Hello!
This week was SO long because every single day we had to be in Merida as a zone. We talked about eight missionary topics that you learn as a new missionary and review every year. This year was a little different because each companionship had a topic and got to teach it. Sister Lugo and I talked about the importance of having investigators at church, and it went pretty good I think!
One thing that wasn't too fun is that I got sick. I think it was just food poisoning. People here have told me that hot food and sun don't usually go really well together, and I'm starting to believe them! Tuesday I started feeling not that great and didn't feel like eating anything after lunch that day. Wednesday was the same, but I woke up feeling like throwing up and was going to the bathroom every little while. In the van on our way to Merida, luckily the van wasn't too hot and the chapel wasn't either during our meetings, so the sick feeling kinda went away. After we finished, we walked out by the temple with Hermana Pitcher and her companion and I all of the sudden threw up in the temple garden - gross, I know :( It was super embarrassing because we were talking, and a guy waved me over that was outside the gate and had a bunch of questions as to what we believe and everything. He was a SUPER awesome guy and I was able to explain a bunch of things, but right at the end the other sisters came to join me and out of no where I felt really sick and that's when I had to step to the side, and yeah. After that, I started feeling a lot better. I bought a bag of ice and held it the whole way home to Hunucma. Then, we went straight to eat with the member we were assigned that day, and since I didn't feel like eating, I slept in their hammock for about an hour. ( haha)
Besides getting sick, we did a lot of contacting this week. Thursday we didn't have much success, but I was happy because we at least had Pedro to go visit. But, he wasn't there when we went to visit. A miracle happened when we left his house - there was a group of guys drinking in front of Pedro's parent’s house and one of the guys called us over. At first I thought they were just bored, but the guy had real interest. He says he's felt really confused and wanted to know more what we believe and if we can answer his questions. He's a fisherman so he isn't home a lot, but wanted us to at least visit his wife and told us where she lives. All the next day we tried to look for her, but what he explained to us, where his house was, didn't make sense. The one good thing about that day is that we visited a new family and they were really happy to have us over. We spent two hours with them because they had a lot of needs. We watched the video with them "Because He Lives" and the mom and two daughters cried after. They told us about their family and how they struggle showing their love for their dad because he drinks and doesn't behave well when he's drunk. One thing we taught them at the end, to help strengthen their family, is family prayer. None of them pray they said because they didn't grow up doing it. All of them felt really happy after we prayed with them, and they committed to do it every day as a family.
On Sunday, it was disappointing because Pedro wasn't there when we went to look for him in the morning, and Berenice and her kids left. Those five, I was hoping I'd see baptized before I left, but I think their time will be a little more down the road. One good thing though it that Azucena (15 yrs, from sisal, recent convert) came to church after we committed her Monday. She brought her mom too, which is a huge miracle because the mom isn't a member, and before would always hide when the missionaries would come. I think she's starting to realize that she needs to support her daughter in good things. Otherwise, it’s a lot easier for Azucena to fall into temptation with things she did before becoming a member.
That’s all for this week,
Love,
Hermana Harper
Monday, April 27, 2015
Monday, April 20, 2015
Hunucma - Week 7
Hello!
This week our P-day got switched up because we went to the temple this morning. Yesterday we spent most of the day in Sisal, but we didn't end up finding very many of the people we went there for. We did find one guy though, named Omar, that is really interested. There's a guy who just barely got home from his mission and he contacted Omar while he was in Sisal selling hotdogs with his family. Omar is super interested in what will help his family because it turns out his wife was unfaithful, but she told him asking for forgiveness, and he's trying to forgive her, but is struggling with it. They have 2 young boys together, so he really wants to fix things with him and his wife.
On Wednesday we visited a family (Hilda & Mario) that I hadn't visited before, at their house. Its kinda cool because their family makes shoes for a living. In their house they have all the stuff to do it, and when we showed up they were right in the middle of it and I got to watch a little. I think its so neat how a bunch of families here have some talent that they use to make a living off of.
