Letter 13 - Corazon quebrantad​o y Espiritu contrito!

Hola mi adorable familia!

 

Como estan?!

Did you guys receive my pictures on dropbox?

So, Elder Roach is home now! His replacement is Elder Rodriguez de Mexico. He is REALLY cool! He speaks English really well, but what I like about him is that he only speaks Spanish with me. and if I speak English, he has me try it in Spanish.

On Tuesday, we taught this familia that has 5 kids! 3 of the kids are old enough for baptism. Jaidy, the oldest, is 13 and she has a baby of her own! She was raped! It is really sad! We taught them the Plan of Salvacion and after I asked them to be baptized. I bore my testimony about how I know that families can be together forever and that I miss you guys a lot, but, I am grateful that I can have you guys for eternity! Jaidy, right away, said I want that! and David too! But, the mom, Araceli needed a bit of work! She said that she couldn’t go to church on Sunday because she needed to go by gas for her oven, but she wouldnt have the money until Sunday! So, we told her that Church is really important and that it is a commandment. We told her that we would pay for her gas because going to church is so important. The gas was SO expensive! We split it in half.

On Wednesday, we went to Garabaldi for a Zone Conference. The last Zone conference with Presidente Bautista! I am kind of sad! They are such nice people! I would have liked to get to know them better! They fed all of us Lasagna after! It was tan rico! I got to see Elder Wright. Elder Wright is one of the Elders that was in the CCM with me. Practically my brother haha 42 days straight for 16 hours a day. whoo! It was really nice to see more missionaries in the mission!

Friday, we had a HUGE rainstorm! There was MUD everywhere in the streets because the water brought it from the other surrounding mountains! All of the lights in San Mateo went out! It was so crazy!

Saturday we went to Siguila to talk to our investigator, Maria and her three kids. She came to Church last Sunday and said that she loved it! But, when we went to talk to her, she said that her husband won’t let her go anymore. UGH! Husbands really dont treat their wives well here. Wives need to get permission for every single little thing! But, their husbands do whatever they want!

We have an investigator, Luis Lopez. He is addicted to alcohol. He wants to change. I told him to write down all of the places and people that influence him to drink and then we gave him a picture of the Savior and told him to look at the picture of the Savior every time he wants to drink. I really hope he can get over this. Addictions are hard. I bore my testimony about the struggles I had in high school (I didnt go into detail.. solo that I had an addiction) and he cried.

So the way Sundays work here is that we go to Rama counsel and then leave to go pick up all of our investigators! We went to go pick up the Araceli Familia and none of them were ready! We told them that we would come back in twenty minutes because we had more investigators to go get. I was praying so hard! But, people have their agency, and sometimes it doesn’t matter how hard you pray. When we went back for them... they weren’t there. It was really sad. I was really frustrated... because I had just spent money for their gas so they could come to church! :( Then in the afternoon, we went to Xela to pick up Hermana Madrid’s patriarchal blessing. We ran into some Elders there! I told Elder Badagascar about the Araceli familiy and then I talked about how frustrating it is because the church is SO clearly true! I then said "It is a good thing the Savior is merciful, because a lot of people are going to need it!" and then he said "Yeah, but we need it too." He is SO right. We all need the mercy of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

I will be completely honest right now. The beginning of my mission was really rough. I was sick all of the time, I was eating food that I wasn’t quite used to and not knowing Spanish is a struggle... but, two nights ago, after my companion went to bed, I went into our study room and knelt down on the floor and prayed aloud. I was pretty frustrated with God... which I know that I shouldn’t have been.... but, I let out every emotion I was having in my heart. After I prayed, I truly felt that Heavenly Father loves me. It was a really cool experience.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true Church. I know it with all of my heart! Joseph Smith was a Prophet and he truly did translate the Book of Mormon. The Mayans here in Guatemala spoke of a great white God that visited them here. That great white God was our resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ. He truly did visit the Americas. The Church is perfect and I am so grateful to be here on my mission serving these humble people. I love them and I love God. I am truly blessed.

I forgot to tell you guys about the packages. Go ahead and send it. Everyone says they eventually recieve them... but it takes about a month or two. But, I REALLY would love a package from you guys! Oh! My camera... kind of a cool story. You guys had asked last week and I forgot to tell you.... the buttons weren’t working... and this may sound kind of silly... but, I prayed really hard and then fasted that my camera would work again... and now it works! Heavenly Father loves me so much!

I love you guys!

Sellado Con Besos!

Hermana Natalie Paige Bullough