! 

SO...the stake that I am serving in here, decided to do an amazing event for the people around here from all churches! We built a life-size replica of the Tabernacle of Moses from the Bible! It is the coolest thing that I have ever seen in my life! It took us about 5 hours to set it up, but it is spectacular! This entire week the missionaries here get the opportunity to give tours and to explain the significance and symbolism in each area of the tabernacle. It is amazing how much you can learn from teaching something to someone else, and the replica of the Tabernacle of Moses here is no different! In just a few hours had already learned so much whether from my own knowledge, the scriptures, and what others had told me. It is amazing! Also, because the Tabernacle of Moses is such a universal belief it has been really neat to see people from a lot of other religions and cultures coming through and being able to see these similar beliefs that we all have. This is truly one of the most spectacular experiences of my life, and I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to be a part of this work!

It's been a crazy few days, but it has been so worth it! I'm so grateful for all of the many experiences that I get to have and for all of the amazing people I have the opportunity to meet! I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church of Jesus Christ established here on the Earth today, and I am so grateful for that knowledge. I love this gospel of Jesus Christ and I love all of you! I hope you all have a great week and I hope you know that I pray for all of you each day! I love you!

Love, 

Sister Connery

 

All of the missionaries in this stake when we finished setting up the Tabernacle of Moses

 My companions and I with Jon and his brother-in-law (who was baptizing him)

Too Much To Say In So Little Time

Hi everyone!

My email is going to be pretty short this week because I don't have a lot of time, but I'll try to hit the main points and explain everything else with pictures.

So the biggest thing that happened this past week was General Conference!!! I LOVE General Conference! It is one of the most spiritually uplifting times of the year for me, as we all get to sit and listen to the words that our modern day prophets and apostles have to say. Being able to be guided each and everyday by these amazing servants of the Lord who receive revelation for what is necessary in this day and age is such a blessing that we all need to take part in! One of my favorite topics from General Conference this time was in Neil L. Andersen's talk where he spoke about how trials become our biggest source of learning when we look at them as something to learn from. Most of the time we look at our trials and just think that they are terrible burdens weighing us down, but in retrospect they are amazing gifts that are strengthening us as we learn from them and apply the newfound knowledge they give us. Now, all of General Conference was AMAZING, but this point really hit home for me. I am SO grateful for the opportunity that Heavenly Father has given me to learn and grow all throughout my life and for the opportunity that we all have to continually be learning and growing. 

I love this gospel that I get to go teach to people everyday and see their lives change as they abide by the precepts being taught. Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us and I know that we are all sons and daughters of Him who created us and guides us today. I love you all

Sister Connery

Someone forget to put their car in park and so when we came out of the building that we were in their car had rolled into ours, but it only left a small dent so it's all Good!

A beautiful Pittsburg, California sunset

 We invited some of the Elders to have traditional Filipino food with us (they really just wanted to eat with their hands)

 Zone Conference

I Can't Speak Spanish!

Bonjour! 

This was such a good week! To start the week off we had interviews with the mission president just to check in with us and make sure that we were doing okay. Then we had a busy week teaching people! One of the people that we have been teaching kinda dropped off the earth and we weren't able to get a hold of him for a few days, and we were getting worried about him but then he texted us and said that he hadn't been around because his wife just had a baby. We didn't even know his wife was pregnant so it was a big shock to us! However, we went over last night and got to meet the sweet baby! Her name is Jessie and they are just the cutest little family! Also, one of the other people we are teaching told us that he is getting a marriage license this week so that he can get married! He is really excited and wants us to come the wedding so bad, so we will see what happens! And one of the biggest miracles of the week was that this wonderful woman named Milly that we have been teaching gave up coffee in order to be baptized. We taught her all about the word of wisdom and she told us that quitting coffee would be the hardest thing for her. We gave her a lot of encouragement and then when we went to see her yesterday. She gave us all of her coffee and told us to donate to somewhere else because she doesn't need it anymore! It was AMAZING!!! We feel so incredibly blessed this week and we are so grateful for the Lord's hand in our lives and the lives of all of those around us! 

