foto de Pday de Zona

No message from Teigen this week, just some pictures. She looks like she's having a good time!

 






camisas chistosas

tomorrow she comes!

One day more until I receive my newbie! I'm soooooo excited! We have to get up super early and go on the buses (the buses around here are CRAZY) with Hermana Montesino's packages until we to the Capital and then to bring back all of the suitcases and my newbie on the bus! We won't get back until pretty late, and then I have to KILL HER! The goal is to have her finish the day with blisters on her feet! We'll see what I can do ;)

Today is zone training and we're here in Sololá! The weather is really nice here and I kind of don't want to go back to my area where it's kind of chilly!

Yesterday for pday, we went to Patzun to print out pictures (didn't end up happening) and went to a Despensa Familiar, which is a grocery store that really doesn't have much. But it has more than the one in my area! I spent a good chunk of money (on things like oreos and chocolate milk mix. reeeeeally healthy ;). My companion and I bought a huge thing of ice cream and tried to eat it all (and failed.). See the picture below!

Next Monday we'll be changing houses! Pray for my newbie, so that she has the strength to do it and doesn't get mad at me ;)

Well, just a quick bit to tell you all that I know this gospel changes lives! I've seen it in my own life! I was just telling a friend that for the mission I had to sacrifice a lot! I even had to sacrifice my own personality. I got to the point that snarkiness was just part of who I was and sarcasm was my first language. But I realized that the Lord doesn't need snarky missionaries. He needs happy missionaries who don't complain and who are willing to change their very personalities if need be! So I obeyed the commandment found in Matthew; if your eye offends you, pluck it out. If your hand offends you, cut it off! I changed who I was to be able to give more to my Lord. And I've seen people do the same in their lives!

I love you all! Please don't ever forget that :D

Love,Hermana Weatherford

 

one week until cambios...​.

[one week!? Gah! I have letters to send! And I don't know if a week is long enough for them to get there!! Write faster Mom!]

So, not much to tell about this week! We worked like normal, had divisions, went to the capitol (we left at 7 and got back at 4:20! we live soooo far away!) and I told my companion the entire plot of the first book of the Hunger Games to pass the time!

 

This Friday we get to meet our new mission president! It's going to be awesome!

Yesterday we went to check out a new house and it. is. GORGEOUS. We love it so much! The zone leaders are coming Friday to look at it and give us the yes or the no! If they say yes, we'll end of moving all of our things on the first preparation day of my daughter! Poor thing is going to suffer!

 

Here we have a few pictures of us with some kids! They went craaaaazy over my camera! And another picture of the volcano that's part of my area!

 

Love you all so much!

Hermana Weatherford

 

[Hermana W shared this in a personal email...it goes hand in hand with another lesson I learned this week: Sometimes we mistakenly may believe that happiness is the absence of a load. But bearing a load is a necessary and essential part of the plan of happiness. ~Elder Bednar]

 

In my trainers meeting President Brough said "I love it when my newbies suffer!" and he says that because when they suffer, they have to rely on the Lord and they get humbled! He also says that if they spend all of their money before the end of the month, we, as trainers have to HELP them, by NOT GIVING THEM MONEY. We asked him why and he asked the elder "Do you love your companions?" "well, of course, President." "Do you want them to live in poverty all of their lives?" "well, no, President." "Then you have to help them learn how to manage a budget."

She also said: look up a food called jocon. soooooo goooooood. I did.

 

Pictures are not downloading. I will post them when I figure it out.
Update: Sorry it took so long...

 

week 5. and...... I'M EXPECTING! haha

Well, this week has been craaaaaaaaaaazy!

To start out with, we said goodbye to President and Sister Brough last Wednesday! They won't leave until this Friday morning and our new president, President Markham takes over! We're all really excited to meet him and we will have a day to meet him this July 4th!

This last Wednesday I got some GREAT packages in the mail! Loving all of the junk food and water flavorers and everything! Woohoo!

....so.... big news. while writing this email, I received a call from my mission president....

 
I'm going to train.

When a new missionary enters the field they don't know much, and so their first companion is their trainer! As a trainer I'll have to teach my companion (I'll be her "mom", she'll be my "daughter") everything I know! It's going to be hard, but if the Lord thinks I can do it, He's right!

On to the other news! Yesterday was zone pday, and we had to wake up at 5 to go an hour and a half on a bus to get there. But the teachers were going on strike for not getting paid enough. They were standing in the middle of the road in between Chimaltenango and Patzicia and so NONE of the buses were passing through! And the ones that did, were too full to fit even a few mice in! So we stood on the roadside waiting for 2 hours without luck. (hence the picture of our district being super sad) and then we finally gave up and went to the church, watched The Testaments and ate pizza.

Today I have divisions! One of my friends from the MTC is coming here and is going to hang out with me for a day and teach me lots! I'm so excited :)

That's all for this week! I love you all sooooooooooooo much and I hope that you can feel that love, even though I'm a little far away ;)

Love,

Hermana Weatherford

 

Another week older and wiser too!

[It's true, I have an amazing missionary! She absolutely rocks!]

So, this week we learned a lot about GRATITUDE and POSITIVITY! This was cause to a few experiences!

