Week 10: Los días son rápido y los semanas son MAS rápido. (The Days Go Fast, But the Weeks Go Faster!)

HOLA!!! feliz semana mi gente!!! 

 

Wow Satan is working hard out here but we are working SO MUCH HARDER! We have 4 people on track to be baptized in October! 

 

This week I met someone that knows where Yucaipa is!!!! I was beyond shocked. He asked where I was from and I said California and then he asked what part and I said southern and then he asked what part specifically and I finally said YUCAIPA and he was like NO WAY I have been trying to find someone from Yucaipa for years! Super funny. I have no clue how someone from the middle of no where in Guatemala knows my hometown__ 

 

Then we had a ward baptism and when we got there the font was not filling up because it is Guatemala. So we had to get buckets of water to fill up the font! hahaha  

 

But anyways on Sundays we always go to our investigators houses to pick them up for church! It is a bunch of walking but this Sunday was more than usual and by the time I got to church I was LIMPING and my feet were bleeding EVERYWHERE and no one had a band aid and I still had to walk home which is at least a mile and it was super bad hahah all the members were so worried for me!  

 

This week we had intercambios and I was in charge of my area. Which basically means I had to be in charge of planning and making phone calls and I had to know where to go for appointments. And it was kind of stressful because my temporary comp did not know the area but I got it done!! Super fun to test my limits a little bit! My usual go to is just guess what people are saying. Like when they ask a question I try and pretend like I know what they said and give an answer I think it right. YIKES I probably have ruined so many lessons because of this ahhaha

 

 

Also I beat my record for amount of contacts in 1 hour! The new record is 31 people!! haha

But the number one thing I learned this week is we can change A LOT of things in our lives and make a lot of decisions, but the one thing we 

cannot change is the will of god and other peoples agency. I know for me it has been difficult to accept the timing of God. But as I have been here I have learned that everything has its own timing and I need to learn to aline my will with His will. I seriously feel sooo thankful to be able to serve a mission. It is so beautiful to be able to teach about Jesus Christ and give people the knowledge of a Savior. We have second chances and we have someone that supports us through all of our trials. 

 

I am having a blast out here!!! Wish you were all here to see beautiful GUATEMALA with me!

 

Con Amor,

Hermana Salisbury

Week 9: DOS MESES (TWO MONTHS)

BUENAS TARDES MIS AMIGOS!! 

Such an amazing week full of miracles!!

So we lost our phone this week and that made things a lot harder than they needed to be! haha... We ended up using a pay phone the rest of the week! And to make things worse, we ran out of fresh water and regular tap water! hahah! So yeah it was mas o menos rough but we are SUPER GOZOSAS!

My tactics of saying "muy bien" is really coming to a close because this week we had a lesson with a new investigator and before we started we were having small talk.  He told me he was an illegal immigrant in California for like 7 years and I didn't know what he said, so I just bluffed it and said muy bien (praying it was the right answer) ahahah NOPE! it wasn't. Everyone just looked at me and I was like oh no. haha!

15 de septiembre was Independence day for Guatemala!! They go crazy out here!! They seriously celebrated 3 days leading up to it with fire works and parades all day long! They don't have school or work for like 5 days!  haha. Their parades are so funny. Basically there is a school bus in front and then tons of pickup trucks following behind with people in the back and then kids run with the bus for HOURS they run with fire and horns hahah soooo funny. It was so much fun to see how they celebrate out here!

I got a new record of 23 contacts in 1 hour! A contact counts when I share a gospel message or invite them to church! It was so fun! All the missionary's in my district think I am funny because I will walk up to big groups of strangers and teach gospel principles with my broken Spanish haha! It is so much FUN!!! 

I got asked to say a prayer in English the other day and WOW that was so hard!!! I ended up giving up half way and finishing it in Spanish! I have prayed only in Spanish for 2 months, entonces it was super hard for my brain to get back to normal hahah!

But wow I hit 2 WHOLE MONTHS on my mission this week! I genuinely feel like I just got here! Time in the mission is sooo weird! 

 

Something that has been a little hard for me here is remembering to forget myself. Somedays I will be so tired of walking, or so hungry and I start to feel bad for myself. But I always have the thought in my head, Remember Him. He gave EVERYTHING for all of us. He did not rest, even after His earthy ministry He got to work in the spirit world. My goal is to give 100% of myself everyday to this work. Even if that 100% is my broken Spanish and desire to share the gospel, I testify that the Lord ALWAYS makes up the rest when we give our best efforts. I love the lord and I love this gospel and most importantly I love the PEOPLE OF GUATEMALA!!! 

