BUEENAAASS!!! Hey everyone!! Hope this was a great week for everyone!! Grandma and Grandpa thank you for putting my name on the temple prayer list!! Prayer works and as missionaries we need all the prayers we can get!! I got really sick this week. Was horrible, BUT IM ALIVE and happy and life is good!!! Now I just feel like I have a little cold, but I just woke up this morning and dropped to my knees because I feel a lot a lot better!!!! Ummm oh yeah, I got the letters from the Devinishes. HOLLALAAAA from Guatemala to Africa!! I am SOOOOO excited for Candice because the Lord needs powerful sisters like her to go out there and change this world!!!! I know Candice will be such a great missionary and don’t worry, Uganda IS the place!!!!!!!! If anything, my mission has taught me that Heavenly Father is in charge, the greatest blessing of the mission is, just knowing that you are in the Lord’s hands and you will literally feel that!!! I testify to love and that the reason I’m still out here is because of all your love and prayers and that through them the Lord has been carrying me. The mission is a CRAZY adventure, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world!!!! Oh man and wooohoooo Andrew, Jon, and Kamana.....CONGRATULATIONSSS!!! I started crying when I read my mom’s email today, I just feel so overwhelmed right now, really don’t know how to express why but I just got soooo happy when I heard that you three were preparing to serve!!!!!! Oh man, looooooveee!!!!!!! The Lord needs you and it just makes me so happy to know that the army is growing!!!!!! SIGAN ADELANTE!!!!!!
Ok wow....what happened this week? Well, it started off really rough but turned out to be a great week. Like I said, was sick and that never is fun in the mission. Last week one of our families got baptized, miracle and were so happy and then this week one of our single mothers was scheduled to be baptized. I don’t think I have talked about this Maria....different Maria....she is a single mom with two kids, one with special needs. She is extremely humble, lives in a little tin and wooden house that only fits one bed. No electricity, lights, furniture, her bed only is a wooden board, doesn’t even have a mattress. When it rains everything gets soaked because the tin and wood don’t hold out the rain. Its soooo sad but we’ve had some of the most powerful lessons ever with her. SHE IS AMAZING!!!!!! She left her husband well partner because he wouldn’t get married so now is living in these circumstances. She sells radishes for a living for another lady and told her that she refused to work on Sundays. The lady told her, don’t you want to have food to eat on Sunday and she said NO!! Because if I work on Sunday, Heavenly Father is not going to bless me the rest of the week!! Her husband told her to come back and that she could never make it on her own. She asked if they’d get married, He still refused to so she said psshhhs “Get thee hence, Satan. You’re not going to save me!!! I’m going to follow Christ!!”
AMAMAMMAAZZZZINNGG!! This woman truly inspires me. Really though, she has taught me just pure faith!! I just sit in her lessons and just clap my hands and say yeah, yeah, yeah, “DASS MY GIRL!!!!!!” She is just a freak here in Guatemala and such a tender mercy. But anyways, she was scheduled to get baptized this Sunday so we knew that this was going to be a hard week because, “Satan sucks”.and oh yes it was. We passed by her house Monday in our normal time, not there. Passed by like two more times that day, not there. Tuesday, not there. Wednesday, passed by pretty much every hour, not there!!! We started to FREAK OUT because we could not lose her!! And on top of that, I was sick. BAD WEEK!!!!!! I seriously just cried. Thursday, same thing….horrible. So Hermana Guaranda and I not knowing what else to do, just prayed our brains out and we just told Heavenly father we know that you know where Maria is and we asked Heavenly father to help us find Maria TODAY. Went out again to her house, not there....we were so sad. But later on when we were walking I all of the sudden had to go to the bathroom, really bad, but this time thank goodness we were close to a members home. So we changed plans and started walking to a member’s house and as we were walking down this little callejon lo and behold....lalalalla....IT WAS MARIAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I screamed and just almost fainted of shock. We were like, “MARIA, MARIA and we started running!!!!” She started crying when she saw us and it just turned out that this had been the week of hell for her. She got kicked out of her house, didn’t have money to call us, and her husband was trying to file some kind of report against her to take her little girl, but doesn’t want anything to do with the special needs child and claims that it is not his. He brainwashed Ana and even she doesn’t want anything to do with her mom, I think it’s because of just the living circumstances...but its sooo sad. But Maria has been with different friends and been praying to find us and it was just such a beautiful moment!!!!!! She kept saying, PURO DIABLO!! PURO DIABLO!! And just said, Hermanas I can’t wait! I want to be baptized NOW, because I know that the Lord will help me!!!! It was a crazy weekend, trying to get her settled, and figure everything out, but she was baptized and it was one of the most powerful baptisms ever. She came out of the water, literally glowing and just broke out in tears. I ran out to greet her and just started screaming, “wahahahhahha” and she just hugged me and just cried and cried and cried, which of course made me cry too. It’s weird I usually don’t cry until I see them cry and then I just lose it!!! But anyways, she just cried and cried and said that despite everything that’s gone down in her life, this is the happiest she has ever been and just well cried. But daaaaaaaang it was a crazy week but just ended so happy!!!! I LOOOOVE THIIISSSSSSS GOSSSPPPEEEELLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is just pure happiness seeing how happy the gospel can make others. The mission is the ride of the life. It has the highest highs and highest lows, but the experiences that you have and seeing the faith in others is just what makes it SO worth it!!!!!! I just can’t express enough how real this gospel is and how much Heavenly Father loves us!!! I know that He is there!!! I have never cried so much in my life just feeling so completely overwhelmed, but each time I do, Heavenly Father is right there and has just poured out His tender mercies and has blessed me to meet just people like Maria!!! THe Church is true and I LOOOOOOVVVVEE it!!! No matter where you are in the world, the gospel is true and that’s what makes the mission so worth it!!!! Love you all with all my heart!!!! Prestos todos prestos!!!!!!!!
Loves and kisses
Oh and please tell sister park that I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE her daughter. Had divisions again and it was the best!!! Never will forget my ninja sistah!!!!!
Hermana Alise Rei Kahululani Garcia served in the Guatemala City Central Mission March 2010 - September 2011 for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
First Companion MTC and CCM, Hermana Williams
Breathe. When Things Get Hard, Don't Get Sad: Choose Gratitude!
Hooollllllllaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Another week has come and gone!! Craziness!! Hope everything is going well. I pray for your happiness each day!! As for Guate, things are going good! This week was another interesting one. We had a baptism of Maria Salazar. Don’t know if I told you about her. Maria is the wife of a less active, well was less active member. She actually doesn’t live in our ward, but she was one of those eternal investigators. She’s been taking the lessons in another ward with different elders for 9 months, been going to church, everything, but never wanted to get baptized. Well the elders didn’t know what to do with her so it was the stake president’s idea, he said, well we have hermanas in the stake, why don’t they teach her!!
We started to teach her about a month ago, and yesterday she got baptized and cried like a baby!! haha. When we first showed up at her house and asked her why she didn’t want to get baptized she said because once I get baptized, I’m not going anywhere so I need to KNOW!! And to me, that’s a good thing!! So we just said that’s GREAT!! Let’s make it happen!!! I don’t know we just hit if off and had some girl time...taught her, became great friends and really focused on helping her to see that she already knew and after months and months accepted a fecha and her husband was shocked!!
Yesterday, she got baptized and it was such a powerful service. The spirit was so strong. Ah man, I just loooove Maria because she’s so pure and sincere. She made our district leader cry when she bore her testimony to him in the interview about how she knows and isn’t going anywhere. But after the she came out of the water, she seriously was glowing and we were in the bathroom waiting for her, she just gave us the biggest hug and wouldn’t let go. She was crying and crying and this made me cry. It was so beautiful and she just hugged us, I would say for a good 10 minutes and just said, “Thank you Hermanas! I always knew I needed to do this, and I couldn’t have done this without you”. It really was just so beautiful to experience and see the joy of the gospel and the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ. It’s the most powerful thing in the whole world!! So anyways, good day! It makes the 99 not so good ones, TOTALLY worth it!!!!
What else happened this week......Oh! Well this week I had the opportunity to preach in a bus! haha. That was fun!! So I think I already explained a little about the crazy Guatemala magic school buses. They are crazy. Well every time I have to get on these crazy buses, I always talk and contact the person sitting next to me and this is ALWAYS an interesting experience. Sometimes I honestly feel like I have a disease or something because the people will do everything in their power to try to ignore me, pretend their sleeping, or curl up on the wall....It’s so sad sometimes....I feel like Elle Woods. Why don’t these people love me? Everybody loves me!! hahahaha. It’s sad sometimes, but wearing the tag, being a gringa and well at least in my experience here, not so much! But, anyways- not important. I got off the bus with my comp and I was expressing frustration to her telling her urrrrrrr there has to be somebody who rides those buses who wants the gospel. Why dont these people want anything? I don’t understand. And she started to laugh at me and said, yeah maybe there’s someone, why don’t you stand up in front of the whole bus and contact. And I was like, hey not a bad idea!! Let’s do it!! Hermana Guranda didn’t know she was joking, but the next time we got on the bus, I was like Hermana, are you ready? She was like what? I was like let’s contact in the front! She was like what? You are you crazy!! Heeeckkk no!! I was like Hermana! Serious!! There could be an escogido, chosen, here!! Lets go!! Hermana Guranda was just like no way!! So I was like fine, so I just stood up, didn’t know what to say, so just said Hooollllllaaa!!! Bueeeennnnnaaaas Tarrrrdddeeesss!!!!!!!!!! May I have your attention!! haha and just started talking! And Hermana Guaranda was just sitting there laughing at me. But it was kinda cool because the bus driver turned off the music when I started talking and the whole bus went silent. haha. I was like wow, so I shared a message about Jesus Christ and just invited everyone to hear about the restored gospel....but here’s the sad part, after I shared the message, I walked down the aisle to talk to every person with my pamphlets to see if anyone wanted one, and absolutely nobody did....haha.
I felt like a little beggar just walking down the aisles....you...you...you...no! Okay! So I thanked everyone for their time, sat down and the bus driver started blasting the music again. But my companion just looked at me and just started laughing at me and was just like, “ ohhh hermana garcia I was kidding, but good job”. She said she never thought in a million years to do that. But now that’s what we’re going to do. She just laughs and says alright you speak and I’ll stand there and smile. haha. ok. Although we haven’t sacked references from it, I at least get off the buses feeling like alright....you know what...we tried!!! And sometimes that is all we can do and all that Heavenly Father expects.
I am learning each day to just make the best out of everything and just be happy. Seriously, I tell Hermana all I want is to be happy and have been realizing that if you just do all you can, obviously, we’re not perfect and there’s so many things I’m trying to improve on, but if we just try, Heavenly Father will bless you and you will be able to feel happiness despite discouragements. Honestly my favorite scripture, well one of them is in Doctrine and Covenants 123: 17. When I look back at these past 8 months, yeah I have faced a lot A LOT of discouragements and you know me, It killllsssss sometimes, I feel like such a failure at times but I can honestly say that I am learning to just be happy. I breathe, and when things get hard, I remind myself, don’t get sad; choose gratitude!!! Another one of my quotes or life lessons that the mission has taught me.
Honestly I can’t express it enough how much I loooooove all of you and just how grateful I feel. My life is a dream. The mission; and acne a close second has been the hardest things I have ever had to do. everyday i just look at these people and the lives they’ve had to live and I just drop on my knees and literally cry and testify to love because I cant believe how blessed I’ve been. i have everything any girl could ever ask for, and that’s why I just love my daddy!! Both the one in Heaven and on Earth!!! I feel so blessed and I feel only an experience like this could really make me see that. Still don’t understand, but have learned to just be grateful!!! We are soooo blessed and when we honestly remember that, we will ALWAYS, ALWAYS be happy, even in the midst of floating poo and hurtful rocks!!!! Life is beautiful!!! Loooooooooveeee you all with all my heart!!!! And i really mean that!! God lives and loves!!! `He’s blessed us beyond belief, for that I will forever testify to loooooooooooovvvvvveeeee!!!! Love you all!! Prestos todos prestos....the church is true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We started to teach her about a month ago, and yesterday she got baptized and cried like a baby!! haha. When we first showed up at her house and asked her why she didn’t want to get baptized she said because once I get baptized, I’m not going anywhere so I need to KNOW!! And to me, that’s a good thing!! So we just said that’s GREAT!! Let’s make it happen!!! I don’t know we just hit if off and had some girl time...taught her, became great friends and really focused on helping her to see that she already knew and after months and months accepted a fecha and her husband was shocked!!
Yesterday, she got baptized and it was such a powerful service. The spirit was so strong. Ah man, I just loooove Maria because she’s so pure and sincere. She made our district leader cry when she bore her testimony to him in the interview about how she knows and isn’t going anywhere. But after the she came out of the water, she seriously was glowing and we were in the bathroom waiting for her, she just gave us the biggest hug and wouldn’t let go. She was crying and crying and this made me cry. It was so beautiful and she just hugged us, I would say for a good 10 minutes and just said, “Thank you Hermanas! I always knew I needed to do this, and I couldn’t have done this without you”. It really was just so beautiful to experience and see the joy of the gospel and the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ. It’s the most powerful thing in the whole world!! So anyways, good day! It makes the 99 not so good ones, TOTALLY worth it!!!!
What else happened this week......Oh! Well this week I had the opportunity to preach in a bus! haha. That was fun!! So I think I already explained a little about the crazy Guatemala magic school buses. They are crazy. Well every time I have to get on these crazy buses, I always talk and contact the person sitting next to me and this is ALWAYS an interesting experience. Sometimes I honestly feel like I have a disease or something because the people will do everything in their power to try to ignore me, pretend their sleeping, or curl up on the wall....It’s so sad sometimes....I feel like Elle Woods. Why don’t these people love me? Everybody loves me!! hahahaha. It’s sad sometimes, but wearing the tag, being a gringa and well at least in my experience here, not so much! But, anyways- not important. I got off the bus with my comp and I was expressing frustration to her telling her urrrrrrr there has to be somebody who rides those buses who wants the gospel. Why dont these people want anything? I don’t understand. And she started to laugh at me and said, yeah maybe there’s someone, why don’t you stand up in front of the whole bus and contact. And I was like, hey not a bad idea!! Let’s do it!! Hermana Guranda didn’t know she was joking, but the next time we got on the bus, I was like Hermana, are you ready? She was like what? I was like let’s contact in the front! She was like what? You are you crazy!! Heeeckkk no!! I was like Hermana! Serious!! There could be an escogido, chosen, here!! Lets go!! Hermana Guranda was just like no way!! So I was like fine, so I just stood up, didn’t know what to say, so just said Hooollllllaaa!!! Bueeeennnnnaaaas Tarrrrdddeeesss!!!!!!!!!! May I have your attention!! haha and just started talking! And Hermana Guaranda was just sitting there laughing at me. But it was kinda cool because the bus driver turned off the music when I started talking and the whole bus went silent. haha. I was like wow, so I shared a message about Jesus Christ and just invited everyone to hear about the restored gospel....but here’s the sad part, after I shared the message, I walked down the aisle to talk to every person with my pamphlets to see if anyone wanted one, and absolutely nobody did....haha.
I felt like a little beggar just walking down the aisles....you...you...you...no! Okay! So I thanked everyone for their time, sat down and the bus driver started blasting the music again. But my companion just looked at me and just started laughing at me and was just like, “ ohhh hermana garcia I was kidding, but good job”. She said she never thought in a million years to do that. But now that’s what we’re going to do. She just laughs and says alright you speak and I’ll stand there and smile. haha. ok. Although we haven’t sacked references from it, I at least get off the buses feeling like alright....you know what...we tried!!! And sometimes that is all we can do and all that Heavenly Father expects.
I am learning each day to just make the best out of everything and just be happy. Seriously, I tell Hermana all I want is to be happy and have been realizing that if you just do all you can, obviously, we’re not perfect and there’s so many things I’m trying to improve on, but if we just try, Heavenly Father will bless you and you will be able to feel happiness despite discouragements. Honestly my favorite scripture, well one of them is in Doctrine and Covenants 123: 17. When I look back at these past 8 months, yeah I have faced a lot A LOT of discouragements and you know me, It killllsssss sometimes, I feel like such a failure at times but I can honestly say that I am learning to just be happy. I breathe, and when things get hard, I remind myself, don’t get sad; choose gratitude!!! Another one of my quotes or life lessons that the mission has taught me.
Honestly I can’t express it enough how much I loooooove all of you and just how grateful I feel. My life is a dream. The mission; and acne a close second has been the hardest things I have ever had to do. everyday i just look at these people and the lives they’ve had to live and I just drop on my knees and literally cry and testify to love because I cant believe how blessed I’ve been. i have everything any girl could ever ask for, and that’s why I just love my daddy!! Both the one in Heaven and on Earth!!! I feel so blessed and I feel only an experience like this could really make me see that. Still don’t understand, but have learned to just be grateful!!! We are soooo blessed and when we honestly remember that, we will ALWAYS, ALWAYS be happy, even in the midst of floating poo and hurtful rocks!!!! Life is beautiful!!! Loooooooooveeee you all with all my heart!!!! And i really mean that!! God lives and loves!!! `He’s blessed us beyond belief, for that I will forever testify to loooooooooooovvvvvveeeee!!!! Love you all!! Prestos todos prestos....the church is true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
True Guatemalan: Straight up Chapina Fo Sho!!!
BUENAS!!!! First of all, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!! FELIZ ANIVERSARIO ABUELITOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW 50 years!!! That is something to celebrate!! I hope everyone had the best time in Hawaii!! I was a little sad that I couldn’t be there with everyone, but I thanked Heavenly Father for just the best family in all the world!!! I really do love you all with all my heart!! And if my mission has taught me anything, it is just how blessed I am to have the family that I do!! LOOOOOVEEEE!!! Love you all!!!
Ok so this week, hmmmm what happened?? Oh, we had zone conference!!! Which means.........MAILLLL!!!!!! woohooo!! Thank you so much for all your letters. I gotta tell you, I started straight up crying when I read the letter from Auntie Reenie and about Kristen Vidinhar’s baptism! Oh man!! That was so special!! It made me cry and cry and cry. What an angel!! Must be the Rei!!! Kidding! But it sounds like everyone is doing well!! I will try to write everyone. But please know that the mail here is etcha sketch!!!! It makes me sooo mad sometimes but I just gotta love!!! If you’ve written me, I promise I have written you back. Don’t know if you got it, but please know that I truly do appreciate ALL your love and support!!
In this time of my life, it literally means the world!! So besides the mail, haha the Zone Conference was probably the highlight of this week. We had a general authority come, Elder Martino of the 70 and it was SO good!!! He pretty much just gave us all chicote, but it felt so good, because it was just so powerful!!! He started by writing some numbers on the board, didn’t know what it was, but it was the numbers of baptisms our mission has had and how much we have per month and he just said THIS IS UNNACCEPTABLE!! And just started going crazy, I was sitting in the front row right in front of him and I was just like wow, wow, wowww! It was crazy!! But I just loved it because you could just feel the power of his testimony and how much love he had for the Savior and this work. In my notes, I have written in bold like 100 times, I BELIEVE!!!!! haha. But it was so cool!! Yeah, so our mission has a problem with baptizing. Our mission president always gives chicote and talks about this, but still don’t know why but in comparison to other Central American missions we are slacking! Pres Baldwin set a goal at the beginning of the year 2010 Almas...souls...in 2010. Well it’s November and we reached 800!! Yikes!! Don’t know how that compares to other missions in the world, but Elder Martino just gave chicote!! UNNACCEPTABLE!!! In Central America that is really low. how were going to change this.....don’t know I try not to stress myself out but just trying each day to do survive and do my best!!! I just want to leave my mission happy, alive, just saying that I DID IT!!! But yeah!! I know that I can improve. It is overwhelming at times, sometimes I just cry and cry because I feel so overwhelmed, but the Lord has a lot of patience and mercy with us and I know that He loves us. We just need to do our best! But it really was a cool experience to have a general authority come and give you chicote!!! There was no doubt in my mind that he knows!! He bore the most powerful testimony ever. Loooved it!!
