November 30th - 2 month mark today :)

Dear people who care about my adventures in Alabama,

September 30th- left the Utah bubble to spend 6 weeks in Mexico learning Spanish

October 30th- Had a blast with my District :)

November 30th- today. wait. what?

Essentially, we've just been finding left and right. Hermana Acosta and I found a new neighborhood to tract in and so we've been riding around a lot in there. Found several Spanish families there that we want to go back and visit.

I've decided that I'd rather be in an English area. I love being able to learn Spanish and be in a Rama (branch), but for those missionaries who are in a Rama, we only keep investigators that speak Spanish..... So all the elect people we find, like Howard, Caley (which I'll explain in minute), etc, get handed off to other missionaries. No matter how much I love them already.    {=.(

Ok. I'm going to explain who Caley is now. Last Monday, after e-mailing, we went to TJMaxx.  Acosta and I were wandering around, looking at sweaters and Christmas stuff, etc. As we went around a corner, I saw a girl about our age that looked rather familiar, but I couldn't think of anywhere I'd seen her before. I turned away and started looking at some sweaters. Acosta came up next to me and said "That girl looks really familiar to me." There were 4 or 5 other women nearby, and there were many more in the store, but I responded, "Me too!" and without discussing beforehand who we meant, we both walked back over to the cute young woman. We introduced ourselves, started talking, and she agreed to meet with us after the Thanksgiving holidays. She's going to call us later to tell us her schedule.  There's a theory that we promised our spiritual siblings in the premortal life that we would meet them on earth and share the Gospel with them. It seems that Caley is one of mine :) It's exciting to think of the others that I'll find and teach in the future that I also agreed and promised to find. We have a paper above our door in our apartment that we see when we leave that says "Who did I Promise to find Today?" It gives me great perspective to remember how important it is to be diligent in this great work.

Confession time. I was having a rough day on Wednesday, thinking about Sierra being home and the whole family being together... and I was missing it.... So, Acosta took me out to lunch and then we went and talked to some people. The quote "Forget yourself and serve" is soooo true. It was only by going out and listening to others and helping them that I was able to forget my worries and myself in general. I always knew that, but in the moment I had forgotten. Grateful for the reminder from a loving Heavenly Father that knows us and what we need perfectly.

Well. I think that's all the important events from the week.

The Church is true,

The Book is blue,

and God loves you!

Steadfast and immovable.... scratch that..... unable to keep still,

~Hermana Martin :)

(sorry, no pictures this week)    :(

November 23rd - Alabama and Alliteration are Awesome

Dear All Y'all,

Ok this week was fairly uneventful sorry haha. I think answering your questions will best explain the adventures of the past week!

1. What are your plans for Thanksgiving this week?

~We have 4 families who have invited us to their homes for Thanksgiving and we don't want to offend anyone, but we don't have that cool Hourglass thing that Hermione had from Harry Potter to allow her to be in more than one place at a time, so.... we'll work on deciding between the Lopez/Santos group, the Cruz's, and the May's. This should be joyous. xD 

2.  Are there Spanish speaking missionaries in areas outside Birmingham and Huntsville?  I could not see Spanish speaking church units (branches) outside of those two cities on the Church’s website. 

~Huntsville is specifically Spanish, but there is Sparkman, Capshaw, and Madison missionaries nearby that are English. There are 2 other Spanish branches: Lorna and Birmingham. Often Spanish missionaries will be sent somewhere other than those three areas, so they will teach and find English people as well and not pass them off to other strictly English missionaries. Sometimes Spanish missionaries and English missionaries get paired up together in a companionship, and this is called a Zebra.

3.  Is there an all-Spanish speaking zone(s) in your mission or are Spanish speaking missionaries integrated with English speaking missionaries (zones)?

~There is no strictly Spanish zone, only Districts are all Spanish sometimes in the three above mentioned areas.