Con amor, 

Hermana Salisbury

Week 8- Yo comí INTESTINOS DE VACA ( I ATE COW INTESTINES)

HOLAAA 

 

Wow somehow I survived this week!! haha 

 

This week I learned when the lord whats me to do something, HE GETS IT DONE. My Spanish still is not great, but when I get into lessons or street contacting I am able to understand so clearly and I am able to speak at a higher performance level. 

 

We took a trip down to Reu this week and wow these buses here are sooo crazy! There are only maybe 40 seats at MAX but they fit in 60 PLUS people and at one point I was sitting on a bench with 6 men BUT THERE WAS ONLY ENOUGH ROOM FOR MAYBE 3 hahahah (it is a 4 hour bus ride to reu) so yeah It was for sure an expirence. 

 

 

The meal of the week was COW INTESTINE!!!! Right when I walked into this members house I knew something was not right. It smelt sooo weird!! But she gave it to us and I still wasn't sure what it was so I ate the whole thing! But right when we got out I asked my comp what it was and I was like NOOO WAY. hahaha so yeah I ate cow intestine this week with a smile!!! I cannot imagine it getting worse but I know it will hahaha

 

But on a serious note I am so grateful to be apart of this work! Jesus Christ showed me how to teach, how to love these people, and how to be patient with this language and myself. Sometimes it is hard for me to get rejected on the street but then I step back and think, even the greatest person to ever live, our savior Jesus Christ, was rejected by men. His example has taught me so much. 

 

Have a good week everyone! Wish me luck with meals this week ahahha

 

 

 Con Amor,

Hermana Salisbury

Week 7: ¡TRABAJÁBAMOS! (WE WORKED!)

HOLAAA!!! 

The mission got real this week!! Walking up and down the streets of Guatemala trying to get one person to listen to our message!! It was so fun! 

This week we gained 20 new investigators and we contacted 95 people!!! So yeah we got to work this week! 

This place is straight up WACKED all the dogs live on the roof ( don't ask why cause I have no clue hahah) so every time we are knocking doors the dogs freak out at us from the roof haha!

We eat at members house for lunch everyday and if I am being honest I never know what I am eating hahaha usually it is some kind of meat with rice. I don't think I have a parasite yet!!!

 

Speaking Spanish 24/7 has been THE HARDEST THING EVER. Because I have so much to say during lessons or just small talk but I literally cannot say it! Every morning during personal study I just sit there praying and crying to my Heavenly Father to help me learn this language. I have never said more powerful prayers in my life. Needless to say the Lord has really blessed me this week with my improvement in Spanish. I have been able to catch on to the language a ton this week and I know that is only through my loving Heavenly Father. 

The only way I get through conversations when I don't know whats going on is laugh super hard when everyone else does hahaha. They all think I understand what they are saying but really I am just laughing because they are hahaha.

People have loved to hear me speak my broken Spanish.  This week in a bread shop I taught the plan of salvation to the owner and the ENTIRE bread shop was looking at me smiling so big haha!

Lot of people have tried to speak English to me, like when I walk down the street they say HELLO or GOOD MORNING hahaha. So funny. I think I am the only white person in this town! I haven't seen one at all!! Besides all the white elders from Utah haha!

Then on Sunday we had testimony meeting and of course they called up Hermana Salisbury to kick off the meeting!! The members said they understood me perfectly but I think they were just being nice!! Everyone here has a really hard time with my last name!! They have started calling me SALSABERRY or SALSAVERDE hahahha it is so funny.

In exciting news I got to invite our 11 year old investigator Angel to baptism and he accepted! It is on the 22nd of September!! Cannot wait! 

 

People think I am funny because I just go for it with my Spanish. Even though I don't know much I get the courage to just open my mouth and I know for a fact the Lord will fill it!

In all honesty this has been such a hard week, getting used to the missionary life. We haven't seen a ton of success with our progressing investigators and it has made me a little discouraged. But my mind always comes back to Alma 26:27-30, specifically verse 30, it says, "And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be means of saving someone" My goal is to teach as Christ would have, care for people like Christ would have for the purpose of bringing souls to this great gospel. 

Love you all! Have a safe week!!! 

Con amor, 

Hermana Salisbury