A Stone Rolling Forward not The Stoned Be Rolling

Ha.  You possibly might be wondering why I have such an apostate title.  Well I have an experience to share with thee.  While in the act of walking down the road, knocking upon every domicile in sight, I and my companion Elder Budding, happened upon a red-eyed(stoned) man stumbling around talking to nobody in particular.  We are to share our message with any soul we should come upon and with this commandment in mind we commenced chatting with the craze.  We started amicably speaking with him until he saw our name tags and he got all wide eyed and started yelling about polygamist settlers and the such. We waited till he calmed down and after about 2 minutes of cursing, wailing, and nashing of teeth we told him a little bit about the pioneers and about a musical our stake was putting on called A Stone Rolling Forward which was about the pioneers.  He stared at us for 4 seconds, then burst into jovial laughter saying that that was a great name for the play! We didn't know why he thought it was so funny until he said the name back to us: "The Stoned Be Rolling!"  He kept on laughing and walked away and wouldn't listen to us anymore as we tried to keep the conversation going in order to baptize the poor chap. So anyways.  That was the story behind that.

The play was actually really good.  It was about a missionary about to leave on his mission and then it goes into some accounts of his family history and how he came to be to be a missionary.  We were actually in it at the end welcoming him into the MTC!  Ha so now I can check "Be in a play" off my bucket list.  We got Marilu to come to it though and one of the branch member's non-member mom got super interested in the pioneers so we are going to watch 17 Milagros with her this Thursday!  The work is rolling forward in many different ways!

So update on the investigators!

Marilu- Still going strong!  She's living the Word of Wisdom now and is reading the Book of Mormon more and more!  We also had a baptism and confirmation of an 8 year old in the branch on Sunday so she was able to come to that!  The baptism was super spiritual, but more and more people kept showing up throughout the baptism and by the end you could hardly hear cause there were so many children!!  Anyways, she said she felt the spirit so score!!

Erick- What a bum.  He's been avoiding us all week, so not a good sign, but we are going to nab him one of these days and get him to tell us how his prayers went!

Tim- Bailed out on us on Wednesday, but says he still wants to listen to us so we are going to try him Thursday this week!

Finding finding and more finding!  We hopefully will get another investigator after we teach that lady who was interested in the play.

So I love you all and remember the power of prayer!!!

ORAN SIEMPRE!

Con Amor,

Elder Frame

“QUILLABAMBA!!!! (kia-bomb-buh)”

At the Lima Peru Temple with Hermana Jesperson.  My companion while at the CCM in Lima!

Hermana Hoskins, my new companion!

As president Harbertson starts naming new companionships and the areas my heart starts beating 10x faster than normal. My palms are sweating, I want to cry because everything is so new and I will be leaving Hermana Jesperson but shout out with joy all at the same time because of how excited I am because the journey is really happening. It is alphabetical as he is naming companionships and I was towards the beginning. As he said my name the world just stopped. Literally. For what felt like a million years. Slowly time started again... and he went onto say- Hermana Frame will be serving with Hermana Hoskins in Quillabamba Peru! All that happened was complete shock and burst of excitement.

 I WAS GOING TO THE JUNGLE!!! WHAT??!!!!

Psych! I planned on cold weather- boots, coats, sweaters, well that will be on hold for a while.... Bring on the hot-humid air, millions of bugs, machetes, cold showers, amazing food, and tons of trees. OH MY GOODNESS I can’t even describe I have been here 5 days and I am amazed each day I look out the window or walk around. Monkeys swinging in the trees, tons of fruit (mangos, bananas, mandarins, grapes, coconuts, you name it) and the river right there in the city. Quillabamba is very comparable in weather to Hawaii and about the size of Orem-- but a lot more people! There are only 2 jungle areas in our mission and there are 12 missions so wow I am dying! This city is surrounded by jungle. It has paved roads, sidewalks, stores, and all sorts of parks, swimming pools, etc. But I have a part in my sector called Macamango and we can’t go there at night but this is the intense jungle. Machetes are used, tons of animals and bugs and it is a long walk that is so hot and we are sweating buckets each time we go and visit members out there. But I have NEVER been so grateful for shade in my life!!!!

