June 9, 2014

Hi family!

I didn't get the chance to reply to many of you and when I did it was short but I have a good reason- I got lots of emails! Thank you so so so much for all the updates. I LOVE hearing from all of you. Keep em coming

This week was difficult but towards the end I started to feel like I'm getting the hang of it, slowly but surely. Hermana Thomas goes on exchanges once a week and leaves me here with a different girl to be my companion and I have to take charge, so I'm sure that will help me learn more about the area and the people. t's hard to remember in the moment but it's the hard times that help us learn. I wouldn't be who I am if it weren't for the hard times in my past and I wouldn't be able to grow into the person that Heavenly Father has designed me to be if I didn't have hard times now. I love my companion, Hermana Thomas. She knows so much about missionary work and teaching and the area and everything! I have a ton to learn from her.

We attended a funeral last week, a less-active family in the ward lost their son. It was very unexpected and the family was inconsolable. He left one night with his friend and never came home. He got into the wrong crowd and was in the wrong place and the wrong time. We've seen them since and they would like us to start visiting them regularly to help them. They are such a great family!

We also started teaching a woman here who is very ill. She hasn't told us what she has but she is my height a weighs 75 pounds. She has had test after test after test and they have come to the conclusion that it is a very rare disease but that's all they know.

We have some other people we are teaching and they are so solid! They have a sincere desire to learn and know the truth and they are willing to act to find out for themselves! The only thing is that Satan is also working on them. A few of our most golden investigators have been going through a lot the past week, right when they've started to work towards being baptized. So we are still reaching out to them and helping them with anything they need. Good things are going to start happening here! I can feel it!

I'm not sure if I told you in my last email but we have roommates! Their names are Sister Mucke from Germany and Sister Tauteoli from Redlands, CA... And I thought I was close to home! They are English speaking sisters and they are so great! Sister Mucke is finishing up her mission and sister Tauteoli is just starting. They all  borrow my clothes, including my companion so there was a day where four of my skirts were being worn at once, talk about efficient!

Time to hit the road! Love you and miss you lots! Talk to you all next week.

Love,

Hermana Granado

June 2, 2014

Hi family,

So, my new area is the Thermal Ward, it is in the Palm Desert stake. I live in Indio and we cover Indio, Cochella, Bermuda Dunes, Mecca and some other city I don't remember. Basically, it's hot! My companion, Hermana Thomas, said that this is the hottest little pocket of the mission. Lucky me! (My address is still the same, it will go to the mission office and I'll get it from there.)

Wednesday morning Hermana Lauaki-Sablan and I went to the mission office. There I met two other girls going to the desert so we carpooled and Hermana Lauaki-Sablan got her new companions and went back to work. It was about an hour drive out to Indio. When I got here the first thing we did was eat some lunch then we were off to work! No time to unpack or adjust, time to share the gospel!

My first day here we did 4 hours of planning and Hermana Thomas told me all about the people we'll be teaching and visiting. Information overload. Then we had a couple appointments and guess what? We set dates with two people to get baptized! Two baptismal dates in one day. Plus all the planning we did. That's a successful day if I've ever seen one.

One of the people we set a baptismal date with is named Lucy. She is so golden it's crazy. The first time I went over to have a lesson with her, we walked in and she had her Book of Mormon on the table along with a pamphlet we gave her and a notebook and pen to take notes. She also had two cold bottles of water waiting for us where she wanted us to sit. When we invited her to be baptized she was so excited and wanted to do it as soon as possible! It's the first time I've met someone that is so ready and so excited about the gospel.

My new companion has been out about a year and she is a sister training leader which means she goes on exchanges every week with other sisters. Remember when I went with another girl for a day? Now I'll be doing that almost every week! Which means a lot more pressure on me but that's okay. She's a great missionary and really teaches well. She's been in this area for 10 months so all the people love her! And she knows the area which is a perk for me because we don't have a GPS. I'm going to try to learn all I can from her!

I am serving in the ward with two elders, Elder Miller and Elder Fails. Elder Miller was my district leader in Fontana when I started my mission so he's the only one I already knew. Hermana Pesquera and Hermana Zamora are the other missionaries in our ward.

Saturday we had a really cool activity at church, it was called Super Sabado (or super Saturday) and it was just to teach all the women little tips and tricks around the house. We learned how to decorate cakes, how to clean ceiling fans without getting dust everywhere, and how to get gum out of hair. It was fun and a good way for me to start getting to know the members little by little.

Love,

Hermana Granado

P.S. I'm attaching some pictures of saying goodbye to my favorites!

