Week of 3.16.15: Sant Cat Pin

Everybody, everybody!

Remember Homestar Runner? I just remembered him, right now in this moment. But that's irrelevant (irrelephant).

Last week I didn't have time to write my weekly email, but for those of you who I didn't write, I got transferred from my first area, San Cristobal, to an area called Kaminal Juyu in a part of the capital called Utatlan. I was in a TRIO, with Hermana Pantoja, who's from Bolivia and will be going home in this next transfer, and Hermana Mansell, who is in her second transfer of training. They're both amazing, and I really admire them a lot--Hna Mansell got baptized only about a year and a half ago, and even though she's still learning about everything in the church, she teaches with a lot of love and power. Hna Pantoja just knows everything and is an incredible teacher. I learned a lot from both of them, but sadly, I am no longer with them! Because I got transferred to ANOTHER area! What!

On Thursday morning, the assistants called while I was getting out of the shower and said 'Hermana Campbell, you need to pack your stuff because you're leaving your area!' Apparently, two companionships that were in training had to get split up, because both of the trainees wanted to go home. So they sent the other trainer to my area, Kaminal Juyu, and sent me to my new area, Santa Catarina Pinula (on the sidewalks in front of the municiple building, it says 'Sant Cat Pin,' hence the title of the email). It's still inside the capital, but it's at the bottom of a huge, windy hill called El Barranco and it's basically like a little pueblo, but it's really close to the temple and the heart of Guatemala City. At first I was really grumpy, and confused about why they wanted to change me, but the last few days have been incredible. This area is really blessed--the ward is so loving, like SO LOVING (I've never felt so much love), and the people are bizarrely open and receptive. There are a lot of drunk guys who like to yell 'I go to the Mormon church!!! Canchita!!!' but I even love them too. 

My companion has also been another blessing--her name is Hermana Recinos, and she was one of the sister training leaders at the very beginning of my mission. She's incredible, and I've already learned a lot from her. Right now we're working with a family, Alejandra and Duglas, and their three kids. They were taught by the missionaries about two years ago, but they closed the area, and they never got baptized. So we're working with her to get her ready for baptism, and she already passed her interview, but she didn't come to church yesterday and we aren't sure what happened, because she's not in her house and she won't answer her phone. We're pretty worried, so if you would maybe keep them in your prayers, that would be great. We also had an insane lesson with Melissa, who's new, and she was so receptive and open, it was incredible. She's coming to church next week, and we feel that she's ready to be baptized. 

One of the converts here, Astrid, is my new best friend. She got baptized in October or something and now she brings breakfast to the missionaries every morning, and she LOVES going to teach with us. She came over this morning and helped us clean our house, and she's just the best. Something I've learned is that a BIG part of missionary work is taking care of converts. It's good to have baptisms and stuff, but it's also important to make sure that the people who have already made those covenants can continue being faithful to them. SO! If there are converts in your wards, be their friends. I'm sure they're great people! You'll love it!

My motivation this week is in 2 Nephi 2:6-8. I've been thinking and studying a lot about the Atonement, which is really the center of everything we do and believe and teach, and I like the way Lehi explains its importance here. 

I'm sorry this email was a million years long, and I hope you didn't get bored of reading it. Until next week, keep on keepin' on, and always ANIMO! (There's not really a word for that in English, sorry.)

Love, 

Hermana C

Week of February 16 2015: Five Months!

Hey everyone, 

It's Wednesday! And P-Day! Whaaaat! 

First of all, as the subject line states, yesterday I completed FIVE months of being on my mission! I'll probably say this every months, but it's weird how fast and also slow time has gone. But such is the nature of a mission, I'm told.

This week, we worked like normal on Monday, and today is our P-day, because we got to go to the TEMPLE! In our mission, we can only go once every six months, so it's a very big deal. We got up this morning at 4:30 so we could get here on time, because even though we aren't technically that far away, the traffic in Guatemala City is HORRIBLE. But luckily we arrived with enough time to go to the distribution center and eat some breakfast, and then we went to do the session in SPANISH, which was bizarre but cool. After we write (we're in the family history center of the temple right now), we're going to go eat lunch, and then we're going to the zoo. Such fun! Many missionary! Wow. 

One of the best things that happened in the past week is that 8 of our 11 converts came to church! Our retention is usually something like 3/11, but this week, almost EVERYONE came. We were so happy and it was so great to see them taking the sacrament and interacting with the other members of the ward. Converts really need a lot of love and support, which seems obvious, but if there are recent converts in your ward, BE THEIR FRIEND! (That's my first petition for this week.)

