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!