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.

29: El Arrepentimiento

This week Hermana Wengert and I repented and changed a lot of things!

First thing is: teaching doctrine. We were talking with President Chase a few days ago about Lesson 1 The Restoration and he mentioned that he was worried about the way some elders taught it the other day. As he was explaining, we realized we were teaching it the same way, because thats what our trainers taught us, so we figured it was right. I wont go into explaining it, but the way we were teaching it we are under-appreciating the role of Jesus Christ and making it seem like Joseph Smith is someone that we worship. Not true! We dont want that! All of our studies the next day were devoted to fixing this problem, and we have already seen the fruits of this change. We are truly testifying of Christ as our Savior in every lesson and of the important role of prophets in preparing us for the coming of the Savior. We also realized a few other doctrinal things we had been teaching wrong this week and talked about how we can fix it and teach pure doctrine. We are grateful for repentance!

After thinking about all of that, we came to the conclusion that at some point missionaries came up with this new, easier, but mistaken way of teaching lesson 1 so that more people would understand. But that is not how doctrine should be, that is actual apostasy! We changed something pure to meet our needs and go against the will of God. What we should do is teach doctrine, always. If the people dont unsderstand, maybe it isnt their time to accept the gospel, or we need to simplify the way we teach. But never change the doctrine.

Another thing Hermana Wengert and I decided to do was have companionship inventory every night. We discuss what we did well that day, in what things we can improve, and how we can better manage our time and the needs of our investigators. This has been incredible! We are so much more efficient and willing to fix our mistakes.

We also use the Book of Mormon from the very first time we meet someone. That has been an emphasis in our mission for about a month, and we truly have seen the power of the Book. Like in DyC 4, it is the sickle! Or for us, es nuestra hoz!

Erick - still a bit of a rollercoaster! He didnt come to church and we got really worried. We visited his house and his mom said that he had left out of town without saying where or when he would get back :( After knowing him for some time and trying to help him with his difficulties, we are convinced he has either a psychological dilemma or he literally has demons that he cant let out of him life. We talked to our President about what we can do to help him. We want him to be baptized, but more than anything we just want him to be aleiviated from him burdens that may not be his fault. He shared with us many things, but the most important is the power of fasting. In Matthew 17 Jesus casts out a demon, and says the reason the disciples could not cast it out was for lack of their faith, but also...

"Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting."

So we decided we needed to explain to him better what fasting was. Erick, Our ward mission leader and us decided to fast yesterday specifically for Ericks problems. We are meeting with him tonight!

Jorge - Honestly a surprise. He has stopped drinking, smoking, everything. He reads everything, and he even showed us early to church without anyone passing by his house to pick him us. He even had a soda and chips ready for us when we went to teach him yesterday :)

Cesar - We made a calendar for him to have consistent goals as he quits smoking. He has been smoking around 6-8 every day for a while, so we just have to get him to keep decreasing little by little until he stops completely. But he is incredible, he also reads everything and has been going to church for about a month now.

This week President and Hermana Chase invited everyone in the office to have a family night with them, which was wonderful. They are always too nice to us. Before dinner President Chase told us "take out your scriptures, you all know your scriptures so well I want to hear about your favorite attributes of Christ". So we had an open discussion about Christ-like attributes for about half an hour. At the end of the night we all kneeled to pray and it was so powerful. We are led by an amazing couple, and surrounded by dedicated missionaries who love the Lord.

And HAPPY CONFERENCE!!!!! All of you eat some cinnamon rolls for me these next few weeks :)

Hast El Fin.

28: ¡Levántate!

​It has been a week! As a nurse and a missionary it has been a rollercoaster. Hospital visits, divisions, conferences, office time, baptismal interviews, new investigators, priesthood blessings, everything.

This week we had 3 investigators in church: Eric, Cesar, and Jorge.

Jorge: Is, interesting! He is an old man who has a few problems with the word of wisdom. All the members have told us that he has been to church with missionaries a lot of times already, but well see how we can help him.

