Last Preparation Day in Guatemala

this is my lastttttttt letterrrrr as a missionary---- i cannot believe it... it has gone by so fast... it really still has not hit me.... i keep thinkin i have so much to do, and it is true there is so much more to do. but today we visited some members in Reu and my heart felt so good, i felt content to see them and feel their love. but to hear them say "thank you for helping us feel the love of Heavenly Father and thank you for helping us"..... yesterday bishop said "thank you for everything" and we had a dinner with him and it was so good.... he is an amazing person and has touched my heart.... Guatemala will always be in my heart... i can never let it go.... the people here will always be in my heart and mind.... there is so much i learned here in Guatemala but from all of it the love of Heavenly Father for His children and my love for Him has grown. before i testified of Jesus Christ, but now i can testify with all my heart He lives and He died for our sins... i love it here and always will... i will live to the fullest in these 2 days here in serving the Lord.

26 November 2012

today we are here in reu in a meeting of the sister missionaries and we have tons to do. but i'm in charge of the talent show that the sister will have and i am so excited to see that tonight. i do not know what else we will be doing. hahha 

this week was wonderful we are working hard with all the members and doing activities with them to help them feel the importance of being active in the church. this week on thursday we will be having a talent show with all the members and again we are in charge of that. hahha. lots of things to do this week. also our bishop invited us to eat with him, because yeah i'm going home soon. he is amazing and always i'm learning so many things from him. so the family that we are teaching will not be baptized this saturday because they were not in church yesterday and the rules are 3 asistencias before they can be baptized. it was hard but it's okay. i know they need to be prepared to be baptized and not baptized because i'm leaving, hard but it's better that way. they are a great family and they are progressing. 

but we also found new people this week because of the members. they are so amazing here. they have really opened up to us and are just working with us in the work. i really have felt the joy of good work. i do not have tons of baptisms here and i have one more week to go but i can see that the ward is so much stronger... or it might be that i'm so much stronger... i'll take the two, haha. but i am really trying to work my hardest in this last leg of my mission, but i know that there is so much more to do in the work of the Lord. it never ends.

Members and Missionary Work

lots of things happened this week. one of the members in our ward passed away, and we were helping a lot with that.... she has 4 daughters and the oldest is 21 and the youngest 14. it was so hard to see.... it really hurt, and i was crying with them. i cannot believe how much love i feel for the people at times. when i'm just sitting at my desk or at night i think about how much love i have for them and can see that every day it grows... it is such a beautiful feeling... i prayed so much for love and i'm feeling it.... i know that i still have so much to learn but i am soaking it in everyday.... 

we have new rules in the mission and one of them is that we cannot knock doors anymore, just reference and contact with the members. it was a shock for us, but it is good because i have seen results in the ward just with working with the members... they really have gotten to love the work and are willing to work with us. i really do love our bishop. he is always teasing me and asking me to stay another change and forget about BYU and studying. haha. he really is thankful for us. he says he will take us out to dinner with his family the next week. we have so much confidence with him. also there have been a lot of changes, and we are working in two areas. there are no elders so we are working in their area and ours. it is really big and at times i feel stressed, but i love the feeling of the calming Spirit of my Heavenly Father and the feeling to keep working. i'm working hard and i am so thankful for the work. i know that it will never be done, but i know the Lord always blesses us when we have faith in Him. i love everything about my area and seeing where the other part of my ward is, which is more in the mountains and it is so pretty.

Earthquake

this past week there was a earthquake and it was a big one, there are little ones here but this one was pretty big. luckily we were in the church and in a place where it is secure. afterwards we were just like "wow this is real." but i felt really safe and did not feel that scared. but it just made me think a lot about the Book of Mormon when Jesus came in 3 nefi and how there were earthquakes and storms and everything, just the little bit of what i felt made me think of how scary that was for them and made me think of how we are in the last days.. then i thought "wait i'm not ready for the 2nd coming i just have a few more weeks until i'm home!" haha jk but other than that we are working here... lots to do and i do not know where to start. i am the companion here with more time in the field and i feel terrible because we do not have baptisms right now and i'm thinking what to do.. we are working the members but i think we need to work a little harder with them because this whole week was contacting and that was not really successful. we just need to find another path to find new people... but other than that i just wanted to say i love my ward so much. i love working here with the people and seeing our converts progress. i know that this work is true and that the Lord sends us to people that are waiting to hear His words. that we are angels in His work and that He has so much planned for all His children.

Wow, what a week!

this week was such a hard week.... but i loved it!! we really do not have fechas for this month and we are working hard, but it was one of those weeks where it was trying your faith. i was on my knees so much this week but it's a comfort to me to know that when i pray it is free. and what comfort it is to have that knowledge that we can pray to our Heavenly Father and feel His love fill our hearts, or when we feel so helpless we can offer a pray and feel the strength seep into our hearts and body. that is why we have weeks like this to realize and see all the little blessings in life. i am so happy to be here... happy to be learning lessons like this... also seeing the type of person i am becoming. 

we had a conference with presidente and he was talking about how we need to develop the characteristics like Jesucristo and how we need to always be working on that. i have lots to learn but i think that i have my whole life to do that, but it is here that i am starting to see how i can do it... 

October 29, 2012 - Happy Halloween!!

this week was wonderful... i am with my new comp and you can see the picture of us... she is from mexico.. and her name is Hermana Rosas... she is really chill and i like that, but she always makes me laugh... i am learning so much from her and she loves to work, which i like. hahah. we are working hard and we had a baptism this week of INGRID... i was so happy! there were so many people (like 45) and the members were so happy. a lot of people were waiting for her to be baptized and at first she was so nervous and did not want to, but the day of/the minute before she was like alright lets go do this! haha it was funny.... but it was such a wonderful experience with her... but we have a lot to work with her because it has not ended yet... also i forgot to write you all about Zulay she was our milagro baptism... she was baptized last week and her boyfriend is a member and they are getting married on the 10th of Nov!... i am so excited for her... i really do love her... she is amazing... she is so cute and she is so strong. i am really looking forward to her future. but we are working hard here. trying to help the ward have more desire to work with us... we are trying to become better with working with them but i love my ward so much... 

tonight we are going to be with our bishop because his dad passed away yesterday and here in Guatemala they have a meeting for the family for like 7 days, but we are helping out with putting up tents and chairs and making hot drinks, and today just going to meet with him and all the members. but it was sad to see this happen for obispo... yesterday i was thinking how i could help him and his family, but i just thought it's better to just help out and we gave him a card.... 

well right now we are looking for families to teach so we are contacting a lot and working with the members.... i know that is where we will have the success... 

October 22, 2012

i am so happy that Halloween is coming! so some members in my ward bought a pumpkin for me and we are going to carve it for Halloween  i love this family they are always helping us, especially right now when my comp has been hurt, so she will be going home... it really has been hard for her, i feel so bad for her and i was thinking how it must feel to have to go home when you want to keep working... i feel so bad for her... but this past week she was told to be on bed rest and so i have been going crazy this week looking for people to do divisions with me and to keep working with our investigators. the family that we had moved and that really tore my heart out... i felt so bad because they were progressing and i was really happy to see them progress, but they moved into the area of our district leader and i gave him their number. i really hope they can keep on progressing. but this week i have seen the help of the Lord so much. at times i felt like i was so alone and i just kept on going and i saw the Lord help me in some way, answers to my prayers. i have seen the importance of being a companionship of 2. i love working with the members but it is not the same as teaching with my comp. but i feel so bad for her because she will be going home 8 months early. but i've learned so much from her... in this next change i will get a new comp and i think i'll be staying here in San Felipe, i really hope i will because we have one hermana that accepted to be baptized this Saturday and it is hard for her that Hermana Aldana has changes, but this Ingrid... she has changed so much, i love seeing the change in her... i love how the gospel changes the lives of others. she was in our activity this week and she loved it. but the members are getting to know us better and it has been a wonderful experience  i am learning so much and i am so happy to be here.... we are working hard and with my new comp i am praying we will find more families that are waiting for the gospel.

