Is it really coming to an end?

Well, looks like my time has rolled around... and I cannot believe how fast! I am coming home and I am full of a lot of different emotions. I am excited to see you all but at the same time I am so sad to leave the people here, the people that I have come to love and most of all I am sad that here in a couple of days I will no longer be a missionary... NO PUEDE SER!

Guatemala Women

On Saturday morning we went and provided service for this old man, working in his field. And man it made me realize how strong and how much the people here work for just a tiny income. I mean, they do some real manual labor, made me realize that the yard work my dad used to ask us to do really wasnt all that difficult at all jajaja. 

But we were like digging and helping him finish up his harvest from his corn, but dang! It was some hard work jajaja

Final Interview

I had my final interview on Tuesday with Pte. Smith and it was really good. He told me a lot of things that I really needed to hear and things to help me continue to grow closer to my Heavenly Father.

In particular he told me that I need to continue to;

1. Keep the Sabbath day Holy

2. Read the scriptures daily

3. Make sure that my prayers do not become routine.

He told me something that I really liked sa well, that we are never at a stand still in our faith. We are always either moving forward or backward, but we never stay in the same place. And he promised me that if I continues to diligently do these 3 things that I will continue to progress.

He also told me that the Lord was pleased with the work and the sacrifice that I have given him these last 18 months, that I have been successful and that I have had a great influence on the lives of many. And that was really special to me, something that I really needed to hear. 

Reunion with E. Ochoa

This Friday we also had a meeting with E. Ochoa of the 70 who is also in the area presidency here, and it was an AMAZING reunion. I have never felt the spirit so strongly and I received so many witnesses and testimonies that he was and is a servant of the Lord. There are so many details and to much to tell you all over email, so sometime you will have to remind me to tell you guys all about what happened.

But I just realized how blessed we are to have church leaders who are entitled to receive revelation for us and who do! I know that the prophet, apostles and all other general authorities are men called of God! And that is such a great blessing!

IM COMING HOME

Well, I am really just such a mix of emotions right now. I cannot even express how I am feeling. On Sunday I was just sitting down thinking, and at that precise moment a song that we were listenting to from EFY about coming home came on, and I just thought to myself, well this just kind of sucks jajaja

I always thought that when my time came to go home that I would be happy, but I am honestly really sad! I have come to have such a deep love for the people here and I am so sad to say goodbye to them and to Guatemala in general. But at the same time I am at peace, knowing that I did what I was supposed to do here, and that now is my time to leave, my time to start the next phase in my life, as sad as this may be. But I am prepared. I have loved being a missionary and I am so glad for this time that the Lord has given me to be an instrument in his hands, a representative of HIs Son Jesus Christ, What an amazing privilege it has been these past 18 months to do exactly that! I have learnt so many things and have grown in so many ways. I am eternally grateful and will never forget my time on the mission!

I want to thank all of you for your testimonies, support and love. I could never have done this without you guys!

Les quiero mucho! Y nos vemos jueves!

Hermana Loo

With Hna. Aguilar and Hna Manu at the conference with E. Ochoa! 

The Thanksgiving dinner that we had at Pte. Smith´s house with the AP´s and secretaries 

Washing clothes in a pila, I had to do it at least one more time! jajaja 

Endure to the End...

Guatemalan Doors

So the door to our house has some major problems, as does everything in our house jajaja. But beofre the door we had to our house was not safe at all. In fact, you could open the door to our house without a key.. all you had to do was stick your finger in it and pull the door jajajaja only in Guatemala. But we told the dueño of the house about it and he came to fix but it took him mil años and we went half the day without a door, and then we had to leave cause we couldnt stand being in the house any longer and we had appointments, so what did we do? We left th house, and without any door on it jajaja only in the mission and only in Guatemala jajajaja

But we got everything figuered out and now we have a slightly safer door jajaja you take what you can get right?

Possum Attack!

So one night this week while walking to an appointment we saw this really big and dark thing runnning across the street and neither Hna. Manu or I knew what it was, at first we thought it was like a giant rat, and then we thought maybe like a kitten or something, but it turns our that it was a freaking Possum. Then the lady whose house we were in front of came out to see what we were doing and looking at, and started screaming, running inside to find a broom and then yelling for all of her neighbors to come out.

