June 28, 2010 Work, Work, Work. Going LOCO for Missionary Work

Sent: Mon, June 28, 2010 8:44:54 AM
Subject: HOLLLAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOLAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dad, I read your email and you are so hilarious!!! YES! God does answer prayers!!! Despite erupting volcanoes, hurricanes, and tropical storms, haha. My mission president literally told us flat out that we are not to be wandering these mountains by ourselves in the dark!!!! I know Heavenly Father told President Baldwin to tell us that so my daddy could go to sleep at night!!! PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED!!! Hallelujah!!!! haha. Its soooo true!! And yes, we are being obedient!!!!! Promise.

Ok as for this week, it has just been WORK, WORK, WORK!! We have been going loco for missionary work and I think we will start to see the fruits really soon! YESTERDAY, we contacted into this GOLDEN family! OH MY GOSHHHHH I am SOOOOOOO excited. I got goosebumps because it literally was like we hit megabucks!! This family has 8 children and they are just soooo cute! We contacted the dad on the street and he told us we could come over. Told us where he lived and we had been looking for this house, but couldn’t find it. Finally by just asking around and looking looking, looking, we found the house, but the parents weren’t home. boo. We went back yesterday and the dad was home with some of the kids so they let us in. We go in and sit down and like magic the mom comes walking in with the rest of the family!!! We stood up greeted them gave them hugs and the whole family just gathered around us on the floor and we taught them!!!!!!!!!!! AHHAHAHAHAHAH Silent screams!! Seriously!! This family is golden.

There is a different feeling in that house. You can feel it and I am just so excited. The lesson went well. It wasn’t like a slam dunk they are converted or anything, but it was fun. They were all listening and we could all just laugh and have a good time with each other. I don’t know the family just has a real light sense of humor which is sooo nice because we can all smoke and joke with each other. It’s also fun because the dad is from el Salvador and my comp is from El Salvador and they love Hawaii and I don’t know they for some reason think me and my comp are really funny so we could just laugh and have a good time. We asked them if we could come back and they said OF COURSE...When___ And so we are going back this week. The problem will be that the mom and dad work A LOT. All the time so it is hard to find a time when the WHOLE family will be together. I don’t know. We are praying, praying, praying. They are the familia Perez Duarte.....Everyone pray for this family too!!!!!

Remember prayer works!! AHAHAHAH!! IT is soooo exciting. They have SOOOO much potential, but it is not going to be easy. I know that. So yes, that is the most exciting thing right now. Oh we also have another lady that we found. We set a baptism date with her and she is really nice. Positive. Everything! But she is not married and she lives with her man. And her boo we don’t really know anything about because he works in the capital and is never there. He comes home once every 15 days, but she never knows when he will be back. Something tells me he is fishy because 1. Don’t want to judge but he is Guatemalan and works away from his family. These men ill tell you, I don’t know if it’s possible that he truly is faithful to his wife and kids and 2. When Eva talks about her husband she always sounds a little uneasy. SO we are hoping for the best, but the only thing holding her back is if her husband wants to get married. I don’t know. We´ll see....but she is sooo nice, positive, fulfills her commitments and always has really good questions and insights....pilas!!!! I also know she is chosen because we had a really good lesson with her and when we left, I don’t know what happened but I just started to feel really sick. I barfed in the street 5 times!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was disgusting!!!!!!! But after that I wasn’t sick. I don’t feel sick now. I don’t know what happened but I would just walk bleeehhh. Walk some more, blehhhhh. My poor comp! We went home, but after I was fine. So I don’t know!!! All I could think was Yep!! Eva is chosen!!

Things like that happen when you are getting closer to something good!!!!!!! So yes.......the mission has been going great. This week just seriously flew. I am trying to think of what else happened and it just seems like one blur. But it was good!!!!!!!!!!!!! Teaching, walking, hiking, swimming, teaching, contacting, barfing, booing......allll day loooong! This week my comp and I hit a record high on lessons. We taught 33, and found a bunch of nuevos. Our district leader was like waaaaaaaa because we had a lot of meetings too and majority of the lessons from our entire district were from us. haha. But really we have just been working working, working, working. Its a great feeling. Oh yeah, we have been doing a lot of service too! Let me tell you Guatemalan service is something else. I am so grateful for my comp because I don’t think I could do it!

Yesterday, one of our investigators her wall fell down. IT was crazy!! Not her whole wall, but she lives in a little tin shack and one of her walls, the top tin fell down!!!! We walked in like Whaaaaat the heck. So we helped her put her house together. Thank goodness for my comp because I sure didn’t know what to do, but my comp just got a hammer and we went around asking for some nails and we just nailed her house back together!!!!!!!! What the.....I pretty much just held the tin there while my comp started hammering away!!! Loco. It seems like I am worthless here because a lot of this stuff I sure as heck have no idea what to do!!!!!! loco. Crazy too I was holding the tin and we saw these rats coming in and out of the house. It was disgusting. Then we helped clean this house of this blind lady and uhhhhhhhh I cannot even tell you how disgusting it was. I feel bad because this lady is blind and sick so she can’t do anything, but oh man!!!!! I shake thinking about it. Thank goodness for my comp! That’s all I can say because she just jumps right in there so I just follow her. But ushhshs. I showered for like 2 hours that night. I can’t even adequately express. Rats, spiders, cockroaches, dirty dishes soaking in NASTY water that must’ve been there for who knows how long......just NASTTTYYYYYY! But it is an experience.

I never thought I would say it but it actually is really fun. At first, all this freaked me out, but I am learning that when you serve others, you really are happy. The mission is weird but you feel the lowest lows and the highest highs. But the highs are AMAZIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGG! Some of the greatest experiences you can have. I truly can say that I am having joy and everyday just learning to count my blessings, love everyone, and be grateful!!!!!!!! I go home everyday thinking DANNNNGG! I am BLESSED!!!!!!! And i just get on my knees and literally cry and thank Heavenly Father for everything I have. Honestly, I cannot even believe it. How much we have and how blessed my life has been. IT is incomprehensible. And it makes me soooo happy to be here and realize that and everyday wake up and be able to just give myself and help and serve and love others. My mission has been great!!!! Crazy, but great. It is a chance of a lifetime and I am so grateful for everyone and for all the support you have given me. The church is TRUE!!!! Heavenly Father lives and loves and YES! He does answer prayers....thats what makes it all worth it! Prestos Todos PRestos......The church is true!!!!

With all my love, Ali or Hermana g!!!!!!!