La Risa Te Sana

Hola familia querida! 

La risa te sana is something that Angeles always says - it means, "Laughing heals you!" haha. 

SHOUT OUT TO LOS PADRES MIOS!!!!!! 

FELIZ CUMPLEANOS PAPACITA (not an actual word, but you don't know that ;)) AND FELIZ ANIVERSARIO - Mumsie and Popsicle. love you both so much!!! have the fiesta you want and deserve! 

Investigadores:

-Fidel - I've been on the phone with the Roseville Mission Office this week (with permission, don't worry!) 

"Hello this is Sister Skidmore from the Sacramento Mission!"

"...we know..." hahaha 

nice.

But Fidel is now meeting with the Spanish Elders in Roseville!

- Hermano Ferran... he feels pressured and won't accept a baptismal date.. his brother is going back to Spanish for 4 months so he doesn't want to get baptized until his brother is back in the US.. NOOOOOOO... so we asked him to pray about the 6th of August. He is so ready and the ward already thinks he's a member.. all that's missing is the covenant and the blessings ;) 

WOAH LIVIN ON A PRAYER - we need a miracle. let you know next week. 

but there is a silver lining to the partial cloud cover - Ferran lives with his brother and sister in law who are both less active members - for the first time this week, she fed the missionaries! and it was us! She is also a marriage and family therapist so we have lots to talk about. I feel so blessed that she is coming back... good things are happening, maybe not exactly how we want but we are grateful for the amazing things that keep us going! 

Funny stuff: 

Hermana Sierra is from Panama! She knew some english before she came but it's still fun to be with her while she's working out the kinks/learning more slang haha.

I had to explain all the contexts of the word "naughty" .. that was nice and awkward.. she's like "can you use it in a sentence both ways.." 

no. no I can't. haha. I don't like that word in english! 

She also loves the word "bosses" hahah "We're bosses!" 

Angeles pronounces Google like : "goo-glay" hahaha 

Hermana Pitcher and Hermana Thomas are coming to visit this week - LET'S GET TRUNKYYYY! hahaha just kidding. member present lessons, whatuppp! 

I love you all so much, I love being a missionary.. I don't email all of the things I've learned spiritually 

1) because the Elders in here with us talk so much and figured out my first name.. so that's awkward haha.

2) I can't even begin to explain things with words.. I've learned so much about love. That the world is so filled with hurt but the Love of our Savior is so evident as well. It is everywhere, there is so much proof that God lives. 

Watch this: 

cry a little. you'll know why I love it. it's a little sad but it gave me chills all over. and the spiritual boost I needed on a hard day. the song in the background "Abide with me" has become one of my favorites :) 

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3019287996001

Calomaaaa

alright so the mission is not doin such a hot job of helping us not be trunky.. as like a last hoorah we all get to go to the old gold mine and hunt for gold.. it's like a giant trunky group because everyone knows you're going because you're going home! haha 

so I'll send pics because we don't have much time.. like always ;) 

Esta semana! 

Fidel - he has read up to 1 Nephi Chapter 12 in the Book of Mormon and spent like all of wednesday night at the church with us, helping with Youth Conference and then helped with English Classes haha he also got news that.. he is 3rd in line for a transplant!!! for his kindeys... downfall... 

HE MOVED OUT OF THE MISSION BY LIKE A MILE! so we handed over an amazing person to the Roseville mission.. haha 

OK NOT MUCH TIME! gonna send pics! 

I LOVE YOU!

Hermana Skidmore

#craycray

BAHHHH WHERE TO EVEN BEGIN! 

focus, hermana Skidmore. focus, words. sentences. okay. 

Angeles got Baptized! it was the most glorious, crazy, sweaty (mmm yeah) day ever! Let's start with the fact that she walked to her baptism and she has a bad knee...WHAT? She sees the font all filled and she just holds her heart like it's about to burst, we got her her white jumpsuit and rolled up the pant legs to fit her, she huddled Hermana Pitcher and I in the changing room and she said "Hermanas para siempre. siempre en mi corazon, hermana, ustedes han cambiado mi vida..." my heart was so full as she explained how long she'd waited for this day and how much she loves us.

Hermana Vasquez from another ward is the woman who introduced Angeles to the church, she arrived and it was like - Hermanas, where are the chairs, do you have hymn books, is it hot in here? are you going to translate? IS THERE ENOUGH FOOD!? NO NOT THE FOOD! hahah she's a really sweet lady and she wanted everything to be perfect, it was just funny because Hermana Pitcher and I had planned to go to the bathroom and have time to rub all the sweat off of our unmentionable parts.. didn't happen. hahaha BUT the important thing is that Angeles was loving her life :) she was so happy and her son even came and the people she lives with that she nanny's for! ahhhhhhh.

