Hey errbody.................February 24, 2015

So first thing is first....Hermana Gruden is leaving :( I`m honestly not too happy about it and neither is she, but I know that it`s for a reason. She`s going to be serving in Montevideo, and the Hermana whose place she is taking is coming here with me. Her name is Hermana Caquias, which may sound Latina, but she`s American haha. She`s actually from Hermana Gruden`s group. One of my other companions, Hna Sump, trained her for a change, and then another Hermana finished her training and she`s coming from being with her to be with me. So basically....I`m the "bottle breaker" again! (that`s apparently what it`s called when you`re the companion after someone`s "Mom"). Fifth time going strong! So she is my official assassin. I`m sure it`ll be awesome! My ELEVENTH companion. 13 in total, if you count my companions from the MTC. That`s 13 people I have to keep track of the rest of my life. That`s a lot of work! Haha no just kidding it`s awesome. They`re all different and all amazing, and I`m thankful I was able to learn from so many people. I LOVVVVEEEEEEE Hermana Gruden. She is my best friend and I am SO thankful for the amazing change we were able to have together. She is an incredible missionary and I know she will kill it in Montevideo and the rest of her mission. I am so thankful for her. 

On Thursday I got to do divisions with Hermana Petty. She is just now finishing her training. She is amazing! And she has had some similar challenges that I had during my training, so it was really rewarding to be able to use what I learned during those challenges and help her apply them. But she really is an incredible missionary, even if she doesn`t recognize it! 

On Saturday, we had this A M A Z I N G conference with 5 of our zones and Elder Viñez of the Seventy. It was my last conference :( Which I didn`t think would hit me, but when we started singing our mission song (yep, we`re so cool that we have a mission song), called "Hoy es el Dia", I just started bawling. I love my mission, and I love THIS mission, and I am so blessed to have been able to be a part of it. During a part of the conference, Elder Viñez asked some of us to share our feelings on the Atonement. No discussion about doctrine or anything like that....just pure feeling, and how it has helped us become better people and better missionaries. I shared my testimony, and I just became so overwhelmed with gratitude for the powerful effect the Atonement has taken in my life during this year and a half. It has changed me completely, and carried me through the most difficult times. I love my Savior and I love His Atonement. 

The coolest part was that after the conference, we got to watch Meet the Mormons! JK, everybody ELSE got to watch Meet the Mormons, while the Zone Leaders and Hermana Training Leaders had a "counsel" with Elder Viñez for an hour and a half. I definitely got the better end of the deal :) He truly is called of God. The Spirit was SO strong in that meeting, and I felt so strengthened and uplifted and inspired. I am thankful for Elder Viñez. He`s amazing! 

Other than that was a lot of other miracles and blessings, just like what happens every week. I mean, it`s the mission! And I love it :)

I love you, i love you, i love you! 

Hermana Dolan 

You Never Know......................February 16, 2015

Hey everybody! How the heck are you? I am SO good. Why? because God is SO stinking good. Have I mentioned that before? Well, it`s because it`s true. 

Let me just focus on the highlights of the week:

Thursday, we had leadership council with President in Montevideo. That`s where all of the zone leaders and hermana trainers in the mission go and we receive extra training and information that we have to pass on to the other missionaries. There was nothing overly exciting that happened (well I mean, nothing exciting if your not a missionary. A lot of mission numbers and new direction for how to do things. So for me, super exciting!) But all I can tell you is that the Lord is COMPLETELY hastening His work, more and more every day, and especially in this little corner of His vineyard in this part of South America! It was really amazing. We were able to see what we`re doing well as a mission, and what we can improve on. I went with a question. My question was "are we doing the Lord`s will in our area?" because we`ve been working hard without a whole lot of fruits, but I wanted to make sure He was still pleased with what we`re doing. And I was definitely able to see where we can improve, but the Lord showed me that we`re doing our part, and He`s happy with us. It was a sweet tender mercy. 

