Building the Lord´s Kingdom

Well, this week a lot of exciting and fun things happened with investigators or recent converts that I wanted to share with all of you..

Titi!!

Okay, honestly this chick is just so freaking amazing. I mean what? She has been baptized now for a month but she is already such a great missionary!

On Tuesday, we had lunch with a couple of elders, the elders that are in the office, and Titi goes to there ward, so they were asking me if I was the one who baptized her and telling me about all of the things that she has been doing to help their investigators.

Apparenty. these elders have an investigator that they have been trying to put a baptismal date with, and Titi totally helped them out! There investigator is a friend of Titi´s and apparently she saw photos of Titi´s baptism on facebook and asked her about her baptism and conversion. Later that week, Titi unexpectedly showed up at her friends house and took her to the temple, where she helped her choose her baptismal date! What! Are you kidding me! She is such a great missionary and member of the church! And such a great example to me of being truly converted to and loving this gospel!

Familia Perez Gomez

So, this family is one of the new families that I told you guys about. And this week we were finally able to have our first lesson with them. As we were sharing with them a little about our message the dad started talking to us, and was super interested in what we were sharing. He is Catholic and his wife is evangelic, but he wants them all to go to one church and be reunited as a family! well, PERFECT! That is exactly what this gospel does! Unite families!

He was asking why there are so many churches, how he can which one is true and which one he should go to with his family. We have more appointments with them this week so I am excited to see how they progress. Please pray for them!

Paolo and Jose Lima

So, these guys are 2 new investigators from this week. And they are two young guy, who we found contacting. But they dont go to a single church because they havent felt comfortable in anyone and feel like all the churches are just focused on money and nothing else. So we talked a little bit with them about the Restoration and they committed to come to church this Sunday! 

They have a lot of friends who are members and returned missionaries so they know a little bit about the gospel and wanted to know more about the church because of the examples that there friends had set for them. just goes to show that our examples, and the way we live the gospel go a long way in influencing the lives of all those around us.

Carlos Chamale

So, Carlos was a reference from a member in my old area, Las Americas. We contacted him last week and he had a lot of interest in the gospel and a TON of questions. We visited him yesterday and it was not any different. He had a lot of questions about how he can know if what we teach is true. We started teaching the Restoration and he understood it, he has a lot of knowledge of the church, because of member friends, and had his own Book of Mormon that he had already read a little bit of. But he had a lot doubts that he wanted answers to, a lot of which my companion and I didnt even have the answers too. Like where exactly are all the cities that are talked about in the Book of Mormon. He had a lot of questions like this, and we just tried to help him understand that what is most important is having faith and asking God if the things that we taught him were true. So please keep him in your prayers too.

Oh, the joys of being a missionary

so, a bunch of random things happened this week that I thought I would share with you all...

1. Saturday night my companion ran into a stationed car jajaja like fully ran into it! It was nighttime and dark and she was texting, and didnt see it so just totally ran into it, it was so funny and I just started busting up laughing jajajaja that was my first reaction jajaja I am going to be just such a great nurse jajaja

2. We went to visit this less active member who lives up this crazy steep hill that I was dying trying to climb up, and when we asked her about it she said that it was easy for her and she can do it with like a basket full of fruit. Well that was embarassing was all i could think, a 75 year old lady is in better shape then I am jajaja

3. Friday night we were in a teaching appointment and heard THREE gunshots go off!!! And they were loud and close! So scary, we called the elders to come and pick us up! But nothing else happened after that , so dont worry mom :)

4. We were with this recent convert the other day, he is 15 years old and a lot shorter then me. But while we were just saying goodbye he like kept inching closer to me until he put his shoulder on my head, or at least tried to, he is shorter then me obviously jjajaja it was weird and I was just like, umm dude!? What are you doing!?

5. So elections for Guatemala are coming up this Sunday, and unfortunately we have to be in our houses by 4:30 on Sunday, but freak! These elections suck and are just blocking off all sorts of roads that make it really hard for us to get anywhere!

6. okay.. didnt exactly finish but my last point was about some elder that called us with medical problems. he was supposed to go pick up medicine and 500mg of some medicine, so he called us asking what he should do because the pharamcy only had 250mg of said medicine.. I was just like what! Are you serious! come on elder! 250 x 2 is 500! So freaking buy 2 pills! Oh my, I dont know how this whole nurseing thing is going to be jjaajaaj pray for me! jaja

Los Quiero mucho!

