eat your vegetables.

This has been a good week. I got a new comp (my old comp was great too!) Hermana Henriquez! when I heard that I was going to get a new comp from puerto barrios zone, I was very happy. I've known hermana Henriquez since her first day in the field. She was companions with my good friend hermana Bender. So now Hermana Henriquez and I are mission partying it up (contacting, teaching, studying...the usual) and hermana bender has a two-person fan club in zacapa. 

Hermana Henriquez is from Honduras and is really tiny and thin. She tells me that she feels like "a sticker on a 100 pg notebook" when she hugs me. I also don't take offense when she tells me my calf is the size of her thigh. haha. yep. I have the response for why I am a "grandota" is because when I was a kid I ate my vegetables. Parents always say, "if you eat your vegetables, you will grow up to be big and strong" well, I guess it worked. Hermana Henriquez openly admits that she did not eat her vegetables as a child. Point proven. 

Hermana Henriquez is teaching me how to love like a latin. Latin friendliness is very different from american friendliness. My personality wants to fight it, but I'm doing some sould searching to approve of letting myself open my heart and change to love like a latin. We'll see... I think I should go for it. 

I love covenants. They are pretty much the coolest things ever. It's like a bunch of promises and promised blessings. I was thinking about how neat it is that we get the opportunity, through the power and blessing of the priesthood, to receive ordinances and covenants. I love that we can fully renew our baptismal covenant every Sunday in sacrament meeting. I was thinking about this the other day, and I had the thought that I want to do another ordinance. well, I've only got one left, and...well, it needs to wait for a bit. At least until I get back to America ;)

We had a ward talent show and I decided to draw a picture of christ in like 3minutes. now the whole ward wants me to draw for them. Yesterday Some menos activo needed help drawing a soccerball for her kid. My comp heard her asking her uncle or something, then my comp was like, "hey, my comp can help you!" So I drew it in like 4 minutes or so. They were very thankful, especially after trying so many times. yay! helping people with my talents! remember, ask the missionaries, they can help you!

the pictures are a drawing I did in hna. potrie's scriptures, and the other is hermana potrie and I

I am a representative of Jesus Christ

Changes. se va hermana Potrie. 

only six weeks with my companion, but it was a good 6 weeks. I learned a lot from her. She is super sweet and I know that she will have a lot of success in her life. I am grateful for the loving example she shows to me. She has a way of looking at everything with roses and happiness--something that hasn't been my strong point in life. I still don't think I want to view everything as my favorite, it makes for short boring conversations if EVERYTHING is your favorite/best. But she is super great. I am really glad that I got to know her better. 

We had a really neat multi zone conference with elder ochoa from the 70. He focused a lot on sharing our authority of being representatives of Jesus Christ. Explaining the NEED to do those things that we teach, as well as giving everybody an oportunity to accept the gospel. and being really BOLD. It was awesome and really spiritual, AND I got to see all of my missionary friends from outside of the capital. woohoo!

Meetings like these have helped me a lot. I am grateful for these opportunities. This is the only time I can walk around telling strangers to change their lives in the name of Jesus Christ. It is a large calling to fill. To represent Jesus Christ. it really helps to remember this calling and to do the right. Understanding who I am, " as a representative of Jesus Christ" changes the mission. If all missionaries would understand and act as a representative of Jesus Christ, I believe that there would be great miracles. However, as missionaries, we also need to let our investigators know this fact. That we ARE representatives of JESUS CHRIST. 

Also, every member has this special calling to take upon them the name of Christ. Really, we are ALL special representatives of Jesus Christ. 

This knowledge helps to always remember Him, keep His commandments, and to love others with HIS love. 

other fun things. Sometimes kids think I am 30 to 40 years old. like at least 5 have told me that. 

Other people tell me that I have hair of a doll, just because it is blonde. 

picture of us after soccer. and me and my comp standing out being unformal in our exercize clothes (my natural state of a t shirt and b ball shorts)

picture of my desk/table: my "tower of bable"....it's my tower trying to get myself closer to God. 

Not your average service progect

We got a neat opportunity to make bricks this week. not your normal zone service progect I'd have to say. It's pretty much like when you were a kid. Dirt, Water, and since we are really legit, some weeds/straw. put it all in a big pile, mix it up, and put it in it's mold and let it cook in the sun. after you do that and make 800+ then you get to make a house. We all got some  good sunburns, this one guy called my comp moreno. which means brown-skinned. He really thought that she is like, totally different than me..whelp...we are both pretty white if you ask me. 

