Week 62: Leaving it ALL out on the field.

Instead of saying "time is money" in mission reu we say "TIME IS SALVATION" hahaha

So now that I have 14 months in the mission knocking doors is pretty normal haha but here in Guatemala they wont even come out cause they know its the missionarys or they send their kid out to say that their mom isnt home EVEN THOUGH WE CAN SEE THE MOM hahaha SO what I have started doing is act like Im selling stuff. Here in GUAT ladys sell something called "ATOL" and "RIENITOS" so I always stand outside the doors saying "ATOLLLLL" or "HAY RIENITOSSSS" and they come RUNNING OUT with smiles on their faces then they get SO mad when they see its just a gringa missionary!! But we have found a lot of new people to teach that way hahaha #GUATTACTICS 

There are SOOO many people in the street that just CAT CALL allll day long even though we arent doing ANYTHING to call the attention! So this week I did a dramatic strut\walk when I was in the street just to see what they would do and HAHAHAHA ohh my we couldnt even count the cat calls!! THEY ARE SO DESPERATE!!! Im basically a NUN and they STILL make a desperate attempt!!! 

We were contacting some girls this week and they spoke a mayan language THAT WE DO NOT understand AT ALL and as we contacted them they talked in straight tongues and we were so confused!!! They speak Spanish but they were going back and forth between the mayan language and Spanish!!! But everytime they talked in the mayan language it was because they were making SIDE COMMENTS!!! it was so uncomfortable cause it got to a point when they went straight tongues and we just left cause we didnt know what to say ahhaha #GUATTOUGNES 

SO we have a baptism this Friday WOO! His name is Sergio and he is 18 years old! We had to teach him about the law of chastity and LET ME TELL YOU, this kid was sooo uncomfortable!!! As we taught him he was like whipping his head around in ALL directions to make sure no one was EVEN CLOSE to hearing hahaah then we had to ask him if he had problems with the law of chastity, he was so sweating so bad and so anxious when he said no we didnt believe him and we asked him what was wrong and then he told us that he just felt awkward!!! hahaha poor guy! 

So we are teaching a 17 year old kid named Daniel and we decided to do a fast so that he can receive permission to go to church. We did a 24 hour fast and it was the first time Daniel had even fasted for 24 hours so we knew it was gonna be a little hard. We went back the next day to finish the fast and we asked him if he was hungry and he said no I was SO surprised cause who ISNT hungry after a 24 hour fast_ So then after we finished for real we asked him what he was gonna eat for his first meal after the fast and he said that he wasnt gonna eat anything cause HE WAS TOO FULL!!!! SO HE TOTALLY SNUCK AND ATE FOOD!!!! ahahah there is no other way  he wouldve lasted tbh HAHAHA so funny.

Its honestly super hard teaching lessons when the kids of the person we are teaching is SCREAMING so loud hahaha This week we were teaching and the kid started SCREAMING cause he wanted milk from his mom! And usually the mom just starts breast feeding in front of us and the baby stops crying but this time SHE DIDNT!!! It was the first time I ACTUALLY wanted them to breast feed in the street in front of EVERYONE!!! The kid just SCREAMED "boob" in Spanish the whole lesson. When the mom didnt give him milk he called her the "B word" in Spanish hahahaha HES LITERALLY 1 AND CAN BARLEY SAY THE WORD MOM but he says THE B WORD!!! literally insane!!  

So if you know me you know im SUPER clumsy!!! I somehow havent fallen very much on my mission until THIS WEEK!!! I fell a bunch of times but the hardest fall was when we were walking on the side of the highway walking to an appointment and my CROCS got slippery and I fell SO HARD!!! It looked like I collapsed onto my knees to pray of something hhaahah I fell RIGHT in the lane of the cars and I honestly didnt have the strength to get up but my comp was SCREAMING at me to get up cause a car was gonna hit me! So somehow I got the strength to get up and out of the way. Then I KNEW I had to clean the cut so we straight up walked to the nearest house and asked for CLEAN WATER and they led me to a DIRTY WATER BIN in the backyard hahaha SO i pretended to use it and then we went to a little shop to buy cleaning alcohol. Ill always remember the scar thats about to show up on my knee #guatFAILS

During a lesson the people always bring us something to eat at the end (the cause of weight gain here lol) this week a guy brought us a tray of CHEETO PUFFS I was SOOO pumped I was the first one to grab a hand full and start eating but JUST MY LUCK they were SUPER SOGGY like SUPER SOGGY I was like uhhhhhh?? hahaha The rain had gotten into his kitchen or something but it was basically like a survivor challenge having to finish those cheeto but im still thankful I got to eat CHEETO PUFFS!!! 

