Please Pass the Hot Sauce

Hey there fam!

About the subject title, do not ask me why, but this week I have wanted to eat hot sauce almost every single day.... and mom not only ketchup... like REAL hot sauce. I have never liked it before, oh well, I have seen weirder things happen.

About my rib, because you all seem to be a little bit worried. I went to the mission nurse and she told me that she wanted me to see the doctor. I was a little worried because it would take up a whole day of time when we were supposed to have our last divisions of the change and so I just prayed so hard that the Lord would take away the pain if i promised him that I would work even harder, and you know what?? He sure did his part! I still have had pain but just less and less ,it has been great and I feel so grateful! Do not worry, I will not be playing twister or dancing the salsa anymore!!

This week we had divisions in the Coast. OH MY HECK. I felt like I was in an oven and that someone was pouring boiling water on my face. It is so darn hot! I look up to those hermanas that work there every single day. It was awesome though and really I learn so much more from them than they learn from me. 

We had two baptisms this week! Well I shouldn´t say that, I should say that God blessed us more than I can even say! He knows that we are hardly in our area and so he has to do a lot of the work here. But after about 9 months, Jimi finally gave permission for his sons to be baptized! All that his little son wanted was that his dad could give the prayer at his baptismal service. Jimi isn´t a member or anything, and so he was really doubting it. But came the day of his baptism, he got up there in front and gave the shortest and most sincere prayer that I have ever heard. It was such a special day!!! And now Jimi may or may not be getting baptized in these next couple of weeks. I am serious, I love this family so so darn much. 

My companion is leaving me tomorrow! I have no idea how I am going to be able to do it without her, but the lord wants me to be humble and wants to teach me something. I have no idea who my companion will be, but I am just trusting in the Lord-

I love you all!!! Feliz dia.

Ame

The Hunchback of Guatemala

Hola Familia Funk!!

Well, thank you for all of your letters, it is just always the greatest!! I love hearing about the crazy little things that happen and just bursting out laughing and all the missionaries look at me, whatevz, good experience.

This week was a weird week! Almost every single person that we contacted, just for the record we contacted 626 people, rejected us! They were all from other churches, or didn´t like us, or just all fun things like that! But you know what I have learned? When we are rejected, our testimony that we have shared with them, bounces off of them and gets put right back into us, only stronger. It has really strengthen my testimony, and so don´t be afraid of getting rejected, see it as an opportunity to strengthen your own testimony!

Hermana Luis was confirmed... and well, remember how I said that he was had an accident and had 5 brain surgeries? Well when they called his name for him to be confirmed, he lifted his arms oh so high and thought that they were calling on him to give a talk... poor man. poor congregation. But in the end he was confirmed, but then got a little confused and decided that he was going to go home from church by himself, and well, he got lost, but after about four hours we found him, and the good news is, he is in his house! haha this man. I will tell ya what.

We are going to have a baptism this next weekend! of a little boy who has been waiting for permission from his dad for like a year now, and we really feel that this week he will get permission, and so if you could just pray for the hermanito michael and his dad, jimmy, I would appreciate it oh so much!

Well, the news for this week, one of my ribs is out of place and so I have a bulge on my side and terrible back pain all the time! NO idea how I did that... guess I need to quit playing twister and salsa dancing with all of the men here, huh? But I have figured out that if I keep my shoulder bone really close to my back, and lean to my side, it doesn´t hurt, but it also makes for a great scene of the Hunchback of Notre Dame here is Guate.

All in all like is good and I am happy. I love you all!
Ame

9 Months Down!

Hey there fammmm!

I was so happy for the chance I got to speak to you all on Mother’s Day! That was so fun! I am glad that at least you could see me, I am serious, I could hardly see anything! I didn´t know if it was Dad, or Emily walking by, or Gareth or mom. But then I could tell by your voices! And I loved it! Thank you for your support! It means more to me than you know.

Well, I have hit the big 9. BUT I am not thinking about that, I am just thinking that I have to do EVERYTHING I can so that I do not have even one regret at the end. I am working hard, harder than ever and I know that it will pay off!

