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

An extremely nerve-racking experience!

Hey there fam!!

Well this is just a time of adventure! I did my first divisions and it was an awesome experience!! With a hermanita named Hermana Newman! She is the mission nurse and just as busy as can be. But it was so fun to be able to see their areas and help them to make goals to be able to improve. It is kind of crazy though because we barely have anytime in our own area, but really, we have seen the Lord´s hand blessing us with miracles! He knows that he has to teach our investigators more than we can! But I will have them again today and then two or three times every week. We either go to their area or they come to ours and we just work with them like normal and then we make goals! It is really an awesome experience and I am being humbled by learning so much from these hermanitas.

Well my companion and I had an awesome experience! On Wednesday night President called us and told us that he had a special assignment for us. He told us that he was going to be at a conference with all of the mission presidents of Central America and four general authorities and that he had to have two hermanas and 2 elders from the mission come to answer questions from the mission presidents during their conference. I thought it was a joke, but then he wasn’t laughing and so we agreed. Friday morning at 4 in the morning we got up and did our hair.... for like the first time in my mission I had to look like a normal person... dangit.  We left for the capital at 5 in the morning! When we got there we entered into a room with every single mission president and their wives from Central America and 4 general Authories. They asked us if we could come in front and then they started to ask us questions.  I WAS SO NERVOUS! But the spirit completely guided us and we were able to do it. When we were done, we were headed back for our seats when the guy who was leading the conference asked us if we could come up in front again so that every mission president could have the chance to shakes the hands of these 6 missionaries. IT WAS THE COOLEST EXPERIENCE EVER. I just felt the spirit.

I am really trying to be better every single day and just giving my all to the Lord. I still have a lot to do here, and now I got to do it in only 9 months. HOLY COW. 

I ask for your prayers with our investigatos Jimmy, Carmen, Luis and Michael!!

I love you all. AND NOW. I have killed 6 cockroaches this week. One of which was crawling in my hair... rude.

I love you.

Ame

Familia!!

Happy Easter to all!! I had no clue it was even Easter, so that will show you how much we celebrated. Actually, I did eat a cadbury egg that mom sent me for my breakfast, and so I was too in tune with the spirit!

Well, I have lots of news from this week! I left my area and traveled about ten minutes and was in my new area.... and so a lot of difference. ACTUALLY there is a difference! We do not have fruit flies, but I had killed 16 or more cockroaches... one of which was on my tooth brush... rude. The other in my clothes... what a fun surprise when one puts on a shirt, so that has been a lot of fun! But I am in an area called Sonora.

Okay, I did not get a break from training... quite the opposite! My companion and I are Sister training leaders. I had an interview with President Brough and when he told me that I was going to be a training leader.. I thought it was a joke, but it wasn´t! So, we do divisions 2 or 3 times a week with the sisters in the mission to help them and to make sure that everything is okay. And even better... we get to wake up at 5 every single morning! But hey, I have been praying that God will give me the strength and I have been helped out immensely!
And other thing that is AWESOME! I live in the same house as Morg Oliphant!! Quite the party I must add! But I do not get to see her a lot, but it has been awesome awesome awesome!

I know that I have been given this calling to help me be more humble and really trust in the Lord, and that is exactly what I am doing because I cannot do anything else but that, I do not feel adequate, but the Lord needs me and I know that I will learn a ton!!! I love you all more that I can say!

Ame

Amy's new companion

Amy's good friend Morgan from high school! 

House guests galore!

I would first like to inform you all about our lovely home. We too have had many guests this week. I will now tell you the following.

1. FRUIT FLIES. I AM DYING. They do not like fruit, they like our beds, our bathroom, our shower, our mirror, our clothes, our makeup and everything. We have over 100 in our house. And this in not a joke. You may think it is because we are messy, but we have cleaned the house about 5 times and do not have any sight of food. It is awesome.

2. THE ANTS. They were scared of the fruit flies and so they decided to hide in our desks. And when I say in our desks, I mean our scriptures, our books, all the nooks and crannies. They are jealous because the fruit flies have now taken over our food.

3. The cockroaches. They are scared of them all and so hide in our microwave. They have also started a welcoming committee to welcome us home at the door each night. It was so thoughtful of them.

There is hardly any space in our whole house for us to live! We are praying so hard that they will just all leave.