This week I learned the difference between the [followers of Christ[ and the [disciples of Christ[. There are a TON of followers of Christ, but not so many disciples of him. A follow supports from a distance, a comfortable distance, they believe the teachings of Him but DO NOT apply the teachings into their character. A disciple of Christ is when we walk the path He walked. We live as he lived and serve as he served. Disciples believe the teachings of Christ and PUT THEM INTO PRACTICE. Christ DEPENDS on His disciples here on earth because without the disciples nothing gets done. Are we followers or disciples_ Being a disciple requires sacrifice and commitment, but it brings the greatest joy. I want to be a disciple of Him. Our actions MUST reflect what we learn. We MUST show our beliefs by the way we live. He always invites us to JOIN THE PATH OF DISCIPLESHIP. 

Con amor,

Hermana Salisbury  

Week 61: DIA DE INDEPENDENCIA

heyyy!! HOLA A TODOS!! Bienvenidos al GUAT life!!!

Today for pday we had THE FUNNNEST pday activity ever!!! We planned with the zone leaders and we decided to play COPS AND ROBBERS WITH 24 MISSIONARYS!!! Literally SO fun! So we started in one city and we had TO RUN to the next city without getting caught by the 2 elders that were chasing us!!!! It was so fun cause we didnt even know how to get to the next city over so we just had to ask the people in the street how to get there!!! way too fun. 

SO this week we celebrated independence day!! The 15th is independence day but the people are hype so they start parades a WEEK before!! Everyday they did a huge parade and they shoot off fireworks every 2 seconds in mid day!! the day before they all RUN 4 miles with  A LIT UP TORCH!!! It was super fun to see all the chapins celebrating!! I asked like 10 different chapins their independence story AND NO ONE KNEW hahaha 

 

Anyways the weather was horrible this week. We were walking to an appointment and the wind picked up really fast!!! and then all of a sudden it started POURING but with the wind super strong! then the lighting got super bad AND THE TIN ROOFS WERE FLYING OFF OF THE HOUSES IN ALL DIRECTIONS!! I honestly thought it was a hurricane. We ended up getting to a members house before it got too bad. But once we got in they offered us tamales and we said yes! Right when they served us tamales THE POWER WENT OUT!!! Just keep in mind that they have at least 7 HUGE CATS that roam the house!!! So i basically ate my tamale in the dark with 7 huge furry cats surrounding me. I was so grossed out CAUSE I KNEW I was eating cat hair. Such a NIGHTMARE eating in a dark room full of CATS!! Then I saw cockroach run across the wall!!! HORRIBLE!! 

So from all that rain there was a HUGE flooding problem where we were at in our area so we took a TUK up to the main part of our area but it was so flooded that the tuk tuk legit turned into a BOAT haha the guy driving was so SKETCH cause there werent any lines or lights on the road (cause the power went out) so we were just getting by with the lights of other cars! We were swerving and almost hydroplaning the whole time! But we ended up making it up to the main city and we were all good! #guattravel

BUT right when we thought we were in the clear...at around 9ish we were finishing a lesson and we went to drop off a person we are teaching, then ALL THE POWER IN MALACATAN WENT OUT!!!! Literally imagine 2 foreigners in the streets of malacatan (the BORDER of Mexico) PITCH BLACK and we were 8 BLOCKS AWAY FROM OUR HOUSE. Honestly we ran SOOOO quick home but its super scary because when the power goes out here there is absolutely no light in the street and the people take advantage and try and do bad things. Honestly I was so sketched out, it was worse than ANY haunted house or any GUAT experience!!! We walked 8 blocks in about 5 minutes OR LESS ahhaha I had my head on a swivel the whole time cause i thought for sure they were gonna rob us! #GUATSURVIVAL

Also today I have 14 months in the mission!!!! WOOOO YA CASI!