Hermana Loo

and a bus that was so full that kids were on top and hanging off the back.. Only in Guatemala

so the first photos were rellenitos, which are platanos stuffed with frijols. 

Making fish with our investigators.. familia Lopez Cux! 

Tacos with the familia Perez Garcia!

Olinte!!! 

And this ironic dont throw trash here sign jajaja

this is my zone!

Chicken Pox!

Chicken Pox!

So, Chicken pox seems to be going around Guatemala right now, as well as the mission! So far 2 elders have gotten in and I am so scared that I am going to be next!

On Wednesday we went and had lunch with this member and her daughter had chicken pox! ahhh why!? She just kept walking around and touching stuff and the lady that had made the lunch kept touching her daughter. I just felt so uncomfortable and was just freaking out! I do not want to have chicken pox! 

Like, just looking at this lady´s daughter made me feel ichy! So far, I dont have any signs of chicken pox and lets hope it stays that way! I am praying that I wont get it! That would just suck...

Parenting

We have this investigator whose kids are just incredible, like so obnoxious and do not listen to her at all! It was funny though because we were trying to teach her the plan of salvation when she started talking about her kids and asking us how we think she should parent them.. kind of weird considering that we are so much younger then her and dont have kids... nevertheless we gave her our advice...

and really this experience just made me reflect on my childhood, on the things that my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles all taught me and made me so grateful! Because I was able to look back and reflect upon so many positive experiences that I had.. even if they were 2 hour lectures from my dad jajajaja :)

But really, I am so thankful for my parents and for the way that they have raised me and helped me to become the person that I am today!

NOT LATINA

So of course everyone here thinks that I am latina.. okay but I am not.. and on Friday I was on divisions in the area of my hermana leader, and everyone also thought that I was Latina. Someone thought that I was from El Salvado and another thought that I was from Italy by the way that I talked jajaja what... apparently I sound Italian??? jajaja

But when i told them that I was from the states they then had to assume that my parents must have a latino background jajajaja negativo houston! to funny...ç

Freaking Chuchos!

Well, I once again have another dog story for you guys.. mom dont freak out jajaja

So there was this dog that was tied up and started barking at us, of course, we just ignore him and walked to the door of the house, the mom wasnt home and as we were leaving the dog just got even crazier.. and broke his chain and leash! It was crazy, so theis freaking dog comes charging at us, luckily he didnt bite me, but just snapped at my backpack that I  was using as a shield.  Then I threw a rock at it and it ran away. But I wil say that it scared me, and I realized that I hate dogs! 

Investigators

Fam. Lopez Cux - This is one of the families that we found last week and had the opportunity to teach them once this week. It was a good lesson and the family has a lot of potential! They understood and sounded interested when we gave an introduction to the Restoration and we have an appointment with them this week to eat dinner and then have a FHE with them and another member family. so that should be good. They are open to hear and loved what we said, they are catholics but have always gone to different churches when invited to see what they believe!

Carlos- So Carlos was a reference from a member in my last area and Sunday we had the chance to contact and talk with him. And he also has a lot of potential to progress and accpet the gospel. When we were sitting down with him i just saw him in white clothes entering the baptismal font! I am excited to keep teaching him! Anyway, he wants to have a better realtionship with God and wants to search for Him. So now we gotta get him to turn this desire into action!

President Nelson

So, President Russell M. Nelson was supposed to come and speak to us tomorrow, but cancelled his trip because it was just to much. So that was a little disappointing, especially because we were all so excited for it. But instead we had a broadcast with him on Saturday from Honduras... and in the broadcast i saw my companion from the CCM, Hermana King! I was so jealous and wanted him to come so badly!

But it was a good broadcast and really interesting because almost the entire time he talked about the importance of Temples and doing Family History work, and finding people through these means and getting everyone to work with it! So that was really interesting, considering the fact that here in Guatemala, in Xela, there are not very many options to do family history work. So we are asking around about this a lot right now, trying to figure out what we can do to start following this counsel. 

He also talked a little bit about marriage, which freaked me out jajaja

But he said something that I really liked, he said, "The mission is obedience and covenant keeping training" That even though I may not understand all of the rules we have or the things that my mission president is asking me to do, the thing that I should understand is that he was and is called of God, and that he receives revelation for all of us. That althouhg I may not undertand the reason for every little thing, I should just trust, listen and obey.

