Working hard and loving life

Family,

Happy Thanksgiving!! The answer is no, they do not celebrate it here... and the answer is yes a turkey here costs 200 quets... and so If I do not want to eat for 3 weeks, I can buy a turkey, we will just have to see what happens. But nonetheless, enjoy it for me, will ya??

This week has been a really cool and hard and last week. I got to go do divisions again in Villa Nueva, and got to see the Lord´s converts that I love so much! We did something a little different for divisions, and went the area of the Hermanas really early to be able to study as four of us, and then we went and worked the four of us in their area to see how they teach together, and then we spilt off. It was incredible! Our plans completely changed when we saw them teach together and the Lord could tell us who needed to go with whom. Really, I love being able to do divisions... and President may or may not have told me that I will also be doing it my last change... I had a dream that I was going to go to the coast and train a new missionary for my last change.. but the Lord thinks something different.

WE NEED YOUR PRAYERS. I am so serious. This weekend is the last weekend in November and so it is the last weekend to be able to complete our goals. We need your prayers for Daniel.. his mom will not let him be baptized.. even though she is a member, she wants him to be older, but he wants to be baptized so badly. So PLEASE pray for him, and his mom, Elbia.
Also for the Hermanita Melany.. she needs the permission of her Dad. Even though she is not a member, she came to teach with us and she is incredible. She starts crying every time she talks about the church. Pray for her dad that he gives her the permission to be baptized.
I have all the faith in the world that we WILL see these miracles. We are being obedient, diligent and are going to put it all in the Lords hands. But please pray for them, by name, in every prayer that you do.

Funny moment of the week goes to a boy named Royer. He is 19 year old kid that we had taught once and he could not get over that North American was talking to him.. anyway, we went back for a second visit... bad idea hermana funk.. and he asked if we could have the lesson in English. Well, my companion speaks a little bit so we told him that it was okay. So when we started, he interrupted us and said, ¨Look.. Hermana Funk.. I want you to know, that when you feel lonely, when you feel sad, when you don’t even want to talk to your own companion, I am here for you. I will be the one for you. I need someone too so that I do not feel lonely and I feel like I can count on you.¨ I looked at my companion and told her ¨We need to leave right now. ¨She pulled out a pamphlet from her backpack, threw it at him, and said, ¨read it. okay bye.¨´ haha it was so awful.

Also... Mayra... it just continues to get better. She is completely lying that she speaks english.. she told me she wanted me to see what she had read in her English Book of Mormon that she had just loved, she opened it to show me, and it was the topical guide where it says ¨clouds.¨ hahaha

I have realized the change that every missionary looks for in the mission is his own conversion. I have been converted to the gospel here on my mission, I know that it is true. I love being a representative of Jesus Christ.

I love you all!
Amedawg hermnana funk

Guatemala Learning Moments

Hey there fam!!

Well Yes, I did forget that it was Thanksgiving. Until this morning and I thought to ask my Ecuadorian companion when thanksgiving was... surprise, she was even more confused than I was! Who would have thought… but I guess it is soon. 

This week was a miracle miracle week! This week 2 people came to church who we had just simply contacted on the street, 1 that we didn’t even know, 3 that we had just taught one time and 1 that will be baptized this weekend. Really, I just feel so grateful. We did nothing! It was all the Lord. But every single one of them that came is ready for baptism, but it is going to take a whole lot of prayer. I am so serious. Satan is working hard, but we are working harder. But we NEED your prayers, well actually these people need your prayers so that they can be baptized the30th of November.... OFELIA, ALICIA, DANIEL, EDGAR, EILYN, DANIEL, FELIX, ANDREA, AND MELANY. Every single one of them could and will be baptized this month! I can feel it and I just know it. But please pray. And pray hard.  This week was really a miracle week. It is amazing to me how God does the part that we as humans cannot do. He is the only one that can testify and help them to make the changes in their lives. I know that when I am exactly obedient that he will do that huge part that I cannot do. 

Mayra..... the one whose dress ripped and we had to sew it up with missionary plaques... just continues to crack us up. She didn’t come to her confirmation because she got confused about the time and when we went to visit her, she said, ¨Hermanas, The Father wants us to go to Long beach California. The three of us. To the beach… long beach.¨ Well, if the Lord wants it, we must do it. But she really needs your prayers so that she can remember to come to her confirmation next week....

Scary moments of the week include almost face grabbed by a drunk man and also well... almost getting robbed by a man on a motorcycle, but I like to refer to these moments as learning in Guatemala moments, instead of scary ones.

I love being a representative of Jesus Christ. Here, I have come to know him, and because of that, I have learned to love him. 

I love you all!

Hermana Funk

A Missionary with a Goal

Fam,

This was the first week that you guys were baggy! (or trunky como you say it) Every single one of you reminded me of how much time I have left. Hahaha I am serious! Every single one. But yes, I am very aware of it, but I do not think about it! 

