The Ministering of Angels

Family!

Man I have so much to write this week that I am deeply sorry if I do not get to the personal emails this week, but really, this has been one of the most miraculous weeks that I have seen, and I know that it is because I had Grandpa at my side the whole time.

 La hermana that has polio told us that she was not going to be baptized because of her polio and she knew that she would fall into the baptismal font…even after I had told her that I knew she would have angels holding her up. I prayed and prayed that the Lord would send grandpa to be with her and to give her an answer that this is what she needed to do.

Thursday night we went with her and she just starting crying and crying out of nowhere. She told us that she felt so strongly that she needed to be baptized. At that moment, we were all crying together, and I knew for certain that I had an angel sitting next to me that was crying right along with us.

She had her interview and passed and we had everything ready for Sunday. We had to have two people help her into the font because she really does not have any strength in her legs. As she was just about to go in the font, she started trembling and shaking because she was so nervous that she was going to fall. I said a silent but one of the most fervent prayers that I have ever said in my life, pleading with the Lord to send grandpa to her. Just right after the prayer, the two hermanos carried her into the font with ease and I knew that someone else was standing right there in the baptismal font with them, giving them the strength that they needed to be able to baptize her. I could not hold back the tears. It was the closest I have ever felt to my grandpa at the moment and a pure witness of ministering angels. I was so grateful!!!

 This week we had an awesome activity!! WE went with the Seminary class at 4:30 in the morning to give out morcaff  (a coffee that is made of cereals…it is the Mormon coffee here ) to the people who were leaving to work, to teach them about the Word of wisdom and how they shouldn´t drink coffee. It was hilarious, but they all did such a good job (Even though it was four thirty in the morning.)

 It is almost Semana Santa here in Guatemala and so every Friday night the Catholics do a procession in which like 400 people from the catholic church carry this float with a statue of Jesus and Mary on it. It is a big deal for them and somehow my companion and I always get stuck behind this huge procession. Well, this time we got stuck in the middle of it, right behind the huge float. And so there we are, two Mormon missionaries, practically carrying this float with Jesus on it. So then we were trying so hard to get out of the procession and we got smooshed up against the curb. When we looked up, we were standing underneath a strip bar. And so I will let you decide, which is worse, being in the catholic processional, or being in the doorway to a strip car, unable to move?

 This week has been so awesome, and you know what?! Hermano Manuel came home this week so that he can be baptized!!! WOOO! I feel so grateful.

I love you all!  ame

Hermanita Funkarama

Familia!

I appreciate all of your concerns about my robbery, but really, I am just grateful that they didn't rob my clothes, or scriptures, or my yogurt.. ya know, the things you actually need to be a missionary! So really, I am just fine! I haven't even thought about it really, because those things do not matter to me right now :)
But thank you, and do not worry, we had bars put up on our window, so every night we are locked up safely in our little jail cell.

Well, it just seems that Satan is not giving up, but ya know what? We are not giving up either! This week Hermano Manuel came home! (He is the husband to la Hermana Sonia, that got baptized like a month ago) and anywho, he was so ready to be baptized! And he had his interview and passed and was so excited! But then that night he went out with his brother in law, (you know those brother in laws always causing trouble... the great Dayne) and they pressured him so much to drink that he gave in and came home completely drunk. And so Hermana Soina sent us a text and told us that he couldn't be baptized that day. I felt so sad! Not for myself, but for him because I just love this family so much!

But the biggest miracle of all is that he came to church that Sunday and then that night we went to his house and he gave the lesson about repentance and told us that he had repented and is preparing to be baptized the 30th of March! Woo!! And so Satan can sure fight, but really, he can never win!

We had a little miracle show up to Sacrament Meeting this week! A little boy named Felipe (flippy for meg :) ) and he is nine years old and was never baptized and he wants to be baptized so bad! And so he will be baptized this next weekend too!

But I know that all of these miracles are coming from sacrifices! We are trying to sacrifice all that we can! Our sleep, our P-day, food, showers (haha jk, I still shower.. sometimes, okay really I do shower) and everything we can so that Heavenly Father knows how much we want this! I know that it will pay off!
Funny moment of the week: We were passing through a street and a little child looked at me and asked his mom, "Mom, look, what is that?!" "Its a gringa honey," "ohhhh wowww!" Thank you. Thank you. How very nice of you!

Life is good here. Just trying to work so so hard. I love you all!
Hermanita Funkarama

A series of very unfortunate events...

Well Family, here it goes. The series of unfortunate events, the events that happen when Satan really does not want a baptism

AND SO. WE have been working and working and working with one of our hermanos, se llama el hermano Johny for this whole week to get him baptized! And so finally Friday we had his interview and we stopped by his house like one hour before because he is a mechanic and he always gets caught up in his work. And so we went to his house and he told me that he was just leaving, so we went to the church without him.
2 hours later at the church.... we were still waiting for our Hermano Johny to show up, and no sign. His phone was turned off and everything and so after two hours, we decided that we would just have the interview the next day.

