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.