you are hereby called...: February 2014

Friday, February 28, 2014

February 17, 2014 A Special Week

This week, as all weeks, was really special. My testimony of why I am here is always strengthened. Especially when people reject what I know is true. So today, this is what I know is true:

I met a man a few weeks ago that isnt a member, and doesnt really believe in God. He was nice and liked talking to us, but when we talked about the gospel he would make jokes and wasnt super interested. We were pushy enough that he finally said we could come back. We missed our appointment with him because the time before, we had found his house in the dark, and couldnt remember where he lived in the light! A few weeks later we finally passed for him again, and he was mad that we didnt pass by when we said we would. He likes to read, so he read the pamphlet we had given him, but again we could see that he wasnt interested in the gospel. We set up another time to visit him and made sure to be there. The other two times we had talked with him was outside of his house. I made sure to complain about the heat so his wife would let us in, and she gladly did. We taught the plan of salvation to him and his wife. He was suprised to know that we lived with Heavenly Father before this life. He would make ocasional jokes during the lesson and we did our best to continue teaching with the spirit. I was beinginng to realize that he was making jokes because he had a wall up i his heart. His wife told us that sometimes he doesnt believe in God and he believes in Satan. He explained to us that there have been things in his life that has caused him to lose his faith. When we ended our lesson, we invited him to say the closing prayer. After much convincing, he finally agreed. As he began to pray, i said my own little prayer, praying my heart out that the sprit would fill his heart, and that he would know these things were true. I prayed probably harder than I ever have in my entire life. I started listening to his prayer, and after he said amen, i looked at him and their were tears streaming down his face. He had felt something, and I could see his faith returning.

I KNOW we are children of Heavenly Father. I KNOW we lived with him before, and that we can live with him again, only through this gospel, because this gospel is HIS gospel, and this is His plan for us. I know that we can live happily if we follow the commandments, if we let HIM into our lives. I KNOW that people without the gospel, or that do not believe the gospel, are sometimes miserable, or arent as happy as they can be. I know we can be eternally happy.

Back together for the morning.

Nap time or Study time?

Hermana Escoto, my first Latina Companion.

Puppies!

February 10, 2014

Happy Birthday to my Madre

Even the Latinas like Seattle!

My Mom and I are getting Pedicures in 10!/2 months

WOWW:... Can I just say I am soo happy to be here in Guatemala! Most of the time.. this week was a little odd.

TMI.. readers disgression advised.

On Thursday, we were walking to an appointment with a new investigator, when all the sudden I heard a pig.. that part is normal, there are lots of pigs here, but this one was SCREAMING!!! It was screaming so loud, so I looked over to see where it was coming from, and I saw a pic with rope tied around its feet, and legs, and two people hauled it onto a table. I thought, oh thats why its screaming, its arms and legs hurt! But then I saw next to where they layed the pig, another pig.. only this one wasnt moving.. it was dead. OH.. this is why the pig was screaming, it had just heard its friend die, and now it was laying next to him, knowing what was about to happen. I quickly looked away after i saw the people pull out a dull machete. Looking away didnt help because I heard a scream that I never want to hear again in my life, a scream that probably would have broken windows if there was any around, for about 45 seconds as they slowly cut off the pigs head. I covered my ears but that did nothing. I made the mistake of turning around, only to see blood pouring out of its body.. and i mean POURING. Literally right after I saw that, we turned into the house of the investigator. My stomach was down to my feet and I wanted to cry.. i was in no way ready for a lesson. Luckily, I didnt really have to teach that much,

This guy and his wife we had contacted the other week. They told us we could have a lesson with them and pointed in the direction of their house. Turns out, they lied to us about where they lived, probably because they actually didnt want us to come back (my comp is pushy and almost always gets them to say yes haha): But, being the often rejected/lied to missioaries that we are, we knew what to do, asked arounf, and found them. This guy played it off at the beginining like he didnt have much experience with religion, but turned out to be a bible master. Honestly, I still have a lot to learn about the bible, but LUCKILY, Hermana Escoto is the best and defended everything he threw at us. We tried teaching him, but he wouldnt let us. He went on and on about things we already knew.. and we just sat there. After about 40 minutes of this, we got a LITTLE bit of teaching in. I ended up arguing a little with him about a subject I knew to be true but he was blinded and tried to tell me it wasnt, so i let hna escoto take over because i knew I wasnt the one to get through to him. At one point, before we left, I invited him to chruch, and he asked when, i told him Sunday from 9-12, only 3 hours. and he replied with "wow, thats sure not very much time to dedicate to God" and i laughed.. cause he was serious, and in the states 3 hours is so much to other relegions! We spent two hours with him, most of it was him talking. He said we could come back.. I need to study the bible more!

One great thing about being in a different country is that I dont know the bad words: In the states I heard them alllll the time, and here I dont want to learn them, and dont recognize them on the streets. I didnt realize how lucky i was until i got with hna escoto. She is always covering her ears and saying, "ah que malo!" Then i appreciate being here more, its so refreshing!

