Street lessons? My favorite!

Hello Everyone!!

Well this week has been exciting as always. I have officially started my shots for rabies! Luckily I only have to get five shots instead of 20. So far I have gotten two of them. So nobody fear, I am not going to start foaming at the mouth, howling at the moon, or have random erratic violence problems. At first when I found out I had to get rabies shots I was way bummed since my bite is so small and so not a problem... but my companion and I have decided that it is probably good since we cannot for the life of us find this dog.                

It does make a really good excuse though "I am so sorry, that was not me... it was my rabies (or here mi rabia... )" So yes, that is now my excuse for things.

The other night it was also freezing cold! It was so cold I woke up, and the next day we were talking to the other missionaries about it. My companion just looked up the temperature and it was 70 degrees. I think it is safe to say I might die when I go back to Utah. We also had one rainy day, and here in Honduras, if it is raining, people do not leave their houses. Seriously. We would go to peoples houses and they would look at us in shock and say "Hermanas! We were not expecting you to come!" We had one person who did not let us in because it would require them to go out in the rain. They were like come back an other day Hermanas. So yes, welcome to Honduras :)       

This week we are planning the baptism of Heidi.  We were also planning for our awesome family to get baptized, but  the Dad had to leave for work, and we are not sure when he will get back . So this makes things a little difficult, but I know God has a plan and he is going to figure things out for us. On Saturday night we also had a cool experience. We were at the gate for our house and about to go in when we saw the wife of the Stake President and the Stake President. They are pretty impressive people. We talked with them for a minute then were about to go in when the wife says "Hermanas! Hermanas! Venga (come)". She introduces us to Armando, who is 18 years old. Apparently she has wanted him to come to church for a while now and she is trying to get him to commit to come to church. Being the awesome Hermanas we are we decide this is a wonderful opportunity to sing a hymn and pray in the street, invite him to church, and get a lesson with a member out of it. So after inviting him to church, I look at him and say "Estabien si cantamos un himno y hagamos un oracion?" He looks at me a bit incredulously, but of course the Stake President is like "Yes! That is a great idea!" So we have our hymn and prayer in the street, and of course we pray that he will come to church. Afterwards we promised him the blessings of coming to church and left. When we left we were not very hopeful he was going to come, but Sunday morning... dun dun dun... there is Armando. We were pretty shocked. We set a lesson with him and went and visited him last night. He had completely changed! He said that he loved church. The Stake President and his wife were there with us for this lesson as well. We were planning on doing Lesson 1, but with the Stake President we (I mean he...) definitely just jumped right to the good stuff, Book of Mormon and baptism.  So Armando has a fecha for the 1st of Febraro and is going to start reading the Book of Mormon. Yeah! Also, so you all know, street lessons are so normal here. I think half of our lessons our in the calle (street). We have no shame of singing and praying for everyone to hear : ) 

These past weeks I have definitely started learning the power of attending church, and how when people come to church, they suddenly have such a stronger desire to change and to be a part of this gospel.  What a blessing church is! When people come to church they suddenly start understanding what this gospel is about, and they are able to feel the Spirit... even when we have dogs running through the church building   #HondurasProblems           

Also, just so you all know, I might be a little freaked out when I come home. The other day we saw a bunch of Americans and I think I just stared at them for a while, and then went up and asked if they spoke English. They all looked at me like I was crazy. Then I remembered... oh yeah I look like you guys. We also got to ride in the car of the APs (craziness) and I seriously could not figure out how to unlock the door and  get out of that car. It was like a space machine or something. We were also at an investigators house and we decided to have the lesson outside since it was a beautiful day. Well.. they have a washer (outside) and I just stared at it for a while in shock, then I remembered,  oh yeah I had one of those in the States. All you have to do is put your clothes in and they come out clean. It was the first washer I had seen since being in Honduras!   Anyways I hope everyone is counting their blessings! One thing I have learned here is that things are so arbitrary and unimportant. All that really matters is that you have the basics and your family.

