Letter - 27 Puchica

 

Hola mi familia!

This week was interesting!

On Tuesday morning I was great! I was studying in Doctrina y Convenios during my study personal and I came across section 58 verses 27 and 28. It talks about diligence and how we need to do these things according to our own free will. I love that a lot! Because sometimes I wait for people to tell me what to do. Then we had Zone meeting.. and I GOT YOUR PACKAGE! I loved it so much! I definitely hug the bear a lot! haha Then in the night time, Jacky made us and the elders dinner. Jacky is bien pilas! She has already read the Book of Mormon twice and she went and did baptisms for the dead last week. I love her so much!


A gift

On Wednesday we were suppose to have a multi Zone conference.. but, we woke up to tons of voice messages from our Zone Leader Elder Corbit. haha he is hilarious. The meeting was cancelled because there have been tons of protests because the government here wants to change the seed they use to grow their corn. A lot of the protests were happening in front of our house! I have pictures! haha They set off these really loud bombs that I hate. Then we were walking in the night time and passed by Pedro Lopez, he is a young man in our rama... he was walking and a drunk man had his arm around him and they were talking haha my companion and I passed him and realized what we had just seen, and turned around and said Pedro! Are you okay? haha and he said I am! It was funny.

Politics in San Mateo
 

Thursday we were in our house for the morning because we had weekly planning.. but also because the protestors were right outside our house! Then we met a new investigator named Emilio. He wants to get baptized.. but, he made a REALLY big mistake in Mexico like 4 months ago.. He is going to have to get permission from the first presidency and then wait for ever!


Friday was great! I completed 6 months in my mission! That means I am starting to hit days that I will be in our house this time next year! I burned my first bag. We had lunch with Hermana Flory. Her kids were watching Frozen in the other room.. I miss that movie SO much. We are going to have a family night with pizza and frozen when I get back!

Natalie with Miss San Mateo

Sabado There was a HUGE parade in San Mateo. So, basically everyone and there mom was at this parade. So, all of the citas that we had fell through.. but, we got to see a bit of the parade.. and it was fun! We had lunch with the familia Lopez and they fed us pollo campero! It was so good! Then Jairo velasquez came with us in the night to citas.. but, no one was home! It was super frustrating!


Sunday there was no one at church! Because the biggest parade was happening... so frustrating! People dont understand the importance of church of the sacrament. I am pretty much the branch music leader in our rama. It is fun! I also learned that when we have a hard time doing something that is good... we need to do that thing until we learn to love it. After church one of the young men gave me a white rose haha I thought it was funny. Then we met with Alan and his little brother. There parents werent home.. They are less actives. We shared the scripture in d and c 58 and told them that they need to use their agency to go to church... and then they were really motivated. Then we had correlation with Bryan in the night. He gave us some good tips and advice. I just want to do what the Savior wants.




I love you guys so much! You guys make me so happy! I miss you, but, I know that I am where I am suppose to be doing what the Lord wants me to do!


Love,
Hermana Natalie Paige Bullough

Letter 26 - Hola Familia Linda

 

Hola! Como están? Les extraño! Me olvide mis notas de la semana, pero voy a tratar mi mejor!


I love you guys so much! This week was super good! Although, Saturday and Sunday we needed to be in our houses at 6pm because today is the national holiday of Guatemala! There are a lot of bolos needless to say it would have been pretty dangerous for us to be in the streets! There is a possibility that we will need to be in our houses early tonight too! There is a huge feria here in San Mateo with a big mary go round. We cant go on the rides of course. Also, it was way hard to find an internet today because of the holiday!


This week on Friday and Saturday, I was on divisions with Hermana Mcgill, she came to San Mateo with me. I love her so much! She is seriously the cutest! She has such a strong testimony!


Vicky and her daughters Vicky and Gladys have been acting super weird lately! It has been three days since we have been able to see them! I think they might be getting cold feet about their baptisms! I hope not!


On Thursday we had a chance to go to the Temple! President Smith is going to let the mission go every single 6 months! It is perfect timing because I hit 6 months this FRIDAY! but, I found out that I will be going home one year from today! How weird! Next year at this time I will be giving you guys a big hug! And I hope we will be going to Chick fil A on the way home from the airport haha I miss Chick fil a SO much! But, I did the session completely in Spanish! I could understand everything! It really is a miracle that anybody could go to a foreign country and be fluent in such little time.. now, I am definitely not saying that I am fluent.. but, I am saying that it is in progression, and I have every confidence that in one year from now it will be great and all is thanks to the spirit!


There is so much peace that comes from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are the most organized church in the entire world! There are tons of Evangelicos here and they always tell us that there is no need for organized religion because the church is in us. It is really frustrating. I am far from perfect and I dont know a lot, but, I do know with all of my heart that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that he truly did see Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father in a grove of trees and that they told him to restore the Gospel, the same Gospel that Jesus Christ established. I hope that if there are any people reading these letters who arent members of the church that they will pray and really try to know that these things are so true and from God.


se que la iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los últimos días es verdadera! se que cuando nosotros tratamos ser mejores somos bendecidos! Se que Jesucristo y nuestro amoroso Padre Celestial y nos aman! No hay duda en mi corazón que este es verdadero!


I love you guys! I promise there will be pictures next week!
Love,
Hermana Natalie Paige Bullough

Letter 25 - Hola!

 

I love you guys so much! I loved the pictures from Marrissas wedding! I wish I was there!

