im gettingreallysick of these keyboards

Familia,

these internet shops...

p.s. happy valentines day :)

THE RUNDOWN:

-no one got shot this week!

-sophie CONGRATS ongetting your young womanhood medallion!

-erin, so crazy you are goingtohave a baby!!  take pictures!!!!

-Igot the package! Thankyou!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So to say this week was insane would be an understatement.

beingthenurse's companion means that i getto tag alongwith all of the errands she has to make and it'sa good time.  Exceptthisweek.  There were elders calling in the middle of thenight, people having surgeries, insuranceproblems, shoulder problems, other secret problems, running to the plaza and back, and i don't even know what else.  Then at thesametime we were having to plan a Valentines Day activity in the church.  The elders were in charge of the invitations, the other hermanas were in charge of the game, and hermana allen and I....the food and decorating.  are you kidding me??  We recruited the relief society to help with the food and we ended up making 130 rolls from scratch.. .. which I did on a table in the oficina while hermana allen was taking care of health things.  Haha hopefully i have time to send pics because it wasfunny. we also decided to hang a million balloons from the ceiling for decorations because i saw iton pinterest onetime haha.

Saturday cameand we werehoping to quickly decorate after correlation so we could teach..... we endedupbeingthere ALLDAYLONG!  900 balloonslater and we were left alone to try to find a ladderto hang the balloons.  People would comeandgo trying to helpbut notreally doinganything haha. we conseguir'd 2 rickety ladders and got to work.  oneof them wasn't tallenough so we had toputit on a tableto reach haha!  ITwasinsane andprobablyvery dangerous, butwe had tosave Valentines Day!  We ended up havingit done right before the activity was going to start.  It was a crazy night but a good time!

Sorry My fingers are cramping.  gotta stop.loveyou all andlove beinga missionary.  adios

NEC

Hermana Yates

asjdflkñaksd

FAMILIA

No se precupen, i got the good keyboard again!!!! wooooooooo

THE RUNDOWN:

-It's warm today. halleluja

A whole lot happened this week, so I guess I'll just go day by day?

Lunes:

Talk about baggy.  We had a family home evening with the bishop because it was Elder Gomez's last one!  It was cool but sad to hear him bear his testimony.  Remind me to not ever leave the mission ok?  Also, they invited a family from Chamelco, my first area, and it was so nice to see them again!  It was crazy to realize that it was almost a year ago that I started there.  I was able to see how I have progressed in so many ways.

Martes:

CHANGE DAY.  I was the nurse's assistant and it was fun :)  haha I got to see everyone, help her by erasing the board during her presentation, and help put together first aid kits for the news.

Miercoles:

Talk about baggy x2.  We had to go back to the offices in the morning to get the olds their medicine to kill all of the parasites they are going home with.  It was SO WEIRD to see all these people super baggy and waiting for their last brunch with President.  they were sad to be leaving, yet happy.  Once again, remind me to not ever leave ok?  We cried and said bye, and ya.  That night we had a noche de hermanamiento and the stake president gave the message because he lives in our area.  It was so great!  I learned so much and it was surely an answer to my prayers.  We talked about faith, hope, and grace.  How they are all connected and how they are all necessary.  How real the hope is for the resurrection and for a better life with our Creator.  He told the story I told in my farewell talk about the little kid who wanted a bike but only had 61 cents.  It was so interesting to see how much I have learned about the atonement since I gave that talk.  How much MORE it means to me.  How much more I love my Savior.  How much I have learned about grace, mercy, our responsibilities, and our inadequacy, and just how necessary the atonement was.