The conference was really good and I learned a lot. President Nelson is a funny guy and now I am focused on putting the things in practice that he taught!

Well, i should probably apoligize right now for not haivng any pictures, kind of just slipped my mind. And the pictures that we did take are on somebody else´s camera who needs to send me them so that I can send them to you guys. But next week will be better, I promise! :)

I love you all so much! Hope that you have a great week! And that you enjoy your last week or two of summer.. if you are not in school yet jajaja

los quiero mucho!

Hermana Loo (Lulu, as everyone here calls me jaja)

Exhausting Week...

This week was just so exhausting, by Sunday night my companion and I were just all out of energy! But it was such a good week and we had a lot of success!

3 new families!

This week we found 3 new families to teach, at the end of this week we had 17 new investigators, mostly because we found these 3 families and they all were big families, with like 7 to 10 kids in each! It was crazy and such a blessing to be able to find them. 

They are all really humble families, but also strongly planted in their religion, so it is going to be a process with them and take some time, but I know that we can do it and I know that the Lord will soften and open their hearts! I am so excited for this week to start teaching them and seeing them progress in the gospel.

Of the 3 families, all of the kids in each family are so open and love it when we come over, so I am hoping that through the kids we can get to the parents and get them to open up their hearts as well. And I know that with the help of the Lord and the spirit we can do anytyhing! Nothing is impossible!

Emergency changes

ya se fue la negrita :( ...

so Friday we went to the temple and afterwards we had a conference with Pte. Smith and after the conference he told us that Hna. Feliz would have changes and would need to leave that night for her new area... It was so sad.. and just as we were getting used to being in a trio, like how to teach. The house seems so empty now... so sad. We had only been together for 10 days but it had just gotten to be so normal to be in a trio.

The reason that she had changes was that another hermana, who has only been out on her mission a month, had to go home because she had broken her foot, poor girl. So her companion needed a new companion, and since we were in a trio, she had to go... it kind of sucked, but that is mission life.

So now I am trying to readjust to being back to just two, and it is way different.. ni modo

So this week wasnt to eventful but I thought that I would share a quote that i found and really liked:

"Sometimes we become the lightning rod, and we must "take the heat" for holding fast to God´s standards and doing His work. I testify that we need not be afraid if we are grounded in His doctrine. We may experience misunderstanding, criticism, and even false accusation, but we are never alone. Our Savior was "despised and rejected of men" (Isaiah 53:3). It is our sacred privilege to stand with Him!" -Robert D. Hales

I absolutely loved this quote! We should never think that this life should be easy, because it was never easy for the Lord. We need trials and experiences, salvation and eternal life are not cheap experiences and NEVER have or will be. We have to learn and grow, and to do so sometimes we have to take a little bit of heat and stand up for what we believe, to be defenders of the truth. And just think, that when are made fun of or ridiculed, that we are standing shoulder to shoulder with the best life this world has ever known! That we are standing with Christ! And that during these times we will be able to draw closer to our Lord and Savior, and for just a moment or two be able to understand a little bit of what He went through for us! And what a blessing that is!

I hope and pray that we will always be disciples of Christ, defenders of the truth, that no matter what we are going through that we will let our light shine, so that others may look to our examples and glorify Christ! What a blessing it is to be the sons and daughters of the King of Kings! I hope that we never forget this! And that everyday we can use the enabling power of the atonement to better and improve ourselves. And know and remember that Christ is always right by our side!

I love you all so much and am so thankful that you have all been right here with me during this entire time that I have been out here serving the Lord!

Les quiero mucho!

Hermana Loo

Nurse Loo...jajaja!

Olintepeque

So, this is the name of my new area. And I am still here in Xela although this area is nothing like my last! But I already love it!

It isnt in the city, its a lot more suburb, but I dont know if you could even say that. Here there are both rich and poor. Its like city and aldeas. Nice houses, not so nice houses, and houses with dirt floors. So it is a little bit of everything which I love! It is HUGE!!!!! I mean there are a ton of fields, where they are growing corn. So we do a lot of walking! But I love it and it is just a gorgeous area. A lot of the time I forget that I am in Xela because it is nothing like my last area!

So I only got to enjoy having lunch everyday for only 6 weeks, cause here I am back to the same ol´ same ol´. Only lunch like twice a week. But I guess that will just make sure that I am skinny for when I come home jajajja :)

I am in a ward here, although it is a little smaller then my last one. But the members here i think are a lot more interested in working with us. So that should be good. 