Then they all started chasing after this possum and hitting it with like bats and brooms but it would not die! It was just like rolling around on the ground. It was pretty nasty! But I mean, I guess we got a few contacts and new investigators out of it. The Lord works in mysterious ways! jajaja

Evangelic Prophet

So the elders have this one investigator who wants to get baptized but is having some serious challenges with her family. For example this week one of her sisters took her to talk to a women prophet, because those exist, and this lady just started giving her a bunch of anti mormon stuff. But I think that the funniest thing I heard about this enitre thing ws taht this prophet lady started talking about how vampires and werewolves and zombies are real.. umm, what! And that twilight is a prediction of what is to come... okay, that is just crazy,

The good thing is that the elders with the help of a lot of members were able to talk to her, she went to the temple and she is still firm in her decision to be baptized this week. yay!

BAPTISM!!

So this Saturaday was Manuel Mejia´s baptism! Yay! It was probably the most unorganized baptism I have ever had and SO stressful! I mean, I couldnt even enjoy it...

For example, while we were doing the agenda with the bishop, he asked if the primary could do a special musical number, and Hna Manu and I were like what!? We told the primary presdient to prepare one but your wife went and told her no.... so it was really just hectic and unorganized which I really did not like at all.

Nevertheless, Manuel Mejia and Letici Tsita were baptized! 

Manuel Mejia had to be do it 3 times cause his one foot kept coming up, and in the end Cristian had to go in and help hold his feet down and then we were all good! I was kind of nervous that he would freak out under the water or that something would happen, but he was so calm even though he had to be dipped 3 times. 

It was really cool though because afterwards I was talking to Manuel a bit and he was just so happy and smiley and laughing. I was kind of nervous cause I wasnt 100% sure if he understood everything that he was doing, but after he was baptized he was honestly like glowing, so that was a really cool for me to experience. 

I am so happy and feel so blessed that I got to be apart of his baptism and to see him change and truly try to become better. His family was really excited to and a ton of people came, a lot of nonmembers to to support Manuel. So although it was really hectic and unorganized everything came out to be just fine!

I love being a missionary and I love everything that I have been able to learn and in all of the ways that I have been able to grow. And I want to thank all of you for your love and support.

Los quiero mucho! Tengan una buena semana!

Hermana Loo

So, I thought Noa might like this picture.
It is not uncommon at all for people to carry around huge things on their backs/heads. 

 baptism of Leticia, a newly reacitvated members daughter. And Cristian Tzun, a recent convert, did the baptism. They were both so excited and happy. It was really cute!

Baptism of Manuel Mejia. Yay! He got baptized! One of the pictures is of him and 2 of his sons, Humberto and Wilfredo, they are the ones that helped us out the most with him. And honestly I give full credit to his son Humberto for the baptism. Wilfredo is the one in all white as he was the one who did the baptism.

So the Countdown Begins...

It appears as though the countdown has officially begun, and that is really weird. Am I really coming home? Did it really go by that fast? Well I still got 2 more weeks to work! yay!

Crazy Canadian

So, this week we met this really crazy Canadian lady jajaja who is a random Lutheran missionary here. She is really sweet but can sometimes be a little weird, and I think does not really have a filter...

For example we found her as we were getting ready to enter the house to go and eat lunch and Hna. Manu was like, obvioulsy we dont go hungry and this Canadian was just like, yeah obviously jajaja and then she asked hna. manu if she was the cooker jajaja it was really funny. 

She is passing through some rough times right now, and is selling things to be able to make some money, and she even asked us if she could sell after our church meetings, umm no, sorry, you cant. 

But it is always a funny experience when we run into her, and although she is a missionary for a different church, I am hoping taht she will be able to find some joy, peace, and happiness here really soon.

Rene

So we went with Rene this week again, and he has such a thirst for knowledege and is so pilas! But he is still really struggling with keeping eth sabbath day holy. So continue to pray for him! He needs to attend church! He told us that he feels the spirit when we are teaching, and that he kind of knows that these things are true but still needs to receive a more stronger and firmer testimony, which is why he needs to attend church, cause this will help him to do exactly that! So continue to pray for him PLEASE!!!

We tried to change his baptismal date because of his lack of church attendance. but he told us no, that he is determined to keep his date and work for it, cause he knows that he can be baptized by the date we set... va. 

I know that he will get baptized as well, and I am hoping that he will be able to get things in order PRONTO so that he can come to church.

Titi

So I got quite the suprise this week, Thursday morning Titi called me to see how I was doing and to ask if she could come visit me and go on visits with us. Of course I said yes! It was so good to see her and she is still super cute and so pilas!

