Still Alive in Guatemala!

Hola! I am still alive! Ha, last week I emailed my parents and told them I had dengue, it's a sickness from the mosquitos and it's basically a really high fever and body aches. BUT I am happy to report that I have conquered dengue!  It only put me out of commission for.... 4 days.  But I am up and going and preaching the good word again!  Funny, before my mission I was like, I am not going to have a single sick day!  And I have had a week at this point... guess  I'm not as strong as I thought I was!  But we made sure to work SUPER hard the rest of the week and wow, we did work!  In just 3 days we found 15 new investigators with 3 families!  Bam take that dengue!  That which don´t kill me, can only make me stronger!  Thank you,  Kanye! ;)

We were in the primary activity.  I just smiled a lot.

So yeah, the end of this week was a great one!  Now I have super good bug spray that I use every 4 hours and I have had a lot LESS bug bites!  Oh hallelujah!  It's wonderful. so hopefully I never get dengue again! :)

This week we met a lot of new investigators!  We are truly so blessed here in Esperanza!  We received a reference of these 3 sisters last week and we have been teaching them everyday!  One of them is named E- and she is TALL!  Like me!  She is literally my height... and that doesn't exist here in Guatemala!  She is this beautiful, tall, amazon woman!  And we are best friends!  I seriously love her! We talk about how hard it is to find clothes that fit and shoes our size!  And she LOVES the Book of Mormon.  She seriously is eating it up!  She always reads so much and then wants to share her fave verses with us!  Sweet girl!  All of her sisters are like that!  So we are working with them a lot!  Oh and they always make us special juices every time we come!  Like melon and watermelon, with pieces of watermelon in it!  It's gourmet!  That and they give us these giant chip things that are fried imitation pork rinds.  Haha gotta embrace the culture.... anyway we love them!  Trying to get them to come to church but it's hard because they have to sell things to survive.  But we are teaching them about keeping the sabbath day holy!  So we will see how it goes! :)  They have this huge hammock so I 

taught a lesson on a hammock this week!  Hilar!  Dream come true! I'm buying one! :) 

I also taught a lesson while making tortillas by hand this week!  Yeah that's right!  Here there are tortillerias everywhere!  Like every street!  They make them by hand and they are divine.  I want to learn before I leave so we ask everyone to teach us!   We were contacting the other day and this lady owns a tortilleria!  So we were like, hey teach us and we will help, and secretly teach you the restoration? ha! We did all of that! :)  So funny!  It was way fun and  I'm one step closer to learning how to cook all this divine food that I love.  Seriously, how am I going to survive without my hot, fresh tortillas for every meal???  I know, I'll just make my own!!!!! ;)

One of the girls from our English class!

We also met a part member family this week! And wow, they are prepared for the gospel! His name is Elder, I kid you not. I guess his dad met with missionaries at some point and loved the elders so he named his kid Elder!  And now this guy has a family of his own.... so he named his first son.... Elder! I'm not kidding! These people NEED to get baptized!  They are so sweet and so interested in learning! 

This Sunday was amazing.  Our church attendance shot up like 30 people!  We had tons of investigators and less actives there!  But none of the investigators we tried to bring to church came.  It was all other random people that members brought!  Proof we need the members help!  We are really getting their help lately.  Our family home evenings are finally starting to work out with them!  And they're making us food!  Oh my goodness I love it when after a lesson they're like, and now... tortas! Freak yes!  I love food.  Speaking of food... we love our cook.  They really took care of me when I was sick.  That sweet family!  Ah I adore them! :)  They have 3 nurses in the family so they took turns caring for me! :)  And they feed us so well!  Except yesterday when they fed us the nasty chicharonnes soup again.  (Nasty soggy pig skins. my fave).  But tomorrow they said they are serving us something special..... pata de coche?  I'm pretty sure that means pig foot.

This lady owns a small hotel and serves us cheap breakfast on pdays!

We have been playing a lot of soccer as a zone lately.... joy.  These people love soccer.  I do not.  Ha! They are like, "Hermana Amor you have to run."  And I'm just like no, we don't play soccer we play baseball! or volleyball! or basketball!  Ah! I'm not quite a chapina yet because.... well.... I hate soccer! Ha! 

Well I'm out of time!  We are going to eat some Chinese food, yeah they have that here!  I'm stoked.  I love fried rice!  But I love you all and thanks for your prayers and emails!  It means the world to me! I hope you all have the best labor day and start to the school year!  Especially all my BYU people!  Live it up this year! for me! ;) 

Something I learned when I was sick:  Romans 8:18.  Look it up.  We are worth more than our trials. :)

 Oh also I've been reading  Jesus the Christ.  I'm obsessed!  Best book ever!!!!!1

loveeeeeeee,

hermana moore!!!!!

20 years young in Guatemala!

Daaaaaang.  I am officially no longer a teenager!  20 years old, and here in Guatemala!  Wow. Sometimes I'm just like, is this real life??  But it is and I love it! :)

me and my zone having cake for my birthday

Eating the first bite of cake....a Guatemalan tradition.  They all sang to me in English
and I couldn't understand a word of it because their accents are so thick!

So this week was LOCO.  I have like 30 pictures from this week, obvs I cant send em all but I'll try! 

So let me just talk about what was the funnest day this week, my birthday!  So it started off bright and early at 5 am when I was awakened by my comp.  I was... what the...... it's still dark.  Then I saw Suli, one of the daughters of the family that cooks for us!  Then I was.... why are you in my room! Then her mom walked out!  Then her other sister!  And I'm just disoriented times 20 and they start singing happy birthday!  I'm just like, how'd you get in my room!  

Then I got up and went into the other room and there was the rest of the family!  So they brought me a birthday breakfast of eggs with salsa and beans and fried platanos and arroz con leche just like dad makes it!  I told her once that dad made that so she made it just for my bday!  Ah I could have cried! 