To tell you about the title of my email. I also went on exchanges this week in the Spanish program. So I spent a day teaching lessons in Spanish and talking to people who only spoke Spanish. I don't speak Spanish. It was definitely not an easy day for me to understand what was going on and I didn't contribute much, but maybe next time I will at least be able to understand a little bit more! For now, I'll just stick to English and French because those are a lot easier for me to understand at this point! 

By the way just for a visa update: I don't have it yet, but it's all good because California is wonderful and it doesn't matter where I'm helping and teaching what matters is that I'm doing it, so I'm going to keep going with a positive attitude and LOVE every second of it! 

I love you all so much and I'm so grateful for the support you all show me! Also don't forget to watch General Conference this weekend! It's a wonderful time to hear modern revelation and receive personal revelation too! Je vous aime!!

Love,

Sister Connery 

The coffee that the person we are teaching gave us to get rid of for her!

Flowers that a nice man let us pick when we were walking by

 Some art we found on a wall

Cake for Breakfast

Bonjour!

This week wasn't as busy as last week, but it was still so great! On Friday we had a big breakfast with a lot of the missionaries because in October we are having a life-size replica of the tabernacle of Moses come to our area, and the people in charge of it wanted to give us some training on the Tabernacle and what our role will be in providing tours for anyone and everyone who wants to come see it. It is going to be so cool and we are all really excited to get to see it and be a part of it. 

On Sunday we had one of the people we are teaching come to church and she LOVED it! She said that it was such a great experience and she got to meet so many kind people and learn so many new things that she wishes church was everyday. Honestly, we have the most amazing people here in our area and I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to meet them and become their friends.

Today is the birthday of one of the Elders in my district, so this morning we had a birthday breakfast party for him (we surprised him at his apartment and ate cake for breakfast), and then afterwards we went on a super fun hike to some old mines that were closed, but we still took some cool pictures so it was great!

It is amazing how the Lord works in all of our lives. Even hiking this morning we were all drawing parallels to the amazing things that Heavenly Father has given us. We are truly blessed to be on this earth and to be having all of the experiences whether good or bad that we have each day. No matter what is going on in our lives, there is something that we can learn from it! This gospel is so amazing and I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be teaching people how the gospel can bless their lives. I love you all so much, and I hope that you all know my testimony that God is good. He is always there to love and support us, and He may show that in unexpected ways, but if you are earnestly looking the light of Christ in your life you will be able to find it. I love you all!

Love, 

Soeur Connery

Classic name tag pic

Another classic name tag pic

One of the mines

My district at the mines

The Spanish speaking sisters and us

Hermana Leiva and I on top of the mine

 Our zone picture from our Friday breakfast meeting

Sister Bunch found a crown this morning

My district at the mines 

Fire danger is always extreme in California

A sign we found the other day on someone's car

Our birthday breakfast party

 My companions and I

Banana Leaves, Indian Weddings and Mega Cereal

Bonjour!

I've had another great week here in good old Pittsburg, California! We had some pretty great adventures this week! To start off, the Tongan man that we have on baptismal date actually asked us to move his date up this week. So instead of having his baptism mid-October we are having it on September 28th! We are super excited, but I still don't think we are as excited as he is!

To explain my title a little bit, first off my district and I found a giant metal bowl, and we thought "wow, you know what would be fun? If we had a giant bowl of cereal in this!" So that's exactly what we did; we made a giant bowl of cereal and then to be more sanitary we scooped out the cereal with smaller personal bowls and ate out of those, but it was still a blast and made for a fun adventure. Also this week, we ate dinner with our Bishops wife. She is from the Philippines and told us that we were going to eat Filipino food the Filipino way, which meant that we didn't use any utensils and instead of plates we ate on top of giant banana leaves. I don't know if you've ever eaten rice with your hands, but until you know how to do it properly it is so hard. However, we eventually learned how to do it and now we are pros. And finally, to explain the Indian wedding, we got new neighbors about a week ago and they are Indian. They are both super sweet, but we really only talk to the wife because the husband doesn't speak much English. Anyways to get to the wedding part, we were coming home from church yesterday and they were having a party and they invited us in and then explained that they were having a bit of an after party for their friends and family since they had gotten married that morning. It was insane! They gave us traditional Indian sweets and taught us a little bit about their culture. It was SO cool!