Pedro, the guy I wrote about last week, we visited again. I told my companion he's my favorite person we visit because he's so sweet! The last time we taught him we got to know him and taught who God, Jesus and the holy ghost are. This week we started with the restoration, but focused more on prophets and that through prophets we have commandments like the word of wisdom. We wanted to make sure he was willing to stop drinking completely and he is! It was so cute because his parents live behind him, and since he wasn't answering when we showed up, we went around the corner behind his house and his dad was sitting out front. His dad was super glad that we were teaching his son because he loves listening to messages about God too. His dad sat through the whole lesson and really liked it. He kept telling us he liked how we would just say things like they are. One thing that was SO sweet was when I showed them a picture of the Salt Lake City temple, I gave the example of how God compares our bodies to temples. Then I asked if they thought it would be as beautiful if it had graffiti all over it and was abused- trying to explain that when we don't take care of our bodies its like if the same were to happen to the temple. Pedro didn't completely understand though and said really softly and sincerely like he always does, "if someone did that, I would take my friends and we would clean it all up."
Another sweet thing Pedro told us was that last week(when he went to church after having worked all night)is that after he ate the bread and water, he said he was so happy and wasn't hungry the whole day. He said how his mom offered him lunch, but he told her he wasn't even hungry after the bread and water he had at church. That really touched me because after the sacrifice to come to church, he recognized that as a small blessing.
From this week's studies- I read in Jacob 5 about the parable of the olive vineyard. I really liked how much effort the owner of the vineyard puts into his trees and all his careful planning and care to have good fruits. It makes me think just how much God worries and thinks about each one of us. There's a part where after all his work, he sees that the fruit is starting to go bad and he says "And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard wept, and said unto the servant: What could I have done more for my vineyard?"
I feel like in a small part I've felt like that with investigators...that frustrated feeling when you've put in all this work with someone but they don't appreciate all that you've done and won't embrace what you've taught them. You know how much it will help them and bless them, but they won't give it enough of a chance and trust that if they're patient things will change in their lives for the better. Even as members, God still is pruning us and trying to get us to change and be better, but a lot of times we don't put forth the effort we ought to. Even as a missionary, I know I fall short to a lot of God's council's for me. I love knowing that God really is so aware of us and especially aware of when we're not okay. One thing with the example of the harvest though, it that at some point the harvest ends. If we put things off too long- at one point its going to be too late. We have to be quick to respond to what God asks of us!
Until next week-
Hermana Harper
This week our P-day got switched up because we went to the temple this morning. Yesterday we spent most of the day in Sisal, but we didn't end up finding very many of the people we went there for. We did find one guy though, named Omar, that is really interested. There's a guy who just barely got home from his mission and he contacted Omar while he was in Sisal selling hotdogs with his family. Omar is super interested in what will help his family because it turns out his wife was unfaithful, but she told him asking for forgiveness, and he's trying to forgive her, but is struggling with it. They have 2 young boys together, so he really wants to fix things with him and his wife.
On Wednesday we visited a family (Hilda & Mario) that I hadn't visited before, at their house. Its kinda cool because their family makes shoes for a living. In their house they have all the stuff to do it, and when we showed up they were right in the middle of it and I got to watch a little. I think its so neat how a bunch of families here have some talent that they use to make a living off of.
Pedro, the guy I wrote about last week, we visited again. I told my companion he's my favorite person we visit because he's so sweet! The last time we taught him we got to know him and taught who God, Jesus and the holy ghost are. This week we started with the restoration, but focused more on prophets and that through prophets we have commandments like the word of wisdom. We wanted to make sure he was willing to stop drinking completely and he is! It was so cute because his parents live behind him, and since he wasn't answering when we showed up, we went around the corner behind his house and his dad was sitting out front. His dad was super glad that we were teaching his son because he loves listening to messages about God too. His dad sat through the whole lesson and really liked it. He kept telling us he liked how we would just say things like they are. One thing that was SO sweet was when I showed them a picture of the Salt Lake City temple, I gave the example of how God compares our bodies to temples. Then I asked if they thought it would be as beautiful if it had graffiti all over it and was abused- trying to explain that when we don't take care of our bodies its like if the same were to happen to the temple. Pedro didn't completely understand though and said really softly and sincerely like he always does, "if someone did that, I would take my friends and we would clean it all up."
Another sweet thing Pedro told us was that last week(when he went to church after having worked all night)is that after he ate the bread and water, he said he was so happy and wasn't hungry the whole day. He said how his mom offered him lunch, but he told her he wasn't even hungry after the bread and water he had at church. That really touched me because after the sacrifice to come to church, he recognized that as a small blessing.