Cesar: Smoked only SIX cigarettes the other day!!! That is progress!!!!! I was so happy when he said that I didnt have words. The other night he got a blessing from a few members in the ward and Im so excited to see him tonight. He is the sweetest old man. We are hoping he is clean to be baptized this next week.

Eric: Here is the roller coaster part. His baptismal date was today, so we have been seeing him almost every day. Last Saturday we went with the Bishop to see him and give him a blessing. He came to church, then we couldnt visit him until Tuesday. That night we were in divisions, so Hermana Wengert and Hermana Ordoñez went to visit him that night. That day he drank coffee and he had been having a lot of doubts about baptism and his past sins. so he told them he didnt want to be baptized anymore. They left him Alma 36 to read before we would visit him the next day. Wednesday we arrived and talked about the chapter, amd he said Alma 36:8 spoke to him, which says - 

"But behold, the voice said unto me: Arise. And I arose and stood up, and beheld the angel"

He then started to cry, and told us he was ready to be baptized, and that he had repented of all his sins. In that moment I could see him truly experiencing the power of the atonement and I started to cry. This night was probably the happiest of my mission - it says in the introduction of PMG that this work brings no greater happiness, and its true! We left 2 Nefi 9 for him to read about the atonement, and talked about that and went over the baptismal interview questions with him the next day. That same day, Thursday, our ward mission leader gave him another blessing. Friday, yesterday was his interview, so we arrived with Elder Lapicola and Elder Roskos and the first thing Eric said was "I decided I dont want to be baptized, Im too scared of failing and sinning after". I just wanted to cry, again! We sat there sharing scriptures, sharing testimonies, and Eric kept saying "I dont know if I can do it, it just seems too hard", and I explained to him that Christ passed through everything, and he wanted to give up, but he said "not my will, but thine be done". After a while, Elder Roskos asked him if he would like a blessing, and Eric kept denying it, but after some silence Eric started to cry and agreed. As soon as the blessing started I started to sob, I couldnt picture losing Eric after how much he has changed and repented. Two seconds after the blessing, Eric said "what time do I have to be at the chapel tomorrow?"

WHAT

I wiped my tears and could barely talk. After that he had his interview, and we decided it would be best to wait until next week to have his baptism after so much back and forth this week. But he has repented, and is ready!

That has been the biggest thing I learned this week, the atonement is so powerful, and once we start to experience it we understand just how great and merciful our God is. Nothing brings more joy.

And pictures! Stolen from Hna Wengert :)
1-3. Last Pday making brownies with Cathryn, the daughter of President and Hermana Chase
4-6 Divisions! I was with Hna Nuñez but I had to take some pictures with my mamá Hna Ordoñez
7 Hermana Beltran from my group :)
8 Lunch after Zone conference with all the zones in the city and oriente
9-10 More after conference
11 Hna Morgan in action :) prelude for leadership council

27: Yo Os Mostraré Un Dios De Milagros

Our God is a God of miracles. Moroni knew it when he wrote that scripture in Mormon 9:11, and I can also testify of it this week in Girasoles.

We thought we might have a less-busy week away from Enfermera stuff, but no! We should have counted how many hours we spent on the phone with doctors, with leaders, in and out of the hospital. We even had some hermanas come from the South to get some tests done, so they stayed with us 3 nights.

But with all of that, it is truly unbelievable that we have investigators progressing, going to church, and preparing for baptism! This week we had 4 investigators in church!!!!!!! Wooooooo!!!!!

Cesar: Still the sweetest old man. We found out this week that he has troubles smoking, so we are trying to help him come over that. He is really motivated, and we hope he is baptized the 23rd. 

Alexis: An investigator that Hermana Wengert and Hermana Gomez visited a few times while he was smoking a lot, but dropped. We passed by his house the other day and he has almost completely stopped smoking! He is always talking about how he wants to go the the US to work, so we are almost using that as his motivation like "if you stop smoking and repent and keep the commandments God will bless you with work!!!" haha.