4.  Tell us what a typical day is like for you? 

~6:30, Breakfast and get ready, Study from 8-11, lunch, lessons and tracting, dinner, sometimes go back out tracting, planning, bed at 10:30.

5.  How much do you ride your bike in a normal day?

~ok, Mom, deep breath. We've only ridden our bikes once so far because we haven't been out as much or we've had the car because everyone has gotten really sick except me, so sometimes we had to stay home to let Acosta rest or Moline or West was home resting/not feeling well, so we've had the car a lot. But we'll use them more this week I'm sure. Normally we wouldn't have as many miles as we do this week as well. We were given 290 miles for a trip to Birmingham get the car fixed as well as 300 to compensate for miles they want us to use at night for driving instead of biking because it's not safe. I have reflectors and lights and all but haven't ridden at night yet. Huntsville is one of the few areas in Birmingham that has sidewalks though so I need to brace myself for riding on the roads soon. Agh.

6.  Are the members in the branch missionary-minded?

~Some are. But the branch is really small. If the people giving talks on Sunday sat on the stand like they do in our ward, a tithing amount would be on the stand. The active branch members could all sit in the choir seats I'm sure.

7.  Tell us more about Sister Acosta?  Where has she served so far?  Has she remained in Spanish-speaking units her whole mission?

~She served in Albertville for 4.5 months (2 transfers), Altadena/Birmingham for 6 months (4 transfers), and now here with me, on her 2nd transfer.

Ok. summary real quick of the week.

Went tracting at a trailer park. I've never seen so many cats in my life. It was pretty sketchy but it was light out and we met some cool people that we're going to try to get a hold of this week again :) *fingers crossed*

Ok. First, Hna. Acosta met a guy named B. on a short split with Hna Moline a week ago yesterday. We ran into him again when we tracted his neighbor's house, namely D. Though he was initially uninterested, B. teasingly told him to come out and listen to us because he needs Jesus too haha. B. had told Moline and Acosta that he normally wouldn't listen to missionaries, but they decided to listen to them because they seemed different and working so hard. But, we talked to D. for a while and gave him our number. Acosta invited them to come to church, and they agreed! And then cancelled. But, we gave them our number and D. texted us and asked us to come back to teach him. So that happened Saturday when Friday fell through. but we learned from his mom who we ran into that his fiancee died and he also lost both of his grandparents on her side and his aunt, so she said he really needs us right now, and I'm glad we got a lesson with him the next day. His friend C. happened to be there too, so we recapped what we had taught about the plan of salvation and he joined in and seemed really interested. We brought some recent converts, Carlos and Angy and their two little boys, with us, and Carlos helped explain a lot and bore his testimony beautifully. It was such a blessing to have him there. C. agreed to meet with us again as well as D.

We also taught LeAnn, the blind woman, and she started us out with a tough question about re-marriage and divorce because she had some issues in that area.  We had Sister K. with us, who had been remarried! She explained that God wants us to be in happy, healthy relationships and that sometimes we have to cut marital ties for our own benefit because the relationship isn't safe of healthy or what not, and I also shared the story in the NT that explains where Christ says "Let he who is without sin first cast a stone at her."  

Howard, our contact from the mall, was very receptive to the knowledge of the plan of salvation on Wednesday. He accepted a baptismal invitation, once he learns the truths of the Gospel, and agreed to read in the Book of Mormon. We're hoping to do a pass-off with the Madison Elders and teach a lesson on the Restoration to explain authority, Priesthood, and the Book of Mormon since we didn't really get the chance to go deep into explaining that last time. He's very quiet but a great listener. We asked him to say the closing prayer, and he agreed. As we were kneeling in his living room, he said 'thank you for the knowledge that has been given me' - KNOWLEDGE. He totally believes everything is true without questioning it! The Spirit was sooo strong in that lesson, it was probably one of my top three favorite experiences so far. :) I'm going to be sad to let him go. He's golden.

I think that's all the important experiences for this week!

Any more questions?