From this week's studies- I read in Jacob 5 about the parable of the olive vineyard. I really liked how much effort the owner of the vineyard puts into his trees and all his careful planning and care to have good fruits. It makes me think just how much God worries and thinks about each one of us. There's a part where after all his work, he sees that the fruit is starting to go bad and he says "And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard wept, and said unto the servant: What could I have done more for my vineyard?"
I feel like in a small part I've felt like that with investigators...that frustrated feeling when you've put in all this work with someone but they don't appreciate all that you've done and won't embrace what you've taught them. You know how much it will help them and bless them, but they won't give it enough of a chance and trust that if they're patient things will change in their lives for the better. Even as members, God still is pruning us and trying to get us to change and be better, but a lot of times we don't put forth the effort we ought to. Even as a missionary, I know I fall short to a lot of God's council's for me. I love knowing that God really is so aware of us and especially aware of when we're not okay. One thing with the example of the harvest though, it that at some point the harvest ends. If we put things off too long- at one point its going to be too late. We have to be quick to respond to what God asks of us!
Until next week-
Hermana Harper
Monday, April 13, 2015
Hunucma - Week 6
 |
| Mileybi's Baptism |
Last night we got our changes- and it turns out we didn't have any! Sister Lugo and I will be staying together in Hunucma until I DIE. Hahaha. I'm glad nothing got switched up because so far we've been working well together.
This week they've been pushing us to ask the members for references. The goal is talk to at least 18 people either as a street contact or while we're with members and ask who they know that we could visit. So far we've been doing pretty good with the goal, even though it's a little hard sometimes when we're running from house to house.
We found a guy this week named Pedro. He’s really amazing. We were knocking (more like yelling- that's what they do here) at the door of a less active, but she wasn't home. Pedro was passing on his tricycle and told us she wasn't home, and we took advantage of the moment and asked if he wanted to listen to a message about Jesus. Usually people say, "Sure, but not right now." but he told us "yes" and headed for the sidewalk so we could talk for a second. We sat on the curb with him to get to know him briefly and write his address down. I honestly didn't think much of it because I could smell alcohol on his breath, but he confessed he really wanted to listen and said we could come visit him the next day at 6pm, and he'd be waiting. I gave him a word of wisdom pamphlet and told him not to drink before the appointment with us, and he promised he wouldn’t drink (like many drunk people here tell us!). We went the next day, but got a little lost finding his house, so we started talking to a bunch of his neighbors, but no one knew him. At like 6:40 he showed up on his bike because he said he saw us and he showed us where his house was. I felt bad because he had 3 chairs set out on his porch and said he'd been waiting since 6:00 and hadn't drank any alcohol!!! We started with the lesson and asked why it was that he wanted to listen to us and he said he wants to change his life and do things right. He got all teary when he told us about his wife and how she passed away 10 years ago and how he really misses her. He has 3 boys that are 19, 20 and 22, so he must of have been the one to raise them without his wife. He accepted everything we taught him and accepted a baptismal date! The next day (Saturday) he said we could come again at 5 and we went, but he left us a note asking for our forgiveness, because he had to go to work. His little note touched my heart because NO one does that for us. They always just leave as they please and have some excuse for us the next time they see us. Pedro's note was so sweet because his spelling is like an elementary kid's level and he put so much care into tying strings on either side of the paper so it wouldn't fly away. The next day (Sunday) we passed by to see if he could still come to church with us and the poor thing had barely gotten off work from working all night, but agreed to come even though he was super tired.
Friday- we had Mileybi's baptism! It was at 12pm, so not that many people were able to show up.
 |
| Mileybi's Baptism |
One funny thing I wanted to share was Wednesday when we went to Sisal. We visited the less-active family that lives on the coast and we just talked with the grandma and her daughter's 3 little boys. At the end of the lesson, the son (uncle of the 3 boys) came out to talk to us. He'd been drinking and his mom explained to us that his wife left him like 2 weeks ago with his baby boy. He came to talk to us though and tried to swoon my companion! First, he brought us coconut drinks and sat down and quoted the Nefi scriputure mastery "I will go and do..." and grabbed my companion's hand and said he couldn't go back to church because things had happened but he needed us to shed our light to his family because they needed it. Then he randomly left, came back in, and wanted to leave us a blessing because he said he had received the priesthood of Aaron and of Melchizedek. But he just did it with words- he didn't touch us haha. Then he left again and as we were leaving, one of the little boys gave us a piece of styrofoam from him that he had written his number on. THEN, as we were walking out of the house through their jewelry stand he saw us looking at some of the rings and earrings and grabbed one of each and gave them to Sister Lugo and told her he never wanted her to forget him. Hahaha! He tried to give them to her in exchange for a kiss, but luckily she pulled away. I was laughing so hard the whole time, but I don't think my companion enjoyed it so much!
