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

 

La Maquinaria

Hey Everyone! So this week was kinda busy because I had to balance my calling as the english teacher with my missionary calling. I had a lot of phone calls to make to the latino missionaries to see how well they are progressing in their english. This week my comp and I focused on finding new people to teach. I honestly can say that going out with the members is the way to go and makes all the difference. Think about it for a sec... would you be more intimidated to talk to 2 missionaries that show up uninvited at your front door or would you rather be interested in going to a friends house and having a lesson altogether with the missionaries? Whenever we bring members over to an appointment, they instantly have a new friend or a person that can fellowship them when they missionaries arent around. We cant always be around as missionaries and take an investigator to and fro which is why its important that we find good members to handoff the investigators when we cant be there with them. This week my comp and I brought 3 young women to church and they LOVED it! They cant wait to come back next Sunday with us. They are having a hard time understanding what it means to be baptized and the fact that baptism entails membership in the church. They are catholic and want to come to both churches, ours and the catholic church. We are going to answer their questions this Wednesday. So this week is kinda rare because today, Monday until Wednesday the Hermana missionaries (theres 30 of us) are having a little conference/vacation! We are going to the beach and gonna play volleyball and sleep in a big house for 2 nights, kinda like a slumber party I think! I´m sooo excited! We are leaving on a bus tonight for Reu with the other hermanas in our zone to go meet everyone up. Thanks mom and dad for the package and to everyone who contributed too! I love missionary work and spreading the gospel every day in Guatemala! Hasta luego!

Hermana Argueta

 

 

 

Pamela

Hey Everyone! This week was really busy but in a good way. I had to go to Reu, about 30 minutes away, twice this week to start working on the english program for the latino missionaries. Then I had to make a lot of phone calls all weekend. But everything seems to be going well. From now on, I have to go to the mission office in Reu every Friday to work on the program. Besides that, we had a last minute baptism this week for Robert´s younger sister, Pamela. Pamelas and her friend Melanie went to seminary for the first time on Saturday morning, later to the movies for a young women activity, and then decided they wanted to get baptized that same day! So my zone leaders called me Saturday morning to let me know that we had to spend the whole day in Santo Domingo to get permission from Pamela´s mom (shes 12 years old) and interview her before her baptism at 6pm. So my comp and I spent the whole day in Santo Domingo picking everyone up in a pick up truck and then took everyone to the baptisms at 6pm. Its fun standing up in the pack of a rusty pickup truck with 20 other people on our way to church on Sundays and to the baptisms each week haha! I wish you all could see it for yourselves!  Our ward had 7 baptisms this weekend so it was a good weekend :) Pamela loves church and is excited to be a new member. She´s awesome and willing to be obedient to the commandments and keep the sabbath day. We are also trying hard to work with Pamelas mom since she says she likes church and everything but isnt sure if shes completely ready to give up her evangelist religion. Her mom is sooo nice though and loves us and shes planning on going to the temple with the relief society this weekend too! Shes sooo funny, after we took photos at the baptism, she said, ¨wait, why didnt you change? arent you the one thats going to baptize her in the font?¨¨ What else... well yesterday I taught the principles of the gospel class at church on service and that went well.Im soo grateful for missionary work and am trying to have more faith in myself and in my comp. I know that I am capable to work harder every week, despite my weaknesses and moments of doubt that I have sometime. I am going to work harder this week with my comp and find those families that are ready to be like Christ. i love you all.

hermana argueta

The Mouse

Hey everyone! So this week was pretty good for the most part. We had a baptism on Sunday for a 16 year old boy named Robert. Were so proud of the decision he took yesterday, especially since it probably isnt easy being the only member of his family. His very evangelica mom and sister came to the baptism too which I never thought would happen, so that was awesome that she chose to be supportive of her sons decision. We also brought an investigator to church named Zaida who wants to get baptized, but isnt married and has a kid. In order for her to be able to be baptized, she would need to get married to the man shes living with. So were going to teach her some more this week and see what happens from there. So the church attentance rate is pretty low in our ward right now, so our mission President told all the missionaries that we need to work hard to get members to come to church. So yesterday, Sunday, our zone leaders Elders Deskins and Maradiaga came with me and Hermana Blunk to visit a TON of families in our ward as well as some investigators. It was awesome to just spend the whole day focused on reactivating and motivating the members to come to church. We told them we were visiting them to bring a little bit of the spirit we felt at church that day to their very own homes and we did so by singing a hymn with them and sharing a message. Okay, story time! So yesterday us four went to a house of 2 people who were just baptized a few weeks ago. So when we get there, the lady or mom of the house tells us that she has a buck of rats in her backyard that she caught because they were getting all up in her buckets of corn. So after talking to her for a while, we decide to start singing a hymn, Put your shoulder to the wheel. So im sitting on a couch for one, and we start singing right. So were singing the second verse, and i look behind my left shoulder and theres a freaking gray mouse RIGHT behind my ear! If you know me well enough, you know that I HATE and DESPISE rats and mice because they totally gross me out and the are the nastiest filthiest creatures on the face of the earth. So I freak out, and I dont know what to do so I just turn my head and look at Elder Maradiaga who was sitting right in front of me and just stare at him with my eyes wide open. I dont say a word, just look at him until he sees the mouse and sings, ¨Pon su hombre al RATON!!! Then all of a sudden, right in the middle of singing the chorus I jump up at lighting speed and everyone else does the same. The mouse runs and jumps off the couch and hides as the lady of the house, Carmen, grabs the broom and starts looking for it. Everyone runs around and tries to look for mouse. The elders dive onto the couch and shake it so the mouse comes out. Anyways, the mouse scurried into the hollow of the couch so we never caught it, but its probably in the house still ha. So that was my week. Perfect. ha. Well I love you all and I testify of the importance of missionary work and theres no greater or better work on the planet! love you all, have your best week ever!

