Santo Domingo

 

So this week we've been working really hard as a companionship and as a zone to baptize as many families as possible in Mazatenango. The zone leaders are trying to set a new record for our zone and we all fasted together as a zone last wednesday to help us focus on looking for people in our areas who are prepared to be baptized this month. This week Hermana Villa and I have been working a lot with the elders and helping each other out. The elders came with us to visit Evelyn and her family a ton this week. Evelyn is really torn because she feels wrong about being a member of the church while her children go to the catholic church. She is ready for baptism and has a desire, but needs to exercise her faith and actually put it into action. We are going to try to work with her this week. Weve also been working really hard in Santo Domingo, a´town in our area. Santo Domingo is sooo pretty and really green. Theres a lot of people here, but no church building in this town, so it makes it hard for people to be able to afford the bus pasejo every sunday to get to church in Las Flores. This week we worked SOOOO hard to look for a family but didnt have any luck. FINALLY, on Saturday night at around 8pm, my companion and I along with Fabian, our ward mission leader went to visit a family in which only the dad is an inactive member and the family is really positive for baptisms! On Sunday we went to pick up Delmy, the nonmember and wife, and she agreed to come with us to church! Hermana Villa and I were SOOO happy! I sat next to Delmy at church and she asked me a BUNCH of questions about the book of mormon and sunday school! It was awesome! I gave her a copy of the book of mormon and gave her a little homework assignment to read 3 nephi 11. Although missionary work is challenging and stressful sometimes, Im honestly learning sooo much about how the spirit works at precisely the right time and in the right ways for each person to be receptive to the gospel. As far as my spanish goes, well, its coming along. Im studying spanish every day and trying to write things down that I hear that are unfamiliar to me. But at least I understand everything so thats good.  So since I have been in the field for over 2 months now, I finally can say I am used to several things about Guatemalan lifestyle. Even some things that might have once been crazy and unusual to me in the past ha. I could think of several, but here are 5 things I am pretty much used to by now:

 

1) Being crammed on a tiny bus with at least 25 other people.

2) Eating tortillas. Every.Single.Day.

3) Women whipping out their boob to feed their babies at any given time without any ounce of discretion for my sake. During a lesson, at church, on the street, at the mall, on the bus, while eating my chalupa at taco bell, you name it. Yup. Seeing tits on the loose does not phase me at all, sadly.

4) Being sweaty 24/7. Yum.

5) Getting asked where I am from at least 27 times a day and no one believing me that Im 100 percent Guatemalan. No one believes me. NO ONE!

 

Anyway, thanks sooo much for everyone that wrote to me! Dad I didnt get your email last week, I think you forgot to hit send maybe??? Thanks to EVERYONE who contributed to the package! I loved everything and am wearing one of the new shirts right now! you are all awesome and I am sooo blessed to have all of your support! Have a fab week dolls!

 

Hermana Argueta

When You Least Expect It

hi-loww! so this week was pretty awesome. Hermana Villavicencio and I baptized a lady named Delfina and her 8 year old son Jonny. So 3 of Delfinas kids were already baptized previously but due to some personal issues that needed to be taken care of, Delfina couldnt get baptized a while back. But its all good because Delfina cleared up her issues and she made the right choices in order to be able to get baptized this past weekend. This week something else wayy cool happened.So my comp and I found a family that lives in a tiny house with a tin roof in Santo Domingo. A lady named Albertina and her 3 little kids live there. We taught them a short lesson and left them a pamphlet about the Restoration.  So the next day, my comp and I went back to Santo Domingo and were planning on visiting Albertina but we saw her right when we got off the bus and she was rushing to the hospital, so we couldnt visit her. So my comp and I walked around and looked around, trying to figure out where to go. We stood there for a few seconds and all of a sudden we heard 2 ladies talking to eachother. Without even saying a word to eachother, my comp and I looked at eachother, smiled, and headed towards them. One of the girls was named Sulmy and she´s 19 years old. We just started talking to her and she said that Albertina happened to be her aunt and she had borrowed the pamphlet we left the day before and she had read all of it! She said she was really interested and wanted to know more. My comp and I were obviously more than happy and couldnt believe it! The spirit totally led us in the right direction. Its experiences like these that reassure me that the spirit really does guide and lead us to the people who are ready to accept the gospel into their lives. So Sulmy let us into her house and we taught her the first lesson about the Restoration. She was really interested. We invited her to church but  she said she had to get permission from her mom first. On Sunday, our investigator Evelyn FINALLY showed up to church! We were soo happy and proud of her! I really feel positive about Evelyn. We picked her up really early on Sunday and we also picked up 2 other member families. We ended up cramming 20 people into a tiny yellow bus to get to church ha! it was really crazy to see ha! Yesterday, Hermana Villavicencio and I also traveled to Chicacao, an area about an hour away from our area. It is uncommon for us to leave our area, but the zone leaders and assistants asked for our help because a baptismal date fell through that the elders had there and they wanted our help to save the family from changing their mind. It was nice to know that the elders really needed our help and trusted us enough to be able to teach the family by ourselves. We talked for a while with them, trying hard to convince them to get baptized, and finally they said they would try to prepare to get baptized this week. Everything in Mazate is going pretty well though. This week I really want to work with our investigators more so they can progress and realize that they are more prepared for baptism than they think! I miss all of you sooo much! Thanks for your emails and prayers and letters! I always appreciate them and love getting them! I hope you all have a great day and do something nice for someone today!

