December 16, 2013 THE REAL SOURCE OF POWER

So, I am going to be quite frank with all of you. a mission is hard. imagine that? the words of so many missionaries before me. but let me tell you why it is hard. 

It is hard because Satan knows how powerful we can be as missionaries. He knows we can change lives forever. He knows that with God we can literally affect generations and for that he is afraid. Honestly this week was tough and i realized for a time i had lost hope that really there were people out there that really were prepared to listen to the missionaries to our glorious message.i felt very alone, and still had faith in God but not necessarily that there were people out here for me to find or to teach. and i felt like i kept feeling this way and just could not find the balance.I kept trying to push through it and would sincerely be fine one day with out any problems but i kept having these days of breakdowns where i just felt overwhelmed and couldnt handle it. there really was one day where i did not want to go out to teach, i didnt. but know that in that moment of difficulty i said a prayer with my companion (who was really being fantastic and comforting me) and i told God exactly how i was feeling. that i felt i had lost hope, that i was discouraged, but that i wanted badly to believe there were people out here for me. that there was a reason i felt so stuck and that there had to be something to learn from it, but that i was tired and needed his help, His consuelo (comfort), and i needed His strength. I bore my heart out to my Father in Heaven, telling Him everything and did it out loud. 

Afterwards, i felt so much better. i felt true peace in my heart and felt like i really could go out to work. to find the lost sheep, find a person that really needed us. sabe que (know that or i like to think of it as guess what). that same day not 20 minutes later we found a woman that we had taught a little bit a month ago and learned that she didnt feel like she had faith. and so we told her to read Alma 32 (i dare you to read it. it is amazing, so many inspiring scriptures)...but we could not get a hold of her for about a month, always busy (and we were beginning to think uninterested) but we passed by for her. and sabe que, not only did she invite us in, but she opened up to us (after very inspired questions that God gave us) admitted that she had actually read the chapter in alma (seriously that is a miracle) admitted that she didnt necessarily believe it (another miracle because normally they just tell you it was nice or they dont remember what it said) and basically confessed she was feeling lost of hope and like she couldnt find balance and was just tired. EXACTLY HOW I HAD DESCRIBED HOW I FELT TO HERMANA MEEKS THAT VERY MORNING HOURS OR MINUTES BEFORE. and God had given me a chance to study scriptures that week to help me and to really understand how this woman was feeling. because honestly before this week i had never felt that way. and through my own trial of faith i was able to understand how she felt and be able to guide her to the answers and help she needed. to show her that she really wasnt alone that God knew who she was, but also that God knew who I was. that He answered both of the prayers of our hearts. 

God has power. we really do not. and to be honest we need the help of God in our life. we need it! but we have to "Ask and ye shall receive, Seek and ye shall find, Knock and it shall be opened unto you." really we just need to ASK. in prayer. it is incredibly powerful.

i love praying aloud with my companion. i just feel the power of prayer. seriously. i challenge you to try it. to pray vocally and open your heart to him. sincerely tell him what you are going through and feeling and plead for his help...i love the results. you will feel a difference. I promise as a representative of Jesus Christ that He hears your prayers and will answer them. really He will.

I love you all and I hope you take the time to really enjoy the Christ in Christmas and let Him in and allow Him to help you.

Hermana Konrie Ming

Sabe que, we have special transfers this week, because some missionaries are ending their missions so people are going to get moved around so that their companions arent solo...all the hermanas in our house are so close (like a family) i am really worried that one of us will leave soon...

hermana meeks is so amazing she is my best friend and i love her. she always tries to help me feel at home.

hermana dardon is so awesome;) she loves pink, and is very blunt, and talks like a racecar in that it is dang fast! it honestly took me a while to understand but she is really wonderful. she loves to pull our legs with little white lies. (last week she told us pday was cancelled....as we were going to sleep and would have no way to verify or replan...stinker

hermana chachi is so funny, gullible and always laughing. very loveable and she is always trying to learn new things in english...

they all loved the advent calendar that we received last week its really fun and we share everything so we all gret to try new things. latinos dont like beef jerky but love cashews just a heads up!

December 9, 2013 FEELING THE LOVE

ok so...now i will officially start my weekly letter...sorry if you wanted some of this stuff on it and you have to copy/paste etc.

and yes i am always excited for letters/packages and all that jazz :) every missionary is. it makes us feel loved and remembered.

i LOVE grinch ! i hope you remember the phrase soon:)

Congrats to keith and tracey!!!!!

and to liz and travis:) and others

and the joy of grandma ming is that this isnt the end, we really will see her again :) i am grateful i had the small chance to know her so long ago. 

ok the other email coming up!

so this week i really focused on the good with my companion, and you know what? we found it. we found a lot of it. 