The Church is true,

The book is blue,

and God loves you!!

~Hermana Martin II

Hna. Acosta and Hna. Martin

Funny faces!

Share a Coke with your Loved Ones  (or not!  :(   )

But she'll smile anyways!

November 16th - First 5 Days in Bama

I gave out my first Book of Mormon at Aldi's (a grocery store) to a guy named Otis who was buying SpaghettiO's (he says he likes them because it's like alphabet soup all with his first initial). We talked about everything from aliens and the zombie apocalypse to modern day prophets and revelation. That was interesting.

These first five days have been busy, but still very enjoyable. Sister Acosta has been sick, so we didn't get to go out as much as expected but I got to go on a Blitz with the STL's from Byrd Springs on Thursday. Sister Castagno (Cuh-Stawn-yo) and I went to see if we could catch Lexus, a potential, but she wasn't there so we went tracting and got 17 “May we teach you's” (an added "Key indicator" for our mission), 3 lessons (which led to a new investigator named Belinda), and several potentials and people to go back and visit, some of which I contacted in Spanish on my own since Sister Castagno is an English speaking missionary. It's interesting that no one ever slams doors, and many more people are at least willing to give us contact information to schedule a time to come share a message about Christ than those that aren't interested. They usually just say they have their own religion already and such, but it's true, everyone here loves Jesus and it's awesome.

Ummmmmm so much has happened I'm trying to narrow down to the most interesting and important stuff. H'na Acosta taught me a couple ways to contact on the street/in public:  One of the missionaries will spot someone, turn to their comp and say,  "You ain't down!" and somehow discreetly point, nod, or motion with their eyes who they're talking about. It's a challenge to lead out talking to the person about the Gospel. The other is to say "Want to eat the TOAST?" (In reference to Nacho Libre) but with an added context of an acronymn:

T- Thrive

O- On

A- Awkward

S- Situations

T- Together

aka, go awkwardly throw a Gospel discussion in a stranger's face.

In the Branch yesterday I gave a short summary of my life (Snow College, hula-hooping, singing/writing songs, art, sewing, family, why I'm serving a mission, and Oakcrest of course) and bore my testimony in Spanish. Afterwards, a recent convert named Carlos told me that when I was talking he wanted to yell "CHILL!" from the congregation because public speaking for me leads to very rapid speech. I do much better in discussions though.  He said "I'm from Puerto Rico and even I don't talk that fast." haha.... oops. O.o

All in all, I've gotten more comfortable talking to strangers and opening up about the Gospel and teaching in various situations. I'm excited to actually start having regular investigators as I've only met one of the investigators that the Huntsville B sisters have. I helped bring in two people from our Blitz as new investigators:

Belinda (African-American woman in her 20's or 30's) - taught her the Restoration in her niece's apartment spur of the knock on Blitz;  planning on another lesson with sister Acosta this week. Her mom died two years ago so I'm thinking Plan of Salvation/Eternal Families would help a lot but she already believes her mom is in heaven as she was a good Christian woman.  I like her a lot. She's very faithful and respectful. When we brought up modern-day prophets, she raised her hand and said "Now I disagree, but that's ok; go on". hahaha. So I used the 3 questions from the talk "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" to talk about why we have prophets: Does God have the same power as He did in Bible times? "Yes" Do we need Him as much as the people in the Bible did? "yes" and do you believe that He loves you as much as He loved His children that lived in the times of the Bible? "yes" Then, I bore my testimony that because of those questions can be answered in the affirmative, that it follows that God would want to bless us like He did His children in the past with prophets to lead and guide us and give us revelation. She seemed more receptive to the idea that Joseph Smith could have seen God and Christ than to the concept of prophets. Odd.