We had a really good zone conference this week. Our zone leaders shared with us some things from their special meeting with the mission predident ( I have no idea what it is called in english) They talked about the standard of excellence, goals, and reaching those goals, and not being hesitant to set higher goals and reach those. 

Another thing that really hit me was the dats that they told us about the hours of searching for new investigators, and the number of new investigators. Recently president watts set a goal as a mission that we could all find 20 new investigators in a particualr week. I don't think everyone found 20. but as a mission, we trippled the number of new investiators than what we normally do. That was neat to see happen. But then he made a comment after, "ok, was that an EVENT, or a CHANGE?" I think we can all apply this question in our lives. all of us are trying to improve and do good things. We try to be more patient, get good grades, loose weight, find new investigators (remember we should ALL be helping to find new investigators) and well, be more like Christ. After some good work and sacrifice, we may tend to look back, feel like we did a good job for that portion of time and then slip right back to where we were. 

I recently came across a hand out I received in mia maids and have kept all of these years. This lesson was impactful and on the back I wrote some goals of things that I need to improve, sadly, I still struggle in these same things. I have goals to really really change for the better, and well, perserverar hasta el fin. (endure to the end) 

That is what being a member of thet Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is all about. Becoming better people, and helping others do so as well. 

I know that this church is true.  I've gotten to the point where I have convinced myself (or  I suppose the spirit) that it isn't anyother way. I am in the Church of Jesus Christ, He is real, and THIS is His church. 

May we all continue building the kingdom of God on the earth (even if it is going to be built mud brick by mud brick)

Tortialls, the key to a missionary's success....at least in Guatemala

ok. This week. well, a highlight for me was this ADORABLE little guatemalan girl giving me a hug for like 5 minutes. she is probably 6 years old, and can definately make  better corn tortilla than I can. She was sooo cute. She was wearing her "tipico" clothing;I kinda want to snatch her up and take her home with me.

Speaking of tortialls, we learned how to make corn tortillas, These women were tortiando (translate that to  tortilling...yes, there is a verb for making tortialls) and we were telling them how we wanted to learn someday. They invited us then and there to work with them. We were there for like an hour and a half learning how to make tortialls. We found like 6 new investigators through making tortillas.

We had a big goal of 20 new investigators this week after the zone conference talking about the standard of excellence, and finding 12 new investigators. We put that goal because the mission put that goal, we prayed, looked,  and put in a good effort. we ended up finding 21! AAAnnnnd we learned how to make corn tortillas. 

 We also learned how to make flour tortialls. like the ones from cafe rio. I am excited to share that one  with my friends and family.

oh, here is a picture of our "armour of God" lesson we did with a couple of teenage girls. My comp is genious. 

Praying in specific and receiving blessings in specific is a real thing. The power of prayer with faith can make miracles happen. 

gotta go!

 love to all

ALL things testify there is a God.

So my comps family sends her stuff. which means.....I get stuff too. score. This week we were pleasantly suprised with delicious turkey jerky and jelly bellys, costco size. so good! we have very much so enjoyed planning sessions. especially our 3 our weekly planning. after eating jelly bellies for 3 hours we thought that we should probably stop. However, with our gift of jelly bellies, a note of warning calls to us. The dreadful COFFEE flavored brown one. which is really close to the root beer colored brown one. like, I can't tell the difference, and that's saying something if I can't tell a difference in color. well,   we have devised ways to avoid the coffee ones, did you know they actually have coffee in them? yeah, fun fact. ...#missionprobs. (yeah, I just used a "hash tag" sometimes I feel cool)

well, I am here to testify of Christ and His docterine. 

 Yesterday, we were talking with some recent converts who are teenagers, who we visited saturday night, but STILL didn't come to church. what?! well, talking to them sunday night, they were saying how they have all of their things to do and don't have time to go to church. But really, we all know that their time just wasn't organized correctly. If we put God first, the rest will work out. I am a witness of this. I'm not sure how, but it does. Just like the cute young womens example of putting the big rocks in the jar before the sand and little rocks, if we do the important things first, it works, if we don't, it doesn't all fit. I testify that this is true. That is it important to put important things first!

If I had more time I could make a cool gospel connection to avoiding the coffee flavored jelly beans. there is always a gospel connections. as alma, or amulek says "all things testify that there is a grand creator" all things testify of God. even avoiding coffee flavored jeally beans. 

I am glad with the goodness that I get to witness and learn from. I am grateful for tender mercies.  I am grateful for good friends and parents, family, and others. I am also grateful for my socks that I rolled up in a ball and threw against a wall for my exercize in the morning....yes, I'm getting desperate, but creativity will make things work.  

life with the Latins

I had a fantastic couple of hours of conversation with my comp, elder swayer, and hno. Muñoz who used to be a bishop and now has like 4 callings, including one in the stake.  Him, and his young family are really sweet. We talked a lot about difficult, deep, or profound questions dealing with the gospel. It was a spiritual feast. It was so nice to be able to talk with people that understand,  have bright ideas and comments, and who like to know. I jotted down some notes after we finished talking. 