On Saturday, we decided to fast. We fasted for only two things: to find new people to teach, and a baptism. We went out with some members that day, and while we were with one of them: Hna Lula, a capa, the lesson we had planned fell through but she had mentioned to us before that her sister lived close by, so we asked if we could go see her. Well her sister wasn`t home, but her nephew was. His name is Juan and he`s 20. When we asked him if he had ever talked to missionaries or knew much about the church, he said no and that the missionaries always walked by and were nice and said hi, but never talked to him. Importance of talking to everyone! So we taught a part of the first lesson and set up to go back this week. Please pray for Juan!! But our prayer was answered. We just wanted to find ONE person, and we did exactly during our fast. 

At the end of the night on Saturday as we said our prayer for planning, I felt inspired in the prayer to say "bless that there be just one investigator at church tomorrow who is ready to accept the Gospel." But we don`t have many, so we didn`t really know who. Gabriela is still having struggles with drinking and we hadn`t been able to see Rene since Monday because he was gone. 

But THEN, we`re sitting there in sacrament meeting, and I look over to the other side, and guess who I see? RENE. He came to church ALL by himself. I showed my companion and we both just cried because we were seriously so happy. Fasting, WORKS. He said after that he just felt like he need to go and told us to make sure we go by. GAAAHHHH. RENE. So please pray for him. But you guys, my comp and her old companion found him like, 3 months ago, and he`s never gone to church. And yesterday, he just "felt" like he needed to! A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. 

So the past couple weeks I`ve also been pondering a question. I`ve been wondering "even if I didn`t extend and went home next week, is my work accepted by the Lord?" I`ve been talking to Him a lot lately with that question. Well, today, my best friends aka Belèn and Valentina, the two young women from Rivera, are here for the day to visit me :) And so obviously I started to asking them about what`s been going on in my ward in Central Uno and if there`s been baptisms and things like that. 

Well, if you go back to my emails from Rivera, you will hear a LOT, and I mean a LOT, about NORMA, the mom of a member. With my first companion in Rivera, hna barrios, we started teaching her, and i worked with her my whole five months there. She made amazing progress while i was there but the baptism just didn`t come. i was a little bummed, but told her daughter, maribel, that before I am home in the states, her mom would be baptized. 

And today i cried and cried and cried when Belèn and Vale told me that this last SATURDAY, TWO days ago, Norma, someone who i love so so much, entered the door to the path of eternity as she was baptized. They told me that both her and maribel mentioned me and hna barrios in their testimonies at the baptism, and that it all started with us. 

it gets better! if you go back through my emails, you will also find several weeks talking about MIRNA. She is (was) a super evangelical lady who me and my third companion, the OTHER hna barrios, found while contacting. Mirna had an amazing beginning. She accepted everything from the start. She felt the Spirit. She said she saw a light the first time she prayed in the way we taught her, as if she was joseph smith. And then the doubts started to come, and her priest in her other church was causing interference, and we fought and prayed and studied and dedicated SO much time to this woman! And then after i left the hermanas left her because she stopped progressing, but then mirna went back to her own church, and it was there that she felt it...there that she felt that she WASN`T supposed to be there. That the CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST was where she needed to be. And so Mirna went to church, and she will be getting baptized on February 28. And i cried and cried and cried when Belèn and Valentina told me that, too. 

In those two simple ways, the lord answered my question. "yes, i accept your work." And it is such a sweet tender thing to know that not one, but two seeds i planted, has already been harvested. and i don`t say that to brag of myself, because it`s just like Ammon says when he speaks of the succes he and his brethren were able to have after so much work and sweat and tears: 

I was filled with such a sweet peace, knowing that even though i haven`t necessarily seen as many fruits on my mission...well, i have, but of a different kind....that doesn`t mean that i haven`t fulfilled the purpose the Lord sent me here to fulfill. And I say that for everybody: A lot of times, we aren`t going to know why we`re going through a trial, or why we`re in a certain place or calling or work that the Lord has sent us to do. But we can be filled with a surety, that even if WE never know, the Lord does, and we will be able to look back at the end of our own harvest, and see the fruits we have reaped, and the seeds we have planted for others to reap, and PURPOSE of the Lord which we have fulfilled. I know the Lord lives and He loves us. He loves all of His children, and He is SO, so patient, just like He patiently waited for Mirna and Norma`s time to come, and just like He always will for every other child of God. 