October 15, 2012

alright lets see what happened this week.... hum.... we had trainings with pPesidente about the Book of Mormon, the Holy Ghost, teaching people and not lessons and last of all the gospel of Jesus Christ. it was good because it helped me see areas where i need to work better in. also to feel the love Presidente has for us his missionaries was wonderful. we always need to work on being better and see what talents we do have, it was great because we practiced afterwards and i was pretending to be one of our investigators and it was amazing because we received a lot of revelation for her. when we taught her that same night she asked the same things we asked during the practice and we were able to help her. it was great! also this past week we were vising a family and one of the sons had his fiance over and we ended up teaching her and challenging her to baptism and she accepted for this coming Saturday .. its a milagro... and we are so thankful for that.. she is so prepared because of her boyfriend and she asks so many questions i love it. oh so we are trying to work more with the ward and i was praying for help on how we can do that, then something happened... my comp is really having trouble with her knee, and we had visited the doctor and got x-rays last week and this week they sent her to get a MRI and it looks like she might need to get surgery, but we are still waiting on the final word from the doctor here in the mission. we will probably know this week. but with this i have been doing divisions with members. i am just really worried about my comp because she has pain all the time and i do not know how to help her i just thought why didn't i pay more attention in my classes because the words they used, the doctor, i thought "oh I remember learning that word at one time" hahha but we are trying to work hard, and i know the Lord knows our hearts....
so we are teaching a family named Chanchavac and this Sunday just his wife went to church, but he is reading the Book of Mormon, but we are working hard with them and the other investigator named Ingrid and we have others that we are working with, but i'm just praying we will get help to visit them all.
just working hard an trying to be the best i can.

October 8, 2012

WHAT 19 YEARS OLD FOR SISTERS!!!!! i was so shocked and was just so surprised how that was changed, but i was then brought to tears thinking of how the Lord needs all he can have doing His work.... to help His children hear his gospel and receive eternal life... it is such a blessing to be here and to be doing this maravilloso work. i know that the Church is true and that the gospel i teach every day is true.
so conference was so amazing... Saturday i listened in English and Sunday i listened in Spanish with our investigators... we planned on our family we are teaching to come but they didn't and i was a little sad but our lider de misional left with us to visit him and it was a great lesson. he was like yeah he will be baptized this month haha it was great because it helped our ward mission leader have a little more animo. also our bishop said he wanted to visit the family on Wednesday so we are working hard with this family and another famlia. i am so thankful to be here and to just learn so much from the people here.. they are amazing and so beautiful i love my ward and just being with the members...

so i loved all the talks during Conference, but the talk that i especially loved was by Elder Larry Echohawk i was crying so hard because i just thought about our people and how when i go home i want to dedicate my life to help them like Elder Echohawk... but then i thought how right now i am dedicating 1 year and a half to my brothers and sisters in Guatemala. i am so thankful that we have the Book of Mormon and to just be here to be doing the work of the Lord. and i am loving all the rain, heat, beans, tortillas and Spanish here in Guate.

October 1, 2012

i am still loving my area, and yes there is still tons tons tons of rain, but i really am enjoying it because i know that is one of the special parts of guatemala. 

we having been working with the family joj but we are really working with them and it is not getting easier... i really do not know what to do but we are praying for them and hoping that they can progress. but we decided that we need to keep looking for others that are ready, and this past week we were contacting and found a family and they are so special... he is 28 and she is 23 and they have 2 children. we found him and gave him a folleto and he read it all when we visited him with his wife... it was really special he likes it and has so many questions... also all of our citas fell and so we ended up contacting and there was a house that we always pass and i always see the woman outside but when we pass i think "hum i want to contact her but ah we don`t have time" or "tomorrow"... but yesterday we had a cita and i was like no i am going to contact her, she was wrapping a present and was trying to figure out how to do it and i was like "hey i can help! but it will be like how we wrap in the states." then i explained how my brother does not like to wrap and i always got asked to wrap it for him.... ... and it turns out that she had missionaries before but at that time was gong to another church. but right now she is not going there and she said we can come back whenever we can. it was a great experience... 

here are some pics. enjoy!

September 17, 2012

can you believe how fast the time is going? septiembre is already almost over and i cannot believe it... it is happening so fast.... i have another companion. she is from el salvador!!!!! hahah i'm so excited to be with her. she is so short, and she is a ball full of energy hahha. i love her so much. she is just so easy to love. but i'm learning so much from her. in these 5 days i've learned so much that i cannot believe how much i've changed... i am so excited to work with her in this change and to work with the ward members and just to be here with her in san felipe. so my first day with her we taught luis. he is the youth that had a fecha to be baptized last saturday but didn´t he asked to be baptized friday and it was such a wonderful experience.... after the baptism was such a tender moment... he thanked me so much and was like "thank you for not giving up on me"... it was so beautiful. i was so thankful that i got to see him baptized. 

this week we are working really hard and trying to help people come unto Christ. i see myself grow a lot and i was thinking how the Lord knows when we need to have those moments of growth that we at times do not want. 

our baptism  this friday was from family yac. they helped with another youth baptsim last saturday and they gave a reference for the sisters in san felipe. so just in this month 3 of their references were successful... i really love this family! they are so kind.... they really have grown in my heart.... 

so there is still lots of rain and we didn´t get any ash or signs of the volcanoes in antigua but did you know that i live near an active valcano? .... yeah i think i live by two, but it's a really pretty view from my window every morning.

September 10, 2012

so this is going to be short letter, but this week was great with hermana acosta. this week we had 2 baptisms and it was great because we had it with 3 other wards and it was just really nice. lots of people. we are working right now family joj and they are having difficulties so we are thinking how we can help them... its a little hard working with them because when they fall it's hard not to feel the pain.. i am really thankful for them and the opportunity to be working with them. i always think how does Heavenly Father feel when his children make the choices that cannot help them return to him? but i know that He is always helping us to help them come closer to Him; to have hope and to feel that they are not forgotten or alone. i am really thankful that i have my comp. she is teaching me so much and i love how we have the same thoughts. it shows that we are both listening to the Holy Ghost. i am so thankful to be here and we are working hard to help this family and a youth and a another family receive the gospel. the challenge is reading the book of mormon and going to church, but gotta keep working hard... well i have changes this week and i am a little scared but i know it will be all fine because i can learn more and progress. but i am a little sad because the time with heramana acosta went so fast.... but that's how life is :) 

