Humildad

Familia,

 

THE RUNDOWN: MY FAMILY IS THE COOLEST.

Dad, my companion is obsessed with Chinese people.  Bring her back a Chinese boyfriend please :)

Mom, you are my hero.  Thank you a million for your letter. Don't ever doubt yourself or the Lord.  

Barrett and Erin.  Way to drop that bomb.  You're having another BABY?!?!?!  Congratulations!!!  Freak, I will have another sobrino/a when I get home...  And also I just realized you are moving to Norway.  It took a few months to sink in.  You are so brave.

Isaac, FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS MI HERMANO!!  I miss you more than ever and I love you more than ever.  My heart aches for you this week because you will be headed home, but I know you have been an incredible missionary.  (to be continued next week)

Porter, I hope you enjoyed living in my room.  I miss it haha.  You're hawt and you don't look like an indian this summer.  Unless the pictures don't do it justice.

Sophie, You're hawt too.  Don't talk to boys.  I hope you had fun in the parade!!!

Grandparents Yates and Grandparents Taylor, I have received your letters in the mail and in email!  THANK YOU!!  I will reply next week!  Love you to the moon and back.

 

What a week of learning.  I am going to quote quite a bit of the talk "Beware of Pride" by Ezra Taft Benson.

 

"Most of us think of pride as self-centeredness, conceit, boastfulness, arrogance, or haughtiness.  All of these are elements of the sin, but the heart, or core, is still missing.  The central feature of pride is enmity - enmity toward God and emnity toward our fellowmen.  Enmity means "hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition"  It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign over us.

 

"The proud cannot accept the authority of God giving direction to their lives.  Pride is a sin that can readily be seen in others but is rarely admitted in ourselves.  Only by pride cometh contention.  Unity is impossible for a proud people, and unless we are one we are not the Lord's.  Either we can choose to be humble or we can be compelled to be humble.  Alma said, "Blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble." 

 

"Let us choose to be humble.  We can choose to humble ourselves by conquering enmity toward our brothers and sisters, esteeming them as ourselves, and lifting them as high or higher than we are.  We can choose to humble ourselves by receiving counsel and chastisement.  We can choose to humble ourselves by forgiving those who have offended us.  We can choose to humble ourselves by rendering selfless service. We can choose to humble ourselves by going on missions and preaching the word that can humble others.  We can choose to humble ourselves by loving God, submitting our will to His, and putting Him first in our lives.  We must yield to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, put off the prideful natural man, become a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and become as a child, submissive, meek, humble."

 

This week, through a series of different experiences in zone conference and a conflict with my companion, I have been compelled to be humble.  I had not accepted that I was in my companionship because of direction from God, given to my mission president.  I have not submitted all my will to the Lord's and loved as freely as I should.  I have not been converted in order to convert my investigators.  I can't tell my investigators to improve in Christ-like attributes when I am lacking.  Sometimes we need harsh wake up calls in order to change, improve, be humbled, refined and better servants of the Lord.  I am grateful for these opportunities to grow.  I love my Savior and my Father and I hope to better live up to the potential that They know I am capable of.

 

No Empty Chairs,

Morgan

Bandaids fix everything

Familia,

2 1/2 weeks..... where in the world did the time go.  I feel like my brother left on his mission just a few months ago.  It is fair to say that I was a completely different person 2 years ago.  Isaac, you can take a stop in Guatemala on your way home right???  Cool, see ya in a few weeks.

 

THE RUNDOWN

-I finally fell!!  I have been waiting almost 5 months to become less graceful ;) and fall hard so that I could use my handy first aid kit that adds an annoying amount of weight in my backpack.  Well, my Danskos failed me and I slipped and smashed my knee haha but bandaids and a little bit of alcohol fix everything right?  I'll send pictures soon, I got a bad computer today...

-My waterbottle broke... parasites here I come

-Another package is waiting for me in the office!  Thanks mama!