Jueves:

One of those days where you feel weighed down by the worries and problems of the world, yet at the same time, so grateful for what you know and for your own blessings..... it's a weird feeling, I'll tell you that.  Our member who was going to leave with us is having a hard time with the usual problems here in Guatemala... her husband is cheating on her, has another family, wants to live with her, beats her.. blah blah blah it's awful and I'm sick of that.  Remind me to have a good husband ok?  We helped as much as we could and headed to our appointment with Luvia and her kids.  As usual, she was complaining about Wesley (her 13 year old son who we love) about how he doesn't want to study, he doesn't do anything, he is good for nothing, and how she was going to send him back with his terrible father because she didn't want to deal with him anymore.  We told her for the millionth time that she has to support, love, and motivate her kids.  She left and we talked to Wesley.  We asked why he wants to go with his dad and he starts crying and says "because my mom doesn't love me"  of course we start bawling.  He knew she does, but she just has a hard time being a parent to say the least.  We helped him see that if he went to school (he hasn't been going all year), went to church, and was super obedient and awesome, she will change too.  He has to be the example in the family.  We read about the 2,000 stripling warriors and he decided he was going to be like them and fight for his future and his family because his mom is having a hard time right now.  We asked him if there was anything else we could do for him and he sat there for a long time wanting to say something but was nervous as always haha.  Then he said "can you come every day?"  (cue the tears again)  of couse we can come every day.  Freaking love that kid.

Viernes:

We went with Luvia again and she was telling us how much Wesley loves us.  She said "Wesley keeps telling me how happy he is when the hermanitas come.  He doesn't know why, but he feels good.  He feels motivated."  That, ma'am, would be the spirit and the gospel that he has never had before.  It tends to do that :)

Sabado:

p.s. mom... you might want to skip this part.  or if you keep reading (which i know you will) i warned you.  don't freak.

So we had left in the morning to visit some people and thought about stopping by luvias place to tell her we'd be there right after lunch, but decided not to and just went back to eat.  Here in Guatemala there are a lot of bombs and fireworks going off all the time, so we don't really think much of it when it happens.  I used to laugh about it because it sounds like the Hunger Games when someone dies and a bomb goes off, ya know?

Anyways, we heard some and joked about it and moved on.  There were also some sirens outside but that's normal too, it's usually nothing exciting.  Our member came to get us and we went to find luvia and saw a bunch of people a few houses down the street from our house.  Turns out that Luvia's 24 year old next door neighbor got shot outside of his house in broad daylight in front of a bunch of people.  As far as we know, they don't know who it was, just that they drove by and shot him.   so remember those hunger game shots/bombs at lunch.....?  yeah.  Luvia's kids saw it happen because they are always running around in the street, and we saw him laying there covered.  It was a little eerie but everyone else acted like it was normal and we were super surprised.  A few hours later they moved him and life went on like normal.  All I know is that we were protected.  I already knew that, but that was just another testimony to me.  so thanks for your prayers folks :)  they are very appreciated.  mom, I'M OK!!  just pray for Luvias kids because they told us that it was scary for them and they can't get it out of their minds.  They are 12 and 8.  We told them to read their BOM and they would be able to forget about it.

Later that night we taught a cute 19 yr old girl who was listening to the missionaries about 2 years ago.  She is SO READY to be baptized!!!  She just needs to get work off on sundays.  Pray for Nolvy because she wants to get baptized this month!!!

Domingo:

THE FAMILIA IBARRA WENT TO CHURCH!!!!!  We left them for a while because they weren't doing the things they knew they should, like reading, going to church, and preparing for their baptism.  SO HAPPY.  Also luvia's kids went to church without her.  Pilas

Anyways, don't have time anymore!  I love you all and I love being here!  p.s. WELCOME HOME ELDER PINCOCK!

NEC

hermana yates

How to kill a comp

Familia,

lastima porque I finally have a perfectly new keyboard, but I'm spending all my time today in internet saving my pictures on flash drives.  sorry, I'm just scared to lose it all!

quick rundown

-We saved a man's life.  Well maybe.  A drunk guy covered in blood came up to us on the street and held out a very bloody hat asking us for a quetzal for a bandaid.  Uh sir, I don't think a bandaid will help that huge cut on your head.  We took him to stores and a pharmacy to get water and gauze and helped clean him up.  Everyone was looking at us like we were crazy but someone had to help him!  Eventually someone called the ambulance but he wouldn't go with them.  Turns out his brother was drunk as well, they were fighting, and he cut his head open with a table knife.  It's casual.