Well for this week I have definitely been thinking about how easy and simple the gospel is. We teach how to gain eternal life on one hand. Faith: believe in Christ and in this gospel. Repent of your sins. Be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost. Continue having faith, repenting, and living the gospel. That is it! And if we endure, we get to live with God, and Jesus Christ, and our families... FOREVER. Wow. In Alma 33:19-21 it talks about the people of Moses who would not look  at the staff and live because of the easiness of the way. Then again in Alma 37:44-4 6 it talks about how the Liahona was a symbol for us, and how easy it was for them to look at the Liahona and be guided, and how easy it is for us as well. This gospel is so simple and the way is easy! We just need to follow. Never let the hardness of our hearts get in the way of our blessings and our eternal life. The way is easy, and our lives are so much happier with this gospel then without it.                                                                                                                                                                  

                                                                                                     

Well I love you all forever and always.          

A Dog Bite, a Borracho, and a Puente

So my adventures here in Honduras have definitely started!

Yes... as the title says, a dog finally got me. It is a very small bite near my elbow and I am actually pretty impressed for how large the dog is that it is not a lot worse. I knew it was coming since mi companera and mi otra companera in this area both got bit, but I was in denial that it would ever happen. But I think everything should be fine, I just have to make sure in 7 days that the dog is not dead. Fun stuff. I just think some of the dogs here are possessed with Devils and so they are trying to keep the work from moving forward. Ha! Little do they know. 

Yesterday I also had a nice experience with a borracho. So we were talking to someone and I turn around and this man is standing right there. Woah. So I stuck my hand out for the cordial do not touch me handshake. But then of course he was not giving me my hand back after I was pulling for it. Then he was telling me Happy New Year and going in for a hug (I think). My brain was processing what was happening when I hear Hermana Pickett pretty much yell Disculpe!! Disculpe!! And yank my shoulders back and save me. Ahh we ran away laughing our heads off at what happens only in Honduras. 

There is also now a puente in our river that we have to cross to get to one of our investigators. Best day ever! So now only our feet get wet instead of our thighs. Score.

We also started our English class this week. I was actually pretty impressed with how many people came.

This week I have also realized that if having investigators is anything like having children, I am not sure I am up for the task. My heart breaks everytime they promise us they are going to come to church or do something else and then they do not do it. I honestly have no idea how God does it. This week we had 18 investigators come to church! Yay! But also I could not but help thinking about the others who had promised us they would come and never showed up. They are the real heartbreakers! Also when they are sitting alone or no one is talking to them I am like hey! They came to church! Go talk to them people. These are my kids here. 

We are hoping for a baptism this week of Heidi, but she has to get permission from her mom first. She is 16 and she is seriously my hero. She is basically raising her two younger siblings and she is super pilas. I hope everyone prays that she will be able to get baptized this Saturday! Julia is still amazing, but her son Christian, who is 16, is having doubts about whether or not he wants to get baptized. Last time we talked to him though he had not prayed about it, so we are hoping things will change. And Lucy is breaking my heart because she said she was having doubts because her esposo does not like the church. Ahhh. But she told us she felt it in her heart that it was true. Also Familia Huezo all came to church last week so we are hoping that they will be able to get baptized in two Saturdays. They are awesome too. These people are the greatest. Heartbreakers sometimes, but the greatest. 

Also I just want everyone to know how greateful I am that we have a prophet, Presidente Monson. We are so lucky. God speaks, not spoke. We have an amazing opportunity to have a guide in this life so that we do not have to wander in darkness. I love how Presidente Monson always teaches about being grateful, lifting and serving others, and that God loves each and every one of us. His talk in Conference about never being alone, and also his talk in the Relief Society broadcast make me want to cry every time I read them.   

       

I love you all, and I know God lives and loves us and he has called a prophet because he wants us to have the ability to follow him. We are the luckiest people in the world because we have this gospel. 

Happy New Years!

Hugs and kisses from Honduras!

