2016.11.13 Week 73 - Miracles

In reality, this was probably the happiest week of my life. I honestly don't think I have ever been happier. JONATAN AND YANINA GOT MARRIED AND BAPTIZED!!!

But it wasn't just like that, it was still a nightmare, like every baptism I have ever seen.

Wednesday: We had the baptismal interview and everything went really well, all the papers signed and they were super excited.

Thursday: Nothing

Friday: We get a text about two hours before the wedding that they don't want to get married anymore. They don't answer our calls or texts. We go to their house. They don't let us in. We camp out. Finally, their daughter lets us in. Yanina talks to us and says that they will not be getting married. Jonatan won't come out of his room. We sing, pray, read the LDM (Libro de Mormon-Book of Mormon). He finally comes out. They explain that they are in a fight and that they DO NOT want to get married. We tell them basically to get over it and remember that the blessings that come from living the commandments are much bigger than the fight they had. Yanina cries a lot. We make them do companionship inventory. They decide that they do want to get married. Their wedding is supposed to be in five minutes. Neither of them are ready, and because they were fighting the day before, they didn't take any of the paperwork that they were supposed to. Jonatan ran out to his moto and went over to the Registro Civil to see what was up. The lady told him that they could come back at 1:30 and get married. MIRACLE. We head over and do Yanina´s hair and get everything ready. Go at 1:30, and about 3 they get married.

Other MIRACLE: In the hours between 11 and 1:30 the woman called to tell them that they would need to get married another day. Because Jonatan broke his phone when they were fighting, they didn't get the call. So, in the end, they went at 1:30 and the woman let them get married.

Side Note: I was one of the testigos (witnesses). It was cool.

Other Side Note: Weddings that aren't in the temple are horrible. They last about 37 seconds and are extremely casual.

Saturday: Jonatan and Yanina got BAPTIZED!!!!! Erik, their sobrino (nephew) that got baptized a few weeks ago, also got the sacerdocio (priesthood) a few weeks ago, so he was able to baptize them. Then we had a party!!!!! I loved it, but it was sad because I wanted to dance but I am a missionary.

Sunday: THEY GOT THE HOLY GHOST!!!!

Anyway, it was all incredible and I absolutely loved it and I cannot believe how many miracles God made happen so that everything could work out. I love them so much and it is so cool to see people that are really trying to keep the commandments be able to come to Christ.

In other news, the two annoying sisters got split up and we are now in trio. It's pretty weird, but going surprisingly well.


PEACE OUT HOMIES

2017.07.10 Week 57 - mud filled streets of Senillosa

It was a horrible week. Literally horrible. If anyone thinks that going on a mission is all rainbows and butterflies you are completely mistaken. I started out by having the flu for the first half. My blessed Hermanas Lideres still made us come for intercambios (exchanges) so then I got to take a bus to their area, STANDING for 2 hours, because this country isn't really what you would call gentlemanly, with the flu. We got there and shockingly I didn't just heal, so we couldn't even leave the pension in intercambios. Headed back to our area. Still had the flu. Still had the flu. Still had the flu.

Still sort of have the flu....

Anyway, we are now working again, but not really finding anyone. It got to the point on Sunday that I knelt down and prayed and just cried. I did not leave my home and family to come and share the gospel with the mud filled streets of Senillosa. I came to share it with people. I prayed that I would be able to see the hand of God in my life and be more grateful.

... minutes pass...

My companion locks us out of our pension.

I am serious. We got locked out. And then here comes the miracle. The window is broken. I reach in and am trying to get the keys, but they are way to far away. The curtains happen to also be broken so we use the palo (rod) from the curtains to knock the keys out of the door. Move them closer to the window, but we still can't get them. A MIRACLE happens and my companion finds a tiny piece of contact paper in her scriptures, we put it on the palo but the keys were too heavy for it. We obviously already prayed by this point. I take off my name tag, connect it with the contact paper, and we fish the keys out of our pension with the magnet. GOD IS REAL!

It was a pretty crazy experience, but it was enough for me to see that God really is looking out for the two missionaries who only walk around in mud, for what seems like forever. I am very grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who is never going to forget us, even in the dumb things.

