Letter 50 - Un Año

Hermanas Bullough and Arellano wearing
 traditional Guatemalian shirts

Hola mi querida familia!


I have been here for one year and a few days! That is so crazy! I feel like I just got here yeasterday! This will be my last general conference here in Guatemala! It is a little bitter sweet.


We have transfers next week. I am not sure what will happen. I dont know if I will stay or go. But, I think Hermana Arellano will probably train, so I think I will probably go. I am so sad. I really do not want to leave Chiantla and I REALLY don't want to leave Hermana Arellano. We are having so much success and I love everyone here. We have baptisms planned for April.. but, If I have changes, I wont be able to come back to see these baptisms. That breaks my heart.


On Wednesday a pair of senior missionaries came to our house to do a clean check. We got a nine out of ten! They said our house was pretty much better than all of the other houses. Que Calidad! Then one of our investigators named Arcely gave us a ton of clothes.. bueno, like 10 things each! Because she had a paca but it closed so she let us look through everything and pick out what we like!


On Thursday I completed one year de estar aqui en la mision! Wow! Time flies so quickly. We had a multizone conference. It was so good! We got to see Elder Bryan! He is the new assistant. We got to watch part of Meet the Mormons. I loved what I saw! I cant wait to see the whole thing! I love President Smith. Seriously. He is such an inspired man and he really receives revelation right from the heavens.

With President and Sister Smith

One thing that President Smith talked about is the temple square grounds. He said have you ever seen a weed in the flower beds in Temple square? The answer is no! He said it is because first of all they plant the flowers in such a way that it is hard for the weeds to grow, but also if they see one weed they get it out of there so quickly! He said that is what we need to do! We need to get rid of all of our weeds! We cant let one weed in! I loved that. It is so true. He also said that Satan will never stop trying to put weeds in our life, but that we need to always do our best. Satan may get tired.. but, we cant afford to get tired.


Then on Saturday we went to Mary's wedding! It was so beautiful! She will be baptized this Saturday! I am so excited! But, then in the afternoon I had so much anxiety because one of our menos activas told us a wild story and it just made me really sad. She is starting to come back to church right now... but, she told us that the reason she left the church is because she had sexual relations with the secretary in our ward.. He wasn't the secretary at this point in 2014.. but, he was married. So she felt guilty and left... It made me so sad to see that this had to be a problem. Why cant people just be trusted because they are trustworthy. I don't know why but, I had so much anxiety after she told us this story. She was crying and everything because I guess he started to chat with her on facebook again and she doesn't want to make a mistake again.


Then yesterday Claudia accepted our invitation to be baptized on the 11th of April! I am so excited! She will be an excellent member. We will have four baptisms this Saturday! I am really excited!


I know that Jesus Christ lives! He loves me! He loves you! He loves all of us! He even loves the people that crucified Him. Always remember that.


I love you guys!


Love,
Hermana Bullough

Letter 49 - Amo Guatemala

Hola mi querida familia!


I love Guatemala. Seriously.


This week on Saturday we had 3 baptisms! A mom and her two kids. This was such a crazy experience! The moms name is Mariola and she is married to a member named Vinicio! She got married to him 13 years ago and has been taking missionary discussions since the day they got married. But, she never wanted to get baptized because she is really catholic. When I got to Chiantla we started to teach her again and asked her to be baptized like 100 times! She always told us that she knows the church is true.. but, was scared of what her family would say. Well, her two kids, Mauro and Carlos wanted to be baptized. They were coming to church every single week and going to mutuals and doing it all! Finally the mom said that they could be baptized, but, she said that she was not going to be baptized. We brought her baptismal clothes just incase she wanted to change her mind. But, we met with her in the morning on Saturday and she said she still wasnt sure what she was going to do. But, we met with her in the afternoon like one hour before the baptism of her kids and she said she wasnt sure! So, we read some scriptures with her and her kids both said that they wanted her to be baptized so that they could be an eternal family, so she decided at the last minute that she was going to be baptized, so we called our district leader so that he could give her baptismal interview! It went so well! They were all baptized. Mariola got baptized first and she waited off to the side of the font for her son carlos to be baptized and I was by her side.. When Carlos left the water, he gave her this HUGE hug and they both were crying! It was such a tender moment. After the baptisms, Olga, the grandma of Mauro and Carlos gave me a huge hug just balling and told me that she was grateful for my patience and my love for her family. We were both balling at the end of that hug.


On Thursday I woke up at 4 in the morning with a terrible stomach ache! Seriously! I have NEVER had a stomach ache like this one in my life! I was uncomfortable laying down AND standing up and I was just crying! Finally at about 10 in the morning a member from our ward came over and gave me a blessing. I love the priesthood. Seriously. Right after the blessing I was able to sleep and my stomach didnt hurt as bad. I slept for all the afternoon and I had hermana Arellano go on divisions with some hermanas from the ward so that we could teach our investigators. 2 different women came to our house and watched over me!