The Lord definitely brings you lower before He will bring you higher. Last week was super hard! But, this week was filled with miracles! 

 

 

We met a family of 3 Vicky and her two daughters Vicky and Gladys. We taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ and invited them to be baptized for the 27th of this month! They accepted! She came to church with us on sunday! Her daughters couldnt because once every two months they go to Totonicipan to be with their dad.


We had a meeting on Thursday in the Stake Center for all of the trainers and their kids. It was super good! I am always super motivated to be the best that I can be after these meetings! Mom asked me about funny mistakes with spanish.. well, in correlation I accidently said ¨Tengo algiuen en mi garganta¨ This translates to I have someone in my throat haha I meant to say something! Whoops!


On Saturday we had stake conference. It was all about the work of salvation! It was super good! After we went to teach Jorge (Jackys husband) He was being really rude. We asked him if he had read the chapter in the Book of Mormon that we had given him... and he said nope. He was being really rude and we had a kind of rough day on Saturday because Barbara told us that she made a mistake getting baptized. But, all I could think to do was bear my testimony. I feel kind of bad.. I was crying and really emotional. It just makes me super sad... because it is so obvious that the church is true. When people dont do what Gods asks them to do they will not know the church is true.


I am learning so much here on my mission. More than anything. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the one and only true church. It is so obvious. But, more important than that, I am learning how to rely on my Savior, Jesus Christ. I KNOW that He lives and that he is always walking right beside us. I am reading Jesus the Christ and am learning so much. At the beginning of my mission.. all I could think about was how much I miss my family and how excited I was to go home. But, now I cant imagine going home. I love it here. I am so close to the spirit and I get to serve the Lord every single day full time! Serving a mission is the hardest thing I have ever done and also the best thing I have ever done! The hardest thing I have ever loved!

I love you guys so much!

Love,

Hermana Natalie Paige Bullough

Letter 24 - Deja que el Espiritu te ensene

Hola mi familia preciosa! les amo muchisimo!

Well, Martes we found new investigators! Serjio and Ladrixa! The spirit was SO strong! They are the cutest couple! They just got married 4 months ago! 

Noche de hermanamiento

Miercoles we were looking for our investigator Ingrid and her dad answered the door and started yelling at us! He told us that if we were going to teach the truth that we were welcome! haha so, I asked him if he believed in the Bible, and he said yes, then I asked him if he believed in Jesus Christ and he said yes.. then I said and is that not the truth? and then he went off yelling about how we teach the truth differently.. oh boy! Like my companion would say.. ya no tiene salvacion! jaja Then we went to visit Serjio and Ladrixa and they read in the Book of Mormon! They had a whole list of questions for us! they were progressing so nicely! Also, we had Noche de hermanamiento and the daughter of hermana Caren is CRAZY. she is just a little bit of a brat... haha But, Elder Tolefoa had chips and this little girl asked him for them quite rudely.. so Elder Toleafoa said no. Then she started spitting and hitting Elder Tolefoa! so, I said no! then she started spitting and scratching me! So, my companion grabbed her by the arm and dragged her across the floor and hit her head on the door (on accident!) to bring her to her mom! Well, Caren was pretty mad at my companion... whoops!

Jueves we got to go to Xela because my companion needed to have an eye appointment to change the prescription in her glasses! So, that was fun! Then we taught Serjio and Ladrixa The Plan of Salvation! They were progressing so nicely! I shared an analogy about All State choir my senior year. I talked about how it was a great honor to be selected into this choir, and that I had a few months to learn the music, but didnt prepare like I should have. And I talked about how when I was standing in the line to be tested.. I was so nervous! and when I entered the room.. I tried to pass the test.. but, couldnt and the teacher looked me in the eyes and told me that I couldnt enter because I wasnt prepared. I compared the preparation part to earth life and how we need to prepare while we are here. I talked about how we dont want to be nervious standing in the line waiting to meet with our Savior. and I talked about how we cant fake it to make it because Jesus Christ already knows it all.. and when we dont pass the test.. he is going to look us in our eyes with tears in His and he is going to say I am so sorry.. but, you werent prepared and you cant enter. The spirit was so strong and they were definitely thinking so hard! 

Viernes Jaky called us crying in the afternoon because her family is being really hard! So, we shared a video with her and talked about how she just needs to serve them and endure. The spirit was so strong! But, after, we went home because my companion was really sick!

Sabado was really hard... everyone rejected us. Especially when we went to visit Serjio and Ladrixa and they told us that they couldnt continue meeting with us because they believe in their church.. It was so sad.. I cried. Then we had dinner with an investigator named Gabriela. After that we wanted to try to stay out until 930, so we were going to go visit a less active member... but, I had a REALLY weird feeling... so we went home at 9 instead of 930.

Domingo We went to go get Jorge and Jaky for church... and they told us that TWO MEN WERE MURDERED ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE LESS ACTIVE MEMBER THAT WE WERE GOING TO GO VISIT AND THAT THE MURDERER GOT AWAY! I am so grateful for the Spirit. If I hadnt been in tune with him.. we could have been killed! Miracles happen everyday and our Savior really does love us so much! 

Also, a girl in the rama here just got back from her mission in Mexico and she says that Braden Hurst was her District leader. Small world. OH and Jaky finished the Book of Mormon! whoo!

Les amo con todo mi corazon! Remember to always be one step ahead of Satan!

con amor,

Hermana Natalie Paige Bullough