First Baptism Scheduled :)

Dear family,

This has been a pretty interesting week...I learned a new word, and that is borracho. There are many borrachos here, a lot of people that drink. They come up to us missionary's a lot, and sometimes it is scary, and sometimes just plain old funny. one day last week we were walking on the calle and found this drunk man passed out on the sidewalk. I told hermana chiquin we should give him a word of wisdom pamphlet. she laughed and continued to walk. i kept my feet planted right where i was standing. she turned around and said, en serio?? ha (seriously?) yes, yes i was serious. we woke the poor guy up, and told him we were missionary's. we gave him the pamphlet with our number on it. a few days later, we found him again, passed out on the sidewalk from drinking to much. he never called us, but at least we made an effort. i am so glad to live in a place where a lot of people hold the same standards as we do. the word of wisdom down here is very hard to teach. we have a new investigator, Hermano porfideo. we were just walking yesterday to meet him for an appointment, and he walked right by us, completely drunk. it was very upsetting to see him like that. But a lot of our investigators are strong in their testimony's and in learning more about the iglesia. thankfully most of our investigators don't drink. well nothing has really changed this week. Lots of tracting lots of lessons. we are definitely busy with doing the Lords work. I still struggle with the Spanish, and have become pretty timid to the point that I don't really talk a whole lot at all anymore. it is a difficult phase i am going through, but I think it is all part of the experience right? ;) Oh, and we have a baptism this week on Friday. her name is Hermana de los Angeles, and she is amazing!! her son joined the church a couple years ago, but she never was interested until now. The faith of this woman is amazing! I cannot wait to tell you more about her baptism next week, especially since it is my first! Well I hope everyone is doing well back at home! Please continue to write me, I love hearing from you! Have a great rest of the week and make sure to count your blessings!

Week 3 in Metapan, El Salvador

El Salvador is pretty neat. it is nice and hot all the time, and I love eating beans and rice...for every meal....every day. ,) hehe but I have a little stomach infection, so pretty much I cant have any queso, or cream, or milk, or yogurt .( when the nurse told me I couldn't have yogurt, I thought I was going to just die right then and there, because, you know, yogurt is so good! All is well here in Metapan. me and my companera have 3 baptismal dates set for this month, and we work so hard every day. Like I say lot, I wouldn't trade serving a mission for the world. It is absolutely so wonderful. Oh hey, I have to tell you that this week was the first week I saw a drunk person. We were walking back home at 9 at night from our lesson, and it was pouring rain and pitch black. We were walking in water up to our ankles. Then there was this drunk guy across the street saying, "mi amor...mi amor" ha which means, "my love, my love." He started coming towards us pretty fast. Well we ran for our little lives. And then I looked back to see if he was following us. It kinda dawned on me that drunks cannot really run. So we died laughing because he looked really, really funny. Oh and I had a dog chase me down the calle (street) this week too...I really thought I was going to die that time. But its all good, it is all part of the experience. I love you tons!

 

PICTURES:

the rain... and oh you know, just all the geckos that live in our house. I was in the kitchen making lunch, and I found the tiny lizard, so I held it. don't worry grandma, I washed my hands after. haha funny story, when we were teaching a lesson, we were teaching a couple out on their patio. it was 8 at night, and so all the geckos come out. they are all over the ceiling's and walls. anywho, one dropped right into my lap when I was teaching. it freaked me out and I jumped like a mile and screamed. I'm sure Hermano Pablo thought I was weird because I flipped out, but he is getting baptized, so I guess I cant be that weird. ha

kylies pic she drew me is on my wall in my house...my sweet tan line in two weeks, and the crazy killer spiders that just chill in my house. this is El Salvador haha hope you get these!!

Week Two... this place continues to humble me

This first week has been a little challenging. I have had stomach pains and massive diarrhea. the nurse told me to get an exam, and we found out that I have had a bad stomach infection since i was in the MTC. I have been taking an antibiotic to get rid of it. hermana chiquin and I have a lot of investigators we are teaching right now. i cannot believe how many people have just been waiting to hear this message of the gospel. we are so blessed to have the gospel so prevalent in Utah, we have the truth right at our fingertips, and so many friends that share in our same beliefs. earlier this week we were knocking doors, and we saw mother and her two kids playing outside just down the street. we both felt so prompted to go and talk to her. her name is Sister Flores, and she goes to a Christian church, but has never been baptized in any specific church. we told her that we had an important message for her and her family, and that we were representatives of Jesus Christ. We taught her right then and there in the pouring rain, the message of this gospel. we sang the hymn families can be together forever. she sat there in astonishment, and she had tears in her eyes. we continued to teach her how the gospel can bless families, and how Heavenly loves her, and each and every one of us. Grandma, the Spirit was so strong. That is the first time in the mission that I have felt the spirit so strong. we were all tearing up. We have taught her two times now, and she is continuing to progress. I feel such a love for these people. And when I see them, I see them as Children of God. I can picture them a year from now, in the temple, dressed in white. I tear up just talking about it with you. These people need this message, and oh my gosh I am just so humbled that I was called to be a representative. I have had a lot of fun, I have had spiritual experiences, I have had my challenging times. It is hard, so so hard. I know it is not supposed to be easy, because you know how Christ yearned for our Salvation  so much that He died on the cross for us? Well, I think I know a small part of how He felt now. It is my eternal duty to fight for these peoples salvation. And all this hard work, is extremely worth it. I am glad I came here on this mission. I still struggle with the language, I can hardly speak it, and sometimes I have gotten discouraged. So, I fully rely on my faith in Heavenly Father, and my simple testimony, that I can change peoples lives. This is one of a kind experience. :) I love you....and I know for the past 6 , 7 weeks I have been away, I have never told you that I missed you. Well this week, I really do miss you and the family. I am a little homesick for your cooking. ha-ha ,) I continue to pray for each and every one of you every day. I hope you are all doing well, and I hope the move to the new house is going ok. I actually wrote you guys a letter....I hope you got it. Please be safe, have fun with the family. Tell them that I love them. I LOVE YOU TONS!!!!!! ;)

Sorry everyone, I just forward because lack of time that I have to email. I want you to all know that I love you so much. I want to all impress upon your minds the importance of families. Families are central to Heavenly Fathers plan, and it is where we grow the most in the Gospel. This week, please stay close to your families. Serve them, be patient with them...find activities to do with them. We had a teacher in the MTC who told us about how after he got back from his mission, his dad was killed by a gang member. It was unexpected, and was traumatic for his family. He told us to always remain close to our family, because you never know what might happen. I am not trying to say that something traumatic would happen, but just cherish the time you have with each other, our time here on this earth is so short and should not be wasted. I cannot tell you how much I love you all. Please email me or dear elder me sometime, I want to hear from you!! :)

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so these are pictures from this week. the pics of my legs are the massive mosquito bites I have gotten here, don't worry I haven't gotten dengue yet. haha I have used my whole can of bug spray already. there is another pic of me and my comp. I also took a picture of a typical rainy day in el salvador...it will look like this until October. then in the rainy pic, there is a red car thing. that is what the taxis look like here. I ride them everyday. hmmm que mas...I think there are a couple pics of me and my companion from the mtc. I also took a picture of a spider. it was just chillin in my bathroom the other day. I about freaked out and died!! ha so big and scary and gross. oh and the pic of the gecko..we get tons of those in our house at night. they are soooo cool!!

 

(Ummm I only got 3 of the pics in the email she sent so this is all we get )