What else.....as far as the work goes, we’ve been working hard with a couple of investigators. We have a mommy getting baptized this Sunday which is good. Sometimes we have to be really patient because it is hard for these people to understand. the majority of the people you teach don’t know how to read, their brains are just extremely, extremely simple, never have studied and just their whole life have grown up believing in false doctrines so it can get a little hard teaching wise, but haha! My elementary-ed training has come in handy! Here in the mountains, it seriously is like your teaching five year old kids sometimes. My comp always laughs at me because, David’s going to be disgusted, but yes I’m such a sister missionary bringing out all my puzzles, and playing crazy games, drawing pics, doing all I can to just get them to understand simple, simple principles. The lack of understanding really does make it harder sometimes. If anyone has any ideas that can help, let me know!!!!! But it is fun!!!!
Ohhhh and for the Guatemala moment of the week.....I’ve become a true Guatemalan. So I have a fear. I don’t like drinking a lot of water or eating tooo much because heaven for bid, what am I going to do if I have to use the bathroom!!! But this week, it hit me! We were sitting in a lesson and all of the sudden, Guatemala called and I had to use the bathroom!! I looked around and was like mmm mmm!! No way!! I will just wait and well just run after this lesson to the closest member’s house!! But we were in the middle of nowhere. Hermana B, way pass the colegio melody....just way out there and there is seriously NOTHING but cows, dogs, tin shacks, and corn fields. I was like Hermana we need to run, I HAVE TO GO!!! And started to panic a little, and Hermana Guaranda was just dying laughing. We started running, but there was no way I was going to be able to hold it in, so I just chose a bush, told Hermana to watch out for the cows and dogs, thank goodness no one was around, took a squat and like a true Guatemalan did mah thang!!!!! Oh mannnn it was horrible!!!!!!!! But I had to go and Hermana Guaranda was seriously dying!!! But I seriously thought! WOW!! I can know say I am a true chapina!!!! That’s how the people in Guatemala do it!!! When people here need to use the bathroom, there’s no shame, you just pull down your pants and go. At first I seriously thought that was just so disgusting, but now I’m a straight up chapina fo sho!!!! hahahahah!!!!!
Well looooooooooove you all with all my heart!!! Thank you soooo much for all your love, support, and prayers!!! It really does mean the world!!!!!!
Love,
Hermana Ali
Ok so this week, hmmmm what happened?? Oh, we had zone conference!!! Which means.........MAILLLL!!!!!! woohooo!! Thank you so much for all your letters. I gotta tell you, I started straight up crying when I read the letter from Auntie Reenie and about Kristen Vidinhar’s baptism! Oh man!! That was so special!! It made me cry and cry and cry. What an angel!! Must be the Rei!!! Kidding! But it sounds like everyone is doing well!! I will try to write everyone. But please know that the mail here is etcha sketch!!!! It makes me sooo mad sometimes but I just gotta love!!! If you’ve written me, I promise I have written you back. Don’t know if you got it, but please know that I truly do appreciate ALL your love and support!!
In this time of my life, it literally means the world!! So besides the mail, haha the Zone Conference was probably the highlight of this week. We had a general authority come, Elder Martino of the 70 and it was SO good!!! He pretty much just gave us all chicote, but it felt so good, because it was just so powerful!!! He started by writing some numbers on the board, didn’t know what it was, but it was the numbers of baptisms our mission has had and how much we have per month and he just said THIS IS UNNACCEPTABLE!! And just started going crazy, I was sitting in the front row right in front of him and I was just like wow, wow, wowww! It was crazy!! But I just loved it because you could just feel the power of his testimony and how much love he had for the Savior and this work. In my notes, I have written in bold like 100 times, I BELIEVE!!!!! haha. But it was so cool!! Yeah, so our mission has a problem with baptizing. Our mission president always gives chicote and talks about this, but still don’t know why but in comparison to other Central American missions we are slacking! Pres Baldwin set a goal at the beginning of the year 2010 Almas...souls...in 2010. Well it’s November and we reached 800!! Yikes!! Don’t know how that compares to other missions in the world, but Elder Martino just gave chicote!! UNNACCEPTABLE!!! In Central America that is really low. how were going to change this.....don’t know I try not to stress myself out but just trying each day to do survive and do my best!!! I just want to leave my mission happy, alive, just saying that I DID IT!!! But yeah!! I know that I can improve. It is overwhelming at times, sometimes I just cry and cry because I feel so overwhelmed, but the Lord has a lot of patience and mercy with us and I know that He loves us. We just need to do our best! But it really was a cool experience to have a general authority come and give you chicote!!! There was no doubt in my mind that he knows!! He bore the most powerful testimony ever. Loooved it!!
What else.....as far as the work goes, we’ve been working hard with a couple of investigators. We have a mommy getting baptized this Sunday which is good. Sometimes we have to be really patient because it is hard for these people to understand. the majority of the people you teach don’t know how to read, their brains are just extremely, extremely simple, never have studied and just their whole life have grown up believing in false doctrines so it can get a little hard teaching wise, but haha! My elementary-ed training has come in handy! Here in the mountains, it seriously is like your teaching five year old kids sometimes. My comp always laughs at me because, David’s going to be disgusted, but yes I’m such a sister missionary bringing out all my puzzles, and playing crazy games, drawing pics, doing all I can to just get them to understand simple, simple principles. The lack of understanding really does make it harder sometimes. If anyone has any ideas that can help, let me know!!!!! But it is fun!!!!
Ohhhh and for the Guatemala moment of the week.....I’ve become a true Guatemalan. So I have a fear. I don’t like drinking a lot of water or eating tooo much because heaven for bid, what am I going to do if I have to use the bathroom!!! But this week, it hit me! We were sitting in a lesson and all of the sudden, Guatemala called and I had to use the bathroom!! I looked around and was like mmm mmm!! No way!! I will just wait and well just run after this lesson to the closest member’s house!! But we were in the middle of nowhere. Hermana B, way pass the colegio melody....just way out there and there is seriously NOTHING but cows, dogs, tin shacks, and corn fields. I was like Hermana we need to run, I HAVE TO GO!!! And started to panic a little, and Hermana Guaranda was just dying laughing. We started running, but there was no way I was going to be able to hold it in, so I just chose a bush, told Hermana to watch out for the cows and dogs, thank goodness no one was around, took a squat and like a true Guatemalan did mah thang!!!!! Oh mannnn it was horrible!!!!!!!! But I had to go and Hermana Guaranda was seriously dying!!! But I seriously thought! WOW!! I can know say I am a true chapina!!!! That’s how the people in Guatemala do it!!! When people here need to use the bathroom, there’s no shame, you just pull down your pants and go. At first I seriously thought that was just so disgusting, but now I’m a straight up chapina fo sho!!!! hahahahah!!!!!
Well looooooooooove you all with all my heart!!! Thank you soooo much for all your love, support, and prayers!!! It really does mean the world!!!!!!
Love,
Hermana Ali
Susy and Tender Mercies
Hola!!! Another week has come and gone!! In two days I will be hitting 8 months!!!!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE that!!!! Craziness!!! In one month I am hitting my hump! It’s so crazy!!!!! The mission is so weird. It is the fastest slowest craziest time of your life!! STILL haven’t waken up from my dream!! It really is weird. But anyways this week we have just been trying to get people we are working with to progress. Gotta be patient; These are big changes, but I KNOW the blessings are real!!!!!!!! We’re trying!!!! We got faith, but they got agency!!!!!! haha. Patience! Love! Charity! It is the key!
But, this week was a lot of just the dirty work. I really hope that soon we will be able to see more results. It gets hard sometimes but you really just gotta believe that there is someone who wants to change. Everyone here needs the help, is crying for the gospel....really. I think that’s what makes it more depressing. It is how lost some of these people are and you just KNOW that what you have can help them and is what they need, but......yeah! The trick really is finding someone who wants the help and wants to change and figuring out how you can help them. But each day is a learning experience for me and am just trying to soak it all up and looooooooooooooove it all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This week I had a really beautiful experience. Too bad it didn’t happen in my area Soooooo, a lot of areas in our zone have been suffering. There are a lot of areas in Chimal where the missionaries don’t have investigators so what our zone has been doing is what we call attack on the areas....where ALL the missionaries in the zone go to one area and just contact every person in sight for two hours to get references. We’ve done two already and got another one coming up this week. We went to a different area called Parramos and we started just contacting like locos. Didn’t really have much success at first was a little sad so my comp and I changed directions and started going the other way. There wasn’t a lot of people but we still kept going. We saw this lady walking towards us and she was smiling so we said perfect lets go get her.
We started talking to her and we just hit it off!! It was like wowokakhakddkdkd!!! Where did you come from! It was one of those moments where you just seriously felt a connection with someone and it was really beautiful. Invited her to church, accepted and it was just beautiful!! We were all soo happy and then we were about to leave and Susy....that’s her name just started bawling....uncontrollably crying. Hermana Guaranda and I looked at each other not really understanding what was happening. So I was just like Susy!! What going on!! Come here!! And I just gave her the biggest hug and she was just crying and crying and crying even more. We didn’t know what was going on but she just looked at us and said thank you!! God bless you, you are the Lords angels! She told us that a week ago her husband just completely abandoned her with her kids and just left them with absolutely nothing!! The rent for her apartment is past due and she has absolutely no way of paying for it so the owner said that she has until tomorrow to pay or they are kicking her out and she is going to have to sleep on the street. She has nothing to eat. She went to Jocotenango to visit her parents but she didn’t even know that her parents moved houses don’t have cell phones so she has no way of getting in touch with them. So her entire family and her husband completely abandoned her and she told us I literally have nothing!!!!!!!
She said that she for the first time got on her knees earlier that day to plead with God to let her know if He was really there. And then randomly in the street we started talking with her and she just told us....Just by talking to you and meeting you I know that God is there!! OHH man....tearssssssssssss!!! It was so beautiful Hermana Guaranda and I just started crying with her. All of us just standing in a little humble dirt road crying. I seriously felt Heavenly Fathers love wrap around us. It was so powerful!! And I had to repent for my bad attitude and my lack of faith! It all and it just hit me. THIS is why we go on missions. Sometimes it gets so hard for me to have the faith to just believe because we get rejected all day so it’s hard that this really is where I need to be because I can’t feel that sometimes. I feel just helpless like I can’t help these people, but I will forever remember Susy because she was such a tender mercy to me because I too needed to know that Heavenly Father is here!!!!! And that really is why I am here so that everyone can know that. I’ve realized that There comes a point in everyone’s life where you need God, because there is nothing else. Life isn’t easy, and everyone will reach that point where they just need to know that God is there because they have is nothing else. And our job as missionaries, the great privilege and blessing that we have is that when that time comes for whoever it may be, that we are right there so they know that God is. The mission is hard. But it is worst it and at the same time just beautiful!!! I’m sad I wont be able to teach Susy but the elders are working with her now and I just never will forget that when she told us that!! That is why I am here!!!!!! I looooooooooooove you all with alll my heart!!!!!!! Thank you because through your love I know that God is there and that He loves me!!! I just hope I can help others know that too!!!!!!! Love you forever!!! prestos todos prestos.....the church is true!!!!!
By the way.....just got of divisions with herm park.....love her. She is an AMAZING super missionary. I learned so much. Please tell her mom hi and that she should be proud!!!! Hermana Park really is amazing.
But, this week was a lot of just the dirty work. I really hope that soon we will be able to see more results. It gets hard sometimes but you really just gotta believe that there is someone who wants to change. Everyone here needs the help, is crying for the gospel....really. I think that’s what makes it more depressing. It is how lost some of these people are and you just KNOW that what you have can help them and is what they need, but......yeah! The trick really is finding someone who wants the help and wants to change and figuring out how you can help them. But each day is a learning experience for me and am just trying to soak it all up and looooooooooooooove it all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This week I had a really beautiful experience. Too bad it didn’t happen in my area Soooooo, a lot of areas in our zone have been suffering. There are a lot of areas in Chimal where the missionaries don’t have investigators so what our zone has been doing is what we call attack on the areas....where ALL the missionaries in the zone go to one area and just contact every person in sight for two hours to get references. We’ve done two already and got another one coming up this week. We went to a different area called Parramos and we started just contacting like locos. Didn’t really have much success at first was a little sad so my comp and I changed directions and started going the other way. There wasn’t a lot of people but we still kept going. We saw this lady walking towards us and she was smiling so we said perfect lets go get her.
We started talking to her and we just hit it off!! It was like wowokakhakddkdkd!!! Where did you come from! It was one of those moments where you just seriously felt a connection with someone and it was really beautiful. Invited her to church, accepted and it was just beautiful!! We were all soo happy and then we were about to leave and Susy....that’s her name just started bawling....uncontrollably crying. Hermana Guaranda and I looked at each other not really understanding what was happening. So I was just like Susy!! What going on!! Come here!! And I just gave her the biggest hug and she was just crying and crying and crying even more. We didn’t know what was going on but she just looked at us and said thank you!! God bless you, you are the Lords angels! She told us that a week ago her husband just completely abandoned her with her kids and just left them with absolutely nothing!! The rent for her apartment is past due and she has absolutely no way of paying for it so the owner said that she has until tomorrow to pay or they are kicking her out and she is going to have to sleep on the street. She has nothing to eat. She went to Jocotenango to visit her parents but she didn’t even know that her parents moved houses don’t have cell phones so she has no way of getting in touch with them. So her entire family and her husband completely abandoned her and she told us I literally have nothing!!!!!!!
She said that she for the first time got on her knees earlier that day to plead with God to let her know if He was really there. And then randomly in the street we started talking with her and she just told us....Just by talking to you and meeting you I know that God is there!! OHH man....tearssssssssssss!!! It was so beautiful Hermana Guaranda and I just started crying with her. All of us just standing in a little humble dirt road crying. I seriously felt Heavenly Fathers love wrap around us. It was so powerful!! And I had to repent for my bad attitude and my lack of faith! It all and it just hit me. THIS is why we go on missions. Sometimes it gets so hard for me to have the faith to just believe because we get rejected all day so it’s hard that this really is where I need to be because I can’t feel that sometimes. I feel just helpless like I can’t help these people, but I will forever remember Susy because she was such a tender mercy to me because I too needed to know that Heavenly Father is here!!!!! And that really is why I am here so that everyone can know that. I’ve realized that There comes a point in everyone’s life where you need God, because there is nothing else. Life isn’t easy, and everyone will reach that point where they just need to know that God is there because they have is nothing else. And our job as missionaries, the great privilege and blessing that we have is that when that time comes for whoever it may be, that we are right there so they know that God is. The mission is hard. But it is worst it and at the same time just beautiful!!! I’m sad I wont be able to teach Susy but the elders are working with her now and I just never will forget that when she told us that!! That is why I am here!!!!!! I looooooooooooove you all with alll my heart!!!!!!! Thank you because through your love I know that God is there and that He loves me!!! I just hope I can help others know that too!!!!!!! Love you forever!!! prestos todos prestos.....the church is true!!!!!
By the way.....just got of divisions with herm park.....love her. She is an AMAZING super missionary. I learned so much. Please tell her mom hi and that she should be proud!!!! Hermana Park really is amazing.
Mad Cows
Alright family!!! I am sorry that this email is going to be short......I don’t know how but my time is almost up.....But dun duh duh duhhhhhh guess where I am STILL in Chimaltenango!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! bahahhahhahahah!!!!!!!! When I found that out, I started laughing and crying at the same time, didn’t really know what to think!!!! I am happy, but felt ready to leave, but love the people, but.......I don’t know!!!!!!!! I guess this really is where the Lord wanted me to be!!!! Up in Chimal, where things get CRAZY!!!!!! Well 6 more weeks of fun, fun adventures should be coming our way!!!!!!! Oh and I am still with Hermana Guaranda.....3 changes juntas!!!!! Hermana Guaranda every week writes president and tells him to leave us together and in our nightly prayers prays that this companionship will last forever......bahhahahahha its kinda funny so when we found out we were together again she said my prayers were answered!!!!!! And I started to laugh and cry, but I told her that she is no longer allowed to pray or write to president!! haha. But it was funny!!!
We are excited to see what this change will bring!! The elders had to buy us ice creams because everybody said that I was out for sure. But Hermana Guaranda said no way!!! Hermana g is staying in chimal!!! doesn’t matter how much time we’ve had here. So the elders had to buy us ice cream because they said if Hermana G stays in chimal, it would be a miracle and ice-cream for us both!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So at least I got ice-cream out of it!!!!!! Ohhhh chimmmallllll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well all is well for us. We had people last week that I thought were going to be more positive but then I started hearing about the life stories and it will be harder than I thought. 10 different partners.....just craziness. That is probably my favorite thing about being in Guate....just listening to these life stories. they will BLOW your mind!!! Sometimes I just question my Spanish....I think am I understanding all of this right_____ YEP!!! You’rej ust in Chimal!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its sooooooooo fun!!!!!! But all is well!!
The mission definitely is an adventure!!!!!! Sorry this email will be so short. Don’t know where the time went so I am just babbling!!!!! But ohhhh. are you ready for this weeks Guatemala moment?? Ok so in my area there are cows everywhere. Just cows cruising on these dirty dirt roads. Hermana Guaranda and I were walking and there was a cow in the middle of the street. Didn’t faze me, I’m used to it. But Hermana Guarnada told me, Hermana!! The cow is mad!!! Let’s not go down this road!!! But I was like naaaahhh don’t be crazy, its fine!!! But we kept walking and then, the cow started mooing like crazy and started charging after us!!!! And I just screamed and Hermana Guaranda and I turned around and started running!!!!!!! Screaming and running like crazy people down this muddy dirt road. On the side of us were these little kids in corte cheering and screaming Gringa!! Gringa!! Gringa!!! It was the funniest craziest thing!!!!! Luckily, some guy with a machete sword was there to scare the cow away!! But daaaaaannngngngn!!!!!!!!!!! this mission is just crazy!!!! never ever know what’s going to happen!!!!!
After Hermana Guaranda and I just died laughing for a good 2 hours!!!!! Just thinking did that really just happen????? Craziness!!!!!! How will I ever leave this place??? Well, my time is up....I’m sorry I didn’t have a lot of time to write!!! But just know that I looooooooooooooveeeeee you all with all my heart and that I am sooooooooooooo grateful for all that you do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The church is true!!!!! That is why I’m still here getting peed on by dogs and chased by wild cows and crazy evangelicals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Guatemala city central.....BEST mission ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love you all with all my heart!!!!!! Thank you for EVERYTHING!!! prestos todos prestos....the church is TRUE!!!!!!!
We are excited to see what this change will bring!! The elders had to buy us ice creams because everybody said that I was out for sure. But Hermana Guaranda said no way!!! Hermana g is staying in chimal!!! doesn’t matter how much time we’ve had here. So the elders had to buy us ice cream because they said if Hermana G stays in chimal, it would be a miracle and ice-cream for us both!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So at least I got ice-cream out of it!!!!!! Ohhhh chimmmallllll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well all is well for us. We had people last week that I thought were going to be more positive but then I started hearing about the life stories and it will be harder than I thought. 10 different partners.....just craziness. That is probably my favorite thing about being in Guate....just listening to these life stories. they will BLOW your mind!!! Sometimes I just question my Spanish....I think am I understanding all of this right_____ YEP!!! You’rej ust in Chimal!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its sooooooooo fun!!!!!! But all is well!!
