Happy Weeekkk

hola!!! so yeah this week was a lot of fun!!! i really am loving my comps... being in a trio is a blast! i think they should do it for all companionships haha jk. but i learn so much from them everyday. i love being able to just talk with them and learn about thier lives. also we have more fun contacting and teaching.

this week we had a lot of good lessons. we are teaching 3 families right now, families rodrigus, flores and rossotto. so fun story: with the familia rodrigus we were contacting and he was sitting outside with his wife (freddie) and while i was talking to him he responded in english! i freaked out! i guess he lived in the states for 8 years and learned english. it was fun talking to him but we kept switching back to spanish but one cool thing i learned while talking to him was that my purpose right now is to serve spanish speaking. i tried to share my testimony in english but i didn´t feel the spirit and it felt weird. i then switched to spanish and i felt the spirit so strongly. i was like "oh. yep i need to only speak in spanish." it was a good lesson and he was more respective to have us teach. he likes to talk to me in spanglish. it's really funny. but he is an amazing person. he reads so much and he has so many questions about the gospel. he wants to know more about the book of mormon and why we are different. i am really excited for this family.

Pictures:

Ana's baptism, and my corte skirt that my companion had made for me

so i went to get a trim...i don't think they know the meaning of a trim...or i do not know how to say it right...even though my companion explained it...i was really sad...my hair is so short! i feel like i lost a piece of me. Even though i was really sad about my hair i said, "We are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Can we come talk to you about Jesus Christ?" and i got her name and number.

this is a casarones. it is an egg that is filled with confetti and you crunch it on people's heads... yeah we had tons of fun with them... february is the only time they have them... it was lots of fun

this is my possy. hahha. jk but really these hermanas are amazing. i am always laughing with them. they help me so much with my spanish.

this was at a baptism in las palmas. it was a family that hermana gonzalez taught. it was fun because there was a wedding celebration too! i love latin culture it is very much like home.

The Guitarra

so right now i just have spanish spanish and spanish. i am in a trio and there are two new hermanas in our ward so in total there are 5 in our house: all latins and me. haha its pretty funny because they are all about 5'4" and then me who is taller than most of the guys here. i feel at times like i am a hen with all her little chicks and i am always watching out for them. it's fun teaching in a tri too. my comp that is from Mexico, Hermana Mendieta, is really funny. she is always saying funny things and the things i understand or have explained to me slower are really funny. the people love her here. she has been here for 2 changes so they know her pretty well, which is good becuase we just took over her investigators and gave the new sisters the city of Xula.

I was a little sad about not keeping Xula it becuase i really wanted to work there. but it's okay because we are working in another area that is really pretty, too. it's called the Guitarra. but what i love the most is always laughing with my companions. i forget at times how different our lives are. i love hearing thier stories and especailly Hermana Mendieta she is a convert and she was a Catholic, Jehovah Witness, and a Sabbitista before she came a member, she has like 4 different bibles, but i love hearing her story i am learning so much from her and Hermana Gonzales.

there is so much work to be done here and i am so thankful that i am here. we had a baptism sunday morning and we have other possiblities. right now we are working with a family, the Flores family. the husband is a minos activo and his wife and two sons are not members, there were so many things that lead us to this family. also we are teaching another family named Familia Chapeta. it was funny how we met him, he had a wheel barrel of wood and he looked really tired so we took it and pushed it to his house, i am sad to say that i have become weak and i was feeling it the next day. but he let us come into his house and eat with them. his wife at first did not wanna let us in but with time she softened and when we left they really wanted to hear more. they have a son and his name is Juan he is so cute. i love the kids here they are so close to the Lord. he is so excited to learn about the gospel and the parents were feeding off his energy. also we taught two kids, thier mom is a member, and it was a great lesson. it will be a lot of work with them but it was fun seeing how we teach with the three of us.

i really like it here and just learning from my comps also i can testify of how the spirit can change people's hearts. i have seen how some people are so hard at first but after 1 lesson they are changed and are more receptive. it reminds me of Ammon in the Book of Mormon when he is among the Lamanites and while teaching the king the king's heart was softened. i know that this work is the Lords and that this time is His. i am so excited for this change and for searching for people. it's hard and it is getting a lot hotter, but it is so worth it.

New Area!!!

monday night at 10pm i learned that i had changes and i was leaving the area.... changes are not until 15th of this month so this was not expected.... so i had to hurry and pack and be ready to leave at 6 am wed, because right after our temple trip i was going to my new area. i was really sad when i found out and wanted to cry but my companion was already doing that so i knew that i had to be strong. i wanted to say bye to all the members and the people here but i was not able to. it was hard for me to just leave and not say anything to anyone especially my converts.

so after the temple we ate at wendys then i headed to reu to the mission office. when i got there we just sat at a table and they gave us our new companions. they had these changes early because the sisters from mexico came in a week early and my companion was training. so my new companion is hermana gonzalez, and she is from guate city! the capital. the Lord answers prayers because i really wanted a companion from here to learn more about the people. she is amazing. she was supposed to be ending this change but she decided to extend her mission so i am going to be her last companion. also i learned that i might be in a trio for this next change....

we are opening an area and this area had other sister missionaries in it already, we are just splitting it up because it is big. so right now there are four of us in a house and i feel like i am with roommates. it's a blast! one sister, hermana acosta from peru, is having changes though and the other sister, hermana mendieta from mexico, might stay with hermana gonzalez and i. so with our area there is reu and that is pretty much city. then there are the outer parts and xula. i really like it, it is about a 10 min drive in the tuktuk (it's a little motor thing made into a little taxi. they are pretty legit. i like them). but this area is jungle! like what i imagined when i first got my call to guate.