The drive last Thursday was so beautiful! But I almost died like 10 times! The driver was insane! And the roads don’t have side rails and it has been known for people dying all the time. But the drive from Cusco to Quillabamaba was 6 hours! Crammed in a van holding my bags- all that I have on my lap, bugs biting my legs, and a brand new comp by my side. Oh the life of a missionary! I love it. 

This is the view as I am crammed in the van and hoping to survive the drive!

I love being a missionary!

But more than that, more than being in the amazon rainforest, more than the beautiful nature, more than how rough it is, I am actually out here now spreading the joy this gospel brings. Last night I hit a bump in the road. It was one of those moments where everything was going wrong- we tried finding members- but they have no addresses- SO FRUSTRATING!!  We hadn’t taught any lessons, it was so hot, the bugs were eating us alive, and we had no success. Oh and to top things off we found out 2 days in being here we have to move- SO STRESSFUL! So as of right now my comp and I are homeless in Quillabamba. Haha kidding! But we did open a new sector so my poor comp is trying to figure everything out, plus train me, plus find somewhere to live. Oh man I pray for her every second of the day! Anyways, last night we had no success- nada- we prayed earlier for what we needed to do and to lead us to who needed us right then. Well, the answer did not come right away. We said a prayer around noon and nothing happened till that night. We then just started trying to contact, meet members, and make phone calls but nothing was happening. So we went back to the apartment and plopped on the bed and wanted to give up. No one wanted to listen, we couldn’t find anyone we knew and we were so so drained. But right as we got back to the apartment I felt like we just needed to go. Go and get our food and on the way contact people in the park. so I told my comp and I said the Lord cant bless us if we just give up- we have to go get our food anyways so let’s just talk to people on the way- we were so unmotivated but with whatever energy we had left we started walking the 10 blocks to our pensionista- WOW!!! Miracles! We were not only just able to contact one or two people but whole families! And they were so receptive! Oh how my love for them increased! I am hoping we get a hold of them this next week again so we can start teaching. They were so ready. It brings so much joy to my soul to spread what is near and dear to my heart. The fact that other families can know they can be together forever.

WOW I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. 

Anyways, I have to go! Have a great week! Thank you all for your support and love!

Hermana Frame

Tthe missionaries from Spanish Fork- Elder Thacker, Elder Thompson, and me at changes!

Hna. Frame

Dear Parents,

As you can see in the attached photo, your daughter has arrived safely to the Peru Cusco Mission! We are thrilled to have her here! She looks great, a bit tired from the travel, but ready to go! Thank you for allowing us to watch over her for the next year and a half. She has promised that she will be a missionary we can trust, and we have now given her that trust. As well, you can trust that we will do everything that we can to care for her and to help her to become a successful missionary.

Con Gran Amor,

Presidente y Hermana Harbertson

Luv Makes the World Go Round

Hello everyone.

So yeah. This week has been such a blur!  I'm getting used to being pretty quiet during lessons because I try to listen and follow the Spanish really good.  My Spanish is improving!  When I do talk I can basically talk with only a few pauses but I know every word I need! It's a slow process still though and I'm working on patience.  It's bloody hard.  Anyways, lemme tell yall about my investigators that are actually progressing:

Marilu:  She is super prepared.  She came from a divorce and Mexico.  She is staying in her cousin’s house which is in the nice part of town so it's a nice change of atmosphere when we go teach her.  She also has a son who is 11 and can also be baptized.  We gave her a church tour on Thursday and when we talked about when Christ was baptized and the need for her to be baptized she got all quiet and her eyes started watering.  The spirit was there so strong!!  It was amazing!  And she agreed to be baptized on the 8th of November!  I'm so excited!  I'm doing what my purpose says!!  It feels so good to be helping people save their souls!!!!!!!!