The mission definitely is an adventure!!!!!! Sorry this email will be so short. Don’t know where the time went so I am just babbling!!!!! But ohhhh. are you ready for this weeks Guatemala moment?? Ok so in my area there are cows everywhere. Just cows cruising on these dirty dirt roads. Hermana Guaranda and I were walking and there was a cow in the middle of the street. Didn’t faze me, I’m used to it. But Hermana Guarnada told me, Hermana!! The cow is mad!!! Let’s not go down this road!!! But I was like naaaahhh don’t be crazy, its fine!!! But we kept walking and then, the cow started mooing like crazy and started charging after us!!!! And I just screamed and Hermana Guaranda and I turned around and started running!!!!!!! Screaming and running like crazy people down this muddy dirt road. On the side of us were these little kids in corte cheering and screaming Gringa!! Gringa!! Gringa!!! It was the funniest craziest thing!!!!! Luckily, some guy with a machete sword was there to scare the cow away!! But daaaaaannngngngn!!!!!!!!!!! this mission is just crazy!!!! never ever know what’s going to happen!!!!!
After Hermana Guaranda and I just died laughing for a good 2 hours!!!!! Just thinking did that really just happen????? Craziness!!!!!! How will I ever leave this place??? Well, my time is up....I’m sorry I didn’t have a lot of time to write!!! But just know that I looooooooooooooveeeeee you all with all my heart and that I am sooooooooooooo grateful for all that you do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The church is true!!!!! That is why I’m still here getting peed on by dogs and chased by wild cows and crazy evangelicals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Guatemala city central.....BEST mission ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love you all with all my heart!!!!!! Thank you for EVERYTHING!!! prestos todos prestos....the church is TRUE!!!!!!!
Tortillas For Sale
Hola!!!!!! Thank you everyone for all your love and support!!!! I feel it all the way in Guatemala!!! This really was a great week! We experienced a lot of miracles!!! I have sooooo much I want to write, but sooo little time. Hopefully, I can get across some of my thoughts!!!!
We had another baptism this week! Don’t ask me how, Heavenly Father is amazing!!!! One of our families, the mom had a dream about President Monson and Joseph Smith and said I know its all true!! When can I get baptized!!! whattttt theeeeeeee????? We were ecstatic!!!!! The Lord is turning this area around and we are soooo excited!!!!!!! The funny thing is I think now I’m going to be transferred!!! But, the work is starting to progress. We met a lot of positive people these weeks and were also able to set fechas with them. Chimaltenango is waking up from a far toooo long sleep!!!!!! Miracles! Miracles! We are soooo excited!!!! Do not lower your expectations, Increase your faith!!!!! It’s working!!!!!
This week we really experienced miracles. I am soooo scatter brained right now I am going to try and just write some. Ok soooo Angelina.....You know how much I looooove her!! We had the BEST experience! Ok soooo you all know about Angelina and how she is really humble and they took Pablito away because she’s not able to support her kids.....Sooo sad!!!! Heartbreaking!! And so what the church did is they lent her a stove and she is starting to make tortillas because she needs to show that she has some sort of constant income to get her son back. So on Friday, she started this little tortilla stand out of one of the member’s home. We promised her that if she had faith and was obedient to the commandments that God would help her sell all her tortillas. It’s kinda hard because there are tortillerias everywhere and on both sides of this member’s home, but it was the only thing that we could think of doing.
On friday her and her daughter started to work and make these tortillas. We passed by in the afternoon and were soooo happy to see them working! But anyways, the day passes by and we return at like 7:00pm to see how the progress went and I was DEVASTATED because they weren’t able to sell ANY tortillas!!!!!! Oh man, when we passed by Angelina was soooo sad and it just broke my heart!!! I felt soooo sad because I had promised her that Heavenly father would help her. She just needed to have faith! It was the end of the day, and not ANY!!!! NOTHING!!! They lost money on the tortillas they made!! And just seeing their faces made me soooo sad!!! We went in the house and we gave a lesson straight from the heart on faith!!! What faith really is!!! I felt so discouraged and sad but when we were talking to her, I just felt NOOOOO!!!!!! I know that God lives!! That the Book of Mormon is TRUE and that He ALWAYS fulfills His promises!! I have to admit I still felt fear but I just with everything I could looked her in the eyes and told her that if she got on her knees pleading with the Lord to help her and if she committed herself and promised Heavenly Father that if He helped her, she would pay her tithing and be 100 percent obedient to all his commandments, He would help her sale her tortillas!!!
It was one of those moments were the spirit was just blazing and my companion and I from the heart promised these crazy blessings, but no doubt the Spirit was sooo strong!! We left the house and it was already really late so we had to run to the house. But that night I felt so sad because they weren’t able to sell ANYTHING!! But we passed by the next day, it was the craziest thing! Sometimes I forget what I say, what I tell people, or just things that happen because I’m bombarded with crazineess each day!! But we passed by her house the next day and Hermana Angelina had the biggest smile on her face! She told us that after we left last night. She did what we said. She prayed and promised the lord she would be obedient to His commandments and after that she got up and heard a knock on the door!! The people came. They started flooding to the house and she in a manner of probably an hour sold ALLLLLL her tortillas for that day!! Not only that, she had to make MORE!!! Hermana Hernandez, the member who is there had to help her make more tortillas because there wasn’t enough!!!!!!!!!! whahahahhhahahhaahah!!!!!!!!
We started to cry we were sooooooooooooooooooooooo happy!! Everyday since then she has been able to sell all her tortillas!!!!! Oh man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The church is TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How do I even doubt sometimes!!!!!!!! It honestly is the coolest thing to be a missionary, to promise these people blessings that you don’t even think are possible and that through their obedience and faith, miracles happen!!!!!!!!!! Oh myyyyy goooodnesss!! It seriously was a miracle in front of my eyes!!!!!!!!! Indescribable!!!!!! The church is SOOOOO true!!! That’s all I got to say but the miracles don’t come until AFTER the trial of your faith!!!!!!!! God lives! Loves US and has established again His church!!!! We are children of Him! For this NEVER decrease your expectations!! Always increase your faith!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Man happiness!!! This week, we had zone conference and our mission president really spoke to my heart!! Usually our mission president is just really straight forward, direct drill sergeant and gives us chicote because our mission doesn’t baptize like other Central American missions, but this week was different!! He told us that he knows that our areas are a lot more difficult than other areas and that its a lot harder to have success, but he told us that we are here to love. That our mission is to love!!!!! To strengthen the feeble knees and the hands that hang and that if we LOVED we would be successful!!!!! This really hit me hard!!! I’ve really been trying to do this just LOOOOOVEEEE EVERYONE and I honestly have FELT just such a difference!!!! Even though people still do stupid things, I just am trying my best to looooove them!!! It’s crazy to think what these people have had to go through in their lives! Just 10 years ago here in the mountains where we serve in Guatemala the native people were exterminated, killed by corrupt government, lined up and shot!!! Just 10 years ago!! People suffer from abuse, drugs, hunger, extreme, extreme poverty.....THEY NEEEEDDDD LLOOOOOVEEEE!!!
When President was speaking I felt sooo humbled and just thought geeeezzz how blessed am I!! I felt bad for all the crazy things I have said or thought and am just really trying to commit myself to love and learn from them!!!! It is incredible and I really do feel such a difference!!!! I believe in love and that our happiness in this life depends on our ability to love!!!!!! not going to lie sometimes I feel like it is so hard to love people when they throw rocks at you, yell at you in the streets, throw you out of their homes for telling them the truth.....that in the eyes of God they weren’t baptized (happened to me this week...haha said it with allll thelove of my heart!! ) and just are straight up rude.....But if you just try to put yourself in their situation and just love them, you will be happy!!! The mission really is something else!!!!! I am learning so much each day and really I feel like the weakest missionary ever but can honestly say I am trying to love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I feel a difference!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love! LOVE! LOVE!!!!!!!!!! Is the answer to life’s problem!!! And the biggest evidence or demonstration of love that we have is the atonement of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ and the restoration of His gospel!!!!!!!! you cannot get more love than that!!!!! For that I will forever testify to loooooooooooooooooovvvvvvvvvvvveeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love you all with every fiber of my being!!!!!!!!! Please know that!!! And sorry for now showing it more!!!!!! I loooooooooooooooooveeeeeee you all!!!!!!!!!! prestos todos prestos the church is true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Hemana Ali
We had another baptism this week! Don’t ask me how, Heavenly Father is amazing!!!! One of our families, the mom had a dream about President Monson and Joseph Smith and said I know its all true!! When can I get baptized!!! whattttt theeeeeeee????? We were ecstatic!!!!! The Lord is turning this area around and we are soooo excited!!!!!!! The funny thing is I think now I’m going to be transferred!!! But, the work is starting to progress. We met a lot of positive people these weeks and were also able to set fechas with them. Chimaltenango is waking up from a far toooo long sleep!!!!!! Miracles! Miracles! We are soooo excited!!!! Do not lower your expectations, Increase your faith!!!!! It’s working!!!!!
This week we really experienced miracles. I am soooo scatter brained right now I am going to try and just write some. Ok soooo Angelina.....You know how much I looooove her!! We had the BEST experience! Ok soooo you all know about Angelina and how she is really humble and they took Pablito away because she’s not able to support her kids.....Sooo sad!!!! Heartbreaking!! And so what the church did is they lent her a stove and she is starting to make tortillas because she needs to show that she has some sort of constant income to get her son back. So on Friday, she started this little tortilla stand out of one of the member’s home. We promised her that if she had faith and was obedient to the commandments that God would help her sell all her tortillas. It’s kinda hard because there are tortillerias everywhere and on both sides of this member’s home, but it was the only thing that we could think of doing.
On friday her and her daughter started to work and make these tortillas. We passed by in the afternoon and were soooo happy to see them working! But anyways, the day passes by and we return at like 7:00pm to see how the progress went and I was DEVASTATED because they weren’t able to sell ANY tortillas!!!!!! Oh man, when we passed by Angelina was soooo sad and it just broke my heart!!! I felt soooo sad because I had promised her that Heavenly father would help her. She just needed to have faith! It was the end of the day, and not ANY!!!! NOTHING!!! They lost money on the tortillas they made!! And just seeing their faces made me soooo sad!!! We went in the house and we gave a lesson straight from the heart on faith!!! What faith really is!!! I felt so discouraged and sad but when we were talking to her, I just felt NOOOOO!!!!!! I know that God lives!! That the Book of Mormon is TRUE and that He ALWAYS fulfills His promises!! I have to admit I still felt fear but I just with everything I could looked her in the eyes and told her that if she got on her knees pleading with the Lord to help her and if she committed herself and promised Heavenly Father that if He helped her, she would pay her tithing and be 100 percent obedient to all his commandments, He would help her sale her tortillas!!!
It was one of those moments were the spirit was just blazing and my companion and I from the heart promised these crazy blessings, but no doubt the Spirit was sooo strong!! We left the house and it was already really late so we had to run to the house. But that night I felt so sad because they weren’t able to sell ANYTHING!! But we passed by the next day, it was the craziest thing! Sometimes I forget what I say, what I tell people, or just things that happen because I’m bombarded with crazineess each day!! But we passed by her house the next day and Hermana Angelina had the biggest smile on her face! She told us that after we left last night. She did what we said. She prayed and promised the lord she would be obedient to His commandments and after that she got up and heard a knock on the door!! The people came. They started flooding to the house and she in a manner of probably an hour sold ALLLLLL her tortillas for that day!! Not only that, she had to make MORE!!! Hermana Hernandez, the member who is there had to help her make more tortillas because there wasn’t enough!!!!!!!!!! whahahahhhahahhaahah!!!!!!!!
We started to cry we were sooooooooooooooooooooooo happy!! Everyday since then she has been able to sell all her tortillas!!!!! Oh man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The church is TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How do I even doubt sometimes!!!!!!!! It honestly is the coolest thing to be a missionary, to promise these people blessings that you don’t even think are possible and that through their obedience and faith, miracles happen!!!!!!!!!! Oh myyyyy goooodnesss!! It seriously was a miracle in front of my eyes!!!!!!!!! Indescribable!!!!!! The church is SOOOOO true!!! That’s all I got to say but the miracles don’t come until AFTER the trial of your faith!!!!!!!! God lives! Loves US and has established again His church!!!! We are children of Him! For this NEVER decrease your expectations!! Always increase your faith!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Man happiness!!! This week, we had zone conference and our mission president really spoke to my heart!! Usually our mission president is just really straight forward, direct drill sergeant and gives us chicote because our mission doesn’t baptize like other Central American missions, but this week was different!! He told us that he knows that our areas are a lot more difficult than other areas and that its a lot harder to have success, but he told us that we are here to love. That our mission is to love!!!!! To strengthen the feeble knees and the hands that hang and that if we LOVED we would be successful!!!!! This really hit me hard!!! I’ve really been trying to do this just LOOOOOVEEEE EVERYONE and I honestly have FELT just such a difference!!!! Even though people still do stupid things, I just am trying my best to looooove them!!! It’s crazy to think what these people have had to go through in their lives! Just 10 years ago here in the mountains where we serve in Guatemala the native people were exterminated, killed by corrupt government, lined up and shot!!! Just 10 years ago!! People suffer from abuse, drugs, hunger, extreme, extreme poverty.....THEY NEEEEDDDD LLOOOOOVEEEE!!!
When President was speaking I felt sooo humbled and just thought geeeezzz how blessed am I!! I felt bad for all the crazy things I have said or thought and am just really trying to commit myself to love and learn from them!!!! It is incredible and I really do feel such a difference!!!! I believe in love and that our happiness in this life depends on our ability to love!!!!!! not going to lie sometimes I feel like it is so hard to love people when they throw rocks at you, yell at you in the streets, throw you out of their homes for telling them the truth.....that in the eyes of God they weren’t baptized (happened to me this week...haha said it with allll thelove of my heart!! ) and just are straight up rude.....But if you just try to put yourself in their situation and just love them, you will be happy!!! The mission really is something else!!!!! I am learning so much each day and really I feel like the weakest missionary ever but can honestly say I am trying to love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I feel a difference!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love! LOVE! LOVE!!!!!!!!!! Is the answer to life’s problem!!! And the biggest evidence or demonstration of love that we have is the atonement of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ and the restoration of His gospel!!!!!!!! you cannot get more love than that!!!!! For that I will forever testify to loooooooooooooooooovvvvvvvvvvvveeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love you all with every fiber of my being!!!!!!!!! Please know that!!! And sorry for now showing it more!!!!!! I loooooooooooooooooveeeeeee you all!!!!!!!!!! prestos todos prestos the church is true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Hemana Ali
Never Expect Anything Less But Happiness and Miracles!
Holllllaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope everything has been GREAT at home. The mission this week has been going great!! You will think I’m crazy. My comp thinks I am, but I’ve been starting this new psychological program for myself. I talk to myself in the mirrors, showers, in the street just to pump myself up. I’ve got my quotes posted. It’s actually really funny, but you really gotta do what you gotta do to pull through!!!!!!! Remember that cheer? haha. Now that I’m here on the mission I really do feel like everything in my life has just been a preparation to be able to do this whole mission thing!!!! The mission is CRAZZZYYY....surely an adventure of a lifetime. I really didn’t expect it or was fully prepared before. But I looooooove it and each day just trying to make it the best!!!!
I’ve really come to realize that it really is the Lords work. So I can’t lower my expectations, just increase the faith!!!!!!!!!! I got to admit for a while I felt so discouraged and just straight up tired physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. But seriously, like a Kahi Mohala crazy person just talk to myself everyday and before leaving the house I just do all I can to pump myself up and sing a lot of Selena (its the coolest thing because I understand what she’s saying and that makes me soooooooo happy) and Natasha Bedingfield, because you never ever know what is going to happen here. But it seems to be working. I feel a lot better, happier, and yeah!!!!! I loooove Guatemala!!!!!!
So this week...............We had a baptism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hooray!!!!!! I was so happy and it was a miracle.....really..... didn’t think it was possible but she was an EVANGELICAL!!! babhahhahhahhhaaa!!!!!!! That seriously should count for 100 baptisms!!!!! They are impossible!!! But ok she is the daughter of Angelina, has a baby and pretty much was the devil to us when we were working with Angelina!!!! haha. It was horrible. She would just tell her mom crazy, craaaazzy things and did all she could in her power to convince her mom to not get baptized. When we’d go over to visit Angelina she would just be really rude and call us brujas.....which is like witches. hahahaha. But we just did all w could to just ignore her, and yesterday she was baptized!!! Wow..... God is AMAZING!!!!!! I seriously could not believe my eyes!!!!
What happened was one day we were over with Angelina and Karla was there laughing, mocking, just being obnoxious. With all my love, I just told her to come and sit down with us and talk with us. She looked at me like I was crazy so, I just asked her flat out, “Karla what’s your problem?” My comp just started laughing because I guess it came out pretty rude. I thought I said it in a nice way but who knows. I just asked her because I really was curious WHAT her problem with the church was because I really don’t understand. It was an honest question. She kinda was like wha? Wha? Wha?..and she started saying stupid things about how her pastor told them that our church practiced witchcraft and was the most false of any church on the earth. If evangelicals even talk to Mormons it is trouble. They will get yelled at and the evangelicals have to go SAVE them. It’s just ridiculous.
I just started laughing and told her that was the craziest thing I ever heard and told her she couldn’t say ANYTHING about the church until she read the Book of Mormon and came to church and I told her YOU KNOW the church is true and that the members are good people because you have seen the blessings your mother has received. I remember that day all my frustration just started coming out and I started going on my rants because I was just so angry with people saying bad things about the church, Joseph Smith and the members of our church. lñkjafkljfkkffjiejk. It honestly makes me so mad.
My comp just put her head down in the lesson and started laughing at me but I think it made her think because that week she came to church!! It was a shock of my life to see her at the chapel, but ever since then we’ve been visiting her and yesterday she was baptized. Her husband still doesn’t want anything to do with us but hopefully that will change. But it was a cool experience because in these short weeks daaaanannng we’ve seen her grow so much!!! Of course, her church came chasing after us and her. She got fired from her job because she said she wasn’t going to work on sunday!!! And the evangelicals came to talk to us and told us horrible things about Karla and that she was only joining the church because we were paying her and giving her money!!!!
It is RIDICULOUS!!!!!! It really does open your eyes to how real Satan is. It’s crazy!! But really what did it were three things!!! 1....Karla was really able to see the example of her mom.....and yesterday Angelina was beside herself with joy because even she said she NEVER THOUGT THIS DAY WOULD COME!!!! haha. I remember the first time we had her pray she just broke down in tears because she thanked the Lord for sending the gospel to her mom because it’s the first time she’s seen her mom happy!!!!!!!! And the blessings of tithing really are real. Before, this family never had all three meals, but things are getting better. The Lord literally has opened the windows of heaven and that is the coolest thing to be able to actually witness those promises fulfilled before your eyes. And 2......the members!!!!!!! I seriously looooove the members in our ward. They honestly are just so willing to give, give, give. Ladies in the ward went through their wardrobe and gave Karla a couple of skirts and a pair of shoes so she could have something to wear to church and when Karla saw that she started to cry and just said I don’t know what to say because no one has ever done that before!!! Just a couple of skirts and blouses and a pair of shoes made her the happiest person in the world!!!!!! It touches my heart every time the examples of these people who themselves don’t have much but are just willing to give!!!!!! It really is amazing and is what made all the difference!!!!!! And 3.....conference!! After conference she decided to be baptized because it finally made sense to her and she knew that Thomas S. Monson was a prophet!!!
