Trust in God

Family!  How are you all??  Porter and Sophie, Barrett, Erin, Lily... I need letters asap.  This is unacceptable.

Well folks, there's not a whole lot to talk about right now about my area haha.  It's pretty!  We walk a lot!  That's about all that's happening for right now.  I am getting wake up calls about the real world.  Everyone has so many struggles with their marriages, family relationships, money, self worth, and everything in between.  I am here telling them that no matter what their trials are, they can find courage, answers, and comfort in the Lord.  I have been thinking, can I really tell them that?  My life has been such a walk in the park and I'm trying to figure out if I'm grateful for that or not haha.  I am just so much more blessed than I realized.   I have always delt with my problems, unsureties, and insecurities basically on my own.  If I had heaven's help it wasn't because I was asking for it or perhaps I was too selfish to notice it.  I'm striving to have a  testimony like Alma in the Book of Mormon, "I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day".  How can I help my investigators recognize His support in their trials and how can I recognize it better in my own life?

Lately, we have had activities in our district, zone, and even the MTC where we have paired off with different missionaries and taught each other.  No role playing, simply finding the need of that missionary and helping them.  Every time, my teacher has come to the conclusion that I need to trust more in the Lord.  I have begun to learn more about how much we truly rely on the Lord for everything; a new day, each breath, a chance to learn from our mistakes, repent, and try not to make those mistakes again, though we often do.  I am learning to trust more in the Lord, because really that's all we can do.  I am grateful to be here and to be learning as I do my best to help others learn a thing or two about God's love for them.  My heart is full of questions but I am grateful because my testimony is growing.

I love you all so much!  Grammy, you are in my prayers and I love you with all my heart.  No empty chairs <3

Morgan

My Dad

Familia,

Wait, I feel like I just wrote you all yesterday... time flies.

THE RUNDOWN:

-I went to the doctor finally... I have Giardia hahaha.  I have medicine though, so we're allll good (aka mom don't call the mission office)

-I'm going to the eye doctor tomorrow because my eyes are trippin

-My companion said I won't ever get married because my legs are ugly from bug bites

-I have the coolest dad in the world

It is said that "the most important of the Lord's work you will ever do will be within the walls of your own home."  My dad has gone far and beyond the call to provide for our family.  Our family has been blessed beyond measure by his dedication, sacrifice, and love.  He somehow knows how to solve my every problem whether it's broken furniture or my testimony that needs repairing.  He accepts and loves his responsibilities to us as a family and to his Father in Heaven.  He is a man of strong testimony and love for his Savior.  He loves my mama and together they have given me more than I could have ever asked for, in the gospel and as far as worldly needs/wants go.  He is my hero.

Happy Father's Day Daddy!  Thank you for always seeing me for who I can become and helping me realize my potential as your daughter and as a daughter of God.  I love you!!!

NEC

Hermana Yates

Good Old Guatemala

Family,

I love you!  Crazy experience, I was walking through the market in my area this morning and it is chaotic.  We were trying to get through to get to the bus to go to Coban like we do every pday and a woman stopped me.  "Hermana Gringa!!"  We get talking.. turns out she is Andres Morales' aunt!!  haha!  She wants us to come visit her one of these pdays in Coban! 

So this week flew by and I have a lot to say, and at the same time nothing to say haha.  I'll try not to be too scattered.

THE RUNDOWN:

-I was in an earthquake.  We were watching the best two years last p-day and everything just started swaying and shaking haha.  It was only about 10 seconds though but still cool!

-New shoutout from guys on their bikes:  "AYY MI AMORRRRR!!!"

How I feel about taking cold, bucket showers
 and leaving the house like this

-I understand a whole lot of spanish... next task: speaking

-I used to love showing people pictures of my family, but now I dread it because every time, they either tell me I'm a lot fatter here, or I used to be a lot fatter.  Haha they ask, "Why are you more ugly here?"  Good question my friend.....

-We were doing service for a less active member and she wouldn't let me work because she wanted my hands to stay pretty.  Also she is always talking about how I need to find a good husband because I am very talented and "linda" hahaha

-Apparently I talk and make my bed in my sleep...

Sometimes I feel like Joseph Smith must have felt with all of the churches preaching all around.  There is a church on every corner of every street here haha.  There are often explosions going off inside, kekchi ladies screaming prayers, all of them blast music so loud you can hear it from miles away, and they all have opinions about mormons.  People here say the craziest things about mormons!  Along with a lot of rumors, they tell the people how evil we are and not to talk to us.  So we spend the days greeting everyone and calling "buenas tardes"  outside of every home, to no avail.  Yesterday, was a long day in the rain.  We were tired of being the bad guys in Chamelco, people not answering when we can clearly hear them in their houses, sending their kids out to say "my mom says she's not here", running and hiding, and yelling at us.  As we were soaked and wondering what to do, we came to a house and a woman immediately opened her door and said, "Come in, come in quickly!  You're all wet!"  We had a wonderful lesson with her and she was so nice.  She was so grateful for us and said that we are fulfilling our duty that we promised to fulfill long ago.  Tender mercies are everywhere :)  The hard times just make us that much more grateful for the good times.

I love you all with my whole heart and it is so fun to hear what is going on at home!  Have so much fun on all of your vacations and take lots of pictures!

No Empty Chairs

Hermana Yates

Take a minute

SOPHIE YOU WON!!!!!!  AHHHH I'M SO CRAZY HAPPY FOR YOU!  You will absolutely love being in student gov. at Brighton.  I miss it so much!  Congrats sis :)

Porter I'm so jealous of your prep time you're getting with dad for your mission.  Treasure every minute of it.  Also I got a kick of mom telling me about your experience cleaning out your room and finding old treasures.  We were weird little kids...

Isaac I finally figured out what frito means.  Frito elders indeed!

Barrett Erin and Lily have so much fun on your road trip!!!  Enjoy the paved roads for me.

Mom you are my hero.  Thank you for sharing your missionary experience with me.  If the members here were anything like you we would have so much more success in bringing others to the gospel.

Dad, it IS wonderful.  I love being a missionary.

 

So my area is huge.  Lots of little villages that take a long time in a bus to get to if you don't want to walk for hours to get there.  My companion and I decided to see how an old investigator was doing and it takes about 35 minutes to walk to her house.  We set off for the day and I found myself frustrated for very insignificant reasons.  I had just eaten, yet I was still hungry.  My hair was more frizzy than usual.  My socks kept slipping off my heel, my mosquito bites were bothering me, and my spanish/english dictionary seemed to weigh more than usual.  I was watching the ground as I walked, wishing the dirt road weren't so muddy from the constant rain and had less rocks so that I didn't twist my ankle every few steps.

 

As I was pathetically feeling bad for myself, I looked up and realized that I was walking in a beautiful place.  Layers and layers of Guatemalan mountains ahead of me, beautiful, bright yellow wildflowers to my right, a winding river to my left, the earthy smell of the jungle, and the sun casting a pretty light on the wet, colorful houses.  As I was looking down and feeling down, I was missing the beauty around me.  Family, you know me.  I'm the kid who stops every 5 feet to admire the flowers, stops to take a picture of a tree that really isn't all that pretty, and I could gaze at the clouds for hours.  I laughed at myself, wondering how I could have forgotten to look up and appreciate my surroundings.  My advice for this week is to take a minute and really look around.  We are so blessed and I don't think we really take the time to show our gratitude.  Today I am grateful for the mud on my shoes because it means I am working to bring others the blessings that I have as a member of La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Días.

 

I love you all :)

No Empty Chairs.

Hermana Yates