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.