If we don't follow everything that God tells us, it is as if we are saying that we know more than God. 

 use my talents to bless others, or else it is nothing. 

living the law of consecration. 

 the importance and ability to live free spiritually and economically; otherwise, we become slaves or subject to debt, to temptation, to emotiones. 

with the more knowledge and intelligence that we have the stronger our resistance is to evil. 

The glory of God is intelligence. 

dicipline is what makes america so ....awesome. 

avoidance of addictions in any form. 

efforts to become like God. 

That was just some of what we talked about. It was so good and really refreshing. it was like a thrill or rush of the spirit. It was really neat to talk with someone with more life experience. with a family, with a testimony. 

Another highlight of the week was the relief society valentines day activity. Latins know how to party, aren't shy, bashful or self-conscious. Let's just say it was the first pagent I have been to at a church activity. It was really hilarious to watch my comp get elected to be "hermana amistad" to the cat walk, give a speach, and then be crowned hna. amistad 2014. I guess she needs to return next year to pass  along the title. Good stuff. a lot of fun and laughter. 

I have tried a new tactic for my mission. To decide that whatever I am doing, in that moment, is like my favorite thing to do. It's okay to be happy now. we don't alsways have to be waiting for a moment, event, or situation to have happiness. even if it is walking in a hot desert in a skirt and sweaty shoes. it's like the BEST!

I know this gospel is true. and the more I learn, the more I love it. The more I feel confident that I am where I need to be. study and learn. Knowledge and our families are what we get to take with us in the next life. 

mission, round 2.

Zacapa. My new area is pretty great. It is smaller than my old one, but a lot more hilly and ...still hot. I''m in for a treat when april rolls around. 

Sometimes it is hard to believe that it is winter here. We were eating lunch one day when we realized that the olympics were on. It really took me a minute to think if it is winter or summer olympics right now. Winter. but there is a  reason why winter olympics aren't held in guatemala. 

My new companion, Hermana Potrie, is great. She is from California in the same mission as my sister susan. My companion speaks pretty good spanish, especially for only having 5.5 months as a missionary. She has lot of love for people, and teaches with the spirit. I have been blessed with some of the charity that I have been praying for, and all of the prejudice that I shouldn't have ever had, is gone. It's a humbling experience to be in a new area as senior comp, but not knowing how to lead without knowing the area and how things work here. I'm learning a bunch of new names everyday, I sure hope they stick. All of the memebers and recent converts here love hermana Winward (the old comp of hna. potrie) I have a LOT to live up to and to get these people to accept me. Hna. winward is very different from me, but I hope to do a good work with my time here, in Zacapa. 

I had a good experience teaching the first half of the plan of salvation the other day. The woman and her children didn't know very much of anything with the gospel (at least that is what we understood) so I was explaining the purpose of this life. I talked about Christ and his atonement being center and key to this plan. How we need to follow the gospel of Jesus Christ, have faith in him, repent, be baptised, and endure to the end with the guide of the holy ghost. To have a family, teach them these things, get a body, and proove faithful to Jesus Christ. Afterward, my companion asked the investigator what she thought about what I said, the woman said that everything that I had said was beautiful. success! I was able to share something, docterine, beautifully, I hope with the spirit, and with enough spanish skill not to kill the beauty of the message.

 

Adios Barrios

Well, I have changes....just as I thought I would. Finishing up 5.5 months in Puerto Barrios has been good. wow. five and a half months, in my first week, I probably wouldn't beleive that 5.5 months would ever actually come. Now that it has, I'm scared to leave.

I am going to Zacapa. Out side of the captial...still. Not very many people have two areas outside of the cap. But I'm not too many people. It's gonna be hot, but it's dry there from what I hear.

my comp. She is from america, has 5.5 months as a missionary (including the 6 weeks from the MTC) aaaaaaaaaand I'm gonna, I guess, pretend that I can understand spanish all of the way. I think we will live, but I'll probably do something wrong, "not listen" to someone, and probably offend somebody. but It'll be okay.