LeAnne (white woman in her 30's or 40's) - blind woman we contacted on our Blitz that we taught about the Book of Mormon. She downloaded Mormon Channel on her phone so she could listen to it online, and she was so excited to start listening to it. I asked if there was anything we could do for her, and she asked if we could help her clean her house because... .she's blind... and she struggles with that a lot. H'na Acosta cleaned out the toilet and sink, I did the tub. We agreed that if we could keep coming back to talk about the Gospel that we could keep helping her with her house bit by bit. Ugh. *debating* yeah. Cleaning jobs are worth it if we can even just plant a seed for her. We have to tread lightly though because she was saying she doesn't want to be converted or anything but she invited us in to chat sooo I need to find a way to get her to subconsciously get a testimony of the Gospel haha

All in all, we teach a lot more in English than I expected to, but I could feel the Spirit very strongly in several of our lessons and contacts; I'm so excited to become closer to our investigators. I love them already. We fasted for Victor (investigator with a baptism date) to be able to find a way to come to church so he can be baptized; but he has work all the time now. Still working on that. I haven't met him yet though. 

Loving it here! The field is so white and ready to harvest!!! Ahhh!

Church is true,

The book is blue,

and God loves you!

~Sister Laurel Martin

Final picture from Mexico

Laurel in Alabama with President and Sister Hanks

Laurel with her trainer Hermana Acosta

Going through all the "green" stuff from Laurel's "greenie" package

Laurel's apartment building

Scenery driving through Alabama

November 11th - And the verdict is.... *drum rollllllll.......*

I'm in Huntsville, Alabama (about two hours north of Birmingham) and my companion's name is Hermana Acosta :)  She's super sweet and helpful, I think we're going to get along fabulously!

Events of the day: getting luggage, going to subway, driving for 2+ hours (Acosta and I slept in the back), dropping of H'nas West and Moline (whom we share a car with) at a lesson appt., dropping off my luggage at the apartment, picking up the other Hnas and helping them move in their bags because West was transferred here, and then we came to a stake center to teach an English class to some investigators/members but they didn't come. :(

Acosta has been out for almost a year and month. She's from Las Vegas, NV and we already are using funny voices with each other. We bonded over the fact that we both say "otay" xD

This is awesome!!!!! That's all.

The Church is true,

The Book is blue,

I'm very new,

and God loves you!

~Hermana Martin II

~Sister Laurel Martin

November 9th - Last E-mail from the CCM - flying to Alabama tomorrow!!

Just a couple of updates:

IT'S A MIRACLE!!! I GAINED 6 POUNDS!!! I'M NOW AT A WHOPPING 122!!! YAY!!!

Elders Bacon and Grossman left this morning at 4am and 2am ish respectively, so we said goodbye last night after our picture slideshow of the five districts leaving this week. Yes I was grateful I chose to wear water proof make-up. 

I leave at 4:30 tomorrow, but we have to be at recepcion at 4, sooooo little to no rest tonight haha. I've gotten a large chunk of packing done.

No, I didn't ever do the job of settling in new missionaries, but because our morning teacher was covering for another maestra (teacher), we joined our afternoon teacher with 7A in our zone to help them practice teaching. I was put with an Elder on round 2 of practice who began crying because he was flustered with Spanish. I was able to help him recognize that Spanish isn't the #1 goal of being here at the CCM and that he would be ok. It was hard to refrain from comforting him by touching his arm or putting my arm around him, because duh, I'm a hugger, but I'm glad that in that case my words were sufficient. 

Depending on whether or not I am busy hunting down people to give pass-along cards to at the airport tomorrow, I may actually be able to call tomorrow :) President Call said it's ok!

Any other questions for me? <3

The church is true, the book is blue, and God loves you!!

-- 

~Sister Laurel Martin

Laurel's district with 2 of their teachers

Laurel, their other two housemates, Hma. Conteh

Laurel's district that left the CCM today.

November 3rd - Last week in the CCM say whaaaaaaaat?? Alabama, here we come!!!

