Letter 18 - Estoy Embarasada

Hola mi familia maravillosa!

Pues, God has a sense of humor haha Let me explain the title of my email... I AM PREGNANT with a 19 year old! haha That is right. I just finished my training... and now I am going to train. 

Last Monday we went to this huge horse stable. It was super fun! We have an investigator there! Her name is Vicki. She is 16 and pregnant! She told us that she doesnt want to get married... so that will be a struggle... but, we will get the spirit to touch her heart, and then I know she will want to be married and baptized.

Tuesday we taught Maximina. She is the CUTEST! haha she has 84 years. The first time we taught her, she accepted our invitation to be baptized... But, then before our second visit, preachers came to her and told her that she cant be baptized more than twice. So, she was pretty confused. We taught her about baptism. We asked her if she remembered the man who baptized her and she said yes. Then we asked her if she knew how he got the power and authority to baptize. She said from God. and we said How? That really got her thinking. We explained that it is really important to understand the line of authority because we need to be baptized with the Presithood Authority. Then we asked her to be baptized again and she said yes and explained to us after that her first baptism wasnt valid. 

Wednesday we had a meeting with all of the Hermanas in our Zone. We got cool tshirts! After this meeting we taught Filiberto and Maximina. Filiberto is her husbund. We taught about the Book of Mormon. Filiberto is hard of hearing... so when he talks... he talks REALLY loud haha He went on and on about how he is going to read the Book of Mormon every single day! He read the introduction to first Nephi and asked what the promised land was... and we explained that it is here in the Americas and when he prayed in the end. He thanked God that he was able to be born in the promised land haha it was really cute! haha After this we went to go see Jaqui, but she wasnt there. So, we taught her Mother in law. Her husband recently died. So, we taught her the Plan of Salvation. She seemed happy with the plan, then Jorge got home right as we were finishing with Sandra. So, we played uno with him to gain his trust. Jorge is Jaquis husband. He is really hard. He doesnt want to be married. It was perfect that Jaqui wasnt there because we needed to talk to him alone. It went well! Jaqui got home right after we shared a scripture with him and he gave us tamallis. After Jaqui and Jorge, we went to the Familia Reyes. We watched the Joseph Smith movie witht them, and then asked the mom to pray. We all knelt down on our knees and She started to pray... before we knew it... Denis, there oldest son started to laugh so hard... and before we knew it everyone was laughing.. including us! How terrible! haha nothing was wrong with her prayer! It was fine! The 15 year old, Olividio ended up praying. He is super! He will end up getting baptized I think! 

Thursday during Personal Study, we got a phone call! Hermana Madrid answered and Elder Reinhold (Our Zone Leader) asked her how she was and she was a little weirded out like.. I am fine.. what do you want haha then he asked to talk to me. I said Hello!? haha and he said I have an announcement for you! You are going to train! haha I fell to the ground and started screaming haha not in a weird way or excited way... more shocked than anything haha God has a sense of Humor! LOL Oh well! We are the Lords investigators... right? I guess He is trying to teach me something through this process! Then I went on divisions with Hermana Mcgill. She is seriously the best! I am sure she is super annoyed with me because I am always complimenting her and talking about how perfect she is! But, it is so true! We were at a less actives house and one thing she said really hit me! We were talking about how this family needed to go to church. And they started making excuses.. Like we are too busy! and she explained that there are 168 hours in one week and God only wants us to go to Church for 3 of those hours. It was really good for that family! 

Friday we had a meeting in Garibaldi for all of the people that are going to train. There are more than 200 people in this mission and only 20 are training. It is so crazy! I cant figure out why God wants me to train! haha you should here my Spanish... you would laugh. OH haha the other part.. there are 16 north americans coming.. that means that it is pretty likely that I could be getting a North American HAHAHA 

Saturday, I hit 4 months! Time really does fly so fast! 14 more months? That is nothing! Time is running out! I need to work so much harder!!!