The primary was super sweet and gave me and hna. Zuniga (she is done with her mission) a necklace and a ring and wrote their names on a card and sang us a song and took a picture with us. They were pretty cute all giving us hugs and kisses. I love these kids, I hope someday I'll get to work in the primary (probably just cursed myself....that's okay).

apparently I'm a pretty good catch. There was this old man and his wife that we contacted and were talking to, and by the end of the conversation he was telling me that I needed to choose wisely a good husband ...." you have beautiful hair, your eyes are beautiful, you body is perfect; what more could someone ask!? " I said thank you..in that awkward, thanks old man, I'm glad you think I'm super pretty, try telling that to the boys back in Provo. There was also this other woman who couldn't stop staring at my eyes, it was kinda weird, but I understand, I'M not even sure what color my eyes are.

funny story. My comp, hna Ynjo, and I were laying in the hammock together (feet to head) one night, after planning, and then we heard the rope break a bit, we looked at eachother with scared faces, and about a second later, the whole rope broke and we fell to the floor. I was pretty scared to hit my head or something, but the both of us were fine. Good stories like falling from a hammock are always fun.

The Liahona is AMAZING I understand why hna. Ramirez would spend hours reading the liahona in her spare time. I read almost all of the issue for january in one sitting. The messages from God to his children are real and continuing. We have a profet today that helps leads the church of Jesus Christ. He receives revelation, as well as the other general authorities which are pertinate to our day. I am grateful to have so many wonderful resources learn from and build my faith in my Savior, Jesus Christ.

the pictures are of me and the primary (and their leaders) and ...me on a pretty sketchy bridge that needs new wood almost every time it rains. I get scared to cross that bridge, that day wasn't too bad at all.

wow, what a week!

Last week, I finished the week of with some good interviews. 

this week. 

monday p day

tuesday mission meeting in the capital, so good to see everyone. There was some really neat things said and some testimony built. 

wednesday tri-mission meeting in the capital with elder cook (of the 12) and other general authorities. 

What was said in that conference was just what I needed. Seriously. It seems to me like the interviews I had saturday, and the meeting tuesday was to prepare me to receive what I needed to on wednesday in this conference. 

It was litterally life-changing / mission changing. 

The next day I got home and wrote down some lines that I really liked and put them on a card so I can review them fequently. some of the things I can remember off of the top of my head right now:

I am a representative of Jesus Christ

As a disciple of Christ, I do what He would do if He were here. 

Now is the time to be kind. 

love the people

eliminate making fun of others actions, even if it is in good fun

love your mission president and his wife. 

if you think this is a sacrifice, you will be sorry for yourself

if you think this is a privelidege, you will feel joy, every day

this is where you ought to be

Those are just a few of the thoughts I had written down, hopefully I will get some more for next week. 

I enjoy reading the letters from my missionary friends. I have some really inspiring people in my life. I know some of the comments they make help them, their families, their friends, and others. 

I also had a great privelidge of going with hermana Ynjo to get her patriarchal blessing. It was a really sweet experience. I am really glad that I got to be with her for that. 

We also had a baptism this week. Christofer is 13 and is a great example for his less active parents, the mom is reactivating and the little sister wants to get baptised soon too. There are great blessings to see a family reuniting in the gospel. 

We ALSO did this big mission activity for the ward. We set up the rooms in the chapel to be parts of the plan of salvation. Members participated, investigators came, the spirit was strong. Especially in the "celestial room" with the Ramirez family. When the people came in, they began to "thank us" for the good that we had done, how we were faithful, how we were baptised, how we went to church everyweek, did FHE everyweek, read scriptures, said prayers, did service and so much more. it was really really beautiful. I will hopefully send some more pictures so you guys can see more. It was pretty legit for our guatie opportunities. 

I can feel a real difference. This week has helped a lot. I hope to be a much better person than who I was when I left for my mission. I have a lot to learn, but my eyes are being opened. Thank you for the prayers! 

Love to all! 

Hermana Deb Hutchins

Cook in the Capital

This week we had interviews with the Mission president, his wife, and the Assistants to the presidents (AP's). And tomorrow we have a mission meeting in the capital, and then on wednesday, we have a tri-mission meeting with Elder Cook (like the one in the quorum of the twelve....not just some random missionary). We are all looking forward to that. 

The interviews were helpful. I was asked questions that got me thinking in a different way. I was able to feel the spirit clearly and receive some personal revelation as to what I need to do to continue improving. I am grateful for the wise cousel of my leaders, and their inspiriation. I could tell that Presidente Watts was receiving revelation as to what to say through the spirit that was felt, what he said, and how he said it. It was a neat experience. 

I had a good moment with the AP when he was asking how we are doing with certain goals of the mission. It was really neat to say that we have actually been focusing on those areas in specific and have seen some good progress. He was also impressed when we had a sheet in our area book that we record which recent converts are coming to church and how many people are in the chapel for sacrament meeting. He said that we were the only companionship who had made a sheet without being asked specifically to do so. It was on the mission plan list, so we did it, just turned out to be good. they really liked the layout of it and hope to design one of the computer. 

