This is where I am!

This is where I am!
This is where I am!

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Discouraging week, but still determined to finish strong!

Contacts 294

So last week was probably the worst week of my whole mission (k well maybe not but it didn't exactly go as planned). We didn't achieve ANY of our goals..Ok just one...lessons with converts and less active members. Every time we wanted to meet with H  he didn't show up..I don't know, I think Satan just wanted to see me cry (which is exactly what happened) and I guess I still need to learn more patience and humility. Heavenly Father is going to be teaching me right up until the last minute.
The best thing that happened is that G went to church. He is amazing and I am sad that I won’t be here for his baptism but I know that he will be baptized so that is enough for me. He has changed a lot and I am excited for his family...especially his wife because I know that she has been waiting for this day for a LONG time.
The elders came to our area and talked to H  and Elder Finch said that he can be baptized but H  wants to talk to his family first. Hopefully we see a miracle with him this weekend! Even though it's not about numbers and it's all in God's timing...I really don't want to go home without a baptism my last transfer. 

I am excited to see everyone too but nervous to not be a missionary anymore. Sometimes when I bare my testimony in lessons I start spontaneously crying because I think "you won't be able to bare your testimony as a missionary/representative of Christ soon" so then I just start telling everyone THIS IS THE TRUE CHURCH!!

Can you believe that I will be home next week? Crazy how quick time flies but I am excited to see you and give you a big hug. And I'm not going to drink a coke until I can drink one with you even though mom said to buy one in the airport. 
mom...don't forget that I want some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies waiting for me at home :)

I love you and I can't wait to see you next week..Wow that is weird to say but I Love you so so so so much I have the best family ever :)

I asked her what she was going to do with all these Cortes.  I really doubt she will be wearing them when she gets home.  She said she was having some made into aprons.  But come to our ward on August 18th for her talk, and she may be wearing one...I may wear the one she got for me too.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Photos of her apartment!

This email was from July 23rd, but we have been out of town.
Contacts 330
This week..I lost my agenda. That kind of stunk a bit. S came to church this week after a lot of persuasion...I don't think she is ready and her mom still doesn't want to give her permission to be baptized so we are going to have to drop her for a little while. 


H is doing well. He wasn't able to go to church this weekend but we had a really good lesson with him on Thursday. He told us that he really likes going to church and learning and visiting with us but he still isn't sure because of his family. He said he would pray to know if he should get baptized this weekend. We were supposed to have a lesson with him last night but he wasn't able to show up so we are going to try and meet with him tonight. We have been fasting and praying a lot for him.

We also saw a huge miracle on Sunday. There is a family in one of our wards who the only one who is not a member is the dad. We had them in our agenda like every night this week as a backup plan but never got around to going and then we showed up Sunday and started talking to him about well...the gospel and he had a lot of really great questions all of which we were able to answer and he was happy to be listening. The last time we had visited him he wasn't very positive so it was a COMPLETE change. At the end he started to say that he and his wife had been talking about the church and after talking to her he felt an overwhelming joy. He was like “I don't even know why I was so happy. I just felt good and it was just a really nice feeling.” So then we read Galatians 5 where it says the fruits of the spirit are love JOY...all the others and we were just like you felt the spirit. And he was so content and we challenged him to pray and promised him that if he did he would feel the same way again and he said I hope so. We then challenged him to be baptized the 11th (since he still needs 3 attendances unfortunately...) it was such a great lesson. We both walked away from it super amazed.

M and her sister I weren't able to go to church this week but both promised to be there next week.

So this week we had a zone conference which was good. Elder Hopper and Elder Brienholt both told me that they are expecting lots of packages from me when I get home... We also had zone pday yesterday which was good. We played sports and watched a movie and the Tanners (a missionary couple) made us lasagna, homemade rolls, steamed broccoli, and coconut cream tarts :) yummmmm 
The Pila (Kitchen Sink)
bathroom


PS- I also found 100 dollars in my suitcase last week. The good news is that I will be able to buy airport lunch! (I put $100 cash in the liner of her suitcase when she left.  I showed it to her and said it was in case of emergency funds.  I guess she had forgotten about it!)
Sleeping arrangements
Back Patio






"Closet"
Stairs she runs for exercise

Mike and Hna Astorga

It was pouring rain that day!
We just got back from a Church History trip back east.  Of course one of the highlights of the trip was finding Hna Astorga who had been her companion for 3 months while she was waiting for her visa to go to the US.  She was working in one of the Joseph Smith homes in Palmyra. 

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Mike's day at the Jordan River Temple
Wow...I was so happy when the secretaries called on Thursday morning!  I almost can't even believe it. I am so freaking proud of my big brother! Thank you all for being such great examples to me! I called the mission office and asked them to give her the news that Michael is going to the Seattle Washington Mission on August 28th!


Contacts 278
So this last week I was getting frustrated with all the people that don't want to receive the gospel. Not like angry frustrated just sad frustrated because we are seriously trying so hard to help them and when we go through so much in the mission and we are only here for them and they don't even want to open their doors! Even when their dogs almost ate us! But then one morning in my studies I was just thinking about it all and the truth is that our job isn't to convince them that what we are saying is true. We are here to testify and to challenge and to teach the restored gospel to as many people that will listen. To testify in every contact and every opportunity and they have to pray and make the decision. We can't do everything for them we can only teach them what we know to be true and hope that they accept it. What we are doing here is giving EVERYONE the opportunity to hear the gospel so that in the last day we won’t be guilty for not doing our best. We do everything we can and hope that they do their part as well so that Heavenly Father will do his part. The most important thing is to remember that this is the true church of Christ, this is his gospel, and if they are ready they will listen. We need to do our part and let them have their agency. We are just going to keep looking for new investigators and have lessons in the street and in the stores and in the doorsteps and in every place we can so that everyone will have the chance to receive the gospel since they don't want to actually let us into their homes.

