Isabella's Letter
well i couldnt hear chris playing the piano:( but hopfully next time with more time i will im sure its the best. Jonathan Feliz Cumpleaños!! what did you do? i only have two mins im doing well im healthy now im pretty sure im leaving cala cala this following week and everyone is teasing me that im going to potosi we will see im glad that everyone is doing well.
take care
hna florido
Christopher's Letter
I hope that in this week... if you could focus on anything it would be the restauracion of the true church. I feel like that we need to always be inviting. It is difficult for me to share the gospel with people from home because I´m here. I wish that when we get home that we help so many people come to Christ. That people will know that this is the only true church over the face of the earth. I thank God that this church is true. That it´s real. That it IS. The truth is the truth. Thank you so much for your help to come here on a mission. I promise that I have felt the holy ghost since I was little and knew from those experiences that God was real. I just never knew how to overcome my problems. I was prideful and scared. I will enter the next life with an assurance of where I will go. And how wonderful it is that I´ll be greated by family.
This week we had 1.5 families in church, 5 people in total. I live to see families in church and getting baptized.
In other news, I´m making flax crackers at home! Haha. And making veggie sandwiches with them. My companion likes them a lot. We´ve also been making cereal with sesame seeds, "alpiste", flax, cacao, honey and cinnamon. It´s SO good. Wow.
If you want to make something at home that we eat here pretty often, you need to buy a bunch of small corn tortillas from a mexican market and really soft cheese similar to mozzerella. Quesillo o queso fresco quizá. And you make a sandwich with two tortillas and the cheese and then you toast them in a pan until the tortillas are crispy and the cheesy melted. It´s like a quesadilla (quesadillas here are corn cookies made from corn, pure sugar cane juice, cinnamon and cheese). And then you need to make a salsa of tomatoes, onions, cilantro, cumin, salt, pepper, chopped cucumber if you want. And then you eat the tortillas with this salsa, which is called:"chismol." This is called Tortillas con Quesillo y Chismol. I´ve also made it with different spices, like basil and orégano and it tastes like bruccetta or pizza. It´s delicious. Yum.
Changes are Wednesday and I am staying in Siguatepeque another 7 weeks. Yay! I love Siguatepeque and I have a feeling that we´re going to work miracles this month. I´m really excited. But! My companion who I trained is leaving and I have NO idea who´s coming. I have a feeling they´re from the states, but I´ll have to tell you next week. Elder Arévalo has really blossomed and grown much in 3 months. It´s so weird how fast time is passing. Truly I´ll be home in no time at all and have to work and study and get married and wow. The best is yet to come. But I plan to always stay weird. Stay very missionary-like.
This week I played in sacrament The Spirit of God, which was SO fun. Whoa. I love playing the piano. It´s the best. I actually like playing it more than the guitar. I want to learn how to play the violin, too, and the trumpet.
I know that this church is true. I know that Joseph Smith was called of God and that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that the other words that were brought to light by Jospeh Smith are true. I know that the we lived before we were born here and that we will live after. I know that I will have an eternal family. I share this with you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
....
Amor, don´t forget that I love you. I will always love you and
we will always be in love. You are the light and love of my life.
If it weren´t for you, I wouldn´t be here. And if it wasn´t for God,
we wouldn´t be here. That we might always be bathed in the light
of His love... I love you more than you know. I´m not the man that
proposed to you. I´m so much more. I know that this church is
true and we will be together forever. I have a testimonio of the
atonement of Christ. I know that the book of mormon is true and
that Joseph Smith is a prophet, love. And I love the work of God.
I love that we knew each other before, and will show God through
signs and promises that we´ll keep his commandments so that
we can have joy in the promises that we made before the world
was. I promise to you that I will take care of you and sacrifice
everything for our family. I´m sorry if you feel awkward because
I express myself openly, but this is so important to me. We are
so important to me. Our family is so important to me.
I love you so much... And I can finally be at peace knowing that
I can communicate with your family. How beautiful.
11 meses hasta nuestra propia familia eterna. hasta ver... en el templo.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
General Authority Visits, Temple Visits, & Baptisms....not to mention a little piano playing and singing!!!
Hello everyone! Forgive me for my delay in posting this last Monday. My return to my work or school sort of kicked my butt!!! But I am in recovery mode now...or at least until Monday!!! Here are last Monday's letters, photos, and hopefully I can figure out how to post Chris' music too!
