34: Sumiso, Manso, Humilde Paciente

Not lots of time today, a long Pday, but lots of fun!

This week Mosiah 3:19 has been my anthem. I need to be more submissive, meek, humble, patient, like a little child. Focusing more and more on the basics and relying more and more on the power of Christ to work within people and not trusting in my own power to convince. Because trusting in that will get me nowhere!

We went to the TEMPLE!!!! As a stake with all the missionaries, ward mission leaders, investigators, and recent converts. This never happens as the temple is technically outside our mission. Hermana Wengert and I both agreed that this was the most special experience we have had on our missions. Lots of tears. Lots of inspiration. We had a little meeting before with a few talks, then a silent, reverent tour around the temple. At the end, our stake president asked (pleaded) with all of the investigators to pray and ask God if this is the rue restored gospel of Jesus Christ. He asked if anyone had felt certain impressions or feelings that afternoon and herre are the responses of our investigators - 

"I want to be baptized" - Adalid

"A deeper inner peace that Ive never felt before" - Maira (Mama of our ward mission leader Dennis)

"I dont want to go to my old church anymore, only this church" - Dennis (Papa of our ward mission leader Dennis)

MIRACLES

1. Ivestigators and ward mission leader

2. Us and Adalid

3. It is COLD. We are freezing, it has been raining with no sun and we wear sweaters every day

4. Fashion. Coming back from grocery shopping this morning :)

5. Our fun Pday in Valle de Angeles with the Chase family :)

6, 7, 8. Matambritas with the Chases

Hasta El Fin.

33: Vaya Pues

In keeping with the theme of PURA CATRACHA I am trying to make my vocabulary as catracho as possible. This week my phrase has been "vaya pues" - basically means, okay, go ahead, alright, goodbye, we use it for everything.

Contacting? Vaya pues.

Baleadas? Vaya pues.

Medical appointment with sick missionary? Vaya pues.

Each week just gets more fun in Girasoles :) We are focusing more on prayer, if we are unsure what to do or need inspiration before an appointment, we pray. We are also trying to focus on the importance of sincere prayer with our investigators; praying to the Father in the name of Christ, and asking specific questions with the desire to act. Yesterday in almost every single lesson, our investigators offered sincere and reverent prayers to the Father in the name of Christ, and we were amazed - lots have been telling us how specifically they have felt the Spirit guide them to receive answers.

Adalid is a new investigator from last week - we taught him the first time Saturday night, he went to church, and he now has a baptism date for the 4th of November, not-so-cooincidentally his birthday! He is progressing well and is super animated to do whatever we invite him to do.

Tanya finally went to church! We were so happy! She is preparing to be baptized next weekend. We have been worried with her because she wasnt progressing for a little while, but as we read 2 Nefi 31 with her yesterday it occured to her how important it is for her to make this covenant and keep it. She is very poor and felt a little ashamed going to church in her jeans, so today we bought her some outfits to wear to church and her baptism so she always feels welcome. I really developed a love for Tanya this week as I studied the attribute of virtue and saw so many great and christlike qualities in her.

Daniela Vanegas received an answer and knows this is the true church, but she hasnt been able to obtain permission from her mom to be baptized. :( We are hopefully meeting with her family tonight to see if we can help her obtain permission.

We are still teaching English classes and they are really helping us out - we have a few of them that committed to come to church this week! We started teaching Michael yesterday and he is very positive and sincere, he accepted a baptism date for the 18th.

And Jorge, the subject of the majority of our prayers this week! We dont know what to do with him. We felt so strongly after a specific prayer in weekly planning that we need to continue teaching him, but he continues to drink. I guess well just trust in the Lord and see what happens!

I have been reading a talk that Hermana Wengert gave me called The Fourth Missionary, and it has changed me as a missionary. There were times when I was doing everything right; I couldnt have been more obedient, but I was frustrated and impatient every now and then. But the fourth missionary, the one who is changed, is happy no matter what. They want to go out and work because they love the Lord. They are wandering contacting for hours and still have a smile on their face because they trust that the Lord will put someone in their path who is prepared. Things can get hard, but I know that if I am obedient and charitable I will always be happy :)

1-3. Halloween / Friday the 13th FHE with the Chases and The Office

4. Baleadas with the sweetest member that lives in our colony - Pati :)

5. Hermana Chases treat after her workshop in Zone Conferences, I love that woman!

6. FELIZ 9 MESES HERMANA WENGERT!!!!! We ate ourselves sick with semitas and tajaditas that night we were dead the next morning. Worth it.