ANYWHO, that night we found him and he told us that he had completely forgotten because he was working hard on his car and that he could have his Saturday morning.  Sooooo we decided that Saturday would be great!

ANYWHO, we returned to our house that night and we started to plan when all of a sudden I noticed that my camera was missing from the table. I thought to my elf, how strange, how strange. Anywho, we decided to keep on planning when I looked in my money pouch on my desk and realized that all my money and my ipod were gone too! How strange, how strange.  Then it hit me! We got robbed. But as luck would have it, only I got robbed. Of all my money, my camera and my ipod. How strange that our neighbors moved that day. They just decided to take something so that they could remember me, right? They had broken our window and took the stuff!  But I was not going to let this affect me and we just continued. (You can’t really call the police here in Guat, because they don’t do anything. But really, I am just fine :) )

Anywho, Saturday came and we called Hermano jonny about 17 times so that he would not forget about his interview! And he came! BUT surprise, no one had keys to the church! Would you look at that. But after about 1 hour of searching for someone to give us keys, we found them! And so we had the interview and he passed and so we had the baptism all planned for the next day.

SUNDAY Morning at 6 in the morning, we were calling Johny to wake him up because he loves to sleep and sometimes he just does not wake up. And we called and called, and no one was answering and so we decided we better run to his house. And so at six in the morning we ran (and I might add, this man lives on like a mountain) And we knocked on his door and NO ONE CAME OUT! And then we looked in his car and he was sleeping in his car. We absolutely scared him to death, but we pounded on his car and woke him up.

And por fin..... he walked in to sacrament meeting about one minute before the sacrament, and then after, HE WAS BAPTISED!
Wow, I have never seen Satan work harder on a baptism, but Heavenly Father always wins if his troops are strong enough!
I plead and plead for your prayers for Hermano Manuel, he will be baptized this next week!
I love you all!

Love, money-less,- camera-less,- ipod-less,-have had 2 hours of sleep in a week-happy camper and still a smile on my face Hermana Funk

Working harder than ever

Hola mi querida familia!!

Thank you oh so much for your emails! They are always such a huge positive note for my days, so really thank you so much for taking the time to do that for me. One doesn't really realize the love that they have for their family until they are not with them anymore, and so really thank you!

This week has been a woooo crazy one! We are just working oh so hard because we have a goal of 400 baptisms in the month of March, which means that every companionship has to baptize at least 4 people! We are working just as hard as ever and we had the baptism interview planned of one of our investigators named Hermano Jonni. He is a mechanic and loves loves loves the Book of Mormon. Boom. But we waited two hours at the church for him because he was finishing working on a car, but hey he passed his interview! And so we had everything planned, but then he decided that he wanted to go to the beach with his sons instead of being baptized, and so I asked our district leader if we could go to the beach and baptize him there... surprisingly he said no, but he will be baptized this week!! Wooo! Satan is working so so so hard with our investigators, but hey this just means we have to work harder :) And that my friends, is exactly what we are doing!

We had such a funny experience this week. We decided to do an activity with the Young men and young women of the ward and dress them up as missionaries, give them name badges and go to the park to contact families. It was hilarious! We have this group of 6 deacons in the ward who look more like they are six that were just so excited and just about scared every person in the park away from the church, but it was just so great! I will send that pic.. it is priceless!!

My companion is doing well! She has not had an asthma attack in almost a month now and only got hit by a bike once last week... it wasn't funny at all.. okay it was hilarious but I had to show a lot of sympathy!

This week more than anything, my love for the Book of Mormon has grown. We have a goal that in every lesson we use at least 2 scriptures from the Book of Mormon and that every night we pray to have our own testimonies strengthened. It is INCREDIBLE! I literally can say that I would give my life for this Book and that these people will only be converts if they read the Book of Mormon.

I love you all and thank you so much for everything!!

A week of many emotions

Thank you all so much for you emails this week, how I absolutely love love and am literally laughing out loud while I read them! Thank you thank you and thank you very much!

This week.... whoa. It has been a week of just about every single emotion! Remember how in the last week I said that we had to get our investigator to quit his job to be able to come home and be baptized? Well, you see, one day this week we were in a bus and I get a phone call from one of our members and he tells me, HERMANA! Manuel is here in VIlla Nueva! He came back! I started screaming, poor things on that bus but I was just so excited! And so we ran home and we saw him and he had come home to look for another job and because he wanted to be baptized! Anywho, he had his baptism interview and well, woooopppsss... we did not teach the Word of Wisdom very well. BUT do not fear, he will be baptized in two weeks, he just has to work out a few things. But the important thing is that he came home and practically quit his job so that he could have the opportunity to be baptized. He is so awesome! I just feel so grateful!