Yesterday, we were just overjoyed when she finally got baptized. It really was a miracle of the Lord!!!!!!!!!! Yesterday, we started laughing when we were talking to here because I told her I seriously never thought this would ever happen....you were like the devil to us!!! She started laughing and then said yeah but then you did your brujuria....or bewitched me!!!! haha. That was really funny!!!! Really it just strengthened my testimony of the power of positive thinking!!!! The church is true!!!! We are children of God and He loves us and is always with us!!!! For this never lower your expectations on life or expect anything else but happiness and miracles, because that is the type of God Heavenly Father is!!!!!I seriously loooooove Heavenly Father. This mission is the hardest thing I have EVER, EVER had to do. Guatemala has kicked my butt sometimes but I am here and am happy to be here because it really is the work of the Lord!!!!!!!!!! It is sometimes hard, but always worth it!!!!!!! Thank you for all your prayers, love, and positive thoughts you send my way!!!!!!!!! I’m pretty sure I would be back at home if it weren’t for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! loooooove you all with all my heart and I really do mean that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Prestos todos prestos.............the church is true!!!!!!
Love,
Hermana G.
I’ve really come to realize that it really is the Lords work. So I can’t lower my expectations, just increase the faith!!!!!!!!!! I got to admit for a while I felt so discouraged and just straight up tired physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. But seriously, like a Kahi Mohala crazy person just talk to myself everyday and before leaving the house I just do all I can to pump myself up and sing a lot of Selena (its the coolest thing because I understand what she’s saying and that makes me soooooooo happy) and Natasha Bedingfield, because you never ever know what is going to happen here. But it seems to be working. I feel a lot better, happier, and yeah!!!!! I loooove Guatemala!!!!!!
So this week...............We had a baptism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hooray!!!!!! I was so happy and it was a miracle.....really..... didn’t think it was possible but she was an EVANGELICAL!!! babhahhahhahhhaaa!!!!!!! That seriously should count for 100 baptisms!!!!! They are impossible!!! But ok she is the daughter of Angelina, has a baby and pretty much was the devil to us when we were working with Angelina!!!! haha. It was horrible. She would just tell her mom crazy, craaaazzy things and did all she could in her power to convince her mom to not get baptized. When we’d go over to visit Angelina she would just be really rude and call us brujas.....which is like witches. hahahaha. But we just did all w could to just ignore her, and yesterday she was baptized!!! Wow..... God is AMAZING!!!!!! I seriously could not believe my eyes!!!!
What happened was one day we were over with Angelina and Karla was there laughing, mocking, just being obnoxious. With all my love, I just told her to come and sit down with us and talk with us. She looked at me like I was crazy so, I just asked her flat out, “Karla what’s your problem?” My comp just started laughing because I guess it came out pretty rude. I thought I said it in a nice way but who knows. I just asked her because I really was curious WHAT her problem with the church was because I really don’t understand. It was an honest question. She kinda was like wha? Wha? Wha?..and she started saying stupid things about how her pastor told them that our church practiced witchcraft and was the most false of any church on the earth. If evangelicals even talk to Mormons it is trouble. They will get yelled at and the evangelicals have to go SAVE them. It’s just ridiculous.
I just started laughing and told her that was the craziest thing I ever heard and told her she couldn’t say ANYTHING about the church until she read the Book of Mormon and came to church and I told her YOU KNOW the church is true and that the members are good people because you have seen the blessings your mother has received. I remember that day all my frustration just started coming out and I started going on my rants because I was just so angry with people saying bad things about the church, Joseph Smith and the members of our church. lñkjafkljfkkffjiejk. It honestly makes me so mad.
My comp just put her head down in the lesson and started laughing at me but I think it made her think because that week she came to church!! It was a shock of my life to see her at the chapel, but ever since then we’ve been visiting her and yesterday she was baptized. Her husband still doesn’t want anything to do with us but hopefully that will change. But it was a cool experience because in these short weeks daaaanannng we’ve seen her grow so much!!! Of course, her church came chasing after us and her. She got fired from her job because she said she wasn’t going to work on sunday!!! And the evangelicals came to talk to us and told us horrible things about Karla and that she was only joining the church because we were paying her and giving her money!!!!
It is RIDICULOUS!!!!!! It really does open your eyes to how real Satan is. It’s crazy!! But really what did it were three things!!! 1....Karla was really able to see the example of her mom.....and yesterday Angelina was beside herself with joy because even she said she NEVER THOUGT THIS DAY WOULD COME!!!! haha. I remember the first time we had her pray she just broke down in tears because she thanked the Lord for sending the gospel to her mom because it’s the first time she’s seen her mom happy!!!!!!!! And the blessings of tithing really are real. Before, this family never had all three meals, but things are getting better. The Lord literally has opened the windows of heaven and that is the coolest thing to be able to actually witness those promises fulfilled before your eyes. And 2......the members!!!!!!! I seriously looooove the members in our ward. They honestly are just so willing to give, give, give. Ladies in the ward went through their wardrobe and gave Karla a couple of skirts and a pair of shoes so she could have something to wear to church and when Karla saw that she started to cry and just said I don’t know what to say because no one has ever done that before!!! Just a couple of skirts and blouses and a pair of shoes made her the happiest person in the world!!!!!! It touches my heart every time the examples of these people who themselves don’t have much but are just willing to give!!!!!! It really is amazing and is what made all the difference!!!!!! And 3.....conference!! After conference she decided to be baptized because it finally made sense to her and she knew that Thomas S. Monson was a prophet!!!
Yesterday, we were just overjoyed when she finally got baptized. It really was a miracle of the Lord!!!!!!!!!! Yesterday, we started laughing when we were talking to here because I told her I seriously never thought this would ever happen....you were like the devil to us!!! She started laughing and then said yeah but then you did your brujuria....or bewitched me!!!! haha. That was really funny!!!! Really it just strengthened my testimony of the power of positive thinking!!!! The church is true!!!! We are children of God and He loves us and is always with us!!!! For this never lower your expectations on life or expect anything else but happiness and miracles, because that is the type of God Heavenly Father is!!!!!I seriously loooooove Heavenly Father. This mission is the hardest thing I have EVER, EVER had to do. Guatemala has kicked my butt sometimes but I am here and am happy to be here because it really is the work of the Lord!!!!!!!!!! It is sometimes hard, but always worth it!!!!!!! Thank you for all your prayers, love, and positive thoughts you send my way!!!!!!!!! I’m pretty sure I would be back at home if it weren’t for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! loooooove you all with all my heart and I really do mean that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Prestos todos prestos.............the church is true!!!!!!
Love,
Hermana G.
October 6, 2010 Don't Lower Your Expectations; Increase Your Faith
Hooollllllllllaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!! I am sooo happy to hear that everyone is doing well!! Thank you for all your love, letters of encouragement and prayers!! They are heard!!!!!!!!!!!!! waaawwaaa!!!!! well this week has been a great one!!! I have truly felt your prayers pushing me through and have gained a stronger appreciation and testimony of the reality of this! First of all, wasn't conference amaaazing! Seriously, it was like crab legs to the soul. Aaaaah man I don't know but I think conference on the mission is like 100 times better on the mission. When I heard the prophet and president Eyring speak it just seriously pierced me and I literally screamed, "The church is true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Shall we not go on in such a great cause sistttttttter!!!!!" haha.
Seriously, I cried so many tears of happiness and felt soooo grateful to be here in Guatemala just to try help others to see, feel, and looooove this gospel!!! I felt a little sad though because I got to watch it in English and I felt really sad for my comp and the other people, because unless they learn English they will never be able to hear the prophet's voice!! I seriously told my comp she HAD to learn English; one to get a better job but daaaaaang so she could listen to the prophet!!! Honestly it was the first time that I really thought about that!!!!!
Conference really was a spiritual feast and I still feel uplifted. I thought to myself; really daaaaaaang the church is true. soooo true!!! I came on the mission knowing that and for that had such high, high expectations for the mission. and I have to admit for a while I felt tempted to believe that maybe it was just that my expectations were too high or that I was just trying too hard and wont reach these goals, BUT seriously during the conference I had to repent and I was reminded; NOOOO, the church IS TRUE!! DONT LOWER YOUR EXPECTATIONS, but INCREASE YOUR FAITH!!!
That is exactly what came to my mind and again I wrote this big on my wall so everyday I can just wake up and go loco for missionary work.....so I just feel so empowered and have more determination to just do this thaaaannngg!!!!! So far hmmmmm......haha; for me its a miracle in how I feel hopefully well be able to do miracles for the Lord in this area.....I'm still trying. its been three days gotta give it some time. but as for us miracles......
.......ok so as you know this whole change my poor comp has been sicker than a dog. Everyday its the same routine. Barf, diarrhea, nausea, extreme body aches, more barf......ugliness!! It honestly is so sad and just depressing. But this Monday it hit the peak. the whole night Hermana Guaranda couldn't sleep because she was just throwing up and had fever, pain, the whole bit. I woke up and Hermana Guaranda was just lying in her bed crying. Crying. and seriously I thought this was going to be it....she was just going to call president and say, "No Mas!!! no more!!!" She told me that she didn't know what to do. We've been to the doctors, received priesthood blessings, medicine, prayers but nothing!!!! She told me this was the sickest she's felt and that she couldn't open her eyes and was just crying. So I just went to her bed to hug her like I always do and she asked me if I would massage her head because that's what her mom always does. So I went over and started massaging her head and she was just crying and crying and I started to tear too just because I felt soooo bad for her. It seriously was so heart breaking.
Hermana Guaranda really has been through SOOOO much this change. It was hard for me, but really for her it just seemed like the crap hit the fan. Poor thing. But she was just crying, crying, and was talking about how just she cant, no more. She was saying how sick she felt and how tired and weak she was because she can't go to sleep and it was sooo sad. I seriously looked at my companion and didn't know what to do but get down on my knees and just pray. I left her on her bed and just went to my bed, dropped down and offered the most simple but heart felt prayer pleading and begging the Lord to help my companion. It was one of those times I really felt myself praying and pleading the Lord with everything I had.
I got up sat on my bed and looked at my companion and she was just lying there, still looking so weak and still crying. I then just decided to go on with the normal activities studying and preparing for the day. I was sad and thought again we were going to miss a lot of our citas. I even called people that I could to cancel because from the morning I thought there was no way we were going to be able to go out. But, as I was studying in the other room at 10:30am my comp wakes up and tells me, " alright, let's go out and work!" I was in shock. I looked at her and asked her, "are you ok?" She told me, "don't worry about it we've got to go." So really I thought nothing about it and just thought she got better!!
We went out worked the rest of the day and came home at night as planned, the normal!! I said my prayer and was about to go to sleep and I wont ever forget this....Hermana Guaranda said, "Hermana Garcia, thank you!!!" I was confused and asked her, for what? She started to tear up and told me, "I know you prayed for me." I was like what are you talking about? She told me this morning I know you prayed for me!! She told me that she remembers I was massaging her head and she felt so weak honestly thinking she was going to go home and she said she remembers me leaving and it was silent and all of a sudden, she literally felt a pillar of light something come across her body literally just sweep her body starting with her face and she had no idea what was happening she said. she said she couldn't open her eyes and see me but she saw me praying and said Hermana Garcia is praying for me. Then she said she was just knocked out....completely and just was able to sleeeeep, for the first time in how long!!!!! She woke up and we worked and since then has not felt sick!! and she didn't cry but was tearing up and told me "thank you, hermana!!!" I was filled with sooooo much joy and I started crying because I felt so grateful to Heavenly Father. Heavenly Father really does hear and answer prayers!!!!!!
What a testimony booster to me!!!!! This change was so difficult for me. Sometimes I really did feel like when I prayed I couldn't feel that assurance that my prayers were really heard just because there were so many discouragements. Heavenly Father helped me to know that SI!!!!! He really is there and He really does hear and answer every Childs prayer!"!!! Sometimes it takes time or it may not be what He wants us to learn but I feel so grateful to know that HE is there!!!!! So my job is just to hang in there......siga adelante and just do my best!!! That's ALL I can do!!!!!!! Just pure love!!!!! The gospel is TRUE!!!!!! I am SOOOOOO grateful to know that!!!! For that I just gotta keep swimming....literally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Prestos todos prestos....the Church is true!!!!!!!!! Looooooove you alllllllll with all my heart!!!! Wouldn't be here if it weren't for you!!!!!! Loooove you!!! and I mean it!!!
Love,
Hermana G!!!
ps........okkkkkkk ready for the Guatemala moment of this week...haha. Something crazy always happens. This week, okkkk so my comp and I were talking to this family. we were standing outside they were in their house and we were talking through the window. It was windy cold, rainy and all of a sudden I felt something warm. it was like slow motion I thought, why is my leg warm? I look down and a dog is peeing on me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! whahahhahahahhahah!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I SCREAMEEEEEEEDDDDDD!!!!! chucho feo fuera!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And my comp looked and just started laughing. Dying of laughter. I was wet with dog peee and it was seriously soooo disgusting but soooooo funny and soooooooooo Guatemala!!!! Seriously it was nuts but soooo funny I must say!!! Can you believe that????? Ay aya yayay!!!!! Guatemala.......best mission ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love you all!!!!!!!
Seriously, I cried so many tears of happiness and felt soooo grateful to be here in Guatemala just to try help others to see, feel, and looooove this gospel!!! I felt a little sad though because I got to watch it in English and I felt really sad for my comp and the other people, because unless they learn English they will never be able to hear the prophet's voice!! I seriously told my comp she HAD to learn English; one to get a better job but daaaaaang so she could listen to the prophet!!! Honestly it was the first time that I really thought about that!!!!!
Conference really was a spiritual feast and I still feel uplifted. I thought to myself; really daaaaaaang the church is true. soooo true!!! I came on the mission knowing that and for that had such high, high expectations for the mission. and I have to admit for a while I felt tempted to believe that maybe it was just that my expectations were too high or that I was just trying too hard and wont reach these goals, BUT seriously during the conference I had to repent and I was reminded; NOOOO, the church IS TRUE!! DONT LOWER YOUR EXPECTATIONS, but INCREASE YOUR FAITH!!!
That is exactly what came to my mind and again I wrote this big on my wall so everyday I can just wake up and go loco for missionary work.....so I just feel so empowered and have more determination to just do this thaaaannngg!!!!! So far hmmmmm......haha; for me its a miracle in how I feel hopefully well be able to do miracles for the Lord in this area.....I'm still trying. its been three days gotta give it some time. but as for us miracles......
.......ok so as you know this whole change my poor comp has been sicker than a dog. Everyday its the same routine. Barf, diarrhea, nausea, extreme body aches, more barf......ugliness!! It honestly is so sad and just depressing. But this Monday it hit the peak. the whole night Hermana Guaranda couldn't sleep because she was just throwing up and had fever, pain, the whole bit. I woke up and Hermana Guaranda was just lying in her bed crying. Crying. and seriously I thought this was going to be it....she was just going to call president and say, "No Mas!!! no more!!!" She told me that she didn't know what to do. We've been to the doctors, received priesthood blessings, medicine, prayers but nothing!!!! She told me this was the sickest she's felt and that she couldn't open her eyes and was just crying. So I just went to her bed to hug her like I always do and she asked me if I would massage her head because that's what her mom always does. So I went over and started massaging her head and she was just crying and crying and I started to tear too just because I felt soooo bad for her. It seriously was so heart breaking.
Hermana Guaranda really has been through SOOOO much this change. It was hard for me, but really for her it just seemed like the crap hit the fan. Poor thing. But she was just crying, crying, and was talking about how just she cant, no more. She was saying how sick she felt and how tired and weak she was because she can't go to sleep and it was sooo sad. I seriously looked at my companion and didn't know what to do but get down on my knees and just pray. I left her on her bed and just went to my bed, dropped down and offered the most simple but heart felt prayer pleading and begging the Lord to help my companion. It was one of those times I really felt myself praying and pleading the Lord with everything I had.
I got up sat on my bed and looked at my companion and she was just lying there, still looking so weak and still crying. I then just decided to go on with the normal activities studying and preparing for the day. I was sad and thought again we were going to miss a lot of our citas. I even called people that I could to cancel because from the morning I thought there was no way we were going to be able to go out. But, as I was studying in the other room at 10:30am my comp wakes up and tells me, " alright, let's go out and work!" I was in shock. I looked at her and asked her, "are you ok?" She told me, "don't worry about it we've got to go." So really I thought nothing about it and just thought she got better!!
We went out worked the rest of the day and came home at night as planned, the normal!! I said my prayer and was about to go to sleep and I wont ever forget this....Hermana Guaranda said, "Hermana Garcia, thank you!!!" I was confused and asked her, for what? She started to tear up and told me, "I know you prayed for me." I was like what are you talking about? She told me this morning I know you prayed for me!! She told me that she remembers I was massaging her head and she felt so weak honestly thinking she was going to go home and she said she remembers me leaving and it was silent and all of a sudden, she literally felt a pillar of light something come across her body literally just sweep her body starting with her face and she had no idea what was happening she said. she said she couldn't open her eyes and see me but she saw me praying and said Hermana Garcia is praying for me. Then she said she was just knocked out....completely and just was able to sleeeeep, for the first time in how long!!!!! She woke up and we worked and since then has not felt sick!! and she didn't cry but was tearing up and told me "thank you, hermana!!!" I was filled with sooooo much joy and I started crying because I felt so grateful to Heavenly Father. Heavenly Father really does hear and answer prayers!!!!!!
What a testimony booster to me!!!!! This change was so difficult for me. Sometimes I really did feel like when I prayed I couldn't feel that assurance that my prayers were really heard just because there were so many discouragements. Heavenly Father helped me to know that SI!!!!! He really is there and He really does hear and answer every Childs prayer!"!!! Sometimes it takes time or it may not be what He wants us to learn but I feel so grateful to know that HE is there!!!!! So my job is just to hang in there......siga adelante and just do my best!!! That's ALL I can do!!!!!!! Just pure love!!!!! The gospel is TRUE!!!!!! I am SOOOOOO grateful to know that!!!! For that I just gotta keep swimming....literally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Prestos todos prestos....the Church is true!!!!!!!!! Looooooove you alllllllll with all my heart!!!! Wouldn't be here if it weren't for you!!!!!! Loooove you!!! and I mean it!!!
Love,
Hermana G!!!
ps........okkkkkkk ready for the Guatemala moment of this week...haha. Something crazy always happens. This week, okkkk so my comp and I were talking to this family. we were standing outside they were in their house and we were talking through the window. It was windy cold, rainy and all of a sudden I felt something warm. it was like slow motion I thought, why is my leg warm? I look down and a dog is peeing on me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! whahahhahahahhahah!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I SCREAMEEEEEEEDDDDDD!!!!! chucho feo fuera!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And my comp looked and just started laughing. Dying of laughter. I was wet with dog peee and it was seriously soooo disgusting but soooooo funny and soooooooooo Guatemala!!!! Seriously it was nuts but soooo funny I must say!!! Can you believe that????? Ay aya yayay!!!!! Guatemala.......best mission ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love you all!!!!!!!
Hermana Guaranda
HOLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!! Ok so this has been another loco moco week!! Guatemala does not disappoint!!! Ay yay yay.... hopefully, I will have time to write all that happened...ok first of all, DAD yes, STOP praying that the Guatemalans will humble and soften their hearts!! Yesterday, another tropical storm hit and it was UGLY!!!! Seriously, every day, I’m here I really think the world is going to end. It’s been nuts!!! Rain, rain and more rain, and it’s FREEZING!!! But, prestos todos prestos the church is true!!