Isabella's Letter
i know last week i said elder nielson would come but thats because i made a mistake bc everyone here mostly knows of elder nielson more. and he came on friday night and one sister tried to cut in line but i said with a smile sister hurry to the back of the line before the line grows and she got upset later inside she said well the elders let me cut bc they are not like you! i said im glad you got in. but wondered if it was fair for the people they jumped ahead of. the line had been huge for hours and i didnt feel it was fair to let people cut in line. that night i was late too and so we sat in class room and saw him on a screen not live but it was so great to see an apostle of Christ bearing testimony of him. and he was so relaxed and even a bit goofy he noticed that on the stand the stake presidents werent sitting by their wives and had them stand up and rearranged their sitting order so that they could sit by their wives. he served in france and lived in brazil so his accent was pretty fantastic to listen to. he bore testimony of the veracity of this work and asked us to endure to the end to really let our faith shine when trials come and not let it shrival. the funny thing is that all the less actives we had invited didnt show up and therefore missed this invitation from the apostle. and my investigators also didnt show up but two, and not the two we were hoping. Rodrigo who is married to a member who had been less active whose little daughter we teach the lessons came and he cried. and Edwin who is engaged to a member he just thought it was interesting how many people came. so funny how different views come from seeing and hearing the same man based on the person. also elder anderson came to a special meeting with just the missionaries and we were able to shake his hand and see him eye to eye. all missionaries were there i got a package from some friends from sucre and an old investigator she told me that viejita antonia has been diagnosed with cancer and i have a promise to keep that i will take her to the temple and now im praying that all will turn out well in His infinate wisdom. and i wasnt expecting this at all but i was asked to translate for his wife when she gave her message which was about how sometimes missionaries have support from home and some dont at all but everywhere in the world we are the most prayed for people and she related that when in the last conference prophet monson asked us all to donate to the general missionary fund her 10 year old grandchild named micheal donated 10 dollars and she said that she knew how strapped of money her daughter and son in law are since her son in law is putting himself through medical school with 6 kids and she know how much money micheal has and how those 10 dollars are a huge chunk of his savings and gave it for us missionaries because a prophet of God asked him to. i want to have that kind of faith. i confessed to the investigator i promised a home made pie in his bran new stove if he came to church that i had asked my mission president to stay in the area just because i wanted to see his baptism and had faith that he would come and how now i only had 3 weeks left probably in the area and how he hadnt come once and it made me very sad. he promised that he would come next week and i said i would be so sad if you came only for me please come with the faith in your heart that you are keeping a commandment of God. do it because you love Him! i prayed with all i have that Bryan and Christian would come and they chose not to. but what can i do but bear my testimony. i asked bryan if he wanted to know if Christ came to the americas if the book of mormon is true he said i do i said well how would you quantify that desire a lot a little or not at all he said alot! and i said with so much sorrow in my heart they why is you book dusty? why havent you read it... and i added bryan i can bet you havend even prayed this week bc if you would have you would have been prompted to read this sacred book. he shook his head stating i was right. if we all had faith to act like sister andersons grandchild, who is 10 it would impact greatly the mission field. then i translated sister wadels message (wife of general authority elder wadel of the 70) and then when when apostle anderson spoke in spanish i translted it to the sisters in english it was neat to be used as a tool in the Lords hands to help other understand important messages that were without a doubt guided by the spirit. i might want to do that for a career in the future. last week i had been thinking so much about revelation and the spirit and thats what the apostle spoke about. he said that when he was a missionary he felt that his mission was a lot of work and that he felt that he didnt feel the spirit like other were able to but throughout his life he learned how to interpret and listen to the gentle whispers of the Holy Ghost i feel that im learning the same. fridaynight some were able to shake the hands of the general authorities as you can imagine this was tried to be done quickly and on sunday elder wadel said that whe this was happening on firday a young man asked very seriously what is the purpose of life he said his mind raced what do i answer but of course his mouth was filled and said to the young man to return to our heavenly father. he reiterated that this short time here in mortality or life is to behave and stay the course shown by Christ himself and make it back to the Lord he shared many things and now i only have 5 mins left but he said how when God our father kissed us goodbye he knew the journey of life would be hard but would be possible and he gave us tools to navigate through this life and some of those were stories of journeys like that of lehi and his family through the desert, or noah and his journey by ark and moses and his journey in the wilderness and there are many more examples he mentioned so many scriptures that i will have to share next week but 4 other tools for you to meditate are the temple, prayer, scripture study, and the Holy Spirit. im glad that are all well and i will share next week. love hna florido
Isabella's Letter in the title also references John 4:35 - 38 and 43
Christopher's Letter, Photo, and Music
This week was the best week of my mission, I think. Thursday, we had a zone conference with a general authority 70, which was really edifying. We learned about planning and making goals. Saturday, we had a baptism of a sister named Oneda that has received the missionaries for at least a year. All of her family are members and now she is. Yay!
Sunday, in the morning, we didn´t have meetings, so we studied and then visited the family Mejia Martinez. And they exitingly commited to getting baptized the 10th of September! Yay! A family of five is going to get baptized. Yay!!! I´ve been praying for that for a really long time. Haha. This family has received the missionaries for 3 years the Bishop told me. Wow.
Later in the afternoon, we went to the dedication of the temple in El Salvador. Presidente Eyring presided and Elder D. Todd Christofferson directed the meeting. It was incredibly powerful and I don´t think that it can be described in words how the spirit was present. It was a power that churns wonder into knowledge like cream into cold solid butter. (That´s why when someone receives the holy ghost it´s called confirmation.)
I love you all very much. The field is white and ready to harvest. And I wish never had to leave. This week I complete 13 months. Time is ticking, and I love you all.
The Boy playing and Singing Devina Luz!!! If you don't cry that is okay because I have cried enough for all of you!!! Get tissues just in case!