She has been helping the missionaries out a lot in her ward, and goes on visits with them, she is currently helping them to teach her cousinn, and she is the president of her institute class, like really! She amazes me, she was one of those people who the Lord was definately preparing! 

Well, I feel like not much else happened this week, I am realizing that we need to be taking to more people on the street so that I can leave my companion with more people to teach! So we are going to be getting on that more in these next 2 weeks. I want to thank all of you for your love and support. It means so much to me...

Also big shoutout to the best trainer and mission mom in the world, Hna. Peña it is her birthday today. I cant remember how old she is turning I just know that she is now really old jajajaja FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS PEÑA!!

Hermana Loo

Since everyone is bringing in their cosecha for the year, we have found ourselves peeling a lot of corn...  

Also, Guatemalan construction.. gotta love it. Dont bother moving the house back, just build it around the electrical pole jajaj

Inviting and Challenging

Well, I have been trying to make sure that in these last couple of months that I have left, that I am using them to the fullest, making sure that I am inviting and challenging everyone. I want to make sure that I leave everything on the table, and that I leave my companion with people to work with as well. Of course we have things to improve and work on, but little by little I feel like we are starting to progress.

SIN AGUA!!!

Well, this week has not been a good one water wise. Tuesday morning after my companion had showered the water went out, which is sometimes typical, but it never came back! And after talking to the owner of the house she told us that the water wasnt going to come back until Friday, umm what!? That is just not okay! The good thing was that there are some really cool members here who allowed us to come over and use their shower. But it was still really gross.

And guess what!? Yesterday afternoon the water went out again! Dang! Really Guatemala, it is supposed to come back on again tomorrow, so heres to hoping! I cannot live like this! jajaja but asi es la mision!

Contactando con jovenes

This week was youth conference for the stake that I am currently serving in. And Saturday morning from 8 to 12 they were going to have an activity where the youth were going to go out and contact in the street, so naturally we had to go and help them.

It was actually a really good activity and a really good learning experience and mission prep for the youth. They were all really good at it, a little nervous but once they did it they all got really excited and wanted to talk with everyone, it was really cool to see. The future is bright!

It also made me realize that it doesnt matter how old or young we are, how much we do or dont know, we can all share the gospel in simple words, with our example. And we will be a tool in helping to bring a lot of souls to the Lord.

Rene

So, we went and visited Rene a couple of times this week, he is really cool and in less then a week had already ready all of the introduction pages in the Book of Mormon and up to 1 nephi 4. He is just soaking everything in and always thanks us for helping his understanding and knowledge. We are still working with him to be prepared to be baptized on the 12th, and I know that it is something that we can accomplish!

Manuel Mejia

Well, Manuel is really progressing! He is remembering so much, actually he remembers everything! It is such a blessing and a miracle, but he is excited and continues to pray and prepare himself for his baptism next week! I am so excited for him and his family!

Walter

Walter is an investigator that we have had for awhile now. But we were finally able to set a baptismal date with him for the 26th of December, and he accepted! He understands that there should only be one true church with the authority of God in it, that there should not be so much confusion as there is right now with churches. SO I know that if he sincerily prays and asks God, that he will receive and answer, and be prepared to be baptized on this day. I am excited for his future as well.

It is weird to be putting dates for people to be baptized knowing that wont even be here, but I am happy that we are starting to find more people who are willing to be baptized and to come unto Christ. It is such a blessing to be apart of the Lords work! What a privilege! ( Is that how you spell it? I can no longer spell!)

Hope that you all had good weeks and that this one is even better! Thank you for all of your prayers, you are all always in mine!

les quiero mucho!

Hermana Loo

Contacting with the jovenes in parque central!

pday! played soccer, kickball, basketball (or at least tried with Latinos) and ate Pizza!

The Last Month...Really?!?!?!

Okay, so honestly this week was a really hard one, maybe one of the hardest ones that I have had my entire mission. Almost every single one of the appointments we had fell through and we could find absolutely no one at home or anyone at home who would let us in! It was a real struggle, but I am hoping that this coming week will be even better!

Llave encendida 

Okay, so this contact rejection that we had this week had to be a really funny one and one that left me and my companion so confused.

We were just walking to an appointment and decided to knock on this random door, this older lady answers it all short and a little rude asking us what we want, as we begin to try and be friendly and talk to her, telling her who we are and what we are doing she just shuts the windown of her little door and says "no tengo tiempo deje una llave encendida" umm what! Basically she said something along the lines of I dont have time, I left a key turned on... yeah, doesnt make any sense jajaja

Nurse FUN!