 

In our area we have awesome members.  I have been so grateful for their help.  Our lessons are so much more effective with members to bear testimony and become friends with our investigators.  It's pretty hilarious when they all come to church on Sunday with pained looks, rubbing their sore legs from climbing all of the stairs in our area to get to the homes of our investigators, but they always have a good experience and are willing to come with us again!  We have a recent convert, Marta, who came with us to teach for the first time.  She was pretty nervous but excited to help.  We were teaching a lesson and we could tell our investigator was uninterested and the Spirit wasn't very present.  Something needed to happen.  We asked Marta to bear her testimony and she shared her conversion story and how she knows this church is true.  It was so perfect.  As she spoke, the Spirit filled the room.  Our investigator could feel the change and it was a very special experience.  As we left the lesson, I turned to Marta and asked if she could feel how strong the Spirit was when she bore her testimony.  She had the biggest smile and said, "Ahh yes!  I felt really warm and happy!  The Spirit was so strong and I still have the chills!"  She now wants to go with us to teach every day haha.  I am so grateful for special experiences like these.  I am so grateful to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost.  He can bear testimony and truth of our message a lot better than we can :)

 

I love you all.  Lay on the carpet and make lace cookies for me because carpet and brown sugar don't exist in Guatemala.

 

No Empty Chairs

Hermana Chetz

Coban 3B

Familia,

Erin, Barrett, and Porter THANKS A MILLION FOR THE LETTERS!!!!!  Ahhh you guys are so awesome.  I will write you all back next week, I cross my heart.  Try not to have too much fun without me.

Sophaloaf, WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE.  Dang, I'm so jealous, student gov in high school was the best!!  So happy you are involved in that.  What a cool experience in the temple.  I miss the temple so bad, you should go every week!  We are so incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to drive for 10 minutes to serve in the Lord's house and feel the amazing spirit there.  EFY no way!!  So fun!  Not gonna lie, sometimes I had a bad attitude about going or some of the activities there.  Yes, sometimes the people are interesting.  Yes, the dances are awkward.  But the Spirit is real.  EFY is where I started to gain a testimony of the atonement and everything Christ did for us.  I felt a real prompting by the Spirit to bear my testimony and I couldn't ignore it, no matter how badly I didn't want to stand up in front of everyone and shakily bear my testimony of what I knew to be true.

Pay close attention to your feelings there.

Write notes.

Write in your journal every night.  Not just about the cute boys there and the COWS  (crush of the week) , but write about the things you are learning.  You will treasure them for years to come.

Have FUN!  EFY is awesome.

I love you and I hope you are crazy happy and playing in the sun and reading your scriptures!  La lo

 

Well family, longest week ever, but I'm back!!  Just livin it up in Coban, teaching people, getting muddy, climbing stairs, and learning spanish and q'eqchi' jaja

 

THE RUNDOWN:

-We saw a big white family in the mall and made jokes that they looked like a utah mormon family.. next thing we know they come up to us, HI ELDERS, HI SISTERS!!  Yep definitely mormon.  Reminded me a bit of my mom yelling to the elders from the car jajaja

-My watch and shoe tan lines are getting pretty out of hand.. but at least I still have my tan/burn lines from Hawaii right??

-My mission president's wife Hermana Curtiss will be staying at the Crystal Inn in Murray!  She leaves next Sunday and will be there for a week I think.  So just a heads up ;) Feel free to send presents ;) jajaja

 

So turns out my new comp is actually pretty cool.  And my new area is sent from heaven above.  My comp is Hermana Gonzales and she is from El Salvador.  We work in La Libertad mostly, there are lots of cars, and it's crazy hot in the day and crazy cold at night.  There aren't as many bugs in the new house and it's a good time!  The killer thing about La Libertad: STAIRS.  It is pure mountains and we climb 300 stairs for every lesson jajaja.

 

Day 1 in Coban 3B:

After a long day of changes, we taught 4 lessons after 4:00.. already more than we teach in a whole week in my old area.  I learned a lot of new things from my companion and came to find out that she is a really good teacher.  We invited an investigator, Yuri, to baptism and placed a date with her!

 

Day 2 in Coban 3B:

We had lessons before lunch, which was new for me too!  We taught 7 lessons that day and I'm just sitting there in awe thinking, "Wait, people actually listen to the missionaries??"

We invited another investigator to baptism, Marisol, and placed a date with her too.  Whaaaaa...

