55: Experimentado en Quebranto

This week we saw a lot of progress in our investigators. We have a good number reading the Book of Mormon, praying, completing with all their commitments except...going to church. We are struggling in that aspect, and yesterday not having any investigators in church was really hard, but it just means theres a lot of room to improve.

So with that...Karla did not go to church, and we still dont know why. We thought she was so prepared for baptism, but there must be something more that were not understanding. We are still working with her, but at least this week too we will not have a baptism.

I have been focusing my studies on the atonement, this week dedicating lots of time to Isaiah 53. One thing that really stood out to me was the phrase "a man of sorrows, and aquainted with grief". Being aquainted with grief comes from experiencing it sufficiently. He had experienced so much greif his whole life, He was despised, He was rejected. He called people to follow him and they ignored the salvation that He brings. But He was not ashamed, He took it humbly, without complaint, never doubting the will of His father.

We were talking about that in our companionship study yesterday "aquainted with grief". Ive become aquainted with dissapointments on the mission, but no aquaintance with sadness will ever be as complete or thorough as that of Jesus Christ. I may carry around words that testify of Him, sharing His gospel, but the people arent rejecting me. They rejected Him, and when they reject me they are really directing it at Him. I can rejoice, becuase he has payed for that sadness and taken that burden away. The most foul ridicule does not match the beating our Savoir received. We are forever indebted, but eternally redeemed.

This computer isnt accepting my SD card so pictures next week. I love you all! Have a great week!

54: Calidad

To start with....we dont have changes! We will both be staying in Los Prados and Hermana Bissell will be finishing her mission in this area. My first kill! (that is what we say when you are the companion of someone who is dying, or finishing the mission) It will be my best kill, we are so excited for a change of POWER .

This week we thought we would be done with divisions....we were wrong! We had Hermana Benson and Hermana Galster stay with us from Friday until this morning, as they finish their missions tomorrow. We forgot to take a picture of us all together because it was kind of a crazy weekend, but is always a blessing to be around people who are leaving. They are full of wisdom and great ideas, we love Hermana Benson and Hermana Galster!

This week we also has consejo de lideres. The format is always: we sit down at tables in a cricle, a spiritual thought (we all study a chapter of the Book of Mormon and share our thoughts), then we discuss a set list of topics. This time, the main topics were: quality of teaching and introducing the Book of Mormon. When we received the topics I knew they were inspired for a lot of reasons, and they are two things I am very passionate about. 

As a mission we are focusing more and more on Preach my Gospel, The Book of Mormon, and doing practices of our teaching. We are given the perfect manual to do our work, and we must use it the most perfect way we can. And the Book of Mormon is our detector! If they are not ready to accept the Book of Mormon, theyre probably not ready to be converted to the gospel. So, we should contact with it, share it in every lesson, even walk with a copy in our hand! And practices, because perfect practice will make perfect teaching.

We are waiting until next week for the baptism of Karla because she wants to make sure all of her family can assist, as she is from Olanchito. We are constantly finding new people, and we hope this week with no divisions and starting a new change this week will be ORTO NIVEL.

Quote of the week:

(last night after saying our prayers)

H Bissell: "What letter comes before P?"

H Morgan: "O"

H Bissell: "Happy O-day!"

1. Last district meeting of the change

2. Hermana Benson, Hermana Galster, Hermana Bissell and Is work shoes. All came to the mission distinct colors, will all finish the mission the same shade of dirt

3-8. Accidentally matching,  accidentaly taking pictures with our clothesline

53: A Donde Me Mandes Iré

This week's highlights are: our devotional with Elder Cook, our YSA FHE, ONE YEAR, and our last divisions of this change.

First - Elder Cook! This conference was incredible. Elder Cook, Elder Gong (presidency of the seventy), and Elder Ochoa (seventy area president) came. We got there at 7:45 to practice our sing for the choir, eat breakfast, and be ready to shake their hands at 10:15 along with the Comayaguela mission.

The song we sang was "A donde me mandes iré", which is now one of my favorite hymns. We had practiced a million times before, but that last time the words, "Adonde me mandes iré Señor, a montañas o islas del mar. Diré lo que quieras que diga Señor, y lo que Tú quieras seré" really became my testimony. Ill go where He wants me to go. Ill say what he wants me to say. Ill be what he wants me to be. This conference was incredible for many reasons, more just for the inspiriation received during. I know that he is an apostle of the Lord, I know he has seen His face and heard His voice. I know that he is an inspired servant of God.

We also had a YSA FHE last night. Our waqrd is right next to the university, so we have a big YSA group and lots of YSA investigators. The bishop gave a message, we played some games, ate some nachos, got some references. It was awesome!