Hna Tobar and Hna Brown - Companeras
 The members actually help a lot (well a good sized handful) so that is great. We have had family nights every Monday since I have been here. We actually had 2 yesterday which went really well. It's been a hard few weeks since a lot of people tell us no here but we are going to work harder to have at least the 12 new investigators to make the mission standard (since last week we only had 5). We would've had 12 but they didn't want to receive the second visit. We are just going to testify a lot more and rely more on the spirit.  
I will send you a picture of the other cortes I bought next week. They are super cute! I have one for you that will have a draw string and be like a normal skirt but it's kind of plain so I hope you like it...if not...that's ok we can get you a different one when we go down in December :)
Well have a great time in New York! Make sure you look for Hermana Astorga EVERYWHERE!! You have to meet her! (Hna Astorga is the sister from Guatemala who was called to the Rochester, NY mission, but she had problems getting a visa to the US, so she was Carolyn’s companion for a few months. We do have plans to meet her!)
I love you all so much! Have a great week hope all is well! LOVE YOU 




Tuesday, July 9, 2013


Contacts 271

Hna Alvarado, her 2nd trainer, now back home in Mexico
This week went pretty well. A lot of members helped us and we even went on divisions one day which went really well.  We also had 4 investigators in church this week and 2 of them already have 3 attendances and two have 2 attendances so we are going to work hard with them. The only problem is that it is 2 families that aren't married yet and at the moment don't want to get married so....we are going to help them with that :)

One of our investigators 
is the boyfriend of one of our members and is really interested in the church so we are working with him. He has 2 attendances. Other than that there are still a lot of people that don't want to listen but I think we are finally finding a few that want to progress! Hopefully we will have 4 baptisms this month. Our bishops are working a lot with us as well. And we have had a few family nights so we are gaining the confidence of the members. 


Patzicia is really beautiful but I got discouraged one day when all of the lessons fell through and we were just knocking doors. Hermana Tobar is really great though and we get along really well. We are enjoying every minute of the work even if the people don't let us in to their homes. It has been a really humbling experience for me and I feel like in this area we have to rely a lot on Heavenly Father and just work hard to be able to see results and be happy with ourselves as missionaries. 

PHOTO:  One of my now many corte (traditional dress) outfits :) this is one that a member from the Gomera got me but now I have lots of different colors...


Yesterday I bought MORE corte and slept for Pday...it was glorious

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Transferred to Patzicia,

Carolyn was transferred to Patzicia.  So we looked it up.  Looks like a huge stake center from Google Earth!  The weather is quite a bit different there too?  The highs there aren't even close to what the lows were in La Gomera.
65/55, 62/56, 62/56, 64/54, 64/54, 62/52 those are the highs and lows for Tues - Sun.  Oh yeah, looks like thunderstorms every day except for Friday.  La Gomera (where she has been for the last 6 months has been in 90-100 every day)

 Click here to see a photo of Patzicia!  Photo of Patzicia


Tuesday  July 2, 2013
So the change has been...a change. It is a lot different here and not just the weather. Besides the fact that I am FREEZING cold all the time, the people here don't like to let you talk to them about the gospel and literally run away from us. I think Heavenly Father sent me here to learn more patience and humility because it's basically a lot of knocking doors of people who don't want to talk to us haha. But I really like the area. We are working on getting help from the members because knocking doors doesn't work too well.

My companion is really great too. The members all love her so much and she is a really hard worker. Sunday was her birthday :)

Right now we are also working to find new investigators because there isn't anyone progressing right now but I know that we will because we are working really hard.

I was studying in Alma 26 last week and I read verse 27.."Id entre vuestros hermanos los lamanitas y sufrid con paciencia vuestras aflicciones y os daré el éxito." This really is a promised land because a lot of these people are descendants of the lamanites and they are all native to Guatemala. So we are just going to work hard with patience and Heavenly Father will help us have success because these are his chosen people. I love Patzicia!

On her way to Patzicia
the internet here is sucking and I haven't even read all of my emails yet.

These were my questions that I asked about her new area…
So your companion is Hna Tobar?
yes
Where is she from?
Xela Guatemala
What is she like?
nice :)
How much time does she have on the mission?
this is here 3rd change
What is your apt like?
big and cold but really nice
Is it just the two of you or other sisters?
Just us two
Where do you eat?
At the cocinera's house? haha
Is it a big city? The biggest you have worked in so far?
It’s big..LOTS of hills but not as big as the gomera
What was the ward like?
There are 2 wards so we go to 5 hours of church-- they are pretty big
Is this the first time you have worked in a ward, not a branch?
No second time...Las Margaritas was a ward
What Zone and District are you in?
Zone Sololá district Zerahemla...yes these are pure lamanits and there is a city called Zerahemla and the people have Book of Mormon names
Are there any other missionaries in the zone/district that are going home next month?
Yeah one from Honduras and also our zone leader Elder Gregory
Are you cold??
YESSSSSSS
Can you buy the traditional outfit there that you wanted to buy?

Yes lots of it