They are the sweetest family! Hermana G- the mom and our cook, is like my Guatemalan Momma.  I love her!  They have been taking care of me a lot this week. :)  (editor's note:  The next paragraph explains this.  It's from another email from Erica)

<So what do you want first, the good or the bad?  Well there is really only one bad thing so I'll start with that... the mosquitos just love me so much that they gave me dengue!  Basically that just means a fever and you can't do anything but sleep.  But we got rid of the fever right away,  Luckily I'm surrounded by nurses!  Ha!  Our cook's daughters are nurses so they took care of me and such.  I have some meds and I've been sleeping ALOT.  So don't worry, it was honestly just a matter of time... but it came and I'm gonna conquer this dang sickness!> 

So then the rest of my birthday was just full of contacting and inviting people to our activity!  The activity was supposed to start at 6, we were planning to show up at 5:30 to set up the fire with some members, but of course no one showed up till 7:15, thanks to rain and Guatemalans being Guatemalans!  No, funny story about the rain..... it rained all day on my birthday, and we were just like NOOOOOOOOO!  People don't come to anything when it rains, let alone a fire activity... so we just told people it would stop at 5.... and it did!  Around 5:30 the rain stopped.... until 8:45, right when we walked in the house!  Miracles!!!!!  The activity rocked though!  We had like 40 people there and 5 investigators!  And I got to eat 7 s'mores!  

Yep, we introduced the people of Guatemala to s'mores!  And they LOVED it!  Ha!  More like I loved it!  They probably think I'm crazy I was like eat them!  Eat!!!!!!! :)  The Bishop gave a nice spiritual thought and I really think that it will help the ward be more unified. :)

On Thursday many companion hit her year mark in the mission so we celebrated at a restaurant!  We got to have real food, I had a crepe and I about died!  Oh goodness. :)  

We had lots of good food this week!  Especially since I've been sick, people keep bringing stuff by the house for us, it's really sweet! I have so much support here, so really, don't worry about me!  Just keep the prayers coming! :)

Oh we finally bought umbrellas this week, 5 weeks into the mission during rainy season isn't too late! We love our umbrellas, but we apparently bought really cheap ones, they already broke!  At least we have boots and jackets! 

This week I received real deal letters from Mom and Aunt Nancy!  Only took 5 weeks to get here! Woo!!! :)

If any of you are ever feeling down, read Hebrews 11.  The future is as bright as your faith!  Sometimes out here on the mission it is hard.  I'm not going to lie to you.  I have been tried more the past 5 weeks than I ever have in my life;  but I am learning that things go better when we believe they will!  Have faith and then your positivity will work with the Lord to make everything just that much brighter! :) 

Today we went to tour a rambotan finca (ranch) where they grow and package rambotans!  

you have to be sanitary in the factory

me and my comp in a rambotan tree

We ate so many.... they are those fruits that I sent home a pic of the first week, red with green spikes!  Apparently they send 95% of those rambotans to the US especially LA!  He said to the Asian communities, so go get some!  Eat them and think of me! 

In terms of the work this week, it was great!  We found some new investigators, 19 this week in fact! A lot are positive!  We are trying to find families and there are 3 we are working with a lot!  One is a family of at least 15 people!  I'm not really sure just how big it is!  There are just so many!  Every time we teach there are at least 10, one time there was 16 people listening"  I was like wow!!!!!  They are obsessed with English so we always sing a himno in Spanish and English!  Speaking of  English, we had our first English class this week.  Did  I tell you we are teaching English classes?  Well we are! But no one showed up.... idk what it is with our attempts at activities, they don't really work!  But we aren't giving up hope!  Ever! :)  Gotta do the Lord's work here in Esperanza!  Sometimes it seems like there isn't any work here, or too much rather.  It's really discouraging.  But then I remember that a prophet of God called me here, and my mission president sent ME here.  They need me!  So I will never let them down!!!!! :)

So just in case you forgot, Guatemala is beautiful!  It's like a cross between Jurassic Park and Hawaii and San Diego!  Take that!

Funniest story of the week!   We were trying to gather up investigators before church Sunday and we went to the house of the big family and we asked where is jose and they said he is at his house!  We thought he lived here, so they said no he lives down a bit in a white wood house! so we thought, okay we can find it!  Well luckily a little girl came with us because we NEVER would have found his house...... because only after trekking through a jungle, crossing a river, and up a small mountain did we actually find his house!!!!!!!!!!  No lies, I crossed a river before church on Sunday.  Only in Guate. Ha!  And I saw spiders bigger than my hand in the jungle!  Holy!  And then, he didn't even come to church!  Wow!  I was....but.... we just crossed a river........ do you not understand that I just crossed a river in my Sperrys!  I'm wearing a white skirt homeboy!  I crossed a river in my Sunday best!  But it's okay, I know the God loves Him.  And  I'll receive blessings for it! :)

Well I think that's it for this week!  Love you all so much!  Thanks for the emails and prayers:)  Never give up your faith.  Always believe that something amazing is about to happen because if you do, it will! :)

ice cream from the ice cream man

Love,

Hermana Moore 

The Week of Free Food

Wow!  I'm back again, this week flew by!  And wow, this week was awesome!  I felt everyone's prayers this week, really I did!  Every time things started to look downwards, all of a sudden a family of 15 interested people turned up!  Okay that didn't happen every time, that only happened once, but really I feel like this week was FULL of miracles and happiness and laughter and joy and missionary work! And Spanish too :)  Of course,  I'm in Guatemala!  

view from a member's roof

Sometimes I'm on a dirt road in Guatemala in the rain getting eaten by sancudos--- and I love it!  

"sancudo"  (mosquito) bites.  They honestly don't itch anymore!

How did this happen!!!  But really, this week was the best week of my mission thus far, no baptisms yet but I just felt actually effective so much this week! I feel like I'm really getting into my stride here in the mission. :)  Either that or I'm just eating really good food. :)

A chapina breakfast. I love beans in the morning!