I am still getting used to my area here. I am usually a little lost all the time jajajaa but it will come little by little. 

The zone that I am in doesnt get to go to walmart anymore.. bummer. But we do go to this other store, that I guess you could say is kind of like a safeway or albertsons? So I mean, i guess that is better then nothing, right?

Well, that is all that I can think of to tell you guys about my area, let me know if there is anything else you want to know!

Compañeras

So, as many of you know, I am now in a trio and have 2 new companions!

My first companion is Hermana Tolman, she is the current nurse right now, and is training me for when she leaves home, which is at the end of this next change! ahhh! But she is from Arizona. The oldest of her family and goes to BYU Idaho.

My second companion is Hermana Feliz, she is from the Dominican Republic but lives in Utah so she speaks english. And she is just so funny! She goes home the change before me!

so I am going to be killing both of my companions... puchica!

With both of my companions we just laugh a lot. Unfortunately, i am still taller then both of my companions jajaja I dont think that I will ever have a companion taller then me jajaja 

Nurse

So, right now I am just learning from Hermana Tolman, on how to be a nurse. i will just have a special cellphone that all of the latino missionaries will call me on whenever they have problems.. yipee! jajaja

and then every week we have to go into the office and write out a report to send to the MPW telling her about all of the problems the missionaries had, like who called us with what problem. But it should be interesting. As I was listening to Hna Tolman on the phone with one of the elders I was just dying laughing, cause this elder like had so many problems and questions that he couldnt figure out that were just so simple, and I was just thinking oh dear, what am I going to do. I dont know if I am going to have a lot of patience with these elders. Or if when they call me with problems I am just going to tell them to , "be a man" and "rub some dirt in it" jajajaja I guess part of this calling was for me to learn to be a little more patient and compassionate jajaja

Dog!

So, this week i had quite the scare. 

We were walking through the milpa (corn field) and walk past this house with this family outside, of course we talk with them for a bit, and as we are walking away, out of nowhere I feel something wrap itself around my leg, and realized that it is a freaking dog! I shake it off my leg and it starts barking at us! But the miracle was that even though it had its teeth around my leg it didnt bite me! I was so grateful for that and know that it was the protection of the Lord.

I know that the Lord protects His missionaries and servants. And that He also protects there families! I am so thankful for each of you and for the prayers that you always have for me and my safety! 

I love you all so much! Have a great week! Know that I am praying for you all!

Les quiero mucho!

Hermana Loo

and saying goodbye to Hna. peña! .. shes home now! 

my area! olinte!

going to a gravesite.. jajaja 

The crazy lady with her hand in the air jajaja we went to go visit the gravesite of her son who passed away and while we were singing and praying this crazy lady was like dancing with her hands in the air jajaja crazy people!  

celebrating my companions birthday! with a real breakfast! eggs, bacon and pancakes!!! we all just got out of bed so we look hideous.. but dont hate!

My companions and celebrating my companions birthday!

Entering in to the Gate...

Titi

So, as you all know Titi got baptized on Saturday and it was just such a great experience to be apart of. I feel so humbled and blessed that I was able to be there to support, help and serve her. I know that the Lord is so happy with the decision that she made to become a member of the church and will continue to rain blessings upon her. I am also so thankful that I was able to be apart of her life and to be strengthend by her example and testimony. 

So, I dont know why, but the water here in the baptismal font is always freezing cold! It has a heater to warm up the water and either no one knows how to work it or the thing itself doesnt work, either way the water was freezing. But Titi didnt care at all about that, she had a smile on her face the entire day, and when she got out of the water, the light in her eyes just radiated! She couldnt stop thanking us for teaching her and helping her come to the knowledge of the truth. But honestly, my companion and I didnt do much, she was prepared and chosen and the was able to recognize the spirit so quickly and accept her answer.

When she received the gift of the Holy Ghost and was confirmed a member she told me that she just felt a warmth come over her, like someone was giving her a big hug, I just loved hearing that!

Her family didnt want to attned and are still not to happy with her, this week she told us that she wants to be a missionary! But she has a lot of obstacles in her way, but we will see what the Lord has in store for her. 

Earlier in the week, before her baptism, we also had a late lunch with her and another recent convert, Estelita, whose family is also not very supportive of her. But she was able to share her testimony with Titi, and the spirit was just so strong! Everyone was in tears! These two have really come to be so special to me and have been such a light for me! I hope that one day you can all know them and feel of their spirit. 