Time is going by faster and faster, making me more and more grateful that the Lord permitted me to extend and spend time here in this beautiful little corner of the universe, with these beautiful people, a little while longer. 

But don`t worry, that doesn`t mean that I don`t love you! I love you! I love you! 

Hermana Dolan 

Me and the Gruden

Forsake the World.................February 9, 2015

Hey everyone! I hope everyone had a fantastic week...this week was a little slower, but good and filled with the Spirit.  Always good in the mission. 

We had a lot of Family Home Evenings and taught the "bottle" concept, and it`s been really effective! I am so thankful for that women`s conference that we had last week. It seriously changed my life because I could just feel the love of God for all of His daughters, and I could see the power of these amazing women, Sister Burton and Sister Marriott. I hope to be the kind of woman that they are. So many women like that have surrounded me my whole life. My mom, my grandma, my aunts, my sisters, Hermana Smith, my fellow hermanas, my companions, my friends. I know God put them in my life to make me better, and I know they have. 

So on wednesday I got to do divisions! this time with Hermana Reed. she has one change less than me and we were facebook friends before the mission haha. and after that we`ve always seen each other at conferences but never in the same zone. and it FINALLY happened! and we got to do divisions and it was great. hna reed is just a bubbly ball of energy and i love her. i am grateful for the amazing hermanas that i get to work with here and learn from and for all the others that i`ve had the blessing of knowing my whole mission. they have all changed my life and i am so thankful for them! 

Let me just mention the coolest family ever. The family Piriz, who have been members for about 5 years. They have 11 kids between the ages of 23 and 2, and they live in this little cement box made for maybe 6. Their clothes have holes in them and they`re always dirty. And they all 13 of them are in church EVERY single week, and they are one of the happiest families i have ever met, and their parents say that it`s because they have the Gospel. we have family home evenings with them every week, and i always look forward to it. they are amazing. 

Uruguay did their EFY this last week so all of the youth 14 and older were there in southern uruguay all last week. it was about 10 from our ward went, and they each got to bear their testimonies. And as they each bore their testimony that they were able to gain of the Savior, almost every one of them, who were almost all young men, shed tears of the Spirit as it testified in their own hearts and the hearts of everyone in the congregation the truth of those testimonies. That He LIVES. That He LOVES us. And I just wanted to cry with them, because I know it`s true too.  And I am so, so, SO thankful for the opportunities that I have had in my mission to work with and see the youth. The youth of Uruguay, are literally my heroes. Life as a member of the church in your youth is not an easy one, and FAR less easy in Uruguay. Some of these kids go to church by themselves. Some take their little brothers and sisters with them. Almost none of their friends besides the ones in their own ward are members of the church. And yet they are there every week. Some go out with the missionaries. They lose or deny friendships because they choose the LORD. They are examples to everyone, including me. The Lord has such a bright future prepared, with such a bright, steadfast generation to lead the way. 

A little bit ago I read a scripture that one of my companions had mentioned to me. It has shaped the way that I want to live today, and forever. The disciple of Christ that I want to be even when i no longer have the nametag to guide me. It`s in Doctrine and Covenants 53:2, and it says : 

Behold, I the Lord, who was crucified for the sins of the world, give unto you the commandment that ye shall forsake the world.

The Savior turned His back on the world. He permitted Himself to be ridiculed, yelled at, spit upon, insulted, tortured, and crucified, and He did it for US. So we--I-- can and will turn my back on the world for HIM. We must turn to face HIM, to deny that which is unholy so that we can see His perfect countenance smiling, shining upon us until WE shine, just as the nephite people when He visited them soon after His resurrection. That is the commandment we have been given, and that is what we are to do, and as we do so, we too will  S H I N E. 

i love my Savior and what He did for me and continues to do every day. I am far from perfect and sometimes it seems like my weaknesses are thrown in my face. i often still feel like i have no clue what i`m doing, and i don`t know what the future holds, and i don`t always know why things happen when they do. but what i`ve figured out is, i know HE lives, and that`s all i NEED to know. 