I hope everyone had such an amazing Christmas! Here in Campana we ate lots of tamales and sandwich! (Not sandwiches.. just sandwich :). I got my packages the day before Christmas (yay!) so Christmas Eve mi companera y yo set up my miniature pink tree and cooked tortillas harina y tajatas. We had to come in at six because of the festivities of Honduras so we had a good Christmas eve, then Christmas we opened up our presents and went and visited people. It was a pretty good Christmas. Here Christmas is a lot different from the States, very few people have trees or give presents (at least in my area... it may be different in other areas) but almost everyone gathered with their family. I also got to give out my candy canes from my package (thanks!!) and all the people loved the candy canes! Here apparently they do not have candy canes.

Anyways but I have to tell you about our amazing Sunday! We had 21 investigators come to church!! We definitely set a high record. We were so amazed as we just saw more and more people come in. The Lord definately blessed us! One of our investigators who came we were about to drop but she showed up at church! She said her neice had woken up early and told her "let´s go to church! Come on!" So there they were. It was amazing I have no idea what happened other than the Spirit had inspired so many people to come.

I also need to tell you all about our amazing investigator Lucy. Lucy is a boss. We went and visited her at the beginning of this week and she told us that her esposo (which is basically her husband minus the marriage part. Here everyone calls their significant other esposo y esposa, but it is pretty rare for anyone to actually be married). Entonces her esposo and her neighbour were saying that the Mormones worship a different God and we worship Joseph Smith. Lucy told them that she liked when we came and had good feelings when we came. Her esposo told her that it was the devil giving her those good feelings. But she stood up for us! That lesson we taught about the Book of Mormon, and when we came back she had read all of the Introduction and the Testimonies (we had only given her the introduction, but she is amazing so of course she read more). However she told us she was having a hard time with prayer and she could not pray. So we talked about prayer and read some scriptures about prayer. Then we all kneeled and first I said the prayer and she repeated what I said. Then I told her okay it is your turn now to do it by yourself! She was super nervous but she gave the sweetest prayer and the Spirit was so strong!! We were so happy when we left that she was able to pray! The next day we passed by for her to let her know there was an activity at the church. She told us she could not come because she had to wait for her esposo to come home from work with the keys and he did not usually come home until late. So we asked if we could say a prayer with her, and mi companera prayed that she would be able to come and her esposo would come home with the keys. We went to our other sitas and arrived at the activity late, and there was Lucy!! We were so happy! But the story is not over yet... so Lucy has been really sick, so we asked her if she would like a Priesthood blessing. She said that would be fine, so we went back later that night. However it is hard sometimes finding people to give blessings. But we found Chris, a super amazing convert of a little over a year who is 18 and putting in his papers soon. We asked him if he could come help us and give the blessing. He was super scared and we did not have oil. Somehow we found oil and we went to Lucy´s. Mi companera explained more about the Priesthood and blessings, then asked Chris to explain. He talked about how it was also up to her faith. Then before the blessing he gave the sweetest prayer. The blessing was the shortest most powerful blessing I have ever heard. The blessing was so strong, and I could feel the faith of both Lucy and Chris. At the end Lucy had tears in her eyes, and we asked her to give the closing prayer. In her prayer she prayed to have more faith, and it was so sweet. We are going to check in with her today so hopefully she is feeling better! Her daughter Mabia is also amazing, she is 11 and wanted her own copy of the Book of Mormon to read. I love both of them!

We also met Julia this week! Julia is also a boss. She left her abusive esposo (which is pretty much unheard of here!) and her and her four kids are living with her mom. She has come to church twice and loves it. We have not really gotten to give a lesson yet but we are already planning her baptismal date. We have helped her the past two times make tortillas instead of lessons because she has a venda for tortillas and has to finish her tortillas before the next day. She is amazing and has so much faith!

We have also had a few crazy people this week. We had a lesson with someone who is like a pastor guy and he was a little crazy. So we bore our testimonies and left. Also with a pastor lady (how do we even find these people??) But we left her too since she did not believe we could have profetas hoy en dia. 