Well, that's a little bit of what happened this week. Everything has been going really well, especially with our extra efforts to be diligent. Hunucma still hasn`t ceased to amaze me!
With love, Hermana Harper
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| Sisal Beach |
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| Jewelry store owned by one of the less active members |
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| Sisal Beach |
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| Easter Egg Hunt |
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| Easter Party |
Monday, April 6, 2015
Hunucma - Week 5
Hello!
I Hope everyone enjoyed Easter/Conference weekend!
This week was definitely eventful! We did exchanges with the sister training leaders Wednesday. That morning we traveled to Merida, switched companions, and I came back to Hunucma with Sister Mejia. That same day we went to Sisal, our beach area, and had only 2 lessons, then had to come back for another lesson in Hunucma. In Sisal there were tonssss of people. A bunch of the youth in the ward were telling me that tons of Americans go and party there for spring break, and since its spring break here too, it gets really crowded. When Sister Mejia and I went, we saw the little carnival that was set up, and the booths, and it looked fun! We switched companions again Thursday after weekly planning, so those two days felt long, with all of the traveling!
Friday we did our special activity- The Easter Egg Hunt!
We took an idea from the Liahona on the page for kids, and hid pictures in the eggs that had to do with Easter. The main "Sacrament Room" is where we all sat, and outside is where all the candy filled eggs were that we had hidden before we sat down.
I introduced everyone and explained the tradition we have in the US that the Easter Bunny comes and hides eggs the night before Easter. We told them that we had invited the bunny to come that night, and he left us some eggs that they could find at the end of the activity. I don't think the kids quite grasped the concept until we actually did it, but they went with it!!! haha
To start, we called 2 kids up as volunteers, and one hid an egg with a picture inside and the other closed their eyes and had to find the egg. Everyone in the audience was yelling "hot" or "cold" while they looked for the egg. Everyone caught on fast to the game so it was fun. Then after we saw what was on the picture, a missionary took a turn giving a mini lesson about the picture. I taught the second time around about what the sacrament has to do with Jesus and his sacrifice. Something funny, I had a volunteer read how the bread represents Jesus' body, and when I asked after, "What does the bread signify?" A little girl shouted out "food!"
For the actual egg hunt, we had maybe 20 kids there, so each got to find 2 eggs (they were all really well hidden!). We let the littler kids go first and find the easy ones, then after the bigger kids got to find the eggs that were left. We had the outside blocked off really well, so everyone was excited to see what was out there. Then after, we had ice cream and juice for everyone that the Bishop had arranged.
For Conference, we watched it in the prayer house. We thought originally that it wouldn't work because the internet and projector were giving us problems the night of the egg hunt activity, but it mostly worked Friday. The other sisters in the ward got there at 7am to get things arranged, but we didn't end up getting things working until like 45 min after conference started. To give people time to eat, we started the second session an hour late too. Sunday and the Priesthood session, however, were much smoother!
I enjoyed Conference, but this is the first year I've had to see it completely in Spanish- so I think I got less out of it than the last times. I did really like the talk about the relation of dance to the gospel and music to the spirit. It made me think how many times I've done things I ought to do as a member, but either don't look for or enjoy the spirit as part of that. Simple things like praying, or reading the scriptures are like parts of the "dance" as a member of the church, but without the "music" or the spirit, its just not the same. I feel like that motivated me to look for the spirit more and enjoy it.
Sunday night they notified us that we had a multi-zone meeting instead of regular district meeting Monday morning. It lasted until about 1pm and the president, his wife, and assistants talked to us about how to find new investigators and be more bold in opening our mouths. It was a really good meeting. After, we went contacting in parks nearby to practice. After that, since it’s the last P-day for one of the sisters in the ward (Hermana Hernandez), we talked the bishop into taking us to Sisal! We went and saw the beach and ate fish at a little restaurant nearby that a member owns. It was fun! :)
One of my favorite scriptures right now is in Luke 22:
31 ¶And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
I have it written in my Journal, but with my name where it says "Simon, Simon." One thing I've been struggling with is motivation because walking outside in this heat takes all my energy it feels like. I like those verses because to think that Jesus is praying for us, after all He has already done, is motivating. We have to be strong like He was and is, and help our brothers and sisters be strong too!