Oh my goodness, where has the time gone?? I could spend another month or so practicing and preparing for the field, but at the same time I am sooo ready to be outta here hahaha. Not as ready as Elder Granger though, holy cow, he's got field fever something fierce.

Well, one of the hardships this week has been that half our District was sick on Friday/Saturday: one from each companionship, including my companion; but it was all different issues as far as we could tell. No bueno. But, on Sunday, Hma. Conteh and Elder Davenport both got Priesthood blessings for the sick, and they're doing much better now. Our fasts were for our district's health and improvement in Spanish.

Ummm,  we've been teaching Ileana and Erika of course still, and I think Hma. Conteh and I have finally found a good groove to teach together in. A bit of a slow learning process on my part. I dominated way too much, whether due to being used to teaching on my own a lot more after Oakcrest, my impatience with her Spanish and my pridefulness about mine, or all the above, were factors. When our 'investigators' asked questions or had concerns, I felt I always knew what they needed and I knew how to say it Spanish, so I would just jump in without giving Hma. Conteh the chance to answer. I definitely have learned a lot about yielding and teaching with unity though. And I thought having the confidence to speak at all was going to be my problem.... Pffff. Wrong again. Also, the lessons with 'Daniel' played by Elder Wilcox have been iffy to say the least. He's committed my role play character to baptism once I learn more and receive an answer about the truthfulness of the church. My lessons with him on the other hand haven't been as direct and useful, I don't think. No matter how eloquent the Spanish, if it's not what they need to hear, it's not going to work. Hence, teaching by the Spirit. Both Elder Wilcox and I are realizing we don't know our characters very well so it's hard to pretend to be them haha.

No, we didn't do anything special for Halloween except for a chocolate frosted cinnamon twisty bread braid thing. Nummy! Still nothing like Halloween though. Haha. Hma. Conteh wore her African style/print dress and decided she was 'cultured' for Halloween, and I told everyone I was Sierra even though I didn't do anything different lol.  I got your package on the 29th, and Erik sent me a package as well that arrived yesterday, so I'm totally set with chocolate, cake pops, and Dr. Pepper haha.

Well....I'm going to be on a plane/on my way to Alabama in less than a week. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.  I'M SIMULTANEOUSLY TERRIFIED AND EXCITED AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING BUT IT'S OK BECAUSE I HAVE A PIECE OF PAPER FROM THE PROPHET THAT SAYS THAT I KNOW STUFF ABOUT JESUS!!!!!   xP

*Cue Phineas and Ferb quote* :  "Aren't you a little... young... to be preaching the Gospel?"     "Yes. Yes we are."

Our devotional last Tuesday was by Elder Nielson of the 1st Quorum of the Seventy, and he talked about being part of the leadership in the Phillipines during that crazy typhoon/tsunami that Riley Andus was in. He and his wife gave fantastic talks and I really enjoyed them. His wife talked about pruning rose bushes and said we'd been pruned: cut off from our friends, family, significant others, cell phones, technology, etc. So true. But, rose bushes have to be pruned in order to reach their beautiful potential, so that's what matters :)

Meow (her fellow Oakcrest counselor) leaves tomorrow after breakfast. *sob*  We lost 7A from our zone yesterday. So we're the oldest district for a week. We took pictures yesterday for the farewell slideshow. Yes I will forward them if they've sent them yet or next week.

Well, the Church is still true, the book is still Blue, and God still loves you.

 Romans 8:35, 37-39, John 3:15

The next e-mail you will probably get from me (if we don't e-mail on Monday before we leave),I'll be back in the States!!! Alabama, here I come!!!

~Sister Laurel Martin

Lots of cute Hermanas at the CCM !

(gotta love the photo-bombing Elder behind them)

I think they coordinate their outfits on purpose.  :)

Laurel's pumpkin filled with chocolate from Mom.

Um.......OK.  I guess whatever you type in the comment box

just gets printed and put on the package.  Now I get it!   Ha ha ha.

Laurel's package from Erik - she got spoiled for Halloween!