The people say that the weather is the worst it’s been in a long time and that the rainy season won’t end this year til November!!! Noooooooooo!!!! Normally, it ends about now, but things have just been getting crazier and crazier!!! Seriously, it really is NUTS!! But it makes the work really interesting and difficult because the people say, si Dios quiere, no llueve!!! Or if Dios wants me to go to church or if your message is true, it won’t rain!! haha. That’s the kind of stuff you deal with here. I’ve actually learned to just try to laugh and love.
But yeah.....WE HAD OUR ACTIVITY....BIG WEDDING!! And it was a great success. It was this Saturday and over 40 couples invited other couples.... So there was about 80 couples that came.... 40 non-member family references!!! WOOOHOHOOHOHO!!! We were sooooo happy. So what we did and what I’ll be doing this whole week is we had every person that entered take a picture in front of the flowers and cake and we had them sign like a memory book with all their dats. And this week we will print out the pictures and go to every one of these houses to drop off the picture and share a message with the member family!!!!!!! I was SOOOOOOO happy and just feel like this is going to really help us TON!! But it was really nice. The people got married....ha-ha. That was soooo funny, ate food, cake, and then there was a dance after!!!! Goooood times.
The people had a blast. Now the hard part will be, getting them to come and feast upon the good word of God and not just the free food at the boda!!! This week will be KEY!! But the wedding was a success.... great activity hope to see fruits!!!! But oh man leading up to the activity was nuts.
I told you that Hermana Guaranda has been really sick. And things did not get better!!!!! This week she almost died on me it was the scariest thing of my life!! Without fail, after any meal she barfs and pooos and its ugly.... but the results of her test from the capital didn’t show anything. She doesn’t have worm parasites, just bacteria so she’s just been taking meds for that. But this week, we left our cocinera’s house and we were walking and she just like stops and is like shaking. Shaking. And I was like Hermana Guaranda...and she told me Hermana Garcia, I am going to faint!!!!!
Oh my goodness, I seriously looked at her and knew she meant it and just thought ¨what the heck am I going to do¨ She just starts crying and I’m just trying to think in sort of a state of panic. It was sooo scary. Luckily, we were next to a member’s house so we rushed there she lay down and was just shaking and crying. I left the house with their daughter to go run and find a phone and I called my president and we were rushed to the capital. CRAZINESS!!!!!
We went and she took blood tests and what not and know is doing better, were just waiting for the results of the doctors to figure out what the heck she has because its been weeks now, and she is still sick. They think that she has ulcers because of all the stress and what not, but nobody knows!!! Just pray that all will be ok with her. But daaaaaang. They think that I curse my companions because I always get the sick ones!!! The crazy stories. Blood gushing out of ears, fainting by the wayside. Ay yay yay!!! Craziness. But poor Hermana Guaranda seriously. She tells me everyday, “Hermana G, I am about to break to the verge of contemplating just picking up the phone and calling quits”. But I know she won’t!!! She’s strong!!! But just from everything!!! Her health, family, and just the work and experiences we’ve had these couple changes has just been crazy!!!! So I’m really just trying to do all that I can to be strong, but seriously sometimes I feel the same. Just like cracking. We just go home and start crying because it just gets overwhelming. But man hopefully something will happen from this activity!!!!!!! We’re praying!!! And well be able to BREATH!!! But yeah, the mission has been one crazy ride!!!!!
Oh yeah, yesterday we were street contacting and I was talking to this lady getting her number, address, what not and some creepy guy came and kissed me!!!!! And Hermana Guaranda whacked him with her umbrella!!!! pahhahahah. Mission stories!!! Don’t worry dad, I’m ok and he didn’t do anything else just kissed me on the cheek, but it was crazy. Actually this week, Hermana Guaranda almost killed two guys this week. We were having a bad day, walking in a storm, and like always this guy starts just screaming at us telling us that we need to repent and that we were going to hell and Hermana Guaranda just lost it and starts screaming back and with her umbrella a start going after him to like fight and I just was like what the heck??? I started screaming HERMANA STOP! STOP!!! And literally had to hold her back and just talk with her and tell her you cannot do that!!! Or were the same as him!! But she just lost it and was like enough, enough, enough!!!! But geeeezzz, In Chimal it gets crazy!!! The mission definitely has not disappoint!!! I have had crazy experiences...both good and bad but no matter what happens, I seriously just try to remember that this is the Lord's work and that I am here for a purpose.
Seriously, it is probably the most humbling experience of my life and each day I just am trying to do my best to learn what it is that Heavenly Father is trying to teach me...There is sooo much I am just trying to be calm and just learn whatever it is I’m supposed to. Don’t worry about me; we really are in the Lords hands. I can feel that! And KNOW without a doubt that that is true and that this really is the work of the Lord!!!!! I know that!! And for that everything that we go through really is for a purpose and helps us to come closer to Him!! I love Heavenly Father, the Savior and this gospel with allllll my heart. For this, I am here!!!!!!!!!! Hopefully, I can help others feel the same!!! I looooove you all with allllll my heart!!!!!!! The Lord loves you more!!!!!!!! Please have a good week and take care!!!!! Prestos todos prestos...the church is TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Hermana G!
The people say that the weather is the worst it’s been in a long time and that the rainy season won’t end this year til November!!! Noooooooooo!!!! Normally, it ends about now, but things have just been getting crazier and crazier!!! Seriously, it really is NUTS!! But it makes the work really interesting and difficult because the people say, si Dios quiere, no llueve!!! Or if Dios wants me to go to church or if your message is true, it won’t rain!! haha. That’s the kind of stuff you deal with here. I’ve actually learned to just try to laugh and love.
But yeah.....WE HAD OUR ACTIVITY....BIG WEDDING!! And it was a great success. It was this Saturday and over 40 couples invited other couples.... So there was about 80 couples that came.... 40 non-member family references!!! WOOOHOHOOHOHO!!! We were sooooo happy. So what we did and what I’ll be doing this whole week is we had every person that entered take a picture in front of the flowers and cake and we had them sign like a memory book with all their dats. And this week we will print out the pictures and go to every one of these houses to drop off the picture and share a message with the member family!!!!!!! I was SOOOOOOO happy and just feel like this is going to really help us TON!! But it was really nice. The people got married....ha-ha. That was soooo funny, ate food, cake, and then there was a dance after!!!! Goooood times.
The people had a blast. Now the hard part will be, getting them to come and feast upon the good word of God and not just the free food at the boda!!! This week will be KEY!! But the wedding was a success.... great activity hope to see fruits!!!! But oh man leading up to the activity was nuts.
I told you that Hermana Guaranda has been really sick. And things did not get better!!!!! This week she almost died on me it was the scariest thing of my life!! Without fail, after any meal she barfs and pooos and its ugly.... but the results of her test from the capital didn’t show anything. She doesn’t have worm parasites, just bacteria so she’s just been taking meds for that. But this week, we left our cocinera’s house and we were walking and she just like stops and is like shaking. Shaking. And I was like Hermana Guaranda...and she told me Hermana Garcia, I am going to faint!!!!!
Oh my goodness, I seriously looked at her and knew she meant it and just thought ¨what the heck am I going to do¨ She just starts crying and I’m just trying to think in sort of a state of panic. It was sooo scary. Luckily, we were next to a member’s house so we rushed there she lay down and was just shaking and crying. I left the house with their daughter to go run and find a phone and I called my president and we were rushed to the capital. CRAZINESS!!!!!
We went and she took blood tests and what not and know is doing better, were just waiting for the results of the doctors to figure out what the heck she has because its been weeks now, and she is still sick. They think that she has ulcers because of all the stress and what not, but nobody knows!!! Just pray that all will be ok with her. But daaaaaang. They think that I curse my companions because I always get the sick ones!!! The crazy stories. Blood gushing out of ears, fainting by the wayside. Ay yay yay!!! Craziness. But poor Hermana Guaranda seriously. She tells me everyday, “Hermana G, I am about to break to the verge of contemplating just picking up the phone and calling quits”. But I know she won’t!!! She’s strong!!! But just from everything!!! Her health, family, and just the work and experiences we’ve had these couple changes has just been crazy!!!! So I’m really just trying to do all that I can to be strong, but seriously sometimes I feel the same. Just like cracking. We just go home and start crying because it just gets overwhelming. But man hopefully something will happen from this activity!!!!!!! We’re praying!!! And well be able to BREATH!!! But yeah, the mission has been one crazy ride!!!!!
Oh yeah, yesterday we were street contacting and I was talking to this lady getting her number, address, what not and some creepy guy came and kissed me!!!!! And Hermana Guaranda whacked him with her umbrella!!!! pahhahahah. Mission stories!!! Don’t worry dad, I’m ok and he didn’t do anything else just kissed me on the cheek, but it was crazy. Actually this week, Hermana Guaranda almost killed two guys this week. We were having a bad day, walking in a storm, and like always this guy starts just screaming at us telling us that we need to repent and that we were going to hell and Hermana Guaranda just lost it and starts screaming back and with her umbrella a start going after him to like fight and I just was like what the heck??? I started screaming HERMANA STOP! STOP!!! And literally had to hold her back and just talk with her and tell her you cannot do that!!! Or were the same as him!! But she just lost it and was like enough, enough, enough!!!! But geeeezzz, In Chimal it gets crazy!!! The mission definitely has not disappoint!!! I have had crazy experiences...both good and bad but no matter what happens, I seriously just try to remember that this is the Lord's work and that I am here for a purpose.
Seriously, it is probably the most humbling experience of my life and each day I just am trying to do my best to learn what it is that Heavenly Father is trying to teach me...There is sooo much I am just trying to be calm and just learn whatever it is I’m supposed to. Don’t worry about me; we really are in the Lords hands. I can feel that! And KNOW without a doubt that that is true and that this really is the work of the Lord!!!!! I know that!! And for that everything that we go through really is for a purpose and helps us to come closer to Him!! I love Heavenly Father, the Savior and this gospel with allllll my heart. For this, I am here!!!!!!!!!! Hopefully, I can help others feel the same!!! I looooove you all with allllll my heart!!!!!!! The Lord loves you more!!!!!!!! Please have a good week and take care!!!!! Prestos todos prestos...the church is TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Hermana G!
Throw rocks, reject us; I have been soooo blessed...I can afford to love you!
HOOLLLAAAA best family in the world!! I hope all is well back at home. I really do think and pray for all of you everyday and just thinking about you all at home makes me start crying because my heart is just filled with so much love and happiness......I seriously cannot express sufficiently in words how much I LOVE you all and how much your love and support means to me!!! The world!! Mom, dad, Grandma, grandpa, Auntie Reenie, everyone I read your letters daily and although we pass through some really interesting things here in Guate, just knowing that I have a family who loves and supports me gives me all the strength I need to just keep going!!! Chin up!!! Its only a year and a half, but the blessings are eternal!!! The church is true....I do have a purpose of being here in Guatemala!!!!!
This week, hmmmm, what happened? Nothing really crazy!!! Hermana Guaranda and I just sat down and really talked, took a deep breath, offered our hearts in prayer to God for help and guidance on how we can change things in our area. Things are not the best, but I seriously am so set on the fact that I only have 1 and a half years....well now one year to do this mission thing and I just don’t want to come home with regrets or feeling like it wasn’t worth it!! Sooo, I am just trying, trying, trying to just keep going!! But talk about a stretch!!! haha.
Sooooo, this week Hermana Guaranda and I have been brainstorming things we can do to help the work to grow. Right now, we are planning an activity a noche de matrimonios. Pretty much it is a big wedding!! Food, dancing, big cake, and extremely elegant. And what’s going to happen is that its free for all the members in the ward... well really its for the married couples...the kids are going to be in another room with the jovenes doing something else....the catch is that they have to bring a non-member MARRIED couple or they cannot come!! And the purpose is just to like grandpa said....fall in love with the church.
It’s going to be a formal so people are going to dress up and yeah....the activity passed with the obispado, soooo ,we are just now trying to excite all the members to DO SOMETHING!!! Free food, and they can dress up and get all cute, and we can find MARRIED people!! Oh haha also there is going to be a lawyer there so our investigators who want to marry can marry there for FREE!!!!! That may sound crazy to all you, but here people are soooo excited for that because they cannot get married because of the money deal.
SOOO, hopefully this will bring in some positive people. We are seriously trying to do whatever the heck we can!!! Also yesterday, we started something else. We invited all the youth and young single adults in the ward to come eat breakfast in the church at like 7 in the morning. We cooked everyone breakfast and the catch was that after breakfast we wrote the names of all the people we were teaching, less actives etc who we wanted to come to church and we did divisions and sent all the youth out to get these people.....it was semi successful! only like 6 youth actually showed up...not very good...I think because it was sooo early in the morning and we can advertise better but we are going to use it and try to just get AS MANY PEOPLE as we can involved in missionary work and to help us.....because something has got to change!! The question....HOW?? More ideas....let me know!! Seriously willing to try anything!!!
But ahahahahahahahh, sometimes, it is just so hard and frustrating! Probably the most frustrating thing when you just try and try, pray and pray and just do all you can in your power to love people and help them, but they throw rocks at you, and just trample your heart....Its hard, but just think of how the Savior felt? So we are holding on and relying on the Lord!! It’s funny because recently I have just been reading my patriarchal blessing, my setting apart blessing that grandma sent me, and Joseph Smith history to find comfort and it seriously has been so eye opening. But haha I dont know how I wasnt scared after Uncle Bode set me apart.....Were you all there??? Its crazy!! haha!!
Seriously, I read it and just started laughing thinking The Church is TRUE yo!!!!! UNCLE BODE knew!!!! It just talks and talks about being COMFORTED and about the trials I will pass through for the Lord and that the Lord will give me the strength to overcome the harsh weather and climate conditions, sicknesses, and will help me to love the people that I have been sent to teach. I seriously thought, WOW!!!! How crazy is that??? Honestly it was way cool!! But seriously DO NOT worry about me, because I am okay!! The Lord really does help me!! And your prayers and letters help a ton too!!! Me, and my companion, love each other and that is a HUGE blessing!!
Despite everything, I honestly do love my mission and am so grateful for it!! I am learning so much each day and just feel overwhelmingly grateful for all the blessings the Lord has given me. My life has been sooo blessed. I cannot believe it so whenever people reject us or do stupid things, I just think....I have been soooo blessed I can afford to love you! haha. Mom taught me that. I honestly couldn’t imagine living in these circumstances!! And when I think of things in those terms...it works!! I feel love!!!! haha. Sometimes, I honestly am just in shock when I hear of the trials of these people. Their struggles, their worries.....To feed their kids, that their house wont fall down with the rain, that they can buy medicine so their children don’t die, that their husbands wont get drunk and kill them at night....CRAZINESS!! And seriously it is just so humbling.....I mean All I got to say is....Well one time, my parents took me on a vacation to AFRICA and I got pimples on my face and it hurt and I looked ugly.....what you got??? haha!!
Seriously it blows my mind, but honestly I just feel so, so, so, SOOO blessed. I can hardly believe it so each day I just wake up and testify to love, and just try to love people and do my very best!!! I am just so grateful really for everyone and for all your love, support and PRAYERS!!!!!!! Seriously, I cannot even say enough how much it means. Dad, go to sleep I am fine! You really are the best father in the entire world!! And Heavenly Father really does hear your prayers....promise! MOMMY, I cannot say enough how much I love you. All my comps want to meet you! David, Andrew and Chris, be good! Grandma, grandpa, aunties, uncles......Love you all SOOOOO much!!! The church is true.....PROMISE and THAT is what makes everything worth it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With all my heart, prestos todos prestos....I gotta go, but the church is true!!!!!! Until next Monday.........sending all my love!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hermana G!!!!
This week, hmmmm, what happened? Nothing really crazy!!! Hermana Guaranda and I just sat down and really talked, took a deep breath, offered our hearts in prayer to God for help and guidance on how we can change things in our area. Things are not the best, but I seriously am so set on the fact that I only have 1 and a half years....well now one year to do this mission thing and I just don’t want to come home with regrets or feeling like it wasn’t worth it!! Sooo, I am just trying, trying, trying to just keep going!! But talk about a stretch!!! haha.
Sooooo, this week Hermana Guaranda and I have been brainstorming things we can do to help the work to grow. Right now, we are planning an activity a noche de matrimonios. Pretty much it is a big wedding!! Food, dancing, big cake, and extremely elegant. And what’s going to happen is that its free for all the members in the ward... well really its for the married couples...the kids are going to be in another room with the jovenes doing something else....the catch is that they have to bring a non-member MARRIED couple or they cannot come!! And the purpose is just to like grandpa said....fall in love with the church.
It’s going to be a formal so people are going to dress up and yeah....the activity passed with the obispado, soooo ,we are just now trying to excite all the members to DO SOMETHING!!! Free food, and they can dress up and get all cute, and we can find MARRIED people!! Oh haha also there is going to be a lawyer there so our investigators who want to marry can marry there for FREE!!!!! That may sound crazy to all you, but here people are soooo excited for that because they cannot get married because of the money deal.
SOOO, hopefully this will bring in some positive people. We are seriously trying to do whatever the heck we can!!! Also yesterday, we started something else. We invited all the youth and young single adults in the ward to come eat breakfast in the church at like 7 in the morning. We cooked everyone breakfast and the catch was that after breakfast we wrote the names of all the people we were teaching, less actives etc who we wanted to come to church and we did divisions and sent all the youth out to get these people.....it was semi successful! only like 6 youth actually showed up...not very good...I think because it was sooo early in the morning and we can advertise better but we are going to use it and try to just get AS MANY PEOPLE as we can involved in missionary work and to help us.....because something has got to change!! The question....HOW?? More ideas....let me know!! Seriously willing to try anything!!!
But ahahahahahahahh, sometimes, it is just so hard and frustrating! Probably the most frustrating thing when you just try and try, pray and pray and just do all you can in your power to love people and help them, but they throw rocks at you, and just trample your heart....Its hard, but just think of how the Savior felt? So we are holding on and relying on the Lord!! It’s funny because recently I have just been reading my patriarchal blessing, my setting apart blessing that grandma sent me, and Joseph Smith history to find comfort and it seriously has been so eye opening. But haha I dont know how I wasnt scared after Uncle Bode set me apart.....Were you all there??? Its crazy!! haha!!
Seriously, I read it and just started laughing thinking The Church is TRUE yo!!!!! UNCLE BODE knew!!!! It just talks and talks about being COMFORTED and about the trials I will pass through for the Lord and that the Lord will give me the strength to overcome the harsh weather and climate conditions, sicknesses, and will help me to love the people that I have been sent to teach. I seriously thought, WOW!!!! How crazy is that??? Honestly it was way cool!! But seriously DO NOT worry about me, because I am okay!! The Lord really does help me!! And your prayers and letters help a ton too!!! Me, and my companion, love each other and that is a HUGE blessing!!
Despite everything, I honestly do love my mission and am so grateful for it!! I am learning so much each day and just feel overwhelmingly grateful for all the blessings the Lord has given me. My life has been sooo blessed. I cannot believe it so whenever people reject us or do stupid things, I just think....I have been soooo blessed I can afford to love you! haha. Mom taught me that. I honestly couldn’t imagine living in these circumstances!! And when I think of things in those terms...it works!! I feel love!!!! haha. Sometimes, I honestly am just in shock when I hear of the trials of these people. Their struggles, their worries.....To feed their kids, that their house wont fall down with the rain, that they can buy medicine so their children don’t die, that their husbands wont get drunk and kill them at night....CRAZINESS!! And seriously it is just so humbling.....I mean All I got to say is....Well one time, my parents took me on a vacation to AFRICA and I got pimples on my face and it hurt and I looked ugly.....what you got??? haha!!
