¿Como se dice?????

(Hermana Taylor on far left second row with Hermana Bracha beside her. Hermana Ralph is second from the right on the second row.) 

This week was so good and I have so many cool things to share, but I'm going to try and make it shortish because of time, ya know.

We had a devotional on Sunday which is honestly the best part of the week. Elder Bednar said, "no amount of anything in the world I could be doing right now is more important or effective than what I am currently doing as a missionary. How wonderful of a time it is to be involved in the work of the Lord!" I don't know if I conveyed that in the same way as he did, but boy that hit me so so hard and I felt so good the whole time. He went on the say that "I am a channel, not the light itself. It is my job to help bring the words of the Lord to the attention of my investigators, but I am not doing it myself. I need to get out of the way AND LET THE HOLY GHOST DO THE TEACHING!" haha I thought that was such good advice and so so true. Everything I am doing is through the help of the Lord and what an amazing blessing that I get to be a part of that!

But anyways.... don't worry, I have not changed at all. I have fallen, or tripped probably more times than I can count. So nothing really new though everyday we study, eat, study more, language study, teach investigators (which is hard BEACUSE SPANISH) study more, devotional, take a break of food, you get the jyst.

Next week 50 NORTES ARE COMING!! 50! that's insane.. there were only 12 with my transfer! Which I'm okay with because I honestly love my district soooo much, man they are the best. AND MY COMPANION. She is my favorite person ever. We have so much fun all the time and we have like the same ideas for teaching which is so awesome. I honestly don't think I could have been given a better companion had I chosen her myself! So happy!

Okay here's a run down of the week :)

WEDNESDAY= we went to the temple WHICH WAS GORGEOUS and so nice because it was in English. Very tiny though, but beautiful. Then we went to this market place and the people talked so fast in spanish its so stressful at times haha. Hermana Ralph and I will just laugh and nod trying to understand them. (we do that a lot here)

THURSDAY= we were in class and I went to sit down AND COMPLETELY missed my chair. I honestly have no idea what happened but I just missed it and fell down. So then like 25 minutes later when were coming back to class and I go to sit down just as Hermana Ralph PULLED MY CHAIR OUT FROM UNDER ME, so I fell AGAIN. I just don't understand, apparently I am still the family duh down here in Guatemala? who knows. it was hilarious though.

FRIDAY= classes, what's new:)

SATURDAY= MIRACLES DO HAPPEN!!! so Hermana Ralph and I have been struggling so much because she knew nothing about Spanish coming to the MTC and I only know a little from like 8 and 9 grade, so it's been really hard. But right before we went into the lesson with our investigator we went outside and prayed soooooo intently that we would somehow be able to get through this lesson, be able to speak the language, and somehow just do it. I have probably never felt the spirit so strong in my own personal life before, it was crazy. We were both bawling like babies. So anyways, we get to the lesson and start teaching then halfway through she asked us a question that we weren't prepared for.... AND I ANSWERED IT! I can honestly not tell you what I said, what we were talking about, or how this happened, other than I know that the Lord helped me. There is absolutely no way I did that on my own, and that for me was enough to remind me every single second when this is hard and that there is somebody looking out for me, and helping me. WHAT A MIRACLE!

SUNDAY= amazing as usual, the devotionals are so wonderful, survived another week of not having to speak in church, so hallah!

MONDAY= every now and then we hear the occasional gunshot right, because we are in the city? So anyways we were up in our room and I'm looking for a paper on my windowsill when all of a sudden (what I thought were gunshots, but were actually fireworks) SHOOT OFF AND ARE SO LOUD! I jumped back and dove to the ground, obviously! Because our window was open, and I thought someone was shooting at me!!!!! and (so Hermana Ralph says) curl up into a ball and yell DUCK AND COVER GUYS!! I don't think that happened, but she says so. She was laughing so hard at me because she knew that they were fireworks and I didn't, but idk. Lets just say it was hilarious and I'm the biggest scaredy  cat in the world. 

TUESDAY= you're never going to believe what we ate for dinner.... CAT! ahah no JK, but I swear it looked like cat food or dog food, idk, it was meatloaf, but yuck. It looked terrible. I didn't eat it. Other than that time the food is always really yummy and none of us have gotten sick yet so that is a blessing. We always eat like eggs, beans, tacos, guacamole, and bread. Bread every meal haha. But its all yumm.

Honestly, I love being a missionary. I don't think I have every felt this much joy, stress, and yet at the same time accomplishment with what I'm doing. I love being here and doing this. I can't wait until I'm better at Spanish and can teach the people what I have come to know and love for myself. 

I just want to leave one more thought with all of you. At our devotional on Sunday, Elder Holland was talking about how we need to be truly and 100 percent converted as well. How can we go out and preach to other people that they need to pray, read the Book of Mormon, and be baptized, if we haven't done these things our self? And he said that.... We are God's investigators too. Everything that I WANT for my investigators, God wants from me too. And that was just like a BAM in the face moment. I need to make sure I am absolutely doing all that I can here.

So that's all I have this week! Next Tuesday we get to go the plaza and hand out Book of Mormons to people so YAYAY!!! love you!!! Also Happy Birthday to my FAVORITE GRANDMA LAVERNE next week!!! love you so much!!! 

Con Amor, 

Hermana Bracha 

EL CCM ES FUEGO!