Our last divisions of this change are done, we were with the Hermanas from Santa Maria, me in our area with Hna Itzep. It was so fun because she is from my group! We even stayed in the same room in the CCM, so it was fun being her companion for a day and learning from her. But now we are done! We are hoping Hermana Bissell and I are together for one more change because the time flies so fast doing divisions, pero a ver si Dios quiere :)

And ONE YEAR! Ya estoy viejita. Jaja son bromas. But it is weird, Im in the older group, all my companions are gone or also in the older group. Taking advantage of the time, its flying!

1-2. Divisions with Santa Maria

3-9. ONE YEAR

10-11. Elder Cook conference

12. NOCHE DE HOGAR JAS 

52: RRRRRRR

I have the biggest news ever this week, I am celebrating one year rrrrrrrrrrrolling my Rs! This has been such a challenge for me since the CCM, but I can do it! I may not be pura catracha yet but Im getting closer.

Also, I hit one year this week! That is insane! I think until I had about 9 months I still felt pretty new in the mission, but now everyone sees me as one of the old ones. It is weird! Im still denying it. 

We had lots of successes this week, prouncing my Rs, Karla, Ivon, Yonis, and Angelica in church, lots of divisions, more progressing baptismal dates. It is an exciting time for the hermanas in Prados!

Karla will be baptized next week, and she is ready! She was an investigator from La Joya before she went home for vacations, and wasnt baptized because her parents didnt approve it. But now they do, and now is her time! She has a friend that we started teaching this week whose name is Ivon. She is also very prepared to receive us, in our first lesson we had with he, she cried as she said the last prayer. She had been waiting for something like this to teach her about her divine potencial and worth. She doesnt have a date, but we are hoping to put one this week.

Yonis and Angelica are progressing a little slower, but reading the Book of Mormon and have a lot of interest. Yonis has a baptismal date for the 17th of this month, so we are preparing him to be ready for that.

Right now all the college students are returning from their pueblos to study, so our area is really alive. Almost all our investigators are YSA, and we are trying to plan Family Home Evenings for all of them to get to know each other. It is a lot of fun teaching them because we are their age, and its easier to relate to their problems. They are our most positive investigators.

I thought I would share an experience we had a week ago with one of the Young Women in our ward. Her family is very inactive, but she goes to church and activities on her own. We helped her do a Personal Progress experience the other day, and after I realized how important that program is. I remember doing it, and I liked it, but I testify now that I know why it is so important. This young woman, Yanina, will be a light to her family and her future family for her faith and desire to be a godly woman. After that appointment we went home to eat lunch and I put on my medallion, I now wear it frequently and proudly. Thank you to all my YW leaders! You are incredible!

Feliz semana a todos! Lean las escrituras, oren, compartan sus testimonios, sean luces para aquellos que no tienen esa luz en sus vidas!

1-2. Family History with the Davila Family

3. The view from the sisters house in Miraflores

4-5. Divisions with Miraflores

6-7. Divisions with Valle de Angeles

51: Hagamos Divisiones y Encontremos Nuevos

It has been a short week! We had two divisions this week, with La Esperanza and Girasoles. All of the city Hermanas are incredible! I loved being with Hermana Brisso, she just finished her training and is training and opening area. And calm as ever! Then with Girasoles was so fun because Hermana Bissell also served there and we love talking about the members and the investigators they have. I wish I could go back, they are on fire!

Not a lot of new news from our area, we spent the majority of the week finding new people. The problem we are running into a lot is that our positive investigators are college kids living away from their families, and their families have strong catholic or gospel traditions, so when they tell them they want to go to church or get baptized their family rejects the idea. We have some that are really progressing, but it is hard for them to get that support from their family. But theyre really positive! Hoping for the best with them.

We go and visit a lot with a missionary in our wartd that just got home from Panama. His mision was insane, their excellency standards were 100 new investigators every week per companionship and 1 baptism every week. He said at the beginning it was hard to get to that goal, but toward the end of their mission they were hitting that goal every week without fail. He said it was possible for a lot of reasons, and were trying to apply some of those principle here in our area. Hoping for the best! Because we are here to call everyone to repentance and BAPTIZE.

And were also in a choir that will sing on the 3rd when Elder Cook from the 12 will come and speak to our mission and Comayaguela! Pretty excited. We will be singing 'A Donde Me Mandes Iré'.

Time is flying! Have a great week!

1-2: Divisions with La Joya, I was with Hermana Brisso in her area

3. Okay Hermana Bissell might kill me but I thought this was funny, some members gifted us honey, but they bought it from someone else who had put it in a liquor bottle. We sware, its honey!

4-6. Divisions with Girasoles, we all stayed in our area and I was with Hermana Avila

7. The Bissell. We have both fallen and wiped out a lot this week! Me twice a few days ago, and hermana Bissell right now. This was just a few minuntes ago in front of a bus

50: Bautizar. Confirmar

It has been a crazy week! I wasnt in the area for the majority of it but we ended up with lots of new really positive investigators and references. They are coming out of nowhere it seems like! We are really excited for Prados.