Not everyweek is a high dat week, hopefully this week will be better...but we are going to the capital for two days.....well, we have a baptsim (actually two) planned for friday this week. and a big activity planned for the ward to help with missionary work this saturday. We are looking forward to it. I hope it turns out well. 

Reading Ether 12:27 (the scripture about weak things becoming strong) seems to be really applicable to me, right now. I definately have some big faults that make a lot of this difficult, but I think that this message, to be humble and have faith and then see how the weak things can become strong will be really good. 

Extra bonus. We have plans to get hermana Ynjo's patriarchal blessing when we are in the capital. I was explaining to her what it is and such (she is a convert) she is really looking forward to it and so am I. This girl is incredible. I am so blessed to have this great companion to help me learn.  

there are fruits!

This week we got to see some fruit!

fasting really does bring miracles. The last two months, when we fast, we find a person that is super ready to be baptised that same sunday. It's pretty neat. 

One of the less active families that we had been working pretty hard with has come to church 3 times now, and the mother was just called to be the first counselor in the Relief Society. She is super cool and is now willing to help us out with the missionary work. I wonder what happened? Maybe they finally read Alma 5 like we had left them with...That chapter is powerful, I would suggest it to all. 

We hit some really great numbers this week, which felt really good. We are excited for some of these families who could be some potentially really great investigators and member families. wow. There was one night we were with this family who had received missionaries about 2 years ago. They are a really sweet family, but they only had gone to church once. We went searching in "antiguos investigadores" ...ancient investigators.... in our area book to see what info we could find about them. at first we couldn't find their sheet. but then hna ynjo remembered that we had divided the area, and they used to live in the other half, so maybe the paper would be in the other stack. it was! we found them, what the elders had put, and on the top of the page they had written "LOOK FOR THEM!" the last comment they had was that they have some really good potiential, but maybe it was just the work for some future missionaries. and here we are! We had a really neat night with them. I could feel some great spirit. I hope this all goes well. 

haha. We were teaching the investigator sunday school class this sunday, and I was making a comment after my companion and I said ( in spanish) "I testify what my companion, Hermana Ramirez said...."   yeah.. hermana Ramirez USED to be my companion. she is still giving me a hard time about that. 

I enjoyed some cereal today in the mall. I brought my own spoon, bowl, and milk. that was fun. 

I got my package from my family! thank you for everything! It was so perfect. My companion really liked the picture of me when I was like 1 years old in the white dress with blue polka dots...she made a copy of it at the kodax store. 

My companion has been helping me with my pronunciation. I read the book of mormon to her...well, el libro de mormon, and she helps me to improve with words and how to prounouce certain letters that are similar, but different. She says that sometimes I sound native. NATIVE! yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. now, if I could just sound that good all of the time. and then If I could learn like a few hundred more words, I'll be set..oh, and all of the rules too. yeah. languages. 

I am happy for my little sister in the ccm....mtc, in provo. She's rockin it. 

Thank you thank you for all of the support, prayers, letters...especially letters. and love. wow. thank you! 

Guatemalan Missionary-Christmas

Looking back, I realize it was Christmas this past week. 

People don't really do much for Christmas day, but we did get invited over to Lunch at the releif society president's house. 

Tomales and fireworks are the two biggest things about christmas here. At midnight, Christmas eve, people stay up to Eat dinner (tomales) and everyone sets off fireworks, and without any government regulations, it was a pretty sweet fire work show. We went out on our balcony and could see in almost a complete circle. There were fireworks going off for more than 15 minutes. Everywhere.

 I think I ate 5 tomales in 3 days. I'm pretty sure we have some more in the fridge, but probably the worst ones. The winner goes to my Land lady. 

But my favorite part of Christmas was in the evening when we went out and proselyted. We had prepared a Christmas message about Christ and the atonement. It was pretty good. Going out Christmas night, just like the angel proclaiming to the shepheards, we proclaimed of Jesus Christ and his divine mission. That, was a cool moment. We even got into a house that was big and decorated all beautifully. I really enjoyed their kindness and the opportunity to see one beautiful Christmas tree this year. 

I don't think I have any whitty or crazy moments for this week. I'm still alive, and so is my family. The famous missionary christmas call was made, however, most of the time was spent me talking about Guatemala. 

cristmas and tomales

Christmas in Guatemala is done a little bit differently. Apparently nothing really happens christmas day, rather, people will party it up on the 24th in the night. Also, christmas is celebrated with tamales. I don't think I have seen anything baked, given to neighbors, christmas presents, or full-sized decorated trees in peoples' houses. 