Erick:  His whole family is members.  He goes to church every week.  He reads the Book of Mormon.  But he won't get baptized.  He's a bum.  He just won't get baptized.  We have him praying about the baptismal date of November 1st.  He will receive an answer as long as he sincerely prays about it but yeah, he is such a homie!  He always gives us the football scores during Sunday school and we teach him in English so it's a nice change.

Tim: He's 17 and dating a member in the Spanish branch but he's as white as can be.  OK and also he's actually not technically our investigator yet but we have an appointment with him to teach him on Wednesday so he will be after that!  He wants to marry the girl but she only wants to be married in the temple so he's taking the lessons to make her happy.  I don't really think he's that interested but when we're through with him he will be!!

So yeah that's our two maybe three investigators who are progressing.  All the other ones just like talking to us which is good but isn't a good use of our time.

So tender mercy the other day.  We missed dinner the other night and I memorized where the three Taco Bells were in our area in Modesto and we were close to one so we had dinner there!! Beefy 5 layer burritos all around baby!!!!  Also, a little background to the story, we aren't allowed to have caffeine unless it's offered to us.  I really needed me a Baja Blast, so when I was ordering I asked the cashier lady, "Hey, what's your most popular drink here that you can offer me?"  She said that it was either the Iced Tea or the Baja Blast, so right after she said Baja Blast I said "Yeah I'll have that one."  She looked at me all weird then handed me a cup.  I know that was probably a little apostate but it had to be done for the good of all people in Modesto.  Without my Baja, I probably wouldn't be able to help them all be baptized!

Beefy 5 layer burrito and a Baja Blast!

Spiritual time.  So I was studying the talk given by Jorg Klebingat in General Conference this morning and it is amazing. Read it.  It got me thinking, would I truly be able to walk up to the Savior confidently right now or would I shirk and be ashamed?  Would you truly be able to walk up to the Savior confidently and give him a hug?  If not, what would be holding you back?  There were things I know that would be holding me back.  It's a good thing we have the Lord's infinite Atonement because that means we can have the power to be rid of the guilt of those things and have the strength and power to change and overcome those aspects of our person 24/7.  Use the Lord's Atonement 24/7.  It's there to empower, change and cleanse us!

Love you all!

ORAN SIEMPRE!

Con amor,

                  Elder Frame

My zone leader.

Lessons Learned in the CCM (MTC)

Oh how I love the CCM. My setting a part blessing said I would and I definitely do. It is a place of learning and preparation. It is like the pre-earth life  of my mission. At this point I have about 6 days left here and it makes me so giddy to think I am almost out but at the same time a whole part of me is saying YOU ARE NOT READY!!!!    I already feel like the Spanish is hard enough... Haha!   I know the Lord will help. He always does! But I will sure miss this safe haven the CCM has been! Also keep my human beings that speak English close to me! Oh the field is going to shock me I know it.... Oh I can just picture myself a week from now with my Latina companion having no idea what I am doing. It’s funny how in life the Lord knows that when my life starts to get comfortable.... better get ready because he has something to throw at me!

But today I wanted to share a few things I have learned this past week and also including the weeks prior here.

1. Being obedient is the key to success in my mission but also in my life. I heard once the saying -selective obedience brings selective blessings- well it is true my friends! This week my companion and I definitely learned this! We chose to stay up a little past bedtime, like 30 minutes just chatting about the day... It didn’t seem like a big deal. Nothing really came of it until literally 5 minutes before we taught our investigator, I became annoying tired, I couldn’t focus, and my Spanish (or the little Spanish I had) was not even coming to me! I could barely even start a conversation. And everything my comp tried saying was super confusing. Embarrassing!!! Oh man, we learned our lesson. It was Heavenly Father teaching us a lesson about exact obedience.