This last week, there was almost no change in our conditions--we're still looking for new investigators, knocking doors, and doing what we can to find people to teach. Only towards the end of this week did we start to see some of the fruits of our labors--we found a few investigators who (shockingly) don't attend any church, which is INCREDIBLY rare here. Almost everyone is either Evangelical or Catholic (and the Evangelicals are a lot meaner than Catholics). But we contacted one family who we're going to teach later this week, and we had a lesson with a woman named Melissa who told us she's waiting for God to guide her to the church where she feels happy and where her kids will grow up with a knowledge of the gospel. We were kind of like "well....here we are....." and it was just a testimony to me that God really does prepare people. 

Some people are not yet ready to listen to the gospel, but others are. It's hard to find them, but they are there. My invitation to you all (which we've also extended to the members of our ward here many times) is that you can make a list of all your neighbors, friends, and family members who aren't members of the church, and pray to know who among them is ready to listen to the gospel. Then talk to the missionaries in your ward or area and help them talk to the people that God indicates to you are ready! Seriously, the missionaries need your help. It doesn't matter where you are in the world--the support of the members of the ward or branch is invaluable, and the investigators who are the most willing to listen are almost always references from members. So that's my second petition for you all this week. I'm sorry to be such an annoying missionary, but we really all have to work together if we want missionary work to be successful. 

Okay, I'm done being annoying for now. Have a good week!

Love, 

HC

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Week of February 9 2015: Centipede!

Hey guys, 

Not a lot to report on this week. After our baptism-wedding-extravaganza last week, we kind of were left with nothing in terms of investigators, baptismal dates, etc. So this week we've just been contacting a lot, and trying to get into the closed colonies so that we can contact there (which sometimes works, and sometimes we get kicked out by the guards, but it's all in a day's work). One lady we contacted told us that she was busy and when we asked her if she had time later, she told us 'I'm going to busy for the rest of my life BYE,' so that was heartening. 

One kind of cool/weird thing that happened this week is that we found a guy who lives here who's from Florida, and we went and taught him in English, which was super bizarre. I realized that I have NO idea how to teach the gospel in English, and it was also hard because my companion doesn't speak English, so she didn't know what we were talking about and I was just rambling and rambling. But still! English! It was kind of cool. 

I also found a centipede in my house this week, which was terrifying, but I guess finding weird things in one's residence (mushrooms, deadly insects) is all part of the mission experience, and it's beautiful and horrible and BLAH.

So I hope everyone has had a better week than I did, and that this week that's coming will be better for all of us. Read Romans 8, which is my favorite chapter in the NT. Paul is s'great. (That rhymed, and it was unintentional, I'm sorry.)

Love, 

Sister Campbell

Week of January 19 2014: Mushroom

Hi guys!

As of this last Saturday, I officially have four months in the mission. It seems simultaneously like a lot and like very, very little. But I think that's generally the way time is on a mission--it feels like it's going super fast and SO SLOW at the same time. But such is the nature of life, I guess. 

Our main focus of this week was a family that the elders who were in the other part of our area before us found, the Perez-Gomez family. They're super special and we almost had to arrange an emergency wedding for them, because they want to get baptized, but they aren't married, and the dad, Candido, really doesn't want to get married (this is a trend for the men here. I cannot tell you why). BUT he had a kind of amazing change of heart this week and they told us that they wanted to get married this Saturday before their kids go back to school (here they start school in January, have a short vacation in June, and finish in October--it's kind of the opposite of the American school system). So we were calling all the LDS lawyers we know to see if they could help us, and if they could do it for free, and trying to get together clothes and flowers and food for this wedding, but then it turned out that they didn't have the documents they needed to get married, so they aren't going to get married until June when their kids come home. It was kind of a disappointment, but it was amazing just to see the changes that they've made in their lives and attitudes. I think that's one of the biggest privileges of missionary work--getting to see people change. It might not always been that they're going to get baptized, but even small changes mean they're coming closer to Christ.

Remember: Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

 And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls. (Alma 37:6-7). 

As for other news this week, we got new beds because apparently ours were super old. As they were taking apart my bed, the guy doing it goes "hay un hongo!!!" which means "there's a mushroom!!!!!" That's right, there was a BIG FAT MUSHROOM growing under my bed. There's always been a weird, mildewy smell in our apartment and I was always searching for the source, and I finally found it. So while you're sleeping in your beds tonight, be grateful that your lives are free of bed mushrooms (if anyone wants to use that as a band name, feel free). 

Tomorrow we have cambios, so my trainer will be leaving and I'll be getting a new compa! I'm a little terrified to be in charge of our area and all of our investigators, and I can't imagine my life without my companion (three months together is a LONG time), but whatever happens, it's revelation, so I can't really complain. 

I hope everyone has a good week, and that your bedrooms are free of fungi. 

Love, 

Hermana Campbell

December Letters: 12/22 and 12/29 (Mom was out of town w/o a computer!)