Our sweet land lady gave us tomales...they were yummy. 

We had a ward christmas party thing where they had a dinner and a little bit of talents which was singing, singing, and ....a couple of white girls playing a duet on recorders. haha. Hermana Edwards was convinced of how fun it is to play a recorder, so she bought herself one and I have been helping her to learn how to play her very first wind instrument. cute. 

We went to an orphanage this morning and the mission had these presents in a big zip lock bag for each child there. They had stuffed animals, toy cars, lip gloss, mirrors, toothbrushes, candies, suckers, notebooks, nail polish etc. there were about 20 kids, and they just loved us. (only 6 people of my district went to this) it actually felt like christmas. These kids were sweet and appreciative and were not shy to hang all over us and give us hugs. It was a special experience. I am very grateful for the familys, wards and individuals who donated items for this gift to these children. 

We had a christmas zone activity/conference this week. our district went with another zone to a retirement place and talked to/at/with/only listened to some old people. sand them some hymns. It was fun. It was good to make some people happy. ...including us missionaries. It was also neat to see how there are so many sisters. In this group, there was probably a little less than half of us were sisters. 

pictures are of my district, my tomale (apparently I will be receiving more) and....recorders. 

playing a recorder duet in front of an audience in guatemala......check. 

Primary Program...Guatemala style

The primary program was so cute! They all had their parts and scriptures memorized, sang quite well, and even had coordinating red ties for the boys. It was so cute to see all of them up there in a row and to see them get so excited to give their parts. My little friend, Devora, rocked it out of the park. She was the last one to speak. she is 11 years old and gave like a 5 minute talk/speech. from memory (but I don't think it was scripted, just like, from her brain) of the restauracion (resteration, I don't know how to spell in english) with dates, back story, joseph smith, quoting scripture, quoting the first vision. pretty much lesson one from preach my gospel. The spirit was strong, she spoke with grace and eloquence. Hermana Edwards and I were about to hand over our mission tags at that point. That girl was fantastic! Maybe they used a cd for the music, maybe that one tiny boy has a voice of a man, maybe they have only been to primary twice in the past year, but they sure did blow that out of the water. Good job Puerto Barrios. 

This week has been an exciting week. 

We have worked really hard and had dats like never before, 12 lessons with a member present, 16 other lessons to investigators, 16 new investigators, 11 lessons to menos activos or recent converts. I invited people to baptism, 6 people said yes, 4 of them with a date. We were pretty excited. Finishing days with a new baptismal date is always fun, ....until it comes to sunday when only one investigator comes to church. yep. well, agency it is. We'll see what we can do to get these people to the chapel. 

also, Hermana Bender (from the CCM) is in my district now! It was so great to see her. She was with us for a part of a day and I got to go out and do divisions with her. So one of my mission dreams came true: to be companions with Hermana Bender. It was great. We taught this one family and I have never felt the spirit so strongly in one of my lessons. Good questions were asked and over all I just loved it. 

Being senor comp is still stressful, and it is still blazing hot especially in the late morning, /afternoons. Still doesn't feel like christmas, but that's OK. 

I am so appreciate for all of the support and prayers. When we were putting all of these baptismal dates I was asking my companion, "who do you think is praying for us?....they must be doing something right" 

We finally got our conference magazines! I read like 5 talks this morning. It was so good.

Well, here comes this time again when I have to leave and go back to the other world of Guatemala. Thank you all. and merry Christmas!

Tis the season for Peace

This week has been long. 

first week as senior comp

first week training

first week without Hermana Ramirez

first baptism without hna Ceballos

first wedding I organized

first week of December....christmas is coming, but it doesn't feel like it. 

Things are getting better. There is quite a bit of stress that comes with the things listed above, but there is also relief. 

Hna Edwards speaks english

I have a good district leader

I learn a bunch about training

Hna Ynjo is so sweet and positive

I saw the christmas devotional...in English. How beautiful that was!

I really like what was said about Peace. The prince of peace, and receiving His peace. 

There has been a lot of stress this week, weddings, papers, teaching all of the lessons in four days. more papers. Finding members to come out with us, a baptism to plan. But it is okay. Not everything worked out exactly as hoped. And the more I learn about dats, the worse they tend to get. 

But there will be peace. 

I really liked what was said in the closing prayer of the devotional. I want to share this gospel like the good news it is. I want to share it with love, and with more than just my love, but the love of Christ. I strive to have the spirit with me so that it can carry this message I have as a representative of Jesus Christ to the hearts and souls of all who accept to hear. 