Also the other night it was 7:45 and our lesson had fallen through, so we had 15 more minutes before we needed to be in the house. So I told mi companera "alright! time for some LPE!" (LPE is basically just when you talk to people about the church). She told me that it was time for me to practice my Spanish so go for it. Ughhh.... okay. So we were walking on our way back to our house and there is a bunch of like 7 or 8 thirteen year old boys who always yells at us "I love you forever!". So I decided these were our people tonight. So we went and talked to them, and asked them if they knew what I love you forever meant... and they did not so we explained it. They asked me if I speak English, and I was like well yah... That is why I sound like a fool right now trying to talk in Spanish. So I taught them "good night!" and told them whenever they see the Hermanas to say "Good night Hermanas!" We sang a hymn with them too. It was a good fifteen minutes. We were walking away and they said "good night Hermans!" But then they said I love you forever too.

But anyways it is going great in Campana and I am loving it. The other day I read about how Christ, in the premortal world had told the Father "Thy will be done, and the glory be thine." I realized that is really the phrase for the mission as well. All we as missionaries can do is work super hard and try to help people... but in the end the Lord´s will be done, and the glory is always his. This is his work, and I have been lucky enough to be given a portion of his vineyard to work in. I know that this is the Lord´s work, and that it is truly his work and glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

Well I love you all so much! Happy new years! I hope in your new years resolutions is to spread the gospel! (This is eternal salvation we are talking about here...)

Hugs and kisses from Honduras!

P.S. I am on my companions blog! http://sisterpicketttakeshonduras.blogspot.com/ and the Johns blog! http://www.ourhondurasmission.blogspot.com/

Feliz Navidad!

Merrry Christmas!

I hope everyone is having a lovely Christmas season! Here in Honduras everyone is preparing for... dun dun dun... tamales! We are going to go over to some investigators to learn how to make them. Also, the other day we were helping an investigator machete off the leaves for the tamales. It was super exciting. No... I did not use the machete but I did gather all the leaves and make them into a nice pile. Everyone is also in the process (or has already finished) killing their pigs for the tamales. The other day one of our investigators was explaining how it was done and how he was going to kill his pig that night. I did not understand all of the conversation, and after I looked at my companeras in shock and asked ¨wait he was shot when he was younger¨ They both started laughing. The next day we passed by his house to teach him (sadly he was not there) but his dead pig was! Nice and skinned. Anyways, enough about tamales.

So sad sad news is that one of my companeras is gone. I want to do a frowney face but these buttons are really bizzare on this computer. They had an hermana who broke her leg so she has to go home, so they had an emergency transfer. So today she left us for San Pedro... so sad. I decided that this is one of the hardest parts of the mission, having to leave people you learn to love. So now we have two areas in Campana that we are going to try to cover without having Hermana Gardner to help us cover her area. Craziness!

For this week since it is the week before Christmas I have been focusing on an attribute of Christ. In Preach my Gospel, in Chapter 5, they have a list of Christlike attributes. I decided to focus on caridad, or charity.As we have been going around teaching this week I have been trying to think of them how Christ would, and try to love them like he would. It has been amazing, and slightly exhausting. 

 Yesterday we visited three different people who were struggling with illnesses in some way or another. Maria is an elderely member who we happened to cross paths with the other day and offered to help her carry her bag. As we started talking we found out she was a member, so we went to visit her and invite her back to church. She started talking about how she had cancer and how her granddaughter was really sick. We talked a little about prayer, and then she looked at me and said she has been praying, and nothing changes. At that moment my heart was definitely crying for her, because how many of us have tried to have faith and pray, and nothing seems to come from it¿ She looked right at me and asked why. This was kind of strange since there was three missionaries and two other members in the room. I hope she understood what I said. I tried to talk about the Savior and how he was the perfect example, and how he always complied with the voluntad of the father even when he did not understand or want to, and we too have to do so. We also visited two others, and we were super blessed because we had our two members accompanying us for the day, two 17 year old Priests, that were able to give one a blessing. The whole thing seemed to be happen chance, but I know the Lord needed us to find him that night, and to have our two Priests with us to give him a blessing. 