32: Pura Catracha

This week I have been trying to improve my catracho accent, so I start each day now saying in my best accent - 

PURA CATRACHA

- to get things rolling.

And it has been a pura catracha week! Crazy as normal, but always blessed in the craziness.

Sunday we had two investigators in church: Jorge and Daniela. We started doing 12 steps to overcoming addictions with him and a member that stopping drinking, but he still struggles, but we're hoping this program helps him.

Daniela is incredible, basically golden! She told us she feels like God is speaking to her through us! Her baptism date might change until the 28th so she has more time to prepare and so that maybe her sister can join her as well.

We found the family Avila Hernandez a week ago and have been a testament that the Lord has placed chosen people in our paths. We taught the WHOLE family for the first time last night, accompanied by our bishop, and they committed to go to church :) We almost didn't visit them because it was getting late, but as we were running to the house to get home on time I had never felt so happy in my life. And I wouldn't have it any other way. This family is so precious.

This morning we taught the sister of an old investigator and as we talked about making changes and repentance she was brought to tears. She told us she was going to go to her room right after and ask forgiveness for her sins. I got teary testifying to her of Christ's power to change her completely. She accepted baptism, and should be coming to church this week!

Our English classes are helping us so much! All of them stop and talk to us in the street, and we have started teaching a few of them and their families. Some are even going to church this week! Hermana Wengert and I were nervous about setting apart this time every week to teach them, but we are seeing lots of success. 

Another thing that we started to use in our ward is UNO POR UNO (or One by One), a ward mission plan that Hermana Wengert and I created with the help of some returned missionaries in our ward. The idea is every house has one of these sheets (attached) in their house to fill out, they pray to receive inspiration to find out who they gave give as a reference to us, and they accompany us to visit their friend and bring them to church every week. We just implemented it this week, so we're hoping to see more results in the coming weeks.

This week we have been given lots of opportunities to go the extra mile - and we're not perfect, but we tried every time to push ourselves. It's not worth it to just be enough, the Lord wants perfection! It's hard, it's tiring, but its salvation and it is more than worth it. I am so grateful we have the opportunity to repent and improve every day!

1-4: No bake cookies with Rosangel and Celeste (recent converts)

5: Dinner from the familia Chavez last night - pastelitos :)

6: A lady we taught this morning - sweetest 94-year-old-catracha I have ever met

7: Some of the kids we are teaching english to - nuestras panas :)

8: Not so far from home this morning grocery shopping in La Colonia

9: Love Hermana Beltran :) she is from my group when we came to the mission

31: Pikacho y Humildad

This week...I dont even know what to say...it has been insane! We were hardly in the area last week, and we suffered a bit for that. But this week, MIRACLES!!! Always more miracles!

For general conference, we spent all saturday afternoon inviting and inviting to the 10:00 o clock session in the morning, and through many prayers we had 6 investigators come to Palmira to watch the session: the family of our ward mission leader, and Jorge (who came on foot!).

Jorge was a miracle. We were running around picking up people to go with us to the conference and while searching for Jorge we said a prayer and plead for a miracle. He wasnt in his house, nor at the various bus stops, so we had to leave. We walked into the stake center and THERE HE WAS!

But Jorge is struggling. We went to teach him the other day and he was very drunk, and we saw him the next day and he hardly recognized us because he was drunk again. We really want to start 12 steps to recovering addictions with him, he needs help badly. We are trying to work with a few members who have already overcome addictions like drinking and smoking.

Yesterday we had a wonderfully and truly guided day. We talked about a lot of different ideas in our district meeting and a few elders talked about a survey that they have been using to contact people. What we do is knock on a door without explaining that we are missionaries, but we ask them if we can ask a few questions (about their relationship with prayer, what they have heard baout Mormons, what they think would make them more happy, if they would read another book that testifies of Christ). We tried it out yesterday and it works miracles. We entered so many houses, and ended up with 4 new investigators with baptism dates. Two of them are sisters, who live with their whole family, they accepted for the 20th and even asked us if they could also bring their friends to church. The others are a mother and her daughter, who feel like the thing missing in their lives is getting closer to God - they accepted for the 28th. 