 

Hermana Argueta

Carrying On

Hi everyone! So this week went by way fast! I cant believe its Monday already. Today for P-Day we played baseball! It was actually really fun, which is saying a lot because I suck at it and have little to no baseball experience, and I actually hit the ball pretty decently each time it was my turn to bat. ha. So this week we worked really hard teaching new investigators in Santo Domingo. Fortunately, one of our investigators, Robert, a 15 year old boy came to church with us on Sunday and then accepted a baptismal date for this Saturday. So were gonna go back and teach him some more this week so he is prepared. Roberts family is interesting ha. His mom is very evangelica and his dad isnt really religious, but both of the parents are totally supportive of Robert and encourage him to go to church and take the discussions. So thats awesome. Were gonna continue two other investigators named Guadalupe (19) and Erik (22) this week as well and try to encourage them to go to church since they always make up excuses and arent really understanding why its soo important that they come each Sunday. My companion and I are getting along better this week and are getting to know one another better too. Were very different but I think well be able to work well together after all. I was a little sick last Wednesday and was pretty sure I was gonna get a cold, so the elders came to give me a blessing and I immediately felt better and I was completely back to normal the next day! So that was a miracle to say the least! Well, not much else is new or anything. Im still working really hard with my comp to find people who are ready to hear the gospel! Yesterday the lesson in Relief Society was on the Liahona article, ¨Missionaries are a Treasure¨so it was nice to hear nice comments about the importance of missionaries from the Relief Society. Im so grateful that I am able to be healthy and energetic these days to be able to preach the gospel as fervently as I can! Im learning so much everyday and definitely understanding the change the gospel really can have in so many different people. Im grateful to be a missionary in Guatemala for the Lord! Thank you for all your prayers, love, and support!

Hermana Argueta

Trainer/English Teacher

QUE ONDA! So a lot has been going on this week! So first off, I am training my new companion since she is new. I was really surprised that they asked me to train because I am the missionary with the least time in the mission who is training already and i just finished my 3 months of training a week ago. so its crazy being on one end and going straight to the other soo fast. So I am training Hermana Blunk who is from Los Angeles, California. We are still in the same area, Las Flores Mazatenango. So this week Ive been showing her around and introducing her to the members and Bishop and everything. Hermana Blunk barely knows or understands spanish so its definitely going to be a challenege trying to get her to speak only spanish since we speak in english to eachother. I feel so weird speaking english because Im so used to speaking only spanish 100 percent of the time with my previous companion. But well see how it goes. Hermana Blunk is 28 years old and she is the only member in her family. She was baptized 3 years ago. 2 reallly awesome things we have in common though is our favorite food is sushi and we both love Hello Kitty! So thats obviously a sign that were bound to get a long ha! But yeah, since its my first time switiching companions, im having trouble adjusting to being around someone wayy different than me. Her Blunk is quiet and barely talks and is very serious and barely laughs, whereas I am constantly laughing and joking around with everyone so well see how this goes I guess. In addition, on Wednesday at the changes meeting, the President asked to talk to me and he asked me to be the new english teacher for the mission. I accepted and Im really excited. So basically I will be working with the latino missionaries and helping them work on the BYU english program so they can take a test and get their certificate. So I will be working with them by calling them and emailing them back and forth and giving them the exam when they are ready. As far as investigators, we found a lot of people in Santo Domingo yesterday because we went with a member who used to be branch President there so he knows Santo Domingo like the back of his hand. We talked to a lot of people who said they would be willing to have us talk to them and share the lessons so we have a lot of appointments for this week. We also taught a really intense lesson to Erik and Guadalupe, 2 new investigators we met through Mauricio, the stake mission leader who is also in our ward. They are really interested in the gospel and Guadalupe accepted the baptismal date we set for March 3 but they both have never been to church so we need to help them go so they can progress and follow through with the requirements needed for their baptism. But besides that, everything else is good! Im healthy and alive and melting as usual in this heat. Thank you sooo much Brenda, Adry, Mom, Dad, Judy, and Ana for the valentines day package! Loved everything and I had soo much fun opening everything with my companion! I miss you all! Hope you are all doing amazing!

Hermana Argueta