This week was decent..not as fruitful as we were hoping but we had a few really good lessons so that is good. We taught A & M. We watched a Joseph Smith video which they really liked and I think it helped A understand a lot more of the prophet’s life so that was really good. We also did service with M one morning and read the Book of Mormon with her since she can't read. The next day when we went to teach them they were really excited because...they found BYUTV! haha They were watching it all day apparently so that was cool :) but when it came to Sunday we called in the morning and they said they would come to church but they didn't which was really sad. Sometimes I feel like we're doing something wrong for not seeing the results we should but really we're not being lazy, we are working every day the best we can so I guess it’s just a moment to try our faith. I know we're going to come out of it and this area is going to have a lot of success really soon.

We taught C who is the mom of some less active members (the O family). She could progress SOOOO fast if her family was active. We've tried really hard with them too but they just don't want to stop working on Sundays. She is really nice though but always has an excuse to not go to church.

This week we taught our neighbor and his daughter. He is really receptive but she's not really. He came to church again this Sunday but after sacrament. He really liked it so that is good. Then at 6:30 he went to the clase de bienestar! He really likes everything about the church except that we only have services on Sundays...

On Sunday a girl came to church in jeans so we started talking to her and it turns out her whole family are members...EXCEPT HER! But she technically lives in a different area so we don't know what to do about that..If we have to pass the reference to the elders or if we can teach her.

We taught M..Who still hasn't prayed..UGH!! I just don't want to give up on him because I know he knows it's true but he just is being hard headed! 

Apparently the whole mission is struggling right now...it stinks but what can we do...  we're just going to keep working hard.

That’s about all for the week. 

Yesterday for Pday we cleaned, bought food and slept! The service stuff that we're putting together for the less fortunate is turning out really nicely :) I'll send pictures when we get stuff put together.

Finally some photos!!!

This week we had 26 lessons! and 248 contacts   

We started teaching some old investigators that we had like a month and a half ago. We had to stop visiting them because the wife was having a really hard pregnancy and had the baby like 3 months early. We saw them one day and now we're visiting them again! They are an awesome family and super receptive! We re-taught the restoration and the wife remembered basically everything! we challenged them to baptism and they said yes so we´re going to work hard with them :)

Chillin at the Stake Center

We're also teaching the wife of a reference we got. Her name is E and she is really receptive as well. Her husband is always working so we haven´t taught him yet but she has talked to him about our visits and she also talked to her mom. Her mom is a little bit closed to the idea of her receiving the lessons and that she can´t change her religion but she said it doesn't matter and that she´s going to do whatever God tells her to do. 

This last week M's son K got dengue too! So we went and taught him about priesthood and how he can give his son a blessing after his baptism. He basically said there isn't anything holding him back from getting baptized. He just needs to have a testimony of the gospel and then he won't have negative feelings for his wife for not letting him go to church before...

Alright...now for A & M. We taught them and they weren't feeling prepared to be baptized but we planned an interview just so we could know how to help them better. A went first and it was like an hour and a half...Elder Cruz said that we need to work with him on gaining a testimony so tonight we are going to teach him more in depth about Joseph Smith. Then M had her interview. SHE WANTS TO GET BAPTIZED THIS SUNDAY! She is feeling a lot better about it and said that it's what she wants to do...she signed the register and everything. BUT A said that their daughter couldn't have the interview so unless he changes his mind she can´t get baptized this weekend. She was really sad about it and she really wants to get baptized but we can´t overstep his authority. Hopefully the lesson with them tonight will go well though and we´re hoping to baptize M this weekend.

This picture was taken in October!

Last week at changes President Brough changed everything so now I don´t even know when changes will be. This change is only 5 weeks, so the missionaries going home will be home for Christmas.  The one after that is 9 weeks and then from there we have no idea if they´re going to be every 6 weeks like normal or if they are going to stay at 8 or 9 weeks every change.  I don´t know if I´m getting changed until the week of changes.

     I also got two packages last week so THANK YOU!! for the chocolate (I already made thin mints) and for the temple pictures, the cardboard tree the candy...EVERYTHING! 