Isabella's Letter
i know last week i said elder nielson would come but thats because i made a mistake bc everyone here mostly knows of elder nielson more. and he came on friday night and one sister tried to cut in line but i said with a smile sister hurry to the back of the line before the line grows and she got upset later inside she said well the elders let me cut bc they are not like you! i said im glad you got in. but wondered if it was fair for the people they jumped ahead of. the line had been huge for hours and i didnt feel it was fair to let people cut in line. that night i was late too and so we sat in class room and saw him on a screen not live but it was so great to see an apostle of Christ bearing testimony of him. and he was so relaxed and even a bit goofy he noticed that on the stand the stake presidents werent sitting by their wives and had them stand up and rearranged their sitting order so that they could sit by their wives. he served in france and lived in brazil so his accent was pretty fantastic to listen to. he bore testimony of the veracity of this work and asked us to endure to the end to really let our faith shine when trials come and not let it shrival. the funny thing is that all the less actives we had invited didnt show up and therefore missed this invitation from the apostle. and my investigators also didnt show up but two, and not the two we were hoping. Rodrigo who is married to a member who had been less active whose little daughter we teach the lessons came and he cried. and Edwin who is engaged to a member he just thought it was interesting how many people came. so funny how different views come from seeing and hearing the same man based on the person. also elder anderson came to a special meeting with just the missionaries and we were able to shake his hand and see him eye to eye. all missionaries were there i got a package from some friends from sucre and an old investigator she told me that viejita antonia has been diagnosed with cancer and i have a promise to keep that i will take her to the temple and now im praying that all will turn out well in His infinate wisdom. and i wasnt expecting this at all but i was asked to translate for his wife when she gave her message which was about how sometimes missionaries have support from home and some dont at all but everywhere in the world we are the most prayed for people and she related that when in the last conference prophet monson asked us all to donate to the general missionary fund her 10 year old grandchild named micheal donated 10 dollars and she said that she knew how strapped of money her daughter and son in law are since her son in law is putting himself through medical school with 6 kids and she know how much money micheal has and how those 10 dollars are a huge chunk of his savings and gave it for us missionaries because a prophet of God asked him to. i want to have that kind of faith. i confessed to the investigator i promised a home made pie in his bran new stove if he came to church that i had asked my mission president to stay in the area just because i wanted to see his baptism and had faith that he would come and how now i only had 3 weeks left probably in the area and how he hadnt come once and it made me very sad. he promised that he would come next week and i said i would be so sad if you came only for me please come with the faith in your heart that you are keeping a commandment of God. do it because you love Him! i prayed with all i have that Bryan and Christian would come and they chose not to. but what can i do but bear my testimony. i asked bryan if he wanted to know if Christ came to the americas if the book of mormon is true he said i do i said well how would you quantify that desire a lot a little or not at all he said alot! and i said with so much sorrow in my heart they why is you book dusty? why havent you read it... and i added bryan i can bet you havend even prayed this week bc if you would have you would have been prompted to read this sacred book. he shook his head stating i was right. if we all had faith to act like sister andersons grandchild, who is 10 it would impact greatly the mission field. then i translated sister wadels message (wife of general authority elder wadel of the 70) and then when when apostle anderson spoke in spanish i translted it to the sisters in english it was neat to be used as a tool in the Lords hands to help other understand important messages that were without a doubt guided by the spirit. i might want to do that for a career in the future. last week i had been thinking so much about revelation and the spirit and thats what the apostle spoke about. he said that when he was a missionary he felt that his mission was a lot of work and that he felt that he didnt feel the spirit like other were able to but throughout his life he learned how to interpret and listen to the gentle whispers of the Holy Ghost i feel that im learning the same. fridaynight some were able to shake the hands of the general authorities as you can imagine this was tried to be done quickly and on sunday elder wadel said that whe this was happening on firday a young man asked very seriously what is the purpose of life he said his mind raced what do i answer but of course his mouth was filled and said to the young man to return to our heavenly father. he reiterated that this short time here in mortality or life is to behave and stay the course shown by Christ himself and make it back to the Lord he shared many things and now i only have 5 mins left but he said how when God our father kissed us goodbye he knew the journey of life would be hard but would be possible and he gave us tools to navigate through this life and some of those were stories of journeys like that of lehi and his family through the desert, or noah and his journey by ark and moses and his journey in the wilderness and there are many more examples he mentioned so many scriptures that i will have to share next week but 4 other tools for you to meditate are the temple, prayer, scripture study, and the Holy Spirit. im glad that are all well and i will share next week. love hna florido
Isabella's Letter in the title also references John 4:35 - 38 and 43
Christopher's Letter, Photo, and Music
This week was the best week of my mission, I think. Thursday, we had a zone conference with a general authority 70, which was really edifying. We learned about planning and making goals. Saturday, we had a baptism of a sister named Oneda that has received the missionaries for at least a year. All of her family are members and now she is. Yay!
Sunday, in the morning, we didn´t have meetings, so we studied and then visited the family Mejia Martinez. And they exitingly commited to getting baptized the 10th of September! Yay! A family of five is going to get baptized. Yay!!! I´ve been praying for that for a really long time. Haha. This family has received the missionaries for 3 years the Bishop told me. Wow.
Later in the afternoon, we went to the dedication of the temple in El Salvador. Presidente Eyring presided and Elder D. Todd Christofferson directed the meeting. It was incredibly powerful and I don´t think that it can be described in words how the spirit was present. It was a power that churns wonder into knowledge like cream into cold solid butter. (That´s why when someone receives the holy ghost it´s called confirmation.)
I love you all very much. The field is white and ready to harvest. And I wish never had to leave. This week I complete 13 months. Time is ticking, and I love you all.
 |
| Baptism of Hermana Oneda |
Monday, August 15, 2011
Dreams! What do they mean?