This week we had yet another miracle ustedes. I am so serious! So we have the goal of 400 baptisms in the mission this month, and 8 as a companionship. And so we have been praying, fasting, and working as hard as we could. 

So there is a hermana named Mayra, that has been in our ward for like ever. The first time I saw her I had the feeling to ask if she was a member, so I asked as she said yes. I saw her the next Sunday, and the same feeling came to me, so I asked her again, and she said yes. When I received my new companion I told her about her, so we went to her house. Again, she told us that she was a member. But when we left, my companion said, ¨We have to call the secretary and see if her papers are lost. I just have a really strong feeling.¨ 

So that started the process. We called our ward clerk, the mission secretary, our bishop, and just about everyone we could think of to see if really she was a member or not, because she had her three attendances and could be baptized that same day. Well, no one answered until FRIDAY! When they all called, and told us that she was not a member!! WHAT. The spirit had told us, and so we taught her every single little thing in two hours, she had her interview, and was baptized. It was truly a miracle, and I am so grateful for it. For the 23rd we have Hermana Ofelia, Daniel and MAgi, and so please please pray for them. I know that they will be baptized.

But the funny moment of the week, goes to Mayra. She is a little bit crazy, and is not completely there in her mind. She is from Los Angeles, and always talks about the states. She keeps telling us that in the states.. ¨I was a model. I was skinny. I drove cars.¨ (view photo that my comp sent.) She cracks me up. But anyway, we were really worried if the dress was going to fit her, and well, when she put it on, the dress completely ripped down the back. Completely. And here in Guate, there aren’t people who carry safety pins or anything, and so we had to get creative and take off the back part of our missionary plaques. Good thing it was stake conference and so we used all the Elders plaques too, and got that thing shut... blessing from the Lord. And then as we were just putting the last plaque thing in to seal up the deal, a member came in and gave us safety pins... gee thanks.

I am so grateful to be here. I love it. I love the people and I love being a representative of Jesus Christ. I have never felt so close to him in all of my life. If we want to know someone, we have to serve them. And that is why I am here.

I love you all so much!

Hermana Funk

The Story of Edgar

Hey there fam.

Pues les cuento algo.....

So I have a new comp, her name is Hermana VIllacis! She is the second one that I have had from Ecuador and she is really pilas. She really testifies and teaches with power. And we are seeing a lot of miracles.

SOOOO we had worked so hard all week so that our investigators would come to church. Eric and Edgar both had their interviews to be able to be baptized... which was a miracle in itself. Eric did NOT want to come to his interview, and it turns out that he had drank the night before... just like last time... and so he could not be baptized. We have now just realized the he does it so that he doesn’t have to be baptized.... we are going to give him a little bit of space. AKA break up with him.

But also Edgar had his interview, and he passed! But then he told our district leader that he just did not want to be baptized yet and that he was going to wait. We went with him and tried to convince him, but it just did not work. He just kept saying that he was not ready and that was it.

Well, on Sunday we were praying so hard that our investigators would come to church, and no one came. But we just kept praying and praying, and after the Sacrament, the doors opened and in walked Edgar. WE were so stoked! But he could only stay until Sunday School, and if they come after the sacrament and don’t stay for the other two classes, it does not count as an attendance, and he needed one more to be able to be baptized.

So he left…and right after lunch we had a strong impression to call our Mission President, and ask if there was any possible way that it would still count. After I explained to him what had happened, he paused for a second, and said, ¨Hermanas, I can feel that this is a special case. Baptize him. Today.¨ And so with that determination, we went to find him. And as luck would have it, he was sleeping! Rude. But then like 15 minutes later we went back and there he was out side of his door.

We explained to him all that had happened, and then told him that the Lord wanted him to be baptized TODAY, and not a day after, but he kept saying no and no and no and no. We didn’t want to force it, so we told him that the Bishop was going to pass in one hour and that he was to be waiting outside with a towel ready to go to his baptism... that isn’t pressure right??

So we called the Bishop and he said he was going to go, and I asked my companion who we should visit in the meantime, and she said ¨No one. We are going to the church and filling up the baptismal font.¨ So there we went, filled it up, and got everything ready, without an investigator to be baptized.

The bishop called us like fifteen minutes later and said, ¨Hermanas, do you have someone there to fill up the font? Edgar is with me right now, and he is ready to be baptized!¨ We both just jumped up and down and cried and prayed with so much gratitude.

And so he was baptized at 8:45 in the night time, and really it was truly and utterly a miracle. And I am positive that Grandpa Benson had something to do with it.

I know that the Lord always comes through when we do our part. And never in the way that we are waiting for it. I just truly feel grateful.

I love you all. And I am sure that the lizard who lives in our house whose tail got chopped off by a plate that I threw at it loves you too!

Hermana Funk