Worms and Conference

Short email this week but we had THE best conference with Elder Zeballos who is the general authority here in Guatemala. It seriously was the best thing ever and I learned so much. I don't think I have ever felt the spirit so strongly before in my life, other than when the apostle was here. It was amazing. Some super cool things he shared with us that impacted me a lot where these:

--"It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Literally every person on this earth is a divine child of God and has the potential to be like Him!!!"

-- as missionaries we invite people to "come unto Christ" because we need to already be converted to Him. That got me thinking about how much my savior means to me and how much I love Him. I am SO grateful for the sacrifice that my savior made for me and love Him dearly. 

--prayer is a time for us to actually talk, conversate, and tell our Heavenly Father about ourselves. Sometimes there aren't people who WANT to listen to us, but HE DOES! That is the beautiful thing, is that he ALWAYS listens to what we have to say, and WANTS to help us with our problems. He's the best!!! 

--sacrifices are "sacred doings"

Those are just a couple of the super cool things I learned this week that I have been pondering a ton and studying.

Hermana Taylor and I had a funny experience this week. It was raining super hard and we went to go visit a member and when we sat down to talk with them they gave each of us a cup of hot chocolate. We were sitting there and Hermana Taylor said to me, "Bracha, there's a worm in my cup" and I said, "that's impossible" and then she showed me this super tiny white worm. Then I look in my cup and I see one too!! So I scoop it out with my spoon and then I see ANOTHER one hahah. I scooped that one out to but the member saw me and was like, "HERMANA I'm so sorry and took it away from me and gave me another cup. However in my new cup there was still a worm. aaah, it was funny and I know this doesn't really make that much sense, but there were worms in my chocolate and we drank it:) it was yummy and I'm pretty sure I have parasites. WAHOOOO!!

I love to be a missionary and I know that this is the true church of God. Hope everyone is reading the Book of Mormon and I love you all!!!!! 

Hermana Bracha

Scorpions, appendix, and baptisms!

Guatemala is Beautiful!

This week was crazy yet amazing!!!! We share a ward with two other sisters, Hermana Maddock and Hermana Martinez and Thursday night Hermana Martinez got really sick so she went to the doctor and they told her that she had parasites. When she had another test they actually told her that she had appendicitis and that they had to rush her off to the hospital in Xela (which is like 2 hours away) and they had to take her away in no less than an hour. YIKES! So we were scrambling to find her a member with a car that could drive her there because it just happened to be a holiday and so there were NO ambulances! It was so crazy, so we finally got Hermana Martinez (Hermana Taylor went with her) and Hermana Taylor out the door like an hour and a half later on there way to Xela. They were probably about 20 minutes away from the hospital when THE CAR BROKE DOWN! So they said a prayer really fast and they got the car going for about 2 miles that just got them to the only lamppost in like 15 miles. SO blessings and they are so lucky!!! Somehow Hermana Taylor got a hold of the temple president in Xela to come get them and take them to the hospital. So Hermana Martinez could have her surgery at like 12 in the morning. It was so crazy!

And then Friday night Edgar told us that he didn't want to get baptized and didn't want to go to church anymore EITHER! I was so sad and honestly didn't know what to do. So we called the bishop and canceled everything, but Saturday morning we went to visit him and he was not very positive in terms of progressing. BUT THEN at 3 in the afternoon he called me and said, "Hermana Bracha, today I'm getting baptized, but its today or never!" hahah, I went into panic mode and called the elders so they could come at 5 to give him his interview and if he passed then right after he could get baptized. So he ended up passing the interview and 30 minutes later he got baptized. That was such a testimony building moment for me to recognize that as missionaries we can never give up and we need to ALWAYS have the spirit to be with us so that they can feel the need to be baptized and keep covenants with our heavenly father!!

Edgar's Baptism

Yesterday we went to go visit a less active and we helped her wash her clothes in the river and it was so fun! I actually really enjoy hand washing clothes and we were washing when all of a sudden Hermana Maddock just screams, "SCORPION!" hahah, she had flung a scorpion up onto the rock! I was nervous because I remembered that you like had to burn them or something, but here they don't follow those rules so the little kid just took his sandal off and killed it with his shoe. After that I was a little nervous that we were going to find another scorpion, but we survived:) haha. 