On Saturday night when we got to the house Bryan, one of our ex investigators called and started to confess his love for me jaja. He said What are the chances of us being together if I get baptized? and he said that he will probably live in the states one day and wants us to meet up. jaja It was on speaker phone and my companion was DYING laughing. seriously. jaja He said How about you convert me to the gospel and I convert you to me? haha It was so funny. I told him that I am a missionary and that I didnt have time to think about things like that. When I hung up he kept calling, but we just didnt answer haha


Then on sunday, Mario he is a member that has schizophrenia (Spelling?) He asked me to marry him! In front of a bunch of our investigators! haha He said it in spanish first.. so I pretended like I didn't understand and turned to my comp and said What did he say? haha But, hermana Arellano started laughing and said I don't know.. but we both knew that we both knew jaja so then he asked me in inglish!!!! Haha That made it even funnier. I told him I would think about it... but, don't worry dad, it was obvious that I was joking.


We are having so much success lately.. I have gained such a strong testimony of fasting and prayer. seriously. It works miracles! Hermana Arellano is a really good missionary and will do so many great things in her mission! I hope that I can be with her just one more change here in Chiantla.. but, unfortunately I think that my time is about up here in Chiantla.


I love this gospel! I love it when people can feel the spirit testify to them that this is the truth! I love Jesus Christ. I know He lives and that He loves us! I love in third Nefi when He is about to leave the people, but, they were sad, so He stays a little longer and cries for the people. He cried for them.. and He cries for us.


I love you guys!
Love,
Hermana Natalie Paige Bullough

Letter 47 - Nuestro deber!

 

Hola mi Querida Familia!


Que tal? Como les han ido?!


I think I will probably cry and cry and cry when I have to leave Chiantla. I love these people so much. This was the best birthday that I have ever had in my life! I really felt like I was going to throw up at the end of the night because literally like 10 families made me either lunch or dinner with cake. When we were walking to our last appointment, I was practically gagging at the thought of eating more! My companion kept telling me that she was really grateful that it was my birthday, because not only I got food, cake, and presents, but her too! Haha she is super cute! I got up a little bit earlier on my birthday and curled my hair. I felt like a girl again jaja. One of my favorite ward members is Yuriza Ramos. She gave us both a gift and told us that everything in the ward has changed since we came here and that she hopes we never leave! Hermana Leonor gave me a girasol (sunflower). I had told her that it was my favorite flower a while ago, and she remembered! She told me that the girlsol reflects who I am. That made me happy. Also, President Smith called me to wish me a happy birthday! That was a surprise!


My Birthday literally lasted the whole week because some of the members felt bad that we didnt meet with them on my birthday, so on Tuesday we had lunch with the familia Tello. They made me a cake also! Hermano Tello told me that I am a really special woman and that I will go really far in life.


On Wednesday I officially completed 11 months here in my mission. What? Time flies so fast! I only have 7 more months left! That scares me to death because there are still so many things that I want to learn! Plus, I love it here so much.


On Thursday we got to go to Xela for the 6 week meeting of Hermana Arellano. We woke up at 4 and left at 530 to get to Xela by 930. It felt like going home! I wanted to jump on a bus to go visit San Mateo! The meeting went well. President Smith is so spiritual. I always leave from him meetings ready to work even harder!


On friday we met a girl named Arecely. She lived in Guate 20 days ago. We were just trying to buy something from a tienda and she said Hey! So, we started to talk to her. She said that she was meeting with the missionaries in Guate but, had to move suddenly. She told us she was going to be baptized with them! She wants to be baptized! Wow! How lucky! God really loves His sheep and has them counted!


Heres to 20 more years of life! Sometimes I wish I could start my life all over again with the knowledge that I have now. But, Gods plan would be frustrated if we didnt make mistakes and learn from them. That is the reason that we are here! Is to mess up! But, I know that we can achieve anything with the help of our Savior, Jesus Christ. 3 steps forward, one step back, that doesnt matter, what matters is that we get back up on our feet every single day! Lets endure to the end together! Salvation not only is personal, but a lot easier when we work together!


I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the one and only true church here on the earth and that Jesus Christ runs the whole thing! It amazes me that people dont understand. The churchs here look just like the ones in the US. The one here in Chiantla is nicer than all of the other churches here in Chiantla. I am sad that people dont just run inside all at once! But, satan is working so hard! He hates us so much! I honestly feel bad for him! But, I guess there needs to be oposicion in todas las cosas.


I love you guys so much! I hope you are well. Know that I pray for you guys and that I miss you!


Con mucho amor,
Hermana Natalie Paige Bullough

Letter - 48 Lo permite que le cambie

Hola mi querida familia!


