Candelario

 

          Hello. This week went amazing. Our investigator, Candelario, was baptized on Saturday and now he and all his family are a latter day saint family in completeness. Candelario has been taught by several missionaries over many years but he never came to the point of accepting the gospel. We met him about 2 weeks ago and taught him the importance of a baptism having authority of God. He said that he was ready to make a good change in his life and he accepted a baptismal date the very first day we met him. This experience really proved to me that there are so many people who are simply ready to accept the gospel and we shouldnt be scared to share the gospel with everyone... after all how can we know who is ready and who isnt if we dont open our mouths and share our testimony with EVERYONE. Candelario is truly special and I am happy he and his whole family can now me an eternal family. I hope you all had an amazing week.. Changes are this week so I'm freaking out because I have no idea where I will be in the next 2 days ha. Oh well, thats the mission for you I guess. Have an amazing week.

 

Hermana Argueta

 

P.S. Thank you Stefanie Chen for the mauna loas... you're obviously the best person alive.

 

 

 

Ten

 

Hello. So Ive officially hit double digits... 10 months of my mission is now complete. It went by too fast and it scares me how fast time is flying by... I feel like I cant control how quickly the days are going by and sometimes I just want life to slow down a little so I can enjoy each experience I have each day. This week was better for me. We found more investigadores that appear positive and have a desire to learn more and we are preparing Candelario, a man of about 60 for his baptism this week. Candelario is a blessing. The missionaries have taught him for years and he is the only one in his family who would never accept the gospel for whatever reason. But he accepted a baptism the very first time we went to go meet and teach him. He is ready. Its as simple as that. The Lord prepares his children in HIS time, not OUR own. Im not here to baptize every creature alive in a year and a half. Im here to baptize those who are READY. Thats my job. But I cant do it alone, even if I wanted to. Without the Holy Ghost and Heavenly Father´s help... I would be incapable and inefficient in being an instrument in any part of the Lord´s work. Im grateful to have realized this so I can better myself in the next area I am placed in. Im grateful for the opportunities Ive been given to learn, grow, and experience.

My birthday was amazing! My awesome ward gave me a cake and sang to me and some members made me Shucos for dinner. It was a happy day. Thanks to all who contributed to the package I recieved as well! I loved EVERYTHING! Take care, everyone. Have a great September!

Hermana Argueta

 

 

 

 

Delfina

 

 

 

Hey everyone! How is your summer going! Its seriously a heat wave here in Coatepeque and Im pretty sure its 50 times hotter than wherever you may be right now. So we just came back from a bananero, a banana factory where they produce del monte bananas. It was really fun and interesting! Then we ate hamburgers and played soccer on a little field on the factory site. This week was Delfina's baptism, age 11. She is awesome and her family is so cute… plus her dad is soo funny, he reminds me a lot of you dad! This week was challenging but we are working hard to help our investigators progress. Im still working on building my faith day by day through fervent prayer and positive thoughts. Trials really do strengthen us and test our capacities, Ive learned this much just this week. Who knows what other challenges will be placed before me but all I can do is put my faith to use and keep myself optimistic about my life. I feel I have a great responsibility right now to help the people in my area. Thanks for your consistent prayers, I really need them right now. I love you all.

Hermana Argueta

P.S. Thank you so much Ana and Rick Clift and family for the package!!

 

 

Change 3

Hey everyone. So there were changes this week but luckily I didnt have any and neither did my comp. So now I am in my 3rd change here in Coatepeque. Im soo glad I didnt have changes because I love love love my area and my comp too! I did go to the changes meeting though to hand out the english certificates to 3 of my latino students who finished their missions on Wednesday. Anyways... so right now we are in the process of looking for new investigators since we baptized all of ours last month. We have an investigator, Delfina who has a baptismal date later this month so we are working with her. Right now we are working a ton with members and planning fun activities so members can invite their friends. We are planning a talent show for Thursday and the whole ward is participating. Yesterday my comp and I met with a member family for lunch to plan everything so we are excited to start letting everyone know and invite everyone! We chose acts from the bible and book of mormon and each society or quorom is going to act one out. My comp and I are going to act out the quarrel between 2 women and King Salomon in the book of Kings... one of my favorite stories! Even though we are working hard, the mission is not as easy as it sounds. There are a lot of challenges and obstacles we are facing as well. But we are learning as we try to make the best of everything Heavenly Father sends our way. I know that the gospel can change lives and help us be the people Heavenly Father wants us to become. Love you all, hope youre all having a fun summer :)

Hermana Argueta

P.S. Happy Birthday Dad and Kevin!