The days just get better and better. We are teaching English to two groups now, in a mini-high school and two brothers that live at the end of our street. In the school, we have already started analyzing scriptures and the first vision with them, and are pulling out lots of references! To the two brothers (Luis and Alan), we teach normal lessons but we repeat the sentences in English, and now they are reading the English Book of Mormon. This morning before Pday we taught them and they accepted a baptism date - 28th! They are another very guided miracle

We have been so amazed, the Lord is aware and in control of everything. The other day I was reading in Helaman 12, and with that chapter and all the many blessings we have plead for I have realized how we are truly only instruments. I am only the pen, and the Lord is drawing a great masterpiece through all of us as missionaries. I want to be the boldest, most reliable pen that He will allow me to be.

And I should mention...CONFERENCE! It is so much better as a missionary. It is truly a sight to see, we all gather at the stake center to watch it and divide into English and Spanish. Were there with all our snacks making church jokes, amking bets to see if President Bowler will get called as a Seventy. We are a bunch of gospel nerds, but I love it!

The biggest things that stuck out to me were: THE BOOK OF MORMON, our purposes as children of God, and repentance. I dont have a lot of time to write down all my thoughts, but I invite all of you to watch, re-watch, listen to, read this conference over and over again. Already on the countdown for April.

And today we went to Pikacho! A great experience, and very peaceful. It's funny, the statue of Christ and the temple face each other, practically watching over Tegucigalpa.

1-5:  Jumping (or trying to jump) for joy, conference!

6;  Conference with our investigators and Denis (ward mission leader)

7-8:  Conference Cinnamon Rolls (thanks to La Colonia in Palmira for having the best american food)

9:  Woke up the other day and this dead lizard was on my bed

10-12:  The views climbing up to Pikacho

13:  trying to point to the temple

14-15:  Pikacho :)

Cookie Baking

Hey heres some pictures from our ward mission leader, we made cookies a couple weeks ago with an investigator and a few members :)

30: Las Enfermacizas

This week was changes...but not for us in Girasoles!!!!! SO EXCITED!

Just like we named the last change Las Chicas Superpoderosas, we are naming this change Las Enfermacizas. Wed like to think of ourselves as some pretty maciza enfermeras :)

This week with changes, we have been in the area....only yesterday. With missionaries coming and going and changing areas, we had lots of trips to the hospital, ingrown toenails to take out, and meals to help Hermana Chase with. But we still see miracles!

Saturday we went to see Eric, and he had drunk a beer that afternoon. We were upset, after all the progress he made he still made this decision. We shared with him 2 Nefi 2 and that helped him a lot realize the choices he has been making, and that he has the power to deny Satan's influence. We havent seen him this week, but we will see him tonight, hoping for the best!

We had a great FHE with Cesar and the Familia Chavez about keeping the commandments. He is still smoking and drinking coffee, but just yesterday we committed his mom (who never listens to us!) to stop giving him money to buy cigarettes! We hope this helps. We want to help him get started on his family history as well, so we brought Hermana Elwin (a family history consultant) to introduce him to that yesterday.

Jorge also drank the other day, but is almost completely clean. We have been focusing on the Book of Mormon with him and he truly studies every time in between lessons. When we reminded him that his baptism date is the 7th, he said "ah then Ive got a lot of work to do!", and Hermana Wengert and I got a little worried that he might be drinking or smoking more than we think. We will see what happens in these next few days and hope he will be completely clean to be baptized in these next few weeks!

And as far as miracles - Monday we show up to Palmira and there is a man named Nelson outside asking for a Book of Mormon. A few Elders ran upstairs to grab him one, so we started talking to him and HE LIVES IN OUR AREA! This never happens! Blessings just falling into our laps. We went and saw him that night, because he is gone all week on a work trip. 

While we were in changes one of our investigators called us (Manaseh) and said "when are you guys going to come and teach me again?". We were floored! He is studying the Book of Mormon dilligrently and is very excited to see general conference this weekend.

One morning doing exercise we talked with someone walking by and invited him to church. Then the other night while we were searching for a different person we had found in the street, we knocked on this man´s door and we are teaching him and his brother the gospel in English! They want to learn enligh better, and we want to teach them the gospel, so we all benefit :)

We have been in our area for just one night and one afternoon this week, but we can testify of miracles! The Lord loves us and blesses us when we most need his help.

1. We lost our phones a couple weeks ago and finally got them replaced. These are just three of the 4 we now carry while we are switching things around again :)

2-3 and link 1. Baleadas last night with Hermana Alejandrina and her family

Hasta El Fin.