September 4, 2012

this week was wonderful. i'm so thankful for my comp.... i am learning so much from her and i'm so thankful that i'm here to learn all these things... i know that it will help me be a better person and come closer to Heavenly Father. so this week we had wonderful experiences... we put 2 baptisms for this saturday with tony who is a youth and is a reference from a family and alba another reference from a member. she is a grandma and is visiting from the states and i don´t know how it will work out but she did not want baptism because she did not feel ready but talking with her and her grandson she accepted and i know the missionaries in cali where she is living will be mad at us but we just felt like it was right to challenge her to be baptized and her grandson can baptize her. but i love her she is really cute.... and tony was a wonderful experience with him when he was trying to decided to accept to be baptized... he was like "i want to but i don´t know. a part of me is saying no." we shared d&c 6:33-36 and he changed his mind and said yes. it was cute because the lesson was with members and they were so happy for him. it was a good lesson. i love working with the members here. 

but the best part was with family joj... so the wife is a little hard and did not want anything to do with the church but she has changed so much and she went to church sunday. it was such a blessing to see their whole family at church and to be seeing a change in their hearts and in their family. i'm so thankful that we get to work with them and to help them feel of the love of Heavenly Father. well that is about it i think. there is so much that happens here and i cannot write it all just know that i am doing good and am loving it here in san felipe. changes are next week and i know i'll be getting a new comp. i'm a little sad... i love my comp but i know there is more for me to learn and i know that i have learned so much from hermana acosta... i love my mission and i'm thankful for your support and prayers. 

August 27, 2012

life is great in the mission. we are working with a lot of families and this week we did divisions to help be able to teach these families. this past week we have been trying to figure out which families to focus on a little more. but yesterday one family in our ward bought all the materials for me to make navajo tacos hahah yeah i made them here and they loved it! it was great!!!! hahah they were so happy, they always ask questions about my tribe and it's really fun. also this past week i got really sick but luckily it was just one day.. i have gained a stronger testimony about receiving priesthood blessings to heal faster. but it was cool because i left to teach and we had a wonderful experience with a family. we taught with a member and it was such a blessing to hear her testimony... i loved it. she told us that that day was really hard for her and she did not want to go out and teach with us but she did and afterwards felt much better.. it's great. 

this family we are working with is a little hard and we are pushing to help them. during the lessons with them we can feel the spirit so much but we need to just have more patience with them... this is family martinez... haha right now i have a lot of investigators with that last name... i love it hahah. 

there is lots of rain and lots of work to do... i love my comp and am learning from her everyday. also i love living with hermana estrada and crooks, i have the opportunity to learn more from them. they are great and i am so thankful for my area. oh yesterday we were looking for an investigator outside the church and i heard someone say "hermana willie" and it was a family from reu! familiy morales i helped baptize the father-in-law law of the sister. his name is hector. remember that he was baptized 21 of july? they came to just see us and i was so happy. i really do miss them and they told me that he goes to church every sunday and when they showed me a picture of all the family outside the chapel i almost started crying... i really am thankful to be here and just to met new people and help people change their lives... i know that i need to work harder and be a light to others.

August 13, 2012

i love san felipe! i cannot believe how love can change with areas and with people, when i was in coatepeque i thought i can never love in reu like i did in coate but now i see that with my three areas (hahah, yeah lots huh) there is a different kinda love but the same... understand? its love but it's a different kind hahah
so this week was amazing.... i really love my new comp. i have never met someone that can have so much love and charity for others. i am learning so much from her. everyday i think how much i learn from her, and it is amazing. also i love the members here. i am learning so much from them... i think it is amazing how the gospel changes lives.... a lot of the members here are converts and their stories are amazing.... i think how important our work here is because if missionaries did not find them they would not have changed their lives and all their family could not have had this happiness. one member in our ward... ah she is amazing.... yesterday we visited her and well... i need to start the story from the start. so her name is nayté she is a single mom of five and she accepts all people into her house. a lot of kids are always in her house because she loves all. there is a youth name ronadye he is 11 years old... his family does not care for him his mom and step dad always drink and he ends up staying the night at the house of nayté, he practically lives there. he works everyday and does not know how to read... his life is really hard but nayte gives him love and helps him realize that he is worth something..... well he got baptized sunday morning.... i think its amazing how she helped a soul receive the gospel... i know she has changed this kid's life forever... she has helped him have more opportunity in his life..... i have learned so much from her...  i have seen my life change and faith strengthen because of her.... she is always sharing the gospel with everyone because her life was not easy but because she has the gospel it is better. she is amazing.... then there is elsy she lives with nayte and wow the both of them are such wonderful people.... they help so many learn about the gospel and are always helping us and willing to give their time.... i am so thankful that i know them and for the opportunity to be here. to just know them.... so that was a little about the wonderful week i had.

with investigators we have a lot of families we are working with and it was a miracle because on sunday a family lopez went to church.... he lived in the states for like 14 years and the whole family but the wife talk in english... so at times when i want to express or joke i talk in english they love it... but we had such a powerful lesson with them saturday that he accepted to go to church.... it was amazing how the holy ghost witnesses what we teach... i am so thankful that this time in my life i have the opportunity to teach this wonderful gospel and to let the children of men feel his power and love.... it was such a wonderful experience with them. 

friday was our pday and we got to go to xetulul, it's like 6 flags, and we spent the whole day there. we as a zone, well zone in reu and the zone here had the most baptisms so we got to go there. it was so much fun and i love being here with hermana acosta and estrada they teach me so much..... but it was a wonderful memory because it started to rain like crazy! i was like yep we are in san felipe...... hahah but it was raining so hard this day! it was pouring from 2 until like 8 it was crazy.... i have never seen so much rain in my life all the streets where like rivers. so remember how i said that san felipe gets the most rain in guate? so that was a lie. i asked my bishop and he said "no, in all of central america"..... so that is a lot haha he said it is just starting..... 

New Area

i had changes. i am no longer in reu. i am...... in ..... SAN FELIPE!!!!!!!!!!  it is about 20 mins from reu and we go to reu every 15 days to get food and stuff. but it is a lot cooler here and i am loving it. but it is the area that gets the most rain in guate i've heard from my new bishop. so i will be looking forward to this change. my new comp is hermana acosta... she is also one of my good friends in the mission. she has the same time as me and when we found out we were comps we could not believe it! we thought how is that possible but the other part that it amazing is that hermana estrada is in my zone, district, and in our house hahah we are sharing a house and she is with hermana crooks and she entered the mission with me too. we are all in the same house and have the same time in the mission. it was a little weird but i am loving it. i love having my friends near me, they help me so much. but this change i am so excited because we have a family that we are working with. they lived in the states for about 15 years and the children understand english. at times i talk in english to them and they like it. i really love this family. the first day i met them my love for them grew. i am really praying that we can help them accept baptism but there is a lot to do until then.... i am loving this area... i am so thankful that i am here and to feel once again like i do not know anything.... i feel like a new missionary and i am excited to get to know this area. the ward seems really good and we are going to try and do activities with them. but that is about it right now. just that i am loving my new comp, she shows so much love and is one of the sweetest people i have ever met... she never sees the bad in people and is the definition of charity. she is from perù hahah i've had the only perù sister in the mission hahah and i m loving it! 