1. I just wrote this to my mother, but this week we had a run in with a rather drunk man. This Sunday we were teaching a lesson at the door of a woman, leaving behind a pamphlet and we were about to say the prayer when a drunk guy comes out of NOWHERE and starts shouting at me in drunk english, telling me to speak english. Obviously, I ignored him and didn't. I turned my head to talk to the woman and in that moment the drunk man got mad and full on hit me on my back! I was so shocked and a little offended (and it hurt quite a bit), but we left at that point. Then he started weaving a whole tapestry of horrible names at me. After that it was REALLY hard to keep my mouth shut about what had happened, but then I realized that I need to stop spreading the bad moments of one person who was affected by alcohol to the world. But then I realized that I was the one who was blessed! I'm learning so much from when I suffer and I'll be a better person for it! I've already seen the blessings of suffering and the one who really lost in that situation was HIM. not me :)

My companion says that in the short bit of time that we've been together, she's seen that people have mistreated me more than any missionary she's seen or heard of. haha, I guess I just have a lot of luck in the drunk man department!

2. In our mission we have the goal that every companionship will baptize in June! We had everything set up for the 14th, but the date fell through (all thanks to the inactive husband!! GRRR.). But we've been sooooo blessed to have another date set up for this weekend! And this guy is SET. He's so ready! And if we had given up when our other date had fallen through, it would have been harder for the Lord to give us blessings!

My companion has had a hard time with hope and positivity, but to work with this, during divisions I came up with an idea! Every day we write 4 blessings on post it notes and put it on the wall! So far this is what we have (see the picture below!). It's been a really good way for my companion and I to see the Lord's hand in everything!

No weird food this week, sorry! Tomorrow we wake up at 3 am to go to a Goodbye Meeting for President Brough! The new president comes on the 26th. His name is President Markham!

Much love to all and I hope you have a GREAT week!

Eating Ants

Last week we did not receive pictures...this week no letter. It is my opinion that she's spending much of her media hour writing individual emails. I've included a few comments she sent me. And the pictures!

Regarding her blog:  I think the majority of people who don't know me who will read it will be girls who have received their calls to this mission and want to find out what it's like before coming. Thank you for putting in the effort! Actually, the other day I was thinking that I don't write everything in my journal that I write here in my emails. And not everything in my journal is in my emails. So, I'll be relying on a good record of my emails for when I get back! (after a short period of time of finishing the mission, the email account is deleted!)
I mentioned that I WAS going to go on vacation but it got cancelled:  A vacation sounds reeeeeeally nice. Just a day to sleep and not worry about getting up. Do whatever I want and not stress about meeting the goals, paying the bills and cleaning the house. Yeah, I get you. Let's do a vacation together. That sounds good.
I told her that sometimes her words were judgemental & tough while other times they were strong & uplifting. We had been talking about holding to standards: I try to help. Sometimes you want my advice, sometimes you don't. But you already know that I'm always going to chew you out for not obeying the commandments. [I didn't honor the Sabbath, it wasn't murder or using the Lord's name in vane, honest] And likewise, you do the same for me! To chew me out when I need to learn to have a little bit more love for my friends and companions. But that's why we always need to remember that there's always room to grow. And saying that we'll just be okay with not changing for the better for a bit is a sin in itself. [I told her that I appreciated her bluntness...as usual. It was a great reminder]
And....I sent her a picture of Tillamook Ice Cream: Oregon Hazelnut and Salted Caramel. I hope it's not a temporary flavor! I want to eat like 3 containers right now! I told the missionaries in my district and now we're all drooling. I honestly think that it torture. It's all frosty and everything! ugh. just a few more months.

eating sompopos de mayo! big flying ants. and pretty tasty too!



my comp and i last week trying on corte, the traditional clothes here :)

Sorry for not writing last week.... And sorry for no pictures..​.

So, I'm kind of slacking off. Sorry. Next week there'll be pictures!

Yesterday my companion and I went to take pictures of us in traditional Guatemalan style of clothing! They turned out pretty cute! Next week.

This week the rain started! Here in Guatemala, there are only 2 seasons, Summer and Winter. Winter means that it rains. A lot. And it started a few days ago. It's been raining on and off since then and they say it's going to keep going for the whole week. And there's a myth in missionary work: they say that when it's raining, it's good, because more people accept you! FALSE. This week we literally had a conversation with a man, that went like this.

My comp: We're looking for Carolina. Can we talk to her please?

Man: She's not here.
My comp: Oh okay, but this message is for everyone, can we share something quick with you?
Man: Umm, i don't have much time.
My comp: just something really quick! can we come in for a second?
Man: it's raining.
My comp: That's why we want to come in.
Man: ... no. better another day *closes door*

haha, so that was a fun experience...

Also, my district found out what my name is and had a fun time trying to pronounce it. haha and I'm with one of my best friends from the CCM and a girl here read my blog before she came on the mission. And I'm going to complete 10 months this weekend! wooh. Pura viejita ;)

But something else happened this week! We put a baptismal date with an eternal investigator! She's been a bit of a slacker, but she likes us enough that she's decided that we're the missionaries that she wants to get baptized with! Woohoo! this June 14th we're gonna baptize her!

Next Tuesday we're going to Solola to have our zone conference and will take some buses to get there! Instead of just getting up and shouting a contact at the bus, my companion and I made up a song to singcontact all the people! So, I'm going to try and get a video, or maybe a few pictures of that. We'll see how it goes!

Love you all so much! Stay strong and enjoy the sun for me!

Love,

Hermana Weatherford