Hola!!!!
Another week, more adventures! Guatemala definitely does not disappoint. So this week officially started the Guatemala Rainy Season and BOY, am, I in for a treat...Esta LOCO!!!! The rain here is crazy and like nothing I have ever seen. And please start praying now because our investigators just laugh at us and say that this is ¨LIGHT rain¨ Ay yay yay!! It will be an adventure for sure. But it was so funny Saturday night; we were swimming home from our last appointment in the middle of a rain storm and there aren´t lights here so it gets pretty dark. The rain was like up to our knees within minutes and with dirt roads things can get pretty ugly so we were trudging home from our last appointment and I was in front of my companion and it was so dark so my companion handed me the flashlight and so I shine the flashlight and lo and behold I see it…The FLOATING POOP!!!!!!!! I started screaming HERMANA, HERMANA WATCH OUT!!!! IT’S THE FLOATING POOP!! And we both just started screaming and running trying to dodge the floating poop that was coming our way! And it was hilarious. There were people on the side of the road who started laughing at us because to them this is nothing, but to us Gringos we just started screaming and running and my companion slipped and fell and it was just hilarious!! You honestly could have a reality TV show of this. It’s crazy!! I seriously had to just stop and start laughing because it was so funny and surreal to me. I mean sometimes I just feel like I´m in a dream it is so surreal. BUT, I just remember I was standing in the middle of this rainstorm in the mountains of Guatemala with floating poop around me and I just started laughing because it was just the craziest feeling. Me and my companion honestly laughed the whole way home because it was just like ¨What the heck is happening?? It is honestly so surreal, but I am learning to just love and embrace everything about the mission. Heavenly Father sure does have a sense of humor to send me somewhere like this, but I´ve been learning to just laugh and LOVE it all. Come what may and love it right?? So, that was a fun adventure for this week and what I have to look forward to for the next couple of months!!
So now on to the MIRACLES!! Despite the floating poop and all that fun stuff, my companion and I have been witnessing MIRACLES!! She calls this the Miracle exchange! So this week, we committed two families to be baptized!! WOOOHOHOOOOO! SO EXCITING!! And these families are golden!! I just love them to death. This one family, the Garcias (is that not destiny) is just AMAZING!! I already have the family that I want you to meet. THEY are WONDERFUL, SO NICE and truly have been prepared to hear the gospel. They have three sons, Angel 7, David 5, and Noe, 1 and they are the cutest things. David, they rival, and are up there with the Lloyd. They are just the happiest family in the world and the parents are just golden. The dad said that it was always his dream to attend church as a family. He was baptized catholic but he said he didn’t like how the Catholic Church isn’t really family oriented and that people don’t live what they teach. The wife is evangelical which the evangelical church here you just gotta to see it its crazy, but she took her family to that church every week but Rosalio, the dad, refused to go. So anyway, when we taught them the lessons it was the dad who fell in love with the church. And they’ve just accepted everything. Everything we teach, they are live ¨Well Duh!!¨, and they just accept it. They can’t wait for Sundays and are usually like one of the first ones at church like 20 minutes early which here is unheard of!! And the dad he quit drinking smoking doing all those things when he had kids because he didn’t want to have his kids grow up with that stuff....I mean it is just amazing how the Lord prepares people! So they’ve just accepted it all and will be baptized in two weeks.
I just love this family. There is a different feeling in their home and it is the greatest feeling to see how the gospel really does bless and bring families together. It is amazing! But aahahhaahh, we teach this family every night at 7. They are usually our last appointment and no matter what happens throughout the day, I always end my day on such a good note because this family is amazing. Last night, the cutest thing we taught about the Priesthood and we told Rosalio that he would be able to receive the Priesthood, and that he’d be able to baptize his son next month because Angel is turning 8. And Angel was sitting on his dads lap and just gave the biggest, most pure smile and said ¨YES! Papi, I love you and I want you to baptize me! And he turned and gave his dad the biggest hug and started rubbing his head. I think it’s just something you had to be there for but that honestly was like the happiest moment of my life.
You live for these moments as a missionary. Rosalio was so touched that he started to cry and we were too! But there was such a strong spirit in that room where you could not even doubt for a second that the church was true. As I bore my testimony of the reality of the power of the Priesthood sweet tears filled my eyes because I thought about Daddy and how much I love him and how grateful I am that I grew up in a family where the Priesthood could be in my home.
Daddy, I love you SOOOOO much and am just so grateful for everything you have done for me. You have no idea. I just cried and cried because I just felt so much love and gratitude and pure joy to think about all that the Lord has done for me and my family, and then to be able to share this with others....I couldn’t be happier!! Floating poop and all, it’s worth it!!!! I just feel so grateful because I know this family was prepared and anyone could have taught them the gospel and they would have accepted, but I just feel so grateful that Heavenly Father allowed me to do it!! It’s amazing!!! They are already talking about going to the temple to be sealed in a year and were all so excited because I will be able to be here for it!! What a blessing!!!!! I honestly feel like the luckiest missionary yet.
Although Chimaltenango is a difficult area in terms of poverty and comfort and things, and although walking these rainy streets with floating poo is funny, it’s not always fun. But, I feel so grateful everyday to be here. My comp was telling me this surely is a transfer of miracles. She’s been here for three changes and they haven’t had a baptism and she said that it was her dream to be able to teach and baptize a family while she’s been on her mission, but she never has. She said she prayed so hard just to baptize a family, but her whole mission she hasn’t been able to But, now this is her last change and within two weeks, we have TWO families!! And they are PILAS!! So now she feels like she can go home happy. The Lord is AMAZING and I just feel so grateful to be here with my companion where I can be a part of these miracles!!! And my comp was a cheerleader in college!!! OH NOOOOO!!!! It is so funny. Seriously we know we were meant to be here together in Chimal at this time!! It is so, so great! My mission pres warned me though that not all companionships will be ¨made in heaven¨ haha. Yeah, I’m sure it won’t always be this way, but I testify to love and that miracles happen when you believe!!!! I BELIEVEEEE family! I am such a believer!! I love this gospel!! I love all of you!!!!! Thank you for all your love and prayers!!!!!! I really do feel them! Hugs and kisses.....The church is true!!!
Love,
HERMANAAAAAA Ali
First Companion MTC and CCM, Hermana Williams