Hey

i really do love this area and the members and just being here with my comp. i think everyday how it is such a blessing to just be here and to be learning so much. i know that there is so much more to learn and that i need to work to get it... haha. but this week we were busy the whole time.... but it was such a good week. it was fun just working with Hector and Nataly. hector is amazing, he has changed so much and his daughter said that he is not the same person, that he has changed so much. this man and his family no words can describe my experience with them. this past month i really have thought about the scripture that with the faith of men miracles happen and after a lot of work among them they began to have a lot of success. Alma 32:2. i know the Lord change the heart of Hector and he was prepared to be baptized this day. i love what hna Estrada always says, people can look at the case of family Rodrigues, Jose Luis, Hector and Nataly and think how easy those baptisms were, but they do not see the years before when they had their hardships and moments when they felt so lost. each of these personas were prepared for this time to accept the gospel and we're just instruments in the hands of the Lord. i know that we are not perfect but i am so thankful that we can work on becoming better people.

so funny story and cute. we got to see Hector propose to his wife thursday night... it was great, i really enjoyed it, it was really cute and she was crying so hard. after 24 years he accepted to marry her and be baptized. she told us that he would get so mad when she would go to church and with the kids as well and would not talk with any of the elders but within the last 3 years he changed. ah this man was one person i have so much respect for. it was great teaching him and working with him. Nataly had missionaries for years teach her too. when she got the Gift of the Holy Ghost a lot of the people in the ward were surprised and so happy because for years she investigated the church.  

sad story but one i learned a lot. so saturday was a lot and i was not feeling good because i m fighting a cold right now. but after the wedding of Hector we had the baptism and during the bapstim we went out of the room to get the scriptures of my comp. while she was getting them i looked outside and saw a group of men driving off with the motorcycle of our bishop... i was at first thinking why is that young man staling in his moto he knows how to drive and why is there a bunch of them and hey that moto is the color of bishop´s... i then told hna Estrada i think they stole the moto of bishop and she was like how do you know i explained it to her and we were like what do we do tell him now or after the baptism.... we decided to wait a little and when she finished her talk we talked with his wife and she was like we will tell him after. we told him and he was like really well and said "i'll talk to the girls and you can go report it." my bishop is amazing, he has so much patience and one who gives his all for his calling. he is always teaching me lessons and helping me see the most important things in life. he did not get mad, did not show any anger or sadness in his face, but just that he knew that there were important things to do first. he had the patience to explain to his daughters what had happened. one of his daughter was like "dad i do not feel good" and he took the time to explain about the Holy Ghost and when we feel that way we do not have the Holy Ghost. he then took all the kids and started to teach them so they would not bother us when we were cleaning. i was very impressed and thought to myself if this happened how would i have reacted. i am so thankful to have seen this and learn by his example. 

Nataly

the bride and groom (Rosenda and Hector Lopez Ramos)

baptism of Hector

This week was great

i am so grateful to see the wonderful blessings of Heavenly Father....so this week was great... we are working hard here and are seeing the fruits of our labors... this week has been filled with so many good things that everyday i think to myself how merciful the Lord is. so right now we have two other personas preparing for baptism this staurday. one is an old investigator and she came to church sunday and decided that she wanted to be baptized... she had missionaries before for years and one night she had a dream that made her think about her life and wanted to change. her name is nataly hernadez. but her brother is a member and is a great person. he is always willing to work with us and help us out. also we have been working with hector. he is a man that did not want to see missionaries in his house and his kids are less active. only his wife...well his women because they are not married... is a member. we are working with him to be baptized this saturday and have his wedding before the baptism... with this family i have been exercising a lot of faith but i have seen such a beautiful change in him and in his family. he has so much more light to his face and he keeps all the commitments we give him. he reads the Book of Mormon every morning at 2 am, so he can not read well and his eye sight is really bad but we promised him that if he prayed before reading he would be able to see and understand it. it was fulfilled and this week we bought him a big Book of Mormon that he can read without trouble, when we gave it to him he almost cried... it was so touching, also he is very proud of his Book of Mormon. 

the Lord is really blessing us right now with success and i know that it is all Him. i know that i am nothing without my Heavenly Father. we are working hard and are trying to find new people to teach. i think it is amazing how as missionaries we can help people feel that there is hope in their lives with the gospel of Jesus Christ that we can help people see that life is not just pain and hopelessness. i have seen the Lord use us to find certain people and say the right words for them. i am so thankful to be here and to be in this work. please pray for hector and nataly this week so that they will have that extra strength...  

Baptism of Jose Luis

Familia Rodriguez

My mission president's mother-in-law visiting from Nicaragua and we taught her...
she is one tough lady. I hope she gets baptized someday

when we were at a museum

I danced for an activity.

July 9, 2012 - Such a Wonderful Weekend

after 5 months of work familia rodriguez were baptized on saturday and were confirmed members on sunday. it was such a wonderful and tender moment when i saw them take these steps in their lives. i was so touched by the blessing that each of them got. ah my heart is so full.... i was so happy saturday and also jose luiz was baptized on saturday. he is so excited about going to church and changing his life. that is what the gospel is - hope. when we go to church with hearts ready to receive revelation every week we can feel like the convert that goes to church for the first time, looking for a place to find refuge from this world that at times is hard to bear. i know the gospel is true i have seen the book of mormon change hearts but most of all i have witnessed this change in my own heart.... i have been reading the book of mormon in spanish every day and my goal is to finish it in 3 months and so far i have been loving it. there is always something more to find and things to change in our lives. i know that there are things that we need in it at different points in our lives. i love what my mission presidente said about how when we read the book of mormon we receive a lot more joy and that extra push to be happy. i know this to be true when i am sad or feel terrible about an investigator. i read the book of mormon and have received that comfort that we needed. i think to myself how much easier life would have been if i had been reading the book of mormon for all these years from the start.... i know that if we rededicate ourselves to read the book of mormon, pray everyday and go to church with hearts ready to learn we will have much joy and faith to work through all things. i love how it says in preach my gospel about how faith is confidence in Jesus Christ. when we have that faith and we act on it we show our love for our Heavenly Father. i am so thankful to be here and to be changing things in my life. i am so thankful to have so many wonderful people in my life and to be touched by their love for me and this work. i love my ward so much and this area. 

oh happy day

    so this week was great! i love being here. we are working hard in our area and i am so thankful that i am here with my comp and i can work hard. she is always wants to work which is good. it was just wierd when we hit one year in the mission together... i cannot belive how fast it is going. 

well this weekend we have 4 baptisms schudule. family rodriguez.... i am so happy for this one... but i am so happy to see the faith that they have... so the wife is a member and she was so sad becuase she wanted to be baptised with her family. she said that the baptism was not correct because she was little and was so mad at her mom for the baptism. but we learned and explained that the authority was right and it was vaild but that she can have better experiences with her family in the future. the baptisms almost fell but freddy said that he knows that it is true and this is just a test of his faith. i have learned so much for them and am so thankful for them. it was great. then the other baptism is going to be jose luis. he is 22 years old and has so much in his life that he wants to change. when we were teaching him i saw him feel like a little bit of his burden has been lifted. i know that there is so much more that we need to do to help him to use the atonement more in his life. i am so grateful for the atonement and the opportunity to learn about it. i dont know it completely but i know that with the atonement it can take away all the pains in the heart. i know that jose luis right now is feeling the power of the atonement. 

also the youth had an activity with 5 differnent stakes and they had a culture night. they asked me to dance in this and i was so happy to do it becuase it was a family that we eat with every sunday that asked me and i could not say no. but i thought it was going to be a small activity but it was huge! i was freaking out.. but it was great so many people loved it and i thought how wonderful that i had the opportunity to share this beautiful dance with them.... i love dancing and am thankful that i can. after i danced i was so happy and was ready to go out and teach.... it was great.... i love the people here. they are so amazing. i know that i need to enjoy it more and work harder.

