2 Nephi 26:13

Here's the second email from my "mini mission" in Texas!! Enjoy!


Hello, Hello!

Seriously, look up that scripture! It's the definition of this week!

The Lord will work mighty miracles in our lives according to our faith.

Faith. That's something I've learned loads about while being here. We had an incredibly fruitful week, and others didn't. Does that mean they're less faithful? No, because the faith we should have is that everything is possible according to God's will. That's the important part. 

So about the fruits of our labors. Well, technically the fruits of the Lord's labors. We have just been fortunate enough to be the instruments in His hands, and let me tell ya, it's been humbling, yet inspiring. 

Thursday night we had an FHE with los Lucero, Juan y Ludivina. Their son, Juan, was also there. He got baptized last summer. The Grimalidi's also joined us. The Grimaldi's have been excellent fellowshippers to the Lucero family. Juan and Ludivina have been at a point for some time where they are ready for baptism. But they've been really... scared, i guess, so we decided to not focus on that. We decided to talk about temples. We took the stance of eternal families. After the lesson, Hna Huntsman leaned over to us and said, "Guys, i feel so strongly that we need to invite them to be baptized. But I'm scared." and I said, "tiene fe" and she sat back up, looked at them and said, "Our Mission President tells us that when we feel the Spirit we need to follow it's promptings. And right now, it's telling me that you guys are ready for baptism. So, will you take that step, act on the faith you have right now, and be baptized this weekend?" and Juan (the father) started nodding and saying, "si, si" It was incredible! Ludivina was a little more hesitant, but she decided she wanted to take this next step with her husband. She knows everything is true and she knows she needs to be baptized. Her only hang up has been her commitment to the Virgin Mary. But as her faith in Christ is strengthened she can overcome that. We talked to her about it and she is committed to putting God first. So, Saturday night, Juan hijo got the privilege of baptizing both of his parents! They were beaming!!! Ludivina hugged each of us so tightly afterward and said, "Thank you for being patient with us." AH! 

We did run into some trials along the way. If someone is on the right path, Satan will try to get them off of it. Saturday morning, about 6 hours or so before the baptism we got a call from the branch mission leader saying the baptism was cancelled. He said we shouldn't be baptizing people "suddenly" and "for numbers". They need time to get the members involved, etc. Here's the thing. This missionaries here are really struggling with support from the branch. Also, Juan y Ludivina have been taking the discussions since January. That's NOT sudden. It was super frustrating. Especially when that's not in his power. He three way called the stake mission leader or something and talked about it. before that though, the three of us got on our knees and prayed fervently for God's will to be done- whatever that may be. At the end of that phone call, the baptism was on!! AH!

Then Sunday. Dilcia's baptism went wonderfully! She is so funny!!! She's so... fuerte haha with her words and her personality. It's fantastic. She will be SUCH a great asset to this ward! And she found a job that will allow her to come to church on Sundays! 

Basically I've just been in shock after this weekend. Like, what just happened? ya know? But God is good. He is so good! 

I know without a doubt that this specific week was when I needed to be here. So, thanks, Dad, for coordinating all of that!

Also, just to let you know, we did go to a nice dinner. We went to a Mexican place (we had to;)) And we had comp inventory there. Yup. That's an incredible thing! It was nice to express our love for each other and figure out things we could work on to be better. It was funny. By the end we were all crying. haha. It was probably quite the sight! Precia said I have the gift of studying? Brady's told me something similar to that before. Which, both times just kind of shocked me, cuz that's not how i feel. But it's given me more confidence in my studies:)

Let's see. Other things. We went to Zone meeting and that was great! The Spirit was way strong and I learned a lot! The zone leaders had been praying about a goal for the zone and they announced it there. 6 baptisms this coming weekend. we had 5 in the zone this last weekend! So, it's definitely doable! Prayers would be great though! 