What do YOU need to do to forsake the world? 

I love you, I love you, I love you! 

Hermana Dolan 

Fill your bottle!....................February 2, 2015

Hey errbody! How the heck are all of you? I hope everybody is doing awesome. Wow you guys, thank you all SO stinking much for all your support! I was flooded with emails this week. Not too common for someone almost going home haha because everybody just gets bored (don`t worry, i understand....i do too), but your support has been incredible! Thanks guys. Love you all so much! 

So this was a slammin`week! 

On Wednesday we had d i v i s i o n s. I went with Hna Tafur from Pero to her area in Barrio 5. It was a rainy day, because it literally has rained EVERY single time I`ve gone on divisions for my ENTIRE mission haha. But it was awesome! Hna Tafur is a really fantastic missionary and we had a really great time and I learned a lot. The biggest thing i learned from her was asking for references from EVERYBODY. We did that, and the woman we ate lunch with mentioned to us a house down the street. So after afternoon studies, while it was raining and the WHOLE world was asleep for siesta, we went to contact it. We clapped like 3 times and no one came out, but we still waited, and waited, and our patience paid off! A guy came out and we awkwardly tried to contact him by yelling through the rain (when i say we, i mean i. i awkwardly did that), until he said "come in out of the rain!" His name was Cesar, and the reference was actually for his girlfriend, but she wasn`t home, so we talked for a bit in the front of his house and got to know him. Turns out he is like 30 and always went as a young man and even almost got baptized but then for some reason didn`t. Annnnd he`s like besties with the bishop of Barrio 5. We said we would come back another day and gave him their number for in case they needed anything, and he texted immediately saying "thanks so much for your visit! I hope to start going to the sunday meetings again and put me in contact with the missionaries." woot! miracles in divisions! 

While I was gone, my comp was just being awesome and inviting people to get baptized! She and Hna Petty went to visit Gabriela and talked about the blessings of keeping the commandments and she invited her to get baptized the 21 of this month and she accepted! And today makes 2 weeks that she hasn`t drank a drop of alcohol, and she just looks so much happier and says she sees a change in her life. Please pray for Gabriela to keep going strong to make it to her baptism and continue firm after! 

While contacting, this awesome guy walks out of his house. He`s got long black hair and glasses, and my companion goes "wow, he`s cool." so we talk to him for a second and his name is Gonzalo. He had never talked to missionaries ever even though elders live next door, but he said we could go back! So we did, and his girlfriend Lucia was there too, and we taught the Restoration and they were both awesome and had really good questions and were super receptive. They`re like this super cool uruguayan urban hippie couple. Sad story though, we ask when we can go back...and ALL of february they have exams outside of TBO. So we can`t go back until March. Super bummer! But, good thing I extended. Mwahaha ;) 

So we have this less active named Carlos Videla. His wife passed away a few years ago and since then he`s been inactive, and his son Jervacio isn`t a member. We found him a couple days after I got here, and since then we have gone with 100% Elders quorum. Well it sure paid off, because he CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY. Church attendance was 113; it has been going up literally every single week! And the best part is his son went too! Power of the members! 

Last night, there was a women`s devotional for paraguay and uruguay. it was broadcasted from paraguay and Sister Marriott and Sister Burton spoke. It was SO AMAZING and I just felt the girl power! Sister Marriott did an object lesson where she gave a young woman an empty water bottle, and her husband one full of water. She told them both to crush the bottles. Obviously, the young woman could, but her husband now. Why? Because it was full. And then she said "You need to fill yourselves with the Spirit, because the world will try to crush you with temptations of every kind. Fill yourselves with goodness, and truth, and righteousness." And how do we do that, friends? 5 of the SIMPLEST things, which she mentioned:

1. Prayer

2. Scripture Study 

3. Partaking of the Sacrament ALWAYS

4. Service. 

5. Regular Temple Attendance and temple worthiness. 

I invite all of you to FILL YOUR BOTTLES! Fill em right up with the little things, and you will be strong even against the strongest hand of the world! 