June 25, 2012

so i have one more change in reu with hermana estrada! i am really excited to be here one more change and to work with family rodriguiz it is so fun seeing him with all his books for church and he asks which lesson they are in and which he needs to study. i know that people are preapared and that when their time is right they will be baptized. one hermana that is new in our zone was in my old area and she told me about my converts and about people that we started to teach and how they were baptized, i love thinking that it is all the timing of the Lord but i just need to listen to the spirit to help His children recieve this wonderful gospel. we also had a joven come to church sunday we taught him and challenged him to be baptized 14 of july, his name is jose luiz. he is 22 years old but it was such a wonderful experience to teach him and see how the Lord prepares his children. 

oh so in our house there is new sister that is from idaho and she was in coatepeque with me. she is really funny but its weird having someone in the house that speaks english, she talks to me english but i talk to her in spanish. i have notice in this 5 days my spanish is much worse because i accidentally say words in english so i told her to help her with her spanish i will only talk in spanish with her. to tell the truth i feel more comforatble in spanish and it is more polite becuase my comp and hers only speak spanish. but its fun being in our district. a lot more untiy and we are all working hard. we are working hard this month as a zone. i love how the zone leaders taught us about unity and i feel like as a zone we are all working hard for that. 

oh so this p day we went on a three mile hike. my comp didnt like it but i really enjoyed it. i was so tired afterwards but i loved and thought how i missed this feeling. it was great, i live in such a beautiful place here and we got to climb up a half built bridge, a hill where there was ruins underneath, see a dirty river and walk through a plantation of sugar cane. i loved it. but i think i got a little burned but it was fun.

June 18, 2012

i will start with the fun experiece this week so i went to san marcos this friday and danced there for a stake activity. it was such a wonderful experience...... i danced then the polys danced.. it was wonderful. the people loved it they said it was like having byu living legends in san marcos. but one of the elders name elder kakaoho worked at the pcc in hawaii and so he taught the other 5 poly elders and the rest of the gringos it was great! THE people loved it and presidente was laughing with the slap dance. then we stayed the night in a sweet hotel and presidente trusted us with the remote to the tv to watch byu channel. but sad thing was we didnt find it and just went to bed but at breakfast he talked about when he and his wife watched byu and we were like what! what channel and then the 15 mins he gave us after breakfast we found byu channel and watched a little it was funny. but san marcos is about 3 hours from reu and is way cold like the utah... it was crazy.... i was freaking out. also i got to take a hot shower..... i haven´t taken a hot shower for almost a year. it was so nice. but so the trip to the mnts was winding and i almost threw up on the way there.... i always wanted to serve in the mnts but after that i was like hum i m okay. but i m good but on the way back i took pills before and felt better. but it is really pretty up there and was a great experience and i loved it. but it was fun being there with hermana estrada and presidente and his wife. i got to know them better and i really enjoyed it. also they have amazing bread there it was a gift from one member. 

 so this week also we were busy looking for minus activios and working with our families. it was great. one week of wonderful experiences. but one thing i loved was with family rodriguiz, we taught them saturday with the bishop and during the lesson he talked about a change of heart and freddie said that he wanted to have more of a change and he said he wants to be baptized.... it was such a spiritually filled lesson and i was filled with so much love for this family i thought how the Lord has blessed me so much to have found them and work with them, it has been 4 months and i at times thought how can i keep doing this, am i doing the right thing staying with this family, but after four months i know that it was for me to learn. they went to church sunday and it was such a good experience. we shuffled them to all the classes and when we ended freddi was so tired and he told us it was long but he wanted to go back. so we challenged them to be baptized the 7 or 14 of july, tonight we have fhe with them with another family and we will talk to them more to see if they chose a date. but this has been a great experience and i am so thankful i am here to have seen the growth of this family. also our convert brandon went and did baptisms and it was great as well. he is growing so much and i hope he serves a mission. but changes are this week and i am anxious to see what will happen. tongiht we will find out.... i really do want one more change to work with family rodriguiz and family morales but i know that the Lord knows where i need to go and who i need to teach so i am at peace when i think this.

hola

this week was a tough one but i am so thankful that i have hermana estrada. we are there to support each other and help lift each other up. we are trying to find new investigators and trying to help strengthen the ward, and it's amazing to see a change in the members. they are really nice and really good. we had fhe with familia morales with another family in the ward who is also a familia morales. haha. but jose morales is a returned missionary and i loved seeing him teach. i learned a lot from him, so much patience, and he taught it very simply. also familia rodriguiz is progressing and the father wants to meet the bishop this weekend and the bishop is pretty excited about it too. but i love my ward, i am so thankful i am here and to meet so many wonderful people. also we have been working to find less actives and help them return so we have a lot of work to do but we are loving every minute of it. 

i also love reading the talks by the prophets and apostles and just feeling their words work in my heart. i am so thankful for the scriptures and for the opportunity to study them. it is hard at times because we have moments where people want to argue with us but i am so much stronger in testifying of prayer and the truth of the church, we have not had many baptisms and that was a weight on me but i have seen a change in my heart and i am so thankful that i am here. so thankful for the love i have developed for the people and guatemala. i love it so much. all of it and that is what keeps me working harder. 

yesterday we taught hector, his wife is a member and his kids are also members but they are less actives. he loves music and that is his job. he works so hard to get money for his children and make a living but he said yesterday that he wants to change and wants to find a place that will help him. he is so funny and i always joke with him about getting baptized and he says no it's too fast. haha. so we ask him when and then he says before he dies. but he is great, he is really positive so we are working with him and his children to return. 

i loved this week. hard but great. its when you look back that you can see the lessons you learned. i know that this time is a time to be tested and to build the foundation for my life and it's being built.

fun times in the mish

saturday we had a baptism!  it was otto saul martinez ....hahah he is a great person. he really falls well with us. he is so happy about his baptism and his girlfriend is helping him adjust to the church. but funny story so latins are a little touchy like they express a lot of love with hugs and he did not know the rules and kept trying to give us a hug we were like ah.... no... haha so after his baptism when he wanted to take a picture we explained the rules and he was like why didn´t you tell me that earlier! we were like well we were too shy to tell you. hahha he was like okay i understand but he gave us earrings.  he is a really good person. it was fun teaching him because he loves everything about the church. now we just need to work with him serving a mission since he is 22!!!!  only two months older than me. also brandon, our other baptism wants to do to the temple so are working with him. he is a good kid. my comp tells him he is like my son because i always think how we can help him. but righit now we are working a lot with the members and we are trying to help them have more confidence with us. there is so much work to be done and at times i feel overwhelmed. then i think how i just have one little area to watch over and i wonder how president monson feels.... he has the whole world!!  hahha but i feel like the ward members are starting to work with us more. also we make things and give it to them. 

so none of our families went to church yesterday. we are a little disheartened about that. we are working on trying to get them to go to church. luckily, i am learning the importance of reading the scriptures when i feel down. my comp and i  always push each other. she is great. i am so thankful that we are working together. i feel like i have grown so much and have seen my talents more, and we always talk about the gospel and our investigators. 

oh funny story last night we were contacing a woman and she was not friendly at all but i kept joking around with her and making her laugh. she kept telling us no and i asked can we just sing a hymn and say one prayer and she said oh well i don´t have the keys to open the door, i joked a little bit and just touched the door and it opened! haha it was funny she was a little astonished and i was like hey look un milagro!  she was like yeah then i said well the door is not locked can we have your premission to enter then she stopped smiling and said no. oh okay but another time she said yes. so we gave our good byes and left. my comp and i were laughing and she was like willie your crazy and i was like i just touched the hatch part and it opened! i thought it was locked!!!!  haha moral of the story don´t lie about your door being locked to missionaries, well hermana willie because she will open it. haha. jk but it was funny. it helped us have a little more animo... haha i don´t know what that word is in english. but we always look for moments of happiness and the truth is it is not hard with hermana estrada she is a hard worker and always keeps me going. 