IsAbElLa's LeTtEr
Chris in english the hymn is lead kindly light its beautiful but very different in both languanges. i love the pictures that you have sent. there has been a recurring dream i´ve had were i am in provo its winter but the season is changing and the snow is becoming slushy and im in a ward were the young women dont get along ´with one particular girl who i seem to be friends with but whom i´ve never seen and their is a wonderful family a bald dad and a burnet mom who is very thin and like 6 kids who all have disabilities... have no idea what it means or why i keep having it. revelation is something that i keep pondering its intrigued me all of my life and in my mish i keep having enlightenment and difficulties understanding the nature of it. its something so vast and so simple. faith and guidance from the spirit is something i want to perfect. and something i want to teach to my investigators with perfection. its funny but many times i pray that a someone might have the gift of tongues or that he or she might have their mouth filled and it happens but then i will pray for my investigator to come to church and he calls and says he cant that week faith and revelation is so elusive and depends on so many variant components... are the people you are hoping will reach an answer wanting their answer? i have prayed that chris´s heart would be touched by my words and that my words would be placed in my mouth by angels and it happened, i prayed that jonathan might have an understanding of his importance in the mission field that he might have a desire to go and so far it seems my lil bro has reached that understanding in his heart from the Spirit. I have prayed that crystal may reach a communion with God that would impulse her to see her potential as a daughter of God to understand why she came to earth and why Christ payed for her sins like he did for mine what that means for her. but i dont know if its happened i prayed bryan my investigator who is 20 whom i´ve come to love like a brother might understand that their is only one true chruch that Christ established but is still hasnt given fruit. but we need to look stead fast in the fruit of our faith or else it wont happen this 19th when elder nielson is coming i hope that he might receive revelation. i hope i might learn how to receive and give revelation because i have come to understand this. the reason that Christ´s faith was such that he could walk over water and heal the sick and turn water into wine was because he understood how faith as a tool worked. like if i have a camera but dont read the instructions and dont understand how it works then my pictures are probably going to turn out alright but never quite to the cameras full potential. when we are learning and treasuring the words of Christ we come to a knowledge, when we practice it we come to an understanding and that understand leads us to a powerful faith that cant do great things.
transfers are coming soon 3 weeks i have told my companion that i was concerned that she hasnt learned well enough how to lead how to have an opinion and how to speak with confidence. things that are harsh sounding, but everytime i see my greenie i think what is the lord telling me i need to learn and i think what does the lord want me to teach her and with hna mamani i knew when i saw her she needs to learn how to defend her opinions and to lead. and so we had this heart to heart and she was sad and i said we need to work on it so how about you pray that the lord will help us with this. she said okay the next day i was ill and we had people to take to church and missionary work still had to happened and i prayed lord please make me whole and i felt that i needed to stay home and she needed to go and deal with everything by herself so we found sisters to go with her and to stay with me and i can say as a pround trainer or mother that she did well and i complimented her and she said i know i didnt think i could do it but i pretended to be you and i didnt make any mistakes which made her feel good and confident in her self and i also feel i will leave cala cala now i have this reacquiring experience in life i speak and people get so offended by what i say but i felt i needed to say it thats hard or where i feel like i come to a ward that is missing everything and im frustrated until i just accept that im planting for others to reap and i teach the ward mision leader what his job is or what the society president is supposed to do and then i leave when everything is good im sure we have all felt like that. and well i feel that i have done good in cala cala and hopefully i go back to sucre or tarija or why not even potosi.
well good bye take care love you all
ChRiStOpHeR's LeTtEr
I had a dream this morning. I returned to Utah, but no one
knew that I was coming home. No one. I entered into
Harmon´s, but it was really bright and the colors had changed
but generally it was organized the same. I saw you mom and
later you dad. And I heard your voices and laughed and cried
and all of the sudden, I was outside of the gas station in front
of where Denny´s usted to be. I had a black volkswagon bug
and was with my companion that I couldn´t see who it was.
We were filling up gas to go to the airport in salt lake and then
my dream changed again. I was in some factory, with my
companion again, and some white woman was showing me
seeds of corn. And in this barely lit room where we were talking, there
were large wooden crates. Sitting above one on an oval, white plate
I saw the most beautiful purple, like the mixture of cream and grapes,
corn cob that had dried slightly that was shown very clearly and
almost elegantly in what seemed like moonlight. And I asked if
there were anymore that I could buy, and she said, No, I´m sorry.
There´s not anymore. And I saw that some of the corn kernels fell from
the plate to the floor and once again, I had to leave the dream.
I really enjoyed the dream. I don´t know what it means, but
it was nice.
I really love you all. I miss you and yet I don´t. Some part of me
wishes to just stay here all the time. I wish that I could serve
the mission in other parts of the world. I wish I could also baptize
a whole family that stayed in the church forever. That would be
worth everything. Everything.
I´m glad that you are reading Doctrine and Covenants. I´m in
chapter 5.
This week was hard. We prepared a baptism and NO ONE came.
And there was´t power in the church. We didn´t have the baptism
and the woman is sad and doubting her baptism a little.
Today we´re going to make chicken soup... and I baught three
chickens... live... I don´t really want to kill them, but... it´s for
a good cause!
Oh! Yes, I got my card. Thank you so much. Will you pay
my tithing from my account and give $150 to Bishop Crossley?
He knows what it´s for. That´s all.
Thank you for everything. I love you all.