So yeah.  Can I just talk about food for a second?  Maybe I'm losing weight or look hungry all the time because EVERYONE gave us free food this week.  And I was just like heck yes keep it coming!  I seriously must have 5 stomachs, because I always have room for more! :)  

editor's note: Someone needs to teach me how to flip pics!

This week we got free corn, homemade bread, tostadas, chocolate popsicles, cookies, lollipops, and my personal favorite-- homemade coconut ice cream!  Oh my oh my.  I died and went to heaven.  That stuff is bomb!  Oh I almost forgot the biggest free meal we got this week!  So story time:

The zone leaders called us one day and were like hey come to an appointment with us tonight, they are serving dinner!  Ha, actually what the zl said to my comp is, "Tell Hermana Moore that she's getting free food tonight."  I guess my stomach is getting a reputation.  Anyways, so we went with them one night in their area to this appointment.  

They had coke but we didn't drink it!

Well, they did NOT tell us the whole story!  Turns out this family "requested" us to come to dinner.  Like they literally said,  "We will go to church if you bring the gringas."  Yes the gringas.  I guess they saw us on the street one day and .... who knows?  So we walk in and it's just like silent.  Awk.... then the mom walks up to me and just starts stroking my skin and hair and is like,  "oh pura muñeca!"  Ha, so that means literally ,"She's a real doll".  But I guess it means pretty or something.  I didn't really get it.  And yeah thats how the entire night went!  They asked me about every detail of my life in the states and they just touched my hair a lot!  So the zone leaders made dinner and it was just so funny!  

Las Chulas Gringas!

This is pollo seco

I felt like a celebrity the whole night!  Why can't people be like that in my area!  Ha, here they like RUN from the gringas!  It was nice that my whiteness actually helped in the work!  Haha,  I love being a gringa.  I honestly haven't seen a single other person from the United States since I've been here, other than missionaries.  So we are def a minority! :) trying to use that to our advantage, sometimes it works! :)

Oh, other funny story,  I almost got eaten by a dog last night!  We were walking home and there were some dogs around and then all of a sudden this huge dog with a chain comes charging at us!  He was snarling and fierce and I was about to pee my pants!  He brushed my leg and went for the other dogs, and then we RAN!!!!!  Holy wow, our hearts were racing!!!  So that was terrifying!

So we have really been trying to work with the members this week!  We have been going around teaching less actives and new converts about family history work!  Wow, this is such a powerful tool. We might not have been able to have that activity but it is working really well bringing it to the people! We were showing one hermana the family search site.  They had a computer, and we found her dad and then she saw that his work had already been done.  She just started balling!  She was so happy! The spirit was so strong!  I am excited to keep this up and teach more people about family history work! 

Also, we have been trying to work with the members by having noches de hogar with them.  Every night this week we had one with a family!  Sometimes they didn't get the memo that they were supposed to provide nonmembers for us to teach... but they'll get it one day! :)  We had a lot of great lessons and even found some new investigators.  Yesterday we had two and it was raining really hard so they both gave us atol. ATOL.  Oh my goodness.  It's like hot chocolate but full of vitamins and stuff!  So when you drink it you feel full like super full!  And it's warm and delicious!  Well we got it twice yesterday, to the point where I was like I'm going to explode.  I'm full of atol.  But I'm obsessed. Go make it!  Go! 

This is actually hot chocolate with "lenguas" (the little sugar cookies the bread man sells)

This week we found a new area of our area!  How exciting!  We were pumped!  Until we saw that every house had door bells..... yep.  Talk about hard core rejection doorbell style!  It was basically like a slammed door in the face, but with a doorbell.  Ha!  We ended up finding a family though and they are way positive.  It's all worth it, I swear! 

Oh sweetest moment this week.  We were teaching this sweet woman and it was so positive!  Then in her prayer she prayed for us to come back, like it was something like, please, let the hermanas come back!  I could have cried!  I was like yes! WE WILL come back!  Oh goodness.  I love the mission. This week was fantastic, and this coming week will be incredible.  I love being here.  I truly love it! We were having lunch today in a little place and it was the same place we ate the first week.  I just realized how much I've grown since then!  Today I was talking a ton with the other hermanas and just so happy. The first time I was like, where am I and why am I here!  God works miracles, and he has worked a miracle in me.  The mission is the place to be ! :) 

Love, love, love all of you and THANK YOU for all the birthday wishes! :)

love, 

Hermana Moore

Two Months On A Mission!

Wow, what a week!  Here I am again!  This week honestly went by fast!  Everyone says time will start going by really fast, so maybe that is already starting!  So today marks my two "monthiversary" of being on a mission!!!!  Wow, it seems like it has been so much longer than that, but I'm really loving it!!!! :)

view from a member's roof

So this week, in terms of weather... it is officially rainy season!  Meaning, everyday it rains from like

3-6 pm.  But it's definitely getting colder!  When I first got here, it was hot hot hot in the morning, now it's more like just warm and sometimes there is an awesome breeze!  But everyday, without fail, it starts raining at 3 o'clock, which is right when we leave for the afternoon!  I usually change into my rain boots before I leave.  Those boots are a LIFE SAVER!!!!!!  Seriously, the days I don't wear them I'm just sad because my feet are wet.  I love them.  Ha, the people here are always like "Woah, those boots are huge."  And I'm like, "Yeah I know, big feet, welcome to my life!"  But everyday I go out with an umbrella, my rain coat, my boots, and all my books triple wrapped in plastic bags in my bag!  Usually I can stay relatively dry, unless it torrentially down pours, which happens a lot.  Then it's like I just showered or stood under a waterfall with my umbrella!  I'm just glad I didn't really bring any all cotton skirts.  All of my skirts dry pretty quick! :)  But yeah, Guatemala rain is just comical. the streets turn into rivers!  Absolute rivers.  Seeing people riding through the rivers on their motorcycles cracks me up. They hold umbrellas on the motorcycles!  These people.... so funny.  But I'm loving the cooler weather. I was actually cold one night!  I actually used a blanket!  Normally I sleep with just a sheet, solely for the purpose of not getting eaten alive by mosquitos. (which is still a problem.  I don't know what is with my blood, but they love it!)