So I obviously mostly get calls from elders with small problems like a sore throat, cough, or cold. Small things that for some reason they dont know what to do to cure or how to help themselves. And for some reason they always send me messages about how they are so worried that they are going to die, and how they cant die yet cause they need to reach exaltation jajaja umm, I really dont care elder...

Rene

I think I talked to you guys last week about Rene.. well this week we went to go and visit him again and he is seriously so pilas! He had entirely read the pamphlet we had left him about the Restoration and had plenty of questions. He didnt quite caputre everything from just reading so we went over it all with him. 

It was really cool though because he basically taught us the entire first vision! He remembered it all and was able to tell us all about what happened. It was really cool. We challenged him to be baptized on the 12th of December and he accpeted!

But of course he has a challenge, he works on Sundays and it is sometimes really hard for him to get the day off. So please keep him in your prayers so that he can find a way to take the day of Sunday!

Manuel Mejia

So Manuel is still progressing towards his baptismal date for the 28th of this month. It is so cool to see his progression, he has such a desire to change and become better, something he could have cared less about for the past 82 years. 

But he is remembering everything that we are teaching him! It is different teaching him as it has to be really simple and quick, but he is remembering it all, as he is praying for this too. He remembered everything, The Restoration, The Gospel of Jesus Christ, Word of Wisdom, Law of Chastity, Sabbath day, everything! yay! We have been doing a lot of repeating with him to make sure that it gets stuck in his head and it looks like it is paying off! yay! 

I feel so blessed to be able to be apart of his conversion and to see the way that he is slowly starting to change! It really is quite a humbling experience, to realize that no matter how old we are, or what we have done, the Atonement of Jesus Christ will always be there for those who humbly kneel in prayer and ask for it to work in their lives and to receive forgiveness, no matter how old you are!

I just want to thank all of you for all of your support and prayers, not only for me but also for the people here in Guatemala! It means the world to me! 

Los quiero mucho!

Hermana Loo

Bolos on the street everywhere! 

Its normal to see people just carrying around tons of chickens in their hands like this!

Olinte! 

With Dayana doing visitas 

Random stone statue at the park we went to visit today for pday 

PDAY!!!

New Comp...Last Change

Well, This week I got my new companion. Her name is Hna Manumaleuna (Manu) , she is from Alaska, but both her parents are Samoan and I am pretty sure grew up there. She will be the new nurse when I leave. She is a lot of fun, I dont know whose bright idea it was to put the only 2 polynesian hermanas together as companions, but here we are jajaja Hna Manu has 11 months out on the mission and has been in almost the same areas as me jajaja Las americas and Chichi, crazy right! But she is a hard worker and I am excited that she is killing me, cause she will not let me rest, nor do I want her to!

Carmen Par

We found this lady a couple of weeks ago, and she was somebody who I thought was super prepared to receive the gospel but just didnt know it yet. We went to go visit her this week and she said that she had read the pamphlet about the restoration that we had left her and had already prayed. So that was super exciting!

When we asked her how she felt when she was praying she said that she received an answer about Joseph Smith, and that he was a prophet of God. But when I asked her what she was willing to do because she knew this she told us that she would not change her religion. It was a sad moment but just made me realize that everyone has there agency and can choose for themselves. Maybe right now is not her time, but at least she knows and has this information and hopefully some missionaries can find her later down the road and she will be able to accept this message and change

Renee

So we found this guy visiting a reference from a member. Right before we were about to start the lesson she asked if she could invite someone else to listen. of course we said yes! and renee came in. And you know what he is so pilas! He was taking notes and explaining back to us perfectly everything that we had just taught him. He is catholic but is SO willing to pray and I know that he will receive and answer. 

Fasting for Manuel

To be quite honest, up until yesterday I didnt really have a testimony of fasting. It was just something that I did cause that is what you are supposed to do the first Sunday of every month. But I never felt like anything really changed or that fasting even worked until yesterday...

In my fast I was fasting in particular for Manuel Mejia. Earlier in the week we had taught him the Word of wisdom and a little later we found out that he sells liquor in in house, like a little mini bar, and that this is the only means for him of getting any kind of money for food or to pay for anything else. So that it would be really hard for him to stop selling. In my fast I was praying specifially for this, that the Lord would soften his heart and that Manuel would be able to understand why he needed to stop selling alcohol when we were going to talk about it with him that afternoon.