May 27, 2014

Hello family,

Thank you for all the encouraging words this week, I appreciate it more than you know! I am getting transferred out of Rialto. I am headed to PALM DESERT. Somehow I was expecting to go to the desert in the summer but I'm still in a little shock. I'm really sad to be leaving this area and all the people here. I've grown really attached to these families and I'm going to miss them a lot. But! I know I'll have new experiences and learn a lot in my new area. My new companion will be Hermana Thomas and we'll switch tomorrow morning. ​

 

Last Monday I woke up with a really bad ear ache. It was even worse the next day so I called the mission nurse and she made an appt for me to see a doctor on Wednesday. They told me I had a canal infection and gave me antibiotics and ear drops to use. I couldn't hear in my right ear for the majority of the week, which made for some interesting conversations with Hermana Lauaki-Sablan and some interesting lessons with our investigators who mumble. But now all is well!

 

I've been doing most of my packing yesterday and today, it's crazy how much stuff I have! And I can't seem to live without any of it. I don't have much time to write so I've put together a little week in pictures for you!​ I'm so sorry this is so short. I promise to do better in the future! Just know that I'm happy and healthy (now) and that I'm loving my mission. I'll be sure to give you the down low of the desert!

 

Love,

Hermana Granado

May 19, 2014

Hi Family, 

This week was a struggle. A lot is happening with our investigators to try and stop them from progressing. Satan is attacking hard! I feel as if I watched a family completely fall apart this week and it tears me up because I love them so much! I do have hope that they will have the strength to continue to center their lives on the Gospel because that is the only thing that can help them right now. 

I am seeing more and more clearly that the closer a person gets to accepting the gospel and coming closer to the Savior, the more challenges come into their lives. Even as missionaries we have a lot of challenges, a lot of hard times. And I'm pretty certain that it's because we're out here dedicating this time in our lives to bring others to Christ. That's the last thing Satan wants! But I think I've said it before that when we have hard times it just means that the blessings are right around the corner if we're faithful keep working for those blessings.

We had Zone Conference- which is all day (8 hours) with all the "head honchos" as Alannah put it- like the mission president, his wife, and the two assistants to the president, zone leaders and district leaders. LOTS of note taking and practicing teaching. It was good and I got a lot out of it. I have a lot to improve on as far as improving my teaching skills but I'm working hard!

This may or may not be my last week with Hermana Lauaki-Sablan (I'm hoping for the "may not") but we've been together for... almost 5 months now so we're thinking one of us will leave. More time with my best friend would be too good to be true!

Not much else happened this week...

I LOVE hearing from you all on Mondays, even though my replies may be short I love reading all about your weeks, so keep em coming!

The weather here has been warm and sunny! Just like home... Except at home I don't have to walk around all day in a skirt... so sometimes it gets to be a little much. We drink lots of water but then we have to make sure we get into a house so we can use their bathroom!

Next week the library is closed on Monday for Memorial Day so I'll probably be emailing on Tuesday. 

Love,

your California girl

Hermana Stephanie Granado

May, 12, 2014 - Long time, no talk!

 

It was so good to talk to you all yesterday. Nothing beats seeing you and hearing your voices. I love and miss you all more than you know but I also wouldn't want to be anywhere else at this time in my life. I just love it here in Rialto and I know I am here for a reason.

So glad you got to meet Joseph and his family. People like them are the whole reason I'm here. They are a golden family and we have seen them change so much! Joseph is on fire! He is taking more steps to get baptized and he even asked if we could go teach his friend! His friend lives in Redlands so we can't go there but we sent his address to the missionaries that are serving in that area. Then Joseph asked if he wanted his daughter to convert if he could be the one to baptize her. It is so cool to see how much he is growing and his desire to share that with the other people in his life that he cares about! This is what it's all about.

 

This week was definitely an interesting one. We went tracting on Wednesday. Our appointment with a less-active member fell through so we just decided to go knock on doors around their neighborhood. We got some really nice people! One of them spoke Spanish and was willing to let us come back another time to teach him so hopefully something good will come from that when we go back! Then it was almost time for our next appointment so we decided to knock on one more door. Well... let me tell you. It was interesting to say the least. She came out and ended up talking to us for half an hour. She had spent 32 years of her life preaching for a Christian church and was really proud of her knowledge. At first she thought we were Jehova's Witnesses and she kept telling us why what we believed was wrong. When we could finally get a word in to tell her that we weren't Jehova's Witnesses she asked what we were so we said we were from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She said "you're mormons?!" so we just nodded and she goes "oh my... that's even worse!" then she was even more excited to preach to us. After everything we walked away with a little more knowledge of her church and she said she'd pray for us so that we'd find the truth... it was definitely interesting.

 

This week we have Zone Conference which is pretty much just a training with our mission president and some of our other leaders in the mission. I am excited but I always get a little nervous because we never know when our mission president will call us up to do a role play and demonstrate teaching. I don't like all that attention!

 

We are going to try to take more pictures so I can send them to you. I hope you all have a great week and I love you all!

 

Love,

Hermana Granado

Happy Cinco de Mayo! 