Overall this was a great week, and I experienced a lot of things that I never thought I would experience! This work is so good, and I'm so grateful for the different people and cultures that serving the Lord has given me the opportunity to experience! I love you all!

Love, 

Sister Connery

Indian sweets

Filipino dinner on banana leaves

 My companions and I picking up trash down by the water

Pittsburg

My companions and I at the visitors center in Oakland

My district 

 Our giant bowl of cereal

Filipino dinner on banana leaves again

 My companions and I at church

Still Killin' It In California

Hi friends!

This week was kinda crazy. So I told you about the man that we put on date, but this week we dropped him and we will try teaching him again in a few weeks. He is such a sweet man and wants to learn more about the gospel, but he is really busy right now and isn't prioritizing the gospel in his life, so we are going to cancel his baptismal date for right now and hopefully reschedule it in the coming weeks when he is more dedicated. However, we put two different people on date this week, so all in all we have 2 scheduled baptisms and 1 cancelled. The two people that we put on date are both so nice and they have really been working to know if this gospel is true. One of them is a Tongan man who just married into a huge Tongan family that is all members of the church. They love him and they know that becoming a member of this church is a personal decision that they want him to make on his own, so they are just being really supportive and always reminding him that it is his choice. We can't force people to believe the gospel and his family really understands that, so they are a huge blessing in lessons! I don't know if I'll get to be here for any of these baptisms, but I really hope that I will! I'll find out on Saturday if I'm going to a new area because as of now I still have no visa and they don't have an idea of when I will have a visa, so I'm just focusing really hard on the work here. Plus I love it here, so I know it's going to be extremely hard to leave and once I have my visa as excited as I'll be, I will also be so sad to leave everyone here.

The ward here in Pittsburg is so sweet, and they haven't had the best relationship with a lot of the previous missionaries here, but ever since my trio got here we have been working hard and building their trust and they are finally opening up to us and recognizing that we are here to help and serve them and their neighbors. Also, they have recently started feeding us a ton and they have been feeding us a lot of really exotic food (mainly Filipino food because of Sister Liquiran). So basically I'm no longer a picky eater because once you have eaten yam ice cream with beans and jello there really is no where else to go.

We went on exchanges again this week too! Because we are in a trio, we get to go on exchanges 3 times rather than the regular 2. So, Hermana Bravo came back into our area again and we had another great day. Hermana Bravo is super sweet! She is from Columbia and is here in the Spanish program. It's so nice when we go on exchanges because we live in a diverse area, so most of the time we try our best to tell the Spanish speakers who we are and give them the number of the missionaries who speak Spanish. However when we are on exchanges and we have Hermana Bravo it works out so well because she can have a perfect conversation with them in Spanish and then we can nod our heads in agreement to what she is saying. Basically, exchanges are wonderful and we love the Spanish speaking sisters!

This week wasn't super eventful, but it was still wonderful! I love the people here, and I especially love the work that I'm doing. Every day is just another testament to me of how true this gospel is, and how grateful I am to be a member of this church. I love watching this gospel change people's lives and I love seeing how all of the people and experiences here are changing my life. This truly is a great work, and I'm so grateful to be a part of it. I love you all and I'm so grateful for everything you are all doing for me! I hope you have a great week!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!

Love,
Soeur Connery

OH and P.S. I got In-N-Out this week so I was a pretty satisfied missionary 

This is what arrived at my office this morning - I thought they were so darling I had to share! 
The Oakland/San Francisco Mission is enjoying your amazing missionaries!
Sister Baker
Mission Secretary

Blessings Upon Blessings

Bonjour!

So there is still no word on my visa yet, but all is well! There is so much work to do here in California and I'm so grateful to be able to work here! The people here are absolutely amazing and getting to serve them everyday is such a blessing to me! Plus all of the other missionaries here have kinda become my family and its going to be so hard to leave all of them! My visa will come eventually, but for now I'm just glad to be here and to serving the Lord and the people in this area.