Anyways this week we had MLC with president in REU and I had a lot to think about. We talked about a lot of things but something that really touched me it the importance of carrying our burdens WITH the savior. God did not send us here to just get beat up by life and lose hope. He sent us with the vision to RETURN TO HIM but as we know we arent with Him in this moments. So we have to depend on the sacrifice of His son. DONT CARRY YOUR BURDENS ALONE. We DONT HAVE TO! Christ already carried them. As we let go of pride we can FULLY trust in the redeeming power of the savior in the time we feel like its impossible to take one more step. I know it cause I have seen it on my mission. There are days when I seriously dont know how I will walk one more mile in pouring rain, there are other days when I dont know how I will last 3 more months of people making fun of us, but I have found joy in Christ. I have found peace in His promise in Matthew 11:28-30, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" Make we find peace in this promise. 

Con amor, 

Hermana Salisbury  

Week 60: Sucking it up

Honestly I just keep rolling with the GUAT punches.

So we are teaching an 18 year old kid named sergio. He is SO pilas, when we invited him to seminary he said yes!!! (Seminary starts at 5 am here) So we wanted to go with him to make him feel comfortable with the class so we got up at 4:30 am to go to seminary hahaha I dont know how I did it for 4 years honestly. But we showed up in workout clothes with dresses over it cause we go to the gym at 6 am hahaha When we got to the gym everything was normal and I started my routine. As I was doing thrusters (crossfiters know what I mean) This little old guatemalan lady came right by my side where my barbell was and I had to come to a complete hault because my bar was flying everywhere and her head was like RIGHT UNDER IT and I was so freaked out I was gonna knock her out with my barbell hahahah She was so short she BARELY reached my shoulder!!! When I looked down I saw she was MOPPING THE FLOORS hahhahaa SO inconvenient to my workout. So I stopped everything and let her finish. #GUATGYMLIFE

Im honestly so sick of the rain hahaha It rains EVERYDAY at 3PM WITHOUT FAIL. It has been that way my whole 13 months here. But this week we brought a member to a lesson and he forgot his umbrella, so my comp gave him her umbrella and I gave my comp my pancho hahaha SO I was the lucky one that walked in the rain!! The member was complaining the whole time about getting wet (even though he had the umbrella) and I just had to suck it up haha cause I was getting soaked. A hour into the rain storm they asked me why I liked getting wet then the one member said, "a ella le vale TODO" translation: "She doesnt give a crap about anything" hahaha So funny. Always takin one for the team.

We went to a baptism this week for an 8 year old kid, and the day of his baptism was his birthday. We had the baptism and everything was very spiritual, I was incharge of leading the hymns. So I got up to lead the last hymn and the mom told me she was going to chose a special hymn and I was like ok cool. So when she pushed play on the cd player the MOST irreverent  version of the song HAPPY BIRTHDAY was blasting hahaha AND I HAD TO DIRECT THE SONG!!! So i just stood in front laughing so hard cause I couldnt believe that "Happy Birthday" was the closing hymn for a sacred ordinance. AHAH #GUATCULTURE

So I am very poor right now. I want to send my clothes to be washed by someone but I dont have enough money so I have started washing ALLLLL my clothes by hand and honestly, all I do when I am washing my clothes by hand is count my blessing that in 3 months I  will have a washing machine and dryer. My back always hurts so bad after from bending down cause the washing board is GUAT SIZE and im like double the GUAT size so hahaha RIP ME

So yesterday the mission had transfers but GUESS WHAT Im staying in my area with my SAME comp hahaha Its ok cause we finding some awesome people to baptize.

This week we had a really special experience with sergio. He had been praying to know if the church of Jesus Christ of latter saints was the church that Christ HIMSELF established. But he felt like he wasnt getting an answer! So in this lesson I told him we were gonna do it right then. So we all knelt down and sergio asked the question to God. When we finished he told us he felt warmth throughout his body and that he just felt like crying. Then he told us that he knows that the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saint is the true church that Christ established. SOO COOL. I know without A DOUBT that when we ask of god he will answer. I know that we have the choice to follow the guidance He gives us, but I also know that when we do follow the guidance from God we put our lives in His hands so He can shape us into the person we want to become. Only God can change lives, but its our job to put ourselves in His hands. I know it cause I have seen it in my life. CHURCH IS TRUE.

Con amor,
Hermana Salisbury

Week 59: BAPTISM\GANGS\FUNERALS

This LEGIT has been the craziest week of guat life ever.