The baptism was. wow. I actually almost cried. yep. 

Our new investigator, Fide (17 yrs old), came and loved it. He couldn't stop smiling. Yeah. the Spirit does that to you - lemme tell ya! 

After her baptism, Angeles' outfit was all white still hahaha. she looked like a real live angel! Hugging her was like catching a ray of sunshine, she was so full of love and so happy, hugging her was like putting your suitcases down right inside your front door after gettting home from a long trip. She. is. amazing. she was talking to Fidel and she's like "So when are you getting baptized!? CAN I COME!?" hahah 

God Bless America.

the 4th of July was amazing too! we had a stake breakfast with all the kids decorating their bikes and a parade, Fidel came to that, too and so did Cari and LUCY - LUCY is a miralce too! an old drop that called us and said she's ready - THE CHURCH IS TRUE EVERYBODY!

It doesn't stop there. On Sunday we were running around and ran into a man that speaks spanish.. rode his bike to church.. "como se llama?" PABLO!!! also a former investigator that was invited by missionaries a long time ago but that decided today was the day he was going to come. He also accepted the invitiation to by baptized. woah. 

FOR THE MOMENT WE"VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!

new mission president and his wife... President and Sister Jardine! 

they. are. amazing. my kindred spirits. I gotta go but I love them. I'll tell more next week! 

QUote of the week, "being happy is how we show our gratitude for all that God has given us!" 

Les quiero muchisisisisismo - Para siempre,

Hermana Skidmore

wuv is what bwings us togefer today

mi querida familia! 

ANGELES!

get this. 

remember the woman I told you about last week? the one who has the friend from West Sac that has been taking her to church? 

we went down to meet her.. and we've taught her.. and SHE'S GETTING BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY AT 6PM! tell everyone you know! ... but she probably already has :) haha 

She listens to President Monson's talks as she walks to the church for our appointments. She loves the empasis on the family and the law of Chastity. 

We took her to an english baptism last night and I translated for her :) it's like english people.. BREATH.. so I can catch up haha. She understood everything and felt the Spirit! There was a man in the Air Force from the english ward that gave a talk and so I talked to him afterwards. Angeles saw me talking to him and even though she doesn't speak english she's like:

"I tak to hin..Tank yo fo serv...God bes yo.."

Then Hna Pitcher translated for her. She just thanked him for his service, invited him to her baptism, and told him to be safe.

The sweet man was crying.

then afterwards she's like:

Nos vamos a sentar con los chicos!!! (We're going to sit with the boys!!!) she's shrieked like a 12 yeear old girl haha

then in the parking lot - "Fotos!" she loves a good selfie :) hahah 

Angeles is so special. She has an immense capacity to love. Something that I've really learned from the Spanish people:

You can't assume that people know that you love them, you have to tell them. Before I came on my mission, I wasn't like a super touchy... love expressing kind of person.. I mean I was.. but not nearly as much as I am now. I honestly didn't know it was possible to love people this much. I adore the Spanish people of Sacramento California. and I'm learning to love everyone, better. 

The phrase "What would Jesus do?" has become a real slogan in my noggin. I think about that all the time. He knows all of our experiences perfectly.. he can empathize with everyone.. He isn't biased... He is perfectly humble, and knows when to listen and when to speak. And teaches us that the former is the most important. Listen. Listen good. 

I love this quote from Our Search for Happiness by M. Russell Ballard:

"...That's the way it is when Jesus Christ become a reality in your life. It sin't that He somehow make you do things that you wouldn't do otherwise. Rather, you find yourself wanting to do what He would do and respond as He would respond in an effort to bring your life into harmony with His. ANd an interesting thing happens whenever you attempt to place your feet in Christ's footsteps. If you really concentrate on trying to walk the way He walked, loving caring, serving, and obeying each step of the way, one day you'll look up and discover that His path has lead you directly to the throne of God. For  that is and ever has been His great purpose and mission: to lead us to our Heavenly Father so we can dwell with Him in His heavenly home." 

Amen, hermanos. Amen. Angeles always says this and she goes 'Amen.. it means "yeah i agree!" haha

ALSO this week we had the "until we meet again" conference with President and Sister Lewis because.. today is their last day as our Mission President couple.. bleh. During the meeting I'm like "come on Hermana Skidmore - cry! squeeze out some tears! Let's go! Show some emotion onion boy!" yeah.. nothing.. I'm really excited for them. I am so grateful for their service but I also know how much they love their family - mainly their grandchildren - shout out to grandma candy! :) haha. 