2. There is more to people than what meets the eye. Hermana Gonzales is a 5 foot, short haired, very controlling woman who knows both English and Spanish which is terrifying because she knows what you are saying ALL THE TIME! She is the wife of the President here at the CCM and she is definitely the strictest woman I have ever met. My 1st encounter with her was the 3rd day I was here I was eating dinner having a good time with the Hermanas and I was being myself (which if you know me I can get loud when I talk and my laugh is definitely not any quieter), but while we were eating she came specifically to our table pointed to me and said -sister- (not even Hermana) you need to quiet down in the most tight and intimidating tone ever. And then she does this motion with her hands showing me to quiet down, and believe me the first two weeks she had to use it ALL the time. But folds, I am here to tell you miracles happen. Through much prayer, help from my companion and constant reminders I have learned how to express myself without projecting. I am learning!!!! Yay! But the lesson learned came from 2 nights ago we were able to sit by both her and her husband (president) and we talked with them about the CCM and while this was happening she turned to me and asked if I would remember her by her hand motion and if it worked... Ha-ha I was caught off guard but the conversation was light and I was not even paranoid! We laughed and  joked about how she helped me overcome this TRIAL and now every time I catch myself being loud I will picture her hand motion. It was a good learning lesson because she told me she was the same at my age... and that over time I can succeed. Ha-ha! I HAVE HOPE!!! But also it taught me that the first impression of people is not always how they are. Oh and also listen to those with experience in life, they do understand and know quite a lot.

3. The Lord is my gardner. If you have watched the Mormon message of how the Lord cuts us down and prunes us because he knows we will grow. He gives us trials in order for us to grow spiritually. I was complaining earlier this week about why it is so hard for me to learn. I was mad because nursing school was already hard. I was angry because now I am struggling to learn Spanish... And why is he doing this when I am giving everything to be here and I WANT TO BE HERE, so why Heavenly Father why? I have learned quickly and I know I will learn more in the field. But he is preparing me for later. Life does not get easier, and we will always have trials. But the good thing is that I have learned that through these we can rely on our Savior. It is the only way to make it through. He is the rock. Heavenly Father will constantly be pruning us because he knows we can take it. But only if we rely on him.

I can’t believe my time is coming to an end here. So much change is going to happen in the next week... Crazy I have been here for 6 weeks! But here we go!!! Cuzcotopia here I come!!!! I love and pray for you all. I hope you all know I love this gospel. Keep going... Keep trucking. It is all worth it in the end.

Yo se que en El Libro de Mormon y cuando leemos en este sentimos amor de Dios. Yo se que el Evengelio es verdad y las familias pueden juntos para siempre. Yo se que mi mision es perfecto para mi. Creo en Jesucristo y su vida y su expiacion. Yo se que La Iglesia de Jesucristo  de los santos de los ultimos dias is verdad.

Short and simple but it goes a long way. I hope I can get pics in there next time. I love you all!

Hermana Frame

California Elders, We're Undeniable!

Elder Budding and I looking gooooood!

So yeah.  I officially exited the CCM on October the 8th and I am now in the California Fresno mission in the area of Modesto!  What is up!  I'm planning on seeing a bunch of UFO's and aliens here!  Let me let you in on a secret.  There are so many sightings of aliens and the like here because there are so many people on meth or pot or something here!  I'm serious!  There are so many homeless people!  It is so sad!  I love it!  I'm gonna help these people out!!  Oh, also something awesome!  Our mission has a goal of 1000 baptisms this year and we are way more than on track to hit that by December 31!  Isn't that awesome!?

I have a problema though.  I thought I was doing pretty good with spanish until I showed up to the mission and went with an Elder Taufa to do the activity open your mouth my first day here.  We went street contacting and I realized something.  I don't know Spanish worth a dang.  I can say just about whatever I want slowly, but I can't understand these good people.  Bleeding !@$@%@&#*^**$#%!!%@#!!! (none of that was a swear word.  I just didn't know how to express my frustration so i took it out on the keyboard.)  Anyways, I'll figure it out.  I CAN DO HARD THINGS! (thanks mom)  Every white elder said it's taken them about 3 months to start to try to understand.  I dislike patience so this will be my first real test in the mission.  Work hard at learning the espanol and then waiting for my brain to catch on that English is dumb now.  Anyways, something funny about my Open Your Mouth experience.  I tried to give some Jehovah's witnesses a Book of Mormon because I didn't know who they were and they about ripped my head off.  I didn't know anything that was going on because it was all in Spanish so I just stared at him while he yelled at me and then turned to Elder Taufa and waited.  Elder Taufa was stifling his laughter and managed to get out that we needed to go or something and we left and then I found out about their religion.  So yeah that was a great first experience.

