Oh my goodness. Okay so this week has been incredible. So okay, I wont lie, the whole time that Ive been training my hija (her training is over now) has been kind of a struggle, and I couldnt figure out why. Like we would have pilas investigators athat wanted to get baptized and then something would happen and nope. And it was so frustrating. It got to a point to where we basically had  no investigators really and I didnt know what to do. So we started looking for all the ways that we needed to change so that we could have more success. Our prayers became more real and we started dropping those investigators who didnt want to progress. Well, we are seeing miracles right now. Between Saturday and Sunday we were able to put 5 more fechas. One of them is a family!!! And then we have a couple of other investigators who I honestly think we could put fechas with. I know Heavenly Father is preparing people and I love that when we truly try and tell Heavenly Father that we want to find His escogidos, that He leads us to them! And the best part is that we DONT HAVE CHANGES!!! wooohooo! This will be my second 6 month area. I am excited because I will be able to be here for my birthday, my year mark, and my hijas first baptism :)

So Xiomara is our investigator that is getting baptized on the 2nd and she has a shoulder problem. Got in a motorcycle accident and broke her shoulder a year ago but up until now the doctors are finding out. So she is getting surgery on the 6th of August. Well she said that she would come to church on her own. Well at like 9 she was just leaving so I was like okay. and then at 930 i started getting worried. She finally calls at 945 and she comes in and I find out afterwards that she had gotten into an accident! But then came to the church anyway. She stayed for all three hours (okay actually she left to go to the doctors with some other members and then came  back!) and the elders gave her a blessing that was so special! And ahhh, she is so awesome! She came to church despite getting in a car wreck. She is being worked against but she is fighting because she actually wants this and ahhh its just so great to actually see!

I love the mission so much. I cant believe i completed 11 months today, thats insane! Love you  all!

 Rainy Season, this happened in 15 minutes

 4th of July, Check out the shoes

 Too bad Ashtin isnt having ANY fun on her mission

7/7/2014

Oh heck so I have to tell you guys what happened on Sunday. Well okay, first I have to start with Saturday. Okay so we had been having an...interesting day haha. Pretty hard day if I am being serious, but we ended up going to a baptism of the elders and this lady is so flipping cute. She was so happy to get baptized and shes this little old lady, and yeah. But while I watched her get baptized, I remembered and felt so strongly in that moment why we are here. The trials and desafios dont matter at all when we get the chance to see another soul enter in the door to salvation. Like words dont describe being able to know that we were a part of bringing one more of Heavenly Fathers children back to Him. So anyway, I left that feeling good! The day continued as it had, but we were looking forward to our cita with the guy who is getting baptized in two weeks. We have the cita and yeah. We go back home and I am exhausted. We get a message from the guy we had just had the cita with telling us that he is thankful for all of our help but he cant change and he will no longer be continuing with us and coming to church. I heart broke in that moment. After that day, that was just kind of like the straw that broke the camels back. That night I prayed and poured out my heart to Heavenly Father and then tried to read a little about Christ because I know that He knows how I feel, and well I still felt pretty down, but I felt better knowing that I can relate a little bit more with Christ.

I woke up feeling good because I woke up determined not to let Satan win this battle. I would not give up that easily on this guy who has come so far to give up at the last minute. So we called him and the Spirit totally led that conversation. I dont think I would ever say what I said to him without the spirit. I asked him if he really loved God because when he says that he cant change, he is denying Christ and His ability to help him. He is denying His sacrifice. He was like yeah, tiene razon and we talked about other things too. In the end, he ended up coming to churhc. He showed up looking rather uncomfortable, but he stayed all three hours which he never does, ever. And he left smiling and looking very content. I know that Heavenly Father helped him out and helped him to feel better through his obedience to this mandamiento. I love seeing what obedience to the commandments does for people! Anyway, it was just an amazing experience for me to be able to see how Heavenly Father helps us to change.

Hope you all had a great Fourth of July! Love you!