In other news, I am now not only a certified nurse but also a certified dentist. My companion's wisdom tooth hole was bothering her so I went to take a look at it. She got her wisdom tooth out a few months ago in the mission. Between a flashlight and a small mirror shoved halfway down her throat, we are at the conclusion that this genius surgeon left half of her wisdom tooth in her mouth. Thanks dude, we love you.

Hope you all have a fantastic week. Remember that God is looking out for you even in the little little little things. He loves you even if you are passing through a rough moment.

2017.05.08 - Week 48 - So many blessings

What a crazy week! CRAZY! This week was leadership conference, so that was cool. I always leave super inspired and ready to baptize everyone I see. Our Mission President is just such an inspired man, killing it, killing it that guy.

We also had some more craziness with Satan this week. Walter is Paola's brother. He did her baptism after getting the priesthood like a week before her baptism. It was super cool and everything was going well until on Wednesday when he had a recaída (relapse) and smoked and did drugs again. So we went to talk to Paola because she was feeling real bad. She assumed that her baptism didn't vale (didn't count) anything. She told us that she was planning on getting baptized again in a year or two. Ummm, no. 

We talked to her and had a really great lesson on the atonement and what it means that Christ is our Salvador y Mediador (Savior and Mediator). Since those are things that people always say, but lots of times do not understand, we brought some coins and told her that she really wanted to buy something. Something that she absolutely needed but she didn't have any money. So she had to go to the bank. I was the bank. We had a contract that she needed to pay the money back in a week or she was going to cárcel (jail). A week passes, she doesn't have the money. I start calling cárcel (jail), and JUSTO (right then) her friend shows up and pays her debt. What a good friend. We talked about how this friend is Jesus and that thanks to him we can repent of all of our sins. She was able to understand and happily was able to get confirmed. It was super awesome.

In the same news, I have never seen so many blessings so instantly after a baptism. She got baptized. Her son got a house, a horse and a job en blanco (legal/over the table job). He was able to move out of the drug house. She got a job, and is planning to rent or build a house now. Her daughter learned how to read and is one of the best in her class. But the best part of all is that Paola is relating all of these things directly to her baptism. She now has a strong testimony of how if we keep the commandments and do the things that God asks us, he just rains blessings down. I really love her and her daughters and I am very happy that everything is going well for them.

Also in some sort of miracle one of our investigators accepted a fecha (date) to get baptized. We have invited her to get baptized hundreds of times. This is the first time she accepted. She is the daughter of a member. She´s called Auca and she has 17 years old.

Love you all. Have a great week. Remember that Christ is your Salvador and think a little about what that actually means.

2017.05.02 Week 47 - A crazy week

What a crazy week! I have never seen the power of Satan working so strong in my entire life.

Paola has been preparing to get baptized for a while now, and Saturday was finally the day. She's been very excited but it has been a lot of work to help her since she had to deal with some addictions and she also can't read. So we were super excited to say in the least, that she was getting baptized on Saturday.

Then we wake up on Saturday and my companion is super sick, I start getting more sick as the day goes on. We finally manage to get to Paola's house to go with her to her baptism and she tells us she isn't getting baptized anymore. UUUUUHHHHM, what? Apparently she had just got into a fight with her hija (daughter). She told her daughter to go shower before the baptism and get ready to go. Her daughter then told her novio (boyfriend) to come with her because it was time to shower. SHE'S 14. Her Mom told her she couldn't shower with her boyfriend and that turned into a huge fight. WHAT? 

So then Paola didn't want to get baptized anymore, because baptism is supposed to be a happy family day, and she wasn't happy at all. We went to talk to the daughter and I am almost just burst out laughing, I just couldn't believe how surreal the whole situation was. I think I prayed about 23,353,465 times in her house. Then we convinced her that she should probably get a bendicion de consuelo (blessing of comfort) and headed to the church. We get to the church, and she still isn't planning on getting baptized. She ended up getting a super awesome blessing that talked about how through her, all of her family will be able to come unto Christ and accept the gospel. I just about burst out crying as I heard that, considering her family are all hardcore drug addicts. 

Then by some sort of miracle she did end up getting baptized. It was the most awesome baptism ever. Part way through the musical number, in walks about 37 of her closest friends/family/drug addicts. It was cool to see them all there, and just really funny. It all ended well, and I know that's only thanks to God, there was literally nothing else that we could have done. 

Then Satan comes in again. On Sunday morning we find out that she is in the hospital and won't be able to come to church. So she didn't receive the Holy Ghost. Please pray for her. If she doesn't make it this Sunday, we´ll have to start again from square 1.