Hi guys, 

Merry almost Christmas! It doesn't super feel like Christmas still, but I did get two Christmas packages this week at our zone conference, and I'm waiting to open them until the 25th. I also have a MoTab Christmas CD, and we have  a tiny tree in our house, so maybe I'll open my packages with the music and the tree and feel a little bit of Christmas (or maybe I'll just cry a lot, which I've also been doing lately). 

We had our Christmas zone conference this week, in which we watched 'The Work and The Glory' and everyone went crazy because there's DRAMA and KISSING and HANDSOME MEN. We also had a turkey dinner for lunch, so that got us into the Christmas spirit a little more. My zone also sang 'Cantan Santos Angeles' (Angels We Have Heard on High), and they made me sing a solo, which was terrifying, but overall it went well. It then took us four hours to get home, because the traffic is INSANE right now because everyone is going out to buy Christmas presents and stuff, so the buses were jam-packed and we had to keep letting them pass because we physically couldn't have fit inside. 

We got back so late that we couldn't do anything, so on Thursday, we had zero lessons, contacts, new investigators, everything. On Friday, we got all psyched up to work really hard and find a ton of people and make up for the day we lost on Thursday. But by 6 o'clock, we hadn't had a single lesson or found a single new investigator. We had walked pretty much through our entire area, and visited all of our investigators and all of the members, but no one was home. We were so sad and discouraged, so I said 'Maybe we should pray?' kind of jokingly. But we found a little clearing of land (where there were a bunch of chickens, how spiritual) and said a prayer, and about five minutes later, we walked by a family decorating their house. We asked if we could leave one of the 'He is the Gift' cards with them, and then I decided to ask if we could watch the video with them, and THEY INVITED US INSIDE! This is super rare for our area, so we were incredibly excited. We went in, sang a Christmas hymn, and said a prayer, then watched the video with them (I don't know if all of you know about this thing, but hopefully you have heard of/seen it). After, we ended up teaching an entire lesson, and by the end, the mom was crying and she wanted to say the closing prayer. As we were leaving, with an appointment to come back the following week, she told us that we had contacted her almost a month ago, but she didn't want to listen to us, and she was really glad that we had found her again. 

I know this sounds like a story from the New Era or something, but I promise you it really happened. It was a super special and rare experience, and I'm just super grateful to be here and be serving a mission in this time of the year. It is hard, and sometimes I do just start crying because I think about everyone having Christmas together without me, but it's a privilege to be here and to learn a little bit more about the love God has for his children. 

One last thing about this week is that we found a TINY puppy walking next door to our house, and took pictures with it. That was another little miracle that occurred this week, but it's a miracle of the SQUEE type and less of the SPIRITUAL type. 

I hope everyone has a good week and the MERRIEST of Christmases. Please watch the Colbert Christmas Special in my honor, because that is probably the thing I miss the most about this Christmas season. 

Love, 

Sister Campbell

Hi friends and fam, 

This is my last email of 2014! Is it just me, or did this year feel like about five seconds? Is that something an old lady would say? Am I wearing a skirt that probably used to belong to an old lady that I bought in a paca? WHO CAN SAY. 

This week was a lot of fun and a lot of food. On the 24th, which is when everyone celebrates Christmas here, we went around visiting a lot of members and investigators. We got to help make tamales with one of our investigator families, and I got to hold a baby (which is technically against the mission rules, but what can you do when someone hands you a cute, chubby baby??). FYI, tamales are THE thing here for Christmas and New Years, and I ate probably eight of them in the course of two days. Also, everyone makes something called 'ponche,' which is a liquid cooked with fruit, except it's DRIED fruit, that they put in liquid, so it's like re-hydrated fruit? It's kind of horrible, but hey, whatever! Culture! 

The good news is that I officially only have one Christmas left in my mission! The bad news is that I was so sad on Christmas that I ate an entire bag of barbeque-flavored Tortrix (which is a brand of chip similar to Fritos that they only sell here). But more good news, we have great members in our ward and really nice investigators who invited us over for dinners and stuff, and that was really nice. 

It's been hard to find people to teach this week, because everyone is either sleeping or traveling. But one cool thing that happened is that we went to visit this family we contacted a while ago, who were never home when we came by to visit, but this time they were home and let us in and we taught them a whole lesson and they were super receptive and loving and it was just cool to see that even though some people aren't prepared right when you meet them, with time, they can change and be ready. Everything is the Lord's time, you know? 

This email is a little funky, I'm sorry. My zone is yelling at me to get off the computer so we can go to Taco Bell. BUT I hope that everyone has a happy new year and that you're enjoying cold weather for me (because I am sunburned and sweaty). 

Love you!

Hermana Campbell

Week of December 8 2014: El es la Dadiva

Happy Monday!

