Gerbin

 

Ahh there´s SOO much that happened this week I don´t know where to start! This week was AMAZING! So this week we taught Gerbin every week and he finally was baptized on Saturday ;) Gerbin is the man that I contacted on a bus a few weeks ago. Gerbin doesnt have a lot of good friends so he showed a lot of faith by choosing to be baptized. He has changed so much already and is ready to begin his new life as a member of the church. Gerbin is the first contact that I´ve baptized so I was really happy this week. This week was really busy but soo good! So on Wednesday we had a multi zone conference with Elder Gavarett of the 70. He talked a lot about topics in Preach my gospel. He literally knows preach my gospel like the back of his hand, cover to cover. So basically the whole conference was preach my gospel-related. He spoke when I was in the MTC so it was nice to actually get to shake his hand and meet him up close this time. On Thursday we had another opportunity to go to the temple with the President, so that was awesome too. The more I go to the temple the more I love it and understand the purpose of temples and why its important to be worthy to go inside them. Temples are such a blessing but you truly can´t realize it until after you´ve gone through. I love being in an atmosphere that you can´t ever find anywhere else on earth ;) My comp and I also started teaching english classes on Saturday mornings at the church for whoever wants to come. Its fun teaching english because mostly kids come and theyre adorable! This week was sooo awesome and I´m grateful for all of the opportunities I had to teach new investigators, go to the temple, and hear revelation of a general authority. Í feel even more motivated to keep working as hard as I can and focus on investigators and not on myself. Thanks for all your letters, emails and support! Dont stop writing to me please! I need all of your extraordinary messages and words!

 

Hermana Argueta

 

Semana Santa

 

Happy late easter! So this week was crazy! So on Thursday and Friday the whole mission had a challenge do read the book of mormon in 36 hours. So our whole zone got together on Thursday morning and we all took turns reading together ALL DAY LONG! We did this on Friday all day too. We werent allowed to go out to work on Thursday or Friday for semana santa, or easter, because people here go out and its a holiday so no ones home anyway. It was fun, tiring, and exhausting to read the book of mormon NONSTOP but we did it. We all finished reading at 1:30 am on Saturday! On Thursday night the hermanas got to go home and sleep, but the elders had to sleep in the church for 2 nights! So of course the church was filthy when we came back on Friday morning. Anyways, I got a little sick for a few days but now Im totally back to normal and feel great! Unfortunately, my comp got sick after me because Im pretty sure we both ate or drank something sketchy the week before or something, even though Im not sure at the moment what it is. So on Saturday we were supposed to have a baptism for Pancho, the fourteen year old boy, but he called me and said he didnt think he could get baptized and wanted to talk to us... this happened 2 hours before he was supposed to get baptized. So I immediately told my comp who was laying down and we rushed over to see Pancho at his member friend Andres´house. So we start talking to Pancho and finally convinced him that he was making the right decision to get baptized, when all of a sudden my comp started crying. We asked her what was wrong and she said her head hurt really bad and was pounding like never before. She asked Andres if she could lay down on his bed, so she did. Then she started feeling really sick and throwing up and all that and couldnt even move. So I called my zone leaders and they called the President. Meanwhile, Pancho went to go ask his mom for permission for his baptism. I wanted to go talk to his mom, but I couldnt leave the house because my comp was sick and couldnt move. So it was super frustrating having to deal with the baptism mess and then my comp being SUPER sick. I felt sooo bad for her! She was seriously sooo sick! So Pancho´s mom had a friend over who was really anti mormon and told her all these negative things about the church so ended up not giving him permission.  Then the assistant elders called me and said they were on their way to pick us up and take us to Reu, about 20 minutes away. So they came, gave my comp a blessing, and then we went to my house and I packed as fast as possible for the both of us. The car ride to Reu was HORRIBLE for her. She was sooo nasuseous all the way there. Plus we had to drive slower because it was raining a lot. So we went to the doctor in Reu around 8:30 at night and after she took some tests, he told us she had a form of typhoid. So it was good that we came to him because she needed injections and tons of medication. After, the assistants took us to a hotel in Reu and my comp and I stayed there for the night. The next day we went to church in Reu and after talked to Hermana Maravilla, the Presidents wife and a doctor. Then we took a bus back to Mazate. My comp is way better thankfully. So on a happy note, we talked to Panchos mom yesterday and we have plans to talk to her more in depth tomorrow. Plus we are going to be visitimg the family we brought to conference this week too. For Pday today we went to a fun Park in my area and rode bikes and played and just hung out. I miss all of you a lot. Send me pictures of Milo! Hope you all have a great week!