Chris in english the hymn is lead kindly light its beautiful but very different in both languanges. i love the pictures that you have sent. there has been a recurring dream i´ve had were i am in provo its winter but the season is changing and the snow is becoming slushy and im in a ward were the young women dont get along ´with one particular girl who i seem to be friends with but whom i´ve never seen and their is a wonderful family a bald dad and a burnet mom who is very thin and like 6 kids who all have disabilities... have no idea what it means or why i keep having it. revelation is something that i keep pondering its intrigued me all of my life and in my mish i keep having enlightenment and difficulties understanding the nature of it. its something so vast and so simple. faith and guidance from the spirit is something i want to perfect. and something i want to teach to my investigators with perfection. its funny but many times i pray that a someone might have the gift of tongues or that he or she might have their mouth filled and it happens but then i will pray for my investigator to come to church and he calls and says he cant that week faith and revelation is so elusive and depends on so many variant components... are the people you are hoping will reach an answer wanting their answer? i have prayed that chris´s heart would be touched by my words and that my words would be placed in my mouth by angels and it happened, i prayed that jonathan might have an understanding of his importance in the mission field that he might have a desire to go and so far it seems my lil bro has reached that understanding in his heart from the Spirit. I have prayed that crystal may reach a communion with God that would impulse her to see her potential as a daughter of God to understand why she came to earth and why Christ payed for her sins like he did for mine what that means for her. but i dont know if its happened i prayed bryan my investigator who is 20 whom i´ve come to love like a brother might understand that their is only one true chruch that Christ established but is still hasnt given fruit. but we need to look stead fast in the fruit of our faith or else it wont happen this 19th when elder nielson is coming i hope that he might receive revelation. i hope i might learn how to receive and give revelation because i have come to understand this. the reason that Christ´s faith was such that he could walk over water and heal the sick and turn water into wine was because he understood how faith as a tool worked. like if i have a camera but dont read the instructions and dont understand how it works then my pictures are probably going to turn out alright but never quite to the cameras full potential. when we are learning and treasuring the words of Christ we come to a knowledge, when we practice it we come to an understanding and that understand leads us to a powerful faith that cant do great things.
transfers are coming soon 3 weeks i have told my companion that i was concerned that she hasnt learned well enough how to lead how to have an opinion and how to speak with confidence. things that are harsh sounding, but everytime i see my greenie i think what is the lord telling me i need to learn and i think what does the lord want me to teach her and with hna mamani i knew when i saw her she needs to learn how to defend her opinions and to lead. and so we had this heart to heart and she was sad and i said we need to work on it so how about you pray that the lord will help us with this. she said okay the next day i was ill and we had people to take to church and missionary work still had to happened and i prayed lord please make me whole and i felt that i needed to stay home and she needed to go and deal with everything by herself so we found sisters to go with her and to stay with me and i can say as a pround trainer or mother that she did well and i complimented her and she said i know i didnt think i could do it but i pretended to be you and i didnt make any mistakes which made her feel good and confident in her self and i also feel i will leave cala cala now i have this reacquiring experience in life i speak and people get so offended by what i say but i felt i needed to say it thats hard or where i feel like i come to a ward that is missing everything and im frustrated until i just accept that im planting for others to reap and i teach the ward mision leader what his job is or what the society president is supposed to do and then i leave when everything is good im sure we have all felt like that. and well i feel that i have done good in cala cala and hopefully i go back to sucre or tarija or why not even potosi.
well good bye take care love you all
ChRiStOpHeR's LeTtEr
I had a dream this morning. I returned to Utah, but no one
knew that I was coming home. No one. I entered into
Harmon´s, but it was really bright and the colors had changed
but generally it was organized the same. I saw you mom and
later you dad. And I heard your voices and laughed and cried
and all of the sudden, I was outside of the gas station in front
of where Denny´s usted to be. I had a black volkswagon bug
and was with my companion that I couldn´t see who it was.
We were filling up gas to go to the airport in salt lake and then
my dream changed again. I was in some factory, with my
companion again, and some white woman was showing me
seeds of corn. And in this barely lit room where we were talking, there
were large wooden crates. Sitting above one on an oval, white plate
I saw the most beautiful purple, like the mixture of cream and grapes,
corn cob that had dried slightly that was shown very clearly and
almost elegantly in what seemed like moonlight. And I asked if
there were anymore that I could buy, and she said, No, I´m sorry.
There´s not anymore. And I saw that some of the corn kernels fell from
the plate to the floor and once again, I had to leave the dream.
I really enjoyed the dream. I don´t know what it means, but
it was nice.
I really love you all. I miss you and yet I don´t. Some part of me
wishes to just stay here all the time. I wish that I could serve
the mission in other parts of the world. I wish I could also baptize
a whole family that stayed in the church forever. That would be
worth everything. Everything.
I´m glad that you are reading Doctrine and Covenants. I´m in
chapter 5.
This week was hard. We prepared a baptism and NO ONE came.
And there was´t power in the church. We didn´t have the baptism
and the woman is sad and doubting her baptism a little.
Today we´re going to make chicken soup... and I baught three
chickens... live... I don´t really want to kill them, but... it´s for
a good cause!
Oh! Yes, I got my card. Thank you so much. Will you pay
my tithing from my account and give $150 to Bishop Crossley?
He knows what it´s for. That´s all.
Thank you for everything. I love you all.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Fans of the Bossy Girl and The Piano Man!!!