This week wasn't too exciting, but of course it's missionary work so its always exciting! We had zone conference this week and focused a lot on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The Atonement truly is such an amazing gift that we have been given and I'm so grateful to be able to constantly use the Atonement each day as I'm trying to improve and I'm so grateful to be able to share the blessings of the Atonement with all those that I get the opportunity to meet and teach. On Tuesday we had a lesson with some of the Elders because they were teaching a man named Enrique who is in our teaching area. He is awesome! He has a lot of questions and is really interested in helping himself become better and especially helping others become better! He has such a special spirit, and I think that comes from all of his life experiences. He is honestly one of the best people that I have met, and I'm so excited to be able to teach him more and watch him progress in his relationship with his Heavenly Father.

On Thursday we went and contacted a few members who haven't been at church in a while, and they were all so excited to see us. The people here are really amazing and are always willing to welcome you with open arms. One of the families we visited is a man and his wife who isn't a member. She is from Brazil and always gets so excited to see us! They asked if they could feed us dinner and of course we said yes, so now I'm just fingers crossed that I will still be here when she makes us her traditional Brazilian food which she has been raving about! On Saturday we went on exchanges again except this time, Sister Bunch left us to go to the Spanish area and Sister Bravo came into our area with Sister Liquiran and I. It was so much fun! None of the three of us have permission to drive the Church cars for insurance reasons, so we took the bus all day. Fun fact: I love public transportation! The rides are too long and there are germs everywhere, but you get to meet and talk to so many people that it is 100% worth it! I talked to more people on Saturday than I have in any other single day in my mission so far! I love talking to these people and getting to explain what I believe and why I believe it.

Honestly this gospel has blessed my life in so many ways that it feels wasteful not to share what I know with all of the people I meet! It's like if you watch a movie that is super amazing and you tell everyone you know that they should go see it, except the gospel is more than just an hour or two it's a lifelong commitment with unlimited blessings! I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I have to share this gospel and I'm so grateful for the testimony that I have of this gospel that is constantly blessing my life. I know this church is true and there is nothing that brings more satisfaction to my life than knowing that truth.

I love you all and I am SO grateful to have all of you in my life! 

Love,

Soeur Connery

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Bonjour!

This week wasn't too crazy, but then again some crazy stuff happened! On Tuesday we had interviews with the mission President and his wife. My mission President right now is President Durham, and him and his wife are the sweetest people! They are so supportive and even though I've only known them for about three weeks, I love them and feel so comfortable with them. Also on Tuesday we started exchanges, so I went and spent 24 hours with a different sister missionary in a different area. It was interesting to say the least. I was with Hermana Leiva  and if you couldn't guess by her name, she speaks Spanish and serves in a Spanish area. So everyone that we talked to spoke Spanish... I don't speak Spanish. However, I found that there are quite a few words that are the same or at least similar to French words so I could pick up a little bit of what they were saying, but definitely not enough to be an active part of the conversation. It's all good though! I had a great time! Hermana Leiva and I ate some really good Mexican food, so overall it was a success! Wednesday and Thursday were just normal days of finding people to teach and then teaching the people that we found. 

 

However, Friday was the best day I have had on my mission so far. On Friday Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf (a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) came to our mission and talked with us, and it was amazing! He gave us so much counsel on how to be effective missionaries and how to be the best versions of ourselves. It was so spiritually uplifting!! One of the things that he said to us in reference to the Atonement of Jesus Christ was that even after you have used the Atonement and sincerely repented of your sins that you will still remember those sins, but God has forgotten them and just because you remember doesn't mean you haven't been forgiven. You remember your sins, not to relish in them and to feel bad, but so you don't make the same mistakes. It was a really powerful meeting and I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to be there and hear the words of an apostle as he gave specific counsel. It was AMAZING!!! 

 

On Sunday we had a lesson with one of our investigators named Levi. We have taught him a couple of times and answered any questions that he has had for us, and during our lesson on Sunday we asked him if he would like to be baptized at the end of September and he said yes. So now we will continue to teach him and make sure that all of his questions are answered and then hopefully at the end of September he will feel ready to take the steps into baptism and receive all of the blessings that come from baptism. I am SO excited about his choice and for the opportunity that I have to teach him and to feel of the sweet testimony that he has. I'm constantly being shown the greatness of this work each day and I am SO incredibly grateful for it! I know that this church is true without a shadow of doubt, and I'm beyond blessed by it each day! 

