WEEK 19

buenos tardes!!!!!! Thing are going very well here in Castillotla ( thats the name of our ward. believe it or not this is one of the simpler names for a ward in this mission, many are Mayan)

Hermana Best and her companion, Hermana Cascante

I finally realized my companion hermana cascante is a lot like my friend Carly from utah!!! it is something really beautiful to have a friendship with someone in another language. I try to push for speaking english in the house but hermana c only knows a little bit. Im still struggling to express EXACTLY what i want to say in spanish, but i have learned that you just say things differently in spanish than in engish, oh and i probably wont be able to understand when people make a joke thats a play on words for several more months haha...

well i finally realized what the challenge is in this area. its not finding people in the street, its not having lessons, its not anything like that. its retaining people. i made the error of thinking that the 3 people i baptized in august would be fine, just floating along. and kind of forgot that they are in a NEW WORLD, and need LOTS of spiritual nourishment. so our new effort is to try really hard to keep the converts and the less active members going to church praying and reading. its important to put yourslf in their shoes as missionaries. even as an active member in my normal life its easy to slack off in these 3 critical things. i cant imagine trying to form these news habits in my 20s, 30s,40s,etc , never having been taught by my parents or church leaders to do so. 

a cool experience this week was going to the first session of conference just for women (why does that sound like a hair product?). this day was a good example of the ups and downs of missionary life. first, we were super excited because several members and INVESTIGATORS agreed to come. next, we were overwhelmed, because as walked around to pick up people a total DOWNPOUR happened, complete with hail, and wind so strong it broke my umbrella. next, disappointment that no one ended up coming with us. 

after that we got to the chapel for the trasmission of conference and it wasa little weird knowing that the live feed i was watching was from a camera 45 mins from my house and that i prob knew someone in the crowd. i understood EVERY WORD OF THIS CONFERENCE. i was a little sad that i dont get to hear the actual voices of our church leaders but the message is the same. wow i cannot believe i understood every single word. i really loved all the talks, and the video about temples. when we got home we were in a super good mood anddddd  opened the door and our house was flooded from the storm haha . you have to learn to expect the unexpected on the mission. but i love it!!!!!

here are some pictures. the beautiful volcanoe emitting smoke ( cant remember how to say that in english very well), me when i saw a tool when we got off the bus and i just went ahead and picked it up, the workers thought it was funny. love you all!!

Smoking Volcano!!!

Cutest smile ever