THE BEAUTIFUL(BOSSY!!!) GIRL'S LETTER
(She has been out one year this Thursday!)
so all the elders that gave me a hard time left to other areas i guess i learned and so did they what they needed and im enjoying it a lot! my bishop told me the other day i was bossy i said and you arent there is work to be done tell people to get it done, i hope our pride doesnt get in the way of progress. and it felt good. and i would say it agin if needed! my dad wrote in his email ¨im a fan of my daughter, hurra for my missionary¨ gracias papi its so encouriging to have fans :) janice im glad you made a quilt and i think that what you a sending to your family is going to be such a blessing. this week a young 15 year old girl karen we contacted said yes! i have always wondered why there are so many churches if there is only one Christ. yes! my mom wonders the same thing. and she is so excited we taught her to pray and she promised to pray everyday. 3 times a day. compare that to a woman who said why would i pray to know if this book is true? im catholic. wow. our investigator bryan is excited by the church and yesterday he had a problem with fast and testimony meeting he said why is this the only ture and living church? why does everyone say that? i said well because we teach exactly what Christ taught nothing is lacking nothing is added and whats more He directs this church by the prophets and seers and we discussed scriptures and he said i think i need to ask God if what you are saying is true we both smiled and said yep! im so happy for him his brother cristian is close behind him in receiving his answer. please pray for them both. people are singing bon jovi in perfect english ha ha and now they are playing red hot chili peppers and it makes me miss Chris. oh and niel anderson the apostle is coming to cochabamba the 9th what a way to celebrate my 1 year in the mish. pray for me that i can focus on the mish and find the lost sheep and be a blessing here. i need your prayers. les amo mucho and gina thanks for the pictures could you print one or two for me to keep in my dresser. okay i have to go Jonathan stay strong man love ya
hna florido
THE HANDSOME (PIANO MAN!!!) BOY'S LETTER
I´m so tired and so very happy because the dad of a family that we´ve been teaching for 3 months finally prayed for the first time and it was beautiful. And the joy that was borne in my heart of quite immense. when we left the lesson, I left doing jumping jacks, in the middle of the street at nine o´clock at night. I want to you all know that I´m happy.
This week we... went to the mountains a lot. And it looks just like Utah, but with banana trees and lots of corn. I felt really at home. I really want to have lots of land and goats and cherry trees and goji berry bushes... .sigh.
I also drank a root beer for the first time in over a year, which tasted fantastic... ALMOST a kombucha. Haha.
Also, my companion is doing fine. He´s handling the death of his father well.
So, I have a secret that I´ve been keeping from you all. I´m learning how to play the piano! And this week I´m going to play in sacrament meeting. I recorded the first line of divina luz (divine light?), this morning. It´s not perfect, but I´ve only been practicing for 2 or 3 weeks. Also,I´ve lost a lot of weight. I weigh 190 pounds right now. :)
This week I´m super tired from traveling and I spent A LOT of money traveling to the mountain. I want to visit all of the members so that they feel our support. It´s really important to me.
This week, I want to invite you to read Doctrine and Convenants 88. It´s something that I´ll be studying this week. Oh! Are you guys doing family home evening?!!! You HAVE to. I would walk bearfoot across the hot, scorching desert to have family home evening with you and watch movies of the church and learn about the mysteries of God. I invite you to receive more light this week. And if you haven´t read Doctrine and Covenants, that you can begin reading it with me today. I´ll begin Section 1 today. Okay? Okay. Deal. And every day we have family home evening over seas... er... over "country." How does that sound? And I invite everyone in our family that we can all begin reading Doctrine and Covenants as a family. And we´ll finish in 142 days. One section a day.
I want you to all know that I love you a lot. You mean so much to me. I have a feeling that I´m going to have to move soon. The winds are changing in my heart. I feel a disconnection with the ground of Siguatepeque.
Oh! also, I would like a bunch of ties from the DI. Pretty ones. But if you could send me lots of cheap, pretty ties. That´s all.
I love you all.
Elder Hill
Click below to hear Chris play the piano! He made me cry....again!!!! Imagine that!
(She has been out one year this Thursday!)
so all the elders that gave me a hard time left to other areas i guess i learned and so did they what they needed and im enjoying it a lot! my bishop told me the other day i was bossy i said and you arent there is work to be done tell people to get it done, i hope our pride doesnt get in the way of progress. and it felt good. and i would say it agin if needed! my dad wrote in his email ¨im a fan of my daughter, hurra for my missionary¨ gracias papi its so encouriging to have fans :) janice im glad you made a quilt and i think that what you a sending to your family is going to be such a blessing. this week a young 15 year old girl karen we contacted said yes! i have always wondered why there are so many churches if there is only one Christ. yes! my mom wonders the same thing. and she is so excited we taught her to pray and she promised to pray everyday. 3 times a day. compare that to a woman who said why would i pray to know if this book is true? im catholic. wow. our investigator bryan is excited by the church and yesterday he had a problem with fast and testimony meeting he said why is this the only ture and living church? why does everyone say that? i said well because we teach exactly what Christ taught nothing is lacking nothing is added and whats more He directs this church by the prophets and seers and we discussed scriptures and he said i think i need to ask God if what you are saying is true we both smiled and said yep! im so happy for him his brother cristian is close behind him in receiving his answer. please pray for them both. people are singing bon jovi in perfect english ha ha and now they are playing red hot chili peppers and it makes me miss Chris. oh and niel anderson the apostle is coming to cochabamba the 9th what a way to celebrate my 1 year in the mish. pray for me that i can focus on the mish and find the lost sheep and be a blessing here. i need your prayers. les amo mucho and gina thanks for the pictures could you print one or two for me to keep in my dresser. okay i have to go Jonathan stay strong man love ya
hna florido
THE HANDSOME (PIANO MAN!!!) BOY'S LETTER
I´m so tired and so very happy because the dad of a family that we´ve been teaching for 3 months finally prayed for the first time and it was beautiful. And the joy that was borne in my heart of quite immense. when we left the lesson, I left doing jumping jacks, in the middle of the street at nine o´clock at night. I want to you all know that I´m happy.
This week we... went to the mountains a lot. And it looks just like Utah, but with banana trees and lots of corn. I felt really at home. I really want to have lots of land and goats and cherry trees and goji berry bushes... .sigh.