The Scorpion!!

I LOVE TO BE A MISSIONARY AND TO BE IN GUATEMALA! Guatemala is such a promised land and I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to serve my mission here and help my brothers and sisters! I was thinking a lot the night when Edgar said he didn't want to get baptized like "what did I do wrong? why now all of a sudden doesn't he want to get baptized?" And I thought, "the only person that can take care of him right now is God", and he did it. He helped his son come into the waters of baptism and be so incredibly happy. Edgar called us later that night and told us JUST how happy he was. I love this gospel and I love the church. I love the Book of Mormon and the happiness that it gives us. I am so grateful for my savior and everything that he has done for me.

Love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope you all have a great week!

Love, Hermana Bracha

This week we will have a baptism and his name is edgar! he has been investigating the church for almost 2 years and FINALLY went to church for the first time two Sundays ago. He has accepted his baptism date so, WAHOO! We also have a lot of people that are progressing, we just need them to accept a baptism date!! We're doing so well here in San Pancho. Amanda and Brandon are doing so well and I'm just so happy for them and everything that they've been able to accomplish.

The members in this ward are AMAZING! There's an old grandpa who always sits outside of his house with the Bible and the Book of Mormon just waiting for people to come to his house so that way he can talk with them about how the church has changed his life. I love it!!!

Maria Isabel's baptism

This Saturday Maria Isabel got baptized, this woman who has been coming to church for a long time it was SO great!! And a member here, his name is Byron (he's the best) when we got to the church he was waiting for us with a loaf of bread for me because the week before I was talking about how I wanted this yummy cinnamon bread and he remembered so he bought us some! He's the stinking cutest and helps us a ton in the work!!

Hermanas Ralph, Bracha and Taylor

This past week we had zone conference and Hermana Taylor and I talked about the spirit and how He is such a big role in our lives and is one of the greatest gifts that we have in this life. It was great and Hermana Taylor did such a good job, she was so nervous!! but it was good:) We also had a really cool experience when we were contacting and when we knocked on a door this girl came out. She started asking us the difference between a Christian and a Mormon church and in the doorstep of her house we taught the ENTIRE lesson 1 and it was amazing. She told us that she had always been interested in the Mormon church and would really actually love to go. We were shocked because she was just so serious in how she said it. We have the first lesson with her today, so hopefully we can teach her good:) Her name is Astrid and she is adorable! We're hoping so much that she can progress!!  Next week Elder Zeballos from the seventy is coming for a multizona and also a big meeting with all the leaders of the mission so were super stoked for that! It's going to be so good. Also, I only fell 2 times this week so were doing really good here:)

I LOVE TO BE A MISSIONARY! I know with all my heart that this is the true church, Christ leads it and helps us in everything that we do. I love Him and I'm so grateful for what He did for us on the earth. He is the biggest example to me and I'm so grateful for this time that I get to say that I am His representative. I love to do his work. I know that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet of the church in these times and that the Book of Mormon is true. We are Gods children and he loves us. He will helps us ALWAYS if we just pray and ask for the help. Christ can carry us through everything that comes in our lives and everything that happens. I just love to be a missionary.

I hope everyone is doing really well!! 

Hermana Bracha

WELL...............

The journey of Hermanas Taylor and Bracha begins, hahah:) It's the best, I stinking love her! We're doing so well and we've already had a couple of cool miracles here and crazy experiences. When we got home from conference there was a drunk guy outside of our house and when we went to walk by he woke up and said "OOOHHH Buenas dias senoritas"!!! hahah it was so funny. And then when we were leaving the stake center there was a guy outside singing Feliz Navidad and when he saw me he starting walking towards me and starting singing to me... and, haha, asked me to marry him. So I now have two marriage proposals here. cool!

We had such a happy week and today we went to the waterfalls, always a blast!

But seriously this week was a good week. GO MORMONS! General Conference was so good. The emphasis on the Book of Mormon really hit me and on missionary work. The Book of Mormon really is the only thing that is going to be able to help us stay focused and receive guidance from our Heavenly Father. I really loved this conference because all was focused on Christ's love and the Book of Mormon! 

Love you all,

Happy Week,
Hermana Bracha

Hermana Taylor and me at the waterfall