 

At night an interesting thing happened.  My old comp, Hermana Hernandez is now training another north american named Hermana B.  She is terrified.  Hermana Hernandez called me and said that she needed help because her companion was having a hard time and they couldn't communicate.  Hermana B then gets on the phone and sobbing, she began to tell me about her problems.  She feels completely inadequate.  She feels like she is a bad teacher, she can't speak spanish, she feels like she is here for the wrong reasons, she doesn't feel like Guatemala is where she is supposed to be serving, she hates the bugs, she doesn't feel strong enough, she isn't receiving answers to her prayers, and she can't seem to find peace.

Hmmm... sounds a lot like me jaja.  As I was listening, I was thinking hard and praying harder.  How am I going to help her?  I feel a lot of the same things.  But as I started to offer what help I could, the strangest thing happened.  As I told her that she is exactly where she should be and that her calling is inspired, I felt the most calming reassurance that I am where I should be as well.  As I told her that she is here for a reason, whether it is because she needs to learn something or she is there to help a certain person, I felt the Spirit testify that I am here for a reason too.  I reminded her of Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail and the promise he had that his trails would only be for a small time.  As a servant of the Lord, she was not sent here to fail and be miserable.  She only needs to trust in the promise that we will have angels round about us to help us and bear us up.  We will have trials of our faith, but they are necessary in order to learn and gain a testimony.  I told her about my experience deciding to come on a mission.  I was not receiving answers to my prayers.  I couldn't find peace.  But I left anyway, hoping to feel some sort of a confirmation that I made the right decision.  As I was telling her all of this, I received confirmation after confirmation that I am exactly where I should be and my Father in Heaven is absolutely aware of me.  Haha it interestingly turned into a self talk with the Holy Ghost letting me know that I'm on the right track.  I really don't know if I helped her, but it was an unexpected experience that I am truly grateful for.

 

Day 3 in Coban 3B:

After climbing literally hundreds of stairs, learning all sorts of Q'eqchi' and being covered in dust from the dirt roads, we taught 8 lessons.  Is this real life?  There is this family of 8 little girls, half of them are cousins, one is an aunt, and some are sisters, but they are all under 7 years of age and are the family of Yuri.  When they see us they yell "HERMANAS!!!!!!"  and run up and hug and kiss us for 10 minutes.  They always lead the "señoritas" by the hand to make sure we don't fall walking up and down the stairs to their house.  They put chairs up next to ours to teach with us and love to sing a bunch of jumbled spanish with us.  We were talking to Yuri's husband and he said he has a lot of questions.   He then asked about baptism.  We pulled out the picture of Jesus being baptized and asked him what he wanted to know.  He then says, pointing to the picture of Jesus, "Yeah that.  When can I do that?  Just tell me when, and I will be baptized."  It took me a minute to figure out what he was saying.   Oh... that's a GOOD thing!!!!!  Jajaja I thought that only happened in the movies.  I just kept laughing the whole lesson in disbelief.  We placed a baptism date with him as well.  That night we walked home on the dusty road smiling from ear to ear.  We are seeing miracles in this area because these people are being prepared by the Lord.  We are just here to be his hands, feet, and mouth.

 

Long story short, it was a good week :)  I'm grateful to be here.  I love the work and I love the Lord.  I love my family too I guess ;)

hasta luegooooo

 

No Empty Chairs

Mo Rae

TRANSFERS

Familia,

It sounds like you all had a lot fun with all the celebrations!  Send more pictures!

 

THE RUNDOWN

-Yeah there was another earthquake this morning at 5:30.  It woke us up because our beds were shaking so hard!  Haha my companion wakes up and with a lot of concern, says (in spanish) "I think this is an earthquake..??"  well yeah.  She starts running outside but I was too tired to move. I just stayed in my bed and told her it would end soon.

-I got the  4th of July package, thank you mama!! And yes, send letters to the same address as packages.

-I got my pictures back!

-My eyes are fine, haha just a few black spots in my vision on my left  eye.

-HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIN! I am just really happy you are in my family and you are the best in the world. Thanks for taking care of my weird brother;)

 

So we have transfers tomorrow... adios Chamelco!!!!!! Hermana Hernandez and I are both leaving our area and they are sending new missionaries to clean it out. Haha I am headed to the city.  Coban with a new comp, Hermana Gonzales. She has been in my district and she is known for being the most dramatic, wild, party lovin' Hermana in the mission.  Awesome. Also she is in love with Isaac. She saw a picture of him my first day in the mission and since then my name has been cuñada (sister in law). An elder found a picture of him in her missionary hand book and I have NO IDEA how she got a picture of him. Haha i'mma have to lay down a few laws!

Leaving Chamelco has given me the opportunity to reflect on what I learned in this area and how I want to change. I definitely learned a lot of patience. I learned I need to be better at looking for miracles in every day. Yes, Chamelco was challenging, but there is always something good to see and Heavenly Father's hand is in everything. I am going to work on that in my new area. I learned that although some people may not be ready to accept the gospel and change their lives, we have the opportunity to plant the seed. We had our last lesson in our area last night with Helka.  Her husband is a member but doesn't do much to help his wife feel the desire to be baptized. We decided that nothing we were doing was helping her realize that she can feel the Spirit. So naturally, we turned to the video of the Restoration. At the end of the movie we bore our testimonies and the Spirit was so strong. She started crying and couldn't pin point what she was feeling. I told her it was the Holy Ghost testifying of the truthfulness of our message. That she was feeling something so special and so perfect and she has the chance to feel it all the time. We are happy that we were able to leave the area with that special experience and we hope she will be baptized and one day be sealed to her family.

 

I love this work and this gospel. I love you all too! Until next week!

No empty chairs

 

Hermana Yates

Perfect Peace

Familia,

You guys are all over the place!!!  It is so fun to see what you are doing every week.  I hope you all have a fun time this week with the 4th of July celebrations!  The 4th is my 4 month mark so celebrate for me ;)

 

Isaac with my companion's
brother-in-law in Mexico City!!!

THE RUNDOWN:

-A man tried to kiss me this morning on the street.  Excuse me sir, I'm a missionary.

-I almost got eaten alive by 2 dogs this week

-I walked around this morning for an hour with the under lining layer of my dress completely up. I was on display for all of Coban.  In the words of my district leader: hey at least everyone knows you're temple worthy right?

-An hour ago all my photos got deleted.  ALL OF THEM! The first time I put my card in the computer it didn't read it.  The guy here said MY card had a virus and he took my card and cleaned it or whatever that means.  Afterwards my pictures worked.  I took my card out and now I just opened it to look at my pictures and nothing is there.  We are going to go back to se if they can do anything... Sorry mama..

-I'm feeling much better! My eyes...haha the advice the doctor gave was that my eyes are fine, it should go back to normal in a few months and that I should use sunscreen...haha what.?? but it's getting worse.  I have like 3 spots now.  She dilated my eyes and said something is out of place in the gel in my eye..??  I don't know but I have another appointment in October.

-Transfers are next week......freak I still can't teach or speak Spanish hahaha.

-Poor Luke!  I love that ugly dog so much.  Feed him peanut butter for me.

 

As you have probably guessed by now, it's a little crazy here.  Like my missionary brother, Isaac,  said a few weeks ago, sometimes it is a challenge to distinguish the still small voice from all of the noise.  In all of the hectic happenings in Guatemala, I have been so grateful for moments of perfect peace--

 

Looking up at the beautiful clouds in the hazy sunset and realizing, once again, that Heavenly Father is in charge of things much bigger than I can comprehend and that I can press on in faith in whatever challenges I am having.  He is aware of me and my situation.

 

Watching The Testaments for our ward mission activity and hearing the comments of our investigators' children,  "Wow, Jesus really loves us.  Jesus loves His children and He is going to come again."

 

Listening to Jeni's testimony just minutes after she was baptized and seeing a new light in her eyes.

 

Reading letters from my family in the "when you feel lonely" envelope this morning, and every letter being an answer to my prayer I offered just minutes before.

 

Where can I turn for peace?  He only One.  Tender mercies are everywhere.  My Savior is my source of peace.  Whether it is directly from the Spirit, through others, through the scriptures, I always know where to turn.  I am so grateful for this perfect gospel and our perfect Savior and Father.

 

No Empty Chairs

Morgan