So this week, amidst all the contacting and lesson teaching, we had our first activity!  I woke up one morning and I was like, I know what we need to do for our activity!  Family history!  So we were both stoked, we told the ward and went around and invited everyone!  We bought tons of cookies and Vikinga, hilar name for a soda, and we planned it out really well!  So we got to the chapel a little early to set up and we had music and everything was looking great!  And then.... 2 hours later when no one showed up, we called it quits.  That's right, nobody came!  Zerooooooo.  So that was kiiind of a bummer.  Plus side, now we have hundreds of cookies in our house!  Really it wasn't too bad, we ended up talking with a girl in our ward that was at the chapel and she gave us an idea for a different activity!  Now we are planning that one!  It will be next weekend and basically its gonna rock.   People are way excited!  We are doing a bonfire in the cancha, (field), behind our chapel!  We are going to teach them what s'mores are! :)  Oh, and the activity just happens to be planned on my birthday...... haha!  It's a coincidence, I promise!  So yeah I may or may not have somewhat planned myself a huge birthday party. ha! ;)

Activity treats all for us!

Another first this week, our first baptism commitment!!!!!!  When she said yes and agreed to be baptized on Saturday, I literally cried.  My smile was soooo big!  She was laughing because I was just like exploding with excitement!  Then on Saturday, after cleaning and filling the pila, (font), and setting up for the baptism, we went by to visit her.  She kindly informed us that she would not be getting baptized.  So yep, first baptism, fell through!  We cried a little then decided hey, we are missionaries let's go do work. so we contacted and that day ended up being the best day of the week! we achieved all of our daily goals!  We had like 10 lessons that day and 5 new investigators!  I challenged like 6 people to baptism that day!  And a few of those new investigators look pretty positive!  I'm excited!

 Other news in the work, we have decided that contacting does not work!  Surprise, knocking on doors is ineffective. so we are really trying to work with the members!  We started this new program where we will have a family home evening with a different family every night.  They invite a family and we come and teach a lesson and have an activity!  It was like pulling teeth getting people to sign up; but eventually we filled the week!  Our first one is tonight!  I am really excited!  I think it will be really effective and we will find a lot of new investigators! 

FHE calendar!

Oh so this week one day I went on an exchange with a different sister!  I was with her all day in her area!  They are the area next to us, gardenias and wow, welcome to the Guatemala I was expecting! Corn fields for days!   Rolling corn fields, because this place is so dang hilly!  We had to cross the interstate, a corn field, a river, climb a mountain, basically, and walk through 2 villages to get to her cook's house!  That's what I'm talking about!  It was crazy; but we had a great time!  I was with Hermana Cruz and she is from Nicaragua!  Whole day in Spanish and I didn't die!  Haha, I'm definitely starting to get the hang of this language just with a lot of pantomiming! :)  I don't know if I said this already but my area, La Esperanza, is more of a city.  I'm in like a neighborhoodish thing next to the big city!  So there are buses, (which are actually vans), and cars and tiendas and stores and tortillerias everywhere!  It's kind of insane here, but I'm loving it now!

Another roof picture

OH I GOT A PACKAGE THIS WEEK!!!!!! AND ANOTHER DEAR ELDER.  Heck to the yes I love you guys!  First package, and all full of mints!  Ahhhhhhhh, just what I wanted!  Thanks for the poster Jill!  It's on the wall and it glows in the dark!  So I love reading it at night!!!!!!! :) 

first package!

This week with our cook I ate something new, chicharonnes.  Basically this is the Guate version of pork rinds.  Uhm, yum?  No, it's not good.  It's like pig fat/skin cooked.  I almost gagged.  So yeah, I still smiled and ate it, but it was rough.... also we had stuffed succhini. that what they call zucchini here. ssssucchini, haha!  It was way good.  I like the food and it's starting to like me back.  Oh my, will my digestive system ever be the same!  Other than that I eat lots of cereal and Eggo waffles.  We found a mega deal for a box of waffles for 5 quets!  That's like less than a dollar.  We bought a ton! 

So, this morning we deeeeeep cleaned.  We had a wall of mold, ew, so we had to clean it or move out! So cleaned it we did! 3 hours and bleach and bugs everywhere, it is cleaned!  Hahaha I love the before and after pictures.  It was pretty bad. 

sideways moldy wall!

rightways clean wall!

Oh, so fun fact for the week, a bread man comes around the neighborhood all day everyday beeping a little bike horn selling bread.  We LOVE him.  He comes by every night at like 8:30 and we always buy.  So I sent a pic of me buying from him.  I love pan dulce.  I'll die when I cant have it every night at home!!!!!  That and my tortillas, ah I have a problem!!!!!!! 

pan dulce!

Amidst all the rejection and rain, I know this gospel is true!  Without a shadow of a doubt.  I know that I am in the right place. I know that the Lord is with me in every step I take, and even though it is hard sometimes, I know that these trials are bringing me closer to Him. I am so grateful that my family is sealed together in the temple, it brings the most comfort.  I am so happy that I can kneel and pray so much!  It is such a gift!  I love sharing this glad message.  I know that someone is waiting for us here in Guatemala, and we will find them and bring them this joy! :)

Well, I need to go; but I love you all!  I think about you all the time and I just love you! I feel the prayers, so thank you so much!

Write me :) and thanks for all the emails!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, Sister Moore

P.S. (from the editor)  Erica also wanted to include that she doesn't have time to answer everyone's emails but appreciates them soooo much and says THANK YOU!!!  She prints them out and reads them over and over.  They give her great strength and encouragement.  (Thank you from her parents, too!)