PEACE. OUT. HOMIES.

hermana argueta

Change

HI! So this week was kinda hard for me and my comp because it was changes week and 3 elders in our zone left ;( we are sad because they were our zone leaders and district leader and we became really good friends with them. But its okay because our new zone leaders are REALLY hardworking and thats exactly what Hermana Villavicencio and I need because we are DYING to work hard this change and find new people to baptize. So yesterday we were kinda bummed because we went to all of our investigators houses early in the morning to invite them to church and none of them came. We were really frustrated, but were gonna continue to visit them and try to get them to come to church again this Sunday. We are still teaching Evelyn and Monica. On Friday it was really funnny because Hermana Villavicencio and I were visiting our investigators in Urisaba. We stopped by Evelyns house but she wasnt home. Evelyns 4 kids were home so we started talking to them. The 21 year old daughter was kinda quiet at first and didnt really want to talk to us. Then one of the kids noticed Hermana Villavicencio was bleeding and told her she would clean her leg up for her, so she ran to get medicine and cotton to clean it. Hermana Villa freaked out when she saw the alcohol and screamed, So what did I do¿ I grabbed her leg and put it on my lap and said, DO IT!! CLEAN HER LEG! HURRY!! HERMANA VILLA SCREAMED; [NO WAY!! let go of me! its goonnna hurt! and EVERYONE WAS CRACKING UP AT THE LITTLE SHOW HERMANA VILLA AND I naturally threw for them. So now they love us and think were hilarious! we }even won the 21 year old, Sharons, trust because she kept asking us a bunch of questions on why we serve missions and what we have to do to serve one and things like that. So Hermana Villa and I are gonna try to be friends with Sharon so she can feel more comfortable around us from now on. Besides that, we basically just showed the new zone leaders our area since we share it with them and introduced them to people in the ward. But the 4 of us are gonna start working in an area called Santo Domingo which is primarily dominated with evangelicals as well as an area called the Progresso which I havnt been to yet. But on another note, Im really healthy and doing great still! Nothing to complain as of yet! thanks for your dear elders allison and sonia! i miss my sisters and family sooo much!!! i love ALL of you! please pray that I will find new people to teach this week! that would be super helpul! hope all of you have an amazing week!