And you know what? A pure miracle happened! When we went to go and teach him and as we were reviewing the Word of Wisdom we talked a little bit about this, how he could not help other break this commandment so he could not seel liquor. And he told us straight out that he would. Quickly and simply. Something that I was not expecting at all. He was just like yeah, I cant use any of those things and I shouldnt help others use them either. So I will not sell alcohol anymore. 

What! It was amazing! So easy, and I know that it is because the Lord had touched his heart to understand. It really is amazing, an 82 year old man who has never ever wanted anything to do with the church, let alone have missionaries visit him is now suddenly so willing and ready to change. It made me realize that the Lord knows us, and he knows exactly what we need and when. Everything in the time of the Lord, we just have to have enough faith and confidence in him!

I love you all so much and am so thankful for your examples and support! I could not have done this without you! Have a great week!

con mucho amor,

Hermana Loo

This was our "before we start our fast lunch" jajaja thats right! 

6 weeks out!

Can you believe that today I started my last change of my mission! I cannot believe it! Only 6 more weeks. I dont know where the time went. It feels like not to long ago I was just coming out of the CCM or finishing my training. CRAZY

Shower

Good ol´ Guatemala, the water in our house ALWAYS goes out, during the day, in the morning, at night. It really is quite unpredictable! And on Saturday morning it went out, and of course right as we were getting ready to shower. We thought that it wasnt going to be that big of deal, that it would come back on after we were done with our studies. But NOPE. So we had to go in the morning without having taken a shower, which you know for me was just NOT acceptable. It really just kind of sucked, a lot. And all I could think about was how I wanted to take a shower. Luckily, when we came back to eat lunch the water had come back on, so we were able to shower while we were making lunch! Thank goodness, cause if not that would have been just nasty. 

Esmeralda

So Esmeralda was an investigator that we started teaching last week, she is pretty cool and when we talked with her about Joseph Smith this week she totally understood and accepted it. She even talked about how God doesnt show himself to just anyone, so the fact that Joseph Smith saw him must be a sign that he was a chosen one of God, even a prophet.

She is really cool, but also really evangelic and her husband who is not very friendly at all may become quite the stumbling block, so please pray for her and her continued progression!

Walter

We finally were able to find and teach Walter after such a long time of not seeing him. He is still really pilas and has so much potential! The last time that we visited with him, i think like a month ago, we left him a Book of Mormon and a pamphlet of the Restoration. And when we went back yesterday he had read both! Before starting the lesson all he said was, "so, what do you have to teach me today?" When we finished the lesson, reviewing the restoration, we asked him what he thought about it all, and he was just like, it sounds pretty good and right to me. What do you guys think? jajaja it was pretty funny and cool at the same time. We invited him to church, to pray and to read and he said that he would do it. So I am excited to see how he progresses. Please pray for him and his continual progression!

Manuel Mejia

Last but not least, we got Hno. Manuel, who is the one that is hard of hearing and the dad of the bishop and a bunch of other members here in Olinte. We had two lessons with him this week and sometimes he has good days where he remembers a lot of what we are teaching, saying and what we have taught, and sometimes it is a little more of a struggle.

But on Sunday, it was definitely one of those better days. He said the closing prayer and seemed to be getting everything that we were teaching. It was cute though, because in his final prayer he asked the Lord to help him the remember the things that we are teaching, and for patience, as he knows that it is not the easiest thing screaming so that he can hear us :) But he is really cute. 

He even rememberd his baptismal date. When we asked him if he remembered what was going to happen the 28th of November he just smiled and said, "me voy a bautizar" or "I am going to get baptized!" yay! he rememberd it was so cute and his kids are so excited for him.

It is something really special to see his progression. To see someone as old as he is, about 81 I think, who has never wanted to ever listen to the gospel, go to church or get baptized, have such an interest. He has even been saying his prayers to recieve forgiveness of his sins and to know if this is true. I mean, his entire life he has never wanted anything to do with the church, but now he is so willing to listen and to change! And he remembers every appointment that we have with him and is always there, ready and waiting! 

I ask that you also keep him in your prayers! and pray for the same things that he did, that he can remember the things that we are teaching him! 

I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers and your support, I could not have asked for a better support group!

les quiero mucho!

Hermana Loo

rain, rain go away! Come again some other day...
when I am not here! jajaja