AND we were all allowed to hug them! the sister misisonaries are always allowed to hug Sister Lewis and we're not supposed to hug men...just yeah. keep your space, hombres! but we got to give President a hug! I was really nervous I was going to mess up... haha.

Everyone was telling them like "I love you... thank you..." as they were hugging them...

My words of advice as I hugged President Lewis.. my last words to my beloved mission president...

"President, I think it's time you take Sister Lewis out on a nice date!" 

... I felt like it was something Dad would suggest hahah. 

I love you all. so much. 

I know this Gospel is true. I know God lives. 

Hermana Skidmore

highs & lows - gotta blow my nose. touch your bottom.

Que tal mis queridos!? 

Okay so I have been sick for a while.. like a few weeks ago.. I was snoring like Dad in the long lost pink chair and I thought it was allergies.. I finally kicked it and then... My companion got it! haha In spanish they call it "la gripa" it's like a cold basically.. A COLD IN 111 degree weather. stop. the irony...

So basically, Hermana Pitcher has been real sick.. in fact, we were on our way to exchanges and after enjoying a nice Wendy's frosty, I look over at her (i drive now so I can get to know the area) and she's just silent... 

"Hermana, you're not going to throw up are you..?"

BLEHHHHHHHHHHHH 

all over the front seat of the car.. hahahhahaah

She'd kill me if she knew I was telling you this.. 

I did what any good companion would do as my counterpart is moaning in discomfort.. I laughed. I laughed so hard... hahaha

We finally get to our destination and we're cleaning up just laughing at how pathetic, sick, and sleep deprived we are (don't worry mom, I'm exaggerating to make this more interesting ;)) and the other Hermanas come out of their house.

Hermana Pitcher - "No! don't come near! Back away! Hazardous waste zone!" 

it was a fun week :)

We were definitely compensated for our lack of coherency and overdosage of cold medicine because the miracles haven't stopped!

Lore - remember the investigator I wrote a short blurb about last week? We found her a week ago just walking through her parking lot, she came to a baptism, came to church, and then they were going to come to this marriage class (wooo!) that the ward was hosting, but they got caught in a puddle and had to go home because all the kids were mojados (soaked) haha SATAN! BUT! She came to Church again this week with her nieta and loved it. 

Backstory: On exchanges, I was in our area with Hna Naatjes and we went to have a lesson with Lore and her husband Felix, at the end of the lesson, Lore told me that she's leaving on a Vacation to Mexico to visit her son (who she's trying to marry us off to ;)).. She won't be back till August and she leaves on Thursday.. I told her she was breaking my heart... She has been so prepared to hear the restored Gospel.. So after Sacrament meeting on Sunday:

"Lore, do you feel like you're in the right place?"

Pues, si...

We invited her to be baptized on Wednesday - Why not? haha. All of the odds are against us.. but we believe in miracles. and it doesn't stop there...

We went over after church to have lunch and we talked with Felix, He's a little more stubborn about the whole religion thing. We tried to explain the importance of prayer... the kids were having tantroms and the Spirit was struggling to be there, LETS PRAY.

We asked Felix to say the prayer... 

Lore was in tears by the end of it. 

It was.. wow. We were all just standing there watching her cry so I pushed Felix by the shoulder and pointed to her like "hug her ya dummy!" success :) 

She is praying to be baptized this Wednesday. Yes.

This week I've learned a lot about the Spirit, the gift we recieve by hands on our head and a being given a blessings. It is the greatest gift that God could give us, the companionship of the Spirit to always keep us on the right path. It's just like getting to know a new friend, we have to ask questions, pay attention, and listen really carefully in order to notice the small promptings, I've been trying to do so as I teach, sometimes we think things, or thoughts pop into our head for a reason.

I love this Gospel. I love our Savior. Even though things are really hard sometimes, we feel like life has beaten us up pretty good, don't lose hope. 

He was broken so that we don't have to be. 

Watch this video and cry :) it's the cutest thing - old people!!!

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3609934299001

Don't forget how much I love you, and how much God loves you, too.

Siempre suyo,

Hermana Skidmore

Lorena y Cari

read this: https://www.lds.org/ensign/1999/09/the-quest-for-excellence?lang=eng

we had to do a presentation for some young women in an english ward and we found this talk! shout out to President Hinkley! 

"The distance between mediocrity and excellence can be ever so small."

investigators! we had our last Mission Leadership Council with President and Sister Lewis because we will be getting a new President on July 1st - mind blown, whole mission getting flipped upside down wahhhh. haha it was really fun! Hna Pitcher and I got creative and made them a clock and had everyone sign it because President always says "now is the time." 