I´M ALIVE!! haha we haven´t really felt anything here in the city. It hasn´t been that bad for us but there are pictures and stuff of San Marcos that the bishops wife showed us and it’s pretty bad over there..It’s a different mission though but I´m sure all the missionaries there are ok too but everything has been fine in our mission.  (There was a 7.4 earthquake off the coast of Guatemala – all missions have reported that all their missionaries are fine.  Missionaries in the Reuutaleu Mission have been helping with the relief effort.)

The mission conference we had a few weeks ago was just about being..prepared haha. The mission is going to send us big jugs (the kind that you have in the office that are hooked up to a machine and you can push the blue button for cold water or the red button for hot....just without the machine haha) of water and 72 hour kits. It was for all of Central America.  (Good timing, huh? They better hurry and get that stuff to them!)

Once again I’m sorry but I can’t send photos because I left my cord to connect my camera to the computer...SORRY! I promise I will send pictures next week! Yes Hna Garcia and I will be staying another change together :) 3 changes with one companion!! ahhhh but we get along pretty great so that´s good :) What did you do for Richies bday? and how are you doing? :)  

So this week was really good! We had 267 contacts and 24 lessons! I know it's not the 27 that we should have but we're getting better with the lessons so that's good. 

We taught A&M like 3 times last week and have been doing really good and progressing and they came to church again on Sunday and stayed all 3 hours! AND Ca ’s sister came to church with them too and went to Young Womens and LOVED it! They are doing really well and always tell us that they are praying and asking God but don´t feel like they are getting answers. They have completely stopped drinking coffee too! I think it´s that they aren't recognizing the answer...

Now for the sad part...last night we had family night with the Saenz family again but A  brought a paper that was anti-Mormon stuff (Ca couldn't come because she got her molar taken out so she has a little bit of pain.) but anyway he said can you guys explain this to me? I found it on the internet..So we talked about it for a little while and he was really nice about it and not arguing so that was good. He just wanted to know if it was true. So, Hno. Saenz started reading it and then about half way though I said that we were going to stop reading it and that we can find a lot of things on the internet and that's why we don’t ask people for their opinions, only God. And then I bore my testimony and then Hno and Hna Saenz and Hna Garcia bore their testimonies. I think he was just confused about why this was on the internet and everything. We're still going to baptize them. I'm sure of it.

We also taught M. He’s doing a lot better. He had dengue but the deadly kind! But he's way better now. We taught him Mosiah 18:8-10 and then we asked what was keeping him from being baptized and he thought for a minute and said...nada. WHAT! that was so great he said he would pray and ask God if it was all true so getting sick was really good for him haha Now he just needs to go to church!

A Scorpion in her backpack!!!

Sorry I’m late, we had another zone meeting.  We have a zone training at the beginning of every month and then we have zone conference every 3 months, and district meeting every week and interviews every 3 months.

Carolyn and Hna Garcia

So this last week was decent. I almost got stung by a scorpion on Sunday so that was pretty exciting...It was in my backpack.

Anyway some pretty good happened like how A & M went to church on Sunday! That was awesome! They liked it. We had to explain a little since it was the dividing of the stake but they enjoyed it. Last week we taught them eternal marriage and that went really well too. They are an amazing family. Yesterday we had a Family Night with them and some members about prophets so that went really good too! We're planning on baptizing them this month.

We also taught the O  family again with their grandma C  who isn't a member. She flat out said to her son in law...you guys already know that I will go with you to church and get baptized if you start going again. What do we do?! Seriously this family HAS a testimony but they won’t go to church! We taught keep the Sabbath day holy and the dad was like little by little we'll be active again we just need to start. And then we said so start now! And they were like...no. How do we get them to church?

We also taught a lady named L  that is really great. She understands everything that we teach her and when we were putting another appointment she said we could go back the next day. We did but she wasn't there but her daughter and son in law were there so we taught them and they are really awesome too! 

We taught M  again (S’s husband). We taught word of wisdom. He's just being difficult. We really don't know how to get to him. I am 100% positive he knows it's true he just doesn't want to listen. We're going to teach eternal marriage to see if that helps...

We also taught a less active member who has autism. He doesn't go to church because one of the members robbed their house apparently so he doesn't want to see that family. But he came to the conference this week! That was really good. He was really excited to see Elder Amado.

On Halloween like you already know we had to be in at 6 because the people here get crazy..

AHHHHHHH!!! Hopefully someone here will be able to tell me that we have an LDS president in the US!! 