I also drank a root beer for the first time in over a year, which tasted fantastic... ALMOST a kombucha. Haha.
Also, my companion is doing fine. He´s handling the death of his father well.
So, I have a secret that I´ve been keeping from you all. I´m learning how to play the piano! And this week I´m going to play in sacrament meeting. I recorded the first line of divina luz (divine light?), this morning. It´s not perfect, but I´ve only been practicing for 2 or 3 weeks. Also,I´ve lost a lot of weight. I weigh 190 pounds right now. :)
This week I´m super tired from traveling and I spent A LOT of money traveling to the mountain. I want to visit all of the members so that they feel our support. It´s really important to me.
This week, I want to invite you to read Doctrine and Convenants 88. It´s something that I´ll be studying this week. Oh! Are you guys doing family home evening?!!! You HAVE to. I would walk bearfoot across the hot, scorching desert to have family home evening with you and watch movies of the church and learn about the mysteries of God. I invite you to receive more light this week. And if you haven´t read Doctrine and Covenants, that you can begin reading it with me today. I´ll begin Section 1 today. Okay? Okay. Deal. And every day we have family home evening over seas... er... over "country." How does that sound? And I invite everyone in our family that we can all begin reading Doctrine and Covenants as a family. And we´ll finish in 142 days. One section a day.
I want you to all know that I love you a lot. You mean so much to me. I have a feeling that I´m going to have to move soon. The winds are changing in my heart. I feel a disconnection with the ground of Siguatepeque.
Oh! also, I would like a bunch of ties from the DI. Pretty ones. But if you could send me lots of cheap, pretty ties. That´s all.
I love you all.
Elder Hill
 |
| First Rootbeer in a Year!!! |
 |
| Elder Hogstram and Elder Hill Scary Eyes and he is like 6'4" |
 |
| Totem! Elder Rojas, Elder Hill, Elder Hogstram, and Elder Arevalo |
 |
| Pulling Firewood in the Mountains! |
Monday, August 1, 2011
Time and Seasons! (Speaking of time Chris has completed one year out and in ten days Isabel will have also completed a year!!! Can you see this Mom smile? :0) )
Isabella's Letter
chris why havent you written even a little? janice couldnt send me anything,
you owe us pictures!¨:) David congratulations on your new assignment to
serve the Lord. its great to feel useful in his kingdom. Papi im glad that
you are feeling better. i have been praying for you and my companion wants
to fast too. she likes you and doesnt know you.. funny huh? but thats how
all missionaries are. we love you even if we dont really know you. jonathan
thanks for writting me. im handwritting a whole bunch will send it today
hopefully. i would recommend that you get the process started and see what
you need on health check ups and stuff because that takes time and money so
the sooner you get started the better prepared you will be for submitting
them on time and not delaying your calling from the prophet. trust me
because i´ve already done it get started with the interviews with the bishop
and stake president and the checkups and you will be better off. read D&C
19:31-32 and 37-4. this week we freaked out a less active who hasnt gone to
chruch since 19 years his wife told us about him and gave us all his info
because she wants him to go back to church even though she is from a diff
religion. so we showed up where he worked and said man in black style well
really women in skirts style you are Jose Barcos? he said who told you that
i didnt answer and said and you are a member of our church he said so scared
who have you spoken to. and i said again without responding to his questions
why havent you gone for so long... 19 years? he said you are scaring me how
do you know this i said we stumbled upon your house and well basically God
is calling you back home. it was so funny but so true as well. he isnt on
some list or anything we just knocked and found a lost sheep. also this week
we took down porn well i did my companion says shes to scared to. but this
is how i did it...
hi brother how are you we call you brother because you are a child of God so
spiritually we are brothers and sisters he smiles and says thats true and i
said and our older brother is Christ and he loves us so much and gave his
life for us he says thats true too. he must have loved his little siblings a
lot, do you have siblings? yep sisters and brothers well would you like
seeing your little sister naked here on the side of the street? NO! well
Jesus doenst like it either may we please take this daughter of God down so
that her older Brother Jesus wont be offended either? Works every time! be
bold be valiant, stand for truth and righteousness.
Christopher's Letter
Dear mom and dad and Isabel,
I hope that you´ll forgive me for not writing. We have an hour to write and I try to be obedient and only write for an hour. The thing is that my companion who I´m training has never used a computer before and so I have had to help him a lot and don´t really have time. I´m sorry ,but I had to take care of that. It´s not an excuse. I´m sorry.
Also, before I forget, could you give me the addresses of Jared and Jennifer, Ted and Jenni, Amy and Chuck, Aunt Debi, Michael and Julie, Uncle Jeff and his wife, and Grandma and Grandpa. And of anyone else that I forgot.Thank you!
So, this week has been a lot of work. We´re fighting to get a family to come to church. They are good people and want to come to church, but it´s true it takes a long time to come back to church. We were also teaching to a mother of a member, Hermana Oneda. I´ve visited her for 4 months here and it´s really funny. She always said that she doesn´t need to get baptized...So I stopped visiting them! Haha. And then she randomly shows up at church two weeks ago while I was giving a talk. Haha. We went to teach her and I told her that she had to get baptized again because she was never baptized by the priesthood authority and she said in the middle of the lession, really quietly to her daughter,"I guess we have to get baptized again. "sigh."" Haha. And now she´s going to get baptized and hopefully the rest of her kids. Haha. I also promise to send photos the next week. I just haven´t taken many photos. I have some, like the one I sent you of my companion and I. Oh, mentioning my companion, this week we got a call from Presidente, during our study and he told us that the dad of my companion died (on tuesday). It has been really hard, but has strengthened us a lot at the same time. I think that my companion is going to be fine.