 

Also, just something funny that happened in church on Sunday: this wonderful lady named Betty who is probably in her 70s gave a talk in sacrament meeting and at the end of her talk she says to the congregation, "now this is how I want y'all to remember me when I'm gone" and then she preceded to end her talk by singing the entirety of "When the Saints Go Marching In". At one point she paused her singing and told the entire congregation to join in with her. It was the funniest thing that I have ever seen and there were literally people crying because it was so funny, but Betty is the sweetest person and I'm so grateful that I have the opportunity to know her!

 

Today my companions and I went to a Filipino market and tried this Filipino drink called halo halo and it tasted like Graham crackers drenched in coconut milk except it had the consistency of ice cream and a slushy all in one. It is one of the most interesting things that I have ever eaten, but overall not too bad. One of my companions is from the Philippines so she loved it and my other companion is from Kentucky and we both decided that it was okay and maybe in like 3-5 years we would have it again, but we probably wouldn't buy it regularly. Also the ice cream part of it is called ube and it is made of yams. They also put jello, coconut pieces, and beans in it. It was just super interesting altogether.

 

I love y'all so much and I'm so grateful for all of you!

Love,

Sister Connery 

Some things we found at the Filipino market

Halo Halo

Another great license plate

 My companions and I hiked to the top of a mountain at 6:30 in the morning for exercise

A message that my district leader sent us in French that we translated to show him what he said

 

 After tracting one day my ankle was really swollen so I was going to ice it when we got home, but we didn't have any ice or frozen vegetables or anything. However, we did have frozen egg rolls so I used a scrunchie to hold an egg roll on my ankle as an ice pack

Bonjour From The Ghetto

Hi all!

Bonjour from the ghetto. Don't worry the ghetto isn't too bad and people are usually pretty nice to us because we are missionaries and they are to afraid to mess with people who literally have Jesus Christ on their name tag. Plus the people here are really nice and generally accept the message of Jesus Christ and are at least good with listening to us once.  So the weather isn't too bad, I'm in the hottest zone in the mission, but I never feel too hot or too cold. The work here is kinda slow, but it's been picking up ever since the new transfer started. We are teaching this one lady in her 50's who used to be a drug addict, but stopped when her doctor told her she was going to die if she kept smoking and doing drugs. She is super sweet and always has a lot to say when we come over. She has agreed with everything we've taught her so far,  and she told us last time that she is going to tell the Jehova's witnesses to stop coming over because she doesn't like what they are teaching, but she likes what we have been teaching her so we are going to keep praying and teaching her and hope that she comes to know the truthfulness of the gospel for herself. That's something that we've really been stressing because a lot of people think that we are just there to tell them what to think and that's generally something that people don't like, so we are constantly reaffirming people that this gospel is their choice and we can help them understand it better, but ultimately whether or not they accept it is a personal choice that we can't make for them and they are usually a lot more receptive to that and are willing to hear us out and learn more. 

My companions are amazing! We have so much fun together, but we are still constantly helping each other come closer to the Savior and be better, more obedient missionaries. However, keeping up my French is really hard. Neither one of my companions speak French, so it's pretty much me just doing everything I can in French and really tying to have any effective language study so that I can keep improving, but I already know that Barbados is going to kick my butt when I get there so I'm just trying to lessen the blow. Also, I could actually be speaking French with my district leader because he is from France, but he doesn't like to speak French here because it messes up his English and his other language that he was called to serve in which is called Lao or something like that. But occasionally he will speak French with me and I don't do too terrible so even if I'm not improving a whole ton, at least I'm maintaining I think. 

I do get to use Facebook, but only while I'm in California. So I guess I'll just use to the best of my ability while I can. But its super weird going between gabbing technology and then not having technology.  Adjusting isn't too hard,  but remaining focused and using technology to the best of its ability can be a little tricky at first. 

I love you all so much and I'm so grateful for everything that you do for me! This truly is the greatest experience of my life and I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I've been given to share what I know to be true. I love you all so much and love hearing from you each week.

Love times infinity!

Sister Connery

On P-day (today) we bought ice cream and watched a church movie

Our ice cream again

Sister Bunch watching the movie

 My companions and I found ninja masks at the store

 Pittsburg, California

 A license plate we saw while we were out tracting

 A super sweet family in the ward that we had dinner with