Our little Hermanito Josue did not come to church because he was fishing with his dad, and so we went to his house Sunday afternoon. I think I forgot to mention last week that there are about 25 people that live in his house and so we always find someone new. Anyway, we had planned to invite Josue and his mom to a family home evening in the casa de one of our members. And so we invited them and told them that we were going to return in the night to get them and walk over to the member’s house. Well, we showed up in the night and Josue didn't leave his house, but literally nine of his little cousins left, and three of their moms. All dressed and ready to go to family home evening. So there was me and my companion, walking with 9 children and their moms  in the streets of Guatemala, (Sunday night, I must add is the favorite night to drink) to the house of this family. I felt so bad hahaha because we had told the family that we were only going to bring two... but then we show up with like 14 people.. oops. But it was so fun! They just loved it, even though the member gave an hour long lesson about family history, they just loved every minute.

The bus adventure continues to flourish. We contact every bus with the Book of Mormon and we have found some PILAS people from this. These people here sell the funniest things on the bus, like mini sewing machines, jello, medicine to kill parasites from chicken... it just beings me back to the days of buying Turbo Jam from an infomercial. I always want to buy the things, and only sometimes I do it.... :)

I am giving my all to this place, I am so grateful for this opportunity. I know that the time will go by so fast and so I am just trying to love every moment!!!
I love you all!

Ame

Preaching in my sleep...literally

Familia Fung... as the Guatemalans say it here.

Wow, this week has been a crazy one! One of the biggest miracles that we is that we had 11 investigators that attended church this Sunday, this was a pure miracle! I just felt so grateful and know that our prayers and fasts are being answered with power!

We have the cutest little 12 year old investigator named Josue that we have only taught like one time but he told us that he was going to come to church, but we did not really think much of it the whole week. Anyway, Sunday came around and we walk pass the primary room and there are about 7 little kids in jeans and t shirts that I knew I had seen somewhere but I could not remember for the life of me where. And then I looked in the corner and saw our little friend Josue! He had walked all he way to the church with about 6 of his little cousins, what a pure champ. He is so excited about the Book of Mormon and could not believe it when we told him that he could keep the book. Oh man, this kid. Pray for him, we have a goal for his baptism 2 de Marzo!

And now for the other news.. We need prays!!! LOTS OF PRAYERS!!! We have a man who is so ready for his baptism... but he just has to find work and leave his house so that he can keep the law of chastity...all by the end of this week!... But you know what? I know that we can do it! Just with about one billion prayers!

My Valentines day, well I did have a valentine. He is six and his name is Juan. We went to their house on Valentines Day and he had saved a package of cookies for so long so that he could give them to me on Valentines Day! My comp will send you the pic. Such a champ this little one!

I really do love you all and hope you know that I am giving absolutely my ALL. My poor companion, I talk every night in my sleep giving lessons in Spanish and she cannot sleep because I am just talking. But you know, just trying to give my all to it, even in my sleep... all for the cause dear!

I love you all!

hermana Funk

Conversation Hearts

Familia!

Thank you so much for your emails! I literally always just get so darn excited to check my emails and to see that I am loved, it makes me feel better to know that I am still remembered!

 I loved loved loved my Valentines package that you sent me! I made the mistake of bringing the conversation hearts to a Family home evening. There was like one for each person but I did not really didn’t think it through. They started to ask, "Hey what does ‘pick me’ or ‘u r hot’ mean?" hahaha there goes hermana funk, getting fresh with her investigators!

Well... let us see, to be honest I cannot even remember what happened in this past week! We have been working so hard in this huge area and little by little I know that we will see miracles, because really I have just felt that I have been so blessed my whole mission! 

Our investigators are doing well, they just all have a little problem with the law of chastity, or the word of wisdom... but these are just small things right? Of course right! But I know without a doubt that this is just the trial of my faith before the miracle comes! But I could use all the prayers for this people who I love just so much! Especially Ernesto, Joseline and Julissa, Jonni, Javier and Daniel and Haydee. I know without a doubt that with prayers that we will see miracles!!

My companion is doing better and better. Really it just all comes from when you can forget about your own self and love these people. That is the only and true way that I have found happiness on the mission. You can't wait for a change of companion, change of area, until you’re senior companion until you are happy, you just got to choose to be happy NOW! And really, I have seen a huge change in her, I am just so proud of my little daughter!

We decided to spice things up a bit this week when we were contacting. Sometimes it gets really boring to say the same things when people open up their doors. And so this one lady answered her door and I asked her, "Hey Hermana, does Thomas Monson live here?" She told me no and I just acted like I could not believe it, and then I said, well, since he is not here, would it be okay if we shared something with you? AND she accepted! It was so awesome! 

I also have this other goal that in every single lesson I am going to use the Book of Mormon, even if these people do not have the slightest idea of what it is. But it is great because I will read a scripture and say, "'Oh well, Hermano I am sure you have heard this scripture before!" And they always are like, “Oh yes, this is one of my favorites!” haha they know the Book even before they have read it!

I am really sorry that I do not have more exciting things to tell you this week but I know that I will be able to tell you about all the miracles that I know that we are going to see next week! I am where I am supposed to be and I am giving my all, repenting when I make a mistake but most of all having faith in the Lord. 

I love you all so much! I WILL BE WRITING ON MONDAY NEXT WEEK.

Ame