There Is Sunshine In My Soul Today

Hola familia!  Wow, week two down! and I'm happy to report: I am loving the mission!  The first week was hard... really hard; but this week I was just raking in the joys and the disappointments were, less. or I just don't really remember them now? not sure :)

But wow, what a week! 

First off, I GOT DEAR ELDERS THIS WEEK!  Some sister walked in to zone conference on Thursday and gave me some! I guess she had been by the office and I had some letters there! So what does this mean for you?  Send me dear elders, and emails. :) mostly emails though.  But dear elders make my day a little brighter too :) Ha sorry I'm so demanding!  Also, tucked inside my dear elder, (which was from mommy.  Thanks mom I loved it), was a note from Hermana Pister!  Oh my gosh I love that woman!  I don't know how she got it in there, but she made my day!  I miss my old comps! BUT  I absolutely adore my companion right now!  I know I said this last week but I'll say it again, that Hermana is an angel!  She is so supportive and just incredible!  Couldn't have asked for a better trainer! 

soaking wet Hermanas

So this week, I learned what Guatemalans mean by rain.  You see, it's the rainy season here... which means everyday at 3, right when we go out, it starts raining buckets. and buckets and buckets and buckets!  Like, I can't even explain it.  I have an umbrella, a raincoat, boots and the works... and  I'm still drenched every time.  I took a pic in the road outside the bishops house... the streets turn in to RIVERS!  When I stepped into the street to take the picture, the current was so strong it nearly knocked me over!  Goodness.  Oh and funny story, right after we took that picture we were walking to the capilla and just chatting when a car drove by and DRENCHED US.  I'm not kidding, it was like from a movie.  A wave of water just attacked us.  We were already soaked but now it was with dirty street water! yum! ha!  We laughed so hard, literally we both screamed at the same time and threw our hands up and then after we just looked at each other and busted up laughing! hahahaha  I'm laughing just thinking about it.  Oh and the face of the man on the sidewalk across from us... I'd say he enjoyed it too! hahahahahahahahaha.

sideways but you get the point!

So we went to the birthday party of a sweet hermanita in our ward this week, right after the torrential downpour, she turned 88!  It was really fun and long... speeches. these people are... long winded. but I love em! when they sing happy birthday here and there are Nortes around, they sing in English first, then in Spanish! So I sang my heart out in English, I take what English I can get. :) and then they fed us cake and tostadas. and wow, I love that people force food down our throats. I NEVER say no :) so I had... you know, 6 tostadas. and 3 slices of cake.  I'm in food heaven.

Speaking of food, this week we started eating with a family for lunch everyday! this is the equivalent of a cook!  We are eating with the familia G-, 5 kids and all of them are just happy and active in the church!  I adore them and Hermana G- spoils us with her meals!  They serve us so much and every meal there are tortillas up the yin yang.  I love tortillas!  I seriously eat 5 or more with every meal!  Ha the dad looked at me yesterday while I was eating and was like, uh do you want more tortillas? hahahahaha.  I'm a pig and in terms of how the food is treating me... I think my body is adjusting. ha! what an adventure this place is.  I don't drink the water, don't worry... but yeah.... adjusting, slowly but surely. ;) 

Everyone drinks water this way and I also filter it to be extra sure!

So monday night, a week ago, we helped out with an activity and my comp and I were in charge of cooking popcorn... ha after like 7 different attempts we finally got it working sorta.... ha we tried!  But then after, we were riding home in the back of a truck of a member with some other hermanas and I was just like wow. how blessed am I!  I am serving the Lord in Guatemala!  I love life!  This week has been full of moments like that :)  I'm just noticing the little things a lot more.  Like we will be singing a hymn to someone that honestly doesn't want to talk to us and I'll be like dang, this sucks.  But then I think, no way. there is sunshine in my soul today!  I'm gonna smile and smack them with my sunshine! So I do!  And they still don't listen.  Ha!  I'm learning to love these people.  They will usually let us in, but keeping commitments.... rare.  We keep trying though.  Never lose hope.  Sometimes that is hard when it is Sunday morning and you have been chasing people down and waking them up for 2 hours... but then we go to church; where people hug us and kiss us on the cheek and bear their testimonies about how hard the hermana missioneras work, and I just think, this is worth it. :)

We work a lot with the members here!  We usually go out with one a day and try to involve them in teaching.  It's a new thing for this ward, but we are trying everything we can to meet more people, tracting and contacting at doors doesn't really work for us, ever.  Ha the other day I made my first successful contact on a bus!  Or so I thought!  I was so pumped and I got the girl's number and she was going to go to church with us!  And then we called, fake number.  You could say I was bummed.  But then you just pick up and keep going! 

So we are teaching this adorable family, we met them my first day contacting!  They have a little son and he is 18 mos.  I love him!  The family is just adorable.  We are working with them and everytime we visit they make us food!  We will be like trying to leave and they are like oh but wait, we just baked a chocolate cake for you!  Oh but we just made ajote for you!  Yeah so ajote is good :) its like cooked green pumpkin. tastes a lot like yams with lots of brown sugar.  I loved it!  I've been trying lots of Guatemalan food lately.  Like candied figs, holy goodness!  Oh and fried platanos. :) fave!  So we are really hoping this family gets baptized this month.  They are so ready and were so prepared for the gospel.  But as always there are things setting them back!  I just pray everyday that we can help them in anyway we can! :) 

Editors note: Didn't she say she was eating Guatemalan food????

Oh so can I please tell you about the hilar transportation that exists in Guatemala! hahahahahahaha. So there are cars, lots of them; but there usually double the amount of people in them.  Buses, we ride them a lot, are like passenger vans with 30 people in them and 10 hanging off the back and sides.  We don't hang off, not allowed to.. but its hilar!  And 4 wheelers!  I'm not kidding there are 4 wheelers everywhere!  And countless motorcycles.  It's like the family suburban here.  I'm not kidding when I say that daily I see a family of 5 riding on one motorcycle.  Just mom, dad and the 3 kids wherever they can hang on! 

