Week of February 1 2016: Highs and Lows

Highs and lows of this week, starting with lows to get them out of the way:

Low: we have changes!!! (Or transfers, I guess, for you snobby Americans. )They're going to reopen our area with ELDERS. All the members are like, 'NOOO! Elders are so lame!' But I know they will get along great with the members. This branch is so wonderful and I will miss it a lot, but I know bigger and better things are in store. 

Low: a classic Progreso moment--we had to keep shooing a stray dog out of the sacrament salon because it had followed its owners. It also appeared to have fleas, making it all the more necessary to shoo it out. 

Low: after the weird cold front from last week, it's been INTENSELY hot this whole week and we have been getting sunburned. 

Enough of the negativity! Here are a few of the many wonderful things that happened this week:

High: we unknowingly stumbled into a lesson with the sister of a recent convert when I was on divisions and all of our plans had fallen through. I knew that I had seen her face somewhere, but I wasn't sure why I recognized her until I invited her to church at the end of the lesson and she said 'my little sister goes to church with you guys!' and I sat with my mouth wide open for five minutes in shock. 

High: Enrique, the son of some investigators, who has always been SUPER SERIOUS and never likes to play with us or even wave to us like other kids, followed us out of the house when we were leaving and shouted 'TE AMO!' and I almost fell over because of my excitement. 

High: when I was on divisions in Jalapa, the member that was acompanying us told us she had made torrejas (if you don't know what that is by now, you gotta go back and read the rest of my emails). She offered to bring us some and I almost shouted 'SI!' Then we ate torrejas and I went to bed happy. 

High: Kevin came to church yesterday! He offered the prayer in gospel principles and it was a really wonderful and sincere prayer, asking for guidance and direction and for blessings for us (the missionaries) and our families. He is so awesome. 

It was a good four and a half months here in Jutiapa. We found out tonight where we're going to go, so by next week, I'll let you know where in the world I am. 

Read the scrips (especially the teachings of Jacob, who is my BoM hero right now), and protect yourselves from the cold!

Love, 

HC

p.s. there we are with the parents of Enrique after a church activity they came to. He's such a BABE.

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My favorite missionary picture of Amelia to date: Week of January 25 2016

Week of December 27 2015: He's a gem!

Happy almost 2016! I hope everyone passed a delightful Christmas. It was 85 degrees here on Christmas day, so it didn't really feel right to be singing Christmas carols, but such is life here in Guate. 

The power AND the water were out for the majority of last week, which was a delightful reminder of the luck we have to live in modern times. We also ate many tamales and drank ponche (I think I described it last year...it's a bunch of fruit cooked in water with cinnamon and sugar, and people here are obsessed with it), and a lady gave us a HUGE chocobanano for FREE! It was the best present a girl could ask for. 

We have been working hard on finding and teaching, and sometimes it's discouraging to see people who were progressing fall. I've been meditating on this scripture in John:

'Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.  If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.' (John 13:16-17).

Heavenly Father created us so that we would have JOY! So we should find happiness in the little things we do that makes us feel His love--helping an old lady cross the street, comforting a crying baby, eating a chocobanano--and let the rest roll off our backs. 

I love you all lots, and I hope you start 2016 making resolutions that you can truly keep. 

Sister Hamil

ps. here is a picture of us from the Christmas zone conference, with President Caffaro, who, during his talk to us, said 'sometimes I just make up words in Spanish.' He's a gem.

Week of December 6 2015: Happy December!

Happy December! Right now it's about 75 degrees and sunny, so it feels like I'm in the middle of summer, but we sing Christmas carols in every lesson, and the mayor put up a Christmas tree in front of the municipal building, so there's at least a little bit of holiday cheer. 