Well, I have some sad news. I am leaving my area tomorrow! I got the call today and I will be leaving tomorrow! I am pretty sad, but honestly I feel like the Lord is calling me to somewhere. I feel like I worked the hardest that I could in Villa Nueva and that my work here is finished. My little daughter is very afraid for me to leave but honestly, I am so grateful for the experience that I had to train. It teaches you so much humility, honesty, and the willingness to change even though sometimes you do not feel like you have done anything wrong. I feel like I was called to train more to help me than to help her. I am so grateful!
I am not sure where I am going yet, or who will be my companion, but I will able to let you all know next week.

This week one of our members came to us and asked us if we could come to his son’s birthday party to be the entertainment and give a lesson. So there we went, with all the children waiting for the cake and presents, teaching them about Nephi and his bow. I thought it was so funny! Who asks the missionaries to be the entertainment?! hahaha Sorry dad, bubbles the clown has been voted out.

Hermanito Felipe got confirmed this week and we will have the other confirmations next week! Pray that in our area here in Villa Nueva we can see more progressing investigators. I love you all so much! Please pray that the bugs leave my house!

Ame

My spirits are high and my testimony is stronger than ever!

Well well well! How I just LOVED General Conference! I was able to watch it in English with all the elders and a girl who had served her mission in Salt Lake City, so I was just so happy! It just is not the same in Spanish, and so I was so so grateful!

This week was a good week. We have welcomed new guests in our home now. Ants. With the cockroaches. They fight over our food! And they are just finding their way in to every little spot in the house. Hey at least we never run out of things to do... right? WE also have new neighbors. They have a baby. That is two. That screams. The whole night long. And the man is always smoking right outside of our window, so that is a special thing. Such nice things in our humble home!

This week we had a baptism of a miracle lady who when we taught her for the second time had already attending church with her friend and wanted to be baptized so bad!  And so we had to teach her so fast. I mean so fast! WE taught her plan of Salvation, Book of Mormon, the study of the scriptures, prayer and obedience all in one lesson! Poor lady, but hey she was baptized!! Her name is Eugenia Galinda and had a friend come to her baptism that was so mad at my companion and I because we did not iron the baptismal clothes for Hermana Eugenia before she was baptized... I am so sorry that I did not think of that since they were going to be wet in about 2 seconds... man the people here.

My companion and I are doing very well! WE eat a lot of tortillas, bread, arroz con leche and cookies. and so really, life is good! We have changes next week and so we will see where my little daughter is off too! I think I will have a little break from training for a change and so that will be nice!

I am just here, the only white person in Villa Nueva. My Spanish still is not perfect, but hey I am getting there. My spirits are high and my testimony is stronger than ever. I love the people, my companion and the Lord. And yes, This is what a mission is all about!

I love you all and if you could pray that the cockroaches will please leave I would be so grateful. I am tired of waking up to them on my bed, on my face, just really fun things.
love love love.

Hermana Funk

My Cockroach Friends

Yes, our house is infested with cockroaches. It is awesome, especially when I find them in my yogurt, or in my bed, in my scriptures, just really special presents that the Lord is sending my way! Haha but that is okay, everyone has their own trials and little critters are my special treat.

This week was amazing!!!! Hermano Manuel came home and he had his baptism!!! IT was so so neat to baptize a family and the Hermana Sonia (his wife that got baptized in January) spoke at his baptism and it was so awesome! He was so happy.

We also had the baptism of Hermanito Felipe. I am not sure if I have told you about him! He is a nine year old little boy that came to sacrament meeting three weeks ago and told us that his family were all members but that he hadn't been baptized yet, and so we taught him for two weeks and then he was baptized!! WOOOOT! Miracle miracle miracle!!

This week we are so blessed with another baptism! WE were knocking doors and we found a lady, and she told us to wait for a second and then brought out the plan of salvation pamphlet, and told us that she has been looking for missionaries for a long time! She has a friend who had been talking to her about the church and really loved it and wanted to be baptized and that she already had one attendance at church... and so we are teaching her so that she can be baptized this Sunday!!

The only way that we are seeing miracles is through sacrifices and obedience with exactness, it honestly is the key to all success, I just feel so grateful!!!!!

And well, my companion is doing better! I only have two more weeks with her... weird. But I know that she will be able to do it on her own. I think it is the feeling that a mother has when they have to send off their little kindergartener for the first time. hahaha

The Catholics are overpowering these weeks because of their "semana santa" but you know, we are thinking of making a float of the book of Mormon and carrying it behind their procession.
So here I am, cockroach infested, happy filled, and ready to work some more.

I love you all!!