Seriously it blows my mind, but honestly I just feel so, so, so, SOOO blessed. I can hardly believe it so each day I just wake up and testify to love, and just try to love people and do my very best!!! I am just so grateful really for everyone and for all your love, support and PRAYERS!!!!!!! Seriously, I cannot even say enough how much it means. Dad, go to sleep I am fine! You really are the best father in the entire world!! And Heavenly Father really does hear your prayers....promise! MOMMY, I cannot say enough how much I love you. All my comps want to meet you! David, Andrew and Chris, be good! Grandma, grandpa, aunties, uncles......Love you all SOOOOO much!!! The church is true.....PROMISE and THAT is what makes everything worth it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With all my heart, prestos todos prestos....I gotta go, but the church is true!!!!!! Until next Monday.........sending all my love!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hermana G!!!!
Hardest Week Ever! Heartbreak After Heartbreak! Love the Missionaries!
Hola!!!!!!!!!!! Ok so I am.................STILL in Chimaltenango and with Hermana Guaranda!!!! Hooray!!!!! I am very excited. I guess my work in Chimaltenango still isn’t done yet!!!! I am glad to hear that all is well and that Andrew started school. Yippeeee!! Hope Andrew LOVESSS it and lives it up because soon he’ll be in Nicaragua swimming through sewers like me.....yaahhhahahhahhyy!!!!!!! haha. Nah, but really hope all is well with everyone!!!
Ok so this week, I hit my wall!! It was such a hard week for me and I broke down and cried for 3 hours straight...no joke! But I feel a lot better and am still determined more than ever do just give all I can to the Lord. Ok sooo, why did I break down. It was a combination of things. This whole change has been really hard for us. Sicknesses, Hermana Guaranda is STILL sick and poor thing just barfs and poops her brains out. It is ROUGH!!! We are going to the capital Friday to kill these animals that she has in her stomach or whatever the heck is going on. I got sick before her, but mine was for like one day I felt like I was going to die and then after that I only have diarrhea. I don’t feel sick, but I have forgotten what it is like to just normal go to the bathroom. I am SHOCKED everyday at the things that come out of me. I know that sounds gross and I am so sorry but I gotta be real. I just think WHAT THE HECK!! THIS IS NOT NORMAL!!!! but hey I’m not barfing, don’t have a fever anymore its just a never ending cycle of constant diarrhea!!!!!! But
Hermana Guaranda just cries and cries because she just feels so, so sick!!
I FORCED her to take a break and come home and sleep. She didn’t want to, but I told her sister, I know you want to work. I do too, but soon you will be preaching the gospel to the spirits in the spirit world if you do not rest your body!!!! So that has been hard. 2. We are in August and in the PEAK of the rainy season!! I think this is probably why we are sick because all the missionaries are right now. I’m not even joking; we SWIM through sewers....literally. It is disgusting and I can’t lie whoever said that would be fun.....LIED!!!! For some parts I enjoy the rain because it is like Guatemalan Lysol. It kills 99 % of the odors here. I promise, it doesn’t stink half as bad when it rains, but still the germs and diseases and animals in the water still kill you and tin shacks plus rain are not a good combination for powerful lessons and whoever said that people let you in more when it rains....that hasn’t been the case for us.
We still have been struggling so hard to get good positive investigators....its hard. We’ve had the most interesting rejections people yelling at us, throwing the Book of Mormon in our face. The other day, these people started throwing rocks at us. Don’t worry. Not big rocks to kill us but were shooting rocks at us. I think it was from a sling shot because it was pretty hard. None of them hit me, but they hit Hermana Guaranda. It was pretty interesting, but kinda funny Also, Our investigators and recent converts are passing through hard times. Women that we visit are getting abused. We come to the lessons and their faces our completely bruised and cut. It seriously shakes me. You all know that if there is one thing that just BUGSSS and gets me is abuse! I tell my companion all the time because I don’t think she understands. I told her I have problems with this...when i saw the movie enough I couldn’t sleep for like 3 months. It freaks me out and I am in the land of abuse and it literally shakes me. My body is completely covered in bites. My stomach looks DISGUSTING. It has completely scarred because these bugs here are out of control. I never sleep the whole night through because these bugs literally KILL me!!!! But I was thinking maybe this is Heavenly Father’s way of telling me that No more Bikinis!!! Bikinis are BADDDD!!! haha.
Seriously, I have scars all on my body. it is ugly and Hermana Baldwin told me, Isn’t the mission so fun!! haha. We are lucky because our beds are new and there are people who don’t even have beds. Everywhere in the mission no matter where struggles with this so yayyayayay just gotta suck it up and LOVE it!!! This week also Angelina....oh sooooo sad, her testimony is as firm as ever that’s not the problem, but the government came and took Pablo from her!!! Apparently there are like spies, not really spies but people who watch the children in the street and look at the situations of the people, and if they feel it is a bad situation they take the kids and put them in this home. Well they came and took Pablo because they said that Hermana Angelina couldn’t support her kids and so they took him and her other kids cant leave the house because they are threatening to take them too!! Can you believe that!!
It was the saddest thing ever, but she is just fighting to start her business and figure things out so that she can have her kids. I’m not joking it was the saddest thing ever, but her testimony is as firm as ever and that is something really powerful to see. Soooooo, this week well this change has just been hard and I’ve truly been doing my very best to just be strong, have faith, especially for my companion. But Monday, i hit the wall because on top of all this my family, the familia ajquiy garcia.....I’m going to start crying just writing this decided to leave the church!!! My family! The family we baptized my first change the most pilas family in the world!!! Whenever we have hard days, we just go to their house because we feel happy because they are sooo pilas. But ijgejfle ejfjermfei.
Okay, so about two weeks ago it all started!!! Hermano Garcia is passing through really hard times financially. Struggling and paying tithing is really hard for him. He was doing it but like all of Guatemala, it was hard. But yeah, he told us that that was something really hard and we just did all we can to encourage him to do it and PROMISED the blessings that come from that. BUT then he’s just been bombarded with Anti-Mormon evangelical information. Visitors from his work who are strong evangelicals came over to SAVE him and have given him all this crazy information about Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon and WHY our religion is wrong and that has just left a lot of doubt with Hermano.
So for the past two weeks they haven’t come to church and we’ve been visiting them and talking to him and trying to just clear up these stupid doubts he has. Really it is soooo dumb, the things they say and the way they interpret the bible. But I swear they like possessed Hermano Rosalio. there is such an ugly spirit in that house when normally the spirit is so strong and I just keep trying to help Rosalio, because really it is only him, remember the feelings that he felt when he started coming to church, prayed, read the Book of Mormon etc because I know he felt it!! I told him that his real concern is whether Joseph Smith was a prophet and that he NEEDED to read the Book of Mormon more, everyday and really PRAY to know AGAIN if it were true. But he is so angry with everything because he thinks that we fooled him. And finally Monday night, we went over and it was the same thing and he flat out told us. No more. No more. We cannot believe anymore in this and this man and we will not go to the church.
Family, I cannot even explain to you what I felt. The worst, saddest, most depressing feeling of my life.....I broke down in complete tears I could not hold it in. And my comp and I were just silent. I just expressed all my love I could for them and bore my heart, my most sincere testimony of the reality of the gospel and he literally told me that’s good that you believe that....leave and don’t come back!!!!!
MOM, that broke me to the point I cannot even express in writing. I just wanted to shake the devil out of him. Seriously, it was UGLY. It is the saddest and the worst feeling in the whole world. I CRIED and CRIED and CRIED for three hours straight and writing this makes me cry some more. That was like my family here. the most amazingest family in all the world and seeing Rosalio like that and seeing all his family surrounded as he was just bashing Joseph Smith and the church because of stupid things that the devil told him, literally BROKE ME!!!
I went home and just cried, cried, cried, and just felt the combination of everything just fall upon me where I felt hopeless....ready to just give up. It was just the saddest thing. But my comp told me in the night because I was still crying and crying. Hermana Garcia, you cannot get discouraged because I look up to you so much. You are my example. She started crying and said you cannot get discouraged. You can’t! But that night we just stayed up crying and hugging each other. But at that point, I honestly just felt hopeless, empty just pure sadness. I cannot even explain it and just like a complete failure. It literally freaks me out that I have only a year left of my mission.
Trust me, not because this is the funnest thing in the world and I never want to leave but just because I DO NOT WANT TO GO HOME feeling this way just like a complete failure and empty. I thought really hard about everything and it’s just so hard. I’m trying so hard to just love these people, love everything. I’m trying to just give these people my whole heart, everything I got and it just feels like they just throw it back at my face and throw rocks at me! It is so, so hard at times, but I can honestly say that I am here for the right reasons and pushing through because
I love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
I know that what I’m going through is not even an nth of what Christ suffered for us or the prophet Joseph Smith and the early pioneers. I don’t know how they did it.....honestly. But seriously, each day I reanalyze myself and ask myself through all of this....how much do you believe? How much faith do you really have? And, I can honestly say that with all my heart, with everything I am and I can give, I honestly BELIEVE!!!!!!!!!! ALL OF IT!!!!!!! I don’t doubt, that this is the work of the Lord and that the Prophet Joseph Smith really did restore the Lord’s church. I KNOW the Book of Mormon is the word of God and for this reason I am just trying my best so that others can know that too. But, it is really hard, way more than I expected. I neeeed loooooove!
Love the missionaries everyone please. But honestly, I believe so much that this is the work of the Lord and for some reason, I have no idea what it is I’m supposed to be here in Guatemala. I trust that the Lord will show me and let me know if I just continue to try. Above my bed, I wrote, “The church is true!!! Why not miracles?” I just do not want to leave my mission feeling this way!!! Because if I do it is because I failed because I know that Heavenly Father is helping me and supporting me. Otherwise, I would’ve already been lying on the beaches in Hawaii or eating free food at the Canon center with Andrew.
The Lord does not fail us, but sometimes we fail ourselves. I am seriously doing everything in my power to not fail and to just keep going regardless of what I can see or feel. The church is true and that’s why missions are hard!!!! I never expected this, but regardless of everything I can honestly say that I am SOOOOO grateful to serve a mission and Heavenly Father and that Texas is not the best mission! There is a reason I’m here in Guatemala.
Family, seriously just writing this letter, gives me the motivation I need to just keep going. I cannot even tell you how much I love you and how much all your love and support means to me. I LOOOOVEEEEEE you all with all my heart, and just thank you, all for everything. The church is TRUE and for this we have to keep going!!!!!!!!!! With all my heart I love you!!!!!!!!! Prestos todos prestos forever the church is true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Hermana G!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok so this week, I hit my wall!! It was such a hard week for me and I broke down and cried for 3 hours straight...no joke! But I feel a lot better and am still determined more than ever do just give all I can to the Lord. Ok sooo, why did I break down. It was a combination of things. This whole change has been really hard for us. Sicknesses, Hermana Guaranda is STILL sick and poor thing just barfs and poops her brains out. It is ROUGH!!! We are going to the capital Friday to kill these animals that she has in her stomach or whatever the heck is going on. I got sick before her, but mine was for like one day I felt like I was going to die and then after that I only have diarrhea. I don’t feel sick, but I have forgotten what it is like to just normal go to the bathroom. I am SHOCKED everyday at the things that come out of me. I know that sounds gross and I am so sorry but I gotta be real. I just think WHAT THE HECK!! THIS IS NOT NORMAL!!!! but hey I’m not barfing, don’t have a fever anymore its just a never ending cycle of constant diarrhea!!!!!! But
Hermana Guaranda just cries and cries because she just feels so, so sick!!
I FORCED her to take a break and come home and sleep. She didn’t want to, but I told her sister, I know you want to work. I do too, but soon you will be preaching the gospel to the spirits in the spirit world if you do not rest your body!!!! So that has been hard. 2. We are in August and in the PEAK of the rainy season!! I think this is probably why we are sick because all the missionaries are right now. I’m not even joking; we SWIM through sewers....literally. It is disgusting and I can’t lie whoever said that would be fun.....LIED!!!! For some parts I enjoy the rain because it is like Guatemalan Lysol. It kills 99 % of the odors here. I promise, it doesn’t stink half as bad when it rains, but still the germs and diseases and animals in the water still kill you and tin shacks plus rain are not a good combination for powerful lessons and whoever said that people let you in more when it rains....that hasn’t been the case for us.
We still have been struggling so hard to get good positive investigators....its hard. We’ve had the most interesting rejections people yelling at us, throwing the Book of Mormon in our face. The other day, these people started throwing rocks at us. Don’t worry. Not big rocks to kill us but were shooting rocks at us. I think it was from a sling shot because it was pretty hard. None of them hit me, but they hit Hermana Guaranda. It was pretty interesting, but kinda funny Also, Our investigators and recent converts are passing through hard times. Women that we visit are getting abused. We come to the lessons and their faces our completely bruised and cut. It seriously shakes me. You all know that if there is one thing that just BUGSSS and gets me is abuse! I tell my companion all the time because I don’t think she understands. I told her I have problems with this...when i saw the movie enough I couldn’t sleep for like 3 months. It freaks me out and I am in the land of abuse and it literally shakes me. My body is completely covered in bites. My stomach looks DISGUSTING. It has completely scarred because these bugs here are out of control. I never sleep the whole night through because these bugs literally KILL me!!!! But I was thinking maybe this is Heavenly Father’s way of telling me that No more Bikinis!!! Bikinis are BADDDD!!! haha.
Seriously, I have scars all on my body. it is ugly and Hermana Baldwin told me, Isn’t the mission so fun!! haha. We are lucky because our beds are new and there are people who don’t even have beds. Everywhere in the mission no matter where struggles with this so yayyayayay just gotta suck it up and LOVE it!!! This week also Angelina....oh sooooo sad, her testimony is as firm as ever that’s not the problem, but the government came and took Pablo from her!!! Apparently there are like spies, not really spies but people who watch the children in the street and look at the situations of the people, and if they feel it is a bad situation they take the kids and put them in this home. Well they came and took Pablo because they said that Hermana Angelina couldn’t support her kids and so they took him and her other kids cant leave the house because they are threatening to take them too!! Can you believe that!!
It was the saddest thing ever, but she is just fighting to start her business and figure things out so that she can have her kids. I’m not joking it was the saddest thing ever, but her testimony is as firm as ever and that is something really powerful to see. Soooooo, this week well this change has just been hard and I’ve truly been doing my very best to just be strong, have faith, especially for my companion. But Monday, i hit the wall because on top of all this my family, the familia ajquiy garcia.....I’m going to start crying just writing this decided to leave the church!!! My family! The family we baptized my first change the most pilas family in the world!!! Whenever we have hard days, we just go to their house because we feel happy because they are sooo pilas. But ijgejfle ejfjermfei.
Okay, so about two weeks ago it all started!!! Hermano Garcia is passing through really hard times financially. Struggling and paying tithing is really hard for him. He was doing it but like all of Guatemala, it was hard. But yeah, he told us that that was something really hard and we just did all we can to encourage him to do it and PROMISED the blessings that come from that. BUT then he’s just been bombarded with Anti-Mormon evangelical information. Visitors from his work who are strong evangelicals came over to SAVE him and have given him all this crazy information about Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon and WHY our religion is wrong and that has just left a lot of doubt with Hermano.
So for the past two weeks they haven’t come to church and we’ve been visiting them and talking to him and trying to just clear up these stupid doubts he has. Really it is soooo dumb, the things they say and the way they interpret the bible. But I swear they like possessed Hermano Rosalio. there is such an ugly spirit in that house when normally the spirit is so strong and I just keep trying to help Rosalio, because really it is only him, remember the feelings that he felt when he started coming to church, prayed, read the Book of Mormon etc because I know he felt it!! I told him that his real concern is whether Joseph Smith was a prophet and that he NEEDED to read the Book of Mormon more, everyday and really PRAY to know AGAIN if it were true. But he is so angry with everything because he thinks that we fooled him. And finally Monday night, we went over and it was the same thing and he flat out told us. No more. No more. We cannot believe anymore in this and this man and we will not go to the church.
Family, I cannot even explain to you what I felt. The worst, saddest, most depressing feeling of my life.....I broke down in complete tears I could not hold it in. And my comp and I were just silent. I just expressed all my love I could for them and bore my heart, my most sincere testimony of the reality of the gospel and he literally told me that’s good that you believe that....leave and don’t come back!!!!!
MOM, that broke me to the point I cannot even express in writing. I just wanted to shake the devil out of him. Seriously, it was UGLY. It is the saddest and the worst feeling in the whole world. I CRIED and CRIED and CRIED for three hours straight and writing this makes me cry some more. That was like my family here. the most amazingest family in all the world and seeing Rosalio like that and seeing all his family surrounded as he was just bashing Joseph Smith and the church because of stupid things that the devil told him, literally BROKE ME!!!
I went home and just cried, cried, cried, and just felt the combination of everything just fall upon me where I felt hopeless....ready to just give up. It was just the saddest thing. But my comp told me in the night because I was still crying and crying. Hermana Garcia, you cannot get discouraged because I look up to you so much. You are my example. She started crying and said you cannot get discouraged. You can’t! But that night we just stayed up crying and hugging each other. But at that point, I honestly just felt hopeless, empty just pure sadness. I cannot even explain it and just like a complete failure. It literally freaks me out that I have only a year left of my mission.
Trust me, not because this is the funnest thing in the world and I never want to leave but just because I DO NOT WANT TO GO HOME feeling this way just like a complete failure and empty. I thought really hard about everything and it’s just so hard. I’m trying so hard to just love these people, love everything. I’m trying to just give these people my whole heart, everything I got and it just feels like they just throw it back at my face and throw rocks at me! It is so, so hard at times, but I can honestly say that I am here for the right reasons and pushing through because
I love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
I know that what I’m going through is not even an nth of what Christ suffered for us or the prophet Joseph Smith and the early pioneers. I don’t know how they did it.....honestly. But seriously, each day I reanalyze myself and ask myself through all of this....how much do you believe? How much faith do you really have? And, I can honestly say that with all my heart, with everything I am and I can give, I honestly BELIEVE!!!!!!!!!! ALL OF IT!!!!!!! I don’t doubt, that this is the work of the Lord and that the Prophet Joseph Smith really did restore the Lord’s church. I KNOW the Book of Mormon is the word of God and for this reason I am just trying my best so that others can know that too. But, it is really hard, way more than I expected. I neeeed loooooove!
Love the missionaries everyone please. But honestly, I believe so much that this is the work of the Lord and for some reason, I have no idea what it is I’m supposed to be here in Guatemala. I trust that the Lord will show me and let me know if I just continue to try. Above my bed, I wrote, “The church is true!!! Why not miracles?” I just do not want to leave my mission feeling this way!!! Because if I do it is because I failed because I know that Heavenly Father is helping me and supporting me. Otherwise, I would’ve already been lying on the beaches in Hawaii or eating free food at the Canon center with Andrew.
The Lord does not fail us, but sometimes we fail ourselves. I am seriously doing everything in my power to not fail and to just keep going regardless of what I can see or feel. The church is true and that’s why missions are hard!!!! I never expected this, but regardless of everything I can honestly say that I am SOOOOO grateful to serve a mission and Heavenly Father and that Texas is not the best mission! There is a reason I’m here in Guatemala.