Tegan put me in charge of posting her entries to her blog. Whenever a little clarification or translation:) is needed I'll enter it in blue. The rest is ALL Tegan!  (Jan--mom)


Hola,

DON'T SEND ME PACKAGES! All of Guatemala's postal service has shut down so if you send packages I probably wont ever be able to get them. I will let you know when that gets back up.. 

I LOVE IT HERE! It is soooo beautiful and every night it rains so it sounds like home which is such an amazing blessing. 

SO! pray for me....because Wednesday I was made the Hermana in charge of ALL musica in the ccm. (CCM is the Spanish version for MTC) So, basically I have to assign the music for every meeting, devotional, etc that occurs. I assign who is playing the piano and leading and I pick the hymn. It's been fun but stressful because there are a lot of meetings. Also that means I have to go to leadership meetings every Saturday and Sunday mornings. They are all in Spanish so I have no idea what's going on because my SPANISH IS TERRIBLE! Sydney and Dad, you were right, I should have reviewed it before I got out here for sure. Also I am an assistant to the nurse, so i carry around, what i named my nino Quin, a boutiquin (first aid kit) that has a ton of medicine in it. So people are always coming to me during classes and at night to get medicine. It's cool but also stressful because half of the time I have no idea what they are saying to me....hehe. 

Wednesday -- Getting here was insane, When we got off the plane and onto the bus on the way to the CCM, we passed a bus that had probably 200 people in it jam-packed. People were literally hanging out of the windows and doors trying to be in there. We met up with 8 Elders and 3 other Hermanas, so in total there are 12 of us. We are THE FUNNEST district. I love everyone so much! HERMANA RALPH ES ME COMPANERA AND I LOVE HER TO DEATH! She is seriously the greatest and we get along so well it's crazy that we've only known each other for a week. I feel like we've been friends for everrrrrrr. I'm so blessed to have her because I was so nervous about the whole companion thing.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were all basically the same because -- language study, more language study, gospel study, investigator teach IN SPANISH! which is superrrr hard might I add haha, and then more study.

Sunday -- This was by far my favorite day that we have had in the CCM. There were four devotionals that were SO GOOD and the spirit was just so strong. I have never felt it like that before. We watched a video from Elder Holland and it was such a humbling reminder that we were not the first ones to ask why this is hard, our savior was the first one to ask, and even plead to the Father for help. So for me, to sit here and ask why this is SO hard, I was just reminded, that I'm not alone in this, someone else has felt this before and knows what it was like. That really hit home with me when he said we aren't the first ones to say why.

Monday -- hahahaha! so sometimes the food has a lot of spice and other times not as much, but THANKFULLY I haven't gotten sick once so keep your fingers crossed for me. But anyways, Hermana Taylor, who is like the funniest person ever, she ate a huge bite of this salsa that had jalapenos and I think ghost peppers in it? Anyway, it was sooo hot her face turned red and she was crying (and laughing) and all the Latinas were laughing at us, 

because we were laughing at her, and it was just hilarious. I guess you had to be there, but just take my word for it. 

And then Tuesday, BROTHER OCHOA CAME FOR A DEVOTIONAL!! It was so good and he just answered a ton of quesitons that some missionaries had and it was just so good, I love it here! I thought it was interesting because he also kind of said the whole thing about how we arent the first ones to ask "why is this so hard", which just shows that God knows the intentions of our hearts and what we are needing to hear. That will never not amaze me. 

So all in all, being a missionary is legit! I LOVE YOU ALL! I'll hopefully have more time next week to share a little more about the devotionals.

Con amor, 

Hermana Bracha

Tegan is in Guatemala!

I made it and I am safe! Its been crazy and Spanish keyboards are insane:) I cannot find punctuation anywhere! Also, they said to email me on Sunday so that way I can check my email whenever my pday will be.

It is SO BEAUTIFUL here, there are so many different kinds of trees and they are so cool. The MTC and the temple have a gate around it so that's comforting! I'm sharing a room with Hermanas Ralph, Tree, and Taylor. Holy goodness I love them so much!

I am soooooo tired though. I probably slept for 45 minutes on the plane because there was a little boy crying the entire time. I think we have 11 elders and then us 4 Hermanas, so there's actually a lot of us! Except I think there's 45 Latinos... sooo hahah, definitely outnumbered for sure.

Also my interview with the president was crazy because I had no idea what he was saying to me. Dad was right, I really could go for some English right now, but I WILL LEARN! (hopefully). I didn't want to eat all my breakfast because I feel so queasy and I swear the woman that is showing us around was so disappointed in me, but that is the only meal that I wont eat it all, I already promised myself!

I LOVE YOU ALL!  we aren't allowed to take our cameras anywhere so that is kind of a bummer, but that's okay. I cant wait until I'm more comfortable with Spanish, that will make life so much easier. We were walking down the hall and two Americans were coming the other way and one yelled OH MY GOODNESS FINALLLLLY!! MY PEOPLE!!!! haha, it was so funny. Obviously not to you because you weren't there, but still.

With this humidity my hair is insane. oh well, happy to be here! LOVE YOU!!

Love, Hermana Bracha 

Tegan is going to Guatemala!

Tegan got her mission call and is going to Retalhuleu Guatemala! She reports to the Guatemala MTC on September 13, 2016. We are so excited for her!