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.