This week has been crazy!


Last monday we had a really cool experience. We have been doing this thig where we go to all of the houses of members in our ward and share a message and then ask them to think of 15 people of families that arent members of the church and that live here in our area. Then after we have the list, everyone has a copy of all of the names and we all kneel down and pray to ask for the guidence of the spirit to help us pick those people who are ready for baptism. Then we all pick 5 names. Anyway, so we went with the family Tello to do this activity and 6 of the 7 people there chose the name of one girl named Marisol. So, we had the activity last monday. But, in the morning we were trying to think about what we should teach her in this Noche de Hogar.. My companion told me that before her mission she had seen a video about a violin that was really beautiful. But, we only have a USB filled with random mormon messages and such that the mission gave us, so I told her that I doubted that it would be on the USB... but, the second video we looked at was this video!!! I think it is called the hand of the teacher or something like that... but, we decided to teach her that! When we finished the video she started to cry, literally was balling! She said that on sunday night she was praying asking Heavenly Father to show her what she needed to do with her life and that in the moment she finished her prayer, Brother Tello knocked on her door to invite her to their family home evening. I know that Heavenly Father is aware of us and that He listens to our prayers when we ask with a sincere heart ready to obey.


On Tuesday after our Zone meeting, the secretaries called us and said HEY! You guys need to get on a bus to come to Xela right now because Hermana Arellano and you have to go to Guate to sign her visa. So, we jumped on a bus.. but then when we were almost to the terminal, they called us and said Just kidding! The lady in Guate isnt ready for you yet! Not until Monday! I was a little bit frustrated because we had already cancelled all of our appointments for the day and we were even going on divisions so that we could have 16 lessons with member in one day! I was so excited and we had been planning this for a little while now!


On Wednesday the sister leaders called us and asked if we could go on divisions, but also the secretaries, they said Hey! The lady from Guate just called and she wants you guys to come now! So, I told them that there was no way we could do it because of these divisions and also we were going to be in charge of a misison activity the next night! So, I went to Las victorias in Cambote and I was with Hermana Peña. I love her so much! She is the best! I am always so inspired to be better after changes with her! We got to go to Zaculeu because President Smith was going to be there and Hermana Peña had to renew her Temple recomend. I got to chat with Sister Smith for a little bit. I really like them a lot. I also got to see Elder Muse. That was fun! He goes home at the end of this change. He is a really good Elder.


Then Thursday we had a misison activity in the night. It was so much fun! I talked and Hermana Arellano talked. I think we really got the members motivated to help us out! We did role plays with them, and that was so much fun!


On Friday something small, but great happened to me. We were walking through the park, running really late for a cita.. we went running and passed a woman and her four children.. I had the impression to talk to them.. but, we were late.. so I kept running.. but I had the impression again, so we turned around to go talk to her and we found out that she is a member less active! I was really excited that I could recognize the spirit to guide me to her.


On Sunday we had so many investigators come to church! I was so excited! We had 15 people in Principles of the gospel and the other youth were in their classes. Also, when I was in Relief society, a member tapped me on the shoulder and said that a couple was looking for me.. So, I left and when I entered the lobby, I saw Hermana y Hermano Vasquez from San Mateo! They came to visit me! I guess they had something going on in Huehue and decided to come say hi to me while they were there! I am so grateful for them! I started to cry when I saw them! It was a great moment! Then Hermano Fabian dropped us off at the terminal so that we could catch a bus to go to Xela! When we got to Xela, they explained everything and we were on our way! We got to the capital at about 830. We met up with a guy that works for the church named Hector. He was so cool! We went and ate dinner at McDonalds, I felt like a really big sinner eating mcdonalds on a sunday being a missionary and all jaja. Then he dropped us off at a hotel. The hotel wasnt that great, but that is okay! It was only one night. Then next day (Monday) we went to the church office of Guatemala to wait. I was with a missionary from Rehu while my comp and her comp went to sign their visas. While we were waiting, I started talking to some elders that know Zack Rucker. He is in their misison. So, I wrote him a little letter and asked them if they would deliver it to him. That is so cool that we are in the same country, a country that is smaller than Utah. haha The other girl from Rehu had problems with her visa, so we missed the bus that we were supposed to take at 1230 to go back to xela. They finished at 230 and the next bus was going to leave at 3! But when we got there, there was no room! We ended up leaving at 4 and got to Xela at 830. We ended up having to stay in another Hotel in xela! Then left in the morning at 8 and got to huehue at 1045. We went straight to our zone meeting. It was great! haha


I love you guys so much. Thanks for the example that you give to me. I know that this is the work of salvation and that it is real! i know that Heavenly Father loves us and He has faith in every single one of us!


I love you!
Love,
Hermana Natalie Paige Bullough