Eric: Ah I love Eric! He has truly changed. He read the whole Book of Mormon and is now preparing to be baptized the 16th! His trouble is that he always talks about devils distracting him...so we promised him that with this gospel and with this covenant that hes about to make he can overcome these worries. Were planning on giving him a bunch of pictures of Christ to hang up in his room so his focus is always on Him.

One thing I loved from this week is a lesson we had with Eric and a few members. Hermana Wengert and I are trying to do more dynamic lessons, so we made baleadas to represent the gospel of Jesus Christ! Faith = tortilla, beans = repentance, baptism = mantequilla, the gift of the holy ghost = queso seco, enduring to the end = continuing to eat baleadas, because we will continue to be hungry for the rest of our lives. It is PERFECT, because you CANT make a baleada without any of these ingredients - it wont be the same. Ands these baleadas are what we call "sencillas", or simple, and the gospel is simple!

And about the miracles. My favorite from this week - the other day we were searching through the area book and pulled out a few names, one of them being Karen. A few days later we were contacting a not-so-random house and taught someone named Karen as well. I thought I recognized her name, so I pulled out those papers out of my backpack and there was her name. On the back it said "find her and baptize her! She couldnt be baptized before because she had troubles with her work, but she is golden". She accepted a date for the 23rd in that lesson :)

These things happen every day for us. It makes me want to cry every time. The Lord understands our desires and our circumstances and not only blesses us but gives us miracles! We were in a trio that day with Hermana Fifita, and all three of us were just awed after the lesson. If you want to see a God of miracles, ask a missionary and they will show you.

Still no camera, still no pictures!

Hasta el Fin.

26: Por Bendiciones Que Me Da, A Él Daré Loor

That has been our theme song for this week, practically since Saturday afternoon we have been slammed with mission nurse work; in the office, going to doctors appointments, in the Chases house helping Hermana Chase. I forgot to say, like every mission has assistants to the president, we are basically the assistants to the mission presidents wife. Its a lot of work, but we love it and we LOVE Hermana Chase :)

This Sunday was the Tegucigalpa Stake conference. We ended up having a few emergencies and stayed the night with President and Hermana Chase, and werent able to visit and remind investigators about church the next day. We showed up to the conference and had NO investigators. We were so frustrated and discouraged in the moment, but used that to fuel weekly planning after church. But the best part is - the next day we got to the office and Elder Cherry and Elder Cuevas tell us that one of our investigators walked all the way to their building because he was confused about where to go to church. WHAT?! That doesnt happen!!!!

His name is Cesar, I dont know if Ive mentioned him before, but we sware he is a golden investigator. He is about 50 years old, very humble, and takes everything we say to heart. He is reading, praying, always ready and dressed up every time we want to take him to a members house, he is our favorite :) He has a baptism date for the 16th!

Our other investigator who is really progressing is named Eric, other missionaries have taught and dropped him, but this Sunday we saw him outside his house and he told us he FINISHED the Book of Mormon. Also something that nobody does as an investigator! With the lessons we had with him this week he really opened up about his worries about attending church, and we are truly hoping for the best for him. 

Something that has been hard, especially this week, is finding time to teach. With our assignment we have only been in our area a few hours at night, if were lucky, every day except yesterday. But the lessons we have in those hours make everything worth it. We find people who are truly prepared, were able to bring members who can testify exactly to the need of the investigator, we get investigators to commit and follow through with invitations. The Lord is aware and He is blessing the little time we have to bring more children unto Him. For that, we are always singing "por bendiciones que me da, a el dare loor" (from the spanish version of There is Sunshine in my Soul Today).

A funny enfermera story this week - we had a missionary who was very sick and needed to see a doctor, so we figured we would try out a new general doctor with Hermana Chase. This is Hermana Chases first week of driving here, so we truly had an adventure trying to track down this place as none of us knew where it was and there are no addresses or directions in Honduras. We ended up driving outside the mission for a while, but we made it! And it was almost a hole-in-the-wall clinic which we will never use again, there was even blood on the floor when we walked in, I wish I couldve taken a picture of this place. Lots of new experiences as an enfermera!

Speaking of pictures, lost my camera! Hopefully some pictures...soon!

Hasta El Fin.