Sunday, we went to Jaqui and Jorjes house for Hermana Madrid to say goodbye... and She was bearing her testimony to Jorje and said I hope that one day you will find in your heart to be married to Jaqui.. Do you love her? and he SAID NO!!!! It was so awkward! Hermana Jaqui started to cry! We asked them if we could talk to them in a different room. We asked them what the problem is in there family. and she said that she wants to follow the Savior and be baptized but he doesnt want to get married. I explained to him that marriage is the last thing she needs to baptized. I asked Jaqui what she likes about Jorge, and she listed some things and then I asked him and he said he didnt know. So, then I listed some things like she is kind, pretty, intelligent, and wants to do what is best for her family. I told him that he has something great right now, and if he isnt careful, he could lose her. that didnt seem to bother him. 

Today, Jaqui called us and asked if we could come tonight for dinner because she said she told Jorge yesterday that she was going to leave him because she really needs the gospel. He got worried then and said that he wanted to have us over for dinner tonight to talk about it. 

The mission is SUPER great! I love everything about being a missionary! It is super hard... but, super rewarding! 

I love you guys so much!

Love,

Hermana Natalie Paige Bullough

 

Letter 17 - Hola Mi Familia

Hola mi familia!

How are you guys?
I love you guys so much! I think and pray about each and every one of you. Work here in Guatemala is absolutely fabulous!
The baptism for Caren Saturday was great! She is so great! Right after she was confirmed. She was different. You could tell she was happier. Nothing makes me more happy than bringing souls unto our Savior. I sang Im trying to be like Jesus. It was great!


Now we are trying to work with Jaqui. She said that she knows that the Church is true. But, Her boyfriend doesnt want to get married and she wants her boyfriend. It is difficult. We told her that she will be blessed for the rest of eternity if she makes this covenant with God. We will see... we have a lesson with her tonight. Please pray for her.

 I finish training Sunday. I am so excited! haha I hate being told what to do... so training was a little rough lol

I can pretty much understand everything in Spanish now. Now I just need to figure out how to speak it. That is always really rough. I understand the scriptures when I read them.

Not much happened this week. I will try to write more next week. I love you guys with all my heart!

It is possible that I could have a new nephew next week... right? I am so excited!!!

Love you guys!

Love,


Hermana Natalie Paige Bullough

Letter 16 - Mi Familia!

Hola Mi familia!

Como Estan?!

This morning was really crazy! At 530 this morning, an earthquake hit! Everything was shaking so hard! It was like in the movies! I was lying in my bed, and I felt it start, and there are little earthquakes all of the time... so I though it just might be one of those. In my mind, I was praying ¨Heavenly Father, Please dont let this be bigger than it is right now...¨But I must have needed this experience... because my whole bed was shaking and all of my lotions and shampoos and such were falling off of the shelf! Hermana Madrid Said ¨Hermana!¨and I got up and ran to the frame of the door! The Earthquake lasted 54 seconds. It was 6.6. 4 people died here in Guatemala close to my home. It was so scary! We then heard screaming! ¨Misioneras! Misioneras!¨and we ran out onto our balcony and Hermana Caren, The landlord of our house, and our baptism this Saturday. We were looking down at her and she was holding her daughter and she was crying and screaming! Hermana Madrid ran into the house and down the stairs. I did too, but then the phone was ringing, so I ran back upstairs! It was the Elders of San Mateo asking if we were okay! Then I ran out to Hermana Caren with Hermana Madrid and Hermana Caren almost passed out! She told us that she had a dream about this and that she knew it was going to happen. She also told us that she knows there are going to be more. The mission and our church leaders here have really been stressing the matter of food storage and how important it is. But, I did not like the earthquake.

I bore my testimony in Church yesterday. I can feel the Spanish coming! I am definitely more and more comfortable every single day!

Oh Dad! Can you register me to vote? The Mission sent out an email asking us to prepare to vote.. but I am not registered.