mañana tenemos una actividad de navidad en Rancagua con muchos do los misioneros, estoy animada por eso, va a estar divertido. y no tenía una oportunidad a mirar la devocional porque fue a las 10 en la noche por nosotros y regresamos a nuestras casas a las 10 (10:30 si tenemos una lección tan buena) (tomorrow we have an Christmas activity in Rancagua with many of the missionaries, I am very excited for this, it is going to be bery fun.  I did not get the opportunity to watch the devotional because it was 10 at night and we go to our house by 10 or 10:30 if we have a very good lesson) okay I will talk in english again. but i am hoping maybe tomorrow at the activity we will getto watch it (the Christmas churchwide broadcast) ...but no guarantees.

so I know that every week my email seems to be the same but its crazy how true it is! so yesterday hermana meeks and i were just feeling tired and decided tostart counting our blessings and practice our faith that God would lead us to the families, less actives,and really just people that needed us. and we began counting the people in our branch whom we had gained the friendship of that really wanted to be involved in the work of God, 

the investigators, recent converts, and less actives that always welcomed us in with warm arms

the people we had found out used to be investigators and loved the church but had gotten lost in the cracks and God provided a way for us to find them again (this happened 3 or 4 times this week).

the times that God had guided us to someone the other missionaries had recently began to teach so we could tell them that Godreally wanted them to listen to the missionaries and know of the importance of this message. and the opportunity to remind the other missionaries of these people and tier importance to God

the many many people we find on the street that are actually quite amazing that want to hear our message, but dont live in our boundaries...well that justgoes to show you thatGod trusts us to talk to his children in the street and to see their potential and to help the missionaries in their area to find them and see their potential too.

really there is always something to be grateful for. always. you just cant be lazy and expect it to jump in your face :) you have to look forit, and snap into a spirit of joy and gratitude. 

also know that there is always ALWAYS someone there rooting for you. whether it is parents, siblings, ward members, bishopric, home teachers, visiting teachers, (other) missionaries, your leaders, friends, or the greatest of all support team members; our older brother, best friend, rescuer (savior), confidante, Jesus Christ. Always someone. 

so my invitation for you is to try it out.make the effort to look forthe good and quit just being lazy and down on yourself...it feels better to be happy...and i KNOW that at first it is difficult...but it feels so sooo much better to be happy....it really lifts a burden. TRUST ME and TEST ME on this.

and know that you really can find inspiration and answers to every problem in the book of mormon. try it. but try it with a prayerful heart and begin with a prayer it makes a difference. really. really really reallly! 

i love you guys and I know that God is watching over you for me and i know he is watching out for me too. and i really have found people hear that care about me and want the bestfor me. 

like hermana Rosita (converso reciente)(recent convert) that i call the abuelita de las misioneras (the little grandma of the missionaries), hermana Olea una miembro fiel en nuestra rama( a firm member of our branch) that al}ways loves to joke and help and speak english shes like an aunt that takes care of you and spoils you and makes fun of you all at the same time :) and so many other loving ´people...i am safe i am happy and i am a mormon missionary :)

hermana konrie ming

Monday December 2, 2013

YOU HAVE TO CROUCH/BEND DOWN TO JUMP

so this week really started off rough but dont worry, after some wonderful words of wisdom, elder utchdorf´s talk of forget me nots, and a completely new way to look at things this week quickly turned into a week of miracles.

we began to open our hearts to literally talk to all the people we passed on the street, to dwell on the good things and for me-focus on people not schedules or lessons....to really and trully enjoy my time wherever and whoever i am with. that is when we began to really see the miracles. 

to be honest here in chile, i completely forgot about thanksgiving, its kind of a tender mercy that holidays arent that difficult for me. but i didnt forget about the people i left back home...how much i loved them and how i pray for you all every night. 

ESPECIALLY ZALE!!!!! Zale! I thought about you a ton yesterday and how you are now 8 years old. so grown up, and able to getr baptized. I am so proud of you!! (Renna and Jared I thought about you guys too on your birthdays dont be too jealous i just often forget to write about it)

we already saw a huge miracle on sunday. we had lunch with a family in the ward well call them the ALLEN and it was so much fun and we really got to know the family and feel at home with them...and later that day due to a series of changes in our plans God directed us to our family of conversos recientes, where we had an opportunity to learn that she really needed a priesthood blessing of comfort because she was really stressed and hurting, so hermana meeks and i went to work trying to find someone in the ward that could come that night to give her a blessing (because she works every day from 3-midnight so really that night was the only opportunity)....we literally called every priesthood holder we knew  in the branch and no one was available...and just as we were about to give up, we thought of the son of the family ALLENS and called them. we did not know him before that day, and neither did the hermana that needed the blessing and to be honest we were a little worried about it, but told him to find whomever to accompany him  and come over asap and when he came...he brought the elders...whom the hermana knows well and were previously occupied when we tried to call...so the hermana received a blessing from someone she knew and felt comfortable with, and afterwards the son ended up talking to her for a long time and he was exactly the person she needed to talk to to feel understood and conforted...and honestly we never would have thought to plan any of this...god really had His hand in the middle of this night.  

and really so many other miracles happened that day its hard to explain.

i have a testimony that this church is true and i know that i am where i need to be. and i know that god knows who i am and who i can be and i know that if i trust in him and strive to seek His advice I will become so much better than i could on my own.

Hermana konrie ming