Tell everyone I say hi and tell Mary Jane congratulations! I love you momma!! I hope you have a great week! Thank you for all you do for me! P.S. did you read that there was a scorpion in my backpack?! AHHHHHHHHH

 I hope you have a great week. Stay healthy and stay safe! LOVE YOU!!! 

So this week was better than last week. We had a couple days when we didn't have very many lessons but we had some really good days too.

Anyway this week we taught a less active member and his non-member girlfriend who is not yet his wife but we´re going to marry to baptize her (E & L). E’s brother leaves on a mission tomorrow and his whole family are inactive but him. Anyways we taught and they’re all really cool and have testimonies of the gospel and everything they just don’t go to church. The brothers and sisters said they wanted to come back to church because they all have kids now and want to be good examples. Later in the week we taught his parents. HIS DAD IS AWESOME. He bore his testimony and it was like WOAH but he’s not going to church! Man I hate when people are inactivate for stupid reasons...well his brothers and sister came to church but his parents didn't  All of the members were really happy to see them so I think they will be coming back this week too :)

We also taught a girl named A. She was really awesome too. She said she would read and pray and do whatever God told her was right so..We challenged her to baptism and she said yes if she gets an answer she’ll get baptized. She couldn't come to church this week though because she had a soccer tournament out of town.

We took A & M on the church tour and they really liked it and said they would go to church this week but they didn’t go because Aldo had to take his sister back to Escuintla. We went to visit them yesterday and they said THIS WEEK NO EXCUSES they will come to church :) They are really awesome and we are hoping to baptize them this month.

We taught some members how to teach the restoration and then the wife took us to teach a friend of hers and after the husband took us to teach his friend W! That was cool to get the members involved. Well W’s dad is a preacher but he said look God’s will is God’s will so if he says I have to change then I’m going to change :) That was great! We’re going to keep visiting him of course.

We taught M this week (a recent convert’s husband). He said he was going to a different church now. Man I really don’t know how to get to this guy! His 8 year old son is always praying for him to change and tells him how he knows the church is true and everything! If his own adorable son can’t get to him I don’t know what we can teach that will be super powerful to help him understand!

This Tuesday we had the sisters meeting which was really good. We talked about a lot of stuff to help us be better missionaries and betters wives and mothers in the future which was good. 

Mom you asked about P-days..Here there isn't much to do. We buy our groceries and sleep which is the best! But I will start taking more pictures sorry.

 I´m doing good but I´m writing the long email right now so then you will know about my week. It´s starting to get cold here...but not cold for me..or you. My health is really good not having any problems right now :) 

Love you momma have a good week be good :) LOVE YOU MORE THAN EVERYTHING :)

"Can't help those who don't help themselves!"

A lot of our investigators aren’t progressing like we thought they would. M was doing really good this week. We got to visit him 3 times and understand his real problem which was that he’s having a hard time forgiving himself for stupid things he did in his past. He even came to church yesterday! Then we taught him last night and he drank yesterday...AFTER 3 WEEKS OF NOT DRINKING. I was really sad. 

We also taught a kid named L. He came to church last week and after we taught him he was like yeah for sure I’ll pray I want to know if it’s true. And then we challenged him to be baptized and he flat out said no. Well that’s no good. He said even if it’s the true church he doesn't want to change everything that his family has taught him. 

We also taught JJ who basically said that he’s young and he still had a lot to experience and he knows that it´s not right and that he´s not keeping commandments but he’s "curious" and isn’t ready to change yet. He said "I’m going to get baptized..Just not yet because I still have a lot that I want to do." 

As you can see, the main theme of this email basically is that we can’t help the people who aren’t ready to be helped. If someone doesn’t want to change yet it’s their decision. It’s just really hard because in the mission you really start to care for people and they don’t understand the importance of what we are teaching.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE:
We taught A&M. They are amazing but they came up with another excuse to not come to church! So...we figured out yesterday when we were teaching them that they are nervous to go so we are going to have a tour with them this week. They are a family that we want to baptize in November!

We also found a woman and her kids who were AMAZING but they moved...to the south mission. We’re going to call them and get the address there to send to the missionaries there and they can have a pilas family to baptize.