it's great, and my companion is amazing at contacting. one day we got 20 contacts, but the hard thing is going back and teaching them. so right now it's just the whole finding people. then at 6pm we return to reu area near our house and contact here. so we have been busy with walking around and getting to know our area. it has been fun. also my comp is getting a corte skirt made for me to help me remember that she was my first guate comp. she is really nice.

it's kinda cool seeing myself live in a house and country with just spanish speakers and i can get along fine.... also i am at the point where i am scared to talk english to people. haha when i am with the gringo misionaries i always switch to spanish, too. it is funny. i am really enjoying it here and i am thankful for this new experience. it was hectic but i am already learning a lot. i am looking forward to this change with my new companion. also she can dance salsa! how cool is that!!!! hahha we are planning on dancing for our exercising. lol.

Beach and Baptism

jeromino bought us ice cream from an old man who had it in a wheel barrel. it was so good! i really do enjoy visiting jeronimo, we are always joking around and laughing!

we had a baptism for the son of noemi! adolfo! he is 24 and it was such a good baptism. there were not that many people at the baptism, but the whole agenda was of our recent converts! noemi gave a talk about the holy ghost and ingrid about baptism jeronimo gave the final prayer and we had a young man baptize him so everyone was new at all the things. it was really good seeing them grow.

our zone leaders let us go to the BEACH!!!!! yeah the beach.... it was great!!! we played futbol built a huge sand castle... well i just built the letters "byu" with elder muoño and elder lopez it was funny. i like being able to communicate more with the latins.

my comp and me!!!!!

my district

January 30, 2012

baptism with noemi

blue corn tortillas. yeah love them, they taste like blue corn mush hahah

yeah this is my 3rd baptism i am doing this for! hahha gotta get those keys from the bishop ahead of time

this is the zuniga family. i love them they are great! (during sacrament one talk given was about the "looking up" talk in this month's issue of the ensign. it talked about looking up to the lord during our difficulties and about his experience learning another language, and milton turned to me and said, "that's you, you still baptize even though you don´t know the language." hahha)

amazing candy here! i love it

this is how we get our cheese! i love this cheese!

January 23, 2012

this week was great! we had good lessons and are looking for new investigators. ingrid and her son, we are aiming to have them baptized this saturday and they came to church as a family this sunday. we were excited about that. also the son of noemi, adolfo, we challenged him to be baptized on the 4 of feb and so we are exctied about that. i think its amazing how i teach only 6 lessons but they are so different everytime. i really think its amazing how everytime i teach them i feel my testimony growing as i bear my testimony and teach these important doctrines.

on another note it is really hard having a companion that only speaks spanish. i am learning a lot of patience with myself. i wanna know spanish right now and be able to express myself, but i cannot. it is amazing how patience is one thing that you need on the mission. i love my companion and i am so thankful that i have her and i am thankful that she is always willing to help me. i love being here and seeing my weaknesses and having to work on them. i have been thinking a lot about ether 12:27 that says: "and if men come unto me i will show unto them their weakness. i give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will i make weak things become strong unto them."

i am thankful for the scriptures and the opportunity to be here. i am loving it!

January 16, 2012

this week we had a baptism for noemi!!! i was so happy. we visited her almost everyday and she told us everytime don´t worry i will get baptized i recieved my answer. she is amazing. i learn so much from her everytime i visit her. she has such a strong spirit and she knew that when we first knocked on her door we were representives of christ. sadly none of her family was at the bapstim... they said they would come but none showed... and we are teaching 2 of her kids right now and she told us they are not really positive. i feel bad for her because she knows the church is true and she wants her whole family to join, but right now they are not willing to accept. luckily she has the ward and a firm testimony.

oh yesterday we had our investigator, ingrid, and her husband come to church too! his name is milton and he is a less active member and he is so excited to come back to church! they have a son named alejandro and i have never met such a intelligent young boy before that wants to learn more about the gospel, he is always so exctied to see us and talk about what he read, he has great questions and the family is always learning from him. he is reading the book of mormon right now and he has his own little hymnal. it's so cute.

oh so one thing i really do not like here is the bugs! the ants are so AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH. the other night i was writing in my journal and ants kept crawling on to my paper. at first i was like "urg they are so annoying," but after 3 mins i killed over like 30!! then i looked at the spine of my journal and they were coming out by the dozen!!!! i freaked and got our bug spray and sprayed my journal! i was so mad at them, because they were eating my memories!!!! i think i got them all because when i cheked it today there were not any crawling in it. but it was pretty funny when i think back on it now... but i still do not like them... they and mosquitoes are not fun.

still learning spanish, teaching, searching, walking, and having a wonderful experience in guatemala.

January 9, 2012

my old zone

this past week we had changes and i got a latin companion :) is it hard, yeah, but do i love it? YES!!! her name is hermana uribe. she is from mexico and she loves hot stuff.... spicy things!!! so these last few days i have been only speaking in spanish and it is great! last night i had a dream that i was in a lesson with hermana uribe and we were teaching the dia de reposo.... sabbath day... and it was all in spanish. it was great! but she also knows a lot of english and it's fun teaching her word in english and she teaches me words in spanish.

this is my new comp!! she is really pretty..... and she is really funny!

She is always making me laugh...

reeses from a package my mom sent me... yeah got it wednesday and finshed it yesterday (sunday)... we both really love chocolate.... lol its great having a chocolate eating buddy lol