So hilarious story, yesterday we taught someone in English!  We received a referral for an inactive man that is an English professor.  So we found him and sure enough, homeboy speaks English! hahahahaha. It was kinda awkward teaching in English!  I'm so used to Spanish!  But that was really funny.

Oh I also bought Oreos.  They are expensive here but I don't care.  I eat one a day and just feel happy. :) that and peanut butter!  It's like 50 quetz here! goodness. 

dipping oreos in milk just like at home

Well, I love you all more than you'll ever know!  I think about you all the time, but lately less and less, which is good, because its hard to miss your family and have your heart in this work! :)  But every night I pray for you all. :) 

Love you so much :)

Don't forget to find joy everyday.  Don't waste a single second of your time on earth!  And find a way to serve someone today! :)

Hoy nunca volvera haz algo bueno

Hola from Guatemala!  So here I am in Guatemala in an internet cafe!  How did I get here!  Goodness there is so much to talk about!  First off... thank you for the prayers.  I have FELT them. and trust me this week, I needed them.  This week was by far the hardest, yet most incredible week of my life! 

So we left the MTC on monday... Julio 12.  We took the tracks and some other train to get to the airport and I actually made a contact on the train!  Woo for missionary work! Then plane! Salt Lake to Los Angeles and Los Angeles to Guatemala.  When we got on the LAX to Guat flight I was like what the.... everyone was Latino!  I know that sounds stupid but I was like oh my gosh, I'm going to a place where there are no white people. AH! and there are definitely NO white people here.  I have seen zero! so that flight was 5 hours then we landed in Guatemala!  GUATEMALAN PEOPLE!!!!! Goodness!  I got to watch the sunrise over the Guatemalan volcanoes from the air. talk about a blessing!  It was beyond words incredible!

Then we landed!  I found a quetzal on the ground on my way off the plane and I took it!  It's now my lucky quetz.  That is money here by the way. :)  So we got off the plane and I was like, who put all this water in the air!  Humidity is real here.  I actually love it!  My skin feels great and my hair is.... eh I don't care.  I'm glad I sent home all my hair stuff... I'm lucky if I brush it once a day.  It's up all the time and curly beyond belief.  You'll see in the pictures. :) SO we got our bags and got on a bus!  The natives that were at the Guatemala MTC were waiting for us on the bus! Such nice people.  I didn't understand a word of what they said but they smile and I do too.  Love is the universal language!  We took a bus from the capitol to Reu!  That is what people call Retalhuleu.  It's like: rayoo.  The bus ride was beyond beautiful!  Oh my goodness this place is green!  It is a jungle, like an actual jungle with volcanoes and beautiful mountains!  It blows my mind.  On the bus ride we sang himnos the whole time!  Haha literally started at the beginning of the himario and got to like 80.  It was fun!  Then we got to the mission office!  I loved seeing the president and his sweet wife!  I was like I don't care that I smell and I'm in the same clothes as yesterday and I haven't brushed my teeth I'm HUGGING YOU!  But they were okay with it.  That's been something great about Guatemala... everyone hugs. well we hug the women.  We hug and the kiss on the cheek, or the other way around actually! Ha!  It was weird at first but now I love it!  Everyone is so friendly. so we had some orientation stuff at the mission office for a few hours and then we went out and worked! Seriously!

Me with President Ruiz and his wife

It was my first time tracting!  Well here we call it contacting! :)  So fun!  I was with a hermana from here and then another that was at the MTC with me!  We taught people!  And surprise, I don't actually speak Spanish!  I speak Spanish in lessons.... but I'm the most awkward chatterer you have ever met.   I'm working on it.  I'm praying for the gift of the interpretation of tongues... because I cant understand a word anyone says!  It's really fast and quiet!  Like I'll be teaching and then ask a question and when they answer.... lost!  Ha I just stare and then smile and nod my head.  So we rode in a tuk tuk around Reu!  So fun!  It reminds me of mario kart!  Hahahaha seriously there are no street laws here, no right of way.   Everyone just goes!  I haven't seen any stoplights or stop signs.  It's a free for all!  Such craziness.  But I love the tuktuks!  After that we went and had dinner at the mission president's house! He lives in the most beautiful house, I felt like I was back in America.  We ate such good food.  I inhaled it because we really hadn't eaten anything since the day before.  Oh and while out contacting I experienced my first rain... or so I thought.  I had no idea!  The past two days have been torrential downpours. Ha!  Rain here is.... hilar. 

So that first night we slept in a hotel. all us newbies. there were.... 26 of us?  I slept like a rock. First sleep in 2 days!  Then the next morning we got up super early...showered and learned the hard way that showers are cold here in Guatemala, as in no more hot water for the next 18 months!  It takes my breath away every time. I might just stop showering and grow dreads, think presidente would approve? ;)  For breakfast that day we had beans and bread and platanos.  I love this food!  Seriously just give me bread and beans.  Oh and I love platanos I could live off them!  Then, off to the cambios meeting!  I met my companion!!!! HERMANA MORRIS!!!!!! Sweet angel saint perfect being that she is!  She is seriously the best!  Mi madre!  That's what you call your trainer here. and she calls me "hija mia"! 

"Mi Madre" Hermana Morris 

I am in Coatepeque, area La Esperanza!  It's about an hour from Reu.  I love Coatepeque!  It's pronounced, kwatepeckay. just so you know.  Oh more about mi comp, she is from New Mexico so were are both "nortes".  That means a white person basically.  She is 23 and has about 6 mos left in the mission.  She is so hard working and helps me so much.  Seriously a miracle in my life!  So we got here to Coatepeque and came to our house, dropped off our stuff and left!  My house is cute, it's pink!  It's on a busy street corner and what with all the houses being cement.... it echoes a lot. 