We had the COOLEST experience with our investigator Jaqui this week. She really has a desire to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized... but, It is difficult because her and her husband arent legally married. We went to her house to teach her a lesson about tithing.. but, her niece answered the door and said that she couldnt because Jaqui was sick. But I asked if we could go talk to her and the niece let us in. We talked to her for a little bit and she said that she felt bad because the day that we had taught her the word of wisdom, she tried to stop drinking coffee, but that night drank it because she had a really bad headache. I think it was because she had stopped drinking the coffee. Anyway, we asked if she wanted a blessing from the Elders. She said yes. So, we called them and while we were waiting for them to arrive, we taught her about baptism. We had the feeling that it was necessary at this time for her. We taught her and she said she is willing to do what ever it takes to be baptized. I told her that if she continues praying in Faith for George that his heart will be softened. When the Elders got there, we explained that blessings of healing only work through the power of Faith. Elder Toleafoa gave the blessing and said a bunch of things that Hermana Jaqui really needed to hear. I especially liked the part when he said ¨You aren´t feeling well right now. You have pain in your body, in your head, and perhaps in your spirit. But, do not let these things drag you down! Through your faith everything is possible.¨ Immediatley after the bendicion Hermana Jaqui started to cry. She said Ï dont have any more pain in my head and body¨She was crying so hard! I started to cry! The Preisthood is so true! I have such a strong testimony of it.
When thing the President of our Branch said this week was There are 5 things that we NEED to do to be successful in this life. Personal and Family prayer everyday, Personal and Family Scripture study everyday, Go to Church every sunday, partake of the Sacrament, and have Family Home Evening every week. I know that if we do these things, we will be able to have a forever family. I love you guys and want you forever.

I love you guys so much!!! With all of my heart!!!

Love,

Hermana Natalie Paige Bullough

p.s. I met the new mission president, President Smith and his wife. They are so awesome! I love them so much! They will be great!!!!!!

I also got to go do a session in the Quetzaltenango Temple! I did it in Spanish! It was so awesome! This Temple is the most beautiful Temple I have ever seen! 

I love you guys!

Nat

 

Letter 15 - Machetes

Hola Familia!

So, the title of this email... haha Hermana Madrid and I were walking in the street around 845 and a man out of no where came RUNNING!!! He had machetes in his hands and he was yelling venganse! Venganse! haha It was really scary! We ran to a random house and waited until the man left haha But,thinking about it now is funny.

The World Cup is happening right now...and it is REALLY annoying. Karen, one of our most progressing investigators, left church early yesterday to go watch the game. And people wont let us in their houses when the game is going on. And when they do let us in and we ask them to turn off the television, they refuse.

Unfortunatley, Antoni wasnt baptized this Saturday.He said he cant be baptized because he doesnt believe that Thomas S.Monson is the Prophet today. But, we think there ismore than that, because on Sunday when we were going to get our investigators, we saw him with a group of guys. One of the other guys is our investigator Wilson. Wilson is addicted to drugs and alcohol and is in a gang. When we went to go teach Wilson in the afternoon, we couldnt because he was drunk... so we think that possibly Antoni was doing the same... It was really sad.

Yesterday in church.. I gave a talk. I found out right before Sacrament Started. I was really nervous.I gave my talk on Missionary Work. It was only about 6 minutes long. But, everyone was telling me afterwards that my spanish was perfect during the talk! So, needless to say that that made me feel great!

This week we got to go to the Temple with our Branch. We never get to do a session, but we get to take investigators and walk around with them. We brought Karen. Karen is the landlord of our house. Missionaries have been living in this house forever! Karen has been taught all of the lessons and knows a lot about the church. But, she stopped meeting with the missionaries before us. One day we were talking to her and I shared a scripture with her about Coming unto Christ and she told us that day that she knows the church is true, but she is scared. So, after that day we started working with her. She told us that she was going to go to the Temple to receive her answer about baptism. So, we showed her the Joseph Smith video in the front part of the Temple. and the next day, she knocked on our door and said she wants to be baptized the 12th of July! I am so excited!!! She is so cute!