Also I have a new comp, Hermana Howard. She's awesome, but I'm sad that Hermana Little left me. I'm still in Roca. 

HAVE A GREAT WEEK HOMIES. GOD LOVES YOU ALL.

2017.3.27 Week 42 - Miracles and blessings of being a missionary

It was a fantastic week to be a missionary! My new companion is THE BEST. I am super happy now. We had a really good heart to heart our second day together with lots of the spirit and decided we needed to up our diligence about 3000 degrees. So we have been working super hard, harder than I have ever worked on my mission. AND IT IS THE BEST. We have seen so many miracles just in this week.

I invite you all to be a little more diligent in all of your things. A lot of times we have faith and put in the effort, but its minimum effort. Think of all the miracles we read about in the scriptures. I can´t think of even one, where the person put in the bare minimum and then God put a miracle right in front of them. For example Nephi and his brothers going back to get the plates. They had already tried multiple times and nothing happened. Then when Nephi goes in with literally NO PLAN. He sees a miracle and everything works out. It's because he had faith and he had already gone through his own plan a, b, c, etc. We can´t get stuck being Laman and Lemuel. We do all the work to go to Jerusalem so we obviously have a little faith, we even try getting the plates one time. We have some spiritual experiences happen, and then we just suddenly lose all faith and all animo (courage). If we head back at this point, we already did almost all the work to see the miracle. Just keep going for thirty more seconds. When we can finally understand diligence in our lives we can make God´s promises work for our good. If we have faith and do our part, GOD CAN DO ANYTHING. So if you aren't seeing the miracles in your life you should probably just do a little self evaluation. Am I doing enough to deserve a miracle? Because if you have done enough to see a miracle, you will see a miracle, si or si.

Anyway after that giant rant I'm just happy to say that the mission is the best and I love it. I have 8 more months to be as diligent as I can and enjoy all the miracles and blessings of being a missionary.

VAMOS ARRIBA.

2017.03.20 Week 41 - Doesn't he know it was a miracle

This was a week of many miracles. The first being that Susana got baptized. I am pretty sure it was the best day of my life. It was super great to see her baptism and be a part of it. It was a long process because of her esckitzofrenia (schizophrenia) but in the end GOD IS A GOD OF MIRACLES. She got baptized and confirmed and I am not kidding you I think it cured her enfermidad (illness).

Miracle number dos (two). I HAVE A NEW COMPANION. Hermana Little. We have been saying to each other our whole mission, "Someday we are going to be companions and it is going to be awesome!" So now here we are and I am super pumped. For the past two months I kind of just thought I was going to die every day, the good news, I DIDN'T. I was always praying for patience, love, charity, etc. Until the ultimo momentos (last moments) when I started praying for patience, love, charity, and a new companion. God answers prayers people.

Weird Story:
Walking home at night. Hear something ringing. Find a cheto phone (loosely translated as "expensive") in the street. Answer it. It's some guy. He comes and finds his phone. We invite him to church. He kisses me. He doesn't come to church. DOESN'T HE KNOW THAT IT WAS A MIRACLE THAT TWO MISSIONARIES FOUND HIS PHONE AND THAT HE SHOULD PROBABLY JUST GET BAPTIZED.

Funny Story:
A motorcycle is passing us at a corner. The guy on it screams "6-6-6" and hangs his tongue out and starts having some kind of conniption. We just burst out laughing and wonder if this guy needs to be put in some asylum.

Normal Moment:
A family of five passes on one motorcycle. In front is a kid. Then Dad. Then a different kid, then the Mom with baby in her arms.


LOVE YOU ALL. VAMOS ARRIBA

2016.11.21 Week 25 - Lots of miracles this week

I have no time left. But it was a great week. The comp and I are homies now. And we saw lots of miracles this week.

Here are 2:

We say hi to a woman outside of her house and start talking to her. Turns out she "Has a Mormon Bible" and has been reading it for 30 years. She loves it and knows it's true.

We contact a random house. The woman comes out. Hi, we are the missionaries. Oh hi, me and my husband were just eating lunch and wondering who we have to pay to get into that church on Elflein y Frey. Oh that's our church, it's free. Awesome. Can we teach you? SICK MAN.

Hope you all have a fantastic week and remember that God loves you!