This week we have had a bunch of divisions. I first went with a girl named Hermana Reategui. Man, she has only been a member for three years and is the only member of her family. Her family has only talked to her one time since she left and she had to pay for her whole mission without any support for them. When I was with her, she found out that her mom did not want to talk to her on Mother´s day. Her attitude was amazing. It really just shows me how much I have and how lucky I am to have all of your support.

I also had divisions with two hermanas norte americanas. They are so awesome!! Really, every sister here is like of gold. I am just supposed to learn a lot from each and every one of them. I love doing divisions! Even though I am so darn tired, like so tired, it is so worth it.

WE HAD A BAPTISM THIS WEEK!!! WOOOO!!! POR FIN!!! But you know how he cannot remember anything? Well, he did not remember that it was the day of his baptism! Imagine that! And so we ran to his house.... he lives two miles away.. but we ran to his house to wake him up to go to church. He lives with the landlord of the house that takes care of him and is a drunk woman. And so we knocked on the door, the drunk woman who had just arrived home from the fair.. at like 4 in the morning opened the door and told us that he would not be coming to church... well we did not let this stop us!
An hour later our ward mission leader went to his house and they told him also that he was still sleeping... we did not give up.

One hour after our ward mission leader went to his house again and the drunk woman got really mad and told him that he was not coming out and other words that I am not allowed to say....we did not give up.
After church we ran to his house. Literally. Again, he lives two miles away! BUT WE RAN! And finally the drunk woman had gone to the fair again. But Luis was in his bed with an awful pain in his knee and he couldn´t walk. We called over the priesthood to lift him out of bed, put him in a car, and took him to the church... This was like at four in the afternoon, and so the only people who were at the church was the bishop and his family, and the ward mission leader and his wife.  So, the bishop’s 4 year old son gave the prayer, the bishop and the wife of the ward mission leader gave the talks and the ward mission leader did the baptism. Hahaha it was really a sight to be seen. But he got baptized and was so happy!!!

I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to see such miracles! With faith and obedience and exactness comes the miracles!!!

I love you all so much!!!!
Ame

Love from Guatemala (and all of the drunks on the street)

Familia!!

 Okay first of all, thank you for your letters! I just love hearing from each and every one of you. I am so grateful for all of you and feel like the luckiest lil missionary in the whole world.

 Things are really good here!! We are just teaching and teaching and I am hardly ever in my own area and so it gets a lil crazy, but honestly, I love doing divisions with the Hermanas. I think it is more for me than it is for them. And this week I had divisions with someone you might know... HERMANA OLIPHANT! Man! It was so fun! She is such a good little missionary. She came to my area with me and it was so fun to learn from her. I honestly learned so much! She is so diligent and obedient and just really loves the people. Even though we live in the same house, it was so fun to be able to just be with her as missionaries.

 I also had divisions with an hermana that I was with in the CCM. She is on the coast and you might think, oh the coast, like the beach.. WRONG. It just simply means that it is the most humid and hot place known to mankind. I was just dying a little bit, but it was fun to see how much this hermana has changed since our time we spent together in the CCM. She has lost like 50 pounds and I told her that I think I have gained every pound that she has lost. Not fair.

 We have an investigator named Luis that is going to be baptized this next weekend and he was in an accident and so he can´t remember hardly anything and gets really distracted. He is like 75 and this week we were trying to teach him about the Law of Chastity when he said... ¨Well Hermanas, what are you going to do if I make you fall in love with me? Do you still have to keep being a missionary?¨ Well Hermano Luis, we will see when we get to that point.. never. It was hilarious!! But hey, he is going to be baptized. Just pray for him that he can remember that even when he is with the ¨spanish chicas¨ he can´t drink coffee.

 I did something drastic.. I put blonde highlights in my hair. They really aren´t that noticeable but you just got to change things up a little bit when you have been a missionary for nine months.. you know what I mean?

I love you all and am so so excited to skype! I WILL BE SKYPING AT 5:20 GUATMEMALA TIME ON SUNDAY. And we have to be very very on time! I will try to call mom´s account. And I pray that it works!!!

Love from Guate... especially from the drunks on the street.

Hermanita Funk