6/30/14

Dear Family,

So this Sunday was pretty cool! Our investigator who has a fecha came! Even though he says he doesnt like the experience of going to church haha. And then a couple of less actives came to church! And I was so excited to see them! One of them haha okay so I asked him if he was coming to church a while ago and he was like yeah and I was like are you lying to me? and he didnt respond and I looked at him and was like I am a representative of Jesus Christ...do you know what that means? And he was like yeah. And I was like so if you lie to me...youre lying to Christ and he was like...oh. And so I was like are you coming to church this Sunday? And he was like yes and he came! And yesterday was the third time that he has come! And all of his family are members and usually only his mom comes or his dad sometimes and yesterday 6 of them came!! AHHH! It was so exciting :)

I have learned, and I wish I had done it earlier, to be very bold about our message and who I am. I am a representative of Jesus Christ and our message is true. It is for the salvation of everyone! I love the Spirit that comes into the lessons when we are bold. I have always admired the courage of the prophets and apostles for how bold they are but loving and I am trying to emulate them....even though I am far from them hahaha. But I am working on it. I cant believe I only have 8 months left because I still have so much to change!

So we have been praying that we could find this recent convert Hugo because we havent seen him in 2 months. One day nothing was working out and I was like whyyy haha and we went to this members house and we left the house late for our next appointment but I didnt feel anxious about it or anything which I usually do and we walk out and THERE HE IS! walking by at the exact moment that we left. It was such an answer to our prayers!

Love you guys!


6/23/14

Dear Family,

Well this week we had our final conference with Presidente y Hermana Watts! It was so sad! We got there and they talked to us for the last time, giving their final talks, they showed us our new president and his wife. Presidente y Hna Crapo. Gosh, it was so sad haha. Like so afterwards they had us all talk to them one at a time and take a picture with them. Hna Watts started crying before we could even take the picture...me too. I told them that I would never forget them because they have influenced my life for the better. They have taught me so many things, and I am the missionary I am because of them. Hna Watts said that she wouldnt let me forget them. Shes like we will keep in touch. When you start dating, you will have to introduce the guy to President Watts before you get married haha. I love them so much and I know that Heavenly Father sent me here partially from what I learned from them!

So in the mission lessons with members present is a super important thing. The goal is 20 a week. So we try our hardest to have a member always when we are with investigators which isnt as easy as it sounds haha. But one day we had members with us for six out of the 9 hours. six hours. Guess how many lessons we had with a member. A whopping zero hahaha. I was just like...oh my heck. But it is the effort that counts and for one reason or another we werent able to visit those people. It was just kind of a funny day haha.

Saturday at 11 at night they told me that I had to give a talk in church the next day and i was like como and they were like no en serio. So I stayed up until 1 thinking of ideas, got to bed at 120, and woke up again at 5 to give it. I gave my talk and here they have this little rd blinking light to tell you when you need to stop talking but I didnt know what it meant (i figured like okay wrap it up but it means right now end it haha) so i kept going. i blame it on my lack of sleep.

we have this investigator who is super awesome he has a fecha and he just really wants to change. I love seeing how the gospel makes people want to live better. to give up the good for the excellent. To get rid of their bad habits for good ones. It is only Jesus Christ who can make that change in people and it is such a blessing to be able to see that change in other peoples lives. to play a small part in it!

Love you guys!

Sorry I havent posted in a while!  Lots of pictures below.

June 16,2014

okay im sorry but this is going to be kind of short this week! i got behind because i had to send a bunch of pictures for president and hna watts and other things.

anyways. i told my hija that this change would be a change of miracles and well it has started. okay on sunday...not a single investigator came to chruch, but as hna flewallen said...we didnt say it would be a domingo de milagros...just a change. haha. so yeah! but dont worry, it will be better next sunday! we are really going to be focusing on getting them to church because it doesnt matter how well they are progressing or how well the lessons are...if they dont come to church...it doesnt matter. they cant get baptized.

 we found this guy named cesar the other day and it truly is a miracle that we found him. he was getting taught by missionaries in another area but he moved here. he was going to get baptized there but he drinks coffee and smokes so he couldnt yet. we are workign with him on that right now and he is doing so well! he hasnt drunken or smoked in a while. he is super pilas and knows its true. actually, steph i told him about how you were able to completely quit smoking and how it is totally possible and he looked so excited about it! it was super cool!

 we got to play baseball today! well we only had two gloves and a bat and baseball haha but it was still so much fun! havent been able to play in a while. im sorry its so short but i hope you all are doing well!

