On to Edinburg

We had transfers this Tuesday. I left Port Isabel and miss it so very much. I am now in Edinburg South. I am currently white washing the area with Sister Vidal who is from Mexico and has been on her mission for 4 months. When you white wash an area that is when both of the companions are new to that area. So that is sort of fun, and a new challenge.

I am also excited to she what Edinburg has in store for me. I hope to continue to find, teach, and baptize. The best thing about the mission is baptizing families. I hope my companion and I have the ability to baptize families in these next few weeks. We need to pray and learn how to use our faith. Better. Well pray for me in my new adventure.

Love,

Hermana Zani

My Mormon.org Profile

This is my mormon.org profile:

http://mormon.org/me/8XFM/

I know not the best photo of me, but check it out.

Thanks,

Hermana Zani

Port Isabel

Hello Friends!

Port Isabel is a beautiful place. I would encourage all of you visit this beautiful place sometime in your life.

This past week we met a family from El Salvador. They have only been in the United States for a year. This family was able to see the temple that was recently built there and loved it. I really enjoy finding and teaching families. I love that God sent us to earth in families to learn and grow. I have seen the power that families can have for either growth or destruction and I know that there is so much good that can happen in families as the family is centered in Jesus Christ.

This past weekend we had a convert get baptized for a little girl with autism. This child is
deathly scared of the water but had been prepped that this would be just like taking a bath. Moments before the baptism this girl started to get scared and panicky but I promised the Elders that I would help her get into the water. I placed my hand in the baptismal font and then held my hands out so she could feel the water. Then ever so
slowly we guided her into the water and she was baptized without a tear in ear. She did it!

However, after her baptism she remarked. That was just like taking a bath. :) Then she asked but where was the soap?:) I love the comments children make.

Con Amor,
Hermana Zani

It Was A Very Good Week

Hello Friends!

We baptized a family this week.

The dad is already a member but invective. He joined the church in 1999 in Iowa when he was homeless and found a job working in Denny's. His boss and later roommate was a
member of the Church. The father of this family, we’ll call him Daniel, kept asking his roommate how he can be so happy all the time. His roommate remarked that it is because of his Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and he said that anytime he wanted he could find out more.

Eventually, Daniel was baptized and moved to Utah where he lived for a year. Later,
however, Daniel fell away from the church. The mom, who we will call Mary, had met with missionaries before and had attended church several times but did not join because of an abusive ex-husband.

My companion and I first met this family when an appointment had fallen through, we
decided to knock on some doors. When we knocked on this door, Mary answered and stated she has just put her baby down to sleep and asked us if we could come back later. She stated that she attended another church currently but that she has attended our church before. We asked when we could stop by again and she was really vague with us.

However, a week later we were talking with a member and he asked if we would stop
by this person’s house. When we looked at the address we stated we have met them already but that we would stop by again. This time when we passed by the mom let us right in because we said we have come to visit your daughter and your friend Brother Trigos sent us by. From there the rest is history.

This baptism was one of the best I have ever been to. Everybody was touched and uplifted and everyone felt the spirit more after they left. I am so grateful for the opportunity to have worked with this family, as they will always be in my hearts.
Please keep praying that we find families and especially a Spanish family.

I love you all and miss you so very much. I have especially missed the students from my class last year this past week. On of our new investigators, Melinda, brought out her little miracle child who was only a few ounces at birth but now after much therapy is alive and
well but cannot talk or walk. When I saw her I began to cry and told her that just as God had answered her prayers by sending us to her door, he had answered my prayers by sending her little daughter to me. :)

Con Amor,
Hermana Zani

Week of 2 April

Hello my Dear Sweet Friends!!

I just loved General Conference this past week. I think it was just the best ever. I loved all the talks, but I especially loved President Uchtdorf's talk on forgiveness. If you have not listened to the talk I urge you all to do so now. Go to this website www.lds.org and click on the link to General Conference and listen to the amazing works of this man called of God.

I think often of forgiveness especially here in the mission field. I think about a family that we are teaching that came to see General Conference this week. I think about the struggles that this family has and how so many of their problems could be fixed
by applying the principles of being slow to anger and quick to repentance. I think about the times in my life when I have done this and how much happier I have been and how much peace I have had in my life.

I also think about the need for repentance and how much you need this on your mission, how essential repentance is for every person. There was a comment made by one of the Brethren this weekend who said this about missionary work "Missionaries come into the field as excited anxious people and leave the missionary feel as mature individuals ready to handle any task placed before them."

 I believe to some extent this is what a mission does; it helps us to grow to really love people to really become like Jesus Christ to see through his eyes and hear with his ears and to say the things that he would say. This
does not come all at once but comes over time each day.

I urge each of you to look for ways to become more like Christ to really represent him in your actions and in your life.

Con Amor,
Hermana Zani

Another Week in Port Isabel

Hello Friends,

This week I had something called migas for the first time which is basically corn tortillas fried until they almost become like chips with eggs. It was pretty interesting to say the least. My stomach is learning how to handle to fried food sort of. :)

Anyways, things in Port Isabel have been crazy this week we have had Spring breakers
which means that on Saturday we sat in traffic for an hour and a half trying to go 1 mile and there was no other road to get there. I just sort of wished all these people were going to church instead of the beach. Ha ha!

Needless to say I am loving Port Isabel. I think my Spanish is slowly getting better. Being Senior Companion is super hard and I feel that I fall so short of leadership abilities sometimes. I want to lead with love but so many times find myself pushing people into changing or being too passive. I have to find this beautiful middle ground which I hope that I can find.

Please pray for the families here in Port Isabel that they will find in their hearts a desire to attend church and to progress towards this gospel.

I love you all and pray for your success.

Hermana Zani

Week of March 12 Message

Hello Friends!

Sorry, I have not written in a few weeks. Things have been pretty busy. I left my first area about three weeks ago into a new area. The new area is called Port Isabel. It is right off the beach and right now is Spring Break which means traffic and craziness. The other day we were driving down a street searching for a house and could not get through because of all the people standing in the street.

Within my first two weeks of being here in Port Isabel, we had two baptisms one of which was an investigator who when we went into a lesson with him and were following up about baptism and his baptismal date, he stated he wanted to baptized that Sunday instead in three weeks! So we had to hurry and teach him all the lessons and get him prepared for baptism. Then the following Sunday we had another baptism.

Now we currently have 5 people with baptismal dates and my companion and I are searching and praying for a whole family to teach and to get baptized. I know that
families are so important to God and I know how Christ can bless families. We have been teaching part families but not whole families. Please pray for us to find and teach a whole family this week, that they will have a desire to come to church and a willingness to get
baptized.

Other things about Port Isabel, lets see, I went from a mostly English speaking area to a mostly Spanish one. I am in a Spanish ward and gave my first talk in Spanish this past Sunday. I was a little nervous and glad there were fewer people there because many people forgot to set there clocks ahead. There is an older gentleman in our ward who
served as a Mission President in Columbia many years ago and has awesome stories that I will have to share will you all next week.

I love you and enjoy hearing from you all.

Much love,
Hermana Zani