ALSO - Hna Pitcher had the bright idea to invite President and Sister Lewis to come to a lesson with us.. nbd.. I love and support my companion.. it's fine... we had an appointment with Cari on Friday, it. was. amazing. President ended up being the only one able to come! Pressure is on.. hna skidmore sweating more than ususal in the 102 degree weather watch out!

she is working on praying out loud and recognizing answers to prayers, and getting married, and stopping smoking.. we read 1 Nephi 15:11

Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said?—Ifye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing thatye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments,surely these things shall be made known unto you.

"Cari, as representatives of Jesus Christ, we pray about you and we think about you and we want to help you to be able to keep all of the commandments and clear the lines of communication between you and your Heavenly Father even more, so that you can recognize the answer to your prayers."

Word of Wisdom: no coffee, no tea, no tabacco, no alcohol, no illegal drugs. With every what, there's a why. 

Why the word of wisdom? because God is all about freedom and Satan is all about addictions and dependency. If we follow the commandments, we have the Lord's promise that we will be healthy, clear head, clear mind. Complete self control, not dependent on anything. That's what it's about. God is all about freedom. Sometimes it seems the other way around. But the commandments protect us from all of the consequences that come from additcions, bad choices blah blah that stuff :) 

We talked about how sometimes we don't stop doing things... like we want to stop.. but we don't stop until we have a reason to stop. 

This is Cari's reason. She wants to know if the Church is true, if the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored by a prophet, if the Book of Mormon is the Word of God. She wants a better life for her family. and just like the scripture says, "these things shall be made known unto you." 

She accepted to prepare to be baptized on the 21st of June :)

We also added a new investigator Lore! I'm running out of time but we met her in a parking lot, then she brought her whole family to the baptism on Saturday adn came to church on Sunday, she's the cutest, shortest mexican I've ever seen but she's amzing!!! 

Fun fact.

there's creepy ice cream men everywhere!!!

I've been playing Venid A MI in Relief Society because that's the only one I can play haha

I asked an investigator if she had any questions.. normally I specify about God.. and this time I didn't.. and the question was "is my menstral cycle normal?" I almost died... never a boring moment, people. never. 

Les quiero con todo mi corazon,

Hermana Skidmore

Transfers and Spainards

alooo

we went to the temple today so this is gonna be speedy! 

We added a Spainard this week! His name is Ferran and he's straight from Barcelona. They speak spanish with a lisp there. so I'm like uhh... flash back to training when i didn't understand anything haha. He's so great! He's the neighbor of the Salinas family that got sealed last week! Ferran came to church and really liked it! He looks like a normal white guy dad-type.. trippy! I have giant eyes whenever he's talking to me because he looks like he should speak english! haha. He's learning english so he really respects that we learned spanish. 

Cari and her family were not able to come to church this week because Cari had a bad reaction to some medicine. The elders went with us yesterday to give her a blessing and it was so powerful. The priesthood that they hold, the same authority that Jesus used to heal the sick is on the Earth today. and worthy men use it to bless the lives of others. They placed their hands on her head and it was like WOOSH, the Spirit filled the room. a feeling of the love that our Heavenly Father has for Cari. gosh I love being a missionary. 

One of our old investigators, Janet, young teenager that we had dropped because we thought she wasn't interested, called us last night! She wants to come to church! miracle! She said the prayer when we left her last night and she called me "Hna S'more" haha 

fun facts:

car washes are a big thing because it doesn't rain very much here! 

one of the older hermanas in our ward, Hermana Ochoa, watches LUCHAS FOR FUN! haha did I already tell you this? she like to watch people like Nacho Libre beat eachother up. and her sons and daughters send her grandchildren to her house to watched luchas as punishment. 

the speakers in our car broke.. and they won't be getting fixed.. so we go old school and we have a battery powered CD player in the front on the floor - DJ hermana Skidmore whatuppp!

Yeah so transfers! We're staying! I am so unbelievably elated about it. Gosh I love being a missionary. It's funny this week I've really been thinking about improvement.. how we know what we should do but sometimes we still mess up and I'm like "whyyyy hermana skidmore!? have you learned nothing!?" I'm so grateful for a patient Heavenly Father that sees our potential when we just don't. I've realized that if we think we've "arrived" if we think we've got it under control.. we're wrong.. haha it is a process of constant improvement. It takes a lot of humility and determination. and reconition of how much we depend on our Savior as our example and our Redeemer. that He was willing to go through all that he went through for each and every one of us. 

Les quiero a la luna de regreso (don't know if that actually translates ;)

Hermana Skidmore