Week 45: DOUBLE BAPTISM!

HEY this was a week full of water from SOOO much rain and the baptisms!!! QUE GOZO ES BAUTIZAR!

Pues, The people use the rain as an excuse to not do ANYTHING. Literally we could invite someone to read the book of Mormon inside their house and they will say sorry I cant read when its raining outside hahahaha SO the work goes forward little by little! 

The rain has been so insane! We have to walk in the streets even though they turn into rivers so quick! This week I was walking up stream and it was so strong that my CROC GOT SWEPT AWAY!!!! hahaha SO I had to SPRINT SO FAST down stream to get my croc cause they are like my only good shoes left! 

Its also sooooo GROSS to walk in the rivers in the street. A couple of days ago a nice citizen decided to put a HUGE trash bag of used diapers in the street. The next day I found it allllll in the river that we had to walk in!!! AHHHHH #guatelife

The lighting is also insane. We have a part of our area that is rainforesty and there are always more lighting bolts over there. When we were walking the other day the bolt GENUINELY hit right next to where we were standing. I have NEVER heard something louder in my life than the sound of the bullet hitting the ground!!!

We have also been hearing SO many gun shots outside the house lately!!! Sometimes I give it the benefit of the doubt saying its a firework or something but my comp is from el salvador and she like has a 6th sense for gun shots hahaha And she says they are allll real bullets!! YIKES but we always just lock ourselves up in the house and try to sleep! #guatelife 

I was able to be apart of the baptism of Byron Jose! He is the grandson of our ward mission leader. He has always wanted to get baptized since he was 8, he just never had permission until now! Now he is 12 and he already goes to seminary and all the youth activitys. He is preparing to serve of a full time mission! THIS KID IS PILAS! He received the priesthood the hour after his confirmation. Such a good example to everyone. 

The other baptism was hermanita yanett!!! She is so cute, I have been working with her since February to motivate her to get baptized but she was always scared!! SO I had the chance to share my experience when I got baptized, and how I was scared too, but after a prayer with my mom I felt better! And 3 ish months later she FINALLY got baptized! YAY! But after we took the picture of my head on her head, I found out she had LICE!!!!!

I know when we follow the will of the lord we are happy and we are blessed! There is always reason to rejoice!! As a missionary there is an indescribable joy when someone takes a step closer to Christ! 

Con amor,

Hermana Salisbury

 

Week 44: FELIZ 10 MESES!!

HOW HAVE I BEEN IN GUATEMALA FOR 10 MONTHS???

This week was so much fun (like always)

I got to have intercambios with hermana Yamberla from ECUADOR!! Pilas. We had an appointment with our investigator and when we showed up she was in shock and we asked her why and she said she had seen us in a dream, she says it was all the same, we walked up to her door and presented ourselves as missionarys, except in the dream we were in all white. WOW. cool stuff. 

We found an old lady walking with a bunch of heavy bags so of course we offered to help her! So we grabbed her bags and asked where she was headed and she said, ¨Im on my way to HUACHIPIRIN¨ hahahah That is literally AT LEAST one hour walking hahahha I just thought she was going around the corner!!! BUt we couldnt just back out! SO we WALKED AALLLL the way out there with her!! I had her huge bag of clothes on my head haha my neck was dying but i didnt say anything cause I had to be strong for the old lady. But when we finished we were WRECKED haha Rip us. 

Then I cut my arm on RUSTY barb wire. I was all concered but everyelse was like DONT WORRRY thats nothing!! Good thing I got my TDAP shot!!!! hahaha

We were eating lunch and I was trying not be grossed out but a HUGE RAT ran across the floor while we were eating hahaha Of course I couldnt make any faces cause the hostess what sitting right in front of me!!! #guatelife

Then we had dinner with a family and the family friend was messing around with a little girl and she ended up getting SUPER mad and FLIPPED OFF THE GROWN MAN I was so shocked hahaha there literally are no limits here. 

But we should be having 2 baptisms this coming weekend!!! WOOO lets hope everything goes as planned! 

I am so thankful for the chance I have to serve the Lord. I know that He loves us. We can equally show love for Him through sacrifice. Whether that means the sacrifice of time, talents, money, our wants, our needs. I know that complete sacrifice is the ONLY way god can change our lives. If we arent humble enough to put our lives in His hands and say its up to Him, we cant become like Him. I hope to be humble enough to give up my will for His. 

Con GOOOZO, 

Hermana Salisbury 

Week 43: The plague OF FLYS

WHELP There is a genuine plague of FLYS in Mazate. I have never seen so many flies in my whole life. SO NASTY! There are moments when we cant even see the ground cause the flies cover it. Its unbelievable. The members don’t know how to use the bug killer raid cause they literally walk around their house using it like an air freshener to kill the flies hahahaha EVEN DURING LUNCH!! I was eating and she sprayed RAID all over the top of my plate of food cause she was trying to kill a fly!!! Everyone is getting sick from the flies cause they are just all over your body 24-7!!! And they pass around sick germs!!! AHHH I just try to forget everything I learned in microbiology.