We have another investigator, Jaquilin. She is pilas! She wants to be baptized! It is a little difficult with her, because she isnt married to her husband haha. So, we are working with her on that. But, on Sunday a scripture was read out of the Doctrine and Covenants and after church she told us she wanted that book to read too! She is preparing really hard for her baptism. She wants the Lord in her life, and she recognizes that this is the road to eternal life.

When we were in Branch counsil yesterday, we were talking about Antoni and how he is having this problem with Prophets, and our Branch President has a picture of the first presidency in his office... as they were talking, I was thinking about them.. and when I looked at the picture, the most overwhelming feeling came over me, and I know that President Monson is the Prophet on the earth today. It is cierto.

Mom! I hope you are having fun on your cruise! All of my missionary friends are super jealous!

But, family... seriously! I love you so much!!!! Thank you guys for being the best examples to me! I seriously love you all so much! Serving a mission is the best decision I have ever made in my life. I am learning and growing everyday.,..and it is the best.

I love you, but most importantly, God loves you!

Hasta otra semana!

Love,
Hermana Natalie Paige Bullough

Letter 14 - Gotcha!

Hola mi familia! Como estan!?

Today for Pday we went and played gotcha. Gotcha is paintball! It was so much fun! I have two huge welts on my legs and one on my arm! It was so much fun! 

This week was pretty great! We taught Antoni Saturday night. We had the goal of putting a fecha fija for his baptism. We shared scripture after scripture and then finally I showed him the picture of the Savor knocking at the door without a doorknob. I told him that the Savior is knocking and that we need to let him in and that Baptism is the first covenant that we make with our Heavenly Father. I said a bunch more that I dont even remember! It is so true that the Spirit truly is the teacher! He will be baptized this Saturday.

I am feeling a lot better with Spanish. I feel pretty comfortable. Yes, I need a lot more help... but, with time I know that I will be fluent! 

Really not that much happened this week. But, I want to tell you guys that being on a mission is a huge humbling experience. I thought I knew everything before my mission. But, the fact is that I really dont know that much. But, I do know a few things... I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is our Saviors Church. The one and only. It is the same Church that He established when he came to the earth. Unfortunatley, when Jesus Christ died, the people fell into a state of Apostasy, so Heavenly Father took away the Priesthood from the earth (The Authority to act in the name of Jesus Christ on the earth). BUT, Heavenly Father loves us a lot! He always listens to our prayers! So, when a young boy who only had 14 years prayed fervently to know which church to join, Heavenly Father, and our Savior, Jesus Christ, appeared to him and told him that none of the churchs were correct because none had the Priesthood Authority. Because of THAT prayer of a humble boy, we now have the Church back. The Saviors church. 

Her companion id the one on the left.

se que la iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias es la iglesia verdadera. se que El Libro de Mormon es la palabra de Dios. se que Jose Smith fue un profeta llamaba por Dios. se que cuando tratamos a seguir Jesucristo, somos felices. Estoy muy agradecida por esta oportunidad a servir el Salvador aqui en Guatemala. Estoy tratando de  ser como Jesucristo. No somos perfectos.. pero con el Senor, Jesucristo todo es posible. La Expiación de Jesucristo es real. Se que cuando Jesucristo vino en la tierra, Jesucristo establecio una iglesia y sufre por nuestro pecados. Gracias a El nosotros tenemos la oportunidad a tener vida eterna. Yo amo a mi salvador y mi amigo, Jesucristo.

I love you guys so much. Remember the Savior ALWAYS has his arms of love and mercy extended. Everyday is a new day and we can try to be better everyday. I am really really far from perfect. But, through the Savior, we can be perfected in Him. Moroni 10 32.

Con Cuidado,

Hermana Natalie Paige Bullough

 

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

Letter 12 - Mi Familia!

Hola Familia! Como Estan?!

I love you guys so much! 

