Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Santee - Week #68 - August 19, 2014

MTE's and Eternal Families


Familia!
It's MTE season again! I don't know if you remember what MTE's are, but I'll copy and paste the definition I gave last time just in case:

MTE stands for Missionary Training Exchange/Experience. Meaning: Each zone or a group of zones at a time get a jam-packed training from the mission president in the morning and then they go and apply it like crazy for the next 24 hours with a coach, making each companionship a trio. The AP's, Zone Leaders, and Sister Training Leaders are the coaches for all the zone's MTE's. So Sister Fairbourn and I went on loads of exchanges this week! The coolest thing about MTE's is that you see TONS of miracles because everyone is focused on working super hard to apply all the principles learned. The main thing that was focused on was church attendence.

My favorite MTE miracle, or should I say, MRE miracle? (missionary rear-ending experience): I was with two sisters serving in Chula Vista, and after the meeting was over, we pulled into get gas before heading back to their area and all of sudden "BOOOMM"... Rear-ended. AAHH! Haha no one was hurt, no worries. The lady behind just wasn't paying attention. Anyway, we got that all figured out and then we all turned to each other and said, "Okay, what miracle are we going to see from this?" Haha anyway, later on that day, we street contacted this guy who was smoking up on his balcony, who appeared to have no interest whatsoever in talking to three lil' sister missionaries. We went to talk to him anyway. At first, he was still pretty stand-offish, not really saying much back to us. Then we started applying what we learned at MTE's about church attendance, and he bolted down the stairs and said, "I have a church, but I feel like I need a change. THIS is what I've been searching for." NO WAY!!!!! It was such a miracle!! He committed to come to church and the sisters were able to add him as a new investigator. It was the fastest Alma the younger-change-of-heart experience I've ever seen. Anyway, moral of the story--if we wouldn't have gotten in the little rear-ending accident, we wouldn't have met Tony because all our plans got changed around, leading us perfectly to Tony. Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways? Very, very mysterious.

We haven't been able to spend a ton of time in our area due to MTE's, but things are still going well here. We had 7 investigators at church! That was definitely God taking care of our area. I will update you more next week! Love you!

Hermana Barnes

Las fotos:

1) We got to take the Gonzalez-Ambriz familia to the temple grounds! It was the coolest experience. They loved it. The Spirit was so strong and all the kids kept saying, "I just want to go inside! What do we have to do to go inside?" And Mayra, the mom, said, "Well, you all need to get baptized (including her boyfriend) and then we can all go together to get sealed as a family." The spirit of Eternal Families was everywhere! They couldn't deny it! They know what they need to do. We are learning patience, haha.

2) All of them at church for all three hours the next day!

3) Lili's "go-to" face for every picture. I don't know how Lili and Hna. Fairbourn can do that face and still look cute. I look like a monster.

4-6 More pictures at the Temple








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