I am so sad that I have changes and will be leaving this area, leaving Titi, but I know that the Lord will continue to bless her life and that through her example the Lord will be able to soften the hearts of her family and they will also have the opportunity to hear the gospel.

Sara

So we also had a baptism on Sunday jajaja suprise! Sara is the daughter of recent converts, who were baptized on the 6th of June. But it was so special to be apart of as well, especially because her dad was able to baptize her! They were all so happy and it was so cool to be able to see a family progress and grow in the gospel. We found out that she was turning 8 on Sunday and wanted to be baptized that same day, so we had to teach her all of the lessons in just 4 days! It was a little hectic but I loved being apart of it!

Randoms of the week

1. So I dont know if you remember the movie, 50 first dates, but I am pretty sure that there is a guy in the movie called 10 second Tom or something. Who can only remember things for 10 seconds and then he forgets... well this week, I meet 1 minute Maria jajaja litterally every minute she repeated the same thing to us, talking about how she cant read, how her dad was poor and that she worked to be able to buy her own land. but she told us the same story every 1 to 2 minutes jajaja

2. Saturday night, as we were walking out of an appointment getting ready to head home, we pass by these two guys who yelled at us, " I am going to rob you.." umm, okay, creepy and scary jajaja needless to say my companion and I were a little freaked out and we started walking/running away from them. 

3. Lastly, probably the most random of all is that tomorrow we have changes and yesterday night President Smith called me to tell me that he is calling me to be the new mission nurse.... umm what! I dont know anything about that! So I will be getting a new area and two new companions as I will be in a trio! woohoo.. should be interesting to see what happens with this especially because I have no idea how to be a nurse jajaja wish me luck!

I hope that you all have a good week! That you keep Christ in the center of your lives and that you make sure that you are always founded firmly in the gospel of Jesus Christ, a foundation that will neve trembl or fall!

Las quiero mucho!

Hermana Loo

Lunches with Titi this week and one with Estelita!

Lightning!!!

Lightning!

So like I said in my last email, the rainy season has officially begun here. It is so hot here during the day and then in the late afternoon it just starts pouring! 

Tuesday night while we were walking to an appointment, i swear that a lightning bolt flashed right in front of us! It was crazy! And so bright! It was also kind of scary. I dont know how close it really was to us but it blinded both my companion and I for a second or two.

Alicia

So President Smith called us this week to tell us that Friday afternoon his grandaughter would be leaving to go on visits with us. Both my companion and I were so scared thinking that she was going to be like his spy or something jajajaja but everything of course turned out just fine.

Alicia is 14 years old and a short little thing. I couldnt help but think as we were walking with her that it was like I was with MomiLei going out to teach lessons and tract. We were able to do a little bit of everything with her, get rained on, get rejected and teach a lesson. You know, missionary work jajaja

in fact, during one lesson we had a crazy dude try to convince us that prophets dont exist and that they are no longer needed, but then he went on to say that God doesnt change. So he was a bit lost and confused. He accepeted a Book of Mormon so hopefully he will read and learn from it.

Titi

So, everyone always wants to know how Titi is doing jajaja and of course she is doing just great! Her baptism is set for this Saturday and she is both excited and nervous.

Of course, as her baptism date approaches she is being faced with more and more adversity. For example,her mom is not happy at all that she is attending church and being baptized. HEr mom even called some catholic people to come over and visit her this week, asking her why she wasnt coming to church and why she was attending a church that isnt true. But she continues to hold true to what she knows and to continue to strengthen her testimony. But please continue to pray for her! Her mom has totally taken her car away so she is starting to use the busses even though she has never used the before. But she doesnt even care, she is just so happy that she has the gospel in her life! such a great example to me!

It was funny though, on Tuesday we had a FME (NDH) with her and another family. We planned on talking about tithing and fasting and as we started talking about fasting Titi just gave a little chuckle, and when we asked her what happened, she told us, "I already fasted" jajaja what! She is amazing! And on Sunday she even paid her tithing! Even though she isnt even a member yet!

But, I am so excited for Titi and know that this gospel is just going to bless her life so much! She already has such a strong testimony and i know that she will continue to bless the lives of all those around her! I am so excited for her baptism this Saturday!

I love you all so much! Thank you for all of your support, prayers and love! They are felt, even though I am miles away!

Les quiero mucho!

Hermana Loo