I also had a golden missionary moment. We are teaching this amazing family right now. We had just taught the Ley de Castidad (my first time teaching it) and at the end we were talking about the blessings. I talked about how we can have the Spirit with us to comfort us and fill our hearts with joy. Then the dad looked at us and said that he has always felt an emptiness in his heart, like a hole. We were all just like say whaaaat that is where this gospel comes to fill your heart with happiness and joy. It was awesome. 

Well I hope that you are all remembering Christ this Christmas. We have gotten to teach a bunch of little lessons about Christ, and it has reminded me how much he has done for us. In Mosiah 14 it says 

 4 Surely he has ^aborne our ^bgriefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

 5 But he was ^awounded for our ^btransgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are ^chealed.

Well I love you all and I hope you have an amazing Christmas!! Cuidense. 

 

--

Love,

 

Hermana Harmon

Cambios! ... Say whaaaat?

So.... like the title said I had cambios! This is really kind of crazy because I only had four weeks in Santa Rosa, and usually your first area you are there for three to six months. So I was super surprised! The District Leader called and said another Hermana in our house had changes, which we were expecting, and then two hours later at like9:30 he calls and asks to talk to me and tells me I have changes. I was like no I don't Elder, I am not sure what you are saying. This is a bad joke. But alas, it was true, so I packed my malettas and here I am in (dun dun dun) Compana! Compana is about an hour out of San Pedro Sula near the coast. We are about 30 minutes from the ocean! And we are going to visit it soon (at least that is what they promised me :) Sometimes when we are outside I think I can smell the ocean and it makes me really happy. I might be imagining it all but I still love it. There are also cool things outside, like yesterday we saw a bunch of ants with leaves going somewhere and a huge frog in the road.One of my companeras is good about bringing me back to missionary life and not letting me get sucked into I am five again and want to find out where the ants are going! It is a lot warmer and more humid here (hallelujah!) and we actually have a ward. Craziness. The people here are also a lot more rich (not rich like America) but they have like houses and comfortable couches. We also have running water in our apartment!! I feel like I am living like a queen with running water.

I am in a trio again with all gringas! It is rare to have one gringa companera... let alone two! So far it has been going well. We have not had very many lessons with all three of us though because for four days one hermana was sick, and then my other companera got bit really badly by a dog, so it is hard for her to walk the whole day. So pretty much depending on the day depends on who I go out with to teach. Also, before I came they each had an area and a companion. Now, we are one companionship with one area. This keeps us super busy since we have the investigators of both areas to teach. I love it! I think they are a little stressed out but I like it since we are also running somewhere. 

Last night we visited someone who is ready to get baptized but he has just been having problems with smoking. His wife got baptized about a month ago. Our other Hermana who was sick told us that we should promise him that if he reads the Book of Mormon everyday he will be able to quit. We promised him this, and then he took his box of cigarretes and put them in water then threw them out the door. It was pretty awesome. We also visited another family yesterday of our hermana who was sick. I had visited them once before with her. The two sons got baptized a month ago, but we are teaching the mom and sister. We knew the mom had been having problems with the idea that she needed to get baptized again since she felt like her baptism in the Catholic church was valid. We read the second part of 3 Nefi 11 about authority, but then all of the sudden I felt like I needed to talk about the Holy Ghost. So I asked her to read verse 3, which is super powerful about the Holy Ghost. I love this verse because everytime someone reads it, the Holy Ghost always comes in super powerfully and sweet to testify about his power :) Then we talked a little about the Holy Ghost and about what a gift it is, and how we can have him to comfort us all the time after baptism. They commited to get baptized on January 4th, so hopefully it happens!