Amazing Week!

okay this week was so amazing.... this week i have seen the blessings of our work. i feel like i am a successful missionary and i feel like i am living up to my expectations; like i have been training all these 11 months but right now is the final race, well i know i have six more months but i feel like all the things i have been learning are showing more now. i have seen myself grow so much and i know that it is because Heavenly Father was shaping me during this time. every time i teach or find a new person i thank Him in prayer because i know it is because of my Heavenly Father that i am here and that we are finding His children that are ready. the field is white and already to harvest. i feel like we are finding more people and growing with them. 

well where do i start... we have familia morales - it is a husband and wife with 2 kids... i love this family with all my heart.... they are amazing. they have so much respect for each other and they are such good people. but they are reading the book of mormon and are progressing and we have a meta to baptism this month. we had family home evening with them last night at the house of the bishop and he is so good with them. also they are so happy to see us every time. then we have saul.. he is the old investigator and ahhh yesterday was crazy!!!! we taught him and made him ready for his baptism for saturday. he is such a good man. he is 20 and his girlfriend is a member. first we told him to investigate the church for his soul, not because of her, but he has been doing his part and really wants to be baptized. but one culture thing i learned here. a boy cannot be a girl's boyfriend until he asks the father to be her bf.... so he had to tell her parents that he was her bf before his baptism... he did sunday after we taught him.... it was intense!!! i felt like i was in judge judy... we were about ready to leave but the mom invited us to stay and we were like no it's okay it's your guys' thing and they said please stay! hahah we were like okay we can just listen.... yeah it was intense... but it's amazing when you start with a prayer and end with a prayer.... hahha but learned something new... hahha 

yesterday we visited a youth and his mom was there and we started to teach his younger brother who is 13 years old. this boy is crazy; he knows the bible like the back of his hand! he is really interested in the church, and his mom and brother are members so we challenged him to be baptized on the 16th of June. 

so this month has been great. my comp and i are searching and searching. but trying to help the ward at the same time. we are working on fellowshipping them. we got two of the "hard ones" to smile and invite us to visit more often. it was fun! hahha but i am really loving my time here. i love bearing my testiomony and learning more about the gospel. 

The Work

So this week was a great week. With Hermana Estrada it's always great. We are working with Gustavio right now and this past week we caught him smoking... I was so mad and sad that when we took the cigarette out of his hands and threw it on the ground, he was like, "Wait wait I can explain...." He was pretty scared of us. But we just sat down and asked him why.... he explained why, and we told him to have faith in Jesus Christ and he will help. After that day he kept his commitments to read and he limited to 2 cigarettes. But after that he regressed and did not keep his commitments. He did not go to church after 40 mins of knocking on his door yesterday... I was really sad Sunday with my bruised knuckles.... but during the sacrament I saw an old investigator and we taught him and he accepted a fecha for the 2 of June. Also the family we contacted last Sunday, family Morales, is amazing! We taught just the dad last night with the bishop and it was a great lesson. So the Lord always has people waiting to hear the message. We cannot be down but have to keep going and looking. It's great working with my comp. She pushes me and has so much energy for the work. Together we make goals and push each other. 

We are teaching a youth, Rafeal, and he was going to be baptized this Saturday but his mom and dad said no..... I was so sad.... I was about ready to cry... he was like, "But just wait. When I am older I can." I just smiled because he such a good kid... I want the best for him..... Also Brandon is doing great... He looks like a soon to be missionary.... He wants to go to the ward temple trip so we are going to talk to him about it. I love my area and the people here. I love the ward and the challenges we are dealing, but what I really enjoy is the unity I have with my comp. This time is going by a lot faster and I really do not like it to tell the truth but I am grateful for this time.

Mother's Day

We got to speak to Hermana Willie for Mother's Day. She is doing great! She looks and sounds so happy and her Spanish sounds amazing! 

They had changes last Wednesday and Hermana Willie is in the same area (REU and La Guitarra), but she has a new companion who is a lot like her personality wise and they get along very well. We could see and feel their energy and excitement for life and for missionary work :)  

Hermana Willie says that they are teaching four families, and she feels so blessed to be able to teach these families. She is humbled by their humility and the faith they demonstrate to overcome the trials they face. Many people there work hard every day just to put food on the table for their family. Even 8 year old children are out working instead of going to school so their family can eat. She says it has taught her gratitude for all that she has been blessed with. She also says that it is hot and raining tons now, and sometimes the streets are like rivers.  

We are so proud of our dear Hermana Willie! She is an amazing missionary and full of faith and charity!

We love you Hermana Willie!! Keep up the great work!

Charity

It's great here in Guatemala. Hot.... but great... I got in trouble by Presidente because I have not been drinking enough water so I am working on that right now. Also the mosquitoes are crazy right now.... I think how they feast on my legs during lessons, it's not fair. But let's see where to start. This past week we had FHE with one family of investigators and it was great. This family had so much more unity and I saw how this can help so much in the house. Also it hit me how every choice we make in our lives can determine our future. I remember mom and dad always said this but as a youth I never saw it. But here in Guatemala I see it, and it hurts seeing it. I at times think how blessed I was to be born in a family that is functional and with parents that always said no when they felt they needed to or made sure I was home on time. Being here has made me realize a lot of things and how important the gospel is in our lives. I am so thankful for the gospel. I am so thankful that I have my life and that I am able to help others have this vision. Brandon, our convert that is 16 years old, blessed the sacrament and I almost cried because he is progressing and reading the Book of Mormon. He is really special and I pray he serves a mission. He will be great. We are looking for more families to teach, and we have a new investigator named Rafael. He is 16, and he is amazing. He has two friends in the ward and they gave him a Book of Mormon, and he has been reading it. He knows it's true and loves going to church. It's amazing how having friends in the church can help someone be active and join the church. I give a lot to the boys that gave him the Book of Mormon. They love their friend so much that they gave him a Book of Mormon. That is what happens when we love someone, we want them to have the gospel in their lives and progress and receive eternal life. I love the gospel and every chance I get to share it with people. It is such a blessing having the gospel. 