My trainer is a boss!  Elder Budding, a native Argentine who grew up in Orem Utah from age 6 until now!  He's a real help with the language!  Ha I saw some pictures of him before the mission and he was about as hipster as a person comes!  Long hair on top with super short hair on the sides, skinny jeans, big sweater, complete with the hipster glasses.  He looks real nice now though!  I'm planning on learning so much from him and he's gonna change my life!

Hey you.  Go watch the new movie Meet the Mormons.  The church made it to spread the gospel and the 12 need your help to do that.  Invite your friends!  It's actually a really cool movie!  We watched it right after we got our trainers.  It's made to show the world we are actually super normal people that aren't super weird AND to entertain.  So yeah. Depending on how the movie does the 12 will decide what more to do, so help out!

So Modesto doesn't have a lot of investigators right now so we've been doing a lot of finding.  Not a lot of people like us.  There have been many cuss words, doors slammed, and things thrown and it really flustered me when I started knocking doors!  I'm pretty much over it now, but it makes me sad for them because everyone just looks so beat up here and I know what I have can help them, but they just won't listen! Anyways, this whole week I've kinda just been sitting through the lessons we actually have with people and trying to pick up on words that I know and then when it's my turn to talk just generalize what I say because I don't know where we are in the lesson and I don't want to mess up the good work my companion has done!  It'll come.  Patience.  Patience.  Patience.  BLAAAUUGGGGGGHHHHH!

Sunday I gave the opening prayer.  It was really slow but it sounded nice!  Everybody asked if I was new right after sacrament so I must have given myself away.  Haha.  Our branch is pretty small.  We have about 80 active people and around 250 total.  So our work with the inactives is going to be a big focus right now as well!  We looked at numbers and it turns out around 70% of all of our baptisms come because of inactives!  Isn't that insane!  So we are gonna work with them and hopefully get a bunch of baptisms along the way!

Some of our mission culture you'll find awesome!

-We are required to run for at least 30 minutes each morning and make it at least 3 miles.

-We are required to do at least a 2 minute plank every morning.

-We part our hair because we were made a promise at the beginning of last year in this mission that if we part our hair our baptisms would double.  They have more than doubled this year is what the assistant's said.

-WE BAPTIZE!

-Oh and we don't call it p-day.  We call it preparation day.  We don't call them DL's, we call them distrist leaders, we don't call them ZL's, we call them Zone Leaders, and we don't call them AP's, we call them Assistant's.

I'm gonna look so good when I come home cause I'm running for 2 years and planking!  Ha!

Holy.  I wrote a long letter!  Love you all and I loved reading your letters and emails!  Don't be strangers!

ORAN SIEMPRE!

                               Con Amor de California,

                                                                      Elder Frame

All us new Elder's and our trainers and Pres. and Sis. Clark. 

EARTHQUAKE!!!!!!!

I will probably say this every time but this week went by so fast! But everyone: Mi espanol es muy bueno!!! Ha-ha not! But it is coming... day by day. I hope by the time I talk to you on Christmas I will be able to sound at least decent HAHA. You all will be so proud- hopefully you won’t be laughing your faces off! The new Latinas that have come in this week have been so fun to talk to! I can understand most everything they say and even though it is a simple reply they understand! My life here at the CCM is so great! I have come to love every minute of it. Our district is so close and I have been so so blessed with my amazing companion. This week I will share two things-experiences.