Tuesday we had leadership council and it was a really neat experience, my first time as an invited guest! We used to go as nurses too but we wouldnt be present the whole time, just to announce things and fill first aid kits. Then Wednesday was our Zone Conference with Zonas Villa Olympica y Esperanza.

Meetings like this are always a big boost for me, I leave so excited to get back to work. I think my favorite part was when we finished our workshop as a zone and walked in on the workshop from Zona Esperanza. They changed the words to "Mirad reales huestes" or "Behold a royal army" to say:

(Chorus)

Bautizar, confirmar por el que nos salva

Bautizar, confirmar por Cristo Rey Jesus 

Encontrar, enseñar, bautizar por Cristo Rey Jesus!

That is a powerful song, you could feel that spirit listening from the hallway. It was playing through my head all week. Me da ganas de bautizar!

Speaking of bautizar, we are close! When we were in divisions this week we contacted an investigator from La Joya that moved just a week ago to our area. She is already ready for baptism, she knows everything! With all the assistances she has we are hoping she can be baptized in two weeks. Her name is Karla, and she has a friend named Itzel who lives with her and has the same story. Really excited for them!

In church we had just one investigator, her name is Joshira. The missionaries here had left her for a while I think because she was hard to find. But we found her! And we took her to church! Then in Principios del Evangelio the teacher challeneged everyone there to baptism and Joshira said yes. So we are really happy! Just need to put a date.

Divisions were great this week, I was in La Joya with Hermana Vega. She is still in her training, so it was fun to get to know her and anser her questions. At one point she asked me "what is your favorite part about the mission?" I took a second to think about it, but the most pure, honest, and helpful answer I could give her was "I love the person I am". Simple as that!

And writing this just now Veronica, one of the investigators from Girasoles, came into our Cyber to surprise me and say hi. A little teary now. I love the mission!

1-3. Divisions with La Joya

4-5. I forgot to add this a while ago, this is what Esteban and Veronica gave me as a gift before I left! On the back it says "Para hna Morgan de Esteban y Veronica"

6-7. Some members from Hna Bissells ward in the south came to go to the temple and invited us to lunch today. Suyapa and Hno Cesar from Cabañas, Porvenir.

49: Los Prados Universitarios

Lots of goodbyes this week:

1. To Girasoles, the area of miracles

2. To Hermana Gonzalez as my companion

3. To my trainer Hermana Ordoñez, who went home to Ecuador

4. To the best ward, ward mission leader, converts, and investigators in the whole mission

Goodyes are the worst! Especially these goodbyes. The good thing is on Tuesday my last day I got to see almost everyone in the ward before leaving, get new investigators, and spend the day with my mom Hermana Ordoñez! She came up early to take an English test before leaving so we were in divisions all day together. She raised me and I got to kill her. 

My new area is Los Prados Universitarios in La Villa Olympica, we share the ward with some elders. But it is huge! One half of the area is all city/stacked houses and the other half is really poor and up in the mountains. It will be a change from Girasoles which is all city, but it will be fun. And I love Hermana Bissell! We are going to have a great time together.

We only have one investigator with a baptismal date, her name is Elda, and she could possibly get baptized this weekend, but it might be until the next week just to make sure that shes ready. It is funny, Hermana Ordoñez taught this investigator too when she was in this area, Elda has been an investigator and going to church for an eternity! 

There arent a lot of solid investigators here right now, theres a lot of work to get done. But the first day I was there we found six new investigators! So we are going to work hard and work smart to get this area up to the level that it should be at.

My studies this week have been pure fire. I spent a long time reading "The Mystery of Godliness" by Bruce R McConckie and that has really helped me to understand the doctrine of the Godhead and think about the answers I still need to search for. And I love at the end of Enos when he says:

"Ven a mí, tú, que bendito eres; hay un lugar preparado para ti en las mansiones de mi Padre."

That is what we all want! There is nothing more that I want than to end my life hearing those words. It is posibile for me, and it is posibile for everyone who will experience the redeeming power of Jesus Christ.

1. The Cruz family Family Home Evening. They are pilas! We got Girasoles a lot of references this night.

2. Last dinner with Pati :)

3. Dilcia

4. Ricardo and Andrea

5. Esteban, Veronica, and Gabriel, they were a really hard goodbye! I love them so much! I cant wait to hear about their baptism

6. Enchiladas catrachas, toppped with ketchup and lots of love from Hermana Alejandrina

7.Hermana Alejandrina

8. Crashed the relief society activity

9. Hardest goodbyes go to the familia Tercero :(

10-11. Also crashed the young womens activity - MUJERES JOVENES 

12. Dennis Tercero - BEST WARD MISSION LEADER! More hard goodbyes with him and Poppe

13. Familia Peralta

14. Adalid

15. Mama O 

16. Hermana Gonzalez :')

17. The Crew at Dennys during changes

18. We didnt take any pictures in Prados this week so this is a picture form right now in the cyber - COMPAS