Struggles. Calling Precia Hermana Purnell. haha. Time. There are not enough hours in a day to contact all the people we want to! Spanish. I still understand WAY more than I can say. But that's okay. Because this way, I know what's going on and if I have something to say, i go for it and get laughed at if it's wrong haha or get help to say it right. It's good. In fact... I bore my testimony in church yesterday during sacrament meeting. In Spanish! I was so nervous! but when i sat down, the hermana i was sitting by grabbed my hand, squeezed it and said great job. It was so sweet of her to support me! i definitely need it. haha

I've also learned some random things for my own mission. These shoes i bought from famous footwear- the Bare Traps. they're amazing! I LOVE them! the other ones.. i can't remember what they are.. but the closed loafers, aren't so great. They're comfortable, but after awhile they really rub my heels. 

Thanks for the emails! Dad, i didn't get one from you... Mom said you were sending pictures from your trip! I know you've sent emails to my other account, but I'm scared to get on it. Because I'm set apart as a missionary, so i should be living the rules, and I was promised protection in my setting apart blessing if i was obedient. ha.

Okay, I love you all so incredibly much! This has made me so grateful to have such a wonderful family and parents who have raised me in the gospel. I'm so glad I am sealed to you guys and I can't wait to have my own family in the future who I can raise in the gospel! 

You're the best in the whole wide world! 

Love,

Hna Joy Purnell

 There was this cute little park we took pictures at on P-day. 

 President Ashton! The one who made this whole thing possible!

 Love this beauty!

 Dilcia's baptism! What a strong, dedicated woman!

 Juan and Ludivina's baptism! Beautiful family!

 Mis Hermanas. They're incredible.

 Houston Temple. Pure beauty!

"Purnell Sandwich!" or so we called it. haha

La Vida de Milagros

Okay. Here's the back story to this post. I have an older sister. Her name is Precia. She's 21 and serving an 18 month mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Texas Houston South Mission speaking Spanish. I will be serving an 18 month mission for this church as well. I will be serving in the Salt Lake City West Mission speaking Spanish. 

We had the extremely rare opportunity to serve as companions in her mission for a week and a half. It was absolutely one of the best things I have ever done. How lucky I was to learn how to be a missionary from my best friend, sister, and amazing missionary! Here's my first email that I wrote home after being there for 3 days. My next post will be my second letter. I just had such an incredible experience and wanted to share it with you all! 

I know The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the one true church here on the Earth and the only way back to the presence of our Father in Heaven. I feel so blessed to be able to be a part of the Lord's work in building His kingdom. It's blessed my life and changed my heart. 

Here goes:

Holy Smokes! What a.. it feels like a week, but 3 days! Meeting at the airport worked out. I realized we didn't coordinate meeting up or anything, but through prayers we found each other!

Momma, I AM SO SORRY you had to play for me on Sunday! I realized when I got here i didn't get a sub! so there was nothing i could do about it... If you would, please ask sister Merrill for next sunday? evelyn can choose the songs. Or sister Merrill. But hey, just to let you know... I didn't get off the hook from playing... Karma, karma, Karma, right? ha jk. I'm grateful I can contribute. There was a baptism on Sunday that i had to play the hymns for cuz no one else could. So those promises from my setting apart blessing for that calling are already coming true! ha

How it feels to be here. Hm. AMAZING! I can't believe this is real life! Precia is the same, in case you were wondering. Same as in mannerism, humor, all that:) but she is SUCH a strong woman! I've never met anyone who attributes more in their life to the Lord. It's incredible how easy it is for her to recognize His hand in her life. 

Hermana Huntsman is incredible! We graduated together. She has SUCH a zest for the work. We all work incredibly well together! It's kind of crazy actually how you can take three people who didn't know each other, well two of us did, but put them together and get such a great team! I feel so strongly she needed to be Precia's companion for the time i'm here. I've learned SO much from both of them! It's amazing!

I've pretty much gotten over my fear of the language. I mean, I sang a song in sacrament meeting in a language I don't even speak. So that's comforting. That experience was amazing! I can't even tell you how wonderful it felt to be singing with Precia again! and that song in Spanish, is so beautiful! we overlapped some english in at the end. Ah. it was awesome! I couldn't have asked for a better performance. 