1. If you have ever watched Freaky Friday with Lindsay Lohan in it and the part where the brother is shaking the table and yelling at his grandpa to pass the milk and the grandpa thinks it’s an earthquake and freaks out. Well this week WE ACTUALLY HAD AN EARTHQUAKE. Don’t worry guys I am alive. Ha-ha actually it wasn’t even bad. I didn’t even know until someone told me... But it was funny because my comp and I were studying and I felt the ground shaking and she was sitting on a table so she couldn’t feel it and I felt dumb saying something because it sounded crazy if I would have said EARTHQUAKE!!! Ha-ha so for 3 more hours I went about not even knowing it was an earthquake until at dinner another Hermana told me and I freaked out. Ha-ha! It was only a 2.5 or something so not a big deal but I thought it was because I have never felt one. But apparently I did and didn’t even realize. Oh Hermana Frame... Sometimes I struggle

2. This experience happened on Monday while we were in class. I was able to teach Camila- our investigators here at the CCM. It was a really good experience for me and my confidence in being able to talk with her is getting better. But before this I did an activity with the whole class and I learned so much about how important it is to teach with the spirit. Our teacher, Hermana Cepeda had us teach a lesson in 8 minutes in English and then teach 8 minutes in Spanish. During the time I taught English I was feeling like I was on cloud 9! Dude I was freaking out BECAUSE I GOT TO TEACH MY NATIVE LANGUAGE. It was actually the weirdest feeling. But wow... And then the Spanish lesson came and it felt normal but of course it was harder. But the main thing that was different was I could tell the difference from when the spirit was there and then when it wasn’t. It was a HUGE difference. The spirit converts. It is not how amazing you are at Spanish. The way the Lord works is through the promptings the missionaries have and the feelings that the investigators have while they teach. No matter if I say something completely wrong, or I can’t conjugate a verb right it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if you have the best Spanish in the whole world, or you are me here in Peru who knows so little. It is the spirit. The spirit helps us understand the love Heavenly Father has for us, and for the people I am teaching. Hence it is so important to constantly have it. It was a good realization for me.

I hope you all had a great conference weekend! How cool to hear some of the speakers teach in their native tongue! It was so exciting to hear two of them in Spanish! It brought tears to my eyes. Please please please take advantage of conference. It is such a blessing and if we make effort to listen read, and reread the talks they will bless us so much! One of my fav sayings is -A conference talk a day keeps Satan away- and it is true, I know that.

Well I am down to two weeks left! Crazy how fast time flies! I think of my brother who is now in California and I can’t believe it! We can finally apply all that we have learned.... Thank you all for all of your support and love. I feel it all the way down here in Peru. I love this gospel with all of my heart and I am thankful each day I have it. Until next week!

Hermana Frame

Whaddup!!!!!! Last Week!

Branch President, Pres. Campos on left and his Second Counselor, Pres. Tikalski on the right!

Ha!  So I am super giddy right now at this moment emailing all yall!  I am going to actually teach some real people who will actually maybe possibly get baptized and have eternal life.  And, they´ll be from California!  We talked as a district about if we try super hard we can change the political views of California and we as Republicans will have even more votes.  Ha just kidding.  I have no political views because I am from the church who doesn´t have a political preference.

Anyways.  I had so many opportunities to serve and be a channel for the spirit in the lives of other people this week!  Zone Leader is possibly the greatest leadership position ever in the CCM because all I do is just serve others by being their friends! And there is in no way any paperwork involved or anything else like I´ve heard out in the real mission field.  One awesome experience I had this week as Zone Leader was standing in for a comfort blessing for an Hermana.  She was having troubles with some idiot immature elders (basically all of us in the CCM) and she asked us if we could give her a blessing.  I was honored and very happy she felt like she could trust us as her Zone Leaders because that meant I was doing my job right!  Anyways my companion gave her a beautiful blessing!  I know the spirit was there because I was praying for my companion as I stood in and every time I thought of something else he could bless her with, he´d say it almost right after I thought it!  She´s doing great now and I know where she´s coming from.  The CCM kinda feels like an extension of High School at times and it´s stupid.  Anyways, the priesthood is real and never forget that!