 

Meta

Hey everyone! So we just got back from a fun day at the beach with our zone! We spent the whole day taking pictures, talking, eating fish, drinking coconuts under shady palm trees, and playing in the sand. I'm grateful we got to have a relaxing pday at the beach because this week was super CRAZY! CRAZY, but in a good way. So we had 3 baptisms this week, Jeffrey (8), his brother Angel (10) and Marta (80). We had soo much to do, the challenging part in particular being heating the water for Marta since she cant bathe in cold water. So we asked the 4 elders in my district to help us all afternoon and heat huge pots of water while we ran to do errands for the baptismal service. Wow, I've never had such a crazy-stressful week but in the end it was worth it because all 3 were confirmed on Sunday and happy with their baptisms. My comp and I are especially happy because we met our goal of baptizing 5 people for the month of July! I honestly testify that 2 things in particular allowed us to reach this goal... FAITH in Jesus Christ and OBEDIENCE. These are 2 principles that our mission President is always always always stressing and teaching us to have. My comp and I did everything possible to make an effort to be more obedient in every aspect, at home, while contacting, during lessons, always always. And I also turned my feelings of disappointment and doubt into automatic reflection on Jesus Christ and that this is TRULY his work for the happiness of his children. Turning my negative thoughts upside down and doing my best to follow the guidelines placed before me as a missionary honestly made all the difference in this month and allowed this miracle of 5 to happen. I know this without.a.doubt.



Hermana Argueta


 

Patience

Hello Everyone!



This week was kind of challenging for me and my comp, but we made it through thanks to a great Sunday! So we were on the lookout for new people to teach this week and asking for references from as many members as possible. Well, no one really wanted to talk to us when we knocked on doors and the members gave us NO references at all. We were frustrated and sometimes just walked around hopeless. On Saturday we contacted a 19 year old named Nery and he came to church on Sunday and appears positive. He said he feels really happy and good about the things we are teaching him. The week thankfully ended happily thanks to an amazing Sunday! On Sunday, my comp and I spoke during Sacrament meeting and 108 people showed up (our goal is 100 for the ward)! We were shocked, but mostly thankful. We both felt the spirit as we each gave our talks about missionary work and looked out to a full congregation. Later we went to visit some inactive members and an inactive family who has a daughter that wants us to teach her to prepare her for baptism. So we have some new possibilities for baptism this week. There is soo much work here and this area is really big, so I'm grateful for that because not all areas have these advantages. I know this week will be better and will work as hard as I can. I know Heavenly Father listens to our prayers because despite the challenges and difficulties I had this week, he helped to realize there is hope in everything and its up to me to show him how willing I am to work and serve him and his children. I love this work so much. It makes me happy.




Hermana Argueta


 

Yara

 

This week Yara was baptized. Her parents and brother Bryan were baptized in March and she was so excited to finally have her own special day on Saturday. Yara comes from a difficult family. Her parents drink sometimes and her dad was completely drunk every single time we came to visit them this week. The mom abandons her 5 kids and they do whatever they want. The family has changed a lot since their baptism, but still has a little trouble keeping their baptismal covenants and coming to church. But Yara loves coming to church and always talks about the things she learns in primary and sings the primary hymns at home. We were so happy for her for  making this commitment with Heavenly Father and showing her great faith! This week we were really busy and I feel like this week will be the same. We need to find new investigators this week so that will be interesting. I'm grateful to see how the gospel has changed many peoples lives, like Yara's family. It gives me hope that there are plenty more out there who are ready to accept the gospel and be happier than ever through keeping the commandments. This is the only way to TRUE happiness.

Hermana Argueta