I don't have a miraculous story to share of how I was wooshed with peace, but I do have the tender mercies in my life that help me gain a new and stronger desire to be better. I get this peace in all different ways. letters from friends, letters from hna edwards' dad to her, vynl quotes on tuc tucs (pretty much golf carts) prayers, songs, devotional, comments, quotes etc. 

I hope to apply this peace more and more into my life. I would love to feel an overwhelming peace come into my heart. 

is there really such a thing as just a normal week in Guatemala?

nothing super crazy happened this week. I had to spend a lot of time at members houses just resting and reading. They don't want me to over do it as I recover from pnemonia. Hermana Watts has me on a new diet of low sugar, lots of water, a bit extra sleep, and carefulness. I am feeling much better with the pnemonia stuff, just a bit of heaviness in my chest and a cough on occasion. I take some antibiotics and ibuprofen and just take things a bit easier, but sometimes it's hard to slow down my lead comp, she's a doer, but I love it!

We had a zone conference with presidente watts and hermana Watts. It was sooooo good! It was really neat to learn about how to use the baptismal question more effectively and how to explain and introduce it. It's pretty nice to have this training, I feel like we will be doing some good work and seeing some good improvement in our selves too. 

I have times of difficulty for me, as a missionary. I am learning more about emotional strength, and how to cope with times of sadness or struggle. Somehow, there are always those notes, letters, people, books, quotes, video clips, conferences, talks, etc. that seem to come at just the right moment. I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for this support. I am grateful for the answered prayers and support. 

well, I wrote my mom a lot, so I don't have any more time here. ...a big thanks goes to elise bowen for writing me a dear elder! apparently it's free. yall should look into that. 

"Hermana Hutchins, spreading the gospel....and germs." -Hermana Ramirez

I Know my blood type now! 

O negative (sad I know) 

Well this weeks letter isn't gonna be as long because I spent quite a few days not doing too much this week. I can officially say that I have stayed in a Guatemalan hospital over night (two nights actually). 

The story goes down like this:

Wednesday morning, I wake up, jump rope, study, we go out to teach lessons. Almost all of the lessons fell through, which means that there is a lot of walking, not a lot of sitting, and a lot of time in the hot sun. My legs were really tired and I just assumed it was because I had exercised that morning, but I was still unsure as to why they were so tired. The chances I did get to sit I took them (there are usually not enough chairs for everyone to sit, and we don't have a bunch of inside lessons in the middle of the day because it is so hot inside).Later my head hurt, my body hurt, my ear hurt, I got a fever and by the end of the night I whispered to my comp to catch me if I pass out. 

I didn't pass out, but on the way home we stopped for flour tortilla. I figured if I was dying the last food I would want to eat is a flour tortilla.

I fell straight asleep once we got home around 8pm. The next day stayed at hermana Cucul's house as my other two comps went out and worked. I just slept and read "our search for happiness" all day. I had a bad nose run, and I was coughing a lot. Rough day, but kinda nice to get some time to read. 

The next day we went to planning in the morning, I felt pretty bad, and was not sure if I would be able to go out and work that afternoon. I ended up calling the nurse because I was concerned about my one eye that was all red and sick looking, as well as my piling up of health problems. The nurse had us go to the doctors to do some other stuff that my companions and I needed to do, but they warned us that they might try to keep me there over night, so to prepare for that.

well, it happened. It turns out I had Pneumonia. They gave me an IV and everything. I think I got a total of 7 shots in the behind....ouch. and a bunch of medicine. 

It is weird to be treated as a patient in a different language. People were surprised when I could speak and understand spanish. However, my medical vocab in spanish is not as large as my gospel vocab.

One of the doctors thought I was from Germany. 

Our land lady came by the hospital and brought us some food (she is so sweet) apparently she thought I was from Italy. 

So I was in a Guatemalan Hospital for a total of 48 hours. I think I had about 6 or 7 nurses/ doctors work on me during this time, none of whom used gloves....yeah, it's Guatie. 

I'm still kickin, but I am pretty weak. My companions are in the capitol right now doing Hermana Ynjo's visa work, and I'm chillin with the other sisters in the Puerto Barrios area. I feel better, but once I do stuff, I get tired fast. I hope I get better quick so I can get back to work. I don't really know what's gonna happen tomorrow. I'll just take it easy today, and go from there. 

Prayers are always appreciated. I'll be fine though, so don't get too worried or anything. 

a family tree...or more like a family grove

Reading true to the faith is sooooo good. It explains things well, simply, and bluntly. I recommend it to anyone and everyone. 