Sunday was super awesome!  Since General Conference is next week and we are leaving a few days after it, we did our goodbye special musical number as the oldest district in our branch.  We sang Abide With Me ´Tis Eventide in español which is Conmigo Que Daté Señor.  It was pretty good!  At night we had the weekly devotional and we listened to Elder Bednar give one of his MTC talks about the character of Christ which I will expound on at the end of this letter!  After his talk we went back to classroom and in the hallway of the building was a mouse!!  We all chased it around the hall for a minute and I ended up with some cups and we trapped it in between two cups!  I named her/him/it Gertrude.  An elder wanted to hold it so I let it go into his hand.  He took it outside and let it go and we´ve never seen it since.  So yeah that was our Sunday adventure!

My morning teacher, Hermana Santiago!

Addonai Salomon, my night teacher!
WE TAUGHT OUR FIRST REAL INVESTIGATOR THIS WEEK TOO!  It was during a thing called TRC when random people from the city can come and be taught by struggling gringos!  Usually it´s just a bunch of members coming to help, but we got lucky and taught a real one!  Her name was Maricárme.  She was the nicest old lady I´ve ever met!  She wanted to know what we do in our "big white building" cause they wouldn´t let her in.  Ha.  I didn´t know what to say to that so I told her we do bautimos de los muertos or baptisms of the dead.  We went into a whole big conversation about that and somehow we ended up teaching her the whole plan of salvation.  She was super interested!  She took notes the whole time and asked if she could keep the pamphlet.  Then she wanted to give us her address so we could come to her house to continue teaching her! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!  We had to tell her we can´t leave the CCM!  I hate that rule right now!  We were gonna baptize the crap out of Maricárme!!!  Oh well.  We asked our leader to put her in contact with the missionaries in her area so she could continue to be taught but she asked if she could just come back and continue to be taught by us.  AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!  What the heck!  She loved us and we had to teach her our last week here!  Hopefully the other missionaries help her out!  I can´t wait to get to Fresno.

Ok.  So this talk by Elder Bednar was THE BEST talk I´ve ever heard.  Sorry Elder Holland.  It was about the character of Christ.  Here are a few of my notes:

-Learn OF Him not about Him.  

-There would have been no atoning sacrifice without the Character of Christ.

-Christ was all about TURNING OUT not TURNING IN.

-Testimonies are not enough; you MUST be converted to HIM! 

-If you lose yourself in others, you´ll find yourself, but you won´t be looking.

I know that as you learn of Christ you will truly come to find out who you are!  I know that my Redeemer lives!  I know that through his sacrifice we can live again and be able to overcome anything in this life!  I know we can all become like Christ but you have to start NOW!  You might think that´s a big thing to ask and you´re right!  That´s why you need to start now and continue to become like him a little bit each day!

I love you all!

ORA SIEMPRE

Con amor,

                  Elder Frame

Selfie overload!!!!!

Elder Garbero loving the CCM.   (He has the voice of an angel, and has a scholarship to sing at BYU for opera, so yeah!)

The Secret is....... WHAT?

I can’t believe it is already p-day! The weeks are flying now! The first week felt so long and now I am beginning to freak out because I am going to the real world in 3 weeks, what?!!! But wow the amazing, life changing things I am learning. It was another week of up and down, happy and sad, failures and success, and everything in between.