hermana argueta

2012

Hey everyone! Happy New Year! What did everyone do this year to celebrate? So this week we went to visit some members in a place called Urisaba. In my last blog post, theres a picture of me in a corn field.. thats Urisaba. So my comp and I went with my district leader Elder Con Con and his companion to visit some families there and for some reason that day there was a plethora of dogs EVERYWHERE! I swear, most of the time we were there was spent dodging vicious dogs! them crazyy things! but im still alive! so this week weve been focusing on visiting member families and teaching them about missionary work, or in spanish ´´la obra misional´´. We read D&C 18 with them, focus on verses 15-16, and then talk about how important members are for missionary work to be successful and productive. Then we challenge them to think of someone they know or a friend who needs to gospel and would be willing to listen to the missionaries. We ended up getting a few references just that very DAY so that really showed me how vital members are to missionary work. As a missionary, i have noticed how important members are in order for us to find the people we need to teach the gospel to. Missionaries DEPEND and RELY on members SOOOO much! Most of the people we teach are not contacts, but references so help from members is so SOO important.WEve also been teaching a lady named Monica who is about 28 years old and has 3 boys. Again, members are sooo important because we actually met Monica through a member named Ester. So weve already taught Monica the first 3 lessons and challenged her to be baptized. She said that nothing is holding her back to be baptized and she likes everything about the church so far, but she just wants to spend more time learning about the church. I can feel her testimony grow stronger every time we teach her so HErmana Villavicencio and I are gonna work with her on realizing that because of her great faith and willingness to folllow Jesus Christ, she is more ready for baptism than she thinks. This week I also attended my first mult-zone conference in which the President spoke at. The conference was really awesome and motivational! President MAravilla is very animated and uplifting! IT was also cool because me and 11 other elders and sisters in my zone got to sing ´á childs prayer´¨ in spanish and english combined for the musical number. Im actually happy that the holidays are over so I can get back to work! Hermana Villavicencio and I decided we both wanna work really REALLY hard this next change and teach as MANY people as possible!! So what all of your new years resolutions¿ Mine is to read the book of mormon in spanish 3 times this year! Wish me luck! ha! To sum this post all up, I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!! The Lord does so many amazing things every single day! I know because I can feel and see them each day from when I get up in the morning til I go to sleep! Look around and notice a little more closely and yóull be amazed at how much the Lord blesses you too! I love you all! thanks for your emails and support! I feel ALL of your PRAYERS every single day and I PRAY sooo much for all of you all of the time! have a great week everyone!

Happy Holidays

            Happy Holidays everyone! Hope everyone had a great Christmas! This week was kinda slow in terms of teaching lessons and contacting because everyone is either partying at the beach or out of town for Christmas. So my companion and I have been hanging out and trying to enjoy Christmas by ourselves haha. Everyone celebrates Christmas here on December 24 so on that day I got to call the fam which was awesome! Later We went to this lady named Ester´´s house to eat tamales with her family. Then we went home because we have to be home by 8pm every night. Then we stayed up til midnight to watch the fireworks or luzes´´ as they call them here. In Guatemala they celebrate christmas by lighting off huge fireworks in the sky like at Disneyland, except there were way more coming from all over different parts of town. My comp and I have a staircase that leads to the roof so we watched the fireworks from up there- It was really cool because theres tons of fireworks all around you! Then we opened some presents that we had under our little tree made out of branches (Thanks Ana and Rick!). Then we went to sleep. The next day we went to church at 9am for sacrament. Later we went to eat at the Garcia family{s house. After that we went to the stake center to eat lasagna with our whole zone. Then we went to Hermana Gilland and BAcas baptism. After that we headed to Fabians house to eat MORE tamales! So basically Im not eating for a few days cuz im stuffed! Or maybe til tonight ha. It definitely didnt feel like christmas, but i appreciate the opportunity to have a new christmas experience this year. christmas is still my favorite holiday because the whole world comes together to celebrate the birth of Christ! Since I had more than a little down time at home this year on Christmas, I decided to read about the savior{s birth in the scriptures and liahona and i definitely have a better sense of the true significance and profound meaning of christmas. its amazing to be in a different country and realize that even though everyone celebrates christmas differently, we all celebrate for the same purpose! I love how diverse the world is and appreciate the many different ways to celebrate the birth of baby Jesus! I love you all and cant believe this is the last letter of 2011! HAPPY NEW YEAR! FELIZ ANO NUEVO!!

love hermana argueta

ps. thanks for the presents ana and rick and thanks for the card amanda! oh and thanks for the dear elders sara and judy and natalie! love yall!

FELIZ NAVIDAD! MERRY CHRISTMAS! MELE KALIKIMAKA!