Cleaning up the drunk guy. 

-Changes are tomorrow and we don't have changes!  So turns out, I will be killing Hermana Allen (aka sending her home from the mission)  So sad!!

-Jeronimo didn't get baptized..Yet!  We went and talked to his wife and she has calmed down a lot and we are hoping it will work out for this next week!  I'll keep you updated.

-I accidentally left the key in the house the other day and we realized it right as we shut the door........ the best solution that anyone had was to just break the window and put wire in it to open the door.  So they did.  Lesson learned!

I was able to come so much closer to my Savior this week.  I love Him and I love learning about Him.  He's the best.

Well sorry but that's all folks.

Love you all!

NEC

Hermana Yates

PRAY FOR JERONIMO

Familia,

good news: my spacebar works this week

Well I'm keeping this one short because I want to try to send pictures home.. they almost all got deleted again.

Jeronimo accepted a baptismal date!!!!!  Fasting works people.  He should be getting baptized this Saturday but he has a lot of doubts.  His wife could not be more unsupportive.  We aren't allowed in their house anymore, but luckily we can still meet with him in a member's house.  Tonight we are going to have a FHE with him in the bishops house so we hope to help him keep his ánimo for his baptism on Saturday!  Please pray for him!  We need to see a miracle this week.

I love the miracle of the Restoration of Christ's church.  The other night we showed Luvia and her kids the 20 minute video of Joseph Smith and the Restoration.  As I sat there across from them next to the video player I felt the Spirit fill the little room they all live in.  As I saw their faces intently watching this amazing story I was filled with hope and amazement.  Heavenly Father knows them.  He knows each of us, whether we live in a little trashed room with 6 people in the hills of Guatemala or if we live down the street from the conference center in salt lake.  He has a plan for each of us, but too many still have no idea what He has in store for them.  I can only begin to imagine how happy He was as His children who do not yet know Him were starting to understand the truth.  If only they knew how important this is for them.  Good thing the misioneras do though :)  This message is way too important not to share it.

I love my Savior and I love this work.

Oh and I love my family too :)

NEC

Hermana Yates

MYSPACE BAR DOESN'TWORK

Familia,

hi i have a lot to say butmy spacebar doesn't workvery well soimight get bored after awhile sorry!

THE RUNDOWN:

-so.... what happens whenmy danskos fall apart...?  i think they'reon theverge but the ladies in the sister missionarymall toldmetheywould lastmywholemission... todavía me falta mucho tiempo!!

We made a nativity. Guatemalan style.

-hahahahaha ohmy imdying at that video clip! send a million videosplease 

-thank you sueann!!! those cookies were so good!!!

We FINALLY got to start the restoration with Luvia afterteaching the lawof chastity for a few months.  No her boyfriend isn't gone yet, and noheis not a good person. We found out somestuff abouthimyesterday.......butit's the kind of stuff that they say not to write home tomomabout haha so il wait on that one. sorry!  but anyways, they understand it and her kids areso pilas!  we changedtheir baptismal dateto february so they havemoretimetolearn because les cuesta entender but it will be SWEET

So recently the church has changed the way they are doing things here inlatinamerica. they wantthemtobe self sufficient and paytheir tithing and fast offerings,which almostnoonedoeshere.  Now, themissionaries herehave topayas much as we do in the u.s.  ....which meansthatno one here can affordto go on missions.  itis so sad because there are many who are waiting fortheir calls orwho were going tosendtheirpapers in andnowthey can't go because they don'thave close to enough money.  Itmakesmesosad to know howamazingthemission is and think of all the experiences they could have and they mightnot be abletogo..