We taught M yesterday too. Like I said last week he has a calling in young mens already. Well...he gave his first lesson in church yesterday! We are so happy to see how fast he is progressing. Hna Garcia and I commented last night that it was such a blessing that we were able to be a part of the lives of this family! He is the best convert in the world because he was seriously prepared and he´s going to be strong in the gospel forever :)

I’m doing good thank you :)  I think I’m getting bit by spiders though...yeah I got the pictures thank you!! Did they name the baby Finley? Crazy that Brooke and Madison both had babies! How great for them...tell Coach Lamb hi from me and everyone else at the coaches.

My personal photo birthday card!

LOVE YOU & HAVE A GOOD WEEK!!

Amazing Zone Conference!

This week has been good. I feel like we have a lot of pretty positive people right now. We are teaching the mom, brother, and husband of a recent convert S. The mom isn´t that receptive but is really sweet and really likes us so we never have trouble teaching them. Her brother always has really good questions and seriously understands everything which is great. The only problem with him is that he works Saturday night grave shifts and so coming to church is a problem but he is really positive and always participates in the lessons. The husband of the recent convert, M, is starting to open up to us more. We had a tour of the church and we could tell he felt the spirit but he still doesn´t want to change. We also had a family night with the whole family that went really well and everyone liked it and enjoyed themselves.

We are teaching A and M still and they are amazing! We just have to get them to church! They always read and pray and we taught the word of wisdom and they said they would stop drinking tea and coffee. They are really great but some problem always comes up so they can´t come to church..stinking satan.

We knocked on a random door one day and the lady was really nice and said hermanas come in! Her name is G and it turns out she is an inactive member. She was praying for help and then we knocked on the door :) that was an awesome experience! She didn´t come to church on Sunday though.

We taught M last night. He opened up to us a ton. We´ve been having problems getting to teach him because he has a new job now but we are going to teach him tonight too. He has changed a lot and hasn´t been drinking at all! He just needs to wake up on Sundays and come to church!

This week we also went and taught a less active member whose son left on his mission today. She is awesome and knows it´s all true and has a testimony but just isn´t coming to church! UGH that is the hardest part for me; when someone has a testimony of the gospel and just doesn´t do their part. It was even her son´s last Sunday here and she didn´t come. I just don´t understand it sometimes.

Well we had to drop Os. He wasn´t listening to us for the message of the gospel. Just to have friends. He told us that he didn´t want to stop drinking coffee and that he didn´t read his Book of Mormon because he had other books to read. Then during a lesson he asked if I would ever come back and marry someone from Guatemala...yeah that was the end of that.

Yesterday as you know we had our zone conference and it was AMAZING. I have no doubt that I have the best mission president in the whole world. We have new goals.....THEY ARE CRAZY HUGE but we´re going to do it because we have the best mission president. haha we have to contact 35 people every day, have 27 lessons every week, and 12 new investigators. In November we have to baptize 50 families and in January our goal is to baptize 150 people. This morning in my personal study I read in the bible part of a scripture that says fear not for the battle is not yours but Gods. It’s amazing how much we can do when we have God on our side and I am so grateful to be a part of this gospel. There is nothing better than being an instrument in the hands of the Lord. 

Jessica said its starting to get cold there...here too but not really haha. Have you guys gotten new carpet yet (that´s my subtle way of asking if Lady is still alive)

(When she found out that we had to put down our dog, Lady)   awww it´s ok I´ll see her in heaven...if she repented for biting lots of people haha

 Also can you send me family updates of everyone soon? Has Brooke had her baby?

So how many are there in your District?  6; 4 elders and us

How many are in your Zone? like 20

When are they going to make you a trainer? we don´t have any new sisters entering basically so he doesn´t have a need for trainers or senior companions right now but yesterday he told me that I am in the group of hermanas that he wants to subir for lack of a better word..He just can´t right now because we don´t have enough hermanas 

How do you feel about your Spanish? muy bien gracias..hay algunas cosas que necesito mejorar pero he dado cuenta que mi español es mejor que muchas de las hermanas aqui.

Next week will be crazy too because we are have a meeting for the sisters so we will either write on Monday at 12 or Wednesday at 11 or 12 I think. Or maybe Tuesday..  I have no idea! Sorry :(

LOVE YOU MOMMA!! HAVE· A GREAT DAY AND WEEK!