My Birthday in Guatemala

 this past week was great. i have a wonderful companion and zone. on my birthday they gave me ice cream from mangos and had balloons for me and letters. they were so cute, oh also fireworks, it is tradition here to have fireworks for peoples birthdays. i was thinking when i heard them "ah they just broke the rules for me!!!!" ah!!! to tell the truth i felt a little terrible. this week i was thinking how in the mission i have become so much more obedient i know that i need to work on it more because i am not perfectly obedient but i am so much more than i was before the mission. i think it's one trait that i have always had but it is developing more on the mission. i think of the stripling warriors and how they obeyed with exactness. how amazing is that! they followed everything that was commanded of them! in the mission we have the mission manual and rules in the mission and i am trying to follow them but i do fall short at times. this is when we can be thankful for the atonement and repent. 

i loved reading the ensign for this month and reading how the atonement is so deep that we at times do not understand it but at the same time it is so simple. atonement is when Jesucristo died for our sins and made it possible to live with our Heavenly Father. but in the talk by Elder Bednar he said that it is to help bad people become good and to help good people become better. at times we think that it is only for people that have just sinned but it is for all of us everyday. i think it is amazing to be learning more about the gospel in the mission and teaching others how to live it. to tell the truth, when i teach it is when i personally learn. we are helping others to learn, but i know that i am the one learning. i love my mission and am so thankful that i have every day.

Testimony of Scriptures

we found a family Friday that is really positive!!! we are really excited, the husband had so many questions and felt the spirit. the challenge is getting them to church. they work so hard every day to provide for their family. they sell mangos so they gave us some yesterday and oh man they were good... i was thinking how when i go home i ll sure miss them so i am going to eat as much as i can!!!! but there is so much fruit here, its like paradise i love it! but this week was fun because we have been contacting like crazy and its fun seeing how my Spanish has gotten better and thinking how to teach people when they have doubts or questions. but one thing i know is always bear your testimony... so here we travel on a bus to Guitarra and this bus gets packed! also this past Friday there was one pastor on the bus preaching. it was interesting listening to him and thinking oh i wanna look up those scriptures, my comp is funning because she knows the Bible really well and understands Spanish better and she tells me how this other scripture would contradict what he said. she is really funny, she cracks me up. but we had great lessons with people where they had scriptures and we would have lessons with just scriptures. this really helped me think how blessed i am to have my comp and to be learning so much more about the scriptures. to not just use the same ones but always search for more, my testimony has grown about the Bible and the Book of Mormon, they really are semejante... umm.... together haha they support each other and help us be able to understand the doctrine of Jesus and Heavenly Father better. there are so many churches on the earth and they all have the bible but they have so many different doctrines. i love bearing my testimony to people about the Book of Mormon and the church. i think how if it wasn´t for my mission i probably would have never learned the importance of being a witness of Heavenly Father. i am so thankful i am here and thankful i am learning these things.

The Rain is Coming Back

so the rain is coming back... happy but not. haha. i feel like i am in a greenhouse.... it rains and the heat is crazy! so yeah i am in a greenhouse right now.... but i took out my chinas and was ready to walk in the water again, but i know in a few months it will be getting a lot worse. my companion is enjoying it, she always says she gets tired when it rains and i tell her well you will be really tired for these next 6 months and especially in october. that's when it gets crazy!

so this past week we baptized jaun! i don´t know if you remember him but we have been working with him for about 2 months. he was going to be baptized last month but presidente told us to wait and we did. it is crazy to see a change in him. he is a different person and he is really funny. he is like a little kid and he says some pretty funny things that make us laugh. i felt bad though because none of his family wanted to come to his baptism. i know he was sad too. the bishop talked to him afterwards and said that the ward is his family now. but i just can´t help to think how the gospel is so true, it changes so many lives and helps people see their purpose. i love working with investigators, converts and less actives, they are all at different levels of growth but i love seeing how the Lord cares for all of them and wants to help them all have the gospel.... the mission is wonderful.... i am so thankful that i am here and thankful that i have this chance to meet so many people and learn from them.

i wanted to tell you about one family. hermana oniele. she is a convert and has 7 kids and is a single mother. she is the only one providing for all her children and they are really poor. but she is such a hard worker and is always helping others. every time we visit her i am uplifted and think to myself how strong her faith is. the talk during conference about single moms hit my heart because i thought of her. but one elder's brother in the states did a project for his boy scouts where he bought shoes and sent them here for the children because a lot of them do not have shoes and we took some to her kids... they were so happy and it touched my heart. she is such a wonderful person. one thing she told me is it is hard living at times and we have difficulties but we should not drop the church because that is where we get our strength to keep going. she is such a hard worker and she has health problems but she keeps going.

felicidades pascua

this past week was way different because of Easter and the way they celebrate it here. for three days we were in the capilla in our stake center reading the Book of Mormon.... our goal was to finish it in 3 days... yeah we only got to Mormon but my comp went ahead and read all of it. i can say that i understand more Spanish... its cool seeing my Spanish improve. such a huge blessing. we would enter the capilla at 9 in the morning and come back at 9 at night so i really did not see all that they did during this time for Easter. but wed night is the night when Judus betrayed Jesus so a group of people have a mannequin of Judus and they go to door to door asking for money. when you give them money they do a little dance for you. then on friday it was almost to get to the capilla because this is the day people close off the streets by parking their cars to block it and they decorate the streets with this material, i don´t know what it is called, but they call this alfombra. it reminds me a lot of sand paintings. i did not get a pic because when we left for the capilla the people in our street had not finished theirs yet. i saw only one that was finished and it was so pretty... a lot of colors! but it was fun trying to read throughthe whole Book of Mormon. And i got to make smores, brownies and cake! it was also good getting to know the zone better and making friends.

but one evening we headed to fam rodriguz to teach them, we teach them every Friday. but this lesson was so hard.... we have been meeting with them for 2 months, and they really have not been progressing... i know that it is our fault because we have not been following up on the commitments so we told them this week to read chapter 1 as a family and this month we will just keep having them read the Book of Mormon. but they did watch two sessions of general conference and the wife loved it.

the other hermanas in our ward baptized a family last month and this family wanted us to eat dinner at their house. they live in bendicion and it was a little late when we finally ate. but they are a family of 7 and they are so wonderful. i really enjoyed just talking to the hermano because he knows so much about the bible and it was just fun looking at scriptures with him. my comp is amazing with the bible i learn so much from her every time. but when we were with the family i was humbled because they do not have very much and yet they are so happy. they didn´t have light and we ate by candlelight. it was such a beautiful experience. i really enjoyed it... also it was so good to just see how he was so happy to be a member and to be learning so much more about the gospel. this is the reason why i cannot drop fam rodriguiz because i see freddie in some ways like hilgio dias and his 5 children. i know this can bless thier lives.... but that is all that is happening right now. the raining season will start to slowly come back and i am looking forward to it but at the same time no... hahha but i am loving every moment of my mission.

bueno pues!!!!!

the conference talks were wonderful. they really touched my heart. we had two investigators go, juan and silvia. juan was there for all 5 sessions! we were so excited about that and silvia was only for the morning session... we need to follow up with her and ask her what she felt but also fam rodriguiz said they would watch it at their house on friday and i pray they did. i wanted to call them but he told us friday that he would rather wait until the next meeting with us to talk about it..... but honestly during the whole confference i thought hey this talk is for silvia o juan or other of our investigators. it was so cool just seeing how the lord has messages for all of us.. not just members in the church but also those investigating the church. being a missionary has really made me love conference so much more... has made me just have a greater love for the gospel and the blessing it is in our lives. on saturday when the last speaker was speaking i was thinking noooo i can not wait until sunday to hear more.... than on sunday the last session i thought i wish this would never end.... but then i realize the lord has given all these messages to help us in these following 6 months, yeah i wanna just listen but what will i learn if i do not go out and put it to practice? i loved what President Thomas S Monson said, that we are better people today than we were 2 days ago. i know that this life is to help us prepare to live with our Heavenly Father. that we are giving council from our prophet and apostles to help us learn and know how we can have eternal life. i loved hearing the messages and feeling the love of the Lord for me and for our investigators. now i got to put into practice what they said and help the wonerful people of Guatemala feel this in thier lives as well.