My house is the last one on the right

Oh and with no traffic laws, you just honk whenever you cross an intersection or turn a corner... so people honk so much!  So that's kinda loud but I've gotten used to it!  And since then... we've been working!  We have a huge area!  It's like 7 neighborhoods.   We live in Santa Elena and we also have Las Casas and El Arroyo and uh... other places!  We walk a ton! and wow.  Windows don't exist here.  Everything is open.  A lot of people live in the dirt with tin huts, literally.  I have taught in humble places.  Oh and there are animals everywhere!  So far I have taught with cats, (little kitties that make me think of my roomie olivia;) ) dogs EVERYWHERE, hens, roosters, ducks, parrots and lizards at my feet.  It's just hilarious! Teaching is great!  We have found a few investigators and teach everyone!  Guatemalans are funny, they love talking, but won't let us teach them!  They always say we are so amazing for doing what we are doing but then don't keep commitments!  Everyone prays for us that doors will be opened, then they don't open theirs!  Oh these people; but I love em!  Yesterday we were talking with this man and he was so nice but didn't want to be taught. I was like come onnnnn.... but then he looked at me and said, hermana you are not alone. the Lord Jesus Christ is with you in every step!  And I just balled!  I'm a cry baby here, I cry at the drop of a hat!  Needless to say, this week has been really hard.  I've gone through all the normal stuff.... Guatemala gave me a nice little welcome gift.... yeah don't drink the water that's all I'm gonna say. but I'm way better now!  My body is getting used to it :)  I will be way skinnier when I get home though!  Ha don't worry.  They are feeding me. ;) 

a weird looking fruit and yes I ate it and liked it!!

Oh another gift from Gautemala... the bug bites!  After the first experience contacting I had about 10.... I lost count yesterday at 40!  They love my Gringa blood!  And they are all on my legs!  And yummy they get really big and turn purple!  I'm a hot mess! hahahaha  I'm getting used to it and they honestly don't even itch anymore! 

Oh everyone is obsessed with my English.  They always try to speak to me and their accents are so funny!  Everyone .... and  I mean EVERYONE wants to learn English.  They love my accent too. my English one that is... they say its bonita which makes me feel good because they laugh at my Spanish one! haha. I have several nicknames... they cant pronounce my last name here... so they call me Hermana Amore, because its easier for them to pronounce!  I love it!  Also some elders call me Hermana Mas.  They were impressed that they knew that more meant mas.  Oh by the way  I am one of 5 nortes in my zone!  Everyone is Latino!  So I understand like zero of what they say.... oh well!  Time to learn right!  Everyone laughs at  my Spanish accent!  They are like.... Califuuurnia? ha! Oh well I just laugh with them!  I'm actually making some great improvements in Spanish.

random pic by a corn field...they are everywhere!

So missionary work is nothing like what I expected. It's wonderful but difficult.  I'm trying to put everything I have into this work so I can get lost in it. It's hard but I'm getting there. 

We have 3 investigators that came to church.  Church here is lovely!  Lovely! the capillas are beautiful and the people are even more so.  Sunday mornings we go around and try to gather up investigators for church... for two hours.  It didn't go too well yesterday. but in the end we had one. RAFA.  I adore him!  This old little man that never shuts up!  I never know what he is saying but when I saw him waiting at the end of his street corner dressed in his Sunday best.... I almost fell to the ground and kissed his feet. after an hour and a half of rejection... that was a miracle. :)  You just have to learn to find the little miracles here.  It's amazing.  I love all of you and thanks for the support!!!!!!!!!!! 

3 Nefi 5:13. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ and He supports me. I learned that this week. when I feel alone... I'm not. I'm never alone. 

love, 

Hermana Moore!

Somos los soldados

OH MY GOSH. This is the last time I will be writing you on p-day here at the MTC!  I don't know if you quite understand how amazing this is.... NEXT TIME I EMAIL I'LL BE IN GUATEMALA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Oh my goodness.

celebrating last week at MTC!

Anyways!  This week FLEW by. after we got our travel plans last week, its been pretty impossible to focus. mostly we just beg our teachers to tell us mission stories all class time and then we just sit there and get excited for NEXT WEEK!!!!!  Ha!  I can't get over it!  This is real life people, well almost! :)

Soooo, where to begin. I'll start with the title of this email! Somos los soldados means "we are the soldiers."  It is also the name of the Spanish version of the hymn, We Are All Enlisted.  I adore this song!  So we had a devotional this week and it was from an emeritus general authority,  Elder Hinckley.  He was awesome.  I remember him saying at one point that as missionaries, we need to be tough.  We need to be able to endure every hardship.  We need to be soldiers.  So when I heard this I was like, wait... stop. back up.  I think of soldier and I think of marines!  Like emotionless hard marines!  So I had like this inner panic attack because, lets be honest... I'm no soldier!  I'm about as soft as you get.  Especially at the MTC I have realized just how emotional I am!  I swear everyday is a giant rollercoaster of emotions!  It's gotta be the spirit, just heightens my emotions and sends them on a wild goose chase!  And also, lately people have been telling me all these scary things about Guatemala. I feel like they haven't affected me until this week.  I was talking to an elder from Guatemala and he said, "Hace calor, Es humeda, y es pobre. muy pobre." translation: its hot, its humid and it is VERY poor. For some reason when he said that I was like wait... how am I going to relate to these people!  How am I going to know how to live?  I have never experienced anything like what I'm about to experience, and if I'm being honest, I was suddenly terrified.  I started thinking, how can someone like me go teach them and tell them to repent and follow Jesus Christ!  How do I have any right to tell them anything, I don't know their life! (no movie reference intended... okay sort of)

After the devotional that I was talking about earlier, we had a devotional review.  My branch president told us that even though we think we can't do these things, we think can't be tough and endure everything, the Lord knows we can.  It was then that I realized something... I am NOT a soldier. no way am I!  I am not tough.  BUT, the Lord knows that too.  He knows that more than I do... and yet He still called me to be a missionary.  I may not be a soldier, but I am HIS soldier.  Because HE called me, He chose me.  So whenever I start freaking out about the country or not having a right to teach the people... I just remember that heck yeah I have a right!  I was called by a PROPHET of God!  He gave me the right!  When I was set apart I was given the ability, the power to teach these specific people.  I was given the ability to know what they need and to teach them how they need to be taught!  So I know that whatever comes my way, the Lord and I can handle it, because you know what, I am HIS soldier! (made me think of that song, I've got soul but I'm not a soldier... been in my head all week!)