The family I wrote about last week are just a miracle. We went to visit them and they told us they had actually read the pamphlet (rare), and prayed to know if it was true (super rare!!), and that they were committed to go to church on Sunday(ALMOST UNHEARD OF!!!). We were really happy to know that Heavenly Father truly prepares His children to receive the gospel and investigate it. They're such a cute family, and the mom is always telling the kids to be reverent and listen, and at the end of the lesson, we gave them all lollipops. We love them a lot. 

Yesterday we had another miracle, Romelia, who lives in one of the aldeas that's about twenty minutes in bus. She had told us that if she was going to come to church, that she would come on her own, and we were shocked when she showed up the the middle of testimony meeting! We had called her all morning without getting an answer, and it was astounding to see her in church. She said she loved it and that she wants to bring her kids next week. 

This is my new favorite scripture from this week's study. We've seen a lot of miracles, but we've had a lot of hardships in this change as well. This is what gets me through:

'O then despise not, and wonder not, but hearken unto the words of the Lord, and ask the Father in the name of Jesus for what things soever ye shall stand in need. Doubt not, but be believing, and begin as in times of old, and come unto the Lord with all your heart, and work out your own salvation with fear and trembling before him.' (Mormon 8:27)

Many of the hardest times of my mission have come as a result of doubt. In these last four weeks, I have gained a testimony that doubt and faith cannot coexist. Heavenly Father has a plan for everyone, and we can't try to make our plans His plans! Doubt not, but be believing, and know that miracles are possible. I've seen them, and I know in the Christmas season, we will see even more. 

Un abrazo de oso, 

Hermana Campbell

ps. the photo is from the outside of our apartment, which our landlord decorated. Cute!

pps. quote of the week 'you're so cute with your Canadian accent!' -hna campbell 'it's fine, i'm just gonna go cry in the washroom' -hna juarez

We visited a family we had taught a few times before Monday, and in the lesson, I found a few scriptures that I wanted them to read. The two youngest kids rushed to my side, eager to carry my scriptures to their mom, and continued to compete over the privilege of passing the scriptures back and forth for the rest of the lesson. Getting to be around kids is one of the many, many perks of being a missionary (although the setback is not being able to hold them. Boo.).

This week ended in miracles and exhaustion, as has almost every week since I came to El Progreso. On Thursday I had the privilege of getting to know a place called Sanarate, which is a three hour bus ride from my area. There are so many people in the world! That sounds really obvious, but it's really incredible that, despite the huge missionary force working in the world, there are so many people who have yet to get to know the gospel. 

On Saturday, we had the baptism of Fransisca! Here are all the miracles that contributed:

1) We had told her that we were going to go by her house at 12, because in the church in Progreso, there's no font, so we have to go to Jutiapa (which is about 25 minutes in bus). We went by, and she wasn't there! The door was locked and the neighbors told us that they heard they had left for Guate early in the morning, We rushed around, trying to think where she could be, and went all around the town trying to find her. After about half an hour, we felt an impression to go to her house again, and when we did, there she was! She had shut her door because she was showering and getting ready to go. 

2) She brought her granddaughters, one of which told us she wants to get baptized too!

3) One of our investigators showed up to the baptism, even though it was far away!

4) We had started planning the baptism late and hadn't announced it, so we were trying to find members to come, and everyone told us no. The relief society president, who's about 8 months pregnant, showed up by surprise--she's awesome. The branch president came as well, and brought his wife and his mom, along with three little kids. At the end of things, about 10 people were in attendance, which is much more than we had expected.

5) The water in the font came out relatively clear, because outside the cap, the water is usually pretty grey and cloudy and dirty. But by some miracle, it was almost dirt-free! (Fransisca told us it was still really cold though.)

6) We bought pizza for everyone who came, and there was just enough for everyone to have two slices.

It was a great day, and it reminded me how much Heavenly Father wants to bless us. My scripture for last week that I decided to ponderize was Mosiah 2:41, which says: 

And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness.

He wants to bless us, if only we can keep the commandments! Don't doubt His desire to help and bless you. He loves all His children so much, and it's a privilege to be able to communicate that love to others. 