June 9, 2014

Dear Family,

How is everyone? I am doing well! We had zone reunion this week, which was super great! So changes are this week, but luckily I get to finish traning my hija :) I am super excited. i already told her that we are going to have a change of miracles. I cant believe how fast time is going. I remember during training that it seemed to be like a long time, but Hna Flewallen is already at the half way point. And my trainer, who only had 10 months when I was with her is leaving for her house!! Like its so insane how fast time goes.

So let me tell you something about the capital of Guatemala. I love it, dont get me wrong. But the people outside of the capital are (generally) a little more...warm? Welcoming? Needless to say we have come across more people here who outright reject than when I was outside of the cap. And its still kind of new to me because I was born outside of the cap. So anywho. We have had quite a few encounters in these weeks with people who just dont like us one single bit haha. This lady came out with anger in her eyes, using the Bible to basically tell us that we are not virtuous women and that we need to find Christ and what not. Well, I have learned how to deal with it. We listen, bear our testimonies and walk away. But I am grateful for these experiences now. Before, I would just get irritated, but now I mostly just feel sorrow for them. The thing is though, that I have never more in my entire life been more sure that this is the truth than I am now, when people attack it every day. When they hate what I know to be the truth. As sorry as I feel for them, I am extremely grateful for the knowledge that I do have.

I love you all and I am extremely grateful for the support you always give me. Please read the Book of Mormon and later, pray about it. Please. I love you so much :)

June 2, 2014
Dear Family,


Okay so I have a story for you all. Okay on Saturday we met with the guy who we had met last Sunday. on sudnay we had prayed to find where we needed to go and we eneded up contacting manuel who was outside of his house and he seemed pretty interested. so on saturday we went and we talked to him and he started telling this huge long story in his life with all these details. hes a lawyer and had gotten himself into a sticky situation. as he was telling us i was like thinking to myself okay...how can this story apply to the gospel? the moment i thought it a story from the bom popped into my head of a guy named zeezrom who was also a lawyer. the story was almost exactly like what happened with manuel. i decided to show him the story even though i had no idea why or how telling him would help him. well we get to the end of the story and it says that zeezrom got baptized and so right then i realized why. i told him that everything happens for a reason and that its usually to bring us to the true gospel so i told him that like happened with zeezrom, happened with him, to show him where he needed to be. he was like woah!! and wanted to read it more. so we asked him to say the closing prayer and he was like "thank you for showing me this story in the book of mormon because i have been looking for the answer for 2 years and now i know why it happened to me" it was such an amazing experience. i know that God answered our prayers and led us to him. he came to chruch the next day so we will see what happens :)


that same night, we had a cita with the two little kids who are going to get baptized. we ended up calling a super awesome hermana from the ward to come with us last minute and she said yes. it started raining super hard (its been ridiculous, the rain thanks jacklynn for the boots, love you so much for that) and she still came with us. we got there, taught the lesson, and the mom (being forced by the kids) dropped the bomb that she is having some very serious issues with the father and they will be moving out to leave him. i was shocked when i heard. they dont have the money to leave though. as missionaries we cant offer money help at all, but this hermana who "per chance" happened to be there offered them the help they need. they also had not eaten that day so we went with the hermana to buy food for them. it was such a blessing to be able to help them through this amazing hermana who i absolutely love. i just love how God prompts us even when we dont notice it.

have great weeks!!!! happy birthday ethan :)



May 27, 2014
SOrry I didnt write yesterday. Its because we worked yesterday and today we had pday because WE WENT TO THE TEMPLE!!! heck, i needed that so much. I had been in this world for far too long without a break. 9 months without the temple. There is just a peace there that I cant explain. I cant feel the anxiety of the world when I am there. I dont think about everything that I have to do this week, I just feel calm. I needed that so much. I was able to receive some answers to some questions that I have about my mission and it was just a good kind of checkpoint to have with God now that I have completed half of my mission.

Speaking of which, I completed 9 months this week. Where did the time go? But seriously. Like I dont know about you guys, but I feel like I just left sometimes. And then Hermana flewallen will say something aobut a movie ive never seen or soem phrase ive never heard of and i am like what?