Family, seriously just writing this letter, gives me the motivation I need to just keep going. I cannot even tell you how much I love you and how much all your love and support means to me. I LOOOOVEEEEEE you all with all my heart, and just thank you, all for everything. The church is TRUE and for this we have to keep going!!!!!!!!!! With all my heart I love you!!!!!!!!! Prestos todos prestos forever the church is true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Hermana G!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
14000 Volts of Electricity.... I BELIEVE!!!!!
Hola!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot believe how fast the time is flying!!! This could be my last change in the mountains...no one knows, but changes are already next week!! I cannot believe it!!! So mom, if you don’t get a letter from me next Monday, DONT PANIC!!!! I am not dead, but we have changes SO, I will not write til Wednesday!!!! But the work in our area is slowly but surely progressing. As far as the work goes, this change has been pretty slow, but we are trying to do all that we can to change that!!! But hmmm.....what happened this week......we didn’t have any crazy people chase us that was good.....still have crazy rain storms almost everyday which is always fun!! Seriously the rain here is crazy!!!! Crazy!!! Crazy!!
Our investigators are coming to the church were just trying to help them progress!! The problem really is that nobody here is married and don’t have intentions of getting married, because they say it is too expensive or they have other stupid excuses. Here in Guatemala its not like the States, the bishop doesn’t have the authority to marry people so to hire a lawyer costs about 300 Q which people don’t have the money. The cheapest way is to get married through the muni which only costs 20Q but all that is standing in line and signing a paper which people don’t want to do because they have these cultural traditions to have big weddings....I don’t know it is sooooo frustrating!! But we are trying!!!! That really is the problem. We are thinking of having an activity where we just marry everyone!!! haha. I’m not even joking.
Yesterday, we were talking about it with a family and the guy kept saying he didn’t want to. They didn’t have money and that he was scared to get married. And I was like you shouldn’t be scared of any of that. You should FEAR GOD buddy!!! Because you are sinning!!!!!!! GET MARRRRIIIIEEEDDD!!!!!!! haha. We try to talk very, very clear so that they understand, but that is the hardest part about the work right now. The women want to marry, but the men don’t. But like my comp said it is not the men’s fault, but these women!!!! It really is frustrating but we are doing our very best and im trying to be nice!!!! but about that........haha. No really I’m trying. Pray for us!
But oh man cool story.... I’d say the coolest part about this week.....well it didn’t happen to me thank goodness it happened to my district leader but it is a pretty cool story.....anyways my dl and his companion had a really, really bad day. All their citas dropped, there were rainstorms, crazy people yelling at them on the street, and it was just not good. And I understand exactly how that feels...they just had nothing going on. So when they got home they were all depressed so they decided to climb up to their roof and just sit and relax. BAD IDEA!!!! the roof is tin and I don’t know exactly how it happened but there was a cable on the roof and I guess what happened is he was wearing a metal ring and it somehow attracted the cable and he got electrocuted with over 14000 volts!!!!! which I guess is a heck of a lot!!
He literally just immediately fell to the floor paralyzed as if he died. He just passed out completely and said all he could remember was that he was trying to breath, but couldn’t and didn’t have any feeling in his limbs, nothing. He said he just remembers fighting for his life and trying and trying to breath and move his body, but NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!! He couldn’t do anything. He said in his mind he was just praying and praying that Heavenly Father would let him live, but he said he knew for sure that he would be paralyzed because he was gone. But as he was fighting to breath, his body just couldn’t so in his mind he just said to himself, “I hope I’m ready and closed his eyes¨ Crazy. Then he said he could hear his companion just screaming like a lunatic and he somehow had the strength to open his eyes and the words ¨blessing¨ just came out of his mouth and he closed his eyes again. But when the elder laid his hands on his head and said his name, he said he immediately could feel half of his body again.
He still couldn’t move or say anything but he felt a light enter his body. The ambulance came and rushed him to the hospital and the elder said he couldn’t remember anything more. He couldn’t remember anything after that. He just woke up the next morning was hooked up to machines and when he asked what happened I guess the doctor was in shock because he said he doesn’t know how it happened but it truly was a miracle!!! He said he got electrocuted with over 14000 volts of lighting which should of instantly killed him or AT LEAST blown off his legs and his arms but what happened well one the blessing, but two when they cut off his clothes all this body was scarred everywhere except where his garments were. He has a garment tan of just red and I guess what happened was the garments soaked up some of the shock and protected his heart!!!!
The doctor said that he cannot understand how the volts did not fully reach his heart!!! He said the damage is every where else on his body and around his heart, but SOMEHOW did not reach it. The doctor said it truly was a miracle and he still doesn’t even know how that was possible. But isn’t that the CRAZIEST thing!!!!!! What’s even crazier is the Elder was only in the hospital for a couple of days because his heart was still weak and needed to have the machines, but after that he left the hospital and is completely fine. Normal working again!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously, if that doesn’t tell you the church is true. I don’t know what!!!! Seriously, He just said, ¨THE CHURCH IS TRUE¨ because I shouldn’t be alive and it was so, so powerful it electrocuted my heart and again I had to shout I BELLLLLIIIIIIEEEEEEEVVVVEEE!!!! Seriously, it scares me sometimes how true and real the church is!!!!!!
If my mission has taught me something it is 1.....I am sooooo blessed! Cant even believe how blessed we are 2......my daddy’s a hottie and I loooooove my family and 3.....the church is TRUE!!!!!!!! There are just things that happen on the mission where you cannot DOUBT that Heavenly Father protects you and that He truly hears and answers prayers!!!! It seriously is incredible!!!!!!!! For this reason, everything that we go through as missionaries is worth it!!!!! I cannot lie, my mission has been hard. There are sometimes where I just feel so discouraged and still feel like I’m just in a state of shock sometimes like I cannot believe that I signed up for this or that Heavenly Father sent me here!! haha. Seriously. It happens.
Guatemala has definitely not let me down. it has been an adventure i can never ever forget But I cannot doubt for a second that THIS IS THE WORK OF THE LORD!!!!!!!! That Heavenly Father loves me, hears me and helps me everyday to be able to do this. THE CHURCH IS TRUE....I KNOW that and THAT makes it ALL worth it!!!!!!!!!!!!! For this reason, we cannot help but just be HAPPY and love life....ALL of it!!!!!!! Good, bad, crazy because we are soooo blessed!!! Despite everything, I am LOVING my mission because it is teaching me soo much!! And I love Hermana Guaranda too. Hopefully we don’t have changes because it seriously is SO, SO, SO funny!!! but ohhhhh one more thing You wanna know tender mercies.....ok soooo I was having not the best day....citas dropped, people who don’t want anything, rainstorms, floating poop....you name it and I was walking past a little tienda and you will never guess.....ABBA DANCING QUEEN started playing!!!!!!!!!!!!! I seriously almost fainted and was just like OH MY GOSH SISTER!!!! She was like what!!!! I told her THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!! I BEELIIIIIEVVVEEE!!! hahhahaha. She was like what? I was like DANCING QUEEN!!! DANCING QUEEN!!! hahahahahahah! And we had to stay!!! How crazy is that!!! Heavenly Father knew I was feeling a little down so he started playing Dancing Queen....in GUATEMALA!!!!!!! are you kidding me!!!!! Seriously I will forever testify to love!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is amazing!!!!! Family, just know that I love Love, LOVE you with all my heart. Seriously my eyes have been OPENED to just how blessed I am and I am just so, so, so, so, SOOO grateful for all of you, your love, support, prayers.....I start to cry anytime I think about you because I just cannot believe how blessed I am. I love you all forever!!!!!!! Hope all is well and hope you have an AMAZING week!!!!!!!!!!!! Prestos todos prestos.....the church is true!!!! really.
Loves!!!!!!!!!!!! Hermana Ali G!!!
Oh another tender mercy.......I bought 4 sweaters this week because it is getting really cold....one JCREW, one Banana Republic, one Gap and one BCBG....super cute.....all for the price of 45 Q.....or 5 dollars!!!!!!! I LOVE Guatemala!!!! it made me SOOOOO happy. So seriously don’t worry mom about sending clothes. It way cheaper here and sooooo fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Guatemala no ka oi!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Loves!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Our investigators are coming to the church were just trying to help them progress!! The problem really is that nobody here is married and don’t have intentions of getting married, because they say it is too expensive or they have other stupid excuses. Here in Guatemala its not like the States, the bishop doesn’t have the authority to marry people so to hire a lawyer costs about 300 Q which people don’t have the money. The cheapest way is to get married through the muni which only costs 20Q but all that is standing in line and signing a paper which people don’t want to do because they have these cultural traditions to have big weddings....I don’t know it is sooooo frustrating!! But we are trying!!!! That really is the problem. We are thinking of having an activity where we just marry everyone!!! haha. I’m not even joking.
Yesterday, we were talking about it with a family and the guy kept saying he didn’t want to. They didn’t have money and that he was scared to get married. And I was like you shouldn’t be scared of any of that. You should FEAR GOD buddy!!! Because you are sinning!!!!!!! GET MARRRRIIIIEEEDDD!!!!!!! haha. We try to talk very, very clear so that they understand, but that is the hardest part about the work right now. The women want to marry, but the men don’t. But like my comp said it is not the men’s fault, but these women!!!! It really is frustrating but we are doing our very best and im trying to be nice!!!! but about that........haha. No really I’m trying. Pray for us!
But oh man cool story.... I’d say the coolest part about this week.....well it didn’t happen to me thank goodness it happened to my district leader but it is a pretty cool story.....anyways my dl and his companion had a really, really bad day. All their citas dropped, there were rainstorms, crazy people yelling at them on the street, and it was just not good. And I understand exactly how that feels...they just had nothing going on. So when they got home they were all depressed so they decided to climb up to their roof and just sit and relax. BAD IDEA!!!! the roof is tin and I don’t know exactly how it happened but there was a cable on the roof and I guess what happened is he was wearing a metal ring and it somehow attracted the cable and he got electrocuted with over 14000 volts!!!!! which I guess is a heck of a lot!!
He literally just immediately fell to the floor paralyzed as if he died. He just passed out completely and said all he could remember was that he was trying to breath, but couldn’t and didn’t have any feeling in his limbs, nothing. He said he just remembers fighting for his life and trying and trying to breath and move his body, but NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!! He couldn’t do anything. He said in his mind he was just praying and praying that Heavenly Father would let him live, but he said he knew for sure that he would be paralyzed because he was gone. But as he was fighting to breath, his body just couldn’t so in his mind he just said to himself, “I hope I’m ready and closed his eyes¨ Crazy. Then he said he could hear his companion just screaming like a lunatic and he somehow had the strength to open his eyes and the words ¨blessing¨ just came out of his mouth and he closed his eyes again. But when the elder laid his hands on his head and said his name, he said he immediately could feel half of his body again.
He still couldn’t move or say anything but he felt a light enter his body. The ambulance came and rushed him to the hospital and the elder said he couldn’t remember anything more. He couldn’t remember anything after that. He just woke up the next morning was hooked up to machines and when he asked what happened I guess the doctor was in shock because he said he doesn’t know how it happened but it truly was a miracle!!! He said he got electrocuted with over 14000 volts of lighting which should of instantly killed him or AT LEAST blown off his legs and his arms but what happened well one the blessing, but two when they cut off his clothes all this body was scarred everywhere except where his garments were. He has a garment tan of just red and I guess what happened was the garments soaked up some of the shock and protected his heart!!!!
The doctor said that he cannot understand how the volts did not fully reach his heart!!! He said the damage is every where else on his body and around his heart, but SOMEHOW did not reach it. The doctor said it truly was a miracle and he still doesn’t even know how that was possible. But isn’t that the CRAZIEST thing!!!!!! What’s even crazier is the Elder was only in the hospital for a couple of days because his heart was still weak and needed to have the machines, but after that he left the hospital and is completely fine. Normal working again!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously, if that doesn’t tell you the church is true. I don’t know what!!!! Seriously, He just said, ¨THE CHURCH IS TRUE¨ because I shouldn’t be alive and it was so, so powerful it electrocuted my heart and again I had to shout I BELLLLLIIIIIIEEEEEEEVVVVEEE!!!! Seriously, it scares me sometimes how true and real the church is!!!!!!
If my mission has taught me something it is 1.....I am sooooo blessed! Cant even believe how blessed we are 2......my daddy’s a hottie and I loooooove my family and 3.....the church is TRUE!!!!!!!! There are just things that happen on the mission where you cannot DOUBT that Heavenly Father protects you and that He truly hears and answers prayers!!!! It seriously is incredible!!!!!!!! For this reason, everything that we go through as missionaries is worth it!!!!! I cannot lie, my mission has been hard. There are sometimes where I just feel so discouraged and still feel like I’m just in a state of shock sometimes like I cannot believe that I signed up for this or that Heavenly Father sent me here!! haha. Seriously. It happens.
Guatemala has definitely not let me down. it has been an adventure i can never ever forget But I cannot doubt for a second that THIS IS THE WORK OF THE LORD!!!!!!!! That Heavenly Father loves me, hears me and helps me everyday to be able to do this. THE CHURCH IS TRUE....I KNOW that and THAT makes it ALL worth it!!!!!!!!!!!!! For this reason, we cannot help but just be HAPPY and love life....ALL of it!!!!!!! Good, bad, crazy because we are soooo blessed!!! Despite everything, I am LOVING my mission because it is teaching me soo much!! And I love Hermana Guaranda too. Hopefully we don’t have changes because it seriously is SO, SO, SO funny!!! but ohhhhh one more thing You wanna know tender mercies.....ok soooo I was having not the best day....citas dropped, people who don’t want anything, rainstorms, floating poop....you name it and I was walking past a little tienda and you will never guess.....ABBA DANCING QUEEN started playing!!!!!!!!!!!!! I seriously almost fainted and was just like OH MY GOSH SISTER!!!! She was like what!!!! I told her THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!! I BEELIIIIIEVVVEEE!!! hahhahaha. She was like what? I was like DANCING QUEEN!!! DANCING QUEEN!!! hahahahahahah! And we had to stay!!! How crazy is that!!! Heavenly Father knew I was feeling a little down so he started playing Dancing Queen....in GUATEMALA!!!!!!! are you kidding me!!!!! Seriously I will forever testify to love!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is amazing!!!!! Family, just know that I love Love, LOVE you with all my heart. Seriously my eyes have been OPENED to just how blessed I am and I am just so, so, so, so, SOOO grateful for all of you, your love, support, prayers.....I start to cry anytime I think about you because I just cannot believe how blessed I am. I love you all forever!!!!!!! Hope all is well and hope you have an AMAZING week!!!!!!!!!!!! Prestos todos prestos.....the church is true!!!! really.
Loves!!!!!!!!!!!! Hermana Ali G!!!
Oh another tender mercy.......I bought 4 sweaters this week because it is getting really cold....one JCREW, one Banana Republic, one Gap and one BCBG....super cute.....all for the price of 45 Q.....or 5 dollars!!!!!!! I LOVE Guatemala!!!! it made me SOOOOO happy. So seriously don’t worry mom about sending clothes. It way cheaper here and sooooo fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Guatemala no ka oi!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Loves!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sisters, Please Don't Let Your Husbands Disrespect You!
GUATEMLA IS CRAAAAAAAAAAZZZZZZZZZZZZYYYYYYYYY yo!!!!!!!! hahahaha. That’s all I got to say. This week has been another crazy jammed pack week where when I think about what to write, I don’t even know because its just all craziness. My mission has far succeeded my thoughts, expectations....It’s just crazy!!! I’m still waiting, for someone to come and wake me up from this dream. haha. Honestly, I wasn’t fully prepared for what Guatemala had in store for me. hahaha. Wow!!! Sometimes I really think to myself....Wow!! Mission calls are inspired, right? And, this is what Heavenly Father had in store for me!!!!! WOOOWWWWW!!!!!!!! He must know us a lot more than we know ourselves! Because I NEVER, EVER, would have EVER imagined this for my life right now!!!!!!! I really don’t know how to express everything I feel. Let’s just say la mision esta loca!!!!!!! haha. But at the same time soooooooooo great because the church is true!!!! How crazy is that?? For this, EVERYTHING is worth it!!!
Thank you all for your prayers!! My health is a lot better this week!!!! Testify to love, because that was rough!! But now, my companion is sick!! Poor thing!! She is not doing well; I think she caught it for me. She’s been barfing, fevers, headaches....the whole thing!!! It sucks!! I think it’s either the change in climate that got us. I don’t know all of a sudden it just has been sooooo cold!! Well not Japan, or Russia but it is cold!!! We need to bundle up. Seriously, that jacket that Auntie Ani sent with me before I left saved my life!!! It’s soooo warm and I love it. But I think if I’m still in the mountains November/ December I’m going to need to go buy warm clothes because it is definitely cold here in these mountains!! But don’t worry about sending me anything. I am fine and clothes here are extremely cheap so don’t worry!!!! But yeah, my comp got sick, but is a trooper and despite all of that, we are having a blast!!! I looooooooooove my companion. Seriously. She is hilarious and just so loving and we get along really, really great!!! She apologized to me because in the beginning well I didn’t know this but she was a little grumpy because she did not want a gringa companion for anything!!!! haha!!!! I don’t know a lot of people here don’t like gringos so we have to be really careful, but she said she wants to call you mom because my mama did well. President told me that in her letters to president she writes, ¨President please don’t take away my gringita!!!!!¨ That made me soooo happy because this change has been rough with just a lot of disappointments, but despite all this I can honestly say Its been a great change!!! We learned so much and honestly have a BLAST with each other and have learned you just gotta laugh, laugh, laugh or you will go crazy!! Ice cream is necessary, and no matter what happens the church is true!!!!!!!!! Seriously, I don’t know what’s going on, but we are having the hardest time finding positive progressing people!! And it just has been rejection, rejection, and craziness!!! The other day we were running and something told us cross the street! So we were like cruzemos! cruzemos!! And then this guy out of nowhere came running from behind saying REPENT!! REPENT!! REPENT!! It was the craziest thing! Or well be walking and people will shout crazy things at us about the Book of Mormon or just crazy things. I sat next to this lady on the bus and started talking to her and she told me that her husband just died, and she is in desperate need of help because she has no job, she cant feed her kids blah blah blah....I seriously in my heart said, ‘Thank you Heavenly Father¨ because I felt so strongly that I was led to sit next to her...than I started sharing a little about our message and she just started practically screaming, going off, it was crazy!! NOOOO!!!!! I don’t want your stupid message she told me, I need money!!!! I told her I didn’t have any money and that the only way I could help her was to help her to know Christ. I started bearing my testimony about Jesus Christ and our great message and she is ¨Christian¨ strong evangelical and she just said NO! NO! Don’t talk to me!! And started telling me if I were truly Christian, I would give her money because that’s what the bible said and it was so embarrassing because she was practically screaming and my comp was behind me just laughing and then she scooted as far away from me as possible and practically started hugging the wall of the bus!!!! pahahaha! It was crazy!!! But that’s what we deal with everyday!!!! But I’ve seriously learned that you just gotta love and embrace everything!!!! But sometimes, I need to read the letters that you write to me, just to remind myself that there ARE people in this world that love me!! haha.
But hmmmm que mas.....Well like I told you we found a family that showed so much potential...all was well....we taught them pretty much everyday this week and they were pilas!!! Well the wife still is pilas!! But I have no idea what happened!! The husband showed such potential. Read everyday, had good questions really the problem that we saw was that he worked Sundays and really this family is poor so if he doesn’t work, they don’t eat!! It’s a hard situation, but we encouraged him to just Trust in the Lord!! And he understood the importance of the commandments and what not, but we went over to their house Saturday and I guess the husband just went crazy and just straight up left the family!!!!! We showed up and the wife was just in tears, crying hysterically because she told us that her husband left!!!! She is super pilas and she talked to him about how he needed to trust in the Lord and that if they wanted to change, they needed to do their part!! This lady is pilas with super faith. In one week, she is already in Alma in her Libro de Mormon and just looooves it!! She told her husband, God will help us; we need to listen to the hermanas!! And the husband just snapped, went crazy, tore up the apartment, threatened to take their kid, and left!!!!!! I couldn’t believe it and I seriously just felt so bad, because I just thought; ‘Did I cause this? She was just in tears, but despite all this she showed up yesterday at the church with her kid!!! SUPER FAITH!!!! She just told us, I need to make a change for my kid!! She’s had a very hard life, was raped as a kid by her stepdad and abused, but is truly trying to seek for a change. It seriously is heartbreaking.