Seriously, we see miracle upon miracle here. It's insane!!! God is good. Let me tell ya that right now. 

It's crazy how there are so many people in the world and we are each a child of Heavenly Father. Therefore, He knows each of us so perfectly. Which means He knows our exact needs and how to fulfill them. Through specific prayer and following promptings of the Spirit, we have been able to be right where the Lord needed us in order to help His children. Ah! It's crazy! 

Here's an excerpt from my journal from last night:

Holy Smokes! Dilcia is getting baptized this Sunday!!! I prayed this morning to be able to ahve a baptism while I'm here with Precia... and it's happening! (I know that's a big thing and a lot to ask for, but hey, you always say you never know until you ask, right?;)) Anyway, Isn't that crazy?! She is SO full of faith! We went to the apartment complex and were supposed to teach Concepcion, but she wasn't home and we ran into Dilcia. She told us she had lost her job, and her apartment. We told her that she needed to put God first, etc. I had this very strong prompting to ask her if she wanted to be baptized. I asked Precia how ready she was for baptism and she said pretty ready, But I knew I had to ask Dilcia. The words seriously just popped out of my mouth. Like, I could NOT keep them in! I said, "Usted quiere estar bautizar?" which, I'm pretty sure is incorrect. haha. But that's what happened. It lead the way into a conversation about it. Hna Huntsman, (Who i'm POSITIVE is another reason i really needed to be here) said we need to live the first three commandments. 1. Have faith in Jesus Christ. 2. repent. 3. be baptized. Dilcia knew that was what she needed to do. We asked her about the date she'd been praying about for baptism, (the 17th of Aug) and asked if she wanted to be baptized sooner. She said YES! The soonest she can be is this coming Sunday. We went over the commandment with her really fast and she's doing great with all of them! Except coffee. But once we asked her if she would commit to living the word of wisdom and give up coffee, she said yes and gave us her coffee to throw out! it was incredible! She AMAZING! I am beyond happy for her. She has such strong faith! We told her we would find her coffee substitute (Pero). So that's on our to-do list. We knew Satan would try hard this week to get her off this path because it is the right one, and so we had the Elders come give her a blessing. She was blessed with strength and the ability to find a job that doesn't make her work on Sundays! It was super powerful. she said she could feel it was God talking to her and not the Elders. I'm so grateful for the faith of my companion and for the blessing from God!

So that's just one thing! That apartment complex is seriously blossoming with the gospel! We got two new investigators there yesterday and 8 referrals just from that place! We were joking about how someday everyone living there will be Mormon and we'll just start calling it Utah. haha. We ran into a less active couple in the store who recognized us as missionaries first. We visited an older couple who are Methodist. Precia and Hna Duke built a reallyy good relationship with them and Hna Huntsman has just built upon it. The wife is considering running for city council and felt like she needed guidance and said it was a miracle we showed up that morning. We shared with her scriptures of prayer and receiving answers from the Lord because He will guide us. Then her husband gave the most humble closing prayer and Hna Huntsman and i were just crying. It was so beautiful and his wife added in at the end of the prayer, "thanks for sending us these angels and the vision of you and your true book they have brought." it was incredible!

Another miracle: We were contacting referrals and accidentally went to the wrong house. We met a young man, 16 years old, named Sam. we taught him the restoration. To make the story short, he said his dad always told him what matters is to find a church he's comfortable in,. but he hasn't felt comfortable in any! He agreed to hear more and gave a beautiful closing prayer, thanking God for sending us with "your true word" and asking angels to be with us and protect us and that more people would be open to hearing our message. 

Holy Smokes. I don't know how missionaries do it! I've only been here three days and I'm only telling you a fraction of what's been happening!!!

I love you all so much! thanks for the letter!

Oh! and the language! I pray a lot and can bear simple testimony at the end of lessons. I add in throughout if i feel i need to. 

Kay, Love you  bye!

Hna Purnell