White elephant office Christmas party

hermano Jeronimo Amaya has been an investigator for a little over a year.  He has gonetochurch inhis whiteshirt , tie, nice pants, nice shoes, andbackpack full of manuals and scriptures and a hymnbook faithfully for a year. if you didn'tknowhim you'd thinkhe was a member!  He has been nervous togetbaptized andhas alwayswanted towait, mainly becausehis family isn'tprogressing ashe is.  Hiswifecouldnotbe moreopposed toit,actually.  We havealwaysinvitedhimtobaptism buthe alwayswantedtowait.  until the othernight :):):)

as soon aswe sat down tohaveourlessonwith himtwonights ago, he said, Hermanas, ihave something iwanttosharewith you.  On the13th, iprayed and openedmy bible and read ascriptureaboutnot fearing.  Iloveditsomuch.  

wewere a littleconfused butsaid, that'sgreat thatyoulikedthatscripture! 

thenhe says,but thenon the 14thIprayed again andi opened my bookof mornonto arandom pageandstartedreading. Iopenedto Ether 4. Iloveverse 18.  ((go read it))

We got thebiggestsmiles and asked why heloveditsomuch.  hesaid thatheknew thatit washisanswer. That he couldn'tignore itanylonger.  He knew he had to bebaptized andhe had todoit soon.  It wassoso special and Hermanaallen andi were crying and congratulating him. ....then his wife came storming in.  walking back and forth inthe room and pointing athimshe yelled that she did notsupporthim inhis decision de ser bautizado.  She never hoped it would happen, they got married in the catholic church, and thatthe day he got baptized shewould divorce him. then shestomped upthestairs and slammed thedoor. uhhhhhhhhhh...awkward.  he apologized, butinsistedon being baptized.  he was stillin church on sunday and saidhewants tobebaptizedtoset theexample for hisfamily.  we arefastingforhim today in hopes that tonight he wil accepta baptismal date!  prayforhim!!

oki gotta go, this keyboard iskillingme.

love you all!

Our Light in the Wilderness

Familia,

 

Talk about a shock.  My heart aches for Bryce Astle's family.  I can't believe it.  He is so great.  Keep them in your prayers.

 

THE RUNDOWN:

-We got fleas this week.  Oh the joys of clean investigators..........

-We moved into a new house.  A HUGE ONE.  Like, 3 stories huge.  But now the plumbing is having problems and the toilet was having issues.. and we didn't have a plunger.  We tried to get creative with trash bags and duct tape to try to make our own plunger.. yeah let's just say that didn't work out too well.  I think we will be looking for a plunger today

-I never thought I'd be dying of cold in Guatemala

 

Another rollercoaster of a week.  I love being a missionary so much, but man, is it exhausting!

 

We are working a lot with our families with baptismal dates.  As usual, they are having a hard time.  Whenever people make efforts to follow Christ, Satan decides to work a lot harder on them.  It's kind of a buzz kill really.  We did have an interesting lesson with Luvia.  She is living with her boyfriend who treats her horribly.  She used to work in the strip club down the road and she has had a very rough life.  We taught the law of chastity to her, her boyfriend, and her son.  She cried as she told us how badly she wants to change.  With a broken heart she told us that if she had had someone telling her this when she was younger her life would have been very different.  She pleaded with her son to listen to us and live the law of chastity so that he could have a better life than she is living.  It was sad but special to help her know where to turn for forgiveness and hope.

 