Happy Halloween, and Feliz Dia de los Muertos!

Love, 

Hermana Vela (look it up on Google Translate. I'm very clever.)

Week of 9.21.15: Disanimated

Hey everyone, 

Happy day of independence to Guatemala! Here they celebrate independence on the 15th, so on Tuesday, everyone was decked out in blue and white and burning fireworks. Mama Elida, who's the member that feeds us every day, made my favorite Guatemalan dessert, which are called molletes. Normally they only make them for Semana Santa, but she made an exception for me. 

We also had a lot of opportunities to do service this week. I realized that I really love cleaning other peoples' houses, especially washing their dishes. I can only think of a few times on my mission where I've felt more joyful than I do while washing dishes. I'm not sure why, but I think it has to do with what King Benjamin teaches: when we're in the service of our fellow beings, we're only in the service of our God. 

Yesterday our investigator, David, who got baptized about two weeks ago, got confirmed! I asked him how he felt afterward, and he told me that he had felt a force move through him. He literally received the gift of the Holy Ghost, and could feel the difference. The H.G. is something interesting that I've come to understand much better on my mission. It's not just a guide for us, but it's a constant friend, a comforter, and can also reprimand us (gently) when we need it. It's a presence that makes all the difference in missionary work, and oddly enough, I've never been able to feel the spirit so much as I have in this area. Our lessons are few, but they are so spiritual. They are also exhausting--following the promptings of the spirit, and feeling it strongly, can really take a lot out of you. 

I read King Benjamin's address this week, and I was reminded of the need we have to do things according to the strengths and abilities that God has given us. Sometimes I want to do more than is possible for me to do, and it's frustrating that I don't have the capability. But God has given us the gifts and powers that we need to have, and we cannot desire more or less than what he has given us:

And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order. (Mosiah 4:27).

Trust in the talents and abilities you have, and don't get disanimated when things don't go the way you think! Heavenly Father knows exactly what we need, and in his own time and his own way, he will give it to us. 

Love, 

Sister Campbell

Week of August 3 2015: Lamina

Hi all, 

Right now, even though we're in the 'rainy season,' it's been WAY. TOO. HOT. It feels like actual summer, even though right now is technically winter. But we love it! The other thing about lamina, if you remember my last email (or the one before?), is that it traps in heat like a sauna, so when it's hot, you go into a house of lamina and come out three pounds lighter from sweating so much. But it's a beautiful part of Guatemalan life. 

On Tuesday I was in divisions with one of the sister training leaders, and we were able to teach a part-member family, Nefi and Mary (guess which one is the member). Nefi has been inactive for about seven years, but we recently started visiting him and his wife, who is VERY receptive. We have about three weeks with them, but we had never challenged her to be baptized, because we never felt it was the right moment. But on Tuesday, we were teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I invited her to pray about baptism, and the room went silent for a minute and she said 'Ever since you started visiting me, I've been praying about it to know if it's something that I should do.' My heart kind of jumped out of my chest. It was one of those moments where time and space ceased to exist and I could see the change this decision would make in the whole life of their family and the generations to come. It was trippy but beautiful (kind of like all of missionary life). 

Yesterday we had a kind of disheartening experience, and I was feeling a little down, when I remembered my scripture study from the morning. I finished the Book of Mormon, and the last verses of Moroni 10  really hit me: 

 32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.
 33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.

We are in no way perfect, and sometimes the mission feels like a pressure cooker of guilt and shame and inadequacy. I'm painfully aware of all the ways I fail every day, and I know there are many more faults I have that I don't even recognize. But God loves us, and if we have faith in Him, He will help us become the people He wants us to be! We shouldn't lose hope. All things are possible, but first we need to believe. 

Well, my cheesy ramblings have come to the end for the week--until next time. 

Love, 

HC

p.s. here I am on my new mission transport. I expect great results in proselyting.