It's hard to believe that it's December, and I kind of refuse to accept it. The weather here is pretty much the same as summer in Seattle, yet somehow the sun is even hotter. The nights are pretty chilly, by which I mean it gets down to about 55 degrees, and everyone is always telling us we should be wearing sweaters and that we're going to get sick, but so far I haven't, so HA. 

My companion's birthday was yesterday, so earlier this week, we had a lot of gatherings and shennanigans to celebrate. Here, the 7th of December is the day of the devil, and to celebrate, everyone buys piñatas of the devil and burns them, instead of putting candy in them. We're not allowed to burn stuff, so we bought candy and had a good ol' time with the other hermanas in our district. I also asked them to buy a cake to surprise her, but we didn't have candles, so we stuck a bunch of matches in the top of the cake and they kind of exploded everywhere. But the cake survived, and it was pretty tasty. 

This week we had another baptism! Her name is Flory, and she's 15. She's the only member in her family, but her mom and aunts and uncles came, and it was really special. We sang Christmas hymns and ate cake (again). The sad thing is that she lives in the boundaries of a different ward, so she's not our convert anymore, but we snuck into the other ward's sacrament meeting to see her confirmation. She told us that she felt something really special while she was being confirmed, and I got all teary. Here is a photo if you want to see:

We as missionaries have been assigned to start working with a new church initiative that you've probably heard about/seen on the internet. It's called 'He is the Gift,' or, for me, 'Él es la Dádiva.' I think they have it on YouTube and everything, or you can go tochristmas.lds.org to watch it. We have little cards to give to people that have a picture of Mary and the baby Jesus, and so far we've given away about twenty. People are much more responsive when you're giving them stuff, for some reason. But, for obvious reasons, I've been thinking a lot about Christ lately (duh, but bear with me). I was reading in Mosiah 3 this morning, where an angel appears to King Benjamin and speaks to him, saying (and sorry if the formatting is a little weird):

"...Awake, and hear the words which I shall tell thee; for behold, I am come to declare unto you the glad tidings of great joy. For the Lord hath heard thy prayers, and hath judged of thy righteousness, and hath sent me to declare unto thee that thou mayest rejoice; and that thou mayest declare unto thy people, that they may also be filled with joy."

The angel then proceeds to tell King Benjamin about Christ, who will be born of Mary, and the work he will perform on the earth. 

I'm sure some/all of you have heard this before, but the meaning of the word 'gospel' is 'good news.' I love to think that by being a missionary, I'm bringing to people "good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." The message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is one of hope, peace, and, most of all, joy. Through him, we have strength, purpose, and eternal life. I'm so grateful to have the chance to share the happiness that I've felt through this gospel, and I hope that all of you will be able to feel a bit of this happiness this week and this Christmas. 

Once again, I'm out of time. Have a good week, keep your chins up and watch some TV for me. 

Love, 

Hermana Campbell

Week of December 1 2014: Tiny Tree

Hi everyone, 

Happy December! It's getting pretty cold here (down into the 50s...brrrr), and everyone has up Christmas lights and trees and everything. We have a tiny tree in our apartment, and it's pretty cute/sad. We've also started singing Christmas hymns in church and in lessons, and it's weird to sing them in Spanish, but I'll get used to it (eventually). 

We have a baptism coming up next Saturday, I can't remember if I already wrote about her or not. Her name is Flory, she's 15, and is really excited to get baptized. We're going to try and make a cake to have after her baptism, but as we don't have an oven, it's going to be a pretty complicated venture. 

Here is the most striking memory I can give you of this week: we had a lesson with Juan Diego, who also has a baptismal date, but the church was locked, so we waited for half an hour to see if anyone would show up. No one did, so we walked down the block to a Burger King, and we sat and taught him about temples and family history while "Hello" by Lionel Richie played in the background. They also had a screen showing the music video, and I kept getting distracted because it's hilariously 80s and weird and makes no sense. 

This week for Thanksgiving, the other sisters in our district and my companion and I went to Domino's and bought a giant pizza. It's the end of the month, so we're all almost out of money, but we pooled our funds and had a feast (more or less). For dessert, we bought chocobananos. It was really fun and kind of depressing and a good representation of my life here in Guatemala. 

Some other things that happened this week: I finished almost a whole jar of peanut butter, I helped make tortillas yesterday (and apparently my skills are improving!), and I jumped out of the back of a moving bus because we were late for an appointment and the driver didn't want to stop. 

BUT more than anything, we're continuing to work and find people and somehow make it through every day. Thank you for your prayers and support; we've felt the spirits of many people in our work this week and we're really grateful. Everyone should read 3 Nefi 11, because it's great, and if anyone gets the chance, eat a burrito for me (that's one thing that I haven't yet found here). 

Love you all! Have a healthy, productive week.

Hermana Campbell