My recorder playing skills are growing where now I can play pretty much any song (mas or menos) on request (as long as I am familiar with it) including.....lady gaga, backstreet boys, hymns, ada,  little ...and the list goes on. 

Last week we celebrated my companion, Hermana Ramirez's birthday. We (hermana Ynjo and I) had bought her some presents and I made her a gluten-free, oven-free, birthday cake. It turned out really well and consisted of stacked pancake like things with sweet and condensed milk and frosting. It was a big hit. 

My gluten-free oven-free cooking is actually pretty good if you asked me. I made a pretty mean peach cobler today. I am glad that I can help my companion eat something that she can enjoy and know that there is not any gluten in it. I really like cooking and know about food. I think food science is a cool major to have that knowledge. 

Answered prayers through others. President Monson repeats his feelings of that the sweetest thing that he can feel is knowing that God has answered somebody's prayer through you. It is so special to get to be the instrument for somebody else's blessing. I have been on the receiving end of this grace, and I am very grateful for that. 

We had a meeting with one of our recent converts, Carlos. He is so adorable. He just turned 19 and is considering a mission! He shared with us some sad news that his brother in law was killed the other day (we heard about this and prayed for the family of whoever got killed, not know it was carlos' family) Carlos said that he was able to explain to his sister and family about the spirit world, and how he is able to learn about the gospel now, and that we will see our families again. He explained how Heavenly Father has a plan for all of us. Him sharing this experience was so touching. We had planned to teach him a lesson about family history and baptisms for the dead, which turned out to be perfect! He was so excited to hear that he can do these saving ordinances for his deceased family. He said how he has hundreds of pepole he could do. Apparently he has quite the family tree. His enthusiasm for missionary and temple work inspires me. I am greatful for his example. This guy is bien chilero (way awesome). 

Changes were declared sunday night that hna. Ramirez would be going to the capitol and I would end up finishing the second half of hna. Ynjo's training. It was really sad to hear that hna. ramirez had changes, but it wasn't too shocking since she has been here for 5 months or so. However, this morning we got a call from the APs saying that there were changes in the changes and that hna. Ramirez will be staying here for this transferr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!yay!!!!!!!!!! We are super good friends and our companionship as a whole is really good. I was very happy to receive this news. 

I am learning more and more of who I want to be as a missionary. I am excited for my little sister to join me in the field almost exactly 6 months after I entered. We will literally be sister sisters. 

Thank you for all of the prayers and support! 

Love, Hermana Hutchins

The weird looks you get for being white

I think the weirdest look I have ever received I received today. In a bathroom, from this guatemalen boy while I was playing a recorder (those flute things) and talking in english as well. I have never seen someone's face so confused. But what I have to say to that is....Why was a boy in the GIRLS bathroom?

Halloween was like nothing here. but they do do this dia de santos for the 1 and 2 of november where ´people go to the cementary and decorate the graves and repaint them if they need it and eat lunch or something there. We bought some pretty good dulce de leche that they were selling out side of the cementary. 

Our extent of halloween celebrations was that there was this rag up to dry on our line that has holes in it that looked like a gost face and there are some pretty big spiders and wicked webs in our celing rafters. We're legit here. 

I saw Ashley Whitten and Avery Skinner on the devocional on sunday...It was cool to think that there they were right then... a little sense of connection. It was good to see my friends, but at the same time, it was a little heart tugging. I really did like that devocional though, we listened to it in spanish, but I could really understand almost all of it. It is hard to keep the focus for so long though, but it is always great to hear from a church authority, it was so inspiring and filled with the spirit. 

I am overall happier this week than I was last week. I am figuring one of the biggest lessons I hope to learn on my mission is how to be happy continually. I know sad things will happen, and I won't  always be happy, but I want to always have a good attitude filled with hope and enthusiasm. 

Oh, I had this touching experience this week with one of the members we go out with for divisions. We were crossing this muddy muddy area and my foot pretty much got plastered with mud, and I was slipping around in my shoes and it was a bit dangerous as we crossed this sketchy bridge. Well, what happened is she got some water had me rinse my feet and she dried my shoes (crocs...the best) with her towel and had me dry my feet. I felt so served and really humble. Someone washed my feet. ...it was touching. 

I am enjoying studying and learning. I have learned so much from my companions and I hope to be able to share more time with them by making it through the next transferr together. let's hope! We are really good friends and have a lot of love for eachother. 

I would like to say to all of the members reading this.....please volunteer to go out with the missionaries. They need your help. The investigators need friends and support. Just reach out to someone...and great shall be their joy [for those that bring souls unto christ].