I love you all! Have a great week! I love you, I love you, I love you! 

Hermanita Dolan 

Bad news......January 26, 2015

Haha bad news for YOU GUYS! No just kidding, it`s great news, it really is. 

So some people know that for the past little while I have been considering extending. I know, i`ve kept you guys in some serious suspense (parents) and i`m sorry! But the verdict is out....

I`m extending! I talked with President this week and it`s really what i feel like i need to do. So, I will officially be leaving the mission on March 30. (sorry i`ll just barely miss your birthdays kenz and gram. it`s close enough). So I`ll be home on the 31. So ya`ll are gonna have to wait just one month more! It`s okay, you can do hard things! :)

We had a rockin week this week, and it all came from working with the members and striving extra hard to follow the new direction we`ve been getting from President Smith and our church leaders. 

So Gabriela has really had a hard time to get over drinking, mostly because she keeps having really negative thoughts that get her down and make her go to it as a sort of therapy. We asked her if she had ever gotten a blessing before and she said no. so on Wednesday, we went with Hno Perez, the Elders Quorum Pres, so that he could give her a blessing. And this blessing, was b e a u t i f u l. And all I can do is testify that the priesthood is real and I am so thankful for worthy men to have this amazing power of God. He didn`t even know that much about Gabriela and yet he said things in the blessing that EXACTLY applied to things she had told us. The blessing just kept going and going, and we just kept listening and listening, and the Spirit was there and we could feel the power of God strengthening Gabriela and His infinite love for her as His daughter. Since then, she`s been doing a lot better. We`ve gone this week with hermana perez as well and she is just a cup of sunshine and took Gabriela in and always makes sure she saves a seat next to her in sacrament for when gabriela walks in late. I love these members! 

We have another investigator named Rene who is an older man who lives with his daughter. He was sort of listening to the missionaries but not fully attentive, but was at least reading the Book of Mormon to "compare" it to the Bible. This week we made it a goal not to visit him unless we had a member with us, and it made all the difference! The members were able to answer questions he had in a way that he could understand. We focused a lot on the Plan of Salvation and he just kept saying "this makes a lot of sense." By the end of the last lesson we had, he agreed to pray about baptism and said "all the members you have brought have talked about how happy they are because of the Gospel. And I figure, who wouldn`t want to be that happy?" He`s right! We felt totally edified by the help we got from the members this week, and they were edified, and the people we taught were edified. Everyone just got a spiritual powerboost! The power of the members is real. It is all in your hands! 

Funny story: last night about ten minutes before bedtime, I walked out to go to the bathroom and there was a TARANTULA in the kitchen, blocking my way as if it just knew i needed to brush my teeth. I screamed and Hna Gruden came and she was like "I`m not killing it!" and I was like "I`m not killing it!" (normally i`ve managed to pressure my companions into killing the big bugs, but it turns out Hna Gruden is just as stubborn as i am in that department). So, what did we do? We called our Uruguayan mom, Maria, who lives a few houses away! We called her and said "Mamà, come kill a HUGE spider or it`s going to kill us!" and she just laughed...and then laughed some more when she got there to kill it and to her it was completely tiny. It was big you guys, I promise. And disgusting and awful. But my point is, you can rest assured knowing that we have peeps willing to come over at almost 11 at night to kill a spider. In other words, we are well taken care of :)

We are currently in Montevideo today because Hna Gruden had to sign papers to be legal here. Perk of being the second companion is this is the third time! Woop! So, we`re going to go find some adventures. Ok? Sweet. I`ll send pictures next week, I promise! 

The people are great, the work rolls on, and the Gospel is true. 

I love you, I love you, I love you! I`ll see you in TWO months! :)

Hermana Dolan 

In the land of Gauchos............January 19, 2015

Gauchos is basically an Uruguayan cowboy....except they`re cooler than the Americans (I know, I`m sorry.)  And they`re ALL in Tacuarembò! 

I am officially one of two of the "oldest" hermanas in the mission.....frightening. 