Seriously the stories of these people here are CRAZY!!!! Guatemala is a crazy place. All the people we meet everyday, I just cannot even believe their lives and the stories that they have!!! I don’t think I’ve met a women yet that in some way hasn’t been abused!! I’m not even joking!! For all the people, but especially the women their lives are sooo, soooo sad. It seriously makes me just cry, because I cannot believe what the woman have to put up with here. I get so angry sometimes, and it’s funny because I can feel myself turning into my mother and I seriously feel moms presence with me because I just gotta tell my sisters here straight!! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!! Sisters, DO NOT let your husbands disrespect you like that!!! NEVER EVER, EVER!!!! And I just go on my female power rants, and sometimes people are shocked by my ideas, but I seriously everyday just feel my “Lisa Garcia” coming out because I just cant believe what these women put up with and it honestly makes me so angry!!!! Sorry dad, I think my mission is turning me into even more of a female power man-hater type of girl!! Just what you wanted!!!!! But seriously, that’s one thing about Central America that drives me crazy is that the worth of females here is like nothing!!!!! But, everyday I do my best to empower my sistahs here!!! And it’s funny because my comp is the same way she is a very strong woman!!!! She said South America is very, very, very different than Guatemala. When I asked the difference she said that Guatemala is a lot more poor, the poverty in Central America is a lot worse and that the woman are stupid!! haha. But oh man, seriously its crazy!!
Wow!! I’ve just been babbling and just realized that my time is going to end, but family please know that I loooooooooooooooooooove you all soooooooooooo much!!!! In my prayers at night, I break down in tears because I cannot believe how blessed I have been and seriously my biggest blessing is my family and the support that I have!!!! It is without words!!!!!!! I looooooooooooooooooooove you all with all my heart I cannot nearly express it in writing. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. for all your love. and support, ESPECIALLY in this time of my life. It means the world!!!!!! Seriously, no matter what, my testimony of the restored gospel has been strengthened that without doubt I can say I KNOWWW that this church is true. That God lives and loves and only through this work, can our brothers and sisters return to live with our Heavenly Father and that we can truly have happiness in this life!!!!! So gotta keep going and help my brothers and sisters out!!!!!!!! I seriously love Heavenly Father. He is amazing and feel His presence stronger than ever before in my life!!!! I am coming to know the Savior in a very real way and that just makes everything worth it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i loooooooooooooooooove you all!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for everything!!!! prestos todos prestos.....the church is true!!!!!
Thank you all for your prayers!! My health is a lot better this week!!!! Testify to love, because that was rough!! But now, my companion is sick!! Poor thing!! She is not doing well; I think she caught it for me. She’s been barfing, fevers, headaches....the whole thing!!! It sucks!! I think it’s either the change in climate that got us. I don’t know all of a sudden it just has been sooooo cold!! Well not Japan, or Russia but it is cold!!! We need to bundle up. Seriously, that jacket that Auntie Ani sent with me before I left saved my life!!! It’s soooo warm and I love it. But I think if I’m still in the mountains November/ December I’m going to need to go buy warm clothes because it is definitely cold here in these mountains!! But don’t worry about sending me anything. I am fine and clothes here are extremely cheap so don’t worry!!!! But yeah, my comp got sick, but is a trooper and despite all of that, we are having a blast!!! I looooooooooove my companion. Seriously. She is hilarious and just so loving and we get along really, really great!!! She apologized to me because in the beginning well I didn’t know this but she was a little grumpy because she did not want a gringa companion for anything!!!! haha!!!! I don’t know a lot of people here don’t like gringos so we have to be really careful, but she said she wants to call you mom because my mama did well. President told me that in her letters to president she writes, ¨President please don’t take away my gringita!!!!!¨ That made me soooo happy because this change has been rough with just a lot of disappointments, but despite all this I can honestly say Its been a great change!!! We learned so much and honestly have a BLAST with each other and have learned you just gotta laugh, laugh, laugh or you will go crazy!! Ice cream is necessary, and no matter what happens the church is true!!!!!!!!! Seriously, I don’t know what’s going on, but we are having the hardest time finding positive progressing people!! And it just has been rejection, rejection, and craziness!!! The other day we were running and something told us cross the street! So we were like cruzemos! cruzemos!! And then this guy out of nowhere came running from behind saying REPENT!! REPENT!! REPENT!! It was the craziest thing! Or well be walking and people will shout crazy things at us about the Book of Mormon or just crazy things. I sat next to this lady on the bus and started talking to her and she told me that her husband just died, and she is in desperate need of help because she has no job, she cant feed her kids blah blah blah....I seriously in my heart said, ‘Thank you Heavenly Father¨ because I felt so strongly that I was led to sit next to her...than I started sharing a little about our message and she just started practically screaming, going off, it was crazy!! NOOOO!!!!! I don’t want your stupid message she told me, I need money!!!! I told her I didn’t have any money and that the only way I could help her was to help her to know Christ. I started bearing my testimony about Jesus Christ and our great message and she is ¨Christian¨ strong evangelical and she just said NO! NO! Don’t talk to me!! And started telling me if I were truly Christian, I would give her money because that’s what the bible said and it was so embarrassing because she was practically screaming and my comp was behind me just laughing and then she scooted as far away from me as possible and practically started hugging the wall of the bus!!!! pahahaha! It was crazy!!! But that’s what we deal with everyday!!!! But I’ve seriously learned that you just gotta love and embrace everything!!!! But sometimes, I need to read the letters that you write to me, just to remind myself that there ARE people in this world that love me!! haha.
But hmmmm que mas.....Well like I told you we found a family that showed so much potential...all was well....we taught them pretty much everyday this week and they were pilas!!! Well the wife still is pilas!! But I have no idea what happened!! The husband showed such potential. Read everyday, had good questions really the problem that we saw was that he worked Sundays and really this family is poor so if he doesn’t work, they don’t eat!! It’s a hard situation, but we encouraged him to just Trust in the Lord!! And he understood the importance of the commandments and what not, but we went over to their house Saturday and I guess the husband just went crazy and just straight up left the family!!!!! We showed up and the wife was just in tears, crying hysterically because she told us that her husband left!!!! She is super pilas and she talked to him about how he needed to trust in the Lord and that if they wanted to change, they needed to do their part!! This lady is pilas with super faith. In one week, she is already in Alma in her Libro de Mormon and just looooves it!! She told her husband, God will help us; we need to listen to the hermanas!! And the husband just snapped, went crazy, tore up the apartment, threatened to take their kid, and left!!!!!! I couldn’t believe it and I seriously just felt so bad, because I just thought; ‘Did I cause this? She was just in tears, but despite all this she showed up yesterday at the church with her kid!!! SUPER FAITH!!!! She just told us, I need to make a change for my kid!! She’s had a very hard life, was raped as a kid by her stepdad and abused, but is truly trying to seek for a change. It seriously is heartbreaking.
Seriously the stories of these people here are CRAZY!!!! Guatemala is a crazy place. All the people we meet everyday, I just cannot even believe their lives and the stories that they have!!! I don’t think I’ve met a women yet that in some way hasn’t been abused!! I’m not even joking!! For all the people, but especially the women their lives are sooo, soooo sad. It seriously makes me just cry, because I cannot believe what the woman have to put up with here. I get so angry sometimes, and it’s funny because I can feel myself turning into my mother and I seriously feel moms presence with me because I just gotta tell my sisters here straight!! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!! Sisters, DO NOT let your husbands disrespect you like that!!! NEVER EVER, EVER!!!! And I just go on my female power rants, and sometimes people are shocked by my ideas, but I seriously everyday just feel my “Lisa Garcia” coming out because I just cant believe what these women put up with and it honestly makes me so angry!!!! Sorry dad, I think my mission is turning me into even more of a female power man-hater type of girl!! Just what you wanted!!!!! But seriously, that’s one thing about Central America that drives me crazy is that the worth of females here is like nothing!!!!! But, everyday I do my best to empower my sistahs here!!! And it’s funny because my comp is the same way she is a very strong woman!!!! She said South America is very, very, very different than Guatemala. When I asked the difference she said that Guatemala is a lot more poor, the poverty in Central America is a lot worse and that the woman are stupid!! haha. But oh man, seriously its crazy!!
Wow!! I’ve just been babbling and just realized that my time is going to end, but family please know that I loooooooooooooooooooove you all soooooooooooo much!!!! In my prayers at night, I break down in tears because I cannot believe how blessed I have been and seriously my biggest blessing is my family and the support that I have!!!! It is without words!!!!!!! I looooooooooooooooooooove you all with all my heart I cannot nearly express it in writing. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. for all your love. and support, ESPECIALLY in this time of my life. It means the world!!!!!! Seriously, no matter what, my testimony of the restored gospel has been strengthened that without doubt I can say I KNOWWW that this church is true. That God lives and loves and only through this work, can our brothers and sisters return to live with our Heavenly Father and that we can truly have happiness in this life!!!!! So gotta keep going and help my brothers and sisters out!!!!!!!! I seriously love Heavenly Father. He is amazing and feel His presence stronger than ever before in my life!!!! I am coming to know the Savior in a very real way and that just makes everything worth it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i loooooooooooooooooove you all!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for everything!!!! prestos todos prestos.....the church is true!!!!!
Thank You Hermana Garcia! No, Thank God!
Hollaaa!!! Ok so this week started off extremely hard, but turned out great! This week was the first time in my mission that I got sick, Guatemala sick and it was not fun! Not fun at all! I had it all....chills, fever, stomach, stomach, stomach issues, body aches. AJ DKD DFKDKFD FKDF!!!! It was not fun! I do not know what happened, but it seriously took every inch of faith and determination that I had to go out and work!!! What made it harder too is that we were struggling, struggling, struggling to find progressing investigators and people who really wanted to change and progress!!!! But Dios da valor!!!!!!!!!!!! And I have such a testimony that no matter what happens, this is His work and He will help us. Not everyone is going to listen to us. The majority of the people are not, but that that cannot discourage us.
This week, man. We had the most interesting rejections. Door slams, we passed by an Evangelical church and this one guy came running out yelling at us telling us to repent. It was crazy. We just stared at him while he was yelling at us and when he stopped i had nothing all I could do was smile and say hola hermano. como esta! And my comp started laughing and he just screamed Don’t call me HERMANO! You cannot call me that!!! Because I am saved and you are not!! We are not brothers because you are not alive in Christ!! It was crazy! Then we found this family who we thought was going to be really positive. they let us in. we shared our message...gave them a Book of Mormon they seemed positive....told us they wanted to read blah blah blah. We came back the next day and evangelicals were at their house so she answered the door and told us sorry we are Christians and threw the Book of Mormon in our face and said don’t come back!!! Ohhh man. This is what we work with alllll day.
We had a meeting and president asked us why it was sooo hard to baptize and find the chosen here. Well because he was comparing Guatemala to Nicaragua. Nicaragua baptizes 650 people every month!!!! Yes, 650. That is crazy! And our mission, well all of Guatemala we baptize an average of 80 per month which I don’t know how that is in comparison to the rest of the world, but he was just basically telling us that that is not enough and just asked us what the problem was and one elder stood up and said, The Evangelicals!! And I just laughed to myself because that is so sad, but a lot of times soooo true!!!! They purposely go out of their way they are extremely proactive in their dislike towards us and seriously do all they can to stop people from listening to us and the problem is majority of the people here are evangelical and if they aren’t, they are scared of the evangelicals. It’s sooo frustrating, But, I don’t know why I’m telling you all that. I know that that really doesn’t matter because this is the Lords work so it will go forward!! We just need to do our best and try!!!!! But yeah, the beginning of the week was hard, but despite all this, my comp and I just tried our best to keep going, keep going, and this weekend the blessings flooded!
This weekend we were able to find two families that seem extremely positive. They came to church and loooooved it! The only problem is they are not married, but who in Guatemala is??? So yesterday we taught them and it went really well. They want to get married and keep progressing in the church. The wife is really happy because she’s always wanted to go to a church. She would always ask and ask her husband, but he didn’t want to go to any church because he said he didn’t like any of them! So we passed by them on the street and we contact every family that we see so we passed by them and I just said, hoooooolllllllllllaaaaa! como esta!!! And my comp and I both started giggling because I think, well I know that I scared them! They had the funniest, most shocked look on their face! And asked if we were talking to them and if we knew them!? It was really funny, but we started talking to them about our message and invited them to learn more and if they wanted to come to church with us and surprisingly the husband was a little hesitant but said, sure!! The wife seriously looked so shocked and when we talked to her yesterday, it was because she said that she never ever thought that would ever happen because she has asked and asked and nothing, but he accepted and he told us he didn’t know why he accepted either. It surprised himself he said, but they came to church and looooooovvvveed it and are excited to keep receiving the lessons and progressing in the church!!!! I have no doubt in my mind that the Spirit touched his heart and that is why he accepted. But it was sooooo cool. A miracle to me and such a blessing because that seriously never happens to us!!!! I don’t want to get my hopes up yet, but I have a really good feeling about this family!!!!
But highlight of the weeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk again the HANDCART angels!!!
Angelina is doing great!!! The handcart angels are still alive!! One of the members donated a bed to her because her entire family sleeps on this one twin, maybe it’s a full sized bed!!! So sad. We went over to deliver it and it was just the cutest thing because the little kids were jumping up and down when we came driving up jumping and cheering new bed new bed!! And it was one of the best sights. I wish I had a movie of it!!! And so I jumped out of the car and started jumping up and down and cheering with them. And the little boy, Manuel he has 5 years he jumped on my back and gave me the biggest hug and said, Thank you Hermana Garcia for teaching us the gospel!!!!!!! It seriously was one of the most touching experiences. When we left, Hermana Angelina was in tears because she was so touched by the help of all the members and she too gave me the biggest hug and told me, Thank you!!!! And I just felt an overwhelming feeling of love and told her, no thank God!! I started to just cry because I felt so grateful that Heavenly Father allowed me in a small part to be part of their life and to be able to bring them this beautiful gospel. No matter what happens, this is what it’s all about!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just felt so grateful and it seriously is what makes EVERYTHING worth it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Despite everything, I am doing fine. The mission is hard but these experiences are eternal and truly are the most beautiful anyone can have!!!!!!! I love Heavenly Father!!! I know He hears and answers prayers and that this is His work!! I have faith that although it doesn’t always seem like it, this work will mean something to someone because it really is the work of the Lord!!!!! With all my heart, I loooooove you all!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much for everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Prestos todos prestos.....the church is true!!!!
loves!!!
Hermana Ali
This week, man. We had the most interesting rejections. Door slams, we passed by an Evangelical church and this one guy came running out yelling at us telling us to repent. It was crazy. We just stared at him while he was yelling at us and when he stopped i had nothing all I could do was smile and say hola hermano. como esta! And my comp started laughing and he just screamed Don’t call me HERMANO! You cannot call me that!!! Because I am saved and you are not!! We are not brothers because you are not alive in Christ!! It was crazy! Then we found this family who we thought was going to be really positive. they let us in. we shared our message...gave them a Book of Mormon they seemed positive....told us they wanted to read blah blah blah. We came back the next day and evangelicals were at their house so she answered the door and told us sorry we are Christians and threw the Book of Mormon in our face and said don’t come back!!! Ohhh man. This is what we work with alllll day.
We had a meeting and president asked us why it was sooo hard to baptize and find the chosen here. Well because he was comparing Guatemala to Nicaragua. Nicaragua baptizes 650 people every month!!!! Yes, 650. That is crazy! And our mission, well all of Guatemala we baptize an average of 80 per month which I don’t know how that is in comparison to the rest of the world, but he was just basically telling us that that is not enough and just asked us what the problem was and one elder stood up and said, The Evangelicals!! And I just laughed to myself because that is so sad, but a lot of times soooo true!!!! They purposely go out of their way they are extremely proactive in their dislike towards us and seriously do all they can to stop people from listening to us and the problem is majority of the people here are evangelical and if they aren’t, they are scared of the evangelicals. It’s sooo frustrating, But, I don’t know why I’m telling you all that. I know that that really doesn’t matter because this is the Lords work so it will go forward!! We just need to do our best and try!!!!! But yeah, the beginning of the week was hard, but despite all this, my comp and I just tried our best to keep going, keep going, and this weekend the blessings flooded!
This weekend we were able to find two families that seem extremely positive. They came to church and loooooved it! The only problem is they are not married, but who in Guatemala is??? So yesterday we taught them and it went really well. They want to get married and keep progressing in the church. The wife is really happy because she’s always wanted to go to a church. She would always ask and ask her husband, but he didn’t want to go to any church because he said he didn’t like any of them! So we passed by them on the street and we contact every family that we see so we passed by them and I just said, hoooooolllllllllllaaaaa! como esta!!! And my comp and I both started giggling because I think, well I know that I scared them! They had the funniest, most shocked look on their face! And asked if we were talking to them and if we knew them!? It was really funny, but we started talking to them about our message and invited them to learn more and if they wanted to come to church with us and surprisingly the husband was a little hesitant but said, sure!! The wife seriously looked so shocked and when we talked to her yesterday, it was because she said that she never ever thought that would ever happen because she has asked and asked and nothing, but he accepted and he told us he didn’t know why he accepted either. It surprised himself he said, but they came to church and looooooovvvveed it and are excited to keep receiving the lessons and progressing in the church!!!! I have no doubt in my mind that the Spirit touched his heart and that is why he accepted. But it was sooooo cool. A miracle to me and such a blessing because that seriously never happens to us!!!! I don’t want to get my hopes up yet, but I have a really good feeling about this family!!!!
But highlight of the weeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk again the HANDCART angels!!!
Angelina is doing great!!! The handcart angels are still alive!! One of the members donated a bed to her because her entire family sleeps on this one twin, maybe it’s a full sized bed!!! So sad. We went over to deliver it and it was just the cutest thing because the little kids were jumping up and down when we came driving up jumping and cheering new bed new bed!! And it was one of the best sights. I wish I had a movie of it!!! And so I jumped out of the car and started jumping up and down and cheering with them. And the little boy, Manuel he has 5 years he jumped on my back and gave me the biggest hug and said, Thank you Hermana Garcia for teaching us the gospel!!!!!!! It seriously was one of the most touching experiences. When we left, Hermana Angelina was in tears because she was so touched by the help of all the members and she too gave me the biggest hug and told me, Thank you!!!! And I just felt an overwhelming feeling of love and told her, no thank God!! I started to just cry because I felt so grateful that Heavenly Father allowed me in a small part to be part of their life and to be able to bring them this beautiful gospel. No matter what happens, this is what it’s all about!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just felt so grateful and it seriously is what makes EVERYTHING worth it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Despite everything, I am doing fine. The mission is hard but these experiences are eternal and truly are the most beautiful anyone can have!!!!!!! I love Heavenly Father!!! I know He hears and answers prayers and that this is His work!! I have faith that although it doesn’t always seem like it, this work will mean something to someone because it really is the work of the Lord!!!!! With all my heart, I loooooove you all!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much for everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Prestos todos prestos.....the church is true!!!!
loves!!!
Hermana Ali
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