Hermana Argueta

 

General Conference

Happy General Conerence Weekend! Did you guys like it¿¿ i did. So this week, the whole mission was prohibited to baptize because of conference, so instead we focused on bringing as many people as possible to each session. My comp and I were able to bring 4 investigators with one family. The family that we brought is the Perez family and they live in Urisaba, about 10 minutes from my house here. We met them in Santo Domingo on Thursday night at Roberts house, our recent convert. Roberts mom told us that they were interested in coming to our church. We talked to Paola, the mom of the family who is 24 years old. She said that she is tired of her husband being drunk all of the time and not treating her well. She said she needs a change and that he needs to also be willing to change so they be a better family together. So we talked to her husband that night too, Esteven, and he said he was willing to come to church but he didnt want everyone asking him questions and interrogating him. We invited them to conference on Saturday at the stake center and they both accepted. On Saturday, we came over at 9 am to pick them up and only Paola was ready. Esteven was totally hungover and we could barely understand what he was saying. So he ended up not coming. After trying to convince him to come to church for almost an hour that day, he finally promised he would come on Sunday morning with us. So Sunday morning Paola and him ended up going to the morning session of conference with us. After conference we gave them a tour of the church. When we got to the baptismal font, Pamela had a few questions about when we baptize. We told her that baptism is the first step and ordinance that a person needs to take in order to progress as a member of the church and all she would need to have is a desire to do it and be willing to repent if necessary. Paola and Esteven seemed to like everything about church so we are hoping to put a baptismal date with them this week. Its funny how we found them though because Roberts mom is very evangelica and she is the one who was telling Paola and Esteven about how great our church is and the activities we do, that my comp and I didnt even have to say anything at first! My jaw just hung open and I was thinking, GIRL, ARE YOU KIDDING ME¿¿ ¨WHY DO¨NT ¨YOU JUST GET BÄPTIZED THEN¿¿¿  Im grateful to have the opportunity to share the gospel with families like Paola Esteven and I hope they choose to follow in the right path through baptism. Ill let you all know how it goes! I love all of you! Have a great week.

Hermana Argueta

 

P.S. Hermanas Alston and Halling, I MISS you girls!

P.P.S. Thanks Ana and Rick for putting the ward package together for me! I LOVED everything! :)

 

Breaking Up isn't hard to Do

 

 

Hey everyone! So this week was tough, but I somehow made it through! Today I feel kinda strange because I am in a trio with 2 other hermanas since my comp had to go to the capitol to sign some papers for something, but its been fun with Hermanas Alston and Arroyo! We have plans to go buy random Guatemalan things today at the mercado since its Hermana Alston goes home on Thursday and today is her last P Day! Weve been in the same zone for 5 months now so Im really going to miss her! So this week we got a reference from a member in our ward named Mauricio. He said it was the girlfriend of an 18 year old member in our ward named Marcos. So we went over to Marcos house to wait for him and his girlfriend to arrive. About 15 minutes later, he walked in alone and said, omg, you guys are here! ahh, okay so please dont ask her a lot of questions because she doesnt like being pressured or interrogated and try not to make her feel uncomfortable. My comp and I just looked at eachother and thought, OH. NO. This is a trick appointment. The girl, Lillian, had NO idea we were going to be there to teach her the first lesson. So she walked in and the look on her face when she saw us was priceless. She was shocked and not happy to see us at all. Ha. So Marcos started telling her that she should give us a chance and hear us out because he loved her and wants to marry her in the temple someday. So we started talking to her and answering her questions. Then she told us she is really Evangelica and her dream is to get married in her church. She would not budge and was not receptive to anything we said. She said that she appreciated the time we took to teach her but she was not interested in hearing more. So we ended it like that. So the next day Andres, Marcos brother brought a nonmember friend to church named Pancho. We met him and talked to him about coming over and teaching him. He accepted and we planned to meet up that same day in the evening. So we go meet him around 6pm and Marcos opens the door to let us in. Then Marcos said, I really appreciate you guys coming over yesterday! My girlfriend didnt talk to me at all last night after you guys left and today she broke up with me!!! Im grateful for you two because you helped me realize that I need to focus on preparing for my mission and not on dating! my comp and i just looked at eachother with our mouths wide open, guilty as charged. I said, omg im sooo sorry!! its all our fault! but he was sooo happy and his response was, oh no, dont be! you did me a favor and to show you how much i appreciate you guys im making you dinner tonight! so basically we were rewarded and thanked for breaking a couple up, so okay, theres a first time for everything i guess. So back to Pancho. So we taught Pancho and is totally the Joseph Smith of Guatemala. He is 14 years old, doesnt practice any religion, and has been confused while figuring out what church he should go to. We asked him if he would be willing to be baptized on april 7 and he accepted. So well see how that goes. But the coolest part of all of this is that when one door closes and smacks you in the face (Lillian), the Lord will make sure a better door will open for you (Pancho). In my case, it was literally the same door, but you get what Im saying.Just when I felt discouraged after our lesson with Lillian, the VERY next day I was given the opportunity to teach someone who is truly READY to accept the gospel into their lives. The Lord will NEVER leave us. NEVER EVER. I remember hearing something that I loved and have yet to forget... Even if you give up on yourself, the Lord NEVER WILL! This is soo true. Heavenly Father knows our weaknesses, strengths, potential, and capacity. He knows how we can be the best our best selves and if we have faith in him we can realize it too. This experience also has showed me that EVERYTHING comes in the LORDS TIME, NOT OUR OWN. I love being a missionary and am trying to be a better one each day. Love you all.

 

Hermana Argueta