So, here I am in my new digs in TBO, where I have been wanting to come my whole mission! It is so great! A LOT of campo (field...but that doesnt explain it very well in english.) And a LOT of cows! Haha it`s great. I`m in a ward again, so there`s about 100 people in church normally here. It`s definitely a big jump from a little branch, but I love places with a lot of people! 

So let me tell you guys about my companion because she is amazing....her name is Hermana Gruden and she is from Illinois. She just finished her training. Last week, she completed 2 years as a member! And do you want to know how it all started? Because her best friend invited her to church in the 7th grade. So...invite your friends to church. Anyway, she is incredible! She is so positive and happy all the time and super funny. And I can`t believe how much she knows for having just left her training. She is a great missionary and I am super stoked for her to be my "assassin"! I have seriously been so blessed in the companion department. They are my angels! 

Also....the night before I left Colonia, the ZLs there called to tell me that in TBO I will be the Hermana Leader Trainer. Which is the leader over the hermanas here, so i`m in charge of any issue, i do divisions with them, all that jazz. I don`t really know what President Smith is thinking haha, but I`m excited! 

We`ve had a good week! We`re all still getting used to the new changes in the mission, but it`s going to be awesome once we can really get into things. The ward members are really awesome and willing to help, and we get lunch every day again! Yussssss. The recent converts are so amazing. Let me tell you, one of my biggest pleasures in the mission and some of my dearest friends have been recently baptized when I got to the area. They have such a fire and love for the Gospel. Like this sweet old man named Humberto. He is working towards getting sealed to his wife who passed away once he completes a year as a member in August. And he LOVES the sister missionaries! He has a place for each of them in his "family." So, I am officially his great-great granddaughter. He is adorable. 

Speaking of, BIG NEWS! The familia Valentti from Rivera got SEALED last week! (they`re my Uruguayan parents.) My ward in Rivera made a pit stop in Tacuarembo on the way to the temple so I got to see them! My Mamà y Papà Uruguayos, Belèn, and like half the ward. Oh man, it was so great! And now they are an eternal family! And here attached is a picture of some of my amazing jovenes from that ward in front of the temple that they sent me. Families are forever!!!!

We have this investigator who has been taught by the missionaries for awhile but has a drinking problem. Her name is Gabriela, and she really does have the desire to change, it`s just such a huge addiction for her. But we`re going to fight alongside her to get it out the window, because she is so ready! Please pray for Gabriela! 

I`ve been thinking a lot about the Lord`s promises lately. A lot of times, we 

fail to trust in those promises and their fulfillment according to our obedience. Sometimes, I forget too. We sometimes completely forget about Nephi. We forget that all commandments are possible to fulfill unto the Lord, and many times, like Laman and Lemuel, we forget the promises that can come after completing our part with the Lord. That`s why I really love these verses in Alma 37:

7 For he will fulfill all his promises which he shall make unto you, for he has fulfilled his promises which he has  made unto our fathers.

 18 For he promised unto them that he would preserve these things for a wise purpose in him, that he might show forth hispower unto future generations.

 19 And now behold, one purpose hath he fulfilled, even to therestoration of many thousands of the Lamanites to the knowledgeof the truth; and he hath shown forth his power in them, and hewill also still show forth his power in them unto future generations;therefore they shall be preserved.

SO many promises of the Lord to our fathers are being fulfilled, and generations had to pass to receive them! Maybe it will take centuries, maybe weeks, maybe days, but it`s just as Jeffrey R. Holland says "some blessings come now, some come late, and some don`t come until heaven. But for those who follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ, they come." I believe in that promise. Sometimes I forget it momentarily, but the Lord always kindly reminds me to T R U S T in His guiding hand. So, keep going always and don`t stop, because the good will come, as long as you are faithful, it will A L W A Y S come. It also makes me think about how, just like we are the answered prayers of our fathers, we can be the answers to anyones prayer. May we always look for the heads who need a shoulder to lean on! 

Well, I sure do love all of you. Thank you for all of your support and your prayers. I am already learning so much here in Tacuarembo and a LOT from my companion, and I know I still have more to learn, and I`m excited to do it and to see what promises of the Lord will be fulfilled! 

I love you, I love you, I love you! 

Hermana Dolan