Oh so if you want to hear an amzing song,  just go listen to somos los soldados. :)  I am a soldier!  I can't say it enough!!!

So yesterday we had in-field orientation all day!  I wasn't really looking forward to it, orientation from 9-5:30, but it ended up being such an incredible experience!  We learned all about how to work with investigators!  And how to contact!  And basically what a real deal mission is like!  it was amazing!  I got to do a few contacts in Spanish with some Spanish speaking missionaries and wow, it is so much easier in Spanish than English!  Surprise I'm awkward!  I was like, uh... do you love Jesus? good thing I'm speaking Spanish. :)  Oh and one part that blew my mind, he said just remember this time next week you are going to be bearing your testimony in your new ward.  You are going to be in actual lessons. are you ready?   I was like HECK TO THE YES I AM!!!!!!!!!!!! I was basically shaking the entire time!  I just feel so ready to get out there and share this message!!!

We have been having the most incredible gym times lately!  Ha, that may sound stupid but it is so fun to just let loose and be normal people. We had our last game of sand volleyball... we are basically professional! ha!  We had so much fun.  I definitely broke the "no diving" rule about 30 times.  Whoops!   Ha!  And then we also played baseball this week!  Tim I must have gotten some of your baseball skills because I was the second highest scorer!  Everyone wanted me to be their ghost runner! So yeah I may have slid into home a few times.  Ha!  So so so fun.  We played with a bouncy ball and a crutch. :)  I wish I had gotten a picture!

Oh I watched a devotional recording this week.  Oh my goodness, I wish it was available outside the MTC because it changed my life.  It's called "Characters of Christ" by Elder Bednar.  He is intense!  But basically it talks about what "character" is and what the character of Christ is.  Elder Bednar defined character as: moral qualities strongly developed, strikingly displayed and consistently lived!  He then said that the character of Christ is TURNING OUT when the natural man in all of us would selfishly turn in.  Wow!  How true is this?  Christ was never, ever, self-centered.  He, in every situation, was looking to help others and bring them the truth. even on the cross.  He was making sure His mother was taken care of and preaching, literally doing missionary work, to the other two being crucified!  What an example!  It just baffles me.  So he encouraged us to buy a small inexpensive copy of the book of Mormon and find the character of Christ!  Well I bought a pocket-sized one and I have been loving doing this!  I am already almost done with 2nd nefi and there is literally an example of the character of Christ on every single page!!!!!  I'm not kidding people!!! :) I so encourage you to do this!  Just read the Book of Mormon, like a book, and look for the character of Christ.  It is reminding me every second to be more Christ like and have more charity! :)

So I am STOKED BEYOND STOKED to leave the MTC and enter the campo, but I am devastated to be leaving my sweet district.  I LOVE my elders!  They are the sweetest and most incredible examples!!! I am constantly baffled by their amazing testimonies!!!  Everyday we become even closer! It just amazes me that I didn't even know them 6 weeks ago!  I love them like my brothers and they will do incredible incredible things in their respective missions! :)

a friend from CO - we both dated the same guy!

Oh last Sunday we sang in Sacrament meeting!  The hermanas and I sang "Oh Jesus Thou Who Wearest A Crown" to the tune of "If You Could Hie To Kolob".  It's the same song that Hannah and I sang in church at BYU!  It was so fun to sing and we had one of our elders accompany!  Maestro!  He was incredible!  This Sunday was literally las hermanas show!  We all did something!  Sacrament meeting here is a little different, they let you know if you are speaking about 30 seconds before you speak!  So I saw the bishop give me this weird look before sacrament meeting started so I was like, help I'm speaking..... here goes nothing.  But instead, he called Hermana Pister to speak!  I gave the closing prayer!   Hermana Webster directed music!   She has never done it before so she was terrified!  She ended up figuring it out eventually!   Luckily none of us look up from our himnos because we don't know the words in Spanish!  So it all works out :)

obviously not in our Sunday clothes

This Sunday we are singing "Placentero Nos Es Trabajar" as a district in church.  We have practiced it a few times and it always makes me cry.  Those elders!  That song!  Power, people!  Power!

I filled up my first study journal this week!  Ha, people tell me I should write less... but I just love studying the scriptures!  I bought a HUGE one for my next one!  It's really pretty and it has a picture of two hermanas on the front and it says, "If ye have a desire to serve, you are called to the work!"

studying outside:)

I truly believe that!  This is the most rewarding work I have ever done!  I am trying to work my hardest everyday.  I want to be able to say I did everything I could on my mission to invite others to come unto Christ!  I am the happiest I have EVER been and I don't regret this decision for a second. Deciding to serve was the best thing I ever did.  More like this mission is the biggest blessing ever already, and I'm not even out in the campo yet!

As always, THANK YOU for the letters and packages!  All of you, you have no idea how much I appreciate your love and support!  It brings tears to my eyes.  I'll write you all back today I promise! Love you so much!

Talk to you next time, FROM GUATEMALA!!!!

PS: 2 nefi 2:30. the reason we serve, the same reason He serves.

loveeeeee,

Hermana Moore