Patzicia, Patzicia..​.

This week has been very interesting! Here are some of the things that happened!

Divisions! I had the pleasure of having one great missionary, Sister Merrell, come and join me for a day! I learned SO MUCH from her and she really helped me with my faith! She's one killer missionary and I really loved being her companion for a day! Hermana Cisneros went to Chimaltenango for a day and like it, but said that she had missed Patzicia and most of all, ME! haha..

Interviews! Today we're in Solola, which means that we had to wake up at 3:30 to do all of our 2 hours of studies. That was fun! I'm a little tired right now, but it was worth it! We took a bunch of buses and aren't going to get back until about 5 pm today. That means that tomorrow is our pday! We're going to clean the house like crazy!

The interviews were really great. President Markham is the best! He's so funny! He told a bunch of stories during the interview and I made a promise (not to him, but to the Lord) to be exactly obedient and keep all of the mission rules with exactness! It was really spiritual and I learned a lot :)

This Wednesday my companion has a meeting for new missionaries, so we'll be traveling to the capitol that day and won't get back until late late late.

I love you all lots and I want you to know that I believe in Christ. This week we talked with a woman and she told us about a horrible experience when she had been raped, which had left her with a lot of shame. It was SO NICE to be able to tell her about the sacrifice of our Savior and that she can feel the burden relieved. I know that this church is the only true church with the power of God on the Earth and I'm not afraid to share this knowledge that I have with any one!

I love you all SO MUCH and pray for you daily!
Love,
Hermana Weatherford

Also, a couple pics of my companion and I today and with a couple of my friends (Hermanas Prawitt, Darger, Hermana Markham and Hermana Parker).

 

This Week...

 

My friend Hermana Darger and I here writing emails

Sorry I didn't write last week! It's been a bit crazy here!

 

I received my daughter! She's from Ecuador, her name is Hermana Fernanda Cisneros. She had her birthday yesterday and turned 25. She's a convert of 1 year and 5 months. (she first met the missionaries on my birthday, last year!)

Things have been going really well! This week it hailed, and we got PELTED. It was awesome!

 

We moved houses and are in a house that is better than any house in the states. It's FANTASTIC. I'm going to have to send pictures next week.

 

That's it for this week, love you all! Here's a picture of me in a huge hole made by rainwater and hail.

 

Love,

Hermana Weatherford

 



using the CHIMNEY in our new house! Heating up my feet after a cold day :)



a huge hole on a day that it HAILED

My daughter yesterday with the ward mission leader and his family



In Holandesa, a cake restaurant yesterday

 

 

 

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!