I´m getting nervous because I´ve been here for a while and it´s possible that they might take me out of Siguatepeque! It´s really beautiful here and people don´t get killed often. But the Lord´s will, not mine.
I´ve been learning a lot and I promise to share it all with you in some near time. I really, really, really, really, really want to baptize a family. Almost all of the converts have gone inactive, from what I heard. Families stay in the church, individuals don´t very often.
Congratulations, dad. That´s pretty fantastic. I really liked both of your letters.
With lots of love,
Elder Hill
This is the crazy worrisome Mom - but would you all pray for Chris' companion! I can't even imagine to be away from your family and to lose a parent or to send my son out on a mission and not be there when he returns. I don't really know him, but I feel Christopher's love for him and my heart aches for him and his family! His name is Elder Arevalo. Thanks - until next week!
![]()
chris why havent you written even a little? janice couldnt send me anything,
you owe us pictures!¨:) David congratulations on your new assignment to
serve the Lord. its great to feel useful in his kingdom. Papi im glad that
you are feeling better. i have been praying for you and my companion wants
to fast too. she likes you and doesnt know you.. funny huh? but thats how
all missionaries are. we love you even if we dont really know you. jonathan
thanks for writting me. im handwritting a whole bunch will send it today
hopefully. i would recommend that you get the process started and see what
you need on health check ups and stuff because that takes time and money so
the sooner you get started the better prepared you will be for submitting
them on time and not delaying your calling from the prophet. trust me
because i´ve already done it get started with the interviews with the bishop
and stake president and the checkups and you will be better off. read D&C
19:31-32 and 37-4. this week we freaked out a less active who hasnt gone to
chruch since 19 years his wife told us about him and gave us all his info
because she wants him to go back to church even though she is from a diff
religion. so we showed up where he worked and said man in black style well
really women in skirts style you are Jose Barcos? he said who told you that
i didnt answer and said and you are a member of our church he said so scared
who have you spoken to. and i said again without responding to his questions
why havent you gone for so long... 19 years? he said you are scaring me how
do you know this i said we stumbled upon your house and well basically God
is calling you back home. it was so funny but so true as well. he isnt on
some list or anything we just knocked and found a lost sheep. also this week
we took down porn well i did my companion says shes to scared to. but this
is how i did it...
hi brother how are you we call you brother because you are a child of God so
spiritually we are brothers and sisters he smiles and says thats true and i
said and our older brother is Christ and he loves us so much and gave his
life for us he says thats true too. he must have loved his little siblings a
lot, do you have siblings? yep sisters and brothers well would you like
seeing your little sister naked here on the side of the street? NO! well
Jesus doenst like it either may we please take this daughter of God down so
that her older Brother Jesus wont be offended either? Works every time! be
bold be valiant, stand for truth and righteousness.
 |
| Breakfast |
 |
| Eeker sassing me for who knows what! I love that kid! |
 |
| Gilbert - pray for him to soften his heart! |
 |
| One Graffiti dear to me! |
 |
| Our Beloved Temple |
 |
| Somethings I Need! |
Christopher's Letter
Dear mom and dad and Isabel,
I hope that you´ll forgive me for not writing. We have an hour to write and I try to be obedient and only write for an hour. The thing is that my companion who I´m training has never used a computer before and so I have had to help him a lot and don´t really have time. I´m sorry ,but I had to take care of that. It´s not an excuse. I´m sorry.
Also, before I forget, could you give me the addresses of Jared and Jennifer, Ted and Jenni, Amy and Chuck, Aunt Debi, Michael and Julie, Uncle Jeff and his wife, and Grandma and Grandpa. And of anyone else that I forgot.Thank you!
So, this week has been a lot of work. We´re fighting to get a family to come to church. They are good people and want to come to church, but it´s true it takes a long time to come back to church. We were also teaching to a mother of a member, Hermana Oneda. I´ve visited her for 4 months here and it´s really funny. She always said that she doesn´t need to get baptized...So I stopped visiting them! Haha. And then she randomly shows up at church two weeks ago while I was giving a talk. Haha. We went to teach her and I told her that she had to get baptized again because she was never baptized by the priesthood authority and she said in the middle of the lession, really quietly to her daughter,"I guess we have to get baptized again. "sigh."" Haha. And now she´s going to get baptized and hopefully the rest of her kids. Haha. I also promise to send photos the next week. I just haven´t taken many photos. I have some, like the one I sent you of my companion and I. Oh, mentioning my companion, this week we got a call from Presidente, during our study and he told us that the dad of my companion died (on tuesday). It has been really hard, but has strengthened us a lot at the same time. I think that my companion is going to be fine.
I´m getting nervous because I´ve been here for a while and it´s possible that they might take me out of Siguatepeque! It´s really beautiful here and people don´t get killed often. But the Lord´s will, not mine.
I´ve been learning a lot and I promise to share it all with you in some near time. I really, really, really, really, really want to baptize a family. Almost all of the converts have gone inactive, from what I heard. Families stay in the church, individuals don´t very often.
Congratulations, dad. That´s pretty fantastic. I really liked both of your letters.
With lots of love,
Elder Hill
This is the crazy worrisome Mom - but would you all pray for Chris' companion! I can't even imagine to be away from your family and to lose a parent or to send my son out on a mission and not be there when he returns. I don't really know him, but I feel Christopher's love for him and my heart aches for him and his family! His name is Elder Arevalo. Thanks - until next week!
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