Yesterday we were having a rough day.  People are going through hard times and sometimes it is overwhelming to have a whole new set of people in every house tell you about everything that is going wrong, their regrets, and their doubt.  When our investigators are having a hard time, it's hard not to blame myself.  Sometimes I feel like if I could just do a little more, their burdens would be lighter.  We weren't finding people, the familia Ibarra was doubting their decision to be baptized, Luvia wasn't there, and we were frustrated.  We decided to visit a couple who were baptized last year.  They weren't too happy either and were struggling with their own set of trials.  We sang a hymn and I felt a prompting to read Mosiah 24 with them.  We had another lesson planned but I felt like for some reason they needed to hear that instead.  I asked my comp if we could change the plan and defeatedly she said that she didn't care anymore.  So I rolled with it haha.  After we read it they started telling us about what had happened that morning.  They are a very young couple with little boys.  They hadn't received money in a while and weren't expecting a pay check for another week.  They had no food.  The young mother started crying talking about how she had started sobbing in the morning realizing that she had nothing to feed her children before church.  She prayed and felt peace.  When her kids asked "Mama, aren't we going to eat breakfast?" she sadly gave them a drink of water and they headed off to church.  She came home and found some old tortillas, oil and beans and they were able to eat lunch gratefully.  She and her husband were so grateful for the scripture passage we read with them and with tears in their eyes they knew it was an answer to their prayers.  That tomorrow is another day and they would get by.

 

Sometimes God doesn't take our problems away, but He will always guide us, lift us, and lighten our burdens so we can learn, progress, and remember Him.  He tells us not to worry, that He will provide a way.

 

"And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led." 1 nephi 17:13.

 

Our wilderness could be many things.  A bad day, a broken heart, a loved one lost, lost hope.  Our promised land could be a better day, hope found, repentance, happiness, eternal life.  No matter what our wilderness is, no matter what our struggle is, Christ is our light in the wilderness.  He will lead us to our promised land as we trust in Him and rely on His love.  We will always know that He is the one leading us to something better and more beautiful.

 

NEC

Hermana Yates

Happy New Year

Familia,

THE RUNDOWN:

-I think you could all guess by now as to how Guatemalans celebrate new years.... BOMBS.  and tamales.  woooooooo!

-Is it ironic that I shared a million lessons on new years goals and how important they are.. and I hate making new years goals?

-My last haircut was a big fail, so hermana Allen and I cut my hair yesterday.  yikes................. rewind button anyone?

I think the Lord has decided to be extra loving this week (if that's even possible).  We were able to place 9 baptismal dates this week with people who are truly progressing and have such a strong desire to change their lives and accept Christ more fully.  We are so excited to help them learn more, strengthen their testimonies, and make this important decision in their lives!

On New Years day we had interviews with President and Hermana Curtiss and the assistents.  It was great and they  helped us all self-evaluate and make new plans in order to improve as a mission and as individual missionaries in our individual areas.  To truly have a personal conversion.  To truly be dedicated to the work and get rid of any distractions.  We have been fasting every week for the past 6 weeks in order to get rid of our distractions and it has helped so much.  Who knew fasting could be so awesome and bring us so much closer to our Father in Heaven?? I sure didn't before the mission.

So for those of you who don't know, the mission is a pure emotional rollercoaster.  I swear my emotions go up and down and up and down and up and down at least 27 times every day.  In every lesson, really.  Someone is ready to accept a fecha, then someone doubts the answers they have already received, then someone read in their Book of Mormon, then someone found out their husband cheated on them and has another child, then that husband brings the patoja to live in the house with his other child, then investigators go to church, then recent converts go out drinking with their friends, then Luvia is FINALLY there when we place an appointment to come back, then her boyfriend is abusive and won't leave.  HOLY SMOKES it is exhausting!   But really great at the same time!  Haha sometimes I feel a little like Heavenly Father must feel when he watches us progress and then make stupid mistakes.  Having this limited view on eternity is a little hard sometimes, isn't it?  I feel like we are always here cheering on our investigators, guiding them, giving them what they need to succeed, and then it is heart breaking when they fall short of their potential.  JUST TRUST US!  JUST TRUST IN YOUR SAVIOR!  TRUST IN REVELATION!  I feel like that must be what my Father in Heaven wants to tell me sometimes.  We can trust Him.  We can trust our Savior.  We can trust in revelation and gain our own witness of the truthfulness of this gospel and the reality of God's love.  I hope to be able to do that better this year, as well as hope our investigators do the same.

I love you all!

NEC

Hermana Yates