Then Guatemala celebrated mother’s day on the 10^th and I was woken up AT 4 AM TO MUSIC AND FIREWORKS outside!!! SO CRAZY! The music sang happy mother’s day and TOLD THEM TO WAKE UP!!! WORST IDEA to surprise mothers for mother’s day 

Then my comp left the phone in a TUC TUC and right when we noticed  it sped off so quick!! So we had to run ALL over town trying to track down the tuc tuc which is so hard cause EVERY TUC TUC IS THE SAME and there are A MILLION on every corner!!!! Hahaha but somehow we tracked it down after 2 HOURS!! Worth it cause we have our flip phone again. #Gautelife

Then we had stake conference and there wasn’t enough room for the missionaries so we all had to sit on the floor cause they ran out of chairs!! Hahah #

Well I know without a doubt that God loves His children. He answers prayers. He gives us trials. He gave us families. He sent His son. I know that this love is the base of ALL things. I know that all is made right through this love that He provides. Es un placer de servir la gente de Guatemala y siento que estoy en mi casa. Yo estoy con mi gente. Yo estoy con hijos e hijas de dios.

Con amor,

Hermana Salisbury 

Week 42: BAUTISMO DE LENNY

Another quick week in paradise!!! 

So there is an outbreak of dog meat right now in Guatemala. Companys are trying to sell dog meat but sell if off as normal meat!!! So people buy meat thinking its cow meat but its DOG MEAT. So as a result a couple of days ago a member read us the signs of dog meat. Then the next day we ate lunch and the meat was EXACTLY the description of DOG MEAT AHHHH hhahaha HORRIBLE!!!! So we are 95% sure we ate dog meat hahah YAY. 

Then Lenny Perez got baptized! He is the youngest of 4. His older brothers are super pilas and they all walk to church like 3 miles by themselves without their parents. They literally planned the baptism of lenny without their parents and they went to the baptism without their parents. Its so sad cause they have no support from their family. But Lenny got baptized and he was super excited!! SO CUTEEE! 

SO we almost got robbed. Just the usual. We were walking down a really dark street with a member in a sketch part of the area, and we walked by a dirt trail and in this trail there was a group of men hiding there!!!! And we didn't notice it until one of them lunged at us but SLIPPED and we saw the group so we were like OOOHHH FREAK and we SPRINTED to the main road. When we got there OF COURSE there was some sketch old guy causually sitting there with a machetti. hahaha but It actually freaked me out. We are being a lot more careful now about where we walk at night hahaha!

I love going working in my area. The areas are SO huge in Guatemala. All the companerismos just put their boundaries when they hit the jungle. Literally they dont give neatly written boundaries. When we hit the next door jungle we stop hahaha 

so We had transfers this week and Im staying in MAZATEEE and finishing the training of Hermana calvo! Its raining like crazy here. The lighting is insane. The bolts just hit right in front of you and the sound of the crack IS SO LOUD hahah 

Anyways this week I learned the law of charity. I learned that we will all have to develop love for our enemys. Whether it be tomorrow or whether we wait years, we will all have to find love for our enemies. I learned thats its easier to start loving those we dont love as soon as possible, because if not we will suffer the consequences of unrest in our hearts. I am thankful for the atonement of Christ which makes this love possible! 

Con gozo y amor, 

Hermana Salisbury

Week 41: Running for our Lives

HEYYY! Another fast week on the mission! 

SO we contacted a nice guy on the street the other day and out of now where a group of people formed around me and they all genuinely wanted to hear us preach the word hahaha So I straight up pulled out some fire book of Mormon verses and they liked it hahaha!

Now we have some person that found where we live and she has come and knocked on the door a couple of times. Because there are no police here we came up with our own solution...we have a little window on our door so we put AT LEAST 20 pictures of Jesus hahaha! THEY NEVER KNOCKED AGAIN hahaha!

Then I had MORE BAD LUCK hahaha! I was walking down the street and then all of a sudden blood splattered ALL OVER ME!!! I was so confused until I looked up and saw that a little bird on a powerline that was dying. So I had the greatest honor to clean bird blood off of my shirt that afternoon haha My tide to go stick has never been so useful!!

Then we were on our way home one night and a guy who is a little slow saw us walking. He started to follow us and I noticed it super quick so I told my comp we had to take a different path home. So we turned a different corner and started to walk faster and he did the same!! So I told my comp we had to book it. SO we SPRINTED down the street until we lost him and we hid on some random door step. Then my comp peed her pants cause she got so scared hahaha! So we were stuck on the door step and I knew  he was for sure gonna catch up soon so I had to drag my peeing comp off the door step to book it up to our house without the guy seeing!!! hahaha! We ended up making it! Who knows what happened with the guy following us but we've been keeping our eye out the past couple of days! 

Well these past couple of days I have been reflecting a lot. I have seen on my mission that it is possible to have no physical possessions, but at the same time feel like you have everything. Most of the people here have nothing. The use the same shirt everyday, a family of 5 lives in a one room house, they dont have food or drink, or they have dirt floors. But they are 100% happy. How is it possible that the people without anything are happier than the people who have everything?? The people that dont have worldly possessions usually are quicker understand in whom they trust. They know that if they have faith and keep the commandments their heavenly father will take care of them, and really thats all they need. I stand in awe everyday to see the testimonies of the people here. May we have eyes to see the things we could change to be happier with less. 

Con amor, 

Hermana Salisbury