Have a great week!
Love,
Hermana Harper
I Hope everyone enjoyed Easter/Conference weekend!
This week was definitely eventful! We did exchanges with the sister training leaders Wednesday. That morning we traveled to Merida, switched companions, and I came back to Hunucma with Sister Mejia. That same day we went to Sisal, our beach area, and had only 2 lessons, then had to come back for another lesson in Hunucma. In Sisal there were tonssss of people. A bunch of the youth in the ward were telling me that tons of Americans go and party there for spring break, and since its spring break here too, it gets really crowded. When Sister Mejia and I went, we saw the little carnival that was set up, and the booths, and it looked fun! We switched companions again Thursday after weekly planning, so those two days felt long, with all of the traveling!
Friday we did our special activity- The Easter Egg Hunt!
We took an idea from the Liahona on the page for kids, and hid pictures in the eggs that had to do with Easter. The main "Sacrament Room" is where we all sat, and outside is where all the candy filled eggs were that we had hidden before we sat down.
I introduced everyone and explained the tradition we have in the US that the Easter Bunny comes and hides eggs the night before Easter. We told them that we had invited the bunny to come that night, and he left us some eggs that they could find at the end of the activity. I don't think the kids quite grasped the concept until we actually did it, but they went with it!!! haha
To start, we called 2 kids up as volunteers, and one hid an egg with a picture inside and the other closed their eyes and had to find the egg. Everyone in the audience was yelling "hot" or "cold" while they looked for the egg. Everyone caught on fast to the game so it was fun. Then after we saw what was on the picture, a missionary took a turn giving a mini lesson about the picture. I taught the second time around about what the sacrament has to do with Jesus and his sacrifice. Something funny, I had a volunteer read how the bread represents Jesus' body, and when I asked after, "What does the bread signify?" A little girl shouted out "food!"
For the actual egg hunt, we had maybe 20 kids there, so each got to find 2 eggs (they were all really well hidden!). We let the littler kids go first and find the easy ones, then after the bigger kids got to find the eggs that were left. We had the outside blocked off really well, so everyone was excited to see what was out there. Then after, we had ice cream and juice for everyone that the Bishop had arranged.
For Conference, we watched it in the prayer house. We thought originally that it wouldn't work because the internet and projector were giving us problems the night of the egg hunt activity, but it mostly worked Friday. The other sisters in the ward got there at 7am to get things arranged, but we didn't end up getting things working until like 45 min after conference started. To give people time to eat, we started the second session an hour late too. Sunday and the Priesthood session, however, were much smoother!
I enjoyed Conference, but this is the first year I've had to see it completely in Spanish- so I think I got less out of it than the last times. I did really like the talk about the relation of dance to the gospel and music to the spirit. It made me think how many times I've done things I ought to do as a member, but either don't look for or enjoy the spirit as part of that. Simple things like praying, or reading the scriptures are like parts of the "dance" as a member of the church, but without the "music" or the spirit, its just not the same. I feel like that motivated me to look for the spirit more and enjoy it.
Sunday night they notified us that we had a multi-zone meeting instead of regular district meeting Monday morning. It lasted until about 1pm and the president, his wife, and assistants talked to us about how to find new investigators and be more bold in opening our mouths. It was a really good meeting. After, we went contacting in parks nearby to practice. After that, since it’s the last P-day for one of the sisters in the ward (Hermana Hernandez), we talked the bishop into taking us to Sisal! We went and saw the beach and ate fish at a little restaurant nearby that a member owns. It was fun! :)
One of my favorite scriptures right now is in Luke 22:
31 ¶And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
I have it written in my Journal, but with my name where it says "Simon, Simon." One thing I've been struggling with is motivation because walking outside in this heat takes all my energy it feels like. I like those verses because to think that Jesus is praying for us, after all He has already done, is motivating. We have to be strong like He was and is, and help our brothers and sisters be strong too!
Have a great week!
Love,
Hermana Harper
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