Ebbert, Alia

This week was a pretty good one. This week during language study I listened to some songs from Coco and tried to write down all the lyrics. Spanish comprehension is hard when they're singing. Shout out to my spanish teacher who played spanish music in class. Also the movie Selena was referenced and the only reason I knew it was from spanish class.  We hiked South Mountain in Phoenix today with most of our zone and it was super fun. Our area is dying a little and we're probably going to drop 80% of our teaching pool this week. We did a fun chapel tour with our English class though, and there were lots of miracles.  Until next time, Hermana Ebbert

This week went by SO FAST. We listened to a lot of songs in spanish in the car and it's a party. I think it legitimately helps with my accent. Also, we learned that conjugating the verb haber is a NIGHTMARE.  This week at English class a member showed up with a yellow dot (potential) and then that potential, named Bertha, took us our for respados after class. It was so fun, and we'll probably start teaching her next week.  We went to a non Member-of-the-Church-of-Jesus- Christ-of-Latter-Day-Saint funeral and it was weiiiiiird. We forgot to dress in black so I walk in, as gringa as can be, wearing a WHITE DRESS. The room was literally full of latinos wearing black suits and I felt soooo out of place. But we went because one of the people we're teaching, just went through the loss of his son. We went to support him. He gave a few words at the funeral, and half of it was just his testimony of what we've taught him. Not a single member of our church in that service, but he ...

In light of a recent revelation from one of my companions, I think the day has come. It's time to share my thoughts on The Lion King. Stay tuned ;) This week was really fun. We had zone conference and focused a lot on member work (again) and the sacrament. The APs bore their testimonies of Christ and then read the sacrament prayers while everyone closed their eyes. They told us to listen to it as if it were the first time hearing it. The spirit was incredibly powerful. This Sunday was one of the most rejuvenating Sundays I've ever had.  Our guy on date for baptism, Julio, moved his date up! He is the sweetest old man, so eager to learn and to understand. We've got some amazing members in our ward who are becoming friends to him. It's really heartwarming to see. Everytime I've introduced an investigator to someone at church, they ask where they're from and then say where they're from. I think they find a lot of comradery from being not from the US. It's t...

So . . . We were in quarantine this week. It was kind of hard to feel like we were accomplishing anything in our area, but we did have some fire former calls. There are lots of the elect here in Phoenix, ready to hear the gospel! There's also Bible bashers. That was an unfortunate former call :( Spanish is the best, basically. We weren't able to go to dinner with the members of the congregation we're assigned to, and I missed sitting around the dinner table, platicando en español. It brings me so much joy to have conversations with people in Spanish. And being in the states is fun because there's so many accents and pieces of culture that get put all in the same place.  This week I really understood that the Book of Mormon brings us closer to Christ. It can teach us fulness of truth of His doctrine, it can teach us what He's done for us and how to use His atonement, it invites the spirit and facilitates personal revelation, and provides a way to gain a testimony of ...

We had a CRAZY week. We had to drive way out of our zone twice in half a week for various emergencies. We transfered and I love my new companions! The area is great and the house is WAYYY nicer. Lol My favorite verse I read this week was Alma 58:12 - And we did take courage with our small force which we had received, and were fixed with a determination to conquer our enemies. May we all take courage and be fixed with determination this week as the army of Helaman! This week we had conche bread multiple times and tis SOOOO good. Very messy though. I'm loving eating the traditional Mexican food for the holidays.  We went up to Dobbins Point at sunrise and it was super fun! The wind was bitter and it felt great. Reminded me of home. I'm really excited to start the new year and the new transfer! Good things are on the way :) Until next time, Hermana Ebbert