Update on the Spanish: It still is the hardest thing I am working through here in the CCM. Honestly I have been trying to pin point what it is and my comp and I pretty much have it figured out.... My love for the gospel and my ability to teach the gospel has been so easy for me growing up..... But the one thing that I haven’t realized is that without a language (or the ability to speak a language)  you are confused, lost, and unable to connect with others. I can’t tell you the heartache I have. The gospel is the most important thing to me and to not be able to teach it, and share how I really feel has brought some really hard times. But more than that I have witnessed miracles that I could never imagine. The gift of tongues is real people!!!!    No matter how bad I am at Spanish I realize every time I am in the mindset of giving everything to the Lord and teaching what He wants me to teach. The spirit is always there. I can’t even describe the feeling. My favorite thing has been to recite the memorized first vision in Spanish. It is so so powerful. Wow. Sometimes I want the Lord to just BAM make me speak the language fluent the next lesson, or miraculously put words into my mouth that I don’t even know. But quickly have I learned it does not work this way. I have learned that first just like in anything related to the gospel I have to have faith. After faith I pray to have strength to keep the faith as I act. ACTING is the hardest part. But it is where we find the answers Heavenly Father wants us to receive. This week I was reminded of a scripture that I have heard probably 2000 times. 1 Nephi 3:7 I WILL GO AND DO.... This scripture is up on the wall in the cafeteria and I don’t know why I didn’t notice it till now (well actually because now I can actually read and understand it HAHA) but it has been my answer this week. I had so many people tell me that missionary work is.... wait for it.... work. It is in the doing, or the acting. My faith in the Lord is matched with His faith in me. So first I have learned to have A LOT OF FAITH. Second pray my guts out and third act so that he can place miracles. Oh and I can’t forget the most important thing which is something I thought I already learned in school BE PATIENT!!!!   I have to tell myself.... HERMANA FRAME BE PATIENT literally like every two seconds. Goodness me.  It is the hardest Christ like attribute for me to learn.

My other big realization this week is how important it is to be in the continual process of being converted. Here in the CCM you are taught how to help the investigator with this but this is true in everyone’s life. We are all investigators of Christ. Every day. So here are the few points I have figured out and the fundamentals we are taught. First, realizing how the Holy Ghost speaks to you personally. Second, revelation comes through prayer that is consistent, followed by the study of the Book of Mormon to hear what God has to say to you. Third is revelation we receive through attending church. This one was huge for me. It is the 3 hours weekly that we are able to come unto him by learning more about the gospel and with an open heart the Lord can fill our lives with blessings, answers to questions, and the reminder of our daily sacrifice to remember Christ. Remember conversion is continuous. DO NOT JUST GO THROUGH THE MOTIONS. It is easy when you have grown up in the gospel to have it be mundane.  Each day pray, read, ponder, repeat. Oh and go to church prepared. My bishop always said to have DAILY SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES. It is so important. Whatever we are doing, how happy or sad we are, what trial or success we have. Come to him.

Last night we had the area seventy come and speak... It was so great but the end hymn was I Know that My Redeemer lives. Oh what joy it brought to my soul. It is my favorite song and even though it was in Spanish it hit me hard. I remembered how vital it is to come to him daily. It is through our obedience, constant nourishment our testimonies, and ask-seek-knock all day everyday do we feel his love and become better people anchored in him. Yo se que vive mi Senor. Yo se que soy una representante de Jesucristo. Yo se que mi mision bendecira mucha vivas. Yo se que esta Iglesia es verdadero.

Before I end here is a few random facts of the CCM

-It is in the middle of Lima in the district of La Molina about 10 min away from el Templo

-The food never fails to be amazing-rice chicken, beef, rice, potatoes, rice, rice and veggies, oh and more rice ;)

-Physical activity is from 2 to 3 every day that includes ping pong, futbol, volleyball, beach volleyball, running, foosball, and sometimes just chilling. I love just being able to get out and do something.

-The ratio of Hermanas to Elders is 10-2.    I LOVE IT WITH ALL MY HEART.    We eat first, we sit in the front, and we are literally pampered.

-Most of the missionaries are from Utah, Cali, and Idaho----go figure

-And most of all I LOVE IT SO MUCH. The spirit is here 24/7... I thank the Lord every day I get to be here.

I had an amazing week with so many miracles, blessings along with trials. Each day my head hits the pillow and I can’t tell you how grateful I am for this opportunity to serve. I love it, with all my heart. I love this gospel. Until next week!!!

Con amor,

Hermana Frame