Hey family, hope you're all doing well. Happy Cinco de Mayo! Can't believe it's May already!

 

First things first. I'm Skyping home on Sunday around 2 or 3pm. Auntie Debbie gave me her skype name and I will just call you guys then! Please make sure to have it open because I think I need you to accept me as a contact before I can call you.

 

This week was really good! We had a miracle this week! Our investigator, Joseph, has made incredible progress and we've seen a real change in him. I sent a picture of him a few weeks ago, he had a red shirt on I think, and some tattoos showing. We had a really good lesson on obedience with him and afterwards we felt like we should ask how HE felt he was progressing. We asked if he felt different and he said "It's funny you ask because just the other day someone was telling me how much I've changed." We asked him how he felt about his changes and he told us that he has become more family-oriented, that his whole life now is going to work, going to the gym, going to church and spending time with family. And he's happy with that! We praised him on all the changes we've seen in him and invited him to baptism again. This time, instead of saying he wanted more time or that he'd think about it, he said "Well, when were you guys thinking?" It was such a good lesson and discussion with him. He is happy with his life and doesn't feel the temptations to go back to his old life. We're going to set up an interview for him soon and then we will set a date for his baptism!

 

Then, the next day we were really disappointed with our other investigator. But that's the mission! It's a roller coaster but luckily, I feel like our days are more filled with good experiences than bad ones. I will never forget the bad experiences we have, because I am learning from them. But when I look back on earlier times of my mission I notice so many more good, uplifting experiences. Those are the ones that stick with me. Thank you much for your encouraging words and all your prayers. Keep 'em coming!

 

This week was and is very challenging for me. In a good way! They ask me to pray in at least one class on Sundays- never fails. But this Sunday I was asked to pray in Sacrament meeting! Then we were pulled in to teach a class to a group of teenagers for Sunday school. We were told just a few seconds before we were supposed to start teaching. Crazy stuff! Now our district leader, one of the elders in our ward, wants us to give a training tomorrow to the rest of the missionaries in our district. We're supposed to teach how to "teach people, not lessons." So needless to say I'm being challenged-big time!

The life of a missionary- we get honked at, whistled at, flipped off, doors slammed in our faces, holey shoes, sweaty faces, but at the end of the day it's ALL worth it.

 

Can't wait to talk to you all on Sunday! Love you!

 

Hermana Granado

APRIL 28, 2014

Hi family, this will probably be pretty short but this week was really good! Thank you for the emails and for keeping me in the loop with all of your exciting lives back home!

 

Thursday I had a really good talk with Hermana Lauaki-Sablan. I had been feeling pretty inadequate, which is not uncommon for me out here on the mission. My responsibility to be a representative of Jesus Christ and teach others the restored gospel is a huge responsibility! And I'm definitely not perfect. So when things go wrong or we don't have people to teach or when they reject our message, I tend to blame myself. I was feeling like I just needed to be better in every single aspect. I had started comparing myself to others which is never a good idea. Because if you compare yourself all the time, you're bound to fall short. So I came to the conclusion that if I'm going to compare myself, I need to compare myself with the old Stephanie. That way I can keep improving and I can see how much I've already grown. Which is a lot! So that's my new goal.

 

We picked up a new investigator this week. We found her just knocking on doors and she's so nice! Turns out her husband's last name is Granado and we spent quite some time the other day trying to figure out if we're related. I don't think we are...

Saturday we got to do a pretty big service project. We pulled out weeds from around two baseball fields at a park. Just just any weeds either! They were taller than me! But it was so fun to get out there and do something different. I absolutely LOVE doing service and I'm so glad we've gotten the chance to do service activities almost every week.

Yesterday was a really powerful sacrament meeting for me. I noticed that while we were singing at the beginning of the meeting, lots of people started to come into the chapel. It was investigators and less active members that were coming in a little late and it was so cool to see them walking in with their families as we were singing and bringing the Spirit into the meeting. Then I turned around and saw a member who has been very very sick for over a month. Members had been taking food to her family every day for a long time because she was so ill. She had been to the hospital multiple times and every time someone asked about her we would just hear "Ella esta muy mal." but when I saw her walking into the chapel with a walker and her daughters behind her, it was so powerful to me and really testified of the power of prayer. She thanked all the sisters for everything they had done for her and her family during this time and it was so good to see the ward working together and serving each other. I feel like, as a missionary, one of my goals is to bring these wards closer together. I'm going to leave but I want them to grow together and serve each other and really be like a family. So it was really good for me to see that this week.

 

I can't believe how fast the time is flying! I hit six months this week and it still feels like I just started. But that feeling probably won't ever go away. I am still learning and growing so much and I'm determined to take full advantage of the next year I have to be here in California and learn more about the gospel and myself. I LOVE being on a mission!

Love,

Hermana Granado