Our miracle this week:

Last week we contacted someone in the street, and there was another guy there too, just listening. When we were about to leave, the other guy said we could come visit him, so we made an appointment for the following week. I hoenstly had forgotten about him until the day of the appointment. We went to his house, taught him about Faith, Repentence, Baptism, The Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. We asked if he would like to be baptized and he said yes! What! Miracle! He came to church yesterday and is getting baptized this saturday! I know that Heavenly Father has people waiting to hear the gospel! Be member missionaries!

Pic 1. hna escoto with her new seattle shirt!

pic 2. sister missionary tan lines..

pic 3. happy birthday clowny!!! Its my moms bday today!

Monday, February 3, 2014

February 3, 2014

AH.. Today is a great day to be alive, and I bet its amazing in Seattle right now! Last night I had a dream that we wrote our families at 4am and you guys didnt tell me who won, so I didnt know! Today, my district met at the church at 11. There is an Elder, Elder Saunders, who is a HUGE Broncos fan. I didnt want to know who won until I read my emails, so I walked in, looked at him, and said If you know anything, dont tell me! And he kind of smiled, then the elders started laughing and my zone leader comes up and tells me the score, I thought the Broncos had won. Then they told me THE SEAHAWKS DESTROYED THE BRONCOS!!!!! dhsdklghsdkghsdkgjh I cried, danced, sang. Wow, i bet Seattle is freaking out! Ah, I am so proud of the Seahawks!!! And to make it better, as we were walking to the internet cafe, i passed a man in a Mariners shirt! (its the little things:)) Watch them win the World Series this year haha

Anyway.. The mission.

Like every single week, what a crazy week! I just read Hna. Minnick's email, and she said the same thing. I realize that as a missionary, life is crazy. Also, full of the most ups and downs you can imagine. Our hearts are broken everytime a person or family we come to love, doesnt want to accept our message, but they are mended when we are led to new people that are excited to learn that Christ came to the Americas too.

Examples of broken hearted days:

We have been teaching a family that we have really come to love. There is William, he just turned 8 and is the CUTEST! Heidy 14, Carol 17, and Douglas 18. (the parents never join in our lessons but are really kind). Heidy has come to chuch with us a few times, and is really shy. William, like I said, is the cutest!! He loves to sing hymns and answer questions. Carol likes to listen to us, and her and Heidy always laugh when we try to teach (kind of annoying, but they are teenage girls) and Douglas is super cool. We found them my first day here, and have been teaching them ever since. But, they told us they dont want to be baptized:( It literally says in the bible, in Juan 3:5, that except you are born of water and the spirit, you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.. how do you explain that to people who dont want to hear it?

Broken heart story #2.. This week we found a cute family of three brothers. (their names are Edgar, Eduardo, and Fransisco Gomez.. i almost laughed when they told me their names, it doesnt get more latino than that!)

Their parents are only home saturday and sunday because they work, so its the three boys. Edgar has 18 years, Eduardo has 12 years, and Fransisco has 8 years. 8 year olds are seriously so cute!! They were super cool and wanted us to come back and teach them. Our first lesson with them, Edgar said he wanted to be baptized and we asked why, and he said he wanted to be an example to his little brothers. Isnt that the cutest?!! We talked about thats why Christ was baptized too, to be an example. This is where it gets sad.. he starts school this friday, and he has school friday and saturday in Xela, and comes home Sunday afternoon AFTER church!! So he cant come to church with us!!! :(((( We fasted that he will be able to come to church so he can get baptized. Please pray for Edgar!!

Our hearts being mended:

Last week we found a family and the dad said his daughter wanted to play soccer at a school in the states. I asked what school and he said BYU! ummm. ok thank you spirit for leading us to them!!! We met her this past week when we were teaching her cousins that we had just found. Her cousins wanted to come to chuch with us but she didnt want to. Then i brought up how her dad said she wanted to play soccer in the states and asked her what school, she said BYU. I told her i lived right next to BYU before the mission and that is was a church school, and a REALLLY good college. She perked up. She didnt know BYU was a school of the church, she has the BYU channel at home and liked watching the sports. After she found out BYU was affiliated with the church, she wanted to come to church with us. The three of them came with us yesterday. God has a plan :)

I have become a professional ant terminator this past week. After i found them in my bed (only my bed, not my companions), i went a little crazy and began killing all the ants i saw for the rest of the week. They enjoy being in the kitchen, so i put together a cocauction (i dont have spell check.. how do i spell that?) of bleach kitchen cleaner, and water. When i put it all over the counter, the ants die! But after they die, they multiply! The most accurate example is from the movie Hercules, when he slays the dragon with multiple heads, and it keeps getting more heads. We keep havingmore and more ants! Sometimes i leave the dead ants on the counter for a while in hope that the other ants will get the message and stay away.. doesnt happen.

Anyway, LOVE YOU!}