Also this week I was reading in True to the Faith about the Plan of Salvation. It was talking about premortal life, and how we grew spiritually, developed characteristics, and prepared to come to Earth. I never really realized that in the premortal life we were also at different levels and also were working very hard to prepare to come to this Earth. Then the next day I read Alma 13, which is about the Priesthood and foreordination. It talks about how they were chosen because of their exceedingly good works and faith. I never thought in the premortal life we would have to have faith-- because we could see God and we knew he was there. But that is not so, we had to have faith premortally as well, and we had good works as well. I was thinking about when the veil is lifted, and when we remember our premortal life. When we remember everything about our premortal selves, will we be happy with what we did in this life? Will we think, oh I developed the same characteristics I had premortally on Earth and I also followed Christ, or will we be disappointed with ourselves? All of the sudden I wanted to work really hard and learn a lot so I can be at the same level I once was.

Well family and friends, I hope you are all having a lovely Christmas and aren't too stressed out for finals!

I love you all :)

--

Love,

 

Hermana Harmon

Pictures!!

Dearest Family and Friends :)

I hope you have all had a great week! This week has probably been my best week so far in Santa Rosa. We had an investigator come to church yesterday! We also had a family and two other menos activos come to church. We were also super close this week to our goal of having 20 lessons with members... sadly we only made it to 17 but still we were happy since usually we have around 11 or 12.
Another one of our menos activos has started reading the Book of Mormon! We challenged her to read, and when we went back yesterday she was in 1 Nefi chapter 4. I was so happy! We read a chapter with her, and then at the end I asked her son if he would give the closing prayer. He was not too interested so I said it is okay! I will help you. I will say something and you just repeat it. So he gave his prayer, and then afterward he came up to me and gave me a big hug and said "Hermana thank you so much for teaching me how to pray!" My heart basically melted.

This week we had a lesson with Ilda, who is probably around 50 and has strong faith and belief in her religion, but she likes us to teach her because she likes to hear the word of God. We also teach her daughter Vanesah who is 16 and is super adorable. Ilda came in and we started talking and she started talking about her sister who had died. All of the sudden I got this feeling that I needed to talk about work for the dead. I was super freaked out though because I was pretty sure there was no way I could explain it well in Spanish, and I thought my companion would not be super happy if I started talking about a principal we do not teach until after baptism. But then I started listening to my companera, and realized that she was explaining about work for the dead. I was so shocked and surprised and happy. We both felt the Spirit super strongly that her sister was waiting for her to accept the gospel so that she could do her work.
After this experience I realized that these people we are teaching, it is not just us who are hoping that they accept it, but also all of their family in the Spirit World. There are a lot of people on the other side who are also hoping and praying that we will share the gospel with their family. The only way they can be saved and receive exaltation is if their work is done here, on this Earth. I also thought about how sad I will be if one day I make it to the Celestial kingdom and my family and friends are not there. Then it clicked to me why it is so important to turn the hearts of the children to the fathers and the hearts of the fathers to the children! Because if we do not, then we won´t have all of our family and friends with us... and that alone is curse enough for me.

This week I also was reading in D&C 88 and verse 50 hit me super hard. It says  

50 Then shall ye know that ye have ^aseen me, that I am, and that I am the true ^blight that is in you, and that you are in me; otherwise ye could not abound.

I thought this scripture was so awesome! Before in the section it talks about the Celestial Kingdom and Christ's light, and how his light is everywhere in everything. I absolutely loved this scripture though because when we see Christ, we will recognize him, and realize that our entire lives we have seen him. He is in the sunrise, he is in the breeze, he is literally everywhere- because everything has his light in it. In this life we are to walk by faith, but we have the light of Christ in us and everywhere around us to bless us. This life is a probationary time, a time to prepare to meet God, and a time where we are so far away from our true home. Yet we still have Christ with us, if we will only look for him, because he is truly everywhere.

For sad news three different of our families either moved last week or are moving this week, including Ilda and Vanesah and our investigator who came to church yesterday. So we are are definately searching for new families to teach. 