Counrtyside of San Mateo, Guatemala

So, Monday we were at MaryLous home, she is a Menos Activo, and her mom offered us food. In my head I kept saying "no! no!" but, it is rude to deny food from people here. The food was COVERED in flies. We had tortillas with salt and warm water with sugar. Que rico! I was pretty sure I ate a parasite! haha speaking of parasites, I have one! I called the nurses because I was having some problems. So, I got put on a white diet. I didnt actually get tested for the parasite, but they want to take precautions! Fun!

Wednesday we had Zone meeting! I love Zone meeting! It is so fun to see other people! It was Elder Roachs last Zone meeting of his mission! He bore his testimony! It was great! It is so weird! He is leaving and I am just starting out! I am such a baby in the mission! haha I got a hand written letter from Sister Gregerson! It was so nice! I love her! Tell her I said thank you and that I loved it! Tuesday night we taught Juan for the last time. President Bautista told us to drop him because he wasnt progressing. It was really sad. He is more active than some of the members! We can continue to invite him to things, but, we cant teach him anymore! 

Thursday We taught Jaquelyn. She is seriously the best! She is SO nice! She always tells me how great my spanish is! It really boosts my confidence! 

Friday we always have lunch with Hermana Flori. She is seriously like the mom for missionaries here in San Mateo. Her daughter returns from her mission tomorrow! Anyway, I was pretty quiet because I couldnt understand what they were talking about. haha then Bryan (Our War mission leader, son of Flori) said whats wrong? and I said "Espanol es tan dificil!" and got teary eyed haha It was funny because then Hermana Madrid and Hermana Flori started to cry! LOL The Elders laughed really hard! haha

Saturday was great! I was feeling really good with Spanish! We rode on the back of a truck, just hanging on for dear life haha but, Saturday night, we were teaching this woman Marcella. She is really old. I was just sharing a scripture, and she started to laugh REALLY hard! The hardest ever! She kept saying you dont know spanish! it was so rude! I cried LOL I gave the scripture to Hermana Madrid to finish haha

Natalie's Apartment

Sunday was Hermana Madrids birthday! I love having a companion with a birthday, because I felt like it was my birthday too! haha EVERYONE fed us! I was really considering balimia for a moment so I could not feel like I was going to explode! haha We had 5 investigators at church! FIVE!!! I was so excited!!!! They are all pilas! Elder Roach spoke in church because it was his last sunday. He talked a lot about faith and how we need to work hard and have faith in order for the faith to work! I can learn spanish! I know I can! I tsught Gospel P¨rinciples! I found out during Sacrament meeting haha needless to say, I had a lot of help from the other missionaries! After Church we ate lunch at the Velasquez home! It was so awesome! They had a cake for Hermana Madrid! I love her! She is awesome! We had a meeting in the church after, and I put a listerine strip in my mouth. It was hilarious because then everyone that was sitting around me asked for one and they didnt believe me that you could eat them. They dont have them here. They were like cavemen! haha it was funny! Then we went to more members homes and ate cake and food and too much! haha

but, really, I love Guatemala so much. I am growing so much! Learning spanish is hard, but, with God, it is possible. There is a scripture that I love in Jacob 6:5 it talks about how we need to cleave unto God like he cleaves unto us. God CLEAVES unto us! Whoa! He really does care about us and he answers our prayers. My mission will bless me for the rest of eternity. It is helping me become a better person. I am grateful that I get the opportunity every single day to share the Gospel with the people of Guatemala. I know that my Savior, Jesus Christ lives. Every time I get frustrated with the language or something else, I always remember that the Savior experienced my exact pains and that I can use the stregthening power of the Atonement anyday. How many churchs are in the world today? uncountable! Most of them believe in the bible... like us, but, we also have The Book of Mormon. Heavenly Father gave us the Book of Mormon so that we wouldnt be confused and the Book of Mormon truly testifies of Christ. Anyone who reads just the first page can know that it is of God.

The Mountains near San Mateo

I love you guys with all my heart and I think about you all of the time!

Con Amor,

Hermana Natalie Paige Bullough