Hey yall! So I literally have like no time to write today since we only have a mini p-day because we just got back from the mission Christmas party in Xetulul, Retalhuleu. So this week was interesting ha. It wasnt as productive as i hoped but I definitely am starting to figure out how my companion and I are gonna have to work and succeed in our area. So on Tuesday i had to give my first one hour lesson completely in spanish during our district meeting so I was freaking out of course. i stayed up til 1am on Monday planning it and hoping with all my might that I wouldn't suddenly forget every word I have ever learned in spanish while i taught the lesson ha. When I was talking to the district leader Elder Con Con on the phone about how worried I was about the lesson, he promised me that I would be blessed with people to teach the gospel THIS WEEK if I taught the lesson. I was kinda doubtful of his words at first, but i gave in. I gave the lesson and it actually went better than i thought ha. Then the next 2 days were not so easy. My companion and I had trouble finding people who would talk to us for more than 5 minutes and NO one was home! A bunch of our appointments feel through and our only baptismal date that we had this week fell through as well. We were so frustrated and were starting to think that it was nearly impossible to find new people who will want to get baptized. Then, on Friday, we received a reference at like 9pm and the next day we were given another reference. We though the first reference asked to have the missionaries over, but no, wrong. We got there and asked her if she would like to hear a short message about the restoration and she said that she wasn't sure because she already goes to a catholic church. my companion and i looked at each other and i seriously was about to grab her and say lets get out of here since the lady wasn't really friendly or interested at all. we felt tricked ha! but finally, the lady said it was okay if we talked to her. so during the lesson, she became more and more interested and gave more comments and by the end she was really talkative, friendly, and said she would maybe come to church with us sometime. then this little gray kitten randomly jumped on my lap while I was talking about Joseph Smith! haha! then the kitten curled up and took a nap on my lap for the rest of the lesson! by the end of the closing prayer, we had to wake the kitten up so I could get up ha! it was random and funny! ha, that's never happened to me before, ever lol. anywho, we invited the lady, Evelyn to a Christmas activity that at the stake center the next day and she actually came with her neighbor! My patience was tested, but the fruits of our labor showed up in the end! you really never know what to expect from any person which is why its so important to be obedient ALWAYS and to endure to the end! which is another reason why I love the scripture in 2 nephi 31:20! I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and I wish you all a Feliz Navidad from guatemala! peace and blessings! peace and blessings!



love, hermana argueta

President Uchtdorf in Guatemala and my FIRST BAPTISM!

 

Hey Peeeeps! So this week was REALLY amazing! I found my first family to baptize! Hermana and Villa went with a member named Ester to visit a member about 10 minutes away. They are really really poor and live very humbly. So when we got to the lady´s house, there was another family there with 2 little boys. The family is sooo poor, they literally have nothing. They used to live in the capitol a few months ago but lost EVERYTHING in a fire. We looked in their room and they all sleep on the hard pavement that is their floor because there were blankets everywhere. We started talking to them, taugt them the first lesson really briefly, and before we knew it, we asked them if they would get baptized. They BOTH immediately said YES! They werent married so we had to arrange that but the zone leaders took care of it. So we went back the next day really early at 7:30 in the morning with our zone leaders because we had to interview them for their baptism and teach them the commandments. Then we left. On Saturday we went with the zone leaders to buy the baptismal clothes, decorated the room in the church for their marriage ceremony and then they were baptized! We had a big chocolate cake too! They looked happy! This experience taught me that you really never know who is ready to hear the gospel and be baptized. The Lord prepares his children in different ways and moments.Thats why its so important that we ask investigators if they would be willing to get baptized during the first lesson or appointment with them. My zone leaders have been talking to me a lot about challenging investigators to get baptized more often. I set a goal with them to challenege at least one person every day for a week and if I do it they said they would buy me ice cream! This week was especially awesome because President Uchtdorf was in Guatemala to dedicate the Xela temple. On Saturday we got to watch the temple youth celebration and it reminded me of when I got to swing dance for the Newport Beach temple in 2005! On Sunday Hermana Villa and I went to see the temple dedicatory sessions that were going on all day. It was really nice. So everyone is still getting ready for christmas by lighting the loudest fireworks on the face of the planet and choose to do so EXACTLY when I am about to go to sleep! I SWEAR I live on the loudest street in all of Mazate! Her Villa and I noticed that this week ha! Mom, thanks for all of your Dear Elders! And thanks Rachel, Brenda, Gina, Griselda, Josh and Rita for your emails! Natalie where you at girl?!? So for christmas I would like the following: Hot water for my showers, raid spray for the huge red ants in my house, sushi, and ear plugs! Thanks! I miss you all!


hasta luego,  hermana argueta