Well there is so much to tell but so little time. I love you all! I also hope you all got to watch the Christmas devotional last night. It was so beautiful. All my dear friends in Utah the people here crave to visit Salt Lake and see the lights and the conference center. Take the opportunity to go and enjoy it for them!

Love you all so much. Hugs and kisses :) 

This is me two weeks ago when it was really cold and rainy.

This picture is mi and mi companera in one of our areas 

This picture is Ilda and Vanesah their last day here in Santa Rosa :( 

This picture is me behind our house. Behind me is our pila for our water. This is where we get water to wash our dishes and clothes.

Two Months in the Mish!

My Dearest, Darlingest Family and Friends,

I hope all of you had a lovely Thanksgiving! To celebrate I decided throughout the day to simply say prayers of thanks. I think that this was definately inspired because I was definately not feeling very thankful!  But it was Thanksgiving, and I love President Monson because he always teaches about gratitude (It is a lot easier to listen when I am feeling grateful!). So I did, and it definately helped me feel better.

On Tuesday in the middle of P Day I started feeling really sick, and I came down with a super bad fever. So we were in our apartment Tuesday night, Wednesday, and Thursday. Not only was I sick, but here in Santa Rosa it became super cold! It was 14 degrees celsius at night, and in the day it was all overcast. I know many of you who are dying of cold right now in Utah are probably thinking that I am a super whimp, but the weather that is outside is also inside! If it is cold, there is no escaping it. We also did not have the blessing of our luke warm showers, because the hot water had stopped working. The first day I did not take a shower, then after having mud all up my shins from walking in the streets I decided it was time to take the plunge. It was pretty deathly. So I started showering it up Pionner style by heating up a pan of water and showering with that.
After that, I officially decided my life here in Santa Rosa is a lot like a long camping trip. My clothes always smell like outside since we wash and dry them outside by hand, I am showering out of a bucket, brushing my teeth out of a cup of water, and I use the bathroom by hauling in buckets of water. I have decided this is the Lord´s way of teaching me to appreciate camping because I am going to have to go on a bunch of girls camp trips in my later life or something :) lol. So needless to say my day of being grateful was definately needed :) Throughout my week a scripture kept coming back into my mind from Joseph Smith in D and C 127:2, where he says, 

.... But nevertheless, deep water is what I am wont to swim in. It all has become a second nature to me; and I feel, like Paul, to glory in ^etribulation; for to this day has the God of my fathers delivered me out of them all, and will deliver me from henceforth; for behold, and lo, I shall triumph over all my enemies, for the Lord God hath spoken it.

I definately did not feel like rejoicing but I am glad I have super awesome examples like Joseph Smith to keep things in perspective :) And besides today... the glorious sun decided to come out again, and every person in Santa Rosa rejoiced! (literally!)

So sadly this week we only had a three day week. However, we visited Nulbia, our investigator who wants to get baptized! (yay!) She has a four year old and she is pregnant right now. We just taught her about the Book of Mormon, and we are going to try to teach her how to read. We also need to teach her about the law of chastity, and hopefully she and her esposo will get married so we can get her to baptism! Our other investigator, Rosita, had a date for December 21st but she has not come to church yet... so I do not really know what is going to happen. For a lot of people going to church seems like such a huge sacrifice! I have not quite figured out why, it is only a few hours a week, and your first time we tell them they only need to come for one hour. Plus, you receive so many blessings, yet so many people do not want to come! It is interesting.
A cute little eight year old named Andrea is getting baptized in two weeks though. She is super cute, and I went and taught her one day when we had divisions with another Hermana. Everyone in our rama is excited about it. Her Dad is a member, so I am not sure why we are teaching her, but it is still good. This Wednesday we have divisions with Hermana leaders and I am super nervous because our area is pretty big and for me it is really hard to remember how to get places. So I am praying when they come we do not end up in some sketch neighborhood as I get ourselves lost :) Hopefully the Lord will bless me.

Well I love you all so much!! Go visit Temple Square for me! 

Hugs and kisses.