So I had an interesting experience on Sunday haha. Okay so on Tuesday and Wednesday we had just amazing days. Like I had been praying so hard that I could just get better in some thing sand that members could leave with us more and well ithe prayers have been answered. I was super excited for Sunday because we had a lot of possibilites of people coming to church...and only one came. And the girl who should be getting baptized didnt come, so we had to change her baptismal date again. We were super happy about the investigator who did come, dont get me wrong, but Jacklyn who is supposed to be baptized didnt show up (ps. she wants to name her kid that shes pregnant with afeter me and my comp shelby ashtin haha). So that was disappointing and then all of our plans fell and I was trying my best to stay animated and not discouraged. So I was like okay, we have our last cita at 7 with a reference from a family, itll be great. The woman calls me and is like hey im really sorry but my friends arent going to be able to come. And after I hung up, i just started to cry haha. Like I sat down at a bus stop and just cried for like a minute. My poor comp. I just let out all my frustration and then i was like alright. ill stop being a baby. and i started calling some people but no one was home. so we were like okay, lets go contact. so we prayed to be lead where to go and we found 2 people that were super open to what we had to say. people that i really felt like can progress. and we would have nEVER met them had we not had all of our citas fall and that prayer. I know He listens to us. I know He does. I know that when we push on even when its hard, we receive the blessings.

We also put two new fechas yesterday! :) wooh! 

 They got cell phones, I think to help with the withdrawal symptoms

 Its the Rainy Season

Making Ash rethink the number of children she wants!

May 19, 2014

Dear Family,

So the big news of the week is that WE GOT CELLPHONES!!!!!! thats right. Guatemala got cellphones. Granted, its not my iphone, but it doesnt change the fact that I love it haha.  It seriously will help the work out so much, we wont have to waste so much time walking to someones house only for them not to be there. Or waste as much pisto calling people who dont pick up at public telephones.

We had an absolutely amazing zone conference this week, when we got our beloved cellphone. But seriously, I have been praying so hard in these days for Heavenly Father to help me. To help me to find the strength to get through our desafios and to be a better companion for my hija. I want her to have the best experience that she can. Literally my prayers are answered every day, with divisions or district meetings or videos of the church that we watch or my scriptures. But I just know Heavenly Father is here with us.

My hija is getting so much better with her spanish! She is participating in our lessons more and more and really coming along. She will randomly tell me soemthing we should do for our investigators and its so exciting because I know that she is thinking about them trhough the day. Its cool to see how excited she gets about the new experiences. It reminds me of when I started and its cool to get back that spirit.

The ward is starting to work a lot more with us. Now is the time to work with members, so I hope you all are helping out the missionaries, leaving with them and giving them references :) Also, this week was teh week of the family and so we had a bunch of activities in the building, where I learned a lot about the family. It was funny because they were talking about marriage a bunch and one hermana was like...alright...whos baggy? hahaha.

I cant believe I only have 9 months left...thats insane! I love this work, even when its hard. I feel closer to my Savior than I ever had before! Love you all! Happy birthday this week dad!!

May 12, 2014

Dear Family,

Welp, talked to you yesterday haha so I dont have a ton to say really except I have an investigator who is EXACTLY like Uncle Greg, like serioulsy exactly like him only he speaks spanish. I didnt know what to do, I was just like...what is this? haha. 

Also, today I met someone with the last name Bullough, an hermana, and it turns out she is a cousin of the Bulloughs from our ward! It was so crazy! And in her mission is an Elder Roach who has family in a stake in Indiana. It is a small Mormon world.

So Ill share with you a short thought. The mission has opened my eyes to a lot about myself. Like I am learning so much that I didnt even realize that I did. Some things I like, others not so much, but its interesting because soemtimes it makes me feel really down, but I read this scripture Ether 12:27 and its a scripture that I have always liked but I read it in a new way. The only way that we see our weaknesses is when we are closer to God, so when we see the things we are doing wrong, its because we are coming unto Him and getting closer to Him. So really, its a good thing, as long as we are willing to change. Change is hard, but it is possible! 

Also, with my spanish I have learned that I just rely on Heavenly Father, knowing that He will help me and He does. And I have to do that now with every single aspect of the work. I mean I was before, but with training, even more so. I am really just trying to grow my faith and get rid of all of my fear and doubts! 