We had an appointment in a really dark part of our area this week, as we walked into the "front yard" or in other words the mud part before getting to the front door we heard in the darkness someone yelling for us but we also heard the sound of water falling as if he were bathing AND YEP IT WAS AN OLD MAN TAKING A BUCKET SHOWER and he was trying to get us to look at him NAKED hahahaah I started walking super fast to get out of the situation but the muddy front yard was sooo slippery I almost fell so hard. But my guat skills have gotten better so I didnt fall ahahha

SO we had a special MLC with president and the 70 Elder Taylor. It was so fun but the travel to get there was INSANE. I was trying to get off the van (we have to change vans) and as I was FULLY stood up in the sliding door jumping off they SPED off full speed and I just hung on for dear life until they noticed and they felt "so bad" hahaha Then the bus drives that saw what happened started asking me where I was going next and I told them coatepeque and they all started FIGHTING OVER WHICH BUS I SHOULD GO IN hahahaha I was so mad and they started yelling and PULLING me into their bus!!! I got so fed up with them that I screamed DONT TOUCH me at the top of my lungs and I pushed my way out of them. I wouldnt have slapped them so hard if I wasnt representing the church right now. #guattravellife

 

BUT the good thing is we got to reu for MLC and we met the 70 elder taylor! The meeting was SO good and I learned so much! We ended so late that there werent any buses so elder and sister taylor offered to DRIVE US to Malacatan!!!! We legit had a 3 hour car ride just us and the 70 and his wife!! We had a 3 hour Q and A! We became such good friends that the next day in zone conference he only asked US for a picture out of all the missionarys. HE ASKED US!! I was way too excited! 

So we are having transfers next week and its most likely that Im staying here so Im trying to get to know the area the best I can haha so we went to LA VEGA (a part I hadnt been to) but we had to HIKE cause the dang TUK TUKS dont even go there cause  its so steep and the little engine cant handle it. I seriously think I almost passed out from heat stroke cause we climbed it MID DAY and the sun here is like palm springs mid July (all you California people know what I mean) I seriously was blacking out so I just hovered my hand over my comps backpack to guide me cause I COULDNT SEE from almost blacking out. I made it but RIGHT when I got to civilization I bought 2 bags of water to pour on me ahhaha #guatadventrue

So we had lunch with a nice family,  on Monday but they have a son that really REALLY like the missionarys (young single adult) YIKES. So when we got there for lunch he like set up love music and a table set for 3 me, my comp, and him hahahaa I was like WHAT THE HECK IS THIS. I like shut off the music cause we cant even listen to that type and he turned it back on. Then we got scared cause he was acting like it was a date with the missionarys so we said we had to leave and he was like WHY??? why so soon?? So sketch we left soooo quick but it was o funny cause the YSA make stuff up in there heads thinking there SOME HOW is a chance with a missionary hhahaha YIKES never going back. #YSAGUAT

SO on Friday we went to have the baptism interview with estefana!! Estefana has a daughter thats a member and missionarys have been teaching her for YEARS but she hasnt accepted baptism until THIS TRANSFER! Shes like 60 and has 4 kids! But anyways we went to do the interview and she just was SOBBING and told us she was too sick to get baptized on saturday. We were so scared cause we wanted her to get baptized and EVERYTHING was already planned. So I told Estefana we were gonna do a 24 hour fast starting in that very moment. So we started and went back Saturday morning (the MORNING of her baptism)!!! and she was perfectly fine and healthy and EXCITED when we got there!!! SUCH a miracle!!!! So she got baptized! and the next day she got confirmed. After the confirmation we received news that the son of hermana estefana had been murdered by a gang. IN MID DAY. It was such a shock. Honestly there are SO many more details but basically there is a gang here in Malacatan doing bad things. We got put up to PLAN THE WHOLE FUNERAL I was like UHHH literally the missionarys do everything here. so we got it all planned. The funerals are crazy here, like the whole town shows up and all the street food people show up to sell PEANUTS AND DONUTS like a fair and they play CRAZY music. Its like an opposite birthday party hahaha But it was so sad cause the convert passed out from screaming and crying so bad during the funeral. (That should give a good description on how the funerals are here lol) I thought she was gonna die during the funeral of her son.

 But seriously was the hardest thing for me on the mission so far, seeing someone I have come to love suffer so deeply and I cant even grasp at any level how she really feels. As a representative of chirst I am his hands, I am his arms, I do what he would have done, but I cant truly TRULY know how she feels. All I could do was wrap my arms around her and support her. I know Christ knows us. I know He blesses us by means of other people. I know that our will isnt always His will but that His will is perfect. 

Con amor, 

Hermana Salisbury