My District went to a Lagoon today. It was beautiful!

bueno este semana fue maravillosa!!!!!

bueno este semana fue maravillosa!!!!! hahah sorry i have to switch to english:) so lets see where to begin... it has been a crazy week, i have never been so tired in my life... i have been running on no energy.. monday we found out that we had a meeting for all the sisters in the mission for two days. so we had to call all of our appointments and cancel or reschedule them. it was a little hectic and we all wished that we didn´t have this conference because it interupted with our work but i learned a valuable lesson. we all have our schudeules and we do not want to drop them but when we drop them for an opportunity to hear messages from our leaders we are strengthened and the Lord blesses us to make up for the time.this conference was amazing. we heard from the president and his wife and i got to know the sisters better, you know me, i love making new friends and playing with them!!! hahah we had a great time and we all left uplifted and ready for more work. but also really tired because the two days we went to bed late and woke up early. the whole week and today i have been so tired i feel like i can never catch up on my sleep, 8 hours is not enough. this week we had a lot of teaching and found a lot of new people to teach. so i am excited for a new month to try set goals and acheive them. this month our mission almost accomplished our goal for baptisms..... we were short 8 people..... it was sad because 3 of our possiblities fell but it was for reasons that we needed to work on. but brandon and luiz arturio were baptized!!!! i was so excited... especially about brandon because he is 17 years old and we had a really amazing spiritual experience with him. he is aiming for a mission and so now we are going to work with him for that. but on sunday i almost cried when i saw him becasue he had a white shirt and tie.... i was thinking wow he looks like a missionary already. just one more year and he can go.... but he has a primo preparing for a mission right now so that is helping. but he just is a great kid and i really hope his life works out good. then fam rodriguiz we visited friday and it has been a week since we have seen them. we let our district leader lead the lesson and it was just what they needed. freddie was so much happier and he had a change of heart. but we just needed to be patient with them and let them take their time with the book of moromon. but they said that they missed us so much and they missed seeing us. so that is a good sign. i am so thankful to be here and to be having these moments and times of growth. to be here and learning more about myself and most importantly about Heavenly Father. to learn of His love for me and for my brothers and sisters here in guatemala.

Hey!

so this week.... hmm... lots of learning and working. this week was a little tough. almost all of our citas fell and we were left looking for people to visit and to teach. but at the end of the day we were suprised to see how many lessons we had. the good news was that we had 6 investigators in chruch and 3 are being baptized this saturday! we are so excited, also they are all preisthood holders! our familias that we are teaching have been a little tough for us. the lesson with fam rodriguz was a simple and short one. we feel like the son kevin is ready but a little weary of his father. but we taught the importance of prophets and freddie seemed to like it. we also had an activity with the ward for married couples. we got the movie fireproof and they watched it, and we had dinner for them too. all the couples loved it and want another one. we have lots of activities planned for this week and i am pretty excited about that. i am really loving it here and am so thankful for the people we meet each day. i am thankful for the opportunity to have all of these wonderful experiences to grow from. i am so thankful that i have the gospel in my life, and each day feel the importance of it in my life.

awesome week!

have you ever had a moment in your life where you your just so happy that you do not have words to describe just a prayer in your heart?.... well i feel like that a lot here in guate. i really am enjoying it here. last night was so beautiful.... there are so many trees here and its so beautiful it helps me remember how much Heavenly Father loves us, He made this earth for us and we are able at to look at it to be reminded how much he loves us. yesterday i really needed this. yesterday was a day filled with so many emotions. i think i experience all of them... our investigator brandon accepted baptism. it was so exciting and such a powerful experience. we read the introduction with him, and after we were done we asked him if he belived that Heavenly Father could answer prayers and he said yes. then we prayed afterwards and when we finished we asked him if he wanted to be baptized and he said yes. he is 16 years old and i can see him serving a mission someday, he is a good kid and has such a good heart.

then afterwards we taught a familia rodriguiz.... this is where the heartache came.... my companion and i almost cried during this lesson but not tears of joy tears of sadness. this family is so amazing i love teaching them and really want to help them accept the gospel. but the dad freddie just does not believe in the book of mormon. last night he was a little augmentative and it was a little tough to teach the lesson. we tried to teach and talk with his children about what they felt when they read, and they accept it and feel the spirit. but freddie reasons that they do not know because they are young and have not read the bible. we did not want to disagree and just bore our testimonies and left... it was hard because i know that he is looking for the true gospel and this is it... he is just thinking, not feeling. i know that when he reads the book of mormon he will come to feel that it is true too. the things he says when we talk to him gives me hope. yes it was a hard lesson but i do not want to give up hope yet. so my companion and i were a little down last night....

but this week was so much fun. i really am enjoying living with 4 hermanas. it is so much fun, it's like living in dorms. also with four hermanas in the ward our ward has been getting more investigators and minus activios. it is great. it's fun talking to the other hermanas about thier investigators and see how it is going for them in their area. also i love the other hermanas in my district. i am always laughing with them and helping them with english. i feel at times like a mom for them all, and vise versa when i need help with spanish. it is so great... i think on how much i am growing here and how much my heart has grown for the people.

mangos...ormigas...

okay so this week was mango week....this is the season for mongos here and i feel like i am in the garden of eden at times. lol. when i am hungry i just look around on the ground by a mango tree and find one that is good and just eat it. also people give us mangos when we teach them. the people here are so amazing. they are so kind. they are always willing to give us things like food when they themselves do not have much to give. also when they do not want the gospel they are still really nice to us. but back to the mangos. i am an expert now with eating them and they are so good here! i never liked them before because they are kinda stringy but it makes me keep up with my flossing hahah.

its so pretty here. saturday we explored more of guitarra and it is so beautiful... i really do enjoy it here in guatemala. it is the land of eternal spring. but i am dying of heat.... it gets so hot in the daytime and it is supposed to get worse... AH!!! hahha its okay i prayed for an area that didn´t have snow and i got it! also a place where i would learn spanish!!!

but this week... hum...oh my trio got split up... hermana gonzalez is going to las palmas with hermana serria and i am really sad about that. i cannot imagine going back to just two... but she is going home on the 28th of march, and i wanna see her off. but that was my sad news for the week. also the other news is that we are teaching families right now and i feel so blessed because they are really postive especially fam rodriguiz... i am so excited about them, i learn so much from them every time we teach them. then fam rossotto: his wife accepted baptism. the only problem is getting them to attend church... but they are reading the book of mormon together. we are excited about that. also this week we had a movie night in the guitarra... it was of the restoration. it was good. i think by the time i get home i'll have that video memorized. i love watching it because it helps me remember the life of joesph smith and how the Lord chooses prophets for us.

ps... ormigas... ants are everywhere and they attacked my feet last night... ormigas..... err...

this is a picture of the sunsets here taken from our front door

mangos!!!!! haha the small one we found while walking and the big one a guy gave to us while we were contacting him. he didn't accept our message but we got mangos hahah

this a picture, this are really common here.

this was the new area in guitarra!

there was a fire sunday and it was a block from our street. it was crazy.. so many people were running to see what was going on. it was kinda scary.