Love you all! Hope you had good mothers days!

 

Not sure, but looks to me like she is just posing!!!!! LOL

4/28/14

Okay well first off I have to start with some worldly things haha. I was eating in walmart the other day (it has a cafeteria...will never be going back there haha) but anyway discovery channel was on and I wasnt watching it persay but I did happen to see on their commercials that there are several new shows...are you watching them? haha. Also, i have decided that at times the mission is like going to open houses. You go to peoples houses to talk to them and they give you food. And I remember those days I just went home with a giant food baby and thats about everyday here, especially because theres an elder that we share the ward with who is going home on wednesday so a bunch of people invite him to eat and us too so we go and its so much food! haha

Onto a more spiritual note. We have this investigator and I mightve told you about him. His name is Jorge and he is a journalist and he is super duro, terco, i cant remember the word in english right now, forgive me. but anyway so the last couple of lessons he keeps relating his life to us and everything that happened and he has passed through some crazy, awful stuff, and he starts crying and then i start crying haha. But the last lesson was super spiritual because he said hes afraid of starting to find God again because everytime he makes a real effort, bad stuff happens, and hes afraid of losing his daughter and his mom. I was able to bear my testimony to him of eternity and how we have the ability to be able to be with our families forever if we do what were supposed to do which is the basis of everything I do in my life and it was one of those lessons that I wont ever forget. The spirit was there super strongly. I am so grateful for the knowledge that we have of the plan of salvation. It truly is an anchor to the soul. He came to a baptism on Sunday and my comp invited him to baptism to which he said he would pray about it. We will see what happens the next lesson.

So Hugo got baptized on Saturday!! Wooh!!! Well the baptism was supposed to start at 2 but he didnt show up until 4 haha....so. But a little girl from the ward was also getting baptized that day so they went ahead and had hers at 3. And then on Sunday the elders had a baptism in the morning. It was super awesome to have the baptisms like that in a row because it was something I needed. Everything we do here is for that moment. The rest are only steps to get to that moment. I loved the spirit that is always in the baptisms! But Hugo gave his testimony at the end and was like Satan didnt want me to be here today, he put a lot of obstacles in my path but I made it here, even if it was 2 hours late. He said he felt an emptiness in his life that was filled when he started coming to church. I am grateful that I get the chance be here and experience these moments with these people.

Love you all, have great weeks!



4/21/14

Okay so this week was the Semana Santa and so all of the members were like its going to be so hard, you poor things and it was just like...thanks haha. But our zone leaders were like no, you guys are going to have a good week, a week of success. So i think I told you that last week they set the goal of 18 news and we found 19! It was a pretty awesome to see that when we tried to keep our spirits up that we were able to have a successful week despite the fact that seriously, all of our citas fell haha because no one was at home. They celebrate easter for an entire week and all go to the beach and what not, well if they have money. My area here, we have people with some serious pisto (money), like they live in gated communities where you can only enter if you have a cita with that person before hand. There are several places here where we have to give our copies of our passports to enter, but then we have the poorer parts too.

So on Saturday we called our investigator that is bgetting baptized this saturday (wooh!) but he didnt pick up. and then our phone ran out of minutes (seriously idk what it is about guatemala but nobody ever has minutes on their phone) so we couldnt call him more. we left the house early and went to bring him to church but nobody came to the door. It was disappointing because we were doing everything we could, but nothing, so we get to church and I am just sitting there silently praying that he will come. And a minute into chruch starting, I see him booking it on his little bike and I cant tell you how happy I was! It is seriously the best feeling ever, knowing that another child of God is coming unto Him through baptism and ahhhh!!!

We watched a video on Wednesday about the Atonement and missionary work and I love it. President Eyring said that everytime he thinks about taking a well deserved break, He thinks about the Savior and how even after He died, He preached in teh spirit world until He was resurrected. And President Holland says that missionary work isnt easy because savlation isnt a cheap experience. Why would we ever think it would be easy for us when it was never easy for Him? I loved it because I am proud to be a representative of Christ. I am happy for all of my trials as a missionary and a person because it helps me to understand Him better. I